19 — Unexpected Negotiations

The party lasted for several of hours before the professors started herding the students back to their dorms. As soon as Elly felt the professors' moods become more serious, she immediately chivvied her three Lings back to the dorm, to beat the rush. Once they were in their Dorm, she instructed the others to make jars and offload as much love-food as they could, then meet her back in the common room.

She knew the Gryffindors would merely continue the party in their dorm. A number of Hufflepuffs followed them as they headed for the "secret" entrance hole to Gryffindor Tower. Once inside, as she had expected, the raucous party continued. Some couples had already sought out comfortable places for kissing, snogging as they called it here, and for others to jockey for positions in petting the multitude of ponies.

For the new students from Equestria, being the centre of so much focused attention, starting when they had arrived at Hogwarts, was a giddy feeling. The petting and combing in the common rooms left most of them blissed out. That night was no different.

The Lings would have an excellent opportunity to not only gorge themselves, but build a significant stockpile early in the year!

Plus, they could use the opportunity to spread the story of their "escape" from their destroyed village, and gain a bit more emotional support.

They had decided that that would be the best course of action regarding the three Lings history. Their story was that their parents had built a safe-room under their home with strict instructions for the children to stay inside for a minimum of a week in the event of disaster.

The same disaster, they would claim, that had been sent Elly out into the wider world, and England.

Once they had snuck out of their underground bunker, it had taken them a year longer than Elly to make their way to England. They knew their great-grandparents had come from there, and that there might be family they could appeal to. Unfortunately, with three people, getting out of Papua New Guinea without alerting the magical, or the non-magical, authorities had been quite difficult. They had finally found a family friend who had been willing to help them by arranging plane tickets to England in exchange for the key to their family's vault. It hadn't had much in it, but what there was, was more than enough to get them out of the country and repay the friend handsomely for the risks he took.

On arrival, the goblins had put them in contact with their cousin, de Rippe. And the rest was obvious.

The three were "ickle Firsties," now, as the witches and wizards at the school liked to call them. While they had access to everything Elly had learned already, they didn't have the necessary experience with a wand to pull off being Second Year students. Knowing how to swing a sword doesn't automatically make one a skilled swords-ling, after all. Muscle memory is as important as regular memory. As a result, trying to claim they had been well-tutored and could move into Second-year with Elly would have probably failed spectacularly as they flubbed the wand movements.

On the other hand, this put them in the middle of the mass of ponies that made up almost half of their class. The opportunities for stock-piling food more than made up for the boredom of the classroom lectures and reading.

Being in First Year, though, also meant they could help their classmates with assignments — they had access to the Elly's hive-mind, after all — garnering friendship, and making it easier to blend in. Not to mention that being a year behind Elly would add a year to their food-gathering efforts. By then, their "romantic" restaurant should be able to take up the slack.

Perhaps one of them could get into the maternity ward at St. Mungo's? That place would be a fountain of love. Or perhaps they should concentrate on their restaurant? It could be as worthwhile as the hospital. Especially if the restaurant offered a free babysitting service for parents with children under eleven.

They could collect the freely available emotion as the parents dropped off their children, enjoyed a "romantic" meal, and then picked their children up after. That would give them three opportunities instead of just the one with couples in a normal restaurant.

Elly had been startled at the number of ponies who had shown up at Hogwarts this year. She had hoped Harry and his herd-mates would return, but planned for the opposite. As long as the twins kept throwing parties, she had no doubts she would be well fed. That the four had returned simply made things easier for her.

That the Princesses had committed so many ponies to learning wand magic indicated a sea-change was coming in Equestria, and made her doubly-glad she wasn't there.

Having so many ponies at Hogwarts would make the chore of gathering food so much simpler, given how freely the ponies emoted. It wouldn't hurt to have an emergency stash that the Lings could fall back on if something went wrong, however. The wizarding stasis spell would prevent the stored food from spoiling — not having such a spell on the other side of the portal had been one of the issues that had dragged down the hive.

Plus, having a class size twice as big as normal made it easier to hide. Three foreign students in a Hufflepuff class of ten would draw everyone's attention. Any social mistakes they made would be noticed, and questions might be asked. But three in a class of twenty-two? Plus, the transformed ponies would be making so many mistakes that any the Lings made would be ignored. Moreover, the House was delighted that they now had their own ponies to pet, and in a large enough number that arranging schedules wasn't a chore. More opportunities at collecting.

One rather unusual occurrence was that the Weasley girl in Harry's herd was showing signs of jealousy. That wasn't odd, there was always a bit of jealousy in a herd. What made this different was her jealousy seemed to be aimed at the girl who had gained the crystal-night pony form! Whenever the girl came around in the Great Hall or elsewhere, either as a person or as a pony, Elly could feel that little spike of yellow bleeding through.

In the Gryffindor common room, even though the other girl was absent, Ginny was insisting that Harry spend an inordinate amount of time petting and cuddling with her.

Well before curfew time, the four Lings were almost dizzy with what they had absorbed. Fortunately, everyone took the slightly dazed looks and not-so-steady walking as merely indications that the Lings were sleepy. At the first intimation of that from one of the others, Elly had had Earl give a big yawn, and then the other three copied him. It made a few of the Gryffindors yawn, too, causing a bit of laughter. The four started back to their dorm.

A quick stop in the broom-closet where they had placed the empty jars took care of the problem, and filled all four jars nicely. With the jars safely hidden in their robes, the Lings continued to their dorm, with none noticing their brief stop.

Yes, Elly decided, this year was off to a wonderful start.

The best part, however, was that literally nobody . . . nobody . . . suspected they were here and what they were doing. The Ling-detection spells were simple precautions the ponies had convinced the humans to use. The minor alterations to their appearances didn't trigger any of the spells. It seemed that while they could transform with their magic, using this new ability to just . . . rearrange things . . . wasn't the same. The fact that the Lings could hide in plain sight without using any of their special magic was ironic, given the panic the ponies were in over Lings.

۸-_-۸

The Equestrian First Years, most of whom were considered nerds in Equestria, hadn't taken long to develop a strategy for learning as much as possible. When they weren't in classes, they were in detentions. When they weren't in detentions, they were exploring the castle, the lake, the forest, just about everywhere where they weren't supposed to be exploring. Which usually garnered them detentions.

In the afternoons, they took turns working on their assignments so no pony fell behind.

What was interesting to Harry, however, was that the detentions, more often than not, were with Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Slughorn. Rarely were the Equestrians getting detentions in History or D.A.D.A. Filch had discovered that having them "help" in his chores was a lesson in futility.

No matter whether it was an earth pony, a pegasus, or a unicorn, the pony just couldn't resist using magic. It was all unconscious, but it was there. And the messes Filch needed to clean had to be done without casting magic. The problem was sort of like handing someone a piece of paper with words on it and telling them to look at the paper but not to read the words. They automatically read it before they realize that's what they are doing.

Listening in to a few conversations, Harry discovered the new ponies' reasoning about why the detentions weren't considered "bad." A Slytherin upper-year had apparently been trying to prank one of the new gullible Slytherin ponies — and it had backfired spectacularly. She had quickly spread the word that she had a way to get extra lessons! Harry had to face-palm as he realized that the ponies were under the mistaken impression that the detentions were extra lessons, not punishments!

They thought it weird that they had to misbehave to get the extra lessons, but then again, these were aliens. Who really knew how they thought?

Detentionees got more individual instruction, and better, or at least more complete, answers to their questions with the extra time they spent with a Professor or Prefect. Of course, that was only after the students had "helped" the Professors, or Professorial Aides, finish some of their chores. With the chores done early, the professors then had "free" time to devote to more instruction to the eager ponies.

Having nearly ten sets of hands at each detention meant any work was dealt with quickly and the ponies could concentrate on learning more. They could even help the Professors in grading the assignments for the other students, once the Professors explained what the assignments were supposed to teach.

Combined with book-walking, even if it was difficult to maintain for more than five minutes at a time for the Firsties, the ponies were rapidly outpacing the rest of their class in their understanding of what was being taught.

۸·_·۸

"Ambassador Seitz, it is good to see you," Blueblood said, greeting his visitor at the door to his office. In deference to their equal status, he had changed into human form. It was also a subtle acknowledgement that while the United Kingdom was a noteworthy nation, at this point in time, the true power in the world was the United States of America.

Raymond Seitz was the U.S. Ambassador to United Kingdom. Like most people in Britain, and the US, he was a pale pink, what the humans all insisted in calling white. He was slight-built man, with white hair, formerly black, and a receding hairline that left him mostly bald. He combed his hair over to provide a light covering. His, gold wire-frame glasses didn't hide his brown eyes.

"What brings you to my humble office?" he said guiding the man to a comfortable chair, and taking one opposite him, with a table to one side of their chairs. A tea set was already in place. "Would you like a cup?"

After serving the tea and placing the saucers with their cups on the table by their elbows, Blueblood waited inquisitively.

The man smiled and took an envelope out of coat pocket. "First, President Bush would like to invite Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight to the White House next month." He leaned over and handed the envelope to the other Ambassador. "Naturally, if that isn't possible, then perhaps in the Spring?"

Blueblood took the envelope in his magic and floated it to his desk. "I'm not sure the Princesses could manage another visit on such short notice, but knowing my Aunts, they would love another vacation. I will have this in Princess Celestia's hooves this afternoon."

The American smiled again. "If you could let me know their response as soon as possible, that would be excellent. We could arrange a State Visit reception in as little as a week."

Blueblood nodded. "You said, first?"

"Yes." He took on a more sombre mien. "Second, we would like to invite you to open an Embassy in Washington, the District of Columbia, as well as ask if we can open an embassy in Canterlot."

Blueblood looked down for a moment.

"While we do have plans to ask for an Embassy with your fine country, we hadn't set any timetable to do so, as yet. At the moment, our hooves are full dealing with certain activities in the United Kingdom and the rest of the Commonwealth." He paused. "I will bring this to the attention of my Aunts, perhaps it would be beneficial to move those plans forward to next spring." He raised an eyebrow as he studied the other's reaction.

"As for establishing an embassy in Canterlot, I'm afraid that we will have to put that off for a while." He leaned forward in his chair and looked intently at the Ambassador. "Let me assure you, it's not because we have reservations about your country, it's that there are certain . . . issues with crossing the portal."

Seitz looked at him questioningly.

"I'm not sure if you know this, but your universe exists at a certain energy state. That is, there is a fundamental level of energy in your universe that represents the absolute bottom. You cannot go below that level."

He stopped, thinking. "My universe exists at a slightly higher energy level." He paused again. "They are not that far apart, but the difference can be detected."

The American nodded, although whether that was to encourage him to continue talking, or to signify he knew this information, Blueblood didn't know.

"For us, the Equestrians, to be here is harmless. Our . . . extra . . . energy might slowly lower to match your local level, but it is inherently harmless to us. One way this appears is that here, we have two forms, human and pony. At home, we have only the one form. Our experts, and the United Kingdom's, are struggling to understand this."

He sighed. "The problem is, we don't know how being in our universe will affect your people. Will our higher energy levels slowly build up in your bodies, then level off until you return home? Or will you be unable to adapt and the energy will build up enough to interfere with your ability to cope, and you die. Or, will being in our universe cause damage to you such that when you return, your body will be unable to adapt back to normal, and, again, you die."

He stopped to see how the other ambassador was taking this. Not well, it appeared. It sounded like so much hot air, but he couldn't explain the issue better without bringing up magic. Unfortunately, the Witchery Statute of Secrecy prevented that.

"We are working with the British government, and volunteers, to test how long people may stay in our universe. So far, we have had volunteers for a period of only a year, and we have been unable to detect any ill effects in them. Except for those volunteers, no British staff have remained in Equestria for longer than six months."

Ambassador Seitz nodded in understanding, and frowned, thinking.

He wasn't sure how much Seitz believed him, but it was what it was — until the witches went public.

It would be a decade, or several, in any event, before any non-magical was allowed to stay in Equestria for more than a year. It might even be a century as they waited for the first volunteers to die of old age to make sure the exposure hadn't altered their lifespans.

"We would be willing to set up an Embassy with a rotating staff, keeping stays limited to six months, if you have no objections," the Seitz suggested.

Blueblood nodded in turn. "I will convey that suggestion to the Princesses and get back to you." It would take a bit of juggling to arrange things so that the Americans would assume the British coming through the portal and becoming ponies were actually ponies to begin with. And to prevent American Squibs or magicals from crossing. But it should be doable.

He was sure other nations would soon approach with similar requests. They might have to extend Canterlot a bit more around the mountain to create an "Embassy Row."

Seitz stared at him for a few moments, sighed, then said, "I heard a rumour that you told a UN official that you have the capability to 'glass' a country."

Ambassador Blueblood smiled gently. "You have the capability to use your nuclear missiles to glass any country in the world that you dislike." He took a sip of his tea. "You have, in fact, used them to destroy two cities in another country in a war forty years ago. Since then, you have threatened to use them against your enemies should they attack you.

"Why would you think we wouldn't have a similar capability?" He tilted his head questioningly. "Unlike humans, though, we are inherently peaceful and have no interest in expanding our territory, we have quite enough of our own that we haven't explored. Nor are my Aunts interested in ruling over any other than their ponies. The Princesses find Equestria quite enough to rule, why would they want to add more? It makes no sense to us." he continued. "Quite frankly, we haven't an army big enough to take over a country — our Guard is more of a police force — so it is a moot point to bring up.

"We are fascinated, however, by the rich diversity of your cultures on this world. You have explored areas of endeavour that simply never occurred to us to pursue. Equestria is more of a monoculture, so the different viewpoints expressed in your science, art, writing, and movies, are absolutely enthralling to us.

He straightened. "That being said, we will defend ourselves if attacked. Our history has told us that the only way to respond to an attack is to eliminate the threat. Trying to stave off a war by placating the aggressor has never worked.

"Recently, a nation invaded Equestria and attacked Canterlot, intent on capturing it, planning to rule once they captured the Princesses. They no longer exist except as scattered individuals, and their capital is in a wasteland." He leaned back in his chair. "I doubt your government would have done anything different."

Ambassador Seitz slowly nodded.

Blueblood smiled. "You can relay to President Bush and his military advisors that we haven't the slightest interest in taking over any country, or this world. It's simply too much work for too little gain. We will even sign a non-aggression pact, should you so desire."

Their meeting ended on a positive note a bit later.

۸-_-۸

"Your Queen would be willing to let changelings cross over?" Applejack said incredulously, pushing her Stetson back on her head.

"You did warn her how dangerous they are, right?" Rarity said as she shivered.

Rainbow Dash stared and shook her head in disbelief. "But, why?" she said plaintively.

Twilight was frowning, deep in thought after reading the proposed oath.

"As I said, Twilight," Castor said confidently, "This has the possibility of being greatly helpful to Her Majesty's government, and the United Kingdom. Plus, it would have a direct and immediate benefit to Equestria by decreasing the number of changelings your Guards have to worry about harming your citizens."

"But they're dangerous," Fluttershy whispered, hiding behind Rainbow Dash.

Castor nodded. "Yes, they are," he said agreeably. "However, based on what I've read, they are downright mediocre compared to some of the creatures in the wizarding world — such as lethifolds, dementors, and vampires."

The mares all shuddered. They had all seen the Fantastic Creatures and Where to Find Them book. They were extremely pleased that none of those creatures existed in their world

"Yes, compared to . . . those . . . monsters," Twilight said coming out of her thoughts with another full-body shiver, "I suppose changelings are rather pedestrian."

He shrugged his wings, "They are certainly more intelligent and easier to bargain with in most cases. Besides, as long as a queen or proto-queen doesn't go through the portal, there isn't the opportunity for them to become a long-term problem even if they manage to find a loophole in the oath. Plus, we will screen the changelings as they go through to prevent that occurrence."

Twilight stared down at the Friendship Map Table, her brow furrowed, obviously back in deep thought. Finally, several minutes later, she looked back up. "Alright, I'll back your plan to the Princesses." She sighed. "It isn't fair to condemn them to a slow death because their own queen has abandoned them and ponies are afraid of them," she added softly. She glanced at the paper on the map table in front of her. "And this oath seems rather comprehensive and should protect you quite well."

Then she grinned. "Plus, think of everything we'll learn by having a cooperative pair of changelings to examine and question!"

۸-_-۸

At their next Double-potions class, Slughorn intercepted Sweetie Belle and directed her to a workstation separate from the others and at the back of the classroom. Once she was seated, he cast an air-purifying charm — like the bubble-head charm, but on an area instead of a person. Then he cast a shield-charm around her.

He smiled broadly. "There, that should keep you safe," he said.

Sweetie Belle gave him a sour look. She didn't like being singled-out like this. But, on the other hoof, considering the calamities inflicted on the class last year, and last week, perhaps she didn't have a good reason to complain.

The rest of the herd gave her sympathetic looks, but they, like the rest of the class, were relieved that someone was finally taking precautions.

There were no explosions, melted cauldrons, or any other unusual accidents. There were potions that bubbled when they shouldn't, and didn't when they should. Others turned colours that were not mentioned in the instructions for this potion.

In short, it was what would be considered a normal class for any other group.

For this group of Slytherins and Gryffindors, it was a unique experience, eerily like their previous potion-brewing classs, but not the same.

The only thing that might have been considered unusual was that Sweetie Belle's potion was among the first finished. She bottled it in a vial, and carefully ensured that her station was safe to leave.

Smiles broke out and heads nodded happily as they saw her headed towards the Professor's desk to hand it in. Everyone quietly congratulated themselves on having escaped another "Sweetie Belle incident." A few of the more exuberant ones were exchanging high-fives or slaps on the backs.

Harry saw her swat at a fly as she passed him. Dean Thomas, a table away from away, was giving his thick, green, soupy mixture a worried, puzzled look. It was supposed to be blue and thin.

Harry heard a tiny ting as the insect hit the inside edge of Dean's cauldron, followed by a just-as-tiny plop as it fell inside the potion.

Dean's frown deepened. He had seen something fall inside his cauldron.

The potion turned silvery, Harry saw, and he heard a faint hiss.

Dean grabbed his wand in a panic to turn off the flame, but instead hit the cauldron with it. Abruptly, there was a tremendous WHOOSH! A cloud of orangish . . . something . . . exploded across the room.

Whatever had been in the cauldron was now blown throughout the class — no one was spared. Everyone was splashed with at least a little bit.

There was a complete, stunned silence. Even Slughorn just stood there, blinking. Then the swearing began — mostly under their breaths so they wouldn't get in trouble. Except Apple Bloom.

"Oh, ponyfeathers!" she exclaimed loudly. She had just been about to decant her potion into a vial. Dean's inadvertent dispersal of his cauldron's contents had contaminated everyone else's potion, except for the very few who had already sealed their vials.

That woke Slughorn out of his shock. "I don't know what you said, young lady," scolded the professor, "but judging from your tone, it's something you shouldn't have said, Two points!"

Harry could see Apple Bloom's lips moving as she swore some more, but this time quietly and to herself.

Then the effects started to make themselves evident. It appeared rather mild, at first — their skin slowly became rougher, more rigid. Within five minutes their skins had transformed into scales — almost like fish, but appearing more textured and dragon-like.

Seamus, a daring and stupid student that day, by Harry's reckoning, grabbed his silver knife and stabbed his arm. The scales didn't scratch.

Scales that were quite tough, it seemed.

They were also rather slippery, as everyone discovered when they went to pick something up only to drop it almost immediately. They had to grip things tightly. Quite a few students shattered their vials before someone got smart and started casting the unbreakable on their tools before picking them up.

Apparently, their strength went up, too.

Still, at dinner time, there were a lot of dropped utensils and goblets. There were just as many that were mangled, twisted, or crushed before people got the hang of balancing their grip with not leaving fingerprints in the metal.

Professor Snape looked inordinately pleased at having missed out on this particular incident. He had also made it a point to acquire the memories of both Dean and Sweetie as they left the classroom.

The twins were obviously impressed and had managed to talk Dean into sharing his memory with them. Galleons may have changed hands.

It would be a race between the twins and Snape as to who would decipher it first.

Harry was betting on the twins; they didn't have papers to grade and weren't shy about skipping classes if need be. They were also more willing to experiment with spells and potions, a risk most adult wizards would abhor.

This time, the potion didn't start to wear off until the next morning. Quantity of exposure didn't have that great an effect.

۸·_·۸

Author's Note: Sir Chaos Omega, also from FIMfiction, contributed the idea about the US trying to horn-in on the UK's pony-monopoly.