//------------------------------// // A Birthday Surprise // Story: Friendship is Magic Ad Libbed // by Powderjaggy //------------------------------// The sun was barely up and Spike was still fast asleep. Twilight, on the other hand, was checking the schedule she had made for the day. It was her birthday. She had everything she wanted to do scheduled down to the minute, and she wanted everything to be perfect. Seeing as it was about time for her daily plans to be put into play, she decided to wake her companion. "Spike, wake up." Spike yawned and stretched. "Twilight, it's still early," the dragon protested. "You have to get up now or we'll never get the party ready in time!" said Twilight impatiently. "I thought Pinkie Pie was preparing the party," Spike muttered, rolling over in his basket sleepily. "But we have other things to do before she arrives," Twilight replied, checking her schedule. "Like... rearranging the books!" "Again?" said Spike incredulously. Suddenly, there was a crash through the library and a shout of "Ahhhhh!" A familiar blue pegasus rose from the wreckage. "Ouch... Oh, hey, Twilight." Twilight had been sent flying by the collision and buried under falling books. She stood up and shook herself off painfully. "Rainbow Dash!" she exclaimed frantically as she came back to her senses. "The... the party's not ready yet!" For a moment she was afraid that she was already behind schedule, but to her relief the sun was still not fully up yet. Rainbow Dash didn't seem to hear. "Umm, Twilight," she said. "I have a favor to ask of you." "Yes?" "I wanna see how fast I am," the pegasus explained, "so I need you to come with me." "Oh... uh..." Twilight pulled out her schedule. "Well, I guess I can rearrange the books a little later... I should have an airspeed indicator in the basement." "No need," said Rainbow Dash. "Just take my hoof and let's GOOOO!" Without waiting for an answer, she pulled her friend out of the library window and into the sky. Twilight screamed. "HOW FAST IS THIS!?" Rainbow Dash shouted. Twilight managed to stop screaming long enough to gasp out, "I... can't... tell...!" "THEN I GUESS IT'S... PRETTY DARN FAST!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "RIGHT!?" "... Yes," Twilight gasped again. As she zoomed across the landscape, Rainbow Dash lifted one hoof, then saw to her surprise that Twilight was gone. "Uh oh." The unicorn had slipped from Rainbow Dash's grasp. She shot backwards from momentum, slammed into the ground, rolled down a hill, and eventually came to a rest facedown. "HAHAHAHAHHAHAHA," Rainbow Dash burst out in laughter as she saw what had happened. "Uh, I mean, heh, heh. Sorry, Twilight. Well, thanks anyway." She flew away. "Uggh," Twilight groaned in pain as she got up and trotted back in the direction of the library. Twilight staggered back into her study. Spike had tidied up her fallen books into neat piles while she was gone, and they were sitting on the floor waiting to be rearranged. She levitated all the books at once and rearranged them at record speed. The unicorn paused to admire the results, but something seemed off. She levitated all the books off the shelves and rearranged them again. It still wasn't good enough. She dropped the books on the floor in frustration. Checking her schedule again, she was horrified to see that she was well and truly behind this time. The next item on her list was "visit Applejack and check on the food preparations". Leaving her books scattered on the floor, she rushed off. At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack was busy bucking apples, while the rest of the Apple family were busy making treats. "Hello, Applejack!" Twilight called as she trotted up the path. She waved a hoof in greeting. "Huh?" As Applejack looked up, an apple fell on her back. She instinctively raised her haunches and kicked the apple into Twilight's face. Twilight was knocked back several feet by the powerful strike. "Was... just checking... on how the food's going..." Twilight panted between throbbing breaths. "Oh, uh, it's goin' fine," Applejack replied. "Big Macintosh and Granny Smith are working hard. Eh, eh, just another day. But why are you checkin' on our food? I mean, this is what we usually do anyway." Gasp! She can't have forgotten what day it is! thought Twilight. "Well, uh, it was... just on my list of things to do today," she explained matter-of-factly, showing her schedule to Applejack. "And, uh, I was passing by anyway, so..." Applejack squinted at the schedule. "Food check up... Why, how dare you, Twilight?" she exclaimed, taking a step forward. "You think my food's contaminated, don't you?" Twilight took a step back in surprise. "No, no!" she said hastily. "I just want today to go smoothly and perfectly, that's all." "Well, life ain't perfect, sugarcube," Applejack retorted bluntly. "Can't believe you'd even suspect my wholesome food borne from hard work to be contaminated!" "That's not what I'm saying," Twilight stammered, confused by the sudden rebuff. "And it looks like everything is going smoothly and perfectly on your end, so I'll be on my way. ... I'm behind already, you see." "Well then, go on," Applejack drawled. "Don't want to keep you waiting then!" Twilight walked away briskly, relieved to be free of the awkward situation and worried that she had made everything worse. In fact, it seemed to her that Applejack didn't even remember what day it was. And even if Applejack did remember, she felt certain that there was no way her friend would partake in her birthday now. The unicorn sighed and checked the next item on her schedule. Whew, thought Applejack as she watched Twilight disappear into the distance. Hope I wasn't too harsh... then again, it's Twilight. She's not that weak. Well, at least, she's not stupid. But won't she be glad when she sees this amazing cake! She looked back at the barn where a huge seven-layer cake decorated with apple slices was hidden. Of course, it would still need some approval from Pinkie Pie. Speaking of which... "Check on Pinkie Pie's progress," Twilight read. "With luck this should go quickly..." She remembered last year, when Pinkie had been able to move her entire party to Canterlot in the blink of an eye at short notice. It wasn't long before Twilight reached Sugarcube Corner. "Hello, Pinkie," she said. "How is everything going?" Knowing Pinkie, she hoped that she could count on not having a repeat of her meeting with Applejack earlier. "Hi there, Twilight!" Pinkie jumped straight in Twilight's face. "Won't you be glad to see what I've got today!" The pink mare rummaged around behind the counter. "I've got balloons..." As she said this, she took out a large quantity of balloons and promptly tied them to Twilight, causing Twilight to drift up to the ceiling. "... And cupcakes and streamers and cupcakes and cookies..." As Pinkie babbled on, somehow procuring each item she mentioned and placing it on the counter as she said its name, Twilight popped the balloons fastened to her with her horn one at a time as to avoid crashing into the ground. "... And cupcakes and, of course, the party cannon!" Pinkie exclaimed, pulling out her unusual artillery and firing it as a demonstration. It so happened that the party cannon fired at just the right height to pop all of Twilight's remaining balloons, causing the purple unicorn to crash anyway. "And yeah, that's everything!" Pinkie concluded cheerfully. "Thanks for checking in, Twilight!" She nudged her dazed friend out the door. "Well... that was fast all right," Twilight muttered to herself, giving herself a shake. "Next stop..." Rarity was busy putting the finishing touches in her parlor. Ribbons and banners now abounded. The doorbell rang. "OHHHH, IT'S..." Rarity wondered out loud as she opened the door with her magic. "Oh, it's just you, Twilight. What brings you here?" "Oh, just checking on preparations and all," Twilight answered, looking around at her friend's new decorations. "... What preparations, may I ask?" Rarity inquired, seemingly clueless. Not her too! Twilight thought worriedly. "You know, like all this you've put up here." "Oh, ummm..." Rarity thought for a bit, evading Twilight's gaze. "It's just a new design," she explained hastily. "Sometimes we all need a change of scenery. It keeps my creativity flowing." "I see..." Twilight said evenly, though she was frantic inside. Sensing Twilight's sadness, Rarity quickly changed tack. "I KNOW!" she exclaimed. "Why don't you try on a new outfit?" "... All right, why not...?" That will be one nice thing to happen today at least, Twilight thought. "WONDERFUL!" Rarity declared. A few moments later, Twilight was trapped inside an extremely tight corset. Her eyes bulged and she found it hard to breathe. "Right..." she managed to choke out. "Very... nice?" "I decided to invoke some old memories..." Rarity explained. Twilight's mind flashed back in time to her first meeting with Rarity, when the fashionista had forced her into several different outfits in quick succession, not all of them comfortable. By the time the flashback ended, Twilight was close to suffocating. "You're looking rather uncomfortable, sweetie," Rarity observed, concerned. "Ugggh." Somehow Twilight managed to squeeze back out of the corset. She took in a welcome gasp of fresh air. "Thank you very much for that, Rarity, but there are other things on my schedule and I'm falling behind again..." she said hurriedly as she rushed out of the boutique. Fluttershy was tending to Angel and the other animals in her cottage when she heard a knocking at the door. Twilight opened the door and walked in. "Hello, Fluttershy! How are things?" "Oh, fine, Twilight. Just the usual watching of all these wonderful creatures... and..." The pegasus' face slowly fell a bit as she saw Twilight's unusually expectant expression. "I take that you're all ready then?" Twilight asked with a smile. "Ummm, ready for what?" asked Fluttershy. "You know..." "No, I'm afraid I don't know..." Fluttershy said quietly, becoming nervous. "Uh..." The sudden awkwardness in the room was becoming unbearable. "Well then..." "But I do know that you've had a rough day!" Fluttershy piped up, hoping to change the subject. "So come on now! I have something that will cheer you up. Are you ready everyone?" All of the local birds that Fluttershy took care of and befriended burst into the cottage and perched on every conceivable location. That included on top of Twilight, naturally. The unicorn was forced to sit very still. "Ready?" Fluttershy called to the birds. "And one, two, three..." In the confined space of Fluttershy's cottage the large number of birds produced a song so loud that Twilight flinched and was knocked backwards onto her back, dazed. The birds that had been perching on top of her scattered. "Too loud?" Fluttershy whispered. "Well then, looks like you're all set, Fluttershy... Just, uh, keep doing what you're doing and..." Twilight's voice trailed off. She managed a fake smile, then went out the door and began to walk home very slowly. Twilight flung the library door open, waking Spike, who had been taking a nap. She seized all the books on the floor (which once again had been arranged into neat piles while she was gone) and threw them all back onto the shelves. Miraculously, none of the books landed askew, though none of them landed in their rightful places either. "I don't get it!" Twilight shouted. "It seems that almost none of my friends remembers my birthday!" She lay down on her bed. "I really, really wanted this day to be perfect," she added quietly to herself. "To have... fun... with all my friends. Because a birthday is a day worth remembering, right? And yet I haven't been able to get anything to go smoothly today!" There was a knock at the door. Spike answered it as Twilight continued to monologue. Pinkie entered the library. "Hi there, Spike! I'm here to set up Twilight's party!" Hearing Pinkie's voice, Twilight got out of bed. "I'm sorry, Pinkie..." she called down to her, "but I don't think there's going to be a party." "Huh? Why not? Of course there's going to be a party, Twilight!" cried Pinkie, perplexed. Twilight stomped back and forth across her room. "Because! It seems! That nopony! Remembers what day it is!!!" Her voice rose to a shout. "Man, I could hear you yellin' from across Ponyville!" another familiar voice remarked. "You must really be excited, Twilight." It was Applejack. "Of course I-" Twilight started, then broke off. "Wait..." "Yeah, didn't ya hear?" Applejack called. "We're having a party at your house." "But... earlier today..." Twilight began. "Yeah, yeah, we wanted to keep it a surprise," said Applejack. "The truth is... today is..." "Our very first spontaneous PARTY!!!!" Rarity broke in. "Ooh, I've never just done something for fun like this." Evidently all the rest of their group of friends was here as well. "Spontaneous... party...?" For a moment, Twilight was struck speechless as her final ray of hope was crushed. She fumed. "I! Have! Had it!" Twilight yelled as she sprang into the air, her mane and tail ablaze as though on fire. "WHAT!" yelled Rainbow Dash. "We spent all day preparing for this! Just one time of the week to have fun!" "But do you remember what day it is?" Twilight pressed. "It's my birthday! Did none of you get my invitations? All day I've been making sure things would go well and it turns out that nopony even remembers!!!" Her flames went out and she collapsed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs. "B-b-b-but, we did, sugarcube," Applejack stammered. "We just-" "Yeah!" Pinkie interrupted. "I told you I'd bring my party cannon, and here it is!" She pushed the cannon forward for Twilight to see. "Oh, uh, and here's the cake," Applejack added, wheeling her cake out on a cart. At the last minute, however, she tripped, and Twilight got a faceful of cake. "... Cake?" Twilight echoed, licking icing off her face. "Yup, it's an Apple family specialty," said Applejack. "Happy birthday, Twilight!" Pinkie shouted happily, firing the party cannon. "You remembered!" Twilight exclaimed as realization dawned on her. "Uh, yeah, we totally didn't forget your birthday!" said Rainbow Dash. "Heh, heh." With that, Twilight Sparkle's birthday party officially began. "Wow, I can't believe she thought we'd actually forget her birthday!" Pinkie remarked to the others in the midst of it all. "We did!" Rainbow Dash whispered. "Luckily we dodged that bullet, or we'd never see the end of it! Man, Twilight can be really whiny." For once, Pinkie was dumbfounded, at least for a few moments. Dear Princess Celestia, We have learned one very important F word: flexibility. Sometimes, we just have to adjust to a situation, in any way we can. Though we may have good intentions, they aren't always the best. But at the same time, things can still turn out fine in the end. Your loyal subjects Role distribution for this story Kirensia: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy Powderjaggy: Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Pinkie Pie Kirensia gets full credit for coming up with the friendship letter.