May 28th, 1001 Post-NMM, 3:00 P.M. (Canterlot Time), 12:00 A.M. (Beanbean Kingdom Time)

The Cutie Mark Crusaders carefully made their way through the pitch-black darkness of the warp pipe. The sound of hooves and sharp claws clanging against metal echoed throughout the pipe, which further disoriented the Crusaders.

"It sure would be nice if we could actually see where we were going," Scootaloo complained.

"I thought warp pipes were supposed to take seconds at most? Why are we still walking through this one several minutes later?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It probably has something to do with Cackletta and Fawful destroying it's original pipe pair. Maybe this is just a side effect of it being reconnected?" Spike suggested. "Oh, and I can at least solve the darkness problem, Scootaloo. Just be careful you don't burn yourself getting too close," he warned, before he breathed a small ember of fire onto the tips of his claws that lit up the darkness.

The four sighed in relief as the small fire lit up the area and allowed them to finally see where they were going. "At least now we can see if the pipe turns," Apple Bloom said.

As Scootaloo led the pack forward, the pegasus being slightly further ahead than the others, she suddenly paused and shivered as she felt a strange sensation crawl through her skin under her coat. "I did not like that feeling," she said with a slight tremor in her voice.

"What feeling?" Spike asked, before he felt it a moment later as he passed the same spot, along with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle next to him. "Nevermind, I felt it. Good news, that's the warp pipe telling us we're almost there. Bad news, it was definitely messed up by whatever those two did to it. That did not feel like any warp pipe I've ever been through, and I hope I never have to feel that awful, wrong feeling ever again," he said with another shiver.

A few minutes of tense walking later, now lit by the fire Spike gently held, Apple Bloom noticed something up ahead. "Look!" She cried with a hoof pointed forward. "Ah can see a light down there!"

The Crusaders quickly realized what that meant and ran towards the light, excited to finally be free of the warp pipe's darkness and echoes. Spike blew out the fire on his claw as he ran now that it was no longer needed to see.

Once the Crusaders had finally exited the warp pipe with a sigh of relief, they began to look around their new locale, and their jaws all dropped in complete awe at what they saw.

Every bit of ground underneath their hooves was made up of a reflective purple crystalline material that glittered and shimmered in the light of the stars and moon above. All around them were star-shaped crystals of various bright colors that jutted out of the crystalline ground at various angles, some fragmented into pieces, and all of them twinkled like the actual stars above in the light of the night sky. Raised pillars of carved purple stone overlooked a cliffside view of the rest of the Mushroom Kingdom to the northeast and the neighboring Beanbean Kingdom to the south. The walls and sides of the elevated ledges around them were an even deeper shade of purple compared to the ground. Off in the distance they could see shooting stars soaring through the night sky. Behind them they could see that the warp pipe they exited jutted out of the wall next to one of the purple stone pillars.

"This is what the Stardust Fields look like?! This is beautiful!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed in awe.

"I've never seen anything like this back home!" Scootaloo shouted as her wings buzzed excitedly, just as awestruck as her sister.

"This would be a great time for a picture with that camera Princess Luna said she packed for us," Apple Bloom said with a longing sigh. "Ah wish she had mentioned which bag the camera was in."

Spike took off his backpack and started to dig through it. "You remember what Princess Luna said about how to find stuff in here, right?" He asked his friends.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom both shrugged as Scootaloo waved a hoof side to side. "Eh... sort of? She was still talking kind of funny, so I couldn't really understand all of what she was saying," Scootaloo said as she took off her own saddlebags.

"Something about thinking about what we want to find, right?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Pretty much, yeah. Just focus on what you want to find, and it shouldn't take long to get it," Spike said as he dug through his backpack.

"That doesn't seem hard at all!" Sweetie Belle said as the three fillies started to dig through their own saddlebags.

"I found the letter!" Scootaloo exclaimed a few seconds later as she pulled a white envelope with fancy Old Equestrian script on the front out of her saddlebag, the faintly luminescent crescent moon mark of Princess Luna stamped onto the seal.

"Ah'm glad we know now where Princess Luna's letter to Queen Bean is, but we're looking for the camera, Scoots," Apple Bloom told her as she fumbled around with her right foreleg stuffed up to the shoulder into her saddlebags.

Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her head in embarassment, a light pink blush dusting her face. "Eh he, sorry, I got distracted when I realized we didn't know who had the letter," Scootaloo replied as she put the letter back in the bag.

"Is it just me, or do these bags seem... empty? Like, I can feel my hoof moving around in here, but I'm not hitting anything," Sweetie Belle questioned, before she stuffed her head into the opening of her saddlebags beside her foreleg. "WOAH! It's so big and dark in here!" She cried as she lit her horn and looked around.

Sweetie Belle let out a yelp as she suddenly felt something sharp grab onto her mane and roughly pull her head out of the saddlebags. "Don't stick your head in there, it's not safe!" Spike cried out, panic visible on his face.

The alarmed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both quickly pulled their legs out of their bags. "What do you mean? Ah thought these were just enchanted to be bigger on the inside?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I've thankfully never seen it happen personally, but I've overheard horror stories from some of the castle guards when I was younger about ponies that stuck their heads into enchanted containers out of curiosity, when suddenly the spell gave out on them. I don't care that your saddlebags and my backpack were enchanted by Princess Luna herself, I am not willing to take the chance of that happening to any of my best friends," Spike explained with a slight tremble in his voice.

The fillies all gulped. "Duly noted, never doing that again," Sweetie Belle said with a shaky nod.

Spike gave the unicorn filly a hug. "Just... please be more careful with magic of that level. All of it is dangerous, no matter who cast it."

Sweetie Belle returned the hug with a more steady nod. "Don't worry, I will. And I'm sure Apple Bloom and Scootaloo will too. Right, girls?" She called back.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both nodded back. "Sure will!" They both responded.

Spike sent a relieved smile towards his friends. "Thank you. I'm going to check for the camera now, as I didn't get the chance earlier since I was so focused on helping you out," he said as he started to dig through his backpack once more.

"Yeah, Ah can safely say it's not in mine," Apple Bloom said.

"Not mine either," Scootaloo repeated with her earlier alarm still slightly audible in her voice.

A few seconds later, Spike pulled out his hands and triumphantly held the camera high. "Aha! I found it!" He exclaimed in celebration.

"Sweet, you found it!" Scootaloo cheered with an excited buzz of her wings. "I was getting kind of worried it wasn't actually in any of our bags."

"Can you imagine if after all that, it had turned out that Princess Luna had forgotten to actually put it in any of our bags?" Sweetie Belle said with a sigh of relief.

"Thankfully that wasn't the case, because now we can take pictures as we travel around the Beanbean Kingdom!" Apple Bloom said in excitement.

Spike looked down at the camera and inspected the various buttons around the display screen. "Now, how does this new camera work? I'm not used to the current models since Twilight hasn't upgraded in a few years now," He explained as he spun the camera around and looked at the front. "Okay, so that is definitely the lens," he said as he stared at the lens.

Spike fiddled with some of the buttons on the other side of the camera. "Then one of these back here must be- AGH!" He shouted in surprise as a bright flash went off that temporarily blinded him and caused him to nearly drop the camera in his surprise.

Sweetie Belle caught the camera in her magic before it could slip out of his hands. "You okay Spike?" She asked from her spot still beside him.

Spike rapidly blinked his eyes to clear away the spots in his vision. "Yeah, I'm fine now. I think I accidentally took a picture of myself."

Once the spots were gone, Spike grabbed the camera out of Sweetie Belle's magic. "Thanks for the save, Sweetie Belle," he said with a smile as he patted her back with a hand.

Sweetie Belle nodded with a smile. "You're welcome, Spike."

Scootaloo interrupted the two. "C'mon already, let's see the picture!" She exclaimed, before she gently took the camera from Spike, as she didn't want to break it by accident, and flipped it around to look at the screen.

Scootaloo looked at the various buttons for a second, before she pressed one of the buttons near the view port with a hoof, which caused the picture Spike had just taken of himself to show up on the screen. "Ha ha ha, you look so goofy here!" Scootaloo said as she laughed playfully at her friend's startled expression in the photo.

Spike grumbled under his breath as he took the camera back. "Yeah yeah, yuck it up, Scoots. Now, what do these other buttons do?" He asked as he experimented with the remaining untested buttons. He pressed a button near the top of the camera, and with a quick whir, click, and zap of magic, a physical copy of the same picture manifested in front of the camera in a small flash of light.

Sweetie Belle caught the picture in her magic before it could fall. She pulled it in front of her face and examined it. "Wow, I knew the new cameras were advanced, but this is way better than the old stuff from even just three years ago!"

"Does this mean Ah won't have to set up the camera tripod for the reunions anymore?" Apple Bloom asked with hope clear in her voice as she stared at the camera over Spike's shoulder.

"I don't know, depends on if we can keep this camera after we get back from stopping Cackletta and Fawful. Cameras like this one are definitely super expensive considering how new and advanced they are," Spike answered with an unsure shrug.

Spike then adjusted his hold on the camera to grip it better, before he took aim at what could be seen of the Mushroom Kingdom from where they stood. He pressed the first button he'd tried in his earlier experimenting and snapped a photo with a click, before he turned around and did the same for the Beanbean Kingdom side.

Before Spike put the camera away, he and the fillies checked to make sure that the pictures were good. Pleased with the results, he put the camera back in his backpack, and then the Crusaders headed towards the large white building that they could see to the west. The group carefully jumped down the ledges as they approached the bridge that led across what appeared to be a chasm towards the building.

They soon came upon a wooden bridge with guardrails, framed by two tan brick lamps with glowing orange mushroom-patterned lights on top.

"Princess Luna wasn't kidding when she said that the pipe exited near the border checkpoint, because I think that's it across the bridge," Sweetie Belle said as she pointed a hoof towards the large white fancy-looking building in question.

"Shouldn't something like that have a sign or something saying what it is?" Apple Bloom asked. "Because Ah'm not seeing anything besides blank white brick walls."

None of her fellow Crusaders had an answer for her as they silently crossed the bridge and entered the building. Once inside, they saw two creatures that they had never seen before that were presumably the border guards that looked almost like bipedal turtles stood in the middle of the room. They both wore a shiny black helmet with a white line that went across the middle and split it into two black halves, as well as a shiny black shell with a white rim on their backs. One had a little blue flag on top of his helmet and the other had a red but otherwise identical flag in the same spot.

The room itself was octagonal in shape, with the north and south walls longer than the others as indicated by a compass rose painted onto the ceiling. Stretched lengthwise across the floor from the doorway the Crusaders stood in to another doorway directly across from them was a red carpet framed with a pink trim. In the centermost point of the room directly below the compass rose was a round pink patch that contained a symbol that showed the head of a creature the same species as the guards. The walls were made up of brown and tan bricks, with the outer rim of each wall decorated with the brown bricks and the inner portion with tan bricks, with steel plates that covered the corners of each wall. The northern wall was covered by a light green curtain, while the south wall had a series of storage lockers. The floor not covered by the carpet was made up of several different shades of white tiles in consistent patterns.

The guard with the red flag looked up when he heard the doors open. "Hey, Blue! Think those might be the Equestrians that... um, that unicorn guy earlier said would be coming this way?" He called out with a gesture towards the Crusaders.

The guard with the blue flag, Blue, looked towards the Crusaders at his brother's call. "Uh... I don't know, bro. I don't think he meant children," he said uncertainly.

The Crusaders shuddered briefly as they heard the two talk. "This translation spell Princess Luna cast for us makes you two sound really weird. It's like I can hear you saying something I can't understand, but then I hear you say something else in Ponish about half a second later," Sweetie Belle said.

"And your mouth movements do not line up right for the Ponish at all," Scootaloo continued. "In fact, I don't know what those movements would sound like if I tried them."

The guards winced together. "Oh yeah, I can hear and see what you mean," Red said.

"I have no clue what those first sounds are, but they aren't from a language I can understand," Blue added.

"When that guard was here, I think his name might have been Phalanx, he had a translation spell as well, but it didn't sound anything like this. His was a lot less... confusingly echoey, for lack of a better term," Red finished.

"It'll just take time to get used to this, I guess," Spike said with a shrug.

Scootaloo's wing brushed against Apple Bloom next to her as she shrugged as well. "I'm not surprised Phalanx didn't mention us at the time, since he had no reason to think we would be the ones Princess Luna would decide to send. Especially since we hadn't even met him yet."

Sweetie Belle spoke up next as Spike closed the door behind the group. "Princess Luna herself told us that if she had a better option, she would have taken it."

Both the guards looked at each other uncertainly, before Blue spoke up again. "...I don't know, Red. The Beanbean Kingdom is a dangerous place outside of the various towns. What with the different monsters that call the wilds home and all."

"Ah'm sure we can handle some monsters. Ah'm a martial artist, after all!" Apple Bloom called out, before she wilted a bit. "Well, Ah'm going to be, anyways. But Ah'm strong enough that Rainbow Dash, Ponyville's greatest martial artist, said that she's going to train me soon, so that counts, right?"

"I'm really, really fast!" Scootaloo cried out excitedly. She quickly sprinted around the perimeter of the room to demonstrate her point, before she skidded to a stop beside Apple Bloom, who hoof-bumped her alongside her sister. "And on my trusty scooter, I'm even faster, although the ledges and cliffs here aren't all that great for actually riding it," she finished with a shrug.

"I can pick up quite a bit with my magic!" Sweetie Belle declared, before she used said magic to suddenly lift the surprised Scootaloo briefly into the air.

Scootaloo flailed her limbs as she let out a surprised squawk, before she was set back down on the floor. "Hey, warn me next time!" She cried as she gently swatted her sister with a wing.

Sweetie Belle blushed and rubbed the back of her head with a hoof. "Ehe, sorry sis."

Once he was sure his friends were done, Spike stepped forward and proudly pointed a claw at his chest. "And I can breathe fire!" He exclaimed, before he took in a deep breath. The fillies realized what was about to happen and stepped back behind the dragon. With his friends clear, Spike let loose a big fireball into the air above the guards.

Both guards gaped up at the fireball as it dissipated, before Red cleared his throat. "It's definitely something, I'll give you that much. Should be enough to handle the few monsters that hang around Stardust Fields, at least."

Scootaloo pumped her hoof triumphantly. "Awesome! That means we can go through now, right?"

"I sure hope so. The sooner we can get this letter to Queen Bean, the better," Spike added.

"Woah, a letter to Queen Bean?!" Blue exclaimed in shock. "That sounds like a rather urgent delivery!"

"In that case, just show us your passports, and we'll let you through, no problem!" Red said with a friendly smile.

The Crusaders all paled. "Uh, passports?" Spike asked with an awkward chuckle.

"Yeah, passports! You each need one of those if you plan on crossing over into the Beanbean Kingdom from somewhere else. Or going between any two kingdoms, really," Blue explained.

The Crusaders all shared a concerned look with each other. "Uh, we never got one of those when we left Canterlot," Sweetie Belle said.

"And Princess Luna never mentioned them, either," Scootaloo added.

A contemplative expression appeared on each of the guards' faces. "Well, that's not good. Civilians like yourselves traveling across kingdom borders need passports to make the trip," Red informed.

As the Crusaders started to panic, Blue turned to his brother and whispered in his ear. "I know we're not supposed to do this, but what if we just let them through this one time?" He asked. "You heard what Phalanx said earlier, The Royal Witch and The Head Of Enchantments turned traitor, and they were the kingdom's strongest magic users!"

Red frowned in contemplation as he thought through the situation. "And with Prince Peasley out of the kingdom for the time being, there isn't anyone left to stop them from wreaking havoc across the kingdom..." he trailed off in deep thought. A moment later, he spoke up once again. "But these four are visibly just children, regardless of how impressive what they've said and shown to us has been. I can't in good conscience let them through, knowing that they could run into them at any point."

Blue rubbed his chin with a hand. "That's a good point..." he trailed off as well. A moment later, he snapped his fingers as an idea hit him. "What if we tested them first? You know, with that!"

Red thought for a second, before he nodded. "Yeah, that could work. If nothing else, we could be sure that they can handle getting around the kingdom, the terrain is not friendly if you can't jump high," he said. "Do you have the full thing memorized, bro?"

Blue nodded with a grin. "We've been practicing the movements for the passed several weeks, bro. I'm ready to go!"

The brothers both grinned and nodded to each other, before they turned back towards the panicking Crusaders. Blue ran off to one of the storage lockers that lined the south side of the room while Red clapped his hands together to get their attention, before he cleared his throat. "I suppose, since this sounds like a very urgent delivery and situation, that we can let you through without passports," Red started. "IF, you can pass our challenge."

"What challenge?" Apple Bloom asked, confused but relieved that her and her friends' quest hadn't been ended then and there by paperwork of all things.

"The Border Jump Challenge, of course!" Blue answered as he gave his brother the other end of a long black-and-yellow patterned rope he had taken from the locker.

"You have to jump over this rope we have here, and if you last long enough for..." Red paused as he pulled on a rope connected to the light green curtains and opened them up to reveal a flag pole with a furled-up flag at the bottom that stood on the ground in front of a mural on the wall of a brown brick castle that stood on a sunny plain. "...This flag back here to reach the top of the pole, you win!" Red finished as he pointed to the revealed wall with a flourish of his free hand, to the Crusaders oohs and awes.

Blue rolled his eyes at his brother's dramatics. "And if you get hit three times total, you lose!" He finished.

"And no flying, it ruins the whole point of the challenge," Red said with a pointed look towards Scootaloo's wings.

Scootaloo shrugged. "I can't fly yet, so that sounds easy enough."

Red winced. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend or anything," he apologized.

Scootaloo shrugged. "You couldn't have known, it's fine."

"So you'll give it a shot?" Blue asked them a moment later.

"Of course!" The Crusaders all responded.

The two guards then guided each of the Crusaders to stand on spots along the middle of the carpet that were each marked with a green X.

Once they had been positioned with two of them on each the west and east side of the symbol, with Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom on the western Beanbean Kingdom half, with the unicorn closer to the doors, and Scootaloo and Spike on the eastern Mushroom Kingdom half, with the dragon closer to those doors, Red moved to stand directly to the south of the symbol and Blue stood directly across from him to the north, the long rope held between them.

"Ready?" Red asked.

"Ready!" The Crusaders answered.

On cue, the two guards jumped in place multiple times to begin their routine. First they moved to the east, and both Scootaloo and Spike jumped over the rope. With another jump, the guards then went back the other way, and all four Crusaders jumped over the rope as it approached each one. This time Blue jumped once and moved to the east, followed by Red who had jumped twice, as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom jumped over the rope again.

Once he reached the center, Blue jumped twice to let Red pass him, and then he continued east slightly behind Red, and both Scootaloo and Spike jumped over the rope as they went. As the guards reached the other side, Red and Blue both jumped twice, and then Red moved west first followed shortly by Blue, both of whom had picked up speed. All four Crusaders managed to jump over the rope again, but it was closer than before.

When Red reached the end again, he jumped three times, while Blue jumped once on Red's second jump, before Blue moved east followed by Red. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom jumped over the rope, before both Red and Blue jumped in the middle between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo and changed direction to trip them up. Apple Bloom just barely managed to jump over the rope this time, and Sweetie Belle made it as well.

This time when Red and Blue made it to the end, they both jumped once before they inched quickly towards the east side from the west, which nearly caught Sweetie Belle off guard, and Apple Bloom and Scootaloo barely cleared the rope, while Spike fully jumped over it.

When the two guards reached the end, they both hopped quickly, before they suddenly sprinted around the south edge of the room towards Sweetie Belle's side of the room and then they quickly ran back towards Spike. Completely taken by surprise, Sweetie Belle was swept off her hooves by the rope, and she landed painfully on her side. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike managed to clear the rope.

"Strike one!" Red called out.

"You okay Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo called to her sister in concern.

"I'm fine, it just hurts a bit," Sweetie Belle assured.

Sweetie Belle got back up on her hooves as she rubbed her side to ease the pain, before she quickly had to jump when the guards ran back through to her side after her friends all managed to jumped over the rope.

When the guards made it past her, they quickly hopped in place again before they ran around the north edge of the room, this time towards Spike's side, and ran across the room again. This time however, the Crusaders were all prepared for it and jumped clear of the rope.

When the guards made it to the end again, Blue jumped once and headed towards the center, followed by Red who had jumped twice. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom cleared the rope with ease.

This time, however, when the guards reached the center they stopped, and then Red curved to the northeast in an attempt to catch Scootaloo and Spike off guard. Fortunately, they both managed to react in time and jump over the rope.

Once Red had finished his part of the routine, Blue jumped once, followed by Red who then curved all the way back around to the other side of Blue, to which the Crusaders safely cleared the rope. Red then curved back to the spot directly south of Blue, at which point they both hopped in place eight times, before they started moving towards Spike, however they immediately raced towards Sweetie Belle instead, which surprised all four of the Crusaders. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle just barely reacted in time to jump over the rope.

As soon as the guards passed Sweetie Belle they shot towards her again, and she jumped to dodge the rope, however it was a feint and they stopped right next to her, then stepped back and actually ran all the way to Spike, where the Crusaders almost got caught by the rope. The guards then did the exact same thing once passed Spike, but when they went back they feinted again which caused Spike to stumble a bit before they charged toward him for real, where they almost managed to trip him but he jumped at the last second and avoided the rope.

When the guards got to the center they stopped, stepped west, then east, then finally sprinted towards Spike at full speed, to which he and Scootaloo jumped but Spike fumbled the landing afterwards, and he nearly faceplanted before he recovered and stood back up before the guards could move again.

The guards moved slowly to the west, and after Spike jumped over the rope and they approached Scootaloo, they sprinted towards Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle who both jumped over successfully, before they immediately ran back to the center spot. They passed Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom who jumped over the rope again, stepped west, then east, then sprinted west, but Apple Bloom anticipated it this time and both her and Sweetie Belle jumped over the rope.

The guards danced back and forth to fake out the Crusaders before they ran back passed Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, who jumped clear of the rope. The guards then danced back and forth again before they ran to the east past Scootaloo and Spike who cleared the rope again. Once more the guards danced back and forth, before they ran towards the center of the room, which Spike and Scootaloo cleared with no problems.

With the flag on the pole now right at the halfway point, the guards hopped in place eight times, before Blue stepped towards Scootaloo, then ran west followed by Red who hopped once, which faked out Scootaloo who jumped, but Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped over the rope. Blue then hopped once and ran towards the east, followed by Red, and all four Crusaders jumped over the rope.

When Blue reached the east wall, he moved south towards Red who had stopped just south of Scootaloo, before he ran in a circle around Scootaloo which forced her to jump. The guards then came together at the south wall, hopped once, then spread out and ran north, which forced all four Crusaders to jump at once. Once Red and Blue reached the north wall, they hopped once and ran back south, which the Crusaders all cleared together again.

This time when the guards hopped once and moved north, Blue went first followed by Red, which nearly caught the Crusaders off guard due to the angle of the rope. When Blue reached the north wall, he didn't stop and immediately ran south again, followed by Red who reached the north wall soon after him, which the Crusaders jumped over the rope for but Apple Bloom briefly stumbled her landing, which nearly got her hit by the rope when Blue looped around her, but she just barely recovered in time to make the jump and clear the rope.

Blue then moved to the center of the room, after which Red ran in a counter-clockwise circle around the room, and the Crusaders managed to jump clear of the rope, but then Red moved in another circle, this time clockwise, which nearly tripped up Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

Blue then moved back to the north wall, they both hopped in place, and then ran back and forth across the room six times, moving faster each time, to which the crusaders barely hopped over the rope in time.

"This is way harder than I was expecting!" Scootaloo exclaimed, the filly having been surprised by just how difficult this challenge actually was.

"It should be, this is our hardest routine!" Blue called back.

"It definitely lives up to it, that's for sure." Sweetie Belle said, side still sore from her landing.

"And it's only going to get harder from here, so get ready!" Red responded.

The guards then hopped in place four times, moved towards Scootaloo who jumped, then briefly paused with the rope still under her, before they quickly crossed over each others path towards Spike, which caught him and sent him to the floor in a faceplant with an "Ow!"

"Strike two!" Blue yelled out.

"That wasn't pleasant," Spike said as he got up and rubbed his now sore nose.

"That almost got me too, this is way harder now!" Scootaloo said in surprise.

The two guards then moved diagonally to the west at two different angles that intersected in the center of the room, the speed of which nearly caught Apple Bloom, while all of her friends were able to fully clear it.

The guards then moved back to the center, to which Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom jumped over the rope, before they stopped and Blue curved towards the southwest, which both fillies managed to jump over. Blue then ran in a semi circle towards the east, which all four Crusaders cleared. Blue then curved to the center, which Scootaloo and Spike cleared, before Red curved around to the north which forced Scootaloo and Spike to jump again, followed immediately by Blue doing the same to the south, which almost caught Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, during which Red curved back to the south, which Scootaloo and Spike nearly stumbled over, before Red stopped south of the center, and Blue curved back north at high speed which almost tripped up Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom.

With the flag nearing the top of the flagpole, Red spoke up. "Time for the grand finale now!"

"We hope you're ready for this one, it's a doozy!" Blue warned.

"Ready!" The Crusaders all yelled out, Sweetie Belle and Spike's being slightly pained.

Both guards then ran counter-clockwise at high speeds for a full rotation, which the Crusaders barely dodged, before they swapped direction and sprinted at full speed for two full rotations, which the Crusaders really struggled to clear, but managed it in the end. The guards then started to step in a counter-clockwise direction like a backwards clock, which the Crusaders jumped over, before the guards reversed direction and did the same thing again at a higher speed, which nearly caught the Crusaders.

The guards hopped in place four times one final time, and the flag finally reached the top of the flagpole. Celebratory fireworks launched out of unseen holes in the base of the flagpole, and the guards called out to the Crusaders. "Congratulations! Those were some genuinely incredible acrobatics there! You should be proud of yourselves for what you've done here today!" Red congratulated them.

"We haven't seen acrobatics like that in many, many years now! Not since we first met the Mario Brothers back when we worked for King Bowser!" Blue said in awe.

Labored breathing was the only response they received from the Crusaders for several seconds.

"Thank...you..." Scootaloo eventually called out weakly as she tried to catch her breath.

"Please... just give us... a moment..." Apple Bloom said as she gasped for air.

While the Crusaders caught their breath, Blue walked over to the storage lockers and pulled something out of a small silk pouch. He then shut the locker, before he walked over to Spike. "As a reward for completing our Border Jump's hardest routine, we give you these," he said as he handed seven small tan-colored beans to the tired drake.

Spike took the beans and stared at them in confusion as he panted. "Beans? What are we supposed to do with these, and why are these our reward?"

Blue shrugged, a humor-filled smile on his face. "It's the Beanbean Kingdom, and whenever someone wins anything legally designated as a 'Mini-Game', such as our Border Jump, they are given beans as a reward. Specifically Hee Beans, as those are the most commonly found bean in the kingdom," he explained.

"Is there anything we can do with them, or are they just strange souvenirs?" Apple Bloom asked as Spike put the Hee Beans in his backpack.

"In Beanbean Castle Town, which is the town that's been built around the castle, there is a cafe where you can trade in any beans you have for various items and, if you bring enough beans at once, a free drink. They're usually just trinkets, but some of them are actually useful items invented by the owners of the cafe," Red began. "To get any of the good stuff, though, you have to trade in multiple types of beans at once."

"How many types of beans are there for that to matter?" Sweetie Belle asked curiously.

In response to the unicorn filly's question, Blue returned to the same locker as before and retrieved four small beans from the silk pouch, before he returned to the Crusaders. He held out his hand out and opened it to reveal four different color beans. "These are the four different types of beans native to the Beanbean Kingdom," he began.

He pointed to the red bean first. "As you can see, Chuckle Beans are a bright red, and they can be dug up from underground. The weird way they form in the soil or whatever they're in tends to result in a literal 'X marks the spot' type of formation directly above them, but not always."

He then pointed to the green bean next. "Woo Beans are a bright green and tend to somewhat frequently appear after fighting particularly bean-like monsters, but I haven't the slightest idea why that is myself."

Next, he pointed at the yellow bean. "I've already talked about the common yellow Hee Beans, but just to reiterate, due to a law passed by the Queen a few years ago, they are given out as rewards for completing various legally-recognized Mini-Games found throughout the kingdom," he paused, before he held his other hand flat against his cheek and spoke out of the corner of his mouth. "She never officially stated why, but my theory is that the sheer quantity of Hee Beans was causing chaos in the rest of the kingdom, so she wanted a way to ditch them all," he added with a conspiratorial whisper. The Crusaders laughed in response while Red rolled his eyes at his brother's antics.

Blue grinned as he pointed to the brown bean last. "That just leaves the mysterious, and might I add very difficult to find Hoo Beans. These brown beans are only ever found in Question Mark Blocks that are almost completely invisible to the naked eye. I say almost, because from the few that I have personally found over the years, they will shimmer very slightly every once in a while. I actually stood and waited at one I had found once a few years ago, and it shimmered once every five minutes exactly," Blue explained.

"To add to what my brother said, I noticed that the invisible blocks will shimmer once every time someone enters a certain range around it," Red added.

Blue turned towards his brother. "Huh. I actually hadn't caught that before. I'll keep an eye out for that myself," he said to himself, before he took the beans back to the locker and put them away.

Having fully caught their breath during the bean explanation, the Crusaders stood up and moved toward the doorway opposite their original entrance.

Before they left however, Sweetie Belle asked a question that had been on her mind for the past few minutes. "You used to work for Bowser?"

Both of the guards nodded. "Yeah, we were part of his Hammer Bros. Brigade about a decade ago, but we left when things started to get a bit too hostile for our liking," Red said.

"We didn't agree with some of the things he was doing at the time, so we left the army and moved to the Beanbean Kingdom, getting a job as the border guards for the border between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Beanbean Kingdom," Blue continued from where his brother had left off.

"If you're lucky, you won't ever have to encounter him on your journey in the Beanbean Kingdom," Red finished.

Unnoticed by her fellow Crusaders, Apple Bloom frowned and muttered quietly to herself in confusion. "Bowser... where have Ah heard that name before?"

As Apple Bloom muttered to herself, Scootaloo spoke up. "Wow, he sounds like a real piece of work."

"He can be, but he's not all bad," Blue responded.

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"When we still worked for him, he treated his son pretty well," Red said to him. "Although, that was back when Junior was first born. We have no idea how good or bad that relationship is now, since we don't exactly get news from the Darklands out here," he amended with a casual shrug.

"He was also a well-liked and respected king of the Darklands, at least when we were still there. We left about the time he started to really get obsessed with the Mushroom Kingdom and Princess Peach, so, again, we don't know if that's still the case," Blue said.

"Thank you for warning us about him, we'll try to avoid him if we can," Scootaloo thanked them.

"And hopefully if you do run into him, he'll be in one of his rare good moods and either ignore you, or if you're REALLY lucky, maybe even help you out if you truly need it," Red told them.

"But if he's in one of his many, many bad moods, steer clear of him until it blows over, because he will definitely pick a fight with anyone he sees if given the chance," Blue warned them.

As they waved goodbye, the Crusaders went through the door that lead to the Beanbean Kingdom as they finally began their journey for real.

Once the Crusaders exited the border checkpoint, they saw a gray brick lamppost with a green light that had a face with a creepy grin etched into it, and a rickety old wooden bridge suspended over a long fall with no guardrails to prevent accidents from happening.

"This doesn't seem very safe," Scootaloo said in alarm.

"We'll just have to be careful crossing it, Ah guess," Apple Bloom tried to assure.

With light hoof-and-footsteps, the Crusaders crossed the bridge one at a time, the quartet not willing to risk it collapsing underneath them.

Once they reached the other side, they breathed a sigh of relief that the bridge hadn't collapsed, before one of the border guards, Red, called out to them from the other side. "Hold up a second!"

He rushed across the bridge to reach the Crusaders. "We realized we never even got your names!" He explained.

They introduced themselves one by one. "Apple Bloom!"

"Scootaloo!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

"And Spike!"

"And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" They all called out at once.

"Sweet! Well, after your incredible performance in there, we decided to give you this. I know it's not much, but it should help out along the way," Red said as he handed Apple Bloom a piece of parchment and a green and white spotted mushroom.

"What's this mushroom?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion as she took the mushroom and parchment. She put the mushroom in her saddlebags, before she hoofed the parchment over to Sweetie Belle, who grabbed it with her magic, unfurled it, and began to study it.

"This is a 1-Up Mushroom, It'll revive you if you fall unconscious, but it will only heal the most dangerous wounds, everything else you'll need to heal some other way," Red said.

"Woah! That sounds awesome! Is there some way to get more?" Scootaloo asked.

"They are very rare, only being found in floating Question Mark Blocks scattered throughout the Beanbean and Mushroom Kingdoms. They might be found elsewhere, but I wouldn't know where to even begin to look," Red admitted. His eyes darted side to side for a moment, before he leaned towards the Crusaders and began to whisper conspiratorially. "Rumor has it that there is an even more powerful version out there somewhere. It's supposedly called a 1-Up Super, and it's said to be capable of fully healing all injuries, no matter how severe. Of course, since it's still a 1-Up Mushroom, I imagine it would only work if you're already unconscious, but at that point you probably need the healing anyways," he finished with a shrug.

The Crusaders shared a glance with each other, before Sweetie Belle spoke up. "We'll keep an eye out for them, and if we find one, we'll let you know," she promised.

Red smiled and nodded. "I'd appreciate that. In the meantime, I'm sure you've noticed that parchment I gave you is actually a map of the Beanbean Kingdom. Although, I'll be the first to admit it's not the best map out there, it should still be useful. If nothing else, it does have an enchantment on it that tells you the general region you're in, so there is that."

Sweetie Belle eyed the map closely, before she let out a giggle. "I can see what you mean. The Beanbean Kingdom would have to be pretty small if this was size accurate," she said as she flipped the map around so her fellow Crusaders could get a look at it.

The other Crusaders crowded around the map to get a closer look at it. Scootaloo was the first to realize what her sister meant, and let out a giggle. "It looks like we could run through the entire kingdom in less than a day!"

Red let out a laugh. "Good luck with that, the Beanbean Kingdom is way bigger than it looks on that map. Like I said, not the best map, but it's all we have out here. All we really need, really," he said with a shrug. He stretched his arms above his head. "Welp, I should get back to my post now. My brother's probably wondering what's taking me so long."

The Crusaders looked up from the map and waved. "Thank you for this gift, Red!" Spike said as Red headed back across the bridge.

Red stopped and turned around to call out to the Crusaders just before he went back inside. "Oh! One last thing! Bowser stationed several Bill Blasters in the region for one of his plans a few years ago, but I guess it fell through or something and he never bothered to come pick them back up. So be careful and keep an eye out for them while you explore!"

"Will do!" Scootaloo called back with another wave.

"And while you're at it, if you see our coworkers the Starshade Brothers while you're out there, could you tell them to come stop by every once in a while? We haven't seen them in ages at this point, and while they can travel throughout the entire region, we're stuck here since we guard the checkpoint itself and it would be nice if they stopped by and said hello every once in a while," Red added with a shrug.

"If we meet them, we'll let them know," Sweetie Belle said with a nod and a smile.

Just as Red was about to return to the checkpoint, Apple Bloom called out once more. "Wait! If the person being revived is unconscious, how do they eat the 1-Up Mushroom without choking on it?"

Red turned back around once more to respond. "That's the easy part! The 1-Up Mushroom dissolves in their mouth and takes effect immediately. No need to worry about choking!" He said, before he waved once more and entered the building.

Apple Bloom let out a sigh of relief. "That's good to know, Ah wasn't looking forward to one of us choking to death on the thing meant to save us," she said.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that would be embarrassing. I mean, can you imagine? 'Oh no, I'm horribly injured, I shall eat this strange green mushroom I found on the ground to save myself- Oh no I'm choking bleh!'" The filly dramatically played out as she flailed her hooves like she was choking. She stuck her tongue out and held her breath as she pretended to choke and die on the fake mushroom. After a second of waiting, she opened one eye and glanced at her sister and friends.

The other Crusaders giggled as they watched Scootaloo's overdramatic performance. "And I thought Rarity was the drama queen of the family," Sweetie Belle joked as she rolled up the map and put it away.

Scootaloo giggled as she climbed back onto her hooves. "What can I say, being dramatic is fun!"

Once they had finished their giggling, the Crusaders turned back around and saw that there was a large green Warp Pipe similar to the one they originally traveled through to their right.

"Ah wonder where this one goes?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Let's find out!" Scootaloo replied as she pulled her scooter out of her bag and strapped her helmet on, before she climbed onto it and rode into the pipe with a buzz of her wings, only to pop back out right where she started from a few seconds later.

Scootaloo looked around in confusion, before she asked, "What just happened?"

"I'm... not sure," Sweetie Belle said. "Let's try going in together and see if it happens again," she suggested after a moment of thought.

This time all of them tried to go through the Warp Pipe at the same time, only for them to pop out where they started again.

After a moment of confused thought among the group, Spike snapped his fingers in realization. "I think I know what this pipe is! It's probably one of those connected pipes Level Measure told us about on Monday!" he said.

"That's right! He mentioned that some pipes need to be used before they connect with each other, maybe this is one of those!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed.

"Good to know that we can get back here quickly if we need it," Apple Bloom said, before she shrugged. "Well, once we find another connected pipe, anyhow."

"It could also just be broken, y'know," Scootaloo snarked.

They turned away from the Pipe, climbed down the ledge in front of it, and walked down the narrow path across from it. Scootaloo climbed off her scooter and put both it and her helmet away since there wasn't any room to safely maneuver with it.

Sweetie Belle's curiosity got the better of her, and she glanced down over the cliff edge as they walked along the path to see just how high up they were. "Eep!" She cried out as she scrambled away from the edge in a panic.

"We are rather high up aren't we?" Scootaloo asked her sister.

"Too high if you ask me," Sweetie Belle responded, spooked. "It's easily over a mile down if we fall!"

At her words, the other Crusaders moved in closer together towards the middle of the path.

Once they reached the end of the narrow path, they stopped before the barbed wire fence that was stretched all the way across the end of the path to their left.

"Ah'm not sure if Ah prefer the barbed wire fence, or if Ah'd rather just not have anything at all," Apple Bloom said as she looked at the fence in concern for it's sharpness.

"Fence. Definitely fence. Trust me," Sweetie Belle said in a shook tone of voice.

They then noticed two signs on a pillar of purple stone, which Spike walked up to and read the one on the left aloud first.

Beanbean Bulletin

Disturbing Facts Uncovered In Area 64!

Recent studies show that the Spiky Stardust Defense System (SSDS) can be jumped!

It's easy! Just run up to each line of the SSDS and jump over them!

Such a defense gap is appalling! Improvements are demanded to prevent an increase in intruders!

"Why would they tell us how to get around their defense system?" Apple Bloom asked, dumbfounded.

"I don't know, but I'm just glad it wasn't an actually threatening defense system, that would suck," Scootaloo said, both confused and also relieved.

"Let's read the other sign and see what it says before we jump to conclusions," Sweetie Belle suggested.

"Got it!" Spike said, before he read the second sign aloud.

Beanbean Bulletin

Pleasant Truths Revealed In Area 64!

After many complaints, the SSDS has been improved as requested!

Various improvements include, but are not limited to;

Camouflaging the Spikes!

Scattering the Spikes!

Sharpening the Spikes!

And So Much More!

Scootaloo turned towards Spike and pointed a hoof at him. "Spike's been camouflaged? But I can see him just fine!" She joked with a giggle.

Spike let out a snort in response, before the fillies and dragon turned to their right and looked for the SSDS in question, surprised at how well it actually blended in.

"This could be a bit more of a problem, admittedly," Sweetie Belle admitted.

"Guess they really weren't lying about camouflage, were they?" Apple Bloom said.

"We'll just have to be careful where we step then," Spike said. "I should be fine, since my scales are really durable, but you three don't have dragon scales protecting your hooves," he added.

With careful steps to insure they didn't step on the painfully sharp-looking SSDS, of the ones they could see anyways, the Crusaders slowly inched their way forward along the path. They gently and carefully stepped over or around every spike they found until they they made it to the end of the path, where they sighed in relief at having successfully dodged all of the SSDS. Even Spike took careful steps, unwilling to test his scales theory.

Scootaloo noticed a strange shadow on the reflective ground in front of her, and when she looked up, she noticed something weird that floated above her head. "What is that? Some kind of... block?"

"Maybe it's one of those 'Floating Question Mark Blocks' that Red mentioned earlier," Apple Bloom suggested.

Scootaloo jumped up and, with a buzz of her wings, managed to hit it with a hoof. Out of the block popped a red and white spotted mushroom, which Scootaloo caught.

"This looks similar to the 1-Up Mushroom that Red gave us, think it might have similar effects?" Scootaloo asked.

"Maybe," Sweetie Belle shrugged as Scootaloo put the Mushroom away in her saddlebags.

The Crusaders turned to the right, jumped down the ledges, and turned right again down the next path onwards.

"Alright! Home free!" Scootaloo shouted before she ran down the path.

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened as she saw something glint along the path. "Scootaloo! Stop! There are spikes there too!" She cried out with her hoof outstretched towards her sister in a desperate attempt to stop her.

Scootaloo turned her head towards her sister when she heard her warning. "Huh?" She asked, having missed the contents of the warning. As a result, the filly failed to stop in time and yelped in pain as she stepped on one of the SSDS spikes she hadn't noticed before. She stumbled backwards and fell on her rump as she quickly lifted her injured hoof off the sharp spike that was now covered in her blood. The other Crusaders flinched back as the sharp metallic tang of copper hit their noses.

Apple Bloom was the first to recover from the smell, the filly used to it from accidents and injuries on the farm. "You alright, Scootaloo? That looked like it really hurt," she asked as she ran up to her injured friend.

Scootaloo's eyes teared up a bit as she shakily held her bleeding hoof in the air. She blinked rapidly to clear the tears away as she gently rubbed the frog of her impaled hoof in an attempt to numb the pain. "Yeah, I'm fine, it just hurts and is bleeding a bit," she said with a sniffle as blood steadily dripped onto the ground from the hole in her hoof. She winced and sucked air in through her teeth as a sharp sting of pain came from her hoof when she touched the sensitive injury directly. "Okay, no, th-that hurts a lot," she admitted with another sniffle.

Apple Bloom carefully slung Scootaloo's foreleg over her shoulder and supported her as they walked more carefully through and around the SSDS spikes as her hoof continued to slowly drip blood, while Sweetie Belle and Spike moved ahead of them to warn them of spikes.

When they finally reached the ledges at the end of the path, the four sighed in relief and carefully jumped down to the wooden bridge below, this one just as rickety as the last. Scootaloo let out a yelp and stumbled sideways upon landing on her injured hoof after the final jump, her leg having been jostled off Apple Bloom's shoulder by the repeated impacts.

Apple Bloom flinched at her friend's pain and moved to support her again. "Sorry, Scoot. Didn't mean to drop your hoof like that," she apologized as she reached a hoof into Scootaloo's saddlebag and dug through it to locate the Mushroom she found earlier. "Here, see if this helps," she said after she pulled the Mushroom out.

Scootaloo took cautious bites out of the Mushroom and chewed. Her eyes widened in surprise as the unexpected taste hit her tongue.

"Hey, that actually tastes pretty good!" Scootaloo said in shock, having fully expected the Mushroom to taste worse than it did.

Apple Bloom noticed something as Scootaloo finished the final bite. "Scootaloo, look! Your hoof!" She pointed at Scootaloo's upturned hoof. The two then watched in awe as the injury healed right before their eyes, before it eventually looked as good as new.

"They really do heal injuries! I hope we can find more later," Scootaloo said as she moved her hoof around and tested it by carefully putting weight on it. Once she'd patted the ground multiple times painlessly and confirmed it was fully healed, she jumped up and let out a cheer. "Alright! That's much better now!"

"Speaking of more Mushrooms..." Spike trailed off, before he walked over to the block on the nearby ledge they just passed and jumped up to hit it. He caught the Mushroom that popped out and handed it to Scootaloo. "Almost missed this on the way down, so now you can replace the old one," he said as she put it away in her saddlebag. She sent a smile his way as thanks, which he returned.

After Scootaloo's fellow Crusaders gave her a quick celebratory hug, they all crossed the thankfully SSDS-less bridge and turned right down the narrow path that zigzagged between two tall cliffs with only a fall between them and the path.

When they reached the more open area passed the cliffs, which had a large stone formation to their left, along with a stone pillar to their right, they stopped and watched some strange-looking bug creatures as they hopped around the area.

The creatures bodies were a light tan color, and they had two blue legs, as well as two blue arms, a green mask-like coloration around their eyes, two purple antennae, two translucent wings, a large, toothy grin, and a large, bulbous nose.

"What are those things? Some sort of giant fly?" The grossed-out Sweetie Belle asked as she leaned away from them.

"I don't know, all I know is that I want nothing to do with any of them," Spike said, also grossed out.

The Crusaders tried to avoid them, but two of them noticed them and started to hop towards them.

The freaked out Apple Bloom swatted her hoof at one of the gross fly creatures as it approached. "Leave us alone!"

Her hoof missed, and the creature rammed into her side with unexpected force. A bruise rapidly formed where it hit as the blow elicited a grunt of pain from her.

"You jerk! Don't hurt my friend!" Scootaloo shouted before she punched it between the monster's black beady eyes. The blow knocked it unconscious on the spot.

"These must be the monsters Red and Blue warned us about," Spike said as he swiped a claw towards the other large fly.

"There sure are a lot of them around here," Sweetie Belle said as she grabbed a nearby medium-sized rock and bonked the remaining fly of unusual size on top of its body with it, which knocked it out too.

The other gross and creepy flies hadn't noticed the Crusaders yet, so they tried to stealthily avoid them. They successfully passed by the stone pillar without incident, but before long another hostile fly hopped around the corner of the large stone formation, saw them, and hopped towards them.

This time, Apple Bloom didn't give it the chance to ram her and tackled it shoulder first, which sent it towards another stone pillar, where it collided and slowly slid down to the ground.

To the left of the stone pillar the horror fly now sat unconscious next to, the Crusaders spotted yet another rickety, awful wooden bridge.

"UGH! Would it kill them to make these at least a LITTLE bit safer?!" Scootaloo said in exasperation as they approached it.

"After what we've seen, probably," Sweetie Belle said with a sarcastic eyeroll as she stepped hoof on the horribly misaligned planks.

As they carefully crossed the crappy wooden bridge, they saw another one of those lamps from the Border Checkpoint bridge.

"What is with these lamps? They're really creeping me out," Spike said with an uncomfortable full body shiver.

"Ah've just been trying to ignore them, personally," The equally uncomfortable Apple Bloom replied.

The Crusaders climbed up the stone stairs to their left that lead up to a somewhat-sizeable plateau of stone. Once on top of the stone plateau, they saw a star-shaped metal hatch fully embedded into the ground, as well as a large empty cannon pointing straight up just beyond it.

"I don't like the look of this, Crusaders," Scootaloo said in worry.

Immediately after she'd finished her sentence, a large, rotund figure dropped from the sky onto the platform across a gap they hadn't noticed yet. The figure had a yellowish belly with a pink star emblazoned on it, green scales, two stubby legs and arms, green bat wings, large yellow lips, wore a white scarf that wrapped around his entire body, was completely neckless, had a red mohawk with a large yellow star perched on his head in front, small white eyes, and had a black shell with a white rim on his back.

"Nyeck nyeck nyeck!!!" The figure laughed, a horrifyingly large grin stretched across his entire face that showed his awful teeth. "Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck! I am Tolstar, the great and famed king of Stardust Fields! Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck!" The now-named Tolstar introduced himself.

"A king?!" The Crusaders shouted in shock.

"Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck! Yes, THE king, and if you want to get past me, you must pay a toll! Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!" The king of Stardust Fields told them.

"How much is the toll?" Spike asked as he swung his backpack in front of him and reached into it.

"Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! 100 coins should do it! Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!"

"Here you go!" Sweetie Belle said as she levitated Spike's retrieved bag of bits out of his hands and floated it over to Tolstar. Spike gave her a thumbs up in response.

Tolstar caught the bag with a grin and opened it up. He narrowed his eyes once he saw the coins themselves, before he turned that same glare to the Crusaders. "Are you trying to pull a fast one on me?! I have no idea what these coins are, and as such, they are not legally recognized in my kingdom! Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!" He cackled maliciously.

"What?! You mean all our bits are WORTHLESS?!" Apple Bloom asked in shock.

Tolstar grinned so widely that the thoroughly creeped-out Crusaders shuddered from the sight. "Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! I have no idea what a 'bit' is. As such, you'll just have to find some actual Beanbean Kingdom coins if you want to get passed me! Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!" Tolstar taunted the Crusaders.

"Where are we supposed to find that many coins?!" Scootaloo yelled in frustration.

"Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! Oh, inside Question Mark Blocks, or perhaps even from some monsters, like those Fighter Flies hopping around everywhere, that have already stolen some coins or items from travelers, who knows! Nyeck nyeck nyeeeck!" Tolstar further taunted, before he stomped on the ground and activated a switch under his foot with a click.

The switch caused yet another rickety, dangerous wooden bridge to slide out from a slot built into the cliffside that led to a large floating island of stone, which caused the Crusaders to notice for the first time that the Stardust Fields were actually islands floating in the sky.

Spike climbed down the stone stairs with the camera gripped in his claws to take some pictures of the islands. "This is so cool! How did we not notice this before?!" Spike asked in excitement as he snapped multiple pictures at different angles in quick succession.

"I think we were a bit too distracted with not wanting to fall to our deaths to notice before," Sweetie Belle answered as she followed him to the cliff edge.

"Yeah, that would do it," Scootaloo said as she pulled her father's book out of her saddlebag and sat down on one of the stone steps. She opened it and began to flip through the pages.

The sound of rustling paper caught Tolstar's attention. His curiosity piqued, he jumped and flapped his stubby wings to fly over the gap, before he landed with a thud next to the surprised Scootaloo, who quickly closed her book and looked up at him with wide eyes. He peered over her shoulder at the cover and hummed to himself when he read the credits. "I think I recognize those names. Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood..." he trailed off in thought. A moment later he snapped his fingers. "Ah, I remember now. Those two wouldn't leave me alone for several days until I agreed to let them study the Fighter Flies here. Of course, they had to pay the toll first as well, nyeck nyeck nyeck!" He laughed.

Scootaloo's eyes widened even further. "You knew my parents?" She whispered in disbelief. "When did you meet them?"

Tolstar snorted a laugh as he stepped away. "Nyeck! 'Knew' them is a bit of a stretch. It was about a decade and a half ago now, and like I said, they wouldn't leave me alone for days. It wasn't until they agreed to pay the toll, as well as spar with me, that I finally let them in."

Scootaloo gulped as she inched away from him. "Sp-spar? You can fight? They could fight?"

Tolstar grinned and reached behind his back, before he pulled out a shiny metal ball covered in spikes. The sharp spikes glinted reflectively in the night's light. "Nyeck nyeck nyeck! Oh yes, a king must be able to fight for his kingdom, after all. However small said kingdom may be. And yes, they were more than capable as fighters. Knocked me flat multiple times before I finally got in a win of my own. Of course, that was with the aid of the Starshade Brothers," he admitted with a large toothy grin. He then put the spike ball away and flew back to his original perch on the other side of the stone plateau. "Feel free to study up on Fighter Flies as long as you like, there's no time limit on the toll."

Scootaloo hesitated for a second, before she nodded and opened the book back up. She quickly flipped through the pages until she found the page on Fighter Flies. "'The humble Fighter Fly, a relatively weak creature native to the kingdom of Stardust Fields. Known for robbing unsuspecting passersby for their money and items, primarily through brute force in the form of tackling their victims. They store their ill-gotten goods inside their mouths for easy retrieval at their nests, where they use the shiny coins to decorate it in hopes of attracting a mate, as well as feeding any edible items to their young. Can be easily defended against through any magic, as well as by physically holding them at bay. They are not known for their defensive capabilities, as they have none,'" she read aloud. She then looked towards her sister and friends, who stood by the edge of the island near the new bridge. "Did you guys hear all of that?" She asked.

Spike turned away from the views and sights he was photographing and gave her a thumbs up. "Loud and clear, Scootaloo!"

"Ah can vouch for the tackles," Apple Bloom yelled back as she rubbed her still bruised side. "It still hurts a bit."

"I'll test out the magic part next time we see one," Sweetie Belle said.

Scootaloo nodded, before she closed the book, put it away, and joined the others by the bridge where they had been taking pictures using the camera.

"Make sure you get a good shot of the Mushroom Kingdom through those islands over there as well," Apple Bloom told Spike with a hoof pointed towards a group of islands that floated in such a way that the forests of the Mushroom Kingdom were visible through them.

Spike took several more pictures as Apple Bloom requested, before he put the camera away with the intention of examining them later, and the four of them carefully crossed the bridge, ready to hunt for the coins they needed.

After they crossed the bridge, however, Apple Bloom caught a glimpse of another one of those creepy lamps to her right. With a growl, she suddenly bolted over to it, spun around, and bucked it as hard as she could with her hind legs. "Ah'm so sick and tired of these darn creepy things! They're making mah coat stand up!" Apple Bloom cried out as her buck destroyed the lamp and sent the pieces over the edge down to the surface below.

As the pieces disappeared from view, the Crusaders collectively let out a sigh of relief, glad that the creepy feeling of being watched was gone, even if only for the moment. Spike walked over and patted Apple Bloom's back in gratitude, to which the filly sent a smile back his way.

Apple Bloom then noticed a ledge that was much higher than the others to her left and walked over to it, her friends not far behind. She crouched down low and jumped as high as she could with her hooves stretched upwards. She was barely able to grab the ledge, but couldn't keep her grip on it and fell back down to the ground with an "Oof!".

"I guess we'll have to go another way for now," Sweetie Belle said as she scanned the area around them for another path to follow.

The Crusaders quickly found and followed a path to the north that zigzagged towards another floating island, where they saw a massive stone plateau like before. This one was much larger than the last one, however, and the path that went to the right around the plateau had more barely-visible SSDS spikes scattered throughout it. The path that went off to the left was blocked by another tall ledge that they couldn't quite climb.

"Ugh, more of those stupid spikes? They already made me bleed once, what more do they want?!" Scootaloo asked in frustrated annoyance.

"For us to stop advancing through here, probably," Spike joked back. As Apple Bloom and Scootaloo rolled their eyes at his quip, Sweetie Belle snickered to herself.

When Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stared at Sweetie Belle with a raised eyebrow each, the unicorn blushed. "What? I thought it was funny!" She defended herself.

"If you say so," Apple Bloom said in response. Sweetie Belle pouted as Scootaloo giggled.

The Crusaders then carefully stepped their way through the SSDS spikes as they traversed around the edge of the island. More of those Fighter Flies from before were visible hopping around farther down the path.

Now that they knew they somehow needed to find coins from Fighter Flies, the Crusaders didn't bother trying to stealth their way around the Fighter Flies, and instead they just walked up to the first one they saw, which Sweetie Belle knocked out with a single punch. The Fighter Fly spat four monster saliva covered coins out of its mouth once it was unconscious, which further grossed out the Crusaders.

"Do we really need to find coins this way? Surely there must be some way that's less... gross, to find coins?" Apple Bloom asked, not willing to pick up the sticky, gross coins.

"I sure hope so, because I am not putting those in my saddlebags," Scootaloo said in complete disgust.

"Why are there even coins in its mouth to begin with? Are they eating them? Building a nest with them?" Spike asked incredulously.

"Remember what the book said? They use the coins to decorate their nests to attract a mate," Sweetie Belle said as she levitated the coins and shook them to get rid of the gross saliva on them, before she dropped them into her saddlebags. "And besides, I don't need to touch them to clean them," she said with a smug grin on her face.

Spike made a face of remembrance. "Oh, right. I must have forgotten that part since I was so focused on taking those pictures."

The other Crusaders sighed in relief that they didn't have to touch the gross, sticky coins, before they looked around for more Fighter Flies. They noticed that there were a bunch of carved stone pillars scattered throughout the area, almost like a curved path meant to be jumped across.

"What could be up there, Ah wonder?" Apple Bloom said as she tried to puzzle out the purpose of the pillars.

"Maybe we'll find a way to reach them later," Spike said.

Scootaloo spotted a floating question mark block in an alcove in the cliffs and went to go hit it. When she hit the block, a single coin popped out, which she caught. "I got a coin out of this block here!" She cried out as she waved the coin in the air.

"Toss it over here, I want to keep the Beanbean Kingdom currency together!" Sweetie Belle called back.

Scootaloo placed the coin on one of her wings, before she closed one eye and stuck out her tongue as she took aim. "Get ready to catch it!" She called out, before she flicked the wing hard in Sweetie Belle's direction and flung the coin over to her sister.

Sweetie Belle watched the coin sail through the air over her head, and just as it was about to go over the cliff edge, she lit her horn and caught it. "Great aim, Scoots," she teased as she put the coin with the rest.

Scootaloo stuck out her tongue, before both she and Sweetie Belle giggled. "That's five coins now, right?" The pegasus filly asked once their laughing fit had finished.

"Yep, that's five coins down now," Sweetie Belle affirmed with a nod.

Now that the entertainment had ended, Apple Bloom looked passed the stone pillars to the north and spotted another floating ? block, this one with a horizontal arrow on it, and went over to go hit that one. But when she did, a coin popped out and the block changed to a purple color, and a letter D replaced the arrow as it bounced in the direction the arrow had pointed. She went to hit it again, but nothing happened. "What in the world?" She asked in confusion as she stared up at the block.

As Spike looked at the block, an idea popped into his head. "Let me try hitting it," he asked as he moved towards it.

Apple Bloom moved out of the way to give Spike room under the D block to hit it. Once in position, he jumped up and smacked his fist into the underside of the block, which caused another coin to pop out and fall to the ground with a clink. The block then changed to an orange color and the letter changed from a D to a P as the block bounced back to where it had started.

"How'd you figure that out, Spike?" Apple Bloom asked him.

"I just figured that maybe the D meant Dragon, and the purple looked like my scales, so I gave it a shot, and I was right!" Spike happily declared, proud that he'd figured it out so quickly.

"So maybe the P means Pegasus, then? And the orange looks kinda like Scootaloo's coat... Hey Scootaloo! Come over here and hit this block!" Apple Bloom called out to her friend.

Since they'd both been close enough to hear what they'd said, both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle came over. Scootaloo jumped up and hit the orange P block, which bounced it back and got them another coin out of it. The block then changed to a white color and showed a U in place of the previous P.

"Your turn, Sweetie Belle!" Scootaloo called out.

This time, when Sweetie Belle hit the block, one last coin came out, it bounced once more to its original spot, and the block turned brown like the previous hit blocks, which seemed to signify that it was now empty.

Sweetie Belle picked up the four coins that were scattered on the ground in her magic. "That puts us at nine coins. We're doing better than I expected to be at this point, honestly," she admitted as she added the coins to her growing collection.

"That was kind of fun, what should we call this block?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah was thinking maybe Crusader Block, since it took all of us to empty it?" Apple Bloom suggested.

"That sounds like a great name! Crusader Block it is!" Spike said.

Finished with the now named Crusader Block, the Crusaders headed down the path they could see to their right, where they spotted another lamp that Apple Bloom simply turned her head away from, as well as a staircase of ledges that crossed back and forth as they led down to a lower level.

As they made their way down, the Crusaders noticed another ? block floating in an alcove, and when Spike went in and hit it, this block stayed yellow and kept its ? after the first coin popped out. Curious, Spike repeatedly hit the block and got a total of five coins from the block before it turned brown.

Spike climbed back up to the ledge his friends were on and handed the coins over to Sweetie Belle, who opened the flap of her saddlebag with a smile. "Fourteen, and thanks, Spike," she said after he dropped the coins inside.

"Not a problem, Sweetie Belle," Spike returned. "Although, I don't think I'll ever get used to just how silent these saddlebags are. All those coins dropped inside, and it never made a sound. It's kind of creepy," he admitted with a slight shudder as Sweetie Belle closed the flap.

After that, the Crusaders finished their climb down the stone staircase and reached the lower level of the island. Scootaloo went over to the small raised platform she'd noticed on her way down, and hit the floating block above it, which gave her a Mushroom for her troubles that she caught on a quickly outstretched wing before it could hit the ground.

"I'm glad we found another one of these Mushrooms, we're going to need it for sure, if all these monsters and traps are anything to go by," Scootaloo said as she put the Mushroom away in her saddlebags.

Climbing from her stone perch, Scootaloo joined her friends, who had run into another group of Fighter Flies, one of which was blackened and had smoke wafting off it where Spike's fire had burned it, and they were currently cleaning off the coins that had been spit up upon them being knocked out. Spike stared at the Mushroom in his hand with disgust as it dripped saliva.

"Well, I guess now we know what Tolstar meant by them stealing items from travelers," Spike said as he shook the saliva off the Mushroom. "Yuck."

Sweetie Belle grabbed the Mushroom with her magic and sat down. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out the spell book Twilight lent her. "I'm going to see if there is anything in here that could help make this safe to eat, because I'd rather not throw out something this useful if I don't have to," she explained as she flipped through the pages.

She mouthed the names of spells under her breath as she read them, until she came across one specific spell. "'Cleanse', that sounds like it'll help. It says that it can be used to remove dangerous contaminants from the target. That, combined with the food preservation spell a few pages back should make it safe to eat any food items we get this way, as unpleasant as the idea may be," she said, before she lit her horn and cast the spell on the Mushroom.

Once the spell was finished, the Mushroom gleamed with a sterile shine, completely clean. She nodded with a smile, before she gave the Mushroom back to Spike, who put it in his backpack, and took the gathered coins from the Fighter Flies in her magic. "And that makes twenty-two coins. Almost a quarter of the way there now!" Sweetie Belle called out after she counted the coins and stored them away.

"Sweet! Not much longer before we can go pay that toll and get out of here." Apple Bloom said, the filly already thoroughly sick of running into those creepy lamps.

As Scootaloo moved to rejoin them, she paused as a thought occurred to her. "If all these monsters are spitting out coins, and items too I guess..." she trailed off with a shudder of disgust. She continued, "When we knock them out, does that mean the first ones we took out also spat some out that we left behind?" She asked.

The other three looked between each other for a moment. "That's a good point," Apple Bloom said. "Well, since we're already on this path, and it looks like the islands loop back around, at least from what Ah can tell from here, we can go check when we get back there."

Once they were fully regrouped and had accepted that plan of action, the Crusaders continued down the trail for a few minutes, before they soon spotted something they hadn't seen before in the middle of a more open area. It looked like a cannon of some sort, made of a black, shiny metal, and had a shape vaguely similar to the Warp Pipes on both ends, with a gold-colored hinge that looked like it might let it spin around on its base, with another pair of gold-colored hinges on its sides, as if to let it rotate vertically.

"Think that might be one of those Bill Blasters that Red mentioned?" Spike asked in a low whisper.

"Could be, we'll just have to be careful around it for now," Apple Bloom whispered back.

"Why are we whispering?" Scootaloo asked. "There's no way that thing can hear us, it doesn't have ears of any kind!" She said as she waved a hoof towards it.

As if to prove her wrong, the Bill Blaster immediately spun on its base towards them, swelled to a massive size, and fired a massive black bullet with eyes, a massive white-toothed grin, and two white arms straight towards them.

"Whoa!" The four of them quickly dodged out of the way, and when the Bullet Bill hit the stone wall behind where they had been, it exploded and took out a sizable chunk of the wall with it. Debris rained down around the area as a large dust cloud obscured everything.

The Crusaders used the dust cloud as cover to run and hide behind a nearby stone pillar.

"I don't like the idea of getting hit by that, so let's not, shall we?" Sweetie Belle snarked with a squeak. She held one hoof to her chest in an attempt to calm her racing heartbeat.

Apple Bloom turned to her friends and spoke up. "Ah have an idea. Spike, you distract it somehow, while me and Scoots try to break it off its base. Sweetie Belle, you keep watch and tell us if it's about to fire again."

"'Scoots and I'" Sweetie Belle automatically corrected as she looked around the corner of the pillar they now hid behind to watch the blaster for any other signs of movement.

"Not the time, Sweetie," Spike said as he picked up a chunk of the broken wall.

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Sorry, I'm just a bit distracted right now making sure that thing won't blast us before we can do anything about it."

"Everyone ready?" Apple Bloom asked as she stretched her legs to prepare herself for what was about to come.

Scootaloo pulled her scooter and helmet out of her saddlebag and strapped the helmet on. "Ready," she called once she'd climbed on the vehicle.

Spike used his claws to quickly sculpt the wall chunk into a more manageable shape. When he was done, he took a piece of the parchment out of his backpack, wrapped it around the rock, and lit it on fire with his regular non-magical red fire breath. "Ready," he said as he tossed the makeshift fireball up and down in his hand.

"It's firing!" Sweetie Belle called out when she saw the Bill Blaster swell up in size again.

"Go!" Apple Bloom shouted.

The Crusaders all ran out from behind the pillar just as the Bullet Bill reached it. The explosion's shockwave ruffled the hair on the fillies' coats as they ran.

Spike ran ahead of the pack and took a sharp turn to the left of the Blaster. "Hey, you big dumb rusted pipe! Over here!" He called out to it once he was far enough away, before he threw his rock fireball as hard as he could at the hinge on the closest side of the Blaster. The makeshift fireball collided with a deep clang as both the force and the heat from the fire served to weaken the hinge. "Your turn, girls!" He called out as he ran further away from the Blaster that had now turned to face him.

The moment Spike called out, Apple Bloom ran towards it, while Scootaloo buzzed her wings and sped off on her scooter behind her. Apple Bloom bucked it hard in the hinge Spike had weakened, which dented it inward from the force and caused the Blaster to jostle heavily on its base, while Scootaloo quickly rammed into the damaged support at full speed with her scooter. The combination of their blows broke the cannon off it's base entirely and caused it to fall on its side.

Sweetie Belle took this opportunity to pick up the broken blaster with her magic and threw it off the nearby edge of the island to join the broken lamp down on the ground far, far below. She let out a quick breath from the exertion afterwards due to the Bill Blaster's heavy weight.

The Crusaders all stared in shock at the now empty black base where the Bill Blaster once sat. "Sweet Celestia, we actually did it!" Scootaloo cried out. She broke out into victorious laughter as it fully sunk in. "We really just destroyed one of Bowser's Bill Blasters!"

"That was insane! Ah thought for sure something would go wrong and it would shoot at us, but somehow one of our plans didn't go completely wrong!" Apple Bloom cried out.

Sweetie Belle ran over and hugged Scootaloo tightly just as the pegasus filly had put both the scooter and helmet away. "I was so scared that thing would turn around and blast you off your scooter!" She exclaimed as she nuzzled her sister.

Scootaloo returned the hug and nuzzle. "Hey, come on, you know I wouldn't have let something like that happen," she said as she tried to comfort her little sister.

Spike went over to the Blaster's base and dug his hands underneath the metal. With a great big heave, he lifted the heavy material out of the ground. "Hey Sweetie Belle, do you think you can lift this in your magic?" He asked with a shaky voice as he held the base up.

Sweetie Belle separated from the hug and faced Spike. She lit her horn and wrapped her aura around the base in his hands, before she slowly and carefully lifted it further into the air. Spike stepped back from the base, before she quickly dropped it back down with a thud as she panted. "Yes, but it's very tiring," she said as she sat down and took deep breaths.

"Let's rest for a moment before we continue. Ah don't know about you, but Ah'm tired," Apple Bloom said as she sat down beside Sweetie Belle.

"That sounds like a good idea to me," Scootaloo said as she and Spike joined her.

The Crusaders took a few minutes to rest and recover after that scary battle. After several minutes, they got up and regrouped by the staircase the Bill Blaster seemed to have been guarding.

Apple Bloom looked back at the broken and shattered walls where the Bullet Bills had exploded and shuddered. "Ah sure hope we don't have to deal with any more nasty surprises like that in the future," Apple Bloom said. "Ah dread what'll happen if we get caught off guard by another one of those Bill Blasters."

Spike walked over to the edge of the island and looked down at the barely visible specks of debris down below. "I sure hope we don't get in trouble for littering," he joked in an attempt to lighten the mood.

They all laughed in response, which helped them fully calm down, before they started to climb the stone staircase.

Once they reached the top, the Crusaders climbed the ledges to their left, where they saw a strange-looking pair of flat, yellowish blocks that seemed to have eyes, floating slightly above a metal sheet of some sort that was bolted into the ground.

"What in the world are these?" Scootaloo asked as she stepped onto the one on the right.

"I don't know, they look kind of like platforms to me," Sweetie Belle said as she climbed onto the left one next to her sister.

The moment Sweetie Belle stepped on the block, they both let out a yelp as the blocks suddenly shot forward a ways into the open air, before they spread out a bit and stopped in midair.

"Woah! What's going on?!" Scootaloo shouted, startled by the sudden movement.

"Careful! We don't want to fall, we're pretty high up now," Sweetie Belle called out to her.

Scootaloo looked around to try and find a way to safely get off, when she noticed a familiar block floating above a stone pillar in front of them. "Sweetie! Look over there!" She cried out as her wings buzzed in excitement.

Sweetie Belle looked over and gasped when she saw the block as well. "Another Crusader Block!" She cried out as well. She then frowned and put a hoof to her chin. "But how do we get over there? We're already on these blocks, and they moved closer when we stepped on them, so maybe we can get these blocks to move somehow?" She suggested.

The two of them began to hit and pat the blocks in an attempt to get them to move, and when that didn't work, they tried to gesture instead, to the same results. Scootaloo slammed her forehooves onto the top of the block and let out a cry of frustration. "Gah! Why won't you move?!" She yelled, before she jumped up to stomp on it in her frustration.

The moment Scootaloo jumped into the air, the blocks curved forward in an arc, which surprised Sweetie Belle and forced Scootaloo to panic and flail as the block was no longer underneath her. "Sweetie Belle! Catch me!" Scootaloo cried as she fell past her sister.

"Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom, Spike, and Sweetie Belle cried out, before the unicorn lit her horn and wrapped her magic around Scootaloo. The pegasus filly's fall was slowed to a stop, before she was carefully lifted back onto the block she originally stood on, which was now directly next to the other block Sweetie Belle stood on.

Scootaloo reached over across the small gap between them and pulled her sister into a tight hug, who returned it. "Thank you, Sweetie Belle. I was not expecting the block to ditch me like that," she said, before she glared down at the block in question. "Stupid block!" She yelled as she stomped a hoof onto the block in anger.

Sweetie Belle gave her sister a squeeze, before she separated from the hug. "I'm just glad I could catch you. My magic is starting to feel a bit weak now, so I think I might be hitting magical exhaustion soon," she said.

Scootaloo winced. "Yikes, I'm glad that didn't happen while I was in the air. That would have sucked, and the impact would have been even worse," she quipped with a giggle.

Sweetie Belle glared at her sister as her mouth wobbled, before a giggle slipped out. "I'm glad too, Scootaloo. I doubt the distance would have been enough to really injure you, but I don't want to see you hurt at all."

Scootaloo smiled at her sister, before she turned back to the pillar. "Let's see if we can get over there. After that fall, I really want that block. Might as well get something out of that," she said with a shrug.

Sweetie Belle hummed as she thought out loud. "Well, when you jumped, the blocks both moved a bit. Maybe try another jump? Lower, this time," she suggested.

Scootaloo nodded, before she lightly jumped up. She fell back down onto the unmoved block. "Well, that didn't work," she said. "Maybe if you try jumping? There's two blocks, after all."

Sweetie Belle nodded, before she jumped up. The blocks curved forward again underneath her, and she managed to react fast enough to push herself towards the block's new position with her magic, where she landed and skidded across the top. She stopped herself just before she fell off the edge.

"You okay, Sweetie Belle?" Scootaloo called from her now farther away block.

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. More importantly, I've figured out these blocks-"

"They're called Bike Pads!" Spike called out from the ledge him and Apple Bloom were watching their friends from. "There's a sign right here that gives their name!"

"Thanks Spike!" Sweetie Belle called back, before she turned back to her sister. "As I was saying, I've figured out these Bike Pads. They work off jumping in an alternating pattern, and we just have to land back on them once they move!" She explained.

"Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Scootaloo cried out, before she jumped into the air. Once the block had finished its movement, she flapped her wings and pushed herself towards it again, where she landed on it safely.

The two alternated their jumps, with them each pushing themselves towards their respective block to land safely. Several jumps later, they finally reached the metal sheet on the edge of the pillar where the blocks parked themselves, and they were able to reach the Crusader Block they were after.

"I've been looking forward to this!" Scootaloo shouted as her wings buzzed in excitement.

Scootaloo jumped into the block from below, which bounced it to Sweetie Belle who had positioned herself where the arrow was pointing, and the block changed to a white color with a U. When Sweetie Belle hit it, it bounced back and changed to an orange color with a P. They bounced it back and forth to each other twice more, before on the fifth bounce it changed to a purple color with a D, and they groaned in disappointment.

"C'mon! We were having so much fun with it!" Scootaloo cried out.

"At least we got another four coins out of this, we're up to twenty-six now," Sweetie Belle tried to cheer up her friend with a shoulder hug.

They climbed back onto the blocks, before the two alternated their jumps once more until they were back with the others.

"Have fun with your Bike Pads?" Spike asked them.

"Yeah, lots once we figured them out," Scootaloo told him with a grin.

"Y'know, you could have just read this sign right here. It explains how they work and everything," Apple Bloom pointed out as she pointed a hoof at the sign right next to the Bike Pads.

"How did we miss that?" Sweetie Belle asked as she blushed bright red in embarrassment.

"I don't know but at least we had fun figuring them out ourselves," Scootaloo said, before she shrugged. "After you saved me, I mean. Falling wasn't fun," she added.

The Crusaders climbed back down the ledges and looked to their left at the next island over. Apple Bloom was the first to notice the rickety wooden bridge below them that led to the island at the bottom of the cliff they now stood on, which was a much longer distance than any of them had jumped down so far.

"Ah guess we have to go that way to find more coins, huh?" Apple Bloom said as she nervously approached the ledge. She hesitated, not really wanting to jump down that far onto solid rock, or deal with crossing yet another rickety bridge.

"I'll go first, and try to catch you so you don't have to fall quite so far," Spike said, before he climbed down the ledge by digging his claws into the stone wall and inching himself down. He climbed down this way until he reached the bottom, where he stepped back from the wall and spread his arms out. "Come on down, I'll catch you!" He called out.

Apple Bloom gulped, before she slowly inched as far down the ledge as she could without falling until only her hind hooves still held onto the top of the cliff. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, then let go and fell towards Spike, who caught her.

"Oof!" Spike grunted, before he set her down in front of the bridge. "All that muscle you've been building up lately has made you heavier than you look, Apple Bloom," he said, before he prepared to catch Sweetie Belle, who had decided to go next.

Once her sister was safely on the ground down below, Scootaloo backed up as far as she could from the ledge, before she ran forward and leapt off the cliff with her wings fully extended. She glided forward and bypassed the bridge entirely to land on the island beyond. She turned back and stuck her tongue out at her fellow Crusaders, before she giggled. "I didn't want to deal with the bridge, so I skipped it. Sorry not sorry," she said with a cheeky grin.

Scootaloo sat down and waited as her fellow Crusaders crossed the bridge. When they arrived, she stood up and rejoined them as they explored the island.

They quickly entered a fairly large, open area that had large staircases made of sandbags that led up to a rocky plateau. From the bottom of the improvised staircase they could see the tops of some large stone pillars over the edge of the sandbags.

"Well this sure looks different," Spike said.

"Ah wonder what these sandbags are here for?" Apple Bloom asked, curious.

"Maybe it's some sort of training area? It kind of reminds me of the skate park's practice area where my dad brought me to learn how to ride my scooter," Scootaloo said.

"They used sandbags for cushioning? While it's better than nothing, that still doesn't seem very safe," Spike questioned.

"It never really got much funding, so the ponies in charge of it couldn't really afford much safety equipment. Like I said, it was shut down about a year ago because of it," Scootaloo said, saddened by the memory.

"Well, since the old area isn't being used by anything, when we get back home, we'll build a new skatepark, for anypony to use!" Apple Bloom suggested to cheer Scootaloo up.

"I'm sure I could get Rarity to help design the decorations, make it look nice," Sweetie Belle offered.

"Maybe we could even get Pinkie Pie to host a grand opening party for it, get some ponies interested in it," Spike added.

"Thanks, Crusaders, this means a lot to me," Scootaloo said, hugging her friends.

Her friends hugged her back, before they broke off and climbed the sandbag staircase together. When they reached the top of the steps, they saw in front of them were three large metal barrels standing against a stone plateau they hadn't been able to see from below, each one too high to climb. Off to their left, they saw a sign, as well as another star-shaped metal hatch set in the ground, this one surrounded by large metal screws on five of its sides, in between each of the points of the star.

Curious, Spike walked up to the sign and read it aloud.

Stardust Fields Area 64

"Area 64?" Apple Bloom asked, confused.

"Maybe that's the name of the training grounds, if that's what this actually is?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "There are a bunch of other islands here that we can't get to, so maybe those have the other 63 on them," she added.

"Let's check out this hatch over here," Scootaloo said, before she walked onto it to inspect it.

The moment her hoof came down on the hatch, however, the Crusaders all felt a rumble in the ground. Scootaloo quickly moved backwards off the hatch, spooked. The hatch opened up with a mechanical whirring sound, and a strange, star covered white blob appeared as it slowly moved upwards. As it continued to rise, they realized that it was actually the top of someone's head, and as they kept moving upwards, they were seen to actually be standing on top of another person's head. They eventually came to a stop when the red moving platform they were stood on reached the hatch.

The two strangers each had very similar features, with the tops of their heads being fungus-shaped and white with different colored star patterns wrapped around them, red for the one on top, and green for the one below. They both wore black sunglasses with yellow rims, and had a bulbous nose reminiscent of the Fighter Flies. Their mouths were stretched wide with a large toothy grin, also similar to the Fighter Flies. The one with the red stars wore white and red overalls with blue straps, while the one with green stars instead wore a green jumpsuit with white buttons. The red one had white shoes, while the green one had white gloves instead. They both had light tan skin where it was visible.

The red one spoke up. "Sergeant Starshade! The clanging around we heard was trespassers! ...Perhaps! In the name of the Starshade Brothers, we will personally remove any trespassers from these lands!"

The green one, Sergeant Starshade, pulled out a telescope to get a closer look at the Crusaders, who quickly moved out of the scope's view.

"General Starshade! Sir! I have confirmed the presence of four unknown trespassers! They are a wide variety of colors that shock me to my core! One is a golden yellow, the second is a vivid orange, the third is a piercing white, and the last is a bright purple!"

The red one, General Starshade, pulls out a telescope of his own, looking around for the Crusaders, who quickly run from his scope's view as well with a quiet giggle.

"Hmm! Yes! Sighting confirmed! However, I see not yellow, orange, white, or purple, but red, magenta, a tasty looking swirl of pink and purple, and green! Urgent! Pursue additional visual contact immediately!"

The Starshade Bros. then put away their telescopes, before they ran around the area, still stacked on top of each other in search of the Crusaders. When they spotted them, they started to flail their arms up and down, before Sergeant Starshade held his arms up towards General Starshade, who had his arms held outwards. They then rapidly spun in place, which caused them to somehow fly up and hover in the air, before they then flew towards the Crusaders, who moved out of the way and caused the Starshade Brothers to crash into the nearby wall.

"What was that all about?" Spike asked, dumbfounded.

"Didn't Tolstar mention something about the Starshade Brothers?" Apple Bloom asked in confusion.

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, he said they helped him spar against my parents when they were here researching. Honestly, I kinda doubt these are the same Starshade Brothers considering what we just saw," she quipped with a snicker.

"I'm going to try talking to them," Sweetie Belle said as she headed towards the crashed Starshade Bros.

When Sweetie Belle reached where they had crashed against the wall, she cautiously called out to them. "Hello? We're not trying to trespass, we just need to get this letter we have to Queen Bean."

"And stop the evil witch Cackletta, who stole Princess Celestia's voice!" Spike added.

The dazed General Starshade looked at them from where he sat on the ground. When their words registered, he immediately jumped to his feet. "Letter to Queen Bean?! Evil witch Cackletta?! Stolen voice?! Sergeant Starshade! It looks as if we have made an error!"

Sergeant Starshade looked over at General Starshade once he'd stood back up. "Sir! We must recover the stolen voice, and get this letter delivered, no matter the cost!" He exclaimed with a salute.

General Starshade saluted back at Sergeant Starshade. "There is no other option, we must teach these four our secret techniques!"

Sergeant Starshade then looked back to the Crusaders. "But first! What are your names?" He asked with another salute.

"Ah'm Apple Bloom!" Apple Bloom told them.

"I'm Scootaloo!" Scootaloo introduced herself to them.

"Sweetie Belle!" Sweetie Belle said.

"And I'm Spike!" Spike said with a thumb pointed at his chest.

"And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, here to stop Cackletta from awakening the Dark Star!" The Crusaders all called out at once.

"The Dark Star?! This is more serious than we ever could have imagined! Sergeant Starshade! Take us to Training Grounds 114!" General Starshade called to his brother.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" Sergeant Starshade called back with yet another salute, before he clapped his hands together.

In a bright flash of light, the Crusaders and the Starshade Brothers were transported to a pair of floating islands far away from where they had been, to the point the Crusaders couldn't even see their original island. The islands were completely identical, and they had two ledges taller than the Crusaders could jump, as well as a rickety wooden bridge between the ledges that was slightly wider than the previous bridges had been. The Crusaders were together on one floating island, while the Starshade Brothers were on the other.

Dozens of other islands similar in structure but with various facilities and shapes floated nearby, each with a uniquely different yet completely unknown purpose.

Sergeant Starshade began to talk. "When you wish to jump to a ledge that's higher than you can climb, all you have to do is perform a High Jump. To perform a High Jump, you merely need to jump on top of each other like this," here Sergeant Starshade jumped on top of General Starshade, which completely flattened him. "Then you all need to jump together, like so!" And here, the Starshade Brothers jumped together, all the way up to the top of the ledge.

The Crusaders watched this with a horrified expression on their faces.

"You want us to do WHAT?!" They all cried out together.

"No way! I don't know how you did that, but we can't just be flattened and recover like it's nothing! That would kill us!" Scootaloo shouted, not liking the idea of squishing her friends.

The Starshade Brothers stared at the Crusaders. "Do you mean to tell us that you are unable to reinforce your own bodies with magic to perform these otherwise impossible feats?" General Starshade asked.

The Crusaders all shook their heads no. "We didn't even know that was a thing until you just told us about it," Scootaloo said.

"I'm still learning a lot about magic, but I've never heard of a spell that would make that sort of thing possible," Sweetie Belle said.

"My big sister is the Element of Magic, and she's never once come across anything like that in all her magical research over the years," Spike added.

"Isn't there some other way to do this 'High Jump'?" Apple Bloom asked.

General Starshade rubbed his chin, looking at the Crusaders. "Hmm... Maybe there is. Sergeant Starshade! Take us back to Area 64!"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" Sergeant Starshade called back, this time without a salute, before he clapped his hands together again.

With another bright flash of light, the Crusaders and the Starshade Brothers were transported back to where they had been in Area 64.

Sergeant Starshade then walked up to the Crusaders, before he picked each of them up and set them back down one at a time, to their shock.

"Wha- HEY! What are you doing?!" Scootaloo cried out, startled.

General Starshade then walked up to the Crusaders, crouched down, and inspected each of their legs.

"This is getting really weird, Crusaders," Sweetie Belle said, slightly creeped out.

The Starshade Brothers then stepped back. "You! Apple Bloom! Stand in front of the barrels on your hind legs! Then point your forelegs straight up!" General Starshade called out to Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom gave him a look of confusion, then walked over and stood up on her hind legs with her forelegs pointed up like he asked.

"You! Sweetie Belle! Climb up on Apple Bloom's forelegs and stand on your hind legs!" Sergeant Starshade called to Sweetie Belle.

Also giving him a look of confusion, Sweetie Belle did as he asked.

"Now! Both of you crouch down low, and JUMP!" Both Starshade Brothers called to them.

Realizing what they were asking them to do, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle both crouched down, and then jumped with all their might, completely clearing and landing on top of the barrels.

"Whoa! That was awesome! How'd you know that would work?" Scootaloo called out, surprised by it working.

"We checked to see which of you weighed the least, and then checked who had the best leg muscles, and then paired the two up like so!" Sergeant Starshade told her.

"Fear not about being left behind, you two should also be able to perform this technique together, albeit less effectively due to differing weights and strengths," General Starshade told Scootaloo and Spike. He then snapped a finger towards them both. "But now it's time to learn the Spin Jump!" He announced.

"But first, join your friends up on the barrels!" Sergeant Starshade requested.

Scootaloo and Spike walked over to the same ledge as Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, before Scootaloo moved into the High Jump position first. "You're lighter than I am, so I'll be on the bottom," she said.

Spike nodded, before he hopped up onto Scootaloo's hooves. They wobbled in place for a second as his landing threw off their balance, but they were able to recover quickly. Scootaloo and Spike then crouched down, and then with a buzz of Scootaloo's wings to assist, they leapt up with all their strength onto the ledge where the others had waited and watched.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle clopped their hooves in applause, but stopped quickly and covered their ears when the clanging of the barrels hurt them. "That wasn't our best idea," Apple Bloom bemoaned.

Once the ringing in their own ears had faded, the Starshade Brothers High Jumped onto the barrels as well. They ran over to and stopped in front of a pair of metal barrels that rested along the edge of the island beside a tall pillar of stone. To the left of the Crusaders, who were still on the first barrels, was another, larger pillar of stone that the Starshade Brothers had crashed into earlier. There was a gap between the two pillars that did not appear jumpable to the Crusaders, outside of Scootaloo's glide.

Sergeant Starshade then pointed at Spike. "You! Spike! Stand over here and hold your claws up!" He called out with a finger pointed at a cracked yellow star on the ground in front of himself.

Spike ran over to where the Sergeant Starshade had indicated and held his claws upwards.

General Starshade then pointed at Scootaloo. "You! Scootaloo! Climb on top of his claws, carefully so as to not injure yourself, and then hold your forelegs out to your sides, like this!" He called out, before he demonstrated the pose in question, his hands curled into fists to better resemble her hooves.

Scootaloo nodded, before she did as he said, making sure to not scratch herself on Spike's sharp claws in the process.

"Now! You must both spin rapidly in place, while Scootaloo flaps her wings as hard as she can!" Sergeant Starshade called out to them.

Scootaloo and Spike then began to spin quickly in place while Scootaloo flapped her wings as hard as she could. To the utter astonishment of both them and their fellow Crusaders, the two of them actually took off into the air at a low hover, before they landed back down on the ground a few seconds later, slightly dizzy.

"Now that you know our secret techniques, your goal is to reach that flag all the way up there!" General Starshade said as he pointed at a barely visible flag that stood at the top of the tallest stone plateau above them.

"It does not matter how long it takes you to do so, as long as you get there using our techniques!" Sergeant Starshade said.

Once they had recovered from their dizziness, Scootaloo and Spike headed over to the metal barrels, followed by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then performed another High Jump to get on top of the barrels, followed by Scootaloo and Spike who did the same. They then did it again for the stone platform next to them, before Scootaloo and Spike performed a Spin Jump to cross the gap.

"Hmm..." Apple Bloom hummed in thought as she stared at where Scootaloo and Spike had landed. "How are going to get across that gap? Neither of us have wings like Scootaloo does."

Sweetie Belle subconsciously tilted her head and stuck out her tongue as she focused intently. Apple Bloom noticed this and let out a giggle, which startled Sweetie Belle out of her thoughts. "What? Do I have something on my face?" She asked.

Apple Bloom shook her head with another giggle. "No, you just had a really silly expression just now. It looked like this," Apple Bloom said, before she imitated Sweetie Belle's 'lost in deep thought' face.

Sweetie Belle let out a laugh. "Okay, I see why it was funny. But I figured out how we can get across, so it worked out. Let's set up a High Jump, then we'll spin like they do. I'll take it from there," she explained.

The two then did as she said, and when they spun, they slightly rose up into the air, although not as high as Scootaloo and Spike did, before Sweetie Belle used her magic to shove them in the direction of the platform they needed to reach.

They landed down on the platform with their fellow Crusaders, who gave them a hoof bump and fist bump from Scootaloo and Spike, respectively. "Nice! Might need to work on the height of your Spin Jumps so that you don't catch your hooves on any ledges, but that should be good enough for now," Scootaloo praised with a grin.

They then looked up at where the flag was to figure out where they needed to go next, and they saw that the ledge where the flag sat was across a gap from the ledge next to them that was too high to reach without a High Jump, so they quickly set up and performed said technique to reach the ledge above. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle jumped first, followed by Scootaloo and Spike, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ready to catch them if necessary.

They gave each other a celebratory hoof bump and one fist bump, before Spike spotted a floating block nearby and hit it. He caught the Mushroom that fell out and gave it to Scootaloo to keep with the other Mushroom she found earlier.

Afterwards, the two then performed another Spin Jump to cross the final gap that led to the flag, before Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle performed their own magic-powered Spin Jump to land next to them. The moment they touched down, a loud chime rang out from the base of the flag that startled the four of them.

General Starshade saluted the Crusaders from the ground below. "Hmm... Incredible! You truly are super Crusaders! I salute you!" He called up to them.

Sergeant Starshade then saluted them as well. "You have perfectly mastered the High Jump and Spin Jump, even going beyond what we taught you!"

General Starshade then jumped on top of Sergeant Starshade, before the two stepped on top of the red metal platform that previously carried them up to the star hatch.

General Starshade then called out to the Crusaders once more. "Crusaders! May your mission be successful! Good luck out there!"

The Starshade Brothers then both saluted one final time. "Move OUT!!!"

The metal platform then lowered down, and the star hatch closed as they fully disappeared below the surface.

The Crusaders waved goodbye to the Starshade Brothers as they disappeared, before the four of them climbed down the ledge next to the flag onto some metal barrels. They then jumped down off the barrels and walked over to the block they first noticed from the flag plateau.

Scootaloo jumped up and smacked the block from below with a hoof and caught the jar of orange liquid that flew out. She then opened the jar and smelled it curiously, before she quickly pulled her head back in shock. "Wow, that's a strong smell. Is-is this Syrup? Why is Syrup in a block?" She asked in confusion.

"Maybe it's for the Mushrooms? It's worth a shot next time we need to eat a Mushroom," Apple Bloom suggested with a shrug. "Worst case, it tastes terrible and we never do it again."

Scootaloo shrugged as well, before she closed and put away the jar of Syrup in her saddlebags. The four of them walked up to the edge of their platform and peeked over the ledge back down to the ground where they first saw the sandbags.

"I am not willing to jump that far down, that would hurt way too much," Scootaloo said as she backed away from the ledge. "I'll just glide down once you've all made it safely first," she said.

"I'll climb down first again, since my claws can just dig into the walls here," Spike said, before he did exactly that until he was at the bottom. He spread his arms out to catch whoever came down next, before he thought better of it and shook his head. "I'm not going to try and catch you this time, that fall is way too far for you to not get hurt anyways. I'll just stand back and give you girls room to handle this," he said as he backed away.

The fillies looked over the ledge as they thought for a moment, before Sweetie Belle nodded her head. "Okay, I know what we need to do. Apple Bloom, I'll lower you down with my magic, then I'll do the same for myself, and then Scootaloo can glide down," she explained, before she lit her horn and grabbed Apple Bloom in her magic.

As Sweetie Belle began to lower Apple Bloom down to the ground below, Scootaloo raised a hoof and spoke up. "Didn't you say earlier that you thought you might be nearing magical exhaustion?" She asked.

Sweetie Belle ignored the question until Apple Bloom was on her hooves down below. She panted a bit, before she nodded her head and responded. "Yeah, I don't think I can actually lower myself down right now. Think we can Spin Jump back the way we came?" She asked.

Scootaloo nodded, but held up a hoof to stop Sweetie Belle. "We could do that, or we could test out my new idea," she said as she dug through her saddlebag and pulled out the Syrup.

As Scootaloo unscrewed the jar lid, Sweetie Belle groaned. "Oh no, don't tell me you want me to drink that," she complained.

Scootaloo nodded. "The Mushroom earlier healed my hoof injury, and I know that potions to restore magic reserves exist thanks to Zecora teaching us about them last month, so I think it's worth a shot. Like Apple Bloom said, worst case it tastes awful and doesn't work, so we never do it again and go back the way we came," she said.

Sweetie Belle took the jar in her hooves and grimaced as the smell hit her nose. She gulped nervously. "Well, bottom's up, I guess," she said, before she put the rim to her lips and took a sip. She immediately gagged and began to cough as the taste hit her tongue. "Oh, that is WAY too sweet! It reminds me of some of Pinkie's most sugary confections, the kind that make even her think twice about eating them," she said as she coughed on the taste and fumes.

"So it didn't work then?" Scootaloo asked as she moved to take the jar away from her sister. To her surprise, Sweetie Belle shook her head.

"That's the worst part, it did," she whispered in dread. "I could feel some of my magic coming back as I swallowed the sip down. Which means I have to drink this entire jar to fully restore my magic reserves," she said, before she put the jar to her lips and drank.

Scootaloo grimaced as she watched her sister struggle to drink the entire jar of Syrup down in one go. "I'm really glad that I'll never have to drink one of those down. That looks miserable."

Once Sweetie Belle pulled the now empty jar away in her saddlebag, she heaved for a moment as if she was about to throw up, but managed to hold it back. "Priority number one while on this journey, find a way to make those not quite so terribad," she wheezed out.

Scootaloo snickered. "'Terribad'? What's that supposed to mean?"

Sweetie Belle blushed. "I heard Pinkie say it once back during the 'baked bads' incident, and she said that it was 'terrible' and 'bad' combined into one word. She does that a lot, and some of them definitely sound better than others," she explained. She then got up and shook her head. "Alright, I'll lower myself down, then you can go," she said, before she wrapped herself in her own aura, closed her eyes, and carefully focused as she lifted herself off the cliff and down to the ground below.

Once Sweetie Belle landed safely, Apple Bloom and Spike let out a cheer. "That was really impressive, Sweetie Belle!" Spike congratulated.

Sweetie Belle wobbled a bit, before she shook her head and opened her eyes. "That was much more intense than when I lowered you down, Apple Bloom," she said.

Apple Bloom was about to respond, but paused and looked up when she noticed Scootaloo gliding overhead. "Here comes Scootaloo!" She cried out with a hoof pointed up at her pegasus friend. "And- is that a block up there?" She asked with a hoof pointed at the block in question.

The trio watched as Scootaloo glided towards the block and hit it with a hoof in midair. She positioned herself to catch the jar of Syrup that popped out in her saddlebag that she held open with a hoof, before she lazily circled her way down to the ground, where she tucked her wings in after she landed. "That's so much fun! I'm really glad Rainbow Dash taught me that trick," she beamed happily.

Now together again on the main level, they headed towards the zigzagging narrow path to the next island and carefully traversed it. When they reached the rickety bridge at the end of the path that connected the two islands, they all unknowingly rolled their eyes at the same time, before they crossed it to the island beyond.

The east side of the island had multiple sandbag staircases that went all the way to the edge of the island. Three large stone pillars stood at various points along the staircases, with a large wall of stone that blocked off the north edge of the island. On the west side was a tall wall of stone where two metal barrels stood beside each other next to another tall pillar of stone.

The very first thing they noticed was that the island was heavily infested with more monsters than they had encountered at any one time in a single area. Three Fighter Flies were hopping around on the massive staircases that led to various stone pillars higher up on the island, while four Bill Blasters stood sentry on the three stone pillars and the stone wall.

The Crusaders immediately ducked behind a nearby pillar away from the monsters. "Why are there so many monsters here?!" Scootaloo whisper-yelled in a panic, her eyes wide.

"Maybe this is where the Fighter Flies build some of their nests?" Sweetie Belle suggested. "But that doesn't explain the Bill Blasters being here..."

"Ah don't really care why they are here, Ah just don't want to be blasted to pieces by a living cannon," Apple Bloom said.

"Scootaloo and I can pretty easily take out the Fighter Flies and get their coins without the blasters spotting us, however they do that, but we'll all need to work together to take out the Bill Blasters," Spike said as he positioned himself to sprint.

Scootaloo understood what he meant and pulled out her scooter and helmet. After she strapped on her helmet, she climbed on the scooter and prepared to take off. Spike held out his hand with all four fingers outstretched, before he slowly lowered them one at a time. When the last finger went down, both he and Scootaloo burst out of cover towards the nearest Fighter Fly.

Spike punched the Fighter Fly in the face to knock it out as Scootaloo sped passed towards the next Fighter Fly, which she rammed into and knocked backwards into one of the stone pillars. The Bill Blaster on top of the pillar rocked back and forth slightly from the impact, before it spun one of its openings towards the exposed Spike.

As the Bill Blaster swelled up to fire, a Fighter Fly wrapped in a green aura was suddenly lodged into the opening, which caused it to backfire and explode both itself and the Fighter Fly. The too-large insect was launched out covered in soot, and it landed unconscious with a thud right next to the startled Spike. He looked over towards Sweetie Belle, who grinned excitedly at him as Apple Bloom ran out of cover towards the third and final Fighter Fly. "You're welcome, Spike!" Sweetie Belle called out.

Spike sent a thumbs up her way, before he grabbed the four coins the Fighter Fly spat out and chucked them towards Sweetie Belle, who caught them in her magic and dropped them into her saddlebag. "Thirty-eight coins down!" She cheered, before she jumped away to avoid a Bullet Bill that had been fired at her from one of the other Bill Blasters that had noticed her. The Bullet Bill exploded and the shockwave sent her flying towards Spike, who caught her with a grunt.

He set her down on her hooves next to him. "Thanks Spike," Sweetie Belle said.

Spike patted her back once, before the two ran up the nearest staircase and set up a High Jump with Sweetie Belle supporting Spike. Once on the ledge, they dodged to the side to avoid another Bullet Bill fired at them by the Bill Blaster.

Sweetie Belle noticed something glimmer and shine underneath the Bill Blaster on its base, so she lit up her horn and pulled whatever it was out. She let out a cheer when she saw the mass of glittering coins. "Wow! I think I figured out where the Fighter Flies are storing some of the coins they steal! There's ten right here!" She cried out as she put them into her saddlebag. She heard a loud bang and let out a yelp as she instinctively grabbed at the large grinning Bullet Bill just before it hit her. The living bullet grinned at her as she held it in her magic, before she spun it around and launched it back to the blaster. She ducked down and covered her head as the Bullet Bill exploded the Bill Blaster and sent metal debris scattering across the island.

Spike stared at Sweetie Belle in shock as she uncovered her head and looked up. "Woah. That. Was. AWESOME! I don't know what I was expecting, but it sure wasn't THAT!" He cried out ecstatically.

Sweetie Belle panted as she stared at the smoking remains of the Bill Blaster in shock. "Did... did I do that?" She whispered to herself once the adrenaline had died down.

Spike grabbed her and threw them both off the ledge just as a different Bill Blaster fired a Bullet Bill at the spot they just vacated. "Freak out later, we're in the middle of a battle right now!" He told her once they had ducked behind a wall for cover. Once Apple Bloom and Scootaloo joined them after dealing with the Fighter Flies, he held his hand out towards Scootaloo. "Tag in! I want an actual shot at a Blaster," Spike said.

Scootaloo stopped and met his fist with her own hoof. "You got it, Spike. I'll wait here with Sweetie Belle," she said as she climbed off her scooter next to her sister. She dug through her saddlebag and pulled out three coins, which she gave to Sweetie Belle. "Here, from the Fighter Fly I knocked out."

Sweetie Belle took the coins and dropped them into her saddlebag while Apple Bloom sat down nearby and used the moment's respite to catch her breath. "That's fifty-one with the ten I found. We're more than halfway there now!" She cheered. The other Crusaders let out a cheer of their own in celebration.

"Ah also found a Mushroom one of the Fighter Flies spat out," Apple Bloom announced as she pulled said Mushroom out of her saddlebag. Without prompting, Sweetie Belle cast 'Cleanse' on it to clean it. "Thanks," Apple Bloom thanked her friend as she put the Mushroom away.

A moment later, once the Crusaders were sure the Bill Blasters couldn't see their current location, Apple Bloom stood back up once more. Spike noticed and joined her. "Alright, we'll handle the next two Bill Blasters now!" Apple Bloom cried out as she and Spike ran up the stairs towards the ledges with the remaining Bill Blasters.

They quickly High Jumped up to the first ledge with a Bill Blaster. Apple Bloom grinned when she noticed the ledge she was on was level with another ledge that had a Bill Blaster on it. She quickly positioned herself in between the Bill Blaster and the one on the next ledge over while Spike made sure to remain at the Bill Blaster's side so he wouldn't be targeted. "Hey you rusted tin can! Blast me, Ah know you can't!" She taunted, before she stuck out her tongue and pulled one eyelid down.

Apple Bloom waited until the Bill Blaster in front of her swelled up, before she jumped over the Bullet Bill it fired out and landed on top of the Bill Blaster with a clang. She held a hoof over her eyes as if to block out the currently not present sun as she watched the Bullet Bill collide with the other Bill Blaster and explode. Both the Bullet Bill and the Bill Blaster were destroyed in the explosion, which scattered even more metal debris around the area. She looked down over the edge of the blaster and grinned into the opening. "Not very smart, are you?" She taunted, before she hopped off. "Your turn, Spike!" She called out as she jumped off the ledge and onto the sandbags below.

Spike ran up to the Bill Blaster and swiped at the metal hinge on its side. His claws scored a cut in the metal, but failed to completely slice through. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and ran around the Bill Blaster as it turned towards him. "Time to test if these things really can swivel vertically," he muttered quietly to himself as an idea struck, before he stopped and let the Bill Blaster face him.

The moment it swelled up to fire, he grabbed onto the lower rim and heaved upwards as hard as he could. "Graaahhhh!" He yelled out in exertion as he forced the Bill Blaster to aim straight up. Not even a second later, the Bill Blaster fired its Bullet Bill straight into the air above it as Spike jumped back and leapt off the pillar. He ducked down beside the other Crusaders and covered his ears. The fillies followed his example and covered their own ears.

The Crusaders waited for several minutes where nothing happened. Almost ten minutes after Spike covered his ears, a loud explosion echoed throughout the island as more debris was sent flying off the pillar. The Crusaders uncovered their ears as the fillies looked to Spike questioningly. He shrugged. "I flipped the blaster so it pointed straight up, and it just blew itself up," he explained with a snicker. "It sure did take a while to land, though. I actually started to think it just wasn't coming back down," he said through his laughter.

The fillies joined his laughter, and the four laughed for a few moments. Once they finally calmed down, Sweetie Belle turned to Apple Bloom. "Did you and Spike take care of the remaining Fighter Fly?" She asked.

Apple Bloom reached into her saddlebag and pulled out five coins. "Does this answer your question?" She asked with a smirk.

Sweetie Belle took the coins in her magic and added them into her saddlebags. "And that makes fifty-six now!" She cheered in excitement. "We're getting there really quickly now!" She added with an excited grin.

"All that's left now is to deal with the last Bill Blaster, otherwise it'll shoot us as we're trying to climb up that ledge," Spike said as he pointed towards the ledge in question.

"I haven't gotten the chance to deal with one of these Bill Blasters myself, so I'll handle this one," Scootaloo said as she prepared to scoot away on her scooter. "And no, Sweetie Belle saving me doesn't count."

"Be careful, I don't want to have to explain to Rarity and Rainbow Dash how you got blown into bits because you decided to do something reckless," Sweetie Belle said, before she shrugged. "Well, more reckless than normal, I mean."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Hardy har har. I'm reckless, but I'm not stupid. I'll be fine," she said with a cocky smirk, before she buzzed her wings and took off towards the pillar where the last Bill Blaster still stood sentinel over the area.

As Scootaloo left, Apple Bloom turned towards Sweetie Belle and Spike. "You know, these Bill Blasters aren't as big of a threat as Ah'd thought they'd be. Ah thought each one would take all four of us to deal with, and yet here we are, with each of us having taken out one each on our own," she said.

Sweetie Belle looked towards Scootaloo with concern in her eyes. "I trust Scootaloo, but I really hope this Bill Blaster doesn't decide to break our current streak on this island and actually pose a threat."

The pegasus filly carefully scootered her way up the bumpy staircase, where at the top she looked around the area. She spotted a higher pillar from the Bill Blaster and scootered over to it. Once there, she put her helmet and scooter away in her saddlebag, before she crouched down and sprang upwards as hard as she could with a powerful and rapid buzz of her wings. She grasped onto the ledge with her hooves and scrambled on top, before she crept over to the ledge above the Bill Blaster. She crouched down and leapt towards the Bill Blaster, which she landed on with a loud clang.

As the Bill Blaster spun around in an attempt to throw her off, Scootaloo held on tightly with her hooves. "How am I going to deal with this thing?" She asked herself. "I didn't really think this part through," she admitted to herself.

As the Bill Blaster continued to spin in the same direction, Scootaloo noticed something different. 'Is this thing unscrewing itself?' She thought to herself. She broke out into a wide grin as the Bill Blaster started to wobble.

A few spins later, Scootaloo leapt off as the Bill Blaster fell onto its side, fully unscrewed from its base. She barked out a laugh. "And to think we actually thought you idiots were a threat a few minutes ago!" She cried out through her laughter.

The Bill Blaster swelled up and fired out a Bullet Bill that flew out over the island. Scootaloo continued to laugh, but stopped the instant she noticed the Bullet Bill had turned to fly towards her. "Uh oh, that's not good," she said as she dodged away from the Bullet Bill, which was bright red and had a visibly angrier expression than all the previous ones.

When the Bullet Bill turned back towards Scootaloo again, she moved next to the Bill Blaster, where she stopped and waited, ready to move. Just before the Bullet Bill reached her, she spun around and jumped over the Bill Blaster, at which point the Bullet Bill collided with the Bill Blaster and blew it up in an cloud of metal debris.

The shockwave of the explosion rammed into Scootaloo and flung her off the pillar onto the ground below. She let out a cry of pain as she landed on her side.

"Scootaloo!" Her fellow Crusaders cried out as they ran over to her. They gasped as they saw that Scootaloo's body had been sliced up a bit by the shrapnel, which had left bloody streaks in her coat.

Sweetie Belle reached her sister's scratched and bloody side first, where she opened up her sister's saddlebag and pulled out a Mushroom.

"Don't try to move, just eat this," Sweetie Belle said, before she floated the Mushroom to Scootaloo's mouth.

Scootaloo let out a whimper of pain, before she took a bite out of the Mushroom and slowly chewed it. The moment she swallowed, she let out a sigh of relief as the thankfully shallow wounds on her body all closed up. "Aah... that's much better," she said, before she stood up and stretched her wings out. She flapped them a few times and nodded, before she tucked them back against her sides. "Thanks, sis. I don't really want to know how bad that was, but thankfully it's not hurting anymore, so that's good enough for me!" She cried out with a grin.

The other Crusaders immediately pulled her into a group hug. "When we heard you cry out like that, we were so worried!" Apple Bloom said with a sniffle.

"Please stop getting hurt, Scootaloo! We've been here for only a few hours at most and you've managed to get badly hurt twice already!" Sweetie Belle pleaded.

Scootaloo let out a laugh as she returned the hug. "Heh, I can't exactly guarantee that I won't get hurt again, but I'll do my best to not do anything that would get me hurt on purpose," she said.

A moment later, the Crusaders broke up the hug. "By the way, while I was up there on that top ledge, I saw a Crusader Block up there," Scootaloo said as she pointed up towards the tallest ledge next to them. "The two areas are actually level with each other, so we can reach them with a Spin Jump. And not only that, but I saw a path on that lower ledge with the barrels we'll be able to reach from the block."

"Sounds good to me!" Spike exclaimed as the group climbed up the sandbags.

The four High Jumped up the first ledge in pairs, before they made their way towards the edge. Along the way, the saw two floating ? Blocks on the ledge. Apple Bloom hit the first one, which gave her a single coin that she hoofed over to Sweetie Belle. Sweetie Belle then hit the second block and caught the Syrup that popped out. She stuck her tongue out at it before she put it away in her saddlebag, which elicited a gaggle of giggles from the other Crusaders.

Once Scootaloo had finished laughing, she noticed a block they had missed on one of the ledges that a Bill Blaster had been on. "One second, let me go get that really quickly," she said, before she jumped off the ledge and glided over to the block. She jumped up and hit it six times for six coins, which she put away in her saddlebag before she jumped down and headed back to where her fellow Crusaders were waiting. She jumped up the ledge like she did before and gave her sister the six coins. "Here you go. Worth it to get that block, wasn't it?" She said with a satisfied grin.

Sweetie Belle placed the coins in her saddlebag. "Sixty-three coins now. Less than forty to go before we can pay the toll and get out of here."

When the Crusaders reached the edge, they split into two pairs and Spin Jumped across. Once they were all ready, Apple Bloom hit the block to start it off. They managed to get eight coins out of it before it turned brown, which Sweetie Belle slipped into her saddlebag. "Seventy-one now. These Crusader blocks are by far the best source of coins we've seen yet. They give a lot each time, and there's no chance of, say, being blown to smithereens," she said with a pointed look towards the still smoking remains of each of the Bill Blasters.

The Crusaders climbed down the cliff next to them onto the barrels they had seen from below, and from there they climbed down further and sighed as they saw the path across the gap between the islands was yet another rickety wooden bridge. With careful steps, they made their way across the bridge and let out a sigh of relief when they set hoof and foot on solid ground once more.

On the other side of the bridge was a small floating island that only had two stone pillars, another rickety wooden bridge on the other side, and another star hatch in between the two stone pillars identical to the one where they initially met the Starshade Brothers. Before the Crusaders got very far across the island, they were stopped by a familiar loud voice that came from beneath the hatch.

"Crusaders!"

They walked over to the hatch to see what was going on. The hatch opened up and General Starshade rose out of it in a salute. "This is an emotional reunion, Crusaders!" He cried out in greeting once he'd stopped his ascent.

"But it hasn't even been an hour yet," Spike whispered to his fellow Crusaders, who giggled.

General Starshade then ascended further, which revealed he was stood on top of Sergeant Starshade once again, who stopped his own ascension with just his top half visible. Sergeant Starshade saluted the Crusaders. "By your leave, there is one more thing we com-PLETELY forgot to teach you earlier!"

Sergeant Starshade then lowered back down as General Starshade called out. "Affirmative! Now that you know the High Jump and Spin Jump, you can also use powerful variants of them for combat!"

Sergeant Starshade then rose back up. "These will be very valuable tools for you to use against your foes!"

General Starshade lowered back down to eye-level again. "We will now train you in this battle technique!"

The Starshade Brothers then rose up again, followed by a tower of six carefully stacked Fighter Flies that they had been standing on top of the entire time, to the Crusaders astounded horror. Once their ascension had finished, the militaristic toad duo initiated a Spin Jump and lowered themselves into the stack of Fighter Flies one at a time. Each time they made contact with a Fighter Fly, it was sent spinning off to one of Stardust Fields' various floating islands.

When the Starshade Brothers flew into the final Fighter Fly, it was launched straight towards the shocked Crusaders, who were bowled over by it as they failed to react in time. As they got up, they realized the Fighter Fly wasn't real, but rather a patchwork dummy with sloppily sewn seams and stuffing sticking out of various holes in its lumpy body.

General Starshade jumped off his brother's head and rushed over to the dummy. He pulled out a wooden stake and some rope from his pockets and quickly tied the dummy to it. Once finished, he stepped back a few feet and made room for Sergeant Starshade, who had already placed a large X on the ground using a roll of red tape he pulled out of his own pocket. He then pulled out a roll of yellow tape and made a second X between the first one and the dummy.

"To start this training session off, we shall now perform the techniques we intend to teach you, before you perform them yourselves," General Starshade said as he and Sergeant Starshade marched over to the Xs.

Sergeant Starshade stepped in front of General Starshade and held his arms up. "The first technique is one we call 'Splash Bros.', although we recommend you come with your own name for it at a later time. To start with, this is for Scootaloo and Spike to learn, as Scootaloo is the most capable of flight among you," General Starshade began. "Now, watch closely."

General Starshade then jumped onto Sergeant Starshade's hands, before Sergeant Starshade twisted his arms and spun his brother into the air. As General Starshade flew towards the dummy, Sergeant Starshade ran onto the X, and when his brother was overhead, he jumped up and grabbed onto his legs. The duo then flew over the dummy, flipped over in midair as General Starshade raised his arms up, and came down hard hands-first on the dummy's head. The resulting force squished the dummy flat as the Toad duo bounced back towards their original positions, where they turned towards the awestruck Crusaders.

"And that is how the Splash Bros. technique is performed! Any questions?" General Starshade asked as the dummy reinflated itself.

Scootaloo thought for a moment, before she shook her head. "No, actually. I think I know how we're going to do this. Let's go, Spike!" She called to her friend, before the two took their positions where General Starshade indicated.

"Ah really hope this goes well," Apple Bloom said nervously. Sweetie Belle nodded in agreement beside her as they watched on.

Scootaloo stood behind the X as Spike stood on it and held his arms up. She took a deep breath to focus, before she leapt onto Spike's hands. The drake then twisted his arms just like Sergeant Starshade had and launched Scootaloo into the air with a forceful spin. As Scootaloo flew towards the dummy, Spike quickly ran to the yellow X, and when she was overhead, he jumped up and grabbed onto her legs, being careful to not scratch her with his sharp claws. The pegasus and dragon duo then flew over to the dummy, where Spike called out to Scootaloo, "Now!"

The moment she heard him, she strained to flip them over like the Starshade Brothers had as Spike swung upwards to help with his momentum. Once upside down, Spike pushed down as Scootaloo flapped her wings as hard as she could with her hooves pointed towards the dummy to send them towards it, at which point they made contact with its head and squished it. They then separated and fell sideways onto the ground, the duo lacking the years of experience the Starshade Brothers had built up.

The Starshade Brothers both clapped once the duo had finished. "Bravo! For a first attempt, that was nothing short of excellent!" General Starshade exclaimed.

"Once you've mastered the dismount at the end, performing this move will be as easy as breathing!" Sergeant Starshade added.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ran up to the dizzy and dazed Scootaloo and Spike and helped them stand up as the dummy reinflated again. "That was so cool!" Apple Bloom shouted. "Ah'm sure that whatever you use that against won't stand a chance!"

Scootaloo held a hoof to her head as she recovered. "We definitely need to practice more, though. That made me very dizzy," she said woozily.

"Think they'll let us borrow that dummy once we're done here?" Spike asked after he'd recovered.

"Affirmative!" Sergeant Starshade called out, which startled the Crusaders. "We have many training dummies, so as such lending a few to you for practice will be no issue at all!"

"In the meantime, however," General Starshade began. "Clear away from the Xs so we can move on to the next technique, please!"

The Crusaders stepped back and got ready to watch once more.

Sergeant Starshade turned towards the Crusaders. "This next technique is called 'Bounce Bros.', although again we suggest you come up with your own name for it. Watch closely now," he said, before General Starshade stepped onto the red X and held his arms up.

Sergeant Starshade then jumped onto his brother's arms and bounced towards the dummy. General Starshade ran after him, leapt into the air and grabbed onto his brother's legs once they were over the dummy, at which point they flipped in midair and came down head first with Sergeant Starshade's arms outstretched. The dummy was squished flat once more as they bounced back to their original positions.

"Woah..." The Crusaders whispered in awe as the Starshade Brothers dusted themselves off.

Sergeant Starshade turned to the Crusaders. "Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, this technique is yours to perform. Come over to the starting position and perform it to the best of your abilities!" He cried out with a salute.

As the fillies walked over to the Xs, Sweetie Belle leaned over to Apple Bloom. "I have a plan to be able to copy what they did without sending me flying off the edge," she whispered.

Apple Bloom nodded and listened carefully as Sweetie Belle whispered the plan to her. She grinned at the end and nodded, before they split up and got ready.

Apple Bloom stepped onto the red X and stood on her hindlegs with her forelegs held up. Sweetie Belle positioned herself behind her friend and took a deep breath, mirroring her sister in the process. The unicorn then ran towards Apple Bloom and hopped onto her forelegs with a running start, before she immediately used her momentum to bounce toward the dummy. Apple Bloom fell back to all fours and ran towards the dummy, and when she saw Sweetie Belle was in position above the dummy, her magic aura surrounding her as she kept herself in position, she leapt into the air and wrapped her forelegs around her waist. Sweetie Belle then strategically used her magic to flip them over in midair, at which point she stuck out her hooves as the duo slammed into the dummy at full force. Sweetie Belle used a combination of magic and pushing backwards to bounce herself and Apple Bloom back to the starting position, where they landed off balance but on their hooves.

The Starshade Brothers clapped excitedly once more as the fillies wobbled in place a bit. "Bravo! Bravo!" Sergeant Starshade cheered.

"That was a most excellent use of magic to enhance the technique! We are both deeply impressed!" General Starshade praised.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle panted as Scootaloo and Spike ran up to them. "Thanks, that was a lot of fun!" Apple Bloom panted. The faint sound of mechanical whirs rang out behind them, which were ignored in favor of each other.

"That used up quite a bit of my magic, but it was definitely worth it," Sweetie Belle added.

"That looked like a lot of fun, I wonder if we could do it too?" Spike asked as he glanced towards Scootaloo, who shrugged.

"Once I truly learn to fly, yeah, definitely. But until then, I think we should leave it to them," Scootaloo said as more mechanical whirring sounded out.

The Starshade Brothers walked up to the celebrating Crusaders and saluted. "You have now started down the path to mastering these two powerful techniques. Through practice and experience, we foresee you mastering them both, and perhaps one day, even improving upon them in ways we never could!" General Starshade praised.

"To assist you on this path, take these dummies with you," Sergeant Starshade added as he dropped the Fighter Fly shaped dummies the Crusaders hadn't noticed him carrying in his arms. The dummies spilled out across the ground as the Starshade Brothers stepped back onto the star platform.

General Starshade hopped on top of Sergeant Starshade's head and they both saluted. "With proper planning and careful preparation, your safety will be ensured throughout the long journey ahead of you! We wish you luck on your future endeavors! MOVE OUT!!!" They both shouted together, before the two started to descend back to where they came from.

Before they left completely, Sweetie Belle gasped and called out to them. "Wait! We forgot to mention, the border guards asked us to tell you that they would like it if you dropped by every once in a while. They want to see you more often and get rather lonely at the checkpoint building," she told them.

"We will visit them later today!" General Starshade promised.

"We have been meaning to check up on them for a while now anyways, but we were distracted by an infestation of Fighter Flies within our base," Sergeant Starshade added, to which the Crusaders collectively winced. "That is why you saw us send those Fighter Flies away earlier, we are currently in the process of removing these menaces before they can build nests in our base."

"As we're sure you can imagine, that would not be a good thing," General Starshade finished.

After the Starshade Brothers' explanation, the platform they were on continued its descent. The hatch closed shut behind them once they had fully disappeared from view.

The Crusaders waved goodbye as the brothers disappeared, and once they were gone, they gathered up all of the dummies. "Wow, they sure gave us a lot of these," Apple Bloom said.

"I know, right? It's not like we're going to go through this many, considering the one we did use is still just like it was at the start," Scootaloo said as she pointed a wing towards the intact dummy in question.

"Sixteen!" Sweetie Belle suddenly cried out, to the others' surprise. "They gave us fifteen dummies, plus the one they left behind equals sixteen! That's enough for each of us to have four," she finished.

The Crusaders proceeded to stuff four of the dummies into each of their saddlebags and backpack. "Wow, these things are really sturdy," Spike said as he squished, squeezed, and otherwise mangled one of his dummies with his hands and claws. Each time, the dummy went back to normal, no worse for wear.

Once the dummies had all been packed away, the Crusaders moved towards the rickety wooden bridge that led to the next island. With a collective eyeroll at the shoddy craftsmanship, they carefully made their way across the bridge towards their next destination.

On the other side of the bridge, they immediately came across a split path. In front of them was a ledge that went down, while to their right was a ledge that went up.

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle decided to head up first and performed a quick High Jump to get there. As they rose above the ledge, they noticed another one of those creepy lamps staring directly at them, which spooked them and caused them to nearly fumble their landing. They managed to safely regain their balance after a brief panic.

Apple Bloom growled towards the lamp. "Ah'm REALLY sick of those dang lamps now," she growled in frustration, her anger towards the lamps starting to build up.

"At least we're almost done with everything we need to do in Stardust Fields, now," Sweetie Belle said as she gently patted her back in an attempt to calm her friend down.

They looked across the ledge they now stood on towards the other end, where they could see a metal plate bolted into the ground at the edge, and a set of Bike Pads across the gap on a tall stone pillar.

"Looks like we're not going this way any time soon," Apple Bloom said as she and Sweetie Belle hopped back down to Scootaloo and Spike.

"Well, was there anything up there?" Scootaloo asked.

Apple Bloom shook her head. "Nope, just more of those stupid lamps and a set of Bike Pads we can't reach from this side," she answered.

"Then I guess that means we're going the long way around," Spike said as he pointed down at the series of stone pillars down below, which made a path accessible through Spin Jumps.

Scattered around the stone pillars on the ground below were several Fighter Flies and multiple Bill Blasters. The Fighter Flies hopped around in a seemingly aimless manner, while the Bill Blasters rotated on their bases as they somehow surveyed their surroundings.

The Crusaders gulped. "I don't think those would be as easy to deal with as the ones we fought earlier," Sweetie Belle said.

"Then we'll just have to not fall down there in the first place," Apple Bloom said.

The group of four carefully made their way down to the metal barrels below them and flinched at the loud clangs their hooves made on impact. They waited for a moment and watched the monsters below. They let out a sigh of relief when none of the monsters reacted.

Next, they split up into pairs and Spin Jumped across the gap to the first pillar one pair at a time, with Scootaloo and Spike being the first to go. They let out a quiet gasp as they just barely made it across before their momentum gave out and they dropped to the pillar with a thud.

Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom were next to go, and Sweetie Belle used her magic to push them across so that they didn't fall down along the way. The four progressed like this for the next three pillars, before they reached a long stretch of path near the end.

While Scootaloo and Spike waited for Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to reach them, Scootaloo walked over and hit the floating block that was in the middle of their island. She managed to hit six coins out of it, which Spike caught before they could hit the ground so that they didn't make any sound.

When Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle arrived, Spike dumped the six coins into the unicorn filly's saddlebag. "Six more coins down," he said.

"That puts us at seventy-seven," Sweetie Belle said with a nod.

The group headed to the edge and carefully crossed the final two gaps one pair at a time. When Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle touched down, all four let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness we made it," Scootaloo said. "I was not looking forward to fighting all those monsters down there. They may be weak, but that's a lot to fight at once."

"I really hope we get all the coins we need up here, I do not want to have to come back and fight those monsters down there," Apple Bloom said with a shudder.

"Hey, is that a Crusader Block right there?" Spike asked in excitement as he pointed a claw towards the alcove he'd glimpsed the block in.

"Alright! I call first hit!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed as she ran under the block. She barely waited for her fellow Crusaders to reach her before she jumped up and hit the block.

They managed to get seven coins out of the block before it ran out, to Apple Bloom's disappointment. "Only seven coins? That just puts us at eighty-four, more than fifteen coins away," Apple Bloom complained.

"I'm sure we'll find the last few we need soon," Spike reassured her with a quick mane scratch.

Apple Bloom leaned into his claws and closed her eyes briefly. She opened them again when he stopped. "That feels pretty good, Spike. Have you ever thought of earning some bits at the Ponyville Spa? Applejack says they're always looking for some help," she asked as they climbed up the sandbag staircase.

Spike shook his head. "Nah, I don't really need the extra money. Maybe if there's something I want to save up for, sure, but otherwise I'm fine without."

At the top of the staircase, there was a set of Bike Pads to their right that led out towards the stone pillar Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle had noticed earlier, and to their left was a tall ledge.

Apple Bloom, narrowed her eyes as she looked around the ledge towards the path beyond. Her eyes widened a moment later. "This is that ledge Ah couldn't climb earlier! We're back at the start!" She exclaimed.

"And look! There's a block out on that stone pillar!" Spike cried out as he pointed towards the block in question.

"Who wants to use the Bike Pads this time?" Scootaloo asked. "I'll pass because I already had my fun with them earlier tonight," she added a second later.

Apple Bloom hopped on one of the pads. "Ah'll go, since I never got to try them out earlier,"she said.

Spike then stepped towards the other pad. "Then it only makes sense if I go, since that way we'll have all tried them out at least once."

The moment Spike stepped on his Bike Pad, the blocks flew out a ways before they spread, much like last time. Apple Bloom jumped first, and when the blocks moved underneath her, she felt Sweetie Belle's magic nudge her towards it. When she landed, she looked back towards her friends and smiled. "Thanks, Sweetie Belle! In hindsight, Ah didn't really think about how Ah was going to pull that off," she admitted with a chuckle.

Sweetie Belle smiled and waved back. "Don't worry, I won't let you fall," she cried out.

Spike and Apple Bloom alternated jumps on their Bike Pad until they reached the stone pillar, where Apple Bloom went to hit the block. She smacked it eight times, and each one that fell was caught in Sweetie Belle's magic aura, who floated them back to her saddlebag. "Eight more down, that's ninety-two! Less than ten to go!" She cheered, followed immediately by her fellow Crusaders cheering as well.

After they were done with their celebration, Apple Bloom and Spike hopped back onto the Bike Pads and jumped their way back to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

Now together again, the Crusaders immediately split into pairs and High Jumped up the ledge and jumped back down on the other side.

"I want to go see if those first Fighter Flies we knocked out spat out any coins," Spike said as he started towards the bridge that led to Tolstar, who was watching them from his plateau as he fiddled with a device in his hands.

Apple Bloom stopped him. "Wait, let's see if we can reach that large plateau there first now that we know how to High Jump," she suggested as she pointed a hoof at the plateau in question.

Spike shrugged. "Eh, sure I guess. It might actually be faster, now that I think about it," he said, before the four traveled across the bridge that led to the neighboring island with the large stone plateau.

They split up into pairs and High Jumped up the first ledge, where they split off into different directions. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle High Jumped onto the plateau above while Scootaloo and Spike climbed down to the first area they encountered Fighter Flies.

Scootaloo and Spike looked around the area and noticed that the Fighter Flies had woken up and left at some point. "Well, I guess it has been a while," Scootaloo said in disappointment as she kicked at the ground with a hoof.

Just as they turned back to rejoin the others, who were watching them from above, Spike paused as he noticed a glimmer on the ground. He walked over and picked it up. "But they left their coins here!" He cried out in excitement, before he noticed something else on the ground. "And also... a Mushroom? You'd think they would have at least taken this with them considering," He said in confusion, before he picked it up with a shrug and put it in his backpack. He then counted out the coins in his hands, before he let out a cheer. "SIXTEEN! There are sixteen coins here!" He yelled up to Sweetie Belle, who gasped and took the coins in her magic in response.

Sweetie Belle smiled widely as she dropped the bits in her saddlebag. "That makes 108! We have enough now!"

The Crusaders all let out a loud cheer in celebration. "Woohoo! It's time to finally get out of here, and away from those stupid lamps!" Apple Bloom cheered with a hoof pump.

"Go on ahead, Apple Bloom, I want to get whatever is in these blocks first," Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom took her up on that offer and jumped down the two ledges to rejoin the others while Sweetie Belle went around the plateau and hit each of the three floating blocks. The first block popped out a Mushroom, which she put in her saddlebag, the second one down a narrow path gave a single coin that she added to the collection. The third and final block gave out seven coins, which joined the others in her saddlebag.

Sweetie Belle climbed down to rejoin her fellow Crusaders, who had waited for her by the lone stone pillar. "I got eight coins and a Mushroom up there, so that was definitely worth it," she announced. "After we pay Tolstar, we'll have sixteen coins left, so that will be a nice buffer to collecting more. Oh, and by the way, Apple Bloom, those stone pillars you saw earlier don't go anywhere, and there's nothing on them either," she added as an afterthought.

Apple Bloom shrugged. "Ah'm not surprised, but that is a bit disappointing."

Scootaloo pulled her sister in for a quick hug, which was returned, before Apple Bloom and Spike joined the hug. When they separated they each had a giddy smile on their faces. "I can't believe we're getting out of here now!" Scootaloo cried in excitement as the group headed towards Tolstar's island.

After they crossed the rickety wooden bridge once again, they climbed up the steps to the plateau, where Sweetie Belle called out to Tolstar. "We have the bits you asked for," she announced.

Tolstar let out a laugh as he put away the device. "Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! I heard you talking about it from that island right there. It's not very far, you know," he said with a grin, before he held out his hands expectantly. "Now, the coins, please."

Sweetie Belle opened her saddlebag and floated exactly 100 coins out towards the king.

Tolstar grinned as the coins fell into his hands. "And with that, your toll fee has been paid," he said. The Crusaders broke out into cheers, before Tolstar spoke up once again. "As for the property damage fee, however..."

The Crusaders turned to each other in confusion. "Property damage fee? What f- oh, right. The lamp Ah broke," Apple Bloom realized with a blush. "How much is the property damage fee, then?"

Tolstar grinned and let out another laugh. "Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! That will be an additional fifty coins, to be paid upfront immediately."

The Crusaders exploded in outrage. "WHAT?! After all that, we only have sixteen bits left!" Sweetie Belle cried out.

"There's no way those creepy lamps are worth fifty bits each!" Apple Bloom yelled in outrage.

Tolstar chuckled. "That is the cost to repair the lamp, as I can just fly down to retrieve it. To actually replace it would be another matter entirely, as they were originally a gift from the Beanbean royal family," he explained.

"But we need to get this letter we have to Queen Bean!" Spike exclaimed.

After a moment of thought, Scootaloo spoke up. "You mentioned my parents convinced you to let them study the Fighter Flies by agreeing to spar with you, right?" She tentatively asked.

Tolstar nodded. "Indeed. Are you offering the same in return for me dropping the additional fee?" He asked.

Scootaloo nodded as her fellow Crusaders listened in shock. "Would that work?"

Tolstar cackled as he pulled out a spiked metal ball. "Nyeeeck nyeck nyeck! Oh, it absolutely will! I haven't had a good fight in years!" He cried out in excitement, before he lobbed the spiked metal ball towards Apple Bloom with an underhand throw in such a way that it bounced three times before it reached her.

"Shouldn't we talk about this a bit more first?!" Apple Bloom yelled out as she dodged to the side. The Crusaders spread out and created distance between each other.

Tolstar scoffed in response. "I'm not insane enough that I would go all out against children, I'll be holding back the entire time," he said, before he pulled out another spike ball and lobbed it towards Scootaloo, who dodged it.

Tolstar then turned and lobbed another spike ball towards Spike. The ball bounced twice before it reached him, and he quickly ran under it on the third bounce.

When Tolstar turned towards Sweetie Belle and threw his next spike ball towards her, which she dodged under as well, Spike sucked in a deep breath, before he blew out a red-hot fireball directly towards the king. Tolstar quickly pulled out another spike ball and held it up to block the blast of flames.

"Nyeh heh heh heh!" Tolstar laughed as he lowered the spike ball. "It'll take more than that to beat me!" He taunted, before he flapped his wings and flew up into the air. He then pulled out another spike ball and lobbed it in Sweetie Belle's direction with a bit more speed than before.

Sweetie Belle dodged to the side, before she lit her horn and grabbed the bouncing metal ball in her magic. She immediately dropped it onto the ground with a heavy thud, where it sank into the soil from its weight, and stumbled on her hooves from the sudden depletion of her magic. "Woah!" She exclaimed as she regained her balance. "That thing is heavy! How in the world do you even lift one, much less throw it?!" She asked the king in bewilderment.

Tolstar pulled out two more metal balls and juggled them as he hovered in the air with slow, lazy flaps of his wings. "When you're alone all day with nothing better to do and nothing going on, you end up teaching yourself a few tricks. Such as this one!" He shouted, before he lobbed the first metal ball towards Apple Bloom once more.

Apple Bloom dodged left, but gasped and quickly leapt backwards when Tolstar quickly flew around the plateau faster than any of them had expected him to be able to move and pitched the second metal ball in such a way that it hit the first and sent both back towards her at different angles in a pincer move, which almost caused her to get hit.

Scootaloo watched Tolstar as he flew around the plateau they were on. "How are we going to hit him up there? None of us can reach that high!" She cried out as she threw her hooves up into the air. She yelped and ran away when her outburst caught Tolstar's attention and he threw a spike ball towards her.

Spike dodged a spike ball thrown his way. "What about those moves the Starshade Brothers taught us?" He asked.

Scootaloo's face lit up in excitement. "Yeah! That's a great idea!" She said, before she and Spike got into position. They waited until Tolstar flew closer, distracted by Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle, who heard their plan and were waving their hooves and taunting him, before Scootaloo hopped onto Spike's hands and took off with an assisted spin. Once she had overtaken Tolstar in midair, Spike leapt up and, with a blast of fire downwards to give him the needed extra height, grabbed onto Scootaloo's hindlegs, before they flipped with another burst of fire for extra momentum and came down onto Tolstar's head.

Tolstar let out a startled sound of pain as Scootaloo's hooves slammed down on top of his head and sent him down to the ground with a thud. Scootaloo and Spike attempted to bounce away like the Starshade Brothers had after their own attack, but Scootaloo misstepped and sent them both off balance. "Woah!" She cried as they fell down a few feet away from Tolstar.

"Now's our chance!" Apple Bloom cried as she and Sweetie Belle quickly moved into position for a Bounce Bros. attack. Once Scootaloo and Spike had scrambled away, Sweetie Belle ran towards Apple Bloom and leapt onto her extended forehooves. She bounced off towards Tolstar, who had just started to get up, and when she was positioned above him, Apple Bloom jumped up to her and grabbed onto her hindlegs, before they flipped and came down hard on Tolstar's head again.

Tolstar let out a yelp of pain as the duo bounced away, aided by Sweetie Belle's magic, before he rubbed his sore head and growled. "I see that you are far more skilled than you look, despite being mere children. No more holding back!" He yelled out, before he flapped his bat-like wings and flew up into the air. Once he deemed he was high enough up, he pulled out two spiked balls and began to juggle them, pulling out more spike balls as he did so until he was juggling five at once.

Down on the plateau below him, the Crusaders watched in concern as they readied themselves to dodge at a moment's notice.

After a tense moment, Tolstar chucked his first spike ball towards Spike, who leapt backwards to dodge. Tolstar immediately pulled out another one as he threw the next two towards Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle at different angles and speeds.

The two fillies dodged away, but were forced to dodge again when the second spike ball hit the first and sent it towards Scootaloo, who dodged, while the third bounced off the second one and they sent each other towards Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle again.

Tolstar pulled out three more spike balls as he flew to the other side of the plateau and lobbed a fourth ball towards the first to redirect it towards Spike. When Spike dodged, Tolstar threw a fifth ball directly at him.

Spike yelped in surprise and brought up both his hands in an attempt to catch the ball, which he succeeded in doing, albeit it sent him backwards a few feet from its weight. The drake let out a sigh of relief once he stopped sliding, before he took aim at Tolstar, who had just thrown a sixth ball into the fray.

As the five spike balls bounced around the plateau and repeatedly crashed into each other to redirect themselves into the Crusaders, who were being nicked and cut by the sharp spikes as they barely dodged some close calls, Spike pulled back his arm, and with a hop, skip, and jump, he pitched the spike ball as hard as he could towards the flying king when his back was turned.

Sweetie Belle noticed what Spike was doing and surrounded the spike ball in her magic aura. Just before it collided with Tolstar as he turned towards the whistling sound he heard from its flight, she magically shoved it forward and increased its momentum with the last of her magic reserves.

"Nyeowch!" Tolstar yelped as the spike ball's spike stabbed into his shoulder. He reached up and ripped the spike ball out with a growl. "You... are frustratingly competent at this," he admitted as his shoulder wound steadily leaked blood. He flew down towards the plateau across the gap on the other side of the cannon, where he pulled out more spike balls and began to juggle them. Within a few seconds, he had a total of seven spike balls that he was juggling at once. "See if you can dodge THIS! NYECK NYECK NYEEECK!" He shouted.

Before Tolstar could throw the first spike ball, however, everyone paused as they heard a mechanical whir. To the Crusaders surprise, a visibly enraged Sergeant Starshade rose up out of the star hatch in the middle of the plateau with a massive steel cannonball in his hands. "You have worked yourself up too much, my liege! Calm down and knock it off already, before you cave in our base here with your reckless behavior!" He yelled through his gritted teeth, before he chucked the cannonball into the air, where it then landed in the cannon with a loud clang that made the Crusaders ears ring.

Sergeant Starshade then aimed the cannon directly at Tolstar, lit the fuse, and shot the cannonball straight towards the dumbfounded king. Tolstar's eyes widened, and just before the cannon went off he quickly caught and put away the spike balls, before he braced himself for impact. "Nyeeeeeeeh!" Tolstar cried out as he was blasted away into the nearby mountainside. A small item flew out of a gap in his shell and landed on the ground the moment the cannonball impacted him. The king and cannonball collided with the hard stone with an audible thud and a puff of smoke.

"TOLSTAR!" The Crusaders cried out in horrified shock, too stunned to do anything else.

Before the Crusaders could recover from their shock, Sergeant Starshade saluted to them, now much calmer compared to before. "Farewell, Crusaders!" He yelled out, before he descended back below the hatch, which closed behind him.

The Crusaders stared up at where Tolstar had landed, before the pain of their bleeding cuts brought them back to the present. "Ah guess... all we can do is move forward for right now," Apple Bloom said as she began to move towards the gap between the two plateaus. She winced with each stepped as the movements irritated the cuts along her legs and barrel.

The other Crusaders joined her at the ledge. Scootaloo and Spike attempted to Spin Jump across first, but were unable to pull it off due to the pain disrupting Scootaloo's movements. Spike stepped back away from the ledge and began to dig through his backpack. "We're not going to get anywhere if we don't take care of your injuries," he said as he pulled out the first aid kit Fluttershy gave them.

Sweetie Belle realized something and quickly pulled out the sheet from her saddlebag and laid it out as flat on the ground as she could. "Let's do it on here so that we don't get any dirt or rocks in our cuts."

The fillies stepped onto the sheet and carefully sat down as Spike opened up the kit. He noticed a sheet of parchment that sat on top of the supplies and picked it up to read it to himself. "Thankfully, Fluttershy's in the habit of leaving reminders of how to use these supplies in here," he said as he picked up several small pouches. He tore one open and pulled out the sanitary alcohol wipe stored within. "This will sting a bit," he warned as he approached Scootaloo first, before he gently pressed it against one of her cuts.

Scootaloo sharply sucked in air as the wipe stung her cut. "Why don't we just use one of our Mushrooms for this?" She asked while Spike cleaned each of her cuts with the wipe. "I'm sure we could just cut one with your claws and share it between us."

Spike paused and looked up after cleaning one of the cuts on Scootaloo's right foreleg. "Because we don't have any guaranteed way of getting more of them right now, and I want us to save what we have for more dangerous injuries," he answered.

"And the potions are for injuries that will kill us if not healed immediately," Sweetie Belle said. "In fact, that's also why I'm not drinking a Syrup right now. I'll be fully recharged in the morning after I get some actually decent sleep, so I'd much rather save them for an emergency. Also, it made me queasy the first time," she admitted.

After Sweetie Belle finished her explanation, Spike continued to clean each of the fillies' cuts, tossing aside each wipe to burn later as they became unsafe to continue using. Once he was finished, he pulled out a few band-aids from the kit and began to bandage each of the larger cuts. Once he deemed his job done, he sat back and wiped his forehead. "Okay, that's done now. How do you girls feel now?" He asked with concern in his voice.

The fillies stepped off the sheet and walked around a little bit. "Still a bit sore, but not as painful as before," Apple Bloom said. "Ah think we can make it across now."

Scootaloo flapped her wings a few times and nodded. "Yeah, that's a lot better."

"That's good. We need to make sure we don't use up all the supplies in here before we can get more, since we only have a limited amount of supplies in this first aid kit. And unlike our saddlebags and backpack, there is no enchantment making this thing bottomless either, so we also have to be careful not to use too much at once," he said as he packed up the unused supplies and put the kit in his backpack. He waited until Sweetie Belle put the sheet back in her saddlebag, before he turned to the pile of medical waste and burned it with a blast of non-magical fire. "And that takes care of that," he said as he kicked the pile of ash away and dusted his hands. As he moved to follow his friends to the gap, he paused when he noticed an item on the ground. "Hey, it looks like Tolstar dropped a 1-Up Mushroom," he said as he picked it up. After a moment of contemplation, he shrugged and put it in his backpack, before he rejoined his friends.

The Crusaders headed back to the gap, and this time when Scootaloo and Spike attempted to Spin Jump across, they made it all the way over the gap. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle then followed suit, and the four regrouped at the start of the path that led off the plateau. Two lamps with creepy faces welcomed them, one at each side of the path.

Apple Bloom gave the lamps a look of disgust. "If Ah weren't hurting right now, Ah'd break both of you right here and now," she threatened with a shake of her hoof towards the unresponsive lamps.

Scootaloo wrapped a wing around her friend and guided her across the path to the other side. "Let's just get out of here, so that we never have to see those lamps again," she said.

Sweetie Belle and Spike followed close behind as they all reached the last floating island along their path. The island was rather small and round, only being about as large as the plateau where they fought Tolstar. On its northern end to their right was one last rickety wooden bridge that led to an outcropping against the mountain they hadn't noticed until recently due to the low light level. Two final creepy lamps framed the other end of the bridge, their lights flickering as if to taunt the Crusaders one last time. Directly in front of the bridge on the wall was an opening into a cavern inside the mountain itself.

The injured group carefully made their way across the bridge to the outcropping, where they walked straight into the cavern entrance.

The Crusaders looked around in awe at the unexpectedly beautiful sight that greeted them inside the cave. Stalactites hang from the cavern roof above their heads, each one reflecting the faint light of the shiny crystals growing throughout the cavern. Stalagmites of various heights and widths formed in a scattered pattern across the cavern floor underneath the stalactites. Waterfalls plummeting down from unseen rivers above them were visible beyond the edge of the stone platform they found themselves on, where they eventually pooled into an underground lake far below. Various small vegetation grew in cracks on the stone platform, some which were bio-luminescent with a faint blue glow. Directly in front of them were relatively short pillars of solid stone that formed a natural shelter within its alcove, backed by a wall of stone formed out of ancient stalagmites.

"This is beautiful..." Apple Bloom gasped out as she walked into the cave.

"None of the caves near Ponyville look anything like this!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed with a squeak.

Scootaloo climbed the shorter ledges to their left and looked around. "I think we're on a platform of some sort, look how small this area is, and how big the cave itself is!" She cried out as she walked. "And look, there's the exit!" She exclaimed as she pointed a hoof towards the exit that led outside.

The other Crusaders joined her a moment later. "We got lucky Stardust Fields had so many reflective surfaces, because I can't see anything out there it's so dark right now," Spike said as he strained to see in the pitch black night.

"Ah think we should camp in here tonight, Crusaders," Apple Bloom suggested, before she turned around and returned to the outcropping. "This seems like the safest spot over here. Three walls, and no way to fall down any cliffs if we move in our sleep."

Scootaloo reached Apple Bloom's side first and pulled the bedding out of her saddlebag. "It's a good thing we grabbed these when we left, I don't exactly want to sleep on hard stone our first night here," she said as she laid the sheet down first, followed by the pillow on top. "Help me get this set up, Apple Bloom," she asked as she moved towards the pillar.

"While you are doing that, I'm going to take some pictures of this cave. Everypony back home is going to love this!" Spike exclaimed as he dug out the camera and took pictures of the cave from different locations and angles.

Apple Bloom joined her as Sweetie Belle and Spike made it to the alcove, and once Scootaloo explained what she wanted to do, the duo High Jumped up and spread out the blanket on the pillar. Scootaloo took one side of the blanket in her mouth and jumped across to the other pillar with a running start. She spat out the blanket and looked for a rock to hold it in place. "Hey Spike, toss me a rock," she called out when she failed to find one nearby.

Spike grabbed a nearby rock from where he was taking pictures of the area and chucked it up to Scootaloo, who slapped it out of the air directly into the spot she wanted it just as Apple Bloom set her own rock down.

The fillies climbed back down and rejoined their fellow Crusaders. "Alright, that's the 'tent' finished," Scootaloo said with mimed air quotes when she said tent.

The Crusaders stepped back and inspected their work. The blanket covered the top as a makeshift ceiling, while the excess draped downwards to provide cover as a makeshift doorway. Sweetie Belle hummed with a hoof on her chin. "Something's missing..." she trailed off, before she spun and took her bedding out as well. "I've got it!" She exclaimed, before she took the bedding and headed towards the area to the left where the wall ended and the platform led to open air. She carefully tied one corner of the sheet to a stalagmite, before she did the same on the other side. She stepped back to inspect it, before she nodded. "It's a bit rough, but now we have a bit of privacy for when we need to use the bathroom," she explained to her fellow Crusaders.

Apple Bloom immediately moved towards the privacy sheet. "Continue without me, Ah'll be back in a minute," she said as she slipped behind the sheet.

"Why do you think Sergeant Starshade did that?" Sweetie Belle asked in a quiet voice.

Spike shook his head. "I don't know, but honestly? I think he saved us there. Tolstar was definitely going overboard, and we probably wouldn't have lasted much longer at that rate, especially if he stayed out of our range."

Scootaloo looked down as she thought. "I wonder how my parents were able to beat him all those years ago if he fought like that," she asked. She blushed as her stomach suddenly growled. "Sorry, I'm kinda hungry right now," she apologized, before she started to dig through her saddlebag. "Let's see what Princess Luna meant by rations," she said, before she pulled out a dark brown package with the letters 'M.R.E.' on the front.

Spike groaned in disappointment. "Of course these are the rations Princess Luna gave us. I would have taken more of Pinkie Pie's Baked Bads over these. At least those I can actually eat."

Sweetie Belle frowned as she poked at the pouch with a hoof. "I'm sure they're not that bad, right?" She asked tentatively.

"From what Shining Armor has told me over the years, these are just about the most disgusting meals he and his troops have ever eaten. A few of them have even made ponies sick before," Spike explained with a grimace.

"Ah'm back," Apple Bloom announced as she rejoined the group. "Also, Ah found a block we missed before and got a Mushroom out of it when Ah hit it," she said as she sat down.

"How many?" Scootaloo asked with a slightly green face.

Apple Bloom tilted her head in confusion. "One, why?" She asked as she eyed the brown pouch. "Oh, that's why," she said as she wilted slightly. "Twist brought one of those to school once, she said her sister had left it out and she was curious about how it tasted. She had to go home early because it made her so sick."

"Well, that's not exactly the best review I've ever heard," Scootaloo joked. She gulped, before she reached towards it and brought it closer. "Well, here goes nothing, I guess. It's either these, or we eat the Mushrooms instead and run out when we need them."

"Hold on, wait a second," Sweetie Belle interrupted. She reached into her saddlebag and pulled out her jar of Syrup, before she opened it and took a single sip. "I know I said I was going to save this for later, but I'd rather we didn't get violently ill while we're out here," she explained. She then put the still mostly full jar of Syrup in her saddlebag and turned towards her fellow Crusaders. "Hold still, I don't want to miss and waste my magic," she said as she lit her horn and cast the 'Cleanse' spell on them all.

Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike all shivered as the spell took effect and cleaned any lingering debris from their bodies. "That tickled a bit," Apple Bloom said with a giggle.

"That spell should also hopefully prevent any infections from our injuries," Sweetie Belle added.

Apple Bloom let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. Ah've been through that once before, and Ah never want to deal with it again."

"What happened?" Scootaloo asked in morbid curiosity. Spike and Sweetie Belle leaned in closer, potentially poisonous meal temporarily forgotten.

Apple Bloom glanced at her curious friends, before she let out another sigh and shook her head before she began to tell her story. "It's not the most pleasant memory Ah have, but when Ah was younger, about four years ago now, Ah tried to buck one of the trees in the orchard. Ah missed, and my hoof hit a sharp piece of bark that was sticking out. It tore my hoof open, and when it got infected a week later despite cleaning, since Ah guess Ah didn't clean it well enough, Ah thought Ah was going to lose it. Thankfully Ah didn't, but it was still really scary at the time," she explained.

Her fellow Crusaders winced in sympathy. "Yikes, I can see why you were worried about that," Scootaloo said as she eyed the bandages on her legs and body.

Apple Bloom nodded as she picked up the discarded M.R.E. "Well, Ah guess the worst that can happen is food poisoning, so it's worth a shot," she said with a giggle, before she opened the packaging. Inside were instructions for how to prepare the meal, and several ingredients wrapped in their own individual wrapping. "Spike, when it's time, could you heat this with your fire breath? Ah trust you more than the... whatchamacallit they pack in these to light a fire," she asked.

Spike nodded. "Sure, that won't be a problem."

Apple Bloom followed the instructions step by step as she prepared the meal, with occasional help from Scootaloo while Sweetie Belle watched from the side. At the last step, she turned towards Spike. "Alright, can you cook this up without burning it?" She asked the drake as she hoofed it over to him.

Spike took the prepared meal and gently blew a weak stream of fire towards it for a few seconds, before he cut it off. The resulting meal was thoroughly cooked with a wisp of steam wafting upwards from it.

The fillies sniffed the air. "Huh, that actually smells pretty good. A lot better than the one Ah remember Twist trying, that's for sure," Apple Bloom said.

"I'll take the first bite, I guess," Sweetie Belle said, before she took a nibble off the side. "Hmm... actually, you know what might go well with this?" She asked, before she dug through her saddlebag and pulled out the jar of Syrup she already drank a bit from. She unscrewed the lid and poured a little bit onto a part Spike quickly separated from the rest with his claws, before she bit into it. "Still really sweet, but it works pretty well with this otherwise bland meal, so I'd say it works out," she said after tasting it. "Should I just pour the rest on?"

Apple Bloom shrugged while Scootaloo nodded. "If it tastes good, I don't see why not," he said.

Sweetie Belle shrugged, before she upended the jar over the meal and dumped the rest of the Syrup onto it. She then put the empty jar back in her saddlebag for later reuse.

"At this point, I might as well just do this too," Spike said, before he dug a Mushroom out of his backpack and sliced it into small chunks with his claws. He sprinkled the fungus bits into the Syrupy meal, twirling a nonexistent mustache with his other hand as he did so. "Chef Spike, at your service!" He called with a poorly-done accent, to the fillies laughter.

Once they calmed down, the Crusaders ate their overly sweet but otherwise edible meal, their injuries slowly fading away underneath their bandages as they ate the Mushroom bits.

"I guess we didn't need to use these bandages after all," Sweetie Belle said as she tore her bandages off with her magic. She winced slightly as the bandage pulled on her hair as it came up. She chucked the slightly bloody bandages into the garbage pile with the various food packaging.

When Sweetie Belle moved to remove Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's bandages, they held up their hooves to stop her. "Ah'd rather just leave mine on for right now and take them off in the morning," Apple Bloom said.

"Me too, I don't want to sleep with sore spots from them being removed," Scootaloo said.

Sweetie Belle nodded, before the four returned to their eating. Once they were done Spike burned the garbage from the garbage pile. "That wasn't too bad, all things considered," Spike said afterwards. "Definitely not as bad as Shining Armor made it out to be, that's for sure. The Mushroom and Syrup probably helped a lot, honestly."

Scootaloo let out a yawn, followed immediately after by Apple Bloom, then Sweetie Belle. "I'm getting really tired now, so I think I'm going to go lay down now," the exhausted pegasus filly said, before she walked into the makeshift shelter and laid down on the pillow pile.

Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Spike followed close behind her and joined her on the pillow pile. Spike retrieved the quill and a piece of parchment from his backpack and started writing, while Sweetie Belle pulled out the grooming supplies from her saddlebag and brought out a brush. She used her magic, now restored by the syrupy meal, to gently brush her mane and tail. She hummed a tune Scootaloo recognized as she brushed.

"That's the song you were writing for our play, isn't it?" Scootaloo asked as she watched Sweetie Belle.

The unicorn filly nodded. "I know it's not the song we went with in the end, but I still like it," she said, before she resumed her humming and brushing. Once she was done with her own mane and tail, she moved on to Scootaloo's.

Scootaloo let out a contented hum as her sister brushed all the knots out of her mane and tail. "It's fine. Your song was better than mine anyways," she admitted with a quiet murmur as her eyes slowly closed. Her breathing evened out as she drifted off to sleep.

Sweetie Belle continued to hum as she brushed her sister's mane and tail, and when she finished, she moved on to the sleepy Apple Bloom.

Apple Bloom let a sigh as Sweetie Belle gently brushed her mane as well. "Careful with my bow," she said as her unicorn friend brushed her.

"Don't worry, Bloom. I know how important your bow is, I won't tear it," Sweetie Belle assured, before she resumed humming.

As Sweetie Belle moved to Apple Bloom's tail, Spike took the camera out and snapped a picture of the letter he'd written. He then went through the pictures he had taken since they left Canterlot and materialized them with the button and rolled them into the letter scroll, before he blew out a small stream of fire and burned the letter he'd written to send it off. "I hope that makes it to Princess Luna, this is the furthest I've ever been from my target before," he said with a worried expression.

Sweetie Belle smiled at Spike as she finished up the now asleep Apple Bloom's tail and put the brush away. "I'm sure it'll make it just fine," she assured him.

Spike nodded as he curled up next to Apple Bloom. "Yeah, you're right. Besides, even if it doesn't make it, I can just create a copy from the picture I took and give it to her myself when we get home after this is all done," he said, before he drifted off to sleep with his head resting on Apple Bloom's side.

Sweetie Belle smiled as she watched the sleeping Scootaloo wrap her forelegs and wings around Apple Bloom and pull her in close without disturbing Spike. "Now you know what I go through every night," she muttered with a giggle, before she curled up with one last yawn and went to sleep.

"'Dear Princess Peach...'" Luna muttered to herself as she sat at her personal desk. A piece of parchment lay in front of her as a quill was suspended above it in her magic. She shook her head and growled to herself in frustration. "This is why I always let Tia handle all of the kingdom's diplomacy. Back to the drawing board, I guess," she muttered as she crumpled the ink-riddled parchment into a ball and chucked it into a nearby overflowing garbage can filled with similar papers.

As Luna went to put the quill tip to the parchment in yet another futile attempt at a letter, a green fireball floated through her open window and hovered above her head briefly, before it spun in on itself and coalesced into a thick scroll. The scroll fell down on top of her desk with a weak thud that caught her attention.

Luna grabbed the scroll in her magic and unfurled it. "They sent a letter, I see..." she trailed off, before she noticed the pictures that had fallen out when she unfurled it. She picked them up and leafed through them. "These are pretty good," she muttered with a hum.

She suddenly shot up and scrambled out of her chair as realization struck. "They sent a letter!" She cried out, before she darted out of them room and flew towards the medical wing as fast as she could with the letter and pictures held tightly in her magical grasp.

A few minutes later, Luna burst through the doors of the VIP medical room. "They sent a letter!" She repeated to the ponies in the room.

Everypony in the room immediately began shouting in excitement.

"They sent a letter?! That means they're alright!" Rarity exclaimed with a sigh of relief.

"Oh, I hope they didn't get into too much trouble already," Fluttershy murmured.

"I'm sure that they've already done awesome things, Scootaloo's there with them after all!" Rainbow Dash said confidently.

"Is Apple Bloom alright?" Applejack asked in concern.

"An update already? They've only been gone for two hours at this point," Twilight said with confusion in her voice.

"Well, it is the middle of the night over there," Pinkie Pie said with a gigglesnort.

"How do you know that?" Shining Armor asked in a confused tone.

Luna cleared her throat. "While this talk is interesting, the letter isn't the only thing they sent. But since I do need to return to my duties in a timely manner, I would like to read the letter to you now, and you can talk amongst yourselves as I go," she said, before she brought the letter around to read it.

Dear Princess Luna and everypony back in Canterlot,

We've managed to make it to the Beanbean Kingdom, and Stardust Fields was beautiful!

Glittering star rocks, gorgeous views, and even the cave we're staying in for the night has really cool waterfalls!

Luna paused at this point and sent the relevant pictures over to the bedridden ponies for them to examine.

"Wow..." Rarity gasped in awe. "They really weren't kidding about the beauty of this place! I'm getting so many ideas for my next fashion line from this!" she exclaimed, before she started giggling in excitement. "Oh, the dresses I'll be able to make when I'm able to move again!"

After a few moments of studying the pictures, Luna floated them back to her side and cleared her throat again.

We also met with the king of Stardust Fields, Tolstar. He said that the toll fee was exactly 100 coins, but when we gave him the bits, he didn't recognize them and declared them worthless on the spot, so we had to go around the region collecting coins from various blocks and monsters.

On a side note, Sweetie Belle has already made plenty of use of the Cleanse spell from the book Twilight gave her.

That aside was met with various reactions, ranging from disgust to laughter.

"Oh, I hope they didn't have to hurt the monsters too much," Fluttershy whimpered.

"Fluttershy, they're monsters, if anything the monsters better not have hurt them or else they'll be in for a world of pain when I get to them!" Rainbow Dash threatened.

"Moving on before one of you hurts yourselves trying to move," Luna said with a pointed look towards Rainbow Dash. "There is still quite a bit of letter to get through."

He also told us that he met Scootaloo's parents back when they were doing research for their book, so that was an unexpected bonus!

"It's not exactly a lead on their whereabouts, but at this point, any news is better than no news, even if said news is from over a decade ago," Shining Armor said.

Speaking of meetings, we met with the border guards, Red and Blue, who said that they met Phalanx earlier today. They were about to let us through, but it turns out we forgot about passports entirely. Whoops.

Luna blushed and looked down as Celestia shot her sister a look that said 'Really, sister?' She then quickly scribbled down exactly that on her whiteboard and showed it to her.

Luna blushed harder when she read the note. "Some things slipped through the cracks since I was in a bit of a panicked rush when I was getting their supplies ready. Some of which just so happened to be more important than others, unfortunately," she explained, before she quickly returned to the letter to change the topic.

Thankfully, after an exhausting but really fun Mini-Game called the Border Jump Challenge, they let us through.

About a half hour later, we met two Toads called the Starshade Brothers, General Starshade and Sergeant Starshade. They were definitely eccentric, and probably a little bit crazy, but they taught us two useful moves and techniques for getting around this place, the High Jump and the Spin Jump. The original way they tried to teach us didn't look very survivable for us, but Pinkie Pie would definitely have been able to do it for sure!

"I have no idea what they mean by that!" Pinkie Pie said innocently, before she broke down into giggles as everypony stared at her as best they could.

They also taught us their own personal combat techniques, the Splash Bros., and the Bounce Bros., and they were both almost immediately useful when we had to battle against Tolstar to get out of Stardust Fields.

"They WHAT?!" The bedridden ponies shouted in shock, their combined volume rivaling that of the Royal Canterlot Voice.

Luna was startled and blown backwards slightly from the force of the shout. When the shout was over, her flowing mane had been thoroughly frazzled, with bits of it sticking up as it flowed. She shook her head to recover. "Is that what I first sounded like when I got back...?" She muttered to herself under her breath. "No, not the time," she said, before she returned to the letter.

Oh yeah, we had to fight Tolstar because Apple Bloom broke one of the really creepy lamps that are scattered around the area. If we had been able to find an extra fifty coins, we would have just paid the fine, but Scootaloo offered to spar with him since he mentioned earlier that was how her parents finally gained his permission to study the Fighter Flies, so that's how that happened.

"That's my Scootaloo," Rainbow Dash said proudly.

I think Tolstar got a bit too into the fight though, because even though he said he would hold back, after we managed to land a few admittedly nasty hits on him, he started throwing those spike balls of his everywhere, and we kept getting nicked and cut as we dodged.

Except me, of course. Those spikes couldn't even leave a scratch on my scales!

"If Ah ever get mah hooves on that varmint, he's a goner!" Applejack threatened in her rage.

"And I'll be right there with you, darling. He dared to hurt my precious little sisters, and for that, he must pay," Rarity contributed.

"Officially, I must tell you to not do such a thing, as that would harm foreign relations," Luna said, which was met with various sounds of disappointment. "Unofficially, however, I would most certainly enjoy it if you, as they say, 'socked' him in the face for me," she finished with a grin, which was met with cheers.

"I knew you were a fun one, Princess!" Pinkie Pie cheered.

Thankfully, just as he was about to go completely out of control, Sergeant Starshade showed up and stopped him... By shooting him with a massive cannon and launching him into the side of the mountain!

"That works too," Rarity said with a smug grin.

"Good enough for me, Ah'd say," Applejack added with a very slight nod.

We're currently camping in a cave inside that same mountain since it's pitch black outside right now, and the view in here is gorgeous!

As she finished the paragraph, Luna floated the last of the pictures over for the bedridden ponies to enjoy.

"Those waterfalls might not be rainbows like in Rainbow Falls, but they're still really pretty," Rainbow Dash admitted.

"They kind of remind me of the waterfalls outside Canterlot, with how they flow down from a mountain above and into caves far below the ground," Twilight said.

Although it does feel like the waterfalls are taunting us since we don't have any water. Hopefully we'll find a clean source tomorrow, otherwise even a dirty source will do since Sweetie Belle found that Cleanse spell earlier.

"One of my personal favorite spells from that book, along with 'Preserve Food'," Twilight shared.

"I admit, water is definitely the worst thing I forgot to pack for them," Luna said. She then put a hoof to her chin as a thought struck her. "But I could have sworn there was something else I forgot..." she trailed off, before she shook her head and continued reading.

We got a bit injured while we were exploring the region today, but we didn't have to use any of the potions since the Mushrooms we've been finding in these weird floating blocks with question marks on them are able to heal us a bit.

"Wait, so T. Thyme wasn't just making things up for advertising?" Applejack asked in shock.

"It would appear not, darling," Rarity said in equal shock.

The jars of Syrup also restored Sweetie Belle's magic after she hit magical exhaustion, so we hopefully won't have to worry about that while we're here.

Sincerely, The Cutie Mark Crusaders.

Luna hit her head with a hoof. "Oh, that's what I forgot! I didn't pack them any Ethers!" She exclaimed.

"What's an 'E-ther'?" Applejack asked, the unfamiliar term stumbling on her tongue.

"It's an especially difficult to procure potion that instantly restores the drinker's magic," Twilight answered.

"We have a fairly decent amount of them on standby, I just completely forgot to pack them. Like the water," Luna said with a facehoof.

"Well, apparently, these Syrups they're finding are similar in nature to Ethers, so it's not that big of a deal," Rarity said.

Celestia erased her prior message, before she scribbled something new on her whiteboard and flipped it around. "'Have you sent the letter to Princess Peach yet?'" Luna read, before she shook her head. "No, I have not been able to come up with anything decent to send to her. This is why I always left the diplomacy stuff to you, sister. I fight with spells and weapons, not words. That's your specialty."

Celestia shook her head, before she pointed at Luna, then at her own chest over her heart. Luna tilted her head in confusion. "Heart...? Oh! I should write what my heart says?" She asked. Celestia nodded.

"I admit, I don't see how that will help the current situation, but I will give it a shot," Luna said, before she turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" Rarity called out just as Luna reached the door.

"Yes?" Luna asked as she turned back.

"Could you leave those pictures in here? I know I can't exactly do much right now, but I would still like to be able to see them whenever I wish," Rarity requested.

Luna floated over the pictures with her magic. "I do not see why not," she said as Rarity took the pictures in her own magic field.

"Thank you, Princess," Rarity thanked Luna as she closely studied the pictures.

Luna smiled at the ponies in the room and waved at her sister, before she left the room.

Luna walked back to her personal chambers with the letter in tow. When she arrived inside, the first thing she did was open a drawer in her desk and drop the letter inside, before she closed it up again.

Luna then sat down at her desk and pulled out another piece of parchment as she took hold of her quill again. "Write with my heart, huh...?" She muttered to herself. A few seconds later, she began to write.

When she was finished, she read through what she had written, and smiled when she reached the end. "I guess it really does work, after all. Now, if only I knew that dragon fire spell Tia uses to send letters to Spike..." She grumbled.

Luna took the finished letter and walked to her door. She opened it and called out, "Compound Compass! We have a task for thou!"

Luna waited a few minutes, before the bedraggled pegasus guard rounded the corner at speed. He skidded to a stop in front of her and saluted her. "Private Compound Compass, Princess! Ready for duty!"

Luna gave the private the letter, who gently took it in his mouth. "Thou are to deliver this highly important missive to Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom! Thou can find the warp pipe to thy destination within the warp pipe hub."

Compound Compass saluted once more, before he took off. Luna returned to her personal chambers and laid down on the bed.

"I need to get as much sleep as I can before my shift starts tonight," Luna muttered as she drifted off.

"Are you sure this was the day they said they would attack?" Princess Peach asked of Prince Peasley.

Inside the throne room of one of Princess Peach's multitude of castles, Peach was in the middle of a meeting with the Beanish prince. His winged pillow familiar fluttered lazily beside the concerned duo as they spoke.

Behind the throne, Toadsworth was doing his best to placate a frazzled and ranting Birdo, who was wearing a near-perfect copy of Peach's dress minus the strangely mushroom-like crown, which she had thrown halfway across the room a few minutes prior out of a mix of frustration and stress.

Prince Peasley nodded fervently as he flipped his bangs out of his eyes. "Yes! They very explicitly said they would be executing their plan on May 28th, which is today! I have no idea why they never showed!"

The loud bang of the throne room's double doors startled the royals, and when they looked towards the sound, their eyes widened when they saw the panicked pegasus guard that flew towards them with an envelope in his mouth.

Compound Compass spat out the envelope into his hoof when he landed next to them and saluted. "Private Compound Compass here with an urgent missive from Princess Luna of Equestria, your highness," he declared as Toad guards with spears in their hands ran up to him.

Princess Peach held up her hand to halt the guards, before she cautiously took the envelope and tore it open. Her expression rapidly shifted from one of concern to that of alarm as she read through the contents within, before she quickly read it aloud for Prince Peasley's benefit.

Dear Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom,

Our fair kingdom of Equestria was assaulted by ne'er do wells on the morning of May 28th.

The culprits were a beanish witch by the name of Cackletta and a foul gremlin of a beanish by the name of Fawful who called himself her pupil.

Unfortunately, though there were no casualties, they did manage to make off with Our dearest sister Celestia's voice before they retreated to the Beanbean Kingdom for unknown purposes.

As the vast majority of Equestria's guards have been hospitalized during the attack, along with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, we were forced to send a less than ideal though thankfully capable group in pursuit of the fiends. Thou will understand what We mean when thou meets them.

We are hereby officially requesting aid in the matter of stopping whatever schemes the assailants have in the works before it is too late.

Sincerely, Princess Luna of Equestria.

As Peach read through the letter, Prince Peasley's expression rapidly shifted through several emotions, before finally settling on a mixture of horror and fear. "We must do something to stop them before it is too late!" He shouted when she finished as he leapt onto his pillow familiar. He offered a hand towards Peach. "Come, with my mount we can arrive in just a few hours."

Peach shook her head and turned to one of the connecting rooms. "Go on ahead, I need to contact the Mario Brothers before I make any rash decisions. I'll be there as soon as I can, don't worry," she assured as she pulled out an old battle worn frying pan from one of her dress's pockets.

Prince Peasley retracted his hand with a nod, before with a powerful gust of summoned wind he flew out of the castle towards the Beanbean Kingdom to the southwest.

Peach turned to Compound Compass, who was breathing heavily from his hurried journey there. "You have done a good job, Compound Compass. Feel free to rest here for the time being in one of the guest room. One of my Toad guards shall take you there, and I will send you back with a message for Princess Luna soon," she said as she pointed towards one of the doors that led out of the room.

Compound Compass saluted once again, before he trailed behind a Toad guard as he led him towards the indicated door and went inside the hallway beyond.

Peach turned and headed towards her own destination, when a flustered Toadsworth came out from behind the throne and ran to her side while Peach's younger, glasses-wearing blue Toad aid, Toadbert, took Toadsworth's place placating Birdo. "I must insist that you let masters Mario and Luigi handle this one, princess!" He exclaimed in concern, having overheard the conversation.

Peach shook her head and continued forward. "You know I can't do that, Toadsworth. One of our closest allies is in dire need of our help: what kind of ruler or ally would I be if I just stood back and let others do everything for me, when I could be out there myself making a difference?" She questioned as she opened the door in front of her and kept walking without breaking stride.

Toadsworth grimaced. "I still wish you would care more about your own well being, princess. Just because you managed to beat back Bowser on your own last week, with a rather impressive showing of martial arts that surprised even him, might I add, doesn't mean you are invincible. What about that stunt double of yours for the show? She seems pretty good at ice magic," he pointed out.

Peach shook her head as she anxiously twirled the frying pan. "She's not my stunt double, she only does my singing voice because I don't have the vocal range she does. And while yes, she is an excellent user of both ice magic and a rapier, she is also currently out on an adventure of her own without any way to contact her," she responded as they both turned a corner. "In hindsight, I probably should have at least asked where she was heading, but it's a bit too late for that now, I suppose."

Toadsworth harrumphed. "Rather unfortunate timing, that," he said with a tap of his cane on the tile floor, before he paused. "You don't intend on going to the Beanbean Kingdom all on your own, do you? You haven't exactly been doing much outside of your show for a while, you know. What if you run into something especially dangerous?" He asked. "There are some nasty monsters out there that even 'Mr. Ugly Bad Guy', as young miss Toadiko put it last week, is unwilling to battle alone."

Peach nodded as she stopped walking in front of a door labeled 'Training Room'. "Which is why I'm going to spend the next few hours in here brushing up on my old magic spells. I have faith in my martial arts to keep me safe against any weaker monsters we could run into, since between my current acting gig and my exceptional tutor, I've been steadily improving in that regard, but I haven't used my actual magic in a while since none of my 'roles' in my show ask for it. I need to make sure I won't blow someone up trying to heal them and vice versa due to being rusty," she said as she stopped in front of one of the wooden training dummies in the room. She returned her trusty frying pan to its pocket, before she turned towards her faithful caretaker. "Toadsworth, Mario and Luigi should still be in the city visiting their parents. Please send one of our messenger Toads to let them know they are needed here urgently, and that if they aren't here within four days ready to go, I'll take a contingency of Toad guards in their stead," she ordered, before she turned and began to fire off various magic spells at the dummy.

Toadsworth stepped away from the volatile magic being launched by his charge and sighed. "Yes, princess. I shall do as requested. Do stay safe, Peach. I don't know what I would do with myself if something happened to you," he said as he moved to leave the room.

Just before Toadsworth closed the door on his way out, Peach called out to him once more. "Oh, and could you stop by the royal archives and pickup a book on elemental spells, as well as one for the Beanbean Kingdom? I don't know what exactly we'll find there or what we're up against, so I wish to do a bit of research while I still have time."

Toadsworth stuck his head back into the training room. "Yes, Princess. Right away," he complied, before he closed the door.

Author's Note

Merry Christmas, and Happy Hearthswarming!

I hope everyone has had a great holiday season, and here's to a new year!

Alternative chapter title: Fields Of Starlit Skies.

Apple Bloom's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 1 1-Up Mushroom, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, 2 Mushrooms, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Applejack's Rope, Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping, 4 Training Dummies, yellow blanket and orange pillow with accompanying sheets.

Scootaloo's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 2 Healing Potions, 2 Mushrooms, 1 Syrup, 100 Bits, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Scooter, Luna's Letter to Queen Bean, Camera, Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood's Guide To The Monsters Of The World, 4 Training Dummies, yellow blanket and pink pillow with accompanying sheets.

Sweetie Belle's Inventory: Enchanted Saddlebags, 2 Healing Potions, 100 Bits, 16 Beanbean Kingdom Coins, 1 Mushroom, 1 Syrup, 2 Empty Jars, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Rarity's grooming supplies, 101 Spells For Travelers' Convenience, Map of the Beanbean Kingdom, Sewing Kit, Torn Teddy Bear, 4 Training Dummies, white blanket and purple pillow with accompanying sheets.

Spike's Inventory: Enchanted Backpack, 2 Healing Potions, 1 1-Up Mushroom, 1 Mushroom, 7 Hee Beans, Drawn Sketch of Cackletta and Fawful, Enchanted Quill Pen, Large Quantity of Parchment, Fluttershy's First Aid Kit, 4 Training Dummies, Notes on Cackletta and Fawful's Battle Tactics.