Peridot’s hoof shook only slightly as he lit the candles. As the matchhead moved from one to the next, the brightly colored stalks lit, wavering in the kitchen’s air. Eight, nine, ten... As the eleventh candle began to glow, Peridot stopped, staring at the cluster of flames. He sniffed, and tried to push the overwhelming emotions aside. This was a happy day.

Peridot lit the eleventh and final candle, leaning well back from the cake. It wouldn’t do to have a tear fall and spoil the pristine surface, not on a day like this. Eleven candles—would there ever be more? They barely even fit on such a tiny cake, but with their daughter’s appetite being so absent lately, it couldn’t be much bigger. He drew a hoof over his eyes to clear any lingering tears, and took a deep breath. He couldn’t let the emotions ruin this happy day. He lifted the cake and balanced it on his back, carefully bearing it to the table where little Jade waited eagerly with her mother.

The match still hovered in his grasp as he glanced through the doorway into the dining room where he was awaited. Two years, and so much had changed.

Jade looked tiny. She had lost so much weight in the last year from being sick and the treatments robbing her of her hunger, and with most of her mane and tail gone she looked so much smaller. His heart stuck in his throat as he set the cake on the table and began to sing with his wife, their voices soft and just on the edge of steady.

Just as his hoof began to get uncomfortably warm, Peridot forced himself back into the moment, lit the remaining two candles, and shook out the match. He wrestled the cake tray onto his back, and walked into the other room.

The doctors had tactfully said that this birthday was likely to be Jade’s last. After five years of fighting, they had reached the point of last-ditch measures and fleeting hopes, and the family had begun to slowly come to grips with the idea of being reduced back to just two. Even the presents were subconsciously temporary, chosen to be enjoyed and/or consumed in short term.

While the memories may be tinged with grief, Peridot and his wife sang without a trace of sadness as they commemorated the birth of their only child. When the song concluded, there was a brief moment of stillness, a sharp release of breath, and all thirteen candles blinked out of existence. Peridot and his wife cheered as Jade swept her regrown mane out of her eyes and stared excitedly at the cake. She looked so much better now, vibrant and joyful in addition to her healthier size.

Peridot sat back and just watched as the cake was cut and consumed by the others. It was a birthday his daughter was never supposed to see, but by the grace of Harmony, here she was, without a trace of sickness. The surprise present this year was that Jade was finally old enough to apprentice in his jewelry shop. There was a future, and that was a miracle in itself.