Rarity had mixed emotions on the subject of birthdays. She could remember being a filly and spending weeks looking forward to the day her friends would all gather at her parents' house to eat cake, playgames, and generally make her feel special and vivacious. Birthday parties had been entertaining social events and what wasn't wonderful about all of your friends coming over to give you things and celebrate how great you were? They were ego intensive and joyous to the admittedly egocentric pony. She couldn't recall when she had stopped looking forward to them but now she dreaded them. They had transformed, metamorphosized from mirth to grueling tediance. At some point, the passage of time had slipped a gear and the desperate pleading to become older became the scraping wail of the hands of time grinding forward obtrusively and without mercy.

Another year older.

Another tick of the clock of youth. Another year to claim as age. Another step towards the ugly future of waning beauty and another few strokes of her applicator to hide the damage of time to her elegant features. Oh well, there wasn't time to dwell on such things now; Pinkie had already arrived and begun tossing decorations in randomly charming patterns all across Carousel Boutique. The chattering of her friends outside of her boudoir meant that the party was ready to begin and, even though beauty could not be rushed, Rarity did not wish to appear rude and keep her friends waiting. She looked deeply into the mirror of her cosmetics table and turned her head back and forth to ensure that she was at her loveliest. With a quick wink into the mirror, Rarity stood and turned to the door; she must play the part of the gracious hostess despite how she had come to detest this date each year. She took a step and paused; there was something she still needed to do.

Rarity faced her cosmetics table and sparkled her levitation magic to life, lifting a small pile of purple candles, still sticky with frosting, and dropping them into a wastebasket. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Pinkie's hard work, but there was simply no need to construct a calculable representation of her age. Some things were just not fashionable, but one could not expect the youthful likes of Pinkie Pie to understand and so Rarity had been forced to alter the cake's design slightly, unknown to her baker friend.

In only a moment, Rarity had donned the dress she had designed for this event, the only portion she actively enjoyed, and exited her boudoir to join her friends in the main room of her home and business. A smile graced her features although it was imperceptibly false. Her beauty training and modeling classes had taught her more than how to strut.

All of her friends were in attendance, as well as her family consisting of her younger sibling and parents. They cheered for her, showering praises and attention when she came from her dressing room as she struck a rather elegant pose to accemtuate her new dress. She was quickly swept up into the different party events and the fake smile morphed into one of genuine enjoyment. Her friends really made her forget her problems; it had always seemed to the white unicorn that their bond was something special, something abnormal but undeniably virtuous in scope. It was as if they were meant to be together and their union could nullify all the doubts of the world. For a portion of time Rarity left her dour mood behind and felt mirthful as they played games, opened gifts, and celebrated. It was almost as if she had forgotten the reason behind their joining this day. She had lost herself to the atmosphere until …

"HAAAAAAPPPPPPYYYYYYY BIRTHDAY, RARITY!" Pinkie's strained vocal chords rang out above the din as an unbelievably huge cake was wheeled from the kitchen, streamers and confetti exploding from seemingly nowhere and drawing the attention of the crowd. The cake was tremendous and the icing was as white as snow except for a patch of blue diamond designs and purple streams of icing circling each layer whose size decreased as the tower climbed towards the heavens. Not to be outdone by scope, Pinkie Pie skidded on her back legs in front of the cake with her forelegs shooting up in a display of merriment unknown to the likes of normal ponies, an enormous open-mouthed smile threatening to split her head in half. Suddenly a questioning expression erased the glee and the pink pony gawked towards the top of the cake. She had expected many blazing candles but only a single purple stick of wax held a flame atop the white monstrosity. "Where's the candles?"

Rarity felt a slight cube of ice take root in her stomach and she giggled in a fashion that could only be weakly hidden guilt as she came up with an accepting reply. "Oh, that's all right, Darling. It's such a beautiful cake. I think it's just perfect."

"Maybe they fell off?" Twilight observed, poking her head around the giant confection in search of spilled candles.

"Well, they didn't just walk away. They have to be here somewhere." Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air above the towering baked-good to get a better view.

Pinkie looked between her legs at the floor that appeared to be above her from the angle, searching for the missing candles. "Hmmm … maybe." She gasped suddenly as a second scenario dawned in her imagination, forcing her to jerk her head back to its normal placement and hop into the air with sudden fear. "Oh no, you guys! What if the candles were made from witch's wax and got up and walked away by themselves! They probably were afraid of being burned and ran away!"

Fluttershy made a weak frightened sound and faded into the background, as witch's wax walking candles were something she didn't necessarily need to see.

"Where in tarnation did ya come up with that, Pinkie? Walkin' sticks of wax? There ain't no such thing." Applejack was giving a slightly annoyed grimace to the party pony.

"Oh well. Wherever they went, I have more. I always keep extras for emergencies; just make sure to be ready to put them out if they start running." Pinkie produced a step ladder from nowhere and hopped to the top, several new candles poking from her lips as she stretched to place them on top of the cake, her expression turning to one of utmost concentration for the precision involved in candle placement.

Rarity just wanted to change the subject and keep Pinkie from placing the new candles. She didn't want the others to know her age. Rarity knew she was the oldest of her group of friends and didn't see the point in making it public knowledge. "Pinkie, stop!" her voice was steeped in panic as her tone raised to a volume of jarring proportions. Pinkie and the others paused and turned in surprise to the sudden outburst. The unicorn flushed with embarrassment and her voice came out thinly veiled from the shame and fear that dwelled inside. "I mean … we're all famished. I appreciate the effort, but how about I make my wish and allow us all to enjoy this magnificent example of confectionary delight?"

The whole group bought the ploy and a round of agreements followed the unicorn's statement. Rarity smiled triumphantly as the pink pony climbed down from her ladder and made way, with a huge grin, for Rarity to climb to the top. Rarity had just stepped on the ladder and was wishing she could age backwards for a few years when Pinkie spoke again.

"I don't think I brought enough candles anyway, actually. It took quite a lot." The statement was innocent; Pinkie was bubbly and air-headed but not cruel. Regardless, Rarity froze in her motion as the words seared into her brain. She snapped a harsh look down to the clueless pink pony. Her words had hurt. The vain pony's insecurities ran deep on the subject of age.

Applejack caught the glare that Rarity burned into Pinkie, sighed in irritation, and reprimanded the young party mare. "Pinkie, dontcha think that was a little rude?" Rarity and Applejack had lived in Ponyville for a long time and were the closest in age. They had been in the same class in school and AJ understood more about Rarity than the others. She knew how much Pinkie's comment had struck home.

A clueless expression swept Pinkie's face and she faced Applejack questioningly for a moment before realization dawned on her. "Oh … I didn't mean to say Rarity was old." She wasn't the brightest pony and her words made all in attendance wince momentarily. "It's just … well, keeping thirty extra candles on me isn't easy and I didn't bring that many. I mean, that's a lot of candles!" Just when everypony thought it couldn't get any worse.

Rarity exploded into a fit of tears and wails, quickly dashing into her boudoir and slamming the door to leave her guests stunned, amazed, and casting malicious glares in Pinkie Pie's direction. Pinkie could only giggle nervously and attempt to shrink into the background as the others walked to the door to issue soothing statements through the wooden portal.

Sweetie Belle tried to open the door but found it locked. Her voice broke as she spoke, "Come on, Sis. Open the door. We don't think you're old. You're the prettiest mare in all of Ponyville."

"Rarity, come on out. Don't listen tah' that nincompony. Y'all know how Pinkie is. She don't think before she speaks. Don't let it ruin yer' big day."

Rarity sobbed into her forelegs, tears moistening the fur and causing her makeup to run in shaky black streaks down her cheeks. She could hear the pleas of her friends but such niceties didn't change the fact that Pinkie was right; she was getting old. Her uncouth proclamation was a fact, thirty was a large number. Her youth was over with the passing of this birthday and her descent to a wrinkled old hag had begun. There was nothing she could do about it but contend with the unfairness of life and increase her beauty regimen to battle the signs of decay.

To the unicorn, birthdays had become a funeral march, oppressed with that finality to which all creatures, however beautiful, must succumb. She felt much the same as the day before but did she still have that energetic spark she once found so vibrant within her? No. Much of that vivacity had gone dormant over the years and Rarity could only predict the condition to worsen in the future. The dawn of her life had ended and she was finding herself beginning to tilt, to decline by minute degrees with each passing hour. Perhaps she could not feel her body dying, but it was. Each moment was one less that remained. It wasn't bad enough that her time was dwindling but why did her body have to age? Wasn't it horrific enough to know that her time was limited, but that her fabulous features would suffer long before her body gave out? The degradation of her lovely appearance was like some sort of cruel joke.

Rarity gazed into the mirror of her cosmetics table, pondering her questions while her eyes leaked more tears, further marring the fabrication of perfection that makeup had slowly been replacing for youth. She was far from ugly, in fact, she was the picture of splendor for Ponyville. Her features were tight and her coat and skin had been well cared for over the years. The unicorn was aging far more gracefully than any other, but she knew that one day even her best attempts to extend her youth would falter. She didn't know how soon that day would come but managed to calm herself over a few minutes while her friends spoke their soothing words through the locked door. Rarity was always dramatic; it was a facet of her personality and she understood it well enough to gain control quickly.

Within a few minutes the mare had her makeup restored and opened the door, not wanting to ruin the wonderful party that her friends had thrown for her. She pushed all of her dark thoughts into the back of her mind and thanked her family and friends for their support before coming back to the party. For one more night, she would push off the threat of eventual demise. She would smile and celebrate with those whom she was closest.

Message from me:

This story is a team project between me and my friend/editor jmj.

He was the mastermind behind this, but I pitched in and helped write/edit/think-up a pretty hefty sum of this over all.

In the end, we weren't sure who should upload the story so we ended up deciding by way of a coin toss.

I lost, so he uploaded this on fimfiction while I uploaded it here on fanfiction.

Hope you guys enjoyed this.

There's more to come in the future.