//------------------------------// // Sweet Sixteen // Story: The Life of Princess Skyla // by Stardom Freedom //------------------------------// I haven't written here in a while. Anyway, I'm now in tenth grade (last time I was in eighth), and I'm turning 16! Here's what happened... *** I ran around the house, excited. "Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! Hi, Sweetie!" The now two-year-old Sweetie Heart tilted her head in confusion, her curls flopping with her head. "Why you so excited, La?" Sweetie Heart couldn't exactly say my name, so she calls me "La". In return, I call her Sweetie. I beamed at my adorable little sister. "Well, Sweetie, I'm turning 16 in a week!" I turned to Mom and Dad. "And you know what that means..." Mom and Dad groaned. "Yes, we do, Skyla," Dad said in an annoyed tone. "I'M HAVING A SWEET SIXTEEN!" I exclaimed. "Now, Skyla, we don't have it set in stone if you'll be having a Sweet Sixteen or not," Mom warned. I rolled my eyes. "Of course you do! It'll be so fancy! It'll be held in the ballroom, with dancing and karaoke, the colts will be dressed in tuxes, and the girls will be in fancy dresses, and it'll be so much fun!" "Hey, I wanna pretty dress too!" Sweetie Heart complained. I smirked. "I may have arranged for the tailor to make you a pretty pink dress," Sweetie started jumping up and down while screaming, "YAY, YAY, YAY!" Mom glared at me. "Did you not hear me say that we don't know if you're having a Sweet Sixteen or not?" she growled through clenched teeth. I tried to give her my best poker face. Mom just moaned. "Go to your room while your father and I try to get this thought out of Sweetie Heart's head," I trotted to my bedroom while thinking, Heh, good luck with that. *** I sat at the desk in my room, sending invitations out for my Sweet Sixteen. They read: You're invited to Princess Skyla's Sweet Sixteen! Who: Princess Skyla What: Her Sweet Sixteen When: February 19, 2015, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Where: The ballroom in the Crystal Palace Why: To celebrate Skyla's 16th birthday! Also, Skyla would like to keep this a fancy occasion, so colts, please wear tuxes, and fillies, wear dresses! RSVP by sending letters back to Skyla! In middle school, I had gotten popular. Everyone wanted to be my friend. Now, in high school, it's still the same. So, I would invite every tenth grader at Crystal Empire High School. I would also invite Jewel and Star, even though they now go to Magic Crystals Advanced High School. When I finished getting all the invites into an envelope, I called the royal messenger, Mr. Rough Rocks, and asked him to send the messages. He accepted. He returned with a lot of RSVPs, from Magnum, Sun Burn, Star, Jewel, Crystal, and half of the tenth graders. He said half of the other half said they would think about it, and the others wouldn't come at all. I can't wait! *** I went to school and everypony was surrounding me. It turns out they were all excited about my Sweet Sixteen! "I can't wait, Skyla!" "Ooh, what food will be served?" "You are so lucky! When I turned 16, my parents just took me out to dinner!" I politely chatted with everypony until the bell rung for first period. "See you later, Skyla!" everypony that wasn't in my class said as they went off to theirs. The ones that were in class with me walked with me there and raved about my Sweet Sixteen. When we got to the classroom, we all sat at our desks, excited. I couldn't wait! My Sweet Sixteen would be the party of the year! *** After school I came home, and I was greeted my a joyful Sweetie Heart and a furious Mom and Dad. Sweetie Heart gave me a big smile and held up a sparkly pink dress with a matching pink bow that was tied around the stomach area. "Look, La! The tailor made me a pretty pink dress! Now I can wear it to your Sweet Sixteen!" She skipped around the hallway chanting, "The tailor made me a pretty dress! The tailor made me a pretty dress!" She skipped into her room, still shouting the chant at the top of her lungs. I was about to run after her to tickle her, but Mom and Dad stopped me. "Skyla Heart Armor, care to explain this?!" Dad asked furiously. He held up a bunch of returned invitations to me for my Sweet Sixteen. "Yay, more RSVPs!" I squealed, snatching the letters from Dad. Mom glared daggers at me. "We specifically told you that we don't have it set in stone if you were having a Sweet Sixteen or not! But instead of listening, you sent out a lot of invitations and arranged for out tailor to make a dress for Sweetie Heart! Do you know how hard it was for your father and I to convince her not to wear it to daycare today?! And look now, you have a bunch of RSVPs! How many others have you gotten?" I smirked. "Are you sure you want me to answer that question?" Mom looked like she wanted to slap the smug look off my face. But she didn't. Instead she said, "You're father and I were actually considering letting you have one. But instead, since you deliberately disobeyed us, we won't anymore. Skyla, consider this party canceled!" I almost fainted. "You can't do that! So many ponies are having their hearts set on going!" Dad stepped into the conversation. "We'll just explain that the party is canceled. And you're grounded!" I gasped angrily while trying to fight back tears. "Fine! I don't care! You two are the worst parents ever!" I stomped to my room and began to sob. *** I barely talk in school anymore, especially when ponies bring up the topic of my party. Whenever they bring it up, I fight back my tears and just smile and nod. I can't bear to tell them that my party is being canceled. They're just so excited and bubbly. But I decided to do it tomorrow. Hopefully they haven't gone shopping for clothes yet. During lunch, Sun Burn, Magnum, and Crystal sensed that I was down in the dumps. Sun Burn stared into my blue eyes and said, "Skyla, are you alright? You haven't been talking lately." I plastered on a fake smile and shook my head. "What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with me!" "Are you sure, Sky?" Magnum looked concerned. I couldn't bring myself to explain the party was canceled, so I just said, "Yep, I'm sure!" Crystal just glared at me. "Skyla, don't think we don't believe something is up. So tell us! What. Is. Wrong?!" I sighed helplessly. I took a deep breath, and just as I was about to explain what happened, somepony interrupted me. "Hey, Skyla!" Bubble Shine, a girl in my math class called out. "What do you think of this dress I plan to wear to your Sweet Sixteen?" Bubble Shine held up a picture of her wearing a sky blue dress. Just seeing Bubble Shine so excited and happy right there and in the picture made me want to start crying and tell everypony what was going on. But I didn't. I just smiled and said, "It looks amazing! I can't wait to see you wearing it in person!" Bubble Shine beamed and skipped away. After she left, the bell rang, ending lunch. I dumped my tray in the trash and went to class, not even saying "good-bye" to my friends. *** Today is the day. Today is the day I will tell everypony that my Sweet Sixteen is canceled. It would be better if they heard it from me than my parents. That day at lunch, I flew to the ceiling of the lunchroom. "Everypony, please listen!" I shouted. Everypony looked up, wondering why I was up there. I gulped. "I have some news about my Sweet Sixteen," I was just about to blurt out, "My Sweet Sixteen is canceled and I'm so sorry about it!" but then I saw the looks of concern I was getting. I couldn't just say that when they actually cared about this party! So instead, I said, "Well, I want to let you know to bring some of your friends that weren't invited! The more, the merrier, right?" Everypony nodded and got out pieces of paper and began writing letters for friends of theirs that go to different schools. I sighed. Now, not only would there be a crowd of ponies I do know waiting at the door on my birthday, but now one-third of them would be ponies I don't know! What have I gotten myself into? *** All weekend I didn't get out of the bed. I barely even ate. Whenever Sweetie Heart asked me to play with her, I said no. It always shocked her, because I used to always say yes. Eventually, it was the supposed day of the party. The day I would suffer humiliation when explaining to my peers that the party was canceled. The day I would have the worst birthday ever. I tried to cry myself to sleep. I cried, but didn't fall asleep. Eventually, Sweetie Heart came into my room without knocking. She was wearing the dress she was supposed to wear to my Sweet Sixteen. I guess she thought I was asleep, because she started digging through my closet until she pulled out a sparkly sunshine yellow dress. The dress I was supposed to wear to my Sweet Sixteen. "Sweetie Heart! Stop digging through my closet!" I hollered. Sweetie Heart turned around and gave me the dress. "La, put the dress on! It time for your party!" I sighed. Clearly, Mom and Dad hadn't told her what had happened. "Sweetie, we aren't having the party. So put my dress back and take yours off so you don't get in trouble." Sweetie looked confused. "But Mommy and Daddy helped me put my pwetty dress on and told me to get you! There are a lot if ponies here, and they are wearing pwetty dresses and these fancy suits too! They all said I'm cute, and this boy was asking about you! I think he has cooties..." I was shocked. "Wait! Come show me." Sweetie led me to the ballroom. I didn't go in, I just poked my head in the ballroom, hoping nopony would see me. Sweetie Heart was right! Everypony that had RSVPed when I thought the party was going on came, and they also brought some friends of theirs like I had said to on Friday. My parents were actually joining in on the fun. Mom was singing karaoke and Dad was dancing with some other tenth graders. Instead of being embarrassed like I normally would have, I was overjoyed. The party was actually happening! Sweetie Heart and I ran back to my room. I hugged my sister. "Thank you for coming to get me, Sweetie!" "You're welcome! Now put on the pweety dress!" she demanded. I rolled my eyes, but followed her order. Then, I dabbed on some blue eye shadow and red lipstick. "I want make-up!" Sweetie whined. "I'm sorry, but it's only for me. Now, come on, Sweetie!" I said, and she and I rushed back to the ballroom. *** I walked into the ballroom. Nopony noticed me. I was just about to rush over and grab the microphone to get the party cranked up when I heard the DJ's voice. "Well, well, well. The birthday girl just came in, fashionably late with her adorable little sister. Let's give a big round of applause for Princess Skyla!" Everypony cheered and began to crowd around me. "Skyla, love your dress!" "This is the best party ever! Maybe even bigger than junior and senior prom combined!" "Your parents are so cool! Whenever I ask for a party, they say, 'Go to your room and do your homework.'" Then, two ponies came pushing their way through the crowd. "Okay, outta our way, we're basically honorary family members!" one of them said. It was Star and Jewel! "Jewel! Star!" I exclaimed, hugging my old friends. Then I eyed Star. "Yay! You finally wore a fancy dress!" Star was dressed in an indigo dress, and it had a bow around the stomach area and some sparkles. She shrugged. "Well, it's a Sweet Sixteen!" I just hugged her. Then Sun Burn, Crystal, and Magnum approached me. "Hey, Sky! Wicked party!" Magnum grinned. "I like it too! Surprising, because I was never really one for parties, especially fancy ones." Crystal said, adjusting her translucent blue gown. "Well, I'm glad you came anyway!" I beamed. "Are you kidding? I'd never miss a friend's party!" Then, Jewel turned her head and her eyes widened. "Hey, let's go try out that chocolate fountain!" she gasped. Everypony except Sun Burn followed her, so that left him and I alone. "Um... cool party," he complimented. "Thanks!" "Yeah..." There was a silence. I didn't know why. Sun Burn and I have been friends for years! I decided to break it. "Sweetie Heart tells me you were asking about me," Sun Burn immediately blushed. "I... um... well..." I rolled my eyes. "Are you seriously still this smitten about me? I thought we resolved this in fifth grade!" I stepped closer to him. "I still like you," I closed my eyes, leaned in, and began to kiss him. He was surprised, but returned the kiss. I have no idea how long it was, but we were interrupted by Sweetie Heart. "Hey! I knew it! He has cooties!" She began to dance around. "I'm gonna tell Mommy and Daddy that you two kissed. I quickly scooped her up. "Hey, Sweetie, I'll give you a little bit of make-up if you don't tell!" I coaxed in a sing-songy voice. She eyed me suspiciously. "What kind?" "Pink lip gloss!" I promised. Her eyes widened. "Yay! Pink lip gloss!" She rushed to my room to put it on. Sun Burn chuckled and then led me out to the dance floor for a slow dance.