Wish Fulfillment (Legacy Version)

by Boopy Doopy

(6) Shoreline

Shorey thought something was up the night before.

Rally wasn’t the kind of person to just go offline. Unless she was sleeping, she was going to be listed as online in their group chat. Whether out with friends or shopping or at work, it didn’t matter. She didn’t go offline. And yet, here she was, listed offline several hours before she normally went to bed.

It was probably nothing though. She said she was going to take a nap for a few hours before she changed her status. She probably just went to sleep for way longer than she intended to. It had happened before, a few times actually. She recently had to change her sleep schedule for a few days so she could do training at work for a promotion. Her sleep cycle was probably out of whack because of that. No big deal.

It also probably wasn’t a big deal when she wasn’t online when he woke up the next day, but it did grab his attention. It was less than a day spent offline, but there was no way would she be offline for this long without saying something unless something was wrong. Not that Shorey was concerned yet, but he was curious. More than likely it was nothing more than her being busy and forgetting to set herself as online again.

Hey, Rally, he typed to her in a private message, is everything alright? You haven’t been online in a little while.

Short, sweet, and to the point. She’d get back to him in a few minutes and say she fell asleep or was busy with work or spending time with her family or some other reasonable explanation.

By the time mid afternoon rolled around though, his curiosity did give way into concern. Rally still hadn’t come online, still hadn’t sent a message since she said she was going to take a nap the day before. Even if she was busy with something and couldn’t be online, she would never ignore a PM from him. He knew how she was, and she openly said before how she felt about him. It just wasn’t something that was ever going to happen.

Still, he didn’t want to overreact. Any second now she was going to come online and say that she was feeling sick or was playing some sort of prank on someone or watching sports or on vacation or something. It was going to be nothing.

He decided to try and call her around nine o’clock at night, to no answer. By this point, several other members of their group chat had noticed that she wasn’t around, and were starting to wonder about her as well. Naturally, the first person they all asked about her whereabouts was Shorey.

I don’t know, he told them all. She didn’t answer me when I called. She’s probably just tired because her work schedule changed. I’ll see if I can talk to her tomorrow. She’ll probably be back online before then, though.

She wasn’t back online the next morning, and by the time early afternoon rolled around again, Shorey was getting nervous. He didn’t see any messages typed from her account, no response to his PM to her.

Hey, we’re worried about you, he typed, sending one more her way. Let us know if everything’s okay. With that, he decided that now would be a good time to ask around and see if anyone knew what was up, starting with her brother.

Is your sister Raleigh around? he messaged. I haven’t seen her in a while and wanted to know what was up. Is she out with you guys or something?

I dunno, her brother replied. I can go stop by her apartment and check really quick. Gimme a minute.

He gave her brother a minute, and before he knew it, he was hearing back that he didn’t know where she was.

Her car’s still here. I knocked on the door though and she didn’t answer, so I don’t know. She could be in the middle of a call though cause she works a lot of overtime, but I didn’t hear her talking, either. If I can remember the password to her door, I can let myself inside.

Don’t do that, Shorey instructed. Call the police instead and ask them to complete a welfare check on her, please. Let me know what happens and what they find.

With that, Shorey went to their group chat to see if he could find out anything about what might have happened. He knew he was probably overreacting and that Rally was going to turn up in a minute, apologizing profusely. Still, it had been almost two full days, and in his whole time of knowing her, he’d never seen her offline for so long without sending one message. There was something going on.

He didn’t see anything obvious on a first scan through her messages the last few days before she went offline, and so started to move through more carefully to see if there was anything to be had. Talks about interesting calls she took at her job, complaining about her training, saying she just got back from eating out with her mother, a joke she made with some guy who said he was a spellcaster, a joke about how she would take out a ten thousand dollar loan and move to Iceland, talking about how she was going to vacation in New Mexico in a few months, how she wanted to drive back to Chicago to see her friends next week. There was nothing in here that would indicate she would suddenly disappear.

Can you call Rally’s phone and see if she’ll pick up your number? Shorey asked her brother. She might answer you. Not that she would ever ignore a call from Shorey himself, he just didn’t have the number.

Too late. I remembered her password and I’m inside, he said. She’s not here.

Shorey wished he would’ve called the police, but he didn’t complain. At least there was information to be had. Although it was weird to hear that she was missing with her car still at her apartment. Good news anyway, better than hearing she slipped and cracked her skull.

All of her stuff is still here, her brother continued. Her computer’s still on and lit up and both of her phones are on her bed. Nothing’s missing.

That was curious. It got Shorey to narrow his focus, thinking of his last direct conversation with her. She had said something about a joke with the spellcaster. She even posted screenshots of her conversation, which would make this a much easier process than it otherwise might have been.

Call the police and see what they can find, he told her brother. I’ll check around online and see if anything turns up.

With that, he got to work reading through the screenshots she sent. They detailed her trying to mess with the spellcaster she was talking to and him saying he would cast her spell for free. Her spell which, according to the screenshot, was to be a pony in Equestria. Something both completely impossible and extremely silly.

But where else could she be? There was the tiniest inkling in the back of his mind that maybe, just maybe, that might have been what happened to her.

Reading further, he saw that the spellcaster, Lord Zulu, told her that it would take twenty eight hours for her wish to be granted. It was a good thing to see, and it gave Shorey a timeline to check between her screenshots and her last message saying she would nap. Sure enough, it was within that twenty eight hour timeframe, about twenty seven hours between her screenshots and her last message.

There’s no way she was turned into a pony, Shorey thought, already typing the number of Lord Zulu’s Whatsapp into his phone. If she turned into a pony, then…

He didn’t know what to think, it was such an impossibility. He did know that he wasn’t going to hesitate to follow her into Equestria if it was a possibility. There were certain things he wanted out of life that he was almost certain he’d ever get on Earth, things most people didn’t know about. Rally knew, but what didn’t she know about him?

“Yes, this is Lord Zulu,” the phone finally answered after several rings, his accent obvious. It made Shorey frown, worried that this just might end up being a scam and that he was overreacting

“You are calling about a love spell, yes?” the spellcaster asked.

“I was calling about a spell to turn me into a pony,” he said seriously, shaking his head at himself that he was going along with this. “My friend said she talked to you about becoming one, and now I want to be one, too.”

“Ah, I remember your friend,” Lord Zulu remembered. “She is the one who believed me to be fooling when I claimed to be a powerful spellcaster, and tried to joke with me. So it seems she did as required and told her friends of her arrangement?” He didn’t wait for an answer as he continued, “What is your first and last name so I can begin work for you?”

“John Elliot,” he told him, “but before we go further, I want to go over the details of what’s gonna happen. I don’t want to just be placed in the middle of the Everfree Forest or something.”

“I see. What exactly were you requesting then, Mr. John?”

Shorey went over the details, describing exactly what he wanted to look like and where he wanted to be placed. What color his eyes would be and what his voice would sound like and how he wanted to make sure he was in the same place as Rally was– he didn’t leave one detail unchecked. He wanted to make sure he was getting exactly what he wanted should this genie type figure really be able to cast spells.

“I have your spell written down to be cast,” Lord Zulu told him. “Given the details you request, this could take up to one hundred and seven hours to be cast. As well, the price for you will be sixteen hundred and fifty dollars, as well as three hundred to pay for your friend’s spell.”

That was not what Shorey was preparing to hear. “I don’t have the money to pay two thousand dollars,” he told the man. Or rather, he wasn’t willing to pay that much, not yet. Two thousand dollars was too much to drop on something he wasn’t sure about without investigating other options first.

“The price will not be negotiable,” the spellcaster told him. “Nineteen hundred and fifty dollars will be required to cast this spell.”

“I- you’ll have to give me time to think about this,” he told him. “I’m not ready to commit to something like this.”

“Well, nothing can be done until payment is received. If you have no other questions, then good day, sir.”

Abruptly, the conversation ended, leaving Shorey hanging on the other end. He frowned at the way it went, severely disliking the idea of giving so much money to someone who was probably just a scammer taking advantage of a coincidence. But the idea of being able to go to Equestria was insatiably appealing.

He went back to his computer for a while, reading through the screenshots Rally sent and thinking it over in his head. It seemed possible, just based on the evidence, which, unfortunately, was largely circumstantial. But it didn’t make sense at all. What was more likely: Rally just went missing, or she was transported to Equestria?

A little while later, he was getting a message from her little brother, explaining that the police checked the apartment and didn’t find anything. He also said her wallet was still there, so there was no way she could’ve bought anything beforehand, or at least, it was unlikely.

He grunted as he pulled out his phone again to text Lord Zulu. He hated what he was about to do. He knew he was about to spend two thousand bucks on a scammer, but…

Where exactly do I send payment to?, he asked, mentally chastising himself for what he was about to do. This was such a scam, and he knew it. And yet, here he was, giving into one after he told Rally that this was a scam and that she shouldn’t call this person. He was gonna look like such an idiot when this was over.

Shorey only chastised himself further when he saw the email for the man’s PayPal, which was [e-mail]. This was such a scam, and he was playing right into it, and he knew it. Maybe Rally was in on it. He almost hoped she was, that way he’d at least not be giving money to a random stranger.

He made sure though to put this down as shopping on PayPal, and put in purchase protection for when this inevitably turned out to be a scam. He also disconnected his debit card and bank account information after he put the money into his account, just in case this was a hacker as well. He wanted to be cautious as he did risky things.

I’m going to give you exactly one hundred and seven hours, Shorey told him, already setting an alarm on his phone for that time. If I’m not in Equestria by then, I’m gonna retract my payment.

I assure you, my spell will be cast exactly as you wish it to be. I will not begin though until full payment is received. It would, however, be cheaper for you if you ask for a simpler spell. Less materials and research would be required on my part, and so it could take place sooner, as well. However, that is the price for what you ask for. Whenever I receive payment is when I will begin work.

This was such a bad idea, and Shorey knew it, but he was willing to go through with it. He certainly wasn’t going to be changing anything about what he wanted if this was real. No way did he want to be some random pony in a random part of Equestria. The only way this would be worth it is if he got exactly what he asked for, something he'd never, ever get without some sort of magic spell.

With a grunt and great reluctance, he clicked the button and let the payment go through, starting the timer on his phone for when he should be gone.

Comments

[Gargon94]

And now, Another goes to Equestria.

[Regrifone]

Interesting. Very interesting.

[SethFilms]

oooh a friend coming through? how nice!~

[silvadel]

Shorey is smarter, setting all of the important details.

[Teraunce]

11185059
much smarter indeed.

[Silentwoodfire]

Think Shorey at least asked what their friend looked like?

[Vaalintine]

What he should really be doing is recording his phone call with this guy, and ask exactly just what happened to Raleigh, then turn it over to police.

[swyrl]

11197825
Do you really think the cops would take this guy any more seriously than rally's friends? They'd probably laugh Shorey out of the police station.