It took me a long while to gather my thoughts and nerve to face my friends, but after a while, I was standing at the doorstep to my small home at the edge of the Ever Free Forest. All was still and quiet, and the lights were off.

That’s weird. Alice doesn’t ever keep the lights off if she can help it…
My key clicked in the deadbolt and slid the tumblers into place. I pushed the door open to be greeted by what appeared to be a baby blue cannon. The lights flicked on all at once, revealing a huge throng of ponies, headed by Alice at the cannon’s fuse.

“Surprise!!” everyone cried at once, then Alice pulled the cannon’s string, firing confetti and streamers directly into my face. The tiny strips of paper met my head with such force that it actually merited a snapping of my face to one side and a defensive raising of my left hand. Alice laughed, but quickly rushed to my side.

“You okay, Bunny Boy?” she asked between snickers.

“Yeah. I’m fine.” I said, holding my throbbing cheek against my palm.

“Happy Birthday!” Everyone shouted at once amid a few fits of giggles at me getting blasted in the face.
A few more hours passed of cake, ice cream, pictures, conversation, and the general brouhaha that came with a surprise party. Berry Punch tried once again to lay hooves on me, but I was able to place Big Macintosh in my place before she was able to. The farm stallion practically leapt over the moon with the violence of his startle. Laughs were had and many gifts were left. Clothes mostly. Once the throng of strange ponies left at about ten o’clock, I was left in the presence of five of my closest friends. Wait… Five?

“Where’s Rarity?” Rainbow Dash asked confused. “Wasn’t she here earlier?”

“She was here, but she said something about a huge order to fill.” Twilight explained.
That’s Rarity. Always in over her head… I smiled at the thought.
Twilight was the first to speak, as per usual in situations like this one.

“So, Sebastian, Alice has told us a ton of stories about your employment. We never knew you were so versatile! What was the phrase you used, Alice? An ‘all-in-one problem solver’?”
Alice nodded to the mare.

Oh dear…

“I’m sure she was over-stating my capabilities.” I said, a trace of a smile crossing my face.

“Why didn’t you tell us you took fifth place in the world Virtua Blade tournament two years ago? That would have been so awesome!!” Dash demanded.

“Well,” I said, taking my glasses off and placing them on the dining room table. “It was two years ago, I was sixteen, didn’t even place, technically and who wants to hear about some guy who didn’t even win?”

“But it was your first tournament and you took fifth in the world!! So awesome!!” Dash put extra emphasis on “awesome” for some reason…

“And that time you saved her life from that Lord Harmon character.” Flutter Shy noted. “I remember that day. It was the first day you and I wrote each other, right?”
I pondered at this for a moment.

“I think so.”
Alice slipped back into my room to get something. She returned after a minute with two cases. One was large, black and had the Ravensdale crest emblazoned upon it. It appeared to be an extremely long rifle case. The other was no bigger than an average pistol case. Like it’s bigger twin, it proudly displayed the Ravensdale crest, but instead of being the standard charcoal black, this one was scarlet.

“Um… Sebastian? I brought these for you. I hope you like them…” She said and set the two cases on the table near my glasses.

“Presents? You really shouldn’t have, Alice. Just flying all the way out here was more than enough.” I said, sort of embarrassed.

“Open them?” she asked.
Nodding in obligation to her request, I made my way over to the two cases. Alice pushed the first case in front of me. I aligned myself with its chrome locks and popped them open, flipping the lid up to see what was inside. I was greeted by a beautiful sight. Before me sat a full tang, five and a half foot long claymore sword. My breath caught in my throat and I recoiled a bit.

“Oh my God! Alice!” I exclaimed, gripping the hilt of the weapon.
As I lifted my gift, it struck me how light it was. Only about three pounds… The blade was stainless, straight as an arrow, and appeared to be made of some kind of custom alloy. Strong as steel, light as aluminum. The hilt was made of stitched dragon scale and the decorative aspect at the end mimicked that of an eastern dragon, jaws wide in an eternal, steely roar. There was a strange piece of metal, fashioned to look like a throttle on a motorcycle jutting down the grip from the hand guard.

“What’s this?” I asked, tapping the throttle with my index.
Alice placed her hand over mine and began to explain.

“You hold this down and twist your wrist, then a small but powerful motor placed just below the blade within the hilt will spin and cause the blade to vibrate. These vibrations are so intense, it can cut through solid steel. I managed to slice through a small car with it!”
I followed her instructions carefully. The motor was loud! I startled and dipped the blade down, without meaning to and accidentally sliced my table in half. Everyone jumped back, crying out in unison.

“Whoa.” I managed in awe of the weapon.

“Impressive, right? Father worked really hard on this design, but this one doesn’t hold a candle to the other one.”
That was all the prompting I needed. Carefully extracting the cases from beneath the cleaved table, and replaced the sword into its custom fit case, sliding it off to one side. The smaller of the two didn’t seem to have a lock. This confused me for a moment, but after turning the case over, I noticed the voice recognition lock.

“The password is ‘Friend’.” Alice informed me.
I spoke the word and the tumblers clicked into the unlocked position. Within the crimson box lay a small knife. Upon a closer examination of the design, I had to cup my hand over my mouth to keep from squealing like a school girl. It was a custom designed khanjar dagger!

“Oh my God! I’ve always wanted one of these!” I exclaimed, having to consciously fight back the tears in my eye.

“That blade is alive. When your hand touches the hilt, like the sword, it vibrates. The motor in this design, however uses a sort of micro-vibration. The blade is diamond edged… You will be able to slice through literally anything…” her words were solemn and her voice low. She knew I was having a moment.
I sprung up from my crouch and threw my arms about her. Unfortunately, I had overlooked the sheer mass difference between the two of us and we tumbled to the floor.

“Thank you so much!”