//------------------------------// // Happy Birthday // Story: Little Glimpses // by Skijarama //------------------------------// Nine months have passed since the white unicorn filly named Rarity was confirmed to also be having the ‘flashes,’ as Celestia dubbed them. In that time very few flashes have occurred for either Rainbow Dash or Twilight, each time being of something inconsequential and holding no new answers. For now, they seem to merely be an irregular occurrence they must live with. For the last few days, however, Rainbow Dash has seemed less like herself. She has been quiet and distant. Something is weighing on her mind and it is showing quite clearly to the ponies around her. Lucky for her, Celestia knows what troubles her and has already set the wheels into motion for rectifying this problem…     Rainbow Dash stifled a yawn before sitting up slightly from her comfy lazing position on her bed. Her lethargic and melancholy mood was written clearly across her face, from the drooping eyes and persistent frown to the wrinkles in her brow and the sluggishness of her movements. She dragged herself out of her bed and peered at herself in the mirror over her nightstand. A small, humorless smile briefly crossed her face before once again falling away. Her mane had grown considerably longer in the last nine months and was more wild and unkempt to match.     She lifted one of the stray locks in front of her face with a hoof and puffed out a breath, sending it lazily drifting into the air before it settled in front of her eyes again. “...Yeah. I need a mane cut.” she said simply to herself in the mirror before a small sigh escaped her, her attempt to distract her already heavy mind with something, anything, having already failed.     How the hay had it slipped her mind last year? Yes, there was a lot going on with her being newly adopted and still learning the ins and outs of Canterlot society, mainly so she would best know how to dodge it and be herself, but still. How had something this big gone without even a mention? She scuffed the floor with a hoof and growled quietly to herself before making her way to her door and throwing it open. She needed some air.     She trotted silently down the halls, glancing out one of the numerous windows lining the side of the castle along the way. She took several moments to just peer out onto the world below, bathed in a soft orange glow from sunset, which was amplified into a truly bright display by the fact that there were also numerous rainclouds depositing their contents across the city and surrounding countryside without obstructing the sunlight. If Rainbow didn’t know better, she would have thought they were organized that way very deliberately.     “Oh, there you are!” came the voice of a colt in his mid-teens as he cantered up to her, his cadet armor rattling on his body as he made his approach. He gave a deep bow before standing to attention. “Your highness?”     “Uh-huh?” Rainbow mumbled bluntly, looking at the guard with a frown. She recognized this pony. cadet Shining Armor, Twilight Sparkle’s older brother and older than both of them by a fair amount. Rainbow hadn’t spoken with him a whole lot, but she at least knew his name and the rough gist of his personality. He was a surprisingly large dork and had a deep appreciation for action comics and old folk heroes like smash fortune. Rainbow adjusted her stance and spoke again “What is it, Shining?”     Shining Armor snapped more to attention then he already was. “I was sent by Princess Celestia to inform you that you are needed in the mess hall of the private wing. She said it’s urgent.”     That got Rainbow’s attention. “Urgent? Is something wrong? Did Twilight have another flash or something?” she asked, leaning forward slightly. Her eyes narrowed in confusion when she saw Shining’s face twitch slightly, noticably around the corners of his mouth. Was he repressing a smile?     “Er, they didn’t say, you're highness. I’m simply supposed to see you there as swiftly as possible.” Shining replied before turning with a small nod. “This way, please.”     Already numerous red flags were going off in Rainbow Dash’s mind. For one thing, why send a cadet, somepony still learning the ropes of being a guard, to fetch her for something urgent instead of the captain or somepony of higher rank? What was with that well-hidden but still notable smile Shining had been wearing? Rainbow felt unusually nervous all of a sudden, but decided to follow the white unicorn stallion anyway. He was old enough, she figured.     For several long minutes he led her along, occasionally shooting a glance her way to ensure that she was still following his lead. Rainbow gradually let herself go from trotting behind him to casually flying behind him, her wings beating in a slow but steady rhythm and keeping her aloft a few feet above the floor.     As they passed through the doors into the private wing, Rainbow couldn’t help but glance back over her shoulder as a realization struck her. Sure, the castle was normally quiet at this hour, but never silent like right now. Typically the difference in sound would be clear when leaving the public areas for the private ones. It would go from calm but audible to silent. Here, though, there was no discernable difference. The halls had been seemingly abandoned.     “Where is everypony?” Rainbow asked uneasily, rubbing her forehooves together in a very visible display of her anxiety. Shining looked back at her and his stoic expression softened slightly. “Don’t worry, everything’s fine.” “Is that right?” Rainbow asked with her eyebrow shooting up to vanish behind her mane. “Because I thought you said Celestia ‘didn’t tell you anything,’ or are you suggesting I am hard of hearing?” Shining looked straight ahead. “Er… no, you're not deaf or anything like that, your majesty. I was just, well…” he pushed open the large doors to the mess hall as they came up to them. They swung open with a loud creak. “SURPRISE!!!” Rainbow flailed back in alarm as numerous loud pops sounded and she found herself being assaulted by numerous clouds of confetti and streamers. She covered her face with her forelegs with a rather undignified yelp escaping her lungs before she crashed onto the floor. Shining Armor’s face appeared in her vision, smiling mirthfully down at her before he lent her a hoof. “I was in on it.” he said simply.     ‘Huh?” Rainbow asked dumbly, taking his hoof and getting back to her own. She looked into the mess hall cautiously. Instantly her defensive stance melted into a wide-eyed, gaping mouth look of shock at the scene before her.     She could see balloons all over the place, typically tied to chairs or the legs of tables. Confetti, streamers and other assorted party decorations smothered the entire mess hall in a display of bright, cheerful colors. A tall, multi-layered cake with cyan frosting and rainbow trims on the edges stood proudly in the center of the room on a table that had been moved there for just that purpose.     Sitting in chairs all across the scene were ponies that Rainbow recognized. Princess Celestia sat to the cake’s immediate left, with Twilight and her study group all sitting next to her. Further to the left, Rainbow could see Princess Cadance and numerous members of the castle staff she had come to know over the time she had lived here. On the right side of the cake sat more ponies that Dash knew, including some foals she had been competing with in her classes at the local flight school she had been enrolled in.     Over all of them sat an enormous banner reading ‘Happy Birthday Rainbow Dash!!’     Rainbow Dash was dumbfounded. Minuette lowered her glasses and peered at Rainbow uneasily before sharing a glance with Moondancer. “Too much?” she asked innocently.     Moondancer shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know. I’ve never met her.”     Rainbow left a hoof at the room and pointed at, well, all of it. “Th-this is all… for me?”     Celestia smiled warmly and nodded. “It is indeed, Rainbow Dash. I could see how much the fact that we missed your birthday last year was bugging you. I feel awful about that and I hope I can make up for it this year. I invited all of your friends.”     Rainbow’s pointing hoof shot to cover her mouth for a long moment. Then she closed her eyes and made a small choking sound. When she opened her eyes again, it was clear that she was struggling to hold back tears. “Celestia, w-what did w-we say about the o-onions?”     Celestia spread her wings and chuckled lightly. “No onions here, my little pony.”     Twilight grinned widely while Rainbow slowly trotted in, wiping a foreleg across her eyes. “Oh my gosh, are you crying? Wow, I didn’t think I’d ever see that from you again!”     “You hush!” Rainbow snapped playfully, ruffling Twilight’s mane as she passed her. The pegasus filly then launched up and hugged Princess Celestia around the neck tightly. She nuzzled herself into her adoptive mother’s neck with a grateful smile breaking through her tears. “Th-thank you…”     Celestia smiled and hummed with content before returning the embrace. Her smile widened even more when Rainbow slowly pulled back. “My goodness, you’ve grown quite a bit, haven’t you?”     Rainbow chuckled slightly. “What can I say? My growth spurts are awesome, too.”     Twilight rolled her eyes and playfully smacked Rainbow on the back of the head. A few of the staff nearby gasped at that before Rainbow turned and casually booped Twilight on the nose. Twilight snorted and recoiled slightly. “Pfft, hey!”     Rainbow merely waggled her eyebrows before eyeing the cake. “Woooaah… who baked this thing?”     Princess Celestia chuckled at Rainbow’s awestruck expression. “I commissioned a promising baker down in Ponyville to put it together. I believe her name was Mrs. Cake. She did a fantastic job, I think.”     “Yeah, she did!” Rainbow lifted into the air with a flap of her wings and looked at it from above. A cocky smirk spread on her face as she beheld the recreation of her head painted in frosting on the top layer. “Wow, she even did my face!”     Twilight smiled before using her magic to lift a glass off of a nearby table to tap Rainbow’s flank with it. When she had the pegasus’ attention, she spoke. “Well, don’t dive into that just yet. We’ve still got those to go through.” she gestured with a hoof and Rainbow followed it.     “Wha… jeesh, are you ponies trying to spoil me?!” Rainbow squaled in delight before soaring over to study the veritable mound of wrapped gifts from everypony who had come.     Princess Cadance laughed in amusement. “Aunty Celestia said she wanted to make up for missing out on your last one, so here we are.”     “Wait,” Rainbow glanced accusingly at Celestia, who fidgeted in place slightly. “Does that mean there will only be half this many next year?”     “Um… yes.” Celestia admitted bluntly, not meeting Rainbow’s gaze for a moment. Rainbow eyed her like an interrogator would his next suspect before shrugging.     “Cool, whatever. That just makes this one extra special!”     “It is your tenth birthday,” Cadance added with a small nod. “You’re in the double digits now.”     Rainbow grinned widely and nodded enthusiastically. She then looked to the assembled ponies and took to the air over them with her forelegs spread wide. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s do this thing!”     There was upbeat music and dancing, there was punch and juice and soda, there were jokes and laughter, there was the opening of gifts and heartfelt thanks... there was even an impromptu game of pin the tail on the ponym, instigated by little Minuette which, to Princess Celestia’s supreme embarrassment, she lost when she accidentally tried to pin the tail on Rainbow’s nose.     But eventually the party wound down. The song was sung, the cake was eaten and, eventually, the gusts had to file out to return to their own little corners of Canterlot. As the last group left, Twilight and her study group, Rainbow sat down heavily onto the floor and yanwed. “Wow… this was amazing. Thank you, Celestia…”     Princess Celestia lay herself down behind Rainbow Dash, letting the athletic filly fall back against her side while her massive alabaster wing draped itself over her like a blanket. Rainbow cooed at the warmth and snuggled into Celestia’s side, swiftly falling asleep. The smile on Princess Celestia’s face was one of unquestionable, motherly love. She leaned down and nuzzled Rainbow on top of her head before whispering, “Goodnight, Rainbow Dash. Sweet dreams... and happy birthday…”     Then, Princess Celestia joined her daughter in the realms of sleep, the two snoring blissfully into the long, silent night.