This is a story about Fluttershy's birthday, the very special gift she receives, and the dark secret she learns not long afterwards.

It's also a story about Starlight Glimmer's long and painful recovery after a terrifying accident, and the emotional fallout that happened as a result.

It's also a story about Discord's visit to the Changeling Kingdom, and how drastically things have changed there - and how things have unfortunately stayed the same.

It's also a story about Thorax fighting for his life against an amalgamate of a twisted god and a dear friend.

And as all four stories join together, it becomes a different tale altogether - a tale of learning to accept things that come to pass, and the dangers of rejecting them.

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I've tried something a bit unusual (for me) here. There are four protagonists, and the story is somewhat non-chronological. Chapters are listed as a number before a decimal place and a number after the decimal place (e.g. 2.6, 3.2, etc.); the number before the decimal place refers to who's the protagonist at that point in time, and the number after the decimal place refers to the "chapter" of their story. The stories seem separate at first, but will link together into a bigger picture at then end (which I haven't released, yet - stay tuned!)

My most heartfelt thanks to MidnightDancer, NorsePony, Present Perfect and Regidar for all of their help.

Cover art is by ZiG-WORD (I think), and will be taken down on request.