For nearly one thousand years, the ponies of Equestria had a legend. A legend of a creature who resided in the abandoned Castle of the Two Sisters. An immortal being, one who had near omnipotent powers, but who only appeared in the Castle and its grounds at night, unable to leave. Ponies were wary of the creature, who was only known by the name Djinn, a Saddle Arabian name for a creature who could grant wishes to anypony who was brave enough to approach. This Djinn was unlike any creature known to the world, mostly because nopony who’d ever ventured to the Castle to ask for a wish never could remember what it looked like.
Legends spread far and wide throughout the world of Equus, and many a being came to have their wishes granted. Many wishes were all the same, great wealth, love or happiness. However, the Djinn’s powers always seemed to come with a cost. A cost that might not come right away, but there was always a personal cost to the individual who made the wish. It could even go so far as for their life to be taken earlier than their original time, but for the most part the costs seemed minor in comparison to the benefits having a wish granted guaranteed.
As the years passed, and as the legend passed into myth, the Castle was visited less and less by anycreature, and the castle continued falling into disrepair. Any who would attempt to visit would never see the Djinn, mostly because their intentions in that castle weren’t to see the mythical creature but just to explore the palace itself. However, an incident one year before the thousandth anniversary of Nightmare Moon’s banishment caused quite a stir among the nearby town of Ponyville.
A young mare named Notebook Study had bravely traversed the Everfree Forest to the Castle specifically to seek out this Djinn, as she had cross referenced old legends about this creature from multiple reputable sources from the past thousand years. From this personal study, she had concluded that this creature was real, at least that was what her notes indicated.
When she returned, the tale she told seemed unbelievable. She’d indeed met with the Djinn and had wished that she could know what was in every book in the world. Nopony believed her, at first, that was until she was found the next day in her house, dead.
It was one of the most gruesome deaths in Ponyville’s history. The autopsy revealed that her head had spontaneously combusted, leaving her head a scorched and unidentifiable mess. She was only able to be properly identified by her cutie mark, a notebook.
The incident was quickly hushed up, but it reached the ears of the most powerful being in Equus: Princess Celestia herself. She was familiar with the legend of the Djinn, but had dismissed it for too long as some legend. However, this incident to one of her little ponies gave her pause and reason to consider that there might very well be some sort of truth to the old myths.
Which was why she decided to visit the Castle herself.
“Your Highness, I really don’t think this is wise.” Captain Steel Blade, the unicorn captain of Princess Celestia’s Royal Guard, stated as they approached the abandoned Castle of the Two Sisters as the sunset neared. “For all we know, there could be a gang of thieves holed up in there.”
Celestia stood near what had once been a large and magnificent bridge that crossed the chasm between the Everfree and her old castle. The cool night air blew around her, making her already flowing mane fly back behind her even more. She was surrounded by twenty of her best guards, all armed and all glaring at the ominous ruin before them with trepidation. Not that Celestia could blame them. All sorts of old mare’s tales existed about this place. Including the one which she, herself, had come to investigate.
“Captain, some…thing…happened here that caused the death of one of my precious ponies,” Celestia said. “If this so-called Djinn is the reason behind it, we need to make sure it is properly dealt with, and if not, then we must eliminate the threat that exists here.”
Steel Blade shook his head. “Then there’s no need for you to come, your Highness. We can handle anything this old castle can throw at us.”
“That’s exactly what Notebook thought, and she is no longer with us,” Celestia countered. “No, this is something that I must deal with.”
“At least let us come with you and help,” he said. “We can search the entire castle better and faster that way. And let me at least assign a couple guards to accompany you.”
Celestia held back a sigh. The guards were being overprotective, as usual, but if this Djinn had half the powers the old myths said, even she might not be able to win in a fight. However, for Steel’s peace of mind, she nodded. She was less surprised when the Captain himself accompanied Celestia along with a pegasus stallion guard named Dancing Swords.
As Celestia and her guards made their way across the ravine, the Solar Monarch began to reminisce about the time she spent here in this old palace before she had to banish her sister and moved to Canterlot. She remembered being chased by her sister Luna down some of the secret entrances and exits that Star Swirl the Bearded had insisted be built into the old castle just in case of an invasion or hostile takeover. She inwardly smiled as she remembered the days when she and Luna would sit and have a meal together in the evening, talking about the events of the day and what Luna had planned for the nighttime’s stars. She also remembered the times in the morning when they’d share another meal together and talk about Celestia’s plans for the day and Luna’s own eventless night.
Feelings of guilt began to resurface in her heart as she remembered how similar Luna’s latter reports had become before she became possessed by Nightmare Moon. She had been so preoccupied with ruling Equestria during the day that she failed to notice her own sister’s despair at being left in the shadows.
Lifting her head towards the approaching and crumbling towers, Celestia finally let a sigh escape her lips. This place had been a ruin for over a thousand years. She’d let it become that way because she couldn’t begin to face the guilt of her own failure. And yet, here she was, forging onwards into her old stomping grounds searching for answers for what very well could be the first murder Ponyville had ever experienced…ever.
As they approached the broken and rotting wooden gates at the entrance, she thought about her faithful student, Twilight Sparkle. The young mare was a magical prodigy, and she bore a cutie mark identical to the mark of the Element of Magic on the Tree of Harmony below. Celestia had almost sent Twilight on this mission, but the Princess was still wary of having her leave Canterlot. Celestia worried about her safety and loved the young mare like she was her own daughter. And the young dragon Spike, Twilight’s personal assistant, she loved like a son. She knew she had to let them leave at one point, but the Princess was not ready. And Twilight was certainly nowhere near ready to fight something as powerful as this Djinn was said to be.
They finally made their way into the castle’s old throne room. Celestia could feel more of her guilt rising as she saw the dual thrones at the back of the room, each with their own banners hanging above it. The Princess raised her horn and it began to glow as she used her magic to attempt to detect any foreign power, magic or anything else that might be at play. Even after over a thousand years of ruling, Celestia could still sense the smallest hint of magic if it had been cast even a hundred years past. But she couldn’t detect anything unusual. No magic of any kind had been cast in here save for that of perhaps a few unicorn ponies in the past decades. And even those were mostly to start fires in the abandoned fireplaces scattered throughout the castle.
“Captain, have your guard fan out,” Celestia said. “Scan for any use of magic and be as thorough as possible. I shall remain here and do a deeper magical scan.”
“At once, your Highness,” he said. Turning to the others of his guard, he began barking orders. They split off into groups of two, a unicorn and pegasus together with the unicorn’s horn lighting the way and the pegasus doing their best to search in spots too high for a unicorn to see.
Celestia’s horn brightened in intensity as she moved to one side of the room, performing a deeper magical scan, one she hadn’t used in many years, and that was during a meeting with the Saddle Arabian ambassadors at the time when they were nearly assassinated by a rival Sultanate in their country. She carefully and slowly walked around the walls, approaching the two broken thrones.
When she reached the thrones, she looked longingly at her old one as well as the one belonging to her long-lost younger sister. She had waited patiently for nine hundred and ninety-nine years, and there was one more to go before her corrupted sister returned. If only there was a way…a way for her to return early and uncorrupted.
Suddenly, all sound stopped. Celestia froze, listening to the room and the outside, but there was nothing but deafening and complete silence. The moon above shone its silvery light in through the involuntary skylight that had been formed during the fight between Celestia and Nightmare Moon. Even her guards were no longer breathing and the dust particles in the air had stopped. Hesitantly, experimentally, she reached up with her hoof and moved a nearby dust particle away, only to watch in shock as it returned to its normal place in the air.
She spread her wings and tried to fly down to her guards, only for her control over flight to completely fail. She stumbled down the stairs and sprawled on the floor in an undignified heap. Groaning, Celestia stood and started to brush herself off only to realize that the dust that had accumulated on her was returning to its former spot on the floor. She watched, stunned, as thousands of small bits of rock and dust floated serenely down towards the floor, filling in the imprint she left on the ground until it was no longer there.
Turning back to her guards after the final particle had returned, she walked up, calling out to them. They were standing in front of the doors that led into the throne room, eyes looking straight up at the raised dais where she’d been before the silence began. She waved her hoof in front of their eyes, but they were as still as statues. She reached up to feel for a pulse, but to her horror found none.
That was when a voice, male, young and which echoed around the room, spoke. “They’re not dead, so there’s no need to worry about that. Although I was wondering when you’d be gracing my prison, Princess Celestia, Ruler of Equestria.”
She whirled to see a strange figure standing between the thrones on the dais. He was bathed in moonlight, and she could clearly see what it, or he, was. The being was a bipedal creature with no fur save for that on its head, which fell down behind him. He wore strange clothes, blue pants, a light red shirt and some dark black hoodie over it, opened up which revealed strange lettering on the light red shirt beneath. His dark blue eyes were covered by a pair of thin glasses. He stared down at Celestia, and in his eyes the Princess saw it: the same look she sometimes allowed herself when in private. Age. Untold age.
She faced him, her wings spreading behind her despite their apparent uselessness. It was a defense mechanism that alicorns performed whenever they were in danger: make themselves look bigger to their opponent. “Who are you? What are you? What have you done to my guards?”
The being raised a claw-no, this wasn’t a claw. No talons. This was a hand. She knew other beings on Equus had hands, but she’d never seen one quite like this before. It looked harmless, but something about this creature gave her pause. The eyes were those of a predator, facing forward instead of being on the side of his head. “To answer your last question first, your guards are quite safe,” he replied as he walked over to Celestia’s old throne and took a seat in it. “You and I are just in a bubble outside of time. They are in real time, while we are not.” Leaning forward, he folded his hands calmly. “As to who I am, well, my real name wouldn’t mean anything to you. As to what I am, well…what I used to be won’t mean anything to you either. Suffice to say, I’ve become known as the Djinn of the Everfree.”
She wanted to deny it, but she had never seen a creature quite like him before, and the stories she’d heard from Saddle Arabia about the Djinn said that the mythical creatures were normally invisible but could make ad̲j̲sām, otherwise known as thin and imperceptible bodies. But this being wasn’t the type of thing she would have expected. He wasn’t large, sure, but he wasn’t the impossibly thin creature she’d heard about. She frowned at the bipedal creature before her. “Humor me then, Djinn. Who and what are you? Or what did you used to be?”
The being sighed. “As long as that is not your wish, I’ll answer free of charge.”
“It isn’t,” Celestia replied cautiously.
“Very well.” He took a deep breath, exhaled, and said, “My name, long ago, was once Damian Price. As to what I used to be, well…I was a human.”
His name didn’t make any sense to Celestia, and she’d never heard of a human before. “Was a human? What do you mean?”
“You’ve no idea how refreshing it is to actually have someone ask about my past,” the Djinn Damian Price said. “A human is what I appear to be. I’m a form of highly evolved simian descendant who gained sapience over hundreds of thousands of years of evolution.”
“And are all humans as powerful as you?” Celestia asked warily.
The Djinn chuckled. “No. Humans don’t have wings or magic. We don’t need it. We don’t care.” He leaned back in the throne, looking down on her neutrally. “Tell me, Princess Celestia, what to the myths say about the Djinn of the Everfree?”
She was caught off guard by the question. Didn’t he know what he was said to be capable of? But something in his tone told her that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to answer. “Well, it says you grant wishes to anypony who asks, but with a cost that’s proportional to the magnitude of the wish.”
“And yet, you people keep on coming here,” he said in a tone that exuded complete exhaustion. “Even after the warnings I give, they still insist on wishing.”
“Warnings?” Celestia asked, growing more confused. From what she knew of Djinn, they were tricksters, much like Discord had been all those years ago and with similar powers. They gave no warnings, just promises of fulfillment.
“Whatever you wish of me I’ll grant,
“but not without its cost.
“In order for something to be gained,
“something must be lost.”
Celestia was shocked to hear sadness in this creature’s voice. He held up his hand, and a dark green mist formed around it. Celestia could feel the unusual magic from it and backed away, but the Djinn Damian only stared at it. “This power I received is nothing but a curse. It won’t let me die and whenever a genuine wish is made of me, I have to grant it.”
“Is that what happened to Notebook?” Celestia asked.
The Djinn waved his hand and the green mist vanished. “I gave her plenty of warnings. I asked her-no, I begged her not to make that foolish wish, because I knew what the consequences would be if she asked. But that foolish pony insisted. She wanted to know what was written in every book in the world. She chose her words poorly. The moment she said her wish, I had to grant it.”
Celestia was completely stunned. This being before her, this Djinn-no, he wasn’t a Djinn. He couldn’t be. This being, this…human…she could see his own suffering. “What happened to you?” she asked then.
He stood, walked over to the wall and touched it serenely, almost fluidly. “If I had to guess, I was summoned to your world from mine. I don’t know who summoned me here or why, but one moment I was in my home, and the next I was standing on the dais there, the moon shining through the ruins, with a little filly looking up at me with big wide eyes.” He turned to Celestia, his eyes hardening. “You know what she wished for? She wanted to go home! She got lost and she wished that she could go home! That was my first wish granted! And what did it do to her?? It took her memories of her mother!”
Celestia jumped in alarm as the being slammed his fist into the wall. Cracks formed, then resealed as he pulled his fist away. But she saw the blood that began dripping from his hand. Compassion for this creature filled her very soul and she tried to walk up, but he held up his hand. “Stop. Don’t worry. Watch.” He held up his hand, and the injury began sealing itself up and the blood lifted off of the floor back into the injury until it was completely healed. “Ever since I came here, I’ve stopped aging. I can’t be injured permanently. Trust me, I’ve tried things that are best left unsaid.” He went and took a seat in one of the thrones again. “Listen, Celestia. Please…for your own good, don’t make a wish. Just leave. Go home. Don’t come back here. I can sense the wish that led you into this timeless realm I’m trapped in, but the consequences you would incur upon yourself would bring disaster to the entire world.”
“And what about you?” Celestia asked, all anger at this being vanishing. She knew when somepony was lying, and this being here was showing none of the signs of being a liar. Over a thousand years of ruling tended to give one the ability to tell when a lie was being told. Pony or not, Celestia could see that this human was suffering.
“Don’t worry about me,” Damian said. “You should worry more about your kingdom. Just say the words ‘I have no wish’ and you’ll be back in normal time. You’re too important to be affected by a wish made of me. I know you have a strong desire to have your sister back, but the cost it would bring to you would not be worth it.”
“How do you know my wish?” Celestia asked, narrowing her eyes at Damian again with suspicion.
“It’s a part of my curse,” he said. “I know the wish that anyone who comes here wants the most. I know your deepest darkest desires that brought you to this domain, and at the same time I know the cost it would involve. And before you ask, if I attempted to tell you the cost, this curse of mine would harm me. Kill me even. Trust me, I’ve tried to warn others before you, and each time I was tortured by pain that cannot be described. Honestly, I think the name Djinn is appropriate for me.”
“Why is that?” Celestia asked.
“Because back on my world, we have an identical myth,” he said. “Djinn are devious creatures. They are known to twist the words of a wish so that it blows up in your face. The only difference is back home there is no such thing as magic, so Djinn are just a myth. But here they’re apparently real. And I’ve been forced to become one.”
Celestia’s suspicion began to recede again. “Have you really been around for a thousand years?”
“A thousand years…yeah, I guess I have,” Damian said, holding up his hand. The green mist formed around it once more and with a pop a small bottle formed with dark brown liquid in it. He twisted off the cap and took a sip. “One thousand years stuck staring at the same walls. Reading the books over and over again, including ones hidden. Counting the number of stones in this castle. 125,782 by the way. I counted three times to be sure. That’s another thing about my new abilities: I have a perfect memory. I remember every single detail of my time here and even back in my old world.”
Celestia knew what was happening. The poor stallion hadn’t had anypony who just wanted to talk to him, so he was getting everything he could out of his system. It made sense. Living in isolation, only meeting those who wanted to use his power for their own gain. Why else would he be rambling? “That…I can’t imagine how hard that must be. But why can’t you simply refuse to grant a wish if you know all this?”
“The curse forces me to grant the wish,” Damian said. “You saw me conjuring up this bottle of Coke, right? I can control it at will within the confines of my prison, but in order for it to have an effect on the outside world, another must make a wish. I then repeat the mantra that activates my powers and the wish is granted.”
“And that mantra is?” Celestia asked.
Damian shook his head. “I can’t say it unless a wish is made. If I do, well, you know what’ll happen next. There are rules I need to follow in order to grant a wish. And this curse forces me to follow them. To the letter.”
Celestia couldn’t bear it anymore. She started running up to him. She couldn’t understand why, but all she wanted to do was hug this stallion. However, before she’d taken not two galloping steps, the human raised his hand and a wall of green flame went up between the two of them. The light illuminated his face more, and she could see more clearly the age in the perpetually young face. The masking of emotion. The hidden depths of sorrow he must have felt at that moment. The grief. “No, Celestia. Do not get close to me. I beg you. Stay away. If you touch me, the results would be catastrophic. You raise the sun and moon currently. If you were to touch me, this world dies. Don’t try anything.”
Celestia slowly backed away, frowning. “Can’t somepony wish you free?”
“That is a wish that’s not allowed,” Damian said, but as he said it, Celestia saw him wincing as if in pain. She knew he was lying, too, and could only guess the reason why.
“Then…how can I help?” Celestia asked.
He raised an eyebrow. “You think you can help me? Celestia, I appreciate the thought, but if the ponies of Ponyville can be so afraid when a zebra comes to town that they hide and lock up businesses, how will they react to a being like me? I have powers similar to Discord, and we all know how that turned out. You want to help? Keep ponies away from the castle. Let the myth of the Everfree Djinn die. See, if someone comes specifically searching for me, they’ll find themselves here, just like you did. But if you really want to help me, erase all mention of me. Let my memory die. Please.”
She was confused about the zebra portion of what he said, but when he mentioned Discord, she frowned. “How do you know about Discord?” she asked. “I thought you were trapped here?”
“That…is a long story, and one that doesn’t have any bearing on our current situation,” he said, suddenly a bit tight lipped. “Look, Celestia, just burn any books mentioning me. Or just say that the Everfree Djinn is some silly myth. Just…do something to keep people, or ponies in your case, away from the castle searching for me. Or one pony’s mind burning quite literally will be the least of your worries.”
Celestia looked at the being before her. There was a desperation in his voice that nopony else could fake. She sighed sadly. “Very well, if that is your desire, Damian Price…” She stood proudly, then uttered the words “I have no wish.”
Instantly the view around her changed. She was standing back where she was before the world went silent, and was even in the same position and casting magic. Damian was gone, and she could hear the sound of wind blowing through the castle. Her guards were standing at the door, keeping a vigilant eye on her.
Lifting her head up, she canceled the spell. “I can’t find anything,” she lied. “And I don’t think the others will find anything else either. Let’s go home.”
Celestia stood at the entrance to Twilight Sparkle’s library room in Canterlot. From behind the door, she could hear the purple unicorn muttering something to herself and the all-too familiar snores of her dragon assistant/little brother. She knew how studious Twilight was, and if anypony could find a solution for the issue facing her now, it was her. Taking a deep breath, she used her magic to open the door.
To her amusement, Twilight was looking over an older looking book. As Celestia approached, she could hear Twilight saying, “…with a Mantra Enchantment, it’s possible to provide temporary enhancements to the body in the event of a fight.”
“Isn’t that a bit advanced for you, my dear Twilight?” Celestia asked, amused. She knew the book she was reading: Magus Archives by Star Swirl the Bearded, Twilight’s favorite historical pony.
Twilight jumped in her seat, looking up at Celestia with a stunned expression. “P-Princess Celestia!? H-how long were you standing there??” she asked nervously.
“A couple of hours,” the solar princess teased.
“Huh?! I-but-you-! What?!”
Celestia smirked and tittered. “Relax, Twilight. I just got here.”
Twilight frowned and puffed out her cheeks in the cutest little pout. “That’s not fair, Princess.”
“Just relax, my faithful student,” Celestia said. “I actually came here with a new assignment for you.”
Twilight’s eyes sparkled with anticipation. “Oh? What is it?!”
“Tell me, what do you know about the beings known as Djinn?” Celestia asked.
Twilight furled her brows and the thoughtful look Celestia knew all too well appeared on her face. It took her a couple of seconds longer than it normally did, but finally Twilight’s eyes lit up. “A Djinn is a trickster spirit who grants wishes to anypony who asks, but at a cost. I think I read in Saddle Arabian Magic Studies that they were once spirits enslaved by powerful magicians to grant their wishes. With the original enchantment, the original Djinn were forced to grant these wishes without any backlash. Unfortunately, long ago the original enchantment was lost, so a new one was created, but this gave the new Djinn the power to twist the wish in any way they wanted.”
“Did you read about a way to free these new Djinn?” Celestia asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No, Princess. But the part about Djinn was only a small part in a chapter about mythical Saddle Arabian creatures.”
Celestia allowed hope to form in her heart. There might yet still be a chance to save that poor human. “Well, for my next assignment for you, I want you to research Djinn and all the legends surrounding them. And, if possible, find a way for them to be freed. The latter is a big priority.”
Twilight’s eyes mimicked her last name and she beamed happily. “I’ll get started right away!” And with that, she rushed over and began using her magic to search through her library.
“And Twilight?” Celestia added.
Twilight turned to her mentor. “Yes?”
“If you need be, I will grant you access to books even you haven’t read or heard about yet.”
Twilight’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at the news, and Celestia smirked inwardly as the poor purple unicorn began to hyperventilate in excitement. “New…books…” was all she could say.
“I look forward to your report,” Celestia said. “Oh, and there is no due date set for this, but the sooner would be better for me.”
“Of course, Princess!” Twilight said as she began stacking book after book near her desk.
Celestia chuckled as she left her favorite student to her tasks. She made her way down the stairs and into the main hallway, allowing herself the briefest of respites before she found herself being approached by one of her guards, informing her that one of her latest appointments was almost upon her. She put on her best smile and made her way to the throne room.
All the while, she couldn’t help but think about the human being. Trapped for one thousand years in her old palace. Kept sane and immortal by a magic that dragged him from his world into Equus. A creature tortured by his own magic, a magic that was never his. Imprisoned by a cruel magician to grant desires and tortured with the knowledge that his magic brought only pain and suffering.
I will help free you…Damian Price, as the Princess of Equestria, I swear that I will free you from your prison…I promise.
Across the Celestial Sea, past the great Saddle Arabian city of Marecca, underneath the extinct volcano known as Cerberus’ Claw, a sleeping equine form, one that had been cast into the crevice near the top known as The Pit, stirred after one thousand years of solid slumber. The eyes opened, revealing glowing red orbs that shone with malevolence. For the first time in a millennium, the equine spoke.
“So…it is time…”
In the Mors Ruins, located just past the nation of Griffonstone and across the Mountains of Airarat, an ancient crystal locked in a vault beneath its once mighty ramparts began to glow a deep green…
In the Temple of True Accord to the far north of the Mors Ruins, a young deer Unitas Acolyte felt a shifting in the Weave of Accord, and galloped to tell her matron…
Lying in the bed that once belonged to Princess Celestia, Damian Price once more read over The Misadventures of Vertigo the Pegasus, unaware of the sudden changes in the world around him. Unaware that he would become central in changing all of Equestria…
And all of Equus in turn…
