Just One Wish

What does one say when all they ever knew disappears in the blink of an eye?

What does one do when home is much farther away now than they ever knew?

******

The next few days went by painfully. When I first woke up my entire chest was covered in bandages and I didn’t wake up in a bed, but on a hard cold stone floor. The room was empty except for the small bowl with a loaf of bread and water… in the same bowl. Not exactly grade A care giving here as the only entrance or exit in the room was a large steel door.

The first few hours I had spent shouting in panic as fear had set in. I didn’t know where I was or who had even taken me off the battlefield. Part of me thought that this was some sort of nightmare that kept growing worse. The small bit that accepted this as reality thought that the bug ponies had captured me and were about to eat me or something… Don’t look at me like that! We are talking about black bug looking ponies with fangs! Only thing I’ve seen with fangs either drained fruit dried or ate meat… Which I’m made up of! I didn’t want to become a bug pony’s lunch!

The first time the doors opened I was both terrified and overjoyed. I was happy to see another pony as I figured I was just caught up in some sort of misunderstanding. The reason why I was terrified was because of how the pony looked. I couldn’t see any guards outside of the door, but the pony that stepped into the room didn’t look like any pony I had ever seen.

The pony was dressed in black leather like armor with bits of metal woven into it. Two large griffin like wings rested on his back as glimpses of metal could be seen through the black feathers. The part that unnerved me the most were his eyes. Pony helmets always revealed the face, but his just had two large red eye pieces and some sort of small nozzle covering his mouth for a “face”. Each intake of breath came with a horrifying hiss as the eye pieces shinned with an unnatural light. I could see myself reflected in those red glowing eyes as I shivered in fear.

The voice spoke in a soft but commanding tone “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“I don’t know!” I shouted in panic “I was near the evergreen forest until I bumped into some big bird thing and suddenly I’m stuck in the middle of a snowy field with ponies dying around me!”

I couldn’t keep my eyes off the unknown pony. I’ve been around pegasi to know how wings should move, but his wings moved in some unnatural way as they swept across the ground tripping me before one was pressed against my neck. His face moved in closer as the metal helmet obscured any features a face should have except for those eyes. Those eyes that seemed to be trapped in some sort of angry stare.

“The truth?” He said as his voice grew louder as that horrible breathing sound increased “You hid from our forces and just happened to deploy some sort of weapon against the Hydra.”

“Sneezing powder!” I whimpered back. “My dad gave it to me just because he heard that a Hydra was in the Evergreen Forest.”

A small chuckle came from the pony as he said “And just what business did you have in this Evergreen Forest then?”

I slowly spoke in embarrassment “I was delivering flowers to Zecora… the zebra living near Ponyville. She was the last one on my stop as I was hoping for an adventure.”

I paused as I looked around in confusion. I didn’t mean to mention I was looking for an adventure, but for some I just couldn’t help, but say it.

The pony took a step back in confusion as he said “Repeat what you remembered of the day before you ended up on the battlefield.”

I then told him everything about that day from how I nearly missed breakfast to all of the minor details of the day including what I was thinking during those moments. A few times I had simply tried to stop talking, but my mouth refused to cooperate as it continued to tell my story against my own will.

It was near the middle of the story I guessed they either had some unicorn preforming a spell to make me say what they wanted or feed me some strange potion when I was asleep. By the end of my story the strange pony left as I was left alone for the rest of the day.

******

The next two days were much less forgiving. Two different ponies interrogated me as each one did it in a different manor. The first one was an earth pony bigger than Big Mac and thankfully wasn’t wearing a creepy helmet. All he did was shout as he tried to figure out the same questions as the previous pony only he would shout louder if he didn’t like the answer.

Whenever he didn’t believe a part of my story he hit me and told me to stop lying. I cried as I told him the truth again only for him to continue until one of the guards told him to leave. He was one of the worst ponies I had ever run into, but he didn’t wasn’t as nearly nice as the second one.

The second one was a unicorn that wore a white suit. He smiled at me as he asked the same questions again as I told him my story. I couldn’t help but wonder why he always spoke with his eyes shut until he finally opened them. One of his eyes were blue, but the left eye… It moved about as I could see the clockwork structure behind the lens of the eye and more importantly I knew he could see me with that strange eye.

The big earth pony simply punched me when he thought I was lying and shouted a lot, but the unicorn was worse. He thought I was also lying, but he didn’t think I was a pony, but rather a bug pony infiltrator which was crazy. Did I look like a bug pony! When he didn’t get the answers he liked… he simply levitated a small knife and started cutting me leaving various small wounds across my body. It felt as if he was trying to kill me with a thousand cuts of something.

This continued until he had to leave for his lunch break as I wasn’t given any food. When he returned the unicorn brought various needles which he stabbed into my body as I screamed in agony. He continued with his sick game as he levitated me up in the air when I tried to fight back. He played with me as he commented on my “life like pony imitation” before tossing me aside in a corner when he was ready to eat his diner.

I slowly cried myself to sleep that night as I begged for Celesta to save me from this nightmare.

******

Cold. Starving. Nopony came to see me for two days. Nobody came to feed me during that time either. Left alone with my injuries I wasn’t sure if I wanted the door to open again in fear of the next nightmare that would walk through it.

I tried to sleep as my dreams always turned into nightmares. I would see the strange ponies walking into the room punishing me for things I had never done. I would think about my parents who I may never see again. Sometimes I would see the other ponies mocking me as they would laugh at my attempt to have an adventure. They would tell me that I wasn’t special and that I deserved to be punished for attempting to do so.

So I stayed awake for two days with only a tiny amount of sleep. My injuries from the unicorn prevented me from moving around much as I was trapped in a very small room with no bathroom. Part of me began to resent the ponies outside and even myself for being so weak. Some of those thoughts turned very dark as I tried to figure out how to escape and prevent the next person that opened the door from stopping me from escaping. Thoughts that a pony shouldn’t have.

So I counted the number of bricks in the wall and then the celling. I counted to count over and over again until I began to wonder if the bug ponies really had captured me. That all of the ponies I had met were really just the same one and just changed his costume every time before he came into the room. That he was toying with his meal before he killed me. It was crazy… but I only saw one pony each time. I didn’t even see any guards outside so… alright maybe a voice... but if there was only one pony then only one pony was in my way from freedom.

It was during that moment I began to count the number of pins that were still stuck in my body. I also began to make note of where each pin had been stuck into and just how sharp or long some of the pins were. The rest of that day I had begun to think of some very un-pony like thoughts. A small bowl full of water with a loaf of bread dumped in it was slid into my cell without my notice.

I slowly crawled over to the bowl and devoured the soggy bread and drank every last drop of water as I plotted my escape. It was not a very nice plan as I’m sure Celestia wouldn’t have been proud of me if she really knew what I was thinking.

Then again… she wasn’t here…. I was alone.

******

The next day and the door slowly opened as I hid behind it. I left a small trail of blood and scratches on the floor trying to get there. Hopefully they would think I was just trying to escape the other side of the room… like I said before. No bathroom.

The door slowly shut as I saw a wing and spat out the pin in my mouth hopping I would hit. Instead the pin shot over his head as the masked pony was in the room again. I threw the rest of my pins except for two as the pony’s wings shot out in front of him blocking my attack. A few pins stuck to the feathers, but the sound of metal hitting metal told me that he had something metal hidden in his wings.

I leapt forward at him as I grabbed a wing with my mouth only to slide off it with a mouth full of feathers as I crashed into the stone floor. I opened my eyes to see a metallic wing hidden underneath the fake feathers.  It was like seeing one of these skeleton diagrams in health class.

Before I could understand what it meant the other wing slammed into my chest knocking the wind out of me as the pony put one hoof on my chest as he looked down. My chest ached in pain as he applied pressure to my wounds. My eyes burned as my one chance at escaping failed horribly leaving me trapped  in this cell.

“I had to check over a few things,” He spoke down to me as if I was a filly “And I will let you go if you just answer one simple question… Tell me what you think of Luna?”

I slowly cried as the question barely registered “Who?”

His face drew closer as those horrible red eyes seemed to zoom in on me as he repeated “Tell me what you think of Luna.”

Honestly I didn’t know what he meant. Did he mean Nightmare Moon? Wasn’t that an old mare’s tale? I didn’t feel like answering him just to deny him an answer, but when he noticed he simply increased the pressure of his hoof on my injured chest.

“I don’t know!” I truthfully replied in sorrow “Isn’t she just some old mare’s tale?”

The strange pony just sighed as he said “And what was your wish that you asked before you ended up in the snowfield?”

I tried to pull myself back together tears still running down my face “You said one question.”

His hoof went off my chest as he replied “And a bag of winter clothing will certainly help you out if you try to go outside again.”

“I wanted…” I replied with unease. “…an adventure.”

He chuckled as I heard him say under his breath “Thought you looked familiar.” He coughed loudly before speaking out loud “Sorry about your treatment, but we had to make sure you were… real.”

I was about to shout when the door opened up revealing an entire room full of crystals. It just felt so out of place I couldn’t help but stare? The only flag I could see showed an Earth Pony and Unicorn standing together with a snowy mountain in the background. I kept my eyes on the strange pony fearing he would hurt me like the other two before him.

“Some of the problems left during the war still crop up from time to time,” The strange pony added “And a random pony not dressed for this land’s harsh weather marked with the Taint does raise a lot of questions. Even more considering your guards were changelings.”

Changelings? Change as in… fake ponies? I tried to ignore it as I remembered the very real pain in my body. The very real fact that two crazy ponies tortured me. The painful fact that I was stuffed in a cage and made to suffer.

“You locked me up in a cage and tortured me over a misunderstanding!” I screamed in rage “You beat me! Sliced my skin apart with a knife and then jabbed dozens of needles and pins into my body for that!”

“Did I forget to mention changelings?” He spoke with annoyance as he pointed at two guard helmets outside the door.

I shouted “What’s a changeling!”

I stared at them in confusion as two bug ponies outside of my cell were knocked out. It was a bit of an eye opener, but it wasn’t going to make me exactly trust the unknown pony either.

“And sorry for knocking you out while we moved you into a better room in hopes of you calming down before anything happens,” He added as something hit my neck.

“Glitter Frit.” I muttered before I hit the floor.

Really hating this day.

******

As soon as I woke up a prepared for a fight only to feel a very soft mattress underneath me which helped ease the pain in my back, but it did not help ease the fact I was just knocked out again! The room was certainly fancy. Grand Galloping Gala kind of fancy. First thing I did was go straight to the door only to find it locked.

I moaned as I said to myself “And it’s also locked… but at least there is a window.”

I smirked to myself as I moved over to the large balcony window and opened up the blinds. My smirk disappeared as I saw the harsh blizzard outside and by harsh I mean I could barely see outside the window much less open the door which seemed to have been frozen shut outside.

Not a bit of snow blocking the balcony's doors or windows. A nice big frozen wall right on the windows and door which was much stronger than the glass panels keeping me inside. From what little I could see I could tell it was a long drop down.

“Glitter Frit.” I muttered as I looked around at my new cage.

I ignored all the fancy paintings and books on the walls as my grumbling stomach shifted my priorities to the next agenda as I saw food on the table. Not soggy bread in a bowl, but actual food! I quickly started to tear into each meal on the table enjoying the fruits, vegetables, and pies! Nice warm soft pies that filled your heart and your stomach… and if eaten to quickly with an empty stomach leads to a quick trip to the restroom.

I was very happy to have an actual restroom this time. A nice shiny and certainly not a cold corner in the jail cell restroom! Once I got out and managed to eat enough without making me sick again did I bother to explore the room and more importantly my wounds. Fresh bandages were covering them including the various new wounds made by the unicorn that tortured me in the cell. My anger began to rise up again when I thought about it.

At that moment something clicked as I turned around expecting trouble only to see a small orb roll across the floor. Without waiting I jumped behind a couch and covered my ears waiting for the explosion… or gas… or something as time went by for a little while before I peeked out from behind my cover.

The small orb flickered as it suddenly flared. I closed my eyes as the light blinded me for a moment. Then some pony started speaking as I saw… an illusion of the old Heartwarming Eve story being played out. Each race of ponies showing distrust as the winter grew harsh.

I frowned as I didn’t like the story right now… especially after being stuck in a cell. I had ignored it right as I knew the story by heart like every other pony in ponyville. Every side hating each other and then went to find a new land. Leaders arguing, frozen in ice, friendship fire, forgiveness and everypony happy. I went back to the food right up until the story changed. Instead of ending right after the ponies uniting and ending the harsh winter caused by the wendigo monsters it changed.

“Fools!” Muttered one of the ponies forcing me to turn my head “Going out to this “new land” they claim?” The pegasi gritted his teeth “As if changing which area we sit in doesn’t change the lies they use."

I shook my head. This wasn’t part of the story. Everypony got along. They all went to Equestria and became friends. Clover the Clever, Private Pansy, and Smart cookie brought everypony together teaching them to work together and the magic of friendship.

One of the other pegasi whispered “But the Commander.”

“Is a fool!” The Pegasi bitterly replied “We don’t need them! Let the unicorns flee to this “new land” and pretend to raise the sun each day.” He grinned as he pulled out a map “They make those fools continue playing their stupid game while we find a new land for us without those pests!”

The scene played again. Each one going to a different earth pony or unicorn. Each one still filled with mistrust blaming the other races. Each one leaving from what should have been the end of the story with everyone happy. I couldn’t help but shiver. This wasn’t the story I grew up with.

Then all three sides settled in a different area. The unicorns laughed as the sun and moon continued to rise and fall leaving them to continue with “important work” as they called it. The Pegasi laughed as they tried their hooves at farming claiming the earth ponies were lazy. The earth ponies mocked the pegasi and unicorn as rain fell on their crops without the pegasi and the sun and moon continued to rise and fall each day.

All three sides stood apart from each other and began to grow. Each side mocking the other until they ran into each other again. I held my breath waiting for them to get together. Some brave pony to stand up. I mean… they weren’t suffering from the harsh winters and each side seemed to be doing well.

Instead they lashed out. The earth ponies drew swords cutting down the unicorns. The unicorns blasted flares of magic bringing down the pegasi. The pegasi swooped down from the skies killing earth ponies. My stomach lurched as I covered my mouth. This wasn’t a story I wanted to hear. This wasn’t a story from Equestria. Why did they fight! Why did they attack each other! Why couldn’t they get along?

The image flickered as a black alicorn strolled through each camp. He wasn’t a normal looking alicorn like Celestia. Instead of a white coat he had a smoky black coat and his mane? A grey wild mess of locks as he had a cutie mark… of a frying pan just dark enough to stand out on his coat.

He wasn’t… gentle as he pushed aside anypony that got in his way. When he arrived at the leader’s camp he simply hit them over the head with a frying pan and dragged them out of the camp. Soon all the leaders were tied to a bunch of wooden chair glaring at the black alicorn who groaned.

Each side argued bitterly claiming the other side was behind the attack. Each one shouted over each other making a maelstrom of chaos before the black alicorn used the frying pan again to knock some sense into them by simply hitting them again with the frying pan.

The black alicorn muttered “Idiots. Blaming each other for past crimes when the only cause for this senseless war is your own stupidity. Pesagi take care of the clouds making all of you get rain when you need it instead of the droughts being created from this war.”

He pointed his hooves at the earth ponies “The earth ponies take care of the lands. That’s why their crops continue to grow as their subtle magic helps the river that flows towards the few remaining farms you idiots have stopped caring for continue to grow without your help. They are the reason why the crops grow healthy instead of being struck down by the plagues and diseases that have started to run rampant!”

He pointed at the unicorns “And the Unicorns are the ones testing their magic. Experimenting with new ways. Heck the magical cures for the diseases killing ponies came from them. The magical devices you steal alone should tell you that can be of use.”

One of the ponies shouted “And what are you freak!”

The alicorn rolled his eyes “I’m the unlucky idiot who’s trying to fix your mess.”

The images flashed for a moment. Each side staring at each other in bitter distaste as the black alicorn ruled over them. A small castle was built as the sides were forced to work together. Soon the bitter distaste turned to frowns and then just stares before finally they smiled at each other. The kingdom grew as finally ponies were living happily together.

Images then began to flicker as some strange date appeared. A new alicorn stood in the castle as a statue of the black alicorn rested in the background. The female alicorn was bright yellow and had a white mane as she had a frown on her face. Countless papers filled her throne as a few ponies seemed worried when the doors slammed open.

The scene flickered again revealing a majestic city that almost rivaled Canterlot… because you can’t beat Canterlot. The ponies worked together as I couldn’t help but feel they had finally made their happy ending.

Then the image flickered revealing the city burning. The image went back to the castle as ponies were held in chains. Bug ponies laughed as the ponies looked disheartened. On the throne of now stood a large changeling like the one Frostmorn attacked. He looked like a twisted mocker of Celestia if male… but bigger and with jagged limbs… and obviously evil.

The same stranger that I had bumped into near Ponyville now walked across the hallway chuckling as he walked with a staff. The ponies hung their heads lower as the changeling cheered much to their king’s annoyance. The large changeling stepped aside with a low growl as a large bipedal cloaked figure rested on the throne.

The image flickered again as a new date was shown. I still didn’t recognize the symbols for dates, but I was glad it was full of ponies. This obviously meant everything turned out alright. That it was all lies… even though I was being locked in a room against my will, but... it had to have a happy ending right?

The pony with a long beard in red armor shouted “Lies! The Lunar republic had sabotaged our efforts during the war!”

The pony in blue armor sighed as she replied “Those days were harsh days. Any pony could have done it. Even then it was a dark time in our history. What is important that we move onto the future.”

“And follow the path of The True Goddess!” The pony in white armor spoke as the other two looked unease “Now we must dismantle the abominations and return to the old ways.”

The final pony in black armor sighed as he replied “Wouldn’t it be better to try to fix our current problems before setting up new ones? I mean we just got out of one war so let’s not start another.”

The pony with the beard nodded as he replied “For as long as this treaty holds… The Frost Empire shall not expand beyond it’s lands. We shall help search for the information and arcane lore lost during The Raven War.”

The blue pony shrugged as she added “The Lunar Republic shall continue the advancement of current magical theory, spells, and technology,” She stared at the pony in white armor with hatred “Despite what any stubborn mules might have to say!”

The white pony gritted her teeth as she replied “As we shall search for The Goddess and reveal to all the One True Goddess Celestia and,” The white mare stared at the black pony “Any relevant information found. Our borders shall not try to lead any heroic uprisings against our harsh oppressors.”

The Blue pony laughed as she countered “Try using those sticks again and we will shove them right back up where you pulled them out!”

The black pony shook his head as he said “By the Sisters I doubt we will need anyone else’s help in finishing ourselves off at this rate.”

“It is a sad day for Equestria when a Merc is right,” The red armored pony said as if he ate a bad fig “At least our countries managed to remove the taint of The Raven from our lands.”

The black pony smirked as he replied “And yet you lot can barely get along with yourselves, much less each other. Better to be a thief than a crook as my dad always said. I can only imagine what the Sisters would think if they saw us now.”

The image faded out as it finally ended as the door opened up. I turned around to see a very well dressed unicorn walk into the room. He didn’t carry any weapons, but he held himself up high like royalty. I couldn’t help but feel nervous as any remaining hatred I had at the moment had been replaced with the cold fear that everything I knew was gone.

It felt crazy to even think about. Celestia gone? She had ruled Equestria for over a thousand years looking over everypony. I never heard about this black alicorn… or this invasion of bug ponies. I just needed to grab a map and get out of here. Find the first ticket back to ponyville or anywhere else in Equestria.

The unicorn smiled uneasily “My name is Prince Frostmorn. I’m sorry about your treatment, but I made sure to get you out of your cell as soon as I was awake… King Scorn kept a very potent poison in his blade and he nicked me in the battle.”

I shook my head “Where am I? Tell me this is all some sort of cruel joke! That I’m still in Equestria. That Celestia is just playing some sort of prank!” I stared at him waiting for him to say it was all some sort of bad joke or prank or some sort of mistake.

Sorrow filled his eyes as he replied “Honestly we don’t know,” I continued waiting “Much of our history has been lost except for a few of these orbs. In fact the Sisters were thought to have been a myth until fifty years ago confirming they actual existed.”

What? A myth? Did you just ignore my very simple question to claim Celestia was a myth! Just go to Canterlot and you’ll see her! Better yet let me leave so I can tell her about all you crazy ponies so she can send you straight to the moon or something!

Frostmorn sighed as he said “Many things have changed since the Raven War. Even basic history had been lost and from what Shadow Tale has told me you had written a wish into The Raven’s book landing you here.”

Thoughts flickered around in my head. The thought of being kept as a trophy or some sort of book in this room just so I could retell Equestria’s past for their amusement was not a pleasing one. I tried to think of some alternative, but few came to mind. I didn’t have any skills other than delivering packages or growing plants. In fact running around delivering packages was what I had just started doing before I failed at that!

I shook all those disturbing thoughts our of my head. I just need a map and a saddle bag for the food. I would run home by hoof before thinking about staying in this messed up place!

“You threw me in a cell,” I felt my rage growing “Sent ponies to torture me,” My voice continued to grow “And all I want to do is go home now and Celestia isn’t a myth! She’s in Canterlot you crazy pony!”

He stared at me in confusion. Canterlot. The big castle placed on a mountain. The one marked on every map in Equestria as Princess Celestia lives there!

Frostmorn placed a map on the table and rolled it out as I stared at it in fear. This wasn’t Equestria. The land… the river… everything was wrong. Even the very shape of the land was wrong as I looked for anything that looked like Equestria.

“I’m afraid you’re not in Equestria anymore,” Frostmorn spoke softly “Honestly we thought Equestria itself was a myth.”

Cold fear ran through my body. A myth… my home was a myth! That can’t be… It… how do I get back home?

“I don’t care,” I said out loud. “I made a promise to my parents. You said you thought Celestia was a myth until something changed. So I’ll just find it. Find where Equestria is and go back home.”

It shouldn’t be that far away. How far could a couple of ponies go by foot? Besides I know some of the cities and some griffins travel about. All I have to do if find someone who went there and just… be back home before I know it.

Frostmorn shook his head as he replied “The world… this world doesn’t coexist like the stories of Equestria. Even the very wildlife and weather is drastically different as the very weather outside in the Frost Kingdom can not be changed by pegasi.”

“Then I will find a way!” I said to him, but more for my own well-being “I am not going to let a little bit of snow and some ponies who threw me in a dungeon! A very nasty one at that and not try it find a way back home just because you say there isn’t one!”

“Fine,” Frostmorn said as he nodded in agreement much to my surprise “You need time away. I understand that and it would be wrong for me to deny you your right to at least attempt to try. It is the least I can do since you were the one who helped me against the Hydra.”

I was ready to argue back, but his agreement left me surprised “What did you say?” and a little bit confused.

Frostmorn used his hooves to close the curtains as he spoke “You were the little pony who fixed the Drake and helped me get past the Scorn’s Hyrda to stop the Changeling invasion. You were treated poorly and the changeling infiltrators still hidden at the castle are not happy about your involvement in preventing their invasion.”

I blinked as the words shifted through my head. I saved a prince. I saved a real life Prince and helped stopped an invasion of evil bug ponies. Not stand in a corner and swung a broom or something until someone else fixes the problem, but actually do something for once! This was Daring Doo Territory. This was adventure territory… By sweet Celestia my wish actually was granted. I’m on an adventure and saved somepony important as I was possibly doing things nopony from Equestria had done before! So why do I feel so tired and felt like crying?

I shook my head fighting back the tears “So when can I leave?”

Frostmorn smiled “As soon as the storm isn’t white out conditions if you want. Besides I have to get Shadow Tale ready to accompany you and finish the repairs on the Drake you fixed.”

“What?” I asked in confusion.

“You are new to this world so somepony has to help look after you and sadly the currency has changed so Bits won’t be of much use outside the Frost Empire… or Equestria’s bits,” He said easily as my brain was trying to figure out a way to weasel out of this agreement “Even then you managed to from a rather impressive bound with the Drake you fixed in the battlefield. It was hard enough to make it leave your side so they could repair it. In fact I think it would break out of the castle and follow you even if we tried to stop it.”

He walked out of the room and said “Just take some time to think about it. There are a few books that might help, but you might want to catch up on how to repair a Drake if you’re squeamish about using a weapon against another pony… Sadly war has come as almost every nation is fighting against each other now.”

I blinked there was another war coming up when the last one just finished? What messed up land was I stuck in now?