//------------------------------// // Intermission 2 // Story: White Curse // by Jumpitydude //------------------------------// The Second Friendship Festival was in full swing. Creatures chatting, singing, and dancing. Booths set up for games. It was the biggest event ever. Even bigger than last year, when things were interrupted by the Storm King. Somewhere in the commotion, a young Dragon shared a hug with Fancy Pants, then walked back to her friends in a daze. Gallus raised an eyebrow at the Dragon. "May I just mention something, Smolder? You are the weirdest Dragon ever." Smolder snapped out of her daze. "Hey! What's that mean?" "Well, you read those weird comics all the time," Gallus said, holding up one claw. "Manga!" "You're totally into fashion for some reason." Gallus held up a second claw. "Well, it's-" Gallus then pointed at Fancy Pants, who was moving towards Princess Luna. "And you have a weird obsession with that guy!" "He does good work!" Sandbar stepped between the two. "Actually, Gallus, you're probably the only normal one of us." Gallus stared at the other boy in confusion. "Eh?" "Ocellus is trying to be a scholar, while most Changelings are either fighters or artists of some kind. Most Hippogriffs are proud and are willing to fight, but Silver is humble and prefers peaceful resolutions. Yona is a goofball, but most Yaks are serious. And Ponies are hard to define, while I'm one of the most generic ponies out there." "Of how our races can be defined as a whole," Ocellus added, "You're the only one that really fits your race. Minus the whole "friendship" thing, of course." "Yeah, Griffons are still adapting to this whole... friendship thing." Gallus looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Gilda... Hey Gabby!" Gabby giggled and flew up to Gallus, hugging him. Gilda chuckled. "Yeah, they have a sibling-like relationship." Silver giggled. "I can tell." Sandbar sighed. "I wish I had a chance to spend more time with my sister." Yona (relatively) gently put her hoof over Sandbar. "You're practically Yona's brother already. We one big, weird family!" The six friends and Gabby laughed. Even Gilda chuckled a bit. "You're so close!" Gabby nuzzled her surrogate brother. "Hey! Can I be part of your friend family?" "What do you mean?" Gallus patted his surrogate sister on the head. "You already are." "Yay!" Gilda awkwardly rubbed the back of her head. Gallus seemed... different somehow. More friendly? "By the way, do you happen to know what Dash meant by 'giving her students a special reward?'" The students shared a look. "No idea." "Uh-uh." "Nope." Smolder put her hand to her chin. "Though that would explain why Mr. Fancy Pants came up to me." Sandbar nodded in agreement. "Makes me wonder what the rest of us have coming." "EEEEEEEEE!" The others leaned away from Silver, who had her claws to her cheeks. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" With that, Silver shot off. "Silver?" The others went after her. "Do you have visual on the Hippogriff?" "Visual confirmed. Go for removal." The bodyguards grabbed Silver and attempted to pull her off the pony they were guarding. Silver held fast. "Initial removal attempt failed. Going for a second attempt." Songbird Serenade could only roll her eyes and pat the Hippogriff on the back. "Now I know why Princess Twilight told me to brace myself." "Silver!" The other five caught up and tried to help the bodyguards remove the energetic bird. It failed. Silver simply wouldn't let go. "Hello, Miss Serenade." Twilight trotted up like Silver wasn't being creepy or troublesome. "I see you're getting acquainted with my students. In a... unique way." "Indeed. I am." The singer patted her fan on the back. "Silver? Could you please let go?" "Oh! Sorry!" That, of all things, is what got Silver off of her idol. "I just couldn't hold myself back! When I saw you, I got so excited that I..." As Songbird listened, she could tell that Twilight was having some influence on her students. Though Pinkie may be influencing Silver a good bit as well? "Hey, professor?" Sandbar walked up to the Alicorn. "Did you set us up to meet with famous ponies or something?" Twilight giggled nervously. "Did one of the other professors spill the beans?" "Nope. Gilda asked about what Rainbow meant in her note." Gallus looked over at Gilda and Gabby, who met up with the Crusaders. "Yeah. We set it up for most of you to get a chance to meet a famous pony you've been admiring. The exception is Gallus since he doesn't seem that interested in most of them." "I think Rainbow made a good choice for him anyway." Applejack trotted up with a veiled pony. Songbird Serenade took one look, then started giggling. "Are you trying to hide your identity? Because it's not working." "You're not the one we're hiding her identity from." The veiled pony tilted her head. "Though it doesn't look like it's hiding it all that well from him." Applejack looked at Sandbar. Sure enough, his expression was blank, but his face was red. He approached the "mystery" mare and removed her veil. The mare could only giggle and poke his cheek. "Hoofsie." Sandbar suddenly started smiling like a dork. "M-Miss Coloratura. I never i-imagined that I would have the chance to m-meet you." Coloratura giggled again. "You can just call me Coloratura. Or you can use AJ's old nickname for me and just call me Rara." "Rara... I... like that." Coloratura giggled... again. "You're adorable. Anyway, I'm going to enjoy the festivities. Want to come along?" Sandbar rubbed the back of his head. "Uh, sure. I-I'd like that." Sandbar and Coloratura stared at each other for a second, then laughed and headed off. Ocellus was the one who giggled this time. "She seems nice." Applejack laughed instead. "She's very nice." "Well, since Silver slipped off with that singer mare, I'm gonna hang out with Gabby a bit more. It's not like I get every opportunity to." With that, Gallus flew off in the direction they saw Gabby in earlier. Smolder looked at Ocellus. "Well, now what?" "Well, seeing that Yona is running off towards that tank that Professor Pinkie is in, and I'm pretty sure Professor Rarity is waving me over to her... You get to do whatever you want!" With that, Ocellus fluttered off. "... Great. Thanks." Smolder let out a heavy sigh. As nice as spending more time with Fancy Pants sounded, he was a busy stallion, and she didn't want to bother with some of the ponies that flock to him. All that left was wandering the festival aimlessly. All things considered, that plan could have gone far worse. A number of games, plenty of food, and a ton of creatures ranging from Ponies to Changelings to Dagons to Hippogriffs, all willing to chat with anyone that wants to. What she thought would interest her for a few minutes ended up entertaining her for hours and hours. At some point, she was told that one of the buildings available for the festival had karaoke and dancing, so she decided to check it out. On her way there, though... "So it was her, and it's not a coincidence." Smolder paused. Principal Twilight? "We wanted to send out a Changeling that would leave a good impression. Considering what she did, I figured she had the best chance of doing just that." Smolder glanced around the corner. Standing there were Twilight Sparkle and King Thorax. "Yeah. She did save their lives. I'd have to say-" "Since I answered one of your questions, I need you to answer one of mine." Thorax's tone took a rather harsh turn. "Huh?" "What happened twenty-three days ago?" "Twenty-three... Uh, I went camping with the girls! That's all!" "I can tell when someone isn't telling me everything." Silence... "You're talking about Chrysalis, aren't you?" "So you do know." "We've been keeping a threat as well kept of a secret as possible, but it does still affect things. So when she died..." "Did you check her yourself?" Thorax's voice went soft again. "No. Applejack and Rarity found her, then informed me after the fact." "Do they know how to check for signs of life?" "Huh? I think they do. Why?" "Because Chrysalis' body has fully healed by now, and we're not letting her out of sight of at least three guards until she reforms." "... She's alive?" Smolder leaned a bit further... without noticing the cable around her ankle. "Wuagh!" *Whump!* She managed to trip while standing still. The two leaders looked at the Dragon that just fell into the scene. Once she shook her head clear, she realized that her cover was blown. "Ehehehe. Sorry for, uh, eavesdropping." Twilight lifted her hoof, her eye twitching. "How long were you there?" "Uh." Smolder worked to untie the cable from her leg. "Around when King Thorax mentioned why he sent Ocellus to the school. I think. It was just before the part about the camping trip." Thorax glanced at Twilight, then back to Smolder. "So you didn't hear anything confidential?" "No. Aside from the part about that Christmas lady." "Chrysalis," Twilight said, letting out a sigh of relief. "And we can't go into detail about anything. Just don't mention the things you did hear." "My lips are sealed." As if sensing the perfect time to arrive, Silver barreled into Smolder. "So what did you hear?" "If you're going to ask," Ocellus said flatly as she flew up, "You should at least wait until she's not next to the one asking her to be quiet." Twilight raised an eyebrow. "And how long were you two there?" "Just got here!" Silver gave Twilight a thumbs up. Sandbar stepped out, followed by Gallus and Yona. "We heard there was karaoke and dancing at a nearby building, so we were on our way there." "Oh! You seperated from the celebs?" Gallus shrugged. "I wouldn't call Gabby or Gilda celebs, but Gabby wanted to spend time with the Crusaders." "Countess Coloratura and Songbird Serenade have to get ready for the big concert." "Cheese Sandwich went to set up party thing." "Miss Sapphire... yeah. We split up." Ocellus seemed oddly upset. Thorax patted Ocellus on the head. "Well, we won't hold you up. Just don't say a word about what you heard us say, Smolder." "My lips are sealed. Let's go have fun, guys." Smolder led the others away. Silver was quickly curious. What were they talking about? Chrysalis is alive. Oh... That's interesting. Ocellus thought half-heartedly. That didn't slip by Smolder. "What happened with Ocellus?" Gallus leaned in close to Smolder. "That Sapphire Shores mare said some insensitive things about Changelings. Miss Rarity insists that she didn't realize how hurtful what she said could be, but Ocellus is still hurt." "Oh." Sandbar nuzzled Ocellus. "It's alright, Ocellus. Not everypony thinks like that." Ocellus finally smiled. "Thanks, Sandbar." They both missed the soft giggling behind them.