Shenron arrives! They can grant wishes?
Princess Celestia sighed internally.
Another day, another session of her Court. Ponies from Canterlot and beyond flocked to the throne room she shared with her sister to petition the crown. Sometimes, the issues brought to her attention warranted royal intervention.
Most of the time they did not. Such as the unjustified desire of the noblepony currently in front of her for a lessened luxury tax. She tried her best to tune him out while also looking as if she were paying attention. And since she had over a millennia of practice, her best was practically perfect.
She was already quite bored. Which is saying something, since this was only the first of her subjects to approach her today.
A more interesting topic to occupy her thoughts would be nice, she thought.
As if the universe had answered her prayers, something in the air suddenly shifted, as if a spell of great magnitude was being cast. Soon after Celestia felt this, she could make out the skies darkening through the windows. She pursed her lips and looked closer. There was an ominous whirlwind of black clouds forming above the palace, complete with lightning bolts. That wasn't supposed to happen; the annual vortex was scheduled for next month. Weatherponies weren't the sort to make that large a mistake, so this was clearly something worth being concerned about.
The prudish noblepony finally shut up, as he too noticed the weather phenomenon outside, along with some of the other ponies lined up before her. Almost immediately afterwards, there was a jagged flash of light in the center of the room. Everypony facing it flinched back from the display, shielding their eyes. Well, all except her. As Princess of the Sun, her eyes were quite acclimated to brightness.
It was only when the light faded did Celestia flinch back in surprise. For before her was a massive serpentine creature unlike any she had ever seen. Its seemingly endless emerald coils twisted through the air, filling the space above the cavernous throne room. When she looked up, she noticed that the ceiling had vanished entirely. Clearly, this was to make room for the beast, which easily towered over the entire castle. Its face was that of a dragon, with massive fangs and glowing red eyes framed by pronged horns and billowing whiskers. It was staring right at her.
Hopefully it wasn't violent.
When it spoke, it was with a voice of overwhelming depth, volume, and masculinity. "I am the Eternal Dragon, Shenron. Are you the one they call Celestia?"
Celestia then heard multiple thumping noises. Glancing down for a moment, she saw that a few of her ponies had fainted. Most of the others were shivering in terror, even her guards.
After regaining her composure, it took her a moment to realize she had been asked a question. "Yes, I am Princess Celestia," she replied. "Are you... here with a petition?"
The dragon, Shenron, glanced off to the side, a few beads of anxious sweat rolling down his cheeks.
This was unexpected, in more ways than one. Dragons shouldn't even be able to sweat.
"Honestly, I am here to inform you of an accident on my part," he said.
Celestia raised an eyebrow.
Shenron sighed, nearly dislodging all the tapestries on the walls. "You see, I sent the seven Dragon Balls bound to me here to this planet by mistake. They're supposed to be on Planet Earth, at the other end of the universe."
She blinked. "You're from another world?" she asked. However, before he could answer, she added "Wait a minute, forget that, how did you accidentally miss your mark by the length of the whole universe?"
Shenron threw up his relatively tiny, clawed arms in protest. "It's not my fault! Beerus was right there. I panicked."
Celestia ran her eyes up and down his enormous frame. "No offense, but you don't seem like the type who scares easily."
He shook his head. "Well, that's true, but this is Beerus we're talking about!"
"I'm sorry, but I'm unaware of this 'Beerus'."
He 'mmed' in recognition. "Right, you probably haven't head of him, all the way out here. He is the God of Destruction, capable of atomizing entire star clusters if you act so much as slightly impolite towards him. You can't really blame me."
She paled. "Oh. Well then. Never mind."
He waved a claw. "It's quite alright. Now then, I believe I should fulfill the purpose of my interruption and explain the nature of the Dragon Balls to you and your people."
His voice somehow grew even louder as he began. "The Wish Orbs, otherwise known as the Dragon Balls, were created by the Namekians long ago, just as I was. They appear as small, translucent orange spheres, and each has a different number of red star symbols on the inside. Due to my error, they are currently scattered across Equestria in unknown locations. Why this matters to you is that any sentient being who manages to gather all seven may summon me by name. Once summoned, I am obligated to grant that being three wishes."
"Wait, three wishes?" asked some random pony in the fragmented line before she could voice the same question. Celestia had nearly forgotten they were still here.
"Indeed," confirmed Shenron. "If it is in within my power, it is yours. Most people these days tend to wish to resurrect dead loved ones, but that only works if the body is still intact. Everything from riches to immortality is on the table."
Celestia took a moment to let that sink in. "Hmm... those certainly seem like perfectly valid things to wish for," she stated. "Though, I've certainly never heard of any means of granting actual wishes before. So, once the seven Dragon Balls are found, you have to grant that person any wishes you are able?"
"Yes." Shenron moved his head in closer to her. "I can guess what you're thinking right now: What happens if someone with nefarious intent summons me? The answer is still the same. Therefore, it is in both our best interests that you gather the Dragon Balls as quickly as possible, so that I may return to where I belong."
"I suppose it is, then," she confirmed, placing a forehoof to her chin.
He nodded. "It seems you understand. In that case, I will now take my leave. Good luck to you, and to all with noble dreams."
With that, Shenron abruptly vanished in another burst of light. The ceiling was suddenly back in place, and the sky had returned to normal.
A chorus of murmurs immediately broke out among all the ponies present.
Celestia didn't like where this was going.
Surely her little ponies could keep this knowledge of grave import amongst themselves. They weren't that stupid, right?
~ The Next Day ~
"Extra, extra, read all about it! Seven Dragon Balls lost all over Equestria, find them all to get three wishes!"
This was the exclamation which woke up a certain poufy pink party pony. Her ears flicked upwards in reflex just before she burst out from under the covers. She was standing outside of Sugarcube Corner in a few seconds flat.
Pinkie Pie noticed a small crowd had formed in the middle of the road, where Featherweight was handing out rolled up newspapers to the curious townsponies and receiving bits in exchange.
Far too intrigued to wait her turn, she weaved into the center in a blur, simultaneously nabbing a copy while dropping a coin in his pocket. She read the front-page story right there, under the light of Celestia's dawn, with her characteristic fervor.
Upon finishing, she gasped. "This looks like it's super-duper important! I should probably go tell Twilight right now!"
* * *
Twilight groaned. She had woken up with a headache again. Of course.
When she reluctantly opened her eyes, Twilight beheld the face of Pinkie. She stood next to her bed, head bobbing up and down rapidly.
Wait. She wasn't doing that. No, Pinkie's head wasn't moving. Hers, however, was, courtesy of two pink hooves. That would certainly explain the headache.
Twilight flailed her hooves about halfheartedly, moaning in protest. "Pinkie... what are you doing in my room? Why wake me up?"
"Oh! There you are, sleepyhead! That took longer than I thought!" she said, letting go of Twilight. Pinkie reached into her mane and pulled out a newspaper, shoving it into Twilight's face. "Here, read this. You like doing that, right?"
Nodding an affirmative, Twilight rolled onto her stomach and snatched up the document in her magic, unfolding it.
Groggy as she was, Twilight got about halfway through the article on the Dragon Balls before she realized exactly what it was about. Her formerly-quite-baggy eyes suddenly widened dramatically. "Wait, these things can grant wishes? Like, actual wishes?" she exclaimed.
"I know, right?" said Pinkie as she pronked in place. "I was thinking we should totally go look for them! I already know exactly what to wish for!"
Rather than reply to her exuberant friend, Twilight drew her attention back to the article, rereading the whole thing carefully from the beginning. Pinkie waited for her to finish with uncharacteristic patience.
Twilight took a deep breath. She would remain calm. "Pinkie?"
Pinkie leaned in. "Mm-hmm?"
"I agree with you. We should gather everypony and set out as soon as we're fully prepared."
"Yay! I'm on it, Twilight!"
After a quick salute, Pinkie zipped out of the room, presumably to bring the others over.
Twilight jumped out of bed, her body already steeling itself with resolve. So amped up was she on newfound adrenaline that she started talking to herself. "Even though Princess Celestia already has half the Royal Guard on the case, they'll need all the help they can get. With our skills, the seven of us can check in places others wouldn't dare, as well as potentially convince anypony who's already found a Dragon Ball to give it up without a fight."
She gasped, placing a hoof to her temple. "Though, most of them probably won't, in which case, our involvement would be further necessitated. Who knows what manner of diabolical forces are scheming to find them right now?"
Yesterday, the Great and Powerful Trixie's reputation had taken another hit, as even the foals had booed her off the stage. Try as she might, she simply couldn't manage to change her ways. But this... this changed everything. With these Dragon Balls, she could easily take that stupid purple mare's place as Alicorn Princess, and gain magical power the likes of which had never been seen! And surely she would have no trouble finding them all; she was Trixie!
Flim looked up from the newspaper, turning to his brother with a sinister grin on his face. "Brother of mine, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.
Flam returned the grin with an equally worrisome one of his own. "If what you're thinking is that our shared, secret dream of conquering all of Equestria is now within our grasp, then yes, yes I am."
The pair of stallions then began laughing maniacally.
Infiltrator #3752 pondered the incredible implications of what he had just read. Clearly, a change in plan was warranted. As the hive's sole operative in Appaloosa, he would be able to get the news back to his Queen before any of the others if he left now. Surely she would want these Dragon Balls for herself.
Author's Note
Cue theme music:
I was really tempted to have Shenron speak in all capitals, but decided against it for readability.
