A/N: TODAY IS OFFICIALLY MY BIRTHDAY! Also, during the course of August: I've gone to see KISS/Def Leppard in concert and Fan Expo around the 29th. I have such a story to tell you about meeting Tabitha St. Germain. I wasn't able to get Andrea Libman's autograph, but I'll explain that in the story.

So I'm walking over to get the two pictures I drew out the day before signed by the both of them. I had arrived just in time and out of time because Andrea ended up having to go and would be back on Saturday. It was unfortunate that I ended up missing her, but it was no big deal: there's always next time. So next time Andrea is on schedule during her signing, I'll get her to sign the picture that I drew of Fluttershy and try to somehow say my name in both Pinkie and Fluttershy's voice. I'm probably the first in line when I was seeing Tabitha, I reach into the folder to take out my drawing of Princess Luna. I'm with a friend at this time cause he wanted to treat me a gift for my b-day.

I approach her table and she says "Hello" to me. I say hello to her in return and I place my drawing onto the table while she asks for my name which I do tell her. Surprisingly I wasn't nervous or shaking, because back last month when I attended TFCon with a friend: I was shaking when meeting Gregg Berger, the voice of Grimlock. When Tabitha saw my drawing, she asked me if I drew this. I confirmed that I did and she really liked my drawing: she told me she didn't want to accidently dent the paper, but it would be no biggie if it happened. So she signed it and told her that I've been a fan of the show since 2011.

And I ask her to say one of my favorite lines by Princess Luna. "The fun has been doubled!" At first, I couldn't tell if she did it, but I then realized that her voice and Princess Luna's voice sounded really close. So yes, it was really fun meeting her.

Other than her, I met the guys who do the Cyanide and Happiness comics and I was hoping to see Steven Ogg, the voice of Trevor Phillips from GTA V, but he unfortunately wasn't there. So I did bring the cover of GTA V to Fan Expo just in case he was there to sign.

For the KISS/Def Leppard show: It was amazing! I went in costume and makeup as Ace Frehley and my friend went with me as her favorite member of KISS, Gene Simmons. Lots of people were there, and it was most likely a sold out show. So many people came up to my friend and were asking for pictures. One did suggest charging like $5 for a photo. Kobra and the Lotus came on first and they were amazing. Def Leppard comes on after and when they play "Love Bites", I'm singing it really loud. When KISS hit the stage, they did a fantastic job performing and I got to hear a song they normally wouldn't perform, "Hide Your Heart". So yes, I rock n rolled all night and just like Pinkie, I party every day. (Well, not quite.)

So yes, August was really exciting! But since September is kicking in and unfortunately college as well, expect chapters to be updated a little more slower than the usual. But besides that, Equestria Girls 2: Rainbow Rocks is coming into theatres. Can't wait to see that!

And now... Review Response Time!

godzillafan1: I know, I really need to consider checking it over for incomplete/misspelled words. Yeah, I read The Lost Element. I guess I could say it was one of the influences to writing this story. Did you read the recent chapter? It was intense!

SparkyFonzerri: Thank you :) The pacing and story are influenced by a bunch of other fanfictions that I read and the music that I listen to.

P.S. Foreshadowing on the next two chapters in this chapter. ^_^

P.S.S. I have two other stories in mind that will be related to my story "Learning To Live". The two ideas I had are based on two Ayreon albums that I've been listening to. If you want to get the basic idea on the two stories, check it out on my profile page under 'Upcoming Stories'. And don't forget to vote for which one of those I should do first. If you are a guest review, you can say which one I should do. I'll rack up the votes and start writing away while continuing "Learning To Live" at the same time.

P.S.S.S. The two songs in this chapter are Smashing Pumpkins 'Thirty Three' and Whitesnake's 'Is This Love?'.

My eyes open up slowly, letting in the light that shone on in through the windows of the guest bedroom. But today, I was waking up really happy! Why, you might ask? Today is my birthday of course! How could I ever forget all about my birthday? My birthday happens to be one of the most important days to me because I was born that day.

I rise up out of bed and place the both of my hands onto the sheets of my bed, making my bed in the process. Once I have moved the sheets upward over the white pillows, I lower to grab the decorative pillow and place it right onto the bed. I then turn around towards the wardrobe, walking briskly to it.

I open up the wardrobe and grab out a pair of shorts and a black t-shirt. I kind of like to be on the basic side of fashion, so it's no wonder Rarity keeps telling me to expand my fashion choices. I'm not going to describe it to you, but I did change from my pyjamas and into my clothes. Kind of thought I'd go into detail about that, didn't you? Nope.

I can hear the sound of knocking on the bedroom door and what I can tell, I already know by the soft tone of the hoof-knocking that is most likely to be Fluttershy. A soft smile comes upon my face and I turn to look at the front door. "Come on in Fluttershy." I said, sounding very bright and welcoming.

I watch the door open up and see Fluttershy trot on into the bedroom. She seems to look very happy as she usually was every morning of a new day. I walk forward towards her, with her approaching me at the same slow speed as I was going. The both of us face one another and I bent down a little. Fluttershy's cyan eyes look straight into my brown eyes and she places her soft and fuzzy hoof onto my hand.

"Good morning Brayden." Fluttershy says with a gentle tone in her voice. "Do you know what day it is today?"

I smile and nod at her. "Yes… I do," I say with a calm and friendly vibe in the sound of my voice. "Today is the day of when I was born."

"Your birthday." She says to me, pretty much giving away the answer that I knew towards me. I nod to her and move my hand that she has her hoof on and I gently take her hoof and hold on it. This is not in a romantic way, but hey, there isn't anything wrong with friends holding hooves… or hands.

"I already have plans for the celebration of my 21st birthday and I want to make it special. Not just for me, for all of my best friends." I said.

Fluttershy blinks for a brief moment and says "What about Twilight? Anything up between you and her tonight?"

"Yes," I said with an image of the plan thought up in my mind. "She'll be attending my birthday party which I'm pretty sure is going to be at the Sugarcube Corner. She told me yesterday after the party that she wanted me to come with her to the library to meet up with her. But of course, I can only spend time with her for a couple of hours. I understand that she has to go to the Crystal Empire to greet some dignitaries that just came in from Maretonia tomorrow afternoon. She'll definitely need some rest for that event."

"Sounds like a really good plan for you and her. You have everything organized." Fluttershy said to me while I rose myself up again to normal height from bending down on my knees.

Fluttershy lets go of my hand and trots towards the open door. "Come on now, breakfast is waiting for you at the table," She says. "You can tell me everything else about what'll be happening at tonight's party."

I follow her out of the bedroom, moving one of my hands back behind me to close the door. The door closes shut, and moves back into a normal hovering stance. I walk faster for a few moments to join up beside Fluttershy while the both of us descended down the stairs. Once downstairs, I walk into the kitchen and take a seat at the table. It was buttered toast and two over-easy eggs on the both of our plates with fresh glasses of milk on the side.

I turned and looked at Fluttershy, putting a small smile onto my face. "You told me that this is one of your favorite foods, so I decided to make it for you." She says to me, with a smile on her face.

"Thank you Fluttershy." I said to her while keeping the smile on my face.

I turn from her and move my right hand forward towards one of the pieces of buttered toast. I grab a hold of it and move the piece towards my saliva-filled mouth. I open up my mouth and in goes the piece of toast. My goodness, it tasted so delicious! Clearly I haven't watched Fluttershy cooking it, but she really does know how to make it.

"Yummy." I complimented to Fluttershy while she was eating away at one of the eggs she was carving up and eating each piece of egg white one by one. "You're so good at cooking this; I really wish I saw you watching how you do it."

Fluttershy's cheeks lit up with pink and fiddled her hooves together, feeling happy about this. "Oh thank you, but I'm not the only one who does this. Angel also helps me out." She tells me. Speaking of which, he's at the moment right now just tapping his little bunny feet on the ground. That alone can tell that he was demanding his food.

I continue to chew a bit on the toast, watching as Fluttershy interacted with her animal friend. She moves towards the fridge and takes out a fresh and crunchy orange carrot. She moves towards Angel, handing him the carrot. He takes a bite of the carrot and seems to be satisfied. Now that business is done with him, I watch Fluttershy trot right back to the chair next to me.

"Sorry about that," She told me, taking her seat back at the table. "You know Angel… once that foot goes stompin', he demands something."

"It's no problem at all." I said to her. I turn towards the last bite of what used to be the fourth and final piece of the buttered warm toast. I take a bite out of it and swallow it down, getting all of the remaining crumbs onto the plate. But that's okay, I'll clean that up when I'm finished with the eggs.

I dig my fork into one of the eggs being careful not to accidentally break the yolk. To me, the yolk has always been the best part. I have always ended up scooping one whole over-easy egg straight into my mouth and just chewing it up from in there. I also didn't want to make a mess on the plate if the yolk got broken. So I think I had a good moment of doing this again. I move the egg straight into my mouth and slide the fork from out of my closed mouth. I chew up the egg inside of my mouth and my mouth remains closed while I am consuming the delicious food. After I am satisfied with it being chewed up long enough, I swallow it down and grab a hold of my drink with my left hand.

I take a quick drink out of the milk and set it right back onto the table. I move my fork in my right hand for another stab at the second egg and pick it up off of the wooden plate. Fluttershy nudges me for a moment, and I turn to look at her. I watch as she picks up her knife and cuts up one of her eggs into the small pieces.

After she finishes, she puts the knife back onto her napkin and looks at me. "It's for your own safety when eating. I don't want you to choke." She says to me, sounding very careful about it.

I nod in understanding and turn back towards the cooked egg, placing it back onto my white plate. I take my knife from the left of the plate and move it towards the egg whites, slicing up the whites and separating them from the egg yolk. The yolk was separate from them and I began to scoop the egg whites inside of my mouth, using my fork to take a hold of them. I gently chew them up inside of my mouth and swallow them down. I place my fork at the bottom of the yolk, letting the fork slide underneath. I take the delicacy off of my plate and my mouth is open slightly when it approaches the lips of my mouth. The cooked yolk goes past my lips and into the mouth. I closed my mouth again, letting the taste of the yolk's cream-like substance fill my mouth. By the time I had finished swallowing that down and drank all of the milk in my cup, I was already finished my morning breakfast.

"That was as usual, delicious." I said, sounding really happy. "Thank you for making this Fluttershy."

"Oh it's no problem," Fluttershy says to me, placing her pale gold hoof onto my right hand. "I'm glad you enjoyed the food. Seeing how you loved having this, it came to me last night while I was sleeping. So I was wondering about your party, I almost forgot to ask if you had any plans for tonight."

The plans? Oh, I had some planned for right down my sleeve. "Tonight, I'll be partying and chatting with everypony that got invitations to my party. There'll be cake and of course… maybe one or two songs from me to sing." I said to her.

"You're going to sing for me and the rest of your friends?" She asked. "I've heard you sing a few times, I would love to hear it again."

"Of course." I said. "One of them is dedicated to that special somepony of mine."

"Twilight?" Fluttershy asks, with a smile on her face and one eyebrow raised. She has been with me a bunch of times to know that I was in a relationship with Twilight. "I'm sure she'll love to hear that song you want to sing to her, but I have a question to ask."

"Yes Fluttershy?" I asked.

Fluttershy kept her smile. "Do you think that you'll end up proposing to her at your b-day party?" She asked.

Well, now that kind of brought the question a bit far there. "Whoa there Fluttershy, I would definitely propose to her… but I need to spend more time with her throughout the days. A proposal doesn't just happen overnight, so I can't risk it." I told her while I was looking into her innocent eyes.

"I see…" She says to me, taking her hoof off of my hand and drawing her eyes off of me and looking shy. "In that case, if you don't mind, I won't ask about it again if that's-"

"Fluttershy." I said to her, scooting closer to her. I move my hand towards her hoof. Her eyes are drawn back towards me and she watches as I take her hoof and gently hold onto it. She looks at me and seemed really regretful for asking that. "I know that marriage to her would be awesome, but maybe we could talk about it when I've spent enough time with her to know that I'm ready to take it to the next step?"

"Oh, okay." She said in the way of it almost sounding like a whisper. "I almost rushed into that side of the conversation."

"Don't worry about it," I said, moving my other hand towards her right cheek. Her eyes stare into my brown eyes and mine stare into hers. "Words always tend to slip out once in a while. But I am keeping that promise that I swore many months ago."

Fluttershy's cheeks begin to light up again and she is smiling. Her eyes are drawn towards my left hand on her right cheek. She briefly looks down at my hand and she seems to look so happy, she was blushing harder than when the few times I saw her do it on the show. Her eyes move right back towards me. "Permission to give you… a birthday hug?" She asks of me.

How could I say no to a birthday hug from my second favorite pony? I take my hands of her cheek and hoof I held onto and opened up my arms, offering the hug. Her smile remains and she moves forward towards me moving the both of her hooves around me, giving me a soft squeeze. I move my arms around her waist and move my head side by side with hers. Her gentle squeeze makes me feel a bit warm, but she feels almost like a blanket that I used to sleep with at night as a child.

"Brayden?" Fluttershy says to me. It sounded like she wanted to tell me something.

"Yes?" I asked.

"I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happens, you're the best friend that I've ever gotten to know. Don't take it too seriously, I already know about the relationship, but just in case you and I are ever far away… don't ever let go of the memory." Her soft voice said to me, and gently nuzzled my left cheek.

"I would never lose any memories, I can remember for a really long time." I said to her, moving my head and looking at her eyes again. "That is because when I lived back on Earth, I imagined that I were in Equestria, you'd be my best friend that I could talk to, get together to do stuff, and this-that…"

"Well, you imagined the right thing," She said to me, "Happy birthday Brayden."

I smile and move my head back onto her left shoulder, continuing to share the hug between me and my best friend. After a few moments, the both of us let go of the hug and just look at each other.

"I do have a present to give to you, but I feel like it should be at your party." Fluttershy said, keeping her smile.

"Of course. According to what Pinkie told me yesterday, the party will start at around 6:45pm just so you know. I'm not sure how many ponies will be there, but so far I can guess that it'll be Twilight, you and the rest of the ponies I have befriended." I said. "But I'll expect some surprise guests to appear if they do."

I scoot my chair backwards back to its normal position, getting up out of the chair. I take the wooden plate and cup off of the table, bringing them both to the sink. I place the two objects into the sink and turn on the faucet, washing off the bits of toast that had come off while I ate. Behind me, I can hear Fluttershy finish the last of her breakfast and get out of her chair. She joins me over at the counter and places her dishes into the sink where I was washing off mine. I had just about finished cleaning the plate and the cup and grabbed onto a towel to dry them off. Once they've been dried off, I move the cup and plate into the cupboard and I'm just about finished.

"I'm going to head out into Ponyville. I will be at the party tonight." I said, walking out of the kitchen and towards the front door.

"Okay, I'll see you there tonight." Fluttershy calls out while she is washing up on what she had finished.

I approach the front door and place my hand onto the golden doorknob, giving it a turn. The door opens up, and I step outdoors, moving and closing the door right behind me. I make my way down the hill that the cottage rested upon and across the stone bridge over the tiny river to descend onto the trail that would lead towards the town.

I could see the town of Ponyville coming up in the distance. There were many ponies out throughout the town talking amongst their friends and occasionally walking into the marketplace or one of the houses that they most likely lived in. On the top of the mountainside, I could see the city of Canterlot in the distance resting. I couldn't really see what was happening since I wasn't above it, but I knew that it was probably running busy as usual and both the princesses had to deal with a bunch of ponies trying to interview them about what was going on with Nightmare Moon. But in all due respect, I hope Nightmare Moon is doing okay there.

I cross over another stone bridge that had gentle flowing water underneath, and I set foot onto the town. One thing was on my mind today, I planned to go visit my good friend Rarity first. Well, I don't see why not. She was the first pony that Fluttershy had introduced me to… well, okay it was Discord first and then Rarity. There was that one from Pinkie Pie as well when she first sees me, so I'm guessing that it counts as well.

As usual, the main square bustles with the friendly ponies I know and see every single day. Doctor Whooves is either talking with somepony or he is just walking about to his next stop. Now, please keep this a secret, but I asked him if he had a 'TARDIS' just like in a show that I watched back on Earth. He was really confused and didn't really know what I was talking about, so I just dismissed that quickly. Also, he keeps reminding me every time I say hello to him to just call him Time Turner. Well, that's kind of what I think now that I had been in the brony community for a good amount of time. I can see Derpy Hooves flying in the air, doing her job as she usually does every day as the mail-mare.

I watch the grey pegasus fly downward from the sky towards me, she stumbles about a bit in the air before making a soft landing on all hooves in front of me. "Excuse me," Derpy says with her eyes crossed. "But are you Brayden?"

I nod my head. "That is definitely me." I said.

"Alright, just give me a moment…" She says and reaches into her bag full of mail to deliver. I stand there and wait patiently for Derpy as she searched through the bag. Finally, she pulls out a small wrapped box with her mouth and she hands it to me. "Here it is. It's from Canterlot. Happy birthday by the way."

"Canterlot, you say?" I said, raising an eyebrow in all fun. "I wonder who could have sent me this in the mail. Also, thank you for the birthday wish."

I proceed to unwrap the wrapping and see that it is a dark-blue colored box. If it is with my own eyes that I see, I'm guessing it's either Princess Luna or Nightmare Moon who could have sent whatever was in the box to me. I take off the lid of the box and scavenge through the wrapping inside and I softly gasp with happiness released.

Inside is a mini-figure of the moon standing alone and looking completely like it would look like on all sides of the planetary body. Attached to the lovely figure was a note written down. I pick up the written note and look at it, reading silently.

"To Brayden:

I apologize if this is on any rush to you today, but I felt like it was very important that I sent this letter to you. First off, I want to thank you for helping me free from the evil that had corrupted me and as a token of my gratitude, I want to give you this figure as a sign of friendship. I haven't completely won over both Celestia or Luna's trust here, but I think I will be soon.

I'll be heading to the Crystal Empire tomorrow to meet the dignitaries from Maretopia. It would be an honor if you could attend with Twilight and her friends. Some of the ponies might still fear me, but I'm trying not to let that bother me, so I figured if you come… well, that would be a great help. Got to continue learning my responsibilities as an alicorn, but I wish you a happy birthday.

From, Nightmare Moon"

I smile from the note and place it back into the small box. I put the lid back onto the dark-blue box and look back up at Derpy. Wait a minute… where did Derpy go? Oh well, I can see that she became busy again with delivering mail to everypony's door. I just continue towards the Carousel Boutique that is straight ahead down the road.

I walk towards the Carousel Boutique and knock on the door gently with my right hand. The pink wood on the door echoes my gentle knocking on the door. I move my right hand back down and wait again for Rarity or Sweetie Belle to come and answer the door.

"Coming!" I can hear that squeaky voice call out from behind the door inside. I can hear the sound of small hooves trotting towards the door and by the sound of the hooves and voice. I knew that it was Sweetie Belle going to answer the door. The door opens up and I look down to see her staring up at me with her green eyes.

"Hello Brayden," Sweetie Belle says to me in her happy tone. "Happy birthday."

"Thank you Sweetie Belle." I said to her and I open up an arm, offering a hug to her, even bending down on one knee so I can reach her. She hops onto my knee that is out and wraps both of her small hooves around me. I wrap my arms around her, and both me and the filly share a friendly hug. As usual, the hug lasts for a few moments and then we let go and I bend upward again.

"I trust that you came to visit my sister, right?" Sweetie Belle asks me. I keep my smile on my face and nod in response to her question. "Alright, just give me a few moments. I'll go and call her down." I follow her inside the Carousel Boutique and wait by the stairs. "RARITY! Your friend Brayden is here to see you!" She calls out.

"Coming!" I can hear Rarity's voice sounding off at the top of the stairs and the sound of trotting sounding off at the centre of the staircase. I can see the white unicorn's hooves arrive at the bottom of the stairs and it is by no doubt that Rarity is happy to see me in her presence. "Greetings Brayden." She says to me while approaching me.

"Greetings to you too, Miss Rarity." I said to her, smiling.

"Please Brayden," She said to me with a smile on her face. "You've known me well enough for the last couple of weeks. You can just call me Rarity. Though, I do appreciate the kind manners."

"Of course," I said to her, nodding. "By the way, did you know that-"

"It's your birthday." Rarity interrupted, keeping the smile on her face. "Happy birthday to you, now how old are you becoming dear?"

"I'm approaching the age of twenty-one." I said, knowing how old I was even though the Equestrian calendar seemed to work a little different than how Earth's worked. But essentially I believe that both work in the exact same way.

"Twenty-one you say?" Rarity said, placing her hoof onto my hand. "Well do not fear… for I have created for you the best birthday present using the materials I needed to make it. Come with me upstairs to my inspiration room, it's already there and waiting for you."

Rarity trots around back towards the stairs and I follow along with her. I remember going up these same steps, last time I was doing that was when both Spike and I had to help her and Coco Pommel out with packing some stuff for the Canterlot Fashion show. Hell, I'm even walking the exact same steps I climbed up. At last, we reach the top of the stairs and Rarity approaches a slightly-opened door, pushing it open to its full. I walk past under the door's archway and enter.

The inspiration room looked very clean and there were color designs for the various fashion lines that Rarity would create for each customer. In the centre of the room was a suit designed specifically for a man like me, with the same measurements that Rarity took when I first met her. I approached the suit, amazed by how well-designed it was made and its detail that Rarity dove into filling.

"What do you think Brayden?" She asked me, approaching me. "Is it absolutely perfect, or did I put in a little too much detail?"

"Perfect? Too much detail?" I said in a playful and serious tone in voice. I could hear the worried gulp of Rarity as she feared the worst that I might not have like the gift she made. I finally let out the smile on my face. "Rarity, this gift is amazing. Thank you for the gift."

"You're quite welcome Brayden." She said, relieved that I actually did like it. "It's always for every friend that I make a special suit to fit their birthday needs."

I turn towards my friend and approach her with a smile on my face that I always had when I was happy. I open up my arms, offering a hug to her. "A hug? Of course." She says and with a smile, shared the friendly birthday hug with me.

Once we let go of the hug, I look back towards the suit. "Since tonight's the party at Sugarcube Corner, do you think I could put on the suit for that event?" I asked.

"Of course you can." Rarity said, trotting in front of me. "However, I must ask that you wait for a little while, the party isn't even until around supper time."

"Why wait?" I ask again.

Rarity places her hoof onto my hand again. "I know deep down that you'll want to amaze that 'special somepony' who'll be coming to the party. Surely, you wouldn't want to get it all dirty if you accidentally slipped today." She tells me.

When she had teased a bit of Twilight to me, I let a bit of a blush. "Well, that is true. And please stop teasing me like that, it's starting to get a little embarrassing to me." I tell her, letting out a very happy chuckle to lighten my mood even further.

"I see." Rarity giggled, playing around with me. "Then I suppose you wouldn't mind if you helped me out with something. I'm going up to Sweet Apple Acres to collect a supply of apples that I had placed on order with Applejack and I have to pick them up. Interested in coming along?"

"Of course, I can suspect that Applejack might or might not have a present for me at the moment, but I'll have to find out." I said.

Rarity gallops off and using her magic, grabs a hold of my hand in the process. By how fast she was moving, I'm guessing it must have been a rush hour for her. But of course, she slows down and stops for a moment turning towards me, dispersing her magic that gripped my hand.

"Sorry." She says, with a blush on her face. I smile at her with forgiveness and join up beside her as we trot back down the stairs towards the main floor. "Sweetie Belle, I'm going to Sweet Apple Acres so I'll be back in a little bit. Don't burn any juice while at it!" I hear her call out to her little sister. The mention of Sweetie Belle burning juice put a smile on my face because I remember that episode like it was no tomorrow and it happened to be one of my favorite Sweetie Belle episodes next to when she is visited by Princess Luna in her dream.

I follow Rarity towards the door and walk outside, waiting for her to come with me. She turns and closes the door behind her, catching up with me. I start walking again next to her, and the walk starts going by without a talk from us, so it must be one of those days where it'll be just a peaceful walk down the trail to Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity told me that when she wasn't sewing up something fantastic for a customer/friend or attending something with a friend, this was one of her hobbies: going on a peaceful walk through Ponyville or down the trails to view nature. Come on Rarity, didn't you once say that you despised camping and nature, hm?

I can see the birds chirping in the air, forming a melody that sounded absolutely beautiful to my ears. But of course, it reminds me that every time I have tried to befriend a bird on Earth, they'd just fly away to another tree. A few of the birds fly their way towards the dirt ground with their small clawed feet touching the soil. They peck around at a few spots and observe the ground closely. One of them pecks into the natural earth and out of the ground and into its mouth is a worm. The wings of the cardinal begin to spread and lift its body into the air. I watch the path of the winged animal fly towards a nest it lived in and stood there, moving its head a bit in studying. Once both me and Rarity walked underneath the tree, I knew exactly what that sound was. The cardinal was a mother feeding her off-spring.

I continued to look ahead down the trail that led to Sweet Apple Acres, and many of nature's wildlife was wandering about in peace, gathering their food to store and give to their off-spring, or most likely eat them. Circle of life, remember? All part of the food chain.

It all comes flowing right back to me when the memory lane kicks inside. I find myself continuing to walk with Rarity, but find myself going into a sequence. It was another flashback.

Earth, October 1999

I was a six year old again, in the first grade of Elementary school. From what I could remember, it was the beginning of another school day and I found myself rushing out of the door with the other kids with the sun high upon in the sky with a couple of clouds. It was just about recess time again on a bright and busy Wednesday.

If anypony had known me when I was young, I was very energetic and really loved to talk a lot. It's not quite like my friend Pinkie Pie, so I'm not even as close to a fast-talker as her. This was when my autism was at full-effect and wasn't aware that I was diagnosed with it, or what I called it as "PDD-NOS". But at the same time, besides being friendly… I wasn't exactly what the ponies would think I was as a young kid.

Images flowed back and forth, veiling the memories further before me. I wasn't exactly the most friendly out of all the kids in my school. I was forced to watch and hear my very voice and the events that were placed before me, showing how demanding I was and how I tried to lie my way out telling the truth, but giving in at the end.

I found myself acting like Sunset Shimmer, but at the time: I wasn't aware that the show existed. The only evidence to help me prove that MLP was there were the commercials for new plushies or toys from the older Generation, or to the bronies around that time as Generation 3. But it wasn't until I was around ten years old when I became aware of that generation. But that was not of the matter to me anyway, for I would hate on that generation as a kid. But besides that, I was a curious one indeed.

I find myself walking forward and looking about on the school grounds and watching all of the little kids playing amongst their friends, whether it's sharing their toys, pretending there was a Pokemon battle and just running about with a game of tag. Most girls were different though at the school, they were mostly occupied with Barbies and talking amongst each other about girl stuff and what they did.

I could hear the sound of bullies coming up and I slip towards the wall, hiding behind it while the three of them walked past me. I had some bad stuff going on with those three, but what was worse… one of them was in my class. The three of them would tease me in the hall, saying how stupid I was and how I'll never be able to get to be popular as them. The insults were being forced down my throat and I would cry about it in the hall while every single one of them laughed and mimicked me. I was definitely not up for that today.

Once the bullies have passed, I slip past the wall and continue to the other side of the school. The grand willow tree is standing there like it always had been, breathing out life from its leave that hung low from above and a few kids stood by the large trunk. Apparently they were hitting it with stick, pretending that it was like a mining tree because at this time, Runescape had just about become popular. I approach the kids, determined to get them to stop because I worried about the tree.

"Hey!" I shouted out to grab both the two young boys and girl's attention. All three of them stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me. The two boys looked like they were in the third and fifth grades with the girl in the third. "Don't hit the tree, I think you might be hurting it!"

"Hurting it?" The young boy with blonde hair said with his stick lowered to his legs. "We're not trying to hurt it, we're playing with it. The tree can't talk, and if it did we would stop."

I wasn't up to fighting with the three of them, but at the same time I didn't want to fight and hit the girl. That would be too frightful for me to hit a girl, and I already knew how scary the vice principal would get if a fight did break out. I'd be in big trouble with my parents. I just walk past the tree as the three of them continue to hit the great willow with their sticks, big or small.

I could see the playground and the accompanied kids playing on it. They were climbing on the monkey bars to cross to the other side, others were sliding down the iron slide and reaching the bottom. A few of the others stood on the sands: waiting for their turn to walk upon the wooden architecture. Judging by only the very few friends that I had in my youth, I didn't really play along with anyone. I just usually liked to let my imagination flow and journey about the school yards pretending to be in another world. So basically besides being very talkative, I could also be a little shy.

I have no time for the playground though and I wasn't really much into that stuff. I walk past the playground onto the wooden bridge that the dry ravine separated the soccer field and the school yard. I place my arms onto the rail of the bridge and stand there, watching the kids on the field playing around on the fields with a soccer ball. I already knew that they were having a great time amongst themselves, but what about me? Nobody seemed to ask me to join them in their games or the topic that they were interested in. If only I would fit in with them one day, If only they'd notice me again as someone great and not a person to push aside.

My attention is drawn away from the games people play and onto the forest at the end of the field.I take my arms off of the railing and turn towards the forest, I find myself walking across the field for how far my little legs could go. At this point, you'd be concerned about me because I was not well protected without a teacher to keep watch over the safety of me. I make my way towards the branches of the tall trees that cover the entrance of the forest and pass by them, into nature's territory. The sounds of kids talking loudly and shouting all fade down a bit when I enter.

The sun shed out some light in the forest, letting me see what was there inside amongst the dirt trail and a couple of the dead leaves scattered throughout. With the faint ambience of kids in the distance, I can hear the sounds of birds and soft gentle wind. A few squirrels are in front of me, looking about the forest floor trying to find acorns for the winter. It was at this time when I just wanted to play with them. A smile brightens up on my innocent face and I walk towards them with a hand open to see if they would hop onto me. The squirrels scurry away from me while on approach.

My curious mind wasn't going to let me down on this, I began to follow one of the squirrels down the small hill, trying to not bump my head on one of the tree trunks. I was like a puppy dog at this point, or you could say… a police dog searching for drugs. The black squirrel silently looks at me every step I make and each time I got closer, the squirrel scurried further. I had followed the squirrel in the forest for a small amount of time, but I could still hear the sounds of the school children shouting. I was by one of the biggest spruce trees that I have ever seen in my entire youth. I'm not even sure if that tree is still standing but it was beautiful amongst the grand willow at the school. The squirrel itself latches onto the tree and climbs all the way to the top. It would be impossible for my young hands to reach up and grab the branches, so I was trying to reach for the squirrel.

There was something different about that squirrel though… it seemed to look afraid. It confused me because I thought animals didn't have any emotions whatsoever and that we humans were the only ones capable of showing emotions on our faces. If the furred animal had feelings right now, it would probably show on its face rather than in a different way that was hard for me to comprehend.

Huff… Huff…

I could hear the sound of deep breathing behind me. I stopped focusing on the squirrel and slowly began to turn my head around, trying not to make any sudden movements. My goodness, I have never been so scared in my entire life.

Across from me just a couple of feet away were a large brown wild grizzly bear. It's huffing out and letting a bit of its mouth open to release the air into the autumn cool. It was hungry and it smelt me out as food, its lunch. My tiny breathing goes from a relaxed and I almost sound like I am hyperventilating. I was in a panic, helpless without someone watching me and one dangerous animal that looked quite angry. That is when I begin to run.

I start to run upward towards the hill with sound of the grizzly roaring right behind me, it was starting to give chase. My legs tripped and faltered through many stones and sticks that lay on the ground, but I was in no way going to make this bear eat me. I begin to speed up forward, accelerating full speed into a sprint. I could feel the adrenaline pouring through me and the bear was starting to go faster. That is when I remember the very words of a teacher. Never try to outrun the bear, in the end it will always outrun you.

I take a turn towards my left and run towards the top of the hill into the school yards again. I was literally screaming at the top of my lungs now, frightened and traumatized by the way the grizzly was taking pursue. But it did not stop the wild beast from coming for me. The bear tore through the trees and roared at me, continuing the chase. Most of the children take notice of the bear and all of them look as frightened as ever, screaming as they start to run indoors for the safety inside provided.

I was running towards the bridge, passing by a few of the older grade 5 kids that were just praying that they wouldn't get eaten alive. I look behind me as I run forward; the bear still charges towards me from a distance. It might be trying to trap me under there so it could be easier to attack. I run past a brown-haired girl and down the empty, dry and small ravine, crawling underneath the concrete bridge. Most of the kids had gone indoors, so I was pretty much left helpless while crawling back in a panicked breathing.

The bear charged towards the bridge and roars at me. I can see it trying to crawl under and scratch at me with its claws, but I was surrounded and starting to cry for help. I really wanted my mom to come and help me out. "MOMMY, HELP!" I was crying out in the hopes of finding safety and being rescued by her, but to no avail.

The bear continued to roar at me from the outside of the bridge and I was covering my ears, seeing how sensitive my small ears were at the time. I continued to cry and the only sounds were the bear roaring, my cries for help and the ambience of autumn wind blowing in the air. "Please Mama! Anybody!" I cry out again, hoping anyone could hear me. "I WISH MY MAMA WAS HERE RIGHT NOW!" I just lie there under the concrete above me and close my eyes, waiting for the end.

There is a flash of light that shines brightly in the sky and this grabs the attention of the bear. I open up my eyes after those few moments and look at the bear and the lights that shone, even though it wasn't in my view.

"Leave that boy alone!" I could hear a mother-like voice shouting out towards the fierce creature.

The bear just roars at the bright light that shines in its eyes. For me, I'm still unable to decipher who that bright light was. I can hear the sound of a powerful aura and the light starts to get brighter to the point that I have to cover my eyes. I didn't want to go blind.

The light dies down after a few moments and the grizzly bear charges off as scared as a school girl when told a scary story. I hear the sound of the bright light's source land and walk towards the corner of the bridge. "Brayden… you can come out, it's going to be okay."

"Are… are you an angel?" I called out from under the bridge. My tears still ran down from my eyes and down the corners of my cheeks.

"You have no need to be afraid of me," The voice spoke in a gentle and calm voice. "Come to me, I will not hurt you. The bear will not hurt you… he is gone."

I find myself crawling forward again towards the end of the bridge to see who that 'angel' is. I have no idea how in the world she knew my name, I was determined to find out though. But while I am doing this, everything goes to white and the memory cuts off, bringing me back into reality.

"Brayden?" I can hear Rarity saying while she is trying to snap me out of my flashback trance. "Brayden dear, are you alright?"

I shake my head to get rid of the last of the flashback juices off of me. I turn towards Rarity and look at her concerned and worried face. "Yeah… I'm fine." I tell her, sounding a bit tired.

"You seemed to be quite out of it while we were walking and I wondered what was wrong, are you sure?" Rarity asks me, gently taking my hand with her hoof.

I couldn't just tell a lie to the element of Generosity, my friend. "It was a flashback back to my childhood that I was experiencing while I lived on Earth. Whatever I witness or experience is something that I will always remember." I said to her.

"You are still troubled by your childhood?" She asks.

I shake my head. "This flashback… it was me when I was six years old… so it wasn't exactly me while I was in high school. But this flashback was a bit traumatizing to me." I said. I dared not to mention the 'angel', because this would cause Rarity to question about who it could be.

"Well do not worry about what happens. Whatever's in the past stays in the past, you know?" Rarity says to me. "Let's keep going, I'm not even sure if Applejack has a birthday gift for you at the farm, but we're about to find out."

I nodded my head and continued forward down the trail with Rarity. I kept that flashback behind me, I really needed to move forward and not reflect back on what was once there, I needed to focus on what was going on today with me in Equestria.

Sweet Apple Acres appears in the distance and both me and Rarity go underneath the wooden arch and sign of the apple and enter onto the property of Applejack and her family. I didn't really see Granny Smith outside of the farmhouse, sleeping away on her rocking chair. My guess is that she might have been inside, preparing something from the kitchen with Big Macintosh or any other member in the household.

Now I recognized that same hammock tied between the two strong trunks of apple trees and that good gamboge friend of mine, just lying there with her Stetson hat off and her eyes closed. I walk up to her with Rarity right behind me, waiting. I tap onto Applejack's shoulder to grab her attention.

The earth pony's mouth opens and she lets out a yawn. I'm not even sure how long the nap was for her, but it seemed to be a bit of time. Her eyes open up, looking up upon me. "Oh, hello Brayden." Applejack said while still waking up. "As ah'm aware, it's yer birthday today, right sugarcube?"

"Yes, it is." I said to her, finally remembering about Rarity's order she had to pick up. "And I and Rarity also came here because Rarity made an order for some apples that she had to come and receive."

"Oh yeah!" Applejack says. "Ah'll go right now and get the order for her right now." I watch as her two back legs touch the ground of the soil and her front hoof getting her Stetson hat back onto the top of her head. This was probably one of those rare occasions that I don't see Applejack with her hat. She trots past me with a smile and heads towards the barn to get the order.

"Brayden?" Rarity asks, tapping my shoulder with her hoof. I turn towards her and look in her azure eyes. "I was starting to wonder now, what is in that box that you are carrying with you? Was it a gift from somepony?"

I turn to look at the box in my hand. "Why yes, it's a gift. Nightmare Moon sent it to me in the mail and it's a figure of the moon that she must have made." I say, with a smile upon my face.

"Nightmare Moon sent it to you?" She said. "After you removed every evil from her, she must be changing into something good after all."

"I didn't want to kill her. There was something inside of me that told me not to kill, and I'm keeping that promise not to bring death upon anypony no matter how angry or disappointed I am with them, I will always forgive them even if they did the smallest to biggest mistake." I said. "It's all part of who I am as a human being."

"Oh." Rarity just said, watching me open up the box and take out the figure to her. Rarity looks at the gift, by the looks on her face she seems to admire the way that it looked. "My, Nightmare gave you such a fabulous gift."

"Well, she must have known that night-time is one of my favorite times, I still love the day-time. Mostly I prefer the night-time because of parties and moonlit walks on the beach." I said, before lowering my head. "I already miss home already."

"Awww, you're feeling a bit homesick." Rarity says, taking my hand. "After the busy few days have passed, you could ask Twilight about going back to your world. But while you're at it, can I and the rest of your friends come along with you to see it?"

"I'm still in thought about bringing you and the girls to Earth but I need to give you a bit of a warning, it'll be very dangerous." I said with tone of warning in my voice. "There are humans who will despise you by the way you look, obsessive bronies that will try to do the unspeakable to you, more obsessed than I am and the anti-bronies that will try to kill you. Worse, scientists will maybe kidnap you for their research. But as long as I keep you girls somewhere, I will protect all of you from harm. If anything else goes wrong, we'll always end up transporting back here to Equestria."

"A really good plan you made there Brayden." Rarity said, taking her hoof off of my hand. "Would you happen to know any places that you stay at?"

"Well, there is my house on the street I live in, but the neighbours wouldn't take too kindly of seeing that you're real." I said, thinking of the other alternative. "But there is one safe place, I own a cottage down by a beachside and it's really beautiful. Nobody there will see you since my cottage are private property. Plus you might get some inspiration during the visit. I suspect a 2 to 3 day visit… I'm not really sure."

"Ah'm back!" I heard Applejack call out, on her back she is carrying a basket of apples that were of the order for Rarity. "What were ya two talkin' about there?"

Rarity trots forward when Applejack takes the basket of apples off of her back and hands them to her. "Brayden was feeling a little homesick and feels like he should go back to Earth for a few days visit with us." She says.

"A visit to yer world?" Applejack says with a chuckle coming from her. "Surely there must be loads of apple trees down in the country if ya are livin' around there."

"Well, there are two places. The country side is up at the cottage I sometimes go to when I need to have summer vacation. The other, I really don't think is a good idea." I said.

"Well, Ah'm interested in goin' with ya and the rest of mah friends. Let me know when yer going." Applejack says.

I raise two hands forward to stop the questions. "Trying not to rush things through, but I am still thinking about it, and that'll definitely be something to ask Twilight." I said.

"Alrightie partner, if ya'll say so." She said with her southern accent. "Oh, Ah almost forgot, happy birthday to ya."

"Thank you Applejack." I said, opening up a bit of my arms to offer a birthday hug to her. She moves forward, closer towards me and moves her two gamboge hooves around me. I gently move my arms around her neck and give it a gentle, friendly squeeze. I didn't want to squeeze too hard. As usual, each hug lasts for a few moments. After a few moments, me and her let go of the hug. "I trust you might have a present ready for me?"

"Ya bet Ah have a present just for you sugarcube," Applejack says to me, putting that same proud smile onto her face. "Ya have to wait though, it's still in the making."

I stepped a bit forward, letting my excitement get to me. "Can I at least have a quick peek?" I begged in my voice with puppy dogs eyes which I was terrible at anyway.

"No can do sugarcube. Ah already told ya that it's still in the makin'. Now git birthday boy, Ah have to finish it for tonight and Ah know you love surprises." She says, trotting back towards the farmhouse. "Ah already know Rarity has something planned."

"You're right there Applejack, he needs to get ready for tonight." Rarity says, sharing a smile at me. "Come along Brayden, we have to get back to the Carousel Boutique. I know that Sweetie Belle will provide you with a lunch, considering that she didn't burn it like last time."

"I haven't tasted her cooking yet, so I don't really know yet." I said, beginning walk alongside Rarity again.

"Oh!" Rarity realized and handed me the basket of apples. "Do me a favor and help me carry this basket of apples, will you?"

I nod in accepting the favor and take the handle of the basket by my left hand. In my right hand, I'm still holding onto the gift that Nightmare gave to me. The both of us start the nature walk back towards Ponyville. I had to prepare for tonight.

Princess Luna's POV

Canterlot, 2:00pm

"Sister, the party for our good friend Brayden will be starting soon. We should prepare ourselves for a surprise visit down in Ponyville." I could hear my older sister Celestia say to me. The both of us are looking right the new-stained glass picture of Brayden himself defeating Nightmare Moon and redeeming her for the good of Equestria.

I take a look at Celestia and her magenta eyes are focused up onto the window with a smile on her face. Her mane flowed gently in the silent air along with my own. "A surprise visit to Brayden? Are you sure about this?" I said to her, watching as she turned to look at me. "I usually visit Brayden in his dreams on an occasion, so I'm really not sure about that. He just saved Equestria a couple of days ago."

"There is something about Brayden that I have never thought I'd realize again." She says to me.

This raised an eyebrow on my face. "What do you mean sister? I haven't heard about Brayden until the very month he arrived, so what do you know?" I asked.

"That subject is something that I will discuss with you another time. You wouldn't understand why Brayden is important." Celestia said. "Now we get ready, the party is in a few hours."

"If you say so." I said, lowering my head. I finally turn towards the throne room doors to leave, but turn back towards my sister. "First, I have to finish studying up on something that I found in the star-tower. Do you have any presents to give him?"

"Yes Luna. I already know that Nightmare Moon has sent off a package to him to wish him a happy birthday." She says. "You could say that it's also a thank you to him."

"I already have something planned for him, why wouldn't I give him anything?" I said to her, smiling and thinking about him. "It's in the star-tower with me, where I am already doing research."

"Research?" Celestia asked with curiosity in her voice. "What kind of research are you up to this time?"

I looked into my sister's eyes from across the room. "Remember when Brayden was attacked by timberwolves? Well, his blood was spilt onto the floor of the Everfree Forest. I was just lucky enough to have gathered the rest of the blood that was left over from the accident." I told her.

"Alright then, do what you must to finish the research on it, but please hurry. You know Brayden loves surprise visits, and this is our first to him." Celestia says to me. I smile and nod, walking towards the double doors. "Oh, don't forget about tomorrow, the dignitaries visiting the Crystal Empire."

"Of course." I said, igniting the magic on my horn. The double doors light up with my magic and open up, allowing me into the castle hall. Past the arch of the doors, I close them right behind me. I begin to walk down the halls, seeing the occasional changing of the guard outside of the windows to help guard the castle, keeping us safe. I make my way to the other side of the hall where my star-tower was located.

I push open the doors with my hoof and spread open my wings, making flight towards the top of the stairs. The tower reflects the power of the stars and moon that shine brightly on the wall, to make the climber seem like they were already in space, viewing the galaxy from another point of view other than Earth itself. My four hooves land onto the top of the stairs towards the door of my private chamber. I ignite my horn and watch the two doors open up.

I trot forward into the chamber and take a look into the room. The science experiment stood alone on a table across the far side of the room, with my bed on the left side and bookshelf on the right full of information that nopony has seen before. I dare not to open those books though, for they contain powers too great for me to unlock.

Approaching the science table, I focus on the vial filled with Brayden's own blood. Last time when I had collected it, it was all dirty from the poison that timberwolf leader had. I had to clean out the blood with a special spell and it took almost nearly an hour to get rid of all the poison bacteria in the liquid. But now, seeing that the blood was still intact, it was time to get back to work on breaking a mystery to what would happen if the human's blood was mixed with other blood from Equine races.

I reach into the small vial shelf and go for the first vial, "Earth pony". I move the vial upward onto the small holder close to the vial of Brayden's blood. I go right here with an eyedropper and take a sample of earth pony blood, taking that small drip of equine blood into the red liquid.

Nothing happened, and it didn't seem to affect the colour of Brayden's blood in any way possible. It remained the same. No change done whatsoever.

I take the whole section of the Equine blood vials, placing them onto the table. Using my magic, I take another sample from Pegasi blood and take an eyedropper for a sample. I do exactly what I did with the blood of an earth pony, dropping it into the human's blood.

I start to notice a bit of change in the colour of the human's blood when the Pegasi's blood hits, mixing with the human and earth pony blood combined. This starts to grow a little more curiosity inside of me, I felt a little closer to finding out something about my good friend.

I take another sample of unicorn blood with the same eyedropper and place it with the combination. I can see the human's blood start to get lighter in its colour. The blood started to grow out tiny bits of magic inside and indeed intrigued my curiosity. There was something left I needed to place in if this was to find out something.

Before I was banished to the moon under the will of Nightmare, I managed to extract some blood filled with a tiny bit of Celestia's DNA. The vial of her blood sits next to the vial of unicorn blood and I can see the bits of light that reflected off of the glass. I place the eyedropper into for a tiny drip of her blood, still fresh even after a thousand years of banishment. I move it over the top of the human blood vial, already a lighter red from the other I placed in and watch as the drop falls into the blood.

I sit there and watch with amazement as all five blood starts to race about inside of the vial, compressing themselves together. My mouth is gaped wide open while I watch this occur and I start to trot backwards, thinking that vial would explode from all this. My breathing has intensified.

The blood turns into a completely different colour and slowly stops its transformation. I stumble forward again to make sure it wasn't a trap I made for myself and pick up the vial, using my magic to scan. I analyzed the matching of the blood cells with the magic within and after a few moments, I seize the magic analysis and place it back onto the table. I turn towards the doors and sound off for one of the Canterlot guards.

One of the guards with golden armor came up the stairs upon my call, stopping at the top of the stairs to catch his breath. "What is it Princess Luna? Trouble?" The guard asked, worried.

"Go and find my sister, bring her here. She has to see what I have just found." I said with a bit of desperation in my voice.

The guard nods and starts galloping down the stairs to notify my sister of what was happening. I turn back towards the vial sitting on the table.

I had just found a completely new discovery about Brayden.

Brayden's POV

Ponyville, 6:45pm

It's a clear sunset over the town of Ponyville and the stars are slowly coming into view, one at a time. I am walking along the streets of Ponyville, and I'm wearing the birthday suit that Rarity had given to me as a present made specifically for me. By the ambience of Ponyville this evening, I could tell that this was probably going to be a relaxing, quiet walk to the Sugarcube Corner.

Rarity had to leave early, just a couple of minutes before I left the Carousel Boutique. To my guess, she left that early because she was probably waiting for me at the Sugarcube Corner, waiting with the rest of my friends to surprise me. That… I already knew.

A couple of ponies were outside, talking amongst themselves and a few just heading home to attend to dinner. Bon Bon is outside with Minuette, chatting with her all about her life as of what was going on with her and news from the rest of Equestria. Of course, as usual: Minuette is talking all about the patients that she helps out at the dental office.

On the eastern side of the horizon, I could see the moon slowly starting to rise up into the night sky. From the shape that the moon was giving off, it would be a crescent moon right at that moment. On the other side to the west, the sun was out of view, but I could still see the light it gave off slowly fading to make way for tonight.

Sugarcube Corner was just around the corner. I scan my eyes around the large building and the windows. The entire building seems to be closed and the lights were all out. "Wait a moment, this is a surprise they're trying to pull, right?" I thought to myself. I walk forward, walking up on the wooden-mini-steps and pushing open the swinging doors into the Sugarcube Corner.

I looked around the room, all seemed to be very dark and it was hard to see what was happening inside the shop when all of the lights were out. The only light that happened to be surfacing was oncoming lantern lights in the streets that lit up a few wooden bits of the floor through the window and the entrance. I take a few steps closer and continue to look about.

"Hello?" I call out, hoping that somepony in the building will answer. There's nothing but silence in the darkness. I waited for a few moments and then shrugged, thinking "Well, I don't think everypony got here yet, I'll just find the light switch and brighten the room."

I find the switch over by the stairs and move my hand over to the small, lever-shape switch. My index finger raises the lever and the lights are turned right on, but I wasn't expecting the group of ponies at a nearby table with a birthday cake and gifts on it. I was no doubt surprised within those few milliseconds.

"SURPRISE!" The whole group of ponies shouted at the top of their lungs. Pinkie's definitely sounded the loudest of them all. "Happy birthday Brayden!"

A smile lights up on my face. All of my friends are there and I can already see who it was: my special somepony Twilight, my best friend Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Coco Pommel and Spike. Pretty much the ponies I knew and befriended were there.

Pinkie Pie zooms right over, feeling as energetic as ever. "Hello birthday boy!" She says with the highest happiness that I've ever seen coming from her. "Were you surprised? You totally came in here and were like 'Nopony's here' but then you turned on the light and saw us!"

"Pinkie… that was one of the best birthday party surprises." I said to her, and opened up my arms to offer her a birthday hug. I really need to also rename this day, 'Birthday Hug Day' since I feel like I am giving everypony a hug each time they wish me a happy birthday. Pinkie places her hooves around me and shares the hug with me, giving me a huge squeeze. "Cannot- breath- Pinkie!" I struggled out while she was squeezing me a little too hard.

She finally let go of me and she is smiling. "All of us have a lot of fun stuff that we planned out for tonight and it's going to be super-funtastic!" She says while she is bouncing up and down.

"Ya do realize that isn't a real word Pinkie." Applejack says from the table listening in on the conversation between me and my excited party-planning friend. Pinkie just has a smile on her face and looking at me, most likely to not really care what Applejack just told her.

I walk with Pinkie over towards the table where the rest of my friends were. All of them were wearing party hats which did amuse me since I remember in the episode "Daring Don't", Pinkie threw a random hat day over at Twilight's treehouse. Applejack of course, continues to wear her Stetson-like cowboy hat. That's AJ for you.

"It's good to see that all of you are here to celebrate the occasion with me." I said, taking a seat at the table between Twilight and Coco. "But now I'm really starting to wonder who sent out the invitations."

"Oh that was me!" Pinkie says, raising her hoof and taking her seat. "I knew that it was going to be your birthday today and decided that I would in a few days advance to send them out with a melody to sing that it's a very special birthday to you!"

"Thank you Pinkie Pie." I said, turning back to all of my friends. "As I now want to say, today marked the twenty first year since I was born. It is such a great honor to be surrounded by friends on this wonderful occasion. But what matters most is that this is time to celebrate."

Twilight's hoof moved closer towards my hand and her warm hoof takes it. I move my fingers to gently grip onto Twilight's hoof, holding it. I turn my head towards Twilight and the both of us share a smile at each other. I stare at my special somepony for a few moments, and then I turn back to face the rest of my friends. "I can promise to all of you that we shall make this party that all of us shall remember in our lifetime, even if it doesn't end up that way." I finished off my very short speech, and the party began to commence.

Twilight gets up out of the chair and approaches me while I sat on my chair. Her wings open up slowly and she hops up onto my lap. She takes a seat on my legs, wrapping her two mulberry coloured wings around my waist and her hooves softly moving around my neck. I can see her sparkling violet eyes staring into my brown eyes. Her smile seems at peace and gives off a romantic essence to it. Both me and Twilight move our heads forward towards each other and both of our lips meet. I close my eyes and begin to share the tender kiss with her. After a few moments, the both of us release ourselves from the kiss and begin to just gaze into each other's eyes, feeling lost in the world of love.

"Happy birthday Brayden." Twilight flirts to me in a mixture of sounding happy and tired both at the same time. I already knew she didn't look tired from the looks of it, so I wasn't really concerned if she was getting enough sleep so she was healthy. It would bring me much worry if she hadn't slept for days, I would then get worried about her. I smile at her flirt and gently move my head forward, placing my forehead gently with her forehead. A blush lights up on her mulberry colored face and I am smiling at her. Inside, I can hear the sound of my own heart fluttering from the excitement. Twilight lays out a happy and soft sigh and she brushes her head past me. She is gently nuzzling the side of my left cheek and I softly begin to move my head alongside hers. My body began to feel very comfortable and relaxed. My arms go around Twilight and one of my hands; particularly my right hand is gently stroking her silky mane. From the side of her face, I hear the sound of her breathing, sounding calm and at a normal rate.

Deep feelings progress and sway between the both of us and she eventually stops nuzzling against my cheek and just gazes into the empty black pupils in my eyes. I'm gazing at her and gently releasing a loving smile at her and gently giving her back a gentle stroke to keep her happy and safe in my presence.

"I have a gift just for you." Twilight says to me. "I left it at home though, but when the party is coming to an end, I'll take you back to the library and I'll give it to you." The way that she had said it almost sounded like a flirt. My cheeks light up and I'm smiling at her.

"Is it an item… or is it something more?" I asked, curious about what Twilight wanted to give me as a special present. Would it be a box of chocolates? A portrait with me and Twilight? The way that she said it seemed to be a mystery.

Twilight softly places her hoof onto my mouth. "It's something that I want to offer to you for tonight, but it will always be there if you want." She said. "Let's save it for later now, shall we?"

"Of course." I said, giving Twilight's gentle mane one final stroke before I allowed her to get off of me. Her wings retract from around me and her two front hooves slide out from around my neck, allowing her to go back on all four hooves again. I hear the sound of all her hooves placed back onto the wooden planks and she turns to smile at me.

"Come on Twilight!" Rainbow Dash shouted with excitement, ruining an ending to a perfect moment between me and her. "Enough with the kiss-kiss stuff, we should let Brayden open up his gifts and see what he got for his birthday!"

Rainbow Dash was literally pulling the back of my chair away from her. I could hear the sounds of the scooting chair being pulled back and me still sitting on it. I turn around to my friend Rainbow while she is doing this. By the time she has stopped, I've already place over at the other end of the round table. "Now, seeing that you're the man of the party, which present will you pick first?" Rainbow Dash says to me, patting me on the back.

I take a look at the differently wrapped presents. All of them were one gift with the same kind of color wrapping paper as the coats of my friends. The bows wrapped at the top of the presents were in the tone of their mane color. I move my hand from below the table and form it to make it the index finger pointing out. The first gift that I point out for opening is Coco Pommel's.

I use both of my hands and move the cream-coloured gift away from the rest of the other gifts waiting to be opened. I begin to tear out at the wrapping paper that did me a bit of trouble first to get open, but I eventually opened it up. Out of the wrapping paper were a box and my left hand grips onto the bottom while my hand moves to the top to take off the top, revealing the gift. Inside the box was a wool lavender knitted sweater fit with the right requirements for me to wear it. I take it out of the box and slide it onto me. It felt really warm and soft. A smile lights up on my face. I turn towards my right, seeing Coco trot forward towards me.

"What did you think of my gift Brayden?" Coco asks in her soft-spoken voice. "Do you like it? I made it just for you."

I place my hand onto Coco's shoulder and look into her eyes. "I'm not sure how you knitted something this gracefully soft, but thank you so much." I say to her and I sounded really happy. I take my hand off of her shoulder and turn back towards the table taking off the sweater and placing it back into the box for some time later in the fall. "Now, which gift should I open up next?"

"Oh! Oh! Do mine next! I've got an exciting present for you!" Pinkie Pie jumping up and down off the ground and raising a hoof, reluctant as a young school kid getting dessert for supper.

I chuckle at my friend and say "Alright Pinkie, I'll pick your gift next." Pinkie lets out a squee and pushes her gift towards me. Already wanting to see the gift, I pick the wrapped gift up with my hands. I take off the wrapping and I let out a soft and happy gasp.

I move my hands into the box and take a look at the object that I am carrying. It's a gold-coloured capo meant for creating more beautiful sounds to my acoustic or electric guitar. "Pinkie, I've been looking for a capo for a very long time! How did you manage to find this?" I said, sounding really eager to know where she got this accessory.

"Well, let's see… while I was trotting home from helping out at a filly's birthday party, I noticed that the nearby guitar shop was closing for the night in a couple of minutes so I went right in and asked if there was anything that I could give to you. I was going to go for new and fresh guitar strings but I wasn't really sure if you wanted them immediately, so I found the capo at the last second and bought it with my own bits. It was really cheap! Then I got home and Gummy helped me out in wrapping it." Pinkie Pie said, sounding really energetic and hopping over to me as she explained everything.

I smile at her and give my happy, smiling friend a hug. "Thank you." I said to her during the hug between me and her. The both of us hug for a few moments and then we let go. I turn back towards the rest of my gifts, picking out the next one to open.

I had got some neat presents from the rest of my friends. Applejack had given me a classic watch just so I could know what time it was in Equestria, the most awesome thing about it was: It was able to adjust itself to a different time zone wherever I went. For my dragon friend Spike, he had given me a very special shining diamond. How'd he know that I liked diamonds? Let's just say that it was a computer sandbox game back on Earth that got me into them. I might need to keep this diamond from Rarity's grasp though, she'll probably try to take it from me with her begging and pleading. Rainbow Dash, gave me a copy of Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny seeing how I know that she is as big a fan of Daring Do as Twilight. Hell, I'm also real surprised to see that Rainbow Dash made it onto the front cover of the book and she wanted to tell me all about her experience with Daring Do, but I told her I saw the episode so I already knew about it.

I turn towards the last gift on the table. It was Fluttershy's gift to me. I already know Twilight has her gift for me back at the treehouse and Rarity already gave me her present. I take the small present in my hands and remove the wrapping off of the box. I take off the top of the box and look inside the leather box.

Inside the box was a wooden bird-shaped whistle that I blow in from the top to call out some birds and see them. I look towards my best friend and her soft hoof is placed onto my hand. She is smiling right at me with a trustful look.

"This is no ordinary whistle Brayden, it's one of my special ones that I give to friends in case they run into trouble. If there is ever a moment in your lifetime where you are lost or are being attacked, you just blow the whistle. The birds will see what's happening and come tell me. We'll come to help you out if that happens." Fluttershy says to me.

"Aw, thank you Fluttershy." I said. "I'm glad you and your friends do look out for each other. Thank you again for looking out for me."

"You're quite welcome Brayden." She said to me, and took her hoof off of my hand.

I turned to face the rest of my friends again; all of them had smiles on their faces. "Now before we get into the cake and dinner, I want to sing two songs for all of you." I said, sounding very dedicated to singing these two songs for my friends. But there was one song I was saving for Twilight. "Now, before I start singing, I think I should go get my guitars-"

"Um, no need to do that Brayden." Fluttershy said to me. "I already brought the guitars since I believe you told me that you were going to sing."

"Oh, thank you again Fluttershy." I said, moving my hand forward and patting her on the head gently. Her cheeks light up after I move my hand away from the top of her head.

I move towards the other side when they usually would make a stage for performances such as the Ponytones. There wasn't a stage at the moment, but it didn't really matter. It was an occasion for friends so it was all good. I take my acoustic guitar from the stand that Fluttershy had carefully set up for me. That was really kind of her to bring the stands as well; I wouldn't want the guitars falling.

I faced towards the rest of my friends with the acoustic guitar in my lap. I take out one of my guitar picks and look towards my friends. All of them look like they are cheering me on from the inside with their proud smiles drawn upon their faces. Nervousness starts to kick in, but in the end I resisted against it, knowing that I couldn't mess up in front of Twilight. Even though she'd still tell me that it was only a few mistakes, still… I get that uneasy feeling every time.

I begin to gently strum out a G chord and I hold the strumming there while the sound of the piano is heard from inside of my ear. I finally take a breath and begin to sing.

Speak to me in a language I can hear

Humour me before I have to go

Deep in thought I forgive everyone

As the cluttered streets greet me once again

I know I can't be late

Supper's waiting on the table

Tomorrow's just an excuse away

So I pull my collar up and face the cold, on my own

The Earth laughs beneath my heavy feet

At the blasphemy in myold jangly walk

Steeple guide me to my heart and home

The sun is out and up and down again

I know I'll make it, love can last forever

Graceful swans of never topple to the Earth

And you can make it last forever

You can make it last forever

And for a moment I lose myself

Wrapped up in the pleasures of the world

I've journeyed here and there and back again

But in the same old haunts I still find my friends

Mysteries not ready to reveal

Sympathies I'm ready to return

I'll make the effort, love can last forever

Graceful swans of never topple to the Earth

Tomorrow's just an excuse

Tomorrow's just an excuse

And you can make it last forever

I strum the final chord and look towards my friends. Their small hooves begin to clap all together and the sounds of happy shouts and cheering from their mouths start to come out. I can see Twilight at the table, clapping both of her hooves together and she looked rather enlightened, which made me smile inside.

"Now the next song… is for my very special somepony." I said to my friends and they continue to clap their hooves together, begging for another song. I take a hold of the electric guitar, putting the acoustic back to its stand.

I began to play out a single few notes and rang out some harmonics to make it sound beautiful. A few power chords came in at the end and I began to sing the second song.

I should have known better

Than to let you go alone,

It's times like these

I can't make it on my own

Wasted days, and sleepless nights

And I can't wait to see you again

I find I spend my time

Waiting on your call,

How can I tell you, baby

My back's against the wall

I need you by my side

To tell me it's alright,

'Cos I don't think I can take anymore

Is this love that I'm feeling,

Is this the love, that I've been searching for

Is this love or am I dreaming,

This must be love,

'Cos it's really got a hold on me,

A hold on me...

I can't stop the feeling

I've been this way before

But, with you I've found the key

To open any door

I can feel my love for you

Growing stronger day by day,

An' I can't wait to see you again

So I can hold you in my arms

Is this love that I'm feeling,

Is this the love, that I've been searching for

Is this love or am I dreaming,

This must be love,

'Cos it's really got a hold on me,

A hold on me...

I immediately launched into a wailing guitar solo, keeping my eyes on the strings below to make sure I had hit them right. But I could imagine Twilight's face at this point, she was probably flattered that I would sing a nice love song to her. After the solo, I got back to finishing the song.

Is this love that I'm feeling,

Is this the love, that I've been searching for...

Is this love or am I dreaming,

Is this the love, that I've been searching for...

I finished the song and my friends began to clap all of their hooves together, rather impressed by my skills on the guitar. I put the electric guitar back into its stand and walk back towards the table. Twilight's face has a loving smile on her face and her cheeks are pink as ever. My two feet approach the strong wooden chair and I sit down, gently taking both of her hooves and holding onto them.

"Brayden…" Twilight said, her voice sounding very speechless and struck by the talent that I had. "That was absolutely wonderful."

"Of course." I said, gently stroking her soft and gentle hooves with my hands. "I felt like I haven't sung to you in a bit of time, thought I'd go back and sing a song for you again."

Twilight's head moved forward towards me slowly and her eyes were closed. She gently pressed her lips against mine by complete surprise. My heart began to flutter once more when I felt those recognizable and loving lips kissing my own. I move my arms around her neck gently, and begin hugging her as she did what she needed to do. I could feel the feathers of her wings brush around me and pull me closer to her. My eyes slowly close and I find myself sharing the gentle kiss with her. Around me, I could hear the sounds of all our friends saying "Awww" at the sight of it.

I released the kiss between me and her, opening up the both of our eyes and gazing into one another. I can still see the beauty that Twilight had when I saw her for the first time, and I could swear that I could see that spark in her eyes. She gently holds my hands for a brief few moments and then lets the both of them go. My two hands let go of her and I continue to smile at her.

Something begins to feel weird and I find the world around me starting to slow down. I start to see Twilight getting pulled away from me. I tried to reach out for her, but no matter what she got even farther from me. I could see my friends starting to be pulled away with her and the whole landscape stretches out with them. I could not move from the chair and my hands are brought onto my lap. I am paralyzed.

Alright, dammit. If this is another one of those flashbacks, I swear I'm going to try and erase them from my mind. Oh wait, never mind. The environment starts to change for the worse. I could see the walls around the Sugarcube Corner start to tumble down. Cracks appear on the windows and I couldn't feel that invisible force pass by when it shattered the glass onto the floor. My chair is moved towards the view of the broken window slowly with suspense drawing upon me. Cracks start spreading from the bottom of the walls to the top as they slowly crumble apart into small pieces of what once was the famous place for sweets and treats in Ponyville. My eyes finally broaden with terror when I see the very image that is placed outside of the building.

The whole town of Ponyville was alit on fire. Most of the windows that I could see on most of the buildings were shattered. Rooftops had been half-burnt or were still smoking up into the hot ashes of fire and the smell of hatred pouring out. I could see the weak and helpless ponies and friends I knew, lying on the ground unable to get up and rescue the town. Their eyes had turned into a light gray and were very faded. They were weakly trying to say something. From the words that I could make out from where I was… they were saying "Help us…"

The loud booming sound of hoof steps came in from below the horizon. It was all covered into the darkness of shadows. Through blood-red skies, its two horns are raised up high into the air and its eyes are opened up staring down at me. The eyes of this mysterious shadow shine a very bright yellow and I hear the sound of its laughter as if it was made out of a nightmare.

I find myself being lifted up into the air and towards the dark shadow. I try my best to speak, but silence only fills out, unable to gasp out a single breath at this beast I look upon. He could smell my fear to say the least and his breath reeked of dragon. There was something bad about this, and it wasn't the beast hiding in the shadow himself.

"I can smell your fear, Equestrian knight…" I can hear a female voice call out to me from above the sky. From out of the fiery skies, I could see a woman with dragon wings descending down onto the land towards me. In his hands were two shining blades forged in fires too far away from Equestria to matter. I am knocked back from the chair and fall onto the ground. Across the ground from where I landed, I notice that face looking weakened and tired from battle, Princess Twilight.

"Brayden…" She says to me with such weakness in her voice. I'm reaching out to her, but that same invisible force keeps me from reaching her while I crawl towards her. "Save yourself…"

I wanted to shout out that I wasn't going to leave her to die. That woman covered in fire lands close to Twilight and approaches her with the two blades. "I know you want her to live…" The voice of the lady says unto me. She then grabs my special somepony by the throat and holds her forward towards me. "These ponies have caused long enough misery between my dragons and the ones who hate their kind. If you will not join, it looks like you will not get to see her talk… ever… again!"

"No, don't hurt her!" I shout to her, making a bull charge towards her. But a bright orange aura takes hold of me and faces me back towards the horned shadow. Its yellow eyes stare at me with a chuckle coming from its lips.

"Finish the job." I hear the female call out. The shadow opens its mouth and I find myself once again into the darkness.

"Brayden? BRAYDEN!"

My eyes are forced open from that frightening moment. I'm lying right down on the wooden floor and my head is resting upon two pillows where my head is. I was back at the Sugarcube Corner, with no disasters, nobody trying to kill Twilight… nothing bad at all. I was back in reality. Did I end up fainting?

In front of my view of the ceiling, I can see both Twilight and Rainbow Dash standing right over me. They both looked worried and frightened about the condition I was placed into. I can start to hear the conversations of some friends talking.

"Oh, I hope he's okay." Fluttershy said. I can feel her golden hoof gently stroking the top of my hand. This snaps me out of paralysation and I get my head up off of the pillows with a groan. All of them gasp and gather around me.

They began to tell me everything what happened. "Are you okay Brayden?" and "We were worried about you" came out of their mouths while they were asking many questions. I can feel Twilight's wings move around me and gently pull my body towards hers. I move my arms around where the waist would usually be and hug her.

"What happened? Why was I on the floor? Did I faint?" I asked, having the absolute need to ask as many questions about what happened.

I can see Coco trot forward towards me. "Well, while you were talking to Twilight for a few moments after you sang… your eyes started to retract back and we all became worried. Then…" Coco says, then pausing. She is unable to find the right words. "Yeah... you fainted."

"We're glad that you're okay." Twilight says, gently taking one of her hooves and stroking the back of my head, keeping me as comfortable as possible.

I let go of Twilight's hug and I start to struggle to get the rest of my body up off of the floor. I start to feel everything wobble. I don't have enough strength to get me up. Rainbow Dash and Applejack come forward and go underneath my two arms, pushing me upward to support my balance. Eventually, the wobbling slowly comes to a stop and in my legs, I can feel the strength start to come back in.

"That's much better." I said, starting to bring my breathing rate back to a normal stance. I can feel Applejack's gamboge hoof touch my hand. I look down at her.

"Partner… are ya sure yer going to be alright?" Applejack said sounding still worried about if I was still in that condition. "That's like the second dang time ya fainted on us."

I place my hand onto Applejack's shoulder. I bent down to get the equal size that she was, see how I was a little bit taller than all of them, but not tall as Princess Celestia. I'm looking into her green eyes. "Applejack, I thank you and Rainbow for helping to support me as I got up. It's what makes a great friend like you. You look out for the safety of other friends." I said, and I can tell you that I was being 100% honest with her.

"Aw gee." Applejack said, appreciating those brief words on what meaning I was trying to get across. "Well, Ah don't like seeing friends being hurt or fainting. But Ah'll let you know one thing Brayden." She gently takes her hoof and holds onto my hand with it. "It's what really matters to me. Me and yer friends really care about ya, we want to make the best for ya while yer here. If anything bad happened, Ah don't know what Ah'd do."

I gently move the both of my arms around the neck of my friend Applejack and bring her closer to me. Those very words she said to me had touched my heart from the inside. No interest in her romantically, I can sense something about the friendship between me and Applejack while we hugged. Inside, I could feel the spark of honesty start to flow through my body and through hers, connecting us.

This was a sign that a friendship had grown really close. Not romantically. It was the part that brought me and Applejack as closer friends to look out for each other. The bond of Honesty itself shone invisibly through us. In the end, me and her let go of the hug and smile at each other as friends. But from that, there was more sparks of the bonds yet to come from the other five, but when would they come? It seemed like a mystery yet to be solved by myself, but if I see Princess Celestia, I'll ask her about it… she might know.

"Sugarcube…" She says to me. "If at any time ya want to talk with me and share yer problems, Ah'll always be right there if ya need ma help."

"Thank you Applejack." I said and bent back up into the height I usually stood in. The thought of Celestia catches me and I wondered where she was. I would suspect that she would come to Ponyville for a brief visit just to say hello to me… but no, she hasn't come which surprised me.

"Twilight?" I asked, catching my special somepony's attention. I gently scratch one of her ears and she looks at me with curiosity while delighted by the loving ear-scratch. "Have you heard anything from Princess Celestia?"

Twilight's face seems disappointed. "I'm sorry Brayden," She says with an apologetic tone to her voice. "Princess Celestia and Luna were supposed to come down to surprise you, but they sent a letter through Spike saying that they weren't coming due to a holdback and preparations for the dignitaries."

"Oh." I said with disappointment in my voice. "But I forgive them if something politically came up between them and any-"

"Enough chit-chat!" Pinkie calls out with such excitement in her voice and a joyful smile on her face, interrupting me in the process. "I think it's time to sing happy birthday to this lucky somepony!"

A smile lit up on my face once again and I say "You're right there, Pinkie. It's my birthday, I shouldn't be worrying about the smallest things in the joy of a great day." I take a seat back at the table and look at the chocolate cake sitting in the centre; all of the candles were burning brightly with twenty-one candles burning. I was surprised… I was the same age as Rainbow Dash according to the episode 'Pinkie Pride'.

"Come on everypony, let's sing for Brayden!" Twilight says to her friends. They gathered around the table and Pinkie scoots her two hooves across the table, bringing the cake closer to me. I smile and look at my friends while they begin to sing to me.

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday to you

Happy birthday dear Brayden

Happy birthday to you!

I chuckle lightly once my friends finished singing and I take in a deep breath, blowing the air out onto the burning candles. All of the candles go out and everypony starts clapping their hooves. Their smiles brighten up onto their faces, making them happy again after a few minutes of being worried.

Fluttershy moves beside me and cuts the cake into a piece for each friend, taking a plate with a slice to each of my friends and my special somepony who was sitting on the right next to me. Fluttershy pushes the plate close to me, lightly and being careful not to accidentally tip over the slice. "There you go Brayden. Enjoy." The golden mare says to me in her soft spoken voice, taking her slice of the cake and going over to Rarity and Spike who was most likely to be too distracted by the white unicorn's beauty bestowed upon her.

I take a plastic fork and begin to eat up into the chocolate cake. My goodness, my mouth began to go into insta-crave when I took the first bite of the cake. It tasted just one of those chocolate glazed donuts that I used to have when I was back home on Earth. With eagerness, I dig into the slice of cake… slowly. I'd get a bad tummy ache if I ate too fast.

Ponyville, 9:35pm

"Thank you everypony for the birthday party!" I called out behind me, turning to see the smiles on their faces. Most of them were waving at me and I can see Coco galloping up to me.

"Wait, Brayden!" She calls out to me. I stop walking and turn towards Coco. Twilight was trotting alongside me and both her and Spike stop as well to watch.

"What is it Coco?" I asked, feeling worried about maybe trying to bring up the entire 'crush' thing again, but in front of Twilight. "Is there something you needed?"

"I… I have to go back to Manehattan for my new job that Rarity connected me with." She says, taking my hoof. "But I am going to miss you a lot, and I really want you to visit Manehattan sometime when you're not too busy."

"I will definitely keep that in mind Coco." I said, and put my arms around the earth pony. Both me and her share a goodbye hug for a few moments, and then we let go. I wave to Coco Pommel with a smile on both of our faces and I join back with Twilight and Spike to head back to the Golden Oaks Library. But still… I haven't gotten Twilight's gift yet, but I continue to wait.

I let out a bit of a yawn and I stretch out an arm to bring a hand in front of my mouth. Twilight turns towards me and sees how tired I am. She opens up one of her wings and covers my back with the mulberry-feathered wing. "Don't fall asleep quite yet Brayden. The gift is almost there for you." She says to me. All I can do is look both tired and smile at her at the same time.

We eventually do reach the Golden Oaks Library, and I am looking as tired as ever. By this rate, I'd probably being going to bed at this hour thanks to Fluttershy who needed to give me a new sleep cycle. Twilight's horn glows out an aura at the front door and I watch the door swing open by itself. The entire library looks rather dark from the inside with the exception of the moonlight that Luna's moon beamed out over the land.

"I'm so tired, I'm not even sure I can walk any further." I said as I stepped into the treehouse. Twilight turns around towards me and her horn starts to glow again. I can feel the gentle aura of her magic lift me up off of the ground. She trots up towards the stairs with me behind her and floating… almost about to sleep. With peaceful dreams…

No! I was going to stay awake for this gift that Twilight was going to give me. I can see the flights of stairs go past and I find myself upstairs in her room. I watch as she spreads the both of her wings and flies up over to where her bed is. She gently lowers me down towards the bed, opening up the sheets for me to be under and slides me into her bed, removing the aura from me.

Twilight trots forward towards the bed and smiles at me. "A night with me… is your special birthday present from me to you. But it won't be only once Brayden." She says to me while getting into bed with me and lying next to me. "I'll always be here if you want somepony to accompany you."

"Thank you Twilight." I tiredly say and gently stroke the side of her left cheek with my right hand. She brushes herself closer to me and rests her head onto my chest. "Good night Twilight."

"Good night to you too Brayden." She says to me, raising her head and looking at me. The both of us move our heads forward against one another gently, giving each other a goodnight's kiss.

"I love you." I whispered to Twilight while she placed her head onto my chest again. She sighs happily with a tired tone to it, she's been on her hooves again all day again and so was I.

"I love you too." Twilight whispers back and while I'm falling asleep, I keep a close eye on Twilight while she's dozing off to sleep and I do see Spike come up his little bed to get some rest after doing one last check on the books to make sure they were alright.

Finally, with the exception of the night creatures chirping outside the open window, I finally rest my eyes and drift off into a deep relaxing sleep. Don't worry about where the gifts are. I already had asked Fluttershy to bring them back to her cottage, so they're safe.

Good night Equestria, I will see you tomorrow. Next stop tomorrow: The Crystal Empire. I only wonder how both Princess Cadence and Twilight's brother Shining Armor will take highly upon me first entering the city in the north and visiting. Will they appreciate me, or will Shining keep his eye on me for suspicious behavior?

That'll definitely be something to know when the morning sun rises.