//------------------------------//
// 92 — Castle-mania 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

The twins tried to make fun of him the next morning, Hearth’s Warming Day.

“Did the wittle baby sleep well with mommy last night?” George teased as the alicorn and colt walked into the breakfast room. Harry leaned against her side as they walked, her wing draped over him and a huge smile on his face. Her smile was only a bit smaller.

Harry sighed happily. “It was wonderful,” he said with a dreamy expression as he stared at Twilight.

Fred opened his mouth to say something, then tilted his head. He looked at his brother and shook his head. Harry was clearly far too happy with the situation to care what they or anyone else thought. Teasing wouldn’t get his attention. He’d probably consider anything they said to be a compliment.

It was, as far as Harry was concerned, the best Hearth’s Warming ever! Of course, with only one other in his experience it was probably not all that difficult a feat. But, still, he felt that no other Hearth’s Warming could possibly better it. He had a family!

The morning started with a pile of presents in the main sitting-room, under a very festive tree. Spike gleefully served as presenter — except to Twilight. Harry insisted he get to do that “chore.” Naturally, being a Princess and local celebrity, she had the most presents. Mostly books. No surprises there.

The Weasleys and Myrtle were amazed to see how closely their Christmas Day celebrations at home matched those in Equestria, right down to the festive tree with lights and decorations to match. And by the pile of presents each received. While they knew, intellectually, that owls must be able to get here, seeing their family’s presents under the tree was still a surprise. They had expected to find those on their beds when they returned home to the castle.

The new school clothes from Twilight and the other adults — Harry and the fillies had done a bit of covert measuring — were beyond their expectations. As were the small book-bags with undetectable expansion charms. And the wand holsters for those that didn’t have any.

The chocolates for Harry and Twilight from their visitors were well received. 

Everyone laughed at the twins’ antics regarding their sweaters. But the sweater for Harry was confusing to him, at first.

“It’s mum’s way of saying you’re part of the family!” George explained as the others nodded.

“Clearly, she likes you better, because your sweater is better than ours!” Fred said.

Harry nodded uncertainly. He decided that he should accept the gift with the intent in which it was offered. Mrs. Weasley, after all, had been very nice to them last August. It would be in poor taste not to appreciate the effort it took to make the sweater. And, outside of his Ponyville friends, it was the very first gift anyone had ever given him just because they knew him.

Although, on a pony, it was more like one of Dudley’s oversized robes than a sweater. That would change once they returned to Hogwarts, he knew. He still put it on, and used sticking charms to hold up the sleeves and prevent himself from tripping.

When Spike opened his presents, the visitors were even more amazed at the gems that filled the small boxes and bags.

“Twi,” Spike asked with wide eyes and slightly begging expression, “can I have one now?”

She snorted, but smiled. “You may have the large purple one and the small blue. Save the rest for snacks later.”

Watching as Spike happily chomped and chewed away at the two gems left the visitors speechless. The dragon was actually eating a jewel that would have been enough to purchase all their Hogwarts’ books back home. The others in the bags would have paid for the entire Burrow. Charlie had told them they fed their dragons meat. That this dragon planned to eat a fortune’s worth of jewels while everyone else watched with an indulgent and cheerful smile was simply incomprehensible to them. They could only watch, aghast — and listen to a fortune being crunched away.

The explanation Twilight gave, after seeing their stunned expressions, that gems were common stones in Equestria, reduced them to stunned silence for several minutes. When Harry and Spike offered to show them a gem field so they could collect a few themselves was simply a brain-overload. Harry wasn’t sure that they understood anything else that happened that morning.

Harry couldn’t worry himself over that, he was too distracted by Twilight’s adoption of him.

The real surprise of the day was the plainly-wrapped present without a sender listed. Harry’s name was written on the wrapping in narrow, loopy writing no one recognized. Everyone watched intently as he unwrapped it to reveal something fluid and silvery grey. It slid silkily to the floor where it lay in gleaming folds. The Weasleys and Myrtle all gasped.

“I’ve heard of those,” George said in a hushed voice.

“That’s really rare, and really valuable,” said Fred.

Ron dropped the box of Every Flavor Beans he’d gotten from Hermione.

“Is that really . . . .” whispered Myrtle.

“What is it?” Harry asked.

The shining, silvery cloth was strange to the touch, like water woven into material, Harry thought.

“It’s an Invisibility Cloak,” said Percy, a look of awe on his face. 

“I’m sure it is,” said George.

“Try it on,” said Fred breathlessly.

Harry threw the cloak around his shoulders and Ron gave a yell. “It is! Look down!”

Harry looked down at his hooves, but they were gone. He looked at Twilight, who returned his astonished look. He pulled the cloak over his head.

Spike gasped and said, “You’ve disappeared . . . completely!”

The others were nodding and staring. He moved to the side and they continued to stare at where he had been.

“There’s a note!” said Ron suddenly. “A note fell out of it!”

Harry snatched the letter in his magic. Written in the same narrow, loopy writing was the message that Harry’s father had left the cloak with whomever the writer was, and that she, or he, was now returning it.

Harry stared at the signature-less note. The others admired the cloak.

“I’d give anything for one of these,” Ron said. “Anything.”

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Twilight said softly. 

“Nothing,” he said, still staring at the note. He felt very strange, conflicted even. First the adoption, now this. Had it really once belonged to his father? He had never had anything that belonged to one of his parents. And yet, Twilight had given him a family.

Who had sent the cloak? Why had they waited until now?


۸-~-۸


For the first time since he had first arrived in Equestria, Harry was excited and he waited impatiently for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna to arrive. His constant repetitions of, “When will they get here?” and, “What’s taking so long?” throughout the morning drove nearly everypony else to distraction. That and he couldn’t hold a conversation for more than a few sentences before rushing over to hug Twilight. 

If they could get him away from her in the first place.

Not even the fillies showing up with presents could keep his attention for long.

Twilight was embarrassed, proud, and happy for her new son. And a bit overwhelmed at his response. She had known he wanted a family — but this reaction was beyond the pale. He even waited outside the bathroom for her.

The fillies were just as excited for Harry. And inundated him with hugs of their own to reassure him that they were not jealous of the attention he was showering on his new mom. And that it wouldn’t change anything between them. If anything, they saw great promise in it. Which he found confusing when they said that. But his attention went back to Twilight and he quickly dismissed it.

Just before lunch Spike escorted a visitor into the sitting room. Harry immediately recognized the amber grey pony with dark grey mane and tail, and light blue eyes. It was Filthy Rich, Diamond Tiara’s father. He was sure the stallion was here to complain to Twilight about how the twins had pranked his daughter.

He bowed immediately to Princess Twilight.

She rolled her eyes. “Rich,” she said, “You don’t have to do that every time you see me.”

He smiled. “We must pay proper respect to your rank, Princess,” he said in a slightly chiding tone.

She sighed. “What can I do for you, today?”

“Actually, you need not disturb yourself,” he said. “If you do not mind, my business is with George Weasley and Fred Weasley, I believe.” He turned to face them. He had met them briefly at the party the day before.

The two eyed the obviously cultured and moneyed pony. The three money bags on his flank merely reinforced that notion.

They nodded. “I’m Fred Weasley,” said one, standing to greet the pony.

“I’m George Weasley,” said the other mirroring his brother.

They both bobbed their heads, as bowing was a bit beyond their training at the present.

Everyone watched interestedly. Harry was impressed. He thought that for once they were giving their real names.

“Excellent!” said Filthy Rich, clearly pleased. “Yesterday, as I understand it, you gave my daughter and her friend a candy that actually changed them to colts for the better part of an hour. Is that true?”

The twins were unsure of what to say. The pony did not seem upset, quite the contrary. He seemed almost happy to meet them.

And if they were in trouble, surely Princess Twilight would have mentioned it before now.

“Why, yes, we did,” said Fred, straightening up a bit, as did his brother. They always admitted to their pranks when confronted. And the evidence was clear. 

The stallion leaned forward slightly. “Were those illusions only? Or did those candies really change the fillies to colts?”

Frowning, the twins looked at each other. Then Fred said, “Those were not illusions.” 

“The candies did reverse their genders,” said George.

“Boys to girls, and girls to boys.”

The pony frowned.

“Ah, sorry,” said Fred. He frowned then said, “Colts to fillies, and fillies to colt.”

Filthy Rich’s expression cleared and he said, “And do they work for adults, as well?” His eyes were glittering slightly and his eyebrows had risen slightly.

The twins smiled. “Oh, yes, they most certainly do.” They were beginning to see where this conversation was going.

“And can you control how long the change lasts? My daughter was rather . . . imprecise in her estimate.”

“The ones we gave your daughter should have lasted about an hour, for her size.”

“For an adult of average weight? About half an hour.”

If the twins’ ping-pong conversational style annoyed him, the amber-grey pony hid it well.

“Can you adjust that?”

Fred smirked. “Oh, yes.”

His brother mirrored him, “From ten seconds to all day.”

Filthy Rich’s smile grew wider.

“Is this your invention? Or is it something that is common in your world?”

“Truthfully, Sweetie Belle discovered it.”

“But we refined it.”

“She’s agreed to let us handle everything.”

“In exchange for any profits.”

After a startled look at the blushing filly, the business pony, smiled again.

“Excellent!” he said, standing up straight again.

He studied them, a moment thinking. “Do you have any other samples like the ones you gave my daughter?”

George looked at Fred, then up at the ceiling. “We have about a dozen.”

“I would like to purchase them all for a bit each,” Filthy Rich said firmly.

After Twilight translated that for them that a “bit” was equal to a galleon, the two readily agreed.

After the transaction, Filthy Rich said, “I will be having these field tested. If they work as well as my daughter indicated, I will return with an order for several thousand of these. In the meantime,” he looked over at Twilight, “I would like to leave a deposit of a thousand bits with your Highness as earnest money and to secure rights to this product.”

Twilight blinked, then said, “I agree to being the bailor.” She looked at the stunned twins. “By my accepting this you are agreeing to make Filthy Rich the sole distributor of this product in the event he agrees to sign a suitable contract.”

She looked back at Filthy Rich. “There is a penalty of ten percent should you cancel the arrangement without cause or take longer than seven days to make a contractual offer.”

Still widely smiling, the amber-grey pony readily agreed. He hoofed over twelve bits for the candies, took them from George, and trotted out of the room humming happily to himself. And leaving a room full of astonished ponies.

“Did that really happen?” asked Sweetie Belle, wide-eyed.

The twins slowly nodded. Fred hovered one bit over to Sweetie Belle. “This is your percentage. We’ll give you the other twenty knuts when we get home.

She stared at the bit, then stuffed it into her saddle bag.


۸-_-۸


The Princesses surprised everyone when they came out of the Ponyville Guard Post, having arrived via the new Floo-network instead of by Chariot. They brought both Twilight’s parents and her brother, as well as Princess Cadance, to the delight of Twilight and Harry.

The princesses were thrilled to meet the humans-turned-ponies, and spent a few minutes in conversation with each of them. Princess Cadance’s conversation with Ginny was a bit longer, and she smirked at Harry after it. All three were intensely interested in meeting Myrtle.

The adoption ceremony took place in the early afternoon, just after a wonderful lunch with the princesses. Which terrified the visitors. They were actually in the presence of the rulers of the country — and the two who moved the sun and moon. Two sisters who could squash them with no more thought than they gave stepping on an ant. They had no concept of how formal, or informal, they should be with two such personages. To say they were all on tenterhooks would be an understatement.

Except Harry, he didn’t want to wait for the official adoption papers to be signed.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on whether or not you were a native Equestrian, the sister Princesses had other obligations in Canterlot that evening. 

That the two princesses signed the document in front of the Town Hall, with Twilight’s parents and Princess Cadance signing underneath as official witnesses. Moreover, almost the entire town had turned out for the Princesses, and that meant they were there as witnesses, too. It was a surprise only to Myrtle and the Weasleys when a Harmony Song followed the signing.

It was the first time in over a thousand years that the two sisters had participated in a public Harmony Song, and the first time ever all four Princesses had done so together. It was a day for the history books, especially because it was in support of a small colt and not one of the Princesses. It, and he, would be forever famous.

Pinkie Pie refused to let the princesses leave without at least seeing the beginning of her “Harry has a New Mom” party. It wasn’t hard to convince Princess Celestia to delay leaving when she saw the giant cake hidden inside the Town Hall. 

Remembering the letter they had received after their first Potions’ class, the fillies managed to get the twins to give four of the short-term, thirty-second gender-candies to the princesses. Princess Cadance managed to convince the twins to give her two, as well.

The twins promised to follow-up with a few of the one-hour candies by owl to each of the Princesses. Little did they know of the chaos they would be responsible for unleashing upon the Canterlot nobles.

The twins did make sure the Princesses knew that Filthy Rich was negotiating with them for rights to the candies. The smirks the Princesses gave on hearing that gave Harry the impression that the rich pony would soon receive a royal order for a large number of candies. And become even richer.

After the Princesses returned to Canterlot, the party continued.

The party lasted until the Element Bearers did their production of the Hearth’s Warming that evening, with Spike once again doing the narrating. Of course, being a local production, there were many bit parts for the older colts and fillies to take as background ponies. And quite a few improvised speaking parts — even if it was a short, “Oh, dear,” or “impossible!”

Everypony later agreed it was one of the most joyful celebrations ever, only exceeded by the party after the Element Bearers’ battle with Nightmare Moon and Princess Celestia’s return.


۸-_-۸


The following day the Hogwarts students made a trip to the gem field. It was covered in snow, but the gem finding spell still worked. It took them most of the day to find thirty-nine fingernail-to-thumbnail sized gems, with a time-out for a picnic lunch. The warming charms got a good workout. 

Harry knew that if for no other reason, warming charms would see that wands were widely accepted and used in Equestria. That charm, and the accio for getting things that always seemed to be just out of reach.

Harry and the fillies were more than happy to give the gems they found to Spike as belated Hearth’s Warming gifts. The others decided to share their finds equally. Because they didn’t know the values of the gems, there was no way to divide them and know they were being fair. As a result, they would sell the gems to the goblins in a single batch, then divide the funds.

Harry had to smirk. Each share would be at least two year’s wages, if not much, much more, based on what the goblins had given the fillies for theirs. The Weasleys would no longer be considered poor, and Myrtle would no longer feel as if she were a charity case. They all had sufficient funds to set themselves up after they left Hogwarts. That evening, the visitors spent their time day-dreaming of what they would get with their new-found wealth. Not that they believed they would really get all that much. They insisted Harry was exaggerating what the goblins had paid.

When the fillies showed up the next day, after breakfast, Scootaloo had a glint in her eye that made Harry nervous.

“Ya know, I was thinking about Hermione,” she said, hoovering beside the other two. “While she’ll like the bookmarks, quills, and paper we got her, I think we should get her a few books.” Then she grinned. The other two nodded eagerly. They had clearly discussed this already.

Harry slowly nodded. “We could visit the bookstore and pick up one or two, I think.” Something else was planned, he knew. They were the Cutie Mark Crusaders, after all.

Scootaloo shook head and executed a quick loop. “Nope. I was thinking we could check out the Two Sisters’ Castle.” She grinned. “We could try for a Book Antiquarian Cutie Mark!”

Harry stared at her. They were in the main sitting-room again with their Hogwarts friends. “We’re not supposed to go into the Everfree, remember?” he said, with what he knew was a vain hope that that might derail the plan.

She shook her head, again. “Nope. Ginny and I can fly there while you and Sweetie Belle can take Ron and Apple Bloom by teleport. The twins can take Percy and Myrtle, ’cause I know they’ll want to explore a castle, too.” The other two again nodded. “So we won’t even be close to the forest itself. And the castle is on the other side of the ravine, anyway.”

“And I remember Rarity saying that the castle itself was a safe-haven in the forest,” said Sweetie Belle. “None of the animals ever intruded on it.”

The twins were, of course, eagerly nodding their heads. Ron, Ginny, Percy, and Myrtle weren’t as enthusiastic, but they were interested. 

He sighed. It was true. They had been forbidden to traverse the Everfree, but no pony had said they couldn’t visit the castle if they didn’t go through the Everfree.

Harry knew he had lost this discussion. Cutie Mark Crusaders Castle Adventurers were a go! But he still had to voice his objections so he could later say, “I told you so!”

“But,” he protested, “Twilight already cleared out the library there when the Castle of Friendship grew.”

“But there might be a few in hidden rooms,” responded Scootaloo.

His next complaint was, “We have to tell someone we’re going there so people don’t start looking for us and panic.”

Apple Bloom grinned. “We met Pinkie and told her. She said that was no problem!”

Fred grinned, “So, we get to explore an ancient castle?”

“Just as we did back home?” said George.

“Only there aren’t any adults around to stop us?”

Hesitantly, Harry nodded. The way they phrased that worried him. By Percy’s expression, he too, was worried.

Less than half-an-hour later the ten of them were standing in front of the castle.

Its looks hadn’t improved much since the last time he had seen it, when Twilight and her friends had started to restore it. The foyer still had the odd five-armed sculpture, although the arms now held stone replicas of the Elements. The floor had been cleared of debris and the walls repaired.

The group spent a few minutes looking around the room as Harry and the fillies explained what had happened two and a half years ago. From their expressions, Harry could see the Weasleys were sceptical. “Well, anyway, this used to be Princesses Celestia and Luna’s castle a thousand years ago. After their argument, Princess Celestia felt she couldn’t live here anymore and moved the government back to Canterlot,” he explained. “It’s been empty since then. Twilight and the others started fixing it up but then Harmony gave her the crystal Castle of Friendship in Ponyville and they gave up the project.”

After experiencing several Harmony songs, the visitors were not as incredulous of the last statement as they might have been had they been told that while back at Hogwarts.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” said Scootaloo. “Let’s go!” She zoomed into the Main Hall, followed by the others.

The twins’ eyes were sparkling and they began trotting down the left corridor in the Main Hall. “Look, those torches look like they’re being held by hooves!” came the exclamation echoing back to the rest.

Harry and the rest quickly clustered around the first unlit torch on the right side corridor. “Yes,” said Harry. “This the Corridor of Torches!” The others stared at the life-like hoof holding the torch. They were currently unlit. The unicorns all lit their horns to relieve the shadowy appearance everything had.

The fillies started trotting down that hall and Harry hurried after them. Looking behind, he could no longer see the twins.


۸-_-۸


“Well,” said Fred, “That was unexpected.”

“Indeed,” came the muffled response from under him.

They both lit their horns at the same time, bringing a bit of light to the dusty and narrow hallway. They untangled themselves and stood. Fred looked at the featureless wall behind them, searching for a way to get it to open. The hoof-held torch was the obvious trigger, so he pulled on it. It refused to move. “Huh,” he said. “That was what flipped us the first time.”

“Come one,” said George, as he started down the hall, “let’s see where this goes.”

Fred followed behind him, and cast a vanishing charm on the floor before the dust overwhelmed them. He carefully examined the walls for peepholes or door triggers as he walked, as did his brother. The peepholes only showed them empty rooms to either side of the narrow secret corridor.

But no doors.

Distracted by searching for a door to either room, they didn’t notice the trapdoor in the floor.


۸-_-۸


Percy, Myrtle, Ron and Ginny wandered down the much brighter and wider Main Hall. They could see twin banners in the distance above and behind the staircases to the next floor.

It didn’t take them long to discover the library, between and under the stairs. It was a large room with many empty bookshelves. The lighting came from floor-to-ceiling windows that opened onto a large courtyard with a fancy fountain, now dry. 

The four saw nothing of interest, at first. The furnishings were in surprisingly good shape, with what they assumed were comfortable sofas and chairs scattered around the room. In front of them, or beside, were various reading tables. Beside one table was something that looked like a Ferris-wheel with seven flat platforms instead of chairs. It was only a bit taller than they were. It was too small to be for ponies, although foals in a basket might fit. It took a few moments, but then they realized it was so a researcher could have seven books open at the same time without taking up a ridiculous amount of space. 

Myrtle grinned, and one shrinking charm later she was placing the item in her saddlebags. “I found my present for Hermione,” she said brightly.

Careful searching of the room revealed a hidden passage that led to another, cosier library. Unfortunately, it had already been cleaned out. Only a few tables and chairs remained. And it was spotlessly clean, as had been the main library, indicating that if it had had books, then Princess Twilight had probably already found and removed them.


۸-_-۸