“Wait, did you say that the breezy's kingdom is powered by wishful thinking?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Yes, that's right.” Fluttershy flipped back through her research presentation a few slides. “The pollen they gathered collects magic as they ride the breeze we create back to their homeland. By the time they cross the border, it's so saturated that even a pinch of it can make a wish come true.”
“Well, a pinch to us is all that one of those little guys can carry,” Rarity said.
“Wait a minute – we went with them. Heck, I even carried a pinch of pollen myself. Actually, I still have it.” Rainbow Dash pulled out a tiny thimble of yellow powder. “This stuff can make a wish come true?”
“Yes. All you have to do say your wish and toss the pollen into the wind.” Fluttershy nodded. There was still a breeze blowing through the small field they'd gathered in behind Fluttershy's cottage.
“That's awesome! Anything I want... Heck, I could even wish for wings for Scootaloo.” Rainbow Dash grinned.
“Uh, Scootaloo already has wings,” Applejack said.
“You know what I mean.” Rainbow Dash scowled.
“We do, but the magic doesn't. You have to be really careful when it comes to making wishes.” Twilight extracted her pinch of pollen and squinted her eyes looking at it.
“Twilight's right.” Rarity looked at her tiny ribboned basket of pollen. “We wouldn't want to waste our wish on something bad.”
“Ooh ooh.” Pinkie held up her hoof with her pollen container and waved it in the air. “You mean like wishing for everypony else to make incredibly lame wishes?” Her pollen spilled out and got carried away on the wind. It sparkled. “Uh, oops.”
“Pinkie, you klutz!” Rainbow Dash pulled her face flat. “You ruined it for the rest of us. I might as well wish for Scootaloo to have wings and just get this over with.” Rainbow Dash tossed her pollen into the wind. It sparkled.
•••
Scootaloo sneezed. Was somepony talking about her?
•••
Applejack raised her eyebrow. “Aw shucks, Rainbow. That's... kinda sweet of you, but, uh, couldn't ya have tried just a mite bit harder?”
“Meh. It was doomed anyway. If you think you can do better, I'd like to hear it.” Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs and hovered near Applejack.
“Ah guess I'll give it a kick.” Applejack scratched at her mane while she tried to think of something. “Uh, Ah sure do like apples. I wish–” Applejack suddenly chocked up under the pressure of everypony looking at her and darted her eyes around “–I wish that all other plants were evil!” Applejack flipped her tiny basket of pollen into the wind. The pollen streamed out and sparkled.
•••
In Rarity's kitchen, there was an orange she kept tucked away as her secret indulgence snack. Sometimes a pony would finish a major project early and just wanted a little something to reward herself with. The fat she was going to gain from eating it would go straight to her hips and would never come off.
Golden Oaks, the library tree, starting growing a root up around a rock in the ground. In a month or so, it would stick up far enough to catch a hoof and Twilight was totally going to trip on it. Totally.
A tulip bulb in Lilly's flower garden caught the sun's reflection from the window of a neighbor's house. This caused it to grow at an odd angle and ruined its alignment with the rest of the flowers in that row. Lilly was going to be so annoyed.
•••
“Evil plants? Evil plants?” Rainbow Dash fell out of the air laughing.
“Evil plants?” Fluttershy whimpered. “That sounds scary.”
Twilight picked a dandelion and twirled it with her magic. “It doesn't look any different.”
“Twilight's right. They're still just plants. They don't really move and I doubt they even know the difference between good and evil anyway.” Rarity put a hoof on Fluttershy's shoulder to console her. “If you really want to, you can unwish Applejack's wish. That is, unless, you have something else you'd rather wish for...?”
“Oh, well I do wish that my tail was growing longer.” Fluttershy tossed her pollen into the wind. It sparkled.
•••
Thanks to the miracle of mitosis, Fluttershy's tail was growing at the rate of half an inch per month, just like it always had always been, even since before she was born.
•••
“Newsflash. Your tail's already growing.” Rainbow Dash pointed a hoof at it.
“Yeah, silly.” Pinkie stuck her head under Fluttershy's tail and wrapped it around her neck. “Plus it's long enough to use as a scarf already.”
“Um...” Fluttershy gently tugged at her tail. She wasn't really sure how to respond to that.
Rarity held up her tiny basket of pollen. “Well, I wish that I were beautiful.” She undid the basket's teeny tiny little bow and poured her pollen into the wind. It sparkled.
“What!? But you're already the most beautiful pony I know!” Rainbow Dash yelled.
“Oh my, Rainbow. This is so sudden. I had no idea you felt that way about me.” Rarity placed a hoof against her chest and swooned.
“Uh, wha, bluu...” Rainbow Dash flushed a deep crimson and shuffled backwards.
Rarity held her pose for a moment longer before she cracked up and burst out laughing. Everypony else joined in including, eventually, Rainbow Dash.
Twilight levitated her little thimble of pollen. “It's a shame about our wishes, though.” Twilight sighed. “I wish that Pinkie Pie hadn't doomed us all to make really lame wishes.” Twilight dumped her thimble and her pollen got carried away on the wind and sparkled.
“Oh, well, now that you mention it, I never actually wished for lame wishes, I just said that it would be bad if I did wish for lame wishes. I just spilled my pollen accidentally. You all made lame wishes all on your own.”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash slapped her own face. “I could have been captain of the Wonderbolts!”
“And I could have been a princess.” Rarity moaned. For some reason, everypony looked at Twilight.
“I'm not going to touch that one.”
Applejack groaned. “We could have used that info earlier, Pinke.”
“Uh, oops?” Pinkie shrugged.
•••
Later that evening, Twilight waited on a hill overlooking Ponyville. The stars sparkled in the night sky.
“You wanted me to join you, Twilight?” Pinkie asked.
“Yes, please. Sit down next to me.” Twilight motioned to a spot on the ground right next to her.
Pinkie walked over hesitantly, “Am I in trouble? Are you still mad about the wishes?”
“No, not at all. I wanted to thank you, actually.” Twilight tapped the ground next to her again. “Please, sit down.”
“Well, okay.” Pinkie sat down and Twilight snuggled up next to her.
“Pinkie, you gave us a way out.”
“I did?”
Twilight turned to face Pinkie and looked her deep in the eyes. “Think about it. One wish, the power to change the world... You'd want to make the best wish you possibly could right?”
“Well, duh.”
“And what happens next?” Twilight turned to face the night sky. “You make your wish and it doesn't turn out as you expected, or you think of something else that you would have rather wished for instead.”
Pinkie shuddered. “That would be awful. It'd make a pony sad, and I don't want ponies to be sad.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. Did Pinkie just admit that she sabotaged the wishes deliberately? Twilight cleared her throat. “A wish is a big responsibility.”
The two of them leaned against each other and watched as a shooting star streaked through the sky.
“You're right, Twilight, and I wouldn't wish that on anypony.”
