At last the day had arrived.

Finally it was time for Rainbow Dash's birthday party.

The week leading up to it had been a long one, as was typical with the days leading up to important events, but you were glad it was over. But even though the initial wait was over, you still had a whole day to get through until the party later in the night.

Of course, you knew exactly how you were going to keep yourself occupied for the time being. Daring Do was practically a never ending series, and you definitely weren't going to run out of new reading material any time soon.

Even while reading however, the day didn't exactly shoot by. Each hour felt like two, and you found yourself wondering whether forgetting about the birthday for now would help speed things up.
By the time point though, you were just giving yourself more of a reason to think about the party, and time went by even slower, if that was possible.

After what felt like an eternity, the sun was beginning to set. You weren't sure why Rainbow had asked Pinkie to host a party at night rather than at day, as you figured she'd like spending time with her friends for the day, but you weren't about to question her over it.

"Hey, Storm!" Twilight called from the top of the stairs, instantly snapping you away from your book. You hadn't even noticed that the sun had started to set, as time had been going by so slowly, "Are you ready to go?"

Now that you thought about it, you weren't ready at all. The presents you had gotten for her were still sitting under your bed in a bag.

"Yeah, I've just gotta get the presents." you said, walking up the stairs and past Twilight.

Looking under your bed, you were almost expecting some serious dilemma to happen. Something so terrible that it would stop the party from happening, such as your gifts being missing.
But the bag was still there, filled with the two tickets and piece of paper. You weren't sure why that surprised you, but it did.

"C'mon, Storm! Let's go!" Spike yelled excitedly as he hopped upon Twilight's back.

"Got everything?" Twilight asked, now waiting by the door. You could tell that the two were eager to get going, so you didn't want to waste their time anymore.
You gave them a happy nod as you walked down the stairs, your bag of gifts slung over your wing, "Let's go!"

And with that, the three of you departed into the sunset set for Sugarcube Corner. This was a night you didn't want to miss for the world.

As you walked through the town of Ponyville, you found yourself walking ahead of Twilight, unknowingly walking a little faster than her. You could hear her giggling slightly, but didn't bring it up.

After 10 long minutes of walking, you finally reached Sugarcube Corner. You weren't sure who had already arrived, as ponies didn't exactly use cars to get around, but you were assuming the Rainbow Dash wouldn't be here yet.

Walking through the front door, the room looked pretty similar to how it did yesterday, only now it was decorated with colourful balloons and multicoloured rainbow lights.
Much like you presumed, everypony except for Rainbow Dash was present.

Everypony greeted you happily, even Fluttershy who was previously hiding in the corner of the room antisocially. It wouldn't be long Rainbow herself appeared, and sure enough, you and the others were only waiting a few minutes.

"Happy birthday, Rainbow Dash!" everypony shouted as she walked through the door. She seemed to jump a little bit as she entered, even though you were pretty sure she knew what to expect.

"Woah! This is all for me?" she asked, looking in awe at all of the colourful decorations and food. You would have been in disbelief in her position too.

"It sure is, Sugarcube, but how about we start with the presents?" Applejack suggested, knowing that the presents were what Rainbow liked the most.

Surprisingly, Fluttershy was the first up. She had gotten her some unique looking attachments for Tank's flying machine. You didn't take Fluttershy for the type of pony that would buy such things as a gift, but you didn't question it.

Next up was Pinkie Pie, who gave Rainbow her very own party cannon, complete with rainbow coloured confetti. This wasn't really a surprise to you. There wasn't much else you would expect Pinkie to get her.

Then there was Applejack, who had gotten her a large basket of apples, as well as a large sealable mug of apple cider that would never expire.
Upon seeing the apple cider, Rainbow's eyes lit up with joy. This was going to be a hard gift to contend with.

"So what have you got Rarity?" Rainbow asked, Rarity nervously attempting to hide her gift. She had absolutely nothing to be nervous about, as last time you had seen her, the dress she had made was amazing.

"Well, I... Um..." she began, before finally revealing the dress, "I made you this dress."

She almost sounded disappointed in herself as she revealed it.

"Rarity..." Rainbow said, looking at the dress that was propped on a mannequin behind Rarity, "I love it!"

That almost came as a surprise to you, and it definitely came as a shock to Rarity. This was practically the first ever dress that Rainbow had genuinely said that she loved.

"You do?" Rarity asked, in a slight state of shock, but also relief.

"Sure! I'd wear it if we ever go to the gala again! Thanks, Rarity!" Rainbow exclaimed. It was rare to see Rainbow ever act this genuine and not take it back afterwards to 'maintain her reputation', but when it did happen, it was always heart warming.

Now it was Twilight's turn.

"What about you Twilight?" Rainbow asked, curiously. Applejack's gift was still yet to be topped, and it was beginning to seem like nothing was going too.

"I wrote you my very own Daring Do story!" Twilight exclaimed, levitating her book over to Rainbow with her magic. She didn't seem nervous in the slightest, as opposed to Rarity's reluctance to reveal her gift.

At first, Rainbow simply stared at the cover. She read the title aloud: Daring Do and the Library of Lost Souls, causing Twilight to show some slight embarrassment.

"That. Sounds. Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, looking up from the book to Twilight, "Thanks, Twilight!"

If you had to guess, that probably ranked equal to Applejack's as the best gift so far. But there was still one more contender.
All that was left was you.

"And now it's your turn, Storm!" Rainbow said, turning towards you with an excited smile. Looking into the bag that was slung over your wing, you looked at the two tickets, then to the piece of paper that was buried at the bottom.
It didn't feel like a good time to give her it yet, so you figured it would be best to only give her the tickets for now.

"Happy birthday, Rainbow." you said, smiling as you removed the two tickets from the bad and gave them to her.

Instantly, her eyes widened and she stared in disbelief. The sparkle in her eyes grew a thousand times brighter than usual as a huge smile spread across her face.

"Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh!" Rainbow screamed as she stared at the two Wonderbolts tickets that she was holding.

Without a second though, she ran up to you and pulled you into a hug. This one felt more genuine than ever before, and she didn't even seem embarrassed by it.

"How did you-?" Rainbow asked, not even able to get all of her words out as she pulled away from you.

"I had some help." you answered, glancing over at Twilight who was smiling at the two of you happily.

"Well... You got two tickets so..." Rainbow began, even seeming a little nervous. It was a very rare sight to see Rainbow getting nervous, "Wanna come with me?"

Despite that being the reason you got too, you were almost surprised that she asked. You were expecting that you would have to ask her, but this was a lot easier.
The derby was still a week away, so you had plenty of time to prepare.

"I'd love too!" you replied, causing her already wide smile to grow even more. You weren't sure you had ever seen her so happy before, not even on the show.

"Thank you so much!" Rainbow said as she stared into your eyes. It was almost as if they had their own magenta glow, brightening up the already glowing room even more.

The two of you were silent for a moment, almost awkwardly so, as you stared into each others eyes. It made you feel as if you were at peace.

"Enough of that! Let's party!" Pinkie interrupted, completely destroying the mood. Rainbow still stared at you, smiling warmly, before she finally spoke up.

"Let's go party!" she suggested, hovering over to the table of cake that Pinkie had rushed over to.

Honestly, you could go for some cake right about now. You hadn't ate in quite a while, as you were saving your appetite for this party.

"Hey, Pinkie, what's this cake?" you asked, looking down at one of the complex cakes that Mr and Mrs Cake had so generously created.

"Oh, that? That's just a double super strawberry multi-layered jam-coated surprise, seasoned with rainbow sprinkles, the colour red, and a dash of molten lava!" Pinkie explained, as if it wasn't the most simple thing in the world.

You stared at her cluelessly, and then to Rainbow, who was staring at all of the cakes in a trance.

"So... It's a double super strawberry... What?" you asked, barely able to comprehend what she had even just said.

"Red velvet..." Rainbow muttered, staring at the cake you had previously questioned. Well, that answered your question.

Not wanting to break Rainbow's cake fuelled trance, you reached for one of the smaller cakes. This was a simple cake that you could easily recognise: a muffin.
Simple but satisfying, a plain old muffing was always better than some fancy decorated cake. Needless to say, it tasted a thousand times better than anything you had ever eaten on Earth.

"Woah! That was amazing!" your exclaimed, savouring the lasting taste of the delicious chocolate muffing, "Pinkie, make sure to tell Mr and Mrs Cake that they have outdone themselves!"

"Will do!" Pinkie replied, giving you a mocking salute before rushing away to another room.

Now with a full stomach, something else had come to your attention. You still had Rainbow's second gift. The note that had two words that could change things for better or for worse.
There wasn't going to be a better time to do it, so now was when you seized the moment.

"Hey, Rainbow..." you began, nervously approaching her. Instantly, she was broken out of her trance, turning her attention from the mouth watering cake before her towards you.

"Yeah?" she asked, seeming a little disappointed that she was still yet to even taste that cake that was designed for her own birthday.

"I've got one more thing to give you." Without saying another word, you removed the folded piece of paper from the bag, instinctively unfolding it as you went.

She had a confused look on her face as you passed the piece of paper to her, as if she wasn't really sure how a folded piece of paper could be a gift.
Thankfully, she seemed to accept it anyway.

A feeling of worry began to overwhelm you as she stared at the piece of paper, her confused expression only amplifying. You had only put two words on that note. Two words that Rainbow was now reading.

The truth.

Author's Notes:

This chapter and the next one were originally going to be one, but I liked the idea of leaving this on a cliff hanger, even if it meant a shorter chapter.

I'm sure you can guess what will be happening in the next chapter. Rainbow will find out about Storm's past. Whether she accepts it or not, that's up to you to ponder about until I release it

Oh, and thanks for reading!