Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

"So, I got a lot of stuff from my world. Wanna check some of it out? Or do something else?" Julius asked as some ponies helped carry the things Discord poofed in for Julius to the guest chambers.

"I'd like to read some of these books!" Twilight happily said as she looked over the covers of some of the books. "They look kind of like the Daring Do books, only a bit different. I'm guessing the genre is the same, or at least very similar. Oh, except this one; it's big and official looking."

"Be careful with that book. You might not be able to deal with what's in it," Julius warned as Twilight oddly looked at him.

"Why? What could possibly be in it?" Twilight asked as Julius sighed. "From its title, it's a holy book. I don't imagine there could be anything that bad in it."

"Yeah, about that. Two cities are annihilated, and everyone in them is turned into salt, slavery, mass murder, torture, oh, and the whole world getting flooded. That's just off the top of my head," Julius told Twilight as the ponies stood still in shock.

"Oh, you have a flood story too? Interesting. In the ancient pony religion, there was also a flood. In ours, a whole species vanished. I believe that the Zebras still have a flood story," Twilight said as she looked at Zecora.

"That we do. However, ours has a bit of a different view. In ours, The Children of Creation built a large boat. In that, upon those dreaded waves did they float. On orders from the now missing spirit, did they act. That being who in their lives had a great impact. Zebra societies in other parts of the world have slight variations on the tale. Though it's only a difference in their mode of transportation, they end the same without fail," Zecora told the group.

"Interesting, I haven't heard much about the missing spirit. To the best of my knowledge, only the Zebras know anything about it. What can you tell me about this mysterious spirit?" Twilight eagerly asked Zecora.

"Even I, with my background, don't know much about the missing being. Among the various temples, there's little agreeing. Most of what we know is based on oral tradition and filling in logical gaps. Though with this method, there are a lot of traps. Across all the species, there is a spirit for death but none for life. So we associate the missing spirit with life and creation so that there's no strife. All we do know is that this spirit greatly favored the missing folk. So much that the other races sought their cloak," Zecora told Twilight.

"Interesting. I suppose that makes sense. Though it's unfortunate that we don't know more about the spirit. While Equestria might not have much contact with other countries, we at least know about their religions and cultures," Twilight said as Zecora raised an eyebrow at her. "OK, it might not be common knowledge or taught in most schools, but knowledge of other cultures does exist in Equestria; you just need to go looking for it. I did while staying at the castle."

"What about you, Zecora? Who or what exactly do you worship?" Julius asked.

"Us Zebras pay hommage to all the spirits as we see fit. To the leader of the earth spirits, Gnome, I was given to at birth to submit. My mother was and still the high priestess of the earthen temple in my land. Great power and authority are hers to command," Zecora told the group.

"I see. I'm guessing that being given over to one of the spirits gives you benefits. If nothing else, societal benefits," Julius guessed with a shrug.

"You are quite correct. Being dedicated to a spirit as such confers several benefits as you can expect. For me, Gnome empowers my potions, granting them great potency and marvelous effects. For this, from time to time, I have to undertake several special projects," Zecora explained.

"Oh, so that's why you can make such strong potions," Twilight hummed.

"Well, that and my skill and training. Take my word for it; the regime was quite draining. Zebrician alchemical training is quite extensive. To those that know but a little, the prospect is quite apprehensive. If I am to be honest, of the seven of you, Julius, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash would be unable to learn my exact craft. The rest of you would get the shaft," Zecora told Twilight.

"Hey! Why couldn't I learn it?" Twilight protested.

"Simple purple one. We only train those affiliated with earth, the rest we shun. You three lack that very connection. Therefore, this would not be your direction," Zecora explained.

"But I've made potions before; they worked just fine," Twilight protested.

"Quite possible, but I doubt they are anywhere near the potency of mine. I can brew a potion to mend a chipped tooth or to fix your spine. Given the right ingredients, lost limbs can regrow. Sounds impossible, I know. However, this is a thing I have done before. My eldest sister, a charger, lost a leg in a war. Mother took the opportunity to teach me the potion. It's not one you can learn; it takes true devotion. Granted, my sister had to take several months of rest while she healed. To her, that aspect was not appealed. Please, do not take this as an invitation to be careless and act as though there are no consequences, for there will be. The spirits like not to be tested, trust me. If you took a healing potion under such circumstances, horrible side effects would occur. Things such as the healer's curse, I must concur," Zecora informed the group.

"Yeah, I've heard of that. I can't say for sure without seeing it firsthand, but it sounds like an extremely aggressive form of cancer. In my world, we have treatments and possible cures for it, but those cures are hard on you. Lower white blood cell count, so you get sick more often, hair loss, nausea and vomiting, blood clots, memory fog, general pain, and some other side effects that I can't quite think of. If healing magic works the way I think it does, I might be able to cure it. But I'm guessing that'll take a lot of training," Julius hummed as he scratched his head.

"It's possible, but don't count on it. Healer's curse is an affliction of both body and spirit; they are not split. To cure it, you'll need to mend both aspects, not just one. Only then will the healing be done," Zecora told Julius.

"Well, that's just great. Hey, maybe I could pray it away," Julius light-heartedly chuckled.

"I know you jest, but that has worked in the past. So far, that method has yet to be surpassed," Zecora told Julius.

"Great, yeah, that doesn't surprise me," Julius sighed. "I swear I can hear some people from my world salivating over that thought. So, I take it that Twilight will be reading the Bible; what about the rest of you? Wanna just Netflix and chill? Well, not quite Netflix and chill, I don't have either, but I should have some movies and shows on my laptop," Julius offered.

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Got any action movies?" Rainbow Dash eagerly asked.

"You know, there are other movies than just action movies," Rarity sighed.

"Yeah, but they're the best. I only wish they were in color," Rainbow Dash told Rarity.

"Wait, you don't have colored movies? Well, I suppose I'm a bit surprised that you even have movies," Julius said as the ponies quickly swarmed him.

"You have colored movies?!?" The group eagerly asked as their eyes sparkled.

"Yeah, we have for years. I would offer some suggestions, but my favorite movies are all action/adventure. I don't think Fluttershy would really like Lord of the Rings," Julius suggested.

"It's OK; I can take it. As long as it's not real," Fluttershy smiled softly.

"Are you sure? The Lord of the Rings movies are about war, there are massive battles in the second and third movies, and the first has a truly demonic monster in it," Julius warned.

"You'd be surprised," Rainbow Dash told Julius. "Fluttershy is a lot tougher than you think; well, she's a lot tougher than she thinks too."

"Oh, I'm not that tough," Fluttershy meekly said with a blush.

"And how many ponies do you know would walk into a swarm of fly-ders to calm them? What about your bees? You are one of the only ponies that keeps bees in all of Ponyville," Rainbow Dash asked as she eyed Fluttershy.

"The fly-ders were just lost and scared. And bees aren't bad; they just don't like their honey being greedily stolen without even being asked. Any pony could do what I do if they only wanted to; I'm not special," Fluttershy deflected.

"Ummm, what are fly-ders? Those sound like flying spiders," Julius hesitatingly asked.

"That's exactly what they are. Usually, they're only in the Luna Bay region, though strong winds have been known to blow them into other regions, though that's rare," Twilight calmly said as Julius jumped a few steps back.

"Flying spiders? But why, though? Yeah, screw it; if Fluttershy is tough enough to deal with them, then she's tough enough to watch Lord of the Rings. I swear, Fluttershy, you're a different breed of tough. The kind of tough that would eat a bowl of nails without any milk," Julius stated as he collected himself.

"Why would I eat a bowl of nails?" Fluttershy asked.

"High iron content?" Pinkie Pie suggested. "I know my sister Maud ate a bowl of rocks every morning, but she had them in milk and a glass of rock juice with them," she said with a smile.

"You have a sister that eats rocks?" Julius asked in surprise.

"Yup, my whole family eats rocks! They live on a rock farm, after all. I lived there too, but I moved away to Ponyville after getting my cutie mark. Fortunately, the Cakes have been family friends for years, so I just moved in with them," Pinkie Pie happily said.

"Uhhh, Pinkie Pie, a rock farm is a quarry," Julius and Twilight flatly said.

"No silly sillertons," Pinkie Pie laughed as she patted the heads of Julius and Twilight. "A quarry is where you mine rocks to build with; a rock farm grows rocks to eat. You two are silly!"

"Ummm, what?" Julius and Twilight asked, both with blank looks on their faces.

"What? Don't tell me that neither of you has grown rocks before. Wait, neither of you has? I'll have to get my family to send some rock geodes for us to grow!" Pinkie Pie happily sang as she clapped her hooves together.

"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it," Julius and Twilight both said as they looked at each other.

"Hah, you two should see yourselves!" Rainbow Dash laughed as the two mirrored each other.

"It is kind of funny," Fluttershy meekly said with a giggle.

"Yeah, you two sure are looking like a pair of apples in a tree. Though I suppose to be fair, this is Pinkie Pie you're talking about. If you're too attached to logic, that mare can be a hard creature to understand," Applejack calmly said with a nod.

"Agreed. Pinkie Pie, you really should tone down the randomness and joking around some creatures," Rarity suggested.

"Who's joking about what? And I can't tone down my randomness; when I do that, my mane goes all down and straight, and I feel weird. Like, not a good funny weird, but a cold bad weird," Pinkie Pie said.

"Joking about eating rocks. No pony eats rocks, Pinkie Pie," Applejack flatly stated.

"Who's joking? Oh, that's right! Ponyville doesn't have any editable rocks and doesn't trade any. Edible rocks are a common food in southwestern Equestria and in the mountains. My family makes quite a few bits selling the edible rocks, the quarried rocks, and the gems we find. I remember this one time Marble Pie found a giant diamond; our parents were so happy! I threw a big party for her! Well, after I saw that big beautiful rainbow blast. I think that was the second party I ever threw. I'm still kind of flippy-floppy on one party. Somedays, I wake up and count it; other days, I don't," Pinkie Pie said with a shrug.

"No offense, Pinkie Pie, your family sounds weird," Rainbow Dash told her.

"Tell me about it. My mother got a little weird when I told her that I was getting with Big Mac to deal with my heat; no idea why. She seemed to be a bit better with Julius, though she thinks your name is odd," Pinkie Pie said as she booped Julius.

"Well, compared to your names, I guess mine does sound a bit odd," Julius said with a shrug. "So, we agreed on watching Lord of the Rings?"

"Yup," the group responded.

"Great, and you, Twilight?" Julius asked as he looked at her.

"I'll read when you're doing something else. Movies can be a great way to learn about the cultural beliefs of a folk!" Twilight smiled as the group got to the guest chambers and as Julius set everything up.