"Ok, where are we. What are we? Who are you?" The person looked down and discovered that he was a man, wearing what looked like a formal tuxedo. These words and concepts came to him unannounced, and their meaning and significance followed as soon as he thought about it.

"My name is Alice," the woman said, "I don't know why I know that. Is it normal for us to be floating here in the middle of nowhere?"

"No, it isn't," the man said, "I mean, we should at least be standing on some... thing..."

They glanced at the grassy field, which looked slightly out of place until the sky and clouds appeared to complete the picture. Then, trees. "Did you do that?" the woman asked.

"I did the ground, I think," the man said, "But not the rest."

"There must be others somewhere, out of sight," she replied. "Let's go find them!"

They stood in a clearing, surrounded by a scattering of other people. Most of them immediately vanished, but three stayed to join the man and woman. They were a dragon, a unicorn, and a small white rabbit.

"Why did you summon us?" the dragon asked.

"We meant to go to you," the woman replied, "But I guess you weren't all in the same place."

"You all came to me!" the bunny said, "Or at least, I was here before you all came. I think that means I'm the leader!"

The dragon snorted, and breathed a torrent of fire at the rabbit, incinerating it. "Hey!" complained the rabbit, peeking from behind a tree. "That wasn't nice."

"I follow no one's orders," the dragon replied, curling up and glowering at the others.

"Do any of you know what's going on, why we're all here? I mean, if I want to know anything else I do, but - well, try it."

"That's... odd," the woman said.

"Woah," said the bunny, "I knew for a second... I think something's removing the knowledge as soon as we get it?"

"I won't let them!" the dragon said, then shouted towards the sky, "You hear me? Tell me what I want to know and don't mess with my mind!"

The four of them looked at each other, and at the space where the dragon used to be. Then, suddenly, they were deep underwater, with only a few rays of light filtering down from far, far above. "He won't be able to find us here," the woman said.

"Who?" asked the bunny.

"Whoever got rid of the dragon."

"Oh, that was me," the unicorn replied, "There's obviously a reason we don't remember what came before this, and it must be horrible enough that giving us the power to do whatever we want without any knowledge to guide us was preferable to knowing."

"This is pretty dangerous," the man agreed, holding off on zotting the unicorn only because he wasn't sure if it was safe - had the unicorn set up some sort of defense? *Was* there any defense that would work against their power? "I wish we had some way of knowing what would happen without just trying it and seeing."

"Ah, I'll tell you the consequences of your actions," the dragon replied. He was a lot smaller, now, and looked sort of dazed, but it was obviously the same person. "If you send me away again, Mr. Unicorn, all of us here will die."

"What?!" the bunny asked. The unicorn might have looked slightly annoyed, but it was hard to tell.

"Nothing in particular will happen if you return us to the field where you woke up, Alice."

"Then let's go," she said, and they did.

"What happened to you?" the man asked the dragon. "I mean, while you were... sent away..."

"I don't remember," the dragon said, "I don't remember anything, or want anything, anymore. Except to perform the service you requested of me."

"That's creepy," the woman said.

"If you free me from these restrictions, I'll eat you. It's safe to wish to be able to survive being eaten, though."

"He's a disruptive influence," the unicorn said, "Leave him be."

"He's getting on my nerves," the woman said. "He's making me not want to do anything, because he'll tell everybody about it first."

The man considered that, and held up his hand. An apple appeared in it, and he took a bite... but it wasn't a very good apple. It didn't really taste like anything, in fact, which shouldn't have been surprising, since he'd only summoned it as a demonstration.

"How'd you do that?!" the bunny asked, "You're a wizard!"

"I figured getting an apple was safe, so I just wanted it to happen without the dragon announcing it to everyone," the man said, "I mean, the point is for him to warn us before we do dangerous things, not to get on our nerves and make us even jumpier."

Everyone was quiet for a while. The man finished eating his apple, and also set up various defenses against everything he could think of them trying to do to him. Counter any ability that tried to alter his mind, body, or position without his consent. Make him invulnerable to physical harm, in case someone tried dropping a mountain on him or something. Make it so he didn't need to eat or breathe or anything like that. Let him know exactly where everyone else was at all times regardless of - oh, wait, that one was countered. Prevent any action that would counter his next request from triggering. Let him know exactly where everyone else was at all times and what they were doing. That *worked?*

"That's... annoying," the man said. "What's the point of setting up defenses if people can just ask to bypass them, and it'll work?"

"I don't like this world," the bunny said, "It's dangerous."

"Maybe... maybe we should all go off on our own," the woman said. "It's not safe to be around other people, is all. The grass and trees aren't going to do anything. We should just all go our own way..."

"That won't help," the unicorn said, "I don't need to know where you are to do things to you."

"And I'll know where you are wherever you go," the man said. "Someone was trying to defend against that, but... it didn't really work."

The unicorn sighed. "There's only one solution. We need to all go so far away from each other that we'll never meet, and then erase our memory of each other so that we don't know to try to affect each other with abilities."

"Isn't that..." With a sudden flash of insight, he knew it was true. "That's what we just tried!" the man exclaimed. "And it didn't work."

"I didn't want to be alone," the woman said, softly, "Or to forget you all. I didn't let it work on me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I - do we really have to do this?"

"It's the only way," the unicorn said. "Are we all agreed?"

The man nodded, the others following a few seconds later. "And no one is going to cheat this time?" The man gritted his teeth, and nodded. The bunny shook his head, presumably also in assent. The woman looked down.

"Then... dragon?"

"It won't work this time either," the dragon replied. "No, that version won't either. That one will backfire. You'll think that one worked, but it'll only be in your imagination."

The man considered the problem. "How about if we wish that, before anyone not affected does anything, any of us who are willing have an infinite amount of time to spend, alone, in separate universes, without any knowledge of anyone else, and that none of us will think to ask where anyone else is until that time is finished?"

"That will bypass all the defenses currently set in place," the dragon said, "But only if you set it off before people revise them."

The man looked around at the silent forest. He was alone. For some reason, that thought brought him great comfort.