28 — Expected and Unexpected
The castle was the same, yet different. It wasn't much bigger in that it didn't seem to take up more room, but it was taller. There were also four Guards in front instead of just two, with one more at each of the two corners of the building facing the street.
Before, it had been too large for them — him, his mum, Spike, Squeaker, the maids, and the hoof-stallions. There had been three or four times as many bathrooms on each floor as there were of ponies!
Now it felt like their house had been converted into an office building. The front doors were in constant motion as clerks and others continually went in and out. The doors to the sides of the entryway inside led to several large offices where ponies were busy reading, writing, asking questions, answering questions, and filing piles of paperwork. It reminded him a bit of Ponyville's Town Hall, or Gringotts in London, but not quite as busy. One room they passed seemed to be a communications-room based on how he could only hear one side of what were obviously several different conversations.
Now that he considered it, it was not unlike the impression he had of the castle in Canterlot when he visited there with his mum — a home and business combined, with the line between the two rather blurred.
It was only when they went up the stairs and through another set of guarded and ornate double-doors that he understood. The castle had grown an entirely new floor while he was gone — the new ground floor of the castle was the administrative headquarters for the Portal. Twilight's, Spike's, Myrtle's and his personal quarters had lifted up a level. No one knew where Squeaker slept, when he asked.
He wondered if the slides that had been hidden below the chairs in the "Friendship Map Room" had stretched to account for the new floor. Some wouldn't have needed to change, but surely the one to the pool couldn't have remained the same.
Settling in was easier than Harry expected, after seeing what had been done to the ground floor. Twilight's library was the same — well, it was bigger, but that was to be expected from his mum — as were the sitting room, lounge areas, his room, Myrtle's room, and the guest rooms.
Even with the Grangers, Weasleys, and Lovegoods, it seemed like there were still more bathrooms than ponies.
After everyone had dropped off their saddlebags, they all met back in the main dining room for dinner. Bed was a welcome destination, afterwards. It was exhausting traveling on a train!
He woke the next morning in a pony pile with Ginny, Hermione, and Luna. He was surprised to realize just how much he had missed doing that.
He was rather concerned about Luna being in the pile, though.
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On their first day back, the twins met with Mr. Rich to discuss their various ventures. The greater interest in their products and the larger pony population — six million versus eighteen thousand — made them quite wealthy. That meant their earnings on the other side of the Portal, impressive though they were, were pocket-change by comparison to what they had made here.
Sweetie Belle was, without a doubt, the richest filly in Ponyville, if not all of Equestria. Their bank accounts, Filthy Rich's, the twins' and Sweetie Belle's, were growing even bigger. At the rate the witch and wizards were going, they would soon eclipse their pony partner. Rich gave them quite good profit-sharing deals, knowing that taking advantage of them today could lead to great losses later. Better to give them an excellent deal, now, so that no competitor could seduce them away from him later.
Bill spent part of the hols in Canterlot, meeting with officials there about the possibility of Gringotts setting up a bank in Equestria. The main sticking point was the exportation of gold and gems from Equestria — the Princesses knew from the histories in the witching world that the goblins would try to corner the markets on both worlds. Which would have a devastating effect on the non-magical world's economy. Not to mention moving a great portion of Equestria's gold to Earth — the goblins wouldn't be able to stop themselves!
In the Equestrian market, gold was used as a marker. Like gold in pre-World War I Earth, though, the price of a Bit was arbitrarily set and maintained. As long as the reserves could match the Bits, there wouldn't be a problem. The cost of mining large quantities of gold nearly matched the price point set for the Bits, making such efforts only marginally profitable, so no pony tried to game the market.
Gemstones, while pretty, suffered from being too-easy-to-find-to-be-valuable-except-as-decoration, although ponies still accepted them for small purchases. However, the problems of terrorist groups on the other side of the portal illegally mining diamonds in Africa, and other rare gems elsewhere, was making them rethink their policy of restricting export of gems to Earth.
The Gringotts and Equestrian goblins had met months ago. That the two sets of goblins wanted nothing to do with each other was not much of a surprise. Each side looked down on the other as inferior, and mistrusted them deeply. If they hadn't been on different worlds, things would probably have spiralled out of control and into war in a couple of days, if not hours.
It was in the best interests of both worlds to keep the two factions separated.
Harry wasn't sure how Gringotts would compete with the banks in Equestria, anyway. Equestria banks might charge for vaults like Gringotts did, but that was the only similarity. After being able to deposit and withdraw funds with accounts that paid the depositor interest, why would anypony be willing to pay to keep their money in Gringotts? Then, too, the Equestrian loan rates were a fraction of what the Gringotts charged. Their other services were similarly discounted when compared to the goblin bank
If an Equestrian Gringotts bank acted like a normal Equestrian bank, word would make it back to the witches in England. They would soon demand the same treatment! For Gringotts, it would be a lose-lose proposition.
The Hearth's Warming holidays, at first, went as expected — no major trials or tribulations for the CMC. An almost unheard-of situation considering what Ponyville had gone through since his mum had taken up residence there. It was kind of relaxing, he thought. But, at the same time, he couldn't help but be anxious waiting for the last shoe to drop, as the saying in apartment houses went.
Luna Lovegood, as a Crystal Pony, drew attention whenever she went into public. That she was a Night Pony, too, just made her appearance that much more exotic. The crystal appearance tended to overshadow any semblance she had to the scary Night Ponies. The shy filly didn't know what to do with all the oohing, aweing, and compliments she received. Her father couldn't have been prouder without exploding.
Both wished her mother were here to see and hear it.
On the other hoof, her forays into asking about strange creatures did scare a few ponies away. Plus, it started a series of rumours among the more skittish. The Quibbler would find a fresh audience on this side of the portal, Harry knew. With a lot more readers taking it seriously! He had to shake his head in dismay. So many ponies were simply too gullible.
But Mr. Lovegood would sell ten-times as many issues of the Quibbler here as he did at home, simply because of that, never-mind the larger pool of potential subscribers!
Charlie spent most of his time consulting with his mum and Spike on what they knew of Dragon society — which wasn't much, it appeared. The ponies knew less about their dragons than the wizards did theirs by a rather large margin. In fact, the sum total of what was known by the ponies was, "They're really big and scary!", "They breath fire!" and, "They live that-a-way," followed by pointing to the east.
His experiences over the summer hadn't been that productive. Most of the dragons, as predicted by Twilight and Spike, had never replied to his letters. Equally difficult had been trying to meet one. He wasn't about to travel to Dragon's Lair alone! The Princesses had refused to send a Guard escort with him, as the Dragons might look on that as an attack, and respond in kind.
Their only suggestion had been to look up Daring Do to see if she was interested. She hadn't been.
He had acquired all the books he could on dragons in the summer, and returned to the Reserve with them to consult with his bosses. Which was why he was here, now, over Hearth's Warming trying, again, to meet with a dragon — other than Spike, that is.
The most important request was to find a dragon who might be willing to travel to the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary in Europe. His bosses wanted to see how closely alike witches' dragons were to Equestrian dragons. That they were both cantankerous was readily apparent. That the Equestrian dragons could be talked to was going to be a novel experience for Charlie — Spike notwithstanding.
Charlie was by far more used to using his wand to coerce a dragon into following orders.
The difficulty with that was, again, just talking to the dragons. Then he needed to find one small enough to fit through the portal. He had asked Spike, but he would only go if Twilight went, too. And her schedule was rather . . . complicated.
Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo generously spent time with the Granger adults, teaching them the "nuances" of flying. There were several more pony-shaped divots around Ponyville than usual the first few days. Neither Rainbow Dash nor Scootaloo seemed to understand that going from never-having-had-wings to difficult-airborne-stunt-manoeuvres was not an instinctive, or easily mastered, process. It did show, however, that pegasi were tougher than they appeared.
Mr. Granger, it seemed, was a bit of an adrenalin junky. Mrs. Granger was not.
She also was not pleased when several of Rainbow Dash's pegasi friends hit on her husband for dates. A few hinted they'd be interested in something more long-lasting if they were compatible. That they insisted she join them on the dates was just plain confusing, at first.
Myrtle found herself the target of several stallion "gold-diggers" who thought she might make a convenient stepping-stone to get close to Princess Twilight. Or, failing that, at least to have a cushy life with Myrtle and her close connections to Princess Twilight.
Unlike Luna, though, Myrtle was neither confused nor shy. She had spent the last fifty years observing dating behaviour in Hogwarts, and was well-familiar with "gold-diggers" — of both sexes. She was not above taking advantage of that knowledge, either. She seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, what with the constant flirting and innuendo she was throwing around.
Sirius, Harry was amazed to hear, was setting up a resort on the outskirts of town, over by Ponyville Lake, for witches and wizards to visit. It included a movie theatre with, he said, several hundred muggle movies, as well as the copies of the plays being filmed in London. He planned to rub their noses in the fact that the wizarding world had nothing like them — so wizards are superior, you say? Look at this!
The concept of answering machines was life-changing for people used to floo-calls either working, or not. Especially businesses.
When the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or Cutie Mark Consultants, as they had now christened themselves, were not with their families, they were with Harry, Ginny, and Hermione. The herd was having fun exploring the expanded Ponyville and delighted to find there were still a lot of places unchanged.
And then it was Hearth's Warming Day.
The first inkling that things were about to go off the rails was when a maid came charging into the large sitting room with the Hearth's Warming Tree. They were just starting to exchange presents — they had already had breakfast, earlier. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had rushed their families through their gift-giving, and insisted they had to be at the Palace, which meant Rarity and Applejack were in attendance too. Scootaloo had apparently had her gift-giving with her aunts last night.
"The Princesses are here," she said excitedly, slightly out of breath.
His mum jolted to her hooves from the couch; her wings partially raised. "Is there an emergency?" she demanded. Applejack and Rarity had quickly joined her. Then she frowned. "No, if there were an emergency they'd've sent a message to Spike!" A book flew into the room to his mum, and the pages blurred as they turned.
"No, no, I didn't forget an appointment," she murmured as the book vanished, no doubt back to the desk it belonged on. She gasped. "It must be something to do with the portal! Something's happened on the other side!"
She was pacing back and forth frantically, murmuring to herself as she tried to think why the Sisters would come here instead of summoning her to Canterlot. Her saddlebags had already flown into the room, with a series of other things following them as she thought of items she might need, and added them to the bags.
Harry just sighed and looked at the CMC and rolled his eyes. Scootaloo tried to hide a laugh and Apple Bloom smirked. Hermione and Luna were just watching, wide-eyed.
Moments later, the two Princesses came into the room, escorted by one of the hoof-stallions.
"Is something wrong?" pleaded his mum as she darted across the room to confront the two.
Celestia smiled while Luna gave a big sigh. "No, nothing is wrong my faithful student," Tia reassured the panicking purple pony, giving her a hug with one wing. "Just a bit of business we need to conduct," she said as she scanned all the ponies in the room.
Applejack and Rarity visibly relaxed and returned to their chairs.
Her eyes stopped on seeing one pony in particular. "Oh heavens," she said, examining Luna Lovegood. Her gaze switched to him for a moment. "You were correct, Harry, she is quite beautiful."
Harry squirmed a bit as his herd-mates glared at him.
The filly looked startled, and glanced at Harry.
After Luna had returned to Equestria at the beginning of the Fall semester, Harry had received a missive from Princess Celestia requesting he tell her about the Crystal Night Pony that her sister wouldn't shut up abou . . . seemed to adore.
Which he had been reluctant to do, but he wasn't about to say no to a Princess! Well, except maybe to his mum.
So, he had sent a few replies about Luna-the-girl's unusual antics— as well as a Colin-supplied moving photo. He had to rely on others — she was in a different year, after all — for the most part. He did add his observations at meal-times and in the common room. While many appreciated the beauty of the pony, her overall attitude of listening to something that wasn't there made others . . . uneasy. Her tendency to talk about Moon Frogs, Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, Nargles, Wrackspurts, and Dabberblimps that others had never heard of, and couldn't find in any reference book, didn't help her popularity.
She was, from what Harry had learned, a bit of a loner despite her appearance. She only received true acceptance in the common room as a beautiful pony to pet. Even then, people tended to avoid her.
His herd-mates had not appreciated his apparent interest in the girl.* Despite his denial's, the CMC seemed to think he was romantically attracted to her. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had been a bit depressed that the filly had so clearly outclassed them in appearance. Hermione and Ginny had seemed the most upset. Scootaloo hadn't seemed to notice.
When the herd settled down, he had at first thought they had finally accepted his explanation that he was merely gathering information for Celestia because she had never met the filly. Then he had caught Ginny commiserating with Luna about how obtuse he could be sometimes.
Since then, he had gone out of his way not to let them catch him paying any particular attention to the filly. But, darn it, she was so . . . pretty. He couldn't help but stare at her sometimes.
"A beautiful Night Pony who is misunderstood and ostracized by her peers?" Celestia sighed softly. "Lulu is never going to let go of that poor filly," she murmured, shaking her head.
Princess Luna had headed straight for Luna-the-filly. After eyeing her critically for a moment, she had thrown a wing over the filly and hugged her tight. "Finally," she declared softly, "Somepony who understands Our pain!" She gave her sister a narrow-eyed glare.
Apparently, Luna had her own sources in Hogwarts keeping an eye on Luna
Everypony else either looked puzzled or awkward.
Luna-the-filly, after a moment's hesitation, leaned into the hug and a small smile crept across her face. Soon, she was grinning widely and her eyes were closed, basking in the warmth of the embrace.
Her father watched approvingly.
"The others are merely jealous of you," Princess Luna said softly to the filly. " 'Tis only natural to envy your dark blue mane, majestic wings, and nocturnal allure." She looked at everypony in the room daring them to disagree.
"I hate how I feel when Harry looks at Lovegood," Apple Bloom murmured to Sweetie Belle, just at the edge of Harry's hearing.
He sighed and walked over to the three fillies. "I can appreciate how pretty a pony is without it meaning anything more than that," he said softly. "I swore never to leave you three years ago, and I still mean it."
They stared at him, then shyly smiled and hugged him.
Celestia cleared her throat. "Now, then, Twilight, you told me that as far as you could tell, Discord's changes to Miss Luna Lovegood went right down to the genetic level, correct?"
"Oh, yes, Princess," his mum answered quickly. "As far as my scans could show, she's an Equestrian pony."
"And when you checked the other human's animagi?"
"Their magic base levels indicated that they were the animal that was their animagi, but also human, too."
"And Miss Warren? She's the one you used your magic to help transform into a pony?"
"Yes," was Twilight's answer. "She tested as a pegasus, but there are still some human connections."
Celestia nodded. "Mrs. Weasley, Misters William, Charles, Percy, Fred, George, and Ronald Weasley, Miss Ginevra Weasley, Miss Luna Lovegood, Miss Hermione Granger, would you all please line up here." She pointed to where she wanted them.
"You've all been seen by the doctors at Ponyville Hospital, isn't that correct?"
They all nodded. The doctors had been quite excited to compare the results of their pony forms as created by the portal with their forms as animagi. According to their results, they hadn't been able to detect any differences.
"I would like to cast a spell to confirm a suspicion I have. May I?"
Harry supressed the urge to snort. Like they were going to say, "No," to her!
One by one, she cast her spell on them. Then she had Luna repeat the spell to confirm her findings.
They were all quite curious what was going on.
Celestia took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Discord didn't change your animagi forms to pony," she told them sincerely. "He changed it to human after making you ponies." She paused a moment to let it sink in. "You are all true ponies."
They stared at the two royals, blinking.
Hermione sat and slowly raised her right hoof.
Celestia looked at questioningly.
"Does that mean that if I have a baby, it'll be a pony?"
Celestia thought a moment. "If you were to give birth here, in Equestria, it would be born a foal. If you were to give birth on the other side of the portal, it would be a baby just like you were a baby, but it would be the baby's animagus form as a human. Its default form would be a pony. It would probably switch between the two, spontaneously."
Hermione frowned. "But does that mean that any human mother who comes through the portal and gives birth here, the baby would be a pony? And when they go back through it, the baby would be a human baby with the animagus form of a pony?"
Celestia shook her head. "A human giving birth here as a pony would have a foal. When the two returned to the other side, they would both be humans. The baby's animagi form would be whatever they were fated to be, not pony.
"Just as no human coming through the portal has their animagus form changed to a pony just because they happened to travel to this side of the portal. Being unborn hasn't anything to do with it."
The ponies exchanged glances.
"So, we aren't . . . human? . . . anymore?" There was a bit of a quaver to her voice.
Celestia frowned in concentration. "When you learned you were a witch, did that make you think you were less human than your parents? Did you think yourself not a human, anymore? Or did you think being a witch was something in addition to being human? On the other side, a DNA test will reveal you are as human as anyone else they can test, witch or not. On this side of the portal, a DNA test will show you are as much a pony as any pony in Equestria." She shrugged. "Take it any way you want. You are a human with the animagus form of a pony, or you're a pony with the animagus form of a human. Your default form is whichever one you want to think it is. Your children will be the same as you, just as they would be witches or wizards." She paused. "As far as I am concerned, however, anyone on this side of the portal is a pony."
Hermione sat for a moment longer, her hoof twitching as if she wanted to raise it again. "But . . ., we were told ponies didn't have an animagus form," she said slowly, her eyes almost closed as she thought.
Luna shrugged. "We, and they, don't."
Hermione's lips were moving for a moment, as if she were talking to herself. "Then, if we're really ponies with an animagus form of human, then, shouldn't we be able to turn into humans while we are here?"
Celestia started to say, "No, what I mean is that . . .."
Hermione turned into a person.
Unfortunately, having changed clothes in the portal changing room, that meant she was naked. She squeaked loudly and tried to cover the important parts with her hands, then abruptly was a pony, again. She fell over sideways, then slowly regained her hooves, blushing madly.
Everyone stared.
Celestia, Luna, and Twilight all face-hoofed at the same time. All three said, in dejected and aggrieved tones, "Discord!"
The twins, after a wide-eyed glance at each other, darted to separate armchairs, snatched the pillows up, and dodged behind them. After a second or three of silence, the two red-headed terrors stood up, as humans.
Faintly, the sound of laughter could be heard and the room suddenly smelled like popcorn.
Harry had tried to transform before he ever got his Hogwarts letter, so he knew he couldn't do that. He had to admit to being a bit jealous.
The twins looked at each, and said, in chorus, "I think we need a new wardrobe." Then they turned back into ponies.
Celestia sighed, tiredly. "I suspected," she pushed on, "That you might be true ponies, so I have prepared official Citizenship papers for all of you, including the parents." She gave a wan smile. "Can't break-up the families, now, can we?"
A unicorn stallion had entered behind the Royals. He had been patiently waiting for his cue. He did not look too surprised at the turn of events. The last five years had inured him to expect the unexpected where the Royals were concerned. One of his saddlebags opened and fourteen scrolls tied with red ribbons floated out.
Celestia took the scrolls and distributed them to their proper owners.
"The United Kingdom allows its citizens to have dual-citizenships with other countries," she explained. "Your passports will be magically updated when you return to the other side of the portal to reflect your new status."
She turned her attention to Fred and George. "As citizens of Equestria, your earnings from your businesses will now pay lower taxes." She grinned. "That's why I originally wanted to do this. Your Ginger Gender Gels have been wildly popular, and have made quite a number of ponies happy."
Luna was nodding.
She would know, Harry couldn't help but think, with her access to all ponies' dreams.
"I wanted to show you my appreciation for what you have done for my ponies," she concluded.
The twins were delighted with that news. They didn't know exactly what the change would be, but just the fact that Princess Celestia thought so highly of their ingenuity was gift enough.
She turned to Harry's mum. "Twilight? I have a special gift for you." Her eyes twinkled "Actually, it's two gifts."
His mum stared at the two Princesses, flummoxed. "You do?" she managed to get out.
The Princesses always exchanged gifts on Hearth's Warming, but they were usually food gifts — a thousand years of trinkets were in a vault somewhere below Canterlot Castle. Rare, indeed, was a present gifted centuries ago still in view.
Celestia always appreciated cake, and the new recipes from Earth were unqualified successes. Especially the tequila cake — agave was not a native Equestrian plant. There was now a thriving plantation of them at the edge of the San Palomino Desert.
Their unicorn attendant lifted two large boxes from his saddlebags. The bags were clearly bigger inside than outside, because the boxes were bigger than he was, by a large amount, once they were out. They were bigger than Princess Luna, and only slightly smaller than Princess Celestia. Each was a rectangle wider than tall, and only a hoof or two thick.
Celestia nodded happily. One of unoccupied couches was pulled close. The closest box had its top removed and a large painting was removed. It was a painting of Luna, standing proud in the thrones' room of Canterlot palace, but her eyes were closed, as if she were sleeping. The background behind her held the tapestry of the Sun.
Celestia frowned and looked at Luna. "Why," she said accusingly, "is your painting in my box?"
Luna was clearly just as surprised. She took a step back and held a hoof to her chest with a gasp. "Why, sister, I haven't a clue how that could have happened! Besides, you never let the boxes out of your sight, did you?" She looked at her sister with wide eyes.
"Right," Celestia said sarcastically, clearly not believing her at all as she set the painting on the sofa.
The second case was opened, and sure enough, out came another painting of the Canterlot Thrones Room, but from a slightly different angle, with the Moon tapestry in the background. But that was all it showed. Just the room.
Celestia blinked. Luna blinked. Celestia set the second painting beside the first, and studied them both.
Sitting side-by-side, the two painting made a whole scene of the thrones as seen from the front.
"Why," Celestia said quietly, "Is your painting empty?" She glared at her sister.
Everypony else just stared, mystified at what was going on.
There was a snicker. Then a chortle. Then the Luna in the painting sat down and pointed her hoof at the ponies in the room. "You should see your faces!" She burst into laughter.
A moment later, painting Princess Celestia walked out from behind the banner behind her throne in her painting and joined Luna. Between her own guffaws, she said, "You were right, Lulu, taking my place in the painting while I hid was hilarious."
Harry gasped. "Witchery paintings!" ** he cried. Then cast the book-walking spell. Moments later, the rest of the students joined him and began exploring.
۸-_-۸
Author's Notes: * How could Harry's herd-mates not be jealous of a beautiful pony like Luna? — 1batman4u.
** Portraits of Celestia and Luna, ponies adopting the wizarding portraits to preserve the memory of loved ones, and animated stained-glass windows such as the (fictional) mermaid in the prefect bathroom for historical figures — Peter and 1batman4u, both from FIMfiction.