Morning of the Party
(Twilight's POV)
I wake to the feeling of sunlight on my face. As my eyes open they quickly find my wife, Rainbow Dash, sleeping like a log. I kiss her on the cheek before I roll out of bed. I use my brush to quickly tame my mane, before heading to my daughter’s room.
I open the door as quietly as possible and peek in. When I do I notice two things. The first thing I notice is that she is still asleep, and second is that Spike is awake and already downstairs. I look back at Starlight and she seems to be running in her sleep. She’s probably having a dream about running through dessert fields again, I think to myself.
I continue to look down at my little filly. I gaze over her coat, it’s dark blue with a hint of lavender. It reminds me of the night sky as the last light of day is slipping away. Rainbow and I thought of her name the night she was born while watching the sunset, she was asleep in my forelegs at the time. I glance over her two tone mane, half of it’s the same shade of blue as rainbows coat. The other half is lavender, the same shade as my coat. Her tail is currently covered by the blankets on her bed. It’s also two tone and the same colors as her mane. Her mane is usually styled the same as Fluttershy’s and it almost covers her horn. Her tail is styled with the same curving flow as her main.
As I close the door and turn to head downstairs I think to myself, it’s a good thing she’s asleep, that will give Spike and I a chance to go over her birthday party checklist. I would like Rainbow to help too, but Starlight always wakes up before her. If that happens then we can kiss the surprise party goodbye.
I head downstairs to find Spike and start the planning process. As I reach the ground floor I hear noise coming from the kitchen. I walk in and spot spike eating cereal (with gems in it) for breakfast. “Good morning Spike,” I say, as I pore myself a bowl of cereal (gem free of course).
“Good morning Twi,” he says in between bites.
“How is my number one assistant doing this morning?” I ask him.
“I’m doing good,” he says with a smile, “and I’m looking forward to Starlight’s surprise party later.”
“Good because now is the perfect time to go over the checklist for her birthday party,” I say as we finish eating.
“Okay Twi, I’ll go grab it.”
I watch as spike walks over to the bookshelf, with books about tax law on it, to retrieve the party checklist we hid behind those books. As it turns out, a gap behind a shelf of tax books in the Ponyville library is an ideal hiding place since nopony ever checks them out. Just as Spike grabs the checklist, I hear a knock at the door. “I wonder who that could be,” I say to myself. I open the door and find Pinkie Pie, she is standing their tapping her hoof impatiently.
“Good Morning Pinkie,” I say.
“Am I late?” Pinkie asks, as she bounces into the library.
“What?” I ask, as Pinkie looks around the library.
“Am I late?” Pinkie asks again.
“Late for what?” I ask.
“Late for the super-secret party planning session silly,” Pinkie says as she bops me on the nose, “you didn’t think I’d let you plan Starlight’s very first birthday party without me did you?”
Just as I opened my mouth to answer Pinkie I hear the sound of little hooves running across the floor upstairs. I look over and see that Pinkie’s tail is twitching. “Something tells me Dashie is about to wake up,” I say with a giggle. At that moment Pinkie, Spike, and I hear Starlight shout, “charge,” loud enough to make the Cutie Mark Crusaders seem quite.
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(Starlight’s POV)
Running, I’m running, through fields of delicious desserts. I quickly stop to lick a dollop of whipped cream off of a chocolate shrub. Just then I hear a loud roar from behind me, and remember why I was running. I look back to see a chocolate timber wolf and a marshmallow manticor. I bite a limb off the chocolate shrub that had the whipped cream on it, and start running again. The two cavity causing carnivores continue to chase me, while I eat the chocolate stick in my mouth.
I look back and see them gaining on me, but while I’m looking back I don’t notice the cliff ahead of me. I run right off the side and plummet down to the ground. Below me is a lake of chocolate sauce. Just as I’m about to hit the most delicious looking lake I’ve ever seen, it all starts to fade away. “Not now, I don’t want to wake up now,” I plead, but it’s too late.
I wake to the sound of birds chirping outside my window, “it’s not fair, I never get to taste the chocolate sauce in that lake,” I say with just a hint of sadness in my voice. I kick the covers off of myself as I climb out of bed. I look over to my nightstand and try to levitate the brush that’s resting on top of it. I get my aura to form around it, but I can’t get it to float in the air.
Just as I’m about to get discouraged a thought enters my mind. Today is a special day, I think to myself, but why? I mull over it, going down my mental list of possible events. Then it hits me, “today is my birthday,” I squeal, practically jumping for joy.
“I wonder what mommy has planned for my party?” I ask myself “She’s probably going to write some kind of checklist, and then make everypony follow it to the letter. Then Pinkie will get involved and want to plan the party her way, which I wouldn’t mind at all because Pinkie Pie always throws the best parties.” I keep talking as I walk out the door to my room. “Then again, that would mean that mommies checklist would be useless and that would send mommy into one of her famous freak-outs,” I conclude as I reach the door to my parent’s room.
I notice that the door is open just enough to see in, so I take a peek. As I peek into the room I see my mom, Rainbow Dash, asleep in bed. I put my hoof over my mouth to stifle a giggle as I think of the perfect way to wake her up. I quietly open the door and sneak into the room. I look back at Mom to make sure she hasn’t woken up yet. I grin to myself as I notice that she’s still asleep, my plan won’t work if I wake her up before I’m in the room.
Upon entering the room, I broke into a full gallop, sprinting strait for the bed. About two feet from the bed I screamed, “charge,” and I leapt onto the bed.
Mom’s eyes shoot open, and she springs up to grab me. I look on as I head straight for her unable to stop myself.
A thought races through my mind, she wasn’t asleep at all. She was just faking it to see if I would jump on her, but that means… My thought trails off as Mom plucks me out of the air and throws me onto the bed. She proceeds to give me the biggest tickle attack ever, sending me into a fit of hysteric laughter. “You thought you could just sneak in here and pounce on me huh, well nopony gets Rainbow Dash that easily,” she says triumphantly, as I struggle to get free.
My face turns a bright red as I feel my bladder muscles contract. I quickly remember that I haven’t gone to the bathroom yet this morning. “I… have… to… pee,” I manage to squeak out while still laughing. Mom immediately stops tickling me and lets me go.
I leap off the bed and make a mad dash for the upstairs bathroom, which I reach just in time. As I’m about to exit the bathroom Mom walks in. “Want me to help get you washed up or do you think you can handle it?” she asks me.
“I would do it on my own but the last time I tried to get the shampoo for my mane and tail, I squeezed the bottle to hard and got it all over my face,” I reply, as I approach the tub.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” she replied joining me at the tub.
“That stuff burns when you get it in your eyes, and it tastes gross when you get it in your mouth,” I whine, while Mom fills the tub with warm water.
“Maybe I should help you after all, at least until Twi teaches you how to levitate the shampoo bottles,” she says with a chuckle.
After making sure the water isn’t too hot, I ease myself into the tub. Mom gets in with me and starts to clean me. After she washes my coat, mane, and tail, she washes herself. We get out of the tub, and she dries us both off with clean towels before brushing my mane and tail. “Head downstairs and get some breakfast,” she says with a loving smile.
“Okay mom,” I say as I wrap her in a quick hug before leaving the bathroom.
As I reach the top of the stairs I see my mommy, Twilight Sparkle, in the main room of the library with Spike and “Auntie” Pinkie. They look up as I walk down the stairs, ready to grab some food. “What’s for breakfast mommy?” I ask as I reach the ground floor. “Just a bowl of cereal this morning,” she answers giving me a good morning hug, “just give me a second and I’ll be right in.”
“I can get it Twi,” Spike says jumping off the couch, “you just finish your conversation with Pinkie.”
“Thanks Spike,” She says to him.
“No problem,” he replies as the two of us walk into the kitchen.
As I sit down at the table, while Spike’s pouring me a bowl, a thought pops into my head. Auntie Pinkie didn’t wish me a happy birthday this morning, and she never ever forgets a birthday. That means that they must be planning a surprise party, but how can I find out for sure? I glance over at Spike and it hits me, “Hey, Spike can you tell me something?” I ask.
“Sure Star, what’s up,” he says while I eat my food.
“Is my surprise party being held here or at Sugarcube Corner?” I ask, with the most innocent look I can muster.
“Pinkie and Twi haven’t decided where it was taking place yet,” his hands shot up to cover his mouth as his eyes go wide. “Oops,” he says as I shoot him an evil grin.
“Thanks Spike,” I say as I finish my breakfast. As I go to walk out the door, I walk right into Twilight.
“How did you figure it out?” she asks me.
“Nopony wished me a happy birthday this morning,” I explain. “Plus, Pinkie wasn’t all over me with ideas about the party. That meant that you were planning a surprise party. All I had to do to find out for sure, was ask Spike the right question and hope he would answer without thinking about it.”
“While I’m proud of your ability to figure that out, I’m a little disappointed that you would use Spike like that. I want you to apologize to him,” she says in a stern voice.
“Okay mommy,” I say hanging my head, “I’m sorry Spike.”
“It’s okay Star,” he says with a soft smile on his face.
“That’s better,” Twilight says, “now Grandma and Grandpa should be arriving on the morning train from Canterlot soon.”
“Can I go meet them at the station?” I ask in a hopeful tone.
“As long as Spike is willing to go with you, and you’re on your best behavior,” she says to me.
“Okay Mom,” I reply.
She says before turning to Spike and asks, “is that okay with you Spike?”
“I don’t mind at all,” he answered as he got up to walk out of the kitchen, “come on Star, if we leave now we should get to the station a little before the train does.”
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(Twilight’s POV)
I watched as my daughter and Spike walked out the front door, “They’re coming right back you know,” Rainbow said as she walked over to me.
“I know Dashie, but I still worry when she’s not with me,” I reply with a wistful sigh.
“They’re just walking down to the train station to meet your parents,” she said before nuzzling my neck, “they’ll be fine.”
“I know, I know,” I replied as I leaned further into the nuzzle, “but it doesn’t stop me from worrying.”
“I worry about her too,” she said as she broke off the nuzzle before flashing a grin, “but you know as well as I do that Shinning Armor moved at least a half dozen undercover guards to Ponyville. Now how about we work out the last of the details with Pinkie so we’ll have some extra time to spend with Starlight before the party.”
“Alright Dash, sounds like a plan,” I replied as we walked back over to where Pinkie was waiting.