The land of Equestria holds fascinating sights within. Pegasi ponies moved about the clouds as though decorating the sky. Unicorns ponies magically levitating multitudes of items and casting a variety of spells. The plain appearing ponies without horns nor wings trotted about tending to the land, harvesting, and plowing. In a small town called Ponyville, there were ponies of all sorts moving about across the ground and in the skies. They were of all colors and sizes. There was even a pegasus with massive muscles and tiny wings! One pegasus flitted about the skies, helping others organize the clouds in abstract patterns. She has a chocolate coat with a cloud white mane and tail, both short and messy. Matching freckles adorned her face. Her eyes were a bright sky blue. Her tail swished about, flicking near her mark on her flank of breeze lines with a feather over top of them as she excitedly organized her quadrant of the sky. A cyan mare with rainbow mane and tail and a mark on her flank of a rainbow lightning bolt rocketed over to the chocolate mare. “Hey, Breezefeather!”
Breezefeather turned around and met the mare, “Hi, Rainbow Dash! What brings you over here?”
The prismatic mare puffed up her chest, “Nothing much! Just wanted to check up. How’s your spot doing?”
Breezefeather sheepishly grinned. “I hope I’ve got the pattern right. It took a while to set these up.”
Rainbow Dash looked around and frowned. “Are there a few missing?”
A brief look around cinched it for the two mares. There were steadily fewer and fewer clouds in the air.
“Okay, what?” Confusion permeated Breezefeather’s voice. Slowly the clouds around the two mares drifted away. A brief inspection showed that the clouds had drifted to a strange hole in the air. It swirled black and green and had an uncomfortable air about it. Regardless, both mares flew up towards the rend in the air. Rainbow Dash tentatively placed her hoof up against the distortion and watched as it easily sank in. The prismatic mare shuddered and withdrew her hoof and shrugged. “Maybe we should get Princess Twilight?” Breezefeather asked.
“Sounds like a great idea, let’s go get her.”
Both mares nodded to each other and flew towards a crystalline castle in the form of a tree. Not five wingbeats away a voice called out to them, “Who dares punk Skulker, Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter?!”
Turning back, both mares saw a metallic bipedal being. It had a masculine jawline, noting it to be male. A green flame marked its mane. Its upper body jutted from what was now obviously a portal. It held out a fist similar to a minotaur’s. A black tank top adorned his metallic chest. A shoulder pad was on his left shoulder. What made the frightening sight comical was the fact that it ground its teeth around a pile of cloud around its mouth and over its shoulders and head, interfering with its mane.
Glowering, the entity scowled at the two mares. “You two creatures! You are responsible for this, I’m sure!” He then raised his other fist and a strange nozzle popped out confusing the two mares before it fired like a miniature cannon. A net shot out and entangled Breezefeather. Her only response was a shrill shriek of surprise at the sudden capture.
“Hey! Let my friend go!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, fury taking over her features quickly. She rushed the metallic fiend only for another miniature cannon to appear out of an opposing shoulder, which fired off a sound similar to a spell firing. The “spell” as it was turned out to be a globule of green goo which snapped the speedy mare’s wings shut and glued them that way. Immediately she plummeted, screaming for all of two seconds before a loud “oof” was heard as she hit the ground. Breezefeather could only cower as she was reeled up to the mechanical being.
“So, you can talk!” the metal creature exclaimed. “Excellent! Perhaps you can make excellent bait for my ultimate prey!”
“What!?” Breezefeather exclaimed, terrified even more now. The mini ooze cannon fired again, covering her muzzle and effectively silencing her. Her ears folded to the sides of her skull and she shook in fear. Never before now has she seen a terrifying creature in her life, and now it wants to make her into bait! However, her fear rooted to her spot, so to speak, preventing her from even thinking of a way out. Nearly as quickly as she was captured, the being reeled her in and dragged her through the portal.
After a few moments of trussing, Breezefeather found herself in a world where the sky was like that of the portal. Doors floated through the air and there were purple rock landmasses all around. Some of these landmasses had vegetation on them and Breezefeather found herself still in the net tied to one of these branches. The chocolate mare swung with a worried expression on her muzzle. After a struggle, she managed to clear the goop from her mouth, and she gasped for clean air. “Okay, Breeze, you’ve got this,” she said to herself. “You can get yourself out, right?” Closer examination revealed to her that the rope for the net was fraying and broken in a few areas. Fear still permeated her, but an idea came to mind for her. Breezefeather placed the edges of hooves within a break in the net. Pulling apart, she tested her weight. After a few tries, she managed to get the hole widened enough to fall through. Just before she hit the ground her wings snapped out and caught the air and had flown upwards. Flying in lazy circles, she flew into the green expanse of sky.
Her first thought was to try to find her way back home, but that proved difficult as she noticed the familiar landmarks that she desperately tried to memorize either had moved or weren’t there at all. Growing more and more concerned, she flew on, determined and just a little desperate to find that portal back home. She wandered and wandered. She encountered no other creatures that metallic bipedal creature she gathered as “Skulker”. Suddenly, a shot rang out and a blue laser struck the purple stone that happened to be floating by on her left. Startled, she shrieked and flew as fast as she could.
Breezefeather was under no illusion that she could outpace this creature, especially when Skulker had metallic wings pop out of his back propelled by a blue-green flame that roared from twin turbines. Instead, she bobbed, ducked, dove, and weaved around him. All that practice flying helped her a lot, but there were many close calls. Every time Skulker got close, she would scream in fear. Each time she did so, Skulker seemed to pull back and then take his time closing the distance. He’s toying with me? Breezefeather thought after another close call and witnessing him pull back again, wide, uneven grin unnerving her. Another dive later and in a panicked voice she cried out, “I wish you would go home and leave me alone!”
Skulker actually stopped and said, “Wait, no-!” And then as suddenly as he stopped, a pink glow surrounded him, and he vanished with a pop.
“Wait, that actually worked?” Breezefeather looked around, confused even more so.
“As you have wished and so it shall be,” said a calm and soothing voice. From above her near a very fancy door that Breezefeather would describe as Saddle Arabian, was a bipedal creature that was very much female. The only thing marking her as potentially bipedal was the fact that her upper body was upright, in spite of the magical tail that made up her lower half. Said tail appeared to be covered with a blue skirt and silver band that held it in place. Her torso was well-shaped and covered with a tube top with light pink trimming. Her upper arms had silver clasps and her wrists had matching clasps and bangles. Her dark, black hair was long and full, as it waved down past her hips. What struck Breezefeather the most was that her skin was a toxic green and her eyes a blood red.
Finding her voice, Breezefeather hovered and asked, “Are- are you a genie?”
“A genie?” the figure mused. “Why, yes, actually. My magical powers work best when someone wishes for something.” Her smile faded, “I’m quite powerless with no one to grant wishes for.”
“Neat!” Breezefeather exclaimed! Finally, a way home! I’m sure she can make another portal home! She grinned at the genie and said, “My name’s Breezefeather, though I wish I knew your name. I don’t want to call you Ms. Genie all the time when I tell my friends about how you helped me.”
The genie perked up and proudly declared, “I am Desiree, and I would love to get you home to tell your friends! However, I don’t know where that would be as I have never encountered any ponies that talk.”
Breezefeather’s ears drooped a bit. “Oh. You’ve never heard of Equestria?”
“I’m sorry, I doubt I’ve ever heard of it,” Desiree said, genuinely confused.
“Oh, I guess you can’t send me home unless you know where that is, huh?” Breezefeather asked, deflated.
“I’ll tell you what,” Desiree said, taking a bangle off of her right wrist. As she held it, it changed form and color from a simple silver bangle to a golden wrap bracelet in the shape of a snake. Its head and tail were covered in clear gems appearing white green in the glow of the world they were in save for two almond-shaped black gems marking eyes on the head. Desiree then slipped the bracelet on Breezefeather’s left forehoof and it rested securely around her pastern. “Just say, ‘I wish Desiree was here, now,’ and I shall appear. I’ll be able to grant you any wish as long as you are able to make it. Remember, you have to say, ‘I wish,’ or I won’t be able to grant any of the big stuff.”
“That’s great! Wait, big stuff?”
“Yes, big stuff. Like wishing for vast knowledge or power. Perhaps even something as simple as an item I don’t have. That’s all big stuff to me. However, if you wish for it, I can grant it. However, to get you to your home, I need more power, and the more wishes I grant to give me that power,” Desiree explained.
Breezefeather beamed. “So, the more I wish, the closer we can get to where you can help me get home!” She paused, “Well, bummer. I don’t know what to wish for right now.”
Desiree smirked, “Perhaps a hint, then? You’ll need a form that is similar to mine if you want to explore the world next to this one. Perhaps there you’ll get some hints.”
“Ooh!” Breezefeather was interested. However, she couldn’t help but get a nagging feeling that there was some ulterior motive for Desiree to help her. Looking at Desiree’s face, however, she couldn’t see any such signs. It was pretty hard to tell. With a muzzle and rotating ears, she’d be able to tell much easier, but her face was less expressive than a pony’s. She decided to put the feeling aside. Maybe I’m just thinking too much on this, she thought. “Sounds like a plan, I guess! What would I look like?”
“Maybe wishing to be a human or to allow the bracelet to turn you into a human would be a good start.”
“I wish I knew what a human was,” Breezefeather said. Before her eyes widened and looked at Desiree.
“As you have wished and so it shall be!” And with a wave of Desiree’s opposable appendage, information flooded her mind. That opposable appendage was a hand. Humans were bipedal monkeys that lacked significant hair but had much more intelligence. In fact, their intelligence could rival that of ponies, if she got that snippet of information translated right. They had hair only on their head and at certain points of their body. They wore clothes because it was taboo and illegal in most regions to walk around without them on. Otherwise, they were a lot like ponies. They loved music and art. They were interested in the science of the world around them and studied it. They warred and brought peace with each other. The last one seemed they did a lot more, perhaps due to the fact they didn’t realize how alike they all were, just like the pony tribes of old. They gathered in groups as friends or to join up against a common foe. However, she was granted one massive warning. Beware the Guys in White. Capitalized just like that.
After the flood of information had come and gone, Breezefeather shook her head, “Who are the Guys in White?”
Desiree’s face soured, “Despicable humans that seek to destroy all ghosts and the Ghost Zone. What they don’t know is that by doing just that, they destroy their world with ours!”
“Ghosts?” Breezefeather flapped up to Desiree closer, “You’re more like a genie! I mean, I’m pretty sure I would know if you were a ghost.”
“True, but I’m a genie-like ghost. Worry not, I won’t do anything horrible like those bigots in the Guys in White say,” Desiree said, all but spitting at the word she used to describe the human group against ghosts.
Breezefeather blanched a bit. A genie-like ghost? So, she used to be a human, if her form’s anything to go by? “So, uh, well. Anyways.” She cleared her throat. “I- I wish for a way to this world of humans.”
Desiree quirked an eyebrow upwards, amused. “As you have wished it, and so it shall be.” Pink magic swirled from her fingertips and it flowed outward and up between them and formed a portal. “You should be cautious. Humans are the only creatures that talk, there,” Desiree warned.
“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” Breezefeather waved off Desiree, “after all, there’s bound to be some humans that want to be friends, right?”
Desiree smiled coyly, “Why yes, of course, though you must be cautious all the same.”
“Okay, Desiee, I will!” With that, Breezefeather darted through the portal. She could have sworn she hear a huff and maybe a correction, but that was alright. We are friends, after all, aren’t we?