As soon as the next day arrived, you went about your usual morning routine. That being getting up, showering, saying good morning to every pony, and then doing whatever the day called for.

This day called for something incredibly important. It might just be the most important thing you have ever done up until this point in Equestria.

You rushed back up the stairs after saying good morning and hurried back into you room, not bothering to close your door behind you.
There was no real need to rush, but for some reason you felt eager to get out and begin looking for a gift for Rainbow. You still had a week before her birthday, but the quicker you found her a gift, the better.

Laying down on the floor, you scanned the darkness that was under your bed, searching for the bag of bits that you had been saving. Surely enough, you found it just where you had left it last time you had been payed.

Using a single hoof, you swooped it up from under your bed, singular specs of dust flying out with it.

Not paying the dust any mind, you held the bag of bits tightly before walking back down the stairs, a little quicker than you normally would.

"Hey, Twilight?" you said, interrupting Twilight from a book that she was studying at her desk. She somehow turned the whole chair around to face you, with a smile on her face, "Is it ok if I go into town to buy some things?"

"You haven't got to ask for permission, Storm!" she laughed in response. Now that she said that, you did feel a little stupid for asking to go out. You were a fully grown Pegasus after all.

Spike had just walked down the stairs, carrying a large stack of books for the shelves. He seemed to be having some difficulty, but before you could offer some help, he spoke up first.

"Watcha buying, Storm?" he asked, snickering slightly as he glanced at the large pouch of bits you had in your hoof. Looking at the amount of bits you had, you were wondering if you would even need this much.

"Just a gift for Rainbow's birthday." you said. Looking back to Twilight, her face now a look of terror.

"Um... Twilight?" you asked, confused as to what had suddenly gotten her so panicked. Initially, there was no response, but pretty soon, there was.

"I completely forgot! Come on, Spike! We've gotta get Rainbow Dash a birthday present!" she said, running over to Spike and throwing him onto her back. Unsurprisingly, the pile of books he was carrying collapsed down onto the floor, "You can come too, Storm!"

You weren't about to argue against it. Shopping was pretty boring on its own, but with friends it could be a little more fun.

"What about those books?" Spike cried, looking at the mess that Twilight had made.

"I'll just clean them up when we're back!" she replied, sprinting out of the door with you following. It seemed you weren't the only one in a rush to find a gift.

The three of you ran into town, not really knowing why you were rushing so much. You had a full week to prepare for the birthday, so you had plenty of time.

"Why are we running?" you asked, already out of breath.

You had reached what seemed to be an open market place, with different coloured stalls which all sold different things. Each different colour seemed to correspond with what it sold. For example, the orange stall sold carrots.

"Sorry, I just got so caught up with my studying that I completely forgot about getting Rainbow Dash a gift!" she explained, seeming to calm down slightly.

Spike climbed down from her back, somehow exhausted from the sprint even though he hadn't done anything.

"Well we've got a whole week to find something, so there's no rush!" you said, being slightly hypocritical.

"I guess," Twilight replied, sounding a little disappointed in herself for getting so worked up, "Have you ever been to this place, Storm?"

She pointed a hoof at the bustling marketplace, which was crowded with ponies. You had never been to this place in particular, but plenty marketplaces like this existed on Earth.

"No, but I have been to someplace similar on Earth." you explained, seeming to catch her interest.

"You never told me much about that place. I know you said you prefer it here, but what was it like?" she asked, seeming to ask her question she carefully. She had no idea what Earth was like, and didn't know whether it was a sensitive subject or not.

There wasn't much she could say about Earth that would upset you. The only thing you didn't wanna talk about yet was your 'death'. Could you even call it that?
You had definitely died, and been reincarnated as a Pegasus in Equestria. But that made zero sense, as you were already and adult. Then again, even as a human you couldn't remember your early childhood. Maybe as a pony that effect was amplified.

Anyway, this was beginning to get off track.

"Maybe we should focus on finding Rainbow a gift, for now?" you said, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry." Twilight replied, her ears drooping down beside her head.

"Hey, it's ok," you said, not wanting to upset her, "I'll answer as much as you want about Earth at some other point, ok?"

That seemed to cheer her up, as she looked up at you with a smile as her ears perked back up. She replied with a quiet yet content 'ok' before the two of you, along with Spike who was being unusually quite, continued walking into the bustling marketplace.

You weren't quite sure where to begin, and quite frankly neither was Twilight. She usually got her a copy of the recent Daring Do book, but she was out of that option this year. The newest book in the series hadn't arrived at the library yet, and besides, Rainbow already owned every book in existence.

Wondering through the marketplace aimlessly, you didn't notice anything that would make a good gift for Rainbow. Every stall consisted of carrots, cherries, apples, potatoes, all the usual stuff you would expect to see at a marketplace.

Until...

"Hey, guys! What's that?" Spike called, looking curiously at a stall that seemed to stand out like a sore thumb. How neither you or Twilight hadn't noticed it, you had no idea.

It was a bright gold in colour, with blinking yellow carnival light dotted around it. It seemed pretty important, emphasised even more so by the huge crowd of ponies that was surrounding it.

"What's that?" Twilight asked. You simply answered with a shrug, eager to get closer.

And get closer you did, passive aggressively nudging ponies out of the way to get a better view. Eventually you could make out the sign that was plastered on the front for all to see.

The Wonderbolt's Canterlot Derby!

If they were selling tickets to the Wonderbolt's Derby, then that'd make the perfect gift for Rainbow. Though, you figured that Twilight would be thinking the exact same thing.

You looked at Twilight, sadly, as if knowing that she would want to get a ticket as her gift. At first, she responding with a similar look, but it quickly changed into an understanding smile.

"You could get her a ticket to the derby, Storm!" she said, glad that you had finally found a gift. Your sad expression didn't change, as you knew that if you bought her a ticket, Twilight wouldn't have a gift.

"But... Don't you wanna get it for her?" you asked, feeling slightly guilty.

"I've got something different in mind." she replied with a giggle. She had obviously came up with an idea for a gift that must've been pretty good to pass up on a gift like this.

"Are you sure?" you asked, still feeling a little guilty.

"I'm sure. And besides, somepony's gotta go with her anyway!" she said, nudging you slightly towards the stall.

You thanked her with a smile, before joining the queue. Atleast 10 ponies were in front of you, but after a long wait it had finally died down.

You were now at the front of the queue, bits in hand and ready to purchase some tickets.

You were greeted by an older looking stallion, who practically looked like a walking advertisement for the Wonderbolts. He was wearing almost every form of merch that existed, from the hat to the keychain.

"Tickets, I presume?" he asked, in a rough voice. From the way his expression simply stared at you, coldly, you could tell he probably hated his job.

"How much?" you asked, wanting to get this out the way as soon as possible.

The stallion looked away from you, and at a wall that was out of sight. You assumed he was checking the prices, although you were confused at to how he didn't know them off by heart by now.

"50 bits." he said, turning back to you.

"Per ticket?" you asked. If it was 50 bits for a ticket, that was a ripoff. It was going to cost you all of your bits just for a birthday gift.

He nodded at you, emotionless. It was as if he knew the price was outrageous, but didn't care either way.

"That's kinda a joke." you replied. You didn't want to start a scene, but 50 bits for a single ticket was just that. A joke. You got that the Wonderbolts were famous, but that was ridiculous.

He stared at you a little more sternly now, as if his impatience was starting to get the better of him.

"Look, kid," he said in a rough voice, "I've got a business to run here. Look at all those ponies just dyin' to get their hoofs on one of these tickets. If you don't like the price, then you can just skedaddle."

You stared at him, anger in your eyes, but you didn't wanna push your luck. You turned to walk away, but before you could, you saw Twilight and Spike approaching you.

Funnily enough, she walked right past you and approached the pony behind the stall.

"Excuse me, sir!" she asked, politely. It instantly caught the attention of the salespony, who at the time was distracting counting the tickets he still had left to sale.
"Would it be ok if you lowered the price just for my friend here? It's incredibly important." she said. You didn't take Twilight for the type of pony to hustle down prices like this, but because of the circumstances, you weren't complaining.

The stallion looked at you in disbelief, and a look of slight apology on his face.

"Oh, I'm sorry! I had no idea you were a friend or royalty!" he exclaimed, "I'd be willing to lower the price to 20 bits per ticket!"

You looked at Twilight with a confused expression, realising that this was somewhat corrupt. The fact that royalty and people of importance got treated differently never sit well with you, but in Equestria you figured it must be the norm.

"Um... Sure." you said, not entirely happy about the discount, but willing to take it anyway.

You gave the stallion 40 bits, and he gave you 2 tickets in return. You thanked the Stallion before turning back to Twilight.

"How did you do that?" you asked. Spike figured that this would be a good time to chip in, as he came up with his own answer for her.

"Being a princess has its uses!" he joked, causing both you and Twilight to laugh.

"It also has its fair share of stress." she retorted, as the three of you weaved back through the crowd. You spent a few minutes wondering through the market, before Twilight finally said where they needed to go.

"We should head back to the library now, if you've got everything you need, Storm?" she said, waiting for your confirmation. This confused you slightly, as Twilight hadn't bought Rainbow Dash a present.

"But you haven't bought anything!" your exclaimed, looking at Spike in case he was carrying something that you hadn't noticed.

"I know!" Twilight replied, an all-knowing grin on her face. You decided not to question her, assuming that she knew exactly what she was doing.

"Ok, sure, we can go back!" you said, as Twilight lifted Spike onto her back. You couldn't help but notice that Twilight seemed a lot less stressed about Rainbow's gift now, despite not having anything to give her yet.

The three of you casually walked back to the library, satisfied with the gifts you had gotten. Well, you had only bought one gift, but Twilight had something planned.

By the time you were back at the library, you were eager to prepare the gift for the big day. You told Twilight and Spike that you were just going up to your room to hide your bits, but in reality you just wanted to make sure that the tickets seemed presentable.

You closed your door, and began the search around your room for something to hide the tickets in. Of course, you flung your bag of bits under the bed first, and then was when it hit you.

Quickly, you emptied you bag of bits, leaving them on the floor under your bed in a messy pile. You weren't bothered by the ugly mess on the ground, as it would easily be cleaned up after the birthday.

The bag would make for an amazing way to hide the tickets until Rainbow eventually searched the bag, like a present. Now content with what you had done, you reached for the magical bands that were on the desk opposite your bed, to seal up the bag.

But you couldn't help but feel like it wasn't enough. Like it was missing something.

Opening one of the desks drawers, you found a quill and a few sheets of paper. Surprisingly, you had never searched these draws before, and were shocked to have actually found something in them.

Instantly, you knew what was missing. It would make the perfect second gift for Rainbow, and better yet, it would potentially cost you nothing at all.

Either that, or it would cost you everything.

You placed a single piece of paper on the desk, and scribbled two very important words on it. Two very important words that could be harmless, but could just as well be deadly.

You folded the piece of paper as many times as you could, and buried it at the bottom of the bag, hidden below the Wonderbolt's Derby tickets.

Satisfied with what you had prepared, you hid the gifts under your bed alongside the pile of bits. There wasn't much more you could do to prepare now.

All you had left to do was keep yourself and Rainbow busy.

Author's Notes:

'Wonderbolt's tickets as Rainbow's birthday gift, so unoriginal', yes, I know. It's unoriginal. But there's literally nothing else I can think of. Besides, it makes for a pretty nice chapter later on, right?

You're probably wondering what is on the piece of paper, right? Well unfortunately, you're not gonna know for a few chapters. Not until the birthday, anyway.

But buildup is good, and it makes a good story, so I hope that you're enjoying it