//------------------------------// // Chapter 5 // Story: I Dream of Twilight Sparkle // by Salnalus //------------------------------// Spike grabbed open the top of the bottle, and popped it off. He set it on the ground in front of him, and waited as if expecting something to happen. Yet, nothing happened. He expected the smoke from inside to come pouring out. It just stayed inside. He crossed his arms in disbelief. It was only then a few seconds later, that the smoke from inside started coming out. More than he expected, but it wasn’t going all around the room, or dissipating. It seemed to make some sort of formation, almost like a body of some sort. Spike stepped back a few steps as the smoke started to come together and shape itself.  At the top, what looked like the head of a pony started to form. Under it was supposedly its neck and body. Arms protruded from what would appear to be the shoulders. The body floated just above the bottle, and solidified itself. Spike’s eyes widened when he saw the figure floating before him. It was Twilight Sparkle, who appeared to be sleeping for a few seconds before groaning. She held a hoof to her head as her eyes slowly opened, as if in a daze. Her eyes felt heavy and blurry, until a voice snapped her out of her daze. “Twilight...?” Twilight gasped, and shook her head to clear her vision and awareness. She stared down at the young dragon. “Spike? Oh, my head feels weird... where are we?” “We’re in some stallion’s hut, but I have some questions to ask...” “Oh right, Malakhar...” Twilight’s face shifted right back to the way it was while she was getting sucked into the bottle minutes ago. From what Spike could tell, she was furious. “Malakhar? Is that the name of that stallion that was just here?” “That depends, was he a beige-colored stallion, had a beard, a pottery maker?” “Uh... yeah, that would be him.” “Where did he go? He needs to pay for what he did to me! He tricked me into getting sucked into this bottle...” Spike didn’t see it at first, but it was noticeable when Twilight tried to walk away from him toward the door. Or rather, she tried to float there, as she didn’t walk on her hooves. Spike could now see the hind part of her body was connected to the bottle like a smokey tail. “Uh, Twilight? You said you were sucked into the bottle, but you didn’t say anything about being connected to it.” “Spike what are you-- AAAAAHHHHH!” When Twilight looked back at the bottle, she could see her body being connected to it. It felt freaky to her. Not just felt freaky; it looked freaky as well. “Yeah, that. Also, why are you wearing that? You don’t really strike me as the pony to be wearing jewelry.” “Jewelry? What Jewelry?” “Take a look...” Spike spotted a pony-sized mirror, and walked over to it. He grabbed it with his claws and showed it to the floating unicorn, who gasped upon looking at her own reflection. Twilight had some strange attire on her front hooves and forehead. Golden bracelets were tightly fitted on her forehooves. Across her forehead directly under her horn was a similarly tight fitted gold headband. Her bangs covered most of it but in the middle the headband also had a large oval with a purple gem encrusted on it. On the tip of her horn was a golden horntip, which was also tightly fitted as if it was horn armor. Twilight just looked between her hooves and her reflection. If anything, she couldn’t believe not just that a bottle of all objects sucked her inside, but also that jewelry appeared on her when she wasn’t even wearing it in the first place, not to mention her hind legs were nonexistent as the rear part of her body was connected to the aforementioned bottle. “Uh, Twilight? You think explain why you have that jewelry on, why you’re connected to a bottle, and why--” “I have no idea Spike. I surely didn’t have this when I was, well…” “Was what?” Twilight sighed. She figured an explanation for her being in this predicament was best. “Alright, here’s what happened. In the morning after I woke up, you were still asleep though, I left the hotel pretty early to spend a bit of time in the library.” Spike rolled his eyes. Of course she went there. “I had a great conversation with Kubuya for a few hours. We talked about books, life in Saddle Arabia, the culture, philosophy...” “Twilight...” Spike groaned, a bit of annoyance in his voice. “Cut to when you came in here.” “Oh, right. Sorry. Well, a stallion of the name Malakhar Manat greeted me and invited me inside his hut. For most of the time, he just seemed like a nice guy. He even knew my name, what I’ve done, and more. You know, the Elements of Harmony and all that. He said that he could offer me stronger skill in magic, and the key to it was to open this bottle.” Twilight pointed a hoof to the bottle she was currently connected to. “But all it did was inexplicably suck me inside.” Spike was confused beyond comprehension. “How can that even happen? The bottle looks like it can barely fit Angel, let alone something as big as a pony like you.” “My theory is that it was enchanted with magic to gradually morph half of my body to smoke and then funneling the rest of me inside. I don’t remember anything that happened in between the time I was completely sucked in and when you released me. Apparently, whenever I’m inside that thing, I’m just about unconscious.” “That’s... weird. This Malakhar guy looked just like any ordinary Earth pony stallion. But of the Saddle Arabian variety, of course. How could he enchant the bottle?” “I don’t know, but what I do know is that he will get a stern talking-to when I see him again!” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “Speaking of which, where is he?” “Oh, he actually just left before you came out the bottle. He was taken for questioning by some guards. Not sure what for, though..” “He deserves to be in trouble for what he’s done to me. I have to thank you for at least opening the bottle, Spike. I must ask though, did he try to not let you open the bottle for whatever reason?” “Yeah, he said that the bottle was just a lava lamp, and if I opened it, is mother would be mad or something. But I was really curious about it, so I opened it hoping she wouldn’t mind.” “I see... he tried to lie to you so he could trap me inside and probably keep me to himself. For once, not listening paid off for you, Spike.” “Oh, thank you-- hey, wait a minute…” Twilight giggled, seeing he caught on to her meaning. But just as fast as her smile appeared, it disappeared just as quickly. “I still have no idea what all this means, though. Am I just a prisoner to this bottle? Like a ball and chain, but instead, a magic tail that makes up the entire back half of my body? Can I even move away from this thing?” To make sure, Twilight tried tugging herself a little father away from the bottle.  Her tail  stretched far from the bottle. She soon found that she could move freely about the entire room. At least she took comfort in the fact she could still move around, but  that didn’t make matters better. “There has to be some kind of explanation for this, and I know Malakhar will have some explaining to do.” “Alright, I’ll go see what’s keeping him.” Spike turned away from Twilight and proceeded towards the door. It wasn’t until a few steps later until Malakhar stepped back inside, staring down at the young dragon. “Well young dragon, I’m back. I hope, for your sake, that you didn’t touch anything in here.” Malakhar didn’t notice it, but Spike was starting to sweat nervously. The tension grew while he tried to think of an excuse. “Who, me? Nah, of course I wouldn’t! Who do you think I am, some kind of immature kid or a thief or something?” At this, Malakhar raised an eyebrow. “Well, I don’t know you personally. I’m just being cautious. All of these bottles, lamps and other objects are very priceless and valuable to me. Every single one of these things.” “Ok... sorry, Malakhar.” Spike really didn’t feel bad for anything, but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt anyway. “So uh, what did the guards ask you about?” “They just simply wanted to know if I saw any trouble down the street. Not really much to say since I’ve been in here all this time. Of course, I did see your friend Twilight Sparkle, and I--” Malakhar suddenly stopped speaking. He had a look of what appeared to be a mix of fear and shock. Spike scratched his head and paid close attention to his face, noticing the stallion was looking past him. He looked back to see Twilight floating behind him, glaring at Malakhar with an intense expression. Spike had never seen Twilight this angry before, and it was somehow surprising to see. She was normally somepony who would never blow a fuse, but seeing her now made him change his opinion. After a few seconds of passing, Twilight floated past Spike at a rapid speed, bringing her face close to Malakhar’s. He reacted by backing away and bowing down in front of her. “T-Twilight Sparkle! You’ve been brought out the bottle, b-but how...?” “Spike released me, but that isn’t the issue. Right now, I demand an explanation for what you did to me!” “I was going to tell you when I was ready to release you myself--” He didn’t get a chance to explain, as Twilight’s glare intensified to the point of stopping him from speaking. “"What did you do to me?! Why did you do it and why do it in such a cryptic fashion just to trick me?! You better have a way to change me back right now before... before I...” Twilight wasn’t sure what to say, she looked at him evenly, but still kept that same face. Malakhar saw this, and used the chance to regain his composure “Before you what? There’s nothing to tell you about what you can do in your current form. But if you really want honesty... yes, I did this to you on purpose.” “So you did trick me! it wasn’t a magic empowering thing at all. I know there was a reason for you to trick me into being stuck in the bottle, but what?” Twilight gave him a cold, hard stare that could instill horror in any filly that dared to look at her, and though Malakhar was no filly, he was scared out of his wits. All he could do was sigh. “I can’t tell you.” Twilight’s left eye twitched when she heard his answer. “Why not?!” “I just, can’t tell you. At least, not now. However, I will at least tell you what I told you before you opened the bottle. Do you remember what it was?” Twilight’s face still showed that same angry expression, but after a few seconds, it softened into a more calm appearance. She was still mad at him, but it barely showed now. She tried to think back at what he told her before she opened the bottle and started getting sucked in. “One thing I remember you saying was that it would increase my magical output. But from all I can see, all it did was stick me to this bottle and replaced my hindlegs with a ghostly tail.” “Oh no, it’s not just that. That would just be horrible.” Twilight narrowed her eyes again. As if it wasn’t already horrible. “I’ll tell you what exactly putting you in the bottle has accomplished for you in regards to your magic.” Twilight was now intrigued. Though she wanted to hear his explanation, as it might have done something fascinating to her magic, her eyes were still narrowed because of the predicament she was now in. “Good. It seems I have caught your attention. Now then, you may not be able to do anything about being free from the bottle right now... but I didn’t lie that it would increase the limits of your magic. There are just special conditions.” “So you’re saying my magic has improved. But at the same time, It’s still limited in some way.” Even from understanding this, Twilight still shook her head. She was not approving of this. “If I have to look like a ghost anchored by a glass bottle for the rest of my life just because I want to be stronger in magic, then I don’t want any part of this deal!” Now it was Malakhar’s turn to shake his head. “It is too late. You have already become a part of the bottle, and once that happens, you can’t be freed from it... unless you go to the library not too far from here and require a book on a certain subject. It should explain what you have become now. Not a ghost, or any spirit of any sort. You’re now something even more special; something Saddle Arabians have not seen in thousands of years.” He made a wide grin, while Twilight and Spike stared in confusion. “Do you want to know what you are now?” “Yes... yes, I do.” At this point, Malakhar was prepared for the worst when he would reveal Twilight’s new form to her. However, he knew the revelation wouldn’t be so bad, at least to her. Though the situation was bad for Twilight, or so she thought, Malakhar still held that grin on his face. For the first time in his life, he was standing in front of a legend. “Dear Twilight Sparkle, you are now a Genie. A magical being bound to the bottle that currently anchors your smoky tail.” Twilight’s pupils shrunk in surprise. She probably should’ve seen it coming when she noticed she was tied to a bottle and she was suddenly wearing the hoofbands and headband. But that was just preposterous. Twilight could remember genies being nothing but old fillies tales and fantasy creatures in old fiction books. From what she remembered reading about them, they came from lamps-- or in her case, a bottle-- and they would have to grant three wishes to whoever opened what would be their container. After the three wishes, the genie would be forced back into the container, and they would magically appear in another random location, and would be stuck there until the container was opened again, and the cycle repeated. Malakhar could see the look of surprise on Twilight’s face. He chuckled a bit at her speechlessness before he started to explain. “Here, I’ll explain. Millenniums ago they just disappeared. How that came to be, nopony knows. However, I found one of the few remaining instructions for making genie bottles, and it required somepony opening it. Of course, in this case, said pony had to be tricked.” Twilight narrowed her eyes at that, but Malakhar ignored it and continued. “But I didn’t want just anypony. No, I wanted someone who already had a reputation for being great at magic. Of course, your previous experience with magic doesn’t affect how much of it you have now, nor is the faact you are a unicorn. In fact, Earth Pony and Pegasus genies have the same amount of power a Unicorn would have, except that Pegasi would use their wings to grant wishes while Earth Ponies would use their hooves. “Either way, a genie has an immense magical ability that far exceeds even Alicorns. Imagine yourself being smarter than Princess Celestia. However, their only downside is that they are bound to magically-enchanted containers. In your case, that would be the bottle you are currently connected to. Not only that, but their immense power didn’t come free of charge. It had to be wished by their master. As you know, a genie’s master is the one that initially opens the bottle. That would be your little dragon friend there.” Both Malakhar and Twilight stared at Spike, who was quite surprised himself. “M-Me? I’m Twilight’s... master? I don’t wanna think myself as that! Can’t I take it back?” Twilight figured she had enough, and she glanced back at the stallion with a stern look. “Malakhar, you do realize what you put me through, right? From what I know, once the master of a genie makes three wishes, they have to go back in their bottle and be sent to some random location. I don’t want that happening to me!” “Relax, young Twilight Sparkle. You probably just got that from those silly filly stories authors write just to create limitations for the story. Real genies don’t have that happen to them. As you can well imagine, I do know a lot about genies. However, even my own knowledge on the subject is limited. You will either have to find out for yourself, or find out about it in a different way. That is, the old-fashioned way: by doing research.” In a way that seemed expected, yet unexpected, Twilight smiled a wide grin. No matter what the subject was, she loved doing research. Her expression turned back to the way it was before she heard that word. “While all of this information seems interesting and fascinating,  tricking me into turning into a genie is still uncalled for. Sure, I gain a lot of power, but what good is power if I can’t even freely move away from this dumb bottle and can’t use any magic under these so-called “conditions”? And from what you’re saying, you basically took my freedom away without my consent. That’s a crime punishable by banishment, if you ask me. If you know a way to get me out of this, I won’t press charges but don’t suddenly think I’ll ever forgive you for what you’ve done to me.” Twilight crossed her hooves and narrowed her eyes. If Malakhar thought for one second he was even slightly getting to Twilight, her frown proved him to be sadly mistaken. But Malakhar still wasn’t going to give up on calming her down. “I think you’ll enjoy it more than you realize. Yes, you’re bound to the bottle, but once you find out how useful your newfound power is, you’ll be able to do things that were unimaginable in your previous state.” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’m still suspicious because you’re telling me all this but not telling me how to use magic as a genie. Afraid I’ll seek retribution on you big time with the power you practically gave to me?” Malakhar looked away for a moment. He didn’t exactly want to admit it, but it was the truth, and he frowned at the revelation. “I can’t deny that if you knew how to use it from the very start, and you combined that with your current mood, you probably wouldn’t resist the urge for, umm... taking vengeance on me with an iron hoof... or horn. A bad thought occurred in the stallion’s mind. Angering a genie wasn’t exactly the smartest thing to do in Saddle Arabia, and Malakhar knew that far too well. Despite that, he kept up his attempt to not show fear. However, I insist you give this a try anyway. You can only stretch yourself instead of freely moving around, so as much as this might distress you, it would be best if you go back inside the bottle and let your dragon carry you. When he gets to the library, he'll find information quite easily given how popular Genie lore is in Saddle Arabia. If I may ask however, what did you come here for in the first place?” “Oh, I actually came mostly to bring some books to my library in Ponyville. I’m in charge of it there. I thought that bringing some Saddle Arabian literature would add some interesting stuff.” “I see. You make all of Saddle Arabia proud for choosing our fine literature to take back and share.” “You’re very welcome. I did hear tha--“ Twilight stopped as soon as she realized she was being distracted. “Let’s get back into the situation at hoof here.” “Aww, I thought we could have at least another nice conversation to... calm you down a bit.” Malakhar grinned mischievously. “Well, I’m much more calm now, but I’m no less angry at you. This isn’t exactly what I had in mind when I came here.” “I understand. In any case, I wouldn’t doubt the library having something on Genies, as I said before that it’s popular folklore around Saddle Arabia. Not only that, but you can get a good selection of books for the library when you get back.” “Well, at the very least by talking with me you’ve proven not to be as bad-minded as I first thought. When Spike released me, I got to thinking you had some nefarious plan for me. Fooling me into becoming a Genie isn’t exactly a good first impression.” Malakhar only chuckled in response. “I realize that, and I do apologize, though I doubt you would have agreed if I had simply said, ‘Hey Twilight, how would you like to become a genie?’” Twilight put a hoof to her chin in thought. “I probably would've thought that was ridiculous or even a joke.” She then shook her head. “But still, the fact that you didn’t tell me what you were doing, you just made it sound like something would just come out of the bottle, use force against me, and suddenly my magic becomes stronger. The way you really did it was just... unjust.” “Again, I’m sorry. It was the only way I could think for you to give it a try though.” Twilight narrowed her eyes again. Malakhar kept his composure. “Here’s what you’ll want to do. Have the dragon--” Spike crossed his arms. “Spike. My name is Spike.” “Er, Spike... carry your bottle to the library. Once there, Spike, you inquire to the librarian there about books on genies. She should know where the specific location of every type of book is. She’s very organized. Once you get what you need, it would be imperative that you come back here.” Spike nodded his head as he understood Malakhar’s instructions, but Twilight wanted to be sure. “Alright then, so I have to go right back into the bottle and have Spike carry me, right? Since I can’t do much in this...” She attempted to touch her smoke tail with her hooves. As expected, they go right through. “...form.” “That would be correct. I should ask, though. Do you go under some sort of pain when you’re in there and that’s why you sound so concerned?” “No pain. Actually, it’s more like I’m in sort of a comatose state where I don’t feel anything nor can I even think until I was released by Spike. It’s like I instantly fall in a deep, relaxing sleep. It kind of feels like I’m sleeping on a cloud, except it’s much more soothing. Granted, I’m not a Pegasus, but you know what I mean.” “Yes, I do. I think in time you can get used to it. Now I have to ask, do you really want the awkwardness of Spike dragging you everywhere while you’re fully exposed?” Twilight imagined everypony walking in town staring at her being dragged by the bottle with her smoke tail floating in midair. It looked like quite an unusual sight, and it was not the attention that Twilight wanted at all. “I suppose you’re right. Spike, I’m going back into the bottle. Like Malakhar said, I need you to both carry me while I’m inside and get a book about genies. I left my bag of bits in my saddlebag, which is by the side of the door. Grab it and use the necessary amount of bits to buy the book. Then we go back to Malakhar’s hut.” Twilight looked back at Malakhar briefly before leaning close to Spike’s ear to whisper to him. “But before you come back here, take my bottle and the book just outside of the town, and release me so we can read it together. You know, to hopefully get more of an understanding about this genie thing.” She then raised her head back up, and continued to look down at the small dragon. “You got that Spike? I’m counting on you.” Spike stood straight up and saluted her. “You got it, Twi! I won’t let you down!” Malakhar smiled, and looked at the duo. “I’ll be here waiting for you two. I hope in time you’ll forgive me fully, Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight just looked away. “We’ll see what happens. Now let’s see if I’m even able to go back in easily. If this works, then goodbye for now.” Twilight crossed her arms and closed her eyes. As she concentrated, the front half of her body became smoke and fused with her smoke tail. After a few seconds, she fully suctioned into the bottle. Like the first time, the top instantly sealed the bottle. “Well, little firebreather, she’s in your hands now. Don’t keep your eye off her. I’m not the only one who knows about genies around here. As soon as the thieving type spots that you’re holding a bottle with swirling smoke, they’ll know that you have a genie in your possession and when your back is turned, they’ll take her without a moment’s notice.” This served to make Spike gulp out of nervousness. The life of his best friend, his caretaker, somepony who was practically his older sister, was now under his care. Twilight had always cared for the baby dragon, and now it was time for him to do the same for her. “Got it!” Spike nodded his head, and grabbed the bottle containing Twilight in one of his claws. He ran over to Twilight’s saddlebags and set the bottle down to feel around for the bag of bits. As soon as he found it, he picked the bottle back up and gave Malakhar one final look. He saw that Malakhar was suddenly carrying what appeared to be a small bag on his right hoof. “Take this. You’ll want to put that bottle in this bag. It’ll make it easier to carry that bottle, and more importantly, it’ll make the bottle more easily hidden.” Spike nodded, and walked over to him, picking up the bag and stuffing the bottle inside of it. “I’ll be back as soon as I can! Watch Twilight’s saddlebags while we’re gone!” With that, Spike strapped the bag around his body, resting it on his bag. He rushed out of Malakhar’s hut and headed out into the market. He made sure his grip around the bag of bits was tight. He wasn’t going to let his best friend get stolen by potential thieves. As he moved about the city, he reflected on how weird this was. Normally he didn’t have to worry about responsibility because Twilight was usually the caretaker and responsibility holder, with many traits that defined how much she cared for Spike. Now the role has been reversed. Suddenly, he was responsible for her. He took this as his chance to prove to Twilight that he was capable of responsibility. Not that she’d have any way of knowing, for she couldn’t see anything outside the bottle while she was in it, and even if she could, it was in the bag Spike had strapped around himself. Nevertheless, he had a duty to keep, and keep it he would.