Wish Fulfillment

The stallion, despite the cold, had managed to find a little bit of sleep, her teeth chattering the whole time she slept. Her dreams, however, turned out to be nightmares, not at all different from her current predicament.

It started off as a dream Rally had often, one where she stood in front of a mirror and watched herself change from a little boy into a full grown man. Without fail, it always made her cry, although normally she could wait for the end when the nightmare would end and she’d be changed into herself. This time however, before the dream got to that point, her body shifted and morphed into the orange stallion she’d recently become.

She almost forgot why it was happening until she looked down at herself, seeing her outward appearance matched the mirror. Now, instead of sad despair, she was frozen in fear, her eyes wide at the development and her body shaking. She didn’t expect this turn, and had no idea what should be done about it.

The room she was in faded into the snowy landscape of the top of the mountain, but the mirror remained, keeping her eyes transfixed upon herself. She tried to turn away from the sight and close her eyes, but the voice that belonged to the footsteps behind her commanded her to keep her attention forward.

“Look,” the man behind her said, his voice carrying sharp knives of wind that practically made her body bleed. Her frozen head wouldn’t move, her body forced to be stock still as she took herself in, watching as her coat now started to become patchy and the skin beneath it red with frostbite. She barely registered that the voice belonged to the spellcaster she spoke to the day before.

“You thought you could toy with a powerful spellcaster such as I?” he bellowed, his voice booming as the wind blew Rally’s mane wildly. It was snowing now, practically a blizzard around her, everything around her unclear and practically invisible in the middle of the storm of white. It blinded her eyes and forced her to squint as she tried to look up at him. The stallion's eyes, however, refused to move away from the mirror, locked in terror on them.

“Am I a child to you?” Lord Zulu asked. “A dog that I am to entertain you with tricks?”

“It was just a joke!” she tried to say, feeling herself starting to age, her own voice unbearable for her to listen to. “It didn’t mean anything! I didn’t hurt you! I was just having a little fun! It’s not worth this! I’m sorry!”

“You will be sorry,” he commanded as the stallion now started to cry at the sight of herself in the mirror. “Lord Zulu is not one to fool with. For your sins, you will receive nothing but exactly what you asked for. Enjoy your future as the stallion you were born to be.”

Rally couldn’t help but sob loudly. As numbing as the cold was, she almost preferred it to this. What had she done to deserve to have her life as she knew it wiped away from her? Other than that she made mild jokes about her lack of belief in the spellcaster, she didn’t know.

She didn’t know if she was ever thankful for having a nightmare before, but if she wasn’t, she sure was now. Once again, the world around her was shifting away, in a second finding herself laying curled up in the dark expanse of a room, directly below the tall dark alicorn that was Princess Luna. She took a breath and tried to calm down, but her teeth still chattered, now from her despair rather than cold. The princess wasted no time in bending down and wrapping her wing around Rally, touching the tip of her horn to one the stallion didn’t know she had.

“...not, sir, your night… more!” Luna proclaimed, Rally finding it hard to make out what she was trying to say. Her voice cut in and out like bad cell service, her movements appearing stilted, pausing every few seconds. It made Rally wonder just how far away from Canterlot she could possibly be to receive such a significant lag.

“We must… where… Equestria are you?” She was asking where Rally was the stallion put together, as if she had a clue. “There is quite… large… in speaking to you.”

“I don’t know,” she responded, her voice cracking as she looked up into her questioning gaze with wet eyes. “I’m on top of a mountain somewhere, but I don’t know where. I only got here a few hours ago.” Before Luna could ask more, Rally continued, “I don’t know what happened. I asked some guy to cast a spell on me to bring me to Equestria, and now I’m up here in the cold as some awful stallion.”

“Are you not… be a stallion?”

“No,” she answered quietly. “I’m not even supposed to be a pony… well, I mean, I asked to be one, and I asked to be here, but I didn’t think this was a real thing that could happen, and I definitely didn’t mean as a man on the top of a mountain.”

“It is… if you… eyes, you… form yourself. It’s simple.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. Do you… general idea where…?”

“I couldn’t begin to tell you where I am,” Rally said, figuring that was what she wanted to know. “I know I’m on top of a mountain, and there are mountains behind where I’m walking in the distance, and a green field or forest or something past a snow patch below me, but other than that… I don’t have a clue.” She paused and took a breath, continuing, “And I– I’m really scared, and I don’t know what to do. It’s cold out here.”

“Hmmm, that could… numerous locations. But… must ask. Are… Equestria? I do not… encounter you.”

That one took her a little longer to piece together what was being asked. “I’m in Equestria,” the stallion told her, “but I’m not from Equestria. Someone cast a spell on me to bring me here. His name was Lord Zulu, and he’s… I don’t know. I want to say some scammer, but obviously he’s not if I’m here. And he put me on this mountain, and I need help getting off of it.” A boatload of fear suddenly crashed over her again as she nervously continued, “I’m worried about what might happen if I’m stranded up here alone. I don’t want to die out here.”

Rally gave Luna a pleading look, mustering up the best puppy dog eyes she could, hoping the princess could fly over to her and rescue her. However, her heart dropped when she returned it with a frown and a sad expression.

“We cannot… subjects of Equestria. We are only permitted… international law, in accordance… nations, even in Equestrian territory… apologize.”

She had no idea what any of that meant, but knew it wasn’t good when she saw the princess fading out of existence and herself waking up just a minute later.

She almost forgot where she was, but the frigid temperature made sure to remind her exactly of her situation. Rally couldn’t tell how much time passed, noticing the moon hadn’t changed position. It seemed like the stars had though, and the grogginess she received waking up felt like an indicator that it was more than a little while.

She stayed huddled in her corner, not wanting to move at all, feeling too upset by everything to want to do more than put her head down and fall back asleep. But cold was still a good motivator, and she forced herself up to stretch out her stiff limbs. Her hooves and body didn’t feel that bad, but regarding her face she was genuinely worried that the tips of her ears and nose might become frostbitten. They were already painfully numb, but there was nothing more she could do than use her hooves to try and rub them awake. That, and keep on walking to keep blood circulating.

Within a minute, she was back on the trail, the tiny bit of protection she had from her little shelter being left behind as a particularly nasty bite of wind hit her. It brought tears to her eyes, it was downright painful, and she couldn’t help but curse out loud at Lord Zulu.

He really intended to kill me, the stallion thought as she walked, moving as quickly as she dared down the inclining trail, willing to take anything to warm herself up. He wanted to teach me a lesson, so there’s no way he didn’t send me here on purpose. He’s really trying to kill me for having the tiniest bit of fun at his expense.

She had to wonder if it was really him telling her those things in her dream. She didn’t think so, but also couldn’t rule it out as a possibility. It would be interesting if she ever learned that he did, she decided, and was something she was going to tell somepony about. At least, she would if she could get off this stupid mountain.

Suddenly, another, somehow scarier thought popped into her head. What if Shorey and Forrester came here, too? She didn’t know what she’d do if she learned later that they came here and were stranded on the top of the mountain where she had started. Not that there was any way she really could know without going back up, but if she ever did learn that, she would almost certainly put the blame on herself. She didn’t want any of her other friends go to through this.

And then another strong bite of wind came, one that reminded her that she should be focusing on herself for now. She could worry about them once she was safe, something her aching ears and nose and her stiff limbs told her she was not.

I’m gonna get to safety, and then… what? Rally had no idea. Ideally, she’d get to Canterlot and speak to Twilight Sparkle, but judging by Princess Luna’s reaction, she didn’t know how great of a possibility that was going to be. Not that there was truly much to do, other than get changed into a mare. What was she going to say? That she wanted to go back to Earth? If she could be a mare, she would certainly take being a pony over being a human at all times. And if Shorey was coming right behind her, which was a large if, then… well, depending on what happened, she guessed she could take being a stallion for a little while.

But any plan outside of getting out of the cold was secondary at that point. Right then, she wanted to focus on getting to safety, and anything other than concentrating on where she stepped was a dangerous activity until she was warm.