Wish Fulfillment

“Rally?” Shorey asked the stallion, trying unsuccessfully to blink away the tears in her gray eyes. “That’s not you, is it?”

The stallion grimaced and looked away, only feeling more upset by it. “Unfortunately,” she whispered, her voice cracking. Then she turned around to face the mare again, saying, “But look at you.” She put on a smile and continued, “Here I thought you couldn’t possibly get more adorable, and yet you somehow managed to anyway. Now you have a body to match that unbelievably feminine personality of yours.”

Shorey put a hoof up to her mouth as though it would stop her from crying, not minding the cold or the snow or wind just yet. “This is amazing. I knew I was going to cry, but I didn’t think it’d feel this amazing.” She certainly hoped it would, but she also knew it was something she couldn’t possibly imagine until she felt it. Now she knew why.

“It is,” Rally agreed with a smile. “You absolutely deserve it with how amazing you’ve always been.”

Shorey shut her eyes and took a breath as she started to get completely choked up. At the same time, Rally got up off the tent to wrap her hooves around her, her own tears still dripping down her face. No longer though was it frustrated, instead turning into something happy. Happiness and joy for a friend who’d been waiting a lifetime to get what she wanted.

And what a lifetime it had been, even this one moment lasting what had to have been a lifetime. But eventually, the moment passed, and Shorey pulled away to evaluate the situation.

“What happened to you, Rally?” the mare asked. “There’s no way you would’ve asked to be a stallion, is there? And what are we going out here? Where is this?” Her eyes were filled with concern, and she could plainly see the hurt on her friend’s face.

“I don’t know exactly where we are,” she explained. “Only that I just came from the top of Mount Everhoof and am traveling towards the Crystal Empire. And no, I didn’t– I didn’t ask for this…” Shorey could practically hear her tears hitting the snow, or maybe they were her own, since she was still crying.

“But don’t let my sorry state ruin your moment,” Rally said quickly, forcing a smile onto her face and putting a hoof on her shoulder. “You deserve to enjoy it.”

“It’s amazing,” she whispered. “Absolutely amazing.”

The two reached out for another hug, much more brief this time, before Shorey asked, “What are you doing out here? I thought you wished to be in Equestria? What happened with your wish?”

“I don’t know. Apparently Lord Zulu was upset that I tried to mess with him, and so made it his mission to hurt me as much as possible before killing me. I’ve been walking for days since I got here, all the way from near the top of Mount Everhoof.” Rally paused for a moment and looked down at her hooves. “It’s been lonely out here.”

The words brought on a third hug, this one tighter than the other two, before Rally continued, “But I stayed with Rusty Bucket for a couple of days, and he gave me some food and supplies and stuff when I was at his house. He said it’s only gonna be about five days before we get to the Crystal Empire, and I’ve been walking for three already.”

“And what about Lord Zulu?” Shorey asked. “I know what your message said, but did you do anything before you left that would make him do this to you?”

“Nothing other than what you saw. I didn’t, like… try to hurt him… but…” To neither’s surprise, Rally choked back a sob as she started to cry again. “But I guess it’s okay for him to hurt me over nothing. I know that he– he intentionally went out of his way to hurt me as much as he could.” She took a sharp inhale of air and shivered as she let out her breath. It was hard for Shorey to watch.

“I- I can’t imagine how much it must hurt,” the mare told the stallion, feeling genuine pain from the pain her friend felt. “I don’t know one person who’d be that cruel to someone.”

“Apparently Lord Zulu,” Rally said, wiping her eyes to finally get in control of her emotions. “But I don’t wanna keep bogging you down with my problems. You don’t deserve to hear them, at least not right now. I’m happy for you.”

There was one more hug between them before Rally continued, “Anyway, welcome to Equestria… err, the Crystal Empire technically. Apparently, there’s a difference since Luna doesn’t visit the dreams of non Equestrians.”

“How did you learn that?”

“Because she came to my dream on the first night when I was having a nightmare,” Rally explained. “I tried to ask her for help off the mountain, but she said something about international laws preventing her from doing so. I couldn’t really understand her because her voice was cutting in and out, but Rusty Bucket said the same thing. He said they were all sticklers for laws.”

“That doesn’t sound great… you said you’re going to the Crystal Empire? Because I told everyone else that we should all meet up in Ponyville if we can. They haven’t asked Lord Zulu for anything yet, but they will once they see I’m gone.”

“That’s where I was going, so I could see Twilight and see if she could fix my ugly mess of a body.” Then the stallion yawned and said, “But for now, I was going to stop for the day so I could sleep… err, have a near mental breakdown because of all of this. I guess it’s a good thing you got here when you did.” She looked away embarrassedly for a second as she said it. “Not to mention, my head hurts from trying to get my dumb magic to work all afternoon. But I can keep walking if you want to. The sooner I can stop sleeping in the snow, the better.”

“I just got here, so I’ll do whatever you want,” Shorey told her. “You have supplies, right?” she asked as she looked at her back. “Do you have a tent and stuff?”

“Yeah, but I need help setting it up. I haven’t been able to get this stupid thing up one time. I’ve just been letting it lay on the ground and stuffing my sleeping bag inside of it to sleep.”

The mare didn’t like the sound of that. Everything she heard indicated that Rally was having exactly the opposite time of what she expected. Shorey imagined she’d get to Equestria and find her living in Ponyville, or something similar. It almost physically hurt to see Rally hurting so badly. She could hardly imagine what it would have been like to be put into her position, all alone out in the snow with no one to help her. Made worse since Rally had to have been dysphoric. She could imagine that her friend was not doing well mentally.

But now she was here, and, and just like her nature, Shorey would try to help her as best she could. Rally carefully laid her supplies on the ground to show her what she had, which wasn’t much. Some food and water– probably not enough to last two ponies very long– along with a tent and sleeping bag, plus a couple of extra hats and scarves. Not much, but certainly useful stuff for being out in the cold.

Rally explained who Rusty Bucket was and said that he told her they should get to the empire in about two days. Shorey agreed that it would be best to rest now and start off again in the morning even though she wasn’t tired yet. Rally certainly looked it, dark bags being placed under her eyes from a lack of sleep. Or maybe it was just exhaustion. She could imagine either scenario from what Rally described.

“He said there was a train station there, so I think that’s gonna be the best way to get to Canterlot. Plus, there’s probably books on how to use magic and hoof grip, or an instructor to teach us if we ask around.”

“Learning magic is definitely a good idea,” Shorey agreed as she used her teeth to help Rally start setting up the tent. “I didn’t ask to be a unicorn so I could spend time doing things with my mouth. The sooner we can learn how to do it, the better.”

“You got that right. Honestly, I’m surprised he even made me a unicorn to begin with. With everything I’ve gone through so far, I wouldn’t be surprised if he made me disabled. I haven’t even made a spark yet.”

“I’m sure you’ll get it,” Shorey told her kindly, sending a smile her way that seemed to put her a tiny bit more at ease. “It’s only been a few days. There’s no way you can expect to learn how to do something you’ve never done before without instruction.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s felt like years being out here in the cold, all alone. Like, honestly, it might as well have been a month ago that I was nearly falling to my death. I shouldn’t even be alive right now.”

That made Shorey uncomfortable to hear, but she didn’t say anything. If everything Rally said was true, then she deserved a chance to vent and complain to someone. Hopefully she’d get it all out of her system by tomorrow.

They both went back to focusing on assembling the tent, the mare smiling as they worked. It might have only been a couple of minutes that she’d been here, but Shorey could safely say that she’d never felt better in her whole life. Even in the middle of nowhere and having to deal with the snow and cold and sleeping outside, the wonderful feeling of euphoria took hold of her and made her smile. There was probably nothing in the world that could get her down, other than knowing her friend was hurting.

“Um, Shorey?” the stallion suddenly started, getting her attention. She turned to look her in the eye as Rally said, “I understand that you’re a lady now, but it would probably be better if you lowered your tail instead of showing off your vulva to me.”

Her face instantly went bright red and she reflexively lowered her tail, looking down at her hooves quickly. “Sorry,” she muttered, the embarrassment she felt plain as day. She wasn’t sure if she was intending to, but Rally had a little bit of bitterness in her voice that made Shorey feel worse. It seemed the two were not off to a good start in getting to wherever they needed to go.

“That was not meant to come out that aggressive, I promise,” the stallion said quickly. “I just wanted to let you know that you were raising it up and exposing yourself.” She wasn’t sure whether or not she believed Rally, but didn’t have much time to consider it as the stallion continued, “Help me put this spike in the ground?”

It took a while to get the tent set up in the cold, but with the two of them combined, they were eventually able to get it and drop the sleeping bag inside, the way it was supposed to be. Even with two of them though, it was still hard work, and Rally was yawning, looking ready to drop dead. Shorey couldn’t imagine how difficult it probably was to do this all alone.

There’s only one sleeping bag,” Rally said, “but I don’t mind sharing if you don’t, since it’s fucking cold out here.” As she said it, a particularly strong gust of wind blew past them, chilling Shorey to the bone. Cold was an understatement. It was brutal.

“I’m not that tired, but I don’t think staying up all night is a very good idea,” the mare said. “We could take turns sleeping if you wanted, but it’d probably be best if we just shared it with how the weather is. My face is going numb.”

“And yet you still have that adorably dopey smile on your face. I wonder what it is that’s got you so happy.” She was obviously joking, but it made Shorey’s smile wider anyway. Yes, she could say that in spite of how brutal it was out here and, according to Rally, the prospect of having to walk for days to get somewhere, she was still feeling happy and euphoric.

“I’m only being myself,” she said, trying to be serious, but failing. It was an impossible task with how big her grin was. “What can I do?”

“You can try not to kill me with adorableness like you’re about to. You just never ever stop being cute, it seems.”

Yeah, Shorey could probably say she was cute. It was the first time in her whole life that she actually felt that way, and what a feeling it was. It was like a warm blanket of nice feelings wrapping around her, one she never wanted to leave.

A second later, Rally went into the tent and under the sleeping bag, leaving Shorey out alone to walk around for a while and try using her magic until she got tired. It also gave her time to think about what it meant being here. It meant many things, but a few were at the forefront of her mind.

Outside of the main two obvious things, her thoughts were on Rally. She knew how the stallion felt about her– Rally said as much more than once. She also definitely expected it to come up. But what Shorey would say when it came up, she didn’t know. As of yet, her feelings hadn’t changed, but maybe they would. They were in the same place now, and would be presumably for quite a while. Maybe it was only a matter of time. Or maybe nothing would come of it. She didn’t know.

For now though, she focused on trying to get magic to work, and kept her mind on the wonderful feeling of being able to be herself for the first time in a lifetime.