> The Isolated Incident
>  by BoredWriter
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Snowball Effect
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Starlight, Sunburst, Twilight and her old friends sit around a table with books and tea. "After Twilight abandoned my party , I almost became as anti-social as Twilight myself!"

Starlight responds "Oh please, after Sunburst abandoned my life, I enslaved an entire village."

Sunburst and Twilight give a worried laugh. "Just remember. Even the smallest things in the past can snowball into an avalanche of trouble for the future. Who knew losing a friendship could affect a pony so much?"

Rainbow flies in with with a book which grabs everyponys attention, "Hi Twilight!"

"Hi Rainbow, reading Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny again? You just love the part where you come in."

"Pfffft not this time! Check this out." She shows Twilight a ragged book. "A.K Earling sent me a little something..."

"Daring Do and the Frozen Temple of Ryul?" Twilight raises her eyebrow "This isn't in the series."

"I know right? She wrote on the back it's a scrapped story she never finished." Rainbow hugs the book excited. "And I'm the only one to read it!"

"Why didn't she finish it?"

Rainbow shrugs "No idea, but I'm about to find out." She flies into the library with a big grin.

Twilight starts sweating and turns to Starlight "Hey Starlight, you know that spell you used to hide from the imposter of myself?"


That evening, Rainbow sits at her dining table sharing a bowl of salad with Tank who grabs the book in his mouth and tries to pull it into his shell "Don't worry Tank, I'll keep reading after dinner."


After munching on lettuce leaves she asks "What was your favorite part tank?" He opens his mouth slowly "Yeah I like that part too when Daring Do goes slowly... just to barely dodge that spike trap."

Cirrus flies in the window, "Hey cous, I finished the counter printer like I promised." Rainbow looks uninterested and rolls her eyes.

"Yeah... great, what does it do."

"Counts objects." Cirrus holds a piece of lettuce from Rainbow's plate in front of the counter printer, then points it at the plate. "There's a total of 17 leaves on your plate." Tank takes a bite "Now it says 16. We could totally count objects tomorrow morning with this."

"Look Cirrus, I'm going to be honest with you. A lot of your inventions are... boring, and I don't want to play with them. You've been hiding in isolation for ten years, don't you have something at least seventy to eighty percent cooler?"

Cirrus sighs and flies out the window, then Rainbow returns to eating lettuce leaves.

"Hey Tank, is it just me or do these leaves smell funny?" Tank looks at her emotionless, then keeps eating leaves. "Let me try yours" She leans over the table and bumps her head. "What the?" Twilight's invisibility spell wears off, revealing she's reading the book on the dining table with her bum in Rainbow's face.

"Uhhh... I can explain." Rainbow looks at her confused then starts laughing.

"Ha! I knew you'd want to read it just as badly! You're almost as big of a fan of Daring Do as me. Come on Twilight, we can read it together in the morning."


During the night Twilight has trouble sleeping, only full of thoughts "What could have made Daring Do cancel a book?"

The next morning, Twilight and Rainbow sit on the couch in the castle library "Then there it was, the Tempest Topaz. Daring took a moment to rub her hooves together. It was freezing! And so was the temple, waiting there to impale her with a rain of icicles! With a lick of her hoof she could tell the wind was blowing south. In the blink of the eye, Daring leaned against the northern wall, as the falling icicles were blown away."

Twilight interrupts "This is as good as any Daring Do story, why wasn't it published?"

"Not sure yet. Why not you read and find out." She hands the book to Twilight who continues reading.

But as Daring tip toed her hooves towards the treasure the wind kept blowing her back. Would it be hers? Or... a voice called from behind "Daring Do. I didn't expect you to get this far" An unicorn in a steampunk outfit, armed with various gadgets approaches and inspects the floor, then her shoes turn to cleats.

"Dr Manestorm... why don't you go return to Celestia's Magic school instead of getting in my way."

"Magic school? I can't get in without the Tempest Topaz."

"You fool!" Daring Do struggles to get through the ice and wind and is blown back onto the wall. She takes two pieces of sharp rocks to secure herself to the icy floor. "The stone will not help you!"

"Who's the one who didn't pack properly?" Manestorm ties herself to the pillar with the Topaz and finds it's frozen, then takes a mine. She attaches the mine above the Topaz, melting the surrounding ice. Daring Do whips her away then tries to pull the Topaz off. Manestorm throws a capsule at her, which Daring creates a tornado with her tail to blow it away. It hits the ceiling and explodes, dislodging a large chunk of ice.

Daring Do's stone grips break as she jumps out of the way. Manestorm takes off the heating mine and puts the Topaz inside. "The Tempest Topaz is the only thing that can resist the heat of Talacon's curse!" As the Topaz is placed in the heating mine, the fortress's wind stops and ice melts, flooding the area. Daring Do looks at the hole in the ceiling from the explosion.

"Hand me the Topaz and I'll fly you out, or stay and drown." She jumps on Manestorm and pins her down, as the water surrounds her. Manestorm pretends to cooperate and opens the heating mine. The Topaz blasts Daring Do away with a gust of wind, then Manestorm starts running back through the temple. The water follows and blocks the exit with a rock. Daring Do flies out the hole in the ceiling and is attacked by Dr. Caballeron and his gang in search of the Topaz.

"I don't have it Caballeron."

"Real shame Daring Do, Ahuzoidl has a great offer..."


Twilight turns the page and stops reading, it's almost blank. Rainbow asks desperately "SO? SO? What happens next? Did she hunt down the evil Dr Manestorm and get the Tempest Topaz back?"

"A.K Yearling left a note here. Daring Do never found Dr Manestorm or the Tempest Topaz, and thus she couldn't finish the book on a positive note. But I bet if we help Daring find Dr Manestorm, she can finish the story." 

Spike leans back relaxed "I bet twenty green gems Cirrus is secretly Manestorm, I mean what other pony invents weird gadgets?"

Twilight rolls her eyes "Really Spike? Manestorm is a unicorn pony, Cirrus is a pegasi." She takes out a book from her library "Take a look here Rainbow Dash, this is a class book of every pony who's attended Celestia's magic school for gifted unicorns." She flips through some pages.

Rainbow points out "There it is! Manestorm. It looks like she has really high marks and graduated, think the Temple of Topaz helped her?"

Twilight takes another book "It's a good thing I still have Elemental Stones of Equestria, it's part of the enchanted objects curriculum. Spike, take notes." Spike sighs then takes out a pencil and notepad.

"The Tempest Topaz was created simultaneously with the Sunstone of Razdon, each with opposite properties. The Sunstone causes hot and dry weather to its surroundings, where as the Tempest Topaz freezes and produces cold wind. They were hidden together in the Temple of Ryul, where they cancelled out each others effects."

Rainbow asks "What was it used for?"

"A decade ago the Sunstone was stolen by Ahuizotl to protect the fortress of Talacon by deterring intruders, using its relentless heat. When the Tempest Topaz was left on it's own without the Sunstone to balance it, it froze the Temple of Ryul. There is no known way an elemental stone can enhance an unicorns magic, so she couldn't have used it for magic school. What if Ahuizotl hired Manestorm to steal the Topaz so Daring Do couldn't use it to negate the Sunstone?" Twilight closes the book "We need more information from Daring Do."

"AWWW YEAH! Time for another Daring Do adventure."


Rainbow enters A.K Yearling's house with Twilight "Hey A.K, about the scrapped book you sent me."

A.K simply continues to read an archeology book "I don't need the Tempest Topaz."

"What you don't?"

"You read book two right? Even when the fortress of Talacon was protected by relentless heat I secured it and recovered the Sunstone. Now it's a tourist attraction in Trottingham." Meanwhile, various ponies sunbathe around a pillar with the Sunstone on top.

Twilight asks "What do you know about Dr Manestorm?"

"When I went to the Temple of Ryul to obtain the Tempest Topaz, I found her outside reading a book on elemental stones. She said she needed the Tempest Topaz to get into Magic School."

Rainbow adds "But a stone that freezes stuff can't help with that."

"I tried to tell her the Topaz won't give what she wanted, but she didn't listen and took it for herself." A.K Yearling returns to her book. "Either way, whatever Manestorm is doing with the Topaz she hasn't caused any problems. I don't even know if she made it out of the temple."


Rainbow leaves the house "COME ON! Another Daring Do adventure like the Ring of Destiny would be awesome!" Twilight looks in her saddle bag and finds Spike inside reading a Daring Do comic book.

"I have an idea! Tell her Dr Manestorm might be creating a doomsday device like the Mane-iac powered by the Tempest Topaz, like a giant ice ray to freeze all of Equestria, then Daring Do will HAVE to go find her to make sure she isn't doing that." Twilight stares at him sinister "What? It's completely possible."

"Unlikely Spike..."

Rainbow re-enters Yearling's house "Worth a try."


Twilight, Rainbow, and Daring Do fly towards Canterlot. Rainbow whispers to Spike in Twilight's saddle bag "I can't believe that worked!" 

All of them enter Celestia's castle. "Greetings Celestia."

Celestia walks up to Daring Do "Daring Do. I must thank you for protecting the desert region of Equestria, and writing such magnificent books."

Rainbow looks at Twilight funny "Wait, Celestia reads Daring Do books as well?"

"For what reason have you come here?"

"We need your help identifying a pony named Manestorm." Twilight shows Celestia the class book. "She was in your magic school."

Celestia looks concerned "Manestorm was a brilliant student, always willing to learn. But her magic seemed unnatural."

"What do you mean unnatural?"

Celestia magically holds the book to Twilight and points to the magical aura surrounding it "The aura produces by unicorn magic has a sparkle, Manestorm did not have it."

"Do you know where she lives?"

"I'm afraid not, but after class she would head under Canterlot."

"Thank you for your incite Princess Celestia."


"It must be here." Rainbow points to a cave under Canterlot with cold wind blowing from it. "There isn't a path on the side of the mountain in, do you think she magically carried herself?"

Twilight becomes worried "Only the most powerful unicorns like Starlight can do that. If Manestorm is too, prepare for a tough fight."

Rainbow Dash gets excited "Now you're talking!"

The three fly into the cave. "It looks like Manestorm made herself a fortress made of hailstones." Daring Do inspects the fortress, occupying the entire cave, then kicks the ice wall. The ice cracks then regenerates immediately. "The Tempest Topaz is the only way ice can regenerate that fast, it must be in there."

In the doorway various shadows are seen guarding. "Bad guys already! This is awesome."

"Shhhh! One's coming this way."

A shadow emerges from the door, revealing a pony made of dark clouds. Daring Do punches it and it vaporizes in the air. "What kind of ponies are these? Atleast they're easy to beat."

Twilight turns herself invisible and stands in the doorway "It's guarded by ponies made of dark clouds, what do you think caused this?"

"Uh guys, look!" Spike points behind them, two cloud ponies start to form themselves in mid air. Rainbow swings a punch at them, destroying them both.

"I think we should start heading in before they start swarming us." Twilight puts Spike back in her saddle bag, then everypony creeps in then enter a door to the right.

They enter a room with a frozen display, of an laser light, refracting into a glass prism, then emitting various colors on the walls. Twilight reads the display "Refractor segment 2.12, recall to exit protocol active on stabilization code 31 reading."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know..."

Daring Do inspects it "It looks like a controller. You'll see on the walls markings for doors, there should be a way to open it."

Rainbow stands proudly "I can do this! Just uh..." She pushes a button on the display, the prism rotates to the right, changing the refracted light. Strong wind starts blowing through the room. "Okay, maybe..."

Twilight tries to resist the wind "No Rainbow, let Daring try it."

Daring tries another button, the prism downwards, then a passage opens up." The three let go and are blown into the passage, which simply leads to a pit. The door closes behind them.

"I don't know if this is the right direction. What is this place?"

After some beeping, the pit starts filling with water from the sides. "It's a trap!"

Twilight looks in the water "It's just water, no crocodiles or piranhas. But how is there water in a fortress that is all ice?" The water at the bottom starts freezing. "Okay never mind, we need to get out."

They all try to fly upwards the but wind blows them, preventing flight. Daring Do points upwards, where there is a lock by the ceiling. "Up there."

Twilight uses a gravity spell, causing everypony to fall towards the ceiling. Daring sticks her whip into the lock and wiggles it around. "Look out!" Rainbow pushes Twilight away from an icicle forming on the ceiling below them. They start kicking and punching the forming icicles. 

As Daring picks open the lock, the three enter the door and find various types of clouds waiting for them. Twilight returns gravity to normal and they all fall to the floor. "This fortress is crazy, why is this room full of clouds?" 

All the clouds start gathering around Twilight and company and start attacking them with thunder, hailstones, and freezing rain "Something is controlling those clouds" . They run out of the room, and into another room, containing a strange machine and cylinders containing all forms of clouds. "This looks like the one in the cloud factory" Rainbow points out. "But I don't remember this" a scanner scans Rainbow.

"Get out of that!" Daring Do pulls Rainbow away with her whip. "It could be a security machine."

The machine works then produces a dark cloud in the shape of Rainbow Dash. "So that's where they are coming from." Twilight inspects the cloud pony curious. "A strange security system if you ask me."

"I wouldn't trust it" says Daring Do.

Rainbow Dash tries to shake hooves with the cloud pony but it instead fires a lightning bolt at her. "Hey! I was being friendly." She punches the pony and it vaporizes. An alarm goes off, then cloud ponies start flooding the room.

"Now look what you've done."

The machine takes out a frozen Gatling gun and starts firing icicles rapidly. Twilight shields it for a second but the icicles break the shield. They all hide behind a cloud canister and the machine stops firing. Twilight panics while Daring Do inspects the area. Rainbow quickly flies out and kicks the icicle Gatling gun, breaking it. The cloud ponies chase her but fail.

"This place is the coolest! And I mean that literally. But.. we should get outta here."

Daring Do looks around then jumps into a vent above them "This is much more technologically advanced than anything in the desert region."  Everypony else follows and starts crawling.

"Cirrus would have loved this place as much as I do." Rainbow says to herself.

Upon reaching an intersection Daring looks each way, then turns right. "The wind is blowing the strongest this way, there must be something major."

The vent drops into a large room with four pillars surrounding an obelisk. Twilight points "There it is!" Daring Do inspects the obelisk with the Tempest Topaz inside, surrounded by strange mechanisms that keep it in place.

Daring Do tries to reach in but the mechanism shocks her. "This would make a great story."

A voice calls out "Isn't it great to be somepony you're not, A.K Yearling? Or should I say Daring Do." Everypony turns to their left and finds Manestorm sitting on a throne, magically lifting a cup of tea.

"Manestorm. How did that Topaz work out."

"Better than ever, past magic school with flying colors." Rainbow looks at her mane.

Twilight calls out "It wasn't the gem that got you through magic school, it was your own doing. It can't grant you magical abilities."

"Without the Tempest Topaz I have no magical ability."

"But aren't you a unicorn?"

"Nope, but when I found the Tempest Topaz uses weather magic, I knew I could find a way to control it, with proper mechanisms of course."

"But only pegasi can control weather magic. Are you..."

Dr Manestorm flashes with changeling magic, then changes form. "Cirrus Storm?"

Daring Do points at Cirrus in a steampunk outfit "You know her?"

Rainbow Dash backs away confused "That's my cousin. But but... how did you..."

Twilight asks worried "Why are you doing this?"

Spike emerges from her saddle bag "Told ya."

Cirrus takes out a remote, a projection starts on the wall. "After I lost in touch with Rainbow Dash, my parents promised me I could make new friends in Cloudsdale with my special talents. It didn't work so I went to Canterlot."

Several unicorns display their magical abilities while ponies adore them. Cirrus shows them a mechanic frying pan, but they simply laugh and turn Cirrus into a lampshade, then throw it in a garbage can. Later Cirrus wakes up at the dump.

Rainbow Dash laughs but Twilight closes Rainbow's mouth.

"I found my talent was trash, so I researched ways to become somepony else, one that could also use powerful magic. By experimenting on changeling slime I could use it it to temporarily appear as Manestorm. Even with the disguise I couldn't cast magic, so I researched sources of magic which I can control. The only one I found is the Tempest Topaz."

Twilight asks "And you got through magic school using changeling and elemental stone magic? I thought elemental stones could not be controlled by ponies."

"With the right technology you make anything happen." Cirrus leans sideways on the throne and relaxes "It was completely worth it, as Manestorm no pony laughed at me or turned me into lampshades. Cirrus is the pony I least want to be."

Rainbow asks "But I thought you accepted your special talent."

"Oh please, after you called yourselves friends, you immediately find my inventions the lamest thing ever." She transforms into a clone of Rainbow Dash and mimics her. "Your inventions are boring, it needs to be atleast seventy to eighty percent cooler." She turns back "Some friend right?"

Dark cloud ponies enter the room. "That why I created these ponies, they actually have some respect for what I do."

Twilight replies "Differences in everypony is what makes them special." Everypony else nods except Cirrus.

"Easy for you three to say, you're universally adored. The best flyer, book writer, and the princess of friendship. Do you think those ponies with jam eating cutie marks have it just as good? Why be a boring inventor when you can be a powerful unicorn?"

Twilight hesitates "No. But I can't let you keep impersonating somepony you're not."

"Daring Do pretends she's A.K Yearling all the time. Your point is?"

Twilight sighs "I don't know. I think we should leave her be, she isn't hurting any ponies outside this place" Daring Do gives up trying to take the Topaz from the obelisk.

"I can't find a way to get the Tempest Topaz out. Looks like this story will remain scrapped." Rainbow looks at her then to Cirrus angry.

Cirrus flies up to her "Are you done yet? Go home and write another book. I'll be sure to buy it when it goes on sale."

Rainbow attacks her "You're gonna give her that Topaz right now." Twilight becomes nervous.

"Make me."

Rainbow throws Cirrus at the wall. She gets up and transforms into a cloud pony, then is surrounded by the other cloud ponies. They all start jumping at Daring Do, Twilight and Rainbow, which they easily defeat with kicks, whips, and magical blasts. The remaining one turns back into Cirrus.

"Looks like the changeling magic has worn off."

Daring Do yells "What now? Do you think that cold stone is going to help you?"

She flies up to the obelisk and it reacts to her steampunk outfit, channeling the Tempest Topaz's magic into her, causing her mane to glow brightly. "You think no pony can use the power of the Topaz? Think again!"

Twilight fires a blast and Daring tries to whip Cirrus, but she encases herself in a giant hailstone, then rolls towards Twilight who teleports out of the way. The hailstone shatters on the wall, then Cirrus directs the shards at Rainbow Dash, who creates a tornado and sends them down the exit.

Cirrus spawns several storm clouds which chase Twilight and Daring Do, striking thunder. Rainbow flies in and kicks Cirrus away, but she makes the wind blow her back, then conjures a hailstone in her hooves and throws it at Rainbow who ducks and avoids it. Cirrus charges electricity in her glowing mane and fires off several thunderbolts, to which Rainbow flies upwards and avoids, then dislodges a icicle from the ceiling. 

"Everypony fly up, she won't be as accurate." Rainbow, Twilight, and Daring Do start flying. Cirrus does too and reveals multiple storm cloud canisters under her wings. She launches them, then makes them home in on Twilight's allies, causing them to fly in random directions to get away. Spike sits on Twilight's saddle bag by the exit with a camera and takes pictures.

Daring Do and Rainbow create a tornado and send it at Cirrus, but she fills it with storm clouds and sends it back. The storm cloud tornado strikes thunder in all directions but Twilight magically pushes it into a wall, ending it. Everypony charges at Cirrus, who makes thunder strike herself at the same time. An large explosion erupts, dislodging some debris from the ceiling and knocking everypony out.

After a while everypony slowly gets up. Cirrus notices her steampunk has broke and is exposing her storm cloud cutie mark. "Fine, you win."

Twilight gets up "I haven't been through what you have, but I'm really sorry for what has happened to you. They shouldn't have shamed you for your unique talents."

Spike adds "Or turned you into a lamp shade."

"And thinking the only way to make friends was to be somepony else. It must of been hard learning magic when you can't cast any yourself."

"I made it happen anyways." Cirrus magically levitates a piece of rubble with no sparkle in the aura. "But it wears off after a while. I'll stop it."

Twilight saddens while Cirrus starts disabling the obelisk, but Rainbow stops her. 

"I think I can see your problem Cirrus."

"What? I'm as big of a bad guy as Ahuizotl but extra boring?"

Rainbow puts her hoof around Cirrus "Boring? Look kid. Just like everypony has different talents, they have different tastes in what they enjoy. You can't expect ponies like me to enjoy your mechanical frying pans or counter printers. But this danger filled fortress you created is the most awesome thing I've ever seen, and that fight at the end was totally epic."

Cirrus looks surprised "I never thought you'd like anything I invented. The fortress was just to protect the Topaz, the one thing that let me be somepony else."

Twilight adds "And using changeling magic with the Topaz to get through Celestia's magic school. I thought something like that would be impossible, but knowing you did I think that's amazing."

Rainbow points to Cirrus's cutie mark "From now on, think of what your friends would like if you want to impress them, not just show them everything you make and expect them to like it."

Cirrus nods "I'll remember that." She looks around the fortress then at Daring Do inspecting the obelisk "But once Daring Do takes the Tempest Topaz, it will be the end of this fortress, and my most powerful inventions."

Daring Do returns to Cirrus "You know what? You can keep the Tempest Topaz."

"Really? What about your book?"

"I'll just write that I defeated Dr Manestorm and put the Topaz in a museum. Atleast ninety nine percent of my fans think my work is fiction. All I wanted was to know the Tempest Topaz was not in the wrong hooves, and you've done a good job protecting it, not even I can figure out how to unlock the obelisk."

"Should have asked Quibble Pants huh?" Everypony laughs and leaves the throne room. "Kid, you should totally invent a bunch of new traps and bad guys, I'd come back any day."

Daring Do takes out a paper and pencil "This will make a great story."

Twilight takes out the friendship journal and writes in the hallway too "I think so too."



Back in the castle, Spike snacks on a bowl of green gems while looking through photos with Cirrus. Starlight asks "Spike, where did you get all of those?"

"I won a bet with Twilight that Cirrus is actually an evil genius." Starlight looks at Cirrus confused.

"Really?"

"Check this out." Spike shows Starlight photos of Twilight, Rainbow, and Daring Do fight Cirrus and the dark cloud ponies. "I'm going to make an action comic book with these photos."

Starlight starts sweating and turns to Cirrus "Hey Cirrus, you know that spell you used to turn into a giant hailstone?"

Cirrus smirks "Yeah that... spell..."




























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