Serene wishes would be your average pony.
She stood in the crowd of Ponyville as a regular everyday Equun.
She was fascinated in wishes, collected SHELVES of mythical creature plushies, and even had lyrical notes to Octavia`s "Myths like Rain".
But she did have one flaw.
She was OBSESSED with wishes, with the cheesy romance of Lycans and love.
With vampires and damsels in distress.
With the knight in shining armor.
It even shown in her cutie mark. It resembled a star shooting across the sky, and a trail of pink behind it, slightly acknowledging the constellations of Pisces, and the half pony half griffon Cantour.
She even had a wish of her own, naturally.
She just wanted TIME. Time to fulfill her wish of love, and reach the seas of the breezies.
To find her knight to fight the dragon.
And, by unlucky chance, her friend Crescent phrase happened to have a book on such a way to obtain her wish.
Through the Everfree forest, a small path led to a most pleasant grove, and in there, lied a magical well. A wishing well.
A WISHING WELL. There were plenty of THOSE around.
But of course, Serene didn`t say that.
No, she beamed and screamed, "Finally! Finally! The way I can do it! My wish can come TRUE!!!"
Serene was old enough to travel, and had owned a small house for two years now. She could take off a day or two to get to this fabled well, right?
The answer, sadly, right.
She left with a map, and diary- and in no time made her way half-way to Zecora`s cottage.
How nifty, would be the only words to describe the zebra`s house.
It was covered in little masks and decorated with colorful wood.
"Come in" a thick African voice called out.
"Um, hello?" The sandy colored, sandy haired unicorn- Serene asked, but followed suit.
Inside was even more 'nifty'.
More masks, potions, a pot... WITCHERY!
It screamed in her head, witchery. A witch, now where was Hansel and Gretal?
"I see you are Wisher, the Serene unicorn. your mother told about you", the African voice resonated almost riddle-like.
A zebra, wearing hoop earrings, and golden bangle bracelets.
Serene laughed quietly to herself, though stiffened when she came near her.
TOO near.
Okay Hansel, come on now, now. Now? NOW? NOW! Serene was panicking quietly.
Over a Zebra. A witch Zebra.
"You know... The well- we all feared you would discover it... Will not open". The Zebra riddled.
"Open? What? So there`s a trapdoor on it or something? Like Minecraft?" Serene troubled against her sentence.
"Only by the voice of the winds will it open, or you may come up empty handed".
"Hoofed, you mean".
"No, I mean what I say".
"Okay..."
"You have a visitor, Wishes".
Serene gave Zecora a confused look, "What?".
"A visitor, I said".
"Who?"
"Questions, cease. That tears the reality of fantasy and- well- reality".
"What?"
"nothing", Zecora faced away and called to the door, which never had a knock in the first place.
"Come in, doctor".
A brown earth pony walked in, clearly exhausted. He had dark circles under eyes, and half-limped half-trotted into the room, of which Serene Wishes was staring in awe at this pony`s level of tire.
"Serene, hello". he said politely, straightening up.
"hello, doctor hooves", Serene smiled falsely.
"I have come- from my office, of course-" He glanced around before continuing, "To warn you".
"Of what, mister danger?" She pointed to his tattered mane.
"oh? I was... um..." He tapped his chin, thinking.
Zecora went in, "Time-Traveling. He was time-traveling, as I clearly instructed him NOT to".
"W-WHAT?!" Serene went wide eyed.
"Nothing important, I wanted to warn you of that wretched well you seek". Doctor hooves began.
"You see, all we know is that some pony went there, it was a unicorn, seeking immortality. Well, he got what he wished for, most folks say. ALL we know is that he disappeared. The well... It`s- cursed."
Serene made a "Pwooff" sound with her muzzle, clearly not buying it.
"Well then. Why don`t I just try and see if this place is haunted at all!" she yelled.
"No! PLEASE-" Doctor hooves began, but was interrupted when Zecora finished for him, "Let her go".
"..."Doctor hooves stared at Serene Wishes, who simply nodded and walked out the door, down the trail her map marker showed.
A breeze had begun to kick in.
It was becoming cold, and after a few circles, even off her destination mark from her map, she began to suspect the well was... hidden.
An old story problem, just... Just... What to do?
A voice began to fill her head, A song that rode in from the winds:
"come dear ponies! gather `round.
Come... And hear the whisper of the wind.
Light may fade and wishes may dull, but on here I wait, for you all to come.
I grant the praise of the light.
Wishes may grant, darkness may fade..." Serene heard a soothing lullaby, male in voice, but still soothing.
She followed the trail of which it seemed to come from, though it continued,
"You never want to bet the one left OUT.
Come...And wish... ON my palette of dreams...
Come... And wish... Through my hole of wonders".
Serene followed and followed.
Eventually the thorny grassy terrain she walked on turned into soft moss, and the sky she passed under was now visible.
She had made it. SHE HAD MADE IT.
"Come and wish, dear... Serene..." The voice said her name as if it was always part of that song, belonging there for eternity.
There was a clearing, and in the middle of it stood Serene wishes.
She never heard the male voice say her name.
She never heard his laughter.
"I-wish..." Serene took out a bit from a small pink pocket she carried. She began to wish silently.
The voice chimed, "Serene. Wish aloud, so that I may grant it more powerfully".
Serene blushed. A well- a hoofing well- was talking to her.
A well. Or not.
"But then won`t my wish be unable to come true?" she gave the mossy, beaten from weathering well a confused look, her muzzle open.
"No... But then it will carry on the winds, my source for you..." It responded.
Great.
Another.
Freaking.
Zecora.
But ignoring that, Serene went ahead and said her wish out loud, "I wish I had enough time in the world to make all my other wishes come true".
Deep inside the well, the male smiled.
IT smiled.
HE smiled.
"Okay... Did my wish come true?" Serene asked as she tossed her golden coin into the well, unknowing of what decaying thing it fell upon.
"Of course, your wish... is my Command" The voice cooed.
"When?" She questioned.
"Right. About. Now".
"Wait, what do you-" Serene was in the middle of asking until she felt a hard kick to her back.
She toppled over, furiously close to the edge of the wall-less well.
The foe was a tall grey unicorn with a crimson red mane and tail.
His eyes were a dull green, yet showed much relief.
"Finally" He laughed, in the same soothing voice Serene had heard earlier... Yet more... rough, too.
"What? W-what do you mean?" Serene got up, holding the well`s thin wood frame for support.
"Im free. Free, over a thousand bucking years! Im finally free..." He tested his hooves again.
"Wait... What?! No... Your, the unicorn from the legend?" She whispered.
"No legends in that tale, I was a spirit for many years, waiting for the next wisher".
"...A spirit?" Serene cringed at the thought of not having her body.
"Yes. It was terrible. But now, NOW! I finally get to live in my true form... An immortal stallion" He laughed menacingly.
"M-my wish though... What about my wish? What do I get from freeing you?" She asked- oblivious that he was coming closer and closer.
"Now, now. Steps first", he cooed.
"Steps..." Serene thought, then asked,"What about the wisher thing?".
The stallion sighed,not wanting to stay in this prison any longer.
"My name is Style Wishes", he paused- but then snapped, "I HATE that name, now. My name- is Ever Life".
She understood what he meant.
"Steps", Serene said.
"Yes. First things first... You must Die", Serene heard him laugh as she went into panic over-drive, her eyes thin against her large whites.
She screamed when he bucked her in the side, she too close to the well.
Gravity grabbed at her more and more as she held onto the well`s one side, body dangling over the dark of her soon to be new home.
She screamed.
"Agh! No! Stop, Please!" But all the stallion did was the opposite of that.
He stomped his hoof on her land-planted one, and Gravity then engulfed her sandy body.
As she descended into the abyss.
The well.
Her new... Home.
She screamed, and cried as time seemed to slow around her.
She knew she was about to die, but how?
It all seemed like a joke, a prank...
But pranks and jokes don`t feel as real as the wind ripping in your ear, like a speedboat.
No, pranks don`t mean true and well what they say.
Jokes don`t introduce the concept of the phrase.
This was no joke.
Serene laughed, if only for a second.
A joke... She was dreaming.
It didn`t ever concern her that a little wish could do this MUCH.
death was always like a small concern, about the level of which to her was chores and strays.
She fell further, and time sped back up to normal, giving Serene a gush of surprise.
Ever life stared at her from far above, smiling devilishly.
Tears fell from her eyes, only up instead of down.
"Crack!".
She hit the ground.
"...h-huh...huh..h-huh...." Yet she still breathed.
She was in an aimless position, one leg outstretched, one hoof bent beyond repair.
Her neck was cracked and bled from the inside.
She might as well cry on the inside too.
Or drown in her own blood.
She coughed red water, thick and disgusting.
Her chest held hallow lifts and thick drops.
In her lungs, small tears were allowing blood to seep through.
It became harder to breath.
Her back was broken, for sure.
Maybe she was paralyzed.
Maybe she was just just in shock.
Maybe she was already dead.
Though the pain was unbearable.
She bled tears, cried blood, ached in every single way, she was ready to die...
But what about my wish?
It boggled her head. Being a spirit wouldn`t allow her to get her beloved things.
Her love.
Her sunset.
Her happy ending.
Or did she really just wish for immortality?
She wanted time... But she wished for so many things.
She wanted to tell her family about this, laugh it off and have another sleep over with Crescent.
She wished she could say 'goodbye'.
Just- just say goodbye.
"....Huh.........h-huh..." She felt her lungs begin to fall to her own blood.
She forced her thoughts to something else.
But it only led to the words 'good' and 'bye'.
Her heart left her to the tiniest of beats, the shallowest of breaths.
her head clouded fear, and all her memories faded, all vocabulary, but of the final words:
"Goodbye",
She whispered. Her heart stopped and her breaths ceased.
Her body went limp in the places that were mobile.
And she got her wish.
Her soul, a bright green- much like her magic aurora, seemed to lift up out of her.
Serene could see, but she couldn`t feel herself.
No, but she could think, too.
Cloudy skies and rainy days were her mind.
The wind was her voice.
The well her prison.
And her tears her soul.
She watched as she floated as it were, to the top of the well.
She felt shackled suddenly.
Wasn`t her soul supposed to keep going up?
Keep floating like a balloon?
No.
It wasn`t.
That would break her wish.
Then she wouldn`t have the time, the time to find her stallion, the time to live.
She was dead and alive.
And mourning.
She was rain and hail.
She was wind and sky.
The trees and earth.
Day and night.
And she was sadness.
She owned mourning. She owned her wish.
She mourned years. She glowed months. She cried days.
"Goodbye".
