Considering my past experiences with the nobles of Canterlot, I wouldn't say I was suprised that a few had bribed their way into the party. I think they believed it was some kind of really important social event that only the people with the highest authority or status could enter. They were only there to try to get close to royalty or higher nobles, and boy were they suprised when Celestia or Luna personally escorted them out of the party and dumped them outside of the castle grounds. Granted they only really noticed them when one screamed in disgust at the sight of me and demanded to know why I was at the gathering, and I took immense satisfaction in seeing the shock on her face when she figured out what the event actually was.

When the first noble had been caught, Wasp and Zeri flew down into my shoulder as small flies and asked if I was ok. It did hurt my feelings at first, but I knew not to take any of them seriously, and so did the princesses. All worlds have their positives and negatives, snobs and demons bring this worlds negatives. I didn't let that little incident distract me from having a good time, thus was the first birthday party I really ever had, any other birthday I had previously was just me and my sister sharing a cupcake we managed to buy and giving each other small gifts like a little toy or something. But there was one gift that my sister had given me that I still had with me, one that I head close to my heart.

A necklace. Made of a black wire and a silver medallion in the shape of a swirling sun. She had made two, the other having a four pointed star medallion instead. She made me promise to keep it close, to keep it safe, so that if we were ever apart, she'd be there with me. I hardly ever wore it, but I always kept it on my person. After looking around I sighed and pulled the necklace out of my shirt pocket. I kissed it and quietly whispered happy birthday to my fallen sister before wrapping it around my neck. I instantly felt a warm, protective presence around me. It seemed that any stress that I had momentarily washed away as I placed the medallion close to my heart.

It was a welcomed sensation, one that suprised me but kept me calm for the next minute or two until eventually the stress came back. I was always stressed out about things, bit I was always able to mask it well. Most of the time I was able to fool Celestia and avoid talking about it with her, but Luna could never be fooled by my metaphorical mask. She would either pry it out of me or go into my dreams to find out for herself. While I saw it as an invasion of privacy at first, when she actually took steps to help me through them I forgave her. I can't stop her, she does it out of love and these ponies seem to have very different rules when it comes to privacy and personal space.

When I was about to reach for a cupcake I felt someone tap my shoulder, I looked back to see Celestia and Luna standing behind me with smiles on their faces, telling me it was time for some birthday cake. This managed to get me to give a small smile as I followed the two over to a large table where a large rectangular box lay. The sisters used their magic to lift the box to reveal a huge chocolate cake with fifteen candles lined up at the front with the words "Happy Birthday Symbol" writen in orange flavoured icing.

The cake seemed to be big enough so that everyone was able to have a slice. The two sisters gave me a hug as they all sang happy birthday to me. I'll admit, a tear managed to roll down my cheek at that moment. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded by people who cared about me, that wanted me to be there, celebrating the day of my birth. It was almost too much. I blew out the candles as Luna wiped the tear off my cheek. I just wished my sister could have been there at that moment, but I was damn well glad she wasn't there for what would follow.

After everyone had their cake, it was time to open the gifts. I sat down on the end of a table as those that had brought gifts took them from another table and brought them over individually. One was a gift from Rarity, it held two variations of my usual outfit and a grey trenchcoat. While the trenchcoat made me a little confused and frankly I figured it was kind of a cliché thing to wear, then again everything is cliché nowadays, the two variations of my outfit swapped the blue for red and purple. It would at least bring some form of variety to my current wardrobe. Another gift was from Twilight, which was of course, a book. But it was a book that quickly caught my interest.

Another was from Fluttershy. In a small box a fluffy white spider with a red ring on its abdomen looked up at me with curiousity. A lot of the ponies backed away slightly as it crawled out and reached the end of the table, looking at me expectedly. I was no stranger to coming across large spiders before, having encountered many on earth. Plus, I found spiders interesting. I looked to Fluttershy who nodded with a smile. I placed my hand on the table and the fluffy spider crawled up my arm and rested on my shoulder. I'd name the little guy in a bit, there were other gifts to attend to. The last notable gift was from Spike the Dragon, having met the young drake at the beginning of the party he seemed like a nice guy.

It was a purple diamond, I guessed diamonds where actually worth something here, considering the reactions it got from even the princesses. I know gems are very commonplace in Equestria, but I guessed that diamonds where actually rare here. I thanked the young dragon and he smiled. Oddly enough, the diamond seemed kinda familiar, don't know why though. The other gifts where nice and all, but they weren't really worth mentioning. No, there is something far more important to mention.

After all the gifts had been given, Luna pulled me to the side and handed me a small object wrapped in paper. I slowly took the paper off and found it was the pocket watch. The golden watch with Luna's mark in the middle glistened in the light, I was able to feel the small gears turning inside of it. I gave Luna a hug and thanked her for the gift. She knew that I had trouble telling the time here, given that most ponies could tell the time by the position of the sun and there weren't many clocks around, so this was very helpful.

However, this friendly gift would soon turn into something that would dictate my future. I got that feeling again, stronger than the last few times. I quickly turned around and spotted that unicorn, Clockwork, standing with the shadowed human figure. Clockwork grinned at me before his horn lit up and I was struck in the chest by a small beam on magic. I stumbled backwards as the magic washed over my body. I heard Clockwork laugh before the figure grabbed him and they disappeared.

I put a hand to my chest as I began to breathe heavily, my body shaking uncontrollably. Finally, I fell backwards, my eyes closed and my breathing slow. I hit the hard marble floor with a loud thud and the clang of metal as the watch hit the floor too. Before I fell into unconsciousness I heard the ponies around me, struggling to keep me awake, but to no avail. At last, everything faded to black...there was no way we could have prepared for what had happened, no way to know it was coming, it just happened.

And this one incident, would change my life in Equestria, forever.

Author's Notes:

The plot kicks in and the main storyline can progress.

A few references to the original Second Universe story in here, if you can spot them...I don't know, you get a hug?