A Wish Come True

"Now young man, I need you to tell me what happened." Police were everywhere, on the streets keeping pedestrians away, and in the area examining Joseph's body. The policeman sitting next to Jerome on the back of the open ambulance pats his back. "I know this must be hard, but I need to know."

"...He...he made a wish."

"What?"

"...He made a wish...today was his birthday...He made a wish."

"What's that kid talking about?" A policewoman stops in front of the two. "He made a wish?"

The policeman waves her off. "He just lost his friend, this is very hard for him. Now, what about this wish, what happened?"

Jerome let a case of the jitters take him for a second before talking. "...He...he wished for a new beginning...he wanted to start over. Then...he walked into traffic...got hit by a bus...but he was fine. He started yelling at everyone, at me...and then...the light post..."

"...Right," the policeman says calmly. He stands and calls his unit together. "Alright, listen. The kid's name is Joseph King. Alert any family of what's happened." He looks back at Jerome. "...And make sure this kid gets home safely."

Two policemen come to Jerome's side and escort him over to a cruiser. They put him inside and close the door. Jerome sniffs and blinks a tear away. "...Magic...I wish...I wish that Joseph was still alive..." Jerome wanted it to happen so badly, but deep down inside, he knew he would never see his friend again...

Joseph opens his eyes and shoots up in a sitting position. He looks around, but all he can see is white. He looks down at himself to make sure he's not blind, and he sees the sleeves of his red hoodie. "...Holy shit...Am I...dead?"

A sphere of yellow light appears and floats near. "...Joseph King." Joseph lets his jaw drop. "The forces of nature and the forces of magic have brought you here."

"...Holy shit..."

"Do not speak so crudely child," the sphere says.

"...M-my apologies my Lord."

"I am not your lord." The Sphere glows brighter, then settles and shrinks in size. "I am...a guardian...I keep the balance of magic in check, but you...you wanted something...you wanted change so badly, but refused to believe in the force that gives it."

Joseph looks at his feet, then at the ball of light. "...Magic...is...real?"

"It is boy, it is." The Sphere goes a dark brown, then bright blue. "I have you in my area of expertise, my place of being. You are in a gap between understanding and belief."

Joseph just nods, but then shakes his head. "...I d-don't know what's going on, but can I go home?"

"No." The sphere of light turns red and grows. "You cannot return to you're universe. To bring you here, you were killed. In order for you to return to your world, all traces of you must be erased from that universe; materials, DNA, memories, everything. That will take many millennia, far beyond your lifetime." The being of light calms to a deep green. "You may never return to that universe."

Joseph stares at the light until his eyes start to burn. He curls up into a ball and start to sob into his elbows. "...I'll never be able...to see my friend Jerome? My sister? my...family?"

"No, I am sorry."

Joseph sobs a bit longer before standing. "...If...If I can't return to my world...where do I go? Do I stay here with you? Do I just...die? Do I just disappear forever, as if I was never here?"

"No." The sphere of light turns a pristine white, which makes it hard to see in the white background. "...I shall send you to a random universe, who's inhabitants you will live with until your life is extinguished. However..." Joseph looks up at the light and wipes his eyes as the orb turns a calm blue again, "...it may be random, but I shall send you to one of the few that can teach you. The beings there may be intelligent, they may not be, but I shall send you anyhow."

"...Okay." Joseph straightens and looks around. He doesn't know what to do, so...he sticks out two fingers and puts them to his forehead in a salute.

"You will have to build yourself up from scratch," the light says bluntly, "But as a helping hand, I shall send you in your current condition, however, I must erase your memory of this place to keep myself safe from discovery."

"Yeah, sure," Joseph agrees.

"...Your wish...is granted."

A bright light makes Joseph closes his eyes, but they stay shut as he falls into the abyss of unconsciousness.

...

Joseph flutters his eyes open. He sits up and looks around. A slight breeze was blowing, making the grass of the field he was lying in sway and ripple. Joseph looks around; nothing but a big field and behind him a forest, a thick one. The treeline was separated by a row of shrubs. He then looks himself over, seeing he was still in his hoodie and pants. "...What the hell?" He stands up and looks at his hands. His fingers were numb. "Ugh...what happened? Where am I?" He puts his arms down. "...Wasn't I with Jerome?"

"Come on slowpoke!" Joseph look behind him at the source of the voice. It was a girl, that's for sure, but...where is the girl? "It sounded like it came from over here!" The bushes start to move and shuffle, and Joseph gets down in a fighting stance.

The bushes rustle a bit more before an animal steps through into the clearing. It was a horse, but it was only about three feet tall, maybe three-and-a-half...and purple. Joseph lets his guard down and stares at the creature, observing it more closely. It was three foot nine, four foot one if he counted the horn, which made it...a unicorn? Its tail and mane were stripped with varying shades of purple and pink, and it's wide eyes were a nice violet. He saw on it's thighs it had...a brand? A tattoo? A kind of imprint of a star-like shape surrounded by little sparkles. Joseph keeps staring at the creature's horn.

The horse steps forward toward Joseph and he resumes his fighting stance. The animal cocks its head to the side. "...What is that?"

Joseph lets his mouth and his arms drop. He straightens up. "...D-d-did you just talk?"

The horse looks at him. "It talks?"

Joseph looks to his left at nothing and smiles. "Dude, check it out, a talking horse. Hehehehe-" Joseph falls backwards into the grass, just knocked out from shock.

The bushes behind them both start to rustle some more. "What is it Twilight?" Twilight looks over her back into the brush to see her dragon assistant pop out. He walks over to her side and gasps at the strange creature before them. "What is that?"

"I don't know Spike, I don't know, but...it spoke."

"It talks?" The purple and green dragon steps closer. "...Is it wearing something?"

"I think so," Twilight says. "...Spike, we'll have to postpone our search for potion ingredients, I think this," she motions with her hoof to Joseph, "is more important."

Spike looks up at her. "But...what are you going to do?"

"Hold on to my leg Spike, we're going back to the library." she walks over and steps on Joseph's leg. "All of us." Twilight closes her eyes and her horn begins to glow. A bright light envelops all the of them and in an instant, they disappear.

…

Joseph opens his eyes and and lifts his head to the sound of a teapot whistling. He sits up and looks at his legs. "...Huh, what's going on?" The whistling calms. Joseph sees that he's laying down on a green couch, so he swings his legs off the end cushion and plants them on the floor. This couch was unusually low to the ground. Joseph straightens up and looks around.

He was in a large rounded room filled with bookshelves and books. There were pieces of furniture around but what Joseph found strange is that a lot of the furniture is small and there was no TV.

"...Hello? Anyone home?"

"Whoa..." Joseph freezes and looks down to his right, where he sees Spike. The top of Spike's head, not counting his green spines, came up to just above Joseph's knee, so he was just under two feet tall. The dragon looks at him in awe. "...You do talk."

"Yipe!" Joseph nearly jumps out of his skin and over the couch. He gets back up and has his hands out in front, ready to fight. "What the hell!?"

"Whoa man, calm down!" Spike says with his claws in the air. "It's okay."

"Nothing's okay!" Joseph yells back. "I was with my friend in the city and all of a sudden I'm face to face with a talking Spyro plush doll! Where am I!? What did you do!?"

"Just take it easy," Spike says taking a step closer.

"Don't come near me you freak of gaming commercial endorsement! No fucking way are you-

"What is going on in here?" Both Spike and Joseph look out to the front door and see the home owner, Twilight Sparkle. "Spike, what's going on?"

"Don't look at me!" Spike protests. "The thing you took with us woke up and started to freak out!"

"You bet your fucking tail I'm freaking out!" Joseph yells out. "Where am I!?"

"It's okay," Twilight says calmly, "we're all friends here." She takes a step closer.

Joseph jumps back. "Don't come near me!" He looks around and grabs a nearby broom from it's corner. "Back off, I've got a cleaning instrument and I'm not afraid use it!"

Twilight gets a look of uncertainty and her horn begins to glow. The handle of the broom Joseph has in his hands is enveloped in a pinkish aura and is yanked from his hands. Joseph then begins to levitate back over to the couch. "Hey! What the hell! Help! Get me down! I want to live!" He's plopped back onto the couch. When he recovers Joseph immediately throws a punch toward Twilight. His fist stops within inches of her face and is sent back to his body. Joseph's copper eyes go wide and his skin goes flour white. "...What?" He starts pushing back as far as he can get himself into the corner of the couch. "...Don't hurt me, please."

"We are not going to hurt you," Twilight says softly, "right Spike?" Her assistant quickly nods. "Good. Now just try to calm down."

Joseph is literally trembling. "...What are you?"

"Let's take it slow, okay?" Twilight asks. Joseph just nods through his long hair. "Okay...My name is Twilight Sparkle, this is my assistant Spike...do you have a name?"

"...J-J-Joseph...Joseph King."

Twilight nods, "Okay, that's good."

Joseph looks around. "...W-where am I?"

"Right now you're in the library, also our home." Twilight sees all of Joseph's trembling. "Hold on." Her horn glows and after a few seconds a small cup on a small plate hover in front of Joseph. He stares at the floating cup like it might attack him. "Go on," Twilight says softly, "it's herbal tea." Joseph hesitates but takes it after a few moments. The cup it rattling on the plate in his hands, threatening to spill. "Now," Twilight says, "are you okay?"

"...I...I shouldn't be here. I should be home, waiting for my sister to come home from work, or playing Halo with Jerome." Then it hit him like a ton of bricks, or he should say like a light post. "...I...I died. I'm dead...right?" He pinches his arm and nearly yelps, almost spilling his tea. "...No...I'm alive...but I got flattened...Where am I? And, and, and...why can-how can you talk? horses can't talk? I must be seeing things...and hearing them. Oh! What's happening!?"

Twilight looks at Spike, then back at Joseph. "Joseph, please, calm down."

"I have every reason not to be calm!" he yells back.

Twilight lowers her head like Joseph may throw something. "Please, just calm down, there's nothing here that can hurt you." Joseph stops his trembling, but only for a moment, Twilight nods. "Better?" Joseph doesn't respond. "...I guess I have a lot of explaining to do. You're in a place called Equestria."

Twenty-two minutes of large complicated words and small definitions later...

"-Which us ponies, unicorns, and pegasi have kept alive over the centuries. That covers this area of Equestria." Twilight looks back over to Joseph, who's almost completely stopped trembling and is quietly sipping on his tea. "...Anything else?"

Joseph keeps his gaze down and his voice low. "...Just one thing Twilight...I got hit by a lamppost and was killed. But instead of death I get sent here?"

Twilight comes over to the couch and jumps up with Joseph. He flinches and scoots closer to himself a bit, but otherwise lets her up. "I'm not sure what happened Joseph, but maybe you had a good heart and was given a second chance."

"...Okay...Listen, I'm sorry I tried to hit you earlier."

"It's okay..."

"Spike," Joseph says look down at the dragon, "I'm sorry for what I said before."

"We're cool," he says with a smile. Spike stands up and walks off somewhere.

"Joseph," Twilight asks, "can I ask you a few questions?"

"Uh, s-sure."

Twilight moves a bit in her spot so she's comfortably laying down next to him. "Okay...So Joseph...you are a male, right? I want to be sure."

"...Yes, I'm a boy."

"Okay, okay, just making sure." Twilight's horn glows and something upstairs clucks around. A quill, paper, and a bottle of ink float down and hover in front of Twilight. The pen dips itself in the ink and readies itself over the paper. "Okay, so what are you?"

Joseph sighs. "I'm a human." He tugs at the sleeve of his sweatshirt. He sees Twilight waiting for more. "What? You need a description of a human?"

"Hold on. Spike! Get the Descriptionary!"

"Descriptionary?"

Twilight nods. "Yes. It's a book with every recorded flora and fauna." Spike returns to her side with a rather...large book. It looks nearly a thousand pages thick. Twilight's horn glows and flips open the cover.

"How do you do that? Things move when your horn glows, how?"

"Magic, I'm a unicorn, a magic pony."

"Magic?" Twilight nods. "...Jerome was right. Magic does exist..."

After a long silence, broken only by the movement of paper, Twilight closes her book and gets her quill ready. "The book doesn't say anything about humans! You're brand new to this world! Can you start your description now?" Twilight has a huge smile on her face.

"Yeah, sure." Joseph takes a deeps breath. "Humans are in the family of the homosapian, you know, like monkeys and apes. Yeah, apparently we appeared on our planet and became the smartest creature alive, relative to logical and meaningful thought, I mean." Twilight scribbles on her paper. "...We walk upright and normally cover ourselves with clothes like this," he says motioning to himself.

"Why do you wear clothing all the time?" Twilight asks.

"It's against the law in most places not to. It's indecent."

Twilight looks up from her paper. "It's wrong to go unclothed? We ponies only wear clothes at special occasions like weddings."

"It's different for us humans. It's improper to be nude in public because others can see us, and they find that offensive, unless it's your girlfriend or something."

Twilight stops her writing. "Girlfriend? What's that?"

Joseph puts his teacup down on the coffee table in front of him and sighs. "You know, like...a female you really like, and she really likes you...just before you get married, you know?"

"Oooh, you mean marefriend."

"Marefriend? Er...right, okay, fine."

"So...why is it offensive to be seen unclothed?" Twilight asks bluntly.

"Er...well...everyone can see...well...without clothing to cover yourself, everyone can see your...private area."

Twilight scribbles a bit more. "...Huh, the males here need to be aroused to be able to see that. Are you humans always sexually active then?"

"What, no!" Josephs raised voice makes all movement in the house cease. "...Um, I mean, no. Our...privates are always exposed, so we wear clothes to cover them." Joseph catches Twilight looking him over. He brings his knees together and puts them down. "And no, I'm not taking my pants off."

"Right, sorry," Twilight says softly. "Please, continue."

"Okay...Humans are...mildly intelligent, we've been into outer space, the moon, other planets, but we were killing our own with pollution and waste. We try and save other animals that are about to go extinct as well." He pauses. "...That's...all I know about my species in general."

"...Wow..." Twilight clears he throat and rolls up the paper with her magical grasp. She sets it on the table with the other items and gets down off the couch. "Humans sound very interesting."

"Yeah, it depends on the person."

Twilight moves her head in an awkward way. "A what?"

"A person."

"...You mean a 'pony'...right?"

Joseph looks at Twilight, then covers his face with his left hand. "Oh my God, I'm arguing with a talking animal...Yes, I meant pony. It depends on the pony."

Twilight turns to the door. "We might need to work on your vocabulary in order for you to fit in around here."

"If everything you told me is correct, I'm twice everything's size, I walk on two legs, and I apparently have a style problem. I think I won't fit in even if I'm president of this place.

"What?"

"Ugh, if I'm your ruler, your king, even then I won't fit in."

"Oh nonsense." Twilight grasps the door with her magical grip. "If you're so unsure about how you'll fit in, then I'll help you. Time for a tour around town."

"Are-are you sure?" Joseph runs a hand through his long brown hair. "What if the townsfolk react differently to me?"

"I'll be with you the whole time," Twilight says reassuringly. "Spike, hold down the fort, we might be out for a while."

"Okay," Spike replies. "Oh, Joseph...don't go around and saying those things like before. There are a lot of sensitive ponies out there."

"...Okay." Joseph looks back to Twilight, who smiles. She turns the knob of the door with her powers and opens the door.