Sunset had always refused invitations to private gatherings. Ever since she had become Princess Celestia’s personal student, Sunset had turned into the center of attention of everypony who was anypony in Canterlot. Nobles and ponies rich enough to act like such had done their darndest to get their foals to befriend Sunset so that they could, by proxy, get closer to the princess. Sunset had never been stupid enough to be fooled, so she had always refused any invitation, even to hang out.

She had never thought to actually accept one such invitation, but there she was, being ushered inside the house by Twilight Velvet along with Celestia and Luna and led into the living room, where streamers and balloons decorated every corner and a huge banner that read ‘Happy Birthday’ hung right above the stack of presents, to which Sunset added her own.

“Twilight! Sunset’s here!” Shining called from the bottom of the stairs, then immediately stepped aside as the girl hurried down.

“Hi, Sunset!” Twilight said, waving her hands excitedly. “I’m glad you could make it! We’re going to have so much fun! I got a few board games to play. Are you familiar with Whodunit? It’s a game where we have to put together clues to solve a mystery crime! I’ll go get it!” And like that, she ran back up the stairs.

Twilight’s father, Night Light, chuckled. “And that’s why we control the amount of sugar she consumes.”

Celestia and Luna giggled, but Sunset simply nodded. She didn’t care for playing games. This whole party was just wasting her research time. She had actually expected to get over with the party part quickly so she could have Twilight help with brainstorming ideas for magic detection machines, but from what she had just seen, it was quite apparent that Twilight was thinking of anything but research.

Sunset sat down on one of the sofas farthest from where Cadence was sitting. She supposed there wasn’t much harm in wasting one day. She had already made quite a lot of progress learning human knowledge, and she had already started playing scales on the violin thanks to convenient instructional videos on the internet. A single day of distractions wouldn’t hurt, she reasoned.

“I’ve got it!” Twilight announced as she returned, holding a large box in her hands. “Can’t believe it was hidden deep in my closet, beneath my fifth grade final project! Anyway, since we’re eight players I can write up a more complex mystery to solve so that it’s actually challenging and then you can take turns coming up with different mysteries for Sunset and me to solve and then—”

“Twilight, honey,” said Night Light, placing a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. “Don’t you want to open your presents first?”

Twilight turned to her dad. “But you said we could play anything I wanted as soon as Sunset arrived!”

Huh, didn’t think she could be that childish and obnoxious, Sunset thought. Everyone suddenly turned to look at her, making her flinch. “W-What? Did I say that out loud?”

Twilight Velvet smiled. “I think the final decision rests with you, Sunset. Should we all play a round of Whodunit before moving on with the rest of the party?”

“Uh… sure?” Sunset replied. Why they were asking her was a complete mystery, but her answer made Twilight squee and everyone let out relieved sighs, so she supposed everything was fine.

Twilight opened the box in the middle of the living room and unfolded a large sheet of cardboard, which looked like a top-view of a mansion. She then grabbed some blank cards and quickly scribbled on them. As she worked, Sunset realized that Celestia and Luna were engaged in conversation with Twilight’s parents, while Shining decided to help Twilight.

That only left…

“I’m glad you came,” Cadence said as she sat next to Sunset, holding a plastic cup with what looked like orange juice. “Twilight’s been jumping off the walls the whole week.”

“Uh huh,” Sunset hummed. She knew, on a logical level, that this Cadence wasn’t the same that had beaten her at becoming an alicorn, but the similarities were so evident that Sunset just couldn’t stop feeling angry around the woman.

“You’re her first real friend,” Cadence continued. “She’s been a lot more cheerful since she met you, and I know this is the push she needs to go out and make a lot more friends.”

Sunset fought very hard the urge to roll her eyes.

“Because of that, it bothers me that you seem to dislike me so much,” Cadence said. Sunset blinked and turned to look at Cadence, who had a small frown. “I’m sorry if I did something to upset you.”

Sunset barely managed to keep herself from sneering. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she calmed down, she noticed that Twilight and Shining were still writing stuff on their cards.

“It’s not you,” Sunset said through her teeth. “You just remind me of someone else.”

“I see,” Cadence said with a relieved sigh. “Then I hope I can show you I’m not like this other person. I’d really like for us to get along.”

Sunset didn’t reply, and thankfully, Cadence didn’t press her. Honestly, Sunset really didn’t want anything to do with this Cadence. She just reminded her too much of the pink alicorn, and that, in turn, reminded her of her failings. And being reminded of her failings only made Sunset more anxious to return to her research.

That’s when Twilight and her brother finished whatever they were doing and called for everyone to begin the game.

A game that was, to Sunset’s surprise, quite enjoyable. Twilight gave all of them a few cards that described who their characters were, and one of them was the murderer, and then she proceeded to narrate the scene and everything around them. They could ask questions, and she would reply with as much or as little information to keep them guessing the clues. Twilight was so thorough that Sunset actually found herself invested, and ended up being the one discovering that the murderer had been Luna because her character had claimed to be left-handed, yet there were ink stains on her right wrist due to a faulty fountain pen.

All in all, Sunset couldn’t deny the fact she had a fun time.

Twilight wanted a second round of the game, but her parents convinced her that they could do that after the celebration. She pursed her lips, but ultimately relented. The celebration was very similar to any birthday in Equestria, with them (sans Sunset) singing the Happy Birthday song, and then Twilight blowing out the candles. Afterwards, they moved back to the living room, where Night Light placed the presents upon the coffee table. Twilight sat on the floor in front of them.

“Ooh,” Twilight said as she picked the first present and started to slowly unwrap it. “Judging by the weight and the size of the packaging, I’m going to guess that this is a three hundred plus page book, which means that it’s either the newest Daring Do installment, or the revised version of the first book that corrects the continuity error in which Daring Do is wearing the bracelet of Mictlantecutli on her left wrist instead of the right one.”

Sunset blinked at the sudden barrage of words. She had thought that Twilight’s sugar rush had dwindled.

Cadence leaned over. “Twilight’s favorite part of opening presents is trying to guess what they are,” she told Sunset in a low enough voice that Twilight didn’t hear. Sunset nodded in acknowledgement.

Twilight squeed as soon as she freed the book from its wrapping. “It’s the newest book! Thank you so much!” She stood up and gave her mom a hug before carefully placing the book on the coffee table. Then proceeded to fold the wrap paper into a neat square. Once done, she placed the paper next to the book and grabbed another present.

“Mhm.” Twilight gave the flat box a few shakes. She moved it around, tilting it this and that way, then started unwrapping it. “You’re not fooling me this time either, Shining. This is without a doubt a new scarf.” And just as she predicted, when she opened the box, there was a light blue scarf with yellow stripes and, for some reason, a few rocks glued to the box.

Shining shrugged unapologetically. “One of these days I will, Twily.”

After repeating the process of carefully placing the scarf on the coffee table and neatly folding the wrapping, Twilight placed the empty box to her right and continued on with the third present.

“This is most definitely a DVD case,” Twilight said. “But that’s all I got.” When she unwrapped it, she let out a loud gasp. “T-This is the director’s cut version of the documentary on the development of human technology from the stone age to the information age!”

Celestia gave out a nervous chuckle. “I hope it is of your liking? Your mom told me you were looking for this specific version.”

“I was!” Twilight replied with a massive grin on her face. “It goes more in depth in the mechanics of the electron field. Thank you very much, Miss Celestia.”

Celestia nodded as Twilight went through the same steps of her previous gifts before moving on to the next one. She gave it one single shake. “This is a jigsaw puzzle game!” When she unwrapped it, she found indeed a five-thousand piece puzzle that would become a very stylized picture of the solar system. “This is really amazing! Thank you, Miss Luna!”

Luna blushed a little. “I’m glad you like it.”

Twilight picked the next gift, and immediately smirked at Cadence. “Tricky as always.”

Cadence puffed out her chest in a prideful gesture. “I’m confident you won’t guess this time.”

With a lot more care than the other gifts, Twilight turned this small box around in her fingers a few times before giving it gentle shakes. She hummed several times, hefting the box in her hands in an attempt to weigh it. Finally, she began unwrapping it. “It’s not very heavy, but it’s not light either. I could hear several metallic things clink when I shook it, so it’s something for me to build. You know me just as much as my brother, so you have a pretty decent idea of what I already have and what my tastes are.”

Cadence didn’t even flinch.

“I’m going to guess that this is a Science Maker kit for young scientists.” And, once again, she was spot on. As soon as she removed the wrapping, she revealed the box stating her exact words. Apparently, it had materials and instructions to build a strobe light animator… whatever that meant. “Thanks a lot, Cadence!”

“I’ll get you next time,” Cadence replied with a smile.

Now there was only one gift left on the table. Sunset wondered how fast Twilight would guess her present. Even if Sunset had known about Twilight’s habit of guessing the contents, she had bought the first thing she’d seen at the store Celestia had taken her. And now that she thought about it, her present was the odd one out of all of them. Would that make Twilight angry? It would certainly slow down Sunset’s research speed if Twilight decided to stop helping her.

“Jewelry,” Twilight guessed as soon as she gave the box a shake. “A long chain, so a necklace, most likely.” Sunset shrugged, having given Twilight absolutely no challenge. When Twilight opened the box, however, she let out a tiny gasp before her cheeks reddened and her smile widened. “Oh, this is amazing!”

“What is it?” Cadence asked.

Twilight took the double chained necklace out of the box. “It’s a friendship necklace!”

Sunset blinked. A what now?

Before she could react, Twilight broke the trinket at the end of the double chain, a piece of metallic plastic in the shape of a heart. To Sunset’s surprise, however, the double chain also divided, and soon Twilight was holding two necklaces, each ending in one half of the heart. Twilight hopped towards Sunset and held one of the necklaces in front of her.

“Put it on me!” She said, practically shoving the thing into Sunset’s hands.

Not wanting to admit she had no idea what was going on, Sunset followed Twilight’s instructions and put the chain around Twilight’s neck. When she was done, Twilight immediately grabbed the other chain and put it around Sunset’s.

“Thank you so much, Sunset! I’ll cherish this forever!” And with that, she gave Sunset a rather constricting hug.

“Ack! Breathe! Can’t!”

Twilight stepped back immediately. “Sorry,” she said, having the decency to blush.

Night Light chuckled. “Well, now, Sunset. I guess you just got done and outgifted me!”

That made Twilight snap her head towards him. “Oh, right!” She looked around for a moment.

“It should get here any minute,” Night Light said with a smirk. “Can you guess what it is before it arrives?”

“Oh, now this is a challenge!” Twilight said happily. She paced in circles, humming and glancing at her dad every now and then. “One could immediately think it’s something you ordered from the internet, but it would be wrong. It’s impossible to predict what time the delivery people will arrive, so you knowing it’s almost here is a dead giveaway.”

Night Light’s smile didn’t falter.

“So it’s something you bought from a physical store and asked to be delivered at a certain time.” She narrowed her eyes. “That’s why you wanted to move on to the present opening right away. You thought it’d be here way earlier.”

“Guilty as charged,” Night Light said with a shrug.

Twilight tapped her finger against her chin. “I don’t think it’s anything edible. You would’ve stored it in the fridge. Plus, there’s nothing in particular I’d like to try so much it would make an amazing birthday present. That’s more of a Shining thing.”

“Corndog pizza was an amazing combination and you know it, Twily,” Shining said.

Ignoring her brother, Twilight kept pacing. “The question is, why would you have my present delivered during the party and not a day or two earlier? You could have picked it up after work and hidden it quite easily, so why do it like this? The answer is that it’s something that you can’t hide in your room for days, or even for a couple minutes. It’s something that, as soon as it’s in the house, I’ll be aware of it, which would ruin the surprise if it came early.”

At that, Night Light’s smile started trembling. Twilight stopped pacing and looked at her dad with narrowed eyes. When he didn’t give her any more information, Twilight turned her gaze towards her mom, and she immediately gasped.

“Mom’s doesn’t like what you’re giving me!” Twilight announced.

“Honey!” Night Light said.

Twilight Velvet shrugged. “I didn’t do anything. She can be very perceptive when she wants to.”

“And now you just confirmed it!” Twilight said, pointing a finger at her mom. “And there’s very few things mom’s never wanted to give me as presents… So if I relate all of the clues…” She froze, then gasped. “No way…”

“Did you figure it out?” Cadence asked happily.

Twilight glanced at Cadence for just a second before she looked back at her dad. “You didn’t… You didn’t!”

“Didn’t what, Twily?” Night Light asked, his smile widening.

Before Twilight could reply, there was a knock at the door. Night Light stood up and walked towards the front door, with Twilight following him with her eyes. Sunset noticed that the girl started trembling. There was a brief muffled conversation on the other side of the wall before the door closed. A moment later, Night Light appeared around the corner holding an animal carrier.

“You did!” Twilight yelled, but still didn’t move as her dad walked up to the middle of the living room and gently placed the carrier on the coffee table.

“I certainly did,” he replied, opening the carrier and sticking both hands inside. A moment later he turned around and showed Twilight a fist-sized purple dog with green ears. “Twilight, meet Spike.”

Silently, Twilight took the little pup from her dad with both hands. It gave out a series of whines, wiggling its tail so fast it was blurry. Twilight beamed at her dad. “This is amazing! Thank you so much dad!” She turned to look at Sunset. “Come on, let’s show Spike the house!”

Once again, Sunset found herself dragged around before she could protest, listening to Twilight explaining, in excruciating detail, every single room and corner of her house to a pup that simply whined and barked and licked her fingers. Through the barrage of words, Sunset learned that Twilight had always wanted a dog, but her mom had always refused because she didn’t want to be the one cleaning after it. It appeared that she’d finally decided to trust Twilight would do it.

“And this is my room!” Twilight explained as she carried Spike inside. “You’ll be sleeping here with me! Oh, we need to get you a bed of your own!” The words barely left her mouth before she dashed away and down the stairs, leaving Sunset alone.

Sunset sighed and sat on the swivel chair, wondering if it was too late for her to ask to be taken back to Celestia’s apartment.

Author's Note

Spike the Dog has arrived!

Friendship necklaces are a thing, right? I honestly have no idea, so I just went with my gut feeling.

I hope you liked it! If so, please leave a comment!