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.
“Don’t look at them! Their stares can turn you to stone! Discord!” Starlight sounded really upset.
Another talon snap, and Scootaloo peeked out to see that the wagon was now rolling through the Everfree Forest.
Discord smirked at the fuming Starlight. “Nopony likes a backseat driver, Starlight. Honestly, when are you going to realize that this isn’t your narrative to control? Wait until you’re asked for help, or you’ll ruin everything these little heroes have planned.”
“Is it safe to look yet?” Sweetie Belle whispered.
“That depends on yer idea of safe,” Apple Bloom whispered back. “Look!”
She pointed. Through the trees ahead, Scootaloo spotted Auntie Eclipse and the rest of the Moon family. They were too far away to hear, but she could see they were standing by a familiar barrier of twisting vines. Scootaloo knew what that meant.
“She’s trying to break into the Livewood again,” Scootaloo breathed.
“Then we have to stop her—” Starlight blurted, and caught herself. “I mean… good luck, you three. I’m here if you need me.”
Discord nodded approvingly. “Better.” He brought the wagon to a stop. As everypony climbed out, he reached down and folded the whole vehicle into a small square before slipping it into a pocket. “Need to keep it safe. Convention exclusive, you know.” He winked at Scootaloo. She had no idea what he was talking about.
“Thanks for your help, Discord,” she said.
“Don’t mention it,” he replied with a wave of a claw, then added, “Seriously, don’t. If creatures start thinking I’m ‘nice,’ they won’t leave me alone. And then I’ll never finish writing my rock opera.” He waved his hands like a conductor, and several boulders nearby grew mouths that belted a high note.
And with that, he disappeared. The curse was back, and the Crusaders and Starlight were on their own.
“Stay close,” Starlight reminded the others as they crept through the underbrush toward Auntie Eclipse. She didn’t need to tell them twice, Scootaloo thought. The Crusaders were practically pressed to Starlight’s flank, huddling in her protective bubble. This was definitely not the time to tempt bad luck.
Quietly, the four ponies sidled up as close as they could to the clearing around the Livewood. Blue Moon stood on top of one of the three gnarled pillars of earth and rock that faced the barrier of serpentine vines. Ambermoon was just climbing up the stairs that surrounded the second pillar, and Lumi Nation was steering Lilymoon toward the third. Behind them, Auntie Eclipse chanted a spell,
