Chapter 1: Old Place, Fresh Case, New Face
“Man, you’re crazy!” a teenager spat out, peering skeptically into a large wishing fountain. He was part of a group that was gathered around the fountain at Lucky Chin’s Chinese restaurant.
“I swear! It worked last time,” a young teen defended to the group of older kids.
“Yeah, right, Todd,” another boy sarcastically said.
“You know it worked! I tipped over a truck! This fountain gave me super strength!” Todd retorted, pointing to one of the boys.
“We were kids, Todd. There’s no way that actually happened. It was just our imagination. It was all just pretend, just a game, a bad dream,” he explained, looking away.
“What?! No! You know it happened!” the light-brown haired boy cried, causing three of the boys to take a step back.
Todd’s shout reached the ears of a businessman who had stopped by for lunch on his way to a hotel. He was only in Concrete, Washington for his meeting tomorrow afternoon and had never heard about the wishing fountain. Intrigued, the middle-aged man paused his meal to listen in on the interesting conversation.
“I’ll prove it!” Todd said, pulling a coin from his pocket and tossing it in the water.
As he closed his eyes and silently wished, a few of the boys tensed in anticipation. The businessman raised an eyebrow as they all waited and watched. After a hushed minute, one of the teens spoke.
“Nothing happened. Come on guys,” he said, waving the group towards the exit.
“Wait guys! Come with me. I’ll show you that it worked,” Todd said, following after them, “We’ll have to go to the…” His voice faded out as he ran after the others.
As the businessman finished his food, he studied the fountain. Could it really work? It was crazy to believe a wishing fountain could actually grant wishes. Things didn’t just happen or appear because someone wished it so, no matter how much they wanted it. It was just crazy, he thought. He finished off his lunch and headed for the exit. Stopping with one foot out the door, he looked back over his shoulder at the rocky fountain. Crazy. But it was worth a try.
Making his was to the back of the restaurant, he fished a coin from his pocket. He turned the coin around in his fingers as he watched the water flow. He held his breath, closed his eyes tight, and dropped the coin.
“Please…” he whispered, thinking hard on his wish.
Splash!
He opened his eyes as he heard the coin hit the water. Watching the coin float to the bottom, he nervously chewed his lip. The coin swayed for a few moments before gently meeting the hard bottom. The man hopefully looked around, optimistically searching for his wish. As the seconds ticked by, his face and hope sank. Yeah, crazy, he thought as he turned away to leave.
As the businessman’s car started up outside, the gentle ripples in the fountain began to harshen. Although the small waterfalls continued to leisurely flow, the tiny ripples quickly turned into large waves that splashed over the edge and into the floor. The customers took notice, and all conversations ceased. As quickly as it started, it stopped, and the fountain returned to is usually calm state.
Before the heads could turn away, a bright yellow light rose out of the fountain. A startled, collective gasp filled the small eatery. The light floated up about a foot out of the water before shooting forward and all around the restaurant. In a chaotic panic, everyone scattered about, some racing for the door, others hiding under their tables. Soon enough, the light burst through the front exit, throwing the doors wide open as it left.
Stopping for a moment outside, the light flew down the street in the direction of the hotel. Passersby took notice and immediately filed into the restaurant as others inside attempted to leave, causing a jam in the doorway. On its path, the light whipped passed a young girl, who watched it with suspicious interest rather than with shock. She rushed down the street after the light with determination and concern on her face.
“I’m just saying, Ghoul-pyre is way better than…uh…” Dean argued as he drove he and his brother back to the Bunker in his beat-up, blood-covered Impala.
“Nachzehrer,” Sam finished tiredly from the shotgun seat.
Sam and his brother Dean were hunters of the supernatural. Their self-selected job was to hunt things (vampires, werewolves, ghouls, demons, etc.) and save people who were targeted by these monsters; it was a family business. Their latest case was a new one for them. They had fought with creatures they had previously never heard of: Nachzehrers. These things were sort of a hybrid between vampires and ghouls. They had just finished this case about an hour ago and were headed back to their home, which was a bunker left behind a group of supernatural researches called the Men of Letters.
“Yeah, that’s…”
Ring!
“Hold that thought,” Sam said, reaching into the glove box and digging out an old cell phone, “It’s one of dad’s.”
“That’s strange. Put it on speaker,” Dean said, as his brother answered the phone.
“Dean, is that you?” a young voice spoke through the cell.
“It’s Sam. Dean’s right here,” the younger replied, “Who is this?”
“It’s Audrey…Audrey Elmer from Conrete, Washington, the girl with the sick teddy bear,” the girl answered, sounding concerned.
Audrey Elmer had been a young girl of about five who had made a wish in the wishing fountain of a local Chinese restaurant called Lucky Chin’s. A lonely man named Wes had turned on the wishing well by throwing in one of his grandfather’s old coins, which allowed the wishes to actually come true, including his own of making a beautiful woman fall madly in love with him. Audrey had wished for the teddy bear to be real. The wish had worked, but like all other wishes made in that fountain, the wish turned bad. Her now real-life teddy bear had become a depressed alcoholic, who no longer waned to live. The two hunter brothers had told Audrey, whose parents were away on vacation due to a wish they had made themselves, to go to her neighbor’s, Mrs. Hurley, house. They had told her they were teddy-bear doctors to gain her trust. Before leaving Audrey, Dean had given her the most reliable phone number he had: one of his dad’s old phones that was tucked safely away in the glove compartment of his precious car. After some research and battle, Sam and Dean had found Wes, and eventually he was convinced to remove the coin from the well, which undid all the wishes brining back Audrey’s parents and turning her teddy back into a small stuffed toy.
“Yeah…hey, kid,” Dean replied, shocked to hear from the little girl they met and hadn’t seen in seven years, “What’s up? Your teddy’s not, uh, sick again, is he?” He exchanged a cringe with his brother.
“No, it’s not the bear. It’s the wishing well,” she explained, “It’s working again!”
“Ah, hel*!” Dean grunted.
“How?! H-How do you know, Audrey?” Sam asked.
“I saw it. T-this light shot out of the restaurant!” she exclaimed, “I followed it on my bike to a motel. I couldn’t catch up to it fast enough to see which room it went in, but I saw a car parked outside room six. That car had just left Lucky Chin’s a few minutes before. I think whoever was driving that car made the wish.”
“Okay. What’s the name of the hotel?” Sam asked. As she answered and described the car, Dean spun the car around to head back passed where they had just left an hour ago. “We’re on our way. Is there anything else you can tell us? What did the light look like? Did anyone else have their wish granted?” Sam questioned.
“The light was bright and yellow with a long tail, like a very small comet,” she recalled, “And I saw a lot of people going into the restaurant. They must have saw the light too and went inside to make a wish.”
“Wait, so these people saw a light flying around and then ran inside where the light came from? Why would they run towards the source of the weird?” Dean asked.
“What would make them think it came from the wishing well?” Sam asked. It made since that Audrey would come to that conclusion because she had seen it grant her wish before, but why would everyone else. Only about a handful of people had their wishes granted last time, that they knew of anyway.
“You guys don’t know?” she asked, surprised.
“Know what?” Dean questioned.
“After what happened last time, rumors spread, everyone gossiped. Those people who got their wishes granted didn’t keep their mouths shut. There was talk all over town about the wishing fountain that really worked. Of course, no one really believed it at first, but there was evidence. My parents disappearing and reappearing with a bad sunburn, the flipped truck that Todd turned over, the lottery fraud, the naked guy that just suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the small storm cloud that struck a guy with lighting…”
“Hey, that was you,” Dean remembered.
“The naked guy?” she asked.
As his brother laughed, Sam replied, “Ah, no. The guy that got struck by lightning.”
“Anyway, there were a lot of people that witnessed all these strange things that others claimed were caused by their wishes. Still, most didn’t actually believe, especially when no other wishes came true. But word still spread about the wishing well that once worked. It spread all the way out of town, even people from other states have come to make a wish. To everyone else it’s just fun and games, just a local attraction. But not to those who know the truth, not to me. This is not a joke, and it’s happening again,” Audrey explained.
“Calm down, okay, kid,” Dean said, “We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
“When will that be?” she asked.
“About seven hours,” Sam guessed.
“That’s a long time. It’ll be after dark before you get here,” she said worriedly, but ready to help, “What am I supposed to do until then? All those people are making wishes right now!”
“She’s right, Dean. That many people making wishes on a real working well…it could be total chaos by the time we get there. Those people have no idea how bad their wishes will turn,” Sam said quietly to his brother, covering the phone with his hand.
“Make it six,” Dean said, pressing the accelerator to the floorboard.
“Audrey, you need to go home, and make sure your parents don’t leave the house,” Sam instructed, “And definitely don’t let them make another wish.”
“Okay, I will,” she said confidently. “But, what about everyone else, and the town?”
“Leave that to us. Your only job is to keep you and your family safe,” Dean said.
“Okay. I’ll head home now,” she said.
“Good,” Sam said.
“Stay safe,” Dean added.
“I will,” she said hanging up her cell phone and jumping onto her bike, Teddy tucked securely in her basket.
“This is bad, Dean,” Sam said, placing the phone back in the glove box.
“It took over a month for things to get bad last time,” Dean reminded him, still speeding down the road.
“Yeah, but that was before the well turned into a tourist attraction,” he argued, “One that maybe a dozen or more people just saw grant a wish.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “I don’t get why it suddenly started working again, after all these years,” he commented, “You think Wes threw in another one of his grandfather’s coins?”
“I don’t know. He saw for himself how bad things were, and he did remove the coin by his own choice. I was struck by lightning, and you were busy getting you’re a$$ kicked by a kindergartener,” he recalled, attempting to lighten the mood.
“Hey! He had super strength!” he defended, “He could have killed me!”
“It was probably the guy at the motel Audrey saw leaving the restaurant. He’s our best culprit for the first wisher,” Sam said.
“We’ll start there,” Dean decided, still flying north as fast as his battered Baby could handle.
Bright afternoon sunlight crept into a dark modest one-person motel room as the door slowly creaked opened. The silhouette of an average sized man slummed in the doorway and took in the small hollow that would be his home for the next couple of days. Dragging his large rolling suitcase behind him, he stepped through the doorway and into the small kitchenet. Using the briefcase he held in his other hand, he pushed the door shut. The quiet room was now mostly dark with curtain covered sunlight providing the only illumination. He laid the briefcase on the small, but sturdy kitchen table and rolled the suitcase to rest against it. With a sigh, the thirty-something-year-old took a seat, placing his short black hair covered head in his hands.
Although not obvious by his light jacket, dark blue long-sleeved shirt, and jeans, the gloomy man slouched in the wooden chair was a businessman. Dejected and lonely, he pulled out his phone and scrolled through the pictures of happier times. The focus of the majority of the photos was a cute, blonde-haired, blue-eyed five-year old, his beloved daughter, Ruthie. He missed her so much. He hadn’t seen her since his devoice finalized a few months ago. He couldn’t wait to see her at her birthday party. But with his busy schedule sending him all over the country, he hadn’t had time to find a good gift, just souvenirs. He hadn’t found that one special thing that would bring that beautiful bright sparkle in her eyes. If only his wish had come true, then she would want to stay with him instead.
Back into his pocket he shoved his phone that held to many now painful memories. He quickly stood up, which threw the chair back in the process and caused it to squeak against the laminate floor. He sighed and glanced at his suitcase. Too tired, he decided to unpack what he needed later. He’d nap for a few hours and then get some supper first. He made his way to the bed, then flopped down onto the semi-hard mattress.
Epp!
Oddly, the bed squeaked. He would have thought it was just the sound of an old, worn-out bed protesting his slightly overweight body collapsing on top of it, but it sounded more like the surprised or frightened squeak of an animal. Maybe it wasn’t the chair that had squeaked before. He groaned, hoping-to top everything else-that this place wasn’t infested with rodents. He wasn’t much of an animal person, especially the little creepy, crawly ones.
Shivering, he quickly pulled his dangling feet onto the bed. He sat up and took one tennis shoe off that he was too lazy to remove before lying down. Then he crawled to the end of the bed, shoe in hand ready to strike. Inhaling deeply through his nose with his brown eyes closed tight, he psyched himself up. Belly to bed, he slowly pulled up the bed skirt and peeked into the darkness. Something that was definitely not a mouse was curled up against the wall at the head of the bed. Gasping at the sight of the larger creature, he slung his head back up. With a shaking hand, he slipped his phone out of his pants pocket again and turned on the flashlight. Slowly, he took his previous position and shined the light under the bed. He couldn’t believe what he saw. Taken back by the English Bulldog-sized animal that was hiding under the bed, he fell forward onto the carpeted floor.
Thud!
Epp!
The creature squeaked in surprise again at the loud noise. The man quickly righted himself on his stomach and looked back under the bed. Still not believing his eyes, he dropped the bed skirt and scanned the room, as if the empty room would make this seem more real. He slowly lifted the skirt and glanced back under the bed. After repeatedly lifting and dropping the bed skirt while staring under the bed did not make the creature disappear, the man finally had to accept the fact that the creature was real.
He slowly sat up and leaned his back against the bed. He stared forward, still in shock. Was this his wish? He had only wished for the perfect gift for his daughter, one that she would love so much that she would want to live with him. Was that little thing really meant to help him win Ruthie over? It had to, right? Why else would it be in his motel room? And where else would it had come from, if not from the wishing well?
Well, he thought, if that thing were there to help him, then he’d better try to coax it out. He would need it to be ready for the birthday party, so it could be a proper gift. He couldn’t have it scared and hiding from Ruthie and her friends. So, he laid down on his stomach looked back under the bed as he tried to call it out. It only shivered in response. Changing his tactic, he crawled back out and walked to the head of the bed instead. Getting back down, he peeked underneath and reached out to gently pull the little thing out. Sensing the man nearby, the creature’s eyes suddenly appeared, wide and frightful. The instant his fingers made contact, he knew he had made a mistake because that’s when everything escalated completely out of control.
After three more hours on the road, the Impala finally pulled off into a gas station for what Dean insisted would only be a quick stop. They had only been driving for about an hour before they got the call from Audrey, so they hadn’t made a stop since leaving the Markham family.
“Stop your bit**ing, Samuel; I’m parking now,” the older brother said.
“Finally,” Sam complained, hoping out of the car, “I asked you to stop over an hour ago.”
As Dean stood out of the car to pump the gas, he said, “You know we have to get there A-SAP.”
“I know, Dean, but…geez, you’ve been driving like ninety miles per hour; we’re making good time,” he said, closing the passenger door, “We can spare two minutes for a pit stop.”
“Exactly, two minutes is all we can spare, and Baby’s tank wasn’t running on empty yet,” Dean said, filling the tank, “You don’t get to empty your tank until Baby needs to fill her’s.”
“Huh, w-whatever. My tanks about to explode; I’ll be right back,” he said, quickly walking into the store. His brother chuckled at him before looking at his battered car.
“Sorry, Baby. Duty calls,” he said, picking up the gas station’s window squeegee, “This will have to do until we get you back to the bunker.” As the gas poured into the tank, Dean quickly cleaned the bloodied passenger windows, swept out the broken pieces of all the other windows, and straightened the front bumper the best he could without any tools. The pump clicked, signaling the hunter that the tank was full and his time was up. “Not too bad for a speedy fix-up,” he said, rehanging the pump before heading inside. On the way to the men’s room, he ran into his brother, who looked to have spent a little of his time cleaning his bloody face. “Get some snacks. The good stuff. Not just that health crap and rabbit food,” Dean instructed, opening the single restroom door, “And get another cooler for the road.”
“Yes, sir,” Sam said sarcastically, but fulfilled his request. He picked out a larger cooler, so he would have room for his smoothies, and his brother would have plenty of space for beer. After gathering plenty of “good stuff” and healthy snacks, he headed for the register as Dean met back up with him. “You could have cleaned your face,” he said, sitting down the stuff. The cashier gave the two brother a strange look, seeing the blood and cuts.
“Bar fight,” Dean said, as the staring man rang up the food. As Sam grabbed the bags and cooler, Dean paid for everything and added, “We won.”
They quickly went back to the car, threw everything in the back, and, after finally getting Baby to start up again, sped back onto the road. Sam reached in the back, grabbed the bag of snacks, and set it open in between them.
“Selection good enough for you?” Sam asked. Dean inspected the bag but didn’t see something that should have been included.
“Where’s the…”
Reaching to grab another bag, Sam pulled out a small, round, baked, apple dessert. “Pie?” Sam finished his sentence with a smirk.
The older brother couldn’t contain his joy and smiled at his favorite dessert. Both brothers filled up, preparing themselves for the chaos that lied ahead. Sam yawned tiredly and settled back into the seat. With one piece left, Dean handed his small pie plate over to the sleepy younger man.
“Here,” the older said. Thinking his brother was too full to finish the pie, Sam went to place the leftover piece in the back for Dean to finish later. “No, you take,” he said, looking ahead at the road.
“Wait, what?! You’re giving me your last slice of pie?” Sam asked, shocked as he set the little pie in his lap.
“Yeah,” he replied. He turned his eyes to his brother and said, “That was kinda a douche-y thing for me to do. I should of just stop when you asked the first time.”
“Dee, it’s fine. I mean, you don’t have…”
“I was a jerk, okay,” he said, “So, just take it.”
“Man, I get we’re in a rush, but seriously,” Sam said, “You couldn’t just pull over for a minute and let me out.” “You know I could have ruined these seats,” he added, half-joking.
Dean frowned and threatened, “It’d have been the last thing you would have done.” Sam laughed, knowing his brother wouldn’t really hurt him. “The job we just finished, the one that was probably nothing, the little milk run…I mean, how did it turn into this? Monsters building armies to fight the Darkness? The car, us, we’re a mess, man! And now, here we are, speeding off to another job before we’ve even got any R and R. We don’t have any real clue what we’re driving into, and we’ve done this job before,” Dean said with frustration, “I just want to get there before it gets bad.”
“We’ll figure it out, Dean. All of it. We always do,” Sam assured him.
“Yeah, you’re right,” he agreed.
“In the meantime, we’ve got about three hours left in the car, so…,” Sam said, popping in one of his brother’s favorite tapes, “Let’s enjoy it.” Dean hummed in agreement as the song began to play.
Just as the sun set, the two brothers arrived at the motel. Climbing out of the car, the older commented on their quicker commute.
“Right at six hours,” Dean said as Sam got out.
Seeing the dried blood still on the other face, the taller swiftly opened the back door and came back out with a small package, “Here.” He pulled out a small white cloth from the package and tried to hand it to the other man, who just eyed it. “It’s just a wet wipe to get that blood off,” he explained, “I got them at the last stop.”
After hurriedly wiping his face, Dean shoved the dirty wipe into his jacket pocket and said, “There. Let’s go.”
He headed for the door labeled with a number six where the car Audrey had descried was parked in front of as Sam threw the package back into the car, closed the door, and rushed after him. Before the former could knock on the door, there was a sudden loud commotion inside. After a quick exchange of looks, Dean threw himself at the door and broke it in. Startled, a dark-haired man with his back against a door at the opposite end of the motel room stared at the pair of gun-wielding intruders. Seeing no immediate danger, the two hunters lowered their weapons but kept them ready in their hands. The man relaxed a bit but continued to stare and stand in front of the door.
The man said, “Now what? First the wish, now…who are you guys?”
“Wish. Audrey was right,” Sam said to his brother.
“Who? Wait, wish. Did you make a wish?” the man asked.
“No, but we know that you did,” Dean said, stepping further inside.
“And judging by the way you’re guarding that door, I’d say whatever you wished for is in there,” Sam said, pushing the cracked door closed and nodding at the door behind the man.
“I-uh…I’m not saying anything until you tell me who you are,” he replied, nervous but firm. The loud commotion erupted again, and it was clearing coming from behind door. It sounded as if something had fallen.
“What’s behind that door?” Dean asked, rising his gun and approaching man.
Throwing his hands up, the man caved, “Alright, alright. Yes, I made a wish. But something’s not right. After I accidently scared it trying to coax it out from under the bed, I chased it into the bathroom, but it locked itself inside. I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it out. It was quiet until a few minutes ago. I don’t know what’s going on in there, but I’m afraid it’s going to hurt itself. I need to get in there and make sure she’s okay.”
“She?” Sam questioned.
“Uh…I thought if I researched more about it, I could convince her to come out. I hadn’t found anything yet, but after learning more…I-I just feel it’s better to say she,” he explained.
“What exactly is it…or she?” Dean asked, pointing his gun at door.
“Well…okay. First of all, I want to make it clear that I made the wish for my daughter. It, she was supposed to be a birthday gift for her. She’s turning five in a few days, and I just wanted the perfect gift,” he went on.
Tired of the small talk, Dean interrupted, “Cut the chit-chat. What did you wish for?”
Suddenly, the door burst open, knocking the man down to the floor. The sight before Dean was enough to stop his finger from pulling the trigger. Just outside the door, steadily flew a small, dull yellow creature uniquely featuring a set of large bat wings on its back, big hairy pointed ears, two large bright red eyes, a pair of sharp fangs, long scruffy pink hair and tail, four hooves, and a mark on each hip that featured a trio of pink bats. Sam froze as well, gun still hanging in his limp hand by his thigh.
“W-What is that?” Sam asked, wide eyes glued to the strange creature.
“It’s…it’s a horse-pyre!” Dean exclaimed.
Chapter 2: Well, Well, Well
Hearing the exclamation, the hybrid creature hissed down at the men. Then it flew passed them before either could shoot. The odd thing tackled the table, knocking it to the floor and blocking the hunters’ aim.
“If it really is part vampire, these are useless,” Sam said, turning the gun in his hand.
“It’ll slow it down,” Dean said, “I’ll hold it off. Go get something that has a more permanent effect.”
The man got to his feet and said, “No, don’t hurt her. I don’t know what’s wrong with her, but Fluttershy wouldn’t hurt a fly, like literally.”
“Fluttershy?” Dean asked.
“That’s what I wished for,” the man said, “Well, sort of. I wished for the perfect birthday present for my daughter, and I got her” -he gestured to the table- “Well, not her exactly. I got a scared, little horse shivering under my bed. I got the real Fluttershy, not that.”
The creature poked its head up from behind the table holding an apple in its mouth. It sucked the red fruit dry and spit it out. The shriveled apple hit the floor and rolled to Sam’s feet. Then the creature descended back behind the table with a hiss.
Picking up the apple skin, Sam said, “Maybe we don’t have to hurt her.”
“It’s a monster, Sam,” Dean argued.
“Just because she looks like one, doesn’t mean she is one,” Sam pointed out.
“Right, right. Ask questions first, shoot later,” Dean remembered as he lowered his gun again, still keeping an eye on the table as another sucked-dry apple shot out from behind it. “Those apples won’t distract it long. Find something to catch it,” he instructed. As the three men searched the room, Dean said, “So, uh…”
“Matt,” the man answered.
“Matt, know anything about this thing?” Dean asked.
“No, all I found about her was a sweet, cute, animal-loving Pegasus pony,” Matt replied.
“Pegasus?” Sam asked, “So, she’s supposed to have wings?”
“Yeah, but more like bird wings with feathers,” he answered.
“Aside from the wings, what else is different?” Dean asked.
“Well, her ears are a bit harrier and maybe bigger. Her hair’s usually neater…uh her fur’s darker…oh! Her eyes are supposed to be teal, not red, and she doesn’t have fangs,” Matt tired recall the images he had found of the Pegasus online.
“Did she get turned by a vamp somehow?” Dean asked, halting his search. Both brothers looked at Matt, then to each other. Dean quickly shoved Matt against the wall. “Teeth!” he demanded, keeping him pinned to the wall.
“W-What?!” the startled man stuttered.
“Show us your teeth,” Sam commanded. Matt quickly obeyed, pulling up his lip to let them see all his normal teeth.
Releasing him, Dean said, “Had to be sure you weren’t a vampire.”
“What?! Of course, I’m not a vampire, vampires aren’t…” Matt stopped short as both hunters gave him a look. “Wait…they are real, aren’t they?” he asked.
“Vampires, werewolves, demons, angels, ghosts, ghouls, ghoul-pyres…” Dean listed as he continued to search the room.
“W-What’s a ghoul-pyre?!” Matt asked.
“That’s not…never mind. It’s all real. All the monsters and magic,” Sam said, gesturing towards the table where the creature brought to them by a magical wish was quickly working its way through the motel’s complementary bowl of apples.
Sighing, Matt said, “I guess this should have tipped me off, but still…wow!”
“Sorry to cut this short, but I found something to catch it for now,” Dean said as he held up large ropes from the window curtains, “Hopefully, these will hold it long enough for Sam to go outside and get something more sturdy from the trunk.”
“You guys are like some kind of monster trappers, right?” Matt guessed.
“Hunters, but yeah, pretty much,” Sam said, looking at his brother.
“Usually, we kill the monsters, but we’ve recently decided to try something different,” Dean explained.
“Our goal is to save as many lives as we can, human or not,” Sam said, taking the thick rope from Dean. Matt nodded in understanding.
Being handed a rope, he asked, “You want me to help?”
“Once we catch it and bring it down, you tie its legs together,” Dean instructed the nervous man.
As they approached the overturned table, the sucking and hissing were replaced by sniffing. The three men peeked behind the table and saw the creature smelling the floor and the empty apple bowl. Her food source gone, she opened her wings and started to lift her head. Thinking quickly before it took flight, Dean pulled the bloody wipe from his pocket and carefully dropped it in front of the creature as both a distraction and a test to his horse-turned-vampire theory. She dropped her right ear and turned her head at the bloody wipe. Dean took the rope that he had tied into a loop and slowly lowered it over her head. She wrinkled her nose and stuck out her long tongue in disgust. Distracted, she didn’t notice the rope that slipped over her head. As the rope tightened, she did notice something was squeezing around its neck. Her right ear slowly rose as its eye ridges lowered.
Suddenly, she turned her head and hissed at the intruders. Dean pulled the rope tight to hold her down, but the creature took flight. She managed to fly up a couple feet above their heads before Dean pulled her back down. Then Sam was on her, wrapping his rope around her mouth, preventing her from biting or hissing. She threw her head around and hoofed at the rope around her mouth. Matt jumped in and wrapped his rope around her legs and hog tied her.
Then Dean dragged her around the table and said, “Okay go get something stronger. This should hold for a while; it’s not as strong as a regular vampire.”
“It’s not interested in blood, just apple juice. I’m not sure it’s even half vampire,” Sam offered.
“You got a better name than horse-pyre?” the older brother asked. Sam rolled his eyes before hurrying out the door.
Dean watched her as Matt fixed the table and the mess. The creature flapped her wings around, but only managed to flop onto her side. Sam returned shortly with chains, locks, and a handkerchief. Dean tied a chain around her waist with his brother’s help to hold down the wings. Then they replaced the ropes with the sturdy chains and locks, except the one around her mouth. Sam tied the handkerchief over her eyes to hopefully calm her down. She froze for a moment once her eyes were covered. She shook her head around for a minute. Then she dropped her head to the floor with a snort of defeat.
“Good thinking,” Dean complimented Sam. The small horse-like animal seemed mostly relaxed with just her tail twitching occasionally.
“Now what do we do?” Matt asked looking between the two hunters.
“You are gonna fix this,” Dean replied shortly, gesturing towards the captured creature.
“Me?!” he asked with surprise. They were the monster hunters; he just learned all this supernatural stuff was real and was still processing it.
“All you have to do is remove the coin you used to make the wish,” Sam explained calmly.
“So, where’d you get it? Auction, grandparent? What is it Babylonian again or maybe Greek?” the shorter hunter rambled.
“W-What are you talking about?” he questioned, not following.
“The coin you used to make the wish,” Dean said with a bit of exasperation.
“I got it from a gas station as change. It was just an ordinary quarter,” he replied slowly.
“Crap!” Dean cursed.
“Guess he didn’t make the first wish after all,” Sam said and then asked Matt, “Have you seen anything strange or remarkable, like something someone could have wished for?”
“No, I just got in town. I’m only here for a business meeting tomorrow,” he explained.
“Let’s go pay a visit to the man who started all this last time,” Dean said, bending down and scooping up the yellow creature who squeaked in surprise.
“This happened before?” Matt asked, as he followed the two hunters out the door.
In the battered car, Dean drove, Sam sat in the back with creature hidden in floorboard under a towel, and Matt was in the passenger seat.
“Wow! Really?! A life-sized, suicidal teddy bear?!” the businessman exclaimed after listening to the story of the hunters’ last case here with the wishing fountain.
“Yep. And this guy, Wes,” Dean said waving his hand to front door as they pull up to a house, “made the first wish with a Babylonian coin that turned the well on for everyone else.”
“Well, that doesn’t really sound like a bad thing,” Matt said. Dean looked back at the creature and then at him. “Yeah, I see your point,” he said sheepishly, “But, it wasn’t so bad before she changed.”
“Of course!” Sam said triumphantly, “The wishes turn bad. Maybe that’s what’s wrong with her.”
“But why a horse-pyre?” Sam asked.
Sam shrugged and then asked, “Matt, you said she was a character from a cartoon?-” he nodded “-Maybe this transformation is referenced in the show somewhere.”
“Wait, wait, wait! I remember something!” he said excitedly, “Ruthie, my daughter, she has like every stuffed toy of Flutershy. They all look pretty much the same with some minor differences in clothes and hair, but I remember this one her uncle got her.” Both brothers looked at the man with interest. “She was afraid of it and said she didn’t like it because Flutershy was supposed to be nice and cute. She keeps it high up on the top shelf away from her, but she won’t get rid of it because she doesn’t want to hurt her uncle’s feelings. She’s so sweet. But it might be in one of my pictures of Ruthie.” He pulled out his phone and began to quickly scroll. “Oh here!” he exclaimed, holding the phone out. Sam took the phone with a zoomed in image of a stuffed animal that resembled the creature by his feet.
“Yeah, I think that’s it,” Sam said, squinting at the slightly blurry image, “The tag says ‘Flutterbat’.”
“Yeah, that’s it!” Matt said, “I remember her saying how mean Flutterbat was, eating all her friend’s apples on her farm. She only watched the episode once and refused to watch it again, running from the room and screaming about the mean batpony every time it came on. I think she was mostly upset because her favorite nice pony was being mean.”
“Now that we’ve established that, let’s get rid of it,” Dean said, getting out of the car.
“What’s going to happen to her when the wish is undone?” Matt asked as Sam opened the back door.
“She’ll be gone,” Sam said simply before climbing out of the car, “Disappear.”
“But what if this is the real Flutershy from the cartoon?” Matt asked, quickly following Sam out of the car.
“Really?” Dean asked, looking over the car at Matt.
“If wishes can work, why can’t that be the real her? What if they’re like another dimension or something were her world exists, and here it’s just a cartoon?” he reasoned shyly. Sam gave Dean a look, both remembering that other dimension they were sent to where their whole lives were just a TV show.
To Matt, Dean agreed, “Well, actually…you know what? I see your point.”
“If that is true, then undoing the wish should just send her back home,” Sam figured.
“Good,” Matt said with a small smile before moving to follow the other men.
“Stay here and keep an eye on that,” Dean instructed Matt. “Come on, Sam.” They both headed for the house.
“What if he’s right?” Sam said quietly, as Matt climbed back into the car, “And what if this affects her world.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Dean said.
“Why?” Sam asked as they reached the front porch.
“Come on. It’s one thing for us to be actors on a TV show, but a cartoon world of tiny horses being real, even in another dimension?” Dean said stepping onto the porch.
“I don’t know, it could be possible,” he said almost hopefully.
His older brother smirked, “Heh, you just want unicorns to be real and not evil.” Sam looked away as Dean knocked.
“Discord?” a distant voiced asked.
“Discord?” the voice tried again, becoming clearer.
“Discooord!” it shouted.
“Hum. Did you say something, Sparkle Butt?” the distracted recipient of the shout finally responded.
The recipient, Discord, was seated at a large, round crystal table across from ‘Sparkle Butt’. The enormous purple room was accented with crystals and decorated with a tree-root chandler that hung above the table and the seven crystal thrones. He, a creature called a draconequus, had taken his seat at the butterfly throne with his scaly, green reptilian limb crossed over his furry, brown goat leg. His white breaded chin was resting in his lion paw with his eagle talon tapping against the hard tabletop. His long red tail swished back and forth underneath him, fury tail end dusting the clean floor. His mismatched blue wings stayed folded against his long, brown furry body. Like those wings, the horn and antler on top his grey head were not a matching pair. Overall, the reformed Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony appeared to be overly bored to an almost agitated state with the conversation he himself had started.
“Yes. I asked if you said something about Fluttershy being missing,” Sparkle Butt answered, sounding annoyed, but worried.
She, given name Twilight Sparkle, was seated at her own throne that featured an image of a sparkling star that matched the cutie marks on her flanks. She was an alicorn, a pony creature with a magic-conducting horn on her head and a set of feathered wings folded against her sides. She had placed her purple hooves on the table when she stood in her seat to gain her uninvited guest’s attention. Discord had quite literally popped in without invitation into her castle. She was a princess of Equestria, the vast pony-populated land she and her friends called home. With the help said friends, she had earned the new castle from The Tree of Harmony, a crystal tree that holds the powerful Elements of Harmony. Together they had saved their home from an evil centaur, Tirek, who had tricked Discord into helping him. After the former’s defeat, the draconeguus was forgiven for his ill-conceived actions, but everypony still kept a close, suspicious watch on him.
Everypony, except Fluttershy that is. She was Discord’s best friend and knew that he was truly sorry for what he had done. Even still, she made sure to keep him in check. She knew with all her heart that he was good deep down and would never truly hurt her (although he had come pretty close under Triek’s influence), but his mischievous chaotic nature tended to get him into trouble. But she could tell he was trying, and she tried to convince her friends of that. Among the seven friends, Twilight was one that really put her best effort into believing her. After all, it was Discord’s gift to her that had unlocked the Tree’s chest that had helped them stop Tirek. Although, at the moment, she was growing a bit suspicious of the chaos spirit.
“Oh, yes. Indeed, I did,” he said, sitting up straight in his best friend’s throne. “But don’t worry your pretty little princess head. I just couldn’t find her at her cottage this morning, so I figured she might be off visiting her friends,” he told her, grin showing off his snaggle tooth.
“Oh, I see,” she said calmly, sitting back down. “Why were you at her cottage?” she asked conversationally.
“Can’t I just pop in to visit my best friend?” he asked, crossing his arms as he emphasized the last two words.
“Um…of course,” she assured. “I was just curious,” she said, looking him over. He appeared less bored and even more agitated now: cross-armed, stiff posture, and swiftly twitching tail.
“Curiosity slayed the alicorn, you know,” he said, relaxing back into his excessively bored state.
“That’s not the phrase,” she deadpanned with a frown.
“Not in this universe,” he mumbled.
“What?” she asked.
“Would you mind if I had a look around?” he suddenly asked, floating up out of his seat. “Perhaps she is wondering about the castle at this very moment looking for your pet owl. You know how much she adores the little critters,” he said, floating over the table towards his host.
“I don’t think Fluttershy would come in and wonder about the castle in search of my pet without telling me first,” she told him. He disappeared before her purple eyes.
“Just in case,” his voice sounded from her left, making her turn around. “To ease my troubled mind?” he asked, blinking his big red and yellow eyes.
Rolling her own eyes, she agreed, “Go ahead.”
“Thanks, princess,” he said with a grin and a bow before disappearing again.
“But no funny business!” she shouted to the empty room.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
“Spike,” a voice loudly whispered through the opening door. “Are you awake?”
“Hum…uh…Twilight?” the moving bundle of covers asked. Said pony let herself into the dark room and trotted over to the small bed.
“Sorry, Spike,” she apologized as she pulled the covers off with her horn’s magic. A purple and green dragon rolled over in the small bed towards the intruder. “I know it’s early, but I need your help,” she said, lighting her horn. The curtains lit up with a purple glow and pulled open, letting in the early morning sunlight.
“What is it?” the baby dragon asked, sitting up and rubbing his green eyes.
“It’s Discord,” she whispered, “I think he’s up to something.”
“I thought we were all friends now,” he yawned.
“I know,” she said almost apologetically, averting her eyes. “But he came here looking for Flutershy. He said she wasn’t home,” she said in a serious tone, “And he’s acting weird.”
“You know we’re talking about Discord, right? The Spirit of Chaos and Disharmony?” he asked, sliding out of bed, “That guy always acts weird.”
“No, Spike. I mean suspicious weird. Like he was hiding something,” she explained. “When he first arrived asking about Fluttershy, he seemed worried, almost scared. Then he spaced-out before acting bored. Like…extra bored. Like he was just pretending he was bored to cover how he was really feeling,” she went on.
“And how do you think he was really feeling?” he asked.
“I…I don’t know,” she admitted. “He was definitely worried about Fluttershy, but there was something more. I can’t put my hoof on it,” she said, tapping her hoof on her chin. “He was easily agitated too,” she added.
“I don’t know, Twilight,” he said with a shrug. “But if you believe he’s up to something, then I believe you,” he said truthfully. “What do you need?” he asked, ready for duty.
“Thanks, Spike,” she said with a smile. “I’m going to ask the girls if they’ve seen Fluttershy. I need you to keep an eye on Discord. He’s still here…searching for her,” she explained.
“What?! He’s here now?!” he asked in a panic, looking around his bedroom. “What if he heard us talking about him?” he asked, grabbing onto Twilight’s front leg.
“I thought we were friends now,” she mocked, smirking down at him.
He frowned and said, “I know.” “But he still freaks me out a little,” he whispered with a shiver.
“Keep Owlowiscious with you,” she said, shaking him off. “I’m sure my brave little dragon will be fine,” she said leaving the room.
As the door closed, he jumped. Nervously looking around the room, he spotted a set of wide eyes and almost jumped out of his scales.
“Who?” a call emitted from the eyes’ direction. The creature flew down from its perch on the head board and landed on the bed. The brown owl blinked widely at the frightened dragon.
“Ohh…” he sighed, claw dropping from his green chest, “It’s just you, Owlowisicous.” The bird turned his head at Spike. “Come on, we have a job to do!” he said triumphantly, charging out the door with the owl flying right behind him.
“Where, oh where has my little pony gone?” Discord sang to himself as he floated down another long hallway. “Oh where, oh where could she be?” he asked, throwing open another door.
He frowned and sank to the ground seeing just another empty closet. He disappeared in a flash and immediately flashed in front of the next door.
“With her ears pointed high, and her tail flowing long…” he continued, tone growing darker. He swung the door open and then slapped it shut. “…Oh where, oh where could she be?!” he sang in an irritated voice, spinning himself away from the useless, empty kitchen.
Just around the corner, the little dragon and owl spied on the frustrated draconequus. They had followed the sound of slamming doors followed by the eerie, dark lullaby. Spike observed the angry creature flash in and out as he quickly checked every door in the hall. Twilight was right, he was definitely agitated. Maybe he was just worried about his friend, Spike hoped.
“How is anypony supposed to find anything in this labyrinth?” he asked aloud, arms crossed and tail swishing in the air. The baby reptile almost laughed at the irony. “Oh, I know!” he cheered.
He snapped the digits of his lion paw, creating a series of bright flashes. The hall filled with a dozen Discords, each with his own number on the chest of his green, army uniform. The original Discord, dressed in a matching blue uniform, saluted his troops. They stood to attention and saluted him in return.
“Listen up troops!” he shouted to his copies, “Spread out and find our target!” He snapped his riding crop against the hard floor, making all his clones teleport out. “That should do it,” he said, dusting his paw and talon together.
The whip and uniform were replaced by Spike’s chef’s hat and tiny white apron with the purple heart. Then he literally flew through the kitchen door. The little dragon frowned at the thief and quickly rushed to the door. The owl followed and landed on his spiked head as the latter peaked inside the room. Discord was reading from Spike’s cookbook as food, pots, and pans floated over to the stove. As he continued to read, the breakfast cooked itself. A pot of coffee poured in a mug in front of the mismatched creature. He drank it down and then ate the cup as his hot meal appeared in the air in front of him.
“Who! Who!” Owlowisicious hooted quietly, flapping his wings and dragging the dragon away from the door.
Spike looked up at the bird and followed to where the owl was pointing with his wing. A tall shadow was looming at the end of the hall, growing smaller as its owner came closer. He gasped and hurried back around the hall to his previous hiding spot. Bird still holding onto his spikes, he made it just in time for Discord number five to appear at the far end. The copy quickly headed for the kitchen.
“We found it, sir,” Spike heard the muffled voice of number five.
“Good. Take me to it,” the original said, grin clear in his voice.
The pair of Discords floated back out of the room and down the hall. Biting his lip, Spike looked up at the equally worried owl. They hurried after the suspicious pair, staying hidden behind the crystal posts that decorated the walls.
After trekking through several hallways, the reptile and bird pair finally stopped as the matching couple went into a room. Spike gasped. He knew what was in that room. That’s what Discord really wanted! They had to do something! He stepped back around the corner and turned around. He was met with the grinning face of the original draconequuus.
“Heeellooo!” Discord sang, lying on the floor to be face to face with the spy.
“Huua!” the frightened dragon gasped. “H-h-hi, D-D-Discord,” he said, voice shaking, “T-Twilight said you were h-here. A-any luck f-finding Fluttershy?”
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Spikey-wikey,” he said, pinching the dragon’s cheeks. “I know what you and your little bird-brain friend have been up to,” he said, releasing the cheek.
“W-what do you m-mean?” he asked, backing up.
“You’ve been spying on me,” he called him out, frowning.
“U-umm…” he said, looking up to the owl for help. The large eyes looked worriedly back at him. “Y-Yeah! We were,” he said bravely to the draceonquus. “Twilight was suspicious of you, and it turns out she was right! So, as the right-hoof dragon of the Princess of Friendship, I order you to stay out of that room and leave this castle!” he said, standing tall and stomping his foot, “Now!”
“Such big words for a little dragon,” he commented with a slow clap. “But I’m afraid I cannot,” he said with no remorse. “I have important businesses to attend to,” he said, readying his talon. “Ta ta,” he said with a grin and a snap of his digits.
“No!” Spike yelled, claw outstretched as he ran towards the smiling creature. “Huua!” he gasped, stopping just in time before falling down the golden steps. He looked around and realized he was on the top of the staircase outside the castle. “Discord!” he yelled, turning around and pulling on the handle. The doors wouldn’t budge. “Owlowliscious, can you get back inside?” he asked the bird still perched on his head.
The owl nodded and took flight. He flew up to the balcony above them and swooped inside the opened doorway. Suddenly, he was flying towards the large castle doors. Spike quickly jumped up and pulled him down before he slammed into the doors. They fell back down onto the top of the stairs.
“It must be one of his tricks. Try a window, but be careful,” Spike instructed.
Undeterred, the owl soared back up and flew to an opened window. He carefully descended through the window. As he crossed the threshold, he was teleported back to the front door. He easily stopped this time and landed back on the dragon’s head.
“Who,” he said sadly, with a shake of his head.
Frowning up at the bird, he said, “We need help. We gotta find Twilight.” He hurried down the steps and headed for town, Owlowliscious flying above him.
While her faithful dragon was keeping an eye on the draconequus, Twilight was making her way to Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. She flew down from the sky and landed in front of the carousel themed clothing shop. After knocking, the door was opened by the store owner, a white unicorn with a stylish purple mane. Despite the early hour, her friend, Rarity, was already well-groomed for the day. The sensible mare wouldn’t dream of opening the door without looking her best; somepony important might see her bedhead.
“Good morning, Twilight,” the unicorn politely greeted, “What brings you here so early? I haven’t even opened the boutique.”
“Good, morning,” she quickly said. “Have you seen Fluttershy?” she asked, looking passed her friend in hopes of seeing the missing Pegasus inside.
“Not this morning, darling,” she informed. Seeing the frown, she asked, “Is something the matter?”
“Discord said she wasn’t home. He’s at my castle now looking for her,” she explained, “But I have a bad feeling he’s up to no good. I think he’s hiding something.”
“You don’t think he’s done something to Fluttershy, do you?” she asked, mixed with concern and anger.
“I never thought he would try anything after Tirek, especially to Fluttershy, but now…”
“The important thing is that we find our friend,” she told her.
“You’re right. There’s no reason to put blame on anypony until we find out more,” Twilight said, “Maybe he’s just hiding his concern for his missing friend.” “I’m going to go ask Pinkie if she’s seen her,” she informed, turning to leave.
“I’ll come with you,” Rarity offered.
“What about the boutique?” she asked.
“Friends are more important,” she said, lighting her horn. A sign lit up in blue that read, “Sorry. Closed for the day. Friendship problem” floated up and hung on the door. “I made it after we received our first friendship mission,” she explained after getting an inquisitive look. “I’d do anything to help a friend,” she said, closing the door.
“Thanks. Come on,” she said. They quickly trotted off towards town square, hoping their bubbly, pink Earth pony friend had seen the yellow pegasus.
“Fluttershy’s missing!?” the pink mare yelled, blue eyes literally wide as saucers.
The two ponies had made it to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie’s place of work and home. Before heading upstairs to their friend’s room, they had asked the owners, Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, about Fluttershy. Unfortunately, they hadn’t seen her either.
“Sadly, it seems so,” Rarity said.
“Ooow! I knew something was wrong. My hooves have been itching like crazy,” Pinkie said, rubbing her hooves against the rug. Her Pinkie Sense were never wrong. “But, I don’t think Dissy would do anything to his best friend,” she said, shaking her head.
“Well, I’m not sure yet,” the alicorn admitted. “But we still need to find Fluttershy,” she said with determination.
“We should ask Dashie next,” the earth pony suggested, “She is her oldest friend.”
“So, you’re coming too, Pinkie Pie?” the white unicorn asked.
“Of course!” she cheered. “Let’s go!” she said, bouncing out of her bedroom.
The trio hurried over to their other Pegasus friend’s cloud house in hopes that the rainbow-maned mare knew Fluttershy’s whereabouts. The two pegasi had known each other since attending summer flight camp in Cloudsdale, a moving cloud city populated by Pegasi. They often hung out together, so it was completely plausible that Rainbow Dash had seen her that morning. Not to mention, the fast-flying mare frequently flew over Ponyville, giving her a good view of everypony in the town, including Fluttershy.
Since Rainbow’s house was airborne, Twilight took it upon herself to fly up and knock on the solid door. She waited several seconds before knocking again. Still there was no response. She knocked harder and placed her ear on the door, hearing silence. The alicorn looked down at her friends and shrugged.
“RAINBOW DAAAASH!” Pinkie yelled into a giant megaphone that she pulled out of her fluffy, pink tail.
“Pinkie Pie!” Rarity scolded, covering her ears.
“Twilight?” the robed, blue Pegasus tiredly asked, opening her front door. She rubbed her pink eyes and then peered down at her other friends. “Rarity? Pinkie?” she asked, “What’s everypony doing here?” “Is something wrong?! A friendship problem?!” she asked, exhaustion replaced by adrenaline.
“It’s Fluttershy. Discord says he couldn’t find her at her cottage,” Twilight calmly explained. “We were wondering if you’ve seen her.”
“Not since yesterday,” she replied. “What did he do to her?!” she asked, wings flying out in anger.
“Nothing that we know of,” she told her.
“He better not have. I’ll kick his flank into next week if he so much as touches one feather on her wings!” she threatened.
“Calm down, Dash. We don’t have any evidence that he’s guilty of anything,” Twilight said. The pagsus folded her wings back and released a calming breath. “We haven’t asked Applejack yet,” she said.
“Well, what are we waiting for?” she asked, spreading her wings again.
Seconds later she was soaring into the air, rainbow colors behind her and robe left in her doorway. Twilight hurriedly pushed the discarded clothing into the house and closed the door.
“Come on, girls!” the alicorn called, taking flight herself. The grounded ponies quickly followed on hoof after their flying friends.
Everypony rushed to the Apple family’s apple farm, Sweet Apple Acres, with Rainbow Dash slowing down so her friends could keep up. When they arrived, they found the orange, earth mare already hard at work on her morning chores. The aerial Pegasus led the trio to the apple trees where Applejack was bucking the trunks, collecting the falling apples in large, wooden barrels.
“AJ!” the yellow-maned mare heard from the sky.
Pulling her hat back away from her green eyes, the farm pony peered up between the trees. “Rainbow?” she asked in her country accent. As the blue Pegasus landed, the rest of the group met up. “What’s everypony doin’ here?” she asked, looking around at all her friends.
“Fluttershy’s missing!” Pinkie yelled.
“It’s Discord!” Rainbow accused.
“We don’t know that yet,” Rarity said.
“Have you seen her?” Twilight asked.
“…n-no,” the bombarded mare said. “No, Ah haven’t seen Fluttershy,” she said seriously. “What’s this about Discord? He up to somethin’ again?” she asked, raising an eye ridge.
The alicorn began, “We’re not…”
“Twilight!” a familiar shout echoed through the field. Everypony turned their attention towards the sound, seeing the tiny dragon and pet owl. “Twilight!” Spike yelled again, running towards the group.
“Spike, what’s wrong?” she asked in concern.
As he regained his breath, the girls all exchanged worried looks.
“It’s Discord!” he finally said before taking more deep breaths.
“I knew it!” Dash shouted.
“Dissy wouldn’t…” Pinkie said sadly, shaking her head.
“He’s made mistakes before,” Rarity consoled.
“After his behavior at the Gala, are you really that surprised?” Applejack asked.
“We don’t know what he’s done yet,” Twilight said, hushing her friends. “Spike?”
The dragon said in a panic, “He’s taken over the castle!”
After Dean knocked, a dark-haired man with glasses opened the door. His expression quickly turned to surprise as he saw the two men.
“Hello, Wes. You make any good wishes lately?” Dean asked, pushing his way inside. Sam followed. Through the house they could see a cute woman in the kitchen cooking dinner. “Another girl?”
Wes looked insulted and said, “No, I didn’t wish for her. That’s Francene. We met about six years ago not long after the wishing well incident. She noticed me the second she saw me. She had just moved into town. I was walking by her house when she was moving in. She had lost her grip on one of her boxes. I helped her catch it. We locked eyes. It was love at first sight.”
Sam said apologetically, “We’re sorry, Wes. We didn’t mean to imply…”
“Then how do you explain the well working again?” Dean asked skeptically.
“It’s granting wishes again?” he asked with true surprise, “I swear, I didn’t have anything to do with. I put all those coins in the attic the moment I returned home from Lucky Chin’s that day. I’ve learned my lesson, you can’t get everything you want.” He looked back at the woman in the kitchen. “You just have to have a little patience and wait for the good things to come along when it’s the right time. If all that hadn’t happened and Hope hadn’t rejected me, I never would have found my true love,” he said dreamily.
“Well, you sound happy now. Congratulations,” Sam said, moving to leave.
Dean closed the door and said, “I want to see those coins.” His brother glared at him. “Just in case,” he added, hands up.
“Go ahead,” Wes said. He led them through house. As they went passed the kitchen, Francene turned around. The two hunters cringed involuntarily. “Francene, this is Sam and Dean, acquaintances from a few years ago,” he introduced them, “They helped me get over Hope.”
“Pleasure to me you. And thank you so much for getting my Wesley bear through his tough time. I’m so lucky to have him in my life,” she said sweetly.
Sam cleared his throat and said, “You’re welcome. And nice to meet you.”
“N-No problem,” Dean said.
Wes led them to the hall. Not missing their sudden awkwardness, he said, “I know she isn’t as attractive as Hope, but that superficial stuff doesn’t matter to me anymore. Francene is the kindest, sweetest person I’ve ever met, and she loves everyone. Plus, she’s a great cook.” Dean raised his eyebrows at the last comment. “You’ll welcome to join us for dinner, Franny would love that.” Dean grinned.
“We appreciate the offer, but we have business to take care of,” Sam said, causing Dean to frown.
“Well, they’re right up there,” Wes said as he opened the door to attic.
The three men went up, and Wes found the chest that he put the coins in buried under boxes. They were all there aside from the one Sam melted.
“Thanks, Wes. Sorry to bother you,” Sam said.
“I hope you figure this out before things get too chaotic again,” Wes said.
“Us too,” Dean agreed.
Once the two brothers were back in car, Matt asked hopefully, “Any luck.”
“Nah, dead end,” Dean said, attempting to start his Baby. “Come on.” The car roared to life. “There you go.”
“Everything okay in here?” Sam asked, looking down at the unmoving lump under the towel.
“Yeah, I think she might be sleeping,” he replied, peering over the seatback at Sam.
“Good. Did you see anyone else make a wish?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, a group of young teenagers were goofing around. One of them was trying to convince his friends it had worked before,” Wes answered.
“What’d he looked like?” Dean asked.
“Young teen, medium-length, light brown hair, short, scrawny,” he described.
“Could be Todd,” Dean offered.
“Yeah, that was his name,” Wes said.
Dean sighed, “Ahh, kid.”
The three men, one batpony, and one battered car, arrived at Todd’s house. The boy was on front porch swing talking with a girl.
“Aww, man. I thought I had straightened him out,” Dean groaned, “What’s he doing wishing for a girl’s love?”
“We don’t know that yet. Go talk to him,” Sam encouraged.
The older brother got out of car and approached porch with a wave.
“Who’s that?” the girl asked. Todd stared for a moment before a wide grin formed on his face.
“Dean?!” he asked excited. “He was someone who helped me with some bullies as a kid. Excuse me. BRB,” he distractedly explained as he stood up. Then he shouted as he hurried off the porch, “Dean!”
“Hey, Todd,” Dean greeted with a smile. He received a hug and gave him a pat on the back.
“Man, it’s so good to see you. I never got to really thank you. Thanks,” he said happily.
“No problem. So, how’s it going with the bullies?” he asked.
“Good. No one has picked on me since. We’re all friends now,” he said with a smile.
“So, were they the ones you were blabbing about the well to this afternoon?” he asked with a serious tone.
He asked, smile dropping, “How did you…?”
“Never mind that. What makes you think that a wish for a girl’s attention will turn out any better than wishing for super strength?” he questioned.
“No,” she said looking back at the girl, “It’s not what it looks like. I didn’t wish for her to love me; it was for her boyfriend.”
“Ah, so you wanted to take out the competition? Or…ah, did you mean…?”
“No, we’re just friends,” he explained, “Her boyfriend’s brother is really sick. The doctors can’t figure out what’s wrong with him. I was trying to wish for him to get better. I know the wishes don’t turn out right, but…I…I don’t know. I was desperate; she’s my best friend, and I’m friends with her boyfriend too. His brother’s pretty cool. I just wanted to help.” He looked down.
Dean put his hand on the boy’s shoulder, and said, “I get it; I do. But this isn’t the way to help anyone.”
Todd sighed, “Doesn’t matter. It didn’t work.”
“It didn’t, you sure?” he asked, dropping his hand.
“Yeah, we just got back from the hospital. He’s not doing good. He’s getting these dark, veins on his neck. I’ve never seen…”
“Dark veins?” Dean interrupted.
“Yeah…why?” he asked.
“That’s not good. Anyone else sick?” he asked urgently.
“No, not like that.”
“Did he go out of town recently or anything?”
“Yeah, he donates to charity and hospitals and stuff. He just took a donation to the hospital in Nuckolls County on his way home from vacation. He said some people were acting a bit weird. I think someone even scratched him. I don’t know. He hurried out of there and back home as soon as he dropped the donation off. He started feeling bad when he got home. You think they infected him with something?” he asked.
“Yeah, I do. I know what’s wrong with him,” Dean said darkly.
“You do?!” he asked excitedly.
“Don’t worry, my brother can help. I’ll send him there right now, while I keep working on the well,” he said, turning to leave.
“Thank you so much,” he said gratefully.
“Helping him will help a lot of people. We don’t want what he’s got spreading around. But did you see anyone else making a wish?”
“Um, yeah, like everyone,” he said.
“Anyone in particular before the crowd rushed in?” he asked more specifically.
“People come into town to just make wishes all the time. But I didn’t see anyone before I made my wish,” he said, wishing he could be of more help.
“Well thanks anyway,” he said and headed back for the car.
“Thanks again for everything!” Todd shouted to him.
“Yeah, see ya’ kid,” he said before climbing into the driver’s side.
“Was it him?” Sam asked hopefully.
“I’ll explain on the way to the hospital,” he said as he sped off.
The Impala came to a screeching stop in front of the hospital. Sam jumped out and rushed to the trunk. Once he collected the Holy oil he needed, he rushed back to the car window.
“Meet us at Lucky Chin’s when you’re done. If I can find the coin, then maybe we can find the first wisher,” Dean said, knowing the restaurant wasn’t too far away.
“Got it,” Sam said.
Before Sam took a step away, his brother said, “Sam. Call me if you run into trouble.”
“He hasn’t been here long, hopefully he hasn’t infected anyone yet,” Sam said.
“Sam,” he persisted.
“But I will. I promise,” Sam said and ran inside. As soon as Sam was out of sight, Dean took off.
Two men and a small horse arrived at Lucky Chin’s Chinese restaurant and found the doors were closed. Getting out of the car Dean saw a sign that read “Closed for flooding. Open tomorrow.” He looked inside and saw the fountain had been shut off. People were cleaning the floor, and bags were sitting around the fountain. He went back to the car and asked Matt to open the glove box and give him his health inspector badge.
“Wow! That’s a lot of fake ID’s and badges,” Matt said, finding and handing over the requested badge.
“Well, people respond better to John Doe Health Inspector than to Dean Winchester supernatural hunter,” he said taking the badge.
The fake health inspector went to door and knocked. The same waiter from the last time Dean was there opened the door.
“Oh no! Not you again. We have no rats here. I keep a very clean restaurant,” he insisted, blocking the doorway.
“Not rats, but all this water can lead to mold, and that would be an emergency hazard code 25E. Care to explain the flooding fountain?” Dean said cooly.
“It’s been crazy in here today, just like a few years ago after you left. I had not believed it before for I saw nothing myself, but today I know I saw a yellow light shoot from the fountain and out the front door. Everyone around saw it, and as before, they all started to make wishes, throwing in so many coins my fountain overflowed. It’s being cleaned now,” he explained.
“I don’t know if I believe in wishing wells, but a clean restaurant is something I strongly believe in. Mopping, that’s a good start, but I need to take a quick inspection for mold,” he said, pushing passed the man. He glanced around and made his way through the cleaning crew while heading for the well. Once he reached it, he saw it had been completely drained. All the coins had been removed as well, stuffed in the surrounding bags. He frowned, looking closely inside the well, but not a single coin was left.
“Well, everything looks good. Have a nice day,” he said to the relieved waiter.
He walked back across the damp floor and out the door. As he stepped outside, Sam was coming up the street.
“That was quick,” Dean said happily.
“Yeah. He was the only one infected. He had just started to become violent when I got there, no reports of him scratching, biting, or harming anyone. Lucky for us it seemed to affect him very slowly. I told them I was an old friend, and he would sometimes get these violent mood swings. I could always calm him down, so everyone left us alone. I gave him the cure, explained what I could, and hurried back here,” Sam explained.
“Well, Todd will be happy,” Dean said.
“Any luck here?” he asked.
“No, remember what Audrey said about everyone rushing in to make wishes after they saw the light. Well, there were so many wishes, the well overflowed,” he said.
“Wow. That’s a lot of wishes coming true,” he said concerned.
“Yeah, but here’s the kicker; it was drained, and every single coin was removed,” he said, with a frown.
“Every coin?”
“Yep, no hoodoo coin magically glued to the bottom,” he said unhappily.
“And Fluttershy’s still here?” he asked. They both peered inside car. Matt looked at them and all looked in back. Flutterbat’s tail was peeking out from under the towel while she slept.
“Now what?” Sam asked.
“No clue,” Dean sighed.