Character Creation
Apple Bloom was at the Cutie Mark Crusaders Club House with a saddlebag full of food, and a heart full of hope. Just because the last thirty four meetings of their little group had produced lots of tree sap and no cutie-marks, that didn't mean this one couldn't be different. In fact surely it meant they were due a spot of luck.
Her other saddlebag had a hammer and a couple of other tools in it, as she'd noticed some of the boards on the balcony were getting a bit loose. Luck wasn't going to fix them, only hard work and horse sense. She should hopefully have time to get the minor repair job done before the others arrived.
She set to work with a will, a box of nails, and a hammer in her mouth. Earth ponies might not have unicorn magic, but they had their own ways of doing and making things. Much as she enjoyed helping her big sister around the farm, this was something she liked doing for herself. Seeing something come together the way it should be or making something work right always gave her a feeling of happiness.
It seemed to come naturally to her too, the same way Sweetie Belle could create songs at the drop of a hat, or Scootaoo pulled amazing stunts on her scooter. She just wished it was as easy for them to find their special talents. Speaking of which, she should really get ready for the Crusader meeting. She hammered in the last nail, flipped her hammer into her open saddlebag, and rubbed a hoof over the now smooth surface.
She had just donned her official cape when she heard a familiar buzzing of wings. She went outside onto the balcony to see Scootaloo arriving, but not on her ubiquitous scooter. She was flying only a few hooves above the ground, but she was definitely making air time. The apparent source of her upwards mobility was a small cloud, which was just big enough for her to stand on.
Sweetie Belle arrived at a gallop a moment later, her own saddlebags bulging and her cape flapping like Mare-do-well's. As she approached the club house she skidded to a halt, looking up at the elevated equine.
"Scootaloo? What're you doing up there!"
"Hoping no-pony notices me," The pegasus was a picture of gloom as she landed on the Crusader Club House balcony, or at least a very depressed sketch.
"I think she means we ain't ever seen you fly before," Apple Bloom told her. "Why aren't you on your scooter?"
"I'm not allowed, My parents are making me fly around on this cloud instead." Scootaloo sighed, then looked away, muttering something. "I… iveneverbeenabletofly."
"How's that again?" The earth-pony filly looked at the pouting pegasus with a curious expression.
Scootaloo seemed to shrink in on herself.
Quietly, and more slowly she repeated, "I've never been able to fly. I can jump up and hover for a few seconds, but that's about it! There's something wrong with my magic. It's there, but it doesn't work right. It's why mom and dad moved to Ponyville to start with. What kind of pegasus can't fly?"
"I thought you flew with your wings. Unicorns are the ones who lift things with magic." Sweetie Belle interjected as joined them on the balcony. She adjusted her cape with some deft levitation. "Yay! Those lessons with Rarity are paying off!"
"That's fine and dandy, but I reckon Scootaloo is the one who needs cheerin' up," Apple Bloom suggested. She turned back to the pegasus. "You were sayin'?"
Scootaloo gave another glum sigh as she stepped off the cloud. She pulled a bottle out of her saddlebags, laying it between her hooves. "Wings move you about, but magic keeps you up in the air. They figured my flight magic was just late coming in, like my mark, but the doctor in Cloudsdale says there's a real problem. Do you know how humiliating it was to be taken there in a chariot to see him?"
She popped the cork on the bottle with a hoof, and the cloud was sucked into it. "So I've gotta use this thing. It's a training cloud, a Cumulo-Nimbus 2000. It keeps me up in the air, and forces my own magic to start working by slowly giving me less and less support, or at least that's what the doc said."
"Well I think you being able to fly is really cool!" Apple Bloom said brightly. "It's like your scooter, only better. So why the long face?"
"My scooter I could pass off as just being a hobby, but any pegasus who sees me with that thing will know why I'm stuck on it. They're all going to be laughing at me." The pegasus picked up the bottle in her teeth and dropped it safely in a saddlebag, then pulled out something else. "Mom did get me these cool flying goggles, but that's not going to fool people about why I'm on that thing."
"Aw, don't worry, I reckon it'll fix up your own magic soon enough, and then you'll be an awesome flier, just like Rainbow Dash!"
Scootaloo winced, and dropped the goggles back in her saddlebag. "I don't want her to see me on it, ever! She'll probably never want to speak to me again! Why would the most awesome flier in Equestria want to hang out with a dorky pegasus who can't even fly?"
The young pegasus seemed on the verge of tears as she looked over at Apple Bloom, who decided she needed some more emotional first aid. The farm-filly shook her head. "Applejack would call that stinkin' thinkin'! You know Dash is the most loyal pony in Equestria. She won't abandon you because you're using that there cloud contraption."
Sweetie Belle put her own two bits in. "And just think of the awesome stunts you can pull with it! Like your scooter but even better! You even have the goggles for it!"
Scootaloo looked slightly happier as she thought about this. "Maybe that's why I haven't got my cutie-mark, my talent might be to do with flying and I've never flown!"
Apple Bloom nodded in agreement. "Could be. We ain't gonna tease you about it, and we ain't going to let no-pony else do it, neither. Anyhow, if we can get our cutie-marks, that's one less thing they can be mean about."
Sweetie Belle perked up. "I can help! I've got something that's sure to find out what our cutie-marks are right away!"
That got her the attention of the other two fillies. Apple Bloom got in first. "You've thought of something we haven't tried yet?"
"But we've tried everything there is to do in Ponyville!" Scootaloo complained, "Well, I can try flying, but that ain't an option for either of you guys."
"And we're forbidden to go into the Everfree Forest again," Apple Bloom added.
The white unicorn just grinned as she led the way inside. "Which is why we don't go there. We can do it all right here inside the club-house!"
She unloaded something from her own saddlebags, a book. No, 'book' did not do this particular item justice. It was a tome, possibly even a grimoire. Massively leather covered it was, brass-bound with a metal latch and key arrangement, and chains, lots of chains. Mad Arabs would have taken one look at this thing and said 'Whoa dude, that thing looks ominous!'
Unfortunately, none of the ponies present was Saddle Arabian. Scootaloo just looked at it wide eyed and said, "Cool!"
Sweetie Belle was clearly straining to lift it her horn glowing and sparking a bit. She started humming the 'Stalliongrad Boat Song' which seemed to help, her horn's glow becoming brighter and more steady as the book rose smoothly. She managed to lower it to the floor safely, then turned the key and unlocked it, opening it out to a particular page.
"Looks like you really are getting the hang of your horn," Apple Bloom commented. "But why were you humming?"
Sweetie Belle blushed. "You and Applejack are to thank for that, by getting me and Rarity together after the Sisterhooves social. I finally got her to start showing me how to do magic. It's all about focusing on what you want your magic to do, and I found I could focus more easily if I hum or sing something. I won't get my own spells until I get a cutie-mark, but I can do the basic ones like lighting my horn, and moving stuff around."
"I gotta admit that's pretty neat, but where did you get the book?" Apple Bloom trotted over to look at the revealed page. It had some ornate script that she couldn't read and some stylised pictures. The text was also beautifully illuminated with intricate patterns and decorations.
"Rarity was over at the library when Twilight was doing some work with it, researching or translating or something. Big sis saw some of the writing had pictures, uh... illumination she called it, though it doesn't look like it's lit up to me. Though it is very pretty."
"Anyway, it gave her inspiration for a new set of dress designs, so she managed to borrow it. Then I noticed a page when I was helping, and realised it might be able to help us find our cutie-marks. So when she'd finished with it, I offered to take it back for her."
Apple Bloom looked a bit quizzical. "I ain't casting nasturtiums, Sweetie Belle, but why was Rarity okay with you taking the book back? Some of your previous attempts to help haven't worked out as well as they might."
"You know how she gets when she's 'in the zone'. She didn't want to break off and lose her inspiration." Sweetie Belle frowned at her friend. "Besides, now that I can use my magic, I do help out. I will too, I'll take it right back, just as I promised, after we use it ourselves. Look at this!"
The three pictures on the page were the only comprehensible thing to the farm-filly and super-speedster. The first showed three unicorn ponies standing on a diagram, which was laid out on the floor underneath them. It had a central, triangular section, three small circles at the corners where the ponies stood, and a set of outer concentric circles, all inscribed with runes.
Below it was a bigger image of the ritual diagram, viewed from above. All the runes were clearly shown, and it was obviously designed to allow some-pony to draw out their one of their own. The final and most interesting picture was an earth-pony stallion in half-armour barding, with a cutie-mark glowing into existence on his flank.
"Uh, Sweetie Belle, I don''t want to rain on your apple-cart, but this looks like some kinda heavy duty hocus-pocus. Twilight already tried casting a spell to give me a cutie mark, and it didn't work. And let's not even talk about that business with the Heart's Desire plant. I'm just happy Zecora forgave me, and let me keep seeing her. Heck, she decided that if I was going to start mixing up stuff, she'd teach me how to do it properly. In return I help her out around the place, do chores and stuff."
"You can make magic potions?" Sweetie Belle asked excitedly.
"Not yet, maybe never, though she reckons earth-pony magic, being all about plants and the earth, might just do the trick. But for now I just make up herbal remedies, basic stuff but it still works. Granny Smith got in on the act and she's taught me some neat stuff too. But both of 'em say not to mess with magic unless you know exactly what you're doing."
"But I do! This is different!" Sweetie Belle enthused. "I translated some of it, enough to work out what it was, and it says this is a spell specifically designed to help a pony _find_ her cutie-mark, not force it. You draw the diagram, stand at the corners and you find out for sure exactly what your special talent is."
"You translated this stuff?" Scootaloo asked. Sweetie Belle did well in class, but this was a bit beyond a dictionary. "I don't think Miss Cheerilee covered this in class."
Sweetie Belle levitated a second smaller book out of her saddlebag, but this was a horn written journal with a card cover. It had loose notes stuffed into it like an overfilled sandwich and held there with sticking charms. On the front it said, 'Twilight's book of Ancient Equestrian Cutieform Runes and Spell Craft – property of Twilight Sparkle – Do not touch!'
"How'd ya get that in the first place?" Apple Bloom asked, noticing the cover.
"Spike got it for me..." The white unicorn looked a bit embarrassed. "Well, I might have let him think it was for Rarity, since he'll do pretty much anything for her. I'm just glad he didn't ask me why she wanted it. Anyway, we'll have it back before anyone notices, so that's not a problem."
"Alright! Then the faster we do this thing, the sooner we get our cutie marks!" Scootaloo exclaimed, having weather-cocked around when they got off her flying ability and onto cutie mark crusading. However, she wasn't all the way yet. "But doesn't it show you need three unicorns to power it?"
"Miss Cheerilee said how the ancient unicorns figured they were the only ones who did real magic. I'm betting that's why they drew it this way. Besides I noticed one of the other pictures in the book."
The pages flipped under the impetus of her telekinesis, to another picture which showed a unicorn, a pegasus and an earth pony standing on a ritual diagram. While similar to the first, it had some clear differences.
Sweetie Belle pointed with her horn. "Look at the runes!"
Scootaloo looked closely, brow furrowed. "It doesn't look wrecked to me."
"She said 'runes' not 'ruins'. She means them letter thingamajigs that look like pictures," Apple Bloom said, peering closely at the diagram.
"I knew that!" replied Scootaloo just a little too quickly. "I just thought it was an old book, and the picture might have faded!"
"Guys, I do mean the pictures, specifically the ones used in the circles the ponies stand in. I noticed it because it shows you have to put gems there."
"I'm guessing you've got the gems already?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Taken from my sister's reject pile. I'm not allowed to raid her chests, but these are all ones that she had left over when she'd finished an order. I've got plenty, so we should be able to find ones that match," Sweetie Belle replied. She pointed out a crescent shaped rune next to the gem on the diagram.
"Twilight's book says this rune can be translated either as 'moon' or 'magic' or 'unicorn'. So I looked up the runes for pegasus and earth pony..." The pages turned to a stylised solar symbol, a dot in a circle with rays coming off it. "This is the one for 'pegasus', it also means 'sun' and 'flight'." The pages turned again and a circle with a cross through it, which she tapped with her horn. "And this is 'earth pony' or 'ground' or 'strength'."
She went back to the main book and pointed out the symbols next to each pony, which matched the ones in the book. "I don't know exactly what this spell does, but look, the symbols match, so it must be possible to do it this way!"
Finally she drew a rolled up piece of paper out of the saddlebag. It had a modified version of the cutie-mark finding ritual diagram on. "So I thought, if we replace the unicorn symbol for pegasus and earth pony in your circles when we draw the one we're using, we can tell it to use that sort of magic instead."
"Oh yeah, Sweetie Belle's got it all figured out!" Scootaloo pounded her hooves in excitement. "Let's do it!"
Apple Bloom hesitated. "No offence Sweetie Belle, but maybe we should get Twilight to check this out? Even if it is just a look-see spell, we should be careful with it."
If the unicorn in question hadn't been white already, she'd have turned that colour at the suggestion. "No! I mean, we don't want to disturb her when she's probably writing a letter to Princess Celestia or something important like that."
Scootaloo smirked. "You mean if she found out you used her personal notebook she'll have your folks ground you for the rest of your life."
"Well, that too," Sweetie Belle admitted.
The earth pony filly considered it. "Well I reckon, if it only helps us find out what our cutie-marks are it couldn't hurt. Like you said, this ain't tryin' to force 'em or anything. We'll figure out our cutie-marks, then go out and do whatever our talent is till we get 'em."
"Enough talk, c'mon, we've got cutie-marks to find out! The sooner I discover my awesome flying talent, the better!" Scootaloo urged. "Cutie Mark Crusaders... uh... Cutie Mark Discoverers, GO!"
The trio cheered, gave each other a three way high one, five being out of the question for a species without hands, and set to work.
Sweetie Belle brought out a piece of dressmakers chalk and started drawing out the diagram on the floor of the tree-house, with Apple Bloom checking every line, while Scootaloo hovered over them. Gemstone after gemstone was checked against the diagram, and eventually a diamond, an emerald and a sapphire were chosen.
"Okay, it looks just like the picture in the book, exceptin' those rune-thingies you went and changed." Apple Bloom looked down at the big book, and Sweetie Belle's diagram, then back to the larger diagram on the floor. "Yup! It's all there. Now what do we do about it?"
"Uh... I guess we stand on our circles and wish really hard," Sweetie Belle said.
There was a whoosh, and Scootaloo landed with a thump on her mark. "I wish! I wish! I really really wish!..."
Apple Bloom closed the big book with a slap, and strode over to the circle with the earth symbol, and Sweetie Belle stepped onto hers. Apple Bloom concentrated, and hunched down, focusing only on the circle, willing it to work...
A mystic glow being emitted from the chalk lines, curtains of translucent light rising into the air, and eldritch yet eerily beautiful choral music forming spontaneously around them... all these things utterly failed to happen. There were just three fillies standing on a chalk diagram with various expressions that showed intense concentration, though an outside observer would have been hard pressed to distinguish it from extreme constipation.
Apple Bloom let things run for a few more seconds then sighed. "I guess we can count this one a bust too. Well, at least we didn't end up covered in tree sap."
Sweetie Belle stamped a hoof. "No! It has to work! I spent all afternoon on figuring it out! Maybe we need something to focus on... I know! I'll sing our theme song! That'll get us all focusing on the same thing!"
She started singing.
'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,
On a quest to find out who we are,
And we will never stop the journey,
Not until we have our cutie marks!'
It's first rendition had been less than perfect, but when Sweetie Belle sang it that was a pony of a different colour or rather tune. Her companions were entranced as the rock music ballad started to swell around her.
'They all say that you'll get your mark,
When the time is really right,
And you know just what you're supposed to do,
And your talent comes to light.'
'But it's not as easy as it sounds
And that waiting is hard to do
So we test our talents everywhere...'
The other two joined in, but somehow this time, their voices harmonised perfectly. '..Until our face is blue!'
They completed the song together with their backing track playing, and the chalk lines started to glow.
'We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,
On a quest to find out who we are,
And we will never stop the journey,
Not until we have our cutie marks!'
They came to a halt, but the glowing lines simply intensified, and shot up from around the three of them. Halos of light enveloped them with a shimmering sound, shot with sparks and sparkles of glowing energy that swirled around them like snow flurries. But bright at the light was, Apple Bloom's eyes sparkled brighter. "Zowie! It's working, it's really working!"
"Wow!" Scootaloo yelled, flicking back her cloak so her hindquarters were visible. "Cutie-marks here we come! Watch my flanks guys!"
"Maybe they'll appear in the centre," Sweetie Belle suggested. "All the power seems to be flowing that way."
Which was the truth. All the energy that had formed around the three started to swirl around the centre-point of the diagram, like a miniature tornado. It started getting faster and faster, and they felt a slight wind start to tug at their cloaks.
"Uh... Sweetie Belle, is it supposed to be doing that?" asked Apple Bloom nervously, as the intensity and speed of the swirling magic storm continued to grow, shot through with crackles and arcs of purple lightning.
"Aw, it's just getting ready to show us our cutie-marks," Scootaloo replied with bravado worthy of Rainbow Dash herself, even though her own crusader cloak was now whipping wildly in the wind and she felt a definite pull towards the centre.
"I don't like this..." Apple Bloom was actually sitting back in her circle, and pushing out with her fore-hooves to stop herself being pulled in.
Scootaloo's wings were beating like a hummingbird's as she tried to hold herself back. "It's... nothing... to... worry...about!"
Sweetie Belle reassured her, even as her horn glowed fiercely, trying to hold herself in place. "It's okay, it's shrinking..."
The swirling energies were indeed shrinking in on themselves, but as they did, they spun ever faster and more powerfully until they flashed, and shrunk to a glowing pinpoint, too bright to look at directly.
"Well that wasn't what I..." As Apple Bloom started to speak, the glowing point suddenly flared outwards in a wave of purple energy and engulfed them, and everything in the vicinity of the ritual diagram. It remained there, a glowing half dome for a few seconds, before there was another flash and it vanished, leaving behind nothing but a scorched and smoking diagram in the wood floor of the tree house.
Twilight Sparkle looked up from the spell book she was reading with a start. "Huh?"
Spike was carrying a stack of books over to a shelf. "What's up Twilight?"
"I don't know. I felt a great disturbance in the local magical field, as if some-pony had cast a hugely powerful spell, and suddenly vanished. No, it was more than one pony. But that's crazy! What would a group of powerful unicorn spell casters be doing casting a ritual in Ponyville..."
She trotted across to the doorway, strapping on a pair of saddlebags, and collecting some scrolls from her work bench. "Spike? Where's my book on ancient runes?"
"Uh... I don't know..." Spike said, starting to sweat and look around nervously.
"Yes you do," Twilight shook her head at his pitiful attempt at lying. He was about as convincing as Applejack. "It's the notebook that says under no circumstances should anyone but me touch it. Ring a bell?"
Spike gave up. "Oh, _that_ notebook. Rarity wanted to borrow it."
"But why..." Twilight's pupils shrunk in shock. "No, please tell me she didn't!"
"Didn't what?" Spike said worried now.
"Try to use one of the spells from the grimoire she borrowed! There's a reason it's called 'The Book of Ridiculously Dangerous Spells That No Sane Unicorn Should Ever Try!'" The purple mare opened the door and found herself face to face with Rarity.
"I'm dreadfully sorry to bother you Twilight, but I'm looking for that book again. I know I sent Sweetie Belle back with it, but now I find I've mislaid one of the patterns I made. So I need to borrow it again, just for a few minutes."
Twilight looked confused. "So you didn't borrow my private notebook as well?"
"Of course not darling. Why would I do that?" Rarity matched Twilight's confusion and raised it by puzzlement.
"But Sweetie Belle said it was for you..." Spike replied, looking down and bashfully digging a toe-claw into the wood of the library floor.
"Sweetie Belle?" Twilight queried, then exclaimed. "Sweetie Belle!"
"Twilight darling, you aren't getting all stressed over a late book are you?" Rarity asked. Remembering how she'd gotten over her friendship report, it was entirely likely this was another tempest in a teacup. However, this time Rarity resolved to be there for her, even if it was just to calm her down.
"I hope I am. I hope that's all it is, just a late book, a simple, no big deal, late book," Twilight's voice had the sing-song tone she only got when she was trying to reassure herself. "Where was she going to go afterwards?"
"I believe she was meeting her friends at the Cutie Mark Crusaders Club House this afternoon..."
"Uh oh..." Twilight looked around. "Where are my saddlebags?"
"You're already wearing them." Rarity was starting to feel worried too. "Twilight, is something wrong?"
"Oh no, I'm sure everything's fine! Absolutely fine!" The purple unicorn gave a nervous laugh. "I'm sure a book of ancient and dangerous spells, plus my own notes on how to decipher said ancient and dangerous spells, plus the Cutie Mark Crusaders can't possibly cause _any_ problems!"
She levitated Spike onto her back and winked out onto the street. Rarity tuned and followed her, panic now writ large upon her face as they headed for Sweet Apple Acres. The two of them galloping along drew stares and puzzled looks from the regular ponies of Ponyville, and attracted at least some attention from above.
"Hey guys!" Rainbow Dash swooped down, and sailed lazily on her back alongside the two unicorns. "What's all the hubbub about?"
"Something may have happened to the Cutie Mark Crusaders! Whoa!" Spike replied as he held onto Twilight for dear life.
"Heh, what have the kids done this time?" Rainbow asked, grinning. The CMCs' attempts at cutie-mark-hood were generally good for comedy value. Not that she didn't wish them well, but the chaos they caused in the process was generally fun to watch.
"They may have sort of gotten hold of a spell book," said Spike, looking a bit embarrassed.
"They may have... cast a spell... I felt... a powerful spell... go off..." Twilight gasped in correction.
"Oh my poor sister... what has she done to herself!" Rarity managed some huffed out histrionics. "This could be... a disaster!"
Rainbow Dash looked confused. "I thought only unicorns could cast spells? Sweetie Belle isn't that powerful is she?"
Twilight shook her head. "It felt like... a multiplex spell matrix... of some sort. A... triune maybe! There was... more than... one pony... involved! There are... ways to use... other types of... pony magic... illegal ways... though that's... the least... of their... worries!"
They slowed down as they reached the gates of Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack was weeding one of the vegetable patches, and looked up as the trio came through the gates.
"Howdy folks! You three look plumb tuckered out. What can I do ya for?"
"Speak for those two, not me," Rainbow replied, back-winging to hover in mid-air. "They've got some crazy notion Scoots and the others are trying their hand at being Cutie Mark Crusader Wizards, or something."
"We have to get to that club house of theirs!" Twilight exclaimed.
Applejack stepped out of the vegetable patch and started off into the orchard. "Well c'mon then. I don't reckon there's any problem, but I guess we'd better check on them."
The farm-pony led the way, and they soon came to the tree house. She sniffed. "Now they know they ain't allowed to set fires in there! They could burn down the whole thing!"
Applejack lead the way up the ramp, calling out to the fillies in the tree-house as she went. "Okay, you three, whatya..."
She stopped on the veranda, looking in through the open door at the smoking ritual diagram, and lack of fillies. Rainbow Dash had flown up by the window, and was staring in open mouthed.
Twilight pushed past the stunned earth pony, and into the room, taking in the diagram, and the books still lying off in one corner. Her horn started to glow, then she stopped and edged round the diagram to flick over the pages of the big book with a hoof.
"What? What's happened to them!" Rarity yelled, genuine fear in her voice.
"Wait!" Twilight had done all her panicking on the way there and was now beyond it, in the calm pools of utter freak out. "Whatever you do, do not come in! Do not touch the diagram, and above all, do not use any magic in this area! Spike I need you to be outside, now!"
She was looking back and forth between the diagram and the one in the book. Spike jumped down when a lift was clearly not forthcoming, and went out onto the balcony, looking a little unhappy. Twilight suddenly spoke.
"Firstly, they should be completely safe, for now. Secondly, I don't know whether to write a letter of recommendation for Sweetie Belle to the School for Gifted Unicorns, or have you ground her until Celestia gets tired of raising the sun. I think I know what they've done but fixing it will be a lot harder..."
"Just tell us what's happened, sugar-cube!" Applejack had managed to barely miss panic by going straight from shock to being reassured that Apple Bloom was safe.
"Somehow Sweetie Belle found the Quest spell, and worked out at least some of what it was supposed to do."
"And what was it supposed to do?" Rarity asked, one eyebrow raised.
"If a pony was having trouble finding her cutie-mark, it would send her somewhere where she could find a task that would enable her to get it. It took three unicorn spell casters in a triune ritual diagram to cast it, and it would return her when she got her cutie mark, or at least that was how it was supposed to work."
Rarity sighed with relief. "Well that doesn't sound too dreadful... Wait, why was it in that book, you said they were..."
"'Ridiculously dangerous spells that no sane unicorn should ever try'." Twilight indicated the front page with a hoof. "Clearly, she didn't translate that bit."
"The problem was, balancing a triune ritual is tricky at the best of times, and you need a triune because few ponies would have the power to cast it alone. The combination of three unicorns' power is much greater than the sum of it's parts. Also, most rituals are for spells with a fixed power requirement, but because you don't know where the spell will send you, the power requirement here is variable. So the three unicorns have to balance it on the fly."
"Twilight, just skip the egg-head stuff and cut to the chase!" Rainbow Dash was still at the window, finally looking distressed.
Twilight took a deep breath. "All this means it's easy to put the wrong amount of power into it, or have different unicorns give varying amounts of power. Either makes bad things happen. For a transport spell like winking, too little power would mean bits being left behind, while too much would result in a bounce-back that would collapse the transposition matrix and de-cohere the subject's waveform."
Seeing the blank looks, she clarified. "Basically it would return the pony immediately, as a thin circular layer about five pony-lengths in diameter. As for the possibility of an unbalanced triune, different ponies putting in different amounts of power, it destabilises the ritual matrix, and all that power is expressed explosively. We're talking 'blast radius' here."
The other three ponies and one dragon were turning interesting shades of green by this point.
"Now hold your horses Twilight!" Applejack managed to get out. "You said they managed to work it right?"
"Since there isn't a crater a hundred pony-lengths wide, or a mess on the floor, then yes. They must have somehow modulated and stabilised the power input perfectly. Which is impressive, as unlike when I wink, they had no idea of the destination."
Applejack continued, "How? The only unicorn was Sweetie Belle, and I can't see her having the power to pull this off. No offence there, Rarity."
"None taken, I'm sure." Rarity concurred, "She's getting quite good at basic cantrips like Light and Cleaning, and she's getting a lot less clumsy when levitating things, but Applejack is right, Sweetie Belle hasn't got the power for something this."
"She didn't need it." Twilight pointed at parts of the diagram. "She figured out from the book that you could create a triune using a pegasus, an earth pony and a unicorn, known as a hetro-thaumic triune. The power output is orders of magnitude higher, because it draws in ambient magic as well, but the risk of instability goes up with it, unless the power is vested in a single body."
She nodded at the dawning realisation in their faces.
"Yes, it's a way to synthesize Alicorn magic. With that kind of amplification, even the result of combining three young fillies' magic would be enough to drive the spell. That's probably what saved them, the power flow is attractive, but the intensity was low enough that they could resist being sucked in. Three bodies occupying the same space... let's just say 'bad things' again and move on."
Rainbow Dash looked confused. "Okay, so they did the spell right. So we wait until they do whatever they need to do and return. No sweat!"
"No! Plenty of sweat!" Twilight exclaimed. "The three unicorns had another purpose, they acted as an anchor, a lifeline to pull the questing pony back. But since they were the ones who got sent, so they don't have that lifeline!"
"So we go find 'em," Applejack said, in tones that brooked no argument.
"Of course, but that's not going to be easy. The Quest spell doesn't have any limitations on range. They could be anywhere in the world, never mind Equestria, or even elsewhere."
"Elsewhere?" the farm pony asked.
"Other worlds, other dimensions, wherever there's a task that will bring out their talents. And since it has to be a task that will give all three of them a chance, I suspect it's going to be far indeed! All I can be sure of is that it will be within their abilities to complete safely, and will involve all of them."
Twilight was past panic, though not past distress, however she'd suppressed it for the moment. She'd laid out the problem and now she was in planning mode.
"Our problem is to find them and bring them back. First, finding them. We should be able to trace their location from the thaumic residue of the triune. Think of it like a set of magical hoof prints. That's why we can't use any spells in here, it might obscure the residual spell energies. It's also why I sent Spike outside, a flame-mail from Princess Celestia could have the same effect.
"When we isolate the dimensional resonance signature of the destination, the hard part begins. We will need to work up a way to send a party there, and more importantly with the means to make it back. While ponies of earlier epochs are supposed to have experimented with dimensional travel, our current knowledge is all theoretical.
"Princess Celestia may be able to help, but we'll need a lot of power and careful spell-crafting to create a safe way to go there and come back. It may be that only the Elements of Harmony will be able to generate that much power, so we'd have to be a part of the expedition."
"You can bet your bottom bit I'll be there anyway!" Rainbow Dash stated. "I gotta go find Scootaloo! I ain't leaving my number one fan hanging!"
"Likewise for Apple Bloom!" Applejack added.
Rarity posed proudly. "I must agree. Sweetie Belle is my sister, and by Celestia, nothing on Equestria or off it will stop me from finding her!"
"So c'mon!" Rainbow Dash said to Twilight. "Make with the magic!"
Twilight shook her head. "I can't do it that easily. Spike?"
"Yes Twilight?" The little dragon had just listened in, feeling guilty. He'd been the one to let Sweetie Belle have the notebook after all. Now he just hoped he could help fix things.
There was a catch in the purple unicorn's voice as she considered how disappointed her mentor would be for letting this happen, and there was guilt too, now that what had happened finally hit her.
"Take a letter to Princess Celestia, and make sure you have a sharp quill, this is going to be a long one..."
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This seems interesting. I can't wait to see where the Crusaders ended up. I can just see them in a DnD type world getting all kinds of loot and gear.
Harry Potter broomstick reference
But the Elder Gods like my cookies...
4365653 In a DND world - with the rudimentary knowledge of how to synthesise Alicorn level magic.
She felt a disturbance in the force.. ha-ha!