"Happy Birthday, Cadence!" a voice cried out as Cadence entered the School for Gifted Ponies.

"Thank you, Glimmer Shine!" she answered, and kept on trotting. Upon reaching the stairs, she paused for a moment. There was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind...as if she had forgotten about something. She looked around frantically, looking for anything that might remind her of the thing she had forgotten. Cadence hated when things like these happened. Sighing in disgust at her own forgetfullness, she turned and cantered up the stairs.

As she walked into the classroom, Cadence heard two unicorns whispering. The only words she caught were "gift" and "marefriend". It was obviously something about Shining Armour, her new stallionfriend. Cadence had this feeling that today was going to be a big day.

All day she was wished a happy birthday. Cadence politely thanked them, but her mind was elsewhere. She was certain that everypony was hiding something from her. But what? During the 3rd course she finally cracked and asked what the fuss was about. Glimmer Shine, her salad green alicorn friend, only giggled and said, "You'll see." This of course, made Cadence only more jumpy and excited. She could barely sit still through History, where they were learning about Starswirl the Bearded. Usually, she would have been looking at the board and taking notes with her quill scribbling as fast as lightening. But today was different. Cadence didn't take a single note all class, and even got told off twice for not paying attention. Although she asked everyone she met if they knew what was up, all of them just gave her a knowing smile and carried on with their business.

However, Cadence did catch a few hints. It wasn't too hard since Glimmer Shine and Sunset Shine(Glimmer's bright red twin) were always following Shining around, whispering "Come on already! Give it to her!" Apple Leaf even went as far as to drag Cadence to Shining Armour.

Other than this, she realized that Shining had been avoiding her all day. It wasn't like him. Normally he would always talk to her whenever he had a spare moment. However, after a full day of watching agonizing minutes tick by,it was the end of the day. Cadence galloped outside at full speed, hoping that he would come to their usual meeting place after school. Amazingly, Shining was already there...but he wasn't alone.

"Glimmer? Why are you here? I thought your dad was waiting for you!" a bewildered Cadence asked.

"Oh I know,but I have a job to do first." Was her reply, and then she turned around and teleported over back to Shining Armour, and resumed yelling at him. As Cadence got closer, she began to make sense if Glimmer's cries.

"COME ON ALREADY, GIVE IT TO HER!!!!!"Glimmer shouted at Shining Armour, hovering over him, "Stop stalling!!!"

"Glimmer!" her dad called, "We don't have all day!"

"Just a minute, dad!"

"Get over here now!"

"Oh, alright, coming, coming..."Glimmer turned to Shining Armour and hissed in his ear, "Give it to her now!" Without another word, she winked at Cadence and shot off to meet her dad.

"Thank goodness she's gone," Shining Armour announced tiredly, "Now I can finally give you the present which everyone has been bugging me about!"

Just as he turned to fish the object out, a little voice cried out, "Shining Armour! Let's go! BBBFF! Where are you?!"

A small lavender unicorn filly was galloping towards them. "Ahh..."Shining sighed, and turned to face the newcomer, "Oh, hi Twi! How was school today?"

Twilight halted in front of him, and was about to reply when she spotted Cadence standing near by. "Oh...um...talk to you later BBBFF! I have to go study for the magic quiz tomorrow! Bye!"

And with that, she gave a cute little smile, and teleported away.

"She's so sweet," Cadence murmured, "And such a little bookworm!"

"Yeah, that she is, but she can be a bit annoying at times!"

"Really? But she's always so cute, running around studying for her little 'tests' " Cadence said, surprised by his words.

Shinning didn't reply. He was busy rummaging around in his saddlebags. Cadence felt a rush of anticipation and turned away, suddenly interested in the ground. However, she couldn't resist taking little glances at him. Finally, he seemed to have found what he was looking for.

"Happy Birthday, Cadence."

Cadence turned to face him and looked down at what he was holding in his magic aura. She levitated the object over to herself...and realized that it was a crystal heart.

All of a sudden, a weird feeling came to her, and Cadence felt like she was flying. The wind seemed to have stopped blowing, and nothing existed but Shining and her. Cadence's horn started to glow, and Shining and her were surrounded by a pink aura. It lasted for only two seconds, but in those two seconds her outlook on life had changed. Cadence realized that ponies drove themselves apart because of fear and hatred, but she could change that.

Looking back up at him, she grinned. "Thanks."

Shining looked really happy at the expression of pure joy on her face. "I'm glad you like it. I spent all day trying to find a suitable present for you. I know you would never settle for second best."

Cadence smiled. "I'm so lucky to have you."

He smiled back at her, then turned away and galloped home. Cadence also turned and started home. As she did, she levitated the crystal heart into her saddlebags...and nearly dropped it in surprise.

Her once blank flank was now adorned with a crystal heart...the same one as she was holding in her magical grip. Cadence grinned from ear to ear, and felt an overwhelming love for Shining Armour...for he had given her not only a present, but also a future.

"Thank you, Shining Armour."