“I’m sorry, but that’s all the wishes I can grant for you today,” Dark Genie mentioned to the line of ponies that were still in front of his place that evening. “I will be glad to start granting more wishes tomorrow, however.”
As the ponies started to leave for their homes, some grumbling a bit, Dark Genie happened to look up and saw one pony approach from the air. Though she was still too far away to see the details, the Wonderbolt costume and rainbow streak gave her away. Acting natural, he stepped back inside his place as she approached.
---
Rainbow Dash arrived at Dark Genie’s place. While she was understandably upset, she also knew that knocking on the front door was probably the wrong approach. So she flew around and tested the windows, finding one of them to be unlocked.
Slipping inside, she found that there were piles of items. Some looked to be valuable, others just sentimental. But one thing in particular caught her eye.
“A Cutie Mark Crusader cape,” she mentioned to herself. “Applejack won’t be happy when she finds out her sister was probably here.”
After finding nothing else of interest, she glanced outside and saw it was empty. It was a small hallway to two other rooms. One looked to be a bathroom of some kind, but the other at the end of the hall opened to Dark Genie’s living area, where she was before. And she saw Dark Genie sitting behind the desk, as if he was waiting for something. His eyes were on the front door, and turned away from her.
As she crept closer, his horn suddenly gave a quick flash, and Rainbow Dash ducked behind the door frame, hoping that she wasn’t noticed.
“I know she’s here,” Dark Genie said, as if he was talking to his horn. “Okay, Rainbow Dash, I know you’re there. You can come out now.”
After some hesitation, Rainbow Dash stepped out from behind the door frame. Despite being nervous about facing him alone, she stood tall before him.
“I’ve come for my friends,” she announced.
Dark Genie looked down at the young pegasus a moment, who stood at about half his height, and laughed out loud. To him, it seemed preposterous that she could do anything to him, with all his magical power.
“So you think you can beat me and release your friends? What makes you think little young you can take me on alone?” he asked.
“Because she’s not alone!” a voice called out from behind him.
Dark Genie whirled around, as Rainbow Dash bent to the left a little to see past him. Standing there in a line were her friends, all free and ready to take him on (except Fluttershy, who just looked nervous). Rainbow Dash rushed past Dark Genie while he was distracted to join them.
“Impossible! How did you escape?” Dark Genie roared.
“Simple. You made your cell strong, and the magic cancel charm was a nice touch. But you forgot to make sure a baby dragon couldn’t slip through the bars,” Twilight declared.
“Well, no matter. I can defeat all of you. Then there will be nobody to stand in the way of my riches,” he declared, rearing up and coming down on the ground. That delivered a shockwave through the ground, knocking four of them off their hooves. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were able to avoid it.
“You need to cool down,” Rainbow Dash declared, flying out and returning seconds later with a rain cloud. With a great kick, it hit Dark Genie with a ton of lightning and rain. By then, the others were back on their feet.
“Here’s a taste of what I can do,” Twilight called out, firing a ray of purple energy right at him.
As the cloud lost steam and dissipated, and the magic ray lost its charge, they could see that Dark Genie was unharmed, and stood as powerful as ever. He laughed at the ponies gathered around him.
“Did you really think that your silly parlor tricks and weather manipulation was actually going to defeat me? I’m more powerful that you can ever be. I bet I could even take on the princess herself if I wanted to. But enough talk, it’s time to finish you.”
Rainbow Dash fluttered near Twilight Sparkle, as Dark Genie’s eyes glowed, and he began charging up a powerful attack. Twilight prepared to block with every ounce of magic her young body contained, but wasn't sure how much she could do against it.
“Tell me the elements are coming,” Rainbow Dash whispered.
“I had Spike send a letter to Princess Celestia, asking her to send the Elements. They should appear…” Twilight answered, and her voice trailed off as she heard the sound of something appearing right above her head. “…right about now!”
Rainbow Dash quickly flew up to grab the chest before Dark Genie could try anything. He noticed the chest appearing, and actually stopped charging his attack. He knew what the small box contained, and what it could mean for him.
“You know, Rainbow Dash,” Dark Genie told her, sounding somewhat reasonable. “My gifts are usually temporary, but I do have the power to make them permanent, if I choose. And if you give me the box, I can make your entry into the Wonderbolts be forever.”
Rainbow Dash’s mind raced faster than a sonic rainboom at his words, and he quickly came to the conclusion that was no surprise to her or anyone else: She would not give him that box. Dark Genie expected this, and had another card to play.
“But you want to stay loyal to your new team, do you not?” Dark Genie continued, playing upon the loyalty that defined her.
That sentence struck a chord with her, as her eyes went to the chest in her hooves, to Dark Genie, and back to the chest. She racked her mind to come up with a possible solution. If she went with her friends, she would be betraying the Wonderbolts, and her lifelong dream. But going with the Wonderbolts would mean betraying the best friends she ever had. And she had no guarantee that Dark Genie would keep his end of the deal.
She could hear Twilight yelling something to her. But her voice sounded soft, like she was yelling it from a long distance, and Rainbow Dash couldn‘t tell what she was trying to tell her. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Fluttershy flying towards her. But her hooves were suddenly changed into lead weights, forcing her back to the ground. After a couple of minutes, she made her decision.
“Okay, you can have the box,” she told Dark Genie.