//------------------------------//
// Chapter 9 
// Story: I Dream of Twilight Sparkle 
// by Salnalus 
//------------------------------//

The next day, after such a rough night between the baby dragon and the newfound genie, the sun shone its bright sunlight through the lone window into the room. It crept toward the bed every few minutes until the light beamed upon Spike's eyes. He winced a bit, but at least it woke him up. As he sat up from the bed, rubbing his eyes with one of his arms, he took a look at his surroundings.

He could remember what happened last night. That long discussion with Twilight had him tired, leaving him with little sleep, or at least less than normal. The only good thing to come out of it was that he slept on a bed much bigger than he was used to, and he enjoyed it a lot.

He stretched out his arms, an audible pop being heard before he lowered them. “Ah, that was a pretty good sleep. I figured I needed a big bed to sleep in to calm me down from worrying about what Twilight chooses. Heh, maybe I can convince her to give me that big bed back at home in Ponyville.”

“I wouldn't be too sure about that, Spike,” another voice answered, to which Spike yelled in surprise, tumbling down to the wooden floor face first. The voice giggled as a magical hum was heard, gathering its grip around the dragon before lifting him to his feet. After brushing himself off, he looked at Twilight, who was holding a book in midair via her magic.

“Good morning, Spike. I was just waiting for you while reading more on the book about genies. It's really fascinating what I can learn from this.”

Spike was smiling from the lavender mare's happiness. Though he was a bit hurt from the unfortunate fall, he didn't show it. “Yeah, I can tell. You're fascinated by anything you can learn. I bet you've learned more about the whole genie thing in just a few minutes of reading that.”

Twilight nodded in response while setting the book down. This gave Spike a little more hope that she was leaning toward the side of staying as a genie. “Very much. I'm still not sure what to choose. It's all really confusing to me, so you know what I'm going to do?” Twilight rose from the floor, a determined expression on her face.

“Umm, yes?” Spike asked, unsure about what Twilight was going to say.

“I think we should go back to the library. We got a lot of answers from this book about the ins and outs of being a genie. There were also a few things about genies we didn't read in the book, but we heard from Malakhar instead. So, who knows? Maybe Kubuya knows a few things about genies too.”

“The librarian?” Spike inquired.

“That would be her! So let's go. Just take my bottle and this book while we go there.” Forced by magic, the book floated by Spike, to which he grabbed it while going over to the bag. He opened it up wide enough for Twilight to levitate it inside with no problems. After securing the bag on his back, Twilight faced him with a smile as he picked the book back up.

“Alright, we're ready, so let's go. And listen Spike, I know what we were talking about last night is still on your mind...” Spike couldn't deny that; he couldn't stop thinking about Twilight's decision ever since they heard it from Malakhar. “However, let's keep that between us until the time comes for me to make my decision. I still need time to think about all of this.”

“But...” Spike started until Twilight cut him off.

“I don't have much time left,” Twilight finished for him, as if she read his mind. “I know. But this is all too much for me to handle. I think a few more hours of thinking is all I need. But now, I must get all the information I can until then. Now come on, we should get to the library and find Kubuya.”

Twilight opened the door and walked out. Spike walked out from behind, and they exited the hotel. However, the road to the library didn't come without more of the 'everypony in the city admiring the newfound genie' going on in the Market district of the city. It wasn't exactly tiring to see this, but they were getting a bit persistent. Same as before, there was more excusing from said genie before they finally reached the rather large building.





Interestingly enough, Kubuya was already in the front of the library, just opening it up to the public. Twilight and Spike proceeded to greet her while she was heading inside, and she heard them approaching from behind. She turned around and smiled at the coming duo.

“Greetings, Spike! And Twilight Sparkle...” Kubuya looked over Twilight, eyeing the various genie attire she was wearing. “So it's true. You have become a genie after all.”

“Yeah, I know, and apparently so does everypony else...” she replied as she looked back cautiously at the other Saddle Arabians.

“If you follow me inside, I can tell you all about why. It's a very special case around here with genies.” She turned around and started to walk ahead, leading Twilight and Spike inside. Once they made their way in, Kubuya lead them to an empty table where she sat down at one of the seats. Twilight sat across from her while Spike sat next to Twilight, setting down the bag with the bottle inside on the table.

“Alright Kubuya,” Twilight started, but before she could go on, she noticed the other mare was staring at her in a rather fascinated way, which left Twilight feeling a bit awkward. “Hey, are you feeling ok?”

That was enough to snap Kubuya out of her daze. “Oh, ahah... you must excuse my rudeness. It's just, with you, an actual genie, being here right in front of me, I cannot help but admire your presence.”

“But, we've already met,” Twilight replied with a raised eyebrow. “You shouldn't really be surprised.”

“Then perhaps I should explain further. Young dragon, bring forward that book.”

“Uh, you can just call me Spike,” he answered as he passed the book over to Kubuya.

She nodded in response, and flipped open the book. She started to flip forward a few pages, skimming through the material within until she found what she was looking for.

“Here we are. Even without having to look it up, I can explain that genies are a symbol of Saddle Arabian culture. A very long time ago, there were plenty of genies that were housed either in or near the city. Those that had masters, well, lived with their masters. In your case, your master...”

“No!” Twilight yelled in frustration, surprising the mare. She had a look of shock on her face from the sudden outburst, and so did Spike. When Twilight noticed, she lowered her ears in embarrassment.

“Sorry... but regarding this whole genie subject, I want nopony thinking of Spike as 'my master'. I was already referred to as that a few times ago by the stallion that turned me into a genie in the first place. It really bothers me, so could you not refer to Spike as my master? It makes me sound like I'm practically a slave or something.”

“O-of course, Twilight Sparkle. My apologies... shall I move on?” Kubuya asked with a rather frightened tone, scared that Twilight might invoke some sort of punishment upon her for that small mistake.

“Yes, go on.” She took a bit of time to calm herself down after that rather unfortunate little moment. Once she regained her composition, she spoke once again in a normal tone. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh no, it is perfectly understandable!” Kubuya with a bit of nervousness in a nervous voice. “I can see why you wouldn't like to be called that. But yes, I shall move on. Ahem...”

Her eyes returned to the book, scanning the pages for more of the information regarding genies.

“There used to be plenty of genies that were housed in or near Saddle Arabia. However, as I'm sure you are aware, there hasn’t been one for literally millenniums.”

“Hmm...” Twilight pondered. Perhaps she could find out more if she questioned further on the smaller subject. “Can I ask why there aren't many genies around now, or rather why there weren't any at all for that long?”

The librarian's head drooped down at the thoughts. She knew well what happened to the genies of the past time, and she was intent on telling Twilight everything she wanted to know.

“There is a story I must explain to you two. If you two please...”

Both Twilight and Spike looked at each other confusedly. The young dragon shrugged his shoulders before they both turned back to Kubuya. When she saw their attention being brought back to her, she took a deep breath before speaking.

“There was a regime change that happened long ago in ancient Saddle Arabian history. This regime was very Anti-genie.”

“Anti-genie?” Twilight questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“This means that the ponies in the regime were against the existence of genies. As such, they ran on the belief that corrupt genies were a big problem. While most of their statements were clearly false, they weren't completely not true, either.”

“What?” Spike interrupted with a claw held out to stop the mare. “That makes no sense. If it's false, how can't it not be true?”

“If you will allow me to explain...” Kubuya sighed, rubbing her forehead. “As I have explained, the regime were out to oppose the genies, as they believed genies were evil, and I mean all genies, even ponies that became genies if only to harbor their powers. Here is what I meant. There were some ponies who simply became genies to help out any greed they themselves, as well as their friends and family, had. There were enough incidents that the regime could have overblown them and say they were worse than they actually were.”

At this point, Twilight was the one to start feeling nervous now, just from hearing everything the librarian was telling; that is, if this regime still existed in the modern time.

“As you can well imagine, because of this, they passed their beliefs toward other commoners of Saddle Arabia, and a lot of them complied. Others still believed in them and their powers. Unfortunately, the latter slowly became the minority opinion.”

Twilight gathered the thoughts in her head, swirling around the facts presented to her from Kubuya. Once she put two and two together, she focused her mind on the facts she had just learned, and attempted to put them into words that made it more simple to understand.

“Let me see if I can take a crack at what you're saying,” Twilight said before clearing her throat. “From what I'm guessing, genies weren’t treated with respect, and even treated like they weren’t even real ponies.”

Spike blinked at Twilight's words, and when he shifted his gaze to Kubuya, she nodded her head in confirmation.

“You are a brilliant young mare, Twilight Sparkle. You were the first pony to ever understand any of that out of all the ponies I've told about this.”

“I'm not the only one?” Twilight inquired.

“Oh no, not even close! But I lost count of the many ponies I had tried to explain it to, but that is not important. Let us get back to the subject.”

“Yes, of course.”

Kubuya nodded her head before continuing. “Now then, some genies, while they did enjoy all of the powers at their disposal, the hate they received from the regime once they found about them got bad enough that genies not only considered, but actually started giving up their statuses and returned back to their mortal selves by letting themselves get wished free. This usually occurred after thousands of years after what their initial time period was before they were genies, hence they would actually live to be more than one thousand years old, or possibly even longer. They didn’t want to experience what they thought was going to be an eternity of abuse. It took a toll on their conscious minds, which is why they came to these decisions.”

Over time, Twilight started to feel sympathy for the once-lived genies of Saddle Arabian's past. Even though they were no longer alive, it was still heart-wrenching to think about, especially since she was now a genie herself.

“I-Is there more?”

“Much more. The regime tried to do prevent any new genies from being made, so as to keep Saddle Arabia 'safe',” Kubuya rolled her eyes at the thought. “So, they tried to destroy any and all information on how to create more of them. It was a miracle that you, however, were turned into one because it was thought to be all lost and that a genie would never appear in Saddle Arabian history ever again. Eventually, cooler heads would take over after most of the radicals from the Anti-Genie regime had left office or died.”

Silence filled the room at that point. Longing for the awkwardness of the situation to end, Spike suddenly spoke up. “So, what happened after there were no more genies?”

“Well, young dragon, there was a bit of a renaissance for ancient Saddle Arabian culture years later, but they could not find any trace of information to bring back the genies from the days of old. The best they could do is celebrate the times of former genies, who were aging old by then and offered them a chance to be respected once more after the lack of it had forced them to give up their immortality and power. After the last former genie died, the only way Saddle Arabians could celebrate them now is through memory and some of the old stories.”

Twilight gulped. This was not making her situation any better, she had to admit. Even if she chose to stay as a genie, she didn't want to go through all of this. However, she noticed this only happened to genies in Saddle Arabia.

“Wait. Is the Anti-Genie regime still existing today?”

“As of now, no. However, rumors are still passed around by some ponies that they are still keeping the tradition alive in secret, though nopony believes them.”

This made Twilight exhale in relief. “Good. There's something I'm wondering, though. The way the genies were turned into genies in the first place. How did they know how everything worked as a genie enough to be written in books and old tomes like these?”

She lifted the book up in the air with her magic, gesturing to it with her hoof. Kubuya took some time to think before clearing her throat. “Yes, that. You see, a few former genies themselves wrote some of the more detailed books, such as the one that you have there now. If you read through a lot of it, you can tell it was written by someone who had much experience with being a genie. However, this genie did have a master, which is how she was able to figure out most of the details, such as how wish-granting worked. Her master was a brilliant Saddle Arabian archaeologist, and learned much about how genies worked with the genie around.”

“How interesting,” Twilight said with curiosity, putting a hoof to her chin. “That explains how many of the finer details seemed so precise.”

“Twilight,” Spike interrupted, “Even with all of this information, I wonder how exactly Malakhar managed to make you a genie if the information on how to make them were supposed to have been wiped out by this Anti-Genie regime.”

Twilight gasped in realization as she turned to face her number one assistant. “Spike, you're right. You think there were a few ponies who were against the regime?”

“Indeed, there were,” Kubuya answered with a nod. “This Malakhar stallion you speak of must be one. Either that, or he is a descendant of the Saddle Arabians who protected genies from the regime.”

Twilight sat in silence for a few seconds, combining the thoughts together. Spike faced her with concern, but she rose her head up toward Kubuya again.

“So, and I'm taking a big guess here...” Twilight started as she rose from her seat and started to pace back and forth behind Spike. “Malakhar must've known the whole time how to make genies, yet kept it secret. However, he has told me that he already knew about me and my friends, and how we saved Equestria on more than one occasion. I know Princess Celestia sent word here that we'd be arriving, so when he heard it, it would've been the perfect time to bring it right back out.”

She stopped and looked back at the other two. Spike scratched his head, trying to understand it all. “Are you completely sure about that, Twilight?”

“Absolutely.”

“In that case,” Kubuya said, “Right now, this would make you the one and only genie in existence.”

“I'm sure I could've figured that out already...” Twilight responded, which earned a giggle from Kubuya.

“Well, Twilight Sparkle, that is all I can tell you. The only thing I can do for you now is offer a few more books for you.”

Twilight nodded in understanding, and looked at Spike, her expression brimming with confidence. “Well Spike, we got what we came here for. Now, it's time we made yet another visit to Malakhar to confirm a few things. If a lot of what Kubuya said was true, then need to know how he managed to have the information to turn me into a genie, and of course why.”

“Wait,” Kubuya interrupted hastily with a hoof raised. She stood up from her seat and proceeded to the front desk. “I have a few books I wanted to give to you.”

Twilight tilted her head to the side slightly in confusion. “For what reason? Not to say I would ever refuse the offer of a few books. Just, what for?”

“Not to worry, Twilight,” Kubuya assured kindly. “These books will be free of charge. I had figured, ever since hearing about your dilemma, that a few of these would help with your situation. And besides,” Kubuya smiled genuinely with a pause. “The fact I was able to meet an actual genie, even if you were to choose to return to normal, is payment enough.”

“Well... thank you?” Twilight responded, unsure if that was a good thing or not. While she did like the pleasure of making a new friend, she wasn't sure if Kubuya was more happy about making a new friend herself, or just meeting an actual genie. She just decided to shrug it off as she saw the librarian walk to the front desk.

“I do, however, ask for one small favor, if you do not mind.”

“Well, sure!” Twilight exclaimed. “What is it?”

Kubuya walked behind the front desk, and before she went to duck down behind it, she turned back to Twilight. “I only want one wish. May I please have a wish? It has always been a dream of mine since I was a filly to get a wish from a genie! I didn't think it would ever happen, but now that you're here...”

Twilight faced Spike, who just shrugged his shoulders, not minding the offer at all. She just wanted to be cautious, especially considering she only granted a few wishes, and that was only for Spike and one time for Malakhar. She turned back to Kubuya with an unsure expression as she placed a large box full of books onto the desk.

“Well, that depends... what is it you want?”

“Nothing too big, but I am hoping it will be special. I'd like to have a journal, one I can call my very own.”

Twilight and Spike blinked their eyes at the simple request. They were expecting something much bigger than just another book, but they weren't going to argue, though they were curious.

“Wait, you don’t get empty books here that you can use for a journal here?” Twilight decided to ask, to which Kubuya shook her head.

“Not exactly. I receive strictly books that are basically filled already. Not much use for a book without filled pages, and I have no friends that give me any sort of gift. There is a book club that comes here every so often, and I know them, but I wouldn't say they are close friends...” Kubuya explained as she lowered her head in sadness.

Twilight put a hoof to her chin. It didn't take long for her to come to her decision, and she nodded her head in acceptance as she looked toward her number one assistant. Spike knew exactly what she meant by the gesture, and immediately smiled.

“I wish Kubuya had her very own journal!”

Kubuya opened her eyes suddenly, and looked at the young dragon in surprise with her mouth wide open. Before she could say anything, she stood in awe as she witnessed the process of a wish being granted actually happening before her eyes. As Twilight's horn glowed, a small purple glow appeared on the front desk in front of Kubuya. In a small flash, a journal appeared in place of the once empty space.

This one was even more special, though. It was personally customized to match Kubuya's scheme in every way. The cover was decorated with her peach coat color with a border the same shade of orange as her hair. The final piece that marked it the most special was Kubuya's cutie mark on the front, an orange bookmark.

“Oh, thank you ever so much, Twilight Sparkle and Spike! Here’s the box of books I promised you in exchange for the wish.” She pushed the box forward, which Twilight levitated onto the floor next to Spike. His eyes widened at the amount of books inside. He even wondered if he could carry that many in such a box, though it wasn't large.

“Thank you as well, Kubuya. If we ever come back to Saddle Arabia sometime in the future, we’ll meet you again for sure.”

Kubuya beamed with enthusiasm. “You’ll be welcome back here anytime, whether you’re a genie or not. Farewell, and I hope whatever decision you make regarding you staying a genie or not goes well!”

“Goodbye!” The duo yelled back as Twilight carried the box of books with her. Well, Spike was actually carrying them while she held the bag containing her genie bottle. When Twilight and Spike had completely walked away from the library, Kubuya immediately started on her first journal entry.

Dear Journal,

Today, I met the two greatest friends in the world...

Sincerely,
Kubuya Atka