• Published 31st Mar 2018
  • 4,771 Views, 164 Comments

White Curse - Jumpitydude



The students of the School of Friendship run away to stay together... only to get wrapped up in something much larger than themselves.

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Chapter 23

"You sure look giddy, Twilight."

Twilight giggled. "I am! You two went to the Kirin homeland for your friendship quest, but this is my first time visiting them. I can't wait to learn about their history, traditions, and entertainment! Oh! I wonder if they have festivals going on!"

Fluttershy giggled, though more from amusement than excitement. "I think they treat every day as a festival there now."

Twilight gasped. "That sounds like fun!"

"Ah, shoot. Fluttershy, may I get out? Nature's calling."

Fluttershy got out of her seat, and Applejack wasted no time making her way to the bathroom.

As soon as she was gone, Twilight's smile faded. "I didn't want to bring this up around her, but-" Twilight noticed Fluttershy's cold expression. "... I haven't found anything about Discord yet."

Fluttershy's face immediately softened. "I guess he just doesn't want to be found right now." She giggled, causing Twilight to raise an eyebrow. "That probably means no one's captured him or drained his magic. Though it does beg the question of what he's hiding from."

Twilight stared out the window. "Probably whatever corrupted you and the rest of our friends. Hopefully, we can get rid of it before it gets too out of hand."

"Or we can let the White Cursed handle it."

Twilight cringed. Fluttershy used that voice. The voice she always used whenever the subject of those students came up.

"You do remember our agreement, right?"

Twilight took a deep breath. "If they die, you out my secret and leave for good." Twilight wasn't going to admit that Fluttershy leaving would sting far more than that secret getting out.

Fluttershy's smile twisted into one that Chrysalis would wear. "Good. You do remember."

Twilight bit her lip. "Fluttershy, when did you-"

*Bang!* "Woowee. That felt good."

Fluttershy lowered her voice. "We'll talk about this later."

Twilight nodded. With Applejack present, they couldn't exactly discuss the important things.

Applejack hopped back into her seat, then looked between her friends. "Uh, is something wrong?"

Fluttershy wore an innocent smile. "No. Everything's fine."

Twilight refused to look Applejack in the eye. "Yeah. It's all good."

Applejack couldn't help but feel like she was missing something important, but she didn't have a chance to ask before Twilight went on a rant about learning Kirin history and traditions. Applejack took it as a sign not to pry.


"Don't complain." Gallus continued to sweep the floor. "It'll just make things take longer. For some reason."

Smolder stopped wiping down the shelves to glare at Gallus. "I didn't say anything."

"You were thinking of it."

"Get out of my head."

"I figured you were thinking of it."

"Did we come in at a bad time?"

Gallus looked at Ocellus, who just came in the room. "Nah. We're just talking."

The rest of their friends stepped in, with Sandbar bringing up the rear. "Why are you guys cleaning the Headmare's office? Extra credit?"

Gallus looked down at his broom as he swept. "We tried to prank that Sludge guy and got Miss Starlight instead. When we tried to explain that we were after Sludge, she assumed that we were after the Headmare."

Smolder floated higher to wipe one of the higher shelves. "I don't like that guy. I won't be shocked if he lies to us just to get his way."

"He's definitely dishonest." Silver said as she went through the papers on Twilight's desk.

"SILVER! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Sandbar's run was stopped by application of Hippogriff claw to his face.

"I'm looking for something juicy." Silver lifted up a letter.

Ocellus raised an eyebrow. "And you say Sludge is the dishonest one?"

"Hey, Tempest Shadow is coming here!"

Yona cocked her head. "Who's Tempest Shadow?"

Ocellus glanced at the Yak. "You met her once. She's the mare that found me and Sandbar after the incident with Professor Fluttershy."

Yona looked at Ocellus blankly.

"The one with the broken horn?"

"... Oh yeah. Her."

Sandbar was trying to physically force Silver to move away from the desk. "Okay, Silver! You saw Ocellus' next grade, you learned Tempest is coming to town, I think that's enough snooping!"

"No! I want something that's actually juicy!"

"Then I can get some more cleaning supplies so you can help out Smolder and Gallus."

They all paused and looked at the door. Starlight and Rarity were right there.

"... Ehehe. Well, I didn't find anything too juicy yet."

Rarity closed the door. "Are you sure you don't want to help your friends?"

Silver slowly stepped away from the desk. "Not in this situation."

Rarity lightly tugged on Smolder's tail with her magic. "By the way, I wanted to ask you about something I found in your room."

Smolder's eyes went wide. "Why were you in my room?"

Starlight sighed. "She's been doing that since we started the school. We tried to get her to stop, but it started wearing on our time and resources too much, so we had to just let it happen."

"Anyway, I found what appeared to be a superhero costume in your room."

There was a collective dropping of hearts.

Why weren't you wearing that?

It got torn in our fight with Rainbow, so I had to repair it! I only had it off of me for eight hours! "I, uh... that's..."

"Darling, I respect your decisions..."

Smolder felt like she was about to dehydrate from sweating.

"... but having a Nightmare Night costume based off of the White Cursed is not a very wise idea, especially with all the guards around lately."

The students blinked. She's not serious, is she?

Nightmare Night is so far away!

"Uh, yeah. It's not supposed to be based off of one of the White Cursed." Technically true.

"But you can certainly see why I thought that, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Starlight stepped forward. "You have plenty of time to change costumes. And you might still be able to use the one you have next time around."

"Yeah. Thanks for the advice." Are they really this dumb?

"Anyway, we should really go. Rarity and I have some, uh, business to attend to."

Ocellus raised an eyebrow. "Do you need help?" I don't think so.

"No, no, no. It's teacher stuff. Things we can't let the students see. Thank you for the offer though."

Silver waved as they left. "Okay! See you later!" They definitely know.

So that's, what, half of our teachers? Half the entire faculty if you include Spike and Starlight.

"Hey, guys?" Gallus pointed out the window at the large ice pillar in the distance.

"Uh oh."

They all switched into their costumes and lept out of the window.

Just down the hall, Starlight looked at Rarity out of the corner of her eye. "So you aren't going to talk to them about it?"

"No. They have a lot to deal with already." Rarity watched a guard walk right in front of her, then leaned close to Starlight. "And we can't just talk about it willy-nilly right now."

"True."


Within the building sat dozens, maybe hundreds, of scrolls, all with various writings and drawings. Some were childhood thought given form, some were records of the past, and some were merely transcripts. Like any building that could be called a library, everything was quiet...

Until Autumn Blaze threw the doors open. "And this is our library! The location of many of our documents, real or fictional!"

Fluttershy's ears were folded back in an effort to save her hearing. "Aren't libraries supposed to be quiet?"

Applejack shrugged. "It's Autumn."

"This is amazing!" Twilight's eyes were fixated on the many scrolls lining the walls. "I wish copy books worked on scrolls. That would make getting spares for other libraries much easier."

"We can make copy scrolls!"

"That'd be great!"

Applejack leaned over to Fluttershy. "I think her Pinkie is coming out."

Fluttershy nodded.

"You already calculated that? I've been trying to figure that out for months!"

The two mares watched as the Princess and the Kirin darted around the library talking at about a mile a minute.

"Aww! Children can be so precious!"

Just when the two understood something from one conversation...

"This is another one that I wrote!"

... they were on the next subject.

"At least, I think that's what it was called."

Applejack and Fluttershy just stared and smiled.

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Autumn pretty much jumped up a ladder to grab a scroll off of a high shelf. "I have to share this one with you!"

"What is it? Another story?"

"A legend! A historical figure!" Autumn dropped off the ladder. "And a personal favorite of mine. Brilliance, mystery, style, and charm! A memorable Kirin to be sure." She used her magic to undo the magic latch on the scroll. "And his name is-"

"Autumn!"

The Kirin yelped and dropped the scroll on the nearby table.

Rain Shine laughed at the sight of Autumn's shocked face. "When I heard someone was being too loud at the library, I knew it had to be you."

"Wow!" Fluttershy was enamored by the image of the famous Kirin. "He looks amazing!"

Twilight looked at the mural on the scroll. The Kirin depicted had a bright gold coat with a honeydew mane. What stood out the most to her, however, was his bracelet. Specifically, the crescent moon charm on it.

"Now, what is he doing in those smaller pictures?"

The smaller pictures depicted him with various cages, full of creatures small and large. Though some involved lightning in some way.

Rain Shine giggled. "He was a professional trapper. He didn't ever kill anything, just relocated them somewhere they were more welcome."

"Or at least less troublesome." Autumn pointed at one of the images with lightning in it. "It was even said he could call down lightning and STRIKE down his opponents!"

Rain Shine laughed. "I see what you did there. There are also rumors that he was able to mind control the creatures. His traps weren't better designed than other's, but they seemed to catch things more reliably."

Twilight stared at the scroll. Yellow? Trapper? Mind control? It couldn't be.

Autumn pointed at one particular drawing that Twilight somehow missed. "And then there's this. He claimed that he managed to trap the moon at one point! But that's pretty absurd. I mean, do you really... think..." She trailed off as she noticed Twilight's expression.

"Is this... Was he Gold Strike?"

The two Kirin shared a look. "Yes."

Applejack tightened her eyes with worry. "Twilight? How did you-"

Twilight suddenly screamed. The other four leaned away from her, baffled by her suddenly changing expressions.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'll get this back to you, but I need it right now!"

"Twilight, what-"

"This is very important!" Twilight got right up in Fluttershy's face. "I CAN SAVE THEIR LIVES!" With that, she teleported away.

Rain Shine was very shaken up by Twilight's screaming. "Can someone explain what just happened?"

Fluttershy stared at where Twilight was just standing, then her eyes grew wide. "I think I know, but we have to get back to Ponyville right now!" The Pegasus then rushed out the door.

"What? Fluttershy?"

The others followed her out.

Fluttershy knew what Twilight was trying to do, and she wanted it as much as Twilight did. Little did either of them know that the wheels of fate are always turning. The final act had begun, and nothing either of them did could make a difference.

Author's Note:

Fluttershy's not entirely in character here, I know. It'll be addressed in the coming chapters. And snooping Rarity is based on her actions in Ponyville Confidential.