Cutie Mark Crusaders: Mushroom Kingdom Mayhem

by pikpacker

Rating: teen
Tags: Adventure, Violence, Crossover, Mario, Final Fantasy, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Death, Alternate Universe, Human, Other, Romance, Spike, Cutie Mark Crusaders
Length: 90918

Unexpected events during a meeting between Princess Celestia and the ambassadors of a foreign kingdom spark off an adventure the Crusaders will never forget.

A letter sent by Princess Luna urgently summoning Spike to Canterlot after a diplomatic meeting gone wrong has unexpected results when his friends the Cutie Mark Crusaders overhear the summons and decide to tag-along with him.

Little did any of them know just how much their lives would change from this one fateful decision.

Cover art by the incredibly skilled Little Tigress.

Published 2024-09-22 10:20:00 UTC
Last updated 2024-12-25 20:00:03 UTC

Introducing: The Crusaders!

May 23rd, 1001 Post-NMM.

As Spike swept the floor of the Golden Oaks Library's reading room with his trusty broom, he paused in his tracks when he felt a familiar warm sensation in his chest. He quickly set the broom down against the nearest bookshelf and turned away towards the more open center of the room when he realized what it meant. His cheeks bulged, before with a belch a burst of green fire flew out and coalesced into a scroll in midair.

Spike caught the scroll as it fell before it could hit the ground. He unfurled it and glanced at the royal seal embossed at the bottom of the letter before he called out to his sister. "Twilight! You've got a letter from Princess Celestia!"

"I'll be down soon!" Twilight called from her room upstairs.

Spike picked up the broom and sat down on one of the nearby chairs to rest from his morning chores while he waited for Twilight to arrive. He leaned the broom against the table and made sure the handle didn't jostle or damage the wooden unicorn head decoration that rested in the center.

A few minutes later, Twilight reached the bottom of the stairs. A book floated in the air next to her, fully enveloped in her magic aura.

Spike caught a glimpse of the cover. "'Canopy Camper's Essential Guide For Camping'," He read to himself. He looked up at Twilight questioningly. "Are we going camping soon?"

Twilight shook her head and sat down in the other chair next to him. She floated the book over to Spike as she began to explain. "No, I'm just reading through this book for the spells. Even outside of a camping situation, these spells are very useful to know." She opened the book to a page marked with a bookmark and excitedly pointed to a spell on it with a hoof. "My favorite so far is the food preservation spell! Just one quick cast on whatever food I have with me to eat while reading, and I no longer have to worry about it going bad just because I forgot about it!"

"Wow, that does sound useful," Spike said.

Twilight nodded. "There's several other spells in here that are all very useful in day to day life. Honestly, I'm thinking about asking Princess Celestia to make learning these spells a mandatory part of the curriculum for the School Of Gifted Unicorns."

Spike snapped his claws and got down from his chair as he remembered the letter still held in his other hand. "That reminds me, Princess Celestia sent a letter!"

Twilight chuckled. "Sorry, Spike. I didn't mean to distract you by talking about this book. Let's hear what the Princess has to say."

Spike unfurled the letter once more. He cleared his throat, then began to read aloud.

To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. I am very pleased to tell you that the warp pipe hub you requested in your previous letter be built in Ponyville has been approved.

I have an architect and a warp pipe engineer on their way to Ponyville to scout out an area suitable for the hub, and builders will be sent out to build it once they have finished scouting and creating the necessary blueprints. I have already taken the necessary measures to acquire the permits needed for this project.

If all goes well, the architect and engineer should be arriving Monday morning to start the process.

Spike lowered the letter. "Wow Twilight, that's great news! Now we won't have to take the train every time we want to visit anypony back in Canterlot!"

Twilight clopped her hooves together excitedly. "I know, I'll be able to surprise Shining Armor with a visit during his next leave! I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

Spike looked back down at the letter. He noticed that the letter wasn't fully unrolled. "Oh hey, it looks like there's more in the letter!" He said, before he unfurled it and read it aloud.

In other related news, we have received a letter from Queen Bean of the Beanbean Kingdom accepting our most recent invitation to host ambassadors from her kingdom, officially opening diplomatic relations between our two kingdoms.

The set date and time for their arrival is the morning of next Wednesday, on the 28th of May.

I would appreciate it if you and your friends would be here for the duration of their initial meeting, as I feel that, as the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, you all would be best suited for showing them the best of what Equestria has to offer.

Twilight jumped out of her seat and paced across the floor of the library in a panic. "A meeting with ambassadors?! Next Wednesday is only five days away, I have so much to prepare before then!"

Spike got up and placed a hand on her leg to stop her from pacing and spiraling. "Woah, Twi. Just take a deep breath and calm down, I'm here to help you after all."

Twilight closed her eyes and took multiple deep breaths. Once she had fully calmed herself down, she opened her eyes again and took one last deep breath, which she exhaled slowly. She then turned towards Spike. "Thank you for keeping me from freaking out too much, Spike. What would I ever do without you?" She asked as she grabbed him and pulled him into a hug.

Spike returned the hug. "Probably fall apart completely, spiraling down a dark path of madness and endless book sorting," he said with a chuckle.

Twilight chuckled. "Probably."

The two then separated. Spike grabbed a quill pen and a parchment from the table. "Alright, so what's the first thing on the list?" He asked as he got ready to write.

Twilight put a hoof to her chin and thought. "Well, we definitely need to tell the others about this, so that they can take care of their own preparations and get ready for the trip. After that, we need to make sure that you have enough supplies here to last while we're gone."

Spike paused in his writing. "You mean I'm not coming with?"

Twilight shook her head. "We're only going to be meeting with the ambassadors while we're there, and maybe even stay the night if the meeting goes on long enough," she explained. "The meeting itself will easily take multiple hours since there's so much that would need to be discussed. Do you really want to have to sit through a several-hour long meeting in silence, not able to do anything or else risk upsetting the diplomats? We have no idea if they're the kind of ponies-" she paused in thought. "Er, well, they're not really ponies, so people I guess, that would take interruptions well or if they'd completely freak out. Honestly, I have no idea how we're going to keep Pinkie Pie from either going insane from the boredom or driving all of us insane while we're there as is."

It took less than a second for Spike to have his answer. "I'll pass, that sounds incredibly boring. Also, a bored Pinkie is a terrifying Pinkie, and the one time I saw a bored Pinkie was enough to know that I do NOT want to be in an enclosed room with her that I can't get out of."

Twilight paled and shuddered at the thought. "Great, now I'm going to be scared of that, too. Thanks, Spike," she mumbled sarcastically with an eyeroll once she'd recovered.

"You're welcome sis!" Spike said much more enthusiastically, which made the stressed mare chuckle.

Twilight shook her head to refocus herself. "Anyways, let's get started on telling the others. How about you go visit Rarity and let her know what's going on? You could even see if she needs help with any of her preparations, since you'll already be there."

Spike gasped. "I shall gladly go aid my fair lady Rarity!" He declared as he pounded a fist against his chest.

Twilight chuckled at his antics. "Just go, Spike. I can take care of everything else here. While you're gone, I'll take care of telling the others, so don't worry about trying to find them."

Spike set his written list and quill pen down on the table and turned to leave. "Bye Twilight! I'll see you later!" He said with a wave as he left the library.

Spike made his way through Ponyville at a brisk pace. He arrived at Carousel Boutique not even ten minutes after he left the library.

He knocked three times on the door and waited.

Several minutes prior, inside the boutique, Rarity was in deep concentration as she worked on a dress order from the Rich estate.

Sweetie Belle squirmed on the modeling stage as the inner stitching scratched uncomfortably at her coat. "Rarityyy, why am I the one modeling for this dress?" She complained to her older sister. "You know Diamond Tiara isn't our friend. In fact, she hates us!"

Rarity tsked. She scribbled something on her design notepad as she made adjustments to the design based on her observations. "Because Scootaloo's wings make her modeling only work with dresses intended for other pegasus foals, and somepony," she said with a pointed look towards Scootaloo next to her. Said pegasus filly whistled innocently. "Crashed into my only foal-sized ponnequin the other day, and I haven't been able to take it in for repairs yet. And besides, despite his daughter's awful behavior, Filthy Rich is a good stallion, and a customer on top of that. Who knows, maybe if you give Diamond Tiara her ordered dress personally once it's done, she'll warm up to you three, at least a little bit."

Scootaloo scoffed from her spot next to Rarity where she had been watching her sister work instead of hanging out with Rainbow Dash since she and Fluttershy had left for their monthly weekend trip to Cloudsdale earlier that day. "Yeah right, I doubt anything short of us saving her life would make that happen."

"And even then, she'd probably just scoff at us and say something like, 'Oh, I can't believe I was saved by those, those AWFUL Blank-Flanks! Oh, I could just positively DIE from embarrassment!'" Sweetie Belle said in a high-pitched mockery of Diamond Tiara's voice.

Rarity glanced down at her younger sister in concern. "I'm sure it's not quite that bad. Right?"

Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded. "She treats us like we're less than her just because we don't have our Cutie Marks yet. She makes sure to only do it when nopony else is around, though, so she never gets caught, and anytime we try to tell an adult that isn't Miss Cheerilee they don't believe us. They always say that she's 'such a beautiful little angel,' bleh," Scootaloo said with her tongue stuck out in disgust.

Rarity frowned. "Does she ever... hit any of you?"

Both of her sisters shook their heads. "No, she knows that Apple Bloom is stronger than her, and that if she tried anything like that, she'd make her regret it fast," Scootaloo said.

"I have seen her sometimes get a little physical with her friend Silver Spoon, though," Sweetie Belle added.

Rarity's frown deepened into a scowl. "Once we're done here, I'm going to have a talk with Cheerilee about this. Behavior like that cannot be allowed to just keep happening unchecked."

Scootaloo shrugged. "You can try, but the last time we did that, she just said that she couldn't do anything because she'd get fired from her job, and I don't want to even think about who we'd get stuck with to replace her if that happened. I actually like Miss Cheerilee, she makes sure that I don't fall behind in class and that I actually understand her lessons each day."

Rarity gave her pegasus sister a hug, which Scootaloo leaned into.

Before any more could be said, a knock on the door echoed throughout the room.

"I'll get it!" Sweetie Belle called out as she ran off the stage. The unfinished dress she still wore trailed behind the filly as she ran to the door.

Rarity broke away from her hug with Scootaloo. "Get back here, Sweetie Belle! That dress isn't finished yet!"

Sweetie Belle ignored her sister and opened the door. "Hi Spike!" She greeted her dragon friend. "Are you here to help Rarity again?"

Spike half-nodded, but turned it into a shrug halfway through. "Eh... Sort of, I'll explain inside."

Sweetie Belle nodded and stepped aside. "Come on in."

"Thanks, Sweetie Belle," Spike said as he stepped over the trailing dress and walked over to Rarity.

Rarity pulled him into a quick hug to greet him. "Hello Spikey-Wikey, what brings you here today?"

Spike returned the hug and relished the soft touch of his crush with a smile.

Scootaloo rolled her eyes and pointed her hoof towards her mouth with a fake gag at the dragon's antics, which caused Sweetie Belle to giggle.

Spike blushed in embarrassment and quickly pulled away. He awkwardly cleared his throat. "Twilight received a letter from Princess Celestia that said the ambassadors from the Beanbean Kingdom will be arriving in Canterlot next week, and she wants all of the Elements present for the initial meeting!"

Rarity gasped and giddily stomped her hooves on the ground in excitement. "Ooh, I can't wait! I have to get ready, I need to pack EVERYTHING!" She declared as she ran off and left Spike behind with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.

Spike stared awkwardly in the direction Rarity had disappeared in. "Well... that didn't go quite as I expected."

Scootaloo snickered. "Let me guess, you thought she was going to ask for your help again, lover boy?"

Spike blushed and looked away. "...Yeah," he admitted. He then did a double take. "Wait, how do you know about my crush?"

Both Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle just stared at him for a second. "You have literally never been even slightly subtle, mister 'My Fair Rarity, is there anything I could POSSIBLY do to help you? Your every wish is my command!'" Scootaloo said in a low-pitched parody of Spike's voice as she tucked her forehooves under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes.

Spike grumbled and batted at her hooves. "Just wait, Scootaloo. One day you'll fall in love, then you'll understand."

Scootaloo scoffed as Sweetie Belle removed the unfinished dress and took it to Rarity. "Sure, yeah, I'll let you know when that happens. In fact, I promise that you'll be the first to know."

Spike just stared deadpan at Scootaloo for a second, before a question came to his mind. "By the way, I was curious. Rarity and Sweetie Belle are both unicorns, and if those two unicorns I saw the three of you with a while back were your parents, do you have a pegasus somewhere further back?"

Scootaloo giggled. "No silly, I'm adopted. Sweetie Belle's parents adopted me two years ago on my tenth birthday, about a year before you and Twilight moved here to Ponyville. It was the best birthday I've ever had, in fact."

Spike's eyes widened. "Oh neat, I'm adopted too! Twilight's mom and dad officially adopted me about four years ago once Celestia felt I had my fire breath under control. She didn't want to risk me accidentally burning Twilight's house down before then."

Scootaloo snickered before she offered her hoof for a hoofbump. "Awesome! We adopted ponies need to stick together!" She then paused. "Er, adopted pony and dragon, that is."

Spike snickered and met her hoof with a fist. "I know what you mean Scootaloo. We're kinda like siblings, in a way!"

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, exactly!" She then gave him a smirk. "So, brother, you do realize this makes Rarity your sister too now, right?" She teased.

Spike's face turned completely ashen at the thought. "On second thought, let's just stay friends, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo giggled at his expression and waved a hoof. "I'm just kidding, Spike, although you should have seen the look on your face! It was priceless!"

The color returned to Spike's face, although he still looked visibly uncomfortable.

Scootaloo saw his discomfort and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry Spike, I didn't mean to make you that uncomfortable. I just thought it would be a funny joke, is all."

Spike wrapped his arms around Scootaloo and returned the hug. "It's alright, I know you didn't mean anything bad by it. Just, please don't make fun of my crush again, alright?"

Scootaloo pulled away and made eye contact with him. "I Pinkie Promise," she said before she sat down. She began to motion with her hoof. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," she vowed.

Spike put a hand to his chest and gave a sigh of relief. "Thanks Scootaloo. That means a lot to me."

Scootaloo smiled at him. "Not a problem, Spike. If it helps, us being brother and sister does not make Sweetie Belle and Rarity your sisters."

A contemplative look crossed Spike's face. "Eh..." he started with a side to side wiggle of his hand. "It does help make the idea a bit easier to swallow, but I'd still rather we just be close friends, if that's fine by you."

Scootaloo nodded. "Close friends it is! Now, let's go see if we can go help Sweetie Belle and Rarity, I'm sure they need it considering how long they've been gone at this point," she said as she turned and headed in the direction her sisters had disappeared in moments before.

Spike followed behind her. "Now that's an idea I can get behind!" He cheered with a fist pump.

Several hours later, the exhausted Spike, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle exited Rarity's room, their faces red from exertion.

The trio panted as they sluggishly made their way over to one of Rarity's fainting couches in the main room, where they flumped down onto it in a pile of limbs, each of them too tired to untangle themselves.

"Why does she need to pack so much for this trip? And why now, it's not for five more days!" Scootaloo complained from her spot at the bottom of the pile. Her wings twitched from the exertion of balancing luggage containers on her back for so long.

"At least she wasn't being literal about packing everything, no way would we have been able to do all of that today," Sweetie Belle said as she rested her head on the arm of the couch.

Spike looked towards where Sweetie Belle lay. "Speaking of, Sweetie Belle, you've gotten pretty good with your levitation lately. I was impressed with how well you held all that stuff in the air at once!" He praised.

Sweetie Belle blushed from the praise. "Thanks, Spike. I've been practicing a lot lately, and levitating multiple things at once has always been easiest for me to learn for some reason," she said with a shrug. "Rarity's constant multi-tasking rubbed off on me a bit, I guess."

Spike looked impressed, but Scootaloo just stared at her sister with suspicion in her eyes. "You've been using my missing wing weights, haven't you?"

Sweetie Belle blushed. "Only the ones you aren't using."

Scootaloo scowled. "I'm not using them because they're missing!"

Spike frowned. He rolled off of Scootaloo and hefted himself off the couch to go find something to eat while his friends continued to bicker on the couch behind him. He let out a sigh with a soft shake of his head. "I hope Apple Bloom is having a better time right now," he said to himself under his breath.

Inside the Apple Family's barn on Sweet Apple Acres, various well-used training equipment and weights of varying sizes lay scattered about one of the otherwise unused corners of the ground floor. Apple Bloom stood next to a tall punching bag that had been set up in the corner on the floor. The very same punching bag Rainbow Dash had her use to try to earn a martial arts Cutie Mark ten months prior.

She glared at the punching bag. "You may have bested me almost a year ago, but today, it's finally mah turn!"

Apple Bloom turned away from the punching bag and took a deep, calming breath. She then reared up and focused all of her strength into bucking the punching bag as hard as she could with a shout. "Hiyaah!"

The filly's buck completely knocked the punching bag over onto its side with a resounding thud, a large gash torn into its side from the filly's strength. Some of the cloth material that had been used to fill it spilled out onto the wooden floor of the barn.

Apple Bloom opened her eyes, spun around, and just stared in awe at her achievement for a moment. "Ah, Ah did it! Ah finally got back at this stupid thing! Ha ha!" She cheered. She began to jump around the barn in celebration.

On one of her jumps, her hoof caught on the edge of one of the bales of hay that was being stored in the barn, which resulted in the frolicking filly falling flat on her face. "Oof!"

She got back up and rubbed her nose. "Ow... dumb hay bale..." She mumbled. She felt something wet on her hoof and took her hoof away from her nose to check it. "Aw, really?"

"Ya okay in there, Bloom?" Applejack called from the entrance of the barn, the mare having heard her sister's cry of pain as she was on her way to prepare for her upcoming trip to Canterlot next week.

Apple Bloom turned to her approaching sister with a hoof now pressed up against her nose to stem the bleeding. "Yeah, Ah'm fine. Just had a bit of a fall, that's all," she responded with a nasally voice.

Applejack frowned and gently pulled Apple Bloom's hoof away from her nose. She tsked as the filly's blood slowly dribbled out. "Land's sakes, sugarcube, what are on earth were ya doing to cause this?"

Apple Bloom perked back up. "Ah finally beat that stupid punching bag! See?!" She said as she pointed her slightly bloody hoof towards the corner where the punching bag lay on its side, surrounded by its cloth stuffing that had leaked out of the gash she'd made.

Applejack whistled when she saw the filly's handiwork. "Ah must say, all that working out ya've been doing this past year is actually paying off! A lot too, from the look of this damage!" She exclaimed before she looked back down towards her sister with a slight frown. "Now, what are ya going to tell Rainbow Dash? She was kind enough to lend ya one of her dojo's punching bags for ya to train with before she left, after all."

Apple Bloom's ears drooped as she remembered. "Oh, right. Um, maybe Rarity can patch it back up?" She asked with a hopeful glance towards her sister.

Applejack tousled Apple Bloom's mane with a smile. "Ah'll ask her next time Ah see her. For now, let's go get that bloody nose taken care of. Don't want it to drip all over the place, now do we?" She asked as she got up to head towards their house.

Apple Bloom quickly put a hoof to her nose again to stop her blood from dripping out and shook her head. "Nope, definitely not!" She called as she took off after her sister. The filly balanced carefully on three hooves as she ran.

Once inside their house a minute later, Apple Bloom caught a glimpse out of the corner of her eye of a picture of her parents that was hung on the wall to the side of the entrance.

Five-year-old Apple Bloom watched as her parents Pear Butter and Bright Mac fought back against their mysterious assailants in the orchard.

The young filly had taken cover behind an apple tree her mother had hidden her behind when the attack had suddenly started. Multiple nearby thin bushes had been hastily cannibalized by her father to create the more solid cover she was now better hidden under while her mother held the attackers off. She had carefully poked her head out from the side of the tree when she heard noises a few minutes later, her curiosity getting the best of her.

She watched in teary-eyed terror as her mother dodged to the side as one of the blurry, hazy figures swiped an unclear limb at her. Her mother spun around and counterattacked with a solid, powerful buck that hit the figure directly and sent it flying into the tree behind it, where it impacted with a massive thud and the resounding crack of shattering bones that echoed deafeningly throughout the orchard.

Not even a minute later it had gotten back up and rejoined its brethren, no worse for wear than when the battle had first started.

Apple Bloom sniffled as the painful memories hit her. "Mama, Papa, Ah promise that Ah'll be strong enough that what happened to you back then will never happen again. Ah'll protect everypony. That's a promise," she vowed to herself as the determination to protect her loved ones burned deeply within her.

Applejack grabbed a tissue from the box on the living room table. "What was that Apple Bloom?" She asked as she turned around, the mare having heard her little sister mumble to herself behind her.

Apple Bloom gave her sister a teary eyed smile. "Just making a promise to Mama and Papa, Applejack."

Applejack pulled her sister into a hug with a smile and watery eyes. "Ah'm sure they're just as proud of ya as Ah am, little Bloom."

Apple Bloom's eyes also watered from her sister's usage of her parents old nickname for her as she leaned into the hug.

After a few seconds, the sisters broke away from each other, and Applejack gave the tissue to Apple Bloom, who carefully stuffed it in her nose to stem the bleeding. "Now, take care of yerself a bit better, Apple Bloom. Ah can't always be there to help ya when ya get hurt."

Apple Bloom nodded. "Ah know. It was an accident anyways, but Ah'll make sure to be more careful from now on," she said, her voice nasally due to the tissue plugging up one nostril.

Applejack smiled and patted her sister on the head. "That's a good start," she said, before she pulled her into a less mournful hug. "Ah love ya, little Bloom."

Apple Bloom returned the hug with a smile. "Ah love you too, Applejack."

Author's Note

This story was very heavily inspired by Lucar's works: A Sweetie Dream Land, the Apple Bloom's Mansion series, and The Phantom Filly.

If you're reading this Lucar, thank you for writing some of my favorite works of fiction of all time, including my actual favorite, A Sweetie Dream Land.

Thank you.

To everyone else, I heavily recommend checking his stories out. They are more than worth the time it takes to read them, in my opinion.

Stardust Crusaders

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.

The Architect And Engineer

May 25th, 1001 Post-NMM.

Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders were scattered about in different comfortable positions inside of the Golden Oaks Library's reading room, various books, comics, or otherwise open in front of them.

School had gotten out a few hours earlier, and the fillies were in the midst of taking a much needed break from the day's Crusading. At Spike's earlier suggestion, they decided to spend it by reading together. Spike was just happy to spend time with his friends.

Scootaloo was laying on a beanbag that had been set up in the corner. Her sister Sweetie Belle was cuddled up against her side while the two of them shared a comic.

Apple Bloom lay just in front of the beanbag on her belly, a beginners book on martial arts open on the ground in front of her. Spike laid with his back against her left side, a Power Ponies comic held carefully in his hands so as to not tear the thin paper with his claws.

Scootaloo finished her own Power Ponies comic and waited for Sweetie Belle to finish the last page, then set it aside when she felt Sweetie Belle nod. She groaned as she carefully stretched out so as to not accidentally punch her sister in the process. "My back and wings are getting cramped just laying here reading. I say we go back to trying to find our Cutie Marks now that we've taken a break. Or at least do something besides just laying around, my legs are falling asleep!"

Apple Bloom perked up from the floor in front of them. "Ah have an idea, how about we go out into town and just look around? Who knows, maybe we'll find something interesting to do!"

Spike turned around and looked at his friends. "Oh hey, that reminds me! Princess Celestia said in her letter last Friday that an architect and a warp pipe engineer were coming to Ponyville this morning!" He exclaimed.

Scootaloo buzzed her wings in excitement and soared over Apple Bloom as she jumped off the beanbag. "That's good enough for me! Let's go!"

"Wait, it's almost evening right now, would they even still be here?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Spike stood up from his spot and stretched out with a groan as well, before he shrugged. "I have no idea, but there's no harm in going out for a bit, right?"

Scootaloo bounced impatiently in place. "Come on! Let's go already!"

Apple Bloom giggled at her friend's clear excitement as she closed her book and set it back on the shelf where she originally found it, before she headed to the front door where Scootaloo was already waiting.

Spike went around and picked up the other book and comics, before he took them over to the shelves. Just before he grabbed the rolling ladder to put them away, the reading materials floated out of his grasp in a green magic aura.

"Just point at where these should go," Sweetie Belle said.

Spike smiled at her in thanks, before he pointed towards where each item went on their respective shelves.

Sweetie Belle floated each one into the correct spot, before she turned towards Spike.

Spike checked where she'd put each book and comic. He nodded in satisfaction once he'd confirmed their location as correct. "Got them all right, Sweetie Belle. Thanks for helping me," he said as he walked towards the entrance.

Sweetie Belle followed right by his side. "Not a problem, Spike. It's what friends are for, right?"

Spike pulled her into a quick hug, before they separated a second later.

The duo reached the entrance where Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had waited for them. "Come on! We're almost out of daylight!" Scootaloo called impatiently.

Spike blushed. "Sorry Scootaloo, I didn't want to just leave everything on the floor, Twilight would get pretty upset with me if I did that."

Scootaloo realized how rude she'd been and took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Sorry, Spike. I just want to get out and do something before the day's over, y'know?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, I know. Now, let's get out there and meet some new ponies!" He cheered and pumped his arm.

"Yeah!" The Crusaders all cheered together in excitement before they ran towards the exit. Apple Bloom reached the door first and held it open for the others.

Sweetie Belle grabbed her school bag from the pile they'd all been left in by the entrance as she left the library. When Scootaloo grabbed her school bag, she also grabbed Apple Bloom's school bag and held it in her mouth as she ran towards the exit.

As Spike followed after them, he paused and turned back towards the depths of the treebrary just before he reached the door. "Twilight! We're going out into town for a while!"

"That's alright! Just make sure to stay safe! And come back before it gets dark!" Twilight called back from her room upstairs.

"We will!" Spike called back. Permission now received, he turned back to his friends. "Alright, let's go!"

As Scootaloo was about to leave, she turned to Apple Bloom and plopped her school bag onto her back. "Here you go, Apple Bloom," she said once her mouth was free.

"Thanks Scootaloo," Apple Bloom said as she adjusted the school bag to better rest on her withers.

As Scootaloo and Apple Bloom exited out the door, Sweetie Belle poked her head back into the library and called out. "Come on already, Spike! We're leaving!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Spike called as he ran to catch up to his friends. He closed the door behind him as he left the library.

Now outside under the light of the late afternoon sun, the Crusaders turned to each other. "Where should we start our search?" Scootaloo asked.

The others thought for a few seconds, before Apple Bloom spoke up. "The warp pipe hub would be pretty big, right, Spike?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah, the one in Canterlot is huge since the pipes themselves are so big, and there's so many. Why do you ask?"

"Because the only places Ah can think of with a large enough empty space are the outskirts of Ponyville, and Sweet Apple Acres," Apple Bloom explained.

"There's also the field where the skate park used to be after it was demolished last year," Scootaloo mumbled with a downtrodden expression.

Sweetie Belle threw a foreleg over Scootaloo's withers and hugged her sister close. "I'm sorry Scootaloo, I know how much that place meant to you."

Scootaloo leaned into her sister's hug. "It's not your fault it was condemned. It just, didn't get enough funding to keep it maintained, I guess."

Sweetie Belle nuzzled Scootaloo's cheek in an attempt to cheer her up.

A small smile broke out across the pegasus filly's face as Sweetie Belle's fuzzy cheek tickled her. "Thanks sis. I love you," Scootaloo said as she returned the nuzzle.

"Love you too Scootaloo," Sweetie Belle responded, before the two separated.

Scootaloo turned to face Apple Bloom. "Let's go to Sweet Apple Acres first, that way we at least have somepony to ask if they've been around rather than just wandering aimlessly in the outskirts for the rest of the day."

Apple Bloom nodded. "That's a good point. Alright, to mah home it is!" She exclaimed as she turned towards where she knew her family's orchard was and sped off.

"Wait for us!" Sweetie Belle cried out as she and both her sister and Spike took off after Apple Bloom.

The Crusaders ran through town until they reached the fence that marked the border between Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, where they walked through the entrance and entered the orchard.

As the CMC plus Spike walked all throughout the massive field of trees, they turned their heads every which way to see if they could spot anypony that resembled an architect or an engineer.

Apple Bloom dug her hooves into notches in the bark of one of the nearby trees as she climbed it to get a better view of the nearby area. "Ah'm not seeing anypony besides us in here," Apple Bloom said as she looked towards the north part of the orchard once she'd reached the top.

Scootaloo took a page out of Apple Bloom's book and clambered up a tree south of her friend. "Neither am I," she responded as she scanned the southern section of the orchard with a hoof held over her eyes to block out the sun.

"I think we should just go ask Applejack directly, see if maybe they spoke to her," Spike suggested. "Assuming they were ever here in the first place, that is," he finished with a shrug.

Apple Bloom looked up towards the sun in the sky and made sure to not stare directly at it. "Based on what time it is right now, Applejack should be working in the east part of the orchard, where the hills keep it shady and cool in the late afternoon."

Spike waved a hand forward dramatically. "Lead the way, Apple Bloom," he said as he gave an overdramatic bow.

When Scootaloo heard Spike's call, she jumped out of her tree and stretched her wings out to turn her fall into a glide. She circled over Sweetie Belle and Spike's heads as she glided down, before she touched down next to Sweetie Belle.

Apple Bloom gave an impressed whistle as she watched from the top of her tree. "Wow, Scoot. Ah didn't know ya could do that," she said as she climbed back down the tree.

Scootaloo smiled and rubbed her chest with a hoof proudly. "It's something Rainbow Dash taught me how to do last Thursday before she and Fluttershy left for Cloudsdale," she explained as she flapped her wings once and tucked them back into her sides.

Apple Bloom took the lead at the front of the group, and over the next twenty minutes, she lead them around, through, between, and occasionally even over the thousands of apple trees within the orchard.

Apple Bloom paused as the sound of hoof-on-wood impacts echoed throughout the orchard. Her face broke out into a wide smile as she turned back to her friends. "That's gotta be her! Let's go!" She called back before she broke out into a run. The others ran close behind so as to not fall behind.

The thwacks got louder as the group approached the source, before a dimly-lit pony silhouette could be seen in the distance reared up mid-buck.

"Applejack! Ah need to ask y- Oh hey Big Mac!" Apple Bloom greeted when she realized who the pony actually was. "Is Applejack around here somewhere?"

Big Macintosh finished his buck with a thwack that resounded through the area and jostled his brown saddlebags, before he turned towards the group when he heard his little sister greet him. "Eeenope. She's back home preparing for her trip in two days."

Apple Bloom facehoofed. "Oh right, Ah can't believe Ah forgot," she said. She shook her head and looked back up at her brother. "Well, anyways, have you seen anypony else around here this morning? We're looking for an architect and an engineer that are supposed to be somewhere around Ponyville, and we were wondering if they might have come here."

Big Mac chewed the straw in his mouth as he thought. He nodded a minute later. "Eeeyup. There were two ponies here half an hour ago, ya just missed them."

Scootaloo's wings buzzed as her excitement returned from the positive news. "Sweet! What did they look like?"

Big Mac put a hoof to his chin as he frowned in deep thought. "Well, one of them was pretty tall. Not quite my height, but taller than Applejack. The other one was only a little bit taller than ya are, little Bloom. The tall one was a unicorn mare, while the short one was a pegasus, not sure on his age though. He talked kinda funny, too," he said.

"Did you see where they went when they left?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Big Mac nodded. "They said something about going towards a cottage they'd heard about by the border of the Everfree Forest, most likely Fluttershy's."

Apple Bloom gave her brother a hug that the much larger stallion returned, before she waved goodbye. "See you later Big Mac! We've got some ponies to meet!"

Big Mac called out before she left. "Before ya leave, here, take this. It's yer allowance for the week," he said as he reached his muzzle into the saddlebags. He pulled out a small ratty brown bag that jingled as it moved. "Ya forgot it when ya left for school this morning," he mumbled around the bag.

Apple Bloom turned to the side so he could drop it into her schoolbags. "Thanks, Big Mac!" She called out to him as they left.

Big Mac waved goodbye, before he returned to his farm chores.

The Crusaders trotted and jogged back through the orchard together as they didn't want to waste any time and risk missing the two again.

With their goal in mind, they quickly reached the fence that acted as the boundary between Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres again, where they stopped briefly.

Spike pointed a single claw towards Ponyville. "Let's cut through town, it'll be much faster than trying to catch up by going around the outskirts," he suggested.

The fillies nodded, and the group took off once more, this time straight into Ponyville proper.

The group darted down various well-trod dirt roads and through the market where only a few stalls were still open this late in the day on their quest to reach the other side of town. Multiple times they had to slow down to not collide painfully with any other ponies that were out and about.

When they reached the town square however, a blur of cyan and rainbow zoomed down to them from the sky. "Hey squirt, can't help but notice you've all been wandering around town for a while now. You looking for something?" Rainbow Dash asked as she pulled her biggest fan and pseudo sister into a quick winghug.

A massive smile broke out across Scootaloo's face as she nuzzled Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash! You're back from your trip!" She cried out as her wings buzzed on her back.

The buzzing wings tickled Rainbow Dash, making her laugh. "Ha ha, alright, alright! Ha, I get it, you're happy to see me, hee hee, but that really tickles!" She said through her laughter.

Scootaloo blushed and focused as she put conscious effort into stopping her wings from buzzing. The buzzing slowed to a stop, before she tucked her wings back to her sides. "Sorry, Rainbow Dash. They just do that when I'm happy, you know I can't really control it very well yet," she said her wings twitched.

Rainbow Dash smiled down at Scootaloo. "It's fine, I think it's kinda cute actually," she said with a cheeky grin.

Scootaloo blushed and pulled away from the hug as she ducked under Rainbow Dash's wing with a pout. "I'm not cute, I'm cool!"

Rainbow Dash gave Scootaloo a gentle noogie, which the filly tried and failed to duck away from as she batted at Rainbow Dash's hoof. "You can be both at once, you know. Just look at Fluttershy, everypony knows she's cute, heck, even I think she's adorable, but the way she can intimidate even grown dragons into crying just from talking is really, really cool."

Both the Crusaders and Spike stared wide-eyed at her. "She really made an adult dragon cry? When was this?" Spike asked as Scootaloo sat down next to him.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean I never told you about this?" The Crusaders and Spike shook their heads. "Well then, story time! Back when that black smoke was hovering over Ponyville seven months ago, the dragon at the top of the mountain that was the source of it all was trying to attack us, swiping his claws at us and even breathing fire, when suddenly, she just went completely crazy and started yelling at it! Not even a minute later he broke down into tears, apologized, and just took his hoard and left!" Rainbow Dash excitedly explained, gesturing rapidly with her hooves and wings as she spoke.

The fillies and dragon's jaws were dropped all throughout Rainbow Dash's story.

Rainbow Dash blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Although, I do admit I probably didn't help things, since I did kick the dragon's nose, after all..." she trailed off, before she suddenly shook her head. "No, wait, that's not why I'm here right now. You four are looking for something, right?"

Apple Bloom nodded first. "Yeah, an architect and warp pipe engineer from Canterlot are supposed to be here somewhere, and we were heading to Fluttershy's cottage since Big Mac said they mentioned going that way," she explained.

Rainbow Dash thought for a moment before she shook her head. "Sorry, if they're the ones I'm thinking of, then the last I saw of them was a few hours after Fluttershy and I got back from our trip to Cloudsdale when I was practicing some of my tricks out by Ghastly Gorge, I saw them watching me from a distance. They were making sure to stay away from the Quarry Eels, so I guess they'd already had an encounter with one," she said. "We got back early this morning, and that was around noon, so I don't know how helpful this is."

"Maybe they've heard of you before and wanted to see if you lived up to the hype," Spike suggested with a cheeky grin.

Rainbow Dash gave a cocky smirk. "It wouldn't be the first time somepony from out of town wanted to see me in action!" She exclaimed as she struck a pose. "Next time I see them, I'll give them my autograph! I'm sure they'll love it!"

The Crusaders and Spike let out a laugh. "I wouldn't be surprised, anypony that's heard of you wants your autograph!" Scootaloo exclaimed as her wings buzzed once more.

Rainbow Dash let out a laugh. "If that's everything, stay safe you four!" She said as she prepared to take off

Just before Rainbow Dash took off into the air, Apple Bloom spoke up. "Oh, Rainbow Dash! Ah just wanted to say, thank you for lending me your dojo's punching bag! It's helped me out a lot!"

Rainbow Dash turned to her and smiled. "No problem Apple Bloom, just make sure to keep training! Oh, and by the way, you can keep it. I actually bought another a few months ago to replace it, since it had been getting kinda old," she announced.

A relieved smile bloomed across Apple Bloom's face. "Sweet, thanks! Ah kinda tore it open by accident last Friday when Ah bucked it, so Ah was pretty worried about telling ya," she confessed.

Rainbow Dash gave her a proud look. "Well, I'm glad all that training has paid off! And to think, when I first tried to teach you martial arts last year, you couldn't even budge it!" She said as she pulled Apple Bloom into a noogie much like Scootaloo's own.

Apple Bloom giggled and batted at her hoof.

Rainbow Dash stopped and let go after a few seconds. "Next week we can finally start on your actual training, now that you're strong enough to actually use the equipment. Er, maybe a little too strong, admittedly, since you tore open a punching bag."

Apple Bloom gave an excited grin and squee as her tail wagged excitedly behind her. The cute sight made the others laugh.

Once Rainbow Dash had calmed down from her laughter, she crouched down and prepared to take off once more. "Stay safe you four!" She called back to them again, before she took off into the air with a rainbow trail that followed her as she flew away.

The Crusaders and Spike waved at her as she flew off into the distance. The speedy mare became nothing more than a prismatic speck within seconds.

Apple Bloom turned to Scootaloo. "Ah can see why you love her so much. She's awesome!"

Scootaloo grinned. "I know, right?!"

Sweetie Belle and Spike resumed their trek towards Fluttershy's cottage. "We don't have much time before night falls, you two! Come on!" Sweetie Belle called back.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo quickly ran to catch up. "We're coming!" Apple Bloom called out.

"I can't wait to see Fluttershy again!" Scootaloo called out excitedly. Her wings buzzed on her back again as she ran by Apple Bloom's side.

For the next hour the group ran through Ponyville, before they eventually reached the homey cottage of the nature-loving pegasus mare just as twilight started to fall over the area.

Scootaloo walked up to the front door and knocked three times before she stepped back. Her tail slowly wagged as her excitement grew.

A few seconds later, Fluttershy opened the door and poked her head out. Dark bags were beginning to form under her eyes, and her long pink mane was tangled up and knotted with what appeared to be parts of a bird's nest sticking out of one side.

The Crusaders and Spike shared a concerned glance with each other as several different animals cried out and screamed both at and over each other behind the kind pegasus mare.

Once she noticed who was at the door, she fully opened it and stepped out. She shut the door behind her, before she turned to the Crusaders and Spike with a kind smile. "Oh, hello girls, and Spike too," She greeted as her wings rubbed up and down against her sides.

Scootaloo walked up to Fluttershy and spread out her forelegs for a hug. Fluttershy smiled and pulled Scootaloo closer with her wings to accept the hug. "Welcome back, Fluttershy," Scootaloo said as she nuzzled her old foster mother.

Fluttershy returned the nuzzle. "I'm glad to be back, Scootaloo," she said. She let go of Scootaloo and stepped back from the hug. "What are you four doing here?"

"We're looking for an architect and an engineer that are supposed to be somewhere in Ponyville today. We just came from Sweet Apple Acres, and all Big Mac could tell us was that they were a tall unicorn and a short pegasus," Scootaloo explained.

"Oh, you mean Scale Ruler and Level Measure? They were here an hour ago, you just missed them," Fluttershy said.

"You spoke with them? What are they like?" Apple Bloom asked.

Fluttershy smiled. "Oh, they came in and stayed for some tea for a few minutes. We had a nice chat about the animals in the area. They were only able to stay for a few minutes though, they said they had a lot of things they needed to do today."

The Crusaders and Spike shared a glance. "Did they say where they were going next?" Sweetie Belle asked.

Fluttershy shook her head, which caused bits of the bird's nest to fall out of her mane with a rustle. "No, sorry, just that they were going into town for a bit. I'd come help you all look, but I'm having a bit of a problem in here."

"Does it have anything to do with the chaos we heard coming from the cottage?" Spike asked.

Fluttershy nodded. "Ever since Scale and Level were here, the animals have all been acting up for some reason, and I just can't seem to get them to calm down. Not even the Stare has worked, which is unusual," she said, which greatly alarmed the Crusaders who had seen the Stare in action just a few weeks ago when they ran into a Cockatrice in the Everfree Forest.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Scootaloo asked.

Fluttershy smiled at her old charge's concern. "It's alright, I'll be able to handle it."

"I hope so, I don't want anything bad to happen to you or any of the animals," Scootaloo said.

Fluttershy walked up to Scootaloo, wrapped her wings around her and pulled her into a hug. "Thank you for your concern, and I'm glad to see you're doing better now, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo returned the warm hug and smiled. "Thanks for caring for me all those years, Fluttershy. I know I've said it before, but still, thank you, and I love you."

Fluttershy gave a wide smile as her eyes watered. "I love you too, Scootaloo," she said as she nuzzled the filly.

Their hug continued for a minute, before a loud high-pitched animal scream came from within the cottage suddenly and caused them to separate. The scream surprised the other Crusaders and Spike as well who jumped back from the door. It also alarmed Fluttershy, who yelped and ran back inside in a panic. She closed the door behind her once more. "Harry, no! Stop trying to eat Angel Bunny! He's not food!"

The Crusaders and Spike backed away from the chaotic cottage slowly. "Let's just leave her alone so she can deal with that for right now. I don't want to distract her any more," Scootaloo suggested.

The others all nodded, and the four turned and headed back into Ponyville.

They reached the border of town a few minutes later. Apple Bloom glanced up at the darkening sky above. "It's getting pretty late, I'm not sure we can find them at this point. They've probably already either left or found a hotel to stay in for the night."

Scootaloo waved a dismissive hoof. "Pfft, I'm sure we can find them. Besides, I don't want us to have wasted the whole day running around for nothing."

Spike shot a hurt look towards her. "But I thought you had fun earlier in the library?"

Scootaloo's eyes widened as she waved her hooves in a panic. "No no, I did! I just meant since then!"

Spike let out a sigh of relief as Sweetie Belle spoke up. "What if we split up and went to different parts of town? We could ask around and see if anypony else has seen them."

"That's a pretty good idea," Apple Bloom said. "Just one question though: Where do we meet up once we're done?"

Sweetie Belle answered with a smile. "By Sugarcube Corner, of course! I've still got some money from last week's allowance, so we could get some milkshakes before going home for the night!"

Scootaloo let out a cheer and pumped her foreleg. "Sounds like a plan!" She said before she took off into town.

The others waved goodbye to each other as they too went their separate ways.

Apple Bloom knew that the market wouldn't remain open much longer now that it was almost nighttime, so she chose that for her search area.

She hoped to find a few still open stalls amongst the various closed stalls as she glanced around the area.

Several minutes later, she finally found a cherry stall that was run by a scruffy looking earth pony stallion that was in the middle of closing it down.

The filly approached the stall and put her hooves on the counter to make eye contact with the owner. "Hey mister, have you seen a unicorn mare or a small pegasus colt or stallion today? The pegasus talks kinda funny, and they're an engineer and an architect," Apple Bloom asked.

The stallion turned towards her when he heard her voice. When he saw her, he looked down towards her and smirked. "Buy some of my cherries and I'll tell ya."

Apple Bloom looked around the stall. "What cherries? Ah don't see any cherries here," she said in confusion.

The stallion ducked down below the stall and came back up a second later with a bag filled with bright red cherries. "These cherries. Buy some, and I'll tell ya what ya want to know."

Apple Bloom frowned in thought. A second later she spoke up. "How much for the bag?"

The stallion gave a greedy grin. "Forty bits for the entire bag."

Apple Bloom's frown deepened. "Twenty bits."

"Thirty-five." The stallion responded.

Apple Bloom narrowed her eyes. "Twenty-five."

The stallion frowned. "Ya drive a hard bargain, little filly. Thirty bits, no lower."

Apple Bloom's frown reversed into a wide smile. She reached into her schoolbags and pulled out the pouch of bits her brother had given her with her allowance earlier. "Here you go mister, thirty bits," she said after she set the bag down on the counter.

The stallion took the bag and upended its contents onto the counter with a loud metallic jingling. He counted every bit in the pile that resulted and nodded with a smile once he'd counted out thirty bits. He pushed the bag of cherries towards Apple Bloom, as well as the now empty pouch. "The cherries are yers, little filly. I thank you for your patronage," he said, enunciating 'patronage'.

Apple Bloom took the bags and set them both in her schoolbags. She turned back towards the shopkeeper. "Thanks. Now, mah question?"

The stallion looked confused. "Huh, what?"

Apple Bloom frowned. "Mah question earlier. Have you seen a unicorn mare or a small pegasus stallion? One's an architect, the other's an engineer."

The stallion's face lit up in understanding. "Oh, THAT question. Nope, never seen em," he answered with a shake of his head.

Apple Bloom's face fell. "What?! You mean Ah just spent all mah allowance for the week without even getting any real answers?! COME ON!" She yelled in frustration as she threw her hooves up into the air.

The stallion shopkeeper shrugged. "Them's the breaks, kid. Now, I've got to pack up my stall for the night, so scram before you get in the way."

Apple Bloom turned around and left the stall and grumbled under her breath as she left. "Dumb greedy shopkeeper, making me spend all mah bits in one place like that. And for cherries, of all things. Ah mean, Ah like cherries and all, but still, come on!" She finished with a shoulder-heaving sigh.

The filly glanced around the market once she'd finished her grumbling and saw that all of the remaining stalls had packed up for the night.

She shrugged. "Guess it's time to go to Sugarcube Corner. Ah hope the others had better luck than Ah did, or at least didn't have to spend any bits."

After the conversation Scootaloo had had with her sister earlier in the day, there was only one destination in her mind this late in the afternoon.

She rode her scooter through a still familiar series of roads towards her goal. Despite the night that now approached, she still knew her path even in the darkness.

When she finally arrived a few minutes later, the pegasus filly sighed and slowly climbed off her scooter, before she sat down in front of an empty field where the very beginnings of greenery poked out of the old dirt. A sign that read "For Sale" was planted near the edge of the road.

The joyful giggling of a small filly filled the air as a much younger five-year-old Scootaloo rode her brand new scooter.

The little blue scooter and its accompanying helmet had been a gift from her parents for her previous birthday, and the very first chance her father got he took her to the recently built skate park in town.

Scootaloo gleefully rode her scooter all throughout the park as she had the time of her life. Her tiny wings buzzed as they propelled her ever faster. "Woo hoo! I love this so much! This is AWESOME!"

Suddenly, one of the wheels of her scooter caught on a rock that she hadn't seen in front of her. The sudden stop that resulted sent the filly flying forward as she screamed in fear. "Uwaah!

"I've got you!" The warbled voice of her father called out as he caught her. His voice no longer sounded as clear as it once did in her head.

"Daddy!" Scootaloo tearfully hugged her father.

The blurry, faded image of Snap Shutter returned the hug and ran his hoof through her mane as he comforted his scared daughter.

Scootaloo let out a teary-eyed sniffle as she stared at the location of one of her dearest memories. "I miss you, dad. I wish you and mom were still here."

She looked up towards the sky and closed her eyes. "They may have given up on finding you, but I KNOW you're out there somewhere. I just know it."

She stayed at the site of the old skate park for another half hour as she silently cried to herself in mourning, before she wiped her tears away, turned around, and morosely headed towards Sugarcube Corner.

Sweetie Belle ran as fast as she could towards Carousel Boutique with a specific goal in mind.

When she arrived she pulled her spare key out of her school bag with her magic and unlocked the door. Once it was open she ran straight towards Rarity's work room and closed the door behind her with her magic.

Rarity heard the bell above the front entrance ring twice and frowned in confusion. "This late at night? Who in the world could that be?"

Sweetie Belle spoke up from right beside her oldest sister. "Hi Rarity!"

Rarity jumped and let out a surprised squawk. "Wah!" She put a hoof to her chest and let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was just her youngest sister that had managed to sneak up on her. "Oh thank goodness it's just you, Sweetie Belle. I didn't know what to think when I heard somepony enter the shop at this time of night."

Sweetie Belle frowned and hugged Rarity, who returned the hug. "Sorry sis, I just wanted to get here as fast as I could once we split up to look for those two."

Rarity separated from the hug and frowned in confusion. "'Those two'?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah, we're looking for an architect and an engineer that were supposed to be here in Ponyville today to 'scout out a location for the warp pipe hub', or something like that."

Rarity scrunched up her face in thought which caused Sweetie Belle to giggle at the silly expression. Rarity unscrunched her face and lightly batted at her sister. "Oh, stop it. Anyways, I never spoke with anypony like that since I've been working on finishing up Diamond Tiara's dress all day, but I did hear two voices talking about something like that through the window around noon or so."

Sweetie Belle's face fell. "That doesn't help us at all! That's way before we started looking for them!" She said as she threw her hooves up in frustration.

Rarity patted Sweetie Belle's withers with a comforting hoof. "I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful. On the other hoof, do you want to work on your special project while you're here?"

Sweetie Belle's face lit up at the suggestion. "Yes! I'm almost done with it, too!"

Rarity called back as she walked out of the room. "Just let me know if you want me to come help."

Sweetie Belle ran over to the closet where she had hidden her project and pulled both it and the supplies she needed to work on it out. "I want to do this myself, you know that!"

Rarity chuckled to herself. "My offer's always open if you need it."

Due to Spike's lack of knowledge on the area, he managed to somehow wander into an area of Ponyville that he had never been in or seen before.

Spike looked around the area as he tried to reorient himself through familiar landmarks. The only buildings he saw were an old rundown wooden stage, and a much newer theater that he vaguely remembered a news article on that he'd read a while back.

The drake walked up to the front door of the theater and looked at the schedule posted on the doors. "Huh, that new Daring Do movie is finally coming out next month. Neat."

Spike stepped back after he finished reading the schedule and looked around. "I wish I had a map of the area right now. I have no idea where I am."

Apple Bloom was the first to arrive at the meetup location a little over an hour later. Her more in-depth knowledge of her hometown allowed her to better and more easily navigate in the darkness of Luna's night.

With the weight of the cherries in her saddlebags, the filly headed over and sat down against the wall by the entrance to the sweets themed bakery to wait for her friends to arrive.

Scootaloo was the next to show up not even five minutes later, hints of faded tear trails still visible on the pegasus filly's face.

When Apple Bloom noticed the trails, she got up and pulled her closest friend into a hug, which Scootaloo fully leaned into. "You alright, Scoots?"

Scootaloo nodded. "Yeah, just... remembering, is all."

Apple Bloom continued to hug the pegasus for another minute, before she gave her one last squeeze and sat down. "Sit with me while we wait?" She asked with a pat of a hoof on the ground next to her.

Scootaloo accepted her offer and sat down close to her friend. She adjusted herself as her wing brushed against Apple Bloom's side.

They sat together for a few minutes, before Scootaloo's rumbling stomach interrupted the quiet of the peaceful night,

Scootaloo blushed. "Eh heh heh... Sorry, I haven't exactly had dinner just yet."

Apple Bloom gave a comforting smile. "That's alright. Ah've actually got some cherries here that Ah bought while asking around the market earlier. Want some?" She offered as she swung her school bag around so that Scootaloo could reach it.

Scootaloo smiled and reached a hoof towards the offered bag of cherries. "Thanks, Apple Bloom," she said before she popped one into her mouth. She chewed it and spat out the seed. "Mmm, these are pretty good."

Apple Bloom let out a chuckle. "Ah sure hope so, they cost me mah entire allowance."

Scootaloo performed a double take. "What, why?!"

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "Because the stallion that Ah bought them from was the only shopkeeper still out and about, and he wouldn't answer mah question unless Ah bought these cherries. He didn't know anything, by the way, because of course."

Scootaloo rolled her own eyes. "Of course."

The duo stayed cuddled up together and continued to eat the cherries while they waited for Sweetie Belle and Spike to arrive.

Ten minutes later, Sweetie Belle panted as she ran up to them from the direction of Carousel Boutique. "Oh thank goodness I made it in time!"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both shot her a concerned look. "You okay, Sweetie Belle?" Apple Bloom asked.

Sweetie Belle panted for a few seconds before she nodded. "Yeah, I just lost track of time working on 'the project', and when I noticed what time it was, I ran here as fast as I could."

Scootaloo gave her sister a deadpan stare. "You do remember that we're looking for the architect and engineer, right?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "I do remember. I asked Rarity if she had seen or met anypony like that, and she mentioned that she heard two ponies talking outside her window while she was working. They were talking about the warp pipe hub around noon, so we know they were definitely looking around at that time."

"We already knew they were here, but it's still nice to find out for sure," Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo reached across in front of Apple Bloom and patted the empty spot on the ground. "Want some cherries? They're really, really good."

Sweetie Belle moved to sit down next to Apple Bloom opposite of Scootaloo, and the trio shared the remaining cherries while they waited for Spike to arrive.

Finally, after another ten minutes of waiting, Spike called out to them from down the street. "HEY! I FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

The fillies waved towards Spike, who happily waved back as he ran in their direction.

The dragon skidded to a stop just in front of them. "You wouldn't believe just how lost I got trying to find somewhere to search! I managed to find my way clear over to the movie theater, and it took so long for me to find my way back!"

The fillies' eyes widened. "That's clear on the other side of town! How'd you manage that?!" Scootaloo asked incredulously.

Spike shrugged. "Honestly, I have absolutely no idea. I'm just glad I made it here before you gave up on waiting and went home for the night."

"We wouldn't just leave you like that, Spike. You know that," Sweetie Belle said.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both nodded. "Yeah! We would have waited here until morning if we had to!" Apple Bloom promised.

"Or at least, until our angry sisters came and picked us up, that is," Scootaloo amended.

Spike smiled in response, before he glanced up at the still lit windows of Sugarcube Corner. "Is Sugarcube Corner seriously still open? It's like nine-thirty at this point!"

Apple Bloom shrugged. "So long as Pinkie's still awake, the bakery stays open. Sometimes it's even gone multiple straight days without closing at all."

"Well, then we might as well go in and say hi before we go home, right? I mean, we're already right here, after all," Scootaloo suggested.

The fillies all stood up and stretched their bodies forward in a way that reminded Spike of cats, their muscles having cramped up in the time they'd been sitting down on the ground.

Spike covered his mouth with a hand to stifle his chuckle as he watched them stretch.

Once they were done, the group stepped towards the entrance and walked in. The little bell situated above the door chimed from their entrance.

"Hi girls! And Spike too!" Pinkie Pie cried out, the bouncy pink mare having popped out of a large vase filled with decorative candy canes by the door.

"Hi Pinkie!" They each called back.

Pinkie Pie fully crawled out of the vase. "Here for some milkshakes again?"

They nodded once more. "Yep! We've had a long day wandering around town, and we wanted to have a nice treat before calling it quits for the night," Scootaloo explained.

Pinkie Pie grinned widely with a smile that stretched all the way across her face. "Right this way Crusaders!" She called as she bounced through the room towards the seating area.

The Crusaders and Spike followed the pink baker as she bounced towards their seats.

As they passed by one of the tables, Spike paused and glanced at the two ponies that occupied it. "No way, is that..."

Apple Bloom heard him and stopped. "Is that what, Spike?"

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle also stopped and watched as Spike pointed towards the unicorn mare with a purple coat and red mane, and the pegasus stallion with a red coat and green mane that were currently sat at the table. The two spoke to each other quietly under their breaths. The stallion was notably only a little bit larger than Apple Bloom herself was.

"I... I think those are the two we've been looking for!" Scootaloo cried out.

Scootaloo's outburst caught the attention of the duo at the table, and they both turned to look at the Crusaders. "And just who are you four?" The unicorn mare asked in a gravelly voice.

"Ah'm Apple Bloom!" Apple Bloom introduced herself. Her friends followed after her.

"I'm Scootaloo!"

"Sweetie Belle!"

"And I'm Spike!"

The fillies moved to put their hooves together. "And together we are... THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! ON A MISSION TO FIND OUR CUTIE MARKS! YEAH!"

Their loud shout stunned the two at the table, their eyes wide from the shock of the shout.

The pegasus was the first to recover. "And why have you ruckus-making fillies of fuzziness been looking for us?" He asked.

Scootaloo spoke up first. "We heard you were here to scout out an area for a warp pipe hub, and we wanted to learn about warp pipes!"

Apple Bloom piped up next. "Yeah! The way they let you just go from one part of the world to another so quickly is really cool, and we wanted to learn about them!"

"Please teach us something..." Sweetie Belle begged, her lower lip stuck out and her green eyes as wide as she could get them.

The duo leaned back from the group with uncomfortable expressions.

Seeing that their friend and sister's plan wasn't working with just her, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo stuck out their own lips and widened their eyes.

The combined force of the Crusaders' puppy dog eyes slammed into the duo at full force.

The mare was the first to give in. "Alright, alright! I'll teach you something, just stop with that incessant begging!"

The fillies all broke out into wide smiles. "Hooray!" They cheered.

The mare shook her head with a sigh. "The things I put up with... Alright, so the first thing to know about warp pipes is, they are really, really weird. Each one works differently based on what color it is, its orientation, its size, its location, and even how many other warp pipes are in the same area. I'm only an architect, so anything beyond that is out of my area of expertise. My longtime friend Level Measure here can tell you more, since he's an engineer."

Level Measure gave a wide grin and chortled. "At last! I can blabber about the delicious dessert of my passion!"

"Somepony say dessert?!" Pinkie Pie called from directly behind the duo, who jumped in fright. The baker carried a tray of milkshakes balanced on her fluffy tail.

"Gah! Don't do that, you incomprehensible menace!" The unicorn shouted in her surprise.

Apple Bloom frowned. "Hey, don't call Pinkie Pie mean names like that! She's just trying to be nice!"

The unicorn jolted as the filly chided her and cleared her throat. "My apologies, you just badly surprised me is all."

Pinkie Pie waved a hoof. "Don't worry about it! I get called all sorts of names ponies don't mean when I surprise them too much, so I'm used to it!"

Pinkie's admission made the Crusaders and Spike all frown. "They still shouldn't do that, though," Scootaloo said.

Pinkie Pie shrugged. "Like I said, I'm used to it," she said as she deposited the milkshakes on the table in front of the Crusaders and Spike.

While the fillies and drake took their desserts, Level Measure cleared his throat. "Ahem! As I was saying, my passion for the pipes of warping go very, very deep. Much like the very plumbing implements themselves! Alas, I only have the time to teach you one thing, as we must be off soon for tomorrow's preparations. Some warp pipes, when used for the first time, will spit you back out. This doesn't mean they're broken necessarily, it just means that you haven't used any of its connecting pipes before."

The fillies and drake listened with wide eyes. "Wow! Does this mean that some warp pipes are connected to more than one other pipe?!" Sweetie Belle asked.

Level Measure nodded. "Indeed! You are a very smart filly! Not every country, kingdom, or empire has these pipes of convenience, but the ones that do are very much quick to navigate!"

As the Crusaders and Spike soaked up the knowledge like sponges, the unicorn stood up. "I apologize, but I'm afraid we must take our leave now. There is much we must do in the coming days, and we'll need all the time we can get to prepare for it all."

"Awww!" The Crusaders and Spike all cried out in disappointment as Level Measure joined his friend.

"But we never even got your name!" Apple Bloom cried out to the unicorn.

"I apologize for that. My name is Scale Ruler, and I am a part of Canterlot's most elite architects. Our organization, The Light Masons, has been around for so long, we were the ones who designed Canterlot Castle one-thousand years ago!" Scale Ruler said. "Now, I'm afraid we must be off. It has been a pleasure chatting with you four, but we really, really must be off."

The bell above the entrance dinged loudly as Scale Ruler and Level Measure quickly left the bakery.

Scootaloo smiled. "Y'know, despite how long it took to find them, I'd say that it was completely worth it," she announced as she guzzled down her chocolate milkshake in seconds. She let out a sigh. "Ah, that hits the spot- AAAAHHH!" She cried out and held her head with her hooves as the brain freeze hit.

The others giggled in response, before they drank their own milkshakes down at a much more reasonable pace.

Scootaloo let out a whimper as the brain freeze ran its course, before it eventually allowed the filly to raise her head back up as it faded. "Ugh, that was awful! The milkshake was delicious, but brain freeze SUUUCKS!"

Sweetie Belle patted her sister on the back. "And that, sis, is why you don't guzzle cold drinks."

Scootaloo gave her younger sister a glare. "Yeah, I figured that part out, thank you very much."

Sweetie Belle giggled, before she stepped back from the table where they all stood. "It's really, really late now. We should get home soon."

Pinkie Pie gave all four a large hug, her forelegs seemingly stretched out to hold them all. "Have a great night Crusaders!"

The Crusaders and Spike returned the hug. "Have a great night, Pinkie Pie!" They all called back.

Pinkie Pie let them go after a few seconds. "You really should be getting home now though. It's past ten!" She announced with a hoof pointed towards Sugarcube Corner's cupcake-shaped clock.

"WHAT?!" The four cried out in shock.

They turned and ran towards the exit door. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Spike barreled through the door as Sweetie Belle held it open with her magic. Before she left, she pulled a small pile of bits out of her school bags and floated them over to Pinkie Pie. "Goodnight Pinkie!"

Pinkie Pie stuck her tongue out and grabbed the bits with it. She pulled it in with a ding like a cash register. "Thanks girls! And Spike!"

The Crusaders and Spike ran back through town, where they reached Carousel Boutique first on their way to their respective homes.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle waved goodbye to Apple Bloom and Spike as they ran inside. They closed the door quietly so as to not alert Rarity with a loud slam.

They looked around the dark main room. "I don't think she's up," Scootaloo whispered.

Sweetie Belle nodded, before she motioned with her head towards the stairs.

Scootaloo nodded back, and the sisters slowly climbed up the stairs. When they reached the top of the stairs, they crept down the hall towards their shared bedroom and opened the door quietly.

They both snuck into the dark bedroom, with Sweetie Belle being the one to close the door behind them.

They both let out a sigh of relief, before they screamed in surprise when the lights suddenly turned on.

Rarity was sitting on the edge of their shared bed, from where she seemingly stared straight into their souls. "Do you two realize how late it is? It's past ten! That's how late it is!"

"We're sorry Rarity, we didn't mean to be out so long," Sweetie Belle apologized.

Rarity sighed. "I know, but that doesn't change the fact that you both stayed out way passed your bedtimes. You should already be asleep, you have school tomorrow!"

"There's only two days left of school anyways, we'll be fine! Tomorrow's just Field Day, there's no more homework or schoolwork or anything left this year!" Scootaloo said.

"That may be so, but you'll want to be awake to enjoy it all, right?" Rarity asked.

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both nodded. "Yeah, you're right," Scootaloo admitted with a sigh.

Rarity sighed as well, before she climbed down off the bed and pulled her little sisters into a hug. "I'm sorry for being so harsh when you came in. I was just worried when you weren't home by the time it got fully dark out."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle returned the hug. "We're sorry."

Rarity let go after a few seconds. "Well, I'm going to bed now. Goodnight, and I love you both," she said. She leaned over and kissed them both on the forehead.

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo returned the kiss, the two only able to reach Rarity's cheeks due to their smaller size. "I love you too, Rarity," they both replied.

Rarity gave them both one last smile and left the room. She closed the door behind her, the doorknob enveloped in her blue aura.

Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle. "Well, today sure was an interesting day."

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yep, sure was."

The two stood in the room for a minute, unsure what to do.

"I'm... going to go brush my teeth," Sweetie Belle said as she headed towards their room's attached bathroom.

"I'll go after you," Scootaloo said. "In the meantime, I'll get the bed ready for us."

Sweetie Belle headed into the bathroom while Scootaloo prepared the bedding.

A few minutes later Sweetie Belle came out and Scootaloo took her place.

Sweetie Belle climbed into the bed and crawled her way under the blanket.

Scootaloo left the bathroom and joined her in bed a few minutes later.

Sweetie Belle turned off the lamp with her magic and plunged the room in darkness once more.

Scootaloo snuggled up against her sister. "I'm probably going to have the nightmare again," she whispered.

Sweetie Belle wrapped her hooves around her older sister and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo smiled. "I love you too, Sweetie Belle."

The two were fast asleep within minutes.

After they waved goodbye and said goodnight to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, Spike and Apple Bloom ran through Ponyville to their next destination: Golden Oaks Library.

Less than fifteen minutes later, the duo reached the library entrance. Spike turned to Apple Bloom and gave her a quick hug. "Goodnight, Apple Bloom," he said.

"Goodnight Spike," Apple Bloom replied, before she turned and ran towards Sweet Apple Acres with one last wave behind her.

Spike waved back as she left, and when she was out of sight, he turned back towards the door and pushed it open.

"Twilight! I'm home!" He called out to his sister.

Twilight rounded the corner from the kitchen. "Bit late isn't it, Spike?" She asked.

Spike blushed and rubbed the back of his head. "Eh heh, yeah, sorry about that. We lost track of time while we were talking with Scale Ruler and Level Measure. We actually learned some really cool things about warp pipes from them! Those are the architect and engineer, by the way."

Twilight smiled. "That's good, I'm glad that you were able to actually learn something today. Speaking of..." she trailed off. "Could you please maybe tell me what you learned? Warp pipes are just so mysterious, and I haven't been able to find any books on them since we got here!" She exclaimed, her excitement building until she had started grinning widely.

Spike smiled and told her everything he and his friends had learned that day, the two slowly heading upstairs as they talked.

"...Actually connected warp pipes!" He finished as they reached their room.

"Wow, all these different types of warp pipes are fascinating!" Twilight exclaimed.

Spike nodded as she opened the door. "I know, right?! I just wish there was someway we could actually experience these different warp pipes ourselves, all we had in Canterlot was the 'point a to point b' variety."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I knooow! Yeah, it was cool the first time, walking in the pipe in one room of Canterlot Castle and coming out on the other side of the city, but that can only be cool so many times before it's just another, fancier doorway."

Spike nodded as a wide yawn interrupted him partway through it.

Twilight giggled. "Come on sleepy head, let's get you to bed. And don't worry about your teeth, you can miss one night."

Spike grinned sleepily. He looked towards where his small round bed was at the foot of Twilight's larger bed, but paused when he noticed something.

Or rather, a lack of something.

Spike turned to Twilight in confusion. "Um, Twilight, where's my bed?"

Twilight's eyes widened for a second. "Oh right! I forgot to finish setting this up before you got home, sorry about that," she said before she lit her horn.

With a flash and a pop, a second bed appeared next to Twilight's own a few feet to the right. The new bed looked near identical to Twilight's own, the primary difference being the color scheme was purple and green instead of purple and more purple-but-slightly-lighter.

Spike stared at the new bed in surprise. "Is this... is this bed for me?"

Twilight nodded with a massive grin on her face. "I figured it was about time you got a real bed, so I went out and got one while you were out with your friends earlier. I didn't quite finish converting the guest room into your new room before you got home, so you'll have to sleep in here for tonight, but by this time tomorrow, you'll have your very own room! Isn't this great?!" Twilight clopped her hooves together in excitement.

Spike continued to stare, unsure how to react. "I-I don't know what to say... I've never had my own room before," he said. His eyes widened as he realized something. "Wait! What about my old bed?!"

Twilight looked visibly uncomfortable. "Yeah... About that... I'll be honest, your old bed that I got for you all those years ago was actually an old repurposed dog bed one of the guards in the castle gave me to use until we could get something better. I've been feeling worse and worse whenever I saw you sleeping in it for the past several years, but it wasn't until today that I finally decided to actually get you a real bed," she admitted with a wince. "Don't hate me?"

Spike gave Twilight a hug. "I could never hate you! I love you Twilight, and something like an old dog bed wouldn't be enough to make me hate you. Unless it was out of malice, then expect pranks," he said with a grin.

Twilight returned the hug and patted his head with a chuckle. "I definitely deserve a few pranks anyways, but no, it wasn't out of malice. I promise."

The two separated after a few seconds, and Spike moved towards the doorway. "I'm going to go brush my teeth real quick, and then I'm going to bed," he called back to his sister. "I know you said that I could miss tonight, but I hate my morning breath when I skip," he explained.

Twilight waved as he went, before she climbed into her own bed.

A few minutes later, Spike walked back into the room and hopped into his new bed. He felt around and explored the bedding Twilight had picked out. "Wow, this is soft!" He said before he crawled under the sheets. "Ahhh, this is nice..." he muttered as he fell asleep.

Twilight giggled lightly as his snores echoed throughout the room. "Goodnight Spike," she said as she drifted off to sleep.

Apple Bloom waved goodbye to Spike as she ran through the dark streets of Ponyville.

Thanks to her intimate knowledge of the village, she was able to navigate her way to Sweet Apple Acres with incredible ease and arrived there only a mere twenty minutes after leaving Spike behind.

Apple Bloom darted between the trees of her family's orchard as she made her way home.

She broke out into a wide grin as she crested the final hill and caught sight of her family's well-lived in home.

When she got to the front door, she quietly pushed her way in and crept through the living room.

As she passed by Winona's doggy bed, where said dog was asleep, the border collie's ears perked up and her nose twitched. The dog jumped up and panted in excitement as she caught sight of Apple Bloom once she'd woken up.

Apple Bloom turned towards where she heard the sound of Winona's panting to her side and smiled at her. "Aw, hey there Winona. Who's a good doggy?" She asked in a whisper as she pet and scratched her head with a hoof.

Winona panted happily from the affection. She rolled over and gave a quiet yip.

Apple Bloom gave a light giggle and began to rub her belly. "Aw, you're so cute!"

The filly continued to love the loyal dog for several minutes, until finally the dog gave a great big yawn and curled back up, fast asleep once more.

Apple Bloom shot another smile towards the dog, before she continued to creep her way towards her room upstairs.

The filly slowly crept up the stairs and stepped over the squeaky stair as she went.

When she made it to the top she walked down the bedroom hall towards her room at the far end, where it was situated next to Applejack's room.

Just before she entered her room, she paused and thought for a second. Her decision made, she instead turned and went towards the bathroom to brush her teeth, before she came back a few minutes later and entered her room.

Apple Bloom made it to her bed, and she climbed in and snuggled herself under her blanket.

Within minutes, the exhausted filly was sound asleep, the only sound in the room being her quiet breathing.

The Ambassadors' Visit

May 28th, 1001 Post-NMM, 5:50 A.M.

The day of the Beanbean kingdom ambassadors' visit to Canterlot had finally arrived.

The six mares that wielded the Elements of Harmony were on the platform of Ponyville's train station early in the morning, accompanied by their various family members young and old.

Applejack gave Big Mac a big hug, which her brother returned. "Make sure to take care of the orchard while Ah'm gone, Big Mac."

Big Mac broke off the hug and stepped back. "Eeeyup! No need to worry, AJ."

Granny Smith waved her walker. "Ah may be old, but Ah can still do some farm work too, ya know!"

Applejack chuckled. "Ah know, Granny. Ah just don't want ya to overwork or hurt yerself, that's all."

"And yer concern is appreciated, Applejack. But that doesn't mean Ah'm helpless!" Granny Smith called back.

Apple Bloom ran up and gave her sister a hug. "You'll be back soon, right Applejack?"

Applejack wrapped a foreleg around her little sister and pulled her in close. "Sure as sugar, sis. From what Twi said when she first told me about this visit last Friday, we shouldn't be gone for more than two days. So we should be back by tomorrow evening at the latest."

Apple Bloom smiled and nuzzled her sister's chest, before she pulled back and ran over to join Spike, who was with his own sister.

Applejack shook her head with a smile as she watched Apple Bloom bound away. "Look at her go, so full of energy even this early in the morning. It's not even six yet!"

"Ah sure wish Ah had that much extra energy right now," Big Mac said, before he gave a big yawn.

Applejack turned to her brother. "Had a rough night's sleep?"

"Didn't get to bed till about eleven O'clock or so," Big Mac confirmed with a nod. "Ah had to redo a bunch of chores over by the border of the Everfree Forest cause a few of its resident monsters decided to undo them for me. Repeatedly, in fact, at least until Ah shooed them away for good."

Applejack sighed. "Was it those darn Fuzzies again?"

Big Mac nodded. "They kept using those webs of theirs to mess up the fence line, as well as scatter the apples from their trees to suck them dry. They didn't get the hint until Ah bucked a few of them back into the forest."

Applejack winced. "Ah wish we could find some way to get those varmints to stop, or at least tone it down a bit," she said before she shook her head to refocus herself. "Ah should get going now, Mac. Ah'll see everypony when Ah get home tomorrow at the latest."

Big Mac and Granny Smith both waved goodbye as Applejack boarded the train. The older mare leaned on her walker for balance as she waved.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash flew around overhead as Scootaloo rode her back and cried out gleefully.

"WOOHOO!!! THIS IS AWESOME RAINBOW DASH!" Scootaloo yelled out as her excitement overflowed.

Rainbow Dash chuckled. "I know, Squirt. Now, hold on tight, because I'm about to do something crazy to end this off!"

Scootaloo made sure to not choke Rainbow Dash as she wrapped her hooves around her neck carefully to not fall off.

Once she'd felt her sister-in-all-but-name had a tight hold on her, Rainbow Dash maneuvered herself into a spin as she flew. She picked up speed as she spiraled through the air with a bright rainbow contrail that cascaded behind her in spirals. Once she judged she had enough speed, she stretched a foreleg straight out in front of her and pulled upwards as she angled herself towards a nearby cloud that she had saved from her cloud-busting duties just for this moment.

With a massive poof, Rainbow Dash pierced through the cloud and created a spray of scattered water vapor that completely soaked both herself and her sister. The moment she popped out the other side, she flared her wings wide and finished her spin. The morning sun's bright rays caught on the scattered drops of water and created dozens of mini-rainbows that sparkled beautifully, before they dissipated as they fell to the ground below.

Scootaloo looked around her in awe at the beautiful light show they had put on. Her wet magenta mane stuck to her head as she moved. "Woah..."

Rainbow Dash smiled. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Scootaloo could only nod.

"I've been saving that one for my eventual Wonderbolts tryout, but I figured that I would show it to you as a special parting gift before I left today," Rainbow Dash explained as she flew back down to the platform.

When she landed, she crouched down to allow Scootaloo to climb down off her back. Before she could stand back up, Scootaloo tackled her in a hug, her hooves wrapped around her. "That was awesome!" The excited filly exclaimed.

Rainbow Dash smiled and hugged her back. "Nothing but the best for the most awesome filly I know, Scoot."

She enveloped her little sister with her wings and squeezed for a few seconds, before she unwrapped her wings and tucked them back in against her sides. "Welp, I should probably get on the train now. It'll be leaving in just a few minutes," she said as she walked towards the train.

"Bye Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo cried out as she waved her forehooves wildly.

Rainbow Dash turned and waved back, before she boarded the train and looked around the car. She spotted Applejack's hat by the window a few rows down over the crowds of ponies already in the car.

As she moved towards Applejack to sit next to her, she caught a glimpse of a familiar mane of bright pink by the back of the car. The mane, and therefore the pony it belonged to, visibly rocked back and forth in place.

Rainbow Dash quickly realized who the mane belonged to, and changed her course to approach her best friend.

As she passed by Applejack, she tapped her on the shoulder with a hoof. When Applejack turned to face her, she leaned towards her to be heard over the ruckus of the other passengers. "It looks like Fluttershy's not handling the crowd here well. I'm going to go sit with her."

Applejack nodded. "That's probably for the best. Ya know how to help her more than any of us, since ya've been best friends for so long."

Rainbow Dash gave Applejack a smile and her shoulder a quick pat, before she headed to the back of the car where her best friend of fifteen years had cocooned herself.

Fluttershy was already sat down in the back row on the other side of the aisle from Applejack, her wings wrapped around herself in a comforting self-hug as she shook and rocked in place. Her eyes were shut tight in an attempt to shut out the outside world around her as she breathed erratically. At the base of the seat she was on rested a fully customized first-aid kit that the kind mare brought with her whenever she left Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash sat down next to her friend. "Too many ponies?"

Fluttershy meekly nodded as a quiet whimper escaped her.

Rainbow Dash reached out with one of her wings and rubbed her friend's back in an attempt to make her feel better. She smiled as she felt Fluttershy's rocking and shaking slow from her gentle touch.

Fluttershy slowly rocked for a few more seconds as she slowly calmed down, before she leaned over and snuggled into Rainbow Dash's side under her wing with a happy sigh. The touch of her friend comforted her and made it possible for her to ignore the sheer quantity of other ponies she didn't know in the train car.

Rainbow Dash continued to rub circles into Fluttershy's back with her wing while they waited for the train to pull away from the station. The consistent stimulation helped to ground the shy mare and keep her distracted from both her stress and the source of her overstimulation.

Back outside the train, Rarity and Sweetie Belle were in the middle of transporting the older sister's luggage onto the luggage car.

Rarity had six suitcases enveloped in her blue magic aura as they floated towards the car. "Could you be a dear and bring the rest of my luggage over, Sweetie Belle? I couldn't quite grab them all."

Sweetie Belle nodded, closed her eyes to cut out distractions, and lit her horn. She wrapped her own green magic aura around the two suitcases that had been left behind on the platform and lifted them into the air as she focused intently on them.

Rarity smiled as she watched the fruits of her youngest sister's magic training.

Sweetie Belle walked forward towards the luggage car as the suitcases followed close behind. When she finally reached the edge of the platform where Rarity was waiting, Rarity stuck out a hoof and stopped Sweetie Belle so she didn't walk off the edge by accident.

Sweetie Belle opened her eyes again and looked around. She blushed when she realized just how close she had come to falling. "Heh heh, oops?"

Rarity smiled. "It's quite alright darling, I'm just impressed with how strong your magic is now! You really have been working hard on it lately, haven't you?"

Sweetie Belle nodded. "Yeah! I've been training my magic for three whole months now!"

Rarity's eyes widened. "Just three months?! Why, at this rate, you'll surpass me in no time at all!"

Sweetie Belle blushed. "I'm sure that I'm nowhere near your level, Rarity! You're so much more talented with how many things you can carry at once!"

Rarity shook her head with a smile. "Sweetie Belle, I can carry dozens of tiny sewing needles that barely weigh anything at all, and maybe half a dozen large strips of fabric all at the same time without losing my grip on something. And that's just quantity. You can already carry more than that in sheer weight, as you just proved with those heavy suitcases."

Sweetie Belle's eyes widened. "Really?"

Rarity nodded, before she lit her own horn and tried to pick all eight suitcases up at once. Six lifted into the air, but the magic aura that covered the last two sputtered and died before they had risen more than a few inches off the ground. The suitcases to clattered to the ground. "See? After only three months you've gone from barely being able to lift even just a few pebbles, to already being able to lift a third of my absolute maximum weight at the same time. And you only just turned twelve two months ago!" Rarity exclaimed.

Sweetie Belle gave a wide grin as a high pitched squee escaped her.

Rarity chuckled at the cute sound and ruffled her littlest sister's bouncy mane. "You're so cute."

Sweetie Belle pouted and batted at Rarity's hoof. "I can't help that my voice squeaks!" She said with a squeak. She blushed when she heard it.

Rarity shook her head with a grin. "A squee like what you actually did isn't a voice squeak, but rather an involuntary sound of excitement. What you just did there, however, very much was a squeak," She teased. She then glanced up at the Ponyville clock tower that was visible from the train station and frowned. "As much as I would like to keep chatting with you, Sweetie Belle, I'm afraid I have to get on the train before it leaves in five minutes. Bring those two suitcases onto the train and I'll guide you to where we drop them off."

Sweetie Belle nodded, before the two sisters picked up the suitcases in their magic and brought them onto the train. Sweetie Belle carefully stepped up from the platform and made sure that she didn't get her hoof caught in the gap between the train and platform.

Rarity guided her sister to the back car of the train where the luggage was stored. The two sisters lifted the luggage above the other passengers' heads as they walked down the aisle.

As Sweetie Belle focused on her suitcases, they bobbed up and down due to her lack of experience with their weight, the filly much more used to multiple lighter items at once. As the suitcases bobbed, they occasionally came close to hitting the passengers as they passed over them, to said passengers' disgruntlement.

Sweetie Belle looked around awkwardly at the annoyed passengers as she carried her two suitcases. She blushed and let out an uncomfortable chuckle. "Heh heh, sorry."

One particularly annoyed unicorn passenger impulsively swiped at one of the suitcases in frustration when it got too close to her head as it passed over her, which nearly caused Sweetie Belle to drop it from the painful feedback as her hoof collided with its side. The unicorn instantly covered her face with her hooves in shame when she saw Sweetie Belle flinch in pain.

Rarity noticed the mare's actions and shot her a withering glare. The mare quickly sent a guilty, apologetic look to the filly. "I'm so sorry, that was incredibly rude of me. Here, let me help you," she said as she lit her horn and stabilized the suitcases with her own magic aura.

Sweetie Belle shook her head and grit her teeth as she recovered from the slightly painful feedback. When she regained her focus, she took the suitcases back under her full control and sent a soft smile to the mare. "It's alright, you didn't mean to hurt me," she said, before the two continued down the aisle to the storage compartment.

Once they had set the luggage down inside the storage compartment, Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle. "There, all done. Now, you should get off the train before we leave, or else you'll end up stuck coming to Canterlot with us."

Sweetie Belle grinned. "That doesn't seem all that bad to me."

"Oh yeah? Just wait until you're stuck in the meeting with the ambassadors, unable to do anything but listen for hours on end. I'm looking forward to it because I want to build connections and learn about foreign fashion, but I also fully expect to be bored out of my mind for most of it. And if I'm bored by it, there's no way you'll be entertained," Rarity said.

Sweetie Belle stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Bleh. Okay, yeah, I see your point. I'll just stay here with Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Spike."

Rarity nodded, then pointed her hoof towards the exit. "The train will be leaving soon, so you might want to get off now."

Sweetie Belle gave her oldest sister a hug, then bolted off the train. She looked around for her sister and friends, and found them over by Twilight as they listened to the tail-end of her speech to Spike. She went over and sat down between Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, both of whom were just behind Spike as he wrote down notes.

"... And don't forget to feed Owlowiscious," she finished. She looked down at her gathered audience and chuckled. "That only goes for Spike, the rest of you don't have to worry about doing the library chores unless you plan on staying there and want to help."

Spike finished writing the notes he'd been taking. "Feed... Owlowiscious... Done!" He exclaimed.

Twilight smiled and pulled her little brother into a hug. "Stay safe, Spike, and I love you."

Spike returned the hug. "I love you too, Twi. Stay safe."

The two continued to hug, before suddenly the conductor's call rang out. "All aboard! Last call for the train to Canterlot!"

Twilight let go of Spike and walked towards the train. She stepped one hoof on the train and looked back. "Bye, Spike. See you later."

Spike and the Crusaders waved goodbye as Twilight stepped onto the train. She waved back, before she entered the train car and moved to go find her friends.

As Twilight looked through the crowds, a voice called out to her. "Twilight! Over here!"

Twilight looked over to the voice and saw a bright pink hoof waving her over above the crowd.

Twilight chuckled under her breath as she went to go join Pinkie Pie. "Of course you're already on the train, why did I expect anything else."

Twilight walked down the aisle until she was next to the excitable pink mare, where she sat down in the empty spot on the seat. "Thanks for saving me a spot, Pinkie," she said.

The train jolted forward as it left the station mere seconds after she sat down.

Pinkie Pie gave her friend a massive grin, before she wrapped her hooves around Twilight. "No problem, Twi-Twi!"

Twilight returned the hug with a giggle. "'Twi-Twi'?"

Pinkie nodded. "Yep! It's my new nickname for you that I just came up with! Do you like it?"

Twilight exaggeratedly hemmed and hawed for several seconds as Pinkie's dismay grew. "Do you? Do you do you do you?"

Twilight giggled once more. "Of course I do, silly! I'm just teasing you."

Pinkie sighed in relief. "That's good, I was afraid that you hated the nickname, which caused you to hate me, which would cause us to no longer be friends and then we can't use the Elements together anymore and we can't stop the next big villain and they win and take over the world and we get locked away in different dungeons and never see each other again!" She exclaimed with a massive gasp at the end.

Twilight frowned. "You know I could never hate you for something like that, Pinkie Pie. You'd have to murder somepony for me to truly hate you," she said. She then raised an eyebrow. "Have you?" She asked playfully with a slight smile.

Pinkie rapidly shook her head, then paused. "Um... Do monsters count? I've had to, erm, deal with a few in the past," she admitted with a wince.

Twilight shook her head. "So long as it was out of necessity and not malice, no, it wouldn't count."

Pinkie gave a sigh of relief. "Phew, that's good," she said as she wiped sweat from her brow.

The two continued to chat as the train chugged towards its mountainside destination.

A few rows back, Rarity hummed as she idly checked herself in a pocket mirror she'd taken out of one of her suitcases, along with a few other personal items, before she sat down. "Hm, hm hm, hm-hm hm-hm."

Applejack turned away from the window she'd watched the passing scenery through and faced Rarity. "What's that tune ya're humming?"

The sudden call startled Rarity and she briefly fumbled her mirror.

Applejack moved a hoof under the mirror to catch it if it fell. "Ya got it, Rares?"

Rarity nodded as she put her mirror away in her bag. "Yes darling, I've got it."

Applejack nodded. "That's good, I didn't mean to startle ya."

Rarity dramatically flapped a hoof. "Pshaw, it's fine. Now, what was that you asked?"

"Ah was just wondering what that song was ya were humming a second ago," Applejack answered.

Rarity shrugged. "Just a tune from this show I watch with my sisters on the TV, why do you ask?"

Applejack shrugged back. "It just seemed kind of familiar, that's all," she said. She then did a double take. "Wait, ya own a TV? Since when?"

Rarity giggled daintily into her hoof. "Since mother and father gave it to me for my birthday last month. They even splurged and included a full subscription to several international channels. I typically only watch it with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle when this show that Sweetie really likes is on after school."

"What's it about?" Applejack asked.

Rarity smiled. "I don't want to spoil too much in case you ever decide to stop by and watch it with us, which yes, is an offer, so I'll only give a brief summary. It's about Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, being trapped by this flamboyant yet fabulous creature called Almond, along with his Bitter Brigade, in a theater that's hosting several different types of plays, and she gets different abilities from different outfits that she acquires in each play. Darling, let me tell you, those outfits are positively divine! I've caught myself making multiple dresses this past month alone that were inspired by this show, and they've been some of my best work, if I do say so myself."

"Huh, that actually sounds kind of interesting," Applejack responded. She put a hoof to her chin in thought, before she nodded. "Ah think Ah'll take ya up on that offer once we get back to Ponyville. Ah'm curious to see if Princess Peach in that show is anything like Ah remember her being."

Rarity snapped her mirror shut and put it aside, before she chuckled in disbelief. "I'm sorry dear, did you just imply that you've actually met Princess Peach before?"

Applejack nodded. "Once, seven years ago. Apple Bloom, Big Mac, and Granny Smith met her as well, actually. Ah can't say for certain how well Apple Bloom remembers her, or that day at all for that matter, but we did indeed meet her."

Rarity's eye twitched as she stared directly into Applejack's eyes. "Why did you never tell me you had personally met actual royalty before?!"

Applejack broke eye contact and stared down at the floor. "Because it's a day that Ah prefer to forget in general," she explained in a depressed tone as she teared up slightly.

Rarity's brow furrowed as she mouthed Applejack's earlier words to herself. "Seven years ago..." She gasped as she teared up and covered her mouth with a hoof when she realized what day she meant. "I'm so sorry Applejack, I didn't mean to bring that up!" She apologized as she wrapped a hoof around Applejack's withers and pulled her into a hug.

Applejack leaned her head into Rarity's side as she returned the hug with one foreleg. "It's alright, Rares. Ya didn't know until now."

Rarity shook her head. She used her magic to gently wipe away Applejack's tears with a handkerchief she'd also brought. "I still should have realized something was up when you mentioned that you met her seven years ago," she said. She squeezed Applejack once, before they both sat up straight again. "You don't have to come watch the show with us if you don't want to, I'd understand completely," she said with a shake of her head.

Applejack shook her head. "Nah, it's fine. Like Ah said, Ah really am curious to see if that version of her is anything like Ah remember her from back then. Ah think Ah'll even bring Apple Bloom with me, too. She can watch the show with her friends, and if nothing else, it'll give the three of them, four if Spike comes along as well, something to talk about."

Rarity gave a brighter chuckle than before. "I imagine that'll go over well, considering Sweetie Belle has been talking about wanting to someday meet Princess Peach for the last month now."

The two mares laughed together, before Applejack spoke up again. "Say, aren't those TV's super expensive still? How in the world did they afford something like that? And for that matter, where do ya even keep it? I've never seen it in the main room, and I doubt it's in the kitchen, right?" She asked, before she shook her head. "No, wait, that was rude and invasive of me. Ah'm sorry."

Rarity patted her shoulder. "It's fine darling. After my earlier faux pas, I admit I had it coming. To answer your first question, my parents could afford something like this because father is the manager of the Ponyville Pickers. And to answer your second question, I keep it in my room on the second floor. I don't want Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo to just sit around watching TV all day, so I make sure they can only watch what I've made sure is appropriate in advance and only when I'm there. After all, with hundreds of different channels freely accessible thanks to the special subscription service mother and father bought me, you just never know what they might stumble upon by accident."

Applejack blinked, before she nodded. "Huh, that's a pretty good way to do it. Also, yer father runs the Ponyville Pickers? Isn't that that one Hoofball team that recently won that major tournament a few months back, or something like that?" She asked.

Rarity nodded. "He's very proud of how far they've come in the past two years since they formed."

Applejack opened her mouth to respond, but was interrupted when the train suddenly rocked as it hit a bump on the tracks. Rarity stretched out her hooves and caught her friend as she was launched forward by the unexpected jolt.

Meanwhile, at the back of the car, Fluttershy let out a whimper as the bump jostled and surprised her. She leaned further in towards Rainbow Dash, who wrapped her other wing around her to further support her.

Rainbow Dash looked down at her overstimulated and panicked best friend. She wracked her brain to think of something that could help, before she remembered something that's helped in the past. She rested her chin on top of Fluttershy's head and fully wrapped her forelegs and wings around her protectively. "It's alright, Fluttershy. You're safe here, nopony wants to hurt you. And besides, I'm here too, so you're doubly safe!"

Fluttershy let out a stressed giggle that helped her calm down slightly. She relaxed her tightly shut eyes somewhat and focused on the sound of her friend's breathing and heartbeat to distract herself from everything around her.

Fluttershy calmed down over the course of the next few minutes. She spoke up once she'd fully relaxed. "Thank you, Rainbow," Fluttershy said with a smile as she fully leaned her head against Rainbow Dash's chest.

"No problem, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash replied as she kept her hooves and wings wrapped protectively around her foalhood friend.

With the aid of her past experiences in the matter, Rainbow Dash continued to do what she could to make Fluttershy feel safe for the rest of the train ride.

An hour later, the train finally neared Canterlot station. The brakes squealed as they greatly slowed it's approach.

Once it had finally slowed to a stop in front of the platform, the passengers within congregated near the exits as they began to make their way off the train once the doors opened.

Twilight teleported herself and Pinkie Pie off the train the moment it was fully stopped, which allowed them to skip the congregation and exit before anypony else.

Several ponies in the crowd around them glared jealously at the duo, before they turned their noses up at them and looked away.

Twilight looked around at them uncomfortably. "Wow, I don't remember ponies being this snooty when I lived here."

"That's probably because you never left your tower, silly!" Pinkie Pie said.

Twilight gave Pinkie a deadpan stare. "Gee, thanks," she mumbled sarcastically, before she did a double take. "Wait, I never told you about my tower, how do you-"

Pinkie interrupted her with a pointed hoof and a gasp. "Look! There's Dashie and Flutters and AJ and Rare-Bear now! Let's go greet them!" She yelled before taking off towards the friends in question.

Twilight stared at her retreating form for a second, before she shook her head. "Just accept it and move on, Twilight. Just accept it and move on," she mumbled to herself.

Twilight approached the others as Pinkie tackled them in a hug, her forelegs wrapped around them all in a one-pony group hug.

Six suitcases floated above the group enveloped in Rarity's blue magic aura, while Rainbow Dash and Applejack both carefully balanced one suitcase on their backs each. On Fluttershy's back was her first-aid kit, fully tied down with Applejack's rope. Pinkie's sudden hug nearly knocked the suitcases to the ground, but the bubbly pink mare managed to catch them with her mane and tail.

The four mares within the hug did what they could to return said hug, trapped as their limbs were, before Pinkie unraveled her forelegs and released them. She plopped the suitcases held in her mane and tail back on Rainbow Dash and Applejack's backs.

Rarity brushed the dirt from Pinkie's hug off and looked at the large mountainside city around her. A grin grew wider and wider on her face as her excitement also grew. "Eeeheehee! After all these years of working and making dresses, I'm finally in Canterlot!" She cried out as she pranced excitedly in place.

Rainbow Dash smirked at her and crossed her forelegs as she moved to hover at the front of the group. She raised an eyebrow at her. "Excited, are we?"

Rarity noticed and blushed beet red as she stopped. "Ahem, yes, I... do apologize for letting my excitement get the better of me like that."

Rainbow Dash's smirk turned into a frown. "That's not what I meant, Rarity. I just thought it was funny that you were freaking out like that over visiting some city," she explained. "I mean, I know it's the capital of Equestria and all, but honestly? Clouds- Mmph?!" She began before she was suddenly stopped by a field of magic that held her mouth shut. She rubbed her hooves across her mouth in an attempt to remove the field, to no avail.

Twilight looked around slightly panicked for a few seconds while Rainbow Dash tried to open her mouth. Twilight leaned close to Rainbow Dash's ear. "Don't say that Cloudsdale is prettier, the nobles here have a petty grudge against the city because their delegate always publicly brags about it every meeting. They can get pretty nasty whenever Cloudsdale is brought up as a result, so try not to, please? Nastier than usual, I mean," Twilight asked through gritted teeth, panic still visible in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash's eyes widened briefly, before she nodded. She mimed zipping her mouth shut to make a point.

Twilight returned the nod, before she removed her magic.

As soon as the magic was gone, Rainbow Dash repeatedly opened and closed her mouth to uncramp her jaw. "Oh wow, that does not feel good," she said. She then gave one of the nearby particularly snooty unicorns the stink eye. "Stuck-up jerks," she muttered under her breath.

Applejack looked around for the nearest clock while her friends continued to talk. She found one above the train station exit, and she grew concerned when she saw the time. "Hey uh, quick question. When are the ambassadors supposed to get here?" Applejack asked.

In response, Twilight pulled a folded letter out of her saddlebags. "Princess Celestia didn't say in the original letter, but thankfully she sent another one this morning with some more information on the matter," she said. She looked down at the letter and read it aloud after she unfolded it.

To my Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle:

As you were made aware of in our correspondence last Friday, today is the day the ambassadors from the Beanbean Kingdom are set to arrive. Yesterday evening, I received a letter from Queen Bean detailing when to expect the ambassadors, and they are set to arrive at eight A.M. today.

Interestingly enough, the same letter also included sheet music for the Beanbean Kingdom's national anthem. I must say, their taste in music is both fascinating and refreshing compared to the usual drivel the nobles insist that I listen to on a daily basis.

Don't tell them I said that.

Twilight folded the letter back up and stuffed it back into her saddlebags once she'd finished reading it. "There, see? We still have a bit of time. Right, Applejack?"

Applejack nodded. "Yeah, the clock says it's only just now seven A.M., so we have about an hour to get to the castle and unpack our suitcases. Well, for those of us who brought suitcases, anyhow," she said with a pointed look towards Rarity.

Rarity looked around, before she pointed a hoof towards herself. "Who, me? Why, whatever do you mean, darling?" She said as she fluttered her eyelashes rapidly. A few seconds later she broke down into a giggle. "Okay, I see what you mean. But these aren't just any suitcases, darling, these contain only the finest of self care and grooming supplies that money can buy."

Applejack just stared flatly at her. "Uh huh, sure Rares," she said sarcastically. She turned and walked down the street. "Just because we have an hour doesn't mean we can just dilly-dally all day!" She called back.

The rest of the ponies quickly ran to catch up with her.

As the group of six made their way through the bustling capital of Equestria, they each looked around at the different sights unique to the city, at least compared to their home of Ponyville.

Rarity eyed all the fancy outfits the various nobles wore and took mental notes on the current fashion trends. The fashionista paused briefly when she saw an unexpected sight. She tapped Twilight's shoulder with a hoof and motioned with her head towards the group of bipedal fungus-like creatures that were walking and chatting with each other on the opposite side of the street. "Twilight, am I going crazy, or are those Toads from the Mushroom Kingdom?"

Twilight looked over at where Rarity indicated and smiled. "Yes, actually. Toads and ponies started immigrating between Equestria and the Mushroom Kingdom a few years ago just after the alliance was officialized. Honestly, I'm a little surprised I haven't seen any in Ponyville yet, all things considered."

"Huh..." Rarity said, before she became focused on her thoughts as she walked with her friends. She occasionally muttered under her breath as she went, her eyes focused on the various fashions and different colored spots that adorned the white thing on each of the Toads' bulbous heads.

A moment later, Rarity spoke up once more. "Is that white part with the spots a hat, or is that part of their head?"

Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but paused when she realized she didn't actually know. "I- hm, you know what, that's a good question."

Pinkie Pie gasped next them. "I know! I'll just ask one of them!" She cried before she zipped towards one of the Toads with purple spots.

"Wait Pinkie, hold on!" Rarity cried out in vain, her hoof outstretched in a failed attempt to stop the hyperactive mare.

Pinkie Pie bounded to a stop next to the Toad. "Hi!" She chirped.

The Toad waved his hand excitedly. "Hello!" He greeted. "Are you new here?"

Pinkie Pie nodded her head so fast she briefly resembled a bobblehead. "Yeppers! It's me and my friends's's first time here in Canterlot!" She responded, before she turned her head ninety degrees. "Well, except for Twi-Twi, she used to live here!"

The Toad with purple spots laughed at her antics as his companions took a step back in horror. "You're pretty funny, what's your name?"

"Pinkie Pie!" The bubbly mare chirped with a great big grin that stretched across her face.

The Toad matched her grin. "Awesome! My name's Pranks T. Er! Well, it wasn't always, but it is now, and that's all that matters! You can call me Prankster!" The now-named Prankster introduced himself as he stretched out a hand.

One of the other Toads saw this and began to freak out. "Wait no don't-"

Pinkie Pie slammed her hoof into his hand to shake it. Immediately, both Toad and Earth Pony spasmed as an electric shock coursed through them both.

The two released their grips on each other and laughed as they saw the joy buzzers strapped to their respective hand and hoof. "I think we're going to be great friends!" Pinkie Pie managed to say through her giggles.

Once the duo's laughter had fully calmed down, Pinkie Pie bounced up as she remembered something. "Oh yeah! My friend Rarity, the white unicorn with the fancy mane back there," she introduced as she pointed a hoof towards the mare in question. Rarity waved with an embarrassed chuckle that could be heard even across the street. "Was curious about the white things on your heads with all the spots. Are they a part of your head, or are they hats?"

Prankster smirked and reached his hands up towards the white bulbous thing in question. The other Toads immediately covered their eyes and looked away. "It's both!" He cried as he plucked it right off his head and held it in the air.

Everypony in the vicinity that had the misfortune to look over right at that moment screamed in terror as they beheld the horrors that lie underneath a Toad's fungal blob. Several ponies fainted on the spot.

A second later, Prankster lowered the hat/head back down where it belonged. "And that is why we Toads prefer to keep our caps where they belong in public, most people tend to not be a fan of the sight," Prankster said with a barely-hidden smirk.

Pinkie Pie let out a stilted chuckle. "Heh heh, yeah, I can see why," she said. She gave her new friend a final wave, before she quickly spun on the spot and retreated back to her friends' sides.

The five mares waiting for her crowded around her. "Well, what's under the hat? We couldn't see because you were blocking our view," Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie Pie turned and leveled Rainbow Dash with the most terrified expression she'd ever seen on the embodiment of Laughter. "GOOD." Immediately after, Pinkie Pie turned and walked down the street at a much more sedated pace than her usual bouncing self.

The other five shared a concerned look, before they wisely decided not to push the matter. They ran to catch up with their shocked friend, then matched pace with her when they caught up.

Over the course of the next several minutes, Pinkie Pie slowly returned to her bubbly, bouncy self, a grin as wide as her face plastered on her face.

Twilight turned to her friend once she noticed. "Feeling a bit better now, Pinkie?"

Pinkie Pie bobbleheaded in response. "Yeppers! I feel so good that I don't even remember what happened!" She cried out. "Please keep it that way, Twi-Twi," she muttered out of the corner of her mouth towards her friend.

Twilight paused for a split second, before she gave an awkward smile back. "Sure, Pinkie. I'll do that, heh heh," she said in an unsure tone.

The group continued on their way to the castle. As they went, Applejack made note of the food the various ponies and the occasional Toad were eating at the various restaurants around them in an attempt to distract herself from the implications of Pinkie Pie's words.

To the apple farmer's dismay, there were very few apples or apple-based meals in sight. In fact, most of the culinary contraptions instead consisted of what appeared to be different species of mushrooms.

"Well, that's a rather unusual sight," Applejack said as she watched one Toad take a bite of a mushroom that appeared to have a face on the stem. The mare paused for a second as an unpleasant thought struck her, before she shook her head and kept walking. "Ah don't want to know."

Rainbow Dash grumbled next to her as she looked up at the somewhat cloudy sky. "You'd think for something like ambassadors showing up from a faraway kingdom, they'd bother to actually have it be a clear day here!" She yelled out as she threw her hooves up in disbelief.

Fluttershy spoke up next to her. "Um, maybe they just haven't done it yet? It's only a little passed seven in the morning, after all."

Rainbow Dash scoffed. "Back in Ponyville, my team usually has the weather fully set up and ready to go by seven so long as there aren't either any unexpected schedule changes or rogue weather from the Everfree Forest."

Applejack smirked up at Rainbow Dash. "Unless, of course, a certain somepony decides to have a nap on one of the clouds during the day. Then the job never gets done."

Rainbow Dash glared back down at Applejack. "I've already told you, I have to get naps in during the day to keep up my energy! I'm still training each and every day for the Wonderbolts, you know! And that's on top of handling most of the day's weather when the rest of the team either slacks off or gets sick!"

Twilight lit her horn and separated the two. She glared at them both. "Quit bickering you two! We're here on official business as the Elements of Harmony! We need to be on our best behavior, at least for Princess Celestia, if for no other reason."

Pinkie Pie giggled as Rainbow Dash let out a squawk of outrage. "We're not bickering! We're just having a... Very spirited conversation!" She said, before she nodded to herself. "Isn't that right, Applejack?" She asked with a pointed look towards the mare in question.

Applejack shook her head. "Nope! We're bickering," she said matter-of-factly.

Rainbow Dash facehoofed and sighed as Pinkie Pie let out another giggle. "Really, AJ?" The pegasus mumbled under her breath.

Applejack picked up on her friend's mutterings and slung a hoof over Rainbow Dash's withers and pulled her in for a quick hug. "Aw, Ah'm just messin' with ya. Yer reactions are just too funny to resist."

Rainbow Dash pulled her face out of her hooves and rolled her eyes, before she briefly returned the hug.

The two separated after a second, and Rainbow Dash took to the air once more.

The trek through Canterlot proceeded silently from that point, until a few minutes later Applejack noticed a sign on one of the nearby buildings. "'T. Thyme's Shroomporium'? What kind of name is that for a restaurant? Is it even a restaurant?" She asked. She then noticed something else that stood out to her. "It seems like that Toad trying to get our attention," she realized.

The others looked over at her comment and saw the Toad in question. She was dressed in a fancy-looking chef outfit, complete with a light-green apron decorated with elaborately stitched patterns of thyme and a chef's hat that perched perilously on top of her yellow-spotted cap. A brown braid poked out from under the edge of the cap, which caused Pinkie Pie to flinch and look away when she noticed it. She waved in the air a shiny sterling silver ladle with a single tiny diamond set into the handle that sparkled like dew in the morning light.

The group approached, their curiosity too much to ignore despite the ticking clock of the ambassadors' upcoming arrival.

The Toad lowered the ladle when she noticed their approach and smiled. "Welcome to T. Thyme's Shroomporium, where only the best Mushroom Kingdom Mushrooms are used to create the finest dining experiences on this side of the world!" She welcomed with open arms, before she performed a dramatic bow with a flourish of her right arm, during which she twirled the ladle gracefully until it crossed in front of her chest. "My name is T. Thyme, how may I serve you?"

Fluttershy perked up at the mention of mushrooms. "Oh, you cook with mushrooms too? I sometimes make my own meals with the safe and edible mushrooms I find near my cottage."

T. Thyme stood up from the bow and shook her head. "Oh, nonononononono! I only use the best of the best for my meals, not common fare like one would find in the wild!"

Applejack raised an eyebrow. "What's the difference?"

T. Thyme smirked. "My Mushrooms have all sorts of medicinal properties, they taste phenomenally, and they drastically increase your lifespan!"

Applejack just doubtfully stared at the Toad. "Uh huh, sure."

T. Thyme tsked. "Fine, if you won't believe me, then I'll just have to prove it to you! One serving of Mushroom Tea for each of you, on the house!" She declared as she turned towards her restaurant.

Twilight glanced at the nearest clock she could find, before she gave T. Thyme an awkward smile when she saw the time. "I'd love to accept, but we're on a really tight schedule right now."

T. Thyme waved her ladle at her dismissively. "Nonsense! Just a single taste is all I ask, then you can be on your way!" They said before they entered the building.

The group of six waited uncomfortably outside for the next few minutes, before T. Thyme reappeared with a tray that held six cups. Steam curled up from the darkly colored liquid held within. "As promised, delicious Mushroom Tea, ready to drink!"

Fluttershy was the first to grab a cup, soon followed by Rarity once she'd seen her friend do so. The other four just stared uncomfortably at the fungal tea. Fluttershy brought the rim of the cup to her lips and took a single sip as Rarity did the same with her magic. Almost immediately, both mares' eyes shot wide open from the unexpected taste. "Oh wow, this really is delicious! Why, however do you do it?" Rarity asked once she'd put her cup back down.

T. Thyme smirked. "Just like a magician, a true culinary master never reveals her secrets. But I will give you this: this is a recipe that has been passed down through several generations of the noble Toad line Epidermophyton!"

Rarity oohed as Twilight's face screwed up in disgust. She quickly moved beside T. Thyme and whispered where she assumed her ear was. "You do realize that Epidermophyton is one of the fungi that make up infections such as Athlete's Hoof, right?"

T. Thyme sighed a great deep sigh that was filled to the brim with audible regret as she covered her face with her left hand. "I had hoped that by leaving the Mushroom Kingdom I could get away from people recognizing that fact. Alas, it was not to be."

Twilight put a hoof to her chin as she thought to herself. She spoke up a minute later. "You know, you could always go to the library that's down the street and study up on fungus names. Since you aren't in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore, there's no reason you have to stick with that name. Unless you want to honor your ancestors, of course," she amended.

T. Thyme's eyes widened with hope. "You really mean it?" She asked. "But won't I get in trouble for forging the name of a noble line?"

Twilight shook her head. "So long as the name you choose isn't already taken by an officially recognized noble line, neither the laws nor Princess Celestia care what noble name you call yourself. In fact, I have it on very good authority that Princess Celestia gets a kick out of hearing all the silly names ponies call themselves to try to sound more important than they are."

A hopeful smile broke out on the Toad chef's face. She spun around on the spot and ran inside her restaurant, flipped the 'open' sign to 'closed' and ran back out towards Twilight. "I have closed up my shop for the day and will now head straight there! Thank you for this chance, I won't forget this!"

T. Thyme quickly hugged Twilight, before she took off down the street. Twilight called out to the departing Toad. "Wait! The library I mentioned is that way!" She yelled. Unfortunately, T. Thyme did not hear her and continued to run the wrong way.

Twilight gave an awkward smile and an equally awkward wave. "See you later, miss Thyme," she called out before she rejoined her friends.

Applejack spoke up first when Twilight got back. "What was that about?" She asked as the group walked towards the castle once more.

"And what do you mean forging the name of a noble line isn't illegal? Wouldn't that cause all sorts of problems, as that would mean anypony can claim they're a noble?" Rarity asked.

Twilight turned to answer Rarity first as the group started to move again. "To answer your question, Rarity, I actually wondered that very same thing a few years ago, so I asked Princess Celestia about it. She told me that the reason she allows it is because she finds all the over the top fancy sounding made-up noble names to be so silly she can't help but laugh inside when she hears one. It isn't that much of a problem, because only legitimate nobles who've earned their title have any actual authority. And whenever a noble line stops behaving in a way befitting that earned position, she quietly strips them of that authority in a private meeting between herself and the current head of that family."

Rarity frowned. "Wouldn't that mean that neither the rest of that noble family or the public would know about their power being stripped?"

Twilight shook her head. "No, because the head of the family has to inform the rest of their line, as well as the public, within twenty-four hours, or else Princess Celestia will make their power being stripped public knowledge the next day through a less-than-flattering public announcement, usually through the papers in the form of a special edition print that lists every reason why they lost their status. No noble wants that, as there is no bigger stain on a noble family's reputation than public humiliation. Other than actual criminal convictions, of course," she added as an afterthought. She then turned to Applejack. "To answer your question, Applejack, Epidermophyton is a very common fungus that is one of the fungi responsible for infections such as Athlete's Hoof," Twilight explained to her friends.

Applejack gagged as Rainbow Dash guffawed. "Oh wow, that's rich! And she was just going around, claiming to be part of a noble line of Athlete's Hoof?! Bwa ha ha ha ha!"

Twilight shook her head. "Unfortunately, at least according to her, that is the name of her noble line. It's why she left the Mushroom Kingdom, so that the name wouldn't be recongnized for what it actually meant. Luckily for her, most if not all of the false nobles never put any research into anything that isn't specifically within their supposed jurisdiction as a noble, if they can even be bothered to do that much, so I was probably the first pony to recognize it for what it was," Twilight said.

Rarity shuddered. "For the sake of my dreams, I hope that I can find and build connections with the few actual nobles that do go out of their way to know more than the bare minimum."

"For that sort of thing, I personally recommend that you find a way to meet with Fancy Pants," Twilight suggested.

Rainbow Dash snickered. "Fancy Pants? A little on the nose there, don't you think, Twi?"

Twilight snorted. "A little, yeah, but he both actually cares about ponies around him, and he just so happens to be the Duke of Canterlot. If you want something done in Canterlot, you pretty much have to go to him."

"But what about Prince Blueblood? Everything I've heard about him says that's exactly the kind of pony that he is," Rarity asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes and fake gagged. "Oh, don't get me started on that foppish buffoon. He couldn't tell you left from right on one of his good days. Not just because he doesn't know them, but because he'd much rather go on a tirade against you for daring to even ask him something. He is by far the most stuck up and self centered twit I've ever had the displeasure of dealing with."

Rarity gave an awkward chuckle as she thought about her plans for the upcoming Gala in two months. "Surely he's not that bad, right?"

Twilight leveled a flat stare at her fellow unicorn. "He called Spike a lizard. To his face. With Princess Celestia in the room. And her chewing him out the entire rest of the day did nothing to curb his awful personality."

"And just like that, my plans for the Grand Galloping Gala have been altered: My goal now is to humiliate that pompous jerk as much as I can!" Rarity decreed with a dramatic twirl of her hoof that ended with it pointed into the air.

Applejack moved next to the vengeful unicorn. "If ya ever need mah help to do so, just ask. Ah'll be bringing mah family's best recipes for a food stall Ah plan to setup, and Ah'll make sure to bring extra pies just for him if ya need it."

"And if you want variety in your pies, just ask me!" Pinkie Pie declared from the other side of Rarity.

"I'm sure I could sneak in a cloud or two or five into the gala, if you catch my drift," Rainbow Dash said with a wide smirk and a wink.

Fluttershy looked uncertainly back and forth between her friends. "Um, should we really be doing this? Prince Blueblood is, well, a prince, right? We could get in serious trouble for humiliating him like this."

Twilight snorted. "He wishes he was an actual prince. No, unfortunately for Prince Prissy Pants, no relation to Fancy Pants thankfully, Prince Blueblood is his actual name," she said before she and the others broke down into giggles.

The six best friends continued to brainstorm ideas as they traveled through the city of Canterlot for the next forty-five minutes. Occasionally, their conversation caught the ear of a Canterlot citizen as they passed by, who stared at them with mild concern, but overall their journey to the castle remained uninterrupted.

As the group walked through the gates in front of the castle entrance, Twilight nodded to the two guards at the sides of the gates. "Hello again Phalanx, Paladin Shield."

The guards both returned the nod. "Welcome back, Miss Sparkle. Head right on in, the ambassadors should arrive sometime within the next few minutes."

As the group passed the entrance gateway, Applejack turned to Twilight. "How in the world could ya tell them apart, much less who each one was? They looked exactly the same to me!"

Twilight giggled. "They're supposed to look identical, that's the point of the disguise spell built into the guard armor. As for how I can tell them apart, it's a mix of years of knowing the guards around here, and the fact that the only two things not affected by the disguise spell are scars and aging," Twilight explained. "Case in point, Paladin Shield, who was the guard on the right, is much younger than Phalanx, the guard on the left. Phalanx himself has a thin scar on his face from a criminal that broke into the castle a few years back."

Applejack hummed in thought. "Huh, Ah hadn't noticed any of that."

Pinkie Pie giggled. "Really? Seemed pretty obvious to me," she said before she giggled again.

As the group continued through the castle grounds and entered the castle, they ran into another guard, this one a mare. "Hey Twilight, long time no see. Princess Celestia gave me the keys to the rooms you'll be staying in while you're here. Just follow me and I'll take you straight to them."

Applejack leaned over and whispered a question into Twilight's ear as they followed the guardsmare. "Another one ya know, Ah take it?"

Twilight nodded as she whispered back. "That's Kite, she helped babysit Spike when he was growing up before he moved in with my parents. I can tell because what I could see of the inside of her helmet was stained with red mane dye, and the disguise spell doesn't affect the inside of the armor itself."

Kite overheard Twilight's response, blushed, and lowered her helmet with her green magic aura.

The guard lead the group through the winding halls of the castle, until a few minutes later, they reached a hallway with six doors, three on either side. Each door had a plaque on the front that showed the symbol of one of the six Elements Of Harmony, which dictated who's room was which.

Kite lit her horn and levitated a key ring with six keys out of her armor that each also had a symbol that represented an Element Of Harmony on them. She focused for a few seconds, before a copy of each key appeared in the air in a flash of light. Twilight caught the copies before they hit the ground as Kite stumbled in place. "Phew, that's still exhausting," She said as she panted and took deep breaths. A moment later she shook her head and spoke again. "Anyways, here you six go, one key for each of you. Since they're all magically created fakes, each key will disappear after a few uses or so. Both for security reasons, and also because I only recently learned the spell," she explained as Twilight passed the keys out to each of her friends.

Twilight shot an impressed look at the guard once everypony had taken their respective key. "Was that Similo Duplexis? That's not an easy spell to learn! Even I struggled with it for a few weeks!"

Kite barked out a laugh. "'A few weeks', hah! It took me four months to even cast this once with Princess Luna's help, and yet you mastering it in a few weeks was struggling for you."

A downcast expression overtook Twilight's face. "I didn't mean to brag, I just think it's really cool to see somepony else using a spell that difficult and complex."

Kite shook her head. "I didn't mean anything bad by it, I'm just saying that you really are a magic prodigy. It's no wonder Princess Celestia took you in as her personal student," she said before she turned away. "I've got to continue my patrols now, you should get ready for the ambassadors' arrival. Another guard will be by to escort you and your friends to the throne room when it's time," she finished before she left the hallway.

Twilight waved goodbye to her old friend before she turned and looked around the hall. "Guess the others have already gone into their rooms," she said to herself with a chuckle. She headed towards her door and unlocked it with the key she was given.

As soon as the door was open, the key dissolved into a green magic dust that dissipated into the air. Twilight shook her head and walked into the room with a faint smile. "She did say it wouldn't last long, after all," she mumbled to herself and shrugged.

Twilight, as well as her friends in their own rooms, spent the next few minutes resting, unpacking, or otherwise getting prepared for the upcoming meeting with the ambassadors

Just as Twilight had settled down on the bed to rest for a few minutes, a knock at the door disrupted her planned catnap. When Twilight walked over to the door and opened it, she let out a gasp and hugged her brother. "BBBFF! When Kite said another guard would come escort us, I didn't think she meant you!"

Shining Armor returned the hug and chuckled. "I wasn't originally, but I knew I couldn't pass up the chance to surprise you like this, Twily," he said as he separated from his sister.

Shining Armor stepped aside and lead Twilight out into the hall where the rest of her friends already waited.

Shining Armor nodded at the gathered mares and turned towards the path to the throne room. "We've received word that the ambassadors have made it safely through the warp pipe from the Beanbean Kingdom, and they should arrive at the castle itself in the next few minutes," he explained as he lead them through identical hallways.

A few minutes later, Shining Armor lead the six into the throne room where Princess Celestia and an entourage of guards waited. Each guard held an instrument in either their magic aura or their mouth, in the case of non-unicorns.

"Princess Celestia! I have brought the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, just as you requested!" Shining Armor announced as they entered the room.

Twilight ran towards her mentor and leaned in to nuzzle her. "Princess Celestia!"

Celestia returned the nuzzle. "My faithful student, I am so glad to see that you and all your friends are doing well and have made it here safe and sound."

Twilight stepped back from the nuzzle. "Of course, Princess! Where would you like us to stand?" She asked as her friends and brother reached her.

Celestia pointed with a hoof off to the side of the raised throne platform. "I would like three of you to stand over there," she began, before she moved to point her hoof on the opposite side of the platform. "And the other three to stand over there. It doesn't really matter who goes where, just so long as it is split evenly between unicorn, earth pony, and pegasus."

Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Shining Armor moved over to the left side of the throne, with Twilight and Shining Armor next to each other in the spots closest to Celestia. Applejack stood next to Twilight opposite Shining Armor, while Fluttershy stood next to Applejack. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash moved over to the right side of the throne, in that order from the throne itself.

Twklight frowned in confusion as she noticed something odd. She leaned over to Shining Armor and whispered into his ear. "Why don't any of the guards have their weapons? Shouldn't they be prepared just in case?"

Shining Armor leaned over and whispered back. "It's so that their presence doesn't get mistaken as an act of aggression, or worse, war."

Twilight nodded and returned to a more respectful standing position.

As if on cue, the moment the last of the six stepped into position, the arranged guards began to play their instruments.

As the music carried through and out of the throne room, two bipedal figures in yellow robes and with pea-green skin walked along the red carpet towards the throne.

One of the ambassadors was much taller than the other and kept her sleeves connected in front of her with her arms tucked inside. The other ambassador that walked behind her was much smaller than her and carried a red box in both arms that was half his own size.

The guards continued to play the music as the two approached the throne and walked up the steps to Celestia.

The taller ambassador stopped a few steps away from the ruling princess of Equestria. "I come bearing valuable gifts from her royal majesty Queen Bean, who wishes to improve ties between our two kingdoms," she announced.

On cue, the smaller ambassador walked up to Celestia, who stepped forward in preparation to receive the gift.

Off to the side, Pinkie Pie's entire body started to shake and vibrate at a rapid rate as her Pinkie Sense went off suddenly. "Wo-oo-oo-oah! Th-er-re's a do-oo-ozy com-ming!" The mare cried in alarm as she shook. Her friends that were familiar with her Pinkie Sense all tensed up in preparation for whatever the doozy could be.

The moment the smaller ambassador stopped moving, the red box in his arms opened on its own and a creepy doll on a jack-in-the-box style spring flew out towards the princess. A second later, the doll's mouth opened and spewed a putrid gas that rapidly flashed red and green into Celestia's face, to everypony else's stunned shock and horror.

The gas covered Celestia's head completely, which caused her to hack and cough as the putrid gas split into two separate clouds of red and green. The red cloud forced its way down her throat, while the green cloud crawled up her horn. The gas stained her once pristine white horn a sickly shade of green as it progressed upwards.

"What the hay are you doing to the princess?!" Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor yelled from their spots next to the throne. The pegasus mare flew up into the air and prepared to charge towards the ambassadors, while Shining Armor cast a shield that covered just the area around him and made himself invisible via light refraction.

The taller ambassador took both of her arms out of her sleeves and pointed her right hand towards Rainbow Dash before the mare could close in, while her left hand pointed towards the last spot Shining Armor had been seen. A black-colored lightning bolt shot down from above and struck the pegasus mare directly, while a second one struck the ground where Shining Armor had been, to no avail. The lightning bolt that missed blasted apart a chunk of the marble floor and created a cloud of debris that hindered the view of the area for everyone in the room.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha!" The taller ambassador cackled as Rainbow Dash screamed and crashed to the ground with a large burn on her side where the bolt had struck her.

The injured mare struggled to get up on her hooves, but was unable to and slumped back down to the ground. She shakily lifted her head up once more and braced herself with a hoof. "Why am I so heavy now?!" She cried in frustration, before her leg gave out and her head slammed back down into the floor with a crack.

"Rainbow Dash!" The other Elements cried out in horror as Pinkie Pie frantically ran towards Rainbow Dash. They turned towards the ambassadors and prepared to attack as the guards all gathered behind the ambassadors.

The taller ambassador removed her robes in an explosion of magic and threw her arms up into the air. "Eeeyah ha ha ha!" The now-revealed witch cackled maniacally as more bolts of lightning crashed down around the room and destroyed parts of the floor.

A few stray lightning bolts were lured to the instruments of some unfortunate guards as they attempted to throw them at the witch as makeshift weapons, which caused said guards to be struck by the lightning and rendered burned and unconscious. Their struck instruments were melted into slag by the heat of the bolts.

A strange object caught everypony's attention as it suddenly fell from the ceiling above where it had silently hovered unnoticed till now. It landed directly on the smaller ambassador's head, before he then explosively removed his own disguise and chortled just as maniacally as the witch had as his red cloak flapped in an unseen breeze. The headgear sucked up the green gas that now fully covered Celestia's head into its mouth-like nozzle, while the red gas cloud was pulled out of Celestia's mouth, which caused her to gag in visible discomfort. "Ha ha ha ha ha! I have chortles!" He declared as he continued to chortle.

As soon as the gas clouds had been fully sucked up by the headgear, it let out a burp and grinned as Celestia fell unconscious on the spot, her horn now fully stained a sickly shade of green. The attacker chortled once more, before he stepped back behind the witch and faced the gathered guards, the two now stood back to back.

The guards that remained unhurt attempted to charge towards the attackers, but were intercepted by a barrage of magical green orbs spat out by the headgear's nozzle in an oscillating wave pattern. A barely visible distortion in the air surrounded each orb as it flew that pushed small enough debris out of the orb's way. Each orb that hit a guard exploded on impact and burned the guard as they were sent flying backwards, while each of the distortions exploded outwards in a burst of magically sharp cutting gusts that sliced into their coats and flesh and opened wounds of varying severity. The orbs that didn't hit anypony also exploded on impact with the walls and ground with enough collective force to shake the entire room. Gouges multiple inches thick were slashed and sliced into the marble walls and pillars from the gusts alone, while the explosive part of the spell scorched everything it touched a deep sooty black. By the time the barrage had ended and the room had stopped shaking, most of the guards were heavily injured and unconscious, and the room looked like a warzone with marble debris scattered everywhere. The few that had managed to escape the nightmarish barrage mostly unharmed moved to pull their injured comrades to safety behind pillars or out of the room entirely.

Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared by the witch's side from a shield that was barely-visible in the debris cloud and tried to tackle her, but the witch reacted quickly and sent two prepared bolts of lightning down, one towards the mare and the other towards the shield as it tried to get away. The first bolt of lightning struck Pinkie Pie directly and sent her backwards, where she landed and skidded sideways along the floor. The second bolt of lightning struck the shield and instantly shattered it, which knocked the no-longer hidden Shining Armor unconscious from the painful magical feedback.

The witch glared down at the pink mare as she struggled to get up from the intense weight she now felt all across her body. "I've been waiting for you to try something, you pink menace!"

"Why are you doing this?! And for that matter, who are you?!" Twilight yelled from where she, Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy had gathered in front of the unconscious Celestia. Applejack had gone to Rainbow Dash's side while the witch was distracted with Pinkie Pie, and with their combined strength, had managed to bring the heavy pegasus to her hooves and walk her over to their friends.

The witch cackled. "I am the great witch Cackletta, and what makes you think that I'll just tell you my plans?! At least, not without making you work for it! Eeeyah ha ha ha!"

Twilight snorted angrily as Applejack scraped at the floor with a hoof. The earth pony charged towards Cackletta and slammed into her side.

Cackletta grunted as she was sent backwards by the blow. "You're stronger than you look, but strength won't help you with this!" She cried as she suddenly sunk into her own shadow, which split into three and separated. A second later all three of the shadows formed into exact duplicates of Cackletta, all of which grinned widely. "Which one of us is the real Cackletta?! I'll even let you get in a single free hit to figure it out! Eeeyah ha ha ha!" They all taunted and cackled, before they stopped and stood eerily still, as if they had all became statues.

The now unnerved Applejack rapidly glanced back and forth between the three as she tried to figure out which one was the real deal.

Back behind the confused mare, Rarity lit her horn and focused on the marble debris. The mare transformed the large chunks of marble into more manageable, smaller marble statues of ponies in varying poses, some with sharp marble weapons and some without. The detail-oriented mare lifted up and launched the statue army of dozens towards the Cackletta clones from all directions around her.

Fawful blasted several of the statues as they approached, until one got through his guard and struck the middle Cackletta. The fake copy cackled and burst into a swarm of bats that all had Cackletta's head, which all flew up into the air.

"Look out!" Applejack cried as the bats rapidly swarmed her and her friends. While Rarity batted at the bats that seemed to swarm mostly around her in a blind panic and Twilight methodically blasted each one down with her magic, Applejack dodged around the bats that came down towards her. She attempted to land another blow on the witch, but the smaller attacker suddenly intercepted her as the rockets on the sides of his headgear propelled him towards her. His headgear spat a gusting green orb of magic at her point-blank that exploded on impact with her face and scorched it. The burst of wind blades opened several wounds all across her face and head, which caused blood to fly out of her injuries and splatter the ground beneath and behind her in an amount that greatly alarmed her friends.

"Applejack!" Fluttershy cried with tears in her eyes as she flew towards her heavily injured friend. She glared furiously at the smaller attacker as she stood protectively in front of the downed and bleeding Applejack. "Just who do you think you are, mister?! What gives you the right to do something like this?!"

The attacker chortled. "Fawful is my name, and I have CHORTLES!!! Ha ha ha ha!" Fawful introduced as he chortled gleefully and maliciously in Fluttershy's face.

Fluttershy angrily gritted her teeth. "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice!" She said as she activated her Stare and stared directly into Fawful's swirly glasses.

Fawful smirked as his headgear leaned down towards the distracted Fluttershy's face from the side and spewed out another cloud of gas, this cloud a dismal shade of dark grey.

Fluttershy coughed and closed her eyes as the cloud of odorless gas fully enveloped her face. Over the course of a few seconds, the gas concentrated itself in and around her eyes until it had all vanished. Once her face was clear of the gas, she opened her eyes and began to panic when she realized she couldn't see anything. "I can't see! What have you done to my eyes?!" She cried as she stumbled in place while her now clouded eyes rapidly shifted around in a futile attempt to see.

Fawful chortled as his headgear grinned widely. "Worry not your pink head of prettiness too much, your eyes will get their seeingness back... eventually! Ha ha ha ha!" He taunted, before he floated off towards another part of the battle.

Fluttershy attempted to fly after her attacker's voice, but was unable to get very far before she crashed headfirst into one of the room's remaining pillars, which knocked her unconscious and split open a wound in her head that poured blood down her face.

During the time that Fawful had fought Applejack and Fluttershy, the Cackletta on the right raised an arm and pointed it towards Rainbow Dash as the mare tried to run towards the witch despite the extreme weight she still felt all over her body. She had managed to break out into a trot, but she was unable to dodge the bolt of black lightning that Cackletta summoned towards her from above. The bolt struck her back and knocked the pegasus unconscious with a cutoff scream of pain as another large burn bloomed outward from the impact.

"I'm sick of seeing you pathetic little pests getting up after my attacks. If you won't stay down, then I'll make you!" The other Cackletta on the left cried as she suddenly grew to several times her original size with a much more monstrous appearance.

The now monstrous and massive Cackletta roared as bolts of black lightning crashed down throughout the room. Dark holes in the ground pulsated nauseatingly as they appeared from beneath her large billowing cloak and moved towards each of the ponies still in the room.

Unable to move, the guards that hadn't yet been pulled to safety by their comrades, as well as the downed Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Applejack all fell into the holes. A few seconds later, they were slammed down towards the ground from above, where another hole had opened up above each of their original positions.

After the ponies each landed with a loud crack from the abrupt flight, a bolt of black lightning struck each of them for good measure.

"Eeeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta cackled as she continued to inflict carnage and cause chaos. Her remaining clone burst into another swarm of bats that added to the madness as they flew around the room.

Rarity and Twilight dodged, blasted, and batted at the bats as much as they could, before eventually Rarity missed one and it bit her leg. Blood trailed down her leg as the wound quickly and visibly festered. "Ow! That hurt, yoouu..." She trailed off as her face turned green and she collapsed on her side, unconscious from the poison that now flowed through her bloodstream.

Cackletta noticed and smirked as she struck the downed unicorn with a bolt of black lightning that scorched her side. "Eeeyah ha ha ha! This carnage and chaos is music to my ears!"

Twilight looked around in absolute horror as all of her battered, bloodied, and burned friends laid motionless around her. Only their slowed, pained breaths showed that anypony in the room besides her was even still alive. She closed her eyes as her rage grew, before she finally snapped. A burst of fire erupted around her as her magic began to go wild from her rage. "You monster! How dare you do something this horrible, this heinous?!" Twilight cried as she launched spell after desperate spell towards the witch.

Cackletta shrunk herself back down to her regular size to better dodge the spells that flew throughout the room as she ducked and weaved between them. Every once in a while, she would hold out her arm towards Twilight and summon a bolt of lightning to her position.

Over the course of the battle, Twilight had watched Cackletta attack. As a result, she dodged away from her current position whenever she saw the witch aim towards her. The entire time she made sure to keep up her barrage of spells and never gave Cackletta a chance to catch her breath.

As Cackletta continued to dodge Twilight's barrage, she grew angrier and angrier, until after she'd sidestepped one of many lasers, she let out a scream of frustration. "Nnngh-GYAH! Enough of this nonsense!" She cried out, before she raised both arms at once pointed towards the ground next to her.

Two shadows split off from her own and moved to where she'd pointed, before two more clones of herself rose out. The instant they were fully formed, Cackletta raised her arms dramatically and split them apart into swarms of bats that charged towards Twilight.

Twilight charged her horn and waited until the bats had approached her, before she teleported behind Cackletta and fired a laser from her horn towards the spot on Cackletta's side that Applejack had tackled earlier in the battle.

Cackletta let out an actual cry of pain as she held her side with an arm. Smoke billowed as the smell of burned flesh permeated the area around her. She gritted her teeth as she raised her other arm towards Twilight once more, who dodged the summoned bolt.

Twilight smirked as she continued to dodge Cackletta's desperate attacks. Twilight powered up her horn again as she readied another laser.

An unnoticed green orb suddenly collided with the side of her head that sent her flying to the side and canceled her built up spell as she was knocked unconscious.

Cackletta shot a grateful look towards Fawful as she leaned on her uninjured leg and held her side. "If you hadn't caught her off guard like that, she might have actually beat me there."

Fawful grinned back and chortled. "Ha ha ha ha! As if someone of the narrow-mindedness could spoil the delicious mustard of our plans!"

Cackletta cackled in response. "Eeeyah ha ha ha! I suppose you are right," she said as she summoned her flying jet-powered throne. The flying throne flew in through the unnoticed hole in the ceiling behind one of the pillars that Fawful's headgear had previously created and used to sneak into the throne room prior to their arrival.

The witch climbed onto her seat as Fawful soaked in the view of the destroyed throne room around him. "I have the pleasure with the outcome of my recent spell experiments!" He exclaimed with a chortle. Once his laughter had died down, he eyed the unconscious bodies of the ponies with a manic gleam in his eye. "Should we kill them?" He asked as his headgear charged up an attack.

Cackletta flinched very slightly and quickly moved a hand to her injured side before she shook her head. "No. If they're dead, then whatever forces remain can go after us with more resources that they would otherwise be forced to spend to keep them alive," she explained. "Instead, we shall leave them alive, so that they may watch in horror as we awaken the star from its slumber and lay waste to this putrid world."

Fawful nodded as the charged blast dissipated from the headgear's mouth. "I have the understanding, mistress Cackletta," he said, before he frowned. "But perhaps we should do something to stop them from catching after us themselves once they have been healed? After all, they now have the knowingness of how we fight."

Cackletta hummed in thought. "You are correct, that would be most wise," she said. A moment later she grinned. "And I know just the spell to do the trick."

As the witch flew around on her throne towards each of the downed Element Bearers and touched a curved finger to their spine, a small bolt of yellow magic jumped from her finger to the pony. When she touched Fluttershy's spine, the pegasus jolted as she was struck by the spell.

Once Cackletta had finished with each one, she nodded. "There, that should keep them out of our way."

Fawful looked closely with his specialized enchanted glasses at the magic infused in each pony, before he grinned. "Ah, that spell. Now, not even the Herbs of Refreshing will be able to help them, so long as you keep the spell running. I have impress!" He said with a wide grin. He then turned towards the unconscious form of Shining Armor. "However, I believe that that one would pose a serious threat with those shields of his if allowed to chase after us with this knowledge," he said as he pointed a finger towards him.

Cackletta eyed Shining Armor's body. "Yes, that would be most unpleasant to have to deal with after everything else," she said as she tapped his spine. "That should do it," she said as she grinned.

Fawful looked around the area as he made certain they were done, before his eyes settled on the downed body of Twilight Sparkle. "That one's magic was unexpectedly of the excellence, even compared to what we'd heard about her during the planning of our plans," he said as he approached her. His headgear's nozzle spun once, before it spat out the cloud of green gas that was sucked up from Celestia's horn. The gas cloud enveloped her horn and quickly turned it a sickly shade of green over the course of seconds.

Once Twilight's horn matched Celestia's, the headgear sucked the gas back up. "And now she won't be a threat at all! Ha ha ha ha!" Fawful chortled.

Cackletta clapped her hands together once. "We need to leave before that other princess arrives, even just going off the rumors alone she's strong enough that I don't want to pick a fight with her like this," she said as she motioned towards her injured side.

Fawful's headgear's rockets lit up as he flew up to join his mistress. "Should we take the pipe of warping, or take the route of scenic?"

Cackletta thought as she idly pointed an arm towards one of the stained glass windows and blasted it into shards with a summoned bolt of lightning. "Do we know where the other half of the warp pipe's connection spell ended up after we blew up the one in Beanbean Castle Town on our way here?" She asked as she brushed shards of glass off her damaged robes.

Fawful shook his head. "Unfortunately, even I, with all my knowledge of the pipes of warping, have no way of knowing where the connection could have gone. For all we know, it could be somewhere in the Darklands, or worse, near those mustachioed morons."

Cackletta frowned. "Then it's not worth the risk," she said, before she shrugged. "Besides, the scenic route should suffice. After all, what are they going to do to stop us, send their guards?! Eeeyah ha ha ha!" Cackletta cackled as the two flew off towards the distant Beanbean Kingdom to the east.

Kite marched as she patrolled through the winding halls of Canterlot castle. The guardsmare looked side-to-side as she walked, and every few steps she looked up and eyed the arches above her to make sure nothing and nopony could get the drop on her.

Her ears perked up as she heard familiar voices come from around a corner ahead of her. She strained to listen as she approached the corner.

"...get help!"

"...too strong!"

"...the Princess is..."

Alarmed by what she could make out, Kite quickly rushed around the corner and stared in horror as she beheld the group of injured guards in front of her. The vast majority of the guards sported several burns all across various parts of their bodies, with several also bearing slash wounds that still bled. The more severely injured guards were being carried by the others that could still walk. A single guard out of the bunch had managed to come out of whatever altercation there had been unscathed. "You, Private!" She called out to the uninjured guard. A pegasus Private, based on the lack of markings on his armor. "What's going on, what happened to all of you?!"

The Private looked towards her as he carried one of the injured guards on his back. His eyes widened and he quickly saluted with a wing when he realized who she was. "Second-in-command Kite, ma'am!" He called out.

Kite quickly saluted back. "At ease, Private," she said before they both put their hoof and wing back down. "Now, what's the situation?"

"The ambassadors were imposters, and they attacked Princess Celestia!" He gasped out.

Kite's eyes widened as she took a step back in shock. "What?!" She shook her head to refocus. "I'm going to need you to tell me more. Just keep it to the most important parts, and make it quick."

The Private nodded to her and quickly explained what had happened as the group continued to move.

"...and now we're taking the injured over to the medical wing," the Private finished.

The moment the Private had finished talking, Kite took off down one of the adjacent halls. "I'm going to go get Princess Luna and let her know what's happened!" She called back as she ran.

Kite bolted down a familiar path through the halls towards Princess Luna's personal chambers. She made a single quick detour to pick up her signature kite shield from the otherwise empty barracks along the way. She stopped when she reached the ornate lunar-themed door of the night princess's personal chambers.

The Second-in-Command of the Royal Guard slammed her hoof into the door in a coded signal pattern. "Princess Luna! It's an emergency!"

Not even a full second after Kite had knocked and called out, Luna appeared next to her in a flash of teleportation light. Luna looked towards Kite with a serious look on her face. "Where?"

"The throne room, the ambassadors were imposters and attacked Princess Celestia, as well as everypony else in the room at the time," Kite informed.

Luna opened her wings up and got into a battle stance as she lit her horn. "Stand next to Us, we're teleporting in."

Kite quickly stepped to Luna's side, before they vanished in a flash of light as Luna teleported them both into the throne room.

Both Kite and Luna stared in horror for a second as they beheld the carnage that greeted them upon their arrival. Every single remaining marble pillar that once stood proudly along the walls of the room now featured deep gashes scored into their structure. Several of the pillars had been felled at some point, the room now filled with debris both on the ground and clouding the air. Scattered throughout the room were the injured bodies of several guards, along with the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. The floor and walls of the room were scorched black, with the red carpet that ran from the entrance to the throne having been shredded and scorched all along its length. Up in front of the throne itself lay Princess Celestia's unmoving body.

Kite's training kicked in, and she immediately went around the room and checked the pulse of each unconscious pony she found.

Luna gasped the moment her eyes locked onto Celestia's unconscious form slumped in front of her throne. She instantly flapped her wings and took off towards her at full speed. "TIA!" She cried out when she landed next to her.

Luna briefly reached out to grab her sister, before she stopped the moment she realized that moving her could be disastrous depending on her injuries. Instead, she crouched down, rested an ear against Celestia's chest, and listened closely for several seconds. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard her sister's slow-but-steady heartbeat. "Celestia is alive!" She called back to Kite, who had been doing the same thing for the other injured ponies in the room.

Kite looked towards Luna from her spot by Applejack in front of the throne platform. "I have checked everypony here, and they are all alive and accounted for!" She called out with a salute. The guard noticed something alarming out of the corner of her eye and looked towards the wall with the stained glass windows. "Princess Luna, look! One of the windows is broken!"

Luna flew towards the broken window and frantically looked everywhere she could see. "We don't see any- Wait! Out there by the horizon!" She cried out as she spotted two forms rapidly retreating from the castle in an easterly direction. "We will intercept those foul, wretched monsters and make them regret daring to harm our precious sister and subjects!"

As Luna spread her wings and prepared to take off after the retreating forms of Cackletta and Fawful, she heard a voice speak up from nearby. "Pr... Princess Luna...? Is that you?"

Luna's head snapped towards where she heard the voice. "Who's there? Speak up again so we may find thou!"

"Over here, it's me, Fluttershy. I think I'm by one of the pillars," the voice weakly called out once more.

Luna and Kite rushed over to the source of the voice, which turned out to be the wounded but awake Fluttershy.

Kite crouched down and brushed some debris off of Fluttershy's body. "What happened, Fluttershy? We know the ambassadors were imposters, but how did this happen?" The guard asked once she had made sure that Fluttershy's head wound wasn't severe.

Fluttershy turned towards the voices and opened her eyes, which caused both Luna and Kite to gasp when they saw her once green eyes clouded grey. "And what happened to thy eyes, young Fluttershy?" Luna asked in surprise.

"One of the attackers, Fawful he said his name was, hit me with this strange gas that took away my sight. He said I would get it back eventually, but considering everything he and his mistress Cackletta, the other imposter, did, I'm not sure I believe him," Fluttershy said with a deep frown. Her clouded eyes teared up as everything that had happened started to truly hit her. "I-I don't want to go blind! I want to be able to see all my animal friends again, and all my pony friends! I want to see again!" She cried out as she began to sob.

Luna wrapped the crying pegasus in her wings as well as she could without jostling her and potentially making her head wound worse. "There there, Fluttershy, it shall be alright. Our best medics will do everything they can to restore thy precious sight," she comforted.

When Fluttershy attempted to move to return the hug, her sobbing redoubled when she was unable to move even a full inch. "I can't move! Princess Luna, I can't move!" She began to cry out in a panic through her sobs.

Just as Kite opened her mouth to say something, the trio heard the stomping of approaching hooves. Kite looked over at the entrance while Luna continued to comfort Fluttershy and smiled when she saw the group of medics entering the throne room. "Speaking of the medics, they're here right now, miss Fluttershy."

Over the course of the next half hour, the gathered medics inspected and cared for the injured and wounded that couldn't be moved until they were in a more stable state. Eventually, they managed to bring everypony into the hospital wing to be further cared for until they had awoken.

Inside the VIP hospital room where the Elements of Harmony, as well as Shining Armor and Princess Celestia, had been brought in for treatment, Luna sat next to Fluttershy's bed. The pegasus mare had calmed down greatly over the passed half hour, and was no longer on the verge of sobbing. The Princess of the Night gently rested a bare hoof on the edge of the pegasus mare's bed. "Tell Us everything you remember from the attack," she calmly and patiently requested.

Fluttershy attempted to nod, but her movements were so minor that even Luna could barely see them from directly next to her. Over the next several minutes, Fluttershy explained everything she could about the attack up until the moment she fell unconscious.

Once Fluttershy had finished, Luna frowned. "Is that truly everything thou remembers about this grave attack? There is nothing else that thou can tell Us?" She asked.

Fluttershy shook her head as much as she could, the movement only just barely being visible. Tears formed in her eyes as she recalled the memories of what happened after. "No, I actually came to about a minute after I fell unconscious. I knew that if Cackletta and Fawful realized I was awake, they would go after me again, so I played dead for as long as I could. I didn't move or make any sounds until after I heard your voice, Princess," Fluttershy revealed.

Luna's eyes widened. "So, that means thou heard everything after that point?" She asked hopefully.

Fluttershy gave up on trying to nod. "Yes, I even heard them talking about their plans once Twilight had been taken out. Fawful asked Cackletta if he should kill us, but she said it would be better to leave us alive so that you would be forced to waste resources on us."

Luna growled in anger. "Those FIENDS! Is there truly nothing that is sacred to them?!"

Fluttershy spoke up once Luna had finished speaking. "Early on after Fawful knocked out Twilight, they mentioned something about a star, and that they wanted us to watch as they, and I quote, 'awakened the star from its slumber and lay waste to this putrid world.'" She quoted.

Luna gasped and scramble backwards as panic filled her eyes. "They can't possibly mean... NO! They must be stopped before it is too late!" The terrified Princess began to run towards the room's exit, her magic forgotten in her panic.

Before Luna could leave the room though, Fluttershy spoke up once more. "They also mentioned that they blew up the other end of the warp pipe to Beanbean Castle Town, and that the connection could be anywhere. Does that mean anything to you?"

Luna paused and frowned as what Fluttershy said managed to distract her from her panic spiral. "If my understanding of warp pipes is correct, then that means the pipe they took to get here could now lead to any unconnected warp pipe within a certain range. But if that's true, then we have no way of safely chasing after them!" Luna cried out as she stomped her hooves on the tile below in frustration and anger. "And on top of that, they wish to awaken one of the most dangerous opponents that We have ever faced! Their insanity knows no bounds!" Luna ranted to herself.

Just as Luna had finished her rant, Kite ran into the room. "All the guards have been accounted for and brought into care!"

Luna sent a smile Kite's way. "Ah, yes. Finally, some good news," she said, before she called out in a more regal manner. "Bring every able-bodied guard to Us at once! We must make a plan to go after those fiends!"

Kite saluted Luna. "Yes Princess!" She cried before she turned and ran back out the door.

Luna began to pace back and forth in the room as she waited, before a voice caught her attention. "Princess Luna?"

Luna's head shot towards the source of the voice. "Twilight Sparkle! Thou hath awakened!" She cried in relief.

Twilight struggled to move in response. "Why can't I move?!" She cried as panic slowly crept into her voice.

"Um, I think Cackletta did something to paralyze us. She mentioned that she didn't want us following after them now that we knew how they fought," Fluttershy answered from her own bed.

Twilight stopped trying to move. "She used a paralysis spell?! Those are incredibly dangerous! If cast wrong, they can very easily result in permanent paralysis!"

Luna frowned as she approached the angry Twilight. "It is to our knowledge, thanks to the information brave Fluttershy managed to obtain, that they could not have possibly cared less if thou are paralyzed for life. At least, that is our understanding of the situation."

Twilight gasped in horror. "No! I can't be stuck in bed for the rest of my life! I have so much I still want to do with my life! And what about my friends?! What about Rainbow Dash, she needs to be able to fly!" She rambled as she spiraled. She gasped as another thought occurred to her. "What about Spike?! I'll never be able to hug him again!" She cried out, before she moved her eyes to face Luna. "Can you send him a letter, Princess?"

Luna shook her head. "We're afraid we do not know the spell that sister uses to communicate with thy dragon brother, Twilight Sparkle. We can however send him a letter through the normal means, but it will take some time to arrive as everything has been thoroughly disrupted by this assault."

Twilight struggled to nod, but gave up after a moment. "That's more than good enough. So long as I can still see him, that's more than good enough."

Luna nodded. "Then once Kite has returned with the rest of the guards, we shall prepare the letter for thou."

Twilight smiled, the most movement Luna had seen from either her or Fluttershy so far. "Thank you, Princess Luna."

A few minutes later, Kite returned, this time with three guards in tow. "As requested, every able-bodied guard has been brought here!"

Luna turned and stared in dismay at the four total guards in attendance. "Is, is that really all that We have left?!"

The four guards nodded. "Unfortunately, we are all the guards that weren't present during the attack," Phalanx said.

"We were told to stand guard at the gate, while all the other guards were meant to be greeting the ambassadors. We were all under the impression that it would be a ten minute task at most," Paladin Shield spoke up.

"And I was ordered to patrol the nearby halls in case of break in or sabotage," Kite said.

"I got lucky and managed to avoid getting hit during the attack," the Private Kite encountered in the hallway said.

Luna frowned at the Private. "What is thy name, Private?"

"Compound Compass, Princess Luna!" Compound Compass said with a salute of his wing.

Luna briefly returned the salute. "At ease, Private Compound," she said. She then turned to Kite with a frustrated glare. "Why aren't there more guards?! In my time, there would be several companies in reserve, ready at a moment's notice!" She complained.

The guard quartet shared a look, before Kite faced Luna once more and cleared her throat. "Um, Princess Luna? Equestria hasn't needed that many guards in hundreds of years."

Luna snorted. "So, peacetime has dulled our kingdom's once mighty blade," she muttered. She frowned as she thought for a minute. She pointed a hoof towards Phalanx and spoke up. "Phalanx, We need thou to go through the warp pipe to the Beanbean Kingdom, see where the connecting spell landed. Paladin Shield, thou art to stand guard outside the pipe and make sure nothing dangerous returns instead of Phalanx. Kite, We request that thou gather as many of the supplies that we have been gifted by Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom as thou can and bring them all here so that the medics may use them as they see fit. Bring the healing potions from our mysterious friend as well," she ordered.

The named guard trio saluted. "Yes Princess!" The three ran off to perform their ordered tasks once Luna had returned the salute.

Compound Compass watched his fellow guards leave the room, before he turned to Luna in confusion. "What about me, Princess?"

Luna faced Compound Compass with a determined look. "Compound Compass, We have a very special job for thou. We need thou to take this letter We shall write to young Spike in Ponyville to the post office. Once thou have completed this task, thou art to return to Us to receive new orders."

Compound Compass saluted Luna once more with his wing. "Yes Princess!"

Luna saluted back, and the two quickly headed off in the direction of Luna's chambers. Along the way, Compound Compass took multiple wrong turns where Luna had to guide him down the correct path, until finally, several minutes later, they finally reached her personal chambers.

Luna went inside to write the letter while Compound Compass stood guard outside the room.

Once Luna had written the letter, she came back out and gave the finished letter to Compound Compass. "While thou delivers this letter, We shall stay in our chambers and formulate a plan of attack against these monsters that dare to threaten our wonderful world. Do not lose this letter or delay its arrival, for it is a very important missive."

Compound Compass took the letter with his wing with a nod, before he ran towards his destination, the letter tucked safely against his side.

Luna retreated back into her personal chambers and headed straight for her bed, before she flumped down onto the incredibly soft sheets, grabbed her pillow, and screamed and sobbed into it for several minutes as the stress of everything caught up with her.

Author's Note

I deeply apologize for how long this chapter took, it was a nightmare figuring some of these things out. I can't and won't promise that it won't happen again, bacause my writing speed is slow and I know it, but I can promise that I won't stop writing this story until it is truly finished, whenever that may be.

An Urgent Summons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle nodded once. "Right."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Derpy nodded, before she turned around and flew off.

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

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

Spike unfurled the letter and read it aloud.

Dear Spike:

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

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

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

Sincerely, Princess Luna.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Really?" Spike asked in confusion.

"Yeah!" Sweetie Belle encouraged with a nod.

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

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

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

The fillies all nodded as they affirmed their decision.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nothing happened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Celestia nodded, a downcast expression on her face.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Spike looked at her in concern "You sure?"

Scootaloo nodded more confidently. "Yeah."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Author's Note

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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