//------------------------------//
// 31 — Divide and Conquer 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

Rarity was still shaking her head as she thought about how quiet Ponyville had been prior to Twilight moving there, when Harry and Apple Bloom walked over. They were followed by Sweetie Belle and Hermione on their borrowed brooms. “Rarity!” declared Sweetie Belle. “We need to buy broomsticks today!” The others were nodding emphatically. “We’re going back for the trunks, anyway, so we can pick them up at the same time.”

Rarity stared at her sister, one eyebrow elegantly raised. “Broomsticks? As I recall,” she glanced at Harry, “Your letters said first-years are not allowed to have broomsticks at Hogwarts.” She looked at them sternly and crossed her arms.

Sweetie Belle waved her hand dismissively, “That’s true, but we want them to fly here. The twins told us we could come over anytime to fly here, because we live in a muggle area. But they don’t have enough brooms for all of us at the same time. And it would be quite an imposition to ask that the colts give up their brooms just so we could fly on them.”

At that moment, Scootaloo shot by the table, hanging upside down on the broom, screaming, “wheeeeEEeeeeeee!” Ron and the twins drifted closer and watched from their brooms, mouths agape. “And she’s never been on a broom before?” Ron said incredulously.

“Yeah,” added Harry. “If we don’t get our own brooms, I think we’re gonna need a crowbar to pry Scootaloo off the broom she’s borrowed.”

Sweetie Belle sighed and nodded, “But first we’d have to catch her.”

Harry and the two fillies all sighed as they watched Scootaloo slalom through the orchard. “It would make far more sense to purchase our own.” Sweetie Belle continued, “That way we could all fly our brooms at the same time.” She looked at her sister with wide pleading eyes and a slight tremble to her lower lip. If she could have managed to make her ears tilt forward hopefully, she would have done that too. “We’ll use our own bits, so we won’t be taking it from the bits Princess Celestia set aside for school. Please?” She clasped her hands together in front of her chest. 

The Weasleys and Grangers exchanged glances at the phrase “our own bits.” Was “bits” their term for galleons?

Buying a new broom wasn’t cheap. Were these new witches rich?

Rarity’s stern visage wavered a moment, then broke. She sighed and took a deep breath. “Well, I guess so. If Twilight and Applejack agree.” Harry and Sweetie Belle grinned happily. Dash would be delighted at the prospect of getting a broom. Twilight would be a cinch. And Applejack would cave when she saw the others had already capitulated.

Twilight and Arthur were just passing the broom shed. “That is fascinating,” they heard her say. She looked up and saw them staring at her. She immediately blushed. She had forgotten all about the tea. She hurried over with Arthur, who was also looking abashed at having forgotten why they came outside in the first place. His wife, Molly, glared at him, not forgiving in the slightest at his leaving her with their other guests.

Apple Bloom cupped her hands around her mouth, took a deep breath, and yelled, “SCOOTALOO!” Harry felt the table vibrate. Everyone around the table winced. He looked down to see that Apple Bloom was bare foot.

The twins made a show of rubbing their ears. “Quite a pair . . .”

“. . . of lungs on that girl.”

Ron nodded agreement. Pinkie Pie popped out of a rosebush holding up a sign that read, “7”, then dropped down and disappeared. Harry wondered what she was doing.

“Well, when you’re at one end of the Sweet Apple Acres and your sister is at the other end . . . .” Apple Bloom shrugged apologetically.

She waited a moment, then put her hands up again. Harry and the others quickly covered their ears. Just as she was taking a deep breath, Scootaloo came falling out of the sky, pulling up at the last moment to drift to a stop beside the other filly. “Yeah?”

Apple Bloom leaned close and whispered the plan into her ear.

“No!” Scootaloo said, not quite believing her, but leaning back to look at Apple Bloom with an expression of delight. Somehow, she managed to hold her broom absolutely still despite her movements.

Less than a minute later, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were giving Twilight the Cuteness of Doom look. It took only seconds for the transformed alicorn to give in to their exhortations. With two down, only Applejack and Rainbow Dash remained. Harry knew they would get to them when they came back to the table for tea — although Rainbow Dash might also need a crowbar to separate her from the broom she was riding.

Shaking his head at the antics of the three girls, Ron said, “Did you know they can do wandless magic, dad? And that they’ve been taught since they were little?” A bit of outrage was evident in that last sentence, at the thought that he had been denied something that others had been given.

That attracted the attention of all the wizarding adults.

“They can, can they?” murmured Dumbledore, looking at the three girls. Harry looked at the ground, frowning. The Headmaster was obviously pretending his Deputy hadn’t informed him of their abilities the night before.

The fillies looked at each other and shrugged. Sweetie Belle stepped closer to the table and frowned. Rarity’s cup and saucer slowly rose into the air, hovered, rock steady, then gently returned.

The wizards watched with raised eyebrows. Molly said, “My goodness, would you look at that! And wandless!”

“Is that unusual?” asked Mr. Granger.

“Oh, yes,” answered Mr. Weasley. “True, some children do accidental magic when they’re excited or emotional, but even for adult wizards very few can do wandless magic on demand.”

The Grangers regarded the blushing Sweetie Belle with new respect.

Rarity gave her a big smile. “Well done, Sweetie,” she said proudly. “Excellent control!” Sweetie Belle’s blush deepened. She looked over to the wizards. “We start teaching our little ones to use their magic as soon as they show interest in it.”

“And Harry can even disapparate!” Ron said jealously.

Harry rolled his eyes, “Teleport.”

“So? Show them!”

Harry sighed, there was a flash of light, and suddenly he was on the other side of the garden as the faint sound of bells tinkling faded. A moment later, another flash, more faint bells, and he was back where he had been.

“Wandless apparition,” murmured the Headmaster, eyes twinkling as he stared at Harry.

Harry shook his head, “No, teleportation, not apar-whatever.”

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, “Oh?”

Twilight looked at the old wizard. “Perhaps you could show us what you mean by apparition?”

The Headmaster nodded sagely, “An excellent suggestion.” He stood and held his wand at his side. Twilight Sparkle watched carefully. He started to turn and with a soft pop he was on the other side of the garden. A second equally soft pop and he was back.

She blinked, frowned, and looked a bit upset. “Would you do that again?” she half demanded as she stared intently at the wizard, and watched his every move. Shrugging, eyes twinkling, the Headmaster disapparated from beside the table and apparated to the other side of the garden, then he returned. Both were accompanied by soft, almost silent, pops.

Twilight leaned back in her chair, eyes wide in shock. “That spell is horrible!” she declared, appalled. “Where are the safeties? There’s almost nothing to protect you from getting hurt! And if you’re moving?” She shuddered. “It would probably kill you!”

The wizards and Molly stared at her. “What?” said Arthur.

Twilight stood. “Didn’t you see? The magic is malformed! And there are no safeties except for an obvious attempt to make it only slightly less lethal!” She turned to the fillies and pointed a finger at them, “I forbid you to use that spell! That abomination is simply too dangerous!” She turned back to the Headmaster. “It lets you teleport even when the destination is blocked! That could be fatal! How can you allow anypony to use it? Why haven’t you fixed it?” She ranted in outrage. “Whoever made that was a rank amateur.” She stopped and huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Did they even think about it,” she asked rhetorically.

The wizards were quite taken aback at her declarations, giving each other astonished looks. “I assure you, Miss Sparkle,” Dumbledore said, “the apparition spell is quite safe for experienced wizards and witches. Although we do restrict its use to Wizards who are of age only, as the younger ones tend to have problems with it.”

Twilight snorted, “I bet they have problems with it!” She stood, arms crossed, thinking hard. “Harry, would you go to Little Whinging?”

“Sure,” he said a bit uncertainly. “What do you want?”

“Oh, here, take these with you.” She floated the fillies’ rucksacks to him from where they had dumped them by the kitchen door.

“Okay,” he said slowly. “I’ll try.” He put his rucksack on, then hefted the others by their straps.

“He’s too young for such a distance, especially with that much extra to carry, even if it is shrunken,” Dumbledore objected, “He’ll splinch himself if he tries that!”

“If Harry can’t manage it, the teleport spell simply won’t work. Unlike your apparition spell which would hurt him,” she said derogatorily.

Harry teleported into the sitting-room at Eleven Magnolia Road.

Spike, sitting on the couch watching the telly, jumped two feet into the air. “Celestia!” He cried. “Give a dragon a little warning, will you?” He stood in front of the couch, one hand on his chest, breathing heavily.

Harry grinned at him. “Sorry, Twi sent me to drop these off.” He headed upstairs and dumped the contents of his rucksack, all galleons, on his bed. He did the same with the fillies’ rucksacks in their room.

He was about to return when he had a thought. Moments later, in the sitting-room again, he said, “Hey Spike, wanna meet some wizards and witches?”

Spike looked at him, puzzled. “I thought Twilight wanted me to stay here because you were going to be out with the non-magicals . . . and because that stupid statue thing says I can’t be seen by them. And, she was worried what the magicals would say because dragons are so fierce here.” He looked a bit proud of being considered dangerous and fierce.

“Yeah,” Harry said, “but now we’re at a witch’s house and everyone there knows about magic. And less than ten magicals.”

Spike grinned, “Sure. It’s boring doing nothing here. And I can nap only so much.”

“Hop in,” Harry said, squatting down beside the couch so Spike could climb into his rucksack. “All set?”

“Woah, this is pretty comfy,” Spike said, standing in the rucksack with one clawed hand on Harry’s right shoulder while he looked over Harry’s left. Harry stood up. “Wow, the view up here is much better, too!”

“Yeah, just don’t set my hair on fire, okay?”

“Hay, it only happened once to Twilight! And that was just bad timing that Princess Celestia sent a message right then.”

“Still . . . .”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it,” the little dragon said, slightly disgruntled at the accusation. He was quite proud of his flame control.

“Ready?”

“Yep”

And Harry was back in the Weasley garden to the faint sound of tinkling bells.

Twilight smiled happily at him. “See, Headmaster, no problems whatsoever. If he couldn’t make the trip for any reason, the spell would have simply not worked. And it automatically includes whatever the caster wants, as long as the caster has the power to do it.”

The wizards were staring at Harry with wide eyes.

“Is that a dragon?” Ron said loudly, pointing.

“Hiya, mum,” Spike said, waving. “Now this is the way to travel! Nice and comfy, no worries about falling off or having to hold on!” He grinned happily.

“It talks!” the twins said in chorus

“Of course I talk!” Spike said indignantly, “Do you think I’m stupid?”

There was a resounding silence in answer to his question.

“You okay, Harry?” asked Twilight.

“I’m fine,” said Harry, dropping the girls’ rucksacks on the table.

Twilight gave him a glare.

“No, honestly, I’m fine,” Harry protested.

She lowered her head slightly to glare at him under her eyebrows.

Harry sighed. “Okay, I have a slight headache and I feel a little tired, but it has been a busy morning so it doesn’t have to be the teleport!”

Sweetie Belle giggled. “Yes, Harry, we know. You’re always just fine.”

“Yeah,” said Apple Bloom. Also grinning, she looked over at the wizards, “For Harry, ‘I’m fine’ usually translates into ‘I’m not dead yet, thank you for asking.’”

Scootaloo added, “If Harry says ‘I don’t feel good,” you’d better get him to the hospital before it’s too late.” The others stopped laughing and all three nodded seriously.

“But he’s getting better at that, aren’t you, Harry,” Twilight said warningly.

Harry sighed. “Yes. Yes, I am.”

Spike jumped down from Harry’s backpack to the table, and looked around.

The wizards, and muggles, stared at him. Mrs. Weasley leaned back a bit from the table.

“What? Haven’t you seen a dragon before?”

“Why yes,” said the Headmaster, “we have, but never have we heard of one so well-spoken as yourself.”

“He’s my son and number one assistant,” Twilight said proudly, “aren’t you Spike?”

Spike blushed under the dual praise.

“I raised him from an egg.” She smiled fondly.

“Yeah,” Spike added, “The day mom hatched me was the day she discovered her cutie mark for magic.” He grinned. “Almost blew up Celestia’s entire school, too!”

“I did not!” Twilight denied, blushing.

Applejack snickered. “I heard they had to rebuild the testing hall, though. Something about needing a whole new roof and replacing all the melted marble columns.”

“It wasn’t that bad!”

“You turned your parents into potted plants! Cacti, if I remember correctly!”

“Who told you that?” Twilight demanded, aghast, leaning back in surprise.

“They did, at your coronation party this Spring!”

“It was an accident! I was only eight at the time!” Twilight mumbled, now blushing as red as a beet. “And Princess Celestia turned them back to normal immediately afterwards,” she said, louder.

“Yeah, well Shining Armour told me he’s caught both of them standing in the back-garden in the sun on hot summer days! Just standing there! They say it’s quite peaceful and relaxing. He told me that when he discovered them in the back-garden the third time, your dad asked him spray them with some water because he was feeling a bit thirsty. He’s pretty sure your dad was joking, but sometimes he wonders.”

Twilight covered her face with her hands and groaned.

Applejack and Rarity laughed while the fillies giggled. Spike just grinned and walked across the table to give his mum a hug. “And Princess Celestia made you her personal student, and you got me, so it wasn’t all bad, was it Twi?” Spike said.

The wizards were listening intently, Harry saw, expressions ranging from surprise (most of the adults) to awe (especially the twins) to concentration (Dumbledore).

“What’s so funny? If you don’t mind telling me, that is. It’s okay if you don’t want to . . . .” Fluttershy appeared to have been hiding behind Applejack.

“Oh, Fluttershy, we were just reminiscing about the day Spike was hatched and we all got our cutie marks.”

“And picking on me,” Twilight put in, still hiding behind her hands, her elbows on the table. Spike was leaning against her hugging her head.

“Anyway,” she said, changing the subject as she sat upright, dislodging Spike. “I can’t believe you use that . . . that abomination of a spell!” she said as she scowled. “It looks like something a First Year at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Uni . . . Students would put together. Our teleport spell is an elegant solution of magical engineering!”

“Whatever do you mean?” Arthur Weasley asked.

The Headmaster listened attentively.

Twilight sighed. “Let’s break it down, shall we?

“First, with that . . . apparition,” she shuddered, “you specify your destination. That’s alright. Second, you start to gather your magic. That’s wrong! Third, you do a check on your person. Fourth, you push your magic through your stick.”

“Wand,” corrected Mr. Weasley.

“And that’s all you do!” She shook her head and threw her hands up in the air, exasperated.

“The second step should be setting your safeties! Is the destination blocked? Is there room for you at the destination? Is it safe at the destination? Is the integrity routine engaged? Is the power requirement routine engaged? Is the interference lockout set?

“The third step is pushing your magic into the spell. The fourth step is to release the spell! And nothing happens until all the safeties are satisfied! Then and only then does the spell complete and you teleport.

“I’ll show you!” Using her magic she pulled out her quill, ink, and paper from her purse and started writing and drawing with her magic. The quill fairly flew across the page. She leaned over the paper with her forearms against the table, her brow furrowed in concentration.

The Weasleys stared at her, astounded at the display of fine-control wandless magic. The Headmaster, on the other hand, was watching Twilight intently. Harry and the fillies just rolled their eyes while the other Equestrians watched, amused. The Grangers looked on, puzzled.

Hermione had slowly moved around the table and was now watching over Twilight’s shoulder. Sweetie Belle joined her a moment later.

Twilight finished one paper and started a second. Then pulled out a third sheet and began to copy things over to it from the first two. After a few minutes, Twilight sat up. “There,” she said in satisfaction, “that should do it. This version will work with your wands.”

She turned to the Weasley parents, “Do you have a wand I can borrow for a few minutes?”

“Did she just redesign a spell?” whispered one twin incredulously to the other.

“And only took a few minutes to do it,” said the other. They looked at each other

“That’s supposed to be . . . ,”

“. . . extremely difficult.”

“And dangerous.” They nodded in sync.

“We approve!”

Headmaster Dumbledore studied Twilight carefully.

The two adults looked at each other. “Well, I think we might have a spare in the nightstand?” said Mrs. Weasley uncertainly. Mr. Weasley nodded in agreement.

“Take mine,” said one of the twins stepping forward.

“Wonderful,” said Twilight, taking it from his outstretched hand before his parents could object. She turned to Hermione. “Here, take this.” She held out the wand.

Gingerly, as if afraid she might break it, the girl took the wand in her right hand.

“Now look at this,” Twilight held up the paper she had been drawing on. “See this line of numbers and symbols? Memorize it.”

Hermione stared at the paper, her lips moving slightly as she studied it. Sweetie Belle looked over her shoulder and nodded. She had learned this spell months ago, not that she could get it to work. The only differences were the changes Twilight made to accommodate somepony using a wand instead of their horn. Finally, Hermione closed her eyes a moment, then looked back at the paper. She smiled and said, “Done!”

Twilight said, “Now, look at this diagram. See how the numbers and characters loop around and back to here? And the rest of the numbers and characters loop over here? And that symbol is in this circle where they both end?” For the next few minutes, Sweetie Belle and Harry watched as Twilight gave the girl the short form of the hours-long lecture they had endured when she had explained the spell first to him and then to her last year. While he had teleported before, it was a foal’s teleport and not something you want to use on a regular basis — for the very reasons she had just explained.

By the time the Princess had finished, Hermione had a bare-bones understanding of the symbols on the paper and how they related to each other. Twilight then grabbed her hand and pulled her closer. She leaned forward until her forehead was pressed against the girl’s, and said, “Now run through the equation, fitting it to the diagram layout.”

Harry realized that the place Twilight was pressing against Hermione’s head was where her horn would be if she had one. She had done the same thing to him several times over the year as she taught him spells. She would cross horns with him to watch him build the spell in his horn. Neither moved for several moments.

“Good,” said Twilight, leaning back and nodding her head. She released Hermione’s hand. “Now, see that rosebush over there.” She pointed. Hermione nodded. “Teleport over there by building the spell in your mind.” Hermione looked at her. Twilight nodded again. “Picture the diagram in your mind, run through the equation I showed you, just as you did a moment ago. Then push your magic into the spell, and release the spell.”

Hermione stood there for a moment and looked at the rosebush. Then she turned to Twilight. “Nothing happened,” she said disappointedly.

“You have to want to go there, dear,” said Rarity. “Merely looking at it isn’t enough.”

Mr. Granger snorted. “You want motivation?” He stood up and took something from his wife’s purse. He walked over to the rosebush and held up a book. “Hermione, here’s a new book we picked up at that wizarding bookstore, it’s Famous Witches of the Twentieth Century.” He wriggled it back and forth a couple of times. “We were going to save this for your birthday next month. You can read it tonight only if you teleport over . . .”

Hermione took the book from his hand, bells faintly tinkling in the background.

“. . . here?” he finished, blinking his eyes from the flash of light

She smirked at him, then stuck out her tongue. She opened the book and started to read as she slowly walked back to the table. The wand stuck up from her hand as she held the book. “Thank you, daddy,” she called out distractedly.

“I guess we’ll have to find something else for her birthday,” her mother said dryly as she glared at her husband.

“That’s not fair!” complained Sweetie Belle. “I’ve been working on that spell for months!” She stomped over to the other girl. “May I use the wand?”

Hermione didn’t look up from the book, she just tilted the book so the wand in her hand pointed at the other girl.

Sweetie Belle took the wand and turned around to face the table. She scowled as Harry smirked at her. She took a deep breath, let it out. She frowned, and reappeared beside the table in a flash of light and sound of bells. Her eyes shot wide open. “I did it! I finally did it!” She started hopping in place. 

Rarity stood and hugged her, stopping the bouncing, momentarily. “Wonderful, Sweetie Belle, I knew you could do it!”

Sweetie Belle hugged her in return, then smirked at Harry. She and Rarity disappeared in a flash of white. “Oh my Celestia!” they heard from the kitchen. And a moment later the two were again outside by the table. “Now, behave yourself,” Rarity admonished. 

Still grinning like a fool, Sweetie Belle, said, “Of course, Rarity.” She gave her sister another happy squeeze. Eyes shining, Sweetie Belle turned and walked, no, bounced over to the twins. She stopped and wavered for a moment. “Woah,” she said quietly, “That was tiring.” She blinked a few times, then held out the wand, and said, “Thank you. I really appreciate you letting me use your wand!”

“See!” exclaimed Twilight, pointing at the two as she stared at the adult wizards. “So easy, I taught a child how to do it safely in only a few minutes. And if you tried to take a passenger with you using that, that, apparation, like she just did, they would probably get sick, or hurt, because your spell is so malformed.” She scowled and mumbled, “How you can’t see that, I don’t know!”

Barely loud enough for Harry to hear, and he was sure they were trying to prevent their parents from hearing, the Weasley twins whispered to Sweetie Belle. “Think you could. . .”

“. . . teach us that spell?”

She grinned at them, “Sure!”

They grinned back at her and began herding her a bit farther away from the table.

“I’ll need a quill and paper,” she said.

“No problem!” said one twin as he pulled a crumpled paper out of a pocket while his brother pulled out a quill and ink bottle.

Dumbledore had probably heard the same conversation Harry had, because he sternly said, “I must remind you, Harry,” as he looked the boy in the eye. “Miss Belle,” he switched to her as she turned to look at him. “Miss Granger,” Hermione turned a page, still reading. “It is against Ministry law for underage children to apparate. And Apparition itself requires a license for adults.” He pointedly did not look at the twins. “So, please, restrain yourselves until you are of age.”

“But it’s not apparating!” objected Twilight.

“I’m sure the Ministry will take your arguments under consideration, but as far as they are concerned, if Mr. Potter or Miss Belle are caught teleporting and they have a wand in their possession, the Ministry will conclude that they must have apparated.”

Twilight frowned, but couldn’t really argue against him. There was no way to prove that Harry or Sweetie Belle hadn’t used their wand to teleport in that situation.

Harry and Sweetie Belle exchanged looks, and tried to hide their smiles. So, if they didn’t have their wands with them when they teleported, then the Ministry couldn’t say they were apparating, now could they? No wand meant no apparating!

“And that brings up another subject,” Dumbledore continued in a more jovial tone, “It strikes me that Harry and his friends might find it beneficial to stay for a time in a magical environment instead of at Little Whinging. Once they get their wands they won’t be able to use them in muggle neighbourhoods, but they could practice here.”

Hermione looked up from her book, crushed that she wouldn’t be able to practice magic at home. And her parents were none too happy to hear of the obvious advantages the wizard-born had.

Mrs. Weasley looked scandalized as she said, “But children are not supposed to use their wands out of Hogwarts!”

The Headmaster looked at her smiling kindly. “Everyone knows that the pureblood families let their children practice magic behind the protective charms surrounding their homes. Some even encourage it,” he said softly. He paused and looked at the Grangers, “It’s only the muggle-born living without those charms that are restricted.”

The twins were both high-fiving each other behind their parents’ backs at the way the Headmaster had neatly maneuvered their mother into allowing them to use their wands whenever they were at home.

“You don’t mind, do you, if the children stay here until the train for Hogwarts leaves?” The old wizard turned to look at the Weasleys.

Molly gave an uncertain look at her husband. He nodded, and looked deliberately at the old wizard. She looked between the two for a moment. She seemed to consider how doing a favour for the Headmaster might help her family. Then she said, “No, of course not, we’d love for them to stay.”

Then she paused a moment, thinking on how the arrangements might work out for the family. She smiled and clasped her hands together happily. “With both Bill and Charlie out of the house, we have plenty of room for the girls. And Harry can share with Ron.” By this time, she was actually excited at the thought of having four girls to keep her daughter company.

Twilight was surprised at the offer, but Rarity spoke first, “Oh, that is exceedingly generous of you to offer! Unfortunately, we have already planned for the . . . girls and Harry to return home with us until school starts.”


۸-ꞈ-۸