Rainbow Dash had Scootaloo running around town all morning. First she treated her to breakfast at the Ponyville Café, telling her she could get whatever she wanted, and then she took her on an "Extreme Hike" through the outskirts of town. It was the least she could do for the filly, since it was her birthday and all. Scootaloo was having a blast.

Twilight had blown Dash's mind with her planning -- right on schedule, the little Pegasus started showing signs of fatigue. It was now on to the next part of the plan, which involved them taking a long break under a tree, drinking from a canteen RD had nestled away in her saddlebags. Though she joked with the filly, Rainbow Dash's attention was elsewhere. During this well-coordinated break, Dash looked for the signal, waiting to catch a glimpse of a certain yellow mare flying overhead. Once she did, she waved... and Fluttershy headed back to where she came from. RD was on her way, too, but first she had to make sure Scootaloo wasn't catching on:

"Hey Scoots... gettin' tired?"

"I can still handle myself, Rainbow Dash," Scootaloo panted while resting.

"Heh, I'm sure you can. I dunno about you, but I'm gettin' kinda hungry. What'd you say we head back to the Sugar Cube Corner for some grub?"

The little filly's eyes went wide:

"Yeah!"

It took them almost an hour to get back, but once they did everything was in place with plenty of time to spare. The Corner was pitch black with ponies in hiding... waiting.

As the door swung open, 7 ponies plus one dragon silently crept out of their spots... waiting for RD to click the lights. The lights came on all at once in a bright flash.

"Surprise!" They all shouted, Pinkie releasing copious amounts of confetti into the air.

Scootaloo's face instantly lit up:

"Oh wow!"

"Happy Birthday, Squirt," said Rainbow, as she walked towards her friends.

The little Pegasus then noticed not one, but two fillies she hadn't seen in ages:

"Apple Bloom! Babs!"

Wings buzzing with excitement, she ran up to them both. Apple Bloom twitched visibly as the excited filly approached her making that sound:

"Hey Scootaloo!" Exclaimed Babs. "Havin' a good birthday so far?"

She nodded her head sharply in reply:

"Oh yeah!" She turned to Apple Bloom. "Thanks for coming! It's been so long!"

"Yeah, no problem." Replied the yellow farm filly, suddenly taking an interest in her hooves.

A long silence passed between the two. Scootaloo waited and waited, her smile growing along with her excitement. Apple Bloom had time now, but her lack of reciprocation caused it to grow awkward fast. Babs began to get uncomfortable, but before it could escalate any further Scootaloo broke the silence... still happy as ever. At this point everypony in the room listened in, anxiously awaiting the outcome of the first real conversation the two had in months. Twilight held her breath knowing that, if things went sour, at least this was a controlled environment:

"So, what's new Apple Bloom? Did you find any new Blank Flanks to Crusade with? What's your newest adventure? Lemme guess... Cutie Mark Crusader-"

Apple Bloom cut her off with a sigh:

"Let me stop ya there, Scootaloo. In the order you asked: Not much. No, and Ah haven't done any Crusadin' since you got yer Mark. I've been too busy. You know all this."

"Oh," the little Pegasus's wings stopped buzzing. "Well, if you need help finding new members, I can-"

"No, thank you."

The little Pegasus's smile faded:

"Oh, okay. At least you're doing well... right?"

The farm filly scowled.

"Hey girls," said Babs Seed, nervously looking to the 5 adults in the room for help. "How's about we play a party game or somethin'?"

"That sounds like lots of fun!" Encouraged Pinkie Pie.

"Well, it's your birthday, Scootaloo," said Apple Bloom, forcing a smile. "What'd ya want to play?"

The filly looked around the room at what there was to do. She saw the usual party fare: piles of presents she'd get to later, giant birthday cake, and loads of games. She saw two games specifically which caught her eye:

"Oh, pin the tail on the pony! That sounds awesome!"

Apple Bloom shrugged as Babs said:

"That sounds like a lotta fun!"

With Pinkie Pie's direction and Spike's participation, the three played the game.

Spike surprisingly went first, having chosen the green tail. Scootaloo wanted to hang back for a moment and watch another play the game. All eyes were on the little dragon as he was blind-folded, made dizzy, then directed towards the board. He pinned the tail to the pony's stomach, well off course, laughing at his blunder once he took the blind fold off.

"Better luck next time, Spike," said Apple Jack.

Babs Seed went next, selecting the red tail. After she was blind-folded and made dizzy she approached the board and took in a deep breath. Twilight, though more than ten feet away, sensed something unusual within Babs and watched as some hidden energy shone through. The hoof with the tail in it moved both slowly and deliberately, crossing over her other hoof on the way to the paper. Once it was where she wanted it to be, she stuck the pin in the board and took off her blind fold. Even she was surprised.

"Perfect!" Pinkie yipped. "You're really good at this!"

"Thanks. It's my first time!"

"How did you do that?" Asked Scootaloo in amazement.

Babs blew the lock of mane from her eye:

"Ever since I went back home my mom thought it might be good for me to try somethin' to, ya know, help me relax and be confident 'bout finding my special talent... she enrolled me in T'ai Chi and Karate." Babs looked down at her flank. "It hasn't given me my Cutie Mark yet, but it's kinda fun and helps with stuff like this all the time."

"Cool!" Both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo said at the same time.

They found themselves looking at each other. The little Earth pony had a blank expression on her face as the Pegasus continued to smile:

"You want to go next, Apple Bloom?"

"Naw. It's your birthday."

Scootaloo was happy to hear Apple Bloom talking to her in the way she thought a friend should, so she said:

"Alright! Do you want to blindfold me?"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes:

"Fine."

Scootaloo selected the purple tail and Apple Bloom put the blind fold on her. She started tightening it on Scootaloo's brow... tighter and tighter she wound it.

"Hey, Apple Bloom?" Said Scootaloo, her voice slightly strained. "That's... starting to hurt."

Apple Bloom felt a firm hoof on her shoulder. She glanced back to see her big sister looking less than pleased with her.

"Sorry Scootaloo," she said, significantly loosening it. "Wanted to make sure it wouldn't come off."

"It's okay." The little Pegasus smiled at her friend under the blindfold. "Spin me?"

She was then directed by her friend to the front of her target and spun around multiple times. Again, AB got more than a little carried away.

"That's enough, Apple Bloom!" Snapped AJ, starting to lose her patience.

"Sorry sis! Sorry Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom quickly replied.

"You're fine," said the little filly, wobbling on her hooves. "This way?"

"Uh-huh."

Surprisingly, once Scootaloo zeroed in on where she thought to place it, she got very close to the mark. Not dead on like Babs, just a little bit too high on the back.

"Good job!" Exclaimed Twilight.

"Your turn, Apple Bloom," said Scootaloo, pushing up on the extremely tight blindfold with her hoof.

Apple Bloom grudgingly selected the yellow tail. She was then gently blind-folded by Scootaloo, spun around, and directed towards the board, all the while the little Pegasus giggled.

She wasn't determined to beat Babs, Scootaloo, or even Spike. She stuck the pin up quickly and without much thought.

"Oh, wow! Perfect Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo yipped.

Apple Bloom, removing her blindfold, looked up at the piece of paper with the pony picture on it. She had pinned the tail just as precisely as Babs had. Her face lit up and, immediately, her eyes drifted down to her flank...

It was still bare.

"Thanks," she said, kicking at the floor. "What now?"

"I was thinking," Scootaloo said, looking over at a large tub in the corner of the Corner. "Bob for apples?"

Before the little Pegasus was even done making that statement, Apple Bloom was already walking over to the tub:

"Like Ah said before... it's your birthday."

Scootaloo eagerly ran up to the tub to join her, Babs Seed and Spike trailing closely behind them. Seeing the two were getting along, the adults started to relax... for the most part. Apple Jack could tell a mile away that her sister was only tolerating her old friend rather than meshing with her, but she still saw promise. So did all the others. Still, it was better to keep a close eye on the two... not fair to have Babs Seed, a guest in Ponyville, playing sole look out for trouble.

The small tub had just room enough for two young ponies. Again, Spike went first along with Apple Bloom. Pinkie Pie showed up behind the four:

"As always, there's a couple fun surprises in there if you can find them!"

"Neat." Replied Babs Seed, blowing the lock out of her face as she watched her cousin bob. "Find anything yet?"

"Naw," replied Apple Bloom quickly, continuing to search intently.

After about a minute of searching, Apple Bloom found a very large apple and brought it up to enjoy. Spike, on the other hoof, found one of the surprises:

Twang!

"Gah!" Spike shot back in surprise. He'd found a tennis ball on a spring. "I'm... not sure I like this game." He turned to the other two. "Your turn?"

"Okee!" Scootaloo's wings buzzed again, giving Apple Bloom another case of the shivers.

As Babs and Scootaloo bobbed and hunted for apples, Apple Bloom stood beside the birthday filly, munching on her own apple and watching. Scootaloo was having less luck than Babs, who was already making a selection of three apples she had found. Scootaloo had found mostly smaller crab apples, nothing like the big juicey one Apple Bloom had. Though crab apples were better than nothing (and certainly better than horse apples!), Scootaloo was still determined to find something more worth while.

Babs had found her giant apple and brought it up, leaving the birthday filly in the tub. Once her apple was gone, Apple Bloom rested her two free hooves on the sides of the tub, peering in. Spike and Babs had gotten into a conversation about how to search for apples in the tub... they were completely absorbed in it, their backs to Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.

The farm filly noticed Scootaloo's back hooves were slightly off the ground... with a little push she'd fall into the tub. A thought then crossed her mind:

What if I held her head down?

Apple Bloom's hooves shook as she looked down at Scootaloo, then back to her hooves.

It would be real easy.

She brought her hooves both up. While not old enough to think things through completely enough to imagine that everypony would think it was an accident, this... creepy idea felt wrong, but was very fun to think about. She brought her shaking hooves up closer and closer... to the back of Scootaloo's head.

When she was mere inches from touching her friend's mane, she felt a very firm hoof on her shoulder. She didn't even have to turn around to know who it belonged to. She heard the deeper southern voice command her:

"Apple Bloom. Outside. Now."