"You escort your soldiers back to safety. I'll take mine and flank the enemy." Scootaloo ordered, taking half of the miniature pony soldiers. Sweetie Belle nodded and took the rest. The unicorn used her magic to pretend that some of the figurines were injured. The orange Pegasus began to mimic the sound of magic blasts and other weapons.

"Hurry I'll cover you!" Scootaloo yelled, continuing the sounds of warfare. Sweetie Belle moved the toys quickly from one house constructed out of books to the other. She would make the figure twirl as if it was avoiding the onslaught of projectiles.

"Good work General Belle." Scootaloo said, taking her half and moving them one by one to the other structures. Scootaloo began to whisper instructions to her half. Scootaloo moved her toys behind a large wall of books.

"Alright guys this is it. Romeo, ready your magic. Golf, I'm counting on you to sweep her soldiers away. And you Echo, well... Don't get in the way. Alright on three. One... Two..."

"Ah don't think so." Apple Bloom's southern accent chimed confidently. Scootaloo's squad was surrounded by a fleet of motionless plastic dolls.

"Well, buck."

"Language Scootaloo!" Rarity scolded, breaking the scene for the fillies that played in the largest room. It also happened to be Rarity's room. Their imagination was stopped, bringing them back into the room littered with books and papers.

"Sorry Rarity, but Apple Bloom says it a lot," Scootaloo whined.

"Well not in that context." Applejack added from the doorway of the fashion studio. "The term 'buck' wasn't even a bad word when Ah was a filly." 

"Yeah!"Apple Bloom chanted, earning an angry look from the older sisters.

"Apple Bloom. It's still bad to say in class." Applejack added, referring to an incident where she accidentally used it out of "appropriate" context.

"Girls, just wait outside while I talk to Rarity."

"But why?" Apple Bloom asked, extending her last word for added affect.

"Just let the big ponies talk for a bit." Applejack ordered. She kept her head turned away from the younger Apple family member, and ignored the whines and protests from Apple Bloom.

"But we are big ponies." Apple Bloom argued.

"Yeah!" Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle agreed.

The Crusaders didn't notice that they were standing right outside of the doorway, but when they did it was too late as Rarity shut the door with her magic. Applejack chuckled to herself before helping Rarity pick up the mess of books and army dolls.

"Honestly, Twilight would be mad if she ever found out they used her books like this." Rarity chided; she used her light blue aura of magic to form a neat stack of books in the corner of the room.

"She won't though. Twilight's went to Canterlot with Spike for her mother's birthday."

"She might if she saw the condition they're in." Rarity continued, picking up a book that had it's front and back covers ripped off.

"Aw, Ah liked that book." Applejack said. They caught up for a few minutes, and they discussed the schedule on watching the hyperactive bunch known to them as the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"They're getting much harder to keep watching," the unicorn said, levitating one of the figurines to her face.

"They are also getting older." Applejack reminisced.

"Did you notice they're cutting down on their shenanigans? It's probably a sign of maturity."

"A little too soon." Applejack agreed, "Ah just don't know why I like to tease my little sis on her age."

"Is mama bird afraid her hatchlings are leaving?" Rarity teased, and after her comment she received a soft punch to her side.

"At least I'm not the one treating my sister as a baby." Applejack fought, puffing her cheeks out in frustration.

"I don't treat Sweetie as a baby." Rarity declared, turning away. The unicorn began to focus on her projects that she had planned, wishing that the argument would end, because she knew it wouldn't end well.

"Really? I see the way you hold her close to you as you cross streets."

"That doesn't mean anything!" Rarity defended; her eyes flaring up.

"And the way you brush her mane almost as much as your own." Applejack smiled slyly, knowing she had more things to bring up than Rarity did.

"Well Sweetie just needs to learn the proper mane care. I'm preparing her to live decently, that's all!" Rarity's voice rose as she began to panic.

"Then explain why you bathe your little sister." Applejack said, causing Rarity to gasp loudly.

"How did you find out!" Rarity asked. Applejack smirked and ticked off another victory for her.

"I didn't." Applejack answered. Rarity cursed to herself and looked at Applejack with a defeated expression.

Outside of the door the three fillies were eavesdropping on the conversation. 

"Rarity bathes you?" Apple Bloom asked, causing the white coated unicorn to smile back weakly. Sweetie Belle shrugged to her fellow Crusaders before turning back to the door.

"I'm just glad nopony wants to hold my hooves when crossing the street." Scootaloo mocked. The doorknob twitched and it signaled for the three to avoid the full swing of the door.

"Come on girls, Rarity's busy now." Applejack said. The oldest walked out first and the three crusaders followed her to the orchard.

***

"So what now?" Scootaloo asked, referring to the stack of toys. The CMC had managed to exhaust their arsenal of toys in a few hours. They looked around their tree house to see if there was anything they could use. Unfortunately for them, there wasn't. They looked out the window to see if there was anything else.

"Look, there's Applejack." Sweetie Belle pointed out, looking at the orange pony that harvested apples.

"She looks so small down there." Scootaloo added. The tree house's height allowing them to look over the entire orchard.

"Almost as small as when she-" Apple Bloom added, stopping before she finished her sentence.

"When she what?" Sweetie Belle asked, her voice cracking on her last word. Apple Bloom recoiled away from the two.

"Nothing. Just forget what I said." Apple Bloom retracted, hoping her friends would just forget.

"Almost as small as when she?" Scootaloo brought back the question. Apple Bloom backed away from the unicorn and Pegasus; she backed away into the corner and mumbled to herself that she should have watched where she was going.

"Answer us." Sweetie Belle ordered, trying her best to glare like Rarity would.

"Applejack told me not to tell anypony."

"Come on. You could trust us." Scootaloo reasoned, giving her friend a sweet but prying smile.

"Applejack isn't going to like this but..." Apple Bloom stalled, and her friends moved in closer.

"Out with it Apple Bloom!" Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo demanded, making the earth pony jump. The yellow filly looked at her friends for a sign of mercy on their faces. The two other crusaders didn't bother easing up.

"Fine. A couple months back there was an accident. One that might have involved mah big sis... Becoming a little sis."

"She got younger?" Sweetie Belle asked. The unicorn's eyes lit up at the thought of her own sister being younger than her.

"No you chowder-head! Apple Bloom obviously got older." Scootaloo guessed, looking at the unicorn with a smirk.

"No you idiots! Applejack shrunk!" Apple Bloom answered, angry at her friends' inability to guess correctly.

"That doesn't make any sense at all!" Scootaloo yelled, denying the story.

"Oh and becoming younger makes more sense?" Apple Bloom argued.

"A lot more than shrinking," the orange pegasus mumbled.

"Anyway, Applejack shrunk because of this flower in the Everfree Forest." Apple Bloom clarified, getting her friends' attention.

"That's it? Boring." Scootaloo said, "I thought it would be more interesting."

"Well I did kind of tease her about her size." Apple Bloom explained.

"Like?"

"Well I said I was the bigger pony now." Apple Bloom answered.

"You didn't!" Sweetie Belle yelled, her tone sounding similar to Rarity when she would gossip.

"Applejack must have hated that." Scootaloo stated, "Did Applejack get back at you for that?"

"No, not yet."

"Wait I know what to do!" Scootaloo shouted, realizing what they could do to end their boredom.

"What?" Both Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle asked, wanting to hear what their pegasus crusader had in store.

"We shrink Applejack! We could find that thing that shrunk her and get back at her. You know, knock her down to size."

"But mah sis didn't do anythin'!" Apple Bloom protested; defending her older sister, "Plus she keeps the cure nearby."

"Horse-feathers. How about we find this plant and see what it does to us?" the orange filly suggested, getting an approval from the unicorn.

"No can do. Applejack will kill us if we get Poison Joke anywhere near the orchard."

"Well we'll just have to try it in Twilight's library then." Scootaloo retaliated, solving their problems with a simple suggestion.

"Are we all okay with this?" Apple Bloom asked, waiting for the approval of the other crusaders. They all nodded and they left the tree house in search of the infamous Poison Joke.

***

"What do you mean it's all gone!" Scootaloo shouted, disappointed by the empty patch of dirt.

"The Poison Joke it seems to lack, but that's because of Rarity and Applejack."

"Of course mah sister would do this." Apple Bloom muttered, kicking a small patch of dirt. Their expedition cut short by the precautions taken by the older sisters. They followed Zecora back towards her hut, looking feverishly for something to cure their boredom. The Crusaders have been to the Everfree Forest dozens of times, it was mostly near the outskirts of Ponyville, but the farthest they usually went was Zecora's hut.

The cauldron in the center of the shack was full with a steaming liquid, and the three were instantly attracted the the boiling liquid. Scootaloo stuck her hoof in the cauldron to get a feel of the steam escaping.

"Zecora, do you have anything we could do?" Sweetie Belle asked hopefully. The zebra shook her head and directed her attention back to what she was brewing.

"Gals, Ah've got an idea." Apple Bloom stated, looking at her friends with a devious smile.

"Will any of our ideas not get shot down after five minutes?" Scootaloo asked sarcastically.

"This might work. Meet me at Twilight's library.

The three fillies stood outside the door of the library. They stared at the locked door with defeated expressions.

"How do we get in?" Apple Bloom asked, looking for any open windows.

"Well knocking usually works." Sweetie Belle answered innocently.

"Seriously guys? I swiped the key from Rarity a while back." Scootaloo said cockily, showing off the key to the library.

Scootaloo opened the front door, allowing her fellow Crusaders inside. The orange pegasus went over to the shelves of the library. They each searched through the contents of the books for something to keep themselves entertained.

"Nope, no signs of shrinking potions."

"Found it!" Sweetie Belle sang. The child unicorn threw the book at the yellow earth pony; the book hitting the red maned pony into the face. Apple Bloom read the words on the page aloud.

"Watch yourself instantly reduce in size in a simple home made brew."

"Simple and home made are good." Sweetie Belle commentated.

"The world in a brand new perspective can be yours with the following: a pegasus feather."

"Check!" Sweetie shouted. The unicorn bent over to Scootaloo's orange wings and plucked a few more than Scootaloo would have liked. The pegasus yelped in surprise and pain as she lost a noticeable amount of feathers.

"A few ounces of dandelions." Apple Bloom read.

"Done!" Scootaloo chimed from Twilight's pantry. Scootaloo also managed to take out some ingredients for a meal, chips, bread, hay, dandelions

"One teaspoon of... Love?" Apple Bloom stalled.

"How the hay do we collect love?" Scootaloo complained.

"Never mind it says cloves." Apple Bloom clarified, earning an annoyed look from the orange filly.

"Here," the orange filly said, throwing it at the earth pony.

"A large clump of clouds."

"Got that covered." Scootaloo rang, getting her scooter ready.

"A jar of spit from a canine." Apple Bloom said, "Winona and I got this. Let's see... A large sapphire."

"I'll get that from Rarity." Sweetie offered. Apple Bloom looked back at the list.

"And your undying allegiance to the New Lunar Republic?" The Crusaders said in unison.

"Didn't that collapse like a thousand or so years ago?" Scootaloo asked, remembering a lesson of Equestrian History.

"I guess." Sweetie reasoned, "It wouldn't harm anypony right?"

"Let's just get our supplies and worry about it later." Apple Bloom ordered; the three went on their separate ways.