White Curse

by Jumpitydude

Chapter 21

A train ride away from Ponyville is a place called Smokey Mountains. To the west of that is the North Luna Ocean. Deep at the bottom of that ocean was a ship, larger than many had ever seen. It's not there anymore, because several types of sea creatures had attached ropes to it and pulled it up.

Two hours after they started, an Earth Pony on shore let a drop of a potion fall on her tongue, then looked out at the horizon. "There it is!"

The Unicorn next to her took the potion and let a drop fall on her tongue. Looking out, she saw the ship on the top of the ocean. Then watched it drop back into the water. "And there it goes."

The mountainous Earth Pony beside them put his hoof beside his mouth. "PULL IT TO SHORE! PULL IT TO SHORE!"

Another hour later, the ship reappeared about five yards out. Several of the sea creatures found "footing" on shore, then turned into various large earth-based creatures, like Yaks and Buffalos. Even with the extra leg power, however, they were clearly struggling to make the ship move.

Until the larger of the Earth Ponies grabbed a rope from one of them and moved the ship with relative ease.

"Woah." The Buffalo that lost its rope turned back into a Changeling. "I heard you were strong, but I didn't know you were that strong!"

The large Pony smiled and pulled. Soon enough, the ship was completely ashore. The moment it stopped moving, the other creatures returned to their default forms, filling the sky with buzzing and chatter of amazement.

The Earth Pony mare stared at the ship with stars in her eyes. "That looks amazing."

The Unicorn mare turned to the other present Unicorn. "Are we sure this is it, though? It's a ship, but I don't see anything that indicates it's an airship."

The Unicorn Stallion remained silent, pointing his horn and shooting out magic at the ship. A moment later, several feathers sprouted from the wings of the ship.

The Pegasus mare was gawking. "How did they make this kind of thing work?"

"A lot of magic, no doubt. Even he's having trouble making this thing work." The Pegasus stallion turned to his friends. "We should get going, though. We don't want to be here when-"

"Lady Ocellus! You're right on time!"

The six ponies turned inland to find seven creatures there; The White Cursed, who were gawking, and Rainbow Dash, who was smiling at them.

---

Ocellus rubbed her head. "So let me get this straight. We've been receiving background help from the Pillars of Equestria?"

Star Swirl adjusted his cape. "Well, yes. There are... reasons for our anonymity, but we couldn't just let you fumble about on your own."

Smolder raised her hand. "Well, you failed at remaining anonymous. And that's before you consider the Pegasi practically showed us their faces."

Flash Magus remained stern. "I couldn't hide my identity while training you. Not without looking suspicious."

Somnambula tilted her head. "When did I do that?"

Rainbow chuckled. "He's probably referring to you flying away from the Changeling hive after delivering the book on the White Curse. I noticed you flying away from my classroom after I talked to them about it, too. Did you deliver the staff?"

Somnambula nodded. "They knew ahead that they would be receiving the staff. When I heard you talk about the book, however, I decided to quickly track down a copy to give them as well. The city of Somnambula is rather well stocked in books."

Ocellus summoned her staff. "Did you find this as well?"

"That was me," Star Swirl said. "I found it as I was traveling around. I was also the one to enchant your masks and outfits."

Smolder pulled out her outfit. "Did one of you make these? They look like Rarity made them."

Mistmane giggled. "Rarity DID make them. I had them commissioned from her. I'm a little shocked she didn't find the order suspicious in some way. Though I was the one that made the masks."

Ocellus bit her lip. "That leads to the big question; Who made the delivery?"

Meadowbrook's giggle was notably more nervous than her friend's. "That was me. I used an invisibility potion during my trips to the school."

Sandbar's ear perked up. "Trips? Plural? You made more than one?"

Meadowbrook coughed. "The first trip was to figure out how valid the tip we received was, and the second was to make the delivery."

Sandbar raised an eyebrow. "And you stayed in her room afterward because you needed to prove that "tip" was valid to someone else, right?"

Meadowbrook's eyes started to bulge, her cheeks puffed out, and she started sweating buckets.

Flash also looked nervous. "I, uh, just wanted to make sure."

Ocellus put her hoof on Sandbar's shoulder. "I will admit that it was creepy, but we can trust them. You know that, right?"

Sandbar smiled. "Yeah. Of course."

Yona's tail was wagging. "Rockhoof pulled out the ship by himself, right?"

Rockhoof opened his mouth, only for a nearby Changeling to respond instead. "Yeah! It was really impressive!"

Another Changeling floated over. "We were having trouble, then he pulled it out like it was nothing!"

As the Changelings sang Rockhoof praises, gears started turning in Rainbow's head. "Hey, did you ever try farm work?"

Rockhoof gave a nervous smile. "Once. Now I'm not allowed in Appleloosa anymore."

"Oh." Rainbow could only imagine how that went.

"Guys?" Gallus floated down.

"How did it... go."

Silver was clinging to Gallus like he would vanish if she let go.

Gallus rubbed Silver's back. "I could tell you guys what was in there, but you probably want to see for yourselves."

The friends shared a look. They sent Gallus and Silver in so they could talk with the Pillars. Now Gallus wanted them to see for themselves after Silver got scared by something. What is in there?

Star Swirl decided to state his opinion. "You should go in there. They may have missed something, depending on when your friend got spooked."

"Don't worry." Gallus nuzzled Silver. "She was scared by something that won't affect you guys as much."

A worried look later, and the four friends went into the massive ship. The moment they stepped inside, they were shocked. There were eight chairs and tables set up in the room, which had to span the length of the upper floor of the ship. There were several cabinets along the sides of the room, and a few knick-knacks and toys on the tables.

"Is this a Rec Room?"

Sandbar was the first to move into the room. "If it is, it's the most run-down one I've seen. Which should be expected, considering where this ship has been."

Smolder examined some of the knick-knacks. "If we're gonna end up using this as a base of operations, we'll need to spruce this room up a bit."

Yona picked up one of the toys. "What makes you think we'll use it as a base?"

Smolder shrugged. "Our predo-... perdi-... The guys that came before us used it, right?"

"If we can move this ship or find a way to get here without drawing attention, it would make a good base. But even going to the Castle of the Two Sisters would be suspicious, especially with the guards around Ponyville right now." Ocellus shook her head. "Using this place as a base will have to be put on the back burner for now."

"Eh, that's fair." Smolder looked at the stairs leading down. "Let's see what else is on this ship." She led the other three down the stairs. "Huh?"

At the bottom of the staircase was a hallway with four doors on each side. They all looked into the first one on the right.

"Bedrooms?"

Yona looked back down the hall. "Why are there eight? There were only seven members."

"Officially." Sandbar looked in the room across the hall. "Though I don't see anything that would freak Silver out that badly."

"I know what did it." Smolder was making her way to the next set of stairs. "And it'll be obvious downstairs."

The other three shared a look before following her down the stairs.

"Wow!" Ocellus stopped halfway down the stairs. "This is beautiful."

"And familiar." Sandbar moved past her to the bottom of the staircase.

"What do you mean?"

Smolder stood next to an opened door. "Maybe this farm will jog your memory?"

"Farm?" Ocellus rushed over. "Wow! There really is... a..." She blinked a couple of times, then turned to another door. She walked over and pushed it open, fully expecting what she found inside. "There's the pool."

"Look at that." Smolder was next to a different door. "The arrows are still in place. Untouched."

Yona looked past Smolder into the archery range. "So this airship is..."

"Only one way to be sure." Sandbar went down the last flight of stairs, followed by his friends. He went past the armory and down a side path, only slowing down once he got to the third room on the left.

And there it was.

The mirror that started it all, lying in pieces on the ground.

Ocellus moved to Sandbar's side. "This is why Silver freaked out."

Yona let out a sigh. "I wonder how different our lives would be if we never came here in the first place."

Sandbar just stared at what was left of the mirror.

*Clang!* The three of them looked back at the armory, then headed back.

"Smolder? What are you doing?"

Smolder held a helmet on her horns, then chucked it aside. "I was thinking that some of this stuff might be useful to us. I mean, look at how big this pile is! How much is in here?"

Ocellus furrowed her brow. "Uh, you are aware that there are guards at the school looking for anything suspicious like pieces of armor or weapons, right?"

Smolder dug her arm deep into the pile. "Yeah, but it's not like they'll be there for-" She suddenly gasped and started shaking.

"Smolder?" Sandbar went to her side. "Are you okay?"

Smolder heaved a bit more. "So that's what it feels like." She pulled her arm out, her hand wrapped around the hilt of a sword that had gems in the handle.

Ocellus stared in wonder. "The Blazer Blade?"

Sandbar's eyes shot to the pile, and before the girls knew it, he was digging in himself. "Ow!" He pulled his hoof back after cutting it on something.

Smolder chuckled. "Yeah, it's full of sharp stuff."

"Sandbar." Ocellus was hovering over the pile, holding a gem-encrusted boomerang shaped to look like a pair of wings. "I think this is what you were looking for."

Sandbar looked at the boomerang for a second, then reached for it. Once he had his hoof on it, his body seized up. Ocellus landed next to him and placed her hoof around him. As soon as his mind cleared up, Sandbar returned the hug.

"Why did you hug me?"

Ocellus shrugged. "I just felt like it."

Smolder waited for the moment to turn slightly awkward for her before speaking up. "Okay, lovebirds, we need to get going."

Sandbar and Ocellus broke it off and giggled. "Okay, Smolder. But you do know the lovebirds are Gallus and Silver, right?"

Smolder rolled her eyes. "Very funny, Sandy."

"Hey! No! That's for Ocellus only!"

The four friends shared a laugh as they made their way back up the stairs.

"This is amazing!" Rainbow said before they had a chance to see her. "This would make for a great base of operations! Though there would be some issues with using it right now. I don't see why Silver was panicking, though."

Sandbar rubbed his head. "Well, it's because we were here before."

Smolder rubbed her arm. "Not only that, it's where we got our powers."

Ocellus looked down. "From what I remember, someone actually manipulated Silver into doing what gave us those powers."

Yona shuddered. "I still remember how creepy that moment was."

Rainbow looked worried. "What happened?"

Sandbar explained what happened that fateful day when they were hiding in the Castle of the Two Sisters. When they ended up getting their power. How they were at fault for the darkness getting out. As she listened, Rainbow's jaw went lower and lower.

"... and that's about it."

"Wow. What can I even say about that?"

"There's not much to say." Smolder yawned and moved towards the stairs. "We should probably get going."

"Not yet." Sandbar looked at the only door he never saw the other side of. "I want to know what's through that door."

"You can tell me later, hero guy. I'm outta here." Smolder walked up the stairs and presumably out of the ship.

Sandbar sighed and turned towards the door. The moment his hoof was on the knob, a thought shot through his head. Last time he was here, he didn't go through this door because Smolder told him not to.

Was that actually Smolder? Or was it the same creature that led them here the first time? If it was the latter, that means that they didn't want them to know what was through this door.

And in that case, this door is very valuable.

He opened the door.

All that was inside were empty shelves, tables, and chairs.

"... Huh?"

Ocellus looked over his shoulder. "Is this a library? Where are the books?"

Looking at it, it did look like an empty library. Where there books here before? If there were, why are they gone now?

"What is this? I wanted answers! Not more questions!" The frustration in his voice was evident.

"Hold on." Ocellus pointed at one of the tables. "There's a note there."

Sandbar rushed over and started reading the note aloud.

"I know what you're thinking. "Where are the books in this library?" Unfortunately, most of them were very outdated, so I threw them out. I wish to restock it, but I may never get the chance to.

"While I'm leaving this for you, I may as well note that by the time you're reading this, the moment of truth will be fast approaching. If you've defeated five of the six, then that just leaves the Princess. I trust that you and your team will be victorious. Otherwise, what I've done has been for naught.

"But if you doubt yourself, Sandbar, I am willing to help."

Sandbar stared at the letter. For a moment, he thought it was for a member of the old team. If so, why was his name there?

"Did it say who it was from?" From the sound of her voice, Ocellus was just as shocked.

Sandbar shook his head. "It just says it's from a friend."

While their trip into the ship had proven valuable already, the students found themselves leaving with more questions than answers.

---

"Celestia!"

The princess of the sun looked over her shoulder. "Twilight. There you are." She waited for her former student slow to a halt before placing a hoof on her nose. "Before you ask, I do feel like it is necessary for me to be at least partially present. I will be here from time to time when duties permit."

Twilight gently moved Celestia's hoof away from her nose. "I understand, but I wanted to ask if the guards were going to be violating my students' privacy."

Celestia shook her head. "Not without someone reporting something suspicious to them. I already had to stop a guard from barging into Gallus' room for no reason. Apparently, he doesn't trust Griffons."

"I just want to make sure this doesn't interfere with the operations of the school."

"I understand, but..." Celestia let out a somber sigh. "I'm sorry, but I can't help but feel like you're hiding something from me."

"What?" Twilight's voice cracked. "No no no! Of course not!"

Celestia bit her lip. "Twilight..."

Twilight put her hoof on Celestia's shoulder. "I gave you my word! I will report to you anything I am told! Without fail!"

Celestia stared for a second, the chuckled. "Of course. You are my faithful student after all. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"It's alright. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to my own duties."

They shared a smile then went in opposite directions. After walking a bit, Celestia stopped. She also stopped smiling.

"I will report to you anything I am told."

"... anything I am told."

"... Told. Why did she say that?" Celestia started to turn around.

"Your Highness!" A guard with wide eyes ran up to her. "You need to see this!"

Comments

[Reading4HalfMyLife]

. . crap

[Yoshifan30]

Oh wow So the pillars knows Who the white curse is not only that helping the kids too To be honest I didn't see that coming But this airship or whatever is basically the base with the old white curse used to be and not only that this is where all started when they got their powers and letting this evil force go as well still an oops lol But also somebody knows who is sandbar and the others as well I wonder who could that be and princess Celestia is getting more suspicious about this whole thing and what did the guard found something tells me this is not good I guess we'll find out

[NeoNymph]

I'm guessing her suspicious activity is due to the shadow that entered into her early on in the story after Pinkie Pie's defeat?