Doctor, I shrunk the Fillies...

Chapter 1: Rainy Days and Science-y Things

"So," Applebloom heaved a sigh of exasperation. "what're we gonna try today, girls?"

The dark sky dropped rain by the bucket-load onto the roof of the one-room clubhouse of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The shutters were drawn, and surprisingly none of the scattered maps, memos, and other crusading paraphernalia were wet. In fact, the entire room seemed dry as aged bread, which lead to a small, inward smile. At least I can do something right, thought Applebloom. She paused to wonder once more if that was her talent; fixing things, building things, designing things. Was she Applebloom the Architect? She shook her head with a small grin. Now that was just silly; Equestria already had plenty of those, and handyponies too. Plus, she was an Apple, and it seemed that each and every one of the Apples had some skill applicable to the picking, pickling, pressing, selling, distributing, or baking of apples. Where did the thought of being an architect even come from?

Nopony stirred in the small room. Scootaloo was lying on her back, staring up at the peaked ceiling. She practically radiated boredom, and it seemed to be infecting the usually-cheerful Sweetie Belle. She just sat at the window, staring out at the pouring rain. Wow, they must really be out of it. Applebloom conferred with herself. Even when the weather is awful, they usually want to try something. What did it mean when they collectively sat down and did nothing? She walked over, and tried to nudge Scootaloo to stand. The filly swatted at her with a hoof, and rolled onto her side to stare at the wall with the map of Ponyville on it. Applebloom went over to it, thoughtful. There were hundreds of marks with little sticky-notes as a reference to the 'what' and 'where' of their endeavors. She saw where, last week in the park, they tried flying kites. Though Applebloom had already tried, the others insisted they get a chance, too, and before too long, Applebloom found herself trying her hoof at kite-flying again. Who knows; she was rushed when she tried with Rainbow Dash present, and maybe her talent just didn't have time to show itself? Before the end of the day, they were a mess of kite-string and torn pieces of fabric from where they tried fixing the kites they frequently crashed.

There was another little 'X' indicating when they went treasure hunting. It was an obstacle course, with a fake treasure at the end. Of course. There were no caves around Ponyville except the gem mine, which was strictly off-limits. But Scootaloo insisted that, if one of them did happen to be a dungeon-diver, that it would manifest itself in practice. While Sweetie Belle was dubious of that, she also encouraged the fake treasure obstacle course, saying that 'if you tried doing this for real, and found out that your talent wasn't related to this sort of thing, that'd mean trouble for sure.'. Once again, they had bungled and blundered through a day of trying different things, and nothing worked. It had come to a premature close when Scootaloo, trying to show off, slipped and scraped her leg on one of the boxes they had 'borrowed' to make the course. That had revealed a side of Scootaloo that she had been embarrassed to admit before her friends; Scootaloo was squeamish. And insatiable until she had gone to the doctor's office and had it confirmed by a rather exasperated Dr. Dowell that she wasn't going to die from the scrape, that all it needed was a bit of bandage, and that it would be perfectly fine in a few days.

She turned from the map to find Sweetie Belle now prostrate on the floor, pushing herself along with her back hooves while dragging her front uselessly behind her. Her face looked sulky; obviously Scootaloo's bad mood was more contagious than she had first thought. She watched Sweetie Belle for a short time, memorizing the pattern. The filly pushed herself in a counter-clockwise elongated oval, barely encompassing the breadth of the clubhouse before turning around and doing it again. It was oddly entertaining, but Applebloom also felt pity, and a deep sense of responsibility. She was the leader - okay, the figurehead. But in principal, she 'led' the Cutie Mark Crusaders. She felt that if Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were bored, it was her obligation to make them un-bored. But by Celestia's Mane, how was she going to do that when she didn't know what would help? They didn't seem to want to communicate. Was their boredom a conveyance of what they wanted to do? Now that was a silly thought; no matter how she tried, she couldn't picture Sweetie Belle as a snail. Sighing, Applebloom soon found herself moving back to the fore, and sitting quietly on the stool. Scootaloo looked up from where she lay, and Sweetie Belle stopped her pseudo-pacing to glance in her direction. Applebloom shook her head, and motioned to the other two.

"Ah know yer bored, but ah don't know why. Ah mean, we could be doin' somethin', but when ah try ta find out what, y'all just shrug me off. Then, ya give me these looks, lahk this is all mah fault or sumthin'." Scootaloo stared at her intently, but Sweetie Belle's face remained deadpan.

"If yah got a problem with me, don't jus' expect me to find out what it is."

Scootaloo scoffed, but Sweetie Belle only blinked. Yeesh, thought Applebloom. They're worse'n ah thought...This's just downright bein' mean, thas what.

Scootaloo gave a small groan of exasperation as she pulled herself up off the ground. However, if the motion had any meaning beyond that Scootaloo was now standing up, Applebloom didn't know what it was. She found the other filly's eyes to be...drained. Tired. Not a good sign at all.

"Aw, Applebloom. You didn't do anything," She reached up and hugged a startled Applebloom. Since when did Scootaloo get all sappy? Or maybe this was far worse than her being afraid to show emotion. Suddenly, Applebloom's stomach formed a pit.

"It's just...We've tried everything. Everything we can all think of. Isn't that right, Sweetie Belle?" They turned to the filly in tandem, but Sweetie Belle just nodded, and continued wearing a ring into the floor of the club house. Scootaloo nodded contentedly, and turned back to Applebloom. "See? Everything we could think of, together or apart, hasn't brought any of us our cutie marks." She looked into Applebloom's eyes, but all Applebloom could see was tiredness.

"Ya mean...Ya want to disband the crusaders?" Scootaloo let out a small chuckle that held no humor.

"What? No. I mean, sure we can still be friends, and meet in the clubhouse and everything. It's just...What do we have to show for everything we've done? Nothing but scrapes and bruises for our trouble, and still no cutie mark in sight." Sweetie Belle gave a nod as she trotted over.

"Scootaloo's right, I think. We can still do stuff together, and go on adventures and stuff. But what purpose does the crusaders have when we've already done everything there is to be done? And, like Scootaloo said, no cutie marks." She shook her blank flank for emphasis, as the pit sunk deeper into Applebloom's stomach. Surely not...They're not...Are they? Scootaloo sighed, and looked Applebloom in the eyes.

"That's kinda what we wanted to talk about. We can still do stuff together, but instead of going looking for our special talents, why can't we do more...I dunno, normal things? Y'know, slumber parties at eachother's houses, going to the movies, help eachother with homework," Scootaloo's eyes shone with amusement at that last, and even Sweetie Belle smiled a bit. They all knew how Scootaloo was with homework; she didn't need help, she needed a swift kick in the plot to get her moving, though. But too quickly, the solemn faces came back. And then it came.

"Applebloom, look...I...Why...Bah! Sweetie Belle, you tell her." Scootaloo retreated to the stool beside the door, to sit and watch. Sweetie Belle turned to her.

"Applebloom, we just wanted to know if...If...If our crusading can take a back seat for a bit," There it was. "Not forever, I mean. Just until we can think of things we haven't done before. Y'know, a little...Oh, what word was it that Twilight used..? A bit of a... hiatus? That sounds right, but... A break."

"Yeah! A break!" Scootaloo piped from her seat by the door. Clearly Applebloom's heartache showed, because she immediately fell back against the wall and blushed, while Sweetie Belle's eyes reflected her own sadness. So this is it, then? she thought bleakly. The end of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and shortly after, any reason we need to talk to eachother. Our friendship...

"A...A break...Yeah...That's what we need..." She felt herself tearing up. Sweetie Belle looked concerned, and Scootaloo was roused from her position against the wall to see what was wrong. Better to just get it over with...I guess...

"Ah...Ah need a li'l time to mahself...If y'all don't mind...Can..." Sweetie Belle stopped her mid-sentence with a hoof on her shoulder. She looked up into the most caring eyes she had ever seen.

"Sure...Sure thing," She turned, and beckoned Scootaloo to wait with her outside. And she clarified that it was waiting; the meeting wasn't done yet, even if the Cutie Mark Crusaders were. Applebloom felt herself breaking down when there was a knock on the door. Curiosity stifled mourning for a second, as she got up and went to see who it was. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo didn't knock; it had to be somepony else. She undid the latch, and opened the door to find-

"Derpy!? What..?" The mailmare stood outside in the rain, her lopsided grin as full as she'd ever seen it, and accentuating her equally skewed eyes. Just looking at that face brought a smile to Applebloom's face, even if she felt her eyes tearing up again. The other stood outside in the pouring rain, her mane getting soaked and matted to her face.

"Hiya, Applebloom!" She stuck her head in, and looked around the room. She seemed disappointed, but then, why? She had never been a close part of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, but she was considered an honorary member because of her social status as a fellow outcast. She had even helped them with some of their more hare-brained schemes, including that one with the boxes. Her grin quickly turned into a disappointed frown.

"Where's Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle? Is the meeting over already?"

"They're...They're not gonna to be around no more, ah guess..." Thankfully, Derpy didn't press the issue. She only nodded understandingly, as she stood out in the rain.

"Uh...Don't ya have to deliver letters today?" As stated above, they were never really close to Derpy, but they knew her work schedule well enough, for they've been getting letters since their fiasco as 'Gabby Gums'. There had even been one from a real Gabby Gums, in Manehattan, who also happened to be a real reporter. After clearing up that there had been no intention of identity fraud, she had become quite an amiable pen-pall. She had even, upon one occasion, managed to get them tickets to a Wonderbolts convention that had been held in Manehattan, which warranted a special trip - accompanied by relatives and, of course, Rainbow Dash - to Manehattan to meet with both the Wonderbolts and their mysterious donor. Applebloom felt herself smiling; Gabby Gums had been way nicer to them than they warranted for that particular incident, yet she had waved the whole thing off as happenstance.

She turned to find Derpy shaking her head, her soaked mane flinging water about.

"Nope. I finished early today; I was kinda hoping to ask you a question..." Derpy shifted around nervously, eyeing the inside of the clubhouse again. She gave Applebloom a weak smile, as her eyes went askew again. When did they get normal? Applebloom motioned her inside, and found herself ducking out of the way as Derpy came barreling into the clubhouse, shaking her mane in a fury. Water splashed everywhere; apparently Derpy's mane acted like a sponge. She looked at the mess she caused, and seemed both sorry and amused. Applebloom shook her head in exasperation. Only Derpy.

She took a seat and motioned for her guest to do the same. The small chest indicated creaked ominously under Derpy's weight, yet she was unperturbed. She gave Applebloom another smile, as she set about ringing the rest of her mane out.

"So, I was thinking. You three are all friends who don't have their cutie marks, right?" Applebloom nodded, a touch of sadness entering her. No; she would not think about it. She had to stay strong. Deep breaths. When she recovered, she found Derpy looking at her askew - well, more askew than normal, anyway. She motioned for the other to continue, and felt a tad awkward. Derpy was older, an adult! Shouldn't she be leading the conversation? Then she remembered Derpy's social backwardness. It wasn't as bad as Fluttershy's, but it was...Different. And even so, she was sort of doing the conversing.

"Well, I kinda thought...You three are outcasts, right? Sorta? And, so is Dinky...And..."

"A'course Dinky can join! Why'd'ja think ya had ta ask?" She jumped up from where she had sat and gave Derpy a big hug. The young mare seemed astonished at the reaction, yet when it passed, Applebloom found herself being hugged back. She tried to pull back, but Derpy wouldn't let go.

"Derpy...Strangling...Ack!"

"Oops! Sorry! Sorry!" She soon found herself on the floor, where Derpy had dropped her. The older mare gave her a smile that said she was both embarrassed and sorry. Applebloom couldn't help but raise a forehoof to her neck, and found it intact. She stood back up, and faced Derpy.

"'Ts alraht...ow...

"Ya don't happen ta have any ideas, though, do ya? Y'know, for the stuff? We've done run out; we can't think of nothin' ta try." Derpy raised a forehoof to her chin in thought, then pulled it away in the typical 'eureka!' fashion.

"I got it! I've got this other job, working with Dr. Whoof. Fixing stuff. But it's very science-y; maybe that's what your talent is!" Applebloom saw the clouds part, both in her mind and over the tree house. She could lay claim to some pretty sharp eyesight, and noticed lots of Pegasi working to clear away that day's storm refuse. She felt herself smile. She raised a hoof for Derpy to shake.

"It's an idea!"

End of Ch 1