White Curse

by Jumpitydude

Chapter 20

"And there's nothing you can do to stop me!"

Rainbow bit her lip. She wasn't happy about this at all. Maybe I should just wait off to the side and... No. I have an idea, and I hate myself for it.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Rainbow? You're being oddly-"

"You're wrong." Rainbow looked up with a vacant look in her eyes. "There is something I can do about it."

Lightning Dust rolled her eyes. "Come on! You're not gonna-"

"Interesting."

Lightning's eyes shot wide as she started to look around. "Who said that?"

"You're not as broken or furious as the others, but you're willing."

Scootaloo was starting to panic. "Willing? What does that mean?"

"You know the consequences. Do you still yearn for my power?"

"I do."

Twilight looked at Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow, what-" Twilight's eyes went wide as she watched a dark mist surround her friend. "What are you doing?"

"Do you doubt your friend?"

Rainbow looked at the nearby filly. "I'm sorry, but I feel like this is the best way to make you understand."

Lightning stepped back. "What is going on?"

Twilight stepped forward. "Rainbow! Stop!"

"It's too late. You might as well run now."

Rainbow looked Scootaloo in the eye. "You want to abandon your safety? Then I'll show you the result."

Twilight's heart was racing. "Rainbow Dash!"

"So you're staying? I suppose you deserve a reward."

Rainbow disappeared in the mist. "You can consider it a small gift, kid."

The mist shot outward.

"A prize for the reckless."

---

"He asked what I would do if I had to steal the bow to have it." Silver scratched her head. "Like, when would one of us need to?"

"Because it's an invaluable artifact that your kind feels the need to preserve at all costs?" Smolder suggested.

Silver shrugged. "Well, my bow falls under that category."

Ocellus looked up from her book. "And Queen Novo recognizes what you're doing. Griffons might not."

"And if what the Crusaders were talking about it true," Sandbar said, thinking back to his tutoring, "the Griffons might be looking for something to encourage their friendship. If Gabriella was a symbol of Griffon friendship, they would want to keep any proof of her existence."

Smolder nodded. "It'd be like me asking for the Dragonstone Scepter. Why would they trust something like that to some kid?"

Silver gasped in horror. "You don't think he stole it, do you?" Her eyes suddenly locked on to the butterfly fluttering past her face. Not because it was close, but because it looked weird. "What in the world?"

"Oh!" Ocellus recognized it immediately. "That's one of Lily's notes!"

Smolder watched it land in Yona's hooves. "When did Lily get so involved in our lives?"

"When did we get so involved in each other's lives? It always just-"

"Uh oh." The others looked at Yona. "The note says that Professor Rainbow might be corrupted."

"What?"

Silver looked around really quickly. "That way!" She suddenly darted off.

Sandbar looked at the note. "But we'd be able to sense if she was getting corrupted. How would Lily know she was-"

Their eyes all went wide as they stared in the direction Silver shot off in. They quickly rushed in the same direction, switching into their outfits on the way. Once they caught up with Silver, they were presented with a shocking sight.

When Pinkie and Applejack were corrupted, they encased themselves with their element. When Fluttershy was corrupted, she was simply herself. Starlight started out like the former and ended up like the latter. Rainbow was completely different.

Her body had grown to the shape of Celestia's. Her coat was as black as night. Her mane was made of flowing colors. With the others, they looked like themselves. Rainbow looked different. She looked like...

"Nightmare Moon?"

"No. Nightmare Rainbow."

Everfree shook her head. "What's going on? Why does she look different? Why didn't we sense her corruption until just now?"

Wind Jet glanced at Everfree. "I have no idea, but we have to do something about-"

"Scootaloo!"

Twilight's voice drew their attention to the smaller pony. There was a visible distortion headed towards her, but her eyes were on Twilight.

There was a yellow flash of light as Gilded Lily appeared in front of Scootaloo alongside a barrier that managed to stop the distortion. She wrapped her hooves around Scootaloo and they both disappeared in another flash of yellow.

Aqualine blinked. "Wait, how close was she?"

Boulder cracked her neck. "Close enough to see Rainbow get corrupted."

"Come on, girls! Let's stop her before she goes after anyone else!" Wind Jet followed his order up with teleporting into the open.

Rainbow caught him out of the corner of her eye and turned her body to face him. Twilight's eyes went wide right before she teleported.

"So you're here already." Rainbow watched as the four girls moved in behind their team leader, then tilted her head. "You seem to be short a member, though. Is he not back yet?"

"That's none of your concern!" Aqualine quickly summoned her bow and an arrow and fired it off before Rainbow could react. The arrow missed by a foot.

"You have to be completely oblivious to think that would work." Another arrow shot past her head from behind as the Aqualine in front of her turned into a small puddle. "I've watched you practice your powers. I know what you can do."

The real Aqualine aimed her bow upward and shot off an arrow. Clouds formed around where the arrow was and it started raining.

"Cute."

Aqualine drew in the rain and started to change. Her body grew, her claws shined with sharpness, and her tail became serpent-like with a blade at the end of it. All in all, she was a monstrous version of herself.

Could you turn the rain off? Everfree has me covered, but I can't do much in the rain.

In a second! Aqualine leaped up and aimed herself towards Rainbow Dash. Halfway there, she noticed something.

Something she generally pays no mind to is her ability to sense moisture in general. She's able to use it to tell where someone is, and it's amplified in the rain. The only moisture coming from Rainbow was from the raindrops that were passing through her.

Aqualine only realized what this meant after a lightning bolt came from the clouds she formed and struck her. Her form reverted as she fell to the ground, falling through the image of Rainbow, which just dissipated on contact.

"Do you remember that trick, Wind Jet?" The rain quickly stopped, and the sun came back. "Making colored smoke and forming it to create your own image?" Rainbow floated down from above Aqualine. "That's one of your tricks."

Wind Jet gulped. The last two fights were hard because the team wasn't together. Rainbow was going to be hard because she knew their tactics and could use that against them. Though he uses colored powder to color the smoke. Did she use her mane or something?

Boulder had no time to care. She dove into the ground and shot out at Rainbow. Rainbow spun out of the way, keeping her eyes on Boulder. Boulder shot rock spikes out at Rainbow, while Heatnix took advantage of the distraction to fire off fireballs at Rainbow from behind.

The fireballs hit an invisible shield as Rainbow weaved through the rock spikes, heading for Boulder. As she got close to the Yak, however, a large tree popped up between them.

The moisture from the rain is weakening your powers, Heatnix. But it's making my powers stronger. A net of vines shot out of the tree towards Rainbow, who spun again and shredded them up.

"Do you really think your usual tactics will work on me?"

The vines pieces hit the ground where they turned to sticks, then to winged snakes. The snakes flew up and started trying to bite the mare, who simply outmaneuvered them.

"There you go." After entertaining the snakes for a bit, Rainbow simply blew them away. "It's a shame it was useless."

Wind Jet looked at the Hippogriff laying on the ground. You okay, Aqualine?

Nothing hurts, but I can't move.

Relax. We'll get it from-

*CRASH!*

Wind Jet looked up. Boulder smashed into the tree, practically cutting it in half.

Boulder! Be careful!

Boulder stood up and shook off the splinters that stuck to her. Sorry! Are you okay?

I'm fine. This isn't too much of a-

*BOOM!* Rainbow had aimed a Sonic Rainboom at the tree, splintering both halves of it and sending an ear-piercing shriek through the air.

"EVERFREE!"

I-I can recover from this. She said that, but what happened to her didn't look pretty.

Heatnix took off, throwing a few fireballs at Rainbow before getting close to her. The fireballs bounced off the same barrier as before. Once within arm's reach, Heatnix whiffed a few punches before Rainbow beat her down and kicked her into a puddle on the ground.

"Did you really think that would work? You haven't been very competent so far."

Boulder shot herself up, attempting to land on Rainbow. Rainbow simply sidestepped the attempt.

Rainbow glared at the Yak. "How about you save me the trouble and give up now?"

Boulder growled, then created a dome of earth.

Boulder no! I can't help you like-

Yak got this!

Wind Jet couldn't believe he had to send this, but... Gallus!

Huh? Oh, right. Gallus didn't sound very awake.

Wind Jet pulled Heatnix out of the puddle of water, placing her on the driest spot he could find. Stay away! I don't think we can win this one!

Yeah. Sure.

The colt gathered the parts of Everfree that broke off and piled them on her. Gallus! I'm serious!... Gallus? Can you hear me? Gallus!

*BOOM!*

Wind Jet turned around in time to watch the dome dissolve. He didn't see Boulder, but Rainbow was standing in the nearby bleachers. When Rainbow kicked off of the bleachers, a scream filled the air.

"Boulder!"

"Well, fearless leader." Rainbow looked Wind Jet right in the eye. "It's just you now."

Wind Jet looked her in the eye. Her cold-hearted eyes. She wasn't going to hold back... Why should he?

He snarled and reared back. His next action was to teleport in front of the mare and land a blow on her face. She responded by striking him across the face. What followed could only be described as a rapid exchange of blows. Their powers had grown useless since all the other would have to do is counter with their own power to render any attempt futile.

As the girls watched from their incapacitated states, they were all praying that Wind Jet would win. But any time either party got the upper hand, the other would pull a cheap move to even the playing field. Eventually, however, they knocked each other away by a good distance.

They locked eyes. Both were heaving. This was it. Now or never.

Both of them created a tailwind and shot at each other. Wind Jet let out a war cry. The moment they collided, the wind they generated caused a lot of the dirt on the ground to float in the air.

Everfree looked at the point the two ponies collided at. Even with all of the dust in the air, she could see that one was still standing. They stepped forward, causing a gust of wind that blew away the dust.

She gasped. "No."

Rainbow looked at the colt that was lying on the ground and tilted her head. "You know, you were supposed to win." She stepped over to him. "I wanted to be corrupted in a way that I could remain in control so that I could help you win." Then she stepped on him, causing him to cough. "And you still lost. What does that say about you and your team? That you can't beat someone that was trying to lose?"

Wind Jet opened his eye. "Professor..."

Everfree looked at her legs, which were still torn up. Boulder struggled to get her body back to the ground, the only way for her to heal at this point. Aqualine tried to force her body to move but was ineffective. Heatnix didn't even bother, knowing any effort on her part would be useless at this point.

"There's only one of you left. Do you really think he'll win?"

"Do you think I won't?"

Rainbow looked up. There he was. Floating just above her. The last member of their team. She moved her hoof off of Wind Jet.

The last hero landed and pressed his beak to her nose. "How about you save me the trouble and give up now."

"Strong words for someone about to die." She created a blade of wind and aimed it for his neck.

Only to find herself flying away from him while he was darting towards her, quickly closing the gap that suddenly appeared between them. What the hay? She created a gust to push herself out of the way in time to dodge his attack. When did he get so fast?

He skidded to a stop, his right claw behind his back.

"Idiot!" Rainbow flew towards him. "You planted yourself in the-" He was gone well before she got to him. "Huh?" She skidded to a stop and looked around.

He had somehow moved behind her, effectively switching places with her. He moved his claw from behind his back and placed it on his hip. "What's wrong? Losing your touch?"

Rainbow growled at him, then shot towards him again. He deftly cartwheeled and backflipped away, landing with his claw behind him.

"Since when were you competent?"

The Griffon shrugged. "I got some help."

Rainbow snarled and created a small tornado around him. He looked up, completely unconcerned. Rainbow motioned with her hoof, and the tornado collapsed in on itself. The Griffon inside had vanished.

"You missed."

"WHAT?" Rainbow looked at the untouched boy. "HOW DID YOU ESCAPE?" She charged at him. "Just die already!"

He simply leaped over her. She quickly turned around and went for him again. This time, he didn't dodge. He grabbed her hoof and punched her in the gut.

Rainbow stumbled back and clutched her stomach. After a second, she noticed something that really made her mad. "Don't leave! I'm not through with you, Striker! Just because-"

"I'm not Striker." He stood with his back to her, up on his hind legs with his left claw on his hip. "Striker is someone that's gone now."

"Then who are you?"

He held out his right claw and flicked it, summoning a bell. "I'm Reverb." With another flick, the bell rang.

As if in response, the sound of four explosions filled the air as Rainbow went flying. When she fell back to the ground, she was back to normal.

Reverb smiled at the unconscious mare behind him, then flicked his wrist again to make the bell vanish. He turned back to his teammates. "You guys okay?"

Wind Jet held his stomach as he stood up. "Yeah. I think we'll be- WHAT DID YOU DO?"

Reverb shrugged. "Won?"

"Well, yes. But how? Where did those explosions come from? How were you teleporting? When did you get-"

Reverb put a claw up to his leader's mouth. "Sorry, boss guy, but I've gotta bounce. It would look really odd if I wasn't where I was supposed to be. And I'm sure Boulder will be able to to get you guys away easily. She just needs a bump off the bleachers."

Wind Jet pushed the claw out of his face. "Wait!"

"Talking can wait, assuming Everfree doesn't figure it all out before I get back." The Griffon saluted. "See ya!"

With a snap of his claws, Reverb vanished. From his perspective, he sent himself towards the nearby forest, where he bounced off the trees repeatedly. Once he found the train tracks, he bounced between the rails to travel along it. He scanned the first train he came across, but quickly realized it wasn't his. The next train, however, was his. He quickly found the window he left trough and went back in through it, returning to his normal form as Gallus.

He casually left the bathroom and went back to his seat, where he sat with his chin in his claw.

Hey, Gallus?

Yeah, Silver?

That was AWESOME!

He chuckled. Glad you enjoyed it.

Comments

[Yoshifan30]

I can't believe rainbow dash let her self get corrupted And not only that she is tough as nails but with Gallas new power He was able to stop her and that is pretty freaking awesome

[Yoshifan30]

You know this sort of kind of reminds me of the mighty morphin Power Rangers When Tommy got new powers and unlocking new abilities like gallus Sort of but still thats pretty awesome