Chapter 1: Incantations
It was Early afternoon in Ponyville, and Twilight Sparkle was halfheartedly rearranging some of the books in her library. It had been a while since Spikes last letter telling what the Cutie Mark Crusaders were doing, and she was anxiously waiting for the next one, hoping that it would have some valuable information that would let her know once and for all what those three fillies were up to.
Though she had been anticipating Spike's letter to arrive at any moment, it still caught her off guard when there was a bright green flash in front of her and a scroll had fallen to the ground. She quickly picked it using her magic and unfurled it before her eyes. She began to read the dragon's writing, her eyes scrolling back and forth as she quickly work her way though it. As she reach the end she stared at the last sentence and read it over and over until it was burned into her memory
"The crusaders are leaving for for Canterlot TONIGHT!"
"TONIGHT!" She said to nopony in particular, causing Owloysius to stir on his perch. "That only gives us a few hours until they leave, that's not much time to plan what we are going to do?" Her breathing was starting to speed up and she began pacing back and forth across the library. Rainbow Dash and Spike can follow them for now, but they can't follow them to Canterlot! We could all take turns following them, but that would mean that we would have to go back and forth to switch, and that wouldn't would! Oh, if only there was some way to track them and know what and how they were do... Wait, Track! That's it!" She began grabbing books off the shelf with her magic and reading the titles, throwing them one by one into the back corner of the library. She was getting more and more anxious as she went though book after book. After about two dozen book she finally stopped for a moment and told herself, "Now don't panic Twilight, take a deep breath and think about this." She took several deep breaths and she could feel her heart rate begin to go down. "Now let's think about this logically, now what section would a book be in if it was about tracking spells?" She thought to herself for a moment and finally said, "Well Pinkie Pie found the Elements of Harmony under "E", so maybe I should try "T". She walked over to one of the shelves and began to read the book titles as she slowly moved down the row.
"Trapeze...Trapping... Ah here we are!" She said as she lifted the book off the shelve and levitated it over to the table. "Tracking Spells and Scrying: Everything you need to know to find out everything that you want to know." she quickly began to read through the book and it's various spells. She continued into the late after noon, and would have gone longer if she hadn't heard the door open.
"Twilight dear, I was just coming over to see if you had heard any news from Spike and Rainbow Dash about my Sister and her friends?" It was the white unicorn Rarity, and while her mane and coat were perfectly styled as always, Twilight could see the worry in her eyes.
"I have in fact, and it was just as we thought, those three little fillies are planning to go to Canterlot, and they are leaving tonight."
"Tonight! Well we have to stop them, we can't let them go to Canterlot alone!" Rarity said, losing a little of her composure as she said it.
"I know it's a scary thought Rarity, but those three and stronger then you think, and I've been reading this book, and I think I found a few spells I can use so we can track them and see what they are doing, all I need is something from each of the crusaders, preferable something like hair, but an object that they hold dear will also work."
"Hair? I'll be back in just a minute." and with that the fashionista was out the door. Twilight walked into the kitchen and grabbed a large bowl, filled it with water, and brought it over to the table. She had barely set the bowl down when Rarity came running through the door, with Applejack and Pinkie Pie running in behind her.
"Back already? That was fast, and you brought Applejack and Pinkie with you?
"I saw Rarity runnin' through the middle town as fast as she could, and ah wondered if it had anything to do wi' Apple Bloom." The orange Earth Pony started.
"And I saw Applejack and Rarity running towards here and I wanted to see what everypony was so excited about." Pinkie added with a grin.
"Well let me bring you up to speed..." Twilight quickly told her friends about the Crusader's plan and about the book she had been reading. "... And that's why Rarity was running through town. By the way, did you find anything?" Twilight said as she turned towards the other unicorn.
"Most certainly Twilight, here you go." With that she opened her saddlebag and handed twilight a hairbrush.
"Sweetie Belle used this brush to comb her mane every night before bed, we would sit next to each other and each count out out one hundred strokes, it was our nightly ritual." Her voiced cracked at the end, and the white unicorn took a deep breath to compose herself. Twilight gave her friend a moment and then used her magic to pull several light purple and pink hairs off it and dropped them in the bowl of water.
"Now I need to concentrate on this, I've read about the spell but have never actually done it, and I don't want to mess it up."
Rarity and Applejack nodded, while pinkie Pie made a motion of zipping her mouth shut, and then all three gather around the bowl to see what Twilight was about to do.
Twilight closed her eyes and her horn began to glow, the purple light slowing spreading to and enveloping the bowl. Then the water began to swirl as if it were being stirred, and the three ponies watched as the water slowed and colors began to appear until they could clearly see a small white unicorn sleeping under a blanket with a small smile on her face. As the picture water became still Twilight opened her eyes and looked at her handiwork.
"Yay it worked! Now we can see where Sweetie Belle is, but she can't see or hear us, it's called scrying.
"HEY SLEEPYHEAD! WAKE UP!" Pinkie yelled, startling her friends while Sweetie Belle continued to sleep.
"Now what in the hay was that fur?" Applejack asked her friend.
"What? "The pink pony said with a shrug, "I was just seeing if she could hear us."
Twilight rolled her eyes and smiled, Pinkie Pie was Pinkie after all. "Okay, now that we know how the spell works, I'm going to need hair or precious items from Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, and we can follow each of them even if they split up."
" 'right Twilight, I'll go get something of Apple Bloom's from her room." The orange pony tipped her hat and headed on her way."
" Ooo! Ooo!" Pinkie Pie said as she raised her hand in the air like she was in school, "I can find something of Scoots! It will be like a scavenger hunt!" and with that she was off, leaving a Pony shaped cloud of dust where she had been sitting.
"Now Rarity..." She turned around to face her friend, and saw her staring intently into the bowl. She knew how much Rarity cared for her little sister, and decided to let her be alone for a little while.
The purple unicorn went down to the basement of the Library when she kept her "Lab" She never did much with chemistry, instead using it for practice space for new spells most of the time. On a desk she found what she was looking for, a golden coin and a small bottle, and brought them over to sit beside a map of Equestria she had on the wall.
"Well I got that scrying spell to work right away, lets see if I can do this one." Once more Twilight closed her eyes in concentration, this time the coin and map began glowing purple. For almost a minute Twilight continued to work her magic, beads of sweat forming on her head. Finally with a final burst of purple light Twilight opened her eyes. The coin look the same as ever, but on the map was a small purple dot on the edge of Ponyville, right where her tree-house is.
"Perfect..." she said as she finished catching her breath, just one more thing and I can take a break for a little while, at least this one is simple."
Once more she reached out with her magic, grabbed an inked quill and some paper, and began to write." She then wrapped the letter around the coin and the bottle, and with a purple flash it was gone.
Up on a cloud overlooking the Crusader Clubhouse, a cyan colored pony was napping on a cloud while a baby dragon sat in a saddle on her back enjoying an apple and looking down at the clubhouse, watching to see when the Crusaders would come out. He felt a now familiar sensation and with a loud burp out out came green flames, and out of that a scroll. He caught it and quickly began unrolling it, barely catching the coin and bottle as they fell out. Putting the two items in the pegasus's saddlebags, spike brought the scroll up to his face.
"Dear Spike,
After I received your last letter, I began research on some tracking spells, and have been able to place one on the coin. The bottle contains a very strong glue. What I need you and Rainbow Dash to do is to attach the coin to the Crusader's wagon and we will be able to follow them from the library instead of watching them all the time.
Good Luck,
Twilight Sparkle
P.S. Missing my number one assistant, see you soon!
Spike rolled the letter up and placed it in the saddle bag, grabbing the coin and bottle instead.
"Hey Rainbow," he said as he gently rubbed her head, "get up, we got another letter from Twilight and we need to get down to the wagon.
"Huh? What?" She muttered as she shook the sleep from her eyes. Spike quickly explained what the letter had said and the pegasus nodded her head in agreement. "Right, well let's get to it while those fillies are still sleeping the day away, hang on!" Without another word of warning Rainbow jumped off the cloud and dove down towards the ground, slowing them down just in time to prevent a crash landing. Shaken, but still doing alright, Spike climbed down and walked over to the wagon, which was parked under a nearby tree and was loaded and ready to go. With the coin and glue in his hands, he laid down next to the wagon and opened the bottle. He place a very large dab of glue one side of the coin and slapped it on the underside of wagon, causing some of the glue to drip onto his claw. With that he quickly ran back to Rainbow, who was standing by the clubhouse.
"Well did you get it stuck on there?" She asked as he came back.
"Piece of cake!" he responded as he pretended to wipe dust from his claws, only when they touched they became stuck together.
"Uh oh." The dragon said quietly, trying to hide what had just happened from his cyan companion.
"Come on! We gotta go now, Scootaloo's starting to wake up!" she whisper harshly. Spike climbed awkwardly into his saddle. He did his best to hold unto the pommel, and hoped that Twilight could fix this before anypony, especially Rarity, found out.