//------------------------------//
// Chapter 3: Give Starlight a battle, she will give you a war 
// Story: Today's His BIRTHDAY?! 
// by ThePinkedWonder 
//------------------------------//

In the cloud city of Las Pegasus, the hot-air balloon containing Twilight, Starlight, and Spike landed onto one of two docking stations for hot-air balloons. The trio hopped out of the balloon’s basket immediately afterward. Spike held the map Twilight acquired in Manehattan.

Numerous bridges – just over the clouds – branched across the city; some connected to its stores, hotels, amusement park, and other buildings. A few pegasi flew from bridge to bridge, while other pegasi and the other pony tribes walked or ran along.

“Where do we go?” Starlight asked, gazing in one direction after another to both admire the scenery and decide her next move. 

Spike looked intently at the map. “According to this, we have two choices, ‘Ponyazon’ and ‘Game Whoa’.” He pointed at a large pink building, similar to the shape of a small palace. “That’s Ponyazon.” Spike motioned to a more distant, taller, thinner building, or more like a tower. “And over there is Game Whoa.”

“Which store will we try first?" Starlight asked.

“This time, we will split up, so we can visit both at the same time." Twilight glanced toward Ponyazon, then Game Whoa. "Because I have enough bits to pay for a game by myself, Spike, Starlight, you two will go to Ponyazon, and I’ll check Game Whoa. That way, if I find a game, I can pay for it, but if Ponyazon has one, Starlight can teleport to me while Spike holds your place in line.”

“Okay,” Spike and Starlight said affirmatively.

“Good,” Twilight said with a smile. “Now, let’s find a game for Eric!”

Spike rolled up the map, and the three friends hurried down the bridges over the clouds and deeper into the city. Twilight soon broke away and flew to the more distant Game Whoa. Spike and Starlight dashed across another of the branching bridges and into Ponyazon.






Inside Ponyazon, Starlight and Spike turned their heads, scanning for something to direct them to where to go. Maybe they could ask a nearby pony for directions?

Spike said, “This place is like Stablemart. It’s got everything: couches, clothes, mops–”

“But we’re here for arcade games. Where is the game area?” Starlight motioned to a red balloon. It was tied high on the wall on the other side of the store; bright lights lit along the same wall. “Maybe it’s over there!”

Starlight and Spike sped through the store, passing through crowds of ponies, and to Ponyazon’s game area. As well as more balloons, it contained jigsaw puzzles, toy boats, and board games on several shelves throughout.

Lastly, there was a long counter with a green pegasus behind the right half (or Starlight and Spike’s right) of it. However, between it and the two game hunters stood a yellow pegasus mare, staring at the words of what the game section sold, in lights, on the wall. Her hoof was on her cheek.

Starlight and Spike went behind the mare and waited for her to move.

The mare stayed still and quiet.

After about ten seconds, Starlight leaned toward the pegasus. “Excuse me, but if you’re not sure--”

The pegasus spun her head to Starlight, and said in a hard tone, “I’m thinking.”

“Oh, sorry,” Starlight said meekly, shrinking back.

Starlight and Spike held their place in line. The mare in front of them remained motionless, prompting Spike and Starlight to tap a foot/hoof as they waited.

Five minutes later, Spike whispered, “Uh, sorry to interrupt, but--”

The mare twirled around, bearing a harsh glare. “Didn’t I say I’m thinking?! Ugh, I was about to make up my mind, but you made me forget what I wanted! Now I have to decide again.”

“Okay, then let us go ahead,” Starlight pleaded. “That way, you can take all the time you want!”

A second mare, an earth pony, stepped to the left half of the counter. “I can assist who is next.”

A unicorn stallion that had lined behind Starlight and Spike darted to the freshly-open line.

“Are there any arcade games left? I’ve been searching all over for one.”

The salesmare nodded with a friendly smile. “Yes. We have ‘Hoof-Out!!’, and it costs 2,800 bits.”

“I’ll take it!” the stallion answered with a massive grin, levitating a bag of bits in his magic to the counter. “You can keep the change.”

“Thank you!” The salesmare picked up the bag with her teeth and poured most of the bits into a  cash register, but moved the extra bits behind the counter. “Will you need 'Hoof-Out!!' delivered?”

“I can take it myself, but I’ll need to get my friend to help me carry it. I’ll be back soon,” the stallion answered. He pranced out of the store, laughing giddily.

Starlight and Spike ran to the newer salepony.

“Do you have another 'Hoof-Out!!' or any other arcade games?” Starlight asked.

The salesmare frowned and answered, “Oh, I’m sorry. I just sold our last one.”

Starlight’s and Spike’s eyes grew as they both shouted, “WHAT?! NO!”

The pegasus that was arguing with the pair, in an almost sympathetic voice, remarked, “Oof, that’s too bad. You would have gotten it if you were quicker.”

Starlight gritted her teeth and spun around to the pegasus showing her pity(?), frustration flying from her eyes like daggers. “But I couldn’t because you...UGH!”

Spike laid a soothing paw on Starlight’s barrel. “It’s okay, Starlight. Let’s just go.”

 Starlight blew a sigh and sulked out of the store; Spike followed her from behind.



With a disgruntled frown locked on Starlight’s lips, Starlight and Spike walked on one of the many bridges of Las Pegasus, heading to the tower-like building of Game Whoa.

“What’s wrong with me, Spike? We had the chance to get Eric one of those games, but I blew it!”

“Well, try to look at the bright side: since Ponyazon had one, Twilight might have–”

“What?! Not again!” Twilight yelled from inside Game Whoa.

“Or not,” Spike said with a sigh.

A scowling Twilight stomped out of Game Whoa’s doors and across the city’s bridges. The mumbling under her breath grew louder as she approached, but stopped once she reached her friends.

“No luck?” Starlight asked.

“No. They did have three, but somepony bought them all ten minutes ago. There should be a rule forbidding ponies from buying more than one of those games at a time!” Twilight let out a groan, releasing as much pent-up frustration as possible, and her scowl softened. In a calmer voice, she asked, “I take it Ponyazon was sold out too?”

Starlight closed her eyes and lowered her head in shame.

Spike glanced at Starlight and answered, “Uh, we...had some bad luck.”

Starlight raised her head, but her facial expression remained unchanged. “What now? We can’t go back to Ponyville empty-hoofed.”

“I still say you can pick out something and Eric will be happy.”

“No!” Twilight yelled, lowering her head to meet Spike in the eyes. “We can’t ‘pick out something’!" She straightened herself and added, "I doubt he ‘picked out’ the limited edition of ‘The Life of Starswirl the Bearded’ that he bought me, or Starlight’s 1,500 piece jigsaw puzzle and deluxe kite set.”

“Nor did he forget our birthdays, but I think we are out of options.” Starlight shook her head, a small but undaunted scowl emerging over her eyes. “No, this can’t be it! I didn’t quit this easy when I wanted to steal Cutie Marks during my...phase.”

In spite of the exasperation of the situation, Twilight formed a smile, filling with pride of her close friend and ex-student. “You said it, Starlight. Maybe another store sells arcade games that the map didn't–”

A brown pegasus stallion strode to the trio and asked, “Hey, did you say you’re looking for an arcade game?”

Twilight answered, “Yes. We already tried Ponyazon and Game Whoa.”

The stallion pointed at a lofty yellow building. “I heard that new place, ‘Great Buy’, has one left.” 

“There is?!" Twilight exclaimed with a huge grin, her eyes sparkling. “Thank you so much, and I'll pay you back someday!” Twilight lunged for and wrapped her forelegs around the informative stallion. His eyes widened during the young princess's unexpected hug. Her mane rubbed against and tickled one of his ears, prompting the stallion's wings to sharply spread out. Once she let him go, Twilight faced Starlight and Spike. “You heard that?! Let’s go to Great Buy before that game's sold!”

Twilight, Spike, and Starlight dashed across a bridge and through the double doors of Great Buy.

The stallion that Twilight appreciatively hugged blushed. Warmness flooded his body, and his wings continued to stay open. “Oh my Celestia, the Princess of Friendship hugged me. I can’t wait to rub it in Midrock’s face the next time I’m in Manehattan!”





On the capacious first floor of Great Buy, red, blue, and yellow lights lined some of the walls and doorways. It was largely empty in objects, as if it had been cleared out. A crowd of ponies had collected in front of a stage with three pegasi stallions standing on top. Two of them each held the edge of a blue bucket in their teeth; the third pegasus held a blowhorn in one of his wings.

Twilight surveyed the crowd. “This is odd. I wonder what’s going on.”

A mare in the back of the crowd turned to Twilight, Starlight, and Spike, and answered, “We’re waiting for the drawing for ‘Mr. Pac-Mare’.”

“Mr. Pac-Mare?” Twilight asked with a puzzled stare, despite the joy of not arriving too late. “Why is there a drawing for it?”

“I guess you didn’t hear, but arcade games are next to impossible to find, so the owner of Great Buy wanted to have a drawing to determine who would buy it. The rest was sold minutes after their shipment came in earlier.”

“At least we have a chance this time,” Spike commented with a hopeful smile.

“Indeed, Spike,” Twilight said, wearing a smile of her own. “Let’s hope our bad luck finally becomes good luck.”

Three minutes later, in an amplified voice thanks to the blow horn, one of the stallions on the stage said, “Okay, mares and gentlecolts, we’re ready. As I’m sure you all are aware, we have one ‘Mr. Pac-Mare’ left for sale. Furthermore, the owner of Great Buy wished to get into the Las Pegasus spirit and have luck determine who will buy it. So, you are going to pick a ball with a different number on it. After that, we will hold a drawing, and the winner will earn the chance to buy ‘Mr. Pac-Mare’. Do you all understand?”

The crowd answered, “Yes!”

“Now, the ponies with the buckets full of balls will come down, then you will form two lines and wait for your turn to pick a ball.”

“Spike, Starlight, to improve our odds, let’s each pick out a ball,” Twilight suggested in a whisper.

The two pegasi holding the buckets flew down from the stage and stood side by side. The crowd split into two lines, and Twilight and Spike got into one line; Starlight stood in the other.

Two by two (thanks to there being two lines), the crowd picked up a ball from a bucket. Each had a unique number.

A unicorn mare grabbed a ball with her magic, but directed a hoof toward the ceiling with a fearful frown. “Whoa, what’s that?!”

All in the room stared upward. The mare swiftly levitated out a second ball and stuffed it in a backpack on her back.

“Uh, sorry! I was...seeing things, I guess,” she lied in an innocent voice.

The crowd, including Twilight and Spike, shrugged and went back to selecting balls, two by two. 

However, Starlight gazed at the lying unicorn and laid a hoof on her cheek in suspicion. She caught sight of part of a yellow ball from the mare’s backpack and pointed a hoof at her. “Wait, she has a second ball in her bag! She’s cheating!”

The mare innocuously shook her head protested, “N-no I don't! Don’t listen to her!”

An earth pony peeked at the cheater’s backpack and gasped. “Hey, she’s right! There is a second ball in there!”

With eyes on the dishonest unicorn, a different unicorn, a stallion, picked up a ball from one of the buckets and levitated it toward a trash can.

A pegasus stallion pointed at the floating ball. “Hey, he's cheating too! Give me a ball before some other unicorn tries to cheat!”

The increasingly agitated and grumbling crowd broke from their lines and forced themselves to the bucket to pick balls. Some, like Twilight, Starlight, and Spike, stayed calm.

The impatient picking of balls devolved into shoving. Balls were reached for more and more frantically.

The stallion with the blow horn said, “Okay, everypony, please calm down–”

The crowd shoved even more aggressively. The two pegasi holding the buckets finally tossed the balls into the air out of desperation.

The balls rained down. Ponies dove for the bouncing balls in all directions. Some ponies dove into each other, some by mistake and others intentionally to knock captured balls free. A few ponies slammed into and bounced off walls from overzealous dives. Some unicorns seized balls with their magic, but the other pony tribes tapped the horns of those unicorns, instantly freeing the balls from their magical telekinesis. 

Only Twilight, Starlight, and Spike stayed out of the fray.

Spike surveyed the mob and grimaced. “Twilight! This is getting out of control! You gotta do something!”

“And while you do that, I’m going in!” Starlight leapt toward a ball bouncing to her with all her might. She soared over it and rolled on her back from her momentum. Perhaps she needed to work on her aim.

An earth pony snatched the ball Starlight had targeted, making Starlight groan from annoyance of herself.

Amid a brainstorm, Twilight tapped her cheek. As the Princess of Friendship, her first instinct was to break up the melee. On the other hoof, her past experiences with unruly mobs had taught her that even her princess status isn’t always enough to quell mobs. A different idea lit in her brain like a light bulb, allowing Twilight to smile and lean her head toward Spike. “I have a plan. Hop on my back, and no matter what happens, stay quiet and don’t jump off.”

Spike nodded and jumped onto Twilight’s back. Twilight flapped her wings to hover in midair and observed the crowd quietly. Oblivious to Twilight’s plan, Starlight spotted a loose ball and grabbed it in her magic.

“Yes! I got one!”

The unicorn mare that first attempted cheating directed a hoof at Starlight. “She’s got two balls! She’s got two balls!”

“She’s what?!“

“What’s with these cheating unicorns?!”

The crowd glowered at Starlight, who pointed at herself. “What?! No, I don–”

A pegasus mare growled and yelled, “Get her!”

Starlight turned to run. Four mares pounced on her, forcing out a pain-filled grunt from the tackled pony, and forced Starlight to release her ball.

A fifth mare searched around Starlight, then peeked into her bag of bits tied on the strap around her. “Wait, she only had one!”

The mare that lied about Starlight pursued the ball knocked from Starlight’s magical grip.

Starlight Glimmer’s eyes locked onto the lying unicorn, louring intensely. The aggravating weight of the ponies on top of her further ignited her blood. Her eyes reddened, and her vocal cords emitted a low, long growl. That was it. She may be friendly, but if those ponies wanted a battle, the reformed villain would give them a war! “You all picked the WRONG mare and day. No more Mrs. Nice Glimmer!” Starlight’s horn glowed turquoise. A wave of magic radiated from her body, harmlessly throwing the screaming mob off of her every which way. They asked for it!

Free, Starlight sprang to her hooves and dove for the fibbing mare, making the two roll on the floor. Once the rolling ended, the battling unicorns engaged in a magic-based tug-o-war for the ball Starlight previously held.

“Give me back that ball, you big liar! This is not the day to mess with me!”

“You don’t scare me, sweetheart! Our magic is evenly matched anyway!”

“Are you sure about that?” The alicorn-level unicorn smirked. The ball slowly inched toward her.

An earth pony plucked the floating ball with a hoof.

“Ha! I got–”

A pegasus dove at the ball and nabbed it out of its most recent owner’s hoof. 

Yet another pegasus flew in to steal it.

The whole mob, spread out all over the first floor, continued to fight over the ever-spreading balls. With Spike still on her back, Twilight hovered in the air and watched, save for the occasional grimace from her.

Four male pegasi, all wearing security suits, ran down the stairs and into the room. One of them shouted in a blow horn, “EVERYPONY STOP!!”

The battling ponies froze and stared at the pegasus delivering the order. Starlight’s red eyes cleared, but they retained a slight red hue.

“That is enough. All of you that were fighting, leave! No 'Mr. Pac-Mare' for you!”

The mob’s ears flopped and the misbehaving ponies moped away, Starlight included.

Twilight slowed her wing flaps to land, trotted to the leader of the new pegasi in the lobby, and said, “I’m sorry for not stepping in, but they might not have listened to even me.”

The stern look on the leader’s face softened into a friendly smile. “It’s quite all right, Princess Twilight. Even if you are the Princess of Friendship, we can’t expect you to do our jobs and break up out-of-control mobs. What brings you here?”

“I came to purchase 'Mr. Pac-Mare'. I will understand if you don’t–”

“That so?” the stallion asked in an even more cheerful voice than before. “Well, since you stayed civil, we will allow you the chance to buy it. Wait here while we bring out a clerk to sell it to you.”

“Really? Thank you!” Twilight aimed a hoof toward the retreating Starlight. “I know I’m asking for a lot, but can that mare stay with me? She wasn’t the...best-behaved pony, but I promise to keep her in check.”

Starlight’s ears perked. She teleported beside Twilight, smiling as trustworthily as possible.

The stallion stared intently at Starlight, rubbing his cheek. “Well…she doesn’t seem like a bad pony, but–”

“And she’s not and is even my former student! She’s just having a really bad day, but she’s a good pony that’s sorry!” Twilight leaned her head to Starlight. “Say ‘sorry’, Starlight.”

“I’m sorry.” Starlight looked down, similar to a filly that was forced to apologize. Although she truly was remorseful for letting her temper get the better of her.

“Uh...okay. You’re lucky Princess Twilight is vouching for you.”

The four security ponies flew up the stairs they had come from. At the same time, Spike hopped off Twilight’s back.

Alone in the lobby for the moment, Twilight asked with a concerned frown, “Are you hurt, Starlight? I wanted to do something when those mares pounced on you, but if you knew my plan, you would have wanted me to stay out of it.”

“I’m fine. I went head-to-head with a powerful alicorn in the past, so it’ll take more than that to hurt me!” Starlight boasted with a wink.

“Hehe, glad to hear it.” With a knowing smile, Twilight added, "I heard that alicorn you fought was pretty talented in magic.”

“We’re lucky you didn’t jump in too, Twilight, or you would have–wait.” Spike gasped and pointed a claw at Twilight. “Was that why you stayed back, so you and I would be the last ones left?”

Twilight’s smile curled into more of a smirk.

“Oh...you’re good, Twilight. Hee hee, why didn’t I do that instead of fighting with the rest of that mob like an idiot?”

A pegasus mare walked down the stairs the security ponies used. With a warm smile, she strolled to the trio.

“So, are you the lucky winners?”

“Yes, we are!” Twilight answered with a huge smile. “You have no idea of what we have been through to buy one of those games.”

“I can only imagine. Arcade-style games had never been so hard to find before, if that mob I heard about didn’t show it already. Anyway, 'Mr. Pac-Mare' costs 2,400 bits.”

Starlight looked into her bag of bits. “I got 950 bits. It’s all the bits I have, but this will be worth it. Can you cover the rest, Twilight?”

“I can." Twilight peeked into her bag. The sight made her gasp deeply. Her pupils shrank. “Oh, Celestia, what have I done?”

“Wha–” Spike’s mouth widened “–oh, Twilight. Don’t tell me you–”

“Yes.” Twilight closed her eyes in shame. “I was in such a hurry to leave the castle, I forgot to bring extra bits to cover the cost. I only have about 500.”

“What?!” Spike shouted.

“NOOOO!!” Starlight fell to the floor, smacked her face against the floor, and left it there.

"Oh." The clerk's friendly smile dropped into a sympathetic frown. “Can you go somewhere nearby and collect enough bits? I can hold 'Mr. Pac Mare' for a while.”

Twilight shook her head and opened her eyes. “No. I would need to return to Ponyville, and it would take me around two hours to come back. Plus, I have to be somewhere in about an hour and really need to have it by then.”

“Oh, dear. I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault,” Twilight assured, forcing out a smile. It would be unbecoming for an Equestrian princess to make others feel bad over her personal issues.

Starlight stood up and, with Starlight’s head down, the three friends left Great Buy.



Once the friends were outside, Twilight allowed her false smile to darken into a genuine frown. “UGH! I’m so sorry guys, and I can’t believe myself! Not only did I forget Eric’s birthday, but I forgot to BRING ENOUGH BITS! I’m the worst friend and sister ever!”

Spike countered, “Come on, don’t talk about yourself like that, Twi, and even Eric would hate it. You made a couple of mistakes, but you’re far from the worst."

“With how I’m going to let him down, again, I might as well be.” Twilight hung her head down, cursing herself Internally. “Thanks to this, Eric might think that I don’t care about him as much as I truly do. I would fight every villain in Equestria alone for him without a second thought, yet I couldn’t remember my brother’s birthday.”

“And I’m no better for forgetting it too, and even your dancing might not fix this,” Starlight admitted, her head down. “We really blew it this time.”

“I still say you two are overreacting. But, once we’re back to Ponyville, maybe you can buy something he’ll like, even if it’s not ‘perfect’. It will be better than nothing at all, right?”

Twilight sighed and said, “You're right about that, Spike. We’ll buy something in Ponyville and hope for the best.”

With that, the trio hurried to and boarded their hot-air balloon. After an Accelero spell was cast on the balloon again, they zipped through the air and made their way back to Ponyville. As they did, Spike tried his best to cheer up his disheartened friends.

They would have to not only hope the gifts Twilight and Starlight chose to buy would suffice, but hope that something else wouldn’t go wrong.