Return of the Alicorn... Curse?
Twilight looks around her old library confused while Moon Dancer reads a book "Huh, I could swear this is the place." She reads a note "Return to the books you left still, since you moved to Ponyville."
Moon Dancer puts her book down "Well these books haven't been still since you let me in here." Twilight turns around upon hearing galloping, then Shining Armor runs in holding Flurry Heart with a milk bottle.
"I'm really sorry about the scavenger hunt Twily, this was meant to be the final clue spot." He pants a few times "But Flurry Heart woke up earlier than normal so I had to feed her."
Twilight pats Flurry Heart on the head "Aw that's okay! As long as she's happy I am too. I'm surprised you even had the time to do this!"
He scratches his head "Well uh. It's a long story. I was sent to Baltimare regarding a criminal organization problem, but mayor Fluffin Muffs didn't want me going for... some reason. When I heard Celestia would send you and your friends instead, I thought I'd give my time for you."
Twilight shakes her head "It was a bit more than a crime problem, Fluffin Muffs made it illegal to be a stallion in Baltimare, and the so called criminal organization were working to take her down. I don't think we did anything either."
Shining looks at her confused "Illegal to be a stallion? Why! Why would she make such a law?" He pouts.
"No idea..."
Meanwhile outside of Equestria in a swamp like home, a Rot Wolf inspects Fluffin in a wooden cage. "Hmph, I was expecting the pony to be screaming in horror that she's being kept captive."
Fluffin giggles "Oh this is wonderful! Not a stallion in sight!"
"Stallions? Aren't those ponies too?"
"Ponies? Pfffft their evil demons unworthy of respect. I'd destroy them all if I could!"
A much darker Rot Wolf with twisted horns barges in "Toadstool! What is the meaning of this!"
"Oh uh. Hexirit! I caught one of Equestria's leaders like you asked, the most recent Mayor of Baltimare."
Hexirit looks at Fluffin in the cage "Leader? I meant one of the four alicorn princesses!"
Toadstool tries to be optimistic "But you can turn her into a alicorn right?"
"You don't get it do you. Catch one of those princesses and the rest will come running to us." He looks at Fluffin angry "Catching one of these insignificant peasant ponies does nothing!"
Fluffin backs away nervous, Toadstool sighs "Come on, you can't expect me to catch one of them can you?"
"Perhaps if you practiced curses a bit more?" Hexirit magically tosses several scrolls and stones at Toadstool "I will continue working on the Vortex Distortion spell, take one of my simplest curses and get it done!" He marches out the door, then Toadstool starts reading the scrolls.
"There must be some shortcut to this. It's forbidden for somepony to become an alicorn unearned in Equestria right?"
"Unless you're born an alicorn yeah, I wish it was forbidden to be a stallion too."
Toadstool rolls his eyes "You just hate stallions don't you?" Fluffin nods her head eagerly. The Rot Wolf makes a sinister grin at one of the scrolls "How about I make you... an alicorn."
"Really?"
He scratches his chin with his claw "Under one condition..." Fluffin looks at him desperate "Capture every stallion you find and bring them here."
"Deal!"
He slowly charges green energy between his horns, then fires a green pulse at Fluffins, turning her into an alicorn. "Have fun!"
Fluffin immediately fires a blast at the cage destroying it, then flies out of the wooden house, Hexirit marches in.
"What did you do with the captive?"
Toadstool shows him the scroll "I tampered her anima to convert earth pony magic into alicorn magic."
Hexirit raises his eyebrow "And... you're just going to leave her to her own devices?"
Toadstool scratches his head with his hind leg "Yup! All she does is hate stallions, she's probably off tormenting each one in a village."
Hexirit makes a eerie stare at Toadstool "You better be right...". Behind them, Toadstool's chair turns into a changeling that flies away.
Meanwhile in a village on the edge of Equestria, Fluffins enters a house. A filly and her Mother watch "Wow! I never knew there was a 5th alicorn princess!"
Fluffin nods "I sure am! And I will do everything to protect you."
The filly smiles "Oh thank you!", but then Fluffin magically grabs the stallion Father washing dishes and tosses him out the window. The Mother and Filly scream while evacuating the house.
The Father gets off the ground and finds Derpy Hooves with a mailbag looking at him "Are okay?"
He grumbles "Urgh! Tell Celestia that... whoever that 5th alicorn princess is, she's causing trouble!"
Derpy nods rapidly then flies away.
Back at the library, Shining Armor hands Twilight a book "Here's your prize for the scavenger hunt. Got it right before they sold out!"
"Thanks!" Twilight hugs Shining and Flurry, then flips the book over "A Chronology of Chronics, Starswirl edition."
As Shining Armor leaves, Twilight sits by Moon Dancer and opens the book. "Wow... this is some complex stuff! It's all time related!" She looks confused as the images of strange diagrams.
Moon Dancer points at it "You said Starlight's pretty good with time spells, maybe she'd like the book?"
"You're right!" Twilight marches out the library and finds Starlight watching royal guards laughing at Derpy.
"HAHAHAHA! A FIFTH alicorn princess?"
"Buh.. but..."
"Starlight! Got a new book for favourite stu..." Twilight looks at Starlight confused "Uh... what's going on?"
"She says an 5th alicorn princess is attacking a village in the north-west region of Equestria. By the look of her eyes, I can't tell if she knows what she even saw."
Celestia suddenly appears "I'm afraid Derpy Hooves is right. I have received word from Thorax that one of his changelings tracked down Fluffin Muffs, previous Mayor of Baltimare. A Rot Wolf has granted her alicorn magic using an anima tampering spell, and she is now attacking every stallion she comes across."
Shining Armor approaches "Me and the other royal guards will get every citizen to safety. Put an end to Fluffins reign of terror!"
Every mare nods.
At Ponyville, the streets have become empty as Fluffin walks around, magically levitating a cage containing several stallions. She finds Big Mac pulling an Apple cart, then stuffs him in the cage as well. He struggles and shouts "NOPE" several times.
He yells angrily "What is the meaning of this!"
Fluffins looks at him angry "You're scamming mares out of their money!"
A mare who was trying to buy an apple from the cart runs away. Big Mac in the cage crosses his hooves while a stallion next to him asks "Hey, remember me from Fluffin's prison?"
"Eeyup."
All of the mane 6 approach "Hold it right there Fluffins! Release my brother now!" the other stallions look at Applejack saddened "... and the other ponies too."
"Never!"
They each try to attack, but Fluffins instead teleports stallions from the cage infront of her to absorb the blows, forcing the Mane 6 to stop attacking. She then flies off with the cage to Twilight's disappointment
"That anima tampering spell has given her too much power."
Rarity asks "Why would one of those awful creatures just give her alicorn magic for nothing?" She shrieks as a changeling lands next to her. Fluttershy collapses onto the ground and covers her face with her hooves.
"It wasn't for nothing. Toadstool saw Fluffin's hatred of stallions and took advantage of it. He knows she will use the power to destroy the lives of many Equestrian citizens."
Twilight scratches her head "I guess it makes sense... sheesh, how did she become so hateful?"
Rainbow yells "Well we can't just sit here while she keeps kidnapping! What we gotta do?"
The Changeling beckons "Come with me".
They all arrive at the dump where Dark Bark is reading the scroll Toadstool used. The changeling points to him "We assigned him to find a dispel for the curse."
Twilight asks Dark Bark "Is there anything you can do?" He slouches his head and shakes it slowly. "No?"
"Anima tampering is not a curse, and cannot be dispelled. I'm sorry."
"So... we're hopeless?"
"Unless somepony wrote a anima tamper reversal spell... yeah."
Twilight tells everypony "Rainbow and Fluttershy, keep an eye of Fluffins. Everypony else come to the castle library, we need to look for a reversal spell!"
Rainbow salutes "Got it!" The two pegasi fly upwards as Fluffin leaves Cloudsdale carrying multiple cages using her alicorn magic. Zephyr waves at Fluttershy from inside one of the cages "Hey sis! Wanna join the party?"
Fluttershy looks saddened "I hope they hurry."
The rest of the Mane 6 scavenge through a stack of books in the castle library "What was it called again?"
"Anima tampering reversal."
Pinkie rapidly flips pages in a single book "Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!"
Applejack taps her "Pinkie, that's a cook book."
Starlight emerges from the pile of books "I don't think such spell even exists."
Twilight keeps checking "But we have to try."
Starlight pouts "I've studied all sorts of spells for years, and I don't recall anything about anima."
Twilight looks at her worried "Should we try to make one?"
Fluffin starts teleporting the cages one by one on the Wonder Bolt's Academy track.
At the Rot Wolf cave, the teleported cages appear one by one. The captured stallions move to the back of the cages afraid upon seeing two Rot Wolves. Toadstool looks pleased but Hexirit stares at them disappointed.
"These?! They're just Celestia's cannon fodder. I could wipe them all out in an instant." He growls and shows his teeth to Big Mac in the cage, who backs away frantically. "Get something that can take out a Princess."
Toadstool thinks for a moment "Wasn't there some centaur who could reduce princesses to their inferior?"
Hexirit returns his attention to Toadstool "Yes. Tirek."
"What if we release him, feed him the magic from all these stallions, then let him take on the princesses?"
Hexirit rolls his eyes "Expect that power feasting semi-equestrian to do the work? You're lazy aren't you?"
Toadstool scratches his back with his hind legs "Yup. Isn't it great how Rot Wolves can just curse others to do our bidding. I'm sure Tirek is no different. Anyways, aren't you kinda asking me to do all this?"
"Ughhh." Hexirit gives a long groan "If you can control Tirek, consider me impressed."
After teleporting all the cages, Fluffin gets ready to fly towards Canterlot but gets hit by a magical projectile. She turns around to find Starlight and Twilight approach, with Spike riding them holding a scroll. "It all ends here Fluffin!" Twilight yells.
Spike reads the scroll "What kind of spell is this?"
Starlight makes an uncertain expression "Anima tampering... I think..."
Twilight looks at the scroll then fires a blast of red energy, but it explodes knocking her and Spike against the mountain side. Starlight puts her shield down and finds Twilight and Spike crackling with red energy.
Starlight magically picks up Twilight "Are you okay?"
Fluffin chuckles then flies off. Spike shows Twilight the scroll "What needs changing?"
The rest of the Mane 6 approaches to Twilight who is glowing red. Rarity asks "Certainly that glow around you needs changing."
Twilight pants and tries to use magic, but keeps getting shocked then falls back down. "It didn't work. Now I can't even use magic."
Applejack asks Starlight "I don't suppose you know someway to fix this do you?"
Starlight shakes her head "I don't even understand this spell. Anima tampering is beyond even my understanding."
Twilight sighs "And mine too. I was just so desperate to stop her from torturing innocent civilians. I shouldn't have rushed."
Fluttershy pats her head "It's okay, you had the best of intentions."
Rainbow crosses her hooves "Enough of the sabby talk, we still have to stop her!"
Twilight slowly gets up "It's no use. Without a way to neutralize her powers, she's unstoppable." She watches Fluffin reach Canterlot "I give up."
Everypony looks at eachother "Really?"
Applejack adds "Didn't go through this before?" Twilight shakes her head "Unsure what to do, but if we keep trying we'll find a way."
Twilight gets up "Euuugh, any suggestions? I'm all out of magic at the moment."
Fluttershy softly explains "Even if you can't do much, it's best to give it your all."
The mane 6 crowd together and form a plan. Spike starts to write notes on the back of the scroll.
Fluffin looks disappointment at the single cage of captured stallions "Where are the others?!"
A stallion looks at her nervous "They.. uh... left!"
"DONT YOU LIE TO ME!" She magically drags him causing him to panic.
"No! Really! They left on train!"
"I'll be back..." Fluffin marches out of the castle hall to find Celestia waiting angrily.
"Release my citizens... NOW!" her voice boomed. Fluffin backs away but keeps focus.
"Do you have any idea how much oppression these stallions have put me through?" Celestia looks confused, but then spots the mane 6 sneaking in from behind.
Twilight and Applejack start pushing the cage away, a stallion inside smiles "Princess! You're here to save us!"
"SSSHHHH!"
They push the cage off a ledge, and it lands on a bouncy castle set by Pinkie Pie. Starlight starts dispelling the magical cage as Pinkie asks Spike in a military outfit "So, can you repeat the plan?"
Spike salutes "All righty then!" and takes out the scroll "Applejack and Twilight are recovering the captives so Fluffin can't use them as meatshields. Rainbow Dash went to the Wonderbolts Academy to get reinforcements and uh... Fluttershy is evacuating everypony's pets." He twitches several times as red energy crackles around him "Ugh when will it stop."
Starlight successfully dispels the magical cage and the captives get off the bouncy house.
"Way to go Starlight! Let's see how the plan is playing out!" Pinkie bounces on the castle and boosts herself up to the balcony of the castle hall. She takes a peak in the door.
"You have left me no other choice." Celestia fires a blast of energy at Fluffin, who tries to block it with the cage but finds it was moved. She gets knocked against the wall and fires back at Celestia immediately.
Pinkie jumps down the balcony and onto the castle. She... somehow puts on a military outfit at the sametime and marches up to Spike "Situation is critical. Enemy has opened fire on Celestia. Should we call it the heavy artillery?"
An explosion is heard and the balcony collapses next to the bouncy castle. Spike yells "Right away!" He picks up a pebble and ties it to a scroll, then breaths fire on it causing it to vaporize.
Meanwhile in a tower where Luna sleeps, she feels a small bonk on her head waking her up, then finds the pebble tied to a scroll. An explosion from the castle gets her attention "SISTER?!"
At the Wonderbolt's Academy office Spitfire looks at Rainbow Dash confused "A fifth alicorn princess attacking Equestria... right..."
Rainbow yells "IM SERIOUS!"
Spitfire talks in a microphone "Soarin! Can you check if..."
Blaze pops in the office door "Uh Spitfire, Soarin was taken by the fifth princess."
"WHAT! Then what are we waiting for!?" Spitfire gets up as Rainbow Dash facehooves. They all exit the building and fly towards Canterlot, but Rainbow stops to look at the frozen fortress in the cave below the Canterlot mountain.
"Hm... that gives me an idea..."
At the Canterlot station, the royal guards are having trouble getting as many ponies as possible onto the train as its jam-packed. Then the train leaves the station to the despair of many ponies. Fluffin suddenly barges in and tosses citizens at Celestia and Luna, forcing them to hold fire and catch the thrown citizens.
Twilight approaches the fleeing citizens "Follow me! I know a shelter!" They all follow her to a hole leading to the crystal cavern Chyrsalis used to use as a prison.
Fluffin fires a magical blast at the train leaving the mountain, creating a large hole in the side and spilling out several ponies. The Wonderbolts quickly catch them. Spitfire places a caught unicorn on flat ground alongside Blaze and asks "Hey, wheres Rainbow Dash?"
Cirrus scratches her head while flying after Rainbow through the frozen fortress "I've tested this already, the power of the tempest topaz only goes as far as Canterlot!"
Rainbow Dash exclaims "That's all we need!" Cirrus puts on the clockwork suit and takes a deep breath as she channels the energy of the tempest topaz. "You're the best cousin ever!"
The rest of the Mane 6 watch the fight go on with Celestia and Luna tired out. Cadence attacks Fluffin but it appears Fluffin is regenerating her energy from the anima tamper allowing her to keep fighting non-stop. She blasts Cadence with a direct hit, lauching her a distance away towards the mane 6, then lands with a thud.
"Sorry Twilight, I've done all I can do."
Twilight pats her head "So have I." Everypony nods, then Rainbow Dash arrives.
"But not Cirrus! She's using the tempest topaz again."
Spike perks up "Cool! Literally!"
Applejack asks "Tempest what now?"
Twilight points to Cirrus fly by "It's a long story, just watch."
In a corner, Fluffin tortures a royal guard by magically dragging him but gets stopped as a giant hailstone shatters on her head. She turns her attention to find Cirrus conjuring giant hailstones and tossing them her way. Fluffin dodges and fires a continuous laser at Cirrus, but she blocks it by encasing herself in ice. Celestia and Luna watch in shock.
Applejack asks Spike "So... are you saying Cirrus has a secret underground fortress where she absorbs powers from an stone with freezing weather magic?"
Spike nods "Yup!"
"Twalat... are you buyin' this?"
Twilight chuckles "Yup! I saw it for myself!"
Fluffin begins to struggle against Cirrus as the freezing powers of the tempest topaz shatters her shields. Pinned against the mountain she fires one large laser to which Cirrus dodges, then blasts her with frost, freezing Fluffin and everything in the vicinity until all that's left is a giant glacier.
Celestia and Luna approach the glacier "By Equestria... what is this?" She taps on the glacier then a large crack forms, to which Cirrus pops out.
"I think the tempest topaz powers wore off after all that." She realizes Celestia and Luna are staring at her disturbed "Oh... um... your majesty." Cirrus bows.
Celestia asks "How?"
Cirrus looks saddened and puts her head down, but Celestia lifts her head back up "You have saved us all. You have nothing to fear."
"I used freezing weather magic."
Luna raises her eyebrow confused "Weather? But ponies can't cast weather magic."
Rainbow flies in "But Cirrus figured out a way."
Cirrus leads Celestia and Luna through the frozen fortress followed by the mane 6. In the throne room, she shows Celestia the changeling slime and clockwork suit. "I invented devices to control changeling and elemental stone magic and used them to get into your magic school." She uses the changeling slime tube to shapeshift into Dr Manestorm "I'm sorry for cheating."
Celestia and Luna remain speechless.
Dr Manestorm shapeshifts back into Cirrus, whom hands over a scroll to Celestia. "Here is my magic school diploma, you can have it back." The mane 6 watch saddened.
Celestia writes something on the scroll then hands it back to Cirrus. "I can keep it?" Cirrus reads the scroll "You just changed the name from Dr Manestorm to Cirrus Storm."
She smiles "If anypony is to be congratulated it is you. To think one without unicorn magic could make it through my school and take down a dangerous threat like Fluffin Muffs, I could learn a thing or two from you."
"Wha. Really?"
Back at the castle of friendship, the mane 6 relax on the furniture exhausted. Applejack puts her hat over her head "Phew! I'm glad that's all over!"
Pinkie adds "But not really, what if that glacier Cirrus trapped Fluffin in melts? Then EVERYPONY IS DOOMED!"
Twilight gets up "Pinkie's right, we have to get going on the anima tamper reversal spell before Fluffin is freed." She crackles with red energy then falls back down. "And... fix whatever that is..."
Spike also crackles with red energy "Uh. Yup!"
Everypony laughs, but back in Canterlot a pony inspects the glacier Fluffin in frozen in. He notices the ice is slowly melting...
To be continued...