“Are you sure about this Scootaloo?” Sweetie Belle asked nervously as the Cutie Mark Crusaders peered over the edge the treetop balcony, their zip line ropes the only thing saving them from a deadly fall were they to slip. “I’ve never even heard of a pony zip lining before.”

“Neither have I but Spike told me it was awesome!” Scootaloo responded confidently. Unlike Applebloom and Sweetie Belle she looked out at the great expanse that the zip line would take them over with a smile.

“Has he ever done it?” Applebloom asked. Given that he was Twilight’s assistant and was always complaining about the work load it didn’t seem like he’d have time for it. And it didn’t strike her as something the bookish Twilight would be interested in.

“Didn’t get far enough into the conversation to ask!” Scootaloo answered, giving Sweetie Belle and Applebloom enough time to exchange a worried glance before she leapt off the balcony pulling them with her. They sped along the zip line quickly, the trees nothing more than a blur as they soared past, until they reached the middle of the line where they slowed and stopped, the line sinking under their combined weight. Before any of them could formulate a response to their situation the smell of smoke drifted down to them and they all looked up in time to watch their safety hooks burning away the zip line with the friction heat their speed had generated.

With a loud snap the line broke and sent the three fillies screaming and careening towards the ground, or rather into the tree directly below them. Luckily for them the branches and thick leaves slowed their descent enough to turn a deadly or handicapping fall into one of mere aches and pains when they landed in a pile.

“See anythin’?” Applebloom asked, not feeling anything different other than pain and the familiar sensation of tree sap on fur which appeared whenever they tried getting Cutie Marks involving or near trees. Even when they just sketched some back when they were trying to get their Sketching Cutie Marks.

“Tree sap and pine needles, but no Cutie Mark.” Scootaloo announced checking her flank, confirming another failed attempt.

“Plan B?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully.

“Yeah! You know where we can find a cannon at this hour?” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle’s expressions were all Scootaloo needed to know where they stood on that idea. “It’s no use!” Scootaloo cried as she stormed away and threw her helmet off. “No matter what we do we always end up without our Cutie Marks. And, surprisingly often, covered in tree sap.” Applebloom and Sweetie Belle took off their helmets while Scootaloo complained. Sweetie Belle set hers aside while she worked on getting herself out of the zip line harness while Applebloom was content to just toss away hers towards the nearest bush. When it rolled to it however it didn’t crash into the leaves and embed itself in the branches but instead struck something, making a low thunk noise, and rolled back to her.

“Maybe we should try something less dangerous?” Sweetie Belle suggested, the other two thirds of the Cutie Mark Crusaders not noticing the noise or Applebloom wandering to the bush. “Like pillow testing or flower sniffing?” Applebloom peeked through the leaves and saw the handle and corner of what she assumed to be a small chest poking out of the ground.

“Uhh no way!” Scootaloo disagreed. “If I’m going to get my Cutie Mark it’s not going to be anything that namby-pamby! It’s going to be something exciting!”

“Hey girls look at this!” Applebloom called before she poked her head into the bush and bit down on the chests’ handle, the dirt around it giving way easily enough. And just as she had suspected it was a small chest, the wood and metal chipped and cracking, so she was able to lift it out of and off the ground, its contents rolling around inside.

“What’d you find?” Sweetie Belle asked as she and Scootaloo peered over Appleblooms’ shoulder.

“I think maybe it’s treasure!” Applebloom announced, fiddling with the old lock which despite its age was remaining firm.

“Didn’t we already try to get our Treasure Hunting Cutie Marks?” Scootaloo reminded. “All we found were some small rocks, bits of wood, and that really big rock that rolled through Carrot Tops’ fence.”

“Yeah but this time we actually found somethin’ so now we’ll know for sure!” Applebloom reasoned. “Besides even if it isn’t treasure it still might have somethin’ cool inside!”

“What if it belongs to somepony?” Sweetie Belle asked, stepping around Applebloom to look for any identifying marks.

“If anypony wanted to keep it they wouldn’t have left out here.” Scootaloo said. “Or they could’ve been hiding it because it’s stolen treasure!” She deduced excitedly.

“Or they could have just lost it while they were out here like we are.” Sweetie Belle countered.

“So it’s decided then!” Applebloom said, standing up and leaving the chest alone. “We open it up and see what’s inside. If it’s treasure we get our Cutie Mark in Treasure Huntin’ and if it belongs to somepony or was stolen we get our Cutie Mark in Investigation by trackin’ down the rightful owner!” The three fillies’ faces broke out into smiles at the prospect of working for two Cutie Marks at once. That was double the usual chances of success!

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER TREASURE HUNTERS SLASH INVESTIGATORS! YAY!” They cheered and hoof bumped, only for the tree sap on their hoofs to get stuck together.

“…Maybe we should wash up first.” Sweetie Belle suggested.

The trip back to Ponyville was uneventful, something that was amazing in of itself considering they were traveling by Scootaloos’ scooter, with the chest firmly kept in the back of the wagon until a trio of rabbits carrying apples darted across the road. Scootaloo quickly flapped her wings the opposite direction and brought the scooter to a screeching halt a few inches away from the rabbits who looked completely unfazed at the sudden possibility of being road kill. “Get back here you thievin’ varmints!” The echo of Applejacks’ angered voice sent them running though.

“Thievin’ what now?” Applebloom asked aloud only for her sister to come bounding out of the foliage after the rabbits, crashing right into the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

“Applebloom?” Applejack asked when the dust had settled, perplexed at how she could have randomly crashed into her sister and her friends. The Cutie Mark Crusaders had something else on their mind though.

“Oh hey sis you knocked open the chest for us!” Applebloom said excitedly as she and her friends got up and wandered over to the broken open and over turned chest.

“Ah’ did what now?” Applejack asked confused as The Cutie Mark Crusaders tipped the chest right side up and peering inside to discover… five plain white dice and a small green plastic cup.

“DICE?!” Scootaloo exclaimed. “Who would bother hiding this away?!”

“Maybe it’s a treasured childhood toy?” Sweetie Belle suggested, carefully picking up the cup to look for any marks. There were no childish writings of names or initials on the outside or even a manufactures mark.

“Y’all found this while you were out crusadin’?” Applejack asked looking at their object of disappointment. “Judgin’ by how old that chest is it must have been out there a while. Dice and cup look good thou-” She was interrupting by the boastful raspberry of the thieving rabbits she had been chasing from earlier. “There they are! Get back here, ya thievin' varmints!” She yelled as she gave chase, leaving the three fillies with their treasure.

“Well now what do we do?” Scootaloo asked, looking down at the dice in the chest. “This was a bust.”

“…Go back to the clubhouse and think up some more ideas?” Applebloom suggested as they gathered the chest and its contents back into wagon. With a collective sigh they all agreed and loaded themselves into the wagon and sped off towards Sweet Apple Acres, passing through the gates and waving at Big McIntosh as they did.

“I still say that Pillow Testing and Flower Sniffing are perfectly fine activities to test.” Sweetie Belle argued as they came to a stop at the Cutie Mark Crusader Clubhouse.

“And I say that we can totally find a cannon!” Scootaloo fired back as they unloaded the chest from the wagon and dragged it up the steps. “Pinkie Pie’s got that one that shoots confetti and all that other stuff. She probably knows where we can find one capable of shooting ponies!”

“Maybe we should move away from those three and try thinking about something else.” Applebloom suggested nudging open the door and dragging the chest to a corner.

“Alright.” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle agreed as Applebloom lifted the lid and gathered the dice up into the cup and moved to place it on the central table where Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had settled. Unfortunately one of the legs of the table was on the short side, specifically the side that Sweetie Belle was sitting at, and a moment after Applebloom set the cup down Sweetie Belle put her weight down on it to grab a piece of paper and some crayons, knocking the cup over and sending the dice tumbling out.

The roll of the five dice made a seven, three 1’s and two 2’s, in the direction of Sweetie Belle.

And in the next moment Sweetie Belle was lifted a foot in the air by an unseen force and hurled against the nearest wall.

“SWEETIE BELLE!” Scootaloo and Applebloom cried out as they rushed to their friend as she clutched her head and groaned.

“Wh-What happened?” She asked as she got up on shaky legs. “I feel worse then falling out of that tree.”

“I don’t know! I just sat down at the table with you and the dice cup fell over and then-” Applebloom rambled an explanation before a scared sound and poke from Scootaloo got her to turn around to look back at the table, the three fillies eyes transfixed on what they saw.

The dice were rolling side over side back into the cup, their momentum allowing them to do little jumps as high as an inch before they came back down to the table top. As soon as all the dice were back inside and against the bottom of the cup they began to roll as one along the sides, moving the cup back and forth until it got fast enough to tip itself right back up. It wobbled for a moment then stilled, ready for its contents to be rolled and played with again.

In response The Cutie Mark Crusaders slowly backed towards the door to outside the clubhouse, never taking their eyes off of the cup of dice until they were safely outside and down the steps and it could no longer be seen. Then they turned around and ran away as fast as their young legs could take them.

“So that’s it?” Twilight asked as she leaned into the doorway of the clubhouse, eyeing the green cup at the center table. The Cutie Mark Crusaders poked their heads around the doorway and caught sight of the cup and nodded in confirmation, careful to not get too far into their clubhouse.

“What that thing?” Spike said from his seated position on Twilights’ back carrying a quill and parchment for “observational notes”. “The way you guys described it I thought it had skulls and flames on it or something.”

“And that’s the chest you found it in?” Twilight continued, ignoring her assistant’s commentary, to look at the broken open container in the corner. This time it was Applejack, standing by the window on another side of the clubhouse to peer inside, who answered.

“Yeah, that’s the rotten old thing.” She said, her stetson hat being pushed up against the glass as she switched her narrowed glance between the offending objects. “Ah’ wondered why the contents were so fine while it was so worn. Guess now we know why.”

“Alright then. Ready Spike?” Twilight turned her head to address her number one assistant and he nodded, holding up the parchment ready to begin dictating. As the Element of Magic walked into the clubhouse and stood at the table, eyeing the cup of dice as her horn began to glow and the cup was enveloped in a similar magenta glow as it was levitated in the air.

“Y’all girls are very lucky ya know?” Applejack said as she rounded the corner to rejoin them. The walkway around wasn’t nearly wide enough to hold multiple grown ponies in one place which was why Big McIntosh was left to stand at the bottom of the steps with Granny Smith. “If it does exactly what ya say then I’d hate to think what’d happen to y’all if ya rolled a higher number or, Celestia forbid, a perfect thirty.” None of the Crusaders had thought of that during their panicked explanations to Big McIntosh then to Applejack and finally to Twilight but their insides went cold at what could have happened. A seven got you picked up and hurled against a wall. What could a ten, fifteen, twenty-five or, Celestia forbid, a thirty do?

These thoughts filled the young fillies’ minds as Twilight did her experiments, casting spell after spell onto the cup, chest, and individual dice using magical and scientific jargon that went right over everyone’s assembled heads except for perhaps Spike. It wasn’t until Twilight did the unthinkable that their minds and hearts nearly stopped. She went back to the table, cast a spell that enveloped the entire room, and then picked up the cup and rolled the dice across the table towards the empty space across from her.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders waited with baited breath for something to happen, for the floor to implode or whatever malevolent force that possessed the dice to attack Twilight in anger at being denied a target. But when that didn’t happen they waited for the dice to return to the cup, to start rolling side over side and jumping through the air like they had seen it do.

The dice and cup remained motionless for a full minute before Twilight canceled the spell, gathered up the dice, put them back into cup, and set it down onto the table.

“Well?” Applejack asked as Twilight exited the clubhouse.

“I’ve run every enchantment and residual magic searching spell I know and none of them say that it’s anything more than a set of dice in a plastic cup from an old chest.” Twilight concluded.

“But that’s impossible!” Applebloom exclaimed. “We saw Sweetie Belle get picked up and thrown against the wall when it accidently fell over!”

“Yeah it hurt worse than when we fell out of that tree earlier!” Sweetie Belle added which made Applejacks’ eyes narrow on them and The Cutie Mark Crusaders instantly knew that they had screwed up.

“And when did y’all fall out of a tree today?” She asked and they all lowered their gazes and mumbled their response. “Ah’m sorry what was that?”

“When we were out crusadin’.” Applebloom admitted.

“And what were y’all crusadin’ for?” Applejack pressed and the fillies squirmed under the scrutiny.

“…Zip lining.” Scootaloo answered given that it had been her idea. Spike also suddenly became very interested in the notes that he had written during Twilights’ extermination.

“And who did y’all have with ya to show ya how to do it safely?” Applejack asked and their silence was all the confirmation she needed. “Alright come on, we’re goin’ to the hospital.” She decided and continued before Crusaders could speak up. “Because either you’re makin’ up stories to cover for Sweetie Belle getting’ hurt or y’all suffered pretty hard knocks to the head.”

“We ain’t lyin’ and we were wearin’ helmets!” Applebloom objected.

“Helmets aren’t fool proof against concussions or any other serious injuries girls.” Twilight chimed in. “It’s important to get you all checked out either way.” No amount of reasoning or debate could get the adults to listen to the Crusaders as they were carted off to the hospital for a late checkup and their respective families were informed. By the time that the doctors and nurses had finished and concluded that the three young fillies were fine, if some surprisingly minor bruising given the height they had fallen, it was already late at night and they had to be in bed for school the next day.

When the school day was over and the young fillies went back to their clubhouse the cup of dice was right where Twilight had left it.

“We didn’t imagine what this thing did.” Scootaloo said as they stood around the table having moved the cup to the center.

“And we certainly didn’t make it up.” Applebloom spat, still angered at her family’s belief that she had lied to get out of trouble.

“But Twilight said it wasn’t enchanted or even magical.” Sweetie Belle reminded standing the farthest back from the object that had harmed her. “How could it do anything if it isn’t even magic?” Given that she had felt its effects firsthand she wasn’t putting a lot of effort into this argument, instead keeping her eyes on the cup to make sure it didn’t move.

“Maybe it’s a kinda magic Twilight doesn’t know?” Applebloom threw out.

“What kind of magic could Twilight not know about?” Scootaloo brought up. “Her special talent is Magic and she’s The Element of Magic for Pete’s sake!”

“Well I guess Evil Dice Cup magic isn’t one of them!” Sweetie Belle retorted angrily and a moment of silence descended upon them.

“…What do we do with it?” Applebloom asked looking across the table at her two best friends.

“I say we destroy it.” Scootaloo voted. “Just take a hammer to the dice and cut up the cup and scatter the itty bitty pieces.”

“If it can even be broken!” Sweetie Belle interjected. “It was in that chest for who knows how long and it’s perfectly fine! Besides what if it just makes it mad?” Somehow the idea of the evil dice and cup being capable of anger didn’t seem too farfetched to them, given that it was capable of movement and harming others.

“So what do ya suggest we do?” Applebloom asked curious.

“Well what if we just lock it in another chest? Seemed to work fine the first time.” She answered. “But we can’t just leave it in the forest or somepony may stumble upon it like we did. So… we keep it here.” Applebloom and Scootaloos’ reaction was immediate.

“WHAT?! Are you serious?!” They demanded to know. “After what it did to you?” Scootaloo pressed. “What if we’re playing and it rolls around in its chest and one of us gets beheaded! Or killed! Or worse!”

“Wouldn’t the beheadin’ kill us too?” Applebloom asked perplexed. “And what could be worse than getting’ killed?”

“A seven gets you thrown across the room.” Scootaloo reminded. “I don’t want to find out what the other twenty-three numbers above that do.”

“Still it’s like Applejack said, we got lucky.” Sweetie Belle continued. “What if somepony else finds it and they aren’t? We know what it does and sort of how. It only seems to work if you roll the dice towards somepony.” She explained as she inched a little closer to the table. “It did nothing when the chest got opened when Applejack crashed into us or when Twilight rolled it by herself. Maybe it’s got to be able to see who it’s being rolled at?”

“It’s five dice in a cup! How can it see anythin’?” Applebloom argued. Again given that this same cup of dice had flung Sweetie Belle against the wall and then rolled themselves back inside this rung a little hollow.

“How bout we put them into two separate chests?” Sweetie Belle proposed. “If we’re careful we can put the dice in one and the cup in the other, that way if one is found they won’t be able to hurt anypony!”

“Then why didn’t the pony that originally locked it away do that?” Applebloom asked. Sweetie Belle was quiet for a moment before responding.

“Maybe they can’t be separated.” She wondered. “Maybe they won’t budge if too far apart or will magically teleport to each other or fly out your hoof and just roll back. Let’s see what happens if we try taking one dice out and walking away!”

“Whoa whoa!” Scootaloo interjected. “We we’re talking about how to deal with this thing and now you want to mess with it?” The sheer insanity of the concept spoke for itself to her. “If we can’t break it then I vote we just put it in a new box and then dig a deep hole to dump it in!”

“But somepony would find it eventually!” Applebloom reasoned.

“Then we put a note inside explaining what it is and why not to touch it.” Scootaloo responded.

“Yeah like anypony is going to believe an old note telling them that it’s an evil set of dice in a cup.” Sweetie Belle argued.

“How bout we just put it in a new chest and a note in with it then leave it here until what we decide to do. It stays hidden where somepony isn’t likely to find it and we can keep a close eye it, the note will be our backup plan.” Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were quiet for a moment before they agreed, “if only temporarily”. No one liked the idea of it just being in the clubhouse.

After some debate over who had the best mouth writing it was elected that Sweetie Belle write the note which read.

WARNING!
If you are reading this then DO NOT touch the dice or the cup contained in this chest! If you have then carefully place them back inside and relock the chest.
If you have found this chest in a worn or broken condition then please place take the dice and the cup into a new one, lock it, and then hide it away.
DO NOT ROLL THE DICE AT ANOTHER PONY!
We don’t know how or why but when rolled at somepony whatever number is rolled will hurt them in some way.
We don’t know how bad it gets but you must trust us, keep this locked away.
For the protection of everypony.

“How’s this?” Sweetie Belle asked as she read it aloud to Applebloom and Scootaloo as they carefully lowered the cup into a small dumped out toy chest. “I really like the last part. Makes it really dramatic and means we mean business.”

“Yeah it’s great can we lock this thing up now?” Scootaloo asked anxiously after having to touch the dangerous object with nothing more than shaky hooves that could have slipped and killed Applebloom and vice versa. Sweetie Belle walked over and lowered the note inside the chest right next to the cup and Applebloom lowered the lid and put the antiquated key into the lock and sealed away the threat for now. With a quick cleanup of the toys and carefully pushing the new container into its previous position everything looked back to normal.

“Well that’s that.” Applebloom said and a faint sound danced around her ears and a quick flash of light appeared behind her before quickly vanishing. “Wha!” She cried, turning to face some new danger only to find something that stopped her heart in a whole different way.

On all three of The Cutie Mark Crusaders flanks was a symbol, two black circles, one inside the other, and three arrows going through, pointing inwards.

They were silent all of a second.

“WE FINALLY GOT OUR CUTIE MARKS!” They cried together and hugged each other, laughing merrily with no apparent memory of the dangerous object they had just contained.

“Wait,” Applebloom said stepping away from her friends to inspect the strange symbol on her flank, “what does this mean?”

Author's Note

It means a very bad idea is what it means.

This was more of a test of concept than anything else so let me know how it did.