Adventures in Crusading

On this fine morning, in the evergreen woods of Canterlot, two girls were searching for strange and mysterious creatures. Now, why would two girls be out looking for elusive creatures? Why, for fun, of course. And also in the hopes of making it into the school’s yearbook.

They were venturing deep into the woods, soon finding themselves knee-deep in foliage. So much, in fact, that it was getting hard to see. They were walking single file when the girl in the back had tripped over something, sending her crashing into the backpack of the girl in front. After getting themselves back up and clearing the dirt around them, they got a clear look at whatever object it was. Its shape was elongated and thin. It was glowing and pulsating and possibly moving.

“What is that?” asked Scootaloo as she stared at the object with confusion and curiosity.

“It looks like a stick,” said Sweetie Belle as she leaned in to get a better look.

She leaned in even closer as she became strangely fixated on the weird stick. She found herself entranced by it. The stick glowed brighter as she felt herself getting pulled towards it like a magnet. It was almost as if it were calling out to her. Impulsively, she grabbed it. As if on cue, the ground began to freeze over, while a flurry of snowflakes danced around branches. Cold winds began to blow, unnerving, haunting whistling following in their wake. Snow stuck to the now hard and clumped dirt. It was accumulating, layer by layer, rather quickly.

“What’s happening?!” said Scootaloo.

“I don’t know! All I did was pick it up!” said Sweetie Belle.

“Well we need to stop it! Try letting it go,” said Scootaloo, who was shivering slightly.

Sweetie Belle attempted to do just that. It did not fall. She shook her arm in increasingly erratic movements. Try as she might, the stick remained stuck to her hand like glue.

“Why isn’t it dropping?!” said Sweetie Belle, panic rising in her voice.

“I don’t know! But we need to fix this!” said Scootaloo, her expression that of worry and dread.

“But how?!” exclaimed Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo pondered for a moment. “We need to find Sunset! She knows a ton about magic! Maybe she can help us!” she said. Quickly, she opened her backpack and unfolded a scooter, gesturing for Sweetie Belle to hop on. And so the duo departed, racing out of the forest, while the air around them was getting colder by the minute.

They made their way into town, riding across a frozen pond that was forming before their eyes. Now, on such a day as this, finding Sunset would actually be fairly easy. At this hour, she would be just about arriving at her waitressing job. The only problem was getting there.

The usual route of Main Street was now engulfed in snow. Multiple cars were piled up, and with emergency services blocking the way, riding down this road clearly wasn’t an option. The duo turned into the smaller side streets, zig-zagging their way around until they reached a rather large intersection. Now, all they needed to do was cross, and they would arrive at Sunset’s workplace a few blocks down. Scootaloo pushed with all her might, sending the scooter flying across.

At the same time, a truck came speeding down, coming at them from their right side. Fortunately, the truck managed to swerve, ejecting the barrels it was transporting straight onto the streets, including their own. Barrels raced down towards them. Luckily enough, the two girls dodged the dozens of barrels, swerving left and right to avoid being crushed. Having narrowly avoided a horrible fate, the duo rode as fast as they could towards their destination.

That is how, in record time, Scoots and Sweetie arrived at the Canterlot Mall parking lot, much to the confusion of one Sunset Shimmer. “What’s going on with you two?” she said.

The two of them explained to her what had just occurred earlier in this chapter. To say Sunset was perplexed would be an understatement. The ‘stick’ that was stuck to Sweetie Belle’s hand was a magic wand, and it appeared to have cast a spell upon being grabbed. No wonder it had gotten so chilly today. Now, solutions to magical problems did not come easy in this world. Unfortunately, and much to her dismay, magic in the human world appeared to defy Equestrian logic with a vengeance.

Sunset thought for a moment, before settling on a solution that would hopefully work. “How about we try the power of friendship,” she said. The two other girls looked at her with doubt in their eyes. “What? It worked before,” she said. Just then, the three of them began getting pelted by increasingly large amounts of hail.

“Quickly! Scootaloo, grab the wand!” shouted Sunset. Scootaloo did exactly that, and the weather noticeably subsided, only to swell up again.

“We’re gonna need more people!” said Sweetie Belle.

“I’m calling Bloom!” Scootaloo exclaimed, pulling out her phone, and struggling to dial the number one-handed. Thus, unbeknownst to them, on a bridge not far from where they were, a poorly timed phone call cut a moment short.

Not long after, Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara had arrived on their bikes.

“What’s goin’ on?” asked Apple Bloom.

“No time to explain! Both of you, grab on!” said Scootaloo, pointing at the wand. Apple Bloom and Diamond Tiara quickly rushed over as snow blanketed the parking lot.

With all four of them taking hold of the wand, massive gusts of wind blew all around them while shiveringly cold air was on the verge of freezing them solid. Then came a much calmer breeze. The horribly chilly winter weather had vanished as soon as it came.

“Phew! For a minute there, I thought I’d have to kiss ya in the middle of a snowstorm!” Apple Bloom said, looking directly at Diamond Tiara, who was blushing slightly.

The others could only look on in disbelief at what had just been said.