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// Challenge 3 :: The Well 
// Story: Random Acts of Fiction 
// by Talia 
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Listen and attend now oh Best Beloved, and hear the tale of Willow Dancer and the Dragon’s egg. This is a tale of when Equestria was still new and the land still fresh. Ponies had not yet explored the land before them, and they all lived withing the walls of Canterlot.

This story is that of a young azure pegasus who we shall call Willow Dancer, Best Beloved. Though back in those days ponies used much longer names of grand distinction, which were often times very confusing, and not terribly helpful at actually helping ponies remember one another. But I feel it will be easier if we just call her Willow Dancer for this story.

Willow was a young mare and loved to fly and find new things. She wasn’t an explorer yet, but only because explorers hadn’t been invented yet. So instead the other ponies of Canterlot called her a “pony who finds new things”, and this seemed to suit her just fine because that was of course one of her two favorite things to do.

And so it was that Willow Dancer would go out flying every day. She would fly as far as she could each day until the sun was so high up in the sky that all the shadows of the land fled in fear of warm fiery gaze, many of thing shrinking down to almost nothing. This is because it is well known that shadows always flee the sun for they are its children and they have all been out playing far past their bedtime. They know that when the sun catches them they will be in trouble, so they always try to stay between something else and mother sun.

So as the purple maned pegasus would fly she would to each of the furthest corners of the land she could read by the time the sun had made its way to the top of the sky, knowing that she would need equal time to fly back to the castle. She did not want to be caught outside the castle after the sun went down. 

One day she would fly East, and the next she would fly West. Some days she would fly North, and others she would fly South. On rare occasions, when she was feeling extra brave she would mix the directions together in the ways they seemed to like best. Some days she would try flying to the North and East at the same time, and would find herself in a completely new place than either the North or East had brought her before. For you see oh Best Beloved, this was in the days before ponies truly understood geography and maps. She was certain that the hills and trees would dance below her whenever she flew above them.

Some days when she was out she would find a new thing, like a platypus, asparagus, or a rock that looked like a manticore sleeping. Else on occasion she would learn new things while she was out, like what ducks did in the summertime, or where waterfalls came from. Today was a special day though, oh Best Beloved, because today Willow Dancer found a new thing that she had never found before. Today on this most driest of Summer days, when the sun was high and it was ever so hot up there in the sky, Willow Dancer looked out as far as she could see.

There at the edges of her seeing something winked at her. This new thing twinkled and sparkled and shone ever so scintilatingly at her, and it did make her wonder ever so much with curious curiosity. Not thinking about it for even the tiniest of seconds the purpled maned pegasus flew to this curious new thing as quickly as her wings would carry her. 

When she finally reached the source of the shining shimmering light that winked at her Willow Dancer found herself very far from the castle indeed. The sun was laying its self to rest as the moon slowly crept out to cover the sky in her dank blanket of night. In front of here was something which surprised Willow Dancer very much. It was a new thing, but it was a thing she already knew. Before her, on a ledge overhanging from a cliff, was a well. The young pegasus knew what a well was, they had them all over Canterlot, they were wonderful ways of bringing water up from the ground for everypony to drink, but this well was strange to Willow Dancer. 

She couldn’t imagine who would have built it way out here, so very far away from where any other pony had ever been. What was even more of a confusion was where the water came from. Willow Dancer took many turns flying to the well and looking down into its clear blue waters to see how far down the well went, and then down below the ledge, trying to find where the water came from. For you see oh Best Beloved, the water extended down inside the well that Willow Dancer couldn’t have found the bottom if she’d swum down for a day and more. 

So it was that Willow Dancer knew the well must be magic, and a magic well was most certainly a new thing, and truly the best kind of curiosity she could have found. She imagined all the wonderful things the other ponies would say when she told them about the well that hung over nowhere but was filled all the way to forever with fresh water! This was exciting for her most surely.

Then with a most fearsome GROOOOWL! Willow Dancer was reminded that she had not eat in so very long. It had been a whole day since she’d left the castle, and normally she would be eating by now, but she was far away from both food and drink. Now, you must remember that magic is a most potent thing and it is not for the likes of most ponies to play with, but this was long before anyone had realized this to be a true thing. So it was that Willow Dancer quieted her rumbly tummy by drinking from the magic well. 

Suddenly a splashy swirl erupted from the water in the well. It drenched the thirsty mare from head to hoof, causing her to leap back unexpectedly and shout a surprised shout at the watery cyclone in front of her. To the little pony’s surprise the water shouted back.

“WHO WAKES ME FROM MY NAP?!” Roared a bubbly burbbly voice. “WHO DARES DRINK ME IN SUCH AN UNDIGNIFIED FASHION?!”

Willow Dancer cringed and shrank away from the voice that was ever so frightening. She had never heard water speak before, much less shout at her and it scared her something fierce. This was a new thing, but this was not a good new thing and she wanted to put it back and not ever have found it.

The splashing swirling pillar of water, who it must be known was a nymph of all things wet, seemed to notice Willow Dancer then, and inquired of her most loudly, “WAS IT YOU? DID YOU DRINK ME AND WAKE ME FROM MY NAP?!” Willow Dancer nodded, afraid to say anything to this fearsome nymph. 

“YOU?! YOU DRANK ME? HO HO, WELL ISN’T THAT SO VERY BOLD OF YOU?!” Now the nymph seemed to be almost bubbling over with laughter. “WELL THEN MY LITTLE PONY, FOR SUCH AMUSEMENT, SUCH BOLDNESS, I SHALL GRANT YOU THREE THINGS. SO TELL ME LITTLE ONE, WHAT THREE THINGS DO YOU WANT MOST AND THINK ARE BEST IN LIFE?”

Willow Dancer looked up at the water nymph and thought carefully before answering, “Well... finding new things is truly a best thing.”
The nymphed laughed at this and said, “INDEED IT IS, AND SO I SHALL GRANT YOU A NEW THING! A THING THAT CAN BE MANY NEW THINGS FOR YOU!” With a shake and splash the nymph plopped out a drop of its self to the ground next the well. Where the drop landed a small basket, with a large white and purple dotted egg nestled safely inside it, grew out of the puddle left by the drop of water.

Willow Dancer looked at the egg in the basket and found a gleeful smile hiding in the corners of her face. This wasn’t so scary, this was so many new things, and presents. She thought about the story she would get to tell her friends when she returned to the city which reminded her of the second best thing which she promptly told the nymph. “I know the second best thing! It is love, from friends and family, and all the ponies. Love is a best thing.”

The water nymph pondered this and spouted back to the pegasus, “INDEED IT IS LITTLE PONY! LOVE IS TRULY A BEST THING, WE GROW STRONGER AND BIGGER WITH EACH ACT OF LOVE WE RECEIVE! AND SO SHALL MY GIFT TO YOU!”

It was then that she noticed how dark it was getting and she knew what her last best thing was, so she said without hesitation, “I know the last best thing, it is to be home and safe.”

The Nymph spun wildly for a moment before saying back all wet and slippy, “INDEED IT IS, AND SO I SHALL RETURN YOU HOME WITH MY GIFT. TAKE IT AND CARE FOR IT, THEY WILL NEED YOU AS YOU HAVE NEEDED ME TODAY!” And with one final gigantic SPLOOSH the water nymph called upon an old old magic, one from so far back in the days when the world was truly young and it too was a new thing. It called upon a magic that took Willow Dancer and it’s gift back to Canterlot, back to her home, back safe.

Now you see oh Best Beloved, the nymph had given her its magic, but you must remember that nymphs are old and ever so tricksy. Their gifts are often not what they seem, and their magic always has another side. For the water nymph was still angry at having been drank so rudely by Willow Dancer, so he gave her a gift in kind. Her gift was the children of the water nymph, touched by a pony. They would be new things all the time, ever changing like the water spirit they had been born from. They would drink love like Willow Dancer had drank of the water spirit that birthed them. And they would always seek to come home, like the water spirit had returned Willow Dancer to when the day was done and the night had arrived.