//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: White Curse 
// by Jumpitydude 
//------------------------------//

When they got back to the school, Twilight explained to them what had happened and what she was planning to do with the school. A long discussion between adults, a song, and a bit of puppy eyes later, and the students were back in school. And a cool kind of school.

The rest of the day passed without too much incident, but Sandbar still found it hard to fall asleep that night. The events at the castle still played in his head. He wasn't pushing his points enough. He tried to keep them on track and screwed it up. If he had only pushed his points a bit harder...

*Thud!* "Ow."

Sandbar sat up in his bed and looked at his door. "Who..." He hopped out of bed and peeked outside his room. After determining no one was right outside his door, he fully opened his door and looked around to see...

"Silver?"

Sure enough, the hippogriff was rounding a corner, barely escaping his line of sight. He started after her, only to be stopped by a squeak. He looked under his hoof.

"Ocellus? Sorry, I-"

The mouse shaped creature looked up at him. "You're lucky it was just my tail. That could have been a mess."

Sandbar lifted his hoof, and Ocellus turned back into a changeling.

"Are you following Silver too?"

"Yeah. Can you get the others?"

Ocellus was taken aback. "But if I do that, I'll lose track of Silver. I don't know what Silver is doing."

"Neither do I, but the more of us there are, the better chances of us being able to help her. We can meet by the lake we were at earlier when we skipped on class."

Ocellus nodded. "Right."

Ocellus went back to get the other three, while Sandbar continued to trail Silver through the halls and out of the school.





Silver floated down to the lake. The same one they went to when they skipped class earlier. She stared at her reflection as she, well, reflected on the events of the day. She fell for everything that voice told her, then let it control her into harm's way, and then... then... put her friends in danger.

She let out a small sniffle, then just started... crying. "I'm so stupid. Why did I do that?" She buried her face in her claws. "It was such an obvious trap. How did I fall for it?"

"We all did."

Silver gasped and looked over her shoulder. Upon realizing it was just Sandbar, she turned away and sighed. "The voice led me to that room. To the mirror. When I was there, it... repeated some of my worst memories."

Sandbar trotted over and laid next to her.

"It made me remember how childish I can be, and how the other Seaponies treat me as useless and stupid," Silver continued, "and then it told me that it could help me if I just touched the mirror. So I did, just to make the pain stop... and that thing called me stupid and grabbed me."

Sandbar bit his lip. He wanted to help but wasn't sure... no. He just needed to talk to her.

He started by placing his hoof over her and pulling her in a bit closer, ignoring her blush. "You are childish."

Silver was shocked to hear her friend affirm her worst fear. "Wh-what?"

"But that isn't a bad thing. It means you can keep things positive, even when they get bad. When we get down, you can bring our spirits back up."

Silver started crying again, but with a smile on her face. "Sandbar..."

"Besides," He continued, "It lets you see the best in others, something not all of us can. It can help avoid trouble sometimes, and when it can't, I'll be there to protect you."

"We all will."

They both looked at Gallus, who had Yona, Smolder, and Ocellus right beside him.

Ocellus stepped forward. "It's convenient she came here. Though it shouldn't be too surprising. This is a memorable place for all of us."

Gallus walked up to Silver and pressed his talon against her beak. "Don't act like you're the only one to make a mistake. We should have been happy with each other, and not gone for more."

Smolder shrugged. "But it all worked out in the end anyway, so don't sweat it."

"Yak happy to have friends!" Yona capped her declaration by grabbing all of them in one big hug.

Smolder yelped. "Who cut me?"

"S-sorry," Silver replied nervously.

They held each other for a while before Sandbar pointed something out. "You still don't seem happy, Silver."

Silver sighed, then pulled away from the rest of them. She walked up to the water and stared at her reflection. "That thing that got out. I... think I heard it when it tried to eat me."

Smolder scratched her head. "Well, eat is a strong word."

"It's accurate," Silver asserted. "Because... it said it wanted to consume me. And the whole world."

The others felt their hearts sink. "What?"

"It wants to eat the world and I let it out." Silver started shaking. "I just doomed us. I doomed Equestria."

Sandbar felt like his earlier efforts were worth nothing. "Silver..."

Silver's face contorted into one of pain. "I doomed the whole WORLD!"

To emphasize her point, Silver slammed her claw into the ground. Not even a moment later, a pillar of water erupted from the lake. As it rained back down, they all stared in shock.

Ocellus looked at Silver. "Is... that a hippogriff thing? Or a Seapony one?"

Silver looked at her claw. "... neither. What did I...?" She lifted her claw up, willing the water to move.

And move it did. Some water came up out of the lake, like a flying snake made of water.

Sandbar stared in amazement. "Woah."

Gallus tried to poke the floating water. "How long have you been able to do that?"

"I don't know." Silver continued to move the strand of water around. "This is the first time I'm seeing this."

Suddenly a thought crossed Silver's mind. A nasty, devious thought. She just needed a good target.

"Hey, Smolder... THINKFAST!"

"Huh? WOAH!" Smolder had just enough time to duck the water blob that shot towards her. The others were laughing, but Smolder was just angry. "What was THAT for, Silver?"

Suddenly, the others were staring at her in wonder.

"Yak thought dragons only breath fire."

Smolder was confused, then realized what Yona meant and looked at her hands. Which were on fire. After a moment of surprise (though not fear, because, ya know, she's a dragon), she tried lighting her legs on fire. Then lifting herself with the flames.

She started laughing. "This is so cool!"

"Don't you mean hot?" Gallus snarked.

Ocellus put her hoof to her chin. "Does that mean-"

"Look, friends! Look!"

Everyone turned to Yona, who managed to make structures out of both sand and dirt, and balanced them above and below her while she balanced on a pillar of sand.

Silver was shocked at the precision of what amounted to a living battering ram. "H-how?"

Yona giggled, then looked at one of the structures and gasped, losing her balance and causing everything to tumble down. Once the structures fell apart, a vine came out of one pile of dirt. Ocellus, oddly bravely, trotted up and pet it.

Smolder was shocked by the changeling's sudden courage. "Ocellus?"

"I'm controlling it." Ocellus smiled at her friends. "I made it."

Sandbar looked over the girls. "Water, fire, earth, and plants? When would you have..."

"Let me try!" Gallus held up his claw and made an aggressive face.

After a few seconds, Smolder made an observation, "Well, your power seems to be looking incredibly stupid."

Gallus looked incredibly hurt by that. "Ow. Burn."

Sandbar curiously waved his hoof. Sure enough, a small dust storm started up.

"OH, SURE!" Gallus yelled loud enough to nearly knock Sandbar over. "You just wave your hoof, and you get WIND POWERS! Guess who deserves THAT!?"

"S-sorry." Sandbar looked around. "Maybe your power requires something that isn't here? Like metal?"

Smolder chuckled. "Or maybe it's everywhere, but he's just too stupid to use it."

Gallus started tearing up. "I have feelings you know!" But his tone made him sound like a comedy actor.

Silver looked at her claw. "But how did we get these powers?"

They all pondered Silver's question before Ocellus came up with the best possibility. "The mirror! What if the shadows weren't the only thing kept in there?"

Yona gasped. "You say we got powers from mirror?"

Smolder put on a positive smirk. "Maybe it's a good thing I broke it."

"Then listen up!" All eyes turned towards Sandbar. "We made a mistake, and we need to fix it. We may not be that capable on our own, but we can't risk anyone else learning about this now. We'll have to rely on each other. We have the basics of our powers down, and I believe in Gallus' ability to fight. So, when those things come to cause destruction, it's up to us to stop them." He put out his hoof. "Together."

Yona put her hoof on Sandbar's, followed by Ocellus, then Silver, Gallus, and finally Smolder.

"Together!" They all echoed.

"Let's get back," Ocellus said, pulling her hoof back. "We don't want anyone to realize we left."

"And at this hour." Silver started back first. "I'm sorry. I let my emotions run away earlier."

"It alright!" Yona caught up fast. "We learned important things here."

"Hey, Smoulder," Gallus said with some concern in his voice, "Are you feeling alright? Your hand was hot."

Smolder looked at her hand in confusion. "I don't feel off. I feel perfectly fine."

"Are you sure?" Silver rushed to Smolder's side. "If you feel sick, you should-"

As she spoke, Silver grabbed Smolder's arm. Once she did, however, a bunch of steam came from where they touched, and Smolder yelped in pain. When Silver let go, they were greeted by a shocking sight.

Where they made contact, on Smolder's arm, was nothing but fire.

Smolder's eye was twitching. "W-what the..."

Ocellus touched Smolder's other arm... only for her hoof to catch fire. "Eeeeeeee!"

Silver rushed over to Ocellus and put her claw over the fire. More steam and Ocellus' hoof resembled burnt wood.

"Are we..."

"Made of..."

"The stuff we control?"

Gallus suddenly yanked at Sandbar's cheek. "Still feels like flesh to me." He then floated over to Yona, pinched her cheek... and got a claw full of dirt. "Uhh..."

"PUT YONA'S CHEEK BACK ON!"

Gallus slapped the dirt back on Yona's cheek, which briefly resembled dirt before going back to her cheek.

Silver floated over and pinched Gallus' cheek, earning an annoyed glare. "What? You did it to check the others. And you feel like flesh to me."

Smolder looked legitimately concerned. "Does that mean he doesn't have powers?"

"But Sandbar has air powers and he's still flesh..." Smolder put her hoof to her chin. "I think."

Sandbar rubbed his head. "We still have a lot to learn about this stuff."





"Why did you abandon us?"

"They'll be after one of us. You know that right?"

"... You better appreciate this."

"I'll be too busy mourning."

Sandbar's eyes snapped open again that night. This time because of his dream. He glanced around his room.

"What was that?"

He was too tired to think about it, though, and went back to sleep. By the time he woke up, his odd dream might as well have been a distant memory.