Granny's Perfect Present

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom charged into the mass covering Sweet Apple Acres. From the outside it didn't look so bad, but now they were struggling through crowds. Legs and tails were all major obstacles and the two had to swerve to avoid them.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had battled past ponies twice their size before they made out a clearing. Applejack had set up a huge area for a birthday rodeo; there ponies were throwing hay bales as far as possible.

Apple Bloom watched for a moment as a stallion launched his bale way beyond the others, yet he still seemed disapointed with his throw. As the bale finally landed her eyes glanced up slightly to see Babs spectating from the other side.

She tapped Scootaloo's back and pointed to where Babs was standing "Look Scoots!"

"Yeah, that was amazing but aren't we looking for Babs." Scootaloo's eyes darted up and then zoomed into Babs . "Wait, there she is! Come on Apple Bloom."

Apple Bloom could only shake her head and sigh as Scootaloo disappeared into the crowds. While Apple Bloom chased her friend, a reddish purple tail was the only indication of how far Scootaloo was ahead. She soon found herself panting for breath as she dodged leg after hoof. "Wait Scootaloo! Slow down!"

Apple Bloom's legs fell from under her as a tail appeared from nowhere. By the time she returned to her feet Scootaloo was gone.

Panicking for a second Apple Bloom chose to ask someone for help. "Excuse me! Hey you? Somepony!" Apple Bloom was dwarfed by every pony she tried to alert, yet not one of them looked down to help her. Fear took over and Apple Bloom started running in circles desperately calling for Scootaloo.

Scootaloo finally noticed that Apple Bloom was lost in the crowds. She looked around to see that her previous path had become blocked by large clumps of random ponies.

Left with no other option, Scootaloo tried hovering to get a good view but most of the ponies were too big for her. "Apple Bloom! Where are you?" Scootaloo made an attempt to charge through the ponies but ricocheted back and rolled into a barrel.

A pink pony suddenly popped out the top of the barrel. "Hey Scootaloo! How are you liking the party?" Pinkie Pie's upside down face hung in front of her.

"Pinkie Pie! Have you seen Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo jumped to the question before she remembered who she was talking to.

Pinkie Pie seemed to ponder the question for an eternity. She scanned her surroundings with a magnifying glass until finally answering. "Can't say I have. In fact, I didn't know apples bloomed, are you sure you got your information from a reliable source? Although to be honest you can never trust apple sauce."

"Hey!" An annoyed old pony turned to face Pinkie, her coat was green and she wore a white hat. "Ponies these day, all so rude." She gawked at Pinkie Pie as she slowly shuffled onward.

"No Pinkie Pie, I mean have you seen Apple Bloom?" Scootaloo's question was met with a blank stare from Pinkie. "As in the little filly? fellow crusader? Applejack's sister?"

"Oh, you mean 'Apple Bloom'" Holding air quotes as she stressed the name. "Why didn't you just say so? I saw her over there." Pinkie pointed towards a large stallion giving no clear sense of direction.

"Err, thank you Pinkie." Scootaloo was still left unsure of her friends whereabouts but wanted to end this conversation as quickly as possible.

"No problem, please recommend me to your friends." Pinkie bounced back through the party hopping over ponies as she hunted for more of her friends.

Scootaloo took a clear route toward where Pinkie pointed, her eyes bouncing left and right each time faster than the last.

She reached a wall of large and identically red stallions. They all sat there on chairs, blindly agreeing about something. Scootaloo  searched for a way under them, but there was none; she looked to see if there was a way around, but she was trapped there; finally she tried hovering but these ponies were too big. Scootaloo was stuck, the clearing had filled fast and she had nowhere to go.

It dawned on Scootaloo that this party was getting out of hand. The Apple family could easily cover a good  portion of the farm but this was way beyond normal Apple standards. "This is crazy, why are there so many ponies here?" she said out loud.

"Apple Bloom!" Babs came charging out a cluster of ponies. "Hey! Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom span around to see her cousin, relief hitting her almost instantly . "Babs!"

Babs blew her fringe away from her face and dived in for a hug with Apple Bloom. "Hey, where've you been all day, I've been looking all over since i got here?"

"Oh erm." Apple Bloom considered lying to her cousin, making some kind of excuse, but it just felt wrong. "Well to be honest-” She paused for a breath “-I still haven't got Granny a present."

"Wait, you didn't! Did you forget?" Babs' eyes were fixed on Apple Bloom, gazing into Apple Bloom’s soul which only made her feel worse about it.

"I didn't forget, it's just-” she considered how to phrase it “-nothing feels perfect, I want the best gift ever and not something that granny will throe away the next day." Apple Bloom felt a surge of guilt, welling up in her emotions once again. She tried to hold back any signs of her tears as the surrounding herds scattered around like ants in a nest.

"Well cus, you could just ask Applejack? I'm sure you're sister will get your problem." Babs moved in close to calm her Apple Bloom and hide her face from the crowds. She put a hoof to Apple Bloom's side. "You'll be fine."

Apple Bloom was starting to feel pitiful. First Scootaloo and now Babs, she was falling apart in front of everyone. It seemed stupid to cry over so small to other ponies but so big to her,. She decided to move off topic and onto a more pressing matter “ Well yeah, but first we need to find Scoots!"

"Scootaloo's here too?" Babs looked around for Scootaloo before Apple Bloom's words had fully digested. "Wait, What do you mean 'find'?"

Claustrophobia began to emerge in Scootaloo as the chaos of ponies slowly closed in. Dark thoughts and doubts began to emerge in her head, What if she gets crushed? What if she can't escape the ponies as they blindly force their way forward? A shadow then gathered over her.

Scootaloo screamed causing the pony that almost crushed her to stumble away.

"I'm sorry Missy, didn't see you there." He tried to speak as kindly as his rough voice would allow. He realised the fear in Scootaloo's eyes and seemed moved. "Oh, are you OK? You look terrified?"

Scootaloo could not respond, the near crush experience left her trembling in terror. She stared at the huge brown pony in front of her, and then down at his enormous hooves, The hooves that almost turned her to juice.

"Do you need a hand Missy? Where are your parents?" A large beard hid his mouth as he spoke. He smiled to Scootaloo but as his words were met with silence he decided to push further. "My names McBurden, can you tell me yours Missy?"

"Scoo- Scootaloo." The words seemed to run back in when she spoke, as if they didn't want to escaped the safety of her thoughts. "It's Scootaloo."

"Well Miss Scootaloo, I would first like to apologise for my clumsy hooves and secondly thank you kindly for your name." McBurden seemed to put on a formal tone that seemed unnatural from him.

"Err, no problem, and just call me Scootaloo, or even Scoots." Her fears were slowly dissipating and Scootaloo found herself in a somewhat calmer state. This pony didn't seem that bad, just another one of those clumsy stallions. "So, um McBurden. I don't suppose you've seen a filly wearing a pink bow on a red mane?"

"Can't say I have, sorry." The huge pony looked Scootaloo up and down, finally noticing that she was a pegasus. His face grew a more serious appearance and he moved closer to Scootaloo"Ah, so you're not an Apple too eh,  I'm guessing you're local?"

A little bit of worry returned to Scootaloo. This McBurden acted odd and Scootaloo couldn’t decide if she trusted him or not. "Yeah, why?"

McBurden's eyes widened as he moved his head closer to Scootaloo's "What do you know about the timber wolves."

She thoughtfor a moment. "Timber wolves? Nobody tells foals much but from what Rainbow Dash says they're massive and extremely dangerous. But of course she eats them breakfast." A sense of pride filled Scootaloo, as if remembering Rainbow Dash's words was an achievement of its own.

"Where can I find this Rainbow Dash?" McBurden's head pulled back as he spoke. "I would like to speak to her?"

"Well I guess she should be here somewhere, she's one of Applejack's friends." Scootaloo realised that she answered his questions without any kind of help from him, this annoyed her. Hoping that she could still bargain some assistance, she stopped McBurden from walking away. "But first can you help me find my friend?"

McBurden's face transformed from the serious investigator to the kindly stallion in a matter of seconds. "No problem little Scootaloo, just climb onto my back." He knelt down to help Scootaloo climb up.

Once back at full height, Scootaloo almost slipped off of McBurden’s back, surprised by how big he was. She could see over everyone at the party. “Wow!”

Scootaloo began her scan from the vantage point, moving clockwise; she made out Granny Smith sitting with some older ponies at the house, one of which was the pony Pinkie Pie annoyed; Applejack was coordinating the rodeo with her cousin Braeburn; Pinkie Pie could be seen dancing with some younger ponies near the barn area.

Scootaloo quickly caught a glimpse of a pink bow not far from her. "Over there! I see her." Scootaloo pointed towards the bow and McBurden began barging his way through the swarm. Scootaloo felt a slight bit of glee as she watched the ponies who blocked her earlier stumble from the bulldozer that was McBurden

"Apple Bloom!" A voice called out to Babs and Apple Bloom. They turned to see ponies stumbling about to get out of the way of something, but they couldn't yet make out what it was.

Thundering hooves gave some clue to the coming storm, but they both continued to stare in anticipation.

"Is that Scootaloo" Babs raised her voice over the commotion before it arrived.

As the last ponies stumbled away Apple Bloom spotted a bull like beast charging towards her and Babs. "Babs I think we shou-"

"Apple Bloom!" Scootaloo called out from atop the unstoppable monster. "Hey Apple Bloom, you found Babs!"

McBurden forced his hooves into the ground to brake his lone stampede.

Apple Bloom's jaw fell victim to gravity, her face pale and her eyes glued to McBurden. She made an attempt at speech "um, Scootaloo?"

Babs almost fell over in shock, this pony was big, not Big Mac but huge.  "Is that a pony?"

"Oh him, this is McBurden. Don't worry he's friendly, I think." Scootaloo cupped her mouth as she said those last two words.

"Pleased to meet you." McBurden approached Apple Bloom with his hoof outstretched.

Apple Bloom had no idea what to do, she wanted to shake his hoof but it must have been the size of a boulder. Politeness gave in and she shook the gigantic hoof with her tiny own. "Pleased to meet you, Mr McBurden."

"Another polite little filly, this town in full of them." Mcburden stepped away from the three fillies as he prepared to leave. "Well it's been a pleasure meeting you but I've got a job to do so I have to say goodbye for now."

"Thanks McBurden." Scootaloo shouted as her new friend started back through the ponies. She then turned to her friends who were still dumbfounded. "Well, that was brilliant, so what are we doing now?"

As the rodeo finished homemade ribbons were presented to outstanding competitor, Apple Bloom watched as her sister was awarded a total of three ribbons from Braeburn.

After the awards ceremony the crowds dissolved, spreading to the outer areas of Sweet Apple Acres. Vinyl Scratch had arrived with her turntables and started throwing out some beats. Most of the older ponies were dancing to the music while the younger fillies and colts were herded towards the house.

Scootaloo, Babs and Apple Bloom noticed Applejack standing on the front porch of her home. The three decided to join the sitting foals before Applejack, and wait for an opportunity to speak with her.

"So fillies and colts, who wants to hear the story of Granny and the timber wolves." Applejack's question was met with huge cheering from the young ponies.

Apple Bloom cringed at the way Applejack spoke, it was a little embarrassing to see her sister behave like this. She decided to seat herself at the back to not draw her sister's attention.0

"I thought so. It all started when Granny Smith was a little foal like all of you." Her hoof swept across the crowd. "Little Granny liked to explore and had many encounters with the timber wolves but none like this. A picnic with her friend turned bad when the two decided to sit too close to the Everfree forest."