May 28th, 1001 Post-NMM, 12:00 P.M.

Today was the last day of school for the summer, and all of the foals had been let out early as a result.

Cheerilee stood by the open door as almost all of the colts and fillies ran passed her, school bags on their backs, ready to celebrate and enjoy their summer of freedom from the shackles of school.

"Goodbye, everypony! Have a great summer, and I'll see you again in September!" Cheerilee waved to her students as they left.

As Scootaloo reached the door with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, she stopped and gave Cheerilee a hug, to the teacher's surprise. "Thanks for helping me out so much this year, Ms. Cheerilee."

Cheerilee returned the hug as her student's genuine thanks moved her to tears. "Thank you for being such a wonderful student, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo broke away from the hug a few seconds later and grabbed her scooter from where she'd leaned it against the door frame. She put on her helmet and joined her sister and friend by the door, before the trio headed out together with one last goodbye wave to their teacher. "Have a wonderful summer you three!" Cheerilee called out as she returned the goodbye wave.

As the Crusaders left the school grounds, Apple Bloom looked over at her friends. "Is everything ready?"

Scootaloo nodded as she slowly rode her scooter to stay by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's side. "I have the speech fully written, I just need to memorize it."

Sweetie Belle nodded as well. "I've finished the cape, but I haven't brought it over yet since I only just finished last night."

Apple Bloom smiled. "Then let's go grab everything and do this today."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded once. "Right."

The trio of fillies ran through Ponyville to Carousel Boutique, excited to finally execute the plan that they've been working on for the last three weeks.

Once at the Boutique, Scootaloo climbed off her scooter and set her helmet on the handlebar. She then opened her school bag, pulled her key out and unlocked the door to let her sister and friend in.

Sweetie Belle went into Rarity's work room and grabbed a red cape with a shiny golden underside, the special fabric used with Rarity's permission this time, and a patch of the CMC logo sewn into it in her magic, before she carried it out of the room.

Meanwhile Scootaloo ran up the stairs to their shared room, reached under their shared bed and pulled a sheet of paper out carefully with her mouth. She made sure to not let her teeth or tongue touch it, as that would ruin the paper and everything she had written on it.

The trio reunited in the main room where Apple Bloom had been waiting. "You got the stuff?"

Scootaloo nodded as the paper held in her mouth flapped from the movements. She carefully set the paper on a nearby table. "I'm certain that he'll like this speech I wrote," she said with a proud grin, before she slipped a wing under the paper and slid it into her schoolbags.

Sweetie Belle nodded as well as she floated the cape towards Apple Bloom so she could inspect it. "Does this look good enough? I don't want to give him a poorly made cape, he deserves better than that for being such a great friend all this time."

Apple Bloom slowly walked around the cape and craned her neck up and down as she inspected it. Once she was done she nodded. "Yep, this looks great. Spike's going to love this!"

Sweetie Belle grinned at the confirmation. "I can't wait for him to see it. He's going to be so surprised!"

The Crusaders exited the Boutique and headed to their clubhouse in Sweet Apple Acres, where they dropped off the speech script and the cape in the storage chest under the left window so that they wouldn't be visible later.

They then returned to Ponyville, and when they reached the border of town on the way to the library, Scootaloo turned towards Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle with a cheeky grin. "I'll race you there! First one to reach the library gets a free milkshake at Sugarcube Corner that the others pay for!" She declared before she took off on her scooter. Her wings buzzed behind her and propelled her at high speeds away from the others and towards the town.

Scootaloo's challenge sunk in for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle after a second, at which point they took off behind her. "No fair Scootaloo, you have your scooter!" Sweetie Belle complained as the unicorn filly fell behind Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom looked back and noticed as her friend trailed further and further behind her. She skidded to a stop and let Sweetie Belle catch up to her. "Climb on mah back, Ah can carry you faster!" She said as she crouched down. "If Scootaloo's going to race ahead on her scooter, then we're going to work together!"

Sweetie Belle climbed on the crouching Apple Bloom's back and wrapped her hooves around Apple Bloom's barrel, before Apple Bloom sped off at a speed that surprised Sweetie Belle. "I knew you were stronger now since you've been training, but I didn't know you were this strong!" The unicorn filly cried out as everything blurred around her from the sheer speed.

Apple Bloom looked up and back towards her friend as she held on. "All mah working out has been paying off lately, and now Ah can prove it!" She declared, before she put on another burst of speed.

Apple Bloom sped through town as she dodged around ponies, stalls, and other obstacles in her path.

Eventually Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were able to see Scootaloo on her scooter ahead of them as they slowly but surely caught up to her.

Scootaloo looked back briefly, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw how close Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had gotten. "Wow, you're really fast now Apple Bloom," she complimented. A cocky grin overtook her face. "But not fast enough! See ya at the library!" She said as she sped up and left Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to fall behind her.

Apple Bloom smirked. "Oh yeah, just you wait Scootaloo, Ah've got a big surprise for you," she said to herself as she broke into a dead sprint.

Apple Bloom ran through what remained of the town between her and the library so fast that everything around her seemed to blur even more than it already had as Sweetie Belle screamed in excitement on her back.

Apple Bloom started to pant as the library appeared up ahead, Scootaloo not quite there yet on her scooter. "Come on, hah, we're, hah, almost there," she said as exhaustion crept up on her from her dead sprint.

Sweetie Belle noticed as her friend tired out beneath her and leaned towards her ear. "Go on, Apple Bloom, I'll catch up!" She said before she intentionally let go and fell off her friend's back. She managed to land safely on her hooves, albeit with a slightly painful skid from the momentum.

Now that Sweetie Belle was no longer on her back, Apple Bloom was able to put all of her remaining energy into running, which allowed her to catch up to Scootaloo just before she reached the library.

Scootaloo turned her head and grinned at Apple Bloom as the two raced to the library, the two of them neck and neck for the distance that remained.

Just before Scootaloo reached the door, Apple Bloom just barely pulled ahead at the last moment, which allowed her to touch the door first with a knock that resounded around them. "Ah, ha, Ah win, ha!" Apple Bloom panted in victory. Immediately afterwards, she flopped onto her side as her entire body trembled from exhaustion.

Scootaloo skidded to a stop before she could accidentally run her friend over with her scooter, an impressed look on her face. "Wow, Apple Bloom, I guess all your strength training improved your speed too! That was way faster than the last time we raced a few months ago, you couldn't even keep up with me then!"

"Ah, hah, made sure to never skip leg day, hah," Apple Bloom said with a proud smile as she panted.

Scootaloo sat down next to Apple Bloom and helped her up into a sitting position. Apple Bloom leaned into Scootaloo's side for stability as her legs continued to tremble while the duo waited together for Sweetie Belle to catch up behind them.

A minute later the unicorn turned the last corner and trotted up to her sister and friend with a concerned look on her face. "You okay, Apple Bloom? You ran really far with me on your back," she asked in concern.

Apple Bloom just nodded with a proud smile in lieu of a response as the door to the library opened behind her, revealing Spike standing there with a bowl of neapolitan ice cream with gem shards for sprinkles in his hand. "Hey girls, here for more crusading today while the others are in Canterlot?"

Apple Bloom turned to face him and lifted a hoof weakly into the air in greeting. "Give, hah, me a minute, hah, Spike," she panted.

Spike set down his ice cream bowl on a table near the door and moved closer. He reached a hand towards her to help support her. "Come on in girls, I was just relaxing right now anyways," he said.

Apple Bloom took his hand with a hoof and allowed him to pull her through the doorway. "Thanks Spike."

Spike patted her back once. "Not a problem Apple Bloom."

Scootaloo climbed off her scooter and leaned it against the library's wall. She came up beside Apple Bloom and let her friend lean against her as they walked in together as Sweetie Belle supported Apple Bloom's other side.

Spike ran into the library's kitchen while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle guided Apple Bloom to a chair and helped her sit down.

Apple Bloom smiled tiredly at her friends. "Thanks girls, that race was exhausting! Really, really fun, but wow am Ah tired now."

"I'm not surprised with the way you carried me through town! I mean, I'm not overweight or anything, but I'm still kinda heavy, so that's really impressive!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. "Don't let Rarity know that I called myself heavy," she said with a chuckle.

"I never expected you to actually beat me on my scooter!" Scootaloo exclaimed. "Being completely honest, I was just going to buy you both a milkshake anyways when we were done, since what I did wasn't very fair, but you actually beating me was not what I expected at all!"

Spike came back out of the kitchen right then with a cup of water held in his hand and headed straight for Apple Bloom.

He gave the cup to the exhausted and dehydrated filly, and when he saw how much her hooves were still shaking, he helped her drink it by holding the glass to her lips and gently tipping it.

Apple Bloom drank the entire glass of water, before she sighed in relief. "Thanks Spike, Ah really needed that after that race."

Spike smiled as he took the glass back and set it down on the nearby table. "No problem Apple Bloom, what are friends for, after all?"

The Crusaders shared a glance with each other. "About that..." Sweetie Belle started.

Scootaloo opened her mouth to continue what her sister had started, but was interrupted by a rapid knock at the door.

Spike walked towards the door and opened it. "Hey Derpy! You got something for Twilight? If so, sorry, she's in Canterlot right now."

The grey mailmare's eyes moved in opposite directions as she shook her head. "Nope! I've actually got a letter for you from Princess Luna herself!" She announced as she pulled said letter out of her brown saddlebags.

Spike's eyes widened as he took the letter in his hands. "Princess Luna?! Wow, must be important for Princess Celestia to not send it with the Dragon Fire spell," he said. He then looked back up at the mailmare who was still at the door. "Do you want to come in and have some muffins? I don't have any baked right now, but I can make them pretty quickly."

Derpy shook her head. "Sorry, Spike, I've got to get back home to my little Muffin. It's her birthday tomorrow!"

Spike gave a big smile. "Tell Dinky we said happy birthday," he said.

Derpy nodded, before she turned around and flew off.

Spike waved goodbye, before he closed the door and went back to where the Crusaders were waiting for him.

The Crusaders gathered around him, Apple Bloom feeling better now after drinking some water. "What's the letter say?" She asked Spike.

Spike unfurled the letter and read it aloud.

Dear Spike:

We regret to inform thou that thy sister Twilight Sparkle, as well as her friends and fellow Elements of Harmony, are currently in the hospital wing of the castle after an unexpected, disastrous attack during the meeting with the ambassadors from the Beanbean Kingdom.

Fortunately, she and the others are all alive, albeit paralyzed due to a spell cast by the culprit, and as such are unable to return to Ponyville at this time. We are hereby summoning thou to Canterlot posthaste, so as to meet with Twilight as she has requested.

We will explain more when thou arrive. Show this letter to the guards at the entrance gate to be allowed entry, security is of the utmost importance during these trying times.

Sincerely, Princess Luna.

As soon as Spike finished reading the letter, pandemonium broke out in the library as Spike and the Crusaders started panicking.

"Our sisters are in the hospital?! We've got to go to Canterlot!" Apple Bloom cried out.

"I've got some bits with me in my school bag that we can use to take the train to Canterlot! I was going to use them to buy the milkshakes later, but this is way more important!" Sweetie Belle offered.

"Let's do it! The sooner we get there the better!" Scootaloo exclaimed, before the four quickly ran out of the library.

Scootaloo grabbed her scooter from where she'd left it and climbed on. "Apple Bloom, jump on!" She called to her still somewhat tired friend, stepping closer to the handle to make room behind her.

Apple Bloom climbed on the scooter and wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo's barrel, making sure to leave enough room for her wings to move.

Once Apple Bloom was ready, Scootaloo put her helmet back on and revved up her wings.

Just as Scootaloo sped off, Sweetie Belle called out from behind her. "Wait! I have the bits!"

Unfortunately, Scootaloo could not hear her sister over the combined sound of her wings and the wind screaming by as she scootered. The rapid movements of her wings caused the soft tips of her feathers to tickle Apple Bloom's belly and make her laugh, which further made it harder to hear.

"Sorry Apple Bloom, but I can't stop now! We need to get to the train station!" Scootaloo apologized as she continued to scooter the two of them through Ponyville.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom soon made it to the Ponyville train station, where Scootaloo jumped off the scooter and ran up to the ticket window while Apple Bloom stumbled her way up next to her as she recovered from her laughing fit. "Four tickets to Canterlot please!" Scootaloo requested.

The stationmaster held out a hoof. "That'll be twenty bits please," he asked.

Scootaloo looked back and saw that Sweetie Belle and Spike hadn't caught up just yet. "We'll have the bits in a few minutes, we'll wait until then," she told him.

The stationmaster nodded. "That's fine, benches are over there," he said, pointing a hoof towards the waiting area.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom headed over to the benches and sat down next to each other, Scootaloo having brought her scooter with her. "Guess we should have waited for Sweetie Belle and Spike, huh?" Apple Bloom pointed out.

Scootaloo blushed and chuckled awkwardly. "Heh, yeah, my bad."

A few minutes later Sweetie Belle and Spike arrived at the train station. The duo were panting slightly from their run. "We should have stuck together," Sweetie Belle pointed out.

Scootaloo blushed harder. "I know, I know, that was dumb. I'm sorry."

Sweetie Belle and Spike both shrugged. "It's fine, we're here now. Now let's get those tickets!" Spike said as he ran to the ticket window.

The others followed behind him and reached the window just as Spike asked for the tickets.

"That'll be twenty bits please," the stationmaster said once more.

Sweetie Belle opened her school bag and levitated a pile of twenty bits out. She carefully set them down on the counter with a jingle of metal. "Here you go! Twenty bits."

The stationmaster took the bits and counted them out loud to himself under his breath. He nodded once he'd confirmed the amount. "And that's twenty!" He declared as he tore four tickets off a roll next to him and gave one to each of the fillies and dragon. "Here you go! Have fun you four! And stay safe!"

The four waved at him as they left towards the train's open doors. Scootaloo rolled her scooter next to her and lifted the relatively lightweight vehicle as they stepped onto the waiting train. She set the scooter back down and continued to roll it once they were safely boarded.

They moved through the train and entered the passenger car, where they found a group of unoccupied seats and sat down together. Apple Bloom sat by the window with Scootaloo next to her, while Sweetie Belle sat across from Scootaloo with Spike.

Apple Bloom glanced nervously around the car. "Ah sure hope everypony's alright. Ah mean, obviously they're not, but still," she said.

Scootaloo nodded. "I know what you mean. I just hope Rainbow Dash and Rarity are alright."

"Rarity's probably completely freaking out right now!" Sweetie Belle added.

Scootaloo chuckled. "Yeah, probably. 'Oh good heavens, my poor mane! Oh, whatever will I do to keep it perfectly curled!'" She impersonated Rarity, dramatically covering her forehead with a hoof.

Spike snorted, a brief burst of green fire escaping his nostrils. He blushed and covered his nose in embarrassment. "Pretend that didn't happen," he asked his friends.

The fillies all smiled innocently. "Pretend what didn't happen, I didn't see anything," Scootaloo said.

Spike narrowed his eyes at her, before he took his hands away from his nose and shook his head. "When we get to Canterlot, we need to head to the castle like Princess Luna's letter said," he said in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

The fillies looked at each other. "We've never been to Canterlot, how do we get to the castle?" Sweetie Belle asked as she accepted the deflection for what it was.

Spike puffed his chest out proudly. "I used to live there with Twilight for multiple years, I could take you there with my eyes closed!"

"So ya know where the hospital wing is?" Apple Bloom asked.

Spike nodded. "Yep, I had to stay there once when my inner fire got too low. It made me really sick for over a week before we realized it was because I hadn't eaten any gems in several days."

Scootaloo's eyes widened. "So that's why you're always munching on gems when we go on crusades together!"

"Yep! Too long without gems, and I can't keep my body warm, since my cold-blooded nature means that I don't normally heat my own body up. My inner fire circumvents this, which presumably all dragons do, but only when it's fueled properly by the right gems," Spike explained.

"Huh, that explains why Rarity lets you eat some of her gems each time you come by," Sweetie Belle said.

Spike nodded again. "Yep. Isn't she just the best?" He said, his hands placed over his chest as a dopey smile crossed his face.

Apple Bloom shook her head while Scootaloo fought to not roll her eyes, her earlier Pinkie Promise front and center in her mind.

Sweetie Belle gently elbowed Spike. "That's my sister you're gushing over, you know," she chided, which snapped him out of his fantasy.

Spike blushed. "Sorry Sweetie, guess I got a bit too carried away there."

The train suddenly jolted underneath them as it pulled away from Ponyville, the Crusaders and Spike having been too caught up in their conversation to notice the conductor making his last call.

Apple Bloom looked at her friends one by one. "Well, guess it's time, now."

Scootaloo nodded, before she placed a hoof in the center of the group. "Let's do a cheer for good luck," she said.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both nodded and placed their hooves on top of Scootaloo's.

Apple Bloom looked towards Spike as he watched them awkwardly, unsure what to do. "C'mon Spike, join us!"

"Really?" Spike asked in confusion.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle encouraged with a nod.

Spike looked even more unsure. "But I'm not a Cutie Mark Crusader," he said.

Apple Bloom gave him a knowing smile. "We wanted it to be a surprise, but we were planning on officially making you a Cutie Mark Crusader like us today anyways. That's the actual reason we were at the library when you got the letter," she admitted.

Spike gasped as tears of joy formed in his eyes. "R-really? You were going to do that for me?"

The fillies all nodded as they affirmed their decision.

"We even have a cape ready for you at the clubhouse that I finished last night," Sweetie Belle said.

"And I wrote the speech!" Scootaloo proudly declared.

A large teary-eyed smile broke out on Spike's face as he moved to put his hand on the fillies' hooves. He paused just before he made contact as he realized something. "But wait, I'm a dragon. I can't get a Cutie Mark," he pointed out.

Scootaloo shrugged. "So? You've been one of our best friends since we met, and you constantly go on Crusades with us. Heck, you've even managed to convince me, me, to spend time inside a library just reading. Multiple times, at that!"

"Yeah! Who cares if you can't get a Cutie Mark, you help make our Crusades so much fun anyways!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle spoke up next. "It's nice to have someone to hang out with when Scootaloo's with Rainbow Dash and Rarity is busy with another one of her dresses," she said. "I also really want to see you wear the cape I made for you," she admitted, to everyone's laughter.

Once the group's laughter died down, Spike smiled tearfully at each of his friends as he finally set his hand on top of their hooves. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS SISTER VISITORS, YEAH!" They all shouted together with a joyful laugh as they raised their hooves and hand into the air at the same time.

Once they'd all settled back down, Spike spoke up. "Before we get too comfortable, let's send Princess Luna a letter so that she knows you're coming with me."

Sweetie Belle perked up, before she took her school bag off and dug through it. "Here you go, Spike. I still have some unused paper from school in here that you can use, and a pencil too," she said as she levitated said supplies out and over to him.

Spike took them with a smile and nod. "Thanks, Sweetie."

Sweetie Belle smiled at him. "No problem, Spike."

Spike smiled back, before he quickly wrote the letter and burned it. The ashes wrapped in green flames flew out of one of the train car's open windows, before it sped ahead of the train and towards Princess Luna.

The four of them got comfortable and tried to relax as they settled in for the rest of the train ride.

Apple Bloom let out a massive yawn and curled up on her seat as the combination of her exhaustion and the vibrations of the train slowly lulled her to sleep. Scootaloo also let out a yawn next to her, before she curled up next to Apple Bloom and joined her in her much-needed nap. The two fillies' soft snores carried over to their companions across from them.

Across from them, Spike ran his claws through Sweetie Belle's mane. He gently unraveled any knots he found with the sharp tips of his claws, while Sweetie Belle further practiced her levitation with Scootaloo's scooter by carefully making it fly through the air in increasingly intricate patterns. When Spike noticed the dirt marks browning the hair near Sweetie Belle's fetlocks from her fall during the earlier race, he carefully scrubbed it away with the dull edges of his claws until her coat returned to the pristine white it normally was.

In her dimly lit room within Canterlot Castle, Princess Luna sat at her desk and pored over Raven's reports on the attack and Equestria's currently available resources for the third time in the past hour alone. Faded tear tracks that had yet to be cleaned away stained the princess's face from her earlier breakdown.

"How in the world can we even begin to stop Cackletta and Fawful with so few ponies available?! Captain Shining Armor and the Elements are all paralyzed, Tia is still unconscious with who knows what kind of effects from that gas, and I only have three, three total guards that aren't horribly injured or on leave," Luna complained, her ancient dialect dropped in the solitude of her personal chambers. She hummed to herself as a thought occurred to her. "I suppose there is Private Compound Compass who made it out of the throne room unharmed, but then again he was recruited a week ago, if that! And on top of that, his navigational skills are so lacking the only reason he made it to the post office to send my letter to Spike was through sheer dumb luck! Over two hours later, at that!" Luna cried out as she ran her hooves through her flowing mane in frustration.

"I can't go because Equestria still needs proper leadership during the upcoming trying nights, not even mentioning all of the nightmares I'll have to deal with, Cadence is needed as the standing day ruler, and I wouldn't trust my dear nephew Blueblood to last even just five minutes against any of the possible monsters he could run into..." She ranted to herself as her composure continued to fall apart from the stress and unwanted chaos. "ARGH!"

Suddenly, a wisp of green fire floated into Luna's room through the open window and hovered above her head unnoticed for a split second, before it coalesced into a letter that bounced off her head and landed on the ground.

"Ow! WHO DARES- oh, a letter!" Luna interrupted her Royal Canterlot Speech when she realized what her 'attacker' actually was.

She grabbed it, unrolled it, and quickly read through the contents.

"Huh, I guess Spike is bringing his friends with him," she muttered to herself.

Once she'd finished the letter, the seed of an idea planted itself into her head.

"Sister's going to hate me for this, but desperate times..." she mumbled as she got up from where she'd been sitting and began her preparations as her idea took root.

The train started to slow down as it approached Canterlot an hour later, the majestic city itself visible through the windows.

"Well, Crusaders, we're almost there now," Apple Bloom said as she looked out the window.

"We're ready to go once it's arrived," Scootaloo said as she held onto her scooter, ready to mount it at a moment's notice.

Once the train finally pulled into Canterlot Station, the Crusaders got out of their seats and quickly ran to the train's exit as soon as it stopped fully, wanting to get to the castle as fast as they could and avoid the hoof traffic of ponies leaving and entering the train if possible.

The Crusaders quickly stepped off the train and made their way through the throngs of ponies within the train station. As soon as Scootaloo had disembarked, she jumped on her scooter and rode off through the disgruntled crowds until she reached the exit, where she waited for her fellow Crusaders. Once they had all caught up, the group hurried into the city itself.

They dashed and rode through the city and dodged around the stuffy Canterlot populace. Spike led his friends and fellow Crusaders down multiple side streets that he remembered were shortcuts from his time in the city.

Within twenty minutes the Crusaders could see Canterlot castle as it towered in front of them, with only a single stretch of winding road that remained before they arrived at the gates.

The Crusaders hurried up to the castle gate, where Scootaloo jumped back off her scooter, before they were stopped by the guards posted to the sides of the gate.

The guard on the right was a rather young unicorn stallion, and he wore the usual guard armor enchanted to obscure his coat and mane color. Strapped to his right flank was a high-quality steel buckler shield painted to appear like it was made out of bronze, ready for use.

The guard on the left was a seemingly older unicorn stallion, his eyes hardened from years of experience. The only unique feature visible on his face was a single thin scar running from the right side of his muzzle between his nose and his mouth, all the way to just under his right ear. There wasn't any equipment visible on or around him besides his guard armor, but the Crusaders could all see the tension in him.

"Halt! Who goes there?" The guard on the left asked.

Spike smiled and waved at the guards. "Hi Phalanx, hi Paladin Shield, it's me, Twilight Sparkle's dragon brother Spike," he greeted. He waved a hand towards his friends. "And these are my friends the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle," he introduced. Each filly waved as their name was called. "Princess Luna sent me a letter requesting that I get here as fast as possible, and they overheard me read it and wanted to come when they heard about their sisters being in the hospital," he said as he showed the letter still in his hand.

The guard on the right, Paladin Shield, took the letter, examined it and lit his horn as he cast a spell. After the spell had finished, he showed it to Phalanx on the left side, who did the same thing, before they gave it back to Spike. "You may pass," Phalanx said, having confirmed its authenticity.

"Stay safe you four, and welcome back to Canterlot, Spike," Paladin said, before they both stepped away from the gate and lit their horns to open it for them.

"Thank you," Sweetie Belle said to the guards with a nod as they passed through the gates. Scootaloo rolled her scooter as she went, the filly balanced on her hind legs against the scooter's handlebars.

The guards returned the nod, before they quickly returned to attention.

When the Crusaders reached the castle itself and headed inside, a third guard met up with them and guided them to the throne room. The guard in question was a unicorn mare that had a large steel kite shield strapped on her back perpendicular to her body, the straps tight but able to be released at a moment's notice for any incident that could require its usage. Underneath her helmet was a splotch of a red mane dye.

Spike waved hello once more. "Hey Kite, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Kite smiled and returned the wave. "Hey Spike, it sure has. Princess Luna is waiting for you inside, so we'll catch up later," she told him before she turned and walked down the hall.

As the Crusaders followed Kite down the halls, Scootaloo let out a squee of excitement as her wings buzzed on her back. "We're actually going to get to meet Princess Luna! Isn't this AWESOME?!" The pegasus filly's excited wing buzzing caused her scooter to roll forward under her hooves, and she quickly scrambled to stop it and not lose her balance.

"Ah just wish our sisters hadn't been hurt first," Apple Bloom said, her mood dampened by the situation.

Scootaloo's excitement faded as fast as it came and her buzzing wings slowed to a stop as she looked down sadly. "Oh yeah, that part," she said with a sigh.

Apple Bloom raised up onto her own hind legs and threw her foreleg over Scootaloo's withers, pulled her into a quick hug, and nuzzled her as they temporarily stopped. "Sorry, Scootaloo, Ah didn't mean to make you sad."

Scootaloo returned the hug and nuzzle. "No, you're right, this isn't an awesome situation. In fact, it's horrible! What kind of heartless monster would do something like this, to the point of putting multiple ponies in the hospital?" She cried out as she broke off the hug and stomped a hoof angrily on the marble floor.

Sweetie Belle pulled up next to Scootaloo opposite Apple Bloom. "That's what Princess Luna's probably going to tell us when we reach her."

Spike pounded a fist into his other palm. "Just thinking about some jerk hurting Twilight and the others makes me so mad, that if I ever meet them, they're getting a fireball to the face!" He threatened.

Kite noticed that the group had stopped and waited for them. Once they were ready again and Scootaloo had grabbed back onto her scooter, she continued to lead the Crusaders through the castle towards the throne room, making multiple turns as she went.

When they finally reached the doors to the Throne Room, Kite lit her horn and opened the doors to allow the Crusaders through.

Inside the throne room they could see two bat-winged guards standing attentively to each side of the dark blue throne at the end of the room, the top of which was adorned with a bright silver crescent moon. Within the throne itself sat Princess Luna, appearing regal and calm despite the situation. Her horn was lit with a dark blue aura as she continuously cast an unknown spell.

Once the Crusaders had walked up to the steps in front of the throne, Scootaloo let go of her scooter before they bowed respectfully to Princess Luna.

Luna greeted the Crusaders. "Welcome, our little ponies. We are glad thou could make it here so quickly. Rise, and follow us as we take thee to the hospital wing," she said as she raised herself off of the throne and headed towards the hospital wing of the castle. The aura around her horn dissipated as she canceled her spell, which caused the two bat-winged guards to disappear from their posts, revealing that they had been illusions all along. The Crusaders rose from their bowing position to follow her, Scootaloo having grabbed her scooter once more. "It is to our understanding that thou are Spike's friends, correct?"

"Yeah, and we're Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity's sisters, too," Apple Bloom explained.

"Well, me and Sweetie Belle are both Rarity's sisters, but Rainbow Dash has been like a sister to me for a long time," Scootaloo clarified.

"What were those two guards that disappeared in there?" Sweetie Belle asked, her curiosity piqued by the sight of them vanishing.

Luna looked down towards the curious little unicorn filly. "Those were an illusion We created so that if We ever had to do night court all alone, We could still keep up the appearance of having guards at our side. It deters most attackers from trying anything, not that it would matter if they did since I could handle it myself," she explained. After a moment of walking, she spoke up again. "Thy letter said thou were coming alongside Spike, but did not explain why."

"We came here with Spike because we wanted to see our sisters and friends, and maybe even help them somehow," Apple Bloom told the Princess, the four of them walking to follow alongside Princess Luna.

An uncomfortable expression crossed Luna's face. "We may just have an idea of how thou could do so, but it will be very dangerous," she warned.

"If it means helping our sisters, we'll gladly face any danger!" Sweetie Belle said in response.

Luna sighed in response with a slight dip of her head. "We would normally never send foals and a baby dragon on such a dangerous quest, but We have nopony else We could send to do this. None of our attempts to heal anypony of their paralysis, or miss Fluttershy of her blindness have been successful, and not even Refreshing Herbs from our allies, the Mushroom Kingdom, have worked, so We are very limited on options right now," Luna said regretfully. "And the caster powering the paralysis spell has set up defenses on the spell far greater than we could overpower on our own. At least, not without potentially harming the very ponies We are trying to save."

The Crusaders cried out in alarm when they heard Luna's response. "Fluttershy was blinded?!" Scootaloo cried out in horror, concern for her old foster mother audible in her distraught voice.

Luna nodded. "Indeed. However, it seems to have worked out in our favor, as without her being briefly knocked unconscious and playing dead when she awoke a minute later, We would not have half the information we do now."

Scootaloo closed her eyes in thought as her sister carefully guided her and her scooter forward. When she opened them a moment later, determination shined through her purple eyes. "I want nothing more than to accept this dangerous quest and take down the monsters who would even think of hurting somepony as kind, caring, and loving as Fluttershy. But, I also know that rushing into something like this can only end horribly," she said wisely.

The other Crusaders stared at Scootaloo in awe. "Wow, Ah guess all those times our Crusades ended in disaster finally sunk in, huh, Scoots?" Apple Bloom said in a slightly teasing tone.

Scootaloo blushed and lightly batted at her friend with a wing. "Oh, stop it. I can too think things through!"

Apple Bloom smirked. "That's not what Ah said, Scootaloo," she teased.

Luna cleared her throat to interrupt the Crusaders. "As entertaining as all this is, this is a very serious situation We have ended up in. If Fluttershy's information is accurate, Equestria, nay, the entire world, is in extreme danger."

The Crusaders all gulped at that. "Just what is this extreme danger, anyways?" Scootaloo asked in a mix of mild curiosity and concern that clearly showed on her face in equal amounts.

Luna took a deep breath, before she delved into her explanation. "We have been given reason to believe that the evil witch Cackletta along with her cohort Fawful, both of whom impersonated and attacked Our sister Celestia and thy own sisters earlier this morning, are plotting to reawaken the Dark Star, an evil entity of incredible power. At this point We, and by extension all of Equestria, are very desperate to find some way to stop this from happening. All the ponies We currently have available are required here just to keep Equestria safe and functioning during this incredibly trying time," she explained. She took another deep, calming breath, before she continued to speak. "We only ask this of thou because We have read of thy exploits from the letters sister has been receiving over the past year and were greatly impressed by what We read. If thou agrees to do so, We will be sending thou to do this job, but We will not be sending thou without at least something to aid in thy quest," Princess Luna said as she levitated a set of three enchanted saddlebags and one enchanted backpack, each of a deep navy color and emblazoned with the symbol of the Princess of the Moon on their sides.

Each of the fillies took a saddlebag, while Spike took the backpack. "Just how powerful is this Dark Star, if they manage to awaken it?" Sweetie Belle asked as she removed her school bag and replaced it with the gifted saddlebag, her school bag now being carried alongside her in her levitation.

Luna shuddered from the painful memories of a time long past. "Strong enough that it was able to create the darkness that possessed Us and turned Us into Nightmare Moon, even while it was still sealed away," Luna said, her voice full of regret. She glanced towards the direction of the moon, it's exact location known to her despite it being on the other side of the planet due to her intrinsic connection to it, before she continued. "Not even the Elements of Harmony could do anything more than merely tickle it and make it laugh at us, back when Celestia, Discord, and ourselves used them on it in our attempt to seal it away over a thousand years ago. After that failed, even our dearest brother Discord using everything he had in a desperate attempt to overpower it was no match for its cunning tricks and traps, and eventually, he too was defeated," Luna told them.

The strange name they had never heard before caught the Crusaders' attention. "Who's Discord?" Scootaloo asked.

"He is the Spirit of Chaos, capable of making the very laws of reality his plaything, and was once a loving brother to both Celestia and ourselves, despite our drastically different upbringings and capabilities. He even wielded the Elements of Laughter and Loyalty, while Celestia wielded Generosity and Magic, and We wielded Kindness and Honesty in our battle against the Dark Star over a thousand years ago. Alas, despite Discord's incredible power and control over reality itself, the Dark Star was more than capable of outsmarting and outlasting him until it had an opening to strike. Seizing its chance when his guard was briefly lowered to check on us, the Dark Star corrupted his mind with its dark power, and we were forced to imprison him in stone with the Elements, albeit not before he managed to create multiple species of creatures normally only seen in the likes of the worst nightmares We have had to deal with and scattered them throughout the world. After that, Celestia claimed his Element of Laughter, while We took his Element of Loyalty," Luna explained.

This information terrified the Crusaders as they shuddered in fear. "That's pretty terrifying, Princess," Apple Bloom said, scared out of her mind.

"How did the Dark Star get sealed away, if you couldn't beat it?" Sweetie Belle asked in concern.

"We admit, we do not know, for we were forced to flee after Discord was corrupted. We only realized it had been sealed away when the storm of darkness it had covered the planet with dissipated," Luna admitted, before she took a turn when the hallway reached its end as the Crusaders stuck by her side.

Sweetie Belle frowned as she realized something. "But if you know it was sealed away by something, how do you know it was the Dark Star that created Nightmare Moon?"

Luna shuddered briefly. "Because We heard its awful voice the entire time We were sealed away within the moon's magical core, trying to manipulate Us and destroy Our sense of who We truly are. It is a true miracle that We managed to retain enough of Our sanity and sense of Self to be saved by the Elements last year."

"What's inside the bags?" Spike asked in a blatant attempt to change the subject so as to not dwell on terrifying thoughts of the Dark Star.

Luna accepted the diversion for what it was. "One hundred bits in each bag for the border crossing toll, two healing potions from a still unknown ally per bag, proven through rigorous magical and practical testing to each be safe and strong enough to heal any major injuries, a special quill pen that We enchanted to never run out of ink and enough parchment to hopefully last the entire journey, so that thou may write to Us and keep a record of thy journey, or make maps of any areas thou may need to navigate, a letter We have written to Queen Bean of the Beanbean Kingdom alerting her to what has transpired here this morning, a new and improved camera from Spirit Gadd Inc. so thou can take pictures while on thy travels, because thou may as well get something positive out of this journey," Luna mumbled under her breath, eliciting a giggle from the Crusaders. Luna cleared her throat and continued. "A few military rations We managed to find in our haste so that thou have something to eat until thou can find or buy food for thyselves, and finally, a drawn portrait of Cackletta and her minion Fawful in each bag, based on what thy sisters and the few currently conscious guards who were present have described to Us since the attack," she revealed.

"Woah, that's a lot of stuff for these bags!" Scootaloo cried out in awe.

"How can these small bags hold so many things in them? Shouldn't this be too much for them to hold?" Sweetie Belle asked in curiosity.

"We have personally enchanted them to be much larger on the inside, as well as much lighter, so that thou may carry supplies or anything else of importance that thou may find on thy journey." Luna answered. "Don't worry about trying to fit large items inside, the opening itself is also enchanted to adjust to whatever is being put inside it. Although, please do not try to put a building through it, it does have limits," Luna joked.

"So I guess we won't have to worry about running out of room then, huh?" Scootaloo asked.

"It shouldn't be a problem," Luna responded with a nod. "Also, We apologize in advance for any supplies that may be lacking, 'twas a last minute decision to send thou after we received thy letter, and We had to scramble to find what We could from our own currently limited stores. Most of what We have is needed for the care of Our injured guards and thy sisters, as their wounds were great in both number and severity."

"I'm sure it's alright, Princess Luna. These supplies will help either way, so thank you," Spike said.

"Hey wait, I just realized: I don't have to roll my scooter around anymore!" Scootaloo cried as she let go of her scooter and took her saddlebags off. She opened the flaps and, with a brief moment of hesitation, picked up her scooter and watched with wide eyes as the opening grew to accommodate the scooter. "Woah, that was cool!" She cried as the opening shrunk itself back down to its original size once the scooter was fully inside. She put her saddlebags back on and moved to walk beside the others.

"That was weird to watch," Apple Bloom said, the group having paused briefly to watch. She shook her head and refocused. "Where are we supposed to be going to stop those two, anyways?" She asked. "And for that matter, if they are trying to awaken something like the Dark Star, why attack Princess Celestia and our sisters?"

Luna frowned. "The only thing We know for certain at this point about their dastardly scheme is that it somehow involves the Beanbean Kingdom, and as such thou will be sent there once thou art prepared and ready in an attempt to intercept them before they arrive and can cause more strife," she said. "Despite their attempts to destroy any means of reaching the Beanbean Kingdom in a timely manner by severing the warp pipe's connection, the brave guard Phalanx went through the Equestrian end of the ambassadors' intended pipe and confirmed that it is now connected instead to a warp pipe close enough to the kingdom's borders to still be beneficial. That is also what the toll bits are for, as the warp pipe's new exit is just outside the border checkpoint, on the Mushroom Kingdom side of a region known as Stardust Fields," she explained.

Once Luna had finished her explanation, Scootaloo frowned and leaned towards her sister. "Why is she talking like that? It sounds weird, and I can only understand some of what she says," she whispered.

Sweetie Belle leaned over and whispered back. "I think it's something from ancient Equestria, I see it sometimes in some of Rarity's crappy romance books," she said. She blushed and quickly spoke up again. "Not that I read them for the story or anything, but it's sometimes fun to see just how bad they get," she explained.

Scootaloo sent a look towards her sister with a barely held back snicker. "Yeah right, if that's the case, then why did I catch you so engrossed in one last night that you didn't notice me enter the room until I poked you?"

Sweetie Belle pouted and swatted a hoof at her sister as Apple Bloom and Spike moved closer to join the conversation. "But why doesn't she use anything more modern? She's been back for almost a year now," Apple Bloom asked in her own quiet whisper as she redirected the conversation back away from Sweetie Belle's questionable reading habits.

Spike shrugged. "Maybe she hasn't picked up on the changes in the language yet? She's probably too busy learning everything else that's happened in the thousand years she was gone."

Despite the Crusaders' best attempts to not be overheard by the subject of their conversation, Luna heard them anyways and smirked mischievously to herself as she suppressed a snicker.

The rest of the walk to the hospital wing was silent save for the hoofsteps of four ponies and footsteps of one dragon. The lack of most other sounds allowed the Crusaders to each think deeply about the decision they have made as they refocused on the current matter, as well as what currently unknown dangers they may face on their journey.

Luckily, before any of the fillies or dragon could work themselves into a panicked state, the group finally reached the doors to the hospital wing a few minutes later. Princess Luna quickly swung them open with her magic and lead the Crusaders down the hall without stopping for even a moment.

Unlike the rest of the walk through the castle thus far, the sterile white halls of the hospital wing were far from quiet or peaceful. Ponies in various types of medical garbs both entered and exited rooms on both sides of the hall, trays of medical tools held within magical auras of many different colors as they loudly spoke about medical jargon that all went clean over the Crusaders' heads.

Luna and the Crusaders carefully but swiftly made their way through the throng of medical ponies. They passed by multiple doors on each side as they traveled through the hallway before Luna finally stopped at one door on the right side labeled 'VIP'.

She moved to open the door, but stopped and looked down at the Crusaders before she did so. "What thou will see in this room will be unpleasant, to say the least. Art thou prepared?"

The Crusaders shared a quick glance, before they all nodded together. "Yes."

Princess Luna nodded back, and with a flash of her horn she swung the door open and guided her young entourage inside.

The room they entered was a white sterile room much like the hallway outside filled with beds that hugged the far wall and privacy curtains that allowed for any amount of requested privacy. Six mares and one stallion lay completely still on the beds in various uncomfortable positions, as none of the medical staff had been able to successfully reposition them to any significant degree from their original positions. Off to the far left side of the room from the entrance lay one more, far larger bed, its only occupant being none other than the unconscious Princess Celestia, her horn tainted a sickly green color.

Each bedridden pony had all sorts of tubes and wires sticking out of them that connected them to various medical equipment. Next to each bed was a heart rate monitor and various other beeping and humming machines, each one keeping track of the ponies' vitals.

Princess Cadance sat tearfully by Shining Armor's side, her hooves resting on the edge of his bed as she quietly conversed with him.

The three fillies and one dragon quickly ran to each of their loved ones side and surprised them with a tearful hug. Sweetie Belle set down her school bag by Rarity's bed during her hug.

"Apple Bloom? What are ya doing here?" Applejack asked in surprise. Her attempt to return her sister's hug was thwarted by the paralysis spell.

"We overheard you had been attacked from Spike's letter!" Apple Bloom told her sister through the hug. She stepped back and gasped when she got a good look at Applejack's face, as well as the burn scar that now covered the area between her eyes. Along the sides of her head and down part of her neck were several thinner scars that more closely resembled cuts. "What happened to your face?!" She bluntly asked.

Applejack chuckled, but there was no humor in it. "One of the attackers landed a nasty lucky hit on me, and this is what's left after Ah was healed with one of them 'Healing Potions'. Ah still haven't seen it for mahself, as the nurses refuse to give me a mirror for fear of, and Ah quote, 'Traumatizing the patient'." She said with another, lighter chuckle. "Heh, as if what happened wasn't traumatizing enough."

Apple Bloom teared up and nuzzled her sister. "Ah'm just glad you're alright."

Applejack attempted to return the nuzzle, to no avail. "Me too, little Bloom. Me too."

Over by Rainbow Dash's bed, Scootaloo had perched her forehooves on the side of the bed and was nuzzling Rainbow Dash's cheek. "Squirt? What are you doing here, you should be back in Ponyville with your sister and friends, Crusading for your Cutie Marks," Rainbow Dash said in confusion. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you shouldn't even know about this happening yet."

Scootaloo leaned back from the nuzzle and faced Rainbow Dash directly. "After what we heard from the letter Spike received from Princess Luna, there was no way we wouldn't come see you and make sure you were alright!" The pegasus filly exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash let out a soft chuckle. "I'm glad to see that me failing the adoption procedure three years ago didn't make you secretly hate me all this time, Scoots," she joked.

Scootaloo swatted at Rainbow Dash's shoulder with teary eyes, the limb in question resting in an awkward and uncomfortable but ultimately harmless position. "Of course I still love you, Rainbow Dash! Nothing you do could make me hate you!" She assured as she lovingly nuzzled Rainbow Dash's cheek.

Rainbow Dash struggled to move her cheek to return the nuzzle. However, all she managed to do was a slight rub. "Good to know, squirt."

Scootaloo gasped when she felt Rainbow Dash move against her cheek. "You can move! Is the paralysis wearing off?" She asked excitedly as her wings buzzed on her back.

Luna shook her head from behind the fillies. "Unfortunately, this is no different from how they were when We found them after the battle. They can move their eyes around, breath on their own, talk, and very slightly move some parts of their bodies around with extreme effort, but regrettably, that is all," she explained with a saddened frown.

Pinkie Pie spoke up from her bed, her high-pitched voice softened by her depressed state caused by the paralysis and everything else that had happened. "This is the worst thing that's ever happened in my life! I can't move, I can't hug my friends, I can't even throw any parties!"

"This is the second worst for me," Applejack muttered, tearing up as Apple Bloom nuzzled her with equally teary eyes.

"Ah still miss mama and papa," Apple Bloom mumbled into Applejack's shoulder, the filly's tears wetting Applejack's coat as her body shook from her light sobs.

Applejack tried to hug her crying sister, settling instead for a weak nuzzle when her foreleg failed to move enough. "Ah do too, little Bloom. Ah do too."

Pinkie Pie deflated. "Oh, right. Sorry, Applejack. I forgot."

Over by Rarity's bed, Sweetie Belle used her magic to adjust the bed for her sister. "Is this alright?" The filly asked once she had finished moving the blanket and pillow around.

Rarity thought for a moment as she felt her sister's handiwork. "It's alright, darling. It's certainly better than it was before, that's for sure. I mean really, once they knew we were paralyzed, they should have at least tried to make our beds more comfortable, but noooo, everything has to be a certain way," the fashionista complained.

Luna spoke up from where she stood at the back of the room to give the fillies and dragon room. "We apologize for Our staff's rather poor conduct. They've been run ragged by everything being dropped on them all at once. We're not excusing their actions, merely explaining them."

Rarity's hooves twitched slightly as she attempted to wave them defensively. "Oh no no no, it's alright Princess Luna! Their efforts have been a great help these passed few hours! It's just a few minor things, that's all!"

Luna shook her head. "That may be so, but it is still unacceptable. We assure thou that it shall not happen again."

At the same time as Rarity and Luna's brief conversation, Spike had begun to converse with his brother and sister, who occupied neighboring beds.

Spike stood by Twilight's bedside, her forehoof held gently in his hands. "I'm here Twilight, just like the letter said you wanted."

Twilight smiled as her eyes watered. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to stop them from hurting anypony."

Shining Armor spoke up from his bed. "I'm sure there was nothing you could have done, Twily. Some things I've learned in my time as the Captain of the Guard, is that you can't always win every fight, and you can't always save everypony."

Twilight's tail twitched in her frustration. "But that's the thing, I was winning! I had Cackletta on the ropes, all of her tactics figured out and had counters to it all, I even managed to land a solid hit! But then suddenly something hit me in the head from the side and the next thing I know I'm stuck in here, unable to move! And you want to know what happened?" The frustrated mare asked. She didn't give anypony the chance to speak before she answered her own question. "I forgot about Fawful! I completely tunnel visioned on beating Cackletta to the point that I forgot she wasn't alone, and that cost me my best chance to stop them from getting away!" She cried out in frustration. "And now they're out there doing who knows what!"

Spike squeezed his sister's hoof. "Twilight, that doesn't mean them getting away was your fault, it just means, well, they managed to beat you. Like Shiny said, you can't win every fight," the little dragon said.

Twilight gritted her teeth in frustration, before she sighed. "You're right, Spike. Both you and BBBFF. It's just, we were so close to putting an end to a major threat before it gained momentum in its plans. After Nightmare Moon, I had hoped to be able to stop something bad from happening for once. And now that I've failed, none of us can even move at all anymore," she finished with another sigh, this one more forlorn.

Spike gently ran the sharp tips of his claws through what he could reach of Twilight's mane, just the way he knew she liked it. He smiled as the tension slowly melted from her body, although she still couldn't move. "It's not all bad. After all, you still have your magic, right?"

Twilight perked up. "Hey yeah! I can't believe I forgot about that! That means I can do... THIS!" She cried out, before she attempted to use her magic to tickle Spike.

Nothing happened.

Spike stared at Twilight as the silence went on. Her face began to contort as she realized that nothing had happened. He spoke up once she began to panic outright. "Um... Twilight? Was something supposed to happen there?"

Twilight flinched slightly as Spike's call brought her back to reality. "I was trying to use my magic to tickle you. But nothing happened!"

Spike wiped his forehead of imaginary sweat. "Phew!" He then frowned as he noticed something for the first time. "Why is your horn green?"

"My horn is WHAT?! What do you mean it's green?!" Twilight cried out in shock.

Spike took a closer look at her horn. "It's completely green. Solid green, in fact. It reminds me of Rarity's mane after Trixie messed with it almost a year ago. Do you remember that?" He asked.

Twilight snorted at the memory as Rarity spoke up from a few beds over. "I can hear you, you know! And how could I possibly forget the worst thing that's ever happened to my poor mane!" She cried dramatically.

The other ponies and dragon laughed at that, the mood somewhat lightened.

Once the laughter had calmed down, Spike spoke up once again. "But yeah, it looks like that, just minus the bird's nest."

Twilight snorted again at the description. "They clearly did something to it, but that doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard of. What about you, BBBFF?"

Shining Armor thought silently for a moment, before he spoke up. "As far as the no magic part goes, it sounds similar to a few spells the more magical monsters will sometimes use out in the wilder parts of Equestria, but those tend to do more than just discolor a horn. From my own experience with them, they usually make it impossible to speak as well, so it's definitely different. Considering, you know, we're speaking right now," he joked. When no one laughed at his joke, he pouted to himself.

Cadance was the one who spoke up next while Shining Armor pouted. "Back in my old village many years ago, I actually heard rumors of some creatures that could transform its prey into various forms. The only one I personally saw was when a unicorn traveler was turned into a scarecrow by a lone Carroboscis, a monster that resembles a large carrot with a creepy face and a really long nose, that had disguised itself as some of the crops in a nearby farm. It was really unusual too, since they don't usually do things like that on their own. Anyways, the unicorn-turned-scarecrow couldn't do any of his magic until the village's lone healer managed to turn him back, but he could still talk and move by hopping around. This is clearly different since you're still physically yourself, but maybe it's somehow based on it?" She suggested, before she frowned. "No wait, that's not right. He could use his magic just fine, but he couldn't talk. It's been so long I don't remember everything from back then perfectly."

Shining Armor cried out suddenly, which surprised Spike, Cadance, and Twilight. "I know why it seems familiar, It's just like what that gas Fawful used on Princess Celestia did to her horn! Remember, Twily? Her horn turned green when that gas cloud covered it!"

"So maybe they did the same thing to me!" Twilight finished. She then gave a confused hum. "But why would they go out of their way to use it on me, too?"

Spike threw his arms up in response. "Maybe because you almost beat Cackletta on your own?! They probably saw you as too much of a threat to let you keep your magic, even after they paralyzed you!" He cried out. He then took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down, before he spoke up again, this time more softly. "I know you don't like to brag about your magic abilities, Twilight, but you are really, really good at magic. Like, good enough that an evil witch and her minion weren't willing to risk you being able to somehow go after them despite being paralyzed!"

Shining Armor chuckled from his bed. "Still trying to downplay your skill I see, eh Twily?" He asked with another chuckle. Once his laughter had stopped, he spoke up again. "Unfortunately, knowing that they used a magical gas cloud we've seen a grand total of twice doesn't really help us figure out how to cancel out its affects. Maybe if we had a sample, one of the magic professors from the school or someone else who knows a lot about magic could figure it out, but without even that much we just can't do anything right now," he said with a failed attempt at a shrug.

Twilight sighed again. "I guess you're right. Doesn't change the fact that not being able to use my magic sucks."

At this point, Scootaloo had just bid farewell to Rainbow Dash after finishing their chat and moved over to Fluttershy's bedside.

The filly propped her hooves up on the edge of Fluttershy's bed and stared at her foster mother's sleeping face. "I guess everything that happened wore her out," Scootaloo said.

Luna spoke up from beside the filly, having just finished her conversation with Rarity. Scootaloo jumped in surprise, as she hadn't noticed the Princess's approach. "Indeed. After everything she did, and the bravery she showed with her efforts to play dead even during Cackletta and Fawful's horrible dialogues, it is not surprising in the slightest that she has fallen asleep. Truth be told, We are glad that she is able to sleep so soundly in the face of such horrid events."

Scootaloo chuckled proudly at that. "I always knew Fluttershy was more awesome than other ponies thought. Only somepony truly incredible could do something like that," she said, before she leaned in and kissed Fluttershy's cheek. "I may be adopted now by my new mother and father, but you will always be my mama to me. I love you," she whispered in Fluttershy's ear.

Scootaloo moved to leave her foster mother's bedside, but paused when she heard a quiet sound come from the mare. "Nngh... Scootaloo? Is that you there?" Fluttershy asked as her eyes slowly fluttered open.

Scootaloo turned and quietly gasped when she saw Fluttershy's fully clouded eyes, not a trace of their usual bright and colorful teal in sight. Scootaloo shook her head to refocus, before she answered Fluttershy's question. "I'm here, Fluttershy. Are you feeling alright?"

Fluttershy instinctively tried to move her head towards Scootaloo's voice, before she remembered her current state. "I'm... about as alright as I could be, considering," the currently blind pegasus assured, before she blinked. "How are you feeling, Scootaloo? I know this can't be easy for you either."

Scootaloo propped herself up again and leaned in to nuzzle Fluttershy's cheek. "I'll admit, this is all pretty scary for me. I thought all of you would be home by tomorrow night at the latest, and now there's an evil witch out there that's trying to end the world," she admitted once she'd pulled away. "Speaking of, Luna told us what you did, and I just want to say, don't let anypony ever call you anything bad ever again. Only somepony as awesome as you are could do what you did in that fight."

Fluttershy let out a quiet whimper. "I was so... s-scared though. The entire time I was laying there, it felt like they were going to notice that I was awake at any moment. And when Cackletta came up to me and touched me with her finger, I really thought I was going to die. Not even the Cockatrice a few weeks ago scared me that much."

Scootaloo frowned angrily as thoughts of Cackletta filled her mind. "Don't worry, Fluttershy. We won't let her or Fawful hurt you or anypony else ever again."

"You really are a brave filly, Scootaloo," Fluttershy said. She frowned as something Scootaloo had said hit her a moment later. "Wait, what do you mean by that? You're not planning on going after those two, are you?"

Before Scootaloo could respond, Luna cleared her throat. "We have some news about the ponies who will be going after that witch and her minion," she announced.

"Really?! You found somepony willing and able to go?" Shining Armor asked.

Luna nodded hesitantly. "Yes, but thou won't like who it is," she said, which instantly skyrocketed the tension in the room.

A moment of dread-filled silence later, somepony finally spoke up. "Who is it?" Twilight cautiously asked.

After several more seconds of uncomfortable silence, someone else finally spoke up. "It's us!" Spike announced.

"WHAT?!" The bedridden ponies all simultaneously exclaimed in horrified shock.

"They're only foals, what are you thinking?!" Twilight practically screamed at Luna.

Luna flinched back slightly at Twilight's yell. "We don't have any choice! There is not one single noble in Canterlot We would trust to accomplish this task besides Fancy Pants, and We need him to keep all the others in check. With sister incapacitated, even all the false nobles could be a genuine threat right now to Equestria's stability! All but four of Our guards are heavily injured, albeit in recovery now, and those four are either actively helping Us keep Equestria from falling apart, or still training! From what thou have all said about these four they can and have accomplished many great things just this past year alone!" She tried to reason.

"But those were small little activities or school plays, not adventuring through a barely-known foreign kingdom chasing after a powerful evil witch!" Twilight yelled back.

"Well somepony has to do it! We can't just stay here hoping she'll just give herself up suddenly!" Sweetie Belle interjected from her spot by Rarity's bed.

"I just can't bear the thought of my darling little sisters having to fight that horrid witch," Rarity said, wishing with all her heart and soul that she could protect them.

Princess Cadance spoke up from her spot beside Shining Armor. "What if I went with them? I know a few spells that could be of use."

Luna turned to face Cadance directly. "We need thou to act as the princess of the day while Our sister is recovering from this attack. Equestria needs a princess to turn to during the day, and We can only stay awake for so long before even Our mind starts to falter."

Applejack then spoke up from beside Apple Bloom. "Ah refuse to let ya go through with this, Apple Bloom! Ah can't bear to lose ya too!"

Apple Bloom's eyes teared up once more as she slammed her hooves on the side of Applejack's bed in frustration. The force of her slam dented the solid metal inwards. "And Ah can't bear to lose you, Applejack!" The distraught filly shouted as she stared directly into her sister's eyes.

Applejack stared right back as her own eyes welled up with tears. "Ya're not going to budge at all on this, are ya?" She asked quietly.

Apple Bloom continued to stare into Applejack's eyes as she cried. "Right now, Ah have the chance to save you. If Ah for some reason didn't take it, Ah could never forgive mahself. Ah trained for the past year so that Ah would never have to sit back and watch as somepony Ah love died ever again!" She shouted as a sob ripped its way out of her throat. "So don't you dare tell me to just go home and wait for you to die! What would Ah tell Big Mac, or Granny Smith? Ah wouldn't ever even be able to look them in the eyes again, like the coward Ah'd be if Ah left now!" She cried out, her voice hoarse from the emotion she'd put into her speech, before she dropped her head against her forelegs and cried.

Everypony and dragon remained silent as the filly broke down and sobbed her broken heart out.

Applejack hiccuped as tears streamed down her own face and soaked into her pillow. "Alright. Ya've... Ya've more than made yer point. Ah won't try to stop ya anymore."

Apple Bloom threw her hooves around her sister's neck and sobbed into her coat in relief. "Ah love you, Applejack. Ah can't just sit here and do nothing as you die."

From her spot sitting between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's beds, Scootaloo spoke up. "You've all put your lives on the line for us in the past. Now it's our turn to return the favor."

Rainbow Dash frowned at her sister. "It's our job as the older siblings to put our lives on the line to protect you. You shouldn't have to be the ones doing this, it should be us," she said. She then let out a sigh and spoke in a softer voice. "But we can't always be there to protect you, can we?"

All four of the Crusaders shook their heads. Scootaloo hugged Rainbow Dash tightly, before she spoke up. "Thank you for everything you've done for me these past few years," she said quietly. She then stood up higher and nuzzled Rainbow's cheek. "I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash hiccuped and began to cry as everything became too much, even for her. She fought as hard as she could to return the nuzzle and managed to do a single full cheek rub. "I love you too, Scootaloo," she said. Scootaloo pulled away a moment later, before Rainbow Dash spoke up once again. "You better come back safe. Don't let some scumbags like Cackletta and Fawful kill you."

Scootaloo flashed Rainbow Dash a cocky smile reminiscent of her own usual smirks. "Don't worry, those jerks won't know what hit them," she said.

The small filly's bravado made everypony in the room let out a laugh.

Once her own laughter had died down, Twilight closed her eyes and sighed unhappily. "...There really aren't any other options, are there?"

Luna shook her head regretfully. "No, there aren't. At least, none that don't guarantee massive, planet-wide collateral damage that would kill hundreds of millions, if not billions of innocents," she admitted.

Rainbow Dash sucked in air through her teeth. "Yikes, that would definitely NOT be awesome."

Twilight thought for a moment, before she paled as she reached a conclusion. "You mean dropping the moon on them, don't you?"

Luna nodded. "Indeed. As extremely unpleasant as the idea is, it is technically an option. One that We hope to never be forced to use under any circumstances, but an option nevertheless."

Sweetie Belle hugged Rarity again and nuzzled her cheek. "We'll do everything we can to survive this, we promise," she vowed.

"We'll make sure to write to everypony every day, and keep you up to date on what's happening," Spike assured the bedridden ponies.

"Just make sure you don't take too many unnecessary risks while out there. This is hard enough as is, and I don't even want to imagine you not coming back," Twilight said to Spike.

Spike nodded, patting a hand on her closest shoulder. "No worries sis, we won't risk ourselves more than is absolutely necessary."

Twilight frowned. "This shouldn't be necessary at all," she muttered unhappily. She thought for a minute, before she spoke up again. "Spike, do you have any way to write something down right now?" She asked.

Spike nodded his head. "Yeah, Princess Luna gave me an enchanted backpack with all sorts of supplies. Two of those supplies were a quill pen enchanted to never run out of ink and a whole bunch of parchment. Why, do you need me to write something down?" He asked as he reached into the backpack. He screwed his face up as he struggled to find what he was looking for within the seemingly bottomless depths of the backpack. "How do you find anything in here?!" He cried out in frustration.

The others in the room laughed as Luna spoke up. "To find what thou art looking for within thy bags, thou must only think of the items thou wishes to locate."

Spike took a moment to parse through her outdated dialect. When he figured out what she meant, he took her guidance to heart, and not even five seconds later he pulled out both the pen and a piece of parchment. "Ah-ha! Gotcha!" He shouted in celebration. He got ready to write down whatever Twilight told him to. "Ready, Twilight!"

Twilight cleared her throat and sucked in a deep breath as she mentally prepared what she was going to say next. "This is everything I know about how Cackletta and Fawful fight, based on our own encounter with them this morning. When Cackletta raises an arm and points it at a target, that is where she will summon a bolt of black lightning a second later. If struck by this bolt, it will cause the victim to feel like they now weigh much, much more than they normally do. Can be cured with a Refreshing Herb, as both Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie can confirm," she said.

Both of the mares in question spoke up with a simultaneous, "Yep!"

Twilight began to speak again as the sound of Spike writing continued. "When Cackletta disappears into her own shadow, she will create clones of herself that appear identical in every way. Neither myself nor Rarity could tell them apart," she said.

"Indeed, Darling. I tried to hit all of them at once instead, and you know how that went," Rarity said.

"At least that attack of yours looked cool," Rainbow Dash said. "Even if it did end up backfiring."

"Moving on, when a fake is hit by any attack, it will shake rapidly and cackle, then burst into a swarm of bats where the main body has been replaced with Cackletta's own head. These aren't very fast, all things considered, but there are a lot of them and they poison whoever they manage to bite. This poison acts fast but can thankfully be cured by a Refreshing Herb," Twilight said.

"Thank goodness for that, I don't know how long I would have lasted if I hadn't been cured when I was," Rarity added once more.

Before Twilight could continue speaking, Sweetie Belle spoke up. "You WHAT?!" The filly shouted in horror as Scootaloo ran towards Rarity's bed.

"Lady Rarity was unfortunately poisoned during the battle. It was only thanks to the quick thinking of one of Our doctors that allowed her to be cured in time," Luna answered.

Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle wrapped their hooves around Rarity from opposite sides of the bed. "Please don't die on us, Rarity!" They both cried out in terror.

Rarity tried to return the hug, but due to her lack of mobility, she instead opted to wrap her magic aura around her sisters. The two fillies began to giggle. "That tickles!" Scootaloo said through her laughter.

Rarity failed to frown as a small smile formed instead. "It was meant to be a hug, but I guess this works too."

The fillies stepped back after a moment of giggling from the ticklish magic hug.

Twilight pouted at the reminder of her own lost magic, then continued to speak a moment later once Spike had caught up in his writing. "When Cackletta gets either desperate or frustrated enough, she will magically grow her size to be approximately three times larger with a far more monstrous appearance. In this form, she can send out holes in the ground that travel towards multiple targets and make them fall into themselves. Afterwards, the victim will fall out of an identical hole above where they started, and they will then be stuck with lightning upon landing. That's everything that I saw Cackletta do during the battle. Oh, and she can also summon clones without sinking into her shadow by pointing both arms at the ground on either side of herself, as well as split them into bats at will. She's also deceptively fast, as she dodged my attacks for a few minutes with only a bit of exhaustion. And that was with the injury Applejack gave her in her left side!" Twilight finished.

A moment later, Spike called out as he wrote the last bit down. "Done! So that's how Cackletta fights?"

Twilight nodded. "While she most likely could do other things in different fights, as she seemed to know a lot about offensive magic, that's how she fought us, so it should help at least a little bit. Fawful only really used green magic orbs his headgear literally spat out, and he can do something with different colored gasses, presumably magic based, but that's all I personally saw him do. The orbs exploded into both fiery blasts and sharp blades made of wind upon making contact with anything both physical and too large to be blown away, so be very cautious when dealing with him," she warned.

Spike quickly wrote down the information on Fawful. "That's going to make fighting those jerks a lot easier. Now they really won't know what hit them!" He exclaimed as he put the notes away in his backpack.

"Please stay safe, all of you," Fluttershy called out to the Crusaders.

"Hey!" Pinkie suddenly cried out. "Don't I get a hello too? I had all sorts of jokes planned, but none of you came to say hi!" She said with an exaggerated pout, before she broke down into a giggle.

The Crusaders hugged their sisters and brother one final time, before all four of them went to Pinkie Pie's side. "We didn't mean to ignore you, Pinkie. We were planning on coming here next anyways!" Sweetie Belle said.

"Yeah! There's no way we were going to skip you, we just wanted to check on our sisters first, that's all!" Scootaloo explained.

Pinkie Pie continued to giggle, before she eventually managed to respond through her laughter. "It's alright, silly fillies and Spike! I know that visiting family is important, but that doesn't mean I don't want to say hi!"

The Crusaders all smiled and laughed as they leaned up and each hugged one of Pinkie Pie's legs. "Don't pull too hard, I'm not actually made of rubber!" The pink mare exclaimed through more laughter.

"Could have fooled us!" Apple Bloom said through her own laughter as she tightly hugged Pinkie Pie's left foreleg.

"Yeah! We've all seen you stretch out and act like you're made of bubblegum before!" Spike added.

"That's just me doing what I can with my super flexible body to make others laugh, I'm not actually bubblegum!" Pinkie Pie explained through her giggles.

After another moment of hugs and laughter, the Crusaders said goodbye to Pinkie Pie and rejoined Luna, who then went over to her unconscious sister's bedside.

Celestia lay near-motionlessly on her bed, her body still other than the slow breathing of her unconscious sleep. Her forelegs were crossed over her chest in an attempt to make her more comfortable. Various tubes and wires were sticking out of her body, each connected to a piece of medical equipment. Her once-pristine white horn was tinted with a sickly green taint identical in color to Twilight's own horn.

Luna set her hoof on Celestia's shoulder as a forlorn sigh escaped her.

The fillies and Spike all hugged Luna's legs in an attempt to comfort her, those being the only part of her they could easily reach due to her much larger frame.

"Get well soon, sister," Luna said with a sad sigh.

Just as Luna was about to pull away, she heard the monitoring machines change their tones and beeps as Celestia started to stir under her hoof.

"Sister?" Luna called as hope crept its way into her heart.

At Luna's call, Celestia's eyes slowly fluttered open. Eventually, her purple eyes met Luna's own and elicited a joyful smile and cheer from her.

"Huzzah! Sister! You're awake!" Luna cried joyfully, her Ye Olde Equestrian speech forgotten in her joy.

Princess Celestia sat up in her bed and stretched out with a silent yawn. She then turned towards her sister and opened her mouth to respond, but instead of the expected speech the only thing that came out were strange-looking black runes that shot towards Luna and the Crusaders at high speed.

"Woah!" They all cried out as they dodged to the side as fast as they could to not be hit.

Each rune that hit the floor behind them exploded in a small fireball that damaged and scorched the tiles. The shockwave from the explosions buffeted everypony in the room and blew their manes and tails around, as well as scattered multiple loose papers and lightweight equipment throughout the room, although thankfully they weren't strong enough to cause any real harm.

When Celestia realized she had almost hurt her sister, Spike, and even three little fillies, she nearly broke down crying right then and there as tears welled up in her eyes.

Luna wrapped her hooves around her sister and comfortingly hugged her. "It's alright Tia, nopony got hurt and you didn't intend to hurt any of us," she whispered to her in an attempt to reassure her.

After a few moments of almost crying, Celestia managed to calm down and only nodded her head. After what just happened, she dared not try to speak again.

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as a sudden realization struck. "Her voice was stolen..." She muttered in shock.

The ponies in the room heard rapid hoofsteps outside the room, before Kite burst through the door with her kite shield wrapped in her magic aura and held protectively in front of her. "I heard an explosion! Is everypony alright?"

"The Crusaders and I have made the unfortunate discovery that my sister Celestia's voice has been stolen and replaced with a rather... Explosive dialect," Luna responded to the guard.

Kite raised an eyebrow at her Princess's vocal slip-up, before she sighed as she moved her kite shield back to her side. "That's not good. After everything that's already happened today, the last thing we need here is more explosions further disrupting the castle's foundations."

Luna nodded. "We'll have construction ponies inspect the foundations every day until this crisis is resolved." Luna turned to face her sister. "Until then, Tia, it might be for the best if you don't make any attempts to converse with ponies."

Celestia nodded, a downcast expression on her face.

Luna sighed and nuzzled Celestia's cheek. "I know how painful this is for you, Tia, but with those strange exploding runes it just isn't worth the risk and danger to try and speak right now," she said in an attempt to comfort her distraught sister. After a moment of thought, Luna glanced around the room and spotted a piece of paper left behind by one of the nurses, which she floated it over to Celestia along with a nearby quill pen after dipping it in it's accompanying inkwell. "Here, try writing something on here."

Celestia tried to grab the paper and quill pen in her magic, but nothing happened, to her dismay.

Luna frowned, before she looked at her sister's tainted green horn and sighed in disappointment. "I had hoped this would not be the case, but it appears that your magic has been nullified much in the same way as your precious student's. Try writing with your wings instead," she said as she floated the quill pen towards Celestia's left wing so she could grab it.

Celestia took the quill pen and brought the tip down to the parchment to write out the Equestrian alphabet.

The group collectively sighed in relief as nothing unusual happened when Celestia wrote.

Luna subtly wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead. "It is good to know that those fiends didn't somehow corrupt your ability to write, sister. You'd best write out anything you want to say until this... problem has been resolved by our little friends here," she said as she waved a hoof towards the Crusaders.

Celestia raised an eyebrow, before she scribbled out a quick note and passed it to Luna with her wing. The midnight-blue alicorn took it and read it aloud. "'What do you mean by that?'" She let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "Well... you see... Wedon'thaveanyotheroptionssothey'regoingofftostoptheoneswhodidthis!" Luna quickly mumbled in response.

Unfortunately for the lunar princess, Luna's attempt to hide what was happening was in vain, as immediately after, Celestia made a face of visible disappointment towards her sister.

The Crusaders moved closer to stand by Luna as she winced in shame. "I'm sorry, sister. I honestly tried everything I could to find somepony who could go, but there just isn't any I trust to do this that isn't horribly injured or needed elsewhere," she explained.

Celestia continued to stare as she thought this information over, before she gestured for the parchment again. Luna apprehensively gave it to her, and Celestia scribbled out another note, this one longer.

Finally, after an agonizingly long minute for the Princess of the Night, Celestia winged the note back to her, which she took. "'So long as you have thought this through and truly believe that every other possible alternative would fail, then I trust your decision in this matter. I'm not disappointed in you, I'm disappointed in myself for allowing this to happen in the first place,'" she finished, before she looked back up at her sister once more. "Tia, it wasn't your fault! They are the ones who decided to do all of this, and there wasn't any way you could have known!"

Celestia sighed, before she gestured for the parchment again, which Luna gave. Another, much quicker, note was scribbled out, before it was returned with a slight smirk that raised alarm bells in Luna's mind.

Tentatively, Luna took the parchment back and read it aloud. "'Your speech is slipping, Lulu,'" Luna blushed beat red as soon as she finished the letter as Celestia burst out into laughter at her sister's expression.

The Crusaders snickered as the Princess of the Day continued to laugh, thankfully without any explosive runes, before Scootaloo spoke up. "Um, Princess Luna? Why are you talking differently now?"

"Not that we mind, we couldn't always make out what you were saying before," Apple Bloom bluntly said with a shrug.

Luna's eyes widened for a split second as realized she had slipped out of her Ye Olde Equestrian dialect long before her sister had informed her, before she shook her head and chuckled. "Truth be told, and this is not to leave this room, I already know how to talk in the modern dialect. I just like using the older way of speaking because it drives the particularly stuffy nobles nutty," she admitted, receiving chuckles and giggles from the other ponies in the room.

"That's a pretty good reason as far as I'm concerned!" Pinkie Pie said through her laughter.

Luna giggled. "To make it even better, some of the particularly obnoxious ones even try to mimic me because they think it'll make me like them more. All it does is make them sound like buffoons because not one of them can get any of it right!" She said, before she began to mimic some of what she'd heard from them. "'Thee art thy lunar princess, thou hath important requests for thy,' so on and so forth. It makes them sound like caveponies!" She said, causing the laughter to redouble.

Once the laughter had died down, Luna took a deep breath and a moment to regain her composure. "While you're here, I actually have a job for you," Luna told Kite, no longer bothering with Ye Olde Equestrian now that the ponies in the room already know the truth.

"I will do whatever is requested of me," she replied.

"I need you to guide the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle," Luna started as she motioned with a hoof towards each Crusader she named. "As well as Spike here over to the warp pipe leading to Stardust Fields. Hopefully they'll be able to beat Cackletta and Fawful there, since we saw them flying away from the warp pipe, and they even said they were taking the scenic route. Hopefully, it will be scenic enough to slow them down for a time," Luna requested. "However, we have no idea how fast they can fly with those strange machines of theirs now that they've had time to pick up speed, so any and all time we can save is valuable at this crucial moment."

"Yes Ma'am!" Kite said, saluting with her hoof, before turning to the Crusaders. "Just follow me and I'll guide you to the warp pipe in no time at all."

The Crusaders, still somewhat rattled after the explosion, nodded and started to follow the guard.

Before they got very far, however, Rarity spoke up from her bed. "Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, before you leave, I have a suitcase of travel supplies that I left on my bed in my room since I didn't get the chance to completely unpack everything before the meeting was supposed to start and that evil witch attacked us. I think you should take the supplies inside it with you, you never know if you'll need what's in there."

"I, um, actually brought and put my personal first aid kit under my bed in my room, if you want it," Fluttershy said meekly from her bed.

"Ah actually have a rope Ah'm not currently using in mah room, for rather obvious reasons," Applejack said with a chuckle. "Ah think you should take it, Bloom," she finished.

"Sorry, Scoot, I didn't bring anything with me," Rainbow Dash apologized from her bed.

"None of my party supplies that I brought with would be of any use, sorry," Pinkie Pie apologized sadly.

"What about your party cannon?" Rarity asked Pinkie.

"Confetti only right now, although I am working on upgrading it to use other things as ammo," Pinkie Pie explained.

All of the ponies and one dragon in the room gave a full body shudder at the thought of what 'other things' Pinkie meant.

"Moving on from THAT terrifying thought, there are some spell books that could be useful up in my old tower. I'm sure Spike still knows the way and where to find them," Twilight continued.

"What spell books should we grab?" Spike asked his sister.

"I think '101 Spells For Travelers Convenience', 'Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping', and 'Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood's Guide To The Monsters Of The World' would be best," Twilight responded

Scootaloo looked towards Twilight in shock. "My parents wrote a book?!"

Twilight tried to look at Scootaloo, failing due to the paralysis. "Your parents were Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood? They were pretty famous for having studied and catalogued a bunch of monsters throughout the world before they retired and published their book twelve years ago."

Scootaloo sat down as she struggled to process this new information about her parents. "I'm twelve years old right now..." She muttered to herself.

Spike waved a claw in front of Scootaloo's face and got no reaction. "Uh, Twi? I think you broke her."

After a couple of minutes, Sweetie Belle poked her sister in the side, which caused Scootaloo to jolt back to reality and gently shake her head.

The Crusaders turned back to Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy. "We don't know where your rooms are though, how will we even find them?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Kite spoke up from beside her. "I know where their rooms are, I escorted them there when they first arrived. I can guide you there if you'd like, and Princess Luna allows it."

"I will allow this, but make sure to be quick about it, we don't know how long Cackletta and Fawful will take to get back to the Beanbean Kingdom," Princess Luna said, giving Kite four keys with her magic.

Kite took the keys and nodded, before turning to lead the Crusaders down the halls to where the Elements' rooms are. The Crusaders followed close behind, having no desire to get lost in the maze-like hallways of the castle.

Before the group had fully left the room, however, Sweetie Belle paused, turned back to Luna, and spoke up with a face that revealed her concern. "Princess Luna, the Beanbean Kingdom is a different kingdom entirely with it's own language, right? How will we understand them if they speak a different language?"

Kite and the other Crusaders stopped as Luna mulled the filly's question over. "Hmm... yes, you do have a good point. Thankfully, I know just the spell to solve this problem," she said before she lit her horn to cast the spell in question.

A second later, a flash of light enveloped the room and the ponies and dragon within as the Lunar Princess's spell finished casting. "There we go, now any language you hear that you would not otherwise understand will be automatically translated into one you do, and anything you say will be translated into a language whoever you are speaking to can understand," Luna explained. "Be warned though, this spell will only last for so long before it needs to be refreshed. Repeated usage over a long period of time can also have negative side effects, so be careful how often you use it," she warned.

The Crusaders stared in awe, before Sweetie Belle's face morphed back to concern once more. "How are we supposed to refresh this spell if it wears off while we are in the Beanbean Kingdom? And how long a time period is too long?"

Luna chuckled. "I am glad you asked, Sweetie Belle. To answer your first question, I shall teach you how to cast it yourself as needed. Don't worry, it's a simple spell to cast once learned," she explained. "To answer your second question, it takes multiple consecutive weeks of constant usage before any truly nasty effects begin to crop up. You should all be safe during this adventure, so long as it doesn't stretch on for too long."

Princess Luna then proceeded to delve into an in depth explanation of everything required to cast the spell, which Sweetie Belle listened to fervently.

Apple Bloom leaned over to whisper into Spike's ear. "Do you understand any of what she's saying?"

Spike shook his head. "I'm used to all sorts of magical jargon from Twilight's studies, but the stuff Princess Luna's saying is almost completely different from any of that, with only a few similarities. Come to think of it, it actually sounds almost like an outdated version of modern magic," he whispered back.

The two looked towards Scootaloo. "What about you, Scoots? Getting anything from this jargon?" Apple Bloom asked her pegasus friend.

Scootaloo waved a hoof side to side. "Eh... not much, but I get the general gist of it. It helps that some of it sounds somewhat similar to the explanation one of the shows Sweetie and I watched once gave for how its world's magic worked. There's a lot of differences, but it's close enough to make a bit of sense to me," she explained.

Luna's teaching finally wound down a few minutes later. "...is how you cast this spell. Don't worry, it's not a tiring spell, just complicated to learn in the first place. Starswirl never was the best at keeping things simple," she finished with a chuckle.

Sweetie Belle's eyes swirled as the complicated teachings sunk in. "I can see that..." she said. A minute later, she shook her head and refocused. She mumbled some of the things she had been told to herself and nodded once she was done. "Alright, I think I've got it."

Luna raised a doubtful eyebrow, before she accepted the filly's assurance and nodded back. "If you manage to get it first try at your age, I would be truly impressed. Now, you should all get going before we lose what little advantage we currently have over those fiends."

Kite took that as her cue and called to the Crusaders. "Just follow me you four, I don't want you to get lost as we go along," she said as she walked out of the room.

The Crusaders ran to catch up to the guard before she was out of sight.

After several turns through the winding corridors, Kite walked up to a door with a plaque showing the Element of Generosity on it. "This is the room that miss Rarity stayed in briefly, I'll unlock it for you," she said, before putting the room's key in the keyhole and turning it, a click coming from the lock as it opened. She pushed the door open and allowed the Crusaders entry into the room.

The inside of Rarity's suite was a rather extravagant room, with silk curtains on the large windows showing the Canterlot skyline, a large queen-sized bed with a canopy, and even its own personal connected bathroom. Scattered around the room were seven different suitcases, all of which were open and partually empty, their contents scattered around haphazardly in a way that reminded Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle of their sister's 'constructive chaos', as she once called it. On the bed were fancy plush blankets, a soft and fluffy pillow, and the final, closed, brown faux-leather suitcase.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shook their heads with a chuckle as the four walked inside. "I can see why she didn't get the chance to finish unpacking. She clearly spent all of her time here redecorating instead!" Scootaloo said with an exaggerated wave of her hoof as the four jumped onto the bed where the suitcase lay.

Sweetie Belle opened the suitcase with her magic as a soft green glow enveloped the latches and flipped them up.

Inside the suitcase were multiple high-quality bottles of shampoo, both for manes and tails, as well as coats. Alongside the bottles were multiple high-quality combs, brushes, and other various grooming and self-care supplies.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike join Sweetie Belle in staring at the suitcase's contents. "That's it? I thought it would be something more useful, like camping supplies, or even a water bottle or two," Scootaloo said in disappointment.

"Well, we'll probably be gone for multiple days, so who knows, maybe these'll be useful to have at some point," Apple Bloom said optimistically.

Sweetie Belle shrugged, before she opened the flap of her saddlebags, pulled the opening wide open and levitated the suitcase above the opening. Once it had been positioned, she upended the contents directly into her saddlebags.

As the group went to leave the room, Apple Bloom paused as a thought struck her. "Hey, Crusaders? Did Princess Luna mention anything about blankets, pillows, or the like when she told us what was in our bags?" She asked.

The other Crusaders shook their heads. "Now that I think about it, I don't think she did," Spike said.

Apple Bloom turned back to Rarity's currently unused bed and the white blanket and purple pillow that lay atop it. "Well, then how about we take these ones? It's not like they're going to be used anytime soon," she snarked as she approached the bed.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo shared a look as Spike shrugged. "She has a point. And besides, who knows when we'll be able to find a place to stay, if we even will at all," he said, before he headed over to help Apple Bloom take the blankets off the bed.

Sweetie Belle lit her horn and grabbed the purple pillow to store in her saddlebags. Meanwhile, Scootaloo went to the other side of the bed to remove the sheets to give to her sister while Apple Bloom worked to shove the white blanket into Sweetie Belle's saddlebags.

A moment later, the Crusaders stared at the now bare mattress from the doorway. Sweetie Belle's attempts to take the mattress as well ended in failure as it proved to be too large for the opening's enchantment to allow into the saddlebags. "Hopefully Princess Luna won't be too mad when she finds out about what we did," Apple Bloom said as the four turned to leave.

"I'm sure she'll understand," Spike said in a hopeful tone.

On their way out, Sweetie Belle paused as she noticed a spare sewing kit on floor. An idea struck the filly, before she took the kit in her magic and stashed it into her saddlebags with the rest of the supplies she'd gained from the room. "Just in case our bedding needs to be sewn up for whatever reason," she explained to her sister and friends' questioning stares. The trio accepted her explanation, and the four turned to the door once more.

Now that they were done in the room, they went out to meet back up with Kite, who moved to close the door and lock it behind them. She paused when she noticed the state of the room. "I see you decided to help yourselves to a bit more than just the suitcase," she said with a chuckle.

The Crusaders blushed a deep red. "We didn't want to risk being stuck in a forest or cave or something at night without some way to stay warm. Especially if it rains while we're there," Scootaloo explained.

Kite waved a dismissive hoof. "It's fine, if anything I'm glad that you four are able to think so far ahead. Goodness knows I wouldn't have thought to snatch a blanket and pillow when I started my guard training all those years ago."

Kite lead them to the next room in the hall. Unlike the previous door, this door instead had a plaque that showed the Element of Honesty.

Kite unlocked this door as well, and the Crusaders went inside.

The inside of this room was mostly the same as Rarity's, the primary exception being that Applejack had started to decorate the room so that it bore a resemblance to her room at Sweet Apple Acres, albeit not very much considering how little time she'd had. The biggest change this room had compared to Rarity's was the rope loosely tied around the left post of the bed's headboard.

Having quickly spotted the rope Applejack mentioned, Apple Bloom walked up to it and pulled it off the bed post with her teeth. She carefully undid the knot and spat it out onto the ground.

"Ah'll be the first to admit Ah'm not really the best with a rope, but Applejack's been showing me some knots and a few tricks while Ah've been training my muscles, so it could be useful," Apple Bloom said with a shrug as she picked the rope back up and stuffed it into her saddlebags.

As Apple Bloom rejoined her friends, Sweetie Belle eyed the bedding. "Y'know, we should really have more than one set of bedding," she said as she began to remove the yellow pillow and orange blanket from the mattress. "You never know what might happen, or what monsters we could encounter. For all we know, we might find something that breathes fire like Spike and burns one of our saddlebags," she added as she stuffed the pillow and blanket into Apple Bloom's saddlebags.

"Princess Luna never did say these saddlebags were fireproof, did she?" Spike asked as he moved to the bed and took the sheet off the mattress and put it in Apple Bloom's saddlebags while Sweetie Belle held it open.

The Crusaders then rejoined Kite outside the room, who then closed and locked the door with a chuckle after she peeked inside, before she lead them to their last stop in the hallway, a door with a plaque that showed the Element of Kindness. Kite unlocked and opened the door just like the previous rooms.

Fluttershy's room was the most uniquely decorated of the three rooms, window being open and having multiple bird's nests set up on the window sill, the birds themselves asleep in the nests. Within the room itself were multiple wooden birdhouses, each one with straw sticking out of the opening. The Crusaders could even hear the tweeting of small birds coming from the houses.

Once inside, the Crusaders went straight to the bed and looked under it where Fluttershy said she'd left it. Spike reached in and quickly pulled out the fully customized first-aid kit.

"Out of everything so far, this will definitely be the most useful to have," Spike said, putting the first-aid kit into his backpack.

"Thankfully, Fluttershy's actually been teaching us how to use the supplies in here ever since we ran into that cockatrice in the Everfree Forest," Sweetie Belle said.

"Not like it would've been helpful if we'd been turned to stone, but it's still nice to know," Scootaloo said with a shrug, before she yanked the yellow blanket and pink pillow, along with the white sheets, off the mattress once her fellow Crusaders had jumped down. She stuffed it all into her saddlebags, before she joined them by the room's exit.

Now fully finished with Fluttershy's room, the Crusaders left and Sweetie Belle closed the door with her magic.

Before Kite could close and lock the door, Scootaloo spoke up. "Hey Kite? Could you check in on the birds in here every once in a while? Fluttershy obviously won't be able to do it, and I'm sure she wouldn't want them to starve or be left uncared for in here while she's paralyzed," the filly asked.

Kite nodded. "If Princess Luna allows it, and I'm very certain that she will," she said with a wink, to the Crusaders' laughter. "Then I'll make sure the birds are safe and well-fed."

Scootaloo smiled back. "Thanks, Kite," she said as Kite used the room's key to lock it behind them. The guard then turned and started to guide the Crusaders to Twilight's tower outside the castle.

"I actually know the way to this one, since I used to live in it with Twilight before we moved to Ponyville," Spike pointed out to the others.

"I know, but we still need to follow protocol, there was an attack just this morning after all," Kite explained.

"That's fair," Spike said with a nod, and in just a few minutes, they reached the front door to Twilight's tower. Kite opened the door and let them in.

Spike led the fillies up the winding staircase to the library portion of the tower, where he spun and held out his arms dramatically. "Here we are, the tower where Twilight and I lived together for three years before we moved to Ponyville," he announced.

The fillies looked around in awe at the incredibly spacious library. Tall bookshelves spanned from wall to wall on the north and south sides of the room, with a second floor platform stretched out from halfway up the walls that were accessible by either a smaller version of the spiral staircase used to enter the library itself, or what seemed to be a firefighter's pole that had been installed into the south side of the room. In the center of the first floor a massive hourglass stood inside of a floor pattern that closely resembled a spell circle. The hourglass still held sand in both halves, and the smaller pile on top slowly trickled down into the bottom part as they watched. Scattered all across both the first and second floor were small piles of books that Spike had not had the chance to put away before he and Twilight left for Ponyville. At the eastern end of the room was a massive window that spanned from the ceiling all the way down to the floor where they stood. The window overlooked the best view of Canterlot the fillies had ever seen.

"Wow, there's so many books here!" Sweetie Belle cried out with a squeak as she ran towards the northern wall once she was done examining the room, the studious unicorn filly interested in the tall bookshelves and the contents held within.

Meanwhile, Scootaloo had walked up to the hourglass, her head tilted to the side in visible curiosity. "This is a big hourglass, how does it get flipped when it's time?" She asked as she watched the smaller pile of sand slowly trickle down.

Spike walked over to join the pegasus, where they silently watched the sand move together for a few seconds as Apple Bloom walked up to the window. He spoke up once he was ready. "Twilight actually enchanted this hourglass to flip itself every hour about a year after she hatched me. I'd say she was maybe a year younger than you are now," he said, to Scootaloo's total astonishment.

"Woah, you mean this thing has been doing this for ten years now?! And it's still going even though you don't live here anymore?! That's incredible!" Scootaloo exclaimed in shock as she stared at the time keeping device in awe.

Spike nodded. "Yeah, it's one of the spells she's the most proud of. Of course, I didn't find out about it until I moved into here with her, but by then it had already been going on it's own for six years."

Scootaloo just stared at the hourglass in awe for a bit longer, before Spike went to go join Apple Bloom, who now had her forehooves resting on the window as she stared out over the city with stars in her eyes. "Pretty snazzy view, huh?" He asked.

Apple Bloom let out a yelp as she jumped and fell backwards in surprise. Spike caught her in his arms before she hit the ground and twisted her around to land on her hooves. She sent a smile his way once she had recovered. "Thanks, Spike. Ah hadn't noticed you there," she said.

Spike rubbed the back of his head with a hand. "It's alright, I should have called out first. Anyways, you okay?"

Apple Bloom nodded. "Yeah, Ah'm fine. To answer your question, yeah, it's a great view. It reminds me of how Ponyville looks from the top of some of Sweet Apple Acres' taller hills with the way it looks down at everything down below."

Spike turned and looked out the window. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I actually used to just sit here and watch the ponies walk by when I was younger. They looked like ants from up here, which made it feel... I don't know, busy, I guess?" He said with an unsure shrug.

Apple Bloom glanced back out the window, before she let out a chuckle. "Heh, they do look kinda like ants from here."

Spike watched out the window with Apple Bloom for a moment, before he spoke up. "I'm going to go see what Sweetie Belle is up to," he said.

Apple Bloom pulled him into a quick hug that he returned, before they separated. She went back to staring out the window while he walked over to Sweetie Belle, who had pulled a book off of one of the shelves and was reading it.

Having learned his lesson from scaring Apple Bloom by accident, Spike called out to the unicorn before he reached her. "Hey Sweetie Belle! What are you reading there?"

Sweetie Belle looked up from her book. "Oh, just a book on the Mushroom Kingdom that I found. It's interesting, but at the same time it's not very informative. It just talks about how Mario beat Bowser over and over again but with a slightly different phrasing each time," she said with a giggle. "'Bowser kidnapped Princess Peach, so Mario traveled through many kingdoms and rescued her,' with only a little variation each time," she said with another giggle.

Spike burst into laughter when he realized which book it was. "I have news for you Sweetie Belle. That's not a real book, it's Twilight's abridged notes on Mushroom Kingdom history that she took when she was researching it a few years ago," he said through his laughter.

Sweetie Belle blushed beet red and pouted, which caused Spike's laughter to redouble. Sweetie Belle's pout wavered as she struggled not to laugh as well, before finally she burst into giggles.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo heard the laughter and wandered over. "What's got you two laughing so much?" Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle lifted the 'book' and showed it to her friend and sister. Apple Bloom took it and looked at the cover, which displayed a piece of parchment taped to it with the title on it. "'Twilight Sparkle's notes on Mushroom Kingdom History', this is what has you two in stitches?"

Sweetie Belle stopped her laughter and ripped the book out of Apple Bloom's grip with her magic. She stared deadpan at the cover, before she slowly covered her beet red face with her hooves, to the laughter of her friends and sister. "How did I not notice that? I should have noticed that," she grumbled in embarrassment.

Eventually the laughter calmed down, and the red faded from the embarrassed filly's face.

A loud chime rang out through the room, which startled the Crusaders, before they all looked towards the hourglass and watched as it slowly flipped itself three times, before it came to a stop as the full bottom replaced the empty top and started the process all over again.

While the fillies' stared in a mixture of surprise and awe, Spike's eyes widened when he realized what time it was. "Oh wow, is it three o'clock already?! We need to get going before Cackletta and Fawful beat us to the Beanbean Kingdom!" He exclaimed before he ran towards the rolling ladder on the bookshelves and quickly moved it to where he knew the first book was.

Spike scrambled up the ladder and pulled out a lilac book with a brown faux-leather suitcase encased in a yellow magic aura on the cover. It's title read '101 Spells For Travelers Convenience'. He stuffed it under his arm and climbed back down, before he set the book down on a nearby table. He then went back to the ladder and rolled it over to the next bookshelf, where he climbed the ladder again and pulled a dark brown book with a cover that showed an earth pony stallion with an oak brown coat and a leaf green mane stood proudly in front of an excellently prepared campsite with the title 'Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping' out of its spot in the bookshelf.

Spike climbed back down the ladder and set the second book down with the first, before he moved the ladder one final time, climbed up to the correct shelf and pulled out a book that was a familiar shade of orange. It had a picture of two ponies hidden in a bush near a larger-than-average Timberwolf carefully taking notes without being noticed, one an earth pony stallion with a tan coat and magenta mane reminiscient of Scootaloo's except a little darker that wore a darkly-colored adventurers hat and white shirt, and the other a pegasus with a peach coat and bright blonde mane that wore a green shirt similar to the stallion's. The title 'Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood's Guide To The Monsters Of The World' flowed across the top of the cover. The entire book was stylized to heavily resemble a notebook on the inside, complete with lines that reminded Spike of what he had seen of the fillies' school notebooks.

Now that all the books had been grabbed, Spike climbed back down the ladder for the final time and headed back over to the table where he grabbed the other books. He headed to the fillies, who had moved over to the entrance to the room, and handed Apple Bloom 'Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping', Sweetie Belle '101 Spells For Travelers' Convenience', and finally, he gave Scootaloo the book her parents wrote.

Scootaloo carefully grabbed the book in her hooves. Her eyes began to tear up as she studied the ponies on the cover, two ponies that she recognized instantly. She gently rubbed a hoof over the cover to dust it off. "Mom... Dad..."

"You okay, Scootaloo?" Spike asked when he saw the faint tears in her eyes.

Scootaloo gave a slight sniffle as she rubbed the tears away with a hoof. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Spike looked at her in concern "You sure?"

Scootaloo nodded more confidently. "Yeah."

Scootaloo set the book carefully into her saddlebags, as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did the same for their books.

The Crusaders then climbed back down the winding staircase to leave the tower, before Apple Bloom spotted something on the floor off to the side behind the door. "What's that over there?" She asked with a hoof pointed at the object in question.

Spike looked over to where she'd pointed, before he went over and picked it up. "Oh, this? It was just a present I was going to give Moon Dancer for her birthday, before Princess Celestia sent us to Ponyville instead."

Spike showed the Crusaders the present, a teddy bear with a hole torn into it from where his tail had pierced it by accident.

"You know, after making all four of our CMC capes this year, I've gotten pretty good at sewing small projects like this. I might be able to fix that up for you," Sweetie Belle offered.

Spike's eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

Sweetie Belle smiled at him. "Yeah, it shouldn't be too hard," she said as she took the plush in her magic and put it in her saddlebags to work on later.

Spike gave Sweetie Belle a quick hug, before the Crusaders finally left the tower out the front door, where they reunited with Kite who greeted them. "Hey Crusaders, got everything you were looking for?" She asked.

They all nodded. "Yep! Found everything exactly where we expected it to be," Scootaloo said.

Kite nodded. "That's good. After the day we've all had here in Canterlot, we really needed something to go right," she said as she lead them away from the tower.

As the Crusaders followed Kite to the Warp Pipe, they started to whisper to each other.

"Ah sure hope we can do this, Crusaders," Apple Bloom whispered.

"I'm sure it'll be fine, we'll beat this evil witch, save our sisters, and restore Princess Celestia's voice!" Scootaloo encouraged optimistically.

"I don't know, this seems really dangerous. What if we get hurt?" Sweetie Belle asked, concerned.

"We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen," Spike whispered back.

"And here we are!" Kite suddenly called out and startled the Crusaders.

As they looked around they realized they had already made it to the warp pipe hub, a large colorful building of many different colors that was built to contain the many warp pipes that lead to various areas around the world. All of the warp pipes were built sideways and stuck out of the walls to allow people to walk through while still leaving a large open area for hoof traffic.

"So this is what the warp pipe hub in Ponyville will be like once it's built?" Scootaloo asked.

Spike shrugged. "Eh, more or less. From what I've heard, each warp pipe hub has different accommodations for the populace of the area it's in. Ours should end up being pretty similar, though."

"This warp pipe over here used to lead directly to Beanbean Castle, but after Cackletta and Fawful sabotaged it's pipe pair, it will now instead take you to Stardust Fields on the Mushroom Kingdom side, just outside of the border checkpoint," Kite reiterated to them as she pointed a hoof towards the green warp pipe on the far left.

Apple Bloom turned and hugged Kite. "Thanks for bringing us here," she said.

Kite smiled and returned the hug. "You're welcome, Apple Bloom. I must return to my post now, so take care while you're gone!" She said with a wave, before she turned around and hurried back to the castle.

Apple Bloom turned back towards her friends. "Ah guess this is it, Crusaders. Once we pass through this here warp pipe, we won't be coming back until we beat that horrible witch and save everypony."

"We're ready to go!" Her friends all shouted.

As they walked through the warp pipe to the Stardust Fields together, the first big adventure of the Cutie Mark Crusaders truly began.

Author's Note

At the end of each chapter from this point onwards I'll give a full list of each party member's inventory as of the end of that chapter.

Inventory example: Party member one's inventory: 1 Item 1, 2 Item 2. In the case of a unique item, it would just be the item name itself.

Apple Bloom's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Applejack's Rope, Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping, yellow blanket and orange pillow with accompanying sheets.

Scootaloo's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Scooter, Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood's Guide To The Monsters Of The World, yellow blanket and pink pillow with accompanying sheets.

Sweetie Belle's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Rarity's grooming supplies, 101 Spells For Travelers' Convenience, Sewing Kit, Torn Teddy Bear, white blanket and purple pillow with accompanying sheets.

Spike's Inventory: Enchanted Backpack, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Enchanted Quill Pen, Large Quantity of Parchment, Fluttershy's First Aid Kit, Notes on Cackletta and Fawful's Battle Tactics.

Items somewhere in the various inventories: Camera, Letter to Queen Bean.

Patch Notes: Fixed Scootaloo's scooter disappearing out of existence at the entrance to Canterlot Castle, only to suddenly reappear in her saddlebags later on.