//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: White Curse 
// by Jumpitydude 
//------------------------------//

After the disaster that was shed building, the students figured that canoeing would go much better. How wrong they were.

"Uh, professors?"

Neither Applejack or Rainbow Dash were listening. The canoe was headed straight towards a rock.

Great! They aren't listening! Gallus thought. Now we're gonna get wet!

Most of us will get wet! Ocellus clarified. Smolder will turn to steam! We can't let her get wet!

What? Smolder's face reflected the panic in her heart. Ohno! Ohno! Ohno! Whatdowedo? Whatdowedo?

Left or right? Sandbar asked mentally, as he tried to verbally get the professors' attention. Left or right?

Yak can't swim! Yona added to the panic the teachers completely missed.

Silver looked overboard. EXECUTIVE DECISION TIME! The boat suddenly yanked itself to the left, nearly knocking a couple of them overboard.

"What in tarnation?" Applejack could only figure the students decided to go left, not knowing about Silver's power to manipulate water.

"Keep rowing! Keep rowing!" Rainbow's massive smile couldn't be missed, even by those behind her.

"Wait! Stop!" Applejack started yelling about how the path they were on was too dangerous, but the students weren't listening. They needed to get away from the water ASAP.

Silver kept the water below the canoe as stable as possible, to not disturb any of the fish below them, and they all continued to row until they hit land.

Rainbow Dash stopped the timer. "Well done! We beat the old record by two seconds!"

Ocellus sent out a thought. Don't tell them why or how.

"Yona more worried about not drowning than record."

Applejack was fuming. "Then we should have gone right to take the safer route!"

Rainbow shrugged. "Whatever. It all worked out."

Applejack opened her mouth, ready to start screaming.

"Hey, girls!" Twilight trotted up, unaware of the tension between her friends. "How are things going?"

Rainbow proudly held up the stopwatch. "Beat the record!"

"Wow! Congratulations!"

Applejack jabbed her hoof into Rainbow's cheek. "By putting the students in danger!"

Rainbow pushed Applejack's hoof aside. "No risk, no reward! I did what I had to to-"

"Err, Rainbow?" Twilight held the stopwatch back up. "This is one second over the current record. It was set last week by Soarin while he was on a camping trip of his own."

Rainbow's eye twitched while Applejack glared at her. Some of the students couldn't help but giggle.

Once she fully processed what she was told, Rainbow got mad. "Grr... I'm gonna give that stallion a piece of my mind later."

"Could you two come with me?" Twilight motioned to the teachers, who followed her.

Sandbar wiped his brow. "Well, nothing bad happened at least, right?"

Ocellus nodded. "Yeah. That's what matters."





"The Teacher of the Month wouldn't care about being the Teacher of the Month! I know Fluttershy would be thrilled to see another pony win."

Rainbow folded her front legs. "For the record, my activity was a success, while AJ's fell apart."

"Because-"

"I don't care about that!" Twilight said, cutting off Applejack. "You're supposed to be teaching them teamwork! Do I have to take over?"

"Well-"

"No! Applejack just needs to leave!"

"Maybe if-"

"Knock it off! Both of you!"

Applejack cringed. Why was Twilight mad at her? She hadn't gotten a chance to say anything!

Twilight took in a deep breath. "... Fine. You're taking the students on a nature hike. You can't possibly mess that up. And this time, the students are leading. You two will be with them to keep them safe. Any word of you two arguing, and you're both on overtime for the next month. Got it?"

"Y-yes ma'am." She remembered what happened when Pinkie got overtime. It wasn't pretty.

"B-but I-"

Rainbow jabbed Applejack and shook her head.

"... Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I'll see you when you get back with the students. Together." With that, Twilight left.

The teachers went back to the students.

"Alright, kiddies. We're going on a nature hike, and I'm in charge!"

Applejack just heard the most shocking thing out of Rainbow's mouth all day. "What? Now hang on a-"

Rainbow shoved her hoof in Applejack's mouth. "Ah ah ah. If we argue, there will be overtime, and I won't be arguing back. You're on navigation, so don't mess it up."

Applejack shoved Rainbow's hoof out of her mouth. "YOU... Fine. Lead the way."

Smolder scratched her head. Does anyone else feel like professor Rainbow just lied?

Yeah, but... Sandbar looked at Applejack. ... We can't prove it unless professor Applejack speaks up.

Applejack did some breathing to calm herself down. No one saw the disembodied shadow enter hers.





"We can still get back to school before dark if we cross that ravine and stop doubling back."

"We knew that. All part of our plan. Right, Applejack?"

"Yeah. Sure."

Rainbow gave Applejack the stink eye. "What's that supposed to mean?"

With how annoying the obvious tension was getting, the students were happier than they should have been that their teachers were finally about to fight.

"Well, you're the one that ruined the shed, you nearly got that record thing by putting the students in danger, and you're the one leading us in circles, but Twilight still thinks you have better leadership qualities than me."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Shed building was slow and boring..."

The students felt something... off.

"... The bitcacudas or whatever never bothered us..."

Something... disturbing.

"... I made you the navigator, so that's on you..."

Something from... Applejack?

"... and if you want to leave, go ahead and leave."

Was this feeling... someone getting corrupted? 

Rainbow stomped her hoof down. "So knock it off! Quit being a brat!"

"... Brat?" Applejack's voice went deep, her head hanging limply. "Who's the brat here? The voice of reason? Or the one demanding that things be done her way?"

Rainbow opened her mouth to object, but quickly realized something. "AJ?"

"I was trying to avoid putting the students in danger. I was trying to teach them cooperation. But you? You disregarded that."

Gallus stepped back. "P-professor?"

"But you're the one that got what she wanted. Got your ego stroked. You got to ignore what I said, and you were rewarded."

Rainbow felt her heart sink. "A-Applej-jack?"

"And now..." Applejack raised her head to look at Rainbow. Flames were coming from her eyes. "Now... you have the gall to call me the brat? When you've been betraying the safety of our students? Betraying their lessons? Betraying our responsibility?"

The students ran off, but Rainbow froze up. "A-AJ, I-"

"No more." The flames spread across Applejack's body, slowly making her resemble a fiery version of the Pony of Shadows, burning many of the nearby trees to ash in a moment. "I won't hear another word from you! I won't let you have anything else you don't deserve!" Applejack's orange, glowing eyes met Rainbow's tear-filled magenta eyes. "BURN!"

A fireball shot out, aimed right at Rainbow. Had she been in a more stable mind, Rainbow would have simply flown off. In her state of panic, caused by her feeling like she betrayed Applejack and their students, all she could think to do was cover her head.

Fortunately, Smolder, as Heatnix, was there to punch the fireball. "Fly, you fool!"

That snapped Rainbow out of her rut, and she flew into the remaining trees of the nearby forest.

The other five rushed to the Dragon's side.

Striker fist-bumped her. "Nice one, Heatnix!"

"Heatnix? So you're using aliases now?" The fire pony smirked. "It won't matter once you're gone."

"How bout y'all get out of my way." Her voice went back to being Applejack's. "What's going on now is between me and Rainbow."

Wind Jet stepped in front of Everfree. "Well, you'll have to go through us first!"

Applejack leaned in close to him. "And if I don't want to?"

*Boom!* "You have to."

They all looked up at the orb of water, floating in the air and creating a dome of water.

"You're made of fire," Aqualine explained, holding her bow above her head. "To leave now means extinguishing your flames."

For a huge, imposing monster, Applejack looked very nervous. "And when you run out of water?"

"I won't. The water from the orb is fed by the river nearby, and once the water hits the land, it feeds back into the river. Both water sources feed each other in an endless cycle until I tell it to stop. You're trapped."

"S-so I just need to knock ya out, right?"

Aqualine turned into water and shot into the orb. "Good luck with that."

Woah! Striker thought. She thought of that pretty-

You're welcome. Everfree sent out, giggling.

Applejack let out a roar, and stomped on the ground, sending out a wave of fire. Boulder dove into the ground, Striker flew up, Heatnix yawned, and Wind Jet made a quick burst of wind to send the fire up above him and Everfree.

"You don't like that, do you?" Wind Jet taunted the pony turned monster. "You're trapped here until we beat you!"

"Or until I beat you!" A large lava tendril shot out of Applejack's back and fired a large beam of fire at Wind Jet and Everfree.

Wind Jet readied a barrier, only for a large burst of water to appear in front of him, putting out the fire fast.

I'd go ahead and douse her, but- Another beam of fire cut off Aqualine's thought, curving around to try and hit Everfree from the side, only to be blocked by more water. I'll keep her safe! Focus on beating Professor Applejack!

Not every day you get a good reason to beat up your teacher. Striker struck Applejack across the face... and was reminded of her body being fire in the form of his claw needing to be put out. "HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT!" He shoved his claw into the water barrier.

Yeah, shoving your fist into a fire is generally not a good idea. Heatnix then shot a fireball at the monster, which absorbed it entirely. Though I'm not going to be much help either. Sorry, guys.

Wind Jet sent a thought to her. Can't you do something about her fire?

He got his answer in the form of a wave of fire... that promptly turned into a ball and went right into the water wall.

I can! Heatnix sent another of Applejack's blasts of fire into herself, effectively nullifying it.

Yippee for you. Striker was significantly less enthusiastic about their discovery.

Unfortunately, it didn't take long for the beast to realize what was happening. "Messin with my fire, huh?" Applejack darted up to Heatnix. "Not if I can do something about it!" She lifted her hoof and smacked Heatnix, sending the dragon through the water barrier at high velocity.

Wind Jet felt his heart stop. "HEATNIX!"

Fortunately, she was going fast enough to not be fully put out by the water, but...

"Ooooowwww! That stings!"

Rainbow dashed to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, it just-" It took a moment for Heatnix to process who said that... "I TOLD YOU TO RUN!"

Rainbow looked at the water dome. "I was hoping to talk some sense into AJ, but I don't think I can get to her now."

Heatnix stood up. "Neither can I. My body is fire, so I can't easily move through water."

"Hopefully the others can handle it."

Heatnix! Wind Jet sent out a desperate cry. Are you alive?

Heatnix put her claw over her mouth to make sure she didn't accidentally say something out loud. I'm fine, but there's no way I'm getting back in there.

Wind Jet let out a sigh of relief. Well, you're alive. That's what matters.

"Take that! And that!" Boulder shot rocks out at Applejack. "And that!"

Careful, Striker! Wind Jet sent out. Don't get burned!

I'm fast. Calm down. Striker replied, zipping around in Applejack's face.

You're getting awfully close to her. Everfree noted.

How else am I gonna keep her attention? Striker continued his actions, disregarding his personal safety.

I'm starting to feel bad. Aqualine sent out. I feel like I'm not doing much.

You're doing something important. Wind Jet reassured her. Keep it up.

Literally. Boulder sent.

Wind Jet continued to try and put out Applejack's fires as Boulder shot out rocks and Striker zipped around the beast. Everfree was more or less useless at that point.

It took a while for Aqualine to notice something. Wait, where's Heatnix?

Heatnix resisted the urge to facepalm, not wanting Rainbow to learn about their psychic bond. I got launched through the water wall. How did you miss-

Oh, so you're not in the dome? Well guys, hold your breath! Water suddenly filled the dome from the top.

Boulder dove into the earth, while Wind Jet created a strong wind to bring Striker and Everfree towards him before creating an air barrier. Applejack could only watch as the dome completely filled with water.

Everfree nuzzled up to Wind Jet, while Striker ran his claw through the water.

"What are you doing?" Wind Jet asked.

"I'm looking for Professor Applejack." Striker reached his claw further into the water...

Ohhhhh, that feels good. Mmmmm.~

Striker, upon hearing that, yanked his claw back. "EWWW! AQUALINE! WHAT THE-"

All of the water poured back into the river, leaving the three creatures from the bubble, and Aqualine holding Applejack.

Aqualine smiled at her teammates innocently. "She's right here."

Boulder popped out of the ground as the others gave Aqualine a flat look, as she smiled like she hadn't said anything wrong.

"Applejack!" The heroes watched as Rainbow ran over to Applejack.

"She'll be alright," Aqualine said, leaving the hugging to Rainbow. "I made sure none of the water got in her lungs."

Rainbow let out a sigh of relief. "That's good." She then looked around, then rubbed her head as she spoke in a... somewhat stilted manner, "Uhh, but my students seem to be missing. I'm sure you six don't want to stay here too long, having an illegal power and all, but if you find my students, let them know the coast is clear."

"Will do!" Aqualine shot towards the nearby forest, followed by her teammates. Moments later, the students ran out of the forest.

"Professor!" Silver shot towards Applejack. "Is she alright?"

Rainbow chuckled. "She'll be fine." She looked over her students. "It's a shame you guys totally missed one of the most epic things I've ever seen."

"I'm sure it was, professor." Smolder folded her arms. "I'm sure it was."

"Shouldn't we get back to the school?" Sandbar looked at the sky. "It's getting late."

"The fastest way is..." Ocellus went up to the cliff edge. "Across this ravine. We should be pretty close to the school after that."

"Gallus and I can airlift AJ to the school." Rainbow looked at Sandbar and Yona. "But how are they going to get across?"

Ocellus turned into a sea serpent, and lied across the ravine, turning herself into a makeshift bridge.

"... That works." Rainbow motioned for Gallus to help her lift Applejack across the ravine, followed by Smolder and Silver, while Sandbar and Yona went across Ocellus.

"Ow! Yona!" Once the grounded pair were across, Ocellus turned back into her normal form. "You're heavy!"

Yona flexed. "Yak pure muscle!"

Sandbar giggled. "Whatever you say, Yona."