//------------------------------//
// 117 — Calling the Cavalry 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
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A unicorn was dead? Another was hurt? There were centaurs in the forest? 

He grabbed his arms, hunched over slightly, and shivered. Who would hunt unicorns? Harry clutched his wand tightly as he remembered Tirek. The giant centaur had stolen his magic, if only for a few days before being overcome.

The girls would never forgive him if he got hurt.

Well, he knew what to do when a centaur was sighted. Not even Rainbow would be able to keep up with him! And if he couldn’t run? Then he bloody well intended to teleport, Hogwarts’ charms or not!

Malfoy’s recalcitrant objections were over-ruled, to all the students’ disappointment, Hagrid led them into the forest.

Harry wanted to object, too. But while his mum merely would be disappointed at him being kicked out of Hogwarts, he wasn’t so sure Princess Celestia would be so . . . forgiving. It was at her behest that he was here in the first place. And he never wanted to disappoint somepony who could literally cook him in an instant. Or banish him to the Moon.

Hagrid split them into two reluctant groups, one to follow in each direction of the trail of silvery-blue blood. Whichever group found the unicorn was to send up sparks to alert the others.

Harry prayed that was all that would happen.

Draco and Pansy insisted that Fang go with them, even after Hagrid told them, “He’s a big coward, he is.”

There was a brief scare for Harry, Ron, and Hagrid as something big moved in the dark, but it was a false alarm. They resumed their search. They travelled deeper into the forest for the next half-hour.

Then came a second scare. “Who’s there?” shouted Hagrid. “Show yerself!” He swung his crossbow up, ready to use it.

It took only a moment for Harry to recognize the creature that came into view. A pony as big as Celestia stepped into the clearing in front of them. He had a gleaming chestnut body and long, reddish tail. However, it was the sight of a man’s body, from the waist-up, where the neck and head of a pony should be that had Harry screaming, “Run!” He barely noticed the bow and arrow the centaur held in one hand. 

Harry yanked on Ron’s arm, and charged back the way they had come at full speed — as a unicorn. Four hooves were simply faster than two legs! He had to use his magic to hold his glasses in place.

No way was he giving up see-in-the-dark vision when a monster was chasing him in the forest at night!

Harry slid to a halt at the edge of the forest, where they had first entered. Faintly, behind him, he could hear Ron’s stumbling hoof-steps. He didn’t have night-vision glasses like Harry did.

“Philomena! Philomena!” Harry called urgently, and looked all around desperately.

There was a flash of brilliant light, and the red-and-gold phoenix flamed into view.

“Get mum and the Guard!” Harry said quickly, “There’s a CENTAUR at Hogwarts! He’s only as big as Princess Celestia, so we got a chance! He’s killed one unicorn and hurt another!”

The bird disappeared in another flash of light.

Harry climbed a tree, as high as he could get, and wrapped all four legs securely around the tree’s trunk. He squirmed close, casting a notice-me-not. He didn’t think it would stop the centaur from finding him, but it would slow him down. He made himself as small and quiet as he could. 

It was a trick he and the fillies had learned in the Everfree. Predators rarely looked up when following a scent.

He could only hear Ron’s stumbling steps in the darkened forest.

It was clear what had happened. The centaur had surprised and attacked a unicorn, injuring her greatly. The poor soul had managed to escape, but was running in blind terror. The centaur had leisurely chased her, taunting her, keeping her too panicked to think clearly and possibly get away. Hence the blood trail they had found. The monster had carefully herded her away from her family, or anypony else, who would have understood and sought help.

And Harry remembered quite clearly Tirek’s rampage through Equestria, stealing magic and leaving ponies to struggle and die. The ones remote from the cities fared the worst — the animals, like cragadiles, lions, and bears, had taken advantage of their weakness to attack.

It had taken days for his mum to prepare, and even then she had lost. Tirek had absorbed too much magic for Twilight to combat — until Tree of Harmony, and Chaos, had saved them. Thousands had died in the meantime.

There was no hurry, here, for the centaur. Harry’s mum and the Princesses were far, far away. He could take his time and enjoy the terror he inspired. And then steal her magic when the exhausted unicorn collapsed.

Ron, still tripping over forest debris, came into view.

“Hsst,” Harry said, trying to attract Ron’s attention. 

Ron stopped and looked around, wide-eyed.

“Up here,” Harry said hoarsely.

“Harry?” Ron said, stunned to find the unicorn hiding high up in a tree.

“Run to the castle! Warn the professors that there’s a magic-stealing centaur in the forest and he’s already caught two unicorns!” Harry said frantically.

Ron glanced at the castle and took a couple of steps, then said, “What’re you doing?”

“I sent Philomena to get my mum! She’ll know what to do! I gotta wait for her here. Now GO!”

Ron, again, glanced at the castle, then back up at Harry. He took a deep breath, then took off as fast as his hooves would take him. He wasn’t quite a blur, but he was trying.

Harry saw him open the castle doors when there was a double-flash of light from below.

“Harry?” called his mum.

He almost fell from the tree in relief.

It was his mum!

“Up here,” he said.

She looked up, then sighed. A purple glow took hold of the colt and brought him down.

He started babbling immediately. “We were in detention and Mr. Filch said we had to follow Hagrid and he took us into the Forbidden Forest to find a hurt unicorn that was bleeding pretty bad and unicorns here are really, really big, so it was real important but then we saw a CENTAUR!” He was hopping up and down and darting side to side to look back into the forest on either side of her. “He must be stealing the unicorn’s magic which is why it was running away and got hurt and the centaur is big! He’s easily bigger than you, maybe as big as Princess Celestia so Ron and I ran away as fast as we could and then I called for Philomena and sent her for you and then Ron caught up and I told him to run to the castle and then you got here and brought me down from the tree and I told you what happened!” 

The outside of the castle suddenly lit up as giant balls of light appeared just below the crenellations. The lawn was lit as if it were day.

Harry screamed and covered his eyes. His glasses had gone completely white. He took them off and perched them on the back of his neck, out of the way.

While he was standing there, blinking, there was another double-flash of light beside them. This time a trio of pony Guards appeared. 

His mum quickly whirled to face them. “There’s a native unicorn injured in the forest,” she said, and pointed down the trail. “Harry said that he thinks a centaur is responsible. That it was hunting her.”

The sergeant took a quick look around, then ordered, “Corporal Clever, backtrack the trail, find the centaur, and report!”

“Ma’am, yes, Ma’am,” the earth-pony guard said firmly, as he saluted, then started down the trail Hagrid had originally taken. He was very big, almost as big as Big Mac back home, Harry noticed. And he was outfitted with one of the new gun-harness saddles, as were the other two, but his was one Harry had never seen. It seemed to be six barrels mounted in a circle really close together on one side instead of two barrels on either side. There was also a huge box on his other side, with another on his back. And everything was all black. As soon as he entered the forest, his golden armour, weapons, and appearance took on the colours around him, making him almost impossible to see.

Despite what had to be a heavy load, he moved silently into the forest, carrying the equipment as if it were nothing. Maybe it had a feather-weight charm? Huh. On second thought, considering his size and that he was an earth-pony, did he even need a feather-weight charm on his load?

“Corporal Target, Find the edge of the teleport charm, and alert the rest of the troop!”

“Ma’am, yes, Ma’am,” said the slight unicorn firmly, and saluted. She turned and followed her compatriot into the forest. She had the standard two-rifle saddle harness. Like Corporal Clever, her passage was silent and she quickly blended into the forest.

There was another double phoenix-flash and another trio of ponies appeared.

“We’ll set up the first line of defence along here,” the sergeant said, sweeping her leg along the edge of the forest as she gave instructions to the newcomers. “The forest will give us some cover and the opportunity to flank the centaur when he emerges.”

The three immediately took positions around them, and hunkered down. They shimmered and took on the green and browns of the grass around them.

Harry watched with wide eyes.

“Harry,” his mum said, “Are you sure you saw a centaur?”

“Hmm?” He looked back up at her. “Yes,” he said firmly. “But he didn’t have horns like Tirek. But that could just be a trick to confuse us. And he’s still small, maybe only a bit bigger than Princess Celestia.”

In the background behind them, he could see people coming of the castle doors. With his glasses off, he could tell that they were adults only because they were beside someone small, who had to be either Ron or Professor Flitwick.

She sighed. “Harry? Centaurs here don’t steal your magic.”

He looked up at her with narrowed eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked suspiciously.

She sighed again, and rubbed her hoof across her forehead. She looked at the figures hurrying towards them.

Harry could hear a steady stream of ponies as they started to come out of the forest behind them, and the sergeant started to give them directions.

“Not enough to assume you’re wrong,” she said dryly.

Suddenly there came a voice from the sergeant. “Sergeant! Corporal Clever. Unicorn down! Civilian! Send a medic! No sign of hostiles. Over.”

“Copy that. Over,” said the pegasus, her head turned to the glowing crystal attached to her shoulder. “You three!” she ordered, pointing, “Follow the trail. Channel one-three-five.”

A glow on the shoulder of the unicorn addressed indicated she was adjusting her communications crystal. The three took off at a quick trot, and backtracked up the trail they had just come down. They dodged around the incoming troops. 

A new set of three took up positions around the Princess and Harry.

Suddenly, from a distance in the forest, there came the sound of a saw ripping through wood. Harry looked up curiously. But for the Guards things had just gone from, “there might be a problem,” to, “HOLY CELESTIA! GET YOUR TAILS IN GEAR!”

Three pegasi immediately took to the air, arrowing towards the sound, six more tore into the forest at a run. Guards frantically began setting up equipment on the berms around holes at the forest’s edge as fast as they could be excavated. Newly arriving ponies charged past at a full gallop and headed partway up the lawn, where a different sergeant was already indicating lines of fire, trenches, and engagement positions.

The ripping sound cut out, its echoes dying out quickly. There was a brief whine that suddenly stopped. There was complete silence from that direction, in contrast to the noise of the Guards on the lawn. Harry saw at least six night-ponies burst out of the tree tops and head deeper into the forest.

“Status, Corporal Clever!” the sergeant barked.

More people were spilling out of the castle, and the towers’ windows were suddenly crowded.

The sergeant didn’t get a response.

“Status, Corporal Clever!” she repeated.

The Headmaster could really move, when he wanted, apparently, as he was the first to arrive, followed by Professors Snape, Flitwick, and McGonagall. The professors were all looking at the frantic activity on the castle’s front lawn with astonished expressions.

They must have ordered Ron to stay in the Castle. Other professors waited at the castle door.

Twilight transformed into a person — she remembered clothes, this time, Harry was relieved to see.

Harry wasn’t sure if they were surprised by the activity or the fact that handless ponies, barely waist-high, were making quick work of transforming the area into a defensive redoubt with trenches and foxholes. And that it ran the length of the lawn around Hogwarts.

“What seems to be the problem?” Headmaster Dumbledore asked Harry’s mum, looking around curiously.

“Corpsman Skin, here. Corporal Clever is down, as well as the civilian,” came a voice from the Sergeant’s communication crystal.

“Harry says he saw a centaur,” Harry’s mum said looking between Harry and the Headmaster.

“The clearing looks like he put up a good fight.” 

“And that something is killing unicorns,” she looked off into the forest, frowning.

“No sign of hostiles. Over.”

“He suspects the centaur drained their magic.”

“Both are stable, although Corporal Clever has had his front right leg severed and has severe head and chest wounds. Over.”

“Centaurs have no interest in magic, as such,” the Headmaster protested calmly.

“Maybe,” his mum, shrugging. “Our experience has been different.”

Hagrid walked out of the forest, Draco and Pansy behind him. The flood of ponies from the forest flowed around them like water around a big rock in a stream. By now there must be at least a hundred here, Harry realized.

“Looks like both are the victims of cutting curses. Over.”

“In fact, they eschew any association with casting magic, relying solely on their own strength to defend themselves.” Dumbledore said evenly.

“But it is better to be safe than sorry,” she responded, frowning at the Headmaster.

The half-giant was looking around, bewildered by the activity. His crossbow was slung across his back. He seemed to barely notice the six ponies that were escorting him and the two students. He spent more attention on watching where he was going as the knee-high ponies rushed around him. Draco and Pansy crowded close to avoid being trampled by the almost chest-high, to them, armoured and armed ponies.

“The civilian has numerous cuts and wounds. She is barely alive. Over.”

It was weird to see an earth pony walking forward while a unicorn stood braced on his back watching Hagrid behind them. And keeping his saddle-mounted rifles aimed at the wizard — not that the wizard in question understood their significance. The two pegasi hovering directly behind him immediately went higher and to flanking positions as they cleared the forest edge. They had moved to keep better watch on the three humans. Three more joined them.

“Hagrid!” called the Headmaster, attracting his attention.

“Reinforcements have arrived! Over.”

“Perfesser!” cried Hagrid, heading in their direction, still flanked by the Guard ponies. “What’s goin’ on?” he said looking down at the ponies as more poured from the forest and spread out across the lawn. The din was phenomenal as orders were shouted, hooves thundered, and ponies ran and flew everywhere.

“Medevacing unicorn to Headquarters . . . now!” There came the sound of bells.

“Hagrid, what happened in the forest?” the Headmaster asked.

“Huh?” said Hagrid switching his attention to the Headmaster. “Oh!” He shuffled his feet awkwardly. “Well, we had jus’ met Ronan when Harry an’ Ron run off back the way we came. A’fore I followed ’em, I asked him if he knew what had been happenin’ to the unicorns.” He frowned. “All ’e said were, ‘Mars is bright tonight,’ an’ then he said, ‘Always the innocent are the first victims.’” He shook his head in mild disgust. “No ’elp, no ’elp at all. Not interested in anythin’ closer then the Moon.”

“Medevacing Corporal Clever to Headquarters . . . now!” came a new voice over the Sergeant’s crystal. It cut off in mid-bell-ring.

“Then, I decided ter head back ter find Harry an’ Ron. Hadn’t gone far when I run into a pony. Almost stepped right on him.” He looked around at the hustling activity that was beginning to slow as the ponies settled into their defensive positions. “He asked ‘which way to the centaur,’ an’ I pointed him down the trail we was followin’ an’ off he went. Then I run inter these fellows and they followed me back here.” He frowned, looking around again. “Makin’ quite a mess, ain’t they?”

“Still no hostiles in sight. Squad ninety-two securing clearing and policing area for tracks. Over,” came another voice over the crystal.

The ponies coming from the forest had dropped to a mere trickle. Harry could see golden helmets, poking out of holes in the lawn, going in both directions between the castle and forest. And squads of pegasi and night ponies patrolled the sky, wheeling in vast circles over the well-lit surroundings of the castle.

“Tracks and traces found, squads one-one-three and eight-seven following. Over.”

It was actually all quite exciting — as long as he didn’t think about the magic-eating centaur lurking out in the forest.

The Headmaster sighed and motioned to his mum. Harry followed. Draco and Pansy began drifting in his direction.

“I fear,” the Headmaster said quietly to Twilight, “That the one who seeks the . . . ,” he paused and looked at her meaningfully, “object is getting desperate.” 

The professors exchanged alarmed looks.

Twilight’s eyes narrowed in thought and one eyebrow arched. “The unicorn?”

He sighed. “It is a monstrous thing, to slay a unicorn in our world,” he said gravely. “Only someone desperate — someone who thinks they have nothing to lose — will commit such a crime. A unicorn’s blood will save you, true, even if you are at death’s door. But there is a terrible cost. A punishment for killing something pure and defenceless, just to save yourself.” He shook his head sadly. “You will have a cursed life, from the moment the blood touches your lips.” He stroked his beard, still shaking his head.

Twilight frowned and shook her head. “Yes, I did read about that, I had hoped it was but an old-mare’s tale. Many of your books have contradictory facts and tales in them. It is hard to believe such a thing is possible,” she said sadly, shaking her head. “In our world, a unicorn is a pony. We bleed the same as anypony else.” She sighed. “But your books say that here, that is not true,”

“But who’d be that desperate?” Harry wondered aloud. “If you’re going to be cursed forever, death’s better, isn’t it?”

The adults all looked down at him in surprise. With so many ponies running around, and him being so small, they had forgotten he was the cause of the excitement.

Before anyone could say anything, a Guard-pony trotted up and saluted. “Excuse me, Princess Sparkle, but we’ve captured a centaur. As per standing orders, we gave him the chance to surrender at first encounter. He did. Would you like to see the prisoner, now?”

Twilight startled, “You did? Yes, of course.”

“Bring forward the prisoner,” barked the pony, stepping back and looking into the forest. 

“Prisoner?” said the Headmaster, and lifted his eyebrows inquiringly. Professor Snape rolled his eyes, but kept his gaze on the forest. Professor McGonagall looked horrified, with her left hand on her chest. Professor Flitwick just frowned.

“Prisoner?” echoed Hagrid, “ ’Ere now! There’s no call for that!” He stood straighter and clenched his fists.

The Guards surrounding the half-giant stiffened, and a few more weapons were shifted to point in his direction.

A palomino centaur with long blond hair stepped out of the forest into view. He was surrounded by nine ponies. Four of them were flying pegasi. All were keeping well out of arm and kicking range. He had blue eyes, and had his bow slung over his shoulder beside a quiver of arrows.

Several nearby guards shifted position to bring their weapons to bear onto the centaur.

“Firenze,” said Hagrid, stepping towards the centaur. Hagrid’s escort split between watching the two students and the half-giant. “Sorry ’bout this,” he said apologetically, and swung his arms to indicate everything around them. “It’s a mistake, yeh know.”

“Firenze,” said the Headmaster, half-bowing. “It is delightful to see you. I hope everything is satisfactory with yourself and your tribe?” He ignored the numerous ponies turning and pointing those strange tube-things at the centaur. They were crouched and braced as if to attack.  

Hagrid deferred to the Headmaster and moved back a step.

“It is, indeed, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore,” the centaur said, nodding his head in greeting. He studied the ponies scattered across the lawn. Most of the activity had died down. Some Guards looked back at him, but the remainder watched the forest intently. As he and the others watched, the gold armour of the settled ponies shimmered and took on the aspects of the ground around them, as did the ponies’ coats and manes. Harry could only see them because he knew what to look for and exactly where to look.

All of the ones on the ground were behind odd-looking equipment laying on the berm of the holes they had dug. Equipment that Harry recognized from war movies on the telly as machine guns and mortars.

In a few moments, it became very difficult to tell the difference between the ponies, or their equipment, and the holes and berms themselves.

There were still squads of pegasi patrolling the edges of the forest and the castle perimeter. The rest were perched on Hogwarts’ roof, staring down from behind hastily built sand-bag-type barriers. They had machine-gun and mortar emplacements beside them, as well. They, too, began to shimmer and disappear as the Guards settled into watchful positions.

They were especially difficult to see with the bright lights below them.

Harry could see the Equestrian army was making good use of the expansion and feather-weight charms. Now that he looked, he could see the sergeant and closer Guards had wand holsters on their forelegs.

Harry wondered if anyone besides the ponies knew what those things that the Guards were pony-handling into final positions were capable of doing.

Nothing was going to slip into the Castle unnoticed. And if it was belligerent and refused to listen to reason? Well, it would not like the results!

And none of the ones watching the centaur had friendly expressions.

The centaur looked back at the Headmaster. “I don’t believe I have ever heard of such intelligent ponies, pegasi, or unicorns. Are they friends of yours?” he asked politely

The Headmaster chuckled softly. “I like to think so, Firenze.”

Twilight looked over to him. “Is . . . Firenze a friend of yours?”

“I like to think so, Princess,” Dumbledore said. “He is one of my contacts with the Black Woods Clan here in the Forbidden Forest. They have lived here for a thousand years. The headmasters at Hogwarts have never had cause to complain.”

The nearby sergeant jolted. “There are more of them?” She nudged the crystal with a wing and started issuing instructions. She walked away from them to keep her conversation private. A dozen ponies, a mix of pegasi and night-ponies, launched themselves from the castle and struck out over the forest.

The humans and Firenze watched, startled.

Harry was impressed. The British soldiers must have been drilling the EUP quite hard. They had been competent before, as he had seen. But this much preparation and organization? So quickly?

“Princess Twilight Sparkle, may I introduce Firenze, of the Black Woods Clan?” Headmaster Dumbledore was the first to recover. “Firenze, it is my pleasure to introduce Princess Twilight Sparkle, of the nation Equestria.”

She hesitated a moment, then transformed into her alicorn form. She beat her wings to raise herself to look the surprised centaur in the eyes. “Hello, Firenze, It is nice to meet you. I apologize for the rudeness of my Guards and this situation, but our experiences with centaurs in my home world have not been pleasant or equanimous. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

“No harm was done, no honour was lost,” he said, bowing his head.

“The Equestrians are ponies,” Dumbledore swept an arm to indicate the lawn around them, “as you can see.”

Firenze looked at him blankly for a moment.

“Being a human is their . . . animagi form when they visit us, you might say.”

At hearing the Headmaster’s proclamation, Draco and Pansy exchanged glances. They were almost beside Harry, who was still a pony, but had kept several steps away. They were Slytherins, after all. And while they were used to seeing the Gryffindor ponies running around, the quantity on the Castle lawn was intimidating, to say the least.

“You are beasts?” he asked looking back at Twilight.

Harry bristled and took a step closer, “No,” he said, “we’re ponies! Beasts can’t talk.”

The adults again looked down at Harry. As did Draco and Pansy at his audacity to interrupt an adult conversation. And give away that they were listening to something they probably shouldn’t hear. They rolled their eyes. Not that he cared.

His mum sighed and frowned at him. He blushed, stepped back, and pretended interest in a nearby foxhole with machine gun. The Guards in it took him several moments to discern. They looked very amused, and smirked when they saw that he had finally pierced their illusions.

Harry transformed back to wizard.

“I must ask,” she said after a moment, “if you know of a skill, spell, or artefact to steal a pony’s magic?”


۸-_-۸