Luster Dawn’s birthday was the day before the end of the world.

At this point given everything else, Twilight wasn’t sure if it was a cosmic coincidence, or a very cruel practical joke by fate. Perhaps both.

“Twilight, you’ll be in charge of bringing Luster to the venue at precisely four o’clock. Okay?” Minuette looked at her expectantly.

Twilight didn’t look up from the journal but nodded anyway.

Twinkleshine rolled her eyes. “If I had a bit for every conversation we have when she has her muzzle buried in a book not listening…”

This time, Twilight raised her head. “I’m listening, bring Luster over at four. I can multitask.”

Lemon frowned. “You’re in a sour mood. Though I can’t say I blame you. It’s hard to feel like partying, knowing what we do.”

As far as the rest of Equestria was concerned, tomorrow was the dual eclipse, nothing more. Scientists and mages of all types had flocked toCanterlot, setting up research stations and observation equipment. Three days prior, Celestia had issued a decree about the usage of magic and what kind of instruments were permitted to use to monitor the eclipse. Unicorns were to restrict their magic to telekinesis unless absolutely necessary, pegasi were advised to avoid flying for long distances and try to stay below the cloud barrier, and earth ponies had been told to be mindful they may not be as strong as they were used to.

Alarm and concern had steadily risen across Canterlot. The growing failures of magic had been noticed and discussed, and SGU classes had been cancelled the past two days. For all it mattered, today was Saturday. The world would have a collective day off to fret about the cosmic significance of what was about to occur, unaware of the Shadow waiting to be set free.

Unless we can stop him…somehow. Twilight wrinkled her nose and turned her attention back to the journal. This was not the journal that let her communicate with Sunset, though. This was the one that conveyed a much older, deeper wisdom. The journal of Star Swirl the Bearded.

Yet not even he could find a way to defeat the Pony of Shadows, he just had to seal it. What could I hope to do? There must be something in here to give me an idea…

She heard Twinkleshine murmur in her throat. “Maybe this is a bad idea. I mean, I don’t wanna sit around fearing tomorrow, but going out to party and have fun…I dunno.”

“I disagree.” The speaker surprised Twilight enough to make her look up again. Moondancer shook her head. “It’s important to keep spirits up in times like this, when we have a foreboding tomorrow ahead of us. As Twinkleshine said, the alternative is to sit here paralyzed by fear, but that achieves nothing. If this is our last day together, we should spend it like such, yes?”

“Exactly!” Minuette gave a firm nod.

Moondancer raised a hoof before Minuette could continue. “However, I will also stress there is an important caveat to that sentiment.” She lowered her hoof. “If there is something we could do to help forestall this apocalypse, that is certainly more important than anything else.”

All eyes in the room turned to Twilight. Lemon slowly walked up to her and put a hoof on the edge of the bed. “Twilight, you’d know best of anypony, and I include Princess Celestia under that umbrella. Is there anything we can do?”

She swallowed heavily. “I…I don’t know…” she looked down at the journal and the ancient words written there. “I’ve been reading this journal all week, hoping there might be some secret I’m missing. I don’t want to believe that a pony as powerful and wise as Star Swirl would banish the Pony of Shadows to the limbo between dimensions, splitting our world in two, and not leave behind a plan if he ever broke free. It doesn’t make sense.”

“And what have you found?” Moondancer prompted.

“Admittedly, not nothing, but I don’t know if it’s something…” Twilight grunted and put a hoof to her face. “It’s hard to explain. There’s no single page in this journal that gives a clear answer; it’s a mix of personal anecdotes, magic theory, and history. But at times, that line becomes blurred. As best I can tell, Star Swirl believed in a…I guess you could call it a ‘unified theory of magic’, maybe. Parallels and patterns across different systems. Ponies, Equus, the stars, magic itself. He especially keeps talking about the planets and their influences on our world.”

“That makes sense, I guess,” Twinkleshine mused. “I mean, Celestia said that the moon and Equus are split, but the planets were unaffected. Maybe that’s part of it?”

“Maybe. But I’m not sure how.” She looked over at Lemon. “You’ve been researching the planets, have you found anything?”

“No.” Lemon withdrew her hoof. “I collected a lot of data about the relationship between magic and the planets, but nothing about dimensions or pony species. All I could say is that my findings indicate that the closer a planet is to Equus, the greater its influence on magic – Inashu and Negalu are closest, then Bunabu, then Eniku and Ninurtu. I don’t know if that means anything.”

“It’s hard to say. Star Swirl understood the planets had an influence on Equus and magic, but he didn’t go much into detail on how, he was more focused on exploring why. And he was interested in how the five planets interacted with each other beyond Equus, but nothing there indicates…that…”

Her magic still holding the journal for the others, Twilight’s eyes strayed to the cover. She trailed off, her eyes going wide.

“Twi?” Minuette cocked her head.

“Five…five planets…” Twilight whispered. “But no, not five, six…it’s literally staring me in the face!” She closed the journal and turned it around. “Look!” She tapped the cover and the emblem on it, a swirl of blue magic with five stars along its length. “The same old mistake, again. Not five, six. Five stars here, but also the swirl emblem. There aren’t five planets, there’s six, Equus counts too, of course! And…”

The dream…Star Swirl, and five other ponies…

“Anyone who has ideas, spit them out now – were there other legendary, mythical ancient heroes comparable to Star Swirl?”

Twilight watched and waited as her friends pondered the open question, a subtle excitement settling over the room.

Moondancer spoke first. “Well, comparable to Star Swirl is a high metric, given how many discoveries and feats are attributed to him…but there was another unicorn, apparently from the far east, that was reputed to have unusually high aptitude with magic.”

“I’d heard of that one!” Lemon said loudly, her eyes going wide. “I remember it was a foal’s tale my mother read to me when I was little. She was said to be the most beautiful mare in the world, with a knack for rejuvenation and healing spells.” Her enthusiasm dampened. “But such magics were taxing to use repeatedly, and began to wear on her. Her beauty faded and she looked far older than her true age, yet she kept healing. Eventually they had to forbid her from using her magic this way out of concern for her.”

She gave a sage nod. “My mother told me that the moral of the story is ‘always help others if you can, but remember to consider your own well-being, too’.”

“Wise advice,” Moondancer agreed. “Back to the topic of Star Swirl, Twilight, I recall you said there were stories about him adventuring with a pony named Somnambula?”

“Yes, the most famous tells of them traveling to a southern village to fight a sphinx that was prowling the region.” Twilight flipped through the journal. “Strictly speaking, the stories only ever talk about a great unicorn mage that aided Somnambula, but there’s a few entries from Star Swirl that match the stories as he would write them from his own perspective.”

Twinkleshine hummed. “That’s three. Do we have any other leads?”

“Actually…” Twilight looked at the ceiling. “My last dream of my past life, there was a pony with Star Swirl. An earth pony, bigger than usual, way bigger. Looked really strong…”

“That might be Rockhoof,” Moondancer suggested. “He’s a popular folk hero in the north-western regions of Equestria. Even some of the yaks and minotaurs tell legends of him. They say he was a farmer who rapidly dug trenches to protect his home from invaders, and grew so strong he could dig a moat overnight.”

“Um, I have a question.” Minuette raised her hoof and waited until the others were looking at her. “Not to be a downer, but what does this have to do with stopping the Pony of Shadows?”

“My vision of Sunset said to ‘find us’ while she was surrounded by five lights. I’m thinking perhaps this refers to Star Swirl and five heroes who fought alongside him, the same way Equus is orbited by five planets.” Twilight put a hoof to her chin. “Though, that still begs the question of what the vision meant by ‘find us’. If it’s referring to historical figures of antiquity that are assuredly long dead…” She glared down at the journal.

There’s something key I’m missing. The vision said ‘find them, find us, it is the key to all’. She scrunched her face. Though, that wording could be taken to mean there’s two separate groups, ‘them’ and ‘us’. Sunset’s friends and my friends, maybe?

“Twi?”

She blinked and lifted her head to find her staring into the deep blue eyes of Minuette. Her friend smiled softly and patted the top of her head.

“This is obviously important to you, but the answers aren’t going to come by just sitting here and thinking in circles.” She stepped back and looked around the group. “If there’s nothing we can do to help Celestia, then at least we can help Luster. That filly will have a birthday party at last if I have anything to say about it. Anypony who wants to sit it out to study, that’s your call, I’ll make up an excuse for you. But I think it’s important we do this together.”

The others took a moment to let her words sink in.

Twilight took a deep breath. “If there’s some hand of fate at work with all this, I’m sure it can figure out a way to work in a birthday party.” She stood up from the bed and gave Minuette a firm nod. “Four o’clock, right?”

Minuette returned the nod. “On the nose.”

Lemon held up her hooves, but gave a small smile. “Well, I guess it’s time to party like there’s no tomorrow.”

It was only much later in the day, when she went downstairs to knock on Luster’s door, that Twilight realized she hadn’t gotten a gift for her. Balancing school life, her studies on the dreams, and everything surrounding the two, had distracted her while Minuette planned everything in the background. But it was now three-thirty, there was no time left to go get a gift without being late for the party, and Twilight knew better than to make her and Luster late to an event Minuette was overseeing.

The SGU dorms were far quieter than Twilight was used to. The gossip around campus was that many students had chosen to return home for the weekend in the wake of the uncertainty about what was to come. Anypony else treating this Saturday like any other were likely out in town or visiting friends. The result was that the building almost felt abandoned as she went down the stairs, encountering only two other ponies, neither of which she knew.

When she reached the first floor and approached Luster’s door, she stopped and composed herself.

Okay, thoughts of doom and gloom have to go. If we’re actually going to have a party for Luster, it’s going to be fun. And she’s not going to have fun if any one of us aren’t putting our hearts into it. She gathered up all her misgivings about tomorrow and gently tucked them into the back corners of her mind. That done, she lifted a hoof and knocked thrice.

“Just a moment!” came the muffled reply. Twilight heard the shuffling of papers and squeaks of furniture moving. A few moments later the door swung open and Luster smiled at her. “Oh! Hi, Twilight.”

“Hi, Luster.” Twilight eyed the tiny dorm room behind her; papers and textbooks were piled on her desk. “I’m not interrupting anything important, am I?”

Luster followed her eyes, then waved a hoof and sputtered. “Reviewing all my old quizzes and notes. I had nothing to do today so it was either stew in the uncertain anxiety of tomorrow, or try to study.”

Twilight forced a laugh, but it caught in her throat and came out garbled and she coughed. Luster recoiled and looked at her curiously. Twilight shook her head. “Sorry, just, I get that. Why I came here, actually. I’m in the same boat. Wanna go for a walk and keep each other busy?”

“Sure. Just a sec.” Luster went back inside and swung the door closed, then came back shortly with a one-sided saddle bag around her neck and a key floating in yellow magic. She shut the door, locked it, and turned to face Twilight. “Where to?”

“The mountain tunnels.”

“Oh, ice skating?”

“Not exactly.” Twilight turned and began walking, and both heard and saw Luster fall into step beside her. She glanced at the pink mare, who had a slight smile and was humming a little tune.

I still remember the first time I invited her to one of Minuette’s parties. I was so nervous about her coming, and she seemed so nervous about attending. Twilight smiled. We’ve both come a long way. I’ve never actively tried to make a friend before, but it worked out. And she’s really come out of her shell and become part of the group.

As the two emerged onto the SGU campus and walked the path into town, Twilight’s thoughts turned to the current state of Canterlot. While far from a ghost town, the metropolitan hustle and bustle was greatly subdued from the norm. Crowds of ponies still went both ways down the streets, shops remained open, eateries still sat customers. But if one looked closer, they’d see self-conscious pegasi walking in the thin crowds instead of flying. Apprehensive unicorns levitating objects in short spurts and looking sheepish afterwards. Earth ponies that occasionally grimaced as they strained to carry their goods.

Everypony is tense, even if they aren’t sure why. That’s the worst kind of fear, to know something is wrong but to lack an explanation for it. Yet as much as it may have bothered them, it was far preferable to the truth. Twilight herself could testify to that. The existence of the Pony of Shadows was kept secret for a very good reason. Even putting aside the split dimensions, knowing about it would terrify everypony even more.

Luster must have noticed all the same things Twilight did, because she spoke and roused her from her thoughts. “I’m not used to Canterlot being so quiet. Relatively speaking.”

“Neither am I. And I grew up here.” Twilight glanced at her. “Nervous about tomorrow?”

“Of course.” Luster looked back. “I don’t know if I’d say afraid, necessarily. Well, afraid, yes…maybe that’s not what I mean.” She tilted her head up and murmured. “It’s like, I know that the Princess has rallied all these archmages and guards and other forces to fight, and she’s had a thousand years to prepare for this so she’s gotta have some sort of battle plan. And there’s nothing I could possibly do to help her. So, while I’m afraid, there’s also a sort of acceptance. No point fretting over what I can’t control, right?”

Twilight’s brow lifted. “That’s actually a fairly reasonable way to think about it.”

Luster gave a small chuckle. “Thanks. I’ve been wondering why I’m not more anxious about it, so I’ve sat down and tried to parse through all my emotions.”

“Sometimes, that’s the best thing we can do for ourselves.”

The two reached the edges of the mountain Canterlot was built into. A tunnel on the lower part of the city was where the skating rinks could be accessed, but on this level the tunnel instead slowly angled up. It was brightly lit by enchanted gemstones in the walls, and the cavern floor had been smoothed out and even polished. When Twilight’s hooves stepped from the city street to the mountain interior, it was barely noticeable. Several side caverns spiralled off to various airship docks, scenic overlooks, or mountain residences.

It would be easy to get lost here. Twilight took a discrete glance at a directory on a wall ahead and made sure she took the correct fork. The crowds of ponies grew even thinner now as they came and went from specific places off the main walk.

“Sooo, why exactly did you want to come here?” Luster asked.

Twilight didn’t have a clever cover ready, so she simply responded, “You’ll see,” and kept walking. Luster, for her part, didn’t press it and stayed in step with her. Twilight took another forking path that continued to curve up the mountain. At this point Luster would surely realise they were going: only one split remained, one that went to the very top of the mountain where the Royal Observatory was, as well as some maintenance and infrastructure areas for the city, but that was restricted. The other fork, however…

Twilight reached the diverging paths and took the one that led left. Luster eyed the sign on the wall as they passed it. “‘Recreation Station’? What’s that?”

Twilight felt a Minuette-like flutter of anticipation in her chest. She’s never heard of it. She’s never been here. She’s definitely in for a treat. “Let’s go and find out,” she said aloud. Fortunately the walk was short, with a strategically placed right angle to obscure what lay ahead to ensure maximum visual impact. They rounded the corner and Twilight paused for a moment when she heard Luster audibly gasp.

Recreation Station was built into a cavern on Canterlot’s mountain like the rest of the areas, but in a unique twist of architecture it also extended outside the mountain. The cavern ceiling and walls ended by merging into a web of hexagonal glass panels that formed a dome around the open areas, creating a sphere-shaped arena. Within lay a large complex of buildings intended to look like a space station. Structures were built out of large panels in various shades of grey with blue lines painted along them, and connected to each other via tubes. The largest, central building, included an elevator shaft up to a spherical structure with windows around the circumference. Outside the complex was artificial turf meant to evoke the image of an ‘alien’ biosphere, with dull blue grass and bright orange and yellow bushes. Several large gazebos and canopies lay among it all, with pathways connecting them back to the main complex.

“W-whoa…”

She looked at Luster; she was staring in awe, her mouth slack and eyes wide. Twilight let out a giggle and nudged her. “Come on. We’re not here just for the view.”

Luster gave an absent-minded nod, and when Twilight resumed walking she had to give Luster’s saddle bag a quick telekinetic tug to make sure the other pony came too. The path from the cavern to the entrance of the venue was made of smooth, white, hexagonal tiles, and lined with small lights. They reached a shallow ramp up to the door and it slid apart with a gentle ‘whoosh’. The inside was brightly lit with white walls and several overhead monitors, which displayed faux-news style coverage of supposed events going on in space, actually just promotional footage of the various facilities.

Inside, a mare with a light grey coat and curled blue mane stood at the front desk, clad in a silver space suit with a blue badge on the front. She looked up from a clipboard and smiled. “Welcome to Recreation Station! I’m Blast Off, how can I help you?”

Twilight briefly wondered if that was actually the pony’s name or an alias used for immersion. Regardless, she would have been informed by Minuette that Twilight would be coming with the birthday girl. “Hello. I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is Luster Dawn.”

Blast Off’s face brightened in recognition. “Ah, your comrades are waiting in Launch Pad C. Please follow Helio Scope.” She pointed a hoof to another pony in a space suit standing by a doorway, a stallion with a dark green coat and short yellow mane. He nodded firmly and waved them forward.

As the two followed the stallion down one of the tube-shaped hallways, Luster eyed Twilight. “‘Our comrades’? What did she mean by that?”

Twilight smiled back. “Haven’t you figured it out by now?”

If she hadn’t, the jig was up once they reached the next room. The doors slid open and Helio Scope took a step to the side and gestured for them to go through. Luster stepped forward, and as she did her jaw dropped again and her eyes widened bigger than ever.

A chorus of five voices – one slightly behind the others – called out loudly.

“Happy birthday, Luster Dawn!”

A banner exclaiming just that hung from the ceiling in letters that shone and shifted colors along the rainbow spectrum. The party room had a large, circular table in the center with five chairs surrounding it, and at the far side was a worn wooden throne with red cushions and a crown of gold plastic on the seat. The table was laid out with snacks, including chips, veggie sticks, cookies, cold pizza, and a small pile of paper plates and utensils. The ceiling was a sea of colored streamers, with several emblems of Luster’s cutie mark among them.

Minuette, Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts, and Moondancer, stood on one side of the table in party hats, smiling widely at the birthday mare. Twilight trotted in line with them and accepted a party hat that Twinkleshine held out for her.

“Wha…what?” Luster asked weakly.

“Welcome to your first birthday party!” Minuette cheered. She swooped up beside Luster, put a hoof over her neck, and slowly coaxed her deeper into the room. “Now, I know it’s just the six of us, but I didn’t want to overdo it with guests. Plus I asked around and it was pretty unanimous that we were the five ponies you were closest to, and I didn’t want to invite somepony you might not want here.”

“Also, we don’t have individual gifts,” Lemon added, “but you can consider today to be a collective gift from all of us. We all chipped in for the venue.”

Twilight leaned towards Moondancer to whisper. “We did?”

“Minuette brought it up earlier, it’s not as much as you think,” Moondancer replied. “She’ll tell you how much you owe later.”

Luster slowly approached the table. “So, all of this is your doing?”

“Not just this!” Minuette lit her horn, and the crown lifted off the throne in an aura of gold magic, along with a small plastic card that Twilight hadn’t noticed before. Minuette placed the crown on Luster’s head and floated the card in front of her. “Special birthday princess pass, good for five free uses of any special attraction at the station today, as well as fifty credits towards the arcade games. The rest of us will pay our own way, but you aren’t shilling out a bit!”

Luster reached a hoof up to the crown on her head but kept staring at the card. “I…I don’t know what to say…” she lifted her head to look at the other four ponies. “You girls did this for me?”

Twinkleshine held up her hooves. “Technically, Minuette planned it out, but that’s kinda her thing.”

“But, yes.” Moondancer smiled. “You’re our friend, and while her initial enthusiasm was concerning, we eventually agreed that you should celebrate your birthday with friends this year, and that this was the right way to do it.”

The birthday pass card fell to the ground and Luster ran forward to wrap her hooves around the pony closest to her, which happened to be Lemon. “Thank you! Thank you so much!” After a moment of excited spinning with Lemon in her hooves, Luster repeated the act with Twinkleshine and then Moondancer. By the time she came for Twilight, Minuette came over to aid her, and the three awkwardly hugged together.

Twilight laughed. “So, who’s up for some partying?”

Twilight bit her lip, closed one eye to sight her shot, and stepped forward. Beside her, glowing in an aura of magenta magic, the bowling ball swung onto the ground and rolled down the lane. She watched, a smile growing wide on her face, as the ball curved to the side and then back in, and struck the front two rows of pins hard, sending the rest toppling.

“Nice one, Twilight!” Luster held out a hoof as she walked back from the lane.

“It’s all about the spin.” Twilight bumped her hoof happily.

Sitting at a table between the two benches where the other sat, Minuette moved a pencil across the score sheet. “That puts the score at 214 for Team Nightlight, 196 for Team Heartstopper.”

Moondancer, Twilight, and Luster paused on their bench and looked at Minuette. Moondancer tilted her head. “Nightlight and Heartstopper?”

Minuette shrugged. “I had to call our teams something on the score sheet. They fit, mostly. You girls have the moon-twilight-dawn thing going on, we have the time and heart thing going on.”

Twinkleshine came closer and peered over her shoulder at the sheet. “I feel like I should switch teams. My name is closer to theirs than yours”

Lemon rolled her eyes. “We have one more frame to bowl, it’s me and Luster next. We could make new teams then.”

Twinkleshine nodded. “Me, Moondancer, and Twilight, are the new Team Midnight. You two can have Luster and be…um…crud, I’m blanking on a pun.”

Luster looked around the group and thought. “Me, you, and Twilight, we could be Team Radiance, for shiny names. The other three could be Team Lemon Twist, for dancing, maybe?”

Minuette clapped her hooves. “Ooooo, I like that! Nice one, Dawny!”

“Don’t thank me, yet.” Luster lifted a bowling ball in her magic. “You’re down eighteen points and I’m keen to beat you.”

Lemon smirked and lifted her own ball. “And if I make up the difference, I pick the next teams. I’m gonna call it Team Cubic – you can figure that out for yourselves as I win.”

Twinkleshine dove and Moondancer’s magic bolt narrowly missed her and dispersed against a dark blue barricade. As she fell, Twinkleshine fired her own shot and it hit Moondancer square in the chest, striking a padded vest. The vest briefly shimmered in a wash of light blue, lighting up the darkened indoor arena around them, and there was a digital beep as it registered the hit.

“Gotcha!” Twinkleshine cheered. A second later, she saw her own vest gleam and heard it beep. She looked down to see golden light fading from it.

“No time to celebrate!” Minuette warned. Twinkleshine turned but the other mare had vanished into the fog. Twinkleshine chased after her while Moondancer turned and dropped to the ground. A magic shot from Luster went over her back and she heard a sharp cry from the other side of her. She turned and saw Lemon staring at her own vest as it glowed a soft amber.

“Friendly fire!” she protested.

“Sorry!” Luster replied. “She du–”

The two were cut off as Moondancer fired a bolt at Luster, then quickly turned her head and shot another on Lemon. Both their vests lit up in pink magic.

“You heard her, no celebrating!” Moondancer stood and gave a cheeky smile, which quickly faded and she squeaked as she dove for cover to avoid criss-crossing magic bolts.

“Get back here!” Luster cried. She ran forward to look behind the barricade, but Moondancer had escaped into the darkness.

Lemon came up beside her, eyes scanning the arena. “We should have warned you, Moondancer plays dirty when it comes to magic tag. Never let down your guard with her.”

An indignant huff came from somewhere to Luster’s left. “I resent that remark!”

“Three hundred and ten for Moondancer.” Twilight wrote down the number and piled the loop of red paper tickets on the table. “That brings the entire group’s total up to…nineteen hundred and thirty.”

“Darn.” Minuette slumped forward. “I had my eye on something for two thousand tickets.”

“Which was?” Moondancer asked.

Minuette pointed to the counter for the arcade section of the venue. “Two thousand tickets gets you a Tier 5 prize. They have a set of Ogres & Oubliettes miniatures from the ‘Hordes of Tartarus’ expansion. Must have just put it on the shelf earlier this week, because you know it’s not gonna be there a month from now.”

“Ooooo…” Twinkleshine looked up at the display with a smile. “I wouldn’t mind going for that myself…”

“How many tickets short are we?” Luster asked.

Twilight swept her hoof over the table and the many piles and coils of tickets. “We’d need seventy more.”

“So close and yet so far.” Minuette pouted and pursed her lip. “But, five hundred and twenty-two of these tickets are mine. I can get a few decent one-off prizes.”

“That’s right.” Twilight set her notepad down. “I kept track of all our individual winnings. Nothing says that we have to pool our tickets for one prize. Lemon just suggested it to get something you might want, Luster.”

“Hmm…” Luster took a bite of pizza from her plate and scanned the prize shelves. “Nothing really that interesting to me, to be honest. The only thing I’d really consider taking is one of the mini model kits for Equestrian landmarks, and those are only a thousand…although…”

“There’s still plenty we could buy with the rest.” Lemon put a hoof to her chin. “Five hundred gets a tiny plushie or a bandana, or…” she trailed off when she noticed Luster heading to the arcade.

Luster glanced back. “Girls, on me.” She waved them forward and waited until they crowded around. “Moondancer, analysis – excluding those that are primarily luck-based, which game gives the best payout rate per credits per game?”

Moondancer tilted her eyes back and hummed. “That would be skee ball. Two tickets for every ten points and five balls a game, and a game costs three credits. If you could land every ball in the 100 point goal, that’s a hundred tickets.”

”But, we only need seventy. So a score of 350 or better would be enough.” Luster smiled and held up her arcade card. “Three credits a game. Three credits left on the card. And I like skee ball. Sounds like destiny to me.” She walked over the skee ball machine and swiped the card. Five balls rolled down the slot on the side of the machine.

“I got those credits for you!” Minuette protested. “You can’t spend them trying to get something for me.”

“And it’s a long shot,” Twilight added. “The second-highest scoring goal is only 50 points. You need at least two 100 shots to break 350 overall.”

“At least two, I have five.” Luster nodded. “Difficult, but the odds are not low.” She picked up her first ball, held it up to her muzzle, and eyed the goal rings. “First one up.” She swung her hoof forward and let the ball loose. It rolled down the lane, hit the ramp at the end, and sailed up. It hit the upper rim of the 50-point slot and bounced in.

“Preferable to a miss,” Twinkleshine muttered.

Lemon jerked and bumped her flank. “Don’t jinx it!”

“Number two.” Luster held up the second ball. “The first one was a little low, I’ll give this one a bit more force.” She swung her hoof forward. The ball rolled, jumped, and hit the bottom rim of the 100 point goal. It fell down the others below it and went into the 10 point slot.

The group collectively groaned. “I told you!” Lemon hissed. Twinkleshine bumped her back and glared.

Moondancer shook her head. “The only way now is three 100 shots. That is a very long shot.”

“Still not impossible.” Luster picked up her third ball. “I can do this.” She took a deep breath, squared her eyes, and brought her hoof back. It came down and sent the ball rolling forward. It arced up off the ramp and sailed cleanly into the 100 point ring.

The five cheered and clustered closer to her. “One down, two to go!” Twinkleshine said.

Twilight smiled at her. “No pressure, just take it easy.”

“I know.” Luster smiled back at her and glanced her way. “It’s just a game. All the same, I’m getting those tickets.”

“I’m going to feel bad if you waste your final credits on me,” Minuette said. “You’re the birthday girl, you should spend your gift earnings on things you want.”

“I agree. But you’re ignoring one detail.” Tongue sticking out of the corner of her mouth, eyes narrow, body tense, Luster rolled her next ball forward. It rumbled, jumped, and hit loudly on the inner rim of the 100 point goal. The display over the game flipped from 160 to 260.

“No way!” Lemon’s jaw dropped.

Luster looked back at Minuette. “That detail is that the thing I want is to get a prize for you. So that’s what I’m doing.”

Minuette frowned. “I feel like that goes against the principle of the thing.”

“Not to me, it doesn’t.” Luster picked up the last ball from the tray. “Fifth ball.” She held it out to the ground. “Hooves out. This is for all of us.”

“Asking us to discreetly enchant it to make sure it goes in?” Twinkleshine asked. As she spoke, the five mares each extended a hoof to the side of the ball. Twilight felt her hoof pressing against Minuette and Moondancer’s for room.

“No, the game’s anti-cheating censors would detect that,” Luster scolded gently. She turned her head and looked between them. Twilight gasped sharply at the glistening in her eyes.

“Luster?”

“This is the best birthday I’ve ever had. The best I could ever ask for.” Luster blinked, two tears falling from either eye. “And it’s been eating at me all afternoon that it might be my last birthday…”

“We don’t know that,” Minuette replied.

“Yeah,” Lemon agreed. “We should trust Celestia, right?”

“I do. But if the worst should happen…if this is…it…” Luster smiled widely. “Thank you. All of you. Not just for today, for this entire school year. For being…you.”

Moondancer shook her head. “We didn’t do anything special for you, Luster. We just let you in.”

Twilight fidgeted. “And we may never have even known you existed, if the princess hadn’t told me to make friends with you.”

Shrugging, Luster said, “Probably not. But you did. And you all made the effort to make me feel like a friend, no different from the rest of you.” Luster sniffed. “I never thought I’d experience friendship like this, until you showed it to me. If we’re facing the end tomorrow, it makes me feel a little better to know I’ll be facing it with the five best friends a mare could ask for.”

“I could say the same thing,” Twinkleshine whispered. “This final year, it’s been an adventure. Didn’t think it would actually be the final final year, but…”

“Definitely had a lot of fun.” Minuette grinned. “No matter what happens tomorrow, I’m happy knowing that.”

“Me too.” Luster lifted her hoof higher, pushing the skee ball up above the others’ hooves. “So I say, this is it. We may as well seize the last hope we have, even if it’s a slim one, because we have no more time to dally anymore and no other options left. Whatever happens, we can say that we didn’t let anything hold us back. If we win, we win. If we lose, we’ll know we did our best.”

Lemon nodded, blinking away her own tears. “Hear, hear.”

“You’ll do it,” Moondancer said. “Forget the statistics, I know it.”

“No. We’ll do it. Together.” Luster turned and faced the machine, and brought her hoof back.

Together…

Twilight breathed deeply and held it as Luster swung her hoof forward and sent the ball rolling down the lane.

Author's Note

There is one major chapter and an Epilogue to go, and they will be posted together.

Thank you all for coming on this journey with me. It's almost over.