Scootaloo didn’t even want to think about what that would mean.
Starlight Glimmer had explained to the Crusaders that to undo their curse, she needed information about the magic of the pony who’d cast it. The Crusaders told Starlight everything they knew about Auntie Eclipse, but they didn’t have the right details to help her unravel the bad-luck spell. Unfortunately, the only place Scootaloo could think of to learn more about Auntie Eclipse was the spooky house perched atop Horseshoe Hill. Sweetie Belle flatly refused to go near it, but Apple Bloom reminded her that they had overheard Auntie Eclipse tell Lilymoon and Ambermoon they wouldn’t be returning home all day. Plus, they didn’t really have any other choice, Scootaloo realized. Which was how the four of them found themselves sneaking down the long, dusty hallway toward Auntie Eclipse’s library.
Starlight nudged open the creaky door, and the musty smell of books and strange herbs wafted from the gloom. Scootaloo peered inside anxiously. Auntie Eclipse’s words rang true—nopony seemed to be home—but Scootaloo kept her ears pricked, listening for any sounds that might mean the Moon family had returned. Not that she could hear anything over the pounding of her heart.
“We need to find something magical that belongs to Auntie Eclipse,” Starlight instructed the Crusaders. “But stay close…” she warned them. “Your curse will kick in the moment you stick one hoof out of my safety bubble.” The Crusaders nodded. Scootaloo searched the library shelves, collecting an armful of books and scrolls, while Apple Bloom rummaged in the drawers of a cobweb-draped desk. Sweetie Belle sniffed a vial of potion and gagged. They all made sure to stay as close to Starlight as possible.
“The only thing I’m learning about Auntie Eclipse is that she doesn’t like cleaning up very much.” Sweetie Belle coughed.
Scootaloo flipped through the books she’d gathered. Most were in Old Ponish, and she couldn’t read them. But one slim volume was in a spidery script. It looked like some sort of journal. Scootaloo narrowed her eyes, trying to make out the words.…
And suddenly, the world shifted.
Scootaloo blinked. She was standing on the cobblestones of an old village, far from Ponyville. She looked around in surprise. In the town square, red-roofed houses flanked a huge fountain of a rearing Alicorn with bat wings. But how had she gotten there? Where was the library? And Starlight and Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom?
A handsome blue Unicorn walked with a smiling Unicorn mare by the town fountain. Scootaloo ran up to them.
“Excuse me,” she said breathlessly. “But what is this place?” The Unicorns didn’t even look up. Instead, they walked through Scootaloo as if she wasn’t even there!
Scootaloo yelped in shock and leaped back. “Ghosts!” she screamed, pointing at the Unicorns. Then her eyes fell on her hoof. It was translucent, and she could see the street cobbles beneath it. Scootaloo gasped. “I’m a ghost!”
As her mind tried to grasp what could possibly be going on, the male Unicorn used his horn to draw the water out of the fountain into a heart in the air. The mare laughed and nuzzled noses with him. It would be kinda cute, Scootaloo thought, if she weren’t freaking out about suddenly being see-through in the middle of a strange town. Then, with a flash, the scene shifted.
The same two Unicorns were now inside a hospital. The male Unicorn was in bed, racked with a fit of coughing. The Unicorn mare anxiously watched over him, her hoof on his. She turned to an Earth pony doctor, but he shook his head. Bursting into tears, the female Unicorn rushed from the room. Despite the oddness of the situation, Scootaloo couldn’t help but be drawn to what was happening.
Another flash, and now she was following the Unicorn mare to a strange cottage on the outskirts of the village. The mare pounded on the door, and it opened slowly to reveal… Auntie Eclipse! Scootaloo gasped and tried to hide behind a rock before she remembered nopony could see or hear her. Auntie looked exactly the same. With her familiar evil smile, she extended a potion to the mare. But before the mare could take it, Auntie held out a scroll and a pen. It must be some kind of contract, Scootaloo thought. Maybe payment for the potion. Auntie’s eyes grew greedy as the desperate mare signed the scroll.
“Don’t do it!” Scootaloo yelled to the mare, forgetting nopony could hear her.
The setting shifted again, and Scootaloo was now back in the town square. It was decorated for a wedding, with garlands of flowers draping the buildings and cheerful swaths of color hung from lamppost to lamppost.
The blue Unicorn had obviously recovered, as he stood next to his bride. Their shared smiles were so full of love, Scootaloo almost missed seeing that Auntie Eclipse was at the wedding, too. She was also smiling, but it was a cold, cruel smile. Scootaloo shuddered as Auntie held up the contract and winked at the Unicorn mare. Whatever that piece of paper said, Scootaloo knew it wasn’t good.
Time seemed to speed by in a rush, and Scootaloo was disoriented to find herself inside a cozy house. The Unicorn couple cuddled two Unicorn foals: one purple with blue-and-black-streaked hair, the other blue with purple-and-white-streaked hair. Suddenly Scootaloo realized why they were all so familiar.…
“It’s Lilymoon and Ambermoon,” she gasped. But that would make the two older Unicorns Blue Moon and Lumi Nation.… They looked so different than when she’d last seen them. Not creepy at all. What had happened to them?
As if in answer to Scootaloo’s question, the door to the house slammed open with a gust of wind. Standing in the doorway was Auntie Eclipse. Lumi Nation shook her head, and Blue Moon moved to stand in front of the small fillies. But Auntie pulled out the scroll and pointed
