Chapter 1: One Wish

Jonathan huddled up in his room, typing madly on the keyboard. He'd been on a story writing spree and had completely neglected his report on Shakespearean plays. Now he was going to have to stay up long at the keyboard. He got to a paragraph on Hamlet. "To be," he typed. "Or not to pony... That is the question."

Wait, what? Where did that come from? Pony? Had he been writing something about ponies? He shook himself. There was to be no outside influence on his academics. This was an incredibly important report—the last one of Year 12 before it was just time for wrapping up—but he had neglected it and it was due tomorrow.

He wrote through the rest of the day, stopping only once to eat. Sometimes the word "pony" would show up in seemingly random places. Maybe he needed a break. No, he told himself, no breaks. No more neglecting. If he had to write until it was time for school he would.

Night began to fall. He looked out the window to admire the night, but there were no stars. Why? He looked out a few more minutes, waiting for a star to show up. After nothing happened, he looked back at the monitor and continued typing away. Suddenly, he noticed something bright in the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a bright star in the night sky. It was brighter than any star he had ever seen. He turned on the television, but there was nothing about it in the news. The star had just appeared, he thought. Maybe no one's noticed it yet. He typed some more and looked back at the night sky. There were still no stars save for the one bright star.

He opened up a stargazer website near him and looked at the live feed. There were many stars. He rubbed his head. Maybe the writing was getting to him. He looked at the star a while longer, mesmerised by it. Something came out of his mouth, but it took a few moments to register what he had said. "I wish I lived in Ponyville!" His mouth gaped and he spluttered. "What- Huh?" What the heck was Ponyville? He was going mad. Absolutely bonkers. He finished up his report, careful not to say "pony" again and climbed into bed, drifting off to sleep.

Ponyville

Twilight was still in a daze. She had only just yesterday been coronated as a new Princess of Equestria. All of a sudden, she had more duties than she could count. She needed help. She explained this to Spike in the library.

"You need what?" Spike exclaimed incredulously. "I thought I was the One and Only Spike! Your best assistant!"

"You're still my best assistant, Spike!" Spike sighed relievedly. "But it isn't enough. Here's my new todo list for tomorrow!" Spike looked at it and stumbled back.

"Yup, you need help. You definitely need help," he said quickly.

"But all my friends are busy with their own things! I don't have anyone else! How am I supposed to do any of this?"

"I'm sure Celestia thought of something."

"No, these were her words: 'I completely trust that you can do this on your own.' Clearly, she was wrong! I already failed every duty I was supposed to do up to this point!"

"We'll find you help. Maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders can help?" asked Spike.

"No, I couldn't make them do that."

"We'll find a way, Twilight."

"I hope we do soon."

Night began to fall as Twilight tried to make a todo list for the next day. No matter what, she couldn't figure out a schedule that fit. All of a sudden, she woke from her work trance when Spike called her up. She reluctantly went up the stairs to the bedroom, ready to reprimand Spike. He pointed at a new star that had never been there before.

"Stars don't just- Where- Where did that come from?" The star was very, very bright, and she had never known of any star as bright as that one. She raced down to the shelves and searched through books about stars and stargazing but didn't find anything about the star.

Then she had an idea. Why not send a letter to Princess Luna about it? Luna was definitely awake right now, and she controlled the night sky, so maybe she had something to do with http at star appearing. She called down Spike and quickly dictated a letter to Princess Luna. After a few minutes, a letter came back.

"We have not made any new stars exceptionally bright to night. We do not understand what thou art speaking of." Twilight was getting worried now. Maybe all this work was getting to her head. She took one last look at the star and trotted back down to the library to work on a todo list. When she finally settled on a slightly working list, she went back up to go to be. But just before she went to sleep, she looked at the star and blurted out, "I wish for more help!"

Then she shook herself. She really was letting the work go to her head. Since when did she make wishes? Even more, why on hallucinated stars? She pushed the matter to the back of her head and went to sleep.

Jonathan

Jonathan woke up early in the morning. He opened up the window, and the one star was still there. He didn't make much of it, until he realised that the sun was up also. Maybe he was still hallucinating. He changed, printed out his report, and started getting ready for school. By the time he finished, he still had about half an hour to play with his 14-year old cousin, Millie. He came outside to greet her a good morning.

"Hey, Jonny!" She said when he came out. Jonathan greeted her back and looked back up at the star.

"What are you looking at?" She asked. Jonathan shrugged.

"A star." Millie looked at him oddly. Jonathan smiled. The smile left his face quickly and was replaced by a look of wonder. Why was the star getting... Bigger? Or was it getting brighter? He didn't know. Millie looked at him again and nudged him.

"Come on, we're running out of time," said Millie exasperatedly. Jonathan shook himself and turned to Millie. He played with her for a few minutes before noticing the slightest tug on himself. He attributed it to bad balance and continued to frolic with Millie. He had just about forgotten about it before he felt a yank behind him.

"What was that for?" he asked Millie. Millie looked at him oddly and shrugged. He felt another yank, and then another, and now he was being really pulled. No one was pulling him. Millie was in front of him- running after him? He was on the road now, and he screamed, clawing for a handhold. He grabbed onto a signpost, and that impeded his progress long enough for Millie to reach him, but the signpost was pulled out of the ground and he let go, screaming.

He caught a glimpse of... A star? Was that what was pulling him? Was it the star from earlier? He clawed at the grass past the road, trying to get a handhold, but he only pulled the grass up. It was no help to him. Now he was right under the star, being pulled up to the star. In a last burst of adrenaline, he caught Millie's hand and yanked her toward him.

Then everything went black.