“And you’ll be in just as much danger because you’re right next to us,” Sweetie Belle added, eyes wide.
“It’s risky, but so is staying here,” Starlight said firmly. “I need the three of you to keep perfectly still. The less you do, the less the curse has to work with. One step, a single word, anything can set it off. I just need a minute.”
Scootaloo looked at the others. She could tell they were both as nervous as she was. She was glad Starlight was here to help them, but it also proved once again that they were way out of their depth.
“Okay, y’all,” Apple Bloom said, “stand next to one another and don’t move a muscle.” The Crusaders lined up and nodded to Starlight.
“Here we go,” she said. Her horn glowed briefly, and Scootaloo could see the faint shimmer of a protective bubble flash briefly before fizzling away. She didn’t feel any different, but she knew they were back to being unlucky.
Starlight’s horn lit up as she quickly started some kind of spell. Scootaloo focused on not moving. Above her she heard a book shift. She was afraid to even glance up to see what was happening. But she could see something out of the corner of her eye. What was that? Dust! It was dust from the table. She watched the dust slowly twirl and dance in the air in front of her.
It slipped into her nose.
She could feel it tickle the inside of her nostril.
She could feel the sneeze coming on. She tried to hold it in.
“Achoo.” The slightest, smallest sneeze slipped out. It was all the curse needed.
The books above rumbled. One of the table legs splintered.
“Starlight…” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“Almost got it,” Starlight said, horn glowing bright. The tabletop groaned loudly. Books poured in as if they were being pushed. Another one of the legs snapped. “There!” Starlight yelled.
A glowing doorway appeared, shimmering in midair. Scootaloo’s jaw dropped.
“Go!” Starlight yelled, gesturing for them to step through. The Crusaders rushed toward the door. Above them, Scootaloo heard the table crack! Books came crashing toward them. As Scootaloo ran through the glowing doorway, she turned back to see Starlight barely make it through, just as the wave of books crashed down behind her. They would have been crushed!
With a sigh of relief, Scootaloo turned to see where Starlight had brought them. Stars shimmered. A bright comet streamed past and… a tiny rhino on roller skates sped by?
“Where are we?” Scootaloo whispered. She could barely hear Starlight’s voice echoing after her.
“Discord’s realm…”
“Discord?” Apple Bloom yelled. Three umbrellas flapped by behind her, squawking at one another loudly. Scootaloo looked down. They were standing on a fluffy marshmallow.
“We’re in the realm of chaos,” Starlight explained. Her horn flashed, and Scootaloo saw the protective bubble come back to life. “Stay close to me,” Starlight reminded them.
“Right. The curse,” Sweetie Belle muttered as she watched the three umbrellas open up to catch a breeze and soar off into the distance.
“The curse and the chaos,” Starlight added, looking around nervously. “This is no place for ponies. If we get separated, we might never find one another again.”
Scootaloo jumped as something touched her hoof. She looked down. A tiny saucer of milk nuzzled against her, purring.
“What exactly are we doing here?” she asked.
“Escaping,” Starlight said as she stepped carefully along the top of the marshmallow. “Our objective is still the same: get rid of this curse and get you to Twilight. This is just a… detour.” She hopped from the edge of their marshmallow to another one. The Crusaders looked at one another, shrugged, and followed after.
“Why didn’t you just teleport us all to the castle?” Scootaloo insisted. “Wouldn’t that have been easier?”
“Not with your curse.” Starlight glanced back. “Teleporting four ponies across Ponyville? That could have been bad.”
“How is this any better?” Scootaloo could feel the frustration building up inside her. She hated being so helpless, and the weirdness of this place was making her feel completely lost and out of control.
Starlight paused and turned to the Crusaders. “Sorry. This is kind of a lot, isn’t it?” she said sheepishly. “Okay. The realm of chaos is right next to our realm, the regular world. They’re like… peanut butter and jelly!”
Scootaloo’s stomach growled.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Magically moving all of us from one place to another is a big move, with lots of ways for the curse to harm us. You saw what happened when all you did was sneeze.” Scootaloo didn’t need to be reminded. “So instead of risking something big, I ripped a tiny little hole between our realm and the realm of chaos, so we could slip through and get out of that library. Still dangerous, but a much smaller step.” She gestured to their strange surroundings. “Now we just take a quick walk, open another small hole, and we’re right back in Ponyville.”
“That… actually sounds pretty simple!” Apple Bloom said, relief in her voice.
It wasn’t simple.
They walked for a long time. They hopped over marshmallows, crossed rivers of chocolate milk, climbed up what seemed like a really long cat’s tail… and it just kept getting weirder.
Occasionally, Starlight would make them all stand perfectly still, disable her protective spell, open a glowing door, and peek out.
One door opened in Yakyakistan.
One door opened near Mount Aris.
One door opened on the moon!
Scootaloo yawned. She had no idea how many doors they had tried to open, all she knew was that she was tired, hungry, and hoofsore. Her friends looked just as exhausted as she was. None of them had slept in what felt like days.
Starlight stifled a yawn of her own. “I’ve got a good feeling about this one,” she said as she opened yet another door. Salty water rushed through. The door must have opened at the bottom of the ocean! Scootaloo was suddenly immersed in the raging water. She choked and flailed helplessly. She tried to swim toward her friends, but the current was too strong. She felt herself getting swept away.…
And suddenly found herself inside a large bubble, alongside Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Starlight!
“You know… it really is rude to rip a hole into somecreature’s realm and sneak in without at least sending a letter first,” a cultured voice said with a hint of annoyance. Scootaloo turned toward the voice.
Discord sat on the back of a turtle, sipping tea from a snail shell.
“Hello, Discord,” Starlight said, shaking her mane dry. “Always a pleasure.”
“A pleasure?” Discord said incredulously. “What is pleasurable about popping into my realm unannounced and causing all kinds of trouble? Annoyance is more like it.”
“Well, now you know how it feels when you do it!” Starlight smirked. Discord arched an eyebrow, reached up, and poked a hole in the bubble. Water slowly poured in.
“With an attitude like that, I’m not sure why I should bother helping you,” he said airily. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom backed away from the water, panicked.
“Discord—” Starlight began, annoyed.
“Stop messing around! You’re friends with our friends. You have to help us. That’s what friends do!” Scootaloo yelled. Discord looked down, as if seeing her for the first time.
“You’re the little Rainbow Dash,” he observed. “You may not fly like her, but you certainly have her attitude.” He snapped his talons.
Scootaloo found herself in a comfy chair in front of a warm fire. She glanced to her left and saw Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle wrapped in cozy blankets on a couch next to her. Starlight was curled up in front of the fire with a ball of yarn in front of her. She knocked the yarn away with her hoof and sat up.
“Discord, seriously—” she huffed. The Draconequus held up a claw, shushing her.
“Hold that thought; I
want to speak with the main characters in this story.” He turned to the Crusaders. “Now, why are the mini Mane Three wandering around in my backyard?”
“Starlight was tryin’ to help us get to Twilight,” Apple Bloom began.
“And of course, being Starlight Glimmer, she picked the most convoluted magical means of going there?” Discord asked innocently. He turned to Starlight. “Haven’t you heard of a road?”
“They’re cursed,” Starlight huffed again. “Everything bad that can possibly happen to them does. Same for anypony around them. They’re only safe near me because of my protective—”
“Yes, yes, yes.” Discord waved his paw dismissively. He glanced at Scootaloo. “You. The little scowly one with tiny wings. You seem very emo right now. What’s going on?”
Scootaloo was surprised to find her eyes filling with tears. She felt all her stress and fear bubbling up as if it suddenly needed to get out.
“What’s going on? We’ve been attacked by Timberwolves, our friends are pony zombies, and we have this curse on us, so we can’t even get to our families and friends for help. Anypony besides Starlight who gets close to us gets hurt. And without Starlight we wouldn’t even have made it this far! Princess Luna says we’re supposed to be the Defenders of the Livewood, but I don’t think we can do it on our own. I don’t wanna let down all of Equestria!” Scootaloo took a big breath. She looked around at the others. They were all staring at her, wide-eyed.
A ding chimed from another room.
“Ah! That’s my spinach puffs. I’ll go get those and give you a minute to process… all that.” Discord, now wearing a flowery apron, floated into the next room.
“I didn’t know you felt that way,” Apple Bloom said quietly.
“You’re always so confident.” Scootaloo sniffed. “I felt as if I’d be letting you down if I told you how worried about all this I was.”
“You think I’m not worried?” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “I have no idea how we’re supposed to protect the Livewood. I was sure Luna made a mistake!”
“I thought the same thing!” Scootaloo exclaimed. She was relieved she wasn’t the only one.
“I don’t think that,” Apple Bloom said, looking back and forth at Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. “But that’s ’cause I got the two of you standin’ next to me.”
“But, Apple Bloom—” Scootaloo began. Apple Bloom shook her head.
“We got that bogle outta the Schoolhouse. Sweetie Belle faced off against Timberwolves twice. You stood up to your biggest fear. We’ve fought all kindsa crazy, and we’re still standin’. So if Princess Luna says we got what it takes, I believe her.”
Scootaloo leaped onto the couch between her two best friends, grabbed them with her hooves, and squeezed tight.
“You guys are the best friends a pony could ever ask for.” Scootaloo smiled. She still had no idea what they were going to do. But she would follow these two fillies anywhere.
“Ahem.” The three fillies turned to see Starlight smiling at them.
“Oh. Hey, Starlight. We kinda forgot you were there,” Apple Bloom said, grinning.
“I noticed.” Starlight smiled. She turned to Scootaloo. “I was only trying to protect you back there. But you three are pretty resourceful. I have no doubt that with or without me, you would have eventually broken Auntie Eclipse’s curse on your own.” A loud clatter caught their attention. They turned to see Discord, his spinach puffs scattered on the floor.
“Auntie Eclipse? Now, there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while.”
“You know her?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Frizzy mane? Laugh like a cragadile? Oh, we are well acquainted. She actually thought she could capture me and force me to do her bidding. Spoiler alert: She didn’t. But that shriveled-up excuse for a pony has been messing with magic since before I was turned into stone!”
Scootaloo’s mouth dropped open.
“But… you were turned to stone by Celestia and Luna thousands of moons ago,” Apple Bloom pointed out.
“How old is she?” Scootaloo asked.
“How should I know? I wasn’t very nice back then. Didn’t get invited to birthday parties.” Discord snapped his claws, and the spinach puffs grew legs and marched back onto the tray. He picked it up and offered it to Sweetie Belle.
“No, thanks.” She shuddered.
“If that’s true, then Auntie Eclipse really is as dangerous as the three of you said she was.” Starlight looked meaningfully at Discord. “All the more reason to get back to Twilight quickly?”
“Oh, I see!” Discord drawled dramatically. “You expect me to point you in the proper direction out of here.”
“It would be the friendly thing to do,” Starlight said through gritted teeth.
“Mmm-hmm. And we’re no longer worried about the curse a centuries-old witch put on the three of them?” Discord motioned to the Crusaders. “I’m sure sending three cursed fillies to the six most powerful ponies in Equestria couldn’t go wrong. At. All.”
“Maybe you could go tell our sisters and the others what’s goin’ on?” Apple Bloom asked Discord hopefully.
“That’s… I can’t believe I didn’t think of that!” Starlight said, surprised.
“It didn’t involve you showing off all those fancy powers of yours, so why would you?” Discord smiled innocently. He turned to Apple Bloom. “I, of course, could go tell them everything.” His eyes briefly darted to Scootaloo. “But then you would have even more ponies rushing to your rescue. And as a… friend… I wouldn’t want to get in the way of a young filly’s personal growth.”
“What does that mean?” Scootaloo asked.
“It means he’s not being helpful,” Starlight said, glaring at him.
“You mean the way you’re helping by being so overprotective about this curse?” Discord snapped his talons. The room stretched out, separating Starlight from the Crusaders.
“No!” Starlight yelled.
“The curse!” Sweetie Belle screamed.
“Hold on, y’all!” Apple Bloom closed her eyes tight, waiting for something bad to happen. Scootaloo couldn’t believe Discord would put them in danger like that. She knew he was annoying, but he was supposed to be a good guy now!
Scootaloo looked around. Nothing was happening. They seemed fine. She waved a hoof in the air. No wasps, no rain. No storm clouds.
“You guys”—Scootaloo trotted around in a circle, making sure—“I think… I think the curse is gone?” The others watched her warily. Then they also started waving their hooves. Soon they were all running around, leaping and cheering. There was no more curse!
Starlight came rushing over to them from across the now very long room.
“Are you all okay?” she called.
“The curse is gone!” Scootaloo called back.
“Actually… no.” Discord sat nearby, wearing 3-D glasses and eating popcorn. “Bad-luck curses work using logic. They figure out the worst possible thing that could happen and make it come true. But there’s no logic here. It’s all chaos!” Several toads wearing turbans danced by in the background. “With no logic, there’s no luck. So there’s nothing for the spell to work with. You’ve been safe here the entire time!”
“Seriously?” Starlight was fuming. “If I had known they were all safe, I could have left them here and gotten Twilight myself! Why are you just telling us this now?”
Discord lowered his glasses and grinned at her. “Because this isn’t a Starlight Glimmer saves the day story. This is a Cutie Mark Crusaders put the clues together and solve the mystery story. Obviously.” He turned to the Crusaders. “So?”
“The curse is gonna be back as soon as we leave your realm and go to Ponyville?” Apple Bloom asked. A bell dinged above her head.
“Correct!” Discord, now dressed as a game-show host, announced.
“And anything we try to do is gonna backfire on us?” Sweetie Belle groaned. A bell dinged above her head.
“Correct!” Discord said into
a microphone.
“Then there’s no way to beat Auntie Eclipse and break the spell!” Scootaloo spat in annoyance. A red X buzzed above her head.
“Oooooh. Sorry, wrong answer.” Discord frowned.
“You’re being ridiculous,” Starlight yelled from a set of bleachers.
“Can the studio audience please keep it down?” Discord shouted back. Scootaloo ground her teeth. She could see how Starlight and the others got so annoyed with Discord. He was joking around while Lilymoon and Ambermoon were in real danger! And it wasn’t as if they could go ask some other pony for any help. Starlight and Discord were literally the only two the Crusaders could turn to. Anypony else they got close to would be just as unlucky as they—
Scootaloo threw her hoof into the air like she did when she knew the answer in Miss Cheerilee’s class.
“I know how to break the curse!” she yelled.
“Are you three sure about this?” Starlight asked for the eleventh time. “It just seems… really risky.” They were sitting in the back of a strange pink wagon that Discord kept calling a “dream car,” whatever that was. Discord was in the front seat, driving.
“We’re sure,” Apple Bloom assured her. She put her hoof around Scootaloo. “If Scootaloo thinks it’s gonna work, then I know we’re gonna be good.”
“And besides,” Sweetie Belle added, “it’s not as if this plan is crazier than any of the other ones we’ve come up with lately.”
Scootaloo nodded. She was nervous, but also—for the first time since Luna had appeared in their dream—feeling sure of herself. With the other Crusaders at her side, and an idea of what exactly needed to be done, she felt ready for anything.
Discord drove the pink wagon into the yawning jaws of a massive Dragon.
Well, Scootaloo amended, almost anything.
“This is the most direct route to the Everfree Forest, huh?” Starlight frowned at Discord.
“No. I’m avoiding traffic,” the Draconequus huffed. “But have it your way.” With a snap of his talons, the entire pink wagon vanished and reappeared in the middle of a crowd of slowly moving cockatrices. Scootaloo clapped her hooves over her eyes as Starlight shouted a warning.
Cursed Crusaders Page 3