//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Harry Potter: Equestria // by Tailspin333 //------------------------------// Harry was thinking about exploring the town to get to know the area better or to go check out his new home. However almost immediately after he stepped out of the town hall, he heard a loud squee and was tackled to the ground. Acting on reflex, Harry turned around to face his attacker and reached for his ward, but he stopped himself from grabbing and using it to accidentally give himself away, two mint-green hands grabbed his hand, pulling it closer to the face of the mare the hooves belonged to. A golden glow surrounded Harry's hand as two equally golden eyes looked at it. The glow around his limb turned his hand around and wriggled his fingers while he was just sitting there, unsure what to make of the situation. ''LYRA!'' Another mare shouted as she ran towards the unicorn who had tackled Harry. ''Lyra let go of this human, right now!'' ''But Bon Bon-'' ''No buts, missy. Let go of this poor lady, right now!'' Silence. Nothing was said after that. The only sound that could be heard, was that of crickets sitting on the back and head of a yellow pegasus walking by. ''...Lady?'' Harry said, surprised and confused. The earth pony mare named Bon Bon looked at Harry in surprise. Hearing his voice and realizing her mistake as she recognized the tone as that of a stallion, caused her cheeks to turn a bright crimson. ''Pfhaahahahahaha,'' Lyra lost it and her magical hold on Harry's hand broke as she rolled over the ground, laughing at the mistake. ''Lady, I should let you know that I am a man, not a woman,'' Harry said to Bon Bon, raising his voice over the laughter. ''Are you sure?'' Bon Bon asked without thought, her mind decided that now would be a good time to go on a vacation, which made Lyra laugh even harder. ''Last time I checked,'' Harry replied and Bon Bon's head was now completely red, instead of the beige her fur usual was. ''I-I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to offend you,'' Bon Bon sputtered in embarrassment. ''You didn't offend me, but you certainly surprised me. Why would you even think I'm a woman?'' Harry asked and Lyra, who just calmed down, burst out in laughter again. ''I'm sorry, I just assumed,'' Bon Bon said, looking everywhere except at Harry. "Now are you wishing you had at least listened to me." Lyra said as she Started to calm down again. Bon Bon just blushed as she looked at the ground. "Honest mistake, but not all guys will be mind full about that." Harry tells her. Bon Bon gave Danny a kind smile as he said that. ''Thank you for not being mad. My marefriend here can be quite a bit to handle at times. Oh, but where are my manners. I'm Bon Bon and, as you probably already figured out. This is Lyra,'' she introduced herself and her marefriend. ''I'm Harry. And what do you mean with marefriend?'' Harry asked, not knowing the meaning of the word. ''She means girlfriend,'' Lyra explained. ''So, you're a couple?'' ''Yep, Bons and I are quite close,'' Lyra confirmed, placing a leg around Bon Bon's neck and pulled her close to her side. ''So, what's a human like you doing in a place like this?'' Lyra asked, waving her horn around the town. ''Nothing much,'' Harry said nonchalantly. ''Just moved in, filled in some paperwork, became a citizen and rented that house at the edge of the village.'' Lyra's lower jaw fell down so fast, a small boom could be heard, while the mare's eyes widened in shocked amazement. ''Yo- you... you're going to live here?'' Lyra blurted out, almost bursting with excitement. ''Err, yes,'' and before he could even fathom the situation he found himself in, Lyra shot off. Not as fast as Pinkie, but still with an impressive speed. ''Oh dear,'' Bon Bon murmured, concerned. ''You've done it now.'' ''What? What did I do?'' Harry asked the remaining mare, not liking the tone in her voice. ''You're going to live here. A human living here. She is most likely going to get her 'list' of questions she has prepared, for in case if she ever has the chance to sit down and talk with a human.'' ''Ehh, should I be worried about that?'' He asks her ''Yes,'' Bon Bon answered all serious as she and Harry watched Lyra speed off. "More than you realize." 'Bloody hell. this town is weird.' Harry thought to himself as he decided to check out his new home after checking the time and seeing it's the later afternoon. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Harry walked up to his new home. His house was a single floor building but with a small attic, according to the information package he got from the mayor. It had a large living room, kitchen, bedroom and bathroom. The walls were a faded red with a thatched roof and there was even a small garden. ''Wow, if they call this small, I want to see what they call big," Harry spoke aloud to himself as he walked up to the door and unlocked it. Closing the door behind him, he found himself standing in a pitch black room. Odd, because he didn't see anything blocking off the windows. Fumbling around to find a light switch, he eventually found one and turned on the lights. ''SURPRISE!'' Harry yelped as dozens of ponies had somehow managed to fill every nook and cranny. And, in his panic, he turned off the lights. Which was a good thing, because, in reflex, he also drew his wand out. He quickly hid it again and turned the lights back on as he heard laughing and giggling at his reaction. 'Welcome to Ponyville, you're the first human ever to come visit here and you're the first human to come live here, party.’ was written on it, somehow fitting perfectly on the banner, despite its size. ''What? Who are you all? How did you all get in here? The door was locked.'' Harry rambled as his mind was, once again, fried from the impossibility of the situation. ''Oh, you silly human. We're all here for your welcome to Ponyville party,'' Pinkie Pie chirped energetically as she dragged Danny with her, introducing him to everyone, or everypony, as it is. ''And this is Rarity, and here we have Ditzy. Big Macintosh, Time Turner, Lyra, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and.....'' Pinkie kept pushing Harry around, constantly telling him who was who, never giving him the time to catch a break. ''And she is Twilight and that leaves me. Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie,'' Pinkie said with a smile big enough, it seemed to split her face. Harry was completely blown away and his mind had given up to make sense of it all. Instead, it was floating around with the alligator in the punch.... Wait, there's an alligator in the punch!? "Are ya alright there, pardner?'' An orange Earth pony mare with a cowgirl getup asked, seeing his confused expression and knew exactly what was going on. Chuckling, she said: ''Oh, Ah recognize that look. Don't ya worry a bit. Ya'll get used ta Pinkie's behavior in time.'' "How the bloody hell do you get used to someon-pony like her?" He asked her. ''Only if ya don' think too much 'bout it. Just ask Twilight over there if ya want ta know what Ah mean. The name's Applejack, in case ya didn't pick up on it with Pinkie pushing ya around and such,'' She said as she extended her hand, giving Danny a firm shake. ''Now, ya know most of us, thanks ta Pinkie, but we're mighty curious as ta who ya are.'' She tells him. "I'm Harry Potter. It's nice to meet most of you." He tells them not counting Pinkie after looking around seeing most of the ponies looking at him. "Well Harry it's good to meet you and welcome to Ponyville." Applejack tells him. After a while, when everypony had introduced themselves to Harry, given him some kind words and welcomed him to the village, he just sat down, trying to figure out how this was all happening. ''A bit for your thoughts,'' Twilight asked as she sat down next to him, a cup of punch floating to her hand her in a purple aura. ''I was just wondering how all of this is possible,'' Harry said as he gestured at the whole scene in front of him. ''Where did all this stuff come from? How did you get in? And, most importantly. How the Bloody Hell did Pinkie pull a cannon out of her hair?'' Twilight chuckled at his flabbergasted response. ''Do yourself a favor, don't try to figure Pinkie out. I tried it once, it didn't end well,'' Harry rose a single eyebrow in confusion and Twilight elaborated what she meant. ''Let's just say that I burst out in fire over Pinkie's random behavior.'' ''You burst out in fire? How?'' Harry asked with a gasping mouth. Twilight gave him a grin as she responded: ''Magic.'' Harry looked at her before face palming. 'The rules of magic must be different around here.' He thought to himself as he watched the party. ''… Something tells me it will take a long time before I get used to this place,'' Harry told himself. ''It might not be so difficult with some friends,'' Twilight said, offering him the cup of punch she had with her. Harry took the cup, thanked Twilight and drank. The words she said went through his mind over and over again. ’Friends. It would be nice to truly have someone to call a friend again,’ he thought as he looked over at his backpack, the pictures of his only true friends and his family safely inside. ''That would be nice, to have someone to help me around here as I settle in,'' Harry said, honestly, making the mare smile. ''Well, all you need to do is ask. We're all here to help, if you ever need it.'' Twilight tells him with a smile. ''I'll remember that. But for now, I believe there is a muffin with my name on it.'' And, as he said this, a loud gasp rose up over the upbeat music and a gray blur shot past. A second later, all the muffins were gone. ''Okay, cupcake it is,'' Harry said dumbly and everyone laughed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was late at night, the party was long since over and Harry was fast asleep. It was with some measure of luck that, Harry found a small bed in the bedroom. Although it was too small for him, he made do with it for now. Resolving to buy a bigger bed tomorrow, he let himself be embraced by the gentle hold of slumber. Unfortunately, sleep was not something that gave him rest. Every night, his slumber was marred by his memories, causing him to twist and turn in his undersized bed. A cold sweat covered his skin as he struggled to wake up, but his tired mind wouldn't let him. Almost every night he would have a nightmare, reminding him of his failings. Sometimes he wouldn't dream at all. He would just close his eyes and open them mere seconds later, just to find out hours had passed. But most of the time, it was just him and the torments of his mind of what he had lost or those he failed. This time, however, there was another presence. A presence that was diligently guarding over the dreams of those sleeping under her night's sky. Princess Luna stood on the balcony of her personal chamber, sensing outwards to see if everypony was resting peacefully. This was the case most of the time, not many ponies had nightmares. Sure there were foals that had some bad dreams about the monsters in the closet, or about some scary tale they've heard. But a real terror of the night, a dream so bad that it was even called after her corruption, was something that almost never happened. So she was surprised, nay, shocked to sense somepony stuck in a true nightmare. She extended her mind and looked around for the source of the disturbance. She found what she was looking for in Ponyville. Somepony there was truly suffering from a terror of the mind, a nightmare. She reached out to whomever it was and tried to enter the mind of this pony. She reared back in shock, however, when she was unable to enter the mind of this individual. Nothing like this had ever happened before, no living mind could block her out. But, in her attempt to gain entry to the troubled mind, she was able to catch a glimpse of the emotions from the dreamer. Guilt, shame, regret, pain, anger, despair, and the pain of betrayal. Luna couldn't be more shocked. These emotions didn't belong in any dream. You could feel fear in a nightmare, yes. But pain, or suffering? No, a dream could never do that, no matter how bad they were. The realization of what she had just glimpsed at came to her a mere second later. This was no mere dream, but a memory or memories. One or more memories so terrible she perceived it as a nightmare. And, although she could enter the dreams of others and help them overcome their darkest thoughts, a memory was not something she could easily enter, or alter. Not without altering the mind of the person it belonged to. She needed to talk with her sister about this. This was something truly dark. Something that could cause such pain to somepony was clearly dangerous. But what, what was it that gave this poor being such terror that he couldn't even sleep without being reminded? And, although she might not be able to help this poor individual directly, she could help ease this pony’s mind. Make his sleep dreamless and give him some respite from this terror. And so, by channeling some magic through her horn, she calmed the disturbance coming from this pony, making his mind go blank and stopping the memories. At least for tonight.