Solicitor Lin Yueshi, Esquire, looked at the odd group in his office. His gaze lingered on Pinkie Pie’s very pink hair and Rainbow Dash’s spread of colours. Their clothes appeared to make them upper-middle class. Applejack’s undersized Stetson hat seemed to throw him off a bit. He barely noticed Apple Bloom’s pink bow.
“So,” he said softly, “You wish me to procure on your behalf as many properties as possible, centred on the playpark at the end of Magnolia Road?” He cut his eyes to the open briefcases on his desk, one with gold ingots and the other with gems. “After converting these items to pounds because you have no bank accounts or other funds available?”
Twilight nodded happily, “Precisely!”
He stared at them a moment longer, then tilted his head from side to side, peering at their clothes and out the two windows in his corner office. “Alright,” he finally said, “Where’s the camera?”
The Equestrians exchanged puzzled glances — except Pinkie Pie. She suddenly held up a camera. “Right here,” she said, as a brilliant purple flash filled the room.
“Gah! Pinkie!” Twilight said severely, amid the grumbling of the others. Prince Blueblood gave her an intense disapproving glare.
Pinkie ignored them, of course, and handed the solicitor the photograph ejected from her camera.
Harry put his hand over his eyes. The camera, while normal for Equestria, looked like something out of a 1930’s film. By Earth standards, it was an antique. Except it delivered instant pictures.
Blinking at the spots that now edged his vision, just as they did for the Equestrians, the solicitor said, “I mean the telly, for the prank show you’re filming.” He glanced at the picture in his hand and dropped it on the desktop. He gestured at the briefcases, “There’s no way anyone would walk around with a briefcase of gold. It’s far too heavy for a man, much less a woman, to casually carry. The top layer is probably lead with gold paint and everything below it is plastic. And those gems are probably all glass.” He looked intently at Twilight. “No one in their right mind walks around with several million pounds in gems without a massive security detail.”
Prince Blueblood stiffened, as he looked down his nose at the solicitor. “I assure you that both the gold and the gems are genuine! Both came directly from the Castle Vaults.” His refined and cultured accent marked him as definitely an aristocrat. He leaned over and slammed the briefcases’ lids closed. “Take us to a jeweller! That will prove it!” He glanced at Twilight who was nodding in agreement.
Lin studied him carefully for a moment. The man, introduced simply as Blue Blood, had been looking down his nose at Lin during the entire meeting, saying nothing, but his bearing was very much that of an aristocrat. And Harry knew that while it was traditional in British and Chinese families for the men to be in charge, it was clear that Twilight was calling the shots in spite of her obvious youth. The fact that Blueblood had glanced at her after his announcement and checked for her approval proved it, if anyone was watching. Which the solicitor was.
“Alright, let’s do that.” He reached over, closed the lid, and secured it with the odd buckle it used. He grabbed the handle of the briefcase with the gold ingots. Harry could see that the solicitor thought Twilight was bluffing. The man stared, stunned, when he could barely get the briefcase to stand on end.
Applejack tsked, and took the briefcase from him, lifting it with only a minor strain. Then she closed the other briefcase and picked it up. Pinkie was in a corner of the office doing arm-bends with a barbell with weights that had the numbers “40” stamped on them. Seeing that Lin was staring at her, she dropped them to the floor with a resounding — wham! — that indicated the numbers were not fake.
He gave the other Equestrians an outraged look, then turned back to Pinkie Pie. His lips were tight and Harry could see he was about to tear into Pinkie for damaging his office floor. What he saw, though, was nothing except Pinkie Pie smiling innocently at him — no barbells, no damaged floor. He stared, frowning for a moment at where the barbell had hit the floor. With a puzzled look he stepped around his desk and led them into the reception room. “Judy, I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”
۸- ̬ -۸
The jeweller picked up the phone and dialled. “Good morning, Charles, what’s the current rate for gold? And the discount? Thanks. I’ll explain later.” He hung up the phone and looked up at his friend.
The Equestrians stared. The thought that information was so easily acquired through such a small device was overwhelming. It was one thing to hear about such a device, and another to see it in action. In addition, he had said he was calling an associate in London, a distance that they knew was over a day’s round-trip away for non-pegasi in Equestria. And even the fastest Pegasus — excluding Rainbow Dash, of course — would take at least an hour, if not two, to make that same round-trip. The convenience of such quick communications, as well as the business and military aspects of it in getting things done, was not lost on any of them.
“I’m not an assayer, Lin, but these,” the jeweller waved his hand at the dozen ingots on his counter and the briefcase beside them, “appear to be twenty-four carat gold. The current rate, with discount, is two hundred pounds a troy ounce. These ingots are one and a eighth ounces, an unusual size, so that makes them . . .” he turned to a calculator and punched the buttons, “two hundred twenty-five pounds each. And there are one thousand and sixty-six, bringing the total to two hundred forty thousand, seven hundred and fifty pounds.” He sighed and took off his glasses. He pulled out a cloth from behind the counter and started cleaning the lenses.
“I can’t buy them all, I simply don’t have the funding, but I’ll take ten of these for two thousand, two hundred and fifty pounds. The rest you’ll have to take to The Gold Bullion Company.” By including the discount rate, he protected himself in case the ingots were not as pure as he thought. Not to mention that he avoided any transportation costs that normally applied.
He looked over at the other briefcase. “These gems are of unusually high quality. And I estimate that you have over 20 million pounds worth in the briefcase, assuming they are all of the same quality as the ones I examined.”
He separated twenty diamonds from the handful of gems he had examined. “I can give you twenty thousand pounds for these. The rest you’ll have to take to G. F. Williams unless you want to tote them around and sell them individually.”
Twilight looked at Applejack. Applejack shrugged. She turned back to the stunned-looking solicitor. “That sounds reasonable to me,” she said. “We do need some immediate spending money, so what would be the best way to do this?”
Lin blinked slowly, thinking. “I think that we need two cheques, James. One for the gems and one for the ingots.” He turned back to Twilight. “We’ll cash the smaller cheque and open an account with the other.”
۸- ̬ -۸
Back in his office, Lin handed Twilight forty-three fifty-Pound notes. Before she could take the bundle, though, Pinkie popped up beside them and grabbed it. Smiling broadly she tucked it into her hair. Twilight rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. The solicitor, on the other hand, stared at Pinkie, trying to figure out how she had done that.
“I will set up your business account with the other cheque later this morning. And this afternoon I’ll see about selling the gems and gold,” the solicitor said, still staring at Pinkie who was now wandering around the office and peering behind the pictures on the wall. “With luck, I’ll have that all finished by supper and can start on acquiring the properties you desire.”
“Good,” said Twilight. “We need a place to live immediately, so I thought we could offer the three houses closest to the playpark double their value if we can move in immediately. The owners must move out immediately, taking their personal possessions, of course, but leaving the furniture. They have to move out by Sunday evening. We’ll pay all expenses, of course, until they find a new home.”
Lin stared at her. “I’m not sure we can process the sale that fast. And I’m not sure we’ll find any takers, either. Not on such short notice.”
She shrugged, “Then offer triple to the first one to agree. You can go to quadruple if you feel it’s necessary. We need a house to occupy on Monday! Getting the paperwork isn’t nearly as important a rush, as long as we are physically in the house on Monday.”
“Alright,” he said. “If I can get the gems processed fast enough, I’ll offer the owners the extra amount in cash.”
“Excellent!” Twilight wriggled happily in place. “Now for the next part.” She nodded at the aristocrat beside her. “Prince Blueblood is the ambassador for our home country, Equestria, to the United Kingdom. We need you to tell us how we can establish diplomatic relations.” She smiled broadly.
He stared at her dumfounded. “Prince? Ambassador?” He turned his stare to the Blueblood. He sat down in his chair behind his desk and just stared blankly at the wall behind them.
After a moment’s silence, “Uh, Twilight? I think ya broke him,” said Applejack
Pinkie giggled and the fillies and Harry exchanged amused looks. Pinkie held up a paper bag and twisted closed the opening. Then she blew into the bag and made it bulge. She held it in one hand while getting ready to pop the bag with her other hand.
The solicitor shook his head and called out the open office door. “Judy? Come here a moment.”
Pinkie gave him a disappointed look and dropped the paper bag.
“Yes, sir?” came the quick answer as the brunette stepped into the office.
He pointed at the ingot-laden briefcase beside Applejack. “Take that briefcase to The Gold Bullion Company in London. Do not let it out of your sight. It has one thousand and fifty-six twenty-four-carat gold ingots. Do not leave without a cheque or verified deposit. The current rate with discount is two hundred pounds per troy ounce. The ingots are one and one-eighth ounces each. You can expect approximately two hundred thirty-seven thousand, six hundred pounds. If it is less than that by two thousand or more, call me. Have them wire transfer it to this account, if possible.” He quickly copied the information from the bank form and gave it to her.
“And call Midland Security, have them send an armoured lorry for you as soon as possible, with two extra guards as an escort. Offer a bonus if they get here before ten.”
He turned back to Twilight. “In the interests of speed, I’ll transfer the funds for the gems to our corporate account, here, instead of your new account, as Judy will with the ingots. Later, I’ll transfer the remaining gem money over. That way we don’t have to worry about someone at the bank slowing things down because of such rapid activity in a new account.”
She and Blueblood nodded their agreement.
Eyes wide, the secretary just nodded as she took the paper. She walked over to Applejack, reached for the briefcase, and then failed to lift it even an inch. It did wobble slightly as she leaned back down against it in reaction to its failure to move.
“Have the guards move it for you, Judy.”
Numbly, she said, “Yes, sir,” staring in surprise at the immovable object.
Applejack chuckled. “Here, let meh move it to by the door.” With only a little strain, she picked up the briefcase and set it in the reception area by the door, and out of their immediate way.
The secretary stared, amazed. “Got a bit of muscle to her, doesn’t she?” Judy said in a low voice.
Harry laughed, “You should see her hauling a wagon-load of apples by herself! Makes it look like she’s pulling a kid’s wagon.”
The solicitor and the secretary turned and stared at Harry in bewildered disbelief. Why would a woman be pulling a wagon by herself?
“That’s my sister!” said Apple Bloom proudly as she picked up the briefcase of gems with both hands, struggling, and moved it opposite to the ingots.
Lin stared at the girl. He knew how heavy that case was. He’d tried to move it on James’ counter and it had barely budged. Harry knew it had to weigh at least as much as the little filly did, which, if he hadn’t known her earth-pony strength, would have stunned him, too.
The secretary stepped back to her desk and started dialling the security company. When she was done with that call, she would call the bullion company and warn them she was on her way with a significant amount of gold to exchange.
The solicitor shook his head slightly to clear his thoughts. He spoke slowly, “First, I will have to conduct a bit of research into that field. Even with my associate, Mr. Zhao Fuxiao, doing the conveyances, it will take several days. And I have current clients that I cannot put off.”
Twilight exchanged looks with Blueblood. He raised an eyebrow. She shrugged. She turned back to Lin. “The property is of higher priority right now, so that will have to do.”
He paused, then said, “I’ll also need to see your bona fides. I’ve never heard of this country of yours . . . Equestria? And I wonder why you can’t do money transfers from your banks to ours instead of dealing with gold and gems. Not that it really matters if you prefer to do business this way instead.”
“That’s a bit of a story. I think we’ll need to show you before you’ll believe us. It’s not far, I assure you.”
“Alright,” Lin said, standing up, “Give me a moment to retrieve my car and I’ll follow yours.”
Twilight looked at him, puzzled. “We don’t have a car. We walked.”
The solicitor stared at her. “If James hadn’t assured me the ingots and gems were real, I’d think you were trying to prank me.”
Prince Blueblood spoke up. “I believe we should first get our financial arrangements in order,” he said fussily. “Once those are settled, and the initial houses purchased, we can turn our attention to establishing an embassy. Today, Mr. Yueshi can get the gems appraised and sold. Tomorrow, he can come to the playpark at the end of Magnolia Road and we can establish our bona fides, as he put it.”
“Excellent suggestion, Blueblood! Is that acceptable, Mr. Yueshi?” asked Twilight.
He nodded.
Harry suspected that with the amount of pounds the Equestrians were handing around the solicitor, he could easily put up with their eccentricities. And even if they were pranking him, the four gold ingots they had given him would more than pay for his time today and tomorrow.
“Judy,” he said, “Call Midland back and tell them to send two armoured lorries, I need to make a trip to G. F. Williams in London with this other briefcase.”
The Equestrians spent the rest of the morning exploring Little Whinging’s businesses — including an 11:20 AM viewing of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in the Little Whinging Cinemas. Thelma and Louise followed it at 2:05 PM.
Cultural differences aside, to say they were stunned at the experience was an understatement. They had missed lunch, but had gorged themselves on popcorn, candy, and sodas, instead.
Dinner was back in Equestria at Apple Bloom’s home.
“Hey, Sweetie Belle?” Harry said after they had helped clear the table and do the dishes, “Do you know that gem finding spell your sister uses?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I was thinking, maybe we could dig up a few gems before it gets dark? You heard how much the jeweller said the briefcase was worth. I thought that maybe we could dig up a dozen or so and trade them in for spending money of our own. We’d probably only get a hundred bits or so each to last all year at the school, but it’d be our bits to spend on what we want!”
“Oooo! That’s a great idea! Ice cream whenever we want. Yes!” Scootaloo pumped her foreleg in anticipation.
It wasn’t that simple, unfortunately. Wielding a shovel with your mouth was hard! And while Harry could levitate a shovel, slamming it into the ground was another story entirely. Even using his magic just to hold the shovel steady was a trial — he’d bashed himself in the face more than once when the shovel wobbled as he jumped his fore-hooves on the shovel’s spade.
Two hours of spell casting and digging later, they had fifteen small gems barely as big as the ones the Equestrians had given the solicitor to sell.
“Well, this is disappointing,” said Apple Bloom. “Jest a bunch of small gems.”
“Eh.” Said Scootaloo. “If they’re as nice as the others from the Royal Vault, we’ll still get a couple of hundred or so bits for all of them!”
“I’d take even fifty bits,” Harry said. “It’s better than nothing!” He had never had any money he could call his own.
Sweetie Belle sighed, “Guess we should head on home, then, it’s getting dark.” She started walking back towards Sweet Apple Acres. Just as they reached the edge of the field they had been scanning, Harry said, “Hey, just for luck, how about one more time?” The unicorn filly sighed, but closed her eyes and built the spell in her mind before releasing it and looking around for any tail-tell glows. To her amazement, she saw a very bright spot just barely into the treeline beside her. “Hey, look!” called Apple Bloom, pointing at another spot behind Sweetie Belle that was just as bright.
Based on how bright they were, the four ponies figured they had found two huge groups of gems! A few minutes of digging later, they had two large rocks sitting in front of them. “Those don’t look like gems to me,” Scootaloo said, discouraged.
Sweetie Belle snorted. “Give ‘em a good stomp, Apple Bloom!"
Shrugging, Apple Bloom reared up and slammed her hooves on the larger of the two. There was a loud CRACK, and the stone fractured. A second slam of her hoof, and it shattered to reveal four purple gems, each as large as one of their hooves!
Sweetie Belle laughed. “Rarity is always telling me about finding bunches of gems inside hollow rocks. Sometimes it’s lots of little gems, which she prefers, sometimes it isn’t.”
A repeat performance on the smaller rock yielded three large red gems. That gave them a total of seven large red/purple gems and fifteen small gems.The seven big ones were almost as big as their hooves.
With the seven big ones in hoof, they were happy with their haul. Harry was especially happy about not having to ask Twilight for spending bits.
After a bath in the big tub in the barn — and miracle of miracles, no tree sap was involved — they were ready for a sleepover in Apple Bloom’s room.
۸- ̬ -۸
As planned, Lin showed up at eight in the morning at the park. Harry and the fillies were playing on the climbing bars where it seemed the fillies were deliberately trying to put Harry in the position of looking up their dresses. The fact that they hadn’t underwear to wear, yet, made the situation all that more embarrassing for him.
As ponies, fillies and mares didn’t seem to care about keeping their privates covered at all times with their tails — it was the colts and stallions who got all flustered and upset should their sheaths fail to hide their privates adequately. Some mares, and some fillies, tried to get those failures to take place as often as possible, enjoying both the stallion’s discomfort and the thrill at seeing what normally was carefully hidden. And laughing at the stallions’ failure to control themselves.
In Equestria, Harry had gotten used to seeing things like that and usually ignored it as much as his filly friends did. If he accidentally saw the fillies’ privates, so what? Just so long as he kept himself under control and in-sheath, things were fine. And the fillies were his friends, so they didn’t play such mean games.
It was different, for some reason, now that they were girls. He found himself blushing and looking away. Which they found funny. And led them to create more of those situations. In some ways, it would have been better if they had not been wearing clothes at all!
Anyway, he noticed Twilight walking over to meet the solicitor, followed by two transformed guards and Applejack. Rarity had stayed back in Equestria making notes on the fashions she had seen the day before. Dash was “. . . stretching my wings,” as she put it — she had really hated not flying yesterday. Pinkie was baking and Fluttershy was, well, being Fluttershy — hiding with her animal friends.
“Hey, fillies, he’s here,” Harry said.
They dropped back to the ground and the herd started walking over to intercept the adults. They were, after all, the most expert at using the portal. And Harry, being a person from Earth, would have the best chance of keeping the man calm when he first saw Equestria.
“I sold the gems to G. F. Williams, provisionally, for thirty million pounds, the exact amount will depend upon the results of the gems’ actual valuations. Considering it was Friday afternoon, they expected to complete the valuations by Tuesday. They did ask me where these gems originated. I told them that my client had acquired them over many years and was now liquidating their holdings. They did advance me a bank cheque for one million pounds, which I added to your business account at Barclay’s. I kept out five hundred thousand for conveyances this weekend.
“And I secured your first property at Eleven Magnolia Road yesterday evening . . . .”
۸- ̬ -۸
And this continues to be almost uniquely satisfying. (I can probably count on one hand the number of MLP first-contact stories that satisfy like this... and they're all in my recommendations group.)
Oh boy... that solicitor is so getting his memory modified.
Chapter is as good as always, I can wait to see solicitor's reaction when he gets into Equestria.
Oh this is delicious! MORE! WE MUST HAVE MORE!
Whoops. Well, at least he has friends now, and Hogwarts is where he'll be spending most of his time.
Still, the wizarding world is going to have a riot when they finally catch up to the fact that a magical world -not just community, world- is making contact with the muggle governments.
Makes me wonder how long it'll take for them...
This is hilarious, and perfectly reasonable. The wizards seem to have no idea where Harry was, or that the ponies have shown up. That's why I thought the Hogwarts letter was automated magic in some way, otherwise whatever wizards were involved with writing and sending the letters would notice and ask 'where the hell is Equestria?'.
Re-reading the interlude, it's possible that Dumbledore's awesome 'pay no attention to Harry Potter' spell is causing this instead.
I do wonder exactly how long this is going to run before the wizards show up. Considering how little attention the Minister of Magic seems to pay to muggle dealings, it could be after the embassy gets set up. Or, if there is spectacular incompetence, when Harry tells the wizards 'No CMC, no deal'.
Also, is Equestrian magic leaking through? Random uncut gems that look like rocks aren't unheard of, and could be easily overlooked, but finding several so far from any gem mine is bizarre even if they are semi-precious types. Much less geodes, and I'd assume they can tell gems from glass.
9020766
I'm unsure what you mean. In MLP, all the gems found are already shaped and beveled, and look polished. And as we saw when Rarity got her Cutie Mark, stuffed inside other rocks and not necessarily in a mine. That's what I'm going with.
So I looked up Magnolia road to see it that house belonged to anyone important. It doesn't, but now I have a much better picture of what the park looks like from that one movie scene where Harry waits for the Night Bus there and briefly envisions Sirius.
Also, I have to say, this story started out a little slow but has quickly become a sprawling juggernaut with so many layers of long term planning and steps for extra realism. Kudos.
9020766
Im pretty sure they found the geodes on the Equestrian side.
Also though, there's a surprising amount of gems that can come out of ground looking like a Zelda cosplayer lost her glass rupees, facetted and shiny. Look up some gem hunter videos on youtube, its astounding.
9020777
And let's not forget the Diamond Dog episode, Spike and Rarity found many of them.
Yet another wonderful chapter. I'm loving the way you're going off the tracks right from the beginning.
9020796
Nobody important!? How can you dismiss Miss Marple so easily? Agatha Christie would be so disappointed!
9020766
It depends, the wizards aren't blind but at the same time they won't notice unless someone makes alot of noise and so far the Equestrians have kept things quiet. If they start showing off magic in public that will definitely draw attention otherwise they are safe until they make contact with the Prime Minister who will almost certainly contact the Minister of Magic to try and get some answers.
I've thought about this and either someone knows or it's a plot hole. There is no way the letter could have gotten to Harry otherwise especially with an accurate address. If it got there through the simple power of owls then it should have still had the address for the Dursleys.
9020874
...you must know more about the series than me. For all my googling, the only result I can find for "where does miss Marple live" is "the fictitious village of St. Mary Mead." I can't find anything linking her to "11 Magnolia road".
9020908
Just her name and description. And Yueshi translates from Chinese into "Lunar Eclipse"
9020897
I think you totally forgot the first book. Letters were send with tremendous frequency and all of them had extremely accurate address no matter where Harry moved. The last letter was delivered by Hagrid, who didn't know Harry's exact position inside the shack before he entered the shack. And he bad at spelling, so I pretty sure, that address simply generates at the moment when someone takes envelope in hands.
9020705
That's what non-disclosure agreements are for. If he keeps his mouth shut until the conditions stipulated in the contract are met, likely along the lines of the successful completion of first contact with the British Crown, PM and eventually the public at large, It'll be too late for the MoM to do anything without causing immediately problems for themselves with the non-magical government in the short term, and probably a few long-term problems as well.
9020913
No I looked into that and as is usually the case, Harry is the exception not the rule. There is no explanation for the accurate address only that it is not the norm. The best theory I've found is that Dumbledore was tracking Harry and just wanted to mess with the Dursleys which, to me, seems the most plausible explanation.
9020933
Yeah pretty much this, as long as the Equestrians agree to comply with their laws the Ministry has no reason to interfere. Worst case scenario is an epic misunderstanding.
9020897
It never says in HP how the letters are addressed. I assumed by magic, as I can't see either McGonagall or Dumbledore sitting down and addressing the hundreds of letters every year for all the students (or thousand, if you take JK at her word), or waiting until the Dursleys stop driving at night to get started, either. With a thousand letters, even at one a minute, you're looking at nearly two days' non-stop work. Heck, even just reading the addresses for a thousand letters would take you most of a day. Never mind actually thinking about what you just read.
If the magic is addressing the letters, then it stands to reason (there a great SF short story based on punning "stands to reason") that the owls would be able to deliver Harry's letter without any of the Wizards paying any attention unless there was a problem. Which explains the flood of letters Harry receives in canon. There's a charm the indicates if the letter is delivered and read. If the letter is destroyed after delivery without being read, then someone would be notified -- And Dumbledore would not delegate Harry's letter to anyone but himself if there were a problem. And I can certainly see him unleashing the deluge of letters, simply because he knows the Dursleys.
9020934
Except that we have no Canon evidence that Harry's letter wasn't the norm. We hear about others getting their letters, but no-one in the books ever mentions how theirs was addressed. Only that they were received. Heck, Canon never even explains how Hermione got her letter and learned how to get to Diagon Alley. That McGonagall was the one to personally deliver it is actually pure fannon. A Fannon that is based purely on that Dumbledore went to deliver Tom Riddle's letter and explain about the wizarding world, since Dumbledore was Deputy Head at the time, and that McGonagall is Deputy Head at the present.
9020777
Weren't they looking on the Earth side of the portal?
Oh, on a second read it seems they were in Equestria when that happened. I missed the transition.
As for the letters, I had always assumed the Hogwarts letters were generated and addressed by an enchantment somewhere. Several other fanfiction stories had a Founders created artifact specifically for detecting wizards of the appropriate age and sending notice. HP class sizes seem to be in the 100-200 range, so it's not impossible that somebody took a day or two to create and send letters by direct magic, but gathering all those names and addresses? That's non-trivial work and drudgery, so it's exactly what I'd expect to see automated.
Most of the letters Harry got seemed like they could easily be Dumbledore or Minerva screwing with the Dursleys, but the first couple seemed normal.
9020939
Except the MoM would have no jurisdiction or power over them. Why would the Equestrians care what the ministry says?
They are not subjects of the wizards. They are setting up a valid embassy to a valid government and establishing peaceful correspondence. They can claim sovereignty over their embassy and are in no way bound to the laws of the wizards. Even if the ministry claimed they were magical creature, therefore under their umbrella, the ponies need only give the metaphorical middle finger and carry on as they please.
9020959
We know it's not the norm based on how letters are usually handled. Wizards from wizard families receive their letter by owl, wizards from non-wizard families have the letter delivered in person by someone who can explain things to them. Harry however is from a non-wizard family that is already aware of the wizard world so his letter was sent by normal post.
Harry is an exception because the Dursleys are the only ones who would have known what the letter was and have reason to keep Harry from getting it thus we can deduce that Dumbledore took special measures to make sure Harry got the letter such as letting the Durselys know through a scary accurate address that they know where Harry is and making sure that there is no way Harry doesn't get the letter through more aggressive means.
9020991
Because they want a relationship with the wizards, if they want Harry to be able to go to Hogwarts they need to play nice with the wizards same as with the muggles.
I'm working on the assumption that the Equestrians won't want to commit political suicide right off the bat.
9020984
This is actually a canon thing. There is a magic quill that detects new born wizards and writes their names into a magic book so that the school knows who and when to send letters to. The book itself won't allow a name to be written unless the child shows sign of magical potential so their names might not be added until later in life which was the case with Neville. The book is so accurate that no letter has ever been sent to a squib.
Quill of Acceptance
Only seen once in the case of one Tom Riddle, and the only other source is Word of God, and therefore dismissable. That it's made its way into the Fanon Lexicon does not automatically make it Canon, and authors are free to reinterpret the actual Canon information however they wish.
Further, Harry's letter would have been impossible to deliver through normal post, as there was no postage stamp, and the address was invalid, in that the lettering was centered, that it was lacking a valid postcode for the intended address, as well as lacking a return address which, while not necessarily required, would have prevented the UK Postal Service from returning it so that it could be properly addressed and delivered.
9021000
There's a difference between a friendly relation and offering your throat. The ponies have already stated that while learning human magic would be nice, it is something they can take or leave, depending on Harry's decisions.
Let's face it, the wizards' attitude of being better than anyone or anything else is going to bite them in the rear here. How long do you think it would take Twilight to neutralize the threat of obliviation, one way or another? If it came down to force, the muggle government would side with the ponies, as would the goblins and the centaurs. Heck, a good deal of muggleborn would as well. The ministry simply doesn't have the leverage, manpower, or resources to dominate in the manner that they are used too.
9021015
Which let me just say is bullshit. She wrote the story so I'm pretty sure what she says is more important that what you think. Not to mention the entire god damn story is word of god.
It may not have been delivered through normal means but it was placed inside the post box with the rest of the mail. One theory suggests this was Hagrid's doing but it's not clear if he was involved with the letters from the start though you could make the assumption based on two quotes.
9021013
Citation needed*
9021020
For god sake I'm not saying bend the knee, just an agreement that they won't break the law unless they absolutely have to. My god your idea of ponies make them seem more aggressive than humans. Not to mention you are really quick to jump into a worst case hypothetical just to prove your point.
9021043
Quill of Acceptance
9021036
Word of God
That doesn't disprove my point that Harry's letter wasn't delivered through the Royal Post. You did get one point wrong though; The Dursleys have a letter-flap on their front door, not a box. Vernon even makes a point of staying home from work one day during the week to take a couple planks and nail it closed (using a piece of fruitcake Petunia hands him at one point).
9021060
Like I said, ignoring Word of God is bullshit. You can do it but I won't agree with it.
Yeah you're right, I saw it referred to as a post box somewhere so that probably confused me.
Still it's more likely someone like Hagrid delivered it rather than an owl pushing it through the flap instead of taking it straight to Harry like it normally would have.
9021052
No Appearance in the Canon Material. Possible Fanon material, and open to interpretation.
9021071
Word of God is oftentimes Great Fanon Fodder, but what you have to remember is that Most people who take part in a fandom don't religiously follow or hang off of every word of the creator(s) of any given series. If they hear anything at all, most people usually go "Oh, well that's interesting." and move on. That's why Word of God is so hotly contested and debated, and why by and large what appears in the actual source material is considered the only indisputable Canon information. Further, more often than not these days creators will take seriously posed "Word Of God" Inquiries by Fans as an opportunity to wind people up or make a joke out of a subject. Just look up some of Lauren Faust's old Twitter threads archived on EqD for example. This is another contributing factor to why many take Word of God with a generous portion of salt.
From my own observations, most Fanfiction authors of any given series who actually take the time to world-build around the Source Canon will often cherry-pick through Word of God statements for what works for the story they are trying to tell while leaving the rest as non-entities for that particular headcanon.
9021073
It still comes down to the fact that we simply do not know how the letters are addressed, outside of the original post sent to Harry. However, in all subsequent instances, the owls seem to know exactly where to deliver their letters, even when the subject has moved. For example, in Half Blood Prince, the owls know to deliver the letters to the Weasley residence for both Harry and Hermione. They knew the new address that day! All that canon mentions is "Harry took the letter addressed to him." It is entirely possible that the letters from Hogwarts are THAT specifically addressed, there is absolutely nothing in canon to refute it.
And, if fact, if you think on it, it makes sense that any magic that automatically detected a child's location, would do so to more than just the building in which they reside. Many large apartment buildings/dormotories (which IS a single address), require that any mail be addressed to the proper apartment/room or it is refused. It would be simpler (using computer coding as an example) to make the addressing program spit out the ROOM the child is in rather than build in all the complicated code to to determine: A) is this a single residence? (Y/N). IF no, is this a house where one or more rooms are being rented out? (Y/N) If no, is this an apartment building? (Y/N), and so forth to cover every conceivable possibility. Much easier, to say: specify the room the child is located in and work your way out on the address. (room/apartment/building/town, etc.).
9021103
Not saying it isn't, just pointing out that there's nothing Canon telling us that it is. When holding a discussion over world building first one must weed through and separate what is Indisputably Canon, what is Generally Accepted Fanon, and what has been invented wholesale to suit an author's headcanon to fill in the blanks left over between the two.
That the Quill of Acceptance falls under the middle category doesn't make it invalid as a Headcanon.
9021126
Yeah but this is ultimately what you think is canon. The rest of us are allowed our own views of what is and is not canon. I personally would prefer to trust the views of the author over some random fan.
The most worrying thing for the Equestrians is where the Earth side of the portal is and that they started building stuff there. I'm not sure how it is in the UK, but I know that in the USA, doing that sort of thing in a public park without getting proper permits would quickly have all involved arrested if they did not stop and/or leave quietly. Followed by whatever was being constructed torn down, and not in a gentle way.
9021129
Just so long as you're aware that we are also entitled to our headcanons and are not trying to foist your own on others. Like I said before, separate what is Indisputably Canon from that which isn't, and when reading a story by someone with a headcanon that conflicts or contradicts your own, determine if the conflicts are over matters that are Indisputably Canon, or over information that can be ambiguously taken as Fanon, including what you've heard as Word of God, but that they may either dismiss as contradictory to where they want the story to go or are entirely ignorant of the relevant WoG statements. If it's the former, then by all means point out the inaccuracies. However remember that some series have plot holes large enough to drive a Death Star through, and if it's the latter then either accept it for what it is or expect to be hotly contested when you try to open discussion using your own conflicting headcanon as a benchmark.
9021148
I'm just stating my opinion, it's people like you and Dogger attacking me because it doesn't line up perfectly with your own views.
9021138
I believe any building they have done has been on the Equestrian side.
9021044
First of all, there is no god except Discord, and I'm sure he'd agree with my viewpoint.
Secondly, my point was the ministry has neither the authority nor the influence to dictate the ponies' actions. This is not aggression on the ponies behalf, merely acknowledging their rights of self sovereignty. Aggression or demanding an adherence to the statute of secrecy could go spectacularly wrong for the wizards.
Sorry, it took so long to reply. I trying to get my chihuahua to leave me alone long enough for me to write my next chapter, but he is being distracting.
9021148
I do not see reason to differ between Canon and Word of God when they do not conflict with each other (in case of Quill of Acceptance and Book of Admittance) and entire series are written by a single author.
9021103
Yeah but Dumbledore delivered Harry to the Weasley's himself so the location wasn't exactly a secret.
It is mentioned in the books that owls don't need an address to find the recipient, at the very least Hedwig had this ability so we can assume it's the same with any owl, and according to Pottermore addresses are only used in case the owl is intercepted.
My point was there is only one example of a super specific address and that is with Harry's letters in the first book and Harry's situation is anything but normal. You even state in your story that Dumbledore is trying to keep Harry's location secret. Isn't it more likely that Dumbledore would handle Harry's letter himself rather than entrusting it to an automated system?
9021162
Generally speaking I don't either, but neither do I have an encyclopedic knowledge of every Word of God statement given out by the authors of every series I have an interest in, as well as that I remember Rumiko Takahashi telling the fans "You're not supposed to think of that" when asked if Ranma of the Ranma 1/2 series could get pregnant in his/her female form.
9021158
You're right but the Ministry can still explain the situation and ask them not to out the wizard world and since the ponies aren't assholes they would acquiesce. Plus I doubt the muggle government is interested in possibly inciting mass panic by revealing the existence of magic otherwise they would have done so years ago.
9021167
That's a good question, can she?......er he..... whatever.
9021071
Then what do you do when Word of God contradicts Word of God? The books say you can't travel more than four hours, and then whatever you do is fated to happen and reinforces what you originally remember happening. And yet, "The Cursed Child" hinges entirely on ignoring that canon.
Or: Ollivander's notes on Pottermore say that holly wands are more prone to performing magic on their own. In Deathly Hallows, Ollivander specifically states that he has never heard of a wand performing magic on its own. Which is it?
Or: She has categorically said that Draco is evil. Period. He would never do the right thing (see previous discussion about things J.K.W. has said about selected fanon theories). However, in The Cursed Child, Draco has renounced Dark Magic and is trying to be good.