Prince Silver Cloud and...
A series of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic & Harry Potter crossover fanfics
My esteemed readers, how are you? I am in fine fettle and unsound mind. When it comes to drabble, here is a real... stinker.
This story started out as a response to an interesting transformation fic I was reading, my so-called mind taking me in directions the scope of which terrify me.
The overview is this: Harry, our dear little Galahad, is brought to Equestria and brought up as an alicorn. He is then sent to Ponyville to unlearn certain habits picked up from the courtiers, while hijinks ensue back on Earth until about, oh, 1990 or so. Thus endeth Prince Silver Cloud and the Prophecy Betrayed. Later, we learn how he helps Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Scootaloo reach their goal and cope with the consequences in Prince Silver Cloud and the Crusade Won. It isn't until about his tenth birthday that he finally learns about the Prophecy Betrayed and meets his first human – Snape, I think – and all sorts of culture shock ensues in Prince Silver Cloud and the Philosopher's Stone. After all that, is becomes clear that all is not well on Earth, and patience is slowly lost as Dumbledore keeps getting in the way of necessary events in Prince Silver Cloud and the Broken Soul.
But you're not here for such sky-pie babbling, are you? Read on:
"I've a question for you, little sister," Princess Celestia, Keeper of the Sun and Ruler of All Equestria, asked Princess Luna, Keeper of the Moon and Co-Ruler of All Equestria. "Why?"
The midnight-hued alicorn mare just stared back, then began to speak.
"THE FATE OF A RACE HAS BEEN BETRAYED."
It was not her normal speaking voice, nor the Traditional Royal Canterlot Address. Not even the cold tones of Nightmare Moon. This was something ancient, asexual and definitely alien.
"MARKED BY HIS ENEMY, THE SAVIOUR HAS BEEN BETRAYED."
Those in the chamber watched in astonishment as the Celestia stepped back, wings flaring with shock. Luna didn't seem to notice as the very wrong voice emerged from her mouth.
"YOUR POWER THE ENEMY KNOWS NOT. SAVE OUR RACE, PROTECTORS OF YOUR OWN. RAISE OUR SAVIOUR AS YOUR OWN, FOR THE FATE OF BILLIONS IS IN THE BALANCE."
Silence fell. Luna blinked. "What?"
Celestia shook her wings, forcing them down as she regained control of herself. Taking a deep breath, she informed Luna of what something had said through her mouth.
"I think I'm going to scream," Luna remarked in a matter-of-fact tone at odds with her wild eyes, "You know why Celly."
Celestia did; for about a thousand years Luna had not been in her right mind, consumed by envy and resentment that had embodied itself as Nightmare Moon. That she had been taken over by another force again was clearly unbearable to her little sister Loo. As such, she ignored the use of their private nicknames and walked over to the trembling alicorn, draping one wing across her back.
"Well really!"
The two alicorns blinked at each other, then started giggling at the absurdity. Matron Cradle Lullaby had only been summoned into their presence barely two hours before, but the fact she was upbraiding royalty slipped her attention, which was focussed on ensuring the queer little foal – no pony, but still clearly a foal – hadn't been woken by the unexpected prophecy.
"You might have woken the poor mite – a colt, if that's the same as here, by the way – and he's been left out in the cold and all! What sort of pony leaves a poor wee foal out in the cold with nothing but a blanket and basket – and a burnt blanket at that?"
The two sobered. The items in question were on a table. Both blanket and basket had been placed on a table while the foal was transferred to a much warmer and better kept crib. The answer to the matron's question appeared to be in the symbols adorning a piece of parchment that had been affixed to the blanket.
Wordlessly, Celestia levitated the parchment and squinted at the cipher.
"We'll find out."
"We've only two hours to sunrise," Luna observed, stopping to poke her head out of a window to check on the moon. Fortunately it wasn't misbehaving, and hadn't rotated any about its axis either. She still had daymares sometimes about her time as Nightmare Moon and the defence on the satellite's far side. It was a very good defence, but it couldn't tell the difference between a threat to Equestria and Equestria itself.
"The prophecy said to raise him as our own," Celestia frowned. "But he simply wouldn't fit into Equestrian society; too many ponies would see him as a sideshow freak or a monster."
"But we can't simply lock him away!" Luna was horrified. After a thousand years of demented exile, the notion of doing much the same thing to a foal was unthinkable to her.
"I agree," Celestia responded, scowling at the letter – the arrangement of symbols indicated such; there was an address at the top, a signature at the bottom. "And if he has to return to wherever he came from..."
The two fell silent as they closed on the Royal Library.
"Are you seriously considering..." Luna trailed off nervously, tail twitching in agitation.
"We may have to."
"Transformation? On a foal? Celly, you know what that means!"
"I do." The Princess of Day looked grim. "But let's check all our options first."
Harry's last day as a human was mostly spent in a magical sleep, the better for the princesses to research and the medical ponies to study him with.
"It can be done," Caduceus declared in a distinctly tense voice. The unicorn was famed for his skills in medical magic, which was why Celestia and Luna had picked him to head the team. At the same time, they knew why he was unhappy.
"You have concerns, good Caduceus?" Celestia asked.
"Ah – yes I do, Your Highness! We have as a subject a mammalian being, clearly adapted for bipedal motion, with the forelimbs relegated to manipulators. If he were grown, it would be interesting to see the dexterity said limbs possess. The digestive system is omnivorous, and apparently is in the process of weaning. His eyes and ears are functional, and I wouldn't be surprised if he was already learning to talk and recognise his parents. Left to his own devices, I'd say this foal could probably be on the way to walking within a year.
"And that's my concern – this foal is currently in the process of growing out of the newborn stage. A transformation as proposed would likely affect his development profoundly. More to the point... it would be irreversible. What happens when he decides he wants to return to his own species?" The unicorn's voice rose with his stress. "What the hay happens if he meets his parents again?"
"His parents were murdered," Luna replied quietly, "It says so in the letter."
The letter had been most interesting. Addressed to one Petunia Dursley (whatever a dursley was), the writer, one very titled Albus Wulfric Brian Percival Dumbledore (whatever any of those words meant), had explained that the foal – apparently called Harry Potter (whatever that meant!) – had been the only survivor of an attack, and that this Petunia was expected to take Harry in until his seventeenth year. If she did so, the house would be warded somehow.
"Ah." The doctor's expression and mane toss betrayed his lack of satisfaction. "But what about –"
"There will be plenty of time to prepare to leap that hurdle," Celestia declared firmly. "We have decided on our course, and it is our request that you assist us."
Caduceus stiffened instinctively. A royal request was as good as a direct order. "As Your Highness commands," he said at last, bowing.
The transformation went well, clocking in at about nine and a half hours of nonstop surgical and spell work.
The two main concerns were the digestive system and the skeleton. Not just the bones, but the ligaments and tendons needed to be reconfigured to cope with the stresses of quadrupedal posture and motion. The hands were the worst. Watching the phalanges fuse together into a relatively inflexible forehoof made the doctor's heart ache a bit. He hoped the princesses could leap that hurdle...
A stomach is basically an organic bag filled with hydrochloric acid. Transforming it from just one relatively simple organ to the more complex ruminant system took a good three hours alone. Everyone was sweating by the end of that stage of the operation.
Most of the organs, Caduceus was pleased to note, were affixed to the spine and hung in place. Presumably the creature's distant ancestors were quadrupeds. Maybe similar to Equestrians? He didn't know.
"He's mighty magical," one of the nurses commented, "What's the odds he'll be a unicorn?"
"No bets on that," Caduceus declared, "And his mane'll be black too. And green eyes. His coat... He'll be a dapple if you ask me!"
"Five bits says he'll be gray," came an immediate counter.
"Green – it'll match his eyes," said another nurse.
"Blue."
"Pink."
"Pink?"
"Yeah." Giggles began to spread. "With purple polka dots!"
The banter relieved a great deal of tension as the transformation shifted from the complex to the relatively simple – enlarging the heart and lungs, generating the frogs in the hooves, stimulating the horn to start growing, clearing up –
"That scar's still there," the doctor scowled behind his mask at the stubborn zigzag of discoloured flesh that simply refused to go away. Flexing his magic, he pressed it against the tissues – then jumped away from the operating table with a shocked whinny.
"Sweet Princesses of the Sun and Moon preserve us!" All work stopped as everypony stared at the sight of a Caduceus who was backed against the wall, stiff as a board, actually frightened.
It took about ten seconds before the doctor spoke again. "Hey! Keep him respirated! We're not closing up yet! Let's... leave the scar for now, we can worry about it once the... this is finished."
The last step was stimulating Harry's new hide to grow. Celestia only knew how much more work would've been needed if Harry didn't have the beginnings of hair follicles on most of his body. "No more bets please," Caduceus commented as the spell took effect.
The OR lights made it plain that Harry's coat wasn't pure gray, nor blue, but a peculiar silvery shade, like a cloudy day.
"Silver," Caduceus declared firmly, "Now we close up and wait for his horn to present."
There was some grumbling and back-and-forth about whether or not gray was 'close enough', but all concentration was focussed instead on cleaning up and making sure that...
"Who's casting?"
Near Harry's shoulder, a protrusion was growing with unnatural speed. From inside his body, the sounds of bone and tendon shifting could be heard. It was like cacophony to medical ears.
"I said, who's bucking casting?"
"Nopony's casting sir!"
The doctor glared around, but sure enough nopony's horn was glowing. This was coming from the patient – but how?
"Roll him on his belly!"
Still asleep, the unconscious foal was rotated. Sure enough, the opposite shoulder was sprouting its own protrusion. Another teeth-grating warping of tissues, and it bent in two. In a very familiar fashion.
"Is everyone seeing this?" Caduceus whispered. He had to. The only other voice he had was a scream.
The follicles on the new limbs were noticeably larger, and what was emerging wasn't hair, but down.
Harry slept, unaware yet of his new body, and certainly not aware of the shocked and disbelieving audience watching as his magic turned him into an alicorn.