Fact number one: Ponyville was Twilight’s favorite place in all of Equestria. She and her friends had travelled many a time to all corners of the country, but the little village at the edge of the Everfree simply struck home.

Manehattan was bold and brilliant, its dazzling city lights shining like a thousand diamonds nestled beneath Luna’s stars, they had spent some incredible weekends in Las Pegasus as well; the likes of which still lingered as some of her most endearing memories - the nights she actually could remember, that is.

And sure, Canterlot was home to all the books and knowledge she could ever dream of, and it was where she had grown up to become the protege of Princess Celestia.

Still though, Twilight wouldn’t trade Ponyville for any of them.

Neither would any of her friends, as they all gathered at the Castle of Friendship for a special celebration, leading to fact number two: Somepony - er… some dragon had a very special birthday today.

It was Spike’s eighteenth birthday, and as to be expected of such an occasion, a huge party was being thrown in his honor. After all, it wasn’t every day that somepony reached adulthood.

Spike scanned the room in awe. In truth, he really shouldn’t have been that surprised, though. It would be an admittance of insanity to believe that Pinkie Pie wouldn’t be throwing a party for such an occasion.

She would move the sun and moon to make sure his special day was topped off with nothing short of the best party of his life on such a special day if she had to.

Which of course was a feat that defied all logic and reason, yet somehow, given the pink party pony’s perpetual energy and unparalleled passion -- not to mention her unexplainable methods to all but ignore the laws of physics or else bend them to suit her needs -- it was an impossibility that still firmly stood within the realm of reason.

Because Pinkie Pie.

That being said, he still made sure to seem genuinely surprised when he and Twilight had arrived. With Pinkie’s sporadic nature of springing parties for even the simplest things over the years it was safe to say Spike’s feigned surprise face was well practiced.

The main room of the castle was completely decked out in full party mode. There were countless streamers and strings crawling up the walls like vines that blossomed into balloons of every color and shape imaginable, though purple and green seemed to be a reoccurring theme.

Further confirmation of this was made clear by the matching plates and napkins that lined the tables in the room as well as the tablecloths. Even the icing on all the sweets seemed to pay homage to the guest of honor.

Okay, maybe not all the sweets.

There was an outrageous amount of them, but surely the vast majority of anything and everything consumable in the room was coordinated to match the livery of Spikes scales and spines. This also included the gems that were set out specifically for him.

Amethysts and emeralds were in no short abundance this evening. Spike was already at war with the urge to drool. He wasn’t certain whether it would be socially acceptable or not. Nor did he care.

To top it off, almost every pony in Ponyville had shown up to celebrate their favorite dragon’s birthday.

Vinyl Scratch had even done the honor of coming in her stage persona, DJ-Pon3 to provide the music for the festivities, and the beat was positively pumping.

Wave upon wave crashed upon the partying ponies as they sang and danced along, letting the sensation of the deejay’s tune take control of the night.

Even the the princesses and some of their royal staff had made sure to make their appearances tonight.

And nopony partied like the princesses -- Pinkie Pie excluded.

Although, to keep their fellow ponies at ease and to ensure that nopony lost their desire to have a great time while in the presence of royalty, Celestia and Luna had donned disguises.

Twilight and Spike were able to recognize them easily enough, having seen both the diarchs going incognito in the past, but to the average pony they looked, well, like an average pony.

Celestia (this night known as Sundancer) had cast an illusion, hiding her wings and shortening her horn to match the more average stature she had assumed.

Her coat was still brilliant white and shimmering with a vibrant sheen that glistened with an amethystine luster in the light.

No doubt it was a result of Celestia’s magic seeping through the otherwise flawless illusion. Her mane no longer had its ethereal appearance.

Instead it was the color of pink roses and cascaded elegantly down her neck and withers like a petals in the wind.

Her cutie mark had also changed to match her current persona; a depiction of an orb that was half sun and half rose petals.

Her effortless beauty had earned her a thorough -- and invasive -- examination from the Element of Generosity who was all but too eager to learn all of Sundancer’s beauty secrets.

Spike and Twilight were hiding their fits of laughter behind mugs of cider. Watching the usually stoic ruler of the sun shrink and visibly fluster under Rarity’s existential invasion of personal space was something they both agreed they would have happily paid good bits to see.

Luna’s persona, Milkyway was much harder to see through. She had forgone her horn at the expense as masquerading as pegasus this evening.

Her coat still payed homage to her true identity; deep indigo in color and soft as silk. Her mane no longer resembled her glorious night, however, having become periwinkle with light curls that danced playfully as she made her rounds through the night.

Her cutie mark had become a crescent moon formed by an assortment of stars. To complete her new identity, Luna had adorned a pair of thin, half moon spectacles.

Every stallion -- and more than a few mares -- were becoming more than a little hot and bothered by the disguised princess’ appearance.

Luna didn’t mind. After all, why bother to look so stunning if not to be ogled. Even a princess had desires after all.

The gifts the diarchs had given the newly adult dragon had been as incredible as their illusionary personas.

Celestia had given him an entire box full of rare fire rubies, a delectable gem that Spike was all but addicted to.

Twilight’s expression when she saw Celestia’s gift was a conflict of concern and happiness for him, but the latter won out as she saw his eyes light up with unrestrained jubilance.

Luna’s gift had been a crate full of mason jars each containing a clear liquid, and each had her cutie mark emblazoned on their lids.
She also gave him a box full of tiny magical crystals with which to flavor the jars with individually.

Spike wasn’t sure what the beverages were that Luna had given him, but if the twitch in Twilight’s eye and her slack jawed expression were anything to go by, he was going to enjoy it. Thoroughly.

The party went on well into the night. Games were played, the rug was cut, laughs were shared, cake was eaten, dragon fire was extinguished (more times than Twilight cared to recount), and everypony was merry.

After all, what’s a party without a little bit of chaos? Upon that erant thought, Twilight imagined it was probably reasonable to assume Discord was probably capable of giving a Pinkie Pie party a run for its money, but that was probably just the alcohol talking. She was buzzing like a bee in a clover field at this point.

Over time ponies slowly dispersed, giving their last birthday wishes and saying their farewells before turning in for the night. Before too long the spacious, enormous was host to just Spike, Twilight, Sundancer, Milkyway, and their closest friends.

They sat in a loose representation of a circle in the middle of the room talking and enjoying their cake and beverages as they laughed and talked - albeit most of the conversing was done through heavy slurs, hiccups, and giggling.

All except the birthday dragon himself, that is.

He had easily kept up with Twilight for a while in alcohol consumption, but she slowed down after she really started to feel it.

At this point Spike was soon going to surpass Applejack and Rainbow Dash. He just wasn’t feeling it, and let out a somewhat exasperated sigh.

Applejack quirked an eyebrow, “Wha -- Wha’s wrong, S-sugarcube?”

Spike furrowed his eyebrow ridges, “Nothing’s wrong, I guess. I’m just not feeling anything from the booze.” He lazily rolled his mug around in his clawed hand.

Rainbow clumsily took to the air from beside Applejack, bumping the farmpony’s shoulder and making her spill a splash of her cider, eliciting a disgruntled whickering of annoyance and a few choice words from the rustic mare.

Rainbow paid her no mind.

“Maybe if you - hic - stop babysitting your drink you might s-start to feel it - hic” Rainbow taunted, pointing an unsteady hoof at the mug of cider in Spike’s hand as if it’s contents offended her. Or rather the fact that the mug still had contents at all she found offensive.

Spike raised an eyebrow, “I’m up two whole drinks on you, ya know?” He deadpanned.

“Wha-?! No way!”

“Way.”

Rainbow narrowed her eyes, sizing up the young dragon through an admittedly thick cloud of intoxication.

Spike responded by merely pointing to the three tiered pyramid of empty cups that sat just in front of his most recent bowl of gems.

Rainbow’s jaw dropped and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates. Applejack and Pinkie Pie became hysterical with laughter at Rainbow’s reaction.

“Dang, S-sugarcube, Ah guess y’all can really hang with the big ponies now. Hay, with a s-stomach like yerss, Ah bet y’all might even be able to hang with Big Mac!” AJ proposed as Dash carefully touched back down beside her.

“Yeah, Dashie! Guess Spike is a natural Apple when it comes to cider - hic” Pinkie added before taking her own mug between both hooves and downing the entirety of its apple-ly goodness.

Everypony had a good laugh at that, and Twilight smirked, “It is pretty impressive, Spike, but I think under the circumstances you have an unfair advantage over everypony.”

“Whataya mean, Twi?” Spike asked.

“You’re a dragon, silly,” emphasizing her point by levitating his bowl of gems, “your anatomy lets you digest just about anything. I’m sure the alcohol in a mild beverage like this gets burned off before it even has a chance to have an effect on you.”

Sundancer chuckled lightly, nodding in confirmation, “Yes, I’m afraid Twilight is right. A dragon’s stomach makes short work of most varieties of alcohol.” She punctuated her statement with a sly smirk at her sister, who in turn nudged Twilight playfully.

Rainbow was airborne once again and hovering somewhat unsteadily with her nose just inches from Spike’s own, prodding his chest triumphantly with an extended hoof. “Yeah -hic - See! I knew there to be ssomething goin’ on here! There’s no, no way you could outdrink me the first time you’ve had a sip!”

It was Spike’s turn to cast a glare in Rainbow’s direction as he crossed his arms begrudgingly with a snort. “Yeah, well, I can still totally outdrink you!”

Rainbow patted the young dragon on the head, although likely a little harder than she intended to in her current state, “Ssureeeee, keep tellin’ yoursself that, champ.” Laughing as she drifted back over to Applejack’s side.

Spike was getting ready to retort when Twilight interrupted him, “Well, you know, we could find out right here and now if you really want to know.”

Everypony - and dragon - looked at Twilight, who was smiling knavishly as she floated over the crate containing Luna’s gift in her shimmering violet aura.

Rainbow, for her part, was fairly confident in her ability to hold her liquor, but she knew that starting a competition like that in her current condition would be a severe handicap in Spike’s favor.

Her conclusion: Still unfair.

“Nice try - hic - Twilight! I got no problem takin’ on Sscales the Magnificent over here, but we all know I’m already three sstars to the moon already, sso it sstill wouldn’t be a fair fight.”

Spike growled at that, narrowing his eyes at the polychromatic mare across from him. But before he could voice a witty comeback everypony in the room was surrounded by Milkyway’s midnight luminescence.

“Problem solved.” she smirked as her horn flickered and faded.

“Hey, what gives, Milky?! I don’t feel the cider anymore!” Rainbow protested, already making her way to the keg for a refill before Twilight snatched her mug away with her telekinesis, “Hey!”

“It was a sobering spell, Rainbow,” she explained as she retrieved nine of the mason jars from the crate and set one down in front of each of her friends as well as her and the rulers, “now the playing field is perfectly even.”

Spike popped the lid off of his mason jar and took a deep whiff of its contents. The strength of the clear liquid felt like it had singed nose hairs and made his eyes water slightly. He shook his head and set the jar back down.

“What is this stuff, Twilight?” he asked while prodding the offending jar with a claw.

“It’s called Moonshine, and it’s a bit of a signature recipe of Luna’s, hence the name.” She explained as she rummaged through the assortment of enchanted flavor crystals that the princess of the night had also given Spike.

Rainbow’s thoughts got caught up on that. “Wait a minute! If it’s supposed to be Princess Luna’s secret recipe, how come you have it?” She pointed a hoof at the incognito mare who responded with a playful waggle of her eyebrows.

“Wait… What?”

On that cue, Luna’s multiple layers of dissimulation began peeling away in plumes of indigo mist revealing the flawless regality of the moon that hid beneath.

Rainbow couldn’t stop the onslaught of heat building up in her cheeks. Having been one of the mares hitting on Milkyway throughout the night wasn’t helping to that accord.

Luna couldn’t help but tease the flustered pegasus, “So Miss Dash, am I still welcome to ‘taste the rainbow’?” she said with her best bedroom voice, half-lidded eyes, and a suggestive wink.

Rainbows wings shot up with a pomf.

“Lulu!”

Everypony froze. Then, as one, slowly turned their heads to look at the source that had called out Luna’s nickname.

Sundancer glanced around nervously at the eight pairs of eyes that suddenly had been drawn to her as if by some exponential force of gravity for their attention. Whistling softly and clopping her forehooves together she laughed nervously.

“Oh, buck me....” Rainbow spewed.

Everypony, Sundancer included as her own illusions began flashing away one at a time or in pairs with brilliant bursts of polychromatic light, broke out into laughter. Even Rainbow Dash joined in after the embarrassment began to subside.

Spike casually walked up to his mother and gave her a deep hug, thanking her for the gift as she responded in kind and told the king to be nothing but the best for her son.

Fact number three: The princesses were a hoot. Luna had even offered to let Dash saunter up beside her, insisting it was her new seat for the night.

The heat in Dash’s cheeks was still apparent, and Luna suggestively calling the pegasus her little ‘Rainbow in the Dark’ was certainly not helping her settle down.

But it amused the princess of the night, and after a while Dash seemed to get used to it.

Twilight wondered if there was something more going on there, but opted to simply file the errant thought in the back of her mind under ‘interesting’ for the time being.

~~~

“Is it strong?” Spike realized it was a bit of a redundant question having already gotten a whiff of the lunar liquid, and as such was currently regarding the jar in question with tentative concern.

“Oh-ho, yeah! Really strong. Alicorn strong.” She smiled at Luna who nodded her approval.

Twilight had found a combination of flavors she liked and dropped a pair of the crystals into her jar which began to glow with a swirl of bright red and cream colored light as it infused the drink with its flavoring enchantments; strawberry and cream.

“Alicorns have the same problem you’re experiencing, Spike, although for a slightly different reason. The intensity of our magic tends to burn off alcohol the same as any other intoxicating substances that enter our bodies. Although, probably not as quick as your stomach does.” Luna finished with a chuckle.

“But Twilight, doesn't that still leave leave Spike with an advantage seeing as how his body is still naturally resistant to the alcohol?” Rarity queried turning to the former unicorn.

Twilight shook her head, “No, it will just level the playing field. Luna’s moonshine, real moonshine,” Luna nodded and smiled, “isn’t any higher in alcohol content than a strong vodka or whiskey. The process she uses to make it, however, infuses it with a powerful negation cantrip that prevents any naturally occurring resistance; magical or otherwise, from warding off the effects.”

Spike was beaming. Up until now he had been a bit frustrated with his first experience with the assorted adult beverages, but his eagerness was returning in full stride with the revelation of what the princess of the night had given him. He’d show Rainbow he could hold his own.

Rarity glanced at Rainbow, who was puffing out her chest, already boasting about her superior tolerance of ‘the creature’ when a thought occurred to her. She whispered something into Fluttershy’s ear, eliciting a small eep from the butter coated pegasus.

She flashed a coy smile, “Well, if we’re going to be increasing the reward, how about we up the ante as well?”

Rainbow didn’t flinch, “Oh yeah? Whatcha got in mind Rare’s?”

“How about a little ‘truth or dare’?” she suggested, giving Spike a wink, “after all, it was how we all christened our first time drinking together. I think our dear friend, Spike deserves the same warm welcome into adulthood.”

Celestia laughed radiantly, “Well this night just got a whole lot more interesting, didn’t it?”

Spike was blushing furiously, wondering what his former love interest had meant by that. And if Celestia’s reaction was any tell, maybe he had reason to be a little nervous and could only chuckle at his mother’s statement.

Still though, he was determined not to be bested by Equestria’s fastest flyer. He’d show her!

Everypony and dragon looked at the alabaster unicorn with some form of perturbation. Rainbow was found speechless - quite an impressive feat if Rarity did say so herself - Applejack hid her nervous chuckle beneath the brim of her stetson.

Fluttershy’s cheeks were on the verge of actually catching on fire, and Twilight wasn’t far behind, chuckling nervously. Pinkie Pie on the other hoof had a wild look in her eye.

The kind of look that screamed with a lavish amount of excitement. The princesses had simply locked eyes with one another in an even gaze, wordlessly agreeing to terms of a little competition.

This was confirmed when the cotton candy colored mare began bouncing around the room with her typical hyperactive energy. “Oh! Oh! Me first! Me first!” She proclaimed.

Rarity smirkd, “But of course, Pinkie Pie. That is, if nopony has any objections to this proposition?” Her elation became adequately sated as her friends began returning the smile on her lips.

Fluttershy nervously rubbed a hoof against her fetlock, her face still showing her blush through her coat. “Yes, but um, s-shouldn’t Spike get to go first? Y-you know, because he’s the birthday dragon and all.”

Rarity gasped, covering her muzzle with both hooves, “Oh my! Fluttershy, you’re quite right. What was I thinking?” She turned in regards to Spike with a warm smile who could only gulp visibly, very much afraid for what everypony had in mind.

Fact number four: This night was about to get out of hoof.

Author's Note

Rewritten by my author brother DaNumbahZer0 and myself. We wanted to make the few first chapters light hearted before we got into the much darker and more serious side of the story, we hope you still enjoy friends, it's going to be a wild ride.