//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4 
// Story: White Curse 
// by Jumpitydude 
//------------------------------//

"Is she alright?"

The concern in Maud's voice was evident. At least, as evident as it could be for someone like Maud.

Starlight lifted Pinkie off of Applejack's back and onto the infirmary bed. "She should be fine now, but she's unconscious. We have plenty to ask her, but Twilight wants us in her office for the time being." Starlight patted Pinkie's now straight mane. "She didn't say why, though."

"You go ahead," Mudbriar said. "We can stay with Pinkie. I'll let you know when she wakes up."

"That sounds good." Applejack started out of the room. "Hopefully she ain't too upset by what happened."

Once Applejack and Starlight were out of the room, Mudbriar went up to Pinkie and pat her on the head. "How long are you going to keep pretending to be asleep."

A moment later, Pinkie let out a sigh. "You noticed, huh?"

"Do you mind if I finish what I tried to say earlier?"

Pinkie refused to look at him. "Sure. Whatever."

Mudbriar fought off the urge to start with 'Technically', and started right after that. "It's not impossible to be friends with anyone. Though it can be really hard at times."

Pinkie's ears perked up, and her eyes went wide.

"Even if we can't be friends," Mudbriar continued, "I don't want us to be enemies. I can't imagine how that would feel for Maud. So... I'll only ask you to tolerate me and my habits."

Pinkie finally turned to look at him. He held his arms open, with a small smile on his face. A tense moment later, she hugged him.

"Alright. I'll try my best." For the first time in a while, Pinkie had a genuine smile on her face.





The six friends sat around a table, only able to pass the time by watching Twilight search for something in the library.

"Uh, professor?"

"Not now. I'm concentrating." Twilight didn't even look at them.

"We were just-"

"NOT NOW!" Twilight refused to acknowledge the students any further until she found a book. "Here it is. White Curse."

Silver looked at Twilight as the alicorn floated down towards them. "What's a White Curse?"

Twilight set the book down in front of her on the table. "It's a banished power that no one knows how to get anymore. At least, no one should." Twilight flipped open the first page. "The power branded as the White Curse is attributed to one of the greatest disasters in Equestrian history."





A long time ago, back when the many races in and around Equestria lived in harmony, there were seven beings with a unique power. They were hailed as heroes, praised by those they saved and even those they didn't. This was a fact that didn't seem like it would ever change.

As time went on, however, they started to get detractors, those who claimed the "heroes" did it for little more than fame or fortune. While many knew this wasn't the case, there started to be incidents they weren't resolving for some reason, giving those that opposed them a larger following.

Then came the fateful day that the truth of the power came out. A village was destroyed. When the heroes failed to arrive, the Royal Guard were dispatched to stop the destruction and arrived to a shocking sight. The seven "heroes" were destroying the village. The guards were able to end six of them on site, and the seventh returned, for reasons unknown, only to be killed. Thus ended the existence of the power they had.





"After that day, the power they had was rebranded as the White Curse and outlawed. Should anyone be discovered with this power, they are to be... executed."

The seven of them sat there in silence.

Sandbar was the first to speak. "E-executed? As in... the guards would... kill them?"

Ocellus was terrified. "J-just for having that power?"

"The only other crime that can get one executed in Equestria is mass murder. In that case, the guards would kill them, publicly or privately. In the case of the White Curse, however, a princess would be the one to do it herself."

Silver was tearing up. "H-how many have... have..."

Twilight put her hoof on Silver's claw and smiled. "None. No one, since that day, has held the power of the White Curse."

Relief washed over Silver's face. At least that means no one was killed on an accusation of having the power.

"Professor, if I may be so bold," Ocellus said as she eyed the book Twilight brought out, "May we look into it more? We might be able to help find anyone that has the White Curse."

Twilight looked Ocellus in the eye, then sighed. "I don't want to endorse you six looking into this, but I can't do anything to stop you from researching on your own." Twilight stood up. "Unless you put yourselves in harms way intentionally. Now, if you don't mind, I need to inform the other professors of what really happened." With that, Twilight exited the library, leaving the book on the table.

Gallus grabbed the book and handed it to Ocellus. "Do you think something in this can help us?"

"Who knows?" Ocellus grabbed the book and started flipping through it. "Ways to use our powers, tools we might be able to use... Oh no."

Sandbar looked over Ocellus' shoulder. "What's wrong?"

"These images are in a different language. I'll need a book that will help me translate them."

Sure enough, the images had lines and curves that resembled some kind of language, but not one Ocellus or any of her friends could recognize.

"Ohhhh... I just realized something." Everyone turned to Smolder. "What if we get recognized?"

Their hearts sank.

Silver hid behind her claws. "If we do have the White Curse and get caught, we'll be... executed."

Sandbar turned to Ocellus. "Are there any spells that can hide our identities?"

Ocellus bit her lip. "There are, but they're too complicated for most ponies to pull off, let alone a changeling."

Yona put her hoof to her chin. "So we ask strong unicorn-"

"-And out ourselves?" Smolder shook her head. "That's not gonna work!"

Silver was shaking. "M-maybe we just need masks?"

Sandbar shook his head. "Maybe for me, but you guys are unique creatures. A simple mask won't hide who you are, especially from anyone that knows us."

Ocellus also looked panicked. "D-do we just not use our powers?"

Yona looked worried. "But what about innocent ponies?"

Smolder put her hand on her head. "What are we supposed to-"

"AAAARRRRGH!" The others leaned away from Gallus. "WHY IS THIS SO COMPLICATED‽‽‽"

Silence... Until a library assistant came up to them and spoke through gritted teeth. "Just because your homework is hard doesn't mean you get to break the big rule of libraries. Please. Be. Quiet." Just as suddenly as they had arrived, they left.

The six friends stared at each other for a moment, then started giggling, trying not to be so loud.

After her giggle fit, Ocellus sighed. "We'll work something out. I'll just take this with me, in case I can figure something out."

Silver was next to stifle her own laughter. "Don't we actually have homework?"

Smolder nodded. "Y-yeah, heh. We should probably, hehe, do it now, haha, while we're together."

Sandbar took a deep breath. "Pull yourself together first, Smolder. You too, Gallus."

Once the friends all calmed down, they started work on their homework. None of them noticing the pony nearby, and for good reason.





While six friends were studying, six more were arguing.

"What do you mean, executed?" Applejack was furious. "If they hadn't stepped in-"

"We would have!" Twilight rolled her eyes. "We had the Elements, we were on our way, we just happened to show up late!"

Starlight wasn't convinced. "Would the Elements have worked?"

Twilight motioned towards Rarity. "Even if they didn't, we did something similar to Rarity before meeting you!"

"But I wasn't going through the same thing as Pinkie! Just because it worked on me doesn't mean it would have worked on Pinkie!"

Twilight turned towards Rarity. "It's the power we used that matters, not the target! My point still stands!"

Rainbow got in Twilight's face. "But you're ignoring Applejack's point! Why does a hero deserve to be murdered?"

Twilight pushed her nose against Rainbow's. "Executed! It's not the same-"

Rainbow interrupted her by pushing back. "IT IS TO ME!"

Rarity was getting angry herself. "And you're dodging the point again! Why do they deserve to die?"

"I told you girls the whole story! I'm not going to repeat myself!"

Starlight was trying to remain calm and reasonable. "Just because they caused destruction doesn't mean the power made them do it."

Twilight glared at Starlight. "It was one of the biggest tragedies in Equestrian history, and Celestia needed to find out why it happened. She didn't make that law without thinking."

Starlight bit her lip. "B-but there may have been something else-"

"Good luck convincing Celestia of that!" Twilight started to the door. "Now, if you'll excuse-"

"No, ya don't!" Applejack lassoed Twilight's leg. "You aren't going anywhere until we're done!"

"We are done!" Twilight got the rope off of her leg, only to find Rainbow blocking the door.

Rainbow got in Twilight's face again. "If Celestia will listen to anyone, it would be you!"

Twilight got back in Rainbow's face. "She won't listen to anyone about this!"

Starlight started panicking. "Girls, please!"

She was ignored. "You won't know unless you try!"

"I don't need to try!"

"You're just going with this blindly?"

"I trust Celestia!"

Starlight continued to try and calm them down as they continued going back and forth until it turned into a match of personal insults. They kept going and going, until...

"SHUT UUUUUUUUUP!"

They mostly shut up because they didn't think Fluttershy could, or would, get that loud.

Fluttershy let out a huff. "Twilight's siding with Celestia and the rest of us don't agree with her. But Starlight is right. It's not worth getting this angry over."

Rainbow was upset but didn't want to hurt Fluttershy's feelings. "B-but if we tell on them-"

"Tell me," Twilight said. "I'll handle telling Celestia, and whoever tells me can remain anonymous."

Rarity glared at Twilight. "And what if we don't?"

"Then you don't have to." Twilight moved to the doorway. "But I can't promise that nothing bad will happen if you get found out."

With that, Twilight left. She was a good way down the hall when Fluttershy ran up to her.

Twilight looked at her and smiled. "Thanks for the help back there."

"I didn't do it for you. I didn't want everypony's friendship ruined by this. Besides..."

Fluttershy whispered into Twilight's ear.

Once she processed what Fluttershy said, Twilight looked around, hoping that no one heard what Fluttershy said. "Please don't tell anyone?"

Fluttershy refused to look Twilight in the eye. "I won't."





It was nighttime. Everything was dark. No one was anywhere but the dorms.

Except the one pony in the library, who's invisibility finally wore off. As soon as they realized this, they stood up and left the library. Once through the doors, they pulled out a slowly flashing gem. Bright enough to see, but dim enough that only they could.

"Let's see if this works."

They made their way to the dorms, as the gem flashed faster and faster. Once they stepped in front of a certain dorm room, the gem stopped flashing and simply glowed. The pony looked at the door and slowly opened it.

Inside, there were a number of books, a closet, and a bed full of pillows, blankets, and a changeling. The pony, trying to be quiet as to not wake the changeling, looked through the books.

Calculus 101, Basic Science, Simple Flying Tricks, Teaching for Students, Taming Pukwudgies (and other small yet dangerous creatures), Creating of Yak Confectioneries, Infamous Moments of Historical Revisionism, Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone... This changeling has quite the interesting collection of books.

Then they found it. The White Curse. The pony looked at the creature in the bed. "Then it is you."

They made their way out of the dorm area of the school, moving to the entrance hall, only to stop and look at one of the busts that were there. Shaking their head, they went out the front doors and walked a good distance before reaching their allies.

"It is them. They weren't talking quietly, though no one else was nearby, and one of them had the book."

"So what do we do now?"

"There's only one thing we can do..."