Look At Me & Gift

Gift

11:30 PM. "Lights out!"
The dorm leader and Saterian senior, Kila, both shouted to everyone in the dorm. Everyone responded with a rush to close their lights. Within a minute, the Sateria Dorm was dark with the closed lights.
Ika was chatting with her friend, Lina, whilst everyone were turning their lights off. The pegasus switched off the light of the closet near them, then went back to sit on Lina's bed.
"It's getting late," Ika commented, glancing around the dorm. "We should head to bed, like everyone else. All the lights are out anyway; I doubt there's anything else we can do."
Lina nodded in agreement and Ika flew down from her bed to let her sleep.
The pegasus looked around and noticed a light opened across the end of the dorm. The light most likely came from a study lamp someone might still be using. Ika narrowed her eyes and realized the light was coming from Mai's bed. They were really far away from each other, and she guessed the unicorn was just studying. Besides, Ika had already told Lina that it was really late, so she didn't bother speaking to her and walked over her own bed.
     Ika was already beginning to dream when she heard someone calling out her name. She woke into a sitting position in her bed, a little irritated at being woken up, and rubbed a hoof over her eye, trying to see who was calling her.
     "Ika," Zara, one of the junior students, called her through the door. "Mai told me to come get you." She walked away after finishing what she was told to do.
Oh no, Ika thought anxiously, remembering the last conflict she and her friend had. What did I do this time?
     It was quite rare for a senior student, like Mai, to call a junior student, like Ika, especially in the middle of the night, even though the two students were really close to each other.
Ika took a deep breath to calm herself before making her way to the light source where Mai was located, trying not to wake the other sleeping students in their beds as she tiptoed passed them. When Ika got there, Mai was sitting in her bed, with her friends Syat and Mimi. On her bed was the study lamp with its light making the room bright.
Ika gulped as Mai started speaking, "Try guessing what you did now, Ika," she urged, her face emotionless. Ika knew Mai's face will look like that whenever she's serious.
The pegasus tried hard not to collapse on the floor out of fear. "I'm sorry, Mai," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. "I don't know...." Ika forced herself to look at Mai straight in the eye as she waited for the unicorn's response.
     After a short, uncomfortable silence, Mai laughed quietly. "I'm just kidding!" Syat and Mimi giggled along. The three of them had to lower their voices so that no one else will hear, since everyone else was sleeping. Ika gave a huge sigh of relief.
     "Sit down," Mai instructed the orange pony. Ika obliged and sat down in front of her.
     The two were sitting in the small space between Mai's and Mimi's bed. Syat was sitting in Mai's bed, while Mimi was watching them from her own bed. The two occasionally commenting dumb jokes to their unicorn friend.
     After Ika had taken her place in front of Mai, the white unicorn stood up and walked over her locker, which was just facing her bed. Ika sat there anxiously; she can feel a slight sweat making its way down her orange fur.
After a moment, Mai finally came back, this time with a decorated bag along with her that had Happy Birthday written on it.
Ika felt a huge weight lifted off of her as she realized what her friend's intention was. She couldn't help but give out a huge smile while looking at the bag. Though she was really happy and excited, Ika still couldn't be sure it was for her; Mai hadn't said anything yet.
The unicorn sat back down in front of Ika. "Who do you think this is for?" Mai asked her.
"For me!" Syat exclaimed, jumping out of Mai's bed in delight.
"Shut up, Syat!" Mai hissed.
Ika just sat there in an awkward silence as she let the two seniors quarrel.
After a moment of arguing with her friend, Mai turned her attention back to Ika. "So, who?" she prompted.
The pegasus couldn't utter a word. She felt pressured as she continued to sweat out of panic. Mai's smile agitating Ika even more, while her two friends stared at her in excitement. Ika realized the unicorn was moving her head closer to her, to the point where she could hear her breath.
Finally, Mai broke the minute of uncomfortable silence. "You, silly," she said. "Happy birthday!"
At first, Ika was speechless. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Really?" she gasped.
"Yeah!" Mai smiled warmly.
Ika had no idea what to say. She was too astonished to even utter even a simple "Thank you", because she knew that would never be enough.
Another long, uncomfortable silence filled the dorm, until Mimi broke it. "Aren't you going to say anything to her?" she asked Ika, tilting her head.
The pegasus looked at Mai again. "Mai, thank you so much for this." Ika forced the words out. "I...I can't believe you did this for me. I'll keep this close to my heart forever, Mai! I love you!"
     Mai simply just continued smiling warmly and nodded with a blink. Then she got closer to Ika's ear, as if avoiding to let her two friends hear her whisper, "I love you, too."
     Those words sent chills of happiness through Ika's whole body. She felt like she was flying in the bright day with more confidence than ever.
     "Mai, tell her to look inside now!" Mimi persuaded, her eyes shining in excitement. Syat nodded in agreement.
     Ika didn't realize she hadn't opened the bag yet. She was in too much shock and full of happiness that she'd forgotten. Mai nodded to Ika, clearly urging her friend to open the bag. And so she did.
Inside of the beautifully decorated bag was a flamingo plushie and a card. Ika took the plushie out of the bag and hugged it dearly. Whilst she hugged it, Ika realized she was crying. Her tears running down her cheeks like heavy rain. She looked up at her friend again, the plush still in between her hooves tightly. "Mai...thank you! Thank you for this; thank you for everything!"
Alarm flashed through Mai's eyes, as if she just realized Ika was crying. "Why are you crying?" she asked in shock.
"She's crying tears of joy, dumbo!" Mimi replied in a matter-of-fact tone.
Mai's eyes softened with love and sympathy and gave Ika a hug. "You should head to bed," the unicorn suggested as she released her friend from the warm hug. "It's already 12:30 AM, and there's school tomorrow."
"There's a card in there too," Syat put in, pointing at the bag wrapped around Ika's hooves. "in case you missed it."
Mai got up and gently nudged Syat. "She can open it in her own bed." She reached out a hoof to Ika and heaved her up.
Ika nodded and placed the bag on her bag, then gave one last thanks to Mai before heading to her bed. When she got there, she placed the bag on the side of her bed and laid down with a huff, curiosity of the card swirling in her mind, along with happiness tingling inside her. Ika sat back up and moved to a part of her bed where the corridor lights from the windows of the dorm were still on, and got out the card in her bag.
On the cover was a cute doodle of herself. Ika giggled. On top had the word IKA written on it. The pegasus took a deep breath, as if preparing herself, then began reading the card.

     Dear Ika,
     Happy Birthday! Ika, I think of you just like a little sister. Thank you for being there for me. And I'm sorry for every conflict that ever happened between us, I hope that we can stay friends even after we both leave this school. I love you to the moon and back.
     ~Mai

     Ika realized she was tearing up after she had finished reading the letter. She placed the card inside the bag and slid it to the bottom of her bed. She laid back down with her flamingo tightly wrapped around her hooves. Ika blinked a few times before drifting into sleep, satisfied and happy with how the day turned out.

From then on, every time Ika was feeling down, the flamingo would always be a reminder of Mai. She hugged the stuffed animal every time she was going to sleep, loving her unicorn friend to the bottom of her heart.