Scootaloo choked, blindly feeling her way through the colorful cloud toward the wagon’s exit.
As the gasping Crusaders stumbled free, they found a furious Trixie staring at her wagon. One of its wheels had snapped off, probably going over that bump, Scootaloo thought.
“My wagon is broken!” Trixie moaned. “Do you know what this means?”
“We’re walking to Twilight’s castle?” Apple Bloom guessed.
“My show tonight will have to be canceled. You three are bad luck!” She sniffed again.
“But we didn’t do anything,” Scootaloo protested.
There was no reasoning with Trixie.
“Just go!” she demanded, shooing the Crusaders away with her hooves.
Scootaloo shrugged to her friends, and dejectedly, they started off down the road again.
“Do you think Trixie’s right?” Sweetie Belle asked a few moments later. “Nothing’s gone right for us ever since we left the Forest.”
“But why would we get bad luck all of a sudden?” Apple Bloom frowned. “Nothin’ happened to cause it.”
Scootaloo grimaced, the slow realization dawning that in fact something had happened. She’d thought Auntie Eclipse’s spell was a dud, but…
“Let me try something,” Scootaloo said. “Anypony have a bit?”
Sweetie Belle levitated over a coin. Scootaloo held it in her hoof.
“You call manes or tails. If you’re right, there’s nothing wrong with our luck. But if we can’t guess right no matter how many tries… then maybe something’s up. Call it,” she told Sweetie Belle.
“Manes!” Sweetie Belle said. The Crusaders watched the coin as it flipped from Scootaloo’s hoof and arced through the air, end over end. But before it could land, a frog hopped into its path, whipped out its tongue, and caught the bit. With a gulp, the coin was gone.
“Uh, is that manes or tails?” Apple Bloom asked.
“Neither,” Scootaloo said, trying not to panic. The chances of that happening were a bazillion to one. “I think… we’re cursed,” she said.
“Cursed?” Sweetie Belle squeaked.
“It must have been Auntie Eclipse’s spell! Whatever we try to do, bad things happen to us!” Scootaloo blurted.
“We have to tell Twilight about this.” Apple Bloom gasped. “She’ll be able to help us!”
“Even if we can get to her, I think our bad luck spills onto whoever’s near us,” Scootaloo said, remembering what had happened to Mr. Cake, Matilda, and Trixie. “We’re not safe for anypony!”
A rustling in the bushes nearby startled the Crusaders. They backed up, huddling together. Now that she knew they were cursed, Scootaloo was afraid to see what would happen next. Nopony could predict what was hiding in those leaves. A basilisk? Auntie Eclipse? Queen Chrysalis, back for revenge?
The Crusaders gasped as a figure stepped from the bush.
Starlight Glimmer looked at them in surprise.
“Uh, is something wrong?” she asked.
“Stay back!” Scootaloo warned.
“We’re cursed with bad luck!” Sweetie Belle cried.
Starlight raised one eyebrow as she studied them.
“You seem okay to me.” She shrugged.
“Show her the bit flip,” Apple Bloom said.
Sweetie Belle passed Scootaloo another coin.
“Manes or tails?” Scootaloo asked Starlight.
“Uh… tails,” she said.
Scootaloo flipped the coin. It tumbled end over end through the air… and landed on her hoof, tail-side up. Scootaloo frowned. That was weird. She flipped the coin again. The same thing happened. She flipped it one more time.
“Am I supposed to be seeing something weird?” Starlight asked skeptically.
“We thought Auntie Eclipse cast a bad-luck spell on us,” Scootaloo explained.
“Auntie Eclipse? Isn’t she one of the ponies who just moved into the house on Horseshoe Hill?” Starlight asked.
The Crusaders nodded, explaining in a rush everything that had happened the night before and the Moon family’s evil plans. Starlight blinked in surprise.
“We’d better get you to Twilight. I just saw her in town. Come on!” Starlight trotted off down the road. Relieved to have found help, the Crusaders followed.
“Maybe all the bad luck was just a coincidence,” Scootaloo told her friends hopefully. Suddenly, pounding hoofbeats shook the road. Scootaloo glanced up to see a stampede of cows headed right for the Crusaders.
“Maybe not!” yelped Sweetie Belle.
Starlight looked back to see what was happening and gaped in disbelief. She raced to the Crusaders. As soon as she drew near, the herd of cows parted around them, safely thundering past on either side.
“Okay… that was strange,” Starlight admitted. She looked thoughtful. “I wonder if there’s a curse on you after all. Let’s see… you stay there.” Starlight slowly backed away from the Crusaders. Sure enough, as soon as she was a few pony lengths away, a sinkhole opened beneath Sweetie Belle. She shrieked and started to fall. Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Starlight dove for her, pulling her up just before she could plummet into darkness.
“That was more than a coincidence,” Starlight admitted. “It looks as if your bad luck stops only when I’m close by. Must be my warding spell.”
“What’s that?” Scootaloo asked. She didn’t know much about magic. But if it was somehow keeping her safe, she was eager to learn more.
“It’s just a protection bubble against dark magic I keep around myself.” Starlight shrugged. “Former villain. Old habits die hard. Can’t be too careful.” She smiled.
“Can you put one on us?” Sweetie Belle asked hopefully. Starlight nodded.
“I think that’s an excellent idea. At least until we can find you a cure.” But as she started to cast her spell, nothing happened. Starlight frowned and tapped a hoof to her horn. It glowed briefly but quickly fizzled. She sighed. “Oh… the curse on you is so powerful, it’s taking all my magic to block it. As long as you’re in my protection bubble, I can’t do any other spells! Maybe I should just go get Twilight for you—”
“No!” Sweetie Belle blurted. Scootaloo couldn’t blame her friend. That sinkhole had been pretty scary. If Starlight left now, who knew what bad things might happen to them.
“You’re right—too dangerous,” Starlight agreed. “We’d better stick together. But before we find Twilight, we need to get rid of your curse, just in case.”
“In case what?” Scootaloo asked, dread creeping into her voice.
“I’m not sure how long my magic
