Itty Bitty Living Space

Chapter 3: First Master

"Apple Bloom.  What did you do?!" Scootaloo shouted, as the white mist rose out of the bottle.  The Crusaders were on the verge of panicking.

"I dun know!  All I did was rub it!"

"Well, then what's happening?" Sweetie Belle chipped in, while Apple Bloom dropped the bottle like it was a hot potato.  She watched it rumble in awe.

The mist finally settled, before there was a much thicker swirl of mist and fog that rocketed out from the top of the bottle, rooting the Cutie Mark Crusaders in place.

Then, the mist began to take form.

The crusader's mouths dropped open as the mist formed a body unlike anything they had ever seen before, except for a vague resemblance to the wood carving they had seen in class the other day.

For starters, the creature was almost completely hairless, save for a short, scruffy black mane on top of its head.  Its eyes were smaller than pony eyes, though they shone with intelligence and expressionism.  Its skin was a light peach color, though it was wearing clothes as well, along with decorative jewelery.

There was a large emerald smack dab in the middle of the spirit's forehead, while an eye-shaped golden necklace braced the creature's head.  The crusader's eyes were drawn to the creature's " hooves".  They weren't really hooves at all though.  To the crusaders, the "base" looked like a hoof, while there were ten long and skinny "tentacles" jutting out, each of them covered in a hard shell.  They didn't know how to describe it.  On those "tentacles", there were no less than six golden rings on random digits.

What was most striking to the fillies was the creature's abdomen, or lack there of.  Whereas it had a fully defined torso, the creature's body was cut off at the waist, while a ghostly tail formed the creature's abdomen, the tail stretching all the way back into the bottle.

It looked bored though, and in its "hoof" it was clutching a sheet of paper.

"Hello, *insert name here*.  I am...... Damien!  And I will be your genie for this fine day!  For freeing from the lamp... and yadda yadda yadda..... you get three wishes!"

"They are real...." Sweetie Belle squeaked.  The wish-granting spirits they had had learned about in class.... they were standing right in front of one.

"Who cares if they're real!?  This is awesome!  Three wishes!  That's one for each of us!  And we can wish for anything!" Scootaloo chirped excitedly, her wings buzzing.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, pipsqueak!  Who said anything about you and cotton candy over there getting any wishes?" Damien said, moving over in-between the crusaders.  Oddly enough, his bottle floated over with him.

"Here's the rules.  You rub the bottle, you get three wishes.  You don't rub the bottle, you get zero wishes.  That's the way it works.  Since you..." he poked a finger down on top of Apple Bloom's head, making her wince.

"...are the one who rubbed the bottle, you get three wishes.  Since you two didn't, you get zero wishes..."

"What?  That's not fair!"  Scootaloo cried.

Damien blinked.

"Do I look like I care?  Do I really look like I care?  You're not my master, chicken wings.  If you want wishes, you'll have to find my bottle on your own time and rub it then.  In the meantime..." he turned to Apple Bloom, while Scootaloo fumed.

"You have rubbed the bottle, therefore you are my master.  Your wish is my command..." he bowed, levitating in mid-air along with his bottle.

"Can you believe this guy?" Scootaloo said.  Apple Bloom looked thoughtful, as if she were contemplating her own wish.  Sweetie Belle was silent.

"You said I get three wishes, and I can wish for anything?" Apple Bloom asked the human, who nodded at her.  She didn't pay any mind to the smirk that was on his face.

"Apple Bloom, are you sure about this?"  Sweetie Belle asked.  She was by far the most wary of the magical creature in front of them, and now both of her friends were giving her skeptical looks.

"Sweetie Belle's right!  We can't trust this guy!  What if he's lying?!" Scootaloo told her.

"Hey, just a minute ago, you were mighty excited over gettin' a wish!  Now y'all are sayin' that he can't be trusted?" Apple Bloom cried.  "Look, this may be the best shot at getting our cutie marks.  If ah wish for cutie marks for all three of us, he has to grant that, doesn't he?"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo seemed to contemplate that for a while, and a look of desire entered their large eyes.  It seemed that they all realized it would be an easy solution for their crusading.

"Alright, Damien!  You're on!" Apple Bloom grinned, pointing a hoof at the genie.  Damien crossed his arms, grinning patiently at her.

"Best start with somethin' small though, just to be sure that it works.  Ah don't wanna find out that this is just some trick.  Y'know what, I've worked up quite the thirst with all this diggin', so..." she trailed off.

"Ah wish ah had some water!" she cried, spreading her hooves out.

Damien grinned, raising one of his hands and snapping his ringed fingers.  The crusaders tilted their heads over the weird gesture, but their attention was then drawn to a big glob of water that had appeared out of nowhere, directly on top of their heads.

Their minds went numb, but the glob of water only hovered above their heads for a second.  It came crashing down upon the three fillies' heads, drenching them from head to toe in moderately cold water.

Sweetie Belle shrieked, while Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both looked incredulously at each, like they didn't even know what happened.

"Well, you wanted water.  There you go!" Damien told Apple Bloom.  He couldn't help but allow a small bit of laughter to escape from his mouth.

"What was that all about?!" Apple Bloom cried in indignation, as the Cutie Mark Crusaders shook the water off.  In the back of her mind, she registered that the human's power was legit.

"You said "I wish" and "water", and I put two-and-two together.  You're new to this whole wishing thing aren't you?"

Apple Bloom's eye twitched, but she didn't look nearly as mad as her two friends, who had gotten roped into this without even being part of the wish.

"When ah said ah wanted some water, I thought it'd be purdy obvious that ah was askin' for a bottle or glass or somethin'"

"Well, now you know better!  Maybe next time you'll be a little more specific!"

"Apple Bloom..." Scootaloo said, grabbing her friend's withers and dragging her away out of earshot from the genie.  She whispered to her in a low voice.

"There's something fishy about this guy.  Maybe you shouldn't take the other wishes after all.  We ended up getting covered in water, but that was a really simple wish.  Who knows what could happen if you wish for something less simple..."

"But, if ah don't use the other wishes, we may never be able to get our cutie marks!  This is the perfect opportunity!  I hafta use 'em!" Apple Bloom stubbornly refused.

"Pardon me for interrupting your endearing conversation, but you still need need to make your second and third wishes.  I mean, it's not like I'm stuck here with you by your side forever until you make that final wish or anything!  That would make the whole being a genie thing unbearable!" Damien said.  He had randomly appeared what between the two crusaders.

"Wait, you mean you're stuck to Apple Bloom until she makes her third wish?" Sweetie Belle piped up.  Damien was filing his nails.

"Huh, who are you again, kid?  Third wish?  Oh.... yeah!  That is actually the case..." he said non-chalantly.  "So, you're stuck with me, you might as well make your wishes unless you want to explain to your family why you're bringing home a twelve-hundred year old magical genie with you..."

Apple Bloom flinched.  Her sister Applejack had been adamant that even the story of humans was nothing but trouble.  She couldn't imagine her reaction if she actually brought home a real one.

"But after your third wish, I get sucked back into the bottle and you never have to hear from me again!  At that point, my bottle will appear randomly within a certain area of here, where some other pony can pick it up.  It'll probably be some loser egotistical pegasus.  God knows I always get stuck with one of them."

"Alright, but no tricking me now, got it?" she proclaimed.

Scootaloo yelped in alarm when she realized her friend was going to go through with it.

Damien raised an eyebrow.  "Now, why would I ever trick you?" he asked, a halo appearing directly above his head.

"Now, that first wish was just a warmup.  Ah'm gonna wish fer somethin' real big now, ya hear?" she trailed off, seemingly working over how she was going to word it.  A bright smile appeared on her face.

"Ah wish that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo all had their cutie marks!" she squealed, jumping in mid-air.  She was giddy to receive her cutie mark.

Damien smirked, and snapped his fingers once more.  At that moment, a few things happened.  Sweetie Belle vanished from existence, while cutie marks simultaneously appeared on the flanks of both Apple Bloom and Scootaloo.  Despite that, they weren't concerned about that.  They were turning their heads to and fro frantically, trying to work out where their friend had gone.

Less than a second later, a thick, hardcover book fell out of the sky and impacted the ground right next to the three fillies, scaring the life out of the both of them.  On the spine of the book, there was a symbol remarkably similar to a cutie mark.

"What was that all about?!  Where's Sweetie Belle?!" Apple Bloom yelled at the genie, who in turn yawned at the two fillies.

"Oh, well, I had to take a few liberties to make her cutie mark work.  But look, you've both got yours!" he exclaimed in faux happiness, pointing a finger at them.

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo turned around to view their flanks, their faces beaming in appraisal as they saw the marks.  However, their enthusiasm turned to confusion when they saw what they were.

On Scootaloo's flank, there were a pair of broken wings.

And on Apple Bloom's flank.... there was a pile of shit.

"Whut does it mean?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Well, the three of you wished you had cutie marks, but you didn't specify what your cutie marks were supposed to be.  So, I had to work it out on my own what you should get.  Congratulations, you've found your special talents!"

"Cleaning bathrooms..." he pointed to Apple Bloom.  She frowned.

"Being a flightless pegasus..." he pointed to Scootaloo.  She frowned.

"And being a dictionary!" he pointed to the book on the ground that was apparently Sweetie Belle.  He laughed at their expense.  The other two crusaders gaped at him.

"Wait, you made Sweetie Belle's special talent being a dictionary!" Scootaloo gaped.  "How is she even supposed to move?"

"Cleanin' bathrooms?  What kinda talent is that?" Apple Bloom screamed.

"Hey, you're the one who wished for it?" Damien shrugged.

"NO!  AH!  DIDN'T!" the irate filly screamed.  "Y'all take away these bogus cutie marks away, an' turn Sweetie Belle back to normal this instant!" she screamed at the floating spirit.

"Well, you still got one more wish.  Why don't you use it to turn everything back to normal?" Damien suggested.  The third wish was coming up, and it was one that he had seen many a time before.

"You better, Apple Bloom!  It's the only way to get Sweetie Belle back to normal!" Scootaloo said.  Apple Bloom tended to agree.  She should've never taken these wishes for granted.

"Fine!  Ah wish you were back in your bottle, and everything was back to the way it was before ah made my first wish!" she ordered.  Damien snapped his fingers.

Too bad she wasted her last wish.  He had used the fake cutie marks anyway; they would've worn off in an hour or two anyway.  He wasn't that cruel to a bunch of kids.

"It's been fun, Master #7564!" he told Apple Bloom one last time, before the bottle shook.  There was a flash, and the once again cutie mark-less Cutie Mark Crusaders were standing there, Sweetie Belle intact.  The unicorn filly looked groggy and confused, like she didn't even know what had happened.

There was a burst of magic from within the bottle, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders watched as the smoke sucked Damien right back through the opening of the bottle, waiting for his next master.

Apple Bloom had a sullen look on her face.  What a rotten human, and the experience had been one that she cared to forget.

Luckily for her, the bottle in front of her had disappeared as soon as Damien had been sucked back within its depths.

She still had the feeling that it wasn't the last they had seen of that human.