Octavia
A skull with a red '3' on its forehead laid in a patch of well-laid hyacinths in the yard of a minimalistic house in Ponyville. A shadow stood over it, and a grey hoof picked it up and quickly fled inside the house, slamming it shut.
In the luxurious living room, a certain cellist stared intently at the skull in her hooves, locking her purple eyes with its brilliant ruby eyes "Okay...While this town has its share of obscure happenings, you seem to be the most rare of them all...What are you?" She asked the skull, as if it knew how to speak. And speak it did.
"You hold in your hooves a special tool
To which it gives your temptation uncontrollable fuel!
My name is Thromnambular, and I'll grant you a wish,
So long as you try not to make it sound garish..."
Octavia could not believe that the skull would talk, let alone claim to be a granter of wishes. Her rational side would cast it aside and send it back to Tartarus, but the fact that he was offering a free wish on a silver platter was beyond tempting. She rubbed her chin with a hoof while looking down in thought "Hm...I can wish for anything? I could wish for..."
A scene played in Octavia's mind, where she was a tall and beautiful alicorn, standing proudly in an elegant pose as her long brown mane breezed in the wind. Her voice was heard in an eager tone "I could be an alicorn! No longer an earth pony, but a pony who holds several capabilities at her disposal!" The alicorn looked around stressfully as several ponies came behind her, Octavia's tone changing to that of displeasure "But then that would mean having to be considered royalty in the eyes of other ponies, and could be seen as an imposter by the princesses! That, and an alicorn's rumored immortality...I can't lose Vinyl..."
Another scene played where Octavia was wearing an amazing dress while trotting down a red carpet with other celebrities. Her tone was renewed with eagerness and curiousity "I COULD wish to be regarded in all of Equestria for my skills in the cello. Then, everypony can know me for my talent and consider me one of the elite..." The scene was switched with another, containing her galloping away from a paparazzi, her tone once again full of displeasure "But then that would mean getting harassed and having my privacy invaded by the paparazzi all the time!"
One last scene played where she was directing an audience of ponies towards a blackboard containing calculus-level equations behind her with a learning stick clenched between her teeth and a graduate's hat on her head. Her tone was once again fueled with eagerness "I could wish to be the smartest pony in Equestria, surpassing that of both Princess Celestia's and Twilight Sparkle's knowledge combined...I could solve age-old conundrums with just a thought in my mind and a flick of my hoof!" Another scene showed a grinning Octavia "And with each new piece of knowledge unearthed into Equestria, I could just grow smarter..and smarter..." The grinning Octavia's head began swelling up in size "and smarter...until-" There was a brief frown on the cellist's face before her head popped like one of Pinkie's favorite balloon's, revealing small bits of her brains and snapping Octavia out of her daydreaming with a panicked yelp.
Soon, the cellist clenched her eyes shut and bared her teeth as she groaned in frustration "I wish I knew what I want to wish for!!"
After the words had been uttered from Octavia's mouth, Thromnambular began to float and glow as the '3' on his head melted into a red stain before reforming into a '2'.
Octavia then opened her eyes, her expression quickly shifted into one of clarity "Of course! That's exactly what I want!" She turned to Thromnambular "Thromnambular, I would like to make my wi-Hey! Where are you going!?" She gave chase to the skull that began to float away as he spoke.
"You've made your wish, and with that, I fear
That our time has come to an end, my dear..."
Octavia looked aghast as she neared Thromnambular "But you can't go! I know what I want now! I wish-" The cellist's sentence was cut short as Thromnambular poofed out of existence in a large puff of smoke. When it cleared, a wide-eyed Octavia stood with her mane blown back into a straight horizontal style while parts of her body were covered in soot. She then heaved a wistful sigh before she looked down in lamentation "I wish I had that skull back..." She muttered in sadness.
_____
Twilight, Applejack and Spike were slackjawed at the sight in front of them. They never thought such a thing could exist, especially on that of a pony's back. The group stared at what appeared to be a living cookie standing on Derpy's back while she stood with an innocent smile as her eyes slowly moved clockwise at different angles. The cookie coughed before awkwardly giggling "Nice to finally see you again, Twilight Sparkle! Tell me, do you know where I can find a skull about yea high?" The Doctor-turned-cookie raised a tasty hoof to a small length "Tends to grant wishes to ponies willy nilly? I would gladly sort this mess out myself to save you the trouble, but it seems to be moving at unpredictable feats here and there around Ponyville!" He paused before he continued "Also, I'm a cookie. Pretty funny story, this thing here. It all started-"
Twilight interrupted with a snap "That can wait, Time Turner! We have to hurry and find Thromnambular so we can put a stop to his madness!"
The Doctor (Who apparently has another monicker to go by) nodded knowingly to Twilight's statement "Aaaaah, so you HAVE met the wish-granting skull! Fancy that! Did any of you make any wishes?" He asked nonchalantly, as if the skull weren't a threat to begin with.
Spike only answered by darting his eyes around with visible fear and bullets of sweat dripping down his temples.
Applejack frowned "Not really, but we see that y'all have! Don't really wanna ask, but Ah'm with Twi! We gotta get movin'! That darn skull could be anywhere!!"
Derpy giggled "At least it hasn't been found by any visiting ponies! Can you imagine how bad that could be?"
The Doctor turned to Derpy "No time for hypotheticals today, love! We have to hurry and sort this out before things get out of hoof! C'mon, everypony! Allons-y!!" The group then galloped around town, continuing their wild goose chase with two more members in their ranks.
7 down...2 to go...