A Hearth's Warming Truth

Luckily, we were in Twilight's living room. Now, we were all alone and it was just Spike and the girls, and Discord too. I hadn't even noticed that he was at the party until we went into the room.

I took a big bite of the cupcake I had grabbed from Pinkie's platter earlier. I was in a relaxed position. Maybe I really was warming up to the holidays. Ugh, friends do a lot of things to you. “And, that’s the last time I ever went to a dragon wedding!” Spike concludes his story, making all of us laugh. Surprisingly, he makes me laugh, too. A real laugh, and not any fake ones like I’ve been doing all day.

Twilight starts to tell a story. I don't want to come off as rude, but I still reluctantly stand up, throw away my cupcake wrapper, and walk to my room, feeling tired, despite all the noise and energy of tonight. I lay down on my bed and close my eyes, just for a short while. No one will need me tonight, right?

I sit up to the sound of a knock. I don’t respond; I’m a bit too lazy to move right now. But I still open the door with my magic. And just as I suspected, Twilight is at the door. Probably to invite me to have fun or something. Whatever.

"Starlight?" she asks, walking closer to me and then sitting on my bed. "Hey, I didn't even think you would be in here." Yeah right, I think to myself.

"So why are you here?" I ask her.

"I was looking for you, and, well, I checked your room. You know, we were all worried about you when you left the room just like that. We were having so much fun, we didn't want you to leave," Twilight says, placing a hoof on my shoulder.

"Why? Do you only want me to celebrate the holiday with you? Do you not want me to have what I want?" I snap. Then I immediately clamp my mouth shut. I hope it's clear to her that I didn't mean for it to come out so rudely.

"Uh... Oh... Well, do you want to come make your own Hearth's Warming doll with us?" she asks, probably to lighten the mood. I knew it. I just shake my head. Twilight hops off my bed and looks back at me. "Well, at least join us in opening presents." I had already denied presents, and stories, and candy earlier. Maybe I should go. As Twilight walks out the door, I follow her.

We open the door to the living room and sit down. The other girls, and Spike, are there too, concerned looks on their faces. I don't see Discord, so at least tonight will be somewhat peaceful. I take it as an improvement. I look down at my hooves so that they won't have to see my face. Through my hair, I see them all glance towards Twilight. A quick nod from her reassures them all that I'm fine. That's so not true.

"Alright, so we have presents for everypony," Twilight announced. Looking to her side, she corrected herself, "Everycreature, I mean."

After hearing this, everyone, including me and Spike, nodded. I forgot that my gifts for everypony were still up in my room. I teleport them under the Hearth's Warming Tree and pray to Celestia that I didn't forget anything.

We finish opening our presents with smiles on our faces. Well, most of us have smiles on our faces. I'm the exception. I have a fake smile on, but I don't think that counts. Laid out in front of me are all my gifts from my friends. A spellbook, a stuffed animal, mittens, a recipe, a quilt, candy, and a weight. The weight is really questionable, and the quilt I don't really like much. But I have to appreciate them. After all, they were given to me by my friends, and for a while, I didn't really have any friends. But still, having the gifts stings. Real bad.

I guess I'm fidgeting with my hooves, because Twilight notices and speaks up. "Starlight, is everything okay? Do you not like your gifts?" she asks, eyeing the book.

"No, the presents were nice. I liked them a lot! And I was looking for some more spells to learn," I say with a tint of unsureness in my voice. I hope Twilight doesn't notice, but I can't tell right now.

Twilight nods. "If it's not the gifts, then what's wrong?"

Okay. She definetely can tell. I take a deep breath and decide to fill them in on the truth. The honest truth. "Today, I've been trying to avoid Hearth's Warming Eve. I said it was only because I didn't want presents and candy, but the truth is, there's a lot more to it than that." I eye Twilight, hoping she might let me stop explaining, but realize she's not the only one listening. Everyone is.

After a long pause, Fluttershy ushers, "Go on. We're listening."

I close my eyes, and when I open them again, I'm not looking at the girls. My gaze is turned down, my eyes wearily narrowed. "Today is a special day. To me, too. Today is... um... my birthday," I declare, getting a gasp from everyone.

"So why didn't you want to celebrate it? Even if you want to keep it a secret, which I don't understand, why not celebrate Hearth's Warming instead?" Rainbow Dash provokes.

"Having a birthday and not celebrating it? That's like... well, I don't know what it's like, but it's definitely bad. Really bad," Pinkie Pie tells me, sticking her muzzle in my face.

If I wasn't already looking down, I definitely am now. "I- I know. I guess celebrating Hearth's Warming Eve on my birthday makes me feel like it's being replaced. Like I'm not having real fun. I guess I just don't like stealing the spotlight on a night like this. I don't know, it's hard to explain."

"So you'd rather not have any fun then have any fun at ALL?" Pinkie screams. Note to self, please learn to get used to that.

"Well, I mean, it's just..." I stammer. "Yeah," I finally sigh in defeat.

Twilight walks over to me and sits down beside me. Then she wraps her wing around me. "You know, you could've just told me. It would have saved us a lot of trouble."

I chuckle. "Maybe. But I don't really like talking about feelings and personal stuff." Then the rest of Twilight's friends come over to me and surround me in a hug. I step back. "If you really want me to, I could make time next week to celebrate."

The girls all nod and let me do what I want as they all go back to their hobbies. I sigh with relief, walking back to my room. But before I have the chance to close the door, Twilight says one last thing to me. "Happy Birthday, Starlight."

My anxious grin just became a pure smile of joy. "Thank you, Twilight."