Silver Lining could feel the vibrations the floor. His own hooves were already shaking because he was so nervous of what would happen next. The sound of rolling thunder echoed off the walls and rang in his ears. He closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. A loud crash reverberated throughout the building and in a split-second, it was all over.
"Steeeeeeeerrrrike!" Bluebolt shouted as the lane cleared. Silver Lining opened his eyes and to his amazement, he had managed to down them all. Not a single pin remained standing.
"Good job Silver. That brings you up to one-seventy-seven," Fairflare said. He turned around and walked over to where she sat managing the scoreboard. Whatever pride he might've felt at earning a stike quickly evaporated as he looked at the score. Last frame and he had been the last up. His score? Also last. Full Throttle was in the lead with 287 points followed by Fair and Blue. Well, it hadn't been his idea to go bowling anyway.
"That's game everypony. Looks like it's Mr. Throttle as the victor! Congrats dude!" Bolt said. They applauded Full Throttle's win, Silver Lining joined in the clapping. He forced himself to smile though the taste of defeat was still fresh in his mouth.
Full Throttle grinned victoriously. "Well, what do you expect? My son's cutie mark is in bowling after all," the white pegasus announced. Apart from their group, a few spectators had joined in congratulating furthur enhancing his triumph and making Silver Lining's defeat complete. Silver was the first to stop applauding as he made his way over to where his friends sat. The mentioning of the word 'cutie mark' brought up unpleasant feelings.
While it was true that Silver did have a job as a cloud inspector in Cloudsdale, it was pretty generic occupation. He performed it no better and no worse than any other Pegasus and at the end of the day, went home like the rest of them, too. It wasn't his 'special talent', inspecting clouds. Unlike his friends, he didn't know what his special talent was, not yet. That wasn't what made him nervous, though; some ponies took longer to find out what their talent was. But usually, they found out before their 40th birthday.
Silver instinctively moved his tail over his 'cutie mark'. In order to give the impression he wasn't a 'blank-flank, Silver Lining had fashioned himself a false cutie mark to cover his backside. It was a blue cloud, something he'd cut out of cardboard and glued to his flank and that he reapplied every single day. He told himself he'd get his cutie mark eventually and that soon he wouldn't need to wear the faux-sticker. But his birthday reminded him that 'soon' wasn't happening as soon as he'd like.
His friends all had their cutie marks. Even Throttle's son. A burning sensation spread through Silver's face as he walked. He fought to keep his head from sinking. Was it shame, jealousy or regret he felt? After so many years, you would think he'd be used to dealing with being the only pony his age who didn't have a cutie mark. But like an uncomfortable sweater, it was something you never entirely got used to and the occasional random movement or reminder only emphasized the fact it was uncomfortable.
"You beat your old score, Silver. Good hustle out there," his friend Fairflare said. She patted him on the back with a hoof despite that even her score was higher. He genuinely smiled this time though. At least he had one modest friend.
"Actually managed a strike on the board this time, eh Silv? Keep at it and maybe soon you'll break two-hundred," Full Throttle said.
"Yeah yeah, congrats on the win Throt. You remember what we're supposed to be celebrating tonight right?" Bluebolt chided him.
Full Throttle grinned again. "That's right. Happy birthday Silver. C'mon, let me buy you a cider," he offered.
The offer was tempting, Silver had to admit but honestly, it was nicer knowing that his friend wasn't seriously acting like a jerk. He new far too many ponies that would and was just happy Full Throttle wasn't one of them. "I'll take rain check on that cider Throt. You can owe me," he replied.
Having finished their game, the four friends returned their bowling horseshoes to the attendant.
"Speaking of rain, we got a full schedule booked for this week. Meaning this is our one night of freedom before Storm Week," Bluebolt reminded the group. Storm Week, the week Cloudsdale tested out new types of clouds for storm potential and performed maintenance on the older models. It was going to be a lot of work and require a lot of effort from every Pegasus.
"You guys want to do anything else tonight?" Fair asked.
Silver shook his head. "I think that's it for me tonight, guys. Gonna go get some rest and get ready for tomorrow."
"Aww, Silver," Bluebolt whined. "Come on, dude, it's your birthday!"
"Speaking of," Full Throttle stopped, "We didn't get the birthdaycolt his gift yet."
"What?" Silver asked sarcastically. "You guys actually went out and got me something?"
The white Pegasus nodded with his head high. "That we did, my friend. I stashed it one of the lockers when we first got here."
"Oh, come on, you didn't have to get me anything," Silver said shyly.
The other three laughed. "Oh, yes we did," Fair declared. "You weren't going to get away from celebrating your birthday, that easily."
Silver smiled nervously. "Wouldn't have thought otherwise..." The silver Pegasus allowed the others to lead him to a line of red lockers by the entrance.
The taller Pegasus opened his locker. He reached inside, grabbing something and then quickly turned around, pressing his back against the locker to hide what he'd removed.
"Are you ready for this?" he asked, trying to build anticipation.
"Oh, just give it to him, Throt," Bluebolt said.
"Fine," Throt said, discouraged. "Happy birthday, Silver," the Pegasus hooved him two flat cards.
Silver didn't know what they were at first but quickly he realized, "Two tickets to the Wonderbolts?"
Throttle beamed. "Their next show! We bought you two in case you wanted to take anypony special..."
Silver almost blushed. He looked over to Fairflare and suppressed a little bit of the awkward shyness he was feeling.
"It's from all of us," Fairflare said. "We all pitched in to get you something special and they weren't cheap."
His heart sank at the comment. Fairflare had partially bought them... so it probably meant she didn't intend for him to ask her out. Meaning she wasn't interested in him. At all.
"I... uh, thanks guys," Silver said, demoralized. The girl that he was interested in and what passed for his two best friends smiled at him. Despite the face he felt like vomiting that second, he forced a grin. Without warning, the three others embraced him in a hug.
"Don't mention it, Silv. Just be sure to think of us when you're watching the show," Bluebolt commented.
The silver Pegasus felt his voice cracking. "I'm pretty sure this is something I'll never forget..."