The sky above the Cutie Mark Crusaders clubhouse was turning a warm gold color, and the sound of cicadas in the orchard was joined by the rhythmic tap-tap-tapping of hooves from within. Inside, two painfully bored ponies waited, and waited. Apple Bloom was trotting back and forth, while her friend Sweetie Belle drew a nonsense squiggle on a sheet of construction paper, staring at it with half-lidded eyes.

“Oooooh, where th’ hay d’you suppose she got off to?” Apple Bloom finally spoke, whining softly . “We had so much crusadin’ planned to do today, and Scootaloo just runs off without a fare-thee-well!”

“Well, we DID make her drink an awful lot of water,” the unicorn noted, shrugging

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes “Really, Sweetie Belle? She ain’t been back for at least an hour. I don’t think that’s it at all.”

“She wouldn’t just abandon us!” Sweetie Belle protested, dropping her crayon. “Whatever it was must have been really important!”

“So important she couldn’t say nothin’ about it? All of a sudden?” Apple bloom frowned.

“Scootaloo wouldn’t go off like that unless she really had to. Or… Oh no,” Sweetie Belle whimpered “What if something happened? What if that potion made her sick? I’ll bet if we hurried, we could catch up to her and find-“

“Apple Bloom! Dinnertime!” came a not-too-distant call, and a tinny ringing noise.

The earth pony chewed her lip “Maybe you’re right, we ought to catch her and check up on her. I’mma go tell my sister, and…”

“Apple Bloom, you missed dinner two nights in a row already!” Sweetie Belle reminded her. “I don’t think your sister’s going to want to give you cold leftovers again.” She pursed her lips “I’ll go looking for Scootaloo, and we’ll come back after dinner, okay?”

Apple Bloom let out a sigh, “All right. All right. I’ll see y’all in a little bit!” Together, the two fillies trotted out of the clubhouse, and headed in opposite directions.

Not too very far away, the song of summertime insects was being accompanied by a much softer chorus, as Fluttershy’s lilting voice sang a soft verse while watering the vegetable patch she kept beside her cottage. All in all, it had been a great day; the tomatoes were looking ripe, Angel was well-fluffed, and best of all, no terrible crises had forced one of her friends to drag her twitching and whimpering into Ponyville to save the day. That was the best part, really. And it was turning into a lovely sunset.

Her sigh of contentment was interrupted as, from the other side of her cottage, came a loud WHAM WHAM WHAM! And a familiar voice calling “Fluttershy? Fluttershy?!” The yellow Pegasus took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, before slipping through the cottage to the front door. Opening it, she was confronted by a bedraggled-looking, sweaty, panting orange filly who, without invitation, rushed inside and knocked the door shut

“Sc-scootaloo?” Fluttershy’s eyes were wide with surprise “What’s the matter? Are you alright?” Confronted with the frantic-seeming filly, worry overtook the mild annoyance of just a moment before.

“Oh-thank-good-ness-you’re-home,” came the panting reply. “I-need-GULP-your-help.” Scootaloo pressed her rump back against the door, taking a few more deep breaths.

“Oh, of course! Do you want some water?” Fluttershy chewed her lip as she watched the filly shake her head .

“No, no, uh, no thanks, I’ve had plenty. “ deep breath “I’ve got a big problem and you’re the only person I can think of who can help help.”

Fluttershy tilted her head, a strand of pink mane falling across her face “Really? Well, if I can help, you know I’d be happy to. It’s just… well... you haven’t said what the problem is…”

Scootaloo sucked in a breath, giving a squinting look away from the older mare, rubbing one foreleg. “It’s, uh, kind of embarrassing, actually… Maybe I shouldn’t…”

“Oh, Scootaloo. You know I’d never tell anyone. I promise. How can I help?” She peered at the other Pegasus, concern in her soft blue eyes.

Scootaloo took a deep breath. “Okay, I got the hiccups really bad because Sweetie Belle wouldn’t stop eating all my apple fritters. So we went to Sugar Cube Corner and Pinkie Pie gave me lots of sugar and then Spike got the hiccups too, and water shot out my nose, but Apple Bloom gave me some yucky orange juice and now I don’t have the hiccups anymore. It’s so embarrassing!”

Fluttershy blinked in confusion, trying to untangle what she had just heard. “Oh… okay. Uhm. If you don’t mind me asking, why is it so embarrassing not to have the hiccups?”

Scootaloo opened her mouth, then shut it with a soft click. “Well, that’s the embarrassing part.”

“You don’t say?” Fluttershy’s tone was soft, encouraging.

“I sort of… Uhm. That is, I have… “ Scootaloo mumbled, scuffing at the entryway rug with her hoof, face reddening.

“Didn’t quite hear that,” Fluttershy spoke, leaning close and cocking an ear.

“I said, the potion turned me into a boy.” Scootaloo said, just a little louder. Fluttershy pulled back with a look of shock. “I should’ve never let Apple Bloom give me that potion!”

“Oh, dear… Are you sure?” Fluttershy was taken aback by the notion, glancing around, then back to Scootaloo.

The orange filly rolled her eyes and made a soft noise of frustration. “Doesn’t it look like I’m sure?” Turning around, she lifted her pink tail. There, below the tight folds of her marehood, were a pair of smooth taut-skinned balls.

Fluttershy’s eyes went huge, and a flush warmed her face at the brazen display. Raising a hoof to her mouth in shock, she murmured. “Oh my. Would you look at that?”

“Yeah, see? I’m pretty sure. I’ve even got, uh, the rest, you know.“ Scootaloo scuffed on hoof against the floor with a pout.

Fluttershy was at a loss. “Well… What do you want me to do about it?” She blinked at the filly, ducking her head and peering briefly under the other pegasus’ belly.

Scootaloo sighed. “I heard you’ve had experience in handling this sort of thing. I was hoping you could, y’know, help me out.”

"E-Experience?” Fluttershy ducked down with a squeak of embarrassment. “Well, I… that is, I haven’t had any complaints….” She trailed off.

“Awesome!” Scootaloo bounced in place, her little wings buzzing. “It can’t be that different from poison joke, right?”

“Poison… oh, oh! Yes. Poison joke, of course that’s what you meant.” Fluttershy allowed herself a nervous giggle, and then gave the filly a concerned look, clearing her throat. “That just changed my voice, Scootaloo, not my, my, uhm, my… it didn't...”

“It didn’t give you balls?”

Fluttershy blinked at the filly’s forwardness. “Well, no, it didn’t…”

“Or a talliwhacker?”

“I’m not sure I know what… oh. That. No, it just made me sing bass. It was dreadful. But, you know what, maybe the remedy will help you, Scootaloo. It just so happens that Zecora shared the recipe with me, just in case any of my little friends got into some poison joke.”

“Another potion?” Scootaloo bonked the back of her head against the front door tree in frustration. “I don’t want to drink more groady orange juice, Fluttershy.”

“Oh, it’s not a potion. It’s a bubble bath, actually. And it feels wonderful, very relaxing. Are you sure you don’t want to give it a try?” Fluttershy chewed her lip.

Scootaloo pursed her lips, considering, then sighed. “Well, I do want to get rid of these… they feel awfully weird, bouncing around back there,” she waggled her hips, making a face, which made Fluttershy giggle. “And… well, I guess I could use a bath anyway. Alright Fluttershy, let’s give it a shot.”

Author's Note

Fic is not dead! I've just been busy with work (filling holiday orders!) and have been trying to clean up the next chapter a bit more. It's fully written, just... chunkier than I like. So have some interlude!