"Happy birthday!" Libra said to Everen. "Hard to believe we're off to high school next fall, huh?"
"Yeah I know." replied the birthday-colt. "It all goes by way too fast."
"Right you are." Libra agreed.
"Happy fifteenth buddy." congratulated Cyrulian, patting Everen on the back. "You finally made it."
"Thanks Cyrul." the unicorn says.
"Ooh, the cakes here!" the earth pony exclaimed, moving towards the dining room table.
"Now, now, Cyrul. You know the rule, the birthday colt gets the first slice." Blaze said as he trotted into the dining room with the cake held aloft by his orange magic.
"I know, but I want the second slice." Cyrulian stated, sitting down at the table and grinning eagerly.
Blaze grins as well, an idea occurring to him. After the others all sat down at the table and sang Everen happy birthday, Blaze began to cut the cake using his magic to hold the knife. He gave Everen the first slice, a corner piece because he likes the icing. Then Blaze cut the next piece and started to levitate over to Cyrul, making it seem like he would give him the second piece like he wanted, then abruptly moved it over to Lily. He then did this again giving the slice to Bliss. Cyrulian was very annoyed.
"Fillies first Cyrul." Blaze said snarkly.
"C'mon Mr. Wood, please?" Cyrul said, used to these antics by now.
"Oh, alright." Blaze replied, enjoying his joke. "I've had my fun." he finishes giving Cyrulian a piece of cake, then cutting one for Libra.
"Thank you sir." said Libra and Cyrul together.
"And how many times do I have to say it?" Blaze asked. "You can call me Blaze."
"Yes sir- I mean - yes Blaze." Libra stuttered.
"Sure thing, Blaze." Cyrulian said.
The six of them broke into light conversation, eating the cake as they went leaving a little for frost. When they had all but finished the cake, frost walked into the room.
"Present time!" Frost rose her voice to be heard above the clamor of the conversation.
Everen and his friends moved over to the table across the room piled high with gifts, some were wrapped up nicely while others were a bit messy. The first present he grabbed was a crudely wrapped lump. He tore off the wrapping paper to reveal a war strategy book and some tail gel to keep his tail spiked out in the way he likes.
"Hey! Where'd you find this book, I looked all over for it." Everen exclaimed ecstatically.
"Tell you in private." Cyrulian whispered into his ear.
Everen forced himself to look away and grabbed the next gift, a bottle-shaped gift wrapped in starry paper. When the wrapping was ripped off, there was a bottle of glowing red-purple liquid.
"What's this?" Everen pondered out loud.
"It's a special drink called 'Liquid Ether' created from alicorn magic. It's supposed to be harder to get than moonshine in Canterlot bar." Libra explained, looking at the bottle.
"Then how'd YOU get it?" Everen questioned.
"I have an aunt who passed away recently, and she left it for me in her will. I thought you'd like it more though." Libra said, with mock offence.
"Alright." Everen said, not quite convinced.
The unicorn then picked up a neatly wrapped parcel and took it apart neatly knowing who it wa from, and what would happen if he just ripped it open like the others. Inside the box was a set of odd looking shoes that had two criss-crossing straps on each of them to tighten them to the wearers hooves. They looked very durable to, like they'd last a few dozen years.
"Thanks Bliss, what're these made of?" Everen asked, curious.
"A special material I made myself." Bliss elucidated. "No I won't tell you how I made it. If I told you all my secrets, I'd be out of a job." she continued with a chuckle.
"Fine, I guess I'll never buy another pair of shoes again though. These look very durable." Everen conceded.
"Cause they are." Bliss gloated, proud of her work. "Not even dragon fire could destroy them."
"I'll keep that in mind if I'm ever dumb enough to walk right into a dragon's den." Everen retorted sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up Everen." Bliss said, annoyed.
The two shared a laugh as Everen took the next present. He ripped off the blue and yellow wrapping paper and opening the long and narrow box contained within.
"Woah, are you serious Lily? This is awesome!" Everen said excitedly. Looking at the beautiful curved sword before him.
"Happy birthday." Lily said sweetly, giving Everen a kiss.
Everen kisses her back and takes her gift in his hooves, showing off his new scimitar.
"Woah, where'd you even find that Lily?" Cyrulian asked in awe.
"You know I can't tell you that right?" Lily questioned in reply.
"Oh, right. Nevermind." Cyrul said, looking down.
The others all laugh at this. Everen picks up the next gift on the table, tearing off the wrapping paper.
"Is that a cold flame?" Bliss asked in amazement, looking at the blue and purple flame contained inside the glass sphere. "That is some really advanced magic!"
"Well when you have two unicorns, one who's great with fire magic, and the other just as good with ice magic, it becomes much easier." Blaze said, looking between Bliss and Frost.
"I see your point." Bliss said.
Everen looked around, expecting to see one more gift. There wasn't one.
"I'm sorry Everen." Frost consoled the colt. "Ivory couldn't make it."
*knock knock knock*
Everen sprinted to the door and threw it aside. His uncle, Ivory was standing in the doorway.
"Sorry I'm late, I had to-" Ivory started, but was interrupted when Everen tackle hugged him, taking the stark white unicorn by surprise. When Everen let go Ivory fixed his carefully styled black mane.
"It is good to see you to Everen, but do you honestly have to be so forceful with your embrace every time we see each other?" Ivory questioned, raising an eyebrow at his nephew.
Everen chuckled nervously and bowed, showing his gentlecoltly side. "It's great to see you uncle Ivory." he said, grinning widely.
"That's better. Now then, are you just going to stand there?" Ivory asked, expectantly.
"Please, do come in. And let me take your coat." Everen said, gesturing his uncle inside and taking his coat off of him and hanging it on the coat rack.
"That's my nephew." Ivory said, proud of the proper gentle-colt before him.
Everen and his uncle walked back into the living room, and Frost immediately punched her brother in the shoulder.
"So you actually decided to show up, huh?" Frost criticized.
"Of course." He retorted, offended. "I might not make it to every event, but I've only missed one of his birthdays. And that's because I was away in canterlot at the time to visit a friend."
"Yeah, yeah." Frost jabbed his shoulder again, laughing. "You still missed it."
"You just have to win every argument with me, don't you?" Ivory asked, remembering their childhood.
"Yes, yes I do." she answered, smirking.
The white unicorn looked around while rubbing his shoulder lightly. "Well I see that you've opened all your other presents, so I guess that just leaves mine." he said giving Everen a green and blue wrapped gift.
Everen opened the present and the box within. When he saw what was in the box, he gasped in absolute shock.
"Is that what I think it is?" Everen inquired, staring wide-eyed at the round yellow and blue item in the box.
"A dragon egg." Ivory answered, smiling warmly at the young colt. "But that shouldn't be an issue for you. You are so magically talented it should hatch immediately."
"Looks like those boots will certainly come in handy now, huh?" Bliss said, smugly.
Everen continued to stare at the yellow and blue egg, too stunned to even return a witty remark.
"Well, what're you waiting for?" Lily asked, wanting to see a newborn dragon up close.
Everen shook his head to regain his senses. He took the egg of of the box and put it on the table. He then concentrated, and, activating his magic, tried to think of the spell that he had read that would hatch an egg. When he had it in mind, he once again stared at the egg, using the spell. A few seconds passed and the egg remained motionless, but Everen did not relent. A few more seconds and a crack appeared on the surface. Within ten more seconds he shattered the shell and the dragon flopped onto the table, it was the same colors as the egg, blue primary scales with yellow spines, under-scales, and talons. The only thing out of the ordinary was it's eyes, which were a bright purple-pink.
"Is it a boy, or a girl?" Everen wondered out loud.
"A girl." Lily said, matter-of-factly. "Only girls of this dragon type have those color eyes." Lily had developed a love for all kinds of dangerous creatures. If it can kill, wound, or maim you, she wants to hug it.
"Alright then, time to name her." Blaze said, looking over the hatchling. "What're you thinking Everen?"
"Tsunami. Tsui for short." he replied after a minute of thought.
"Okay, Tsui it is. Welcome home Tsui." Blaze greeted the newest member to the family.
Everen looked over all of the gifts he got, more than satisfied with the outcome. Everen looked hopefully at his mother, and she nodded, hesitantly. He then smiled and looked over to his friends, motioning them to follow him upstairs, picking up Tsunami and carrying her on his back, while holding his presents with his magic. He led them into his room, and pulled three sleeping bags out of his closet.
"You guys are staying the night. It's been worked out with all our parents and you're sleeping in here tonight." he explained to all of them.
"How'd you even manage that?" Cyrulian asked, surprised.
"I can be persuasive when I want to be." Everen responded with mock offence.
"More likely you begged until your mom fixed it all up." Bliss said, giggling at her own joke.
"Oh, ha ha. That's so funny I forgot to laugh." Everen retorted.
Lily then noticed the number of sleeping bags and did the math.
"Wait a minute, there're only three sleeping bags, but four of us. And I know that nopony here would be willing to share a sleeping bag with anypony." she said, looking at Everen with curiosity.
"No but I figured I'd you be willing to share my bed with you." he replied, smiling affectionately.
Lily face flushed a deep red then and she looked from Everen to his bed, and then back to Everen. "Y-you don't mean…?"
"Of course not, just sharing a bed for the night. Libra, Cyrul, and Bliss will also be sleeping in here after all." he assured her, not surprised that she drew that conclusion.
"Oh, okay." she sighed, blushing more and looking down.
Everen put a hoof to her chin and raised her head, kissing her gently on the lips. "And besides, I wouldn't just force you into that kind of situation."
"And that's just one of the many reasons I'm glad to call you my colt-friend." Lily stated, pulling Everen into a tight embrace.
"So, we're not going to sleep yet right?" Libra asked, confused.
"No, we can stay up till ten-thirty. After that we need to be asleep though." Everen elucidated.
"Sounds good to me." Cyrul said.
"I need my beauty sleep, so it's fine with me." Bliss added.
"Believe me, she's not pleasant if she doesn't get her sleep." Libra whispered to Everen and Cyrul.
The three colts shared a quiet laugh together. Everen took Tsui over and set her gently on his mattress. Turning back to his friends, Everen levitated the book from Cyrul, looking questioningly at him.
"O, yeah, that." the earth pony laughed nervously. "Well, you know that shady sales pony that lurks in the alleys? Well he caught my attention and showed me the book. He offered it at a price that's probably more than it was worth, I won't tell you how much though, so don't ask, but I bought the book after asking if there was a catch. He said that the only catch is that he wants me to spread the word about him."
"And you didn't think the book could be hexed?" Everen asked, accusingly. He sighed and then continued calming down substantially. "But, come to think of it, I guess he wouldn't do that. I must wonder why he wants more attention though, he doesn't exactly get much positive encouragement." Everen put a hoof to his chin in thought.
"Whatever, on to the next gift." he picked up the bottle of Liquid Ether. "What kind of drink is this anyway?"
"It's like wine. Maybe a bit stronger, but there's no hangover, making it the perfect drink for those who like to get drunk. You'd have to drink about three or four bottles before you get drunk though." Libra explained, the look on his face one of longing.
"Would you like a glass?" Everen asked, levitating 5 wine glasses out of his closet.
"YES!" Libra yelled, perking up immediately.
"Rest of you?" Everen asked.
"Sure." Lily replied
"I'd love some." Bliss said.
"Yeah, I'll have some." Cyrul thanked Everen.
Everen poured five glasses and floated a glass over to each of his friends, and one to himself. "Cheers." the five ponies said in unison, each of them taking a sip and savouring the sweet beverage before swallowing and sighing in relaxation.
"How rare is this stuff exactly?" Bliss asked Libra.
"Increasingly, it's production has been banned." he said, causing everypony to look at their glass.
"Then how about we have a glass a week each. Until it runs out?" Everen suggested. Nopony objected.
"Hold on a sec though, why do you have wine glasses in your closet?" Lily questioned.
"Because I usually drink a glass of wine before bed. Helps me sleep." he explained.
"Okay." Lily said, not needing further details.
The five sip their drinks sparingly, wanting to savour them as long as possible. When they finished Everen levitated the glasses and the Liquid Ether into his closet. He then skipped to the sword, knowing he wouldn't get any more details on the boots, unsheathing the blade and showing it around to each of his friends respectively.
"Where'd you get this beautiful thing?" Everen inquired.
"A customer came into the shelter and paid with it, and my manager let me have it as a paycheck." Lily elaborated, she works at the animal shelter, mostly with the large and aggressive animals. As a result she has a substantial pay, working with creatures that most wouldn't go near.
"Oh, that's, interesting." Everen said, slowly.
"Yeah he was an odd customer." Lily stated bluntly.
"Well I'm certainly not complaining." said the unicorn, pleased with his new sword. Everen grabbed the cold flame next. "What to do about this."
"Just keep it safe until an opportunity arises where it'd be useful." Lily recommended.
"Hmm, I guess." he said "But I can't help but to think what practical uses this could serve me."
"What exactly does cold fire do?" asked Cyrulian, not savvy to how magic works.
"It freezes anything it touches." Bliss answered, Everen to consumed by thought to do so. "It'll spread over anything flammable like normal fire, but unlike average fire, water won't put the fire out. Instead it will freeze solid and feed the flames. You have to you a special spell to extinguish cold fire."
"Woah." the earth pony's jaw dropped in amazement. "That sounds intense."
"Very." Bliss stated.
"Well enough of that." Everen broke his concentration. "It's almost ten thirty already."
"Seriously?" Libra said in shock. "It feels like ten-o-clock."
"I know right." Bliss complained, not ready to sleep just yet.
"Wow, time sure flies." Lily stated, a bit glad it was nearly curfew.
Everen turned to his bed, taking Lily's hoof as he did so, and climbed into bed, pulling her with him. The two nuzzled each other a bit, affectionately. Tsunami nestled herself comfortably between the two, falling asleep in mere moments. Lily soon fell asleep as well. The others soon following suit. Everen was kept up a bit longer though, staring into a deep shadow in the corner of his room. He got the faintest feeling he was being watched, but quickly brushed it off as paranoia. And soon enough the land of dreams had claimed him too.