Chapter III: Happy Birthday!
Sleep came well and greatfully to you that night, and when morning came, the excitement could not come quick enough.
With the flickering of your opening eyes, you were not greeted this time with the shining sun---good thing you closed those blinds---but knowing exactly what today was had been more than enough to fully wake you.
Morning, while it was the same as yesterday, was more energetic than usual. You felt so full of life and energy, more full than you have ever been. Maybe it was simply because of the day, or maybe it was because of the sleep you got.
Maybe both.
But you were quite pumped indeed.
Once you finished your breakfast and washed your dishes, you reminded yourself to check your mailbox. With further excitement pressed down on you---in a good way, of course---you make your way outside and walk to your mailbox, the town around you once more coming to life as it always did.
As you stand in front of your mailbox, you notice a little pink slip of paper hanging outward. Grabbing it and opening it up, it read:
Congratulations, lucky contestant! Hope you have fun with that special somepony of yours!
-Blossom Meadow
At first, you wonder a bit how they managed to find your address. But of course, you realize that phones have Caller ID. Originally, when they first came out, that wasn't the case.
Then there was the Prank of '92.
It's amazing how easy ponies can be fooled.
Back on topic, you open up your mailbox and peak inside. You see a few envelopes and take them out.
One was for your bills. Easy to pay.
One was from Applejack, asking for you to return that rake of hers. Surprising, you thought you gave that back ages ago. You make a reminder to check on that later.
Another note was from Pinkie Pie, asking you to attend Rainbow's 'superlicious, awesome birthday party' tonight! When were you not going to go?
Flipping to the very back, you come across the final envelope. You didn't open it just yet, but Blossom's name was enough to let you know. You decided to wait about opening it until you weren't in public.
Going back inside and locking the door, you gently rip the envelope open and hold it upside down, shaking it a bit, until two golden tickets fall into your hoof.
One side had simply the main logo of the Wonderbolts, but the other had a date, a place, and a time: 21st of Windfall, 8:00 PM. Cloudsdale Stadium.
As disappointing as it was that the show was six months away, you were relieved enough that you even had the tickets. You knew for sure that Rainbow would love this. And who knows, maybe this could give you a chance to know her more. That way, you could prepare for future birthdays.
You know...so you don't decide to get the presents at the last second next time...genius.
By ten o'clock, Rainbow's presents were perfectly wrapped in the occasional birthday wrap. The tickets were placed inside another envelope, with your name on the center of it this time, but still thanking Blossom in the corner. However, the tickets were not the only thing inside the envelope, but a letter to go with it. It was a bit of a 'thank you' letter to her, along with a...few other words.
Once the envelope was properly sealed and the gifts were properly wrapped, you put them beside your couch instead, no longer needing to hide them as much.
Now that everything was essentially going according to plan, you decide to go out and see how the other girls were doing. Grabbing your key, you unlock the door and walk out, shutting and locking said door behind you. Once more, you were greeted by the sun's light and the joyous ponies. It didn't look very celebratory at the moment, but you knew it would be by tonight.
Oh, definitely.
The first place you decide to visit is Twilight's castle. Though Twilight's old home was much closer to yours than her new home, clearly, she didn't live there anymore. And it didn't take a genius to figure it out.
However, you did wish that the new house would be at least the same size and not insanely and eye-sore-ingly huge. It wasn't difficult to navigate through, just a sore on the legs. Sure, you're not even in your mid-twenties, and you're complaining about sore legs.
Oh, you little pathetic-
Anyway, once you make your way through the main hall and down a couple of corridors, you end up in what is supposedly Twilight's living room. It wasn't anything more special than her previous one; this one mostly consisted of a few bookshelves, a coffee table, a couch, a love-seat, a radio, a few stands with lamps, and a few decorative carpets on the floor, one of them consisting of her own cutie-mark, a gift from Rarity when her birthday came about.
As you walked into the room, you could see Twilight sitting on one of the couches, almost done with wrapping up gifts, when she turns her head to the sound of your trotting and notices you. A smile beams onto her face.
She says your name in joy upon seeing you and asks, "What're you doing here?"
"Just seeing how you were doing with your presents. How's it been?"
"Good so far," she responds. With a glow of her horn, the gifts illuminate and hover between the two of you. While she doesn't take them out of their wrappings, she does use an X-ray spell in order for you to see it. The first gift was a piece of clothing. Asking what it was, she explains that it was a flight suit, one of the original Wonderbolts uniforms, but slightly modified so she would be protected in harsh weather.
Hovering the second gift towards you, you notice that it's a necklace, with her cutie-mark as a little piece to it. She had paid somepony to make it for her a few weeks in advance, just so that if any flaws were found, there was time to fix them.
Her third gift, not surprising, was a Daring Do book. You will admit, you did panic a bit in your mind, but upon seeing that it was her most recently released novel, you sighed a bit in relief, a bit too loudly, in fact.
Twilight, being curious, asked why you did so.
While you didn't want to say anything just yet, you did decide to let it be your secret to her until tonight, so while whispering, you tell her exactly the things you had gotten her; the book and the tickets.
She did admit that she was surprised that Daring would give out an early copy, especially to a pony she very rarely knew, but she was glad of how generous she was nonetheless.
But when you started talking about the tickets, she had to ask:
"So you were Caller 22, right?"
Rubbing the back of your head with a hoof in an awkward fashion, you sheepishly nodded 'yes.'
Twilight laughed a little at your response, and replied, "It's fine. I was planning on giving you the other ticket anyway."
"You were?" you asked, somewhat surprised.
"Of course," she says.
Walking up to you and putting a hoof on your shoulder, she looks at you with careful eyes and says, "I know how much Rainbow means to you. I want you two to...get to know each other more just as much as you do. She doesn't really give you all that much of a chance, but...she should."
With a smile, she finishes, "I'm sure she'll love it."
You smile back, thanking her for her kind words, to which she says, "You're welcome."
For a little while, you and Twilight have a friendly conversation on the couch. Every once in a while, the two of you would tell some past stories, while adding in and making a few jokes of your own, to which you would laugh every time.
Eventually, you bid her goodbye with a hug and trek offward to see how the others were coming along.
For the next couple of hours, you visited each mare, asking how they were doing and seeing what they had gotten Rainbow. Some gifts mostly consisted of plushies, socks, necklaces, or comics, either of Daring Do or the Wonderbolts. Heck, Rarity even made Rainbow a cute-looking Wonderbolts hoodie. Rainbow was not much of a fan of girly apparel, so Rarity assumed Rainbow would like this gift.
While Pinkie Pie's gifts weren't objects that Rainbow could read or wear, they were something that she could eat. Her gifts were really cakes and cupcakes, but they weren't like her typical ones. These ones were...'fantastic' wouldn't even describe it.
As the Prench would likely say it, "Fucking awesome."
The cake, or cakes, were really made in the shape of each individual Wonderbolt: Soarin, Spitfire, Fleetfoot, etc.
You wondered how Pinkie managed to do this in such a short time, but she only said, "I've got ways."
You didn't want to know those ways.
By the time it was three o'clock, you were on your way back home to make sure everything was prepared for tonight, and that the gifts were properly wrapped.
But along the way home, as you passed by the market once more, you heard a voice, while muffled, coming from a nearby alleyway. Being quite a peeping tom at times, you decide to listen in on the conversation. Upon putting your body up to a building wall and listened to the sound of the voice, you almost instantly clicked it as Applejack's voice. Sounding like she was speaking to somepony else, you assumed she was talking to Apple Bloom.
However, upon hearing the second voice come to, you realize that it wasn't Apple Bloom replying, but rather...
'Rainbow Dash?' a thought pops into your head. You didn't know exactly why you were so surprised about her and AJ talking to each other, but it perhaps because this was likely a secret conversation.
While you did feel a bit guilty on listening in on them and wanted to leave, a part of you wanted to stay and listen in a bit, see what they were talking about.
And to be honest, you wished you just left so you didn't have to hear them talk about you like...like that...
"Look, he's a cool guy and all, but he's just...you know...not the most careful, you know?"
"Ah hear ya. Remember that time he nearly set the barn on fire tryin' ta help stack hay?"
"Heh, I remember that. Seriously, was it really that hard to look out for those lanterns? Even I could see where they were!"
"That pony couldn't carry a bale of hay if it meant savin' his life."
"You got that right. Oh, remember that time he nearly destroyed town hall trying to help Lyra with her groceries?"
"Oh, Ah remember that. The Mayor nearly blew a fuse over that."
"I'm surprised he hasn't burned his house down yet."
"Ah'm surprised he hasn't burned the town down."
"If it meant my life, I'm better off not dating him. Trust me - my house wouldn't last a day!"
And as they laugh themselves away, chuckling and giggling at their own jokes and stories of the past, you're just standing there, trying really hard to really comprehend what you had just heard come out of their mouths, primarily Rainbow's.
But no matter how hard you tried, you still could not understand. You just...you just couldn't.
For several minutes, this conversation would go on and on, with them talking about you endlessly, and not one bit of it was in a good way. It was nothing but jokes, cringeworthy stories, and sometimes even insults. You couldn't believe a single bit of what you were hearing.
You couldn't even believe that the Element of Loyalty would say things like this.
After a few minutes of discussion, Rainbow and AJ bumped hooves, a way of 'goodbye', before heading off in opposite directions. You made your way out of there before any of them could end up spotting you.
Still unable to take in those words of theirs, you began to make your way home. Nowhere else.
Just home.
Hours have passed since you heard those jokes and stories that came out of their mouths. After you came home, you shut the blinds and sat down on the couch, not wanting to move much. Upon first coming home, you put your head in your hooves and tried to shake said memories out.
But no matter what you did, they stayed in place, forcing you to remember and hear them over and over again.
The jokes were not as bad as the stories. The jokes, you will admit, are a bit funny and such, but the stories were nothing more than painful memories that you simply wanted to forget.
It wasn't your fault Town Hall was nearly torn down. It was nothing but an accident. You knew it deep down in your heart that what happened was not your own doing. Everything was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sure, you nearly broke your back falling on the see-saw, but no, a building is more important. If they weren't doing construction that consisted of dynamite near the building, none of that would have happened.
But the question was really this: Why exactly was somepony walking around town with a lighted candle anyway? If anything, it was their fault.
You were not a clumsy pony. You really weren't. You never broke a single piece of anything in your home, you never accidentally busted a hole in the wall, you never accidentally broke a window. So why exactly did they think that of you?
However, out of all that you were thinking at that moment, the one thing you couldn't let go was the last thing you heard Rainbow say. You'd never think she would say something like that, but she did.
I'm better off not dating him.
She did.
I'm better off not dating him.
SHE DID.
I'm better off-
That looping thought in your mind cut off as the sound of a knock at the door perked your ears right up. At first, you wanted to just ignore it, let the pony pointlessly knock until they gave up and walked away, just so you could be alone right now.
Then Twilight called out your name. "Are you in there?"
You wanted to just be quiet. Just let her walk away, and you can be alone again.
...
*knock knock knock*
...
You sighed in the semi-silence. Getting up from your couch, you walk over to the door, unlock it, and open it, revealing a puzzled Twilight, staring at you with somewhat of concern.
"Where have you been? The party's already started and the others are wondering where you are!"
At first, you wanted to just not tell her anything, lie and say that everything was fine, and just go. You didn't want to bring her into this. But that concerned look on her face as she gazed upon your own down face let you know that she wouldn't leave you be until she knew.
So with a bit of a depressed outtake, you point a hoof to the couch and tell her kindly to sit down. The look of concern never leaves her face, but nonetheless, she listens and closes the door behind her, walking over to sit down on the couch. As she is enveloped into the soft cushions, you yourself walk over to the couch and sit down right beside her.
For a good few seconds, you open your mouth, as if to speak, but no words ever come out of it. You sigh a bit as you seem to struggle to talk.
Twilight puts a hoof on your shoulder, prompting you to look at her, and with that same concerned look on her face, she says to you:
"...What's wrong?"
You could tell quite clearly that she was worried about you. This was the first time---that you can remember, at least---that she's seen you this upset. It was natural for her, or anypony, to be concerned, even worried, about you.
Letting in a breath, you turn your head away from hers and look out towards the blinded windows. With a sigh, you close your eyes for a moment, then open them a short moment later.
And then you speak.
"...I'm not going."
Twilight, this time with a puzzled look on her face, asks, "What? Why?"
"I just..."
You wanted to tell her, but a part of you kept that locked away, preventing you from reaching out to it, so you lie.
"I'm...not feeling well."
Looking towards Twilight once more, you notice that the puzzled expression is now gone, replaced with an unamused look on her face, and you knew just from her face alone that she didn't believe it.
And with the way that she spoke your name and said, "I'm not an idiot," you knew she wouldn't leave until she knew exactly what was going on. But as you turned away again, her disappointed look faded away, once more replaced by concern, even when she spoke.
"Just tell me...please."
You hated it when somepony begged, especially Twilight. While it was somewhat cute at times, it was still incredibly sad and difficult to ignore it.
And you couldn't ignore this.
So with another breath, letting in and letting out, you look back to Twilight.
And you tell her everything that you heard: Every remark, every poking fun at, every joke and story, and every insult you heard from the two. It took a few minutes to explain the details to her, even if a few were left out, but by the time you were finished talking, Twilight had a look of pure disbelief plastered on her face.
For a moment or two, she didn't respond back, nor did she change her face. It was as if her face was stuck.
But after half a minute had passed, she began to speak again.
"I don't believe it."
Essentially, what you think.
"You're sure that they said all that?"
Again, you nod in response, assuring her that what you told her was indeed true.
"That's why I've been home this whole time...I mean...I may be overreacting about it a bit...but...I just...wasn't expecting to hear something like that about me...especially from...from her."
Twilight doesn't immediately respond back to you, but instead, she sits there with a disappointed look on her face, clearly unhappy about the two mares. You knew she wanted to say something, possibly insulting, about them, damn them maybe, but she never really said anything. She just did what you did and breathe in and out calmly.
After another moment passed, she looks at you again, this time once more with a sympathetic look on her face, same as before. To be honest, you found that look quite comforting every time you saw it. The way she smiled and really cared for you always put you to peace. To you, she was like a little sister.
A few moments of a relaxing back massage later, Twilight began to speak up, and you could tell that she wasn't proud of what came out of her mouth.
"Just...Just don't worry about it...okay?"
Looking down then up again, she added onto her statement.
"I'll...I'll talk to Rainbow about this tomorrow-"
"No," you reply, no reason as to why you said it. Perhaps you assumed that this could be fixed without ratting out, but nonetheless, Twilight resisted against your response.
"Yes. She needs to know about this...about you.....I've never seen you this upset before, and...I just want you to be happy...okay?"
It was at this point that there was no point in arguing against Twilight, practically with anything, so rather than argue and counter against her, you simply let her have her moment and just nodded to her, assuring her that she would talk to Rainbow about the situation when the chance was there.
Twilight smiled at your cooperation, leaning in to give you a warming hug. You had to admit, while Twilight was stubborn at times when it comes to discussion or arguements, it was always nice when she comforted you, regardless of the situation.
After a few moments, she pulled away, the smile still on her face.
"Let's get to the party before somepony comes looking for us," she asks.
Agreeing with her, you get up from the couch and grab the gifts where you had put them. Once you had all of the gifts, you make your way to the door. Opening it, you allow Twilight through first, as all ladies should be, before walking out behind her, shutting and locking the door behind you.
Now you just hope the party goes right.