In a panic, Scootaloo threw her hooves around Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom and flapped her wings with all her might. With a fluttering tumble, the three fillies bounced to a stop behind a large fern. They huddled, hiding, as familiar voices filtered through the nearby trees.
“Auntie, don’t laugh. I really think we’re going the wrong way,” Lilymoon protested, stepping into the clearing where the Crusaders had been moments before.
“I already told you. You’re going exactly where you need to,” Auntie said, her voice suddenly sharp.
“But the house is that way,” Ambermoon said, frowning and pointing a hoof in the opposite direction.
“So it is,” Auntie purred, “but we won’t be going back to the house. Today we’re taking a nice long walk. I want you fillies to help me with a little magical project. You’d do that for your dear auntie, right?”
Peering out from behind the fern, Scootaloo watched in horror as Auntie’s horn began to glow. “She’s going to cast a spell on them! We have to stop her!” Scootaloo whispered fiercely. She was about to leap out from behind the fern, but her friends held her back.
“She wouldn’t hurt her own nieces, would she?” Sweetie Belle gasped, eyes wide.
“Look, it’s just a beacon spell,” Apple Bloom whispered in relief. Sure enough, Auntie had sent a pulse of blue magic out through the trees.
“So? We still have to rescue them! They’re our friends. Who knows what that crazy pony has planned?” Scootaloo demanded under her breath.
“We need to follow them to find out,” Apple Bloom argued quietly, “so we can tell Twilight! If we blow our cover now, we’ll never know!”
“What do you think, Sweetie Belle?” Scootaloo whispered. But she saw that the young Unicorn had a strange look on her face. “Uh… Sweetie Belle?”
“Sorry,” Sweetie Belle said, “I was just thinking—isn’t a beacon spell used to show somepony where you are?”
“And it worked,” a weirdly cheerful voice sang out from behind Scootaloo. She jumped, spinning to see a grinning Blue Moon walking up behind them. Lumi Nation followed a hoofbeat behind. When she spotted the Crusaders, she snarled.
“You again?”
“Run!” yelled Scootaloo. The trio burst from their hiding spot, racing into the cover of the trees. Hoofbeats thundered after them. Scootaloo put her head down and galloped as fast as she could. If the Moon family caught them now, she thought, they’d never be able to warn Twilight or guard the Helm of Shadows or protect Equestria. Luna really should’ve picked some other ponies to be Defenders of the Livewood. Scootaloo sighed.
“Wait!” somepony called. Scootaloo frowned. That sounded like… Ambermoon?
Scootaloo glanced over her shoulder. Sure enough, Lilymoon and Ambermoon were running after them.
“You escaped!” Scootaloo called with relief. She skidded to a stop, waving down Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. They grinned, seeing their friends approaching.
“How did you get away?” Apple Bloom asked as Sweetie Belle blurted, “Are they chasing you, too?”
“No, everything’s fine,” Ambermoon said, smiling widely as she trotted closer. Scootaloo frowned. Smiling was not something that Ambermoon usually did.
“We told our family we needed to talk to you,” Lilymoon explained as she approached. She was smiling, too, and there was something familiar about the way all her teeth were showing, Scootaloo thought.
“We need to talk to y’all, too!” Apple Bloom nodded. “Did you know Auntie Eclipse tried to feed us to the Timberwolves?”
The sisters’ smiles didn’t budge. Scootaloo frowned—what was wrong with her friends? That dreamy stare they both had made them look kinda like Blue Moon. Scootaloo’s blood ran cold. Not kinda like Blue Moon. Just like Blue Moon.
“Uh, guys… we need to get out of here,” Scootaloo murmured to the other Crusaders, slowly backing away.
“What?” Sweetie Belle asked, confused. “Why?”
It was too late. Still smiling, Ambermoon and Lilymoon powered up their horns… and blasted bolts of purple magic directly at Scootaloo!
If she hadn’t had moons of practice doing Wonderbolts warm-ups with Rainbow Dash, Scootaloo knew that she would’ve been a goner.
But as the purple magic crackled toward her, Scootaloo flipped backward onto her wings. Just like a push-up, she could almost hear Rainbow Dash saying, but twenty percent cooler. The magic skimmed over her head, ruffling her forelock as it passed.
With a gasp, Sweetie Belle used her magic to lift a huge boulder, holding it like a shield between the Crusaders and the Moon sisters before they could attack again.
“What’s happenin’?” Apple Bloom cried.
“They’re under some kind of spell!” Scootaloo blurted. “Look at their eyes! They’re like… zombies or something!” She winced as a still-smiling Ambermoon and Lilymoon continued to blast bolts of purple at the Crusaders. The spells bounced off Sweetie Belle’s boulder, but Scootaloo could see the rock was already cracking under their assault; it wouldn’t hold for long.
“Smarty-hoof! Help us!” Sweetie Belle yelled. Scootaloo heard the sound of the peryton’s chiming steps approaching but didn’t see the creature anywhere. Sweetie Belle glanced at the sky and whimpered.
“The sun’s too bright. I don’t think he has any power in the light!” she explained to her friends.
“Then we’re back to my first idea,” Scootaloo said. “Run!”
The Crusaders dashed away, just as Sweetie Belle’s boulder exploded into shards of gravel. Scootaloo glanced behind her, surprised to see that Ambermoon and Lilymoon weren’t chasing after them. But she did see Auntie Eclipse trotting up. The wild-haired Unicorn’s eyes blazed, and Scootaloo could hear her yelling.
“Fools! You let them escape!” Auntie’s shrill voice rang out. As Scootaloo gave one last look back, she saw Auntie charge up her horn and fire a spell.
Scootaloo winced as the cold touch of Auntie’s magic splashed over her flank and rippled on toward her friends.
“What was that?” Apple Bloom cried.
“Auntie Eclipse just tried to hit us with a spell,” Scootaloo panted as she ran. “But I don’t think it worked. I don’t feel any different—”
And that’s when her hoof snagged on a root. Tumbling, Scootaloo somersaulted forward to crash into Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, knocking them all off
