| 4 |
Quill pen in mouth, you let your imagination run free. If you had one wish, it would have to be about what you enjoy the most — what you are best at. And so, you circle back to your heart's desire, and special talent: to explore the world!
But beyond the sights of rolling hills and the sounds of chirping woodlands, the shivers of windswept snows and the swelter of scorching dunes, there yet exist countless places you never could explore, physical or otherwise.
One such place, you once thought, was that of a colt. You pondered how it would feel to walk in their horseshoes, among other things. And now, with that experience under your belt, you begin to question the impossible. You set your sights on the inexplorable.
What if you had wings to fly? You could reach for the clouds, and gaze upon lands as far as the eye can see. You could glide over impassable terrain, turning days of travel into mere minutes, and expanding the limits of the very horizon.
And what if you had a horn to cast spells? You could learn all about magic, and use it to find what cannot otherwise be found. You could do more than you could ever imagine, every obstacle but a puzzle to be solved!
You smile to yourself, then nod. What filly hasn't once dreamed of becoming a princess, after all? Well, maybe not a princess, so to speak — you couldn't bear to sit in a castle all day, let alone the responsibilities that come with it. Still...
"I wish to be an alicorn."
With that humorous wish written down, you place it in your candle, and next to your friends'. Before long, all three candles are lit, and you watch the small flames flicker, the ink's colourful smoke rising into the starry night sky.
Suddenly, you feel disoriented. A distant whisper growls a cackle past your ears. Then, snap! You awaken from a daydream you can't seem to remember, the echoes of otherworldly laughter still echoing in your mind.
Moonflower: "Whoa! Did you hear that?"
Apple Basket: "You heard that too? It was kinda spooky— uh... am I dreamin' or did Trailblazer grow wings jus' now? And a horn?!"
Moonflower: "Whoa‼ You're right! He totally looks like a princess now! How'd that happen?"
Apple Basket: "Wait, where'd the wishin' booth go?"
You take a look around, and find that the wishing booth is indeed missing. In fact, it looks as though it was never here to begin with. In the distance, festival activities come to a close. Ponies chat away and walk off to bed, unaware of anything unusual.
Then, you turn to look back at yourself in disbelief. Sure enough, matching feathered wings rest on each side of your barrel. You try moving them, and they respond instinctively — not unlike a third pair of legs, but somewhat different.
Moonflower: "This is so cool‼ Can I touch 'em?"
You nod, and while giving Moonflower a warm feathery hug, you figure that you should tell your friends about your wish just now, and admit that you didn't expect it to actually happen.
Apple Basket: "An alicorn? Then... wrap me in pastry and call me a dumplin', are you sayin' that your wish jus' came true? It's like in the stories!"
Moonflower: "Ooh! Ooh! Do you think our wishes are also gonna come true, then?"
Apple Basket: "Well, I sure hope so! Shucks. So uh... should we call you Prince Trailblazer from now on?"
You grin. While you find that it has a nice ring to it, you'll have to forgo the honorifics. And though you now have wings and a horn, you quickly realize that you don't know how to use either of them just yet. But that, you feel, will have to wait for another day.
Despite the confusion, you have somehow become an alicorn! You learn Arcane Insight, Empyrean Touch, Flight, and Twilight Insight.





Enter a comment
Would your newfound Twilight Insight give you any indication of what the hay just happened? Maybe use the Lens of Honesty to check if there's tomfoolery at work?
But If I’m wrong and it turns out to be a permanent thing with no negative consequences, then it’s probably time for me to get off this ride.
- We're enjoying an excessive unearned reward, and as a result you're losing faith in how fair the QM is?
- We'll be too overpowered and future challenges will be too easy? (This could be a game with scaling difficulty, which might be a little worrying for Trailblazer and friends. 😰)
- This is too much of a fundamental change to Trailblazer's character, and they're now a different pony than the one you grew to empathize with over the years?
Statistically speaking we are probably not the first one to make such a wish. If this really worked there would be a lot more Alicorns in the world than just five. This has to be a temporary thing or an illusion or a prank by Discord. No way it's that easy to become an Alicorn.
Had I known the wish magic was 100% real, then yes, I would have absolutely wished to become an alicorn as well (it was between that and the Honourshine command I ended up submitting). Thanks Skywind and Borg for taking this seriously and giving us the 28% chance, wow!
I hope this doesn't give the QM any ideas, but this could have been spun as one of Discord's shenanigans. Though the genuine new entries in the magic tab and lack of other evidence of his involvement means it's a bit too late to take back; we would definitely feel cheated 😇. More likely it's the QM's OOC laughter 😉 (or from one of the in-universe dimensions we know of).
That said, I still find "Discord is playing a prank" more likely than "a star caught our wish," especially given that the wishing booth vanished. So we'll see whether this lasts.
I applaud your dedication though, when you could have just said "nothing happens" and we the players would've been none the wiser; this gives a lot of confidence that the QM is committed to the idea of unfettered choice. If it isn't obvious, I (and most of the other players' too, given their choice of wishes) was expecting nothing to happen, and this to be more for polling players on quest ideas or opinions on the story's direction; I guess that's what I get for not taking Apple Basket's context seriously. If I were writing this, I would've maybe caused the wish to introduce an alicornification questline (maybe giving an unfinished spell like Magical Mystery Cure), but as a player, getting the rewards now is a lot better than that idea, thank you 😇.