Great, billowing bursts of sand flowered up from the ground and spiraled into the air at the unicorn’s command. She lowered her horn again, sweat pouring down her pale blue coat from sheer effort; but despite the enormous magical strain of her constant digging, she still heaved heap after heap of dirt and heavy sand through the air.

Trixie Lulamoon wiped her brow with the crook of her elbow, panting shakily as the light from her horn extinguished once again, and she blinked a couple of times to let her eyes adjust to the dark of the Saddle Arabian night. The stars seemed strangely dimmed out in the desert, and the bite in the cool night air hardly helped. Still, she had followed the maps and ancient blueprints to the letter; if her studies were correct, this should be the proper location.

The sand stung Trixie’s eyes as she forced herself to burrow deeper into the ground, aching terribly from the constant sifting through surprisingly heavy sand. However, it was ignored; just like all the sleep she had lost since she had first heard the legends. In the beginning, Trixie dismissed the tales of hidden artifacts as either stupid rumors or more trouble than they were worth – especially after the last artifact incident. Although, when Trixie discovered a bit of an old talisman in an unsuspecting merchant's saddlebags linked to an old legend of King Solomane, she refused to be deterred.

There were tales.

Stories and myths of incredible power, lurking just beneath the shifting sands many miles south of Saddle Arabia’s capital. The place where the old capital had lain long ago, lost and forgotten beneath the desert. The once sprawling city that had been lost to the ravages of time was practically begging her to find it; and more importantly, the crown jewel of the ancient temples. A hidden treasure trove of mystical power, even greater than the Alicorn Amulet had been.

And if Trixie Lulamoon were to discover it herself, she would no longer be just Trixie Lulamoon; she would be THE Trixie Lulamoon, the Great and Powerful Trixie at last.

The visions swimming in her head of grandiose and opulent success only served to drive her further into the sand, her magic streaming from her horn tip in eager, weak spurts. Each little stream burned a tiny bit further into the ground, and Trixie lost herself in her work once again as she went deeper.

Eventually releasing her magical hold on the dirt, Trixie collapsed against the incline that she created, gasping for breath. Between the immense strain and the cramped space the further she went down, it was getting too difficult for her to breathe properly.

Carefully sidling out from beneath her saddlebags, Trixie weakly fumbled for the bit of old talisman she kept carefully tucked between her torn and yellowed (and yes, occasionally couple stolen) maps. This expedition would be the one, for sure.

As she withdrew her hoof from her bags, Trixie marveled once again at the little shard of talisman. Thankfully, it didn’t seem to be anywhere near as dangerous that the Alicorn Amulet had been; but then again, there was still a tiny part of Trixie that yearned for that kind of power again, no matter the cost.

It was this mad, niggling and consciously illogical desire that she fought against, yet embraced fully to use as fuel for her efforts. She pondered if it really was insanity; or at least, a little. Such a constant drive for power couldn’t possibly be a good thing, she silently mused as she gazed lovingly at the broken golden wheel-shaped trinket.

But what was the point of life if a mare didn’t take a few risks every now and then?

Trixie grinned as the shard of talisman slowly levitated from her hoof, just as the records had claimed it might; tiny, indecipherable runes twinkled lightly on the edges, illuminating the slim hole that she had dug herself into. She gripped the talisman shard firmly in her hooves, her smile widening. It must have been a display that she was getting close, and it was magically reacting to some kind of –

–Trixie was promptly jerked forward with a shocked yelp into the dirt, a brilliant yellow aura singing through the ground. She panicked and struggled to release it, but found that it had wrapped itself tightly around her hoof. Whereas Trixie couldn’t have delved more than half a dozen yards into the earth, the talisman screamed through the ground at impossible speeds – faster and faster was Trixie yanked into the sand, ripping through the earth's flesh like a stone sank through water!

And, much to her horror, the small tunnel began collapsing in behind her as the talisman slowly came to a stop and fell limp in her hooves, leaving her completely trapped in the dark and cold dirt. Trixie instinctively struggled to escape her earthy coffin, slinging magic with every ounce of strength she had against the dirt around her.

Buried.

Buried alive.

Dirt filled Trixie’s mouth when she tried and couldn't scream, couldn't see, couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe…!

Her flailing must have loosed quite a bit of dirt, because from her terrified struggle, the dirt promptly gave way beneath her and Trixie fell with a loud whump! to the ground below.

She lay on her side, gasping for breath for a few moments before pulling herself to a standing position and forcing a sliver of magic into her horn for light.

Trixie panted heavily as she gaped in surprise at the cavernous hall that she had landed in, and quickly found that she no longer needed to keep magic trickling into her horn; the golden half-talisman had begun emanating light once again. Nervous that it would drag her deeper into the ground, she prepared to drop the accursed thing at a moment’s notice.

At least the Alicorn Amulet had never tried to bury her alive.

Stupid wheels.

Trixie looked around with a mixture of fear and awe at the impressively ornate chamber. The carvings and designs imprinted into the stone walls depicting working ponies glittered dimly, though some hardly remained visible. Many of the carvings were worn away with time, and Trixie peered at them in the dark. Upon closer inspection with the trinket to light her way, Trixie found that they were quite old; cobwebs littered them, and the further down the hall that she went, the more that she found that the carvings were slowly winding upward and becoming larger. Thick, heavy streams of oddly colored stone inlaid with silver lined multiple displays, shimmering loftily above in breathtaking fashion.

At some point, she must have passed a part of the walls where the stone ceased to stand alone. Many parts of the hall seemed to be completely forged with rare minerals, shimmering more valiantly the closer she drew. It occurred to Trixie that the only thing she could hear was the sound of her own labored breathing, and her awe at the incredible sights slowly began to fade. Trixie began to worry about how she would escape. Trickles of fear began bubbling back up to the surface.

But she could focus on later, and she forcefully pushed it to the back of her mind. The important thing was, she did it.

Trixie had discovered it at long last, and her grin returned in earnest as she approached the massive golden round door.

The tomb of the lost ruler.

The golden temple of King Solomane himself.

Trixie’s breathing came faster, her heart pounded loudly in her chest, and she looked around for a way through the gigantic golden door. It was at least three times her size, and almost assuredly impossible to move on her own.

In the center of the door was a small indent the same shape as a pony's hoof, but it was much larger than her own. Curiously, Trixie removed the half of the talisman and held it up to the door to see better.

Without warning, the trinket zapped her.

Trixie cried in pain as the smell of singed hair burned her nose, and she dropped the talisman to stick her injured hoof in her mouth on reflex. Instead, the moment she released the talisman half, it levitated slowly into the air with a yellow luminescence, lighting up the hall and casting dancing shadows as it whirred jubilantly in front of her. The golden streak left behind it as it jolted forward with a ping! into the large door nearly blinded Trixie, and she leapt back in surprise as the door split directly down the middle.

The talisman piece vanished as the ornate door ripped and cracked apart, pulling itself into the wall. Trixie couldn’t help but gawk in wonder as a brilliant sparkle shone before her, and she held a hoof up to keep the spots dancing in her eyes from growing worse. The light slowly faded, and nearly prancing with elation at her discovery, Trixie pried forward to find…!

“Are you kidding Trixie?” she barked angrily, glaring at the wooden pedestal.

The tiny room hidden behind the enormous golden door was completely underwhelming. It was more like a broom closet than anything else, with a low ceiling in contrast to the roomy, cavernous heights of the hall; except instead of holding brooms, this cramped dusty room held a dirty oil lamp on a worn wooden block.

Trixie felt cheated by the anticlimactic reveal, even tapping her hoof against the ground a couple of times in expectance of a proper treasure.

Huffily, she poked her nose into the little room.

Maybe she was in the wrong tomb?

“This can’t be right,” she mumbled quietly to herself as she grumpily picked up the dusty old lamp, forced to use her magic to keep a light once again. This was what she got for getting that stupid wheel-shaped talisman in the first place. Perhaps the oil lamp held another talisman piece that would lead her to the real tomb of King Solomane.

However, when she turned it over, she found the same wheel-shaped insignia on the bottom. It was covered with dust and dirt, much to Trixie’s displeasure. She wiped it on her foreleg, squinting at the tiny glowing runes that were slowly burning through the lamp, remarkably similar to the ones that had been on the shard of talisman, in fact.

The lamp promptly exploded in Trixie’s hooves.

Trixie screeched in shock as a blooming red flare erupted from the spout of the lamp, and she dropped it in terror as she backed away. Red smoke tore through the air around her, filling the air as a deep rumbling shook the earth. Trixie had nowhere to run, and watched in astonishment as a high pitched whistle steadily clamored louder and louder, growing deeper and more recognizable until she eventually realized that it was a voice that she was hearing.

The gargantuan form of an impossibly tall red pegasus loomed over her in the smoke, at least five times the height of a normal mare. Trixie gaped up at the golden bangle-wearing and bejeweled specter, whose pointy ears bearing as many golden rings as his wing tips.

“WHO DARES DISTURB THE SANCTITY OF MINE SLUMBER?” the velvet behemoth bellowed, his voice causing the ground to tremor beneath him.

Or perhaps Trixie was just shaking extra hard.

Struggling to find her voice, she sputtered “Trixie! I mean, the great and powerful Trixie!”

The giant stared down at her, kneeling a little to bring his gigantic eyes level with her own.

“Uh huh,” he replied sarcastically, the pegasus’s voice suddenly becoming much quieter. “Great and powerful.”

“Great and powerful indeed!” Trixie claimed a little more bravely.

“And I’m the Queen of Canterlot,” the genie said blandly. “Are we going to get this over with, or what?”

Trixie blinked, confused. The coils of red smoke continued to writhe through the air haphazardly, the stallion’s coal black bored eyes boring into her.

“Er… sorry, what?” Trixie asked, fumbling to keep a grip on the lamp.

“Cripes, lady,” the genie rolled his eyes, cracking his back a couple of times. His wings flew off from his body and stretched themselves, flexing their muscles and quivering their golden rings a couple of times before zipping back onto his sides as if nothing had happened. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”

The pegasus pinched her cheeks in his massive hooves, holding her effortlessly into the air and making her mouth move.

“Golly gee!” he said in a squeaky tone, using the startled unicorn as a puppet. “I sure am glad I found an all-powerful genie! What should I wish for?”

He promptly dropped the stunned mare, and crossed his forelegs across his chest crankily.

“It’s that friggin’ simple,” the pegasus said with a scowl. “Hurry up and hit me with your best shot, already; I’m missing some quality naptime here.”

Trixie thought furiously as she stared at the lamp, and looked back up at the genie.

“Any wish I want?” she mouthed quietly, repeating it again with a little more excitement.

“Yes,” the genie almost yelled. “You get one wish, so crank it out already!”

“What, only one?” Trixie retorted with a frown. “Don’t genies give THREE wishes?”

“Oh, great,” the pegasus rolled his eyes. “First you act like you hardly know what a genie is, then you’re lecturing me like my old professor!”

“Professor?” Trixie asked curiously.

“I WENT TO COLLEGE FOR THIS!” the red genie bellowed angrily, and Trixie cringed in surprise from the noise.

Lightning clashed through the air, and the genie slammed his hoof against the ground.

“Now,” he said a little more quietly. “If you’re quite finished asking inane little questions, kindly make your inane little wish so that you can take your inane little self outside and let me have my inane little nap.”

Trixie swallowed hard, thinking on his words.

“… Did you claim to be an all-powerful genie…?” she began slyly.

Seething, the pegasus breathed heavily through his large nostrils. A gust of pink smoke flew from his nose with enough force to blow Trixie’s mane back a little.

“Eeyup,” the pegasus nodded. “All mighty, all powerful, and a sweet plot. Comes with the title.”

“Of genie?” Trixie asked with a bit more zeal, the gears turning in her head.

A little put off, the genie glared down at her.

“No, of my titl- wait, are you telling me you don’t even know who I am?” he asked, offended.

“Forget that!” Trixie leapt to a standing position with glee. “I know what I’m wishing for!”

“No, you hang on a second!” the red pegasus flared his wings in fury. “How do you not know me? That’s the stupidest –“

“TRIXIE WISHES FOR THE POWERS OF AN ALL-MIGHTY GENIE!” she shouted over his frustrated words, holding the lamp up into the air.

It was dead silent in the cavernous hall for a moment, before the pegasus lowered his head once again to her level.

“Fine. Fine,” he glowered at her angrily. “Little miss priss wants the powers of a genie?”

A burning red light blossomed from his eyes, and Trixie instinctively lurched backwards as the coils of red smoke burned around her, flowing faster and faster into a crimson whirlwind.

“SO YOU HAVE WISHED IT, SO IT SHALL BE – YOUR FIRST WISH OF YOUR WISHES THREE!”

“Wait, I thought you said I only get one –?” Trixie was promptly cut off when the pegasus slammed his colossal hooves together, the thunderclap blasting the poor mare backwards. Trixie screamed when the ground ripped open beneath her, mingling lava and hateful red smoke entangling her as she was violently forced at high speed toward the dark ceiling. The glaring red glow blurred out her vision as she burst upwards through the ground, and soon, Trixie knew no more.