Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

"Alright, now for you two, let's see here," Julius hummed as he looked through a few of the games Discord teleported to Equestria. "Well, ummm, hmmm, shame this isn't my Gamecube; Animal Crossing would be perfect," he grunted with a sigh.

"That's alright; honestly, I'm a little afraid of what we might learn from other games. It seems like Celestia and Luna tell us of a different scary thing with each one," Fluttershy said with a shutter. "Though, I'm surprised that I haven't heard of any of these creatures."

"It would be far more surprising if you did," Celestia flatly replied, with Luna nodding.

"Indeed. These creatures are in places where you have to go far out of your way to get to; you'd have no reason to go to any of those places," Luna said as she backed up Celestia.

"Or, you'd have to know some extremely powerful forbidden magic. Fortunately, the only beings with such knowledge and the power to act upon it are Luna and me. Well, I suppose the monks of Canterhorn might have the power if they all banded together, but they'd never do that; it goes against everything their order stands for," Celestia said as Luna looked at her.

"You mean those stallions and mares are still around? Honestly, I thought they disappeared when you and I took over raising the sun and moon," Luna replied with a surprised huff.

"Yes, they are. Though, they're no longer a glorified retirement home for those that did our job before us," Celestia told Luna as Twilight listened intently.

"These are the monks living on the mountain's peak, right?" Twilight eagerly asked.

"Yes," Celestia responded. "Before us, Starswirl had help from powerful unicorns to raise the sun and moon. Raising them takes a lot of magical energy, it's not uncommon for unicorns to drain their magic to absolute zero in the process; those unicorns who completely drained their magic in raising the sun or moon retired to the monastery on the peak of Canterhorn. Now, obviously, that hasn't happened in many lifetimes, but still, there are those rare few unicorns who follow in their hoofsteps; those who do, join the monastery," Celestia explained.

"Wait, why would a unicorn willingly give up their magic?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, for starters, the Monks of Canterhorn are one of the only groups allowed to teach spirit magic. Also, the very few books detailing the spells for controlling the sun and moon are in the monastery, as well as some other powerful spells. But before you get too excited, only the abbot has access to those spells, and they can only use them under extremely strict circumstances. Think of it as a failsafe if something were to happen to Luna and me," Celestia explained.

"Not going to lie, I kinda wanna join them," Twilight absentmindedly said.

"No, Twilight, no you can't," Celestia flatly told Twilight. "You don't meet the requirements. Besides, they're a very dull bunch. Look, Twilight, I know you want to learn spirit magic, but you simply aren't ready. While your magic is strong, and your potential is great, your respect for magic itself is little better than that of most unicorns, which, sadly, is lacking," Celestia sighed.

"I know, I know, you've said it before, but still," Twilight sighed, her ears pinned to her head. "One day, I'll learn it."

"I'm sure you will," Celestia responded. "Well, there is a way to get a start on it now, in a sense," she hesitantly said.

"How? When can we get started?" Twilight excitedly asked as she hopped up and down.

"Give me a moment," Celestia said as she rummaged through what appeared to be a jewelry box. "Hah, why do I still have that? And those, oh my oh my, I don't think I've ever used this; mother would be furious," Celestia chuckled as she rummaged through the box.

"Do I want to know? I don't know if I want to know. I think I want to know, but I don't know, you know?" Julius asked as he looked at Luna.

"Trust me, you don't," Luna sighed. "Celestia is likely looking for a chalinge ring."

"I am, I found it," Celestia said as she held up a glossy black ring in her hoof. "The first thing you'd need to do if you want to be considered for learning spirit magic is to wear this ring for a full thirty days and nights without complaint," Celestia said as she flew over to Twilight.

"Stupid question, why don't you just levitate the ring?" Julius asked as he watched Celestia hold the ring.

"It's made from Changeling black stone, enchanted with several powerful anti-magic enchantments. Usually, these are only fitted to high-risk unicorn criminals, but they're also fitted to those who want to learn spirit magic," Celestia explained. "Do know, Twilight, that even if you succeed in wearing the ring for the allotted time, you still might not be allowed to learn spirit magic. Do you understand and still wish to continue?" She asked as she offered the ring to Twilight.

"Awww, why not?" Twilight asked as she carefully took the ring in her hoof and lightly tested it with her magic.

"After the ring is removed, you must write down every use of magic and justify it for at least another month. And when I say every use of magic, I mean every use, including small things like, for example, levitating a cup," Celestia told Twilight. "Also, not using magic fails this. The whole point of this is to empathize with those who cannot actively use magic in the same way that unicorns can while learning to use magic respectfully."

"I see, well, might as well start now," Twilight sighed as she screwed the ring down her horn. "It feels funny, almost like a chilled shock, but it's gone now," she commented as she tried to cast a spell, only for the ring to glow with her magic as the energy was dispelled.

"That will happen every time you try to cast a spell," Celestia calmly told Twilight. "Now, the ring would be locked in place if you were a criminal. But since you aren't, it won't be locked; try not to give in to the temptation to take it off early. If you do, I'll know," she firmly told her as Twilight shook her head.

"Down worry, I won't, though; how will you know if I take it off?" Twilight asked as she eyed Celestia.

"I have my ways," Celestia mischievously smiled with a chuckle.

"My ways are more efficient," Luna sighed as she rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't have access to your ways," Celestia sighed back as Luna shook her head.

"And that's your fault, not mine. Honestly, they've been separate from Equestria proper for how long?" Luna snarkily asked.

"Oh, very funny. I was busy keeping order and stability in the land for the past millennium. Equestria is a large country, the largest in the world, with many different cultures. Keeping that united isn't easy," Celestia firmly told Luna.

"It's like I said all those years ago; unity is our strength. We have to stop looking at ourselves as Canterlotians, Cloudsdalians, Whinnyapolians, Baliens, Baltimares, and so on, and instead, all of us being Equestrians must come first," Luna argued back.

"Oh please, you think it's that easy? That you can just stamp your hoof, and ponies will just do that?" Celestia scoffed as Julius looked at the ponies.

"You know, it's funny; the more things change, the more they stay the same," Julius absentmindedly chuckled as Celestia and Luna turned to look at him.

"I take it that there are similar problems in your world. I don't suppose that you have any solutions?" Celestia asked as Julius lightly shook his head.

"Sorry, nope. Well, we have very poor solutions, but I'm not counting bad ideas. Luna's right; there needs to be unity as Equestrians, but getting there, at best, will be extremely painful. Well, I suppose you could do what Germany did," Julius joked as the sisters took a few steps toward him.

"What did this Germany do?" The sisters asked as they carefully looked at Julius.

"The, ummm, I think several hundred countries united under Prussia after Prussia pushed two other countries into declaring war on it," Julius said as he got slightly lost in thought. "Sorry, I don't know how many countries made up Germany; I'm pretty sure it's something stupid like every large city was a country," he said with a shrug.

"Yeah, let's hope Equestria doesn't need to resort to a war or something like that for us to get a greater sense of Equestrianess. Got any other ideas?" Celestia asked as Julius lightly chuckled.

"Well, yes, but they're all extremely worse. Trust me, all I can come up with for uniting the general populous involves either war, hatred, or both," Julius told the sisters, who just looked at him. "What? That's basically the past time of several countries, like the Balkan countries, the United Kingdom, all of East Europe, all of Africa, all of the Middle East, China, Russia, South America, and, ummm, I swear, we're not as bad as it sounds," he said with a nervous chuckle.

"Here's an idea, why not try a party? You can unite with a party," Pinkie Pie suggested as Julius lightly smiled.

"Well, the country I'm from got its freedom with a party. No, seriously, we invited the crown diplomats over, got them drunk, asked for our freedom, told them we'd take Quebec with us and keep the monarch on the money, and they bought it," Julius told Pinkie Pie.

"See, see, why don't we try that?" Pinkie Pie happily said as she bounced around.

"We are trying that. Why do you think there are so many holidays? It's sort of working," Celestia told Pinkie Pie. "That aside, how did just asking for your independence work?"

"There was a lot of alcohol involved, and we said we'd take Quebec with us. They were British; Quebec is full of French people; the French and British hated each other at the time, roughly eight hundred fifty years into their mutually sustained nine hundred-year hate boner. Honestly, I think the whole 'we take Quebec' thing really sold them on it," Julius joked.

"I get it," Celestia hummed. "Something similar happened between us and the Griffon Empire about two hundred years ago. It ended with a trade of land. They got the colony of Nova Griffonia on Equss, and we got the colony of New Mareland on Griffonia. I would have also tried to get the various River Ponies, but they were extremely problematic at the time. I offered to mediate between the River countries, but Wittenland, Nimbusia, and Barrad were extremely hostile to that idea. Though in recent years, The River Republic has been looking promising, they might unite the Riverlands and be willing to unite with us," she hummed as she thought out loud.

"If they're open to it, go for it. More land is never a bad thing," Julius said as Luna facehoofed.

"We're already having problems with unity, and you want to have more problems with it? Really?" Luna asked in exasperation.

"I'm a human; I reserve the right to contradict myself and to make no logical sense whatsoever. The bottle incident is proof of that," Julius huffed as he crossed his arms.

"I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is the bottle incident?" Luna tiredly asked.

"Oh, it happened in the Balkans. One day a man was found in a farm field with a bottle shoved up his, well, you know. Nobody really knows how or why, so a bunch of countries got involved, and the Balkans almost went to war with themselves over it," Julius said as the ponies stared blankly at him. "Honestly, I don't see why it was such a big deal; that sounds like a normal Tuesday in the Balkans," he said with a shrug.

"How?" All the ponies shouted at the same time.

"Look, that whole region of the world can be summarized as nobody likes anybody, and everybody hates the Turks," Julius said as a few of the ponies stared at him. "OK, OK, maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit, but still, it can feel that way at times. Well, that and getting stuck on the road from spontaneous sheep herds. Seriously, my family went to Romania, we were driving through the country, and I swear, out of nowhere, a bunch of sheep appeared. We were surrounded by, like, a thousand of them. Made getting to Bran castle take longer."

"Hah, sheep herds are a problem in your world too, I see," Celestia smiled. "Who lives in Bran castle?"

"Now, nobody, but in the past, Vlad the Impaler. Seen as a national hero in Romania and was a massive inspiration for vampires. You'll never guess what he did," Julius lightly joked.

"If he were anything like Ignus Flame, the Defiler, I'd prefer not to know," Celestia flatly said as the others looked at her. "Oh, she was a tyrant of Barrad about two hundred sixty years ago. She's still ponsona non grata in Kasa; honestly, I don't blame them," she calmly said.

"Yeah, that's fair. People with those titles can be controversial at best," Julius hummed as he looked out the window. "Is, is it really getting that late already?" He asked as he saw the sunset.

"Yes, time really flew by, didn't it?" Celestia knowingly asked.

"Yeah, it sure did. I'll be right back; gotta use the restroom," Julius said as he got up. Walking into Celestia's private bathroom, Julius saw a note with his name on it. "Hello, what's this," he hummed as he read the note. "Hmmm," he hummed with slight worry as he set the note down, and it vanished in a flash of plaid magic. "Well, it's about time to act, I guess," he sighed as he washed his hands. "Let's turn in early tonight; I think this has been a bit of an exhausting day for us."

"Mentally, yes," Twilight nodded her head in agreement.

"Can it wait a bit? I wanna see what's after the tree," Rainbow Dash asked.

"Alright, I'll switch the games out, but still, we should only play for a little bit longer," Julius said with a soft smile as he remembered asking his mother the same thing.