When Scootaloo produced the black case from her pocket, Snips’ back went ramrod straight
and a cold sweat started to roll past his eyebrows to cool instantly on the bridge of his nose.

“How did you get that?” He asked as he desperately tried to keep the nervous shake out of his voice.

Scootaloo chuckled. “I knew you had kept this hidden somewhere.” Her laugh gained strength as Snips gawked.

“Wait, you were in my room?” he pointed at her accusingly. “So it was you who broke my
terrarium?” Scootaloo’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What? No! Remember three days ago
when we were playing baseball and against all odds Button Mash nailed that home run?”

Snips lifted a finger in protest before he suddenly stopped himself, lowering his hand
with a small reflex of self doubt. “That…would explain the baseball I found in my room.”

“Yep!”

“But wait, my house is like three miles from that field!”

Scootaloo shrugged. “So? Don’t you remember when Button summoned that massive OCD wind… demon
thing out of Twilight’s library?” She stared at him intensely. “Because he was bored?” Snips grimaced,
remembering how long it took before the stitches could come out. “Oh man, yeah. Do I ever.”

“Then you know you’re lucky a stray ball smashing through your window is the only thing that happened.”

Snips sighed. She had a good point. “That doesn’t explain
how you got that?” He pointed accusingly at the cassette case.

“Oh this?” Scootaloo also pointed at the cassette case, her question flourished with an almost
innocent flutter of her eye lashes. “Okay I admit it. I snuck into your room to get this.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m gonna play it during my show! My first real show!”

Time slowed and for the briefest moment all Snips registered across his ear canals was a screaming white noise.

“Hey…earth to Snips.” Scootaloo snapped her fingers thrice, pulling him out
of his own petrified thoughts. “W-wha-what?” If he hadn’t been sweating before…

“It’ll be great, don’t you think?” Scootaloo gingerly lifted the cassette up to her
face, cradling it in her palm. “It’s got so much energy and danger and brass and-”

Snips looked away. “Ugh.”

“You’re a lot better with the guitar than you give yourself credit for.”

Snips curled up a bit, covering his face in anticipation of some far off
yet inevitable doom. “You’re determined to embarrass me, is it because
of that one time with the whipped cream and the broken soda fountain?”

Scootaloo’s face went ghost white, and then a strawberry
red. “You said you’d forget about that.” she hissed.

It was Snips’ turn to smile. “Well you managed to remember the most awkward
first date ever.” he said, glancing back at the cassette tape. “So I just thought-”

“It wasn’t awkward, it was fun! Cool even.” Scootaloo placed a hand on her
hip, mockingly. “I’m insulted. Our first time at a karaoke bar, we rocked it!”

“And you wanna use a song we belched out at some lame karaoke
bar in Manehattan in your first stunt show.” Snips said lamely.

“Yeah, and I’ll tell you why.” When Scootaloo’s palm brushed the top of his hand
he also felt the warmth spread across his face, but made no effort to hide it.

“First off, give yourself more credit because it’s good. Second, this is something
we made together behind a locked door with no supervision, in a dark humid room
after sipping a little too long on a giant glass of long island tea, and I cherish this!”

“It was pretty sweet but,” Snips scratched the back of his head. “can we at least re record it?”

“And lose all that kick ass raw emotion?” Scootaloo firmly shook her head. “Nope!”