"Really? Cozy Glow? But she was so nice!"
"I know. Apparently, it's because she was in touch with some guy called Tree Wreck from a place called Tartar Sauce."
"Are you talking about Tirek? Who's currently imprisoned in Tartarus? Now her getting expelled makes more sense."
"I also heard rumors that she stole the artifacts from the spellvenger hunt."
"Hello, oh magical Equestrian tree!" The two ponies turned towards the Griffon of the school, who looked like he was about to dump Silver and propose to a tree. "Can you tell me everything I need to know about friendship?"
"Of course, young Griffon. Do you need something in particular?"
Gallus screamed and flew back to his friends. "It talked!"
Silver bit her... beak. "What do you want? Are you here to hurt us?"
Ocellus turned into Applejack. "Slow down there, Sugarcube. I think I know what's happening." She ran up to the tree, turned around, and bucked it. An instant later, the upper half of a filly swung down.
"Lily!" Gallus got in Lily's face. "Do you know how much that scared me?"
Lily was laughing like mad. "Sorry! I couldn't resist!"
Most of the other ponies in the courtyard went on their way after a small laugh.
"Well, you seem happy today." Sandbar knew Lily could be happy, but he'd never seen her this happy before.
Smolder leaned over to Silver. "I guess she's really happy Cozy Glow is gone."
Lily lifted her upper body back into the tree, then dropped down on all fours. "Hey, did you guys notice that weird grate in the library?"
The students shared a look (aside from Silver, who was staring at Lily intensely).
"There are a few grates scattered across the first floor and outside of the school that lead to something below the school. The one in the library is the most secluded one, so if you're gonna take a peek, that's the best one to use."
Silver's eyes narrowed. "Why should we?"
Silver's friends looked at her.
Smolder put her hand on her hip. "Because it's suspicious?"
"What if it's dangerous?"
Gallus put his claw on Silver's shoulder. "That's just more reason for us to be the ones to look into it."
Yona looked around. "You know, it's a good thing not many other creatures are present. That would be an awkward way to get exposed."
"Come along! I'll show you where it is!" Lily headed off, five of the six students in tow. Silver glared and started to walk away, only for Gallus to grab her wing and drag her with them.
"Right here."
The students moved around the bookshelf. It was the very back of the library, full of books that almost no one was concerned with in this school. And there was a grate on the floor emitting an ominous light.
Smolder wasted no time walking over and removing the grate.
"What are you doing?"
Smolder was already halfway in. "Dragon. Strange magical cave. What do you think I'm doing?" With that, she dropped in.
Silver sighed. "We're really doing this, huh?" She dove in like it was a pool.
Yona tried to follow but needed a push from Ocellus to get through.
Sandbar watched Gallus follow, then turned to Lily. "Can you keep watch?"
Lily nodded.
Sandbar couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with Lily, but he didn't have a reason to distrust her. All he could do was follow his friends through the hole in the floor. As soon as he was through, a pony rounded the corner.
"What are you doing here?"
Inside the grate was a massive cavern made of blue crystals. Or at least something crystal-like. Even just standing there, they could all feel the magic flowing through the cavern.
Ocellus noticed something move out of the corner of her eye. Upon turning to look, she saw something she really didn't want to. "Ah! Miss Twilight!"
The other students turned to look. Sure enough, Twilight's figure was standing in the shadows nearby and started to approach them.
Gallus, like his friends, was shaking. "Hey, Headmare. Sorry if we're intruding. See, we found a grate, and-"
As soon as Twilight's hoof entered the light, it turned into a claw. As the rest of her was illuminated, she turned into a different creature entirely.
One that Gallus recognized. "Gabriella?"
The female Griffon giggled. "Yes. More specifically, I am her aspect left with the Tree of Harmony. I spoke with Gallus back when you went to the tree for the first time."
Sandbar looked at Gallus. "Is that why he passed out?"
Gabriella nodded. "Precisely. Now, bring out your weapons."
Silver tilted her head. "Why?"
"The tree needs to recharge. That, and I can use it to give you invaluable information."
The students shared a look, then brought out their weapons and held them out. A bright light erupted from the weapons and flowed into Gabriella. A moment later, the light blinded the students.
...
A large amount of fire flowed from the burning house into the hand of a Dragon. "How did it get this bad so fast?"
"I doubt it was natural." An Abyssinian casually examined the fire. "I believe it was caused by someone. As for who, well, that's anyone's guess."
"Why aren't you helping?"
"By doing what? Turning to ash?"
A stream of water shot between them at another burning building. "Cool it, you two!" A Hippogriff landed between the two. "Let's focus on putting out the fire for now."
"He's not doing anything!"
Gabriella, who was nearby, shrugged. "What is he supposed to do? Add fuel to the fire?"
"Hey!" A nearby Pegasus was creating tornadoes from his hooves and aiming them at the fire. "Focus on work! We can discuss pulling our weight later!"
Not far away, a Diamond Dog was shooting dirt at a fire. "Ah! It really is effective!"
The Yak standing next to him chuckled. "Yak not liar. Yak say it work, it work."
"We need to leave! Now!"
The Pegasus didn't even bother looking. "You be quiet!"
"HALT!"
The seven creatures turned towards the team of guards.
The Abyssinian sighed. "I'll handle these boys." He casually stepped towards them. "Hey, guys. I hope you don't mind, but we-"
The guard didn't wait before stabbing the unfortunate feline. Everyone else barely had enough time to process what happened before the guard flung his body into a nearby fire.
"Kill them all!"
Celestia observed the damage. "So they did all of this?"
The guard captain nodded. "They seemed crazed. I can't help but believe that something about their power affected them."
Celestia gave the guard a sympathetic look. "And your uncle?"
The guard looked past a building. "He was found over there. We believe one of them killed him directly."
"Did you get all seven of them?"
"No. One of them slipped away. Incidentally, it was their leader, Sky Blitz."
Celestia had a far-off look in her eyes.
"I couldn't help but notice that you're hesitant to refer to them by their original title. May I-"
"White Curse."
The guard blinked. "Pardon?"
"Their power is to be known as the White Curse, and the users themselves the White Cursed. They don't deserve their original title."
"Says you."
Celestia and her guards all looked at the speaker. "Sky Blitz!"
The Pegasus had a crazed look in his eye. "Sorry, Princess. I have some unfinished business here." With that, he charged at Celestia. The guard stepped between them and-
"Gah!" Sandbar was heaving. He felt something damp on his cheek. He had apparently been crying.
"Th-th-that was..."
He looked at his friends. They all looked just as shaken as he was.
Yona was biting at her hoof. "I did not need to know I could die like that."
Gallus flew up to Gabriella with a scowl on his face. "Why would you show us that? What was the point?"
Ocellus had her own questions. "Why did the guard attack them? Why did the say the White Cursed attacked first?"
Gabriella placed her claw on Gallus' beak and gently pushed him away. "I will answer one question for each of you, but only if it's a yes or no question."
The six friends looked at each other. They each had one shot at a question.
Gallus took a deep breath. "That guard wanted the old team gone, didn't he?"
Gabriella nodded. "Yes. He was part of a group known as the Night's Embrace, and he lied to Celestia to removed what he saw as a threat."
Yona was the next to speak. "Did you lend your power to the Tree of Harmony in case this happened?"
"Not this specifically, but yes. There had been incidents we were unable to help with. I didn't want Equestria to fall apart in case we were to vanish."
Smolder went next. "Are the Elements able to handle the exact same issues we can?"
"Yes, that's what they are designed for. They won't work right now, though. There needs to be a new Element of Loyalty."
All of the students stared at Gabriella. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Rainbow Dash acted in betrayal. We can't trust her."
"Are you kidding me?"
"She's the one we've been trusting the most!"
"Are you saying that one thing is enough to say she isn't loyal?"
Gabriella scowled. "She chose to betray someone. That's far from the loyalty we are looking for."
Gabriella's words only served to rile the students up more, causing more back and forth arguing, though Ocellus remained perfectly quiet throughout.
"ENOUGH!" Gabriella's voice caused a massive echo while serving its purpose of silencing the students. "I know what she's thinking! She saw no reason to stay loyal to Scootaloo!"
"Because Scootaloo betrayed her first."
All eyes shot to Ocellus, who had been quiet until then. Gabriella looked particularly shocked. "But-"
"You know what Rainbow is thinking, but if you don't know what Scootaloo was thinking at the time, you're missing some valuable context, which could include why Rainbow acted how she did in the first place. For that matter, Rainbow did what she did to try to help us, since she thought she could keep control of herself."
"There was no way she could."
"Did she know that at the time?"
Gabriella looked away.
"Or are you saying she should be loyal to Chrysalis?"
"... Heh. I guess I lost this one, huh? Alright. I'll let her continue being the Element of Loyalty. To be honest, I wasn't quite sure it was the right choice myself."
Smolder let out a sigh of relief. "That's relieving. But we still have three questions, right?"
Gabriella nodded. "Silver, Sandbar, Ocellus, you three are still able to ask me questions."
Silver smirked. "What was the power source for the airship?"
Gabriella stared at her.
Sandbar sighed. "Yes or no questions only, Silver."
"Oh! Shoot! Uh... Can we replicate the power source for the airship?"
Gabriella shook her head. "It requires something very specific, but I'm hesitant in telling you what it is. You really shouldn't think too hard on getting that thing working right now."
Silver frowned. "Aww."
"Were there eight members of the old team?"
"Yes."
Gallus' jaw dropped. "How'd you know that?"
Sandbar's expression mirrored Gallus'. "How did you not?"
Gabriella tilted her head. "Actually, that is a good question. We tried very hard to keep the number of members on our team hidden. How did you know it?"
"Well, I first thought it back when Ocellus was showing us the book for the first time. It mentioned eight weapons, but there were supposed to only be seven members of the team. I didn't think about it much after that until we found the airship. There were eight tables, eight chairs, eight bedrooms, eight anything you would only need one each of. I would have thought it was just in case, but I read the book on the White Curse again later and found that your team wasn't very sociable. No need for a spare bedroom in that case."
Yona blinked a couple of times. "Ooohhh. If they aren't sharing their things, then they wouldn't need eight of anything unless they had eight members."
"Well, eight of anything they only needed eight of. And that ignores what we heard them talk about in that vision just now." Sandbar looked at Ocellus. "Your turn, Ladybug."
Gallus smirked. "Can you ask a more groundbreaking question?"
"I think so..."
They held their head. Rainbow's corruption, the guards, Celestia... everything had just turned hectic over the last few days. And the worst of it all was-
"Well?"
-her. They looked up at the mare sitting across the desk from them. Usually, she was a close friend. In these kinds of moments, however, she was a sadistic puppeteer, knowing exactly how to manipulate them.
"Are you sending the guards away?"
"I... can't. Not without Celestia questioning something."
The mare suddenly laid herself on the table, nearly nose to nose with them. "So you're letting them do what they want, hmm?"
That look in her eyes was jarring enough as is. This close, however... "N-no! No no no! I was able to order them to-"
The mare put her hoof under their jaw and forced it shut. "I don't care about the details. Is our precious secret safe?"
It was as if the mare was forcing malice through her hoof. It was absolutely terrifying coming from-
The mare scowled. "Is. It. Safe?"
They nodded rapidly, not wanting their friend to kill them.
The mare quickly sat up, back to them. "Good. After all, I'm sure you remember our deal." She hopped off of the desk and started towards the door. "Now if you don't mind, I have to take care of a few things."
They stared at her as she got to the door. "You, of all ponies, should not make me fear for my life like that."
She smiled at them. "It's surprising what you can learn when you have the right friends. Oh, but I'm sure you of all ponies should know that, Headmare."
Yona nearly crushed her friends as they pulled her through the hole. "Sorry."
Smolder flew up behind her. "At least we're all through."
Silver covered her smile, then turned around. "Oh! Hey, Lily!"
The rest of them turned towards Lily as she stepped towards them. "What was down there?"
Sandbar got back on his hooves. "An empty cave that's apparently connected to the Tree of Harmony."
"I guess that makes sense since the Castle is right next door and apparently connected to the tree as well. That took a bit of time, though. I can tell Headmare Twilight that you were helping me clean the library and need an extension."
"No, I don't think we... need..." Ocellus suddenly let out a huge yawn. "What time is it?"
"About 1 in the morning."
Sandbar's eyes went wide. "R-really? Why aren't you in bed?"
"I'm used to staying up late. That, and I was asked to watch this place."
"Yeah. Thanks for doing that." Sandbar let out a large yawn. "Let's get to bed. We don't want to be too tired to study tomorrow."
The other students nodded and all seven of them left for the dorms.
Silver leaned in close to Lily and whispered to her, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," Lily whispered back. "I'm just tired."
"If that's your story, I won't pry."