The Alicorn Virus
ALL THE PONIES IN THIS TOWN ARE ALICORNS!
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Sorry if my formatting is off with indentations. I'm new to the site and typing on a tablet.
ALL THE PONIES IN THIS TOWN ARE ALICORNS!
It was another beautiful day in Ponyville. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and no magical terrors were coming to destroy Equestria. In the Castle of Friendship, Princess Twilight Sparkle awoke to the sunlight shining through her bedroom window. She yawned as she stretched her limbs before stepping out from under her blankets and going about her usual morning routine. After preening her feathers, brushing out her mane and tail, and brushing her teeth, she decided that today would be perfect for an outdoor reading session. So she grabbed a few books from her library, stuffed her saddle bags, and headed down to her castle's foyer.
When Twilight opened the enormous doors to exit her castle, she admired the early morning hustle and bustle of the small town. With a satisfied sigh, the purple pony trotted down the steps of her castle and began to walk toward town square. On the way, she was already getting antsy about reading the books that were calling to her in her saddlebags. She quickly gave in and levitated an old piece from her satchel that was written in the early centuries of her mentor's reign. A slightly excited squee came from the mare and she immediately began to scan the pages while trotting past the ponies of her small town kingdom.
Not even past the first page, Twilight Sparkle was fully enamored with her read of “So You Want to Banish a Pony to the Moon” by Totally Not Princess Celestia. As she walked by, ponies were greeting the purple princess. She was so engrossed in her reading, that she almost didn’t notice the odd pony that walked by her. After having the image register in her mind a few moments later, Twilight paused her stride and looked up in confusion by what she saw. She looked back but couldn’t find the strange figure anymore. She just stood there blinking for a few more seconds before rubbing her eyes and shrugging off her possible misperception.
However, another peculiar pony trotted by. Twilight didn't ignore this one. She swiftly looked back and noticed a grey pegasus with blonde hair. Twilight squinted as she looked back at the pony and noticed a small protrusion just barely poking out near the front of the mare’s mane. Twilight slammed her book shut and shoved it back into her bags. She looked around to see if anypony else happened to notice the mare's weird appearance, but nopony was even phased. Driven by her curiosity, Twilight soon turned to run after the grey mare.
The pony she was after was the town’s resident muffin mare, Derpy Hooves. She was joyfully skipping along on her way from Sugarcube Corner with a basket of muffins clutched between her teeth. She normally loved making muffins herself, but the Cake's and Pinkie Pie just had a special of way of making her favorite treat even better. She felt that she deserved it after the latest accomplishment she had achieved. However, her stride was halted when she heard someone calling out to her from behind.
“Derpy!” Twilight shouted.
The gleeful mare halted in place as Twilight ran up behind her. Derpy placed the muffins down on the ground in front of her and turned to greet the local alicorn. Twilight quickly skidded to a stop just in front of the wall-eyed mare. Derpy simply beamed as she turned to show the princess her sweet smile…and the new horn that had been protruding from Derpy's forehead.
“Oh! Hiya, Twilight!”, Derpy greeted sweetly.
“Heeey, Derpyyy,” responded Twilight in a bewildered tone. “Umm so, this may be a weird question to ask but…” She paused.
“What is it? Is something on my face?” The grey mare lifted a hoof and rubbed at her cheek as if wiping away crumbs from the morning’s breakfast.
“Well, not exactly…do you happen to be aware that you have a alicorn horn on your forehead?”
“A horn?” Derpy questioned. “Oh yeah, my horn! It's brand new and so cool! Did you want me to practice some spells with you, Twilight?!” Her wings flared and Twilight noticed another difference.
Derpy Hooves' wings were also a shade of bright yellow, a similar shade to her mane and tail, at the tips. The only other pony that she knew of with wings like that...was her sister-in-law, Princess Cadence. She remembered that Cadence was a regular pegasus before she had unlocked the magic of love and been ascended to an alicorn by Princess Celestia. And now, Derpy Hooves has the same traits as Cadence after her ascension. So, did that mean…?
“Derpy…have you ascended into an alicorn?!” Twilight shouted.
Derpy giggled in response. “Yes indeedy! I was transported to this really pretty space where Princess Celestia found me. She told me that I had a passion for muffins like no other pony and that I was ready to fulfill my destiny. So now, I’m Princess Derpy Hooves! Muffin Extraordinaire!” The new alicorn exclaimed, rearing up on her hind legs and standing proud.
“Amazing, right?!”
Twilight simply gawked at her. “Y-Yeah…greaaat…”
The grey mare landed back on all four hooves as she remembered her muffin basket.
“Oh yeah! Sorry to cut the talk short, Princess Twilight! I have to get home and put these muffins away!” She turned to take the basket in her teeth again but paused as she remembered her horn.
“Ooo! This would be good practice on the way home!” The new appendage on the former pegasus’ forehead began to glow with a light golden aura along with the basket of muffins at her hooves. The light flickered a bit as she was still new to this kind of magic. She scrunched her face and stuck her tongue out of the side of her mouth in pure concentration. After a few seconds, the muffins began to rise from the ground and float up to Derpy’s eye level. She beamed at her success in levitating the basket.
“Look, Twilight! I can use magic now! I can’t wait to see what else I can do! I’ll see ya later to try out some more spells, ok?” She waved a jolly goodbye to the awestruck purple mare and happily trotted away.
Twilight was frozen in shock. The muffin mare was an alicorn now? The Princess of…Muffins? Her mind was racing for any possible explanation of how...How could Miss Derpy 'Ditzy Doo' Hooves' have possibly ascended for a reason such as that. She had to see if this had happened to anypony else, and surprisingly, she didn’t even have to go anywhere.
She looked around the surrounding area and saw multiple ponies with a newly acquired pair of wings, horn, or even both on the local earth ponies. Twilight’s eyes widened more and more as she noted the ponies that had been turned into alicorns. Lyra Heartstrings with a new set of wings, BonBon was no longer an earth pony, and Thunderlane now had a horn and dual-colored wings. And Filthy Rich, Vinyl Scratch, Bulk Biceps, Aloe and Lotus, Big Macintosh…and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders had earned their horns and wings! Twilight was fully panicking now and she needed to do something about it. Being the Princess of Friendship, she quickly shot up into the air with her own wings and went off to look for her friends.
…
Down at Sugarcube Corner, the Cake's were in the middle of their breakfast rush. Pinkie Pie had invited the girls to come over that morning to test a new muffin flavor that had been catching everypony's eye. Of course the table's occupants consisted of Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and their newest member, Starlight Glimmer. The girls were laughing and having a grand ol’ time chatting and enjoying their treats. Not long into the joyous gathering however, did they hear the entrance to the pastry shoppe slam open causing the door to heavily damage the wall it smashed into. The mares at the table all jumped in surprise as they saw their best friend, Twilight Sparkle, hyperventilating in the doorway. Her mane her eyes were crazed and her mane was frayed and disheveled.
"Whoa there, Twi! What's got you going haywire?!" Dash yelled.
"Yeah sugarcube, you didn't need to bust in like that! What is tarnation is goin' on?!" Applejack demanded.
"T-Twilight! You nearly scared me half to death!" Fluttershy whimpered.
"This is most unpresidented, dear! Whatever could be the matter?" Rarity gasped.
"Is there a new villain on the loose that you need to take care of?!" Starlight questioned.
"Oh! Oh! Or maybe you're just super-duper extra excited to try out my latest muffin creation!" Pinkie grinned.
“Girls, something’s terribly wrong!" The exasperated mare announced. "Everypony in town is being turned into an alicorn! We’ve got to figure out what’s going on before it’s too...l-late...”
The last word caught in her throat as she began to notice each mare's appearance. The two pegasi had multicolored wings and a horn on their foreheads, the unicorns of the group now sported large wings on their backs, and the earth ponies now had both new amenities added to their anatomy too. Twilight was speechless as her wings and ears limply drooped downward as she stuttered and stammered nonsense in utter confusion. The six startled mares were about to ask their friend if everything was alright until another pony spoke up behind her.
“Ahem!” Came a familiar boastful tone. “I’d like to pick up my order of peanut butter cookies sometime today, Twilight Sparkle.”
She knew that voice. That petty and annoying voice. The emphasis and use of her full name along with the snarkiness added to every word. Twilight’s eye began to twitch. Other than her head and neck, the purple mare stood perfectly still as she slowly turned to glance at the mare behind her.
“T-Trixie?...” She cautiously whispered.
“Ugh!” The blue mare gasped. She placed hoof to her chest as if utterly appalled to be addressed in such a manner.
“How dare you speak to me like that, Twilight Sparkle!” She shouted as the wings on her back flared and she sassily flipped her mane.
“I am The Great and Powerful, Princess Trixie Lulamoon! The Great and Powerful Princess of Stage Magic!” Trixie declared as she dramatically posed in a way that even Rarity might have found fabulous.
Then, Twilight screamed…
…
Twilight awoke in her bed while screaming bloody murder. She stopped as soon as she looked around and realized she was in her bed chambers. After taking a few deep breaths, the mare sighed.
“Phew…what a dream. Everypony becoming princesses? Even Trixie? That’s crazy.” She giggled while softly shaking her head. “Good thing it wasn’t real.”
Shortly after her statement, a few hurried knocks came outside of her bedroom door before opening immediately after. Her dragon assistant, Spike, had run over to see what all the commotion was about.
“Twilight! Are you ok?! Are we being attacked?!”
“Hehe, no Spike. I just had this insane dream about everypony becoming alicorns. How weird, right?...” She then looked toward the baby dragon and noticed the small pointed appendage perched atop his forehead.
Twilight blinked a few times…then let out a soft groan before her eyes rolled back and she fainted backward onto the pillows behind her.
Spike began to chuckle as a dark blue figure teleported herself next to him. He removed the painted cardboard horn from his head and raised a claw up to the room’s new visitor.
“That was awesome, Luna! You really got her good this time!”
“As I always do, Spike.” She replied as she raised a hoof and connected it to the purple claw for something akin to a high five. The lunar princess’ face then grew a revengeful grin while gazing over at the temporarily unconscious alicorn before her. She then softly muttered…
“That’ll teach you not to challenge the Princess of the Night to a game of Monopony, my dear Twilight Sparkle.”
