Twilight Sparkle calls upon a genie. The process is mired in rules, but she won't let that stop her. With the genie's power, she could change the world. She has until moon-rise to make her wish.
Rules provide structure and order. Rules offer reliability and build society. Rules are boundaries that we live within, but rules can be broken. Sometimes, we have to break the rules to do what is right.
But some rules can't be broken.
Sometimes, rules are shackles.
Featured on Equestria Daily.
Chapters (1)
Interesting idea to have it from the Genies perspective rather than Twilights. Usually in these stories we get the tension of the protagonist agonizing over what to wish and wondering what will happen but in this story we get it from the other end and I especially like how the genie reacts to the wish ideeas.
This story makes me think of D&D campaigns from long ago (partly due to recently reading your other story). The idea behind simple (though not always selfish) wishes is very true there since wishes like asking for improved ability scores are encouraged to work but wishes that gave you much greater benefits were encouraged to fail and spectacularly so.
I enjoyed this story. I wonder if Pinkie realizes there is a new pony in town...
3335623
Thank you very much.
Very good story. Liked the characterization. Thank you.
I will say one thing, I don't hope much for the story when I opened it... and oh, I'm so wrong.
This story is incredibly good (it's engaging, and I like how it's told, although there might be some instances where you should look over, again, but overall, it's very good). How the story goes,with the Genie and Twilight and Spike... I like it, they feel good, and... the Genie didn't feel too flat, and I kind of feel his character is more on the melancholy type (after a very long time, it's no wonder though).
Although, I'm still confused, is the Genie still has the 'Genie' form, or did he become more alike pony? Alive body and able to die and all that?
3336226
He can still float/fly, but, the story doesn't state exactly what he becomes, only that it's not what he was before.
In other words, I was going for open ended, not confusing.
Also, I'm terrible at selling my stories. I'm curious what about the description gave you low hopes?
3338130
Ah, I see, thank you for answering
3338753
No problem.
3336216
Thank you too!
If I weren't reading this on my phone, I'd going an applause gif too put in this comment.
Have an upvote and fav instead.
Pretty good. I kept thinking, "come on, Twilght, don't be that dumb, don't be that dumb!" And she just kept going, ready to make the worst wish ever. So there was that tension. I also like that it's from the Genie's POV. That's what makes it work, since he knows just what a bad idea it is, but he's helpless to stop her.
3416212
Thank you very much.
When I saw your comment, I knew I recognized your name from somewhere (I must have seen your name as a pre-reader or something). I'm glad to hear you liked it.
Is his name Bartimaeus, by any chance?
I think I might have wished for the end of the world aka. no more suffering. Wouldn't be too bad, I suppose. Happyness would be gone, of course, but there isn't too much of that going around in the firstplace. Or crank evolution back and try again with amoeba or something.
You made EQD - Congrats
Im glad you did, I would've missed this gem if you hadn't, great work :D
3447750 Nah he's not nearly sassy and vindictive enough to he Bartimaeus.
3447750
That's a little pessimistic. I think what we have is a good thing, even though it comes with the bad.
3447824
Thank you very much
3448035
If I remember right, Bartimaeus was sassy and vindictive because he hated people for making him do things he wouldn't otherwise do. Bartimaeus was fairly far from my mind when writing this. I'm sure reading that series made some impact, but I do think the characters aren't all that similar.
3448143 Ever been to Somalia?
Nice story, I enjoyed it a lot. The short and fast pacing isn't my cup of tea but this has a very interesting concept
As someone not very bright the rules and bad possibilities went right over my head, so I'll have to think for a while to figure out all the possible fuck ups Twilight's wishes could've done to everything, but the tone of mistery is well done.The "setting the genie free" wish is a classic, not very surprising but not dissapointing. Nice one
3448150
I've read what people who've been to disaster-hit or impoverished areas have to say (and spoken to one or two), and they're usually amazed by the perseverance, positivity, and joy they see. I think it's easy for someone who's never seen famine or war to say "look at all that suffering," but in the end, life is life, and it's a thing worth living.
Humans are strong. We acclimate, and we fight for a better future. Happiness is a transient thing. You can have everything you want and need, but still suffer from depression. Some people have nothing and are still happy.
3448171 Fascinating. Bit different from what I saw, though. But let's say that you're right and I just dreamt what I saw or something. The reason people preservere in these situations is that everyone has this little filter, which allows us to disregard all the things that would otherwise upset us. Some people call these processes rationalizations, others call them lies. But no matter what you may call them, they obscure reality as it is, in order to keep us sane. I paid the price for seeing clearly, without ever having asked for it in the first place... If this belief in the never dying spirit of humanity is what let's you sleep at night, I'm really happy for you. Wish I could.
3448164
I tried to put in only what was essential (conservation of detail). As for the rules and what could have gone wrong, I think those are best left up to the imagination. In an earlier version, what could have gone wrong was explicitly stated, but I think it's better this way. Any answer that flows logically is a valid one.
I'm glad you liked it, and glad you're thinking about it.
3448198
Well, thank you very much for reading and sharing your perspective. I'll keep it in mind.
Quite fast-paced, but it was a nice small read.
A nice, and even more meaningful, story basically everyone should give a read.
(i rarely comment, but when I do, there is a reason for it)
Wow, read first comment and get spoiler about perspective... Should have known that. I love the idea of genie's point of view though.
dtlux1
Very nice and very interesting! I always liked this kind of story due to the "by the letter" wishing format, it aways makes me think and I love seeing the precussions. I bet if all of the mane six got a wish independent to each other (in different stories) the world would be destroyed in very different ways, even scale. You learn a lot of what a person is made of by their wish. I thought when Twilight made her first wish that it would be granted by killing everyone, no more suffering if everything dies so fast they can't feel it. Of course, he might have just stopped all feelings of pain and sadness, by making feeling negative feelings impossible or just making everyone braindead instead of just lobo-ed of negative emotion.
Sadly my go to wish would not work in this tale, due to that recursive rule.... maybe. "No wishes in wishes" but mine can still be called a recursive wish, just not by his definition. What is my wish? I wish to not grant my wish. What person am I if wish for that? That could mean anything.
Huh...
For the most part, it looks like you left the genie completely open to interpretation. No mention of physical appearance or species, and the same could have been said about gender were it not for two male pronouns Twilight uses.
3452589
The genie was intended to be gender-less (or whichever gender), I just couldn't figure out a way to phrase Twilight's statements there without it being awkward, so I defaulted to male.
3335667 I'm guessing this had nothing to do with this:
fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2013/073/0/9/shantae_twilight_by_navitaserussirus-d5y1okk.png
This is an absolutely wonderful short. You executed the ideas so elegantly. I would like to know if you would consider expanding this idea into something longer? The story is wonderful and I kind of want to see more of it.
3453739
You guess right, though that is a pretty neat image.
3454020
Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't really considered expanding on this idea. For one, it feels complete in my head. For two, I'm already very busy with a long series. If you'd like to read more, I can't recommend The Sword Coast enough. While it doesn't have the same tone or style as this story, I've done my best to make it both accessible and high-quality.
Still, I might revisit this idea at some point. It's hard to say with this sort of thing.
3448171
It helps (in a way) that many of those people are essentially not given a choice in the matter. I can sit here at my desk and look at all the nice things I have and try to imagine what it would be like if an earthquake destroyed them all, but the actual survivors are looking at their limbs and thinking, "at least I've still got these". Crisis situations tend to hit people with perspective pretty hard, I imagine.
On the story itself, very well done. The main problem that hits fics like this is that the author will either coddle the reader and explain everything directly ("the genie didn't want to do bad things to the ponies that made wishes, but the rules made him"), or else they get so vague that it's hard to determine what the story's even about without spending excessive amounts of time sorting it out and hoping the author thinks the way you do. This one strikes a perfect balance, where it's clear what's happening and the whole story flows naturally. Also, does anyone else get the impression that this guy is Discord-class powerful?
So this is basically Aladdin. But with only one wish and Twilight.
3696432
Sure, basically.
Just like how Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings are basically the same thing because they both have wizards and swords.
I'm not sure what you're trying to say here.
3714265 me neither.
Finally got around to reading this. Glad I did. Its a good story. Thank you for writing this. Peace out.
Short, sweet, comical in parts, and courting tragedy without stepping over. I liked it quite a bit.
I can see where some might see this as being similar with Aladdin - or, rather, Disney's Aladdin, because most versions of the tale I could hunt were fairly different. Disney's Aladdin is one of the few genie stories where the genie is a character rather than a mere plot device, just like this tale.
And interesting story and one I'm quite happy to have found. It wasn't very difficult guessing what Twilight would end up wishing for after the Genie was brought up on the main floor. Regardless, that wasn't the main point, I feel. I feel like the main point was to show the story of a Genie from its perspective, rather than the one who found it.
A really enjoyable story, for sure
I'm not one for these sorts of questions, but I honestly have to wonder what would have happened had she gone through with the "no suffering" wish.
4511174 oblivion probably...or forced euphoria,one of the two.Or maybe he opens a portal to the Friendship is Optimal world"shudders"
That last line totally makes the story.
Whew. Gotta appreciate a genie who cares enough to keep Twilight from murdering every living thing and inanimate thing capable of experiencing suffering.
And recursion. You have to appreciate recursion. Because Recursion is Recursion
4511174
In the original version, it was less ambiguous. With some outside input, I decided to leave it up to the reader to imagine.
I read this eight months ago, and liked it a lot. Upvoted, moved on. Now it's on the front page, and I can't help but wonder what on earth caused this to happen
Not that it's a bad thing, no sir. Worth the re-read.
3696432 Aladdin was the master of two ugly cursed jynn who were condemned to serve for all eternity, had Aladdin wished for there freedom, it's highly unlikely they would have gotten it.
I like the way the story asks, "What would you do with your wish?" I don't think most wish granting stories quite touch on that as much as they should. Good on you Twilight, good on you!
3454120
perhaps you could make this a prequel