The Cursed Prodigy and The Three Special-Grades

The metallic tang of blood was a constant companion now, a coppery invader on her tongue. Rainbow Dash huffed, her lungs burning like they were filled with embers. Her legs felt like lead weights, the world tilted slightly, her vision swimming at the edges. Specks of her blood flicked off her body with each ragged breath.

But despite the pain, exhaustion, and overwhelming odds, Rainbow dove in with more confidence than her body could carry. With a guttural cry, she spun her back hoof and connected with Usowamoto's side in a soft thud. The impact is accompanied by weird feedback that feels... offputting.

Usowamoto flicked their head back, twisting to face the speeding pegasus with a sneer.

"That's weaker than before," Usowamoto remarked, jabbing a reinforced fist into her gut.

Savilva spilt from her lips as she reeled back. Clenching her jaw, Rainbow spun back for a back hoof to their face, but her effort was fizzled out by a pair of arms parrying her advances. Taking a step forward, Usowamoto spun on their heels around Rainbow to target her back.

But Rainbow was just as fast, reacting with explosive speed and whipping around to face the curse. Using her bloodied wing, she smeared it across their face, leaving a trail of blood and loose, fallen feathers to blind their features and giving Rainbow a colossal opening to swing in with the same momentum and dig her leg into the side of their neck, and sending Usowamoto stumbling back, groaning.

However, victory, if it could be called that, was a pyrrhic one. The excessive movement of her wounded wing ripped open the shallow gash further, sending a fresh wave of pain lancing through her. Her breath hitched, her body faltering. "Three times!" Rainbow thought, "I would've been dead three times over if they had used that damned technique back there!"

But they hadn't.

It looks like all those world-hopping did a number on them. "They probably think that they could beat me without using it!" With her newfound resolve, she zips forward with reckless abandon, tackling the curse with her forelegs in a tumble of limbs. "Then I'll burn you out!" Rainbow yelled, bracing herself for impact. "Down to the bone!!"

Stabilising herself on Usowamoto, the pegasus swung her hindleg in a deadly arc directed at their chin, but a quick step back from the curse narrowly avoided a concussion. With her hindleg in the air, Usowamoto shot his hands to Rainbow's throat, tightening his fingers around her neck.

"Ghargk-!" Rainbow gargled a desperate breath.

Her instincts kicked in. Her hooves darted up to her throat and clawed at the hands, obstructing the precious air in her lungs. It did little, of course. Hooves aren't sharp. Instead, Rainbow rewound her hind legs and released a relentless assault onto her enemy's chest. Back to back to back, the moment her hooves made contact, she'd pulled it back as quickly as she sent it out and shot it back down again.

This barraging tidal wave got Usowamoto to release their hold on Rainbow. Crumbling to the dust-ridden carpet floor, she took a quick, shallow breath before leaping back up and ramming herself into the curse. Taking this moment to pull herself upright, Dash dishes out a deadly right hook to the face.

Bam!

Usowamoto's jaw snaps to the side, reeling backwards.

Bam!

Dash sends another hook, this time from the left.

Bam! Right. Bam! Left.

Right as Rainbow pulled her hoof back for another hit to the face, Usowamoto retaliated with a snarl. The curse grabbed onto Rainbow's weaker wing and yanked the wing off her back with a crunch. A spray of blood and a scream tore from Rainbow's throat.

"GAAHH!!!"

White-hot agony exploded through Rainbow's shoulder, radiating down her wing and chest. Her vision blurred, spots dancing in front of her eyes. She felt herself stumbling, her legs giving out beneath her as tears streamed down her cheeks. Crumbling to the floor, the poor pegasus trembled as she lay on the ground, her wing being tossed aside by a cursed spirit banning ten thousand worlds.

"A-aaagh-ha!" Dash whimpered, doing everything she could to ignore and flush out the pain. But Usowamoto got to her first before she could collect herself.

Picking her up by her mane, Rainbow was forced to face the portal curse head-on. Despite the overwhelming agony, pain, and spasm all across her body, more notably her back. She couldn't help but crack a smile through the tears. From her perspective, Usowamoto was rocking a bloodied, purple nose, bruised cheeks, a swollen eye, and a single stray blood trailing down their exposed teeth.

"W-what's wrong?" Rainbow struggled, "Like the new face so much that y-you're not healing? Haha-" Usowamoto grits their teeth, shoving a fist deep into Dash's gut to silence her. "-Gah!"

Going down on a knee, Usowamoto brings Rainbow's head crashing into the ground. The crevice and space between Rainbow's cheek and the floor shimmered with light before a portal opened, and Rainbow's head pushed through. Instantly, her ability to breathe was taken away as the familiar sensation of water threatened to enter her nose and ears, the cool liquid enveloping her face like a soothing embrace. Opening her eyes, she was greeted by a breathtaking sight.

The seafloor sloped gently away, a vast, soft, golden sand expanse. It shimmered and glowed in the sunlight that filtered down from above, casting dappled shadows across the ocean floor. Tiny ripples danced across the sand, creating intricate patterns that shifted and changed with each passing moment. Her eyes widened when the realisation hit her.

She was drowning, submerged in a deep, oceanic pool, the world a distorted soundscape of flowing water, gargled gasps and the pounding of her own heart.

A bubble of air escapes her nostrils, moving to the side of her face and tickling her cheeks as it goes opposite where Rainbow is facing. She pushed off the castle grounds on the other side of the portal, trying to gain any leverage she could. But her attempts were thwarted when Usowamoto brought another hand down upon the back of her neck, pinning her throat against the floor as they laid a knee on her spine.

"You were trying to get me to use my technique, right?" The spirit asked rhetorically amidst the savage thrashing Rainbow was dishing. "Well, here it is!"

"B-lgah!" Another bubble escaped as the crushing weight of a body rested on her back, doing nothing to help the predicament she found herself in.

Water crept steadily into her nostrils, and the taste of salt now danced in her mouth with a taste of impending doom. The lifeblood that had coursed through her veins moments ago was replaced by the chilling emptiness of the sea, a cold dread that settled deep within her bones.

Each desperate inhalation yielded nothing but a burning sensation, a searing reminder of the air she so desperately craved. Her face was beginning to turn a deeper shade of blue, the light around her dissolved into a murky haze of blue, the edges of her vision darkening with an alarming speed as water slowly seeped into her nostrils, and the flavour of salt danced on her tongue. Even death, a concept that had always seemed distant, loomed over her shadow. No... that's not right...

"I'm going to die." Fear coiled around her heart, squeezing with a ruthless grip. It didn't matter that her head was technically above where her stomach used to be; the dread itself felt like a lead weight, dragging her entire being down towards the inky abyss.

"I don't..." Tiny flickering lights danced at the edges of her vision, pinpricks of white that seemed to mock her struggle. Were they stars? Or perhaps just the cruel reflection of her fading life force? "I don't want to die..."

A choking sob, silent and desperate, welled up from somewhere deep within her. The sob turned into a cough, a convulsive spasm that sent fresh waves of agony lancing through her already battered body. Without control, she inhaled a large gulp of saltwater, flooding her mouth. She choked, sputtering and gasping, the water burning its way down her throat as her anxiety worked against her.

This is it. She was going to die.

That is, until a faint shimmering light illuminated from behind Usowamoto. Lighting their silhouette atop the struggling mare.

"Huh?" Usowamoto spoke, dumbfounded.

Turning to face the source of the light, they were greeted with a set of fingers tearing a rift in the fabric of reality. The fingers pulled diagonally downwards, and from within that rift, familiar, tired eyes locked their gaze on the curse. A fist shot out the opening, digging its knuckles into Usowamoto's side and launching the curse off the pegasus. Sending them crashing into the mossy-brick wall opposite the room with a bang. Loose brick and excess dust cascaded down around Usowamoto's slumped body.

With the weight finally torn off her back, Rainbow pulled her head out with a gargled cough. Hacking and coughing out saltwater trapped in her throat and lungs with a heavy strain, her warm tears flowed down her cheeks as she shook off excess water clinging to her fur.

"I'm sorry it took me so long to find you." The voice apologises, their shoes stepping into view.

Straining her neck, Rainbow propped herself upward with her forelegs to face her saviour. Her eyes widened when she finally drank in who saved her, and she couldn't help a smile tugging at her cheeks as relief replaced the overwhelming hopelessness that had filled her heart moments prior.

"Yuta!"

Standing atop her, Yuta replied with a smile, his war-torn white jacket clinging to his body by fabric scraps. His black under-shirt is already in tatters as well. Though remarkably, not a single scratch was on his body. Kneeling down, Yuta hovered a hand atop Dash's body, and a liquid warmth began to flow all across her body. Washing away the pain and soothing her injuries.

"I knew," Yuta began, "from Rika's release that both of you were in this world. What caused me to hesitate was whether that curse had already gone to another neighbouring world or if it was just hiding." Releasing his hold on her body, Rainbow got up with such ease that it even took her aback. Her missing wing was replaced with a fresh one as the cuts and lacerations across her body stitched up nicely.

"But then," Yuta continued, his voice taking on a more determined tone, "there was that sudden spike in cursed energy that couldn't be ignored." He patted her head with a gentle touch, a silent promise of safety. "You did great, Rainbow."

Rainbow gave a soft whicker, a sound that was both a grateful reply and a reminder of the unfinished business at hand. "Don't thank me just yet," she rasped, wiping water from her chin. "We still have a curse to exorcise."

Across from them, Usowamoto rose from the ashes. Stumbling out of the rubble with a moan, the portal curse glared at the sorcerer, their purple blood oozing from the forehead and painting an eye violet.

Rainbow locked eyes with the monstrosity, her gaze unwavering. The fear that had threatened to consume her moments ago was replaced by a steely resolve. With Yuta by her side, she wouldn't back down.

She cast a sidelong glance at the sorcerer, a silent question hanging in the air. Stepping closer to Yuta, she leaned in, her voice a low whisper. "So, what's the plan?" she asked.

Yuta, still kneeling, placed a reassuring hand on her back. He lifted his free hand, pointing a finger directly at Usowamoto, drawing Rainbow's attention back to the enraged creature. A focused glint flickered in his eyes as he began to speak, a plan already forming in his mind.

"Here's what I had in mind..." he began, his voice low but filled with a quiet confidence. Just as he was about to outline his strategy and Rainbow's focus was elsewhere, a mysterious light shone below her peripherals as the support below gave way. On instinct, Rainbow flared her wings, but Yuta's hand atop her back stole any aerial freedom she had as he pushed her deeper down in the portal.

"Yuta!?" Rainbow called out, betrayal and confusion evident across her face. "Why!?"

"Don't worry," Yuta reassures, "This portal will bring you back to your home world, I made sure to burn that image in my head." Dash continues to struggle against the sorcerer, but with each amount of effort she throws in, Yuta will respond with strength tenfold. The rift in reality shimmered and pulsed, its edges beginning to shrink, threatening to close completely. "I don't think its right for you to die on a stranger's world. Thank you Rainbow," Yuta paused to give Dash another smile. Dash received the message he was trying to convey well. Not that she wants to acknowledge it. "And goodbye."

"No!" Dash protested, "I can still-!" then the portal sealed shut.

The silence that befell upon the chamber was heavy and oppressive. Yuta's gaze lingered on the shimmering afterglow of the portal before slowly turning to face Usowamoto like a hungry predator finally cornering its prey.

A bead of sweat rolled down Usowamoto's forehead as their eyes met, a cold recognition passed between them. No words were needed.

This was the end of the line for the curse.

A crooked, toothy smirk stretched across Usowamoto's face, much to Yuta's confusion.

"What's so funny?" Yuta inquired, taking a step closer to them. Hands already balling up into fists.

"So, you're not going to let me go?" Usowamoto rasped, its voice a gravelly croak that echoed through the chamber. "Who knows, I might even be able to redeem myself." Yuta didn't bother with a reply, uninterested in entertaining a curse's spiel. "Figures." Usowamoto continued, its smirk morphing into a grimace. "Every part of my being, even my soul, knows this is where I perish. But..." Its voice trailed off, a hint of something akin to defiance flickering in its single, grotesque eye.

Shooting both hands up to their throat, Usowamoto begins to... strangle themselves? Yuta was taken aback. Never before has he seen a curse actively trying to exorcise itself. Their fingers dug deep into their neck before an explosive wave of cursed energy boomed forth from deep within the curse. A shockwave splits the air, sending dust and debris flying everywhere. That said, not a particle touches Yuta. The air around him seemingly bends and slows before ever reaching him. The young sorcerer waited for an attack to come, any of the sort, but nothing ever came.

A blinding light tore from where Usowamoto stood and stretched up to the sky, thinning out before several branches-like fissures of light shot out in every direction all across the sky.

"Although my story ends here, many more stories will come after mine!!"

"What did you do!?" Yuta roared, his voice barely audible over the celestial spectacle. Reacting with lightning speed, he surged forward, his body a blur as he tackled the weakened form of Usowamoto to the ground. Pinning the curse with his knee, slamming his hand to restrain it. "Tell me what you did!" he demanded, his voice desperate with urgency. The air crackled with his raw power, warning what awaited Usowamoto if it refused to answer.

A malevolent cackle burst out of Usowamoto, tears of joy in their eyes. "Isn't it obvious!?" They screamed with pure ecstasy. "I've fractured the boundaries! I've opened up portals from all across the multiverse and linked them up to countless versions of Equestria! And to think you had my cursed technique!"

Yuta's breath hitched. He understood now the horrifying implications of unleashing chaos on a cosmic scale. Each of those shimmering fissures in the sky, a doorway to a different Equestria, a different reality? The very fabric of existence was now a tangled web, and countless innocent lives hung in the balance.

"From here on out," Usowamoto continued, its voice laced with a chilling glee, "stories untold, fantasies, dreams, all will come true! Won't you be entertained, sorcerer?" They taunted, grabbing at Yuta's knee and shaking him. "To witness the infinite possibilities unleashed? The multiverse will get to experience the fun and joy I did! But most important of all, I will be the architect of all those that come after me!!! Don't you get it!?! I WIN!!!"

Yuta gritted his teeth, a surge of anger battling with a cold dread. He couldn't let this stand. Shifting a free hand over Usowamoto's face, the air began to shift and bend in an unnatural force. The centre of Usowamoto's face begins to cave inward, the bones on the side of their face snapping and bending to give way. One might think of the unimaginable pain that comes with distorting a head, but all the while, Usowamoto was laughing. Even when his mouth was crushed inward, muffled laughter still could be heard. In the next instance, Usowamoto's head was fully crushed into a ball focused into a singularity by Yuta's Blue. The main body is dragged slightly by the attractive force before Yuta dispels it.

The laughter ceased. A heavy silence descended upon the chamber, broken only by the constant, reverberated humming of residual power coming from the tree of light spanning across the open sky. The monstrous form that was Usowamoto lay crumpled on the ground, headless and ashing away. Leaving behind two red, decaying fingers with long black fingernails where the curse's neck once was.

Special Grade Curse: Usowamoto was exorcised.

Picking up the fingers, he pocketed them away on his person. Thinking the worst was finally over, a cold dread settled in his stomach as Yuta looked up at the fractured sky. Why hasn't their technique been released yet? Shit, there isn't time. Each second he wastes dallying around is possibly another world opening a floodgate to a variant of Equestria.

Standing up and getting closer to the base of the light tree, Yuta grabbed the edges of the rifts with Portal Manipulation, his hands immediately burning up upon contact.

"GRAAAHH!" The primal scream ripped from his throat, a sound born not just of pain but of the sheer herculean effort he was exerting. Sweat beaded on his forehead, trickling down his face to mingle with the tears of frustration stinging his eyes. The rift, seemingly defiant, pulsed with otherworldly energy, resisting his every attempt to mend it. Winds that weren't from that world blast through the gateway, almost as if to get Yuta to stop closing it.

Yuta pushed regardless, channelling every ounce of his cursed energy reserves into his hands, his vision blurring at the edges. The portal seemed to taunt him with its endless expanse, a glimpse of a distorted, nightmarish Equestria beyond. What's worse was the fact that the music that had accompanied him throughout this entire ordeal was finally dying out. Seeing that he was out of time, Yuta poured the overflowing cursed energy from his body into his arms, the portal inching closer and closer together.

Even the branches of light in the skies shrink further and further back to the base of the pillar of light. This was it, the final push. With a roar, Yuta closed the giant rift with an unintentional, explosive flourish. The air crackled with raw power as the portal snapped shut, unleashing a shockwave that ripped through the entire castle.

The shockwave sent Yuta careening back and blasted him through the brick wall with reckless abandon. Delivering him out into the open and landing in the humid greenery of the Everfree Forest. Any clothing on his torso being blown off by the explosion of cursed energy.

He bounced off the soft earth with a pained grunt. The air knocked from his lungs. Mud caked his exposed skin, and a throbbing ache pulsed through every muscle in his body. His head swam, a relentless migraine drilling into his skull.

"Urgh..." The sorcerer moaned, pushing himself onto his hands and knees, his sight swimming. His entire body ached, his muscles were soar, and to compliment all that, he was rocking a pulsing headache. He brushed off the dirt and grime off his chest and abs. But finally, it was over.

Reaching out a hand, he focused the last vestiges of his cursed energy. A familiar shimmer opened in the air, a portal back to the world he knew. The Equestria he was familiar with.

With a shaky breath, he lurched towards the portal, his legs threatening to give way beneath him. Just as he was about to step through, his body rebelled. His knees buckled, the world tilting on its axis. His eyelids grew heavy without his permission, an overwhelming fatigue pulling him towards oblivion.

"Uuggggghhhhhh..." A weak groan escaped his lips, swallowed by the swirling energy of the portal. He reached out a hand, fingers brushing the shimmering edge before his body finally gave in. Yuta collapsed forward, tumbling through the portal and disappearing into the familiar light of Equestria. The portal flickered for a moment before snapping shut, leaving only the oppressive stillness of the Everfree behind.

From the corners of a tree, the figure of a pony emerged from the shadows, a relaxed grin plastered across his face as he soaked in what had happened.

"This was the most entertaining thing I've witnessed since 500 years ago. I'd never thought I'd see your face again." The voice, strung with amusement and a hint of something deeper, complimented the show with applause. His coat was a vibrant crimson, and his mane was a flowing storm of black and gold. A familiar grin stretched across its face.

"Yuta Okkotsu~" the pony drawled, its voice carrying a playful lilt. The wind whipped through the clearing, momentarily revealing the stitching across its forehead.

Canterlot, Day Time

The once vibrant heart of Canterlot was cloaked in a pall of dust and despair. The brilliant midday sun only served to highlight the devastation wrought by the recent calamity. Multiple districts, once bustling hubs of activity, now resembled warzones. Grand buildings lay in heaps of broken masonry, their facades marred by soot and scorch marks.

Everywhere you looked, citizens of Canterlot toiled amidst the wreckage. Rescue workers laboured tirelessly, hauling away debris with a desperate urgency. The air hung heavy with the smell of burnt wood and damp earth, punctuated by the agonised cries of trapped ponies struggling to be freed. Fires sputtered stubbornly in pockets across the city, spewing plumes of black smoke that drifted lazily toward the hazy sun.

Amidst the pandemonium, a single voice rose above the rest, "Over here!" A young earth pony with a dusty yellow coat yelled, his voice hoarse from exertion. He beckoned towards a collapsed section of a wall, turning to face his squad. Beside him, a team of unicorns focused their magic, levitating chunks of fallen stone with practised ease, freeing the stallion trapped underneath.

"I need a stretcher over here!" He called back once more.

Suddenly, a flash of shimmering light from the corner of his eye made him turn. A portal, a swirling vortex of energy, materialised out of thin air a few paces away. His eyes widened in surprise, momentarily forgetting the trapped pony he was watching over as a figure tumbled out of the shimmering gateway. The lengthy figure landed with an unforgiving thud, crumpling to the ground in a heap of unconscious black and covered in grime.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed, trotting cautiously towards the dissipating portal, his hooves whispering softly against the dusty ground. As he drew closer, he realised it was a human who had fallen, a boy clad in what looked like the tattered remains of black pants and dirtied white shoes. The pony's chest rose and fell with shallow breaths, his face slack and pale from the aura he was giving off.

"Actually, make that two!" The pony yelled, "Get the biggest stretcher available, and get the princess!"