White Curse

by Jumpitydude

Chapter 15

Author's Note:

And now I realize that this is probably as dark as Chapter 13. Be aware of that going forward.

"What I need is for you to leave!"

Discord turned into a leaf. "Happy now?"

"Come on, Discord." Spike flew up beside them. "You know that's not what she means."

"Fine!" Discord, still a leaf, flew towards the window. "From now on, I won't try to help." The window opened, and Discord started drifting off. "At! All!"

"No!" Starlight pulled Discord back in. "I want you to never come back!"

Discord turned back to his normal form. "Aww. Is that any way to talk to a friend?"

"Guys, stop!" Spike was trying to stop a fight from breaking out.

"All you've done today is cause me trouble! And why?"

They all stayed silent for a moment.

Discord's eyes went wide. "Wait. What? You?"

"Oh. Heh." Starlight's eyes went pitch black. "I guess there's no fooling you, huh?"

Discord quickly backed off, snapping his fingers to no avail. "G-get away from me, y-you monster!"

"Wait, what's going on?"

The only response Spike got was a bolt of lightning that sent him flying into a wall, knocking him out.

Starlight smiled at Discord sadistically. "Are you ready to rejoin me, servant?"

For the first time in a long time, Discord was absolutely terrified. He squeezed his eyes shut, not wanting to witness what was about to happen.

...

"RUN!"

Discord opened his eyes to find Starlight staggering to her side. Not wasting the opportunity, Discord snapped his fingers and vanished.

"You little-" Starlight stared at the heroes, then chuckled. "You seem a bit short on members."

Wind Jet smirked. "They're busy. Not that we need them right now."

Starlight smirked. "We'll see about that."

What's going on? Ocellus' voice rang through their heads. Did someone get corrupted?

Striker cracked his neck. It's fine. We shouldn't need your help with this one.

If you say so. Smolder sounded a bit... out of it.

Ocellus was a bit more worried. I can get back fast if things go wrong.

Yak with Lily. Might be able to leave if needed.

Aqualine notched an arrow made of water and shot it off wordlessly. The moment it connected, Starlight's skin vanished, revealing a form made purely of electricity.

Aqualine just stared for a second. "... Uh oh."

"Do you know how water and electricity interact, dear?" Starlight shot forward faster than anything they had seen.

But not fast enough, as Striker managed to pull Aqualine aside. "Try to keep your distance!"

"I'll try, but-" She turned into a puddle of water in time for Starlight to go flying over her. "- It won't be easy when she moves like lightning!"

Striker looked at Wind Jet. "Got a plan, boss guy?"

Wind Jet shot a wide slash towards Starlight. Starlight jumped, but the wind caught her hoof, affecting it somehow. "Maybe."

Aqualine dodged another tackle. "Maybe?" She felt them sending thoughts between each other. "Don't leave me out of this!"

Starlight reared back, then went for a third tackle.

"Now!"

Wind Jet created a wind tunnel to force Starlight onto one path as he rolled onto his back. Striker hopped onto Wind Jet's pulled back hooves, then kicked when his partner did, sending Striker flying towards Starlight at the same speed.

"Wha-"

The moment Striker's fist connected with Starlight's face, her electric "skin" vanished, leaving her normal body as she tumbled away.

Aqualine giggled and clapped. "That was amazing! Nice teamwork!"

Wind Jet rolled forward to get back on his hooves. "I'm glad that worked. I thought she might be too fast." He stepped towards the grown mare before noticing something.

Her smile. There was no reason for her to be smiling right now, especially if she's unconscious. He quickly stepped back.

Unintentionally dodging Striker, who took a swing at him.

Aqualine shied back. "What the-"

Wind Jet was about to give Striker an earful when he realized that Striker looked scared.

"I... I can't move."

Starlight started cackling as she got back to her hooves.

Aqualine's fear turned to anger. "What did you do to him?"

"Did you flunk out of anatomy?" She stared right at them, her eyes as black as night. "The body runs on electrical signals. Take control of those signals, and you take control of the body. You can even do fun things like... this!"

Striker suddenly cried out in pain, although it didn't look like he was hurt.

Wind Jet grew angry. "Let him go!" We might need some back-up now!

No no no! Why did he have to fall asleep on me now? Ocellus sounded panicked. And the attendant is looking right at me! I can't do anything!

Stiker suddenly shot towards Aqualine, who turned to water and shot under him.

Wind Jet sent another wind blade at Starlight, only for her to dodge it without issue. Yona?

Market just filled up! Even if Lily look away, someone will see me!

"Isn't two on two more fair?" Starlight aimed her horn at Aqualine. "And that seems rather cheap."

Striker cried out, "Aqualine!"

The bolt hit the Hippogriff but didn't have an apparent effect.

Smolder?

Can't hear you. I'm asleep.

What? Seriously?

Striker suddenly grabbed Aqualine, as Wind Jet sent a blast of wind towards Starlight, which was faster but still easily dodged.

Striker was struggling against his own body. "Aqualine! Turn to water!"

"I can't!"

Starlight laughed. "Power off. No more turning into a puddle for you."

"Aqua- MMPH!"

"And you should be quiet."

Smolder! You can't be serious!

You guys got it.

Ocellus was just as shocked as Wind Jet. Then why is he asking for your help?

I'm sleeping. Leave me alone.

---

Yona stood in the marketplace. She couldn't do much of anything for her friends. Even if she got away from Lily, she would have to dive into the ground to get there in time, and she had no idea when she would get a chance to.

"Oh, Yona! Let's go over there!" Lily grabbed Yona by the hoof, then led her over to a tent.

Perfect! If dark enough, Yak can slip away!

Yona and Lily entered the tent. Unfortunately, there was a lamp that illuminated the tent really well.

Though, strangely, the lamp and a table were the only things in the tent. No merchant, no products, nothing.

Yona was baffled. "Tent is empty!"

"Yeah. I saw the merchant here leave, so I knew it would be empty."

"Why we here?"

"Well." Lily looked over her shoulder at Yona. "You need somewhere private to go into the earth, right?"

Yona blinked, then smiled. "You do know!"

Lily coughed. "You looked worried about something, so I figured that something was happening with your friends. I did read that book, and it mentioned that you're mentally connected to your teammates."

"Uhm." Fluttershy poked her head into the tent. "Is something wrong? I thought this was supposed to be empty."

Lily waved her hoof around. "It's nothing. Yona and I needed some privacy."

Fluttershy stared for a second. "Oh, okay." With that, she left.

SMOLDER! PLEASE!

Snore.

Yona cringed. "Yak need to go!"

Lily saluted her. "Then get going, hero."

With that, Yona dove into the ground and rapidly made her way to the school.

---

Striker slammed Aqualine into the wall. At that point, her hind legs were numb, and all of her powers were shut off. She was little more than dead weight, and Starlight was all too happy to torment Striker through her.

Wind Jet tried larger attacks, but only managed to fling Starlight around. Overall, he did little more than inconvenience her. He looked at the portraits on the wall.

Sorry, professors. He created wind currents around the portraits.

Then got hit in the face by a bolt of electricity. His body went completely numb as he fell to the ground.

"Sorry, kid." Starlight stepped over to him. "But you were about to become an actual threat to me."

Wind Jet glared up at the mare. "You could have done that from the start?"

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that." She ran a hoof through his mane, sending a wave of pain through his body.

"NO! PLEASE! NO!" Aqualine's screams drew their attention. Striker's claw was right in front of her eye, threatening to stab it. She squeezed her eye shut, only for it to force itself open. She tried to scream, only to find she couldn't.

"You don't want to miss anything, do you? I mean, I'd love to stay..." Starlight moved towards the door to the courtyard. "... but I have things to do, places to be, and plenty of ponies to torment."

"Wait!"

Starlight smiled at the colt. "I'll be back once you've started decaying."

"NO!"

*CRASH!*

In a move all too familiar to Wind Jet, Boulder smashed through the door to the courtyard and into Starlight, pinning the unicorn down while growling.

"H-hi?"

Boulder reared up, then slammed down onto Starlight, dissolving into a pile of dirt on impact. The moment she did, Striker and Aqualine both dropped, then embraced each other.

Striker's trembling claw gripped Aqualine's shoulder. "Are you okay?"

Aqualine nuzzled Striker. "I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"... Y-yeah."

Wind Jet smiled, walked over to the pile of dirt, then grabbed a part of it and pulled, returning it to a yak-like shape. "Looks like our god of the machine smiled upon us again. Or rock of the machine in this case."

Boulder smiled and rubbed the back of her head. "Thank Lily. She found place for me to enter earth without being noticed."

That caught Aqualine's attention. "So she does know!"

Striker moved off of Aqualine. "She does seem like the type to reveal a secret if it's the right thing to do."

Can you hear me?

They all froze up. That wasn't a voice they heard in their minds before, but they did recognize it. Discord?

So you can. I do apologize for the trouble I caused. I'm glad you set her free, but I need to hide away.

What do you mean? Ocellus was probably missing half of the story but asked anyway.

I was one of the products of the monster that just took Starlight over. As such, it can absorb me and my memories and powers. As strong as it already is, you don't need to be facing something worse than me on a regular basis. As such, I can't risk it absorbing me back into itself.

Wind Jet realized how much Discord probably knew. What is "it"?

You don't know? It's the collective darkness in the heart of all creatures. Although, at this point, it's probably formed more by the darkness of those that are long gone.

Ocellus put a few pieces together and realized something. Is that why it's not going at us full force? Because it's collecting more of that darkness?

Undoubtably. But I have to go now. I can't risk getting caught by that thing. I hope the seven of you can resolve this on your own.

Seven? What do you mean? Wind Jet didn't get a response. Discord? Are you there?

"He's gone." Striker walked over to the team leader. "It would have been nice to get more answers out of him."

"But he leaving make sense." Boulder gathered up the remaining dirt off the floor. "If he join that darkness again, we have bigger problems."

Wind Jet sighed. "True. Let's just hope-"

"Nngh. Trixie, run. Don't let me..."

They all turned to Starlight, who was out on the ground.

"Let's get her back to the infirmary." Wind Jet turned to Boulder. "You should get back to Lily, though."

Boulder saluted, then hopped out the window. The rest of them removed their disguises and started carrying Starlight away.

---

Yona popped out of the dirt inside the tent where Lily was still waiting.

"Hey there. That was fast."

"Not need much time. Easy win for Yak."

"Where your friends in trouble?"

"Water conduct electricity easy."

"Oh. And rocks don't. Then it makes sense that you'd be important for that."

With that, the two of them left the tent.

"You'll talk to Silver about things, right?"

"Huh? Uh... alright. I guess she deserves to know."

Why does the hall look like a mess? Yona could practically hear Smolder scratch her head. Did I miss something?

Sandbar was not amused. You. Missed. Everything.

Comments

[Anthony158]

Oh no.... poor Starlight ... welp at least they sabe her… but still who is the seven one??

Also good chapter 😃 cant wait to see more, continue your amazing job 😄

[Disappointment-Incarnate]

Fun chapter, fun indeed.

Boulder reared up, then slammed down onto Starlight, dissolving into a pile of dirt on impact. The moment she did, Striker and Aqualine both dropped, then embraced each other.

Is this evidence of a possible romance between Silver and Gallus

I kid, I kid.

Good job so far :)

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Nice chapter.

[Yoshifan30]

Yeah I'm gonna be honest with you as much as that was pretty epic I didn't like how smolder just Ignore the help from the others knowing that they need backup And it make me feel like she doesn't even care which thats not good I like her in the other chapter when she conford sandbar When he was sad or worry but here she looks like she doesn't even care what happen to her I guess we'll find out On the next chapter but still I didn't like the way how she was in this chapter. So I guess Lily does know The Secret about the young six powers not just rainbow dash and even discord thorax and queen nova and Silverstream family ok cool