//------------------------------//
// 119 — Presence 
// Story: If Wishes were Ponies . . . . 
// by tkepner 
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Twilight followed Albus back to his office. Once inside, instead of sitting, herself, she waited until he sat, then moved to the front of his desk. She looked at him with narrowed eyes and slightly hunched forward posture. “What are you going to do about Mr. Filch, Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, and Hagrid?”

Albus looked at her, startled.

“I have been talking with Bon Bon and Lyra, and the children. Mr. Filch is totally unsuited for being in a position of authority in a school of children. He is hateful, mean, insulting, and enjoys terrorizing children. He constantly hassles them over the littlest infraction and takes great delight in the doling out of detentions.” She hesitated, but continued, “Much like Professor Snape, without the redeeming quality of actually being able to teach them anything. Not that there is much redemption in that respect. But, at least, the Professor doesn’t spend detention time watching students polish and oil instruments of torture while loudly proclaiming how he wishes he could use them instead, as Mr. Filch does.”

“And it seems remarkably cruel to have a squib . . . a squib — someone incapable of magic — in a school whose entire purpose is teaching magic. No wonder he’s always unhappy and in an awful mood! I would be in his place! I imagine he would be much happier in a location where his lack of talent isn’t rubbed in his face every day. Some place where he isn’t taunted either by accident or on purpose about his situation.

“His actions last night prove he doesn’t have the best interests of the students in mind, at all. He was delighted to taunt the four, stating he expected them to be injured! If he had any concern for their safety, he wouldn’t have considered Hagrid’s request in the first place. Because he did, he’s clearly unsuited for his position.”

“As for Deputy Headmistress McGonagall, there is no excuse for having children serve a detention two hours after their curfew. Children that age can barely stay awake at that late an hour, as I’m sure your astronomy professor can tell you. It merely deprives them of sleep and makes the detention worthless as both a learning and a disciplinary tool. Not to mention how it adversely effects their schoolwork the next day.

“The Forbidden Forest is off limits to students, during the day, because you consider it too dangerous for them to explore. What reason could she have had to assign them their detention there, at night?” She glared at him balefully. “At night, in poor visibility, when any kind of dangerous creature could sneak up on them! What if they had stumbled over a mother fox’s or badger’s den, wolves, or snakes? And what about the dangerous magical creatures? Any one of those would attack if it felt it were trapped. Even deer will do that! Plus, in such poor lighting, they could have simply tripped over a hole, log, or other debris they couldn’t see in the dark, and broken a leg. Or neck.”

“And then she sends them with someone who she knows barely has a magical education in advance of the students? To chase after something capable of catching and killing unicorns? True, Hagrid is a half-giant and a fearsome appearing person that everything in the forest normally avoids, but anything capable of chasing the incredibly fast unicorns in the forest, and catching them, could attack and escape before Hagrid even knew the creature was nearby. It certainly has shown it will kill, hasn’t it? What if it decided to grab one of the kids instead of a unicorn?

She threw her arms wide in emphasis. “That is totally unacceptable.” She continued to glare at him. “If the things I’ve heard about happening in this school, so far this year, make you say that this is the safest place in all of England, then I think that word does not mean what you think it does!”

“But Minerva didn’t know that Mr. Filch was allowing Hagrid to take over the detention,” Albus protested.

“Sorry, but that doesn’t cut it. As your Deputy, she had to know what was happening in the forest, she had to know what Hagrid planned that night, she had to know that Hagrid was asking for help. If she didn’t know these facts, she isn’t doing her job! Did she expect Mr. Filch to have the children mopping the floors that late at night? Anyone with common sense would have realized something was wrong with that situation. Besides, why is Mr. Filch even here? Don’t the house-elves take care of the castle?

“And Hagrid! Harry and the girls think he is great, but he’s a half-giant who only recently got his wand returned. That he would even consider it safe to take sleepy and terrified children into a deadly forest at night shows his decision-making abilities are seriously suspect. That he then sent two children off alone into the forest with his dog, Fang — who he admits is a coward and unsuited for the protection of children — merely confirms his lack of good judgement.”

She snorted angrily and leaned over his desk, placing her hands on it.

“What would have happened if the two with Fang had run into the creature while it was standing over a unicorn? Fang would have left them alone! Two children! Facing a powerful and dangerous creature! How do you think they would have fared? And they certainly could not run faster than a unicorn to escape! 

“And now that we know it is Voldemort possessing the creature? That makes it even worse! What if he’s possessing a Griffon? Or a wolf?

“Do you think Hagrid, himself, would have been able to stand up to the creature? If Hagrid, Harry, and Ron had stumbled across Voldemort over a wounded or dead unicorn, do you think the children would have survived if Voldemort had decided to target them instead of Hagrid?

“Tartarus! All a well-trained Earth pony could do was drive it off! And the pony wore magic-shielding armour and was armed with a mini-gun that would have torn a normal creature to pieces! Plus, Corporal Clever still nearly died.”

She looked away for a moment.

“That they might have deserved a detention is not the question — and I do have questions about that, by the way. The problem is a bunch of stupid decisions were made one after the other by people who are supposed to be intelligent and competent adults!”

She stared down at him, breathing heavily.

Albus sighed and looked down at his desk a moment, then back up at the angry Princess. “You are correct, of course. The detention was mishandled from beginning to end,” he said. “We are dreadfully over-worked. I haven’t been paying as much attention to the school as I should while I’ve been searching for the horcruxes, or I would not have allowed the children in the forest. I accept full responsibility for what happened.” He gazed at her calmly.

“Minerva has been doing a wonderful job of juggling being Head of House, Professor of Transfigurations, vetting the items in the Room of Requirement with Professor Flitwick, and handling the school responsibilities I haven’t had the time for myself. And the coming exams just added to her workload. 

“Next year, things will be different, with House Parents taking the House responsibilities, and she will have an assistant in her classes. And, with luck, by then we will have settled the Voldemort problem and I can return to my duties here.”

Twilight was beginning to calm back down. She was a reasonable person, after all, he knew.

He sighed again. “This is one of the things that just fell through the cracks. It shouldn’t have, but it did. Other than this incident, she has been coping admirably with the additional responsibilities she has had to take on, and not letting them affect her other duties. Still, there is quite a bit of stress on her at the moment.

“I will have a long discussion with her about this, and how it can be avoided in the future.” He looked down at his desk, again, and pursed his lips, thinking. 

The princess nodded, slowly, somewhat mollified.

“I will make sure Hagrid understands he can only supervise students in detention during daylight hours, outside of the forest. Detentions will be restricted to caring for mostly harmless small animals and our outdoor gardens, only.” He paused, and corrected himself, “What I consider harmless small animals.”

Again, she nodded. “And Mr. Filch?” she said, and watched him closely.

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. “Perhaps it is time Argus retired. He has served faithfully, and well, as caretaker of the school for twenty-three years.” He looked up at her. “I would like him to have two more years, to make it to twenty-five for full retirement. And, he needs time to research and make arrangements on where he will live. He has lived here at the castle since he was first hired. He deserves that much consideration.”

She studied him thoughtfully, then nodded. “He can stay only if he gets an assistant to reduce his interactions with the students. I would prefer he had no interactions at all, except incidental. So, no patrolling for errant students after curfew, no supervising errant students during detentions, and as little contact with students as possible the rest of the time.”

She stared at him a moment. “Why aren’t you using your map?” She waved a hand at the Hogwarts map occupying the wall. “Post two Prefects here, at night, watching the map. If they see a student out after curfew, note the name and then go get them. Or, better yet, hire two aurors for night duty.”

Albus glanced at the map. Indeed, they had continued the Prefect patrols because that was the way they had been doing things for a thousand years, but the map would make it so much simpler. “But by the time a Prefect arrived at where the student had been, the student wouldn’t be there anymore.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’ll get you thirty communication crystals, that way the one here can direct the other. And call the sleeping prefects, or professors, if more than one student is out.”

“Communication crystals?”

“Like the ones the Guards are using.”

He nodded. He had seen many of the pony Guards using crystals to communicate instantly across the castle. Quite convenient for quick instructions. Amazing that wizards had never thought to create such a device. They would make staff reactions to emergencies so much easier and quicker.

“We will start that routine as soon as the crystals arrive,” he said.

She stood. “I will have them in your hands in an hour.” She glanced at the map. “And now, I will have a discussion with Hagrid about last night.” She glanced back at him. “And then Professor McGonagall, to determine why she so harshly treated Harry and Ron Weasley when she first assigned the detention. They were, after all, trying to protect Hagrid. According to what the fillies told me, at least, they had a good reason to be out after curfew.”


۸-_-۸


At lunch, the entire school was carefully herded outside, where they were given a demonstration of why the Equestrian Guards were not to be taken lightly. Seeing an earth-pony Guard cut a tree in half, while setting it on fire, from a distance five-times the range of a typical wand-duel, was frightening to the wizards. Seeing it happen again, after punching through a shield charm projected by Professor Flitwick, made everyone resolve to be polite to the ponies. 

Then, one of the pegasi made a strafing run along the edge of the forest. From out of range of a wand. And at a speed that would have made a professional broom-racer proud. That the pegasus managed to fly sideways and backwards while doing this left them speechless. 

And the Quidditch team members jealous.

Yes, the ponies would be a formidable foe in a fight. Especially as they had no concept of duels. They fought as a team. A single wizard could only beat them with stealth and surprise. In a straight fight, the unicorn would occupy the wizard while the other two attacked from the sides, or behind, with impunity.

So, no making fun of the pony Guards, especially in any place they might be able to overhear you.

And seeing the fox-holes and trenches separating Hogwarts’ lawns from the Forbidden Forest showed them how serious the ponies were in keeping the school safe. Which actually made the students feel safer.

Then the students returned to their classes for the afternoon. The Slytherins were especially quiet. Elly knew they would be relaying what they had seen to their parents.

And she would have to make sure her hive was very deep underground.

After classes, they were escorted to their dorms, library, and outside. Most students spent that time in the library or the common rooms. Elly stayed in her dorm-room, sitting on her bed. Her friends thought she was preparing for the exams. She was, instead, studying the documents about the estate she now owned. She had never owned anything before, except her saddle-bags.

She wanted to be prepared to start on her hive-space immediately.

She also studied the list of possible tenants for the houses in the tiny village at the entrance to the estate.

The Ravenclaw and Gryffindor Quidditch teams practiced under the watchful eyes of most of the pegasi Guards. Many were taking notes, to the surprise of the team captains.

Harry Potter, and the rest of his herd, left the castle that evening after dinner. According to the rumour mill, they were being interrogated by the Unspeakables about their animagi abilities. She shuddered at the thought of meeting the Unspeakables. From the rumours she had heard, if one of them found her she would disappear inside their research facility and never be seen, or heard from, again.

While the others were in the common room exchanging gossip and rumours, she carefully retrieved her eighth jar of food and the resin-wrapped stone. She hoped that submerging the stone in the jar’s contents would further protect it from discovery. She added to and sculpted the resin jar until it was a small rectangular box. Then she wrapped it in paper. Twice.

This was a big risk, but she couldn’t take the chance on keeping this here. Even if the ponies weren’t looking for it now, she was sure she would be unable to smuggle it onto the train. If anyone took a serious look, they would find it immediately, she was sure.

And she planned on spending a night redesigning the remaining food jars to look like the juice bottles sold in Hogsmeade. If anyone examined them, they would only see the sweet liquid inside and not suspect that they hadn’t been purchased. Any magic cast would show them as harmless.

Not so the rock she had, she was sure. Even if they didn’t recognize its shape and colour they would realize it was something different and bring it to the Headmaster’s attention. Then she would really be in trouble.

She just hoped the confusion of this first day would give her the opening she needed to sneak it out.

She returned to the common room. She glanced nervously at the six ponies standing in a row in front of the Common Room entrance. They were in the centre of a large group of curious Hufflepuffs who were examining their armour and weapons. But no petting. That had been ruled out immediately. They were on duty. She could feel they were curious about what they were hearing and seeing. They probably hadn’t met very many humans, before. Especially not wizards and witches.

She took a deep breath and sought out the Seventh-year prefect. “Excuse me, Mr. Rincewind?”

He sighed, and looked up from his book. He smiled affectionately upon seeing her.  Apparently she was one of the few to give him no difficulties this year.

“I would like to owl-mail this package?” She held it out in front of her.

He rolled his eyes. “Over there,” he said, pointing at a small group of students by one of the paintings. Most were sixth and seventh year students. “You’re not the only one who has an urgent package or letter that needs to go home, right now,” he said dryly. He flicked his gaze at the ponies. He wasn’t even curious at what her package might contain.

“It’s candy,” she blurted out. “It won’t fit in my trunk and I want some to have over the summer at home.”

He grinned. “You’re not the only one.” He nodded at the group. “They’ll wait a few more minutes, then go as a group.” She could tell he was more interested in returning to his studies than what she wanted to do.

“Thank you,” she said softly, smiling.

Only when she watched the owl wing its way out with her package to Gringotts and two additional letters to London did she relax.

And the paintings made what would have been an arduous task traipsing around the castle simple and quick!


۸-_-۸


Castor followed Prince Blueblood into the conference room. He greeted the Prime Minister, Foreign and Home Secretaries, and the Directors of M.I. 5 and M.I. 6 with a cordial hello. He made his way to the table and sat at his assigned chair.

“Thank you for responding so quickly, gentlemen,” Prince Blueblood said stiffly, sitting on his side of the table. If he was perturbed to be the only one on that side, he didn’t show it. There was an Equestrian flag displayed on the pole-stand behind him.

“I wanted to brief you on last night’s incident.”

He glanced at the Intelligence directors. “I’m sure you have heard that there was some unusual activity at the embassy,” he said, raising an eyebrow delicately. “The Princesses would like me to explain why,” his tone bland, as usual, and giving away nothing of his own opinions.

The Equestrians had learned a lot about the human world in the last nine months, Castor knew. Some he had told them, after securing clearance from his superiors, of course. The rest they had probably learned from the copious quantities of books they had purchased. It didn’t take a genius to know that their Embassy was closely watched, both from the ground and the sky.

And not just by their friends on this side.

The abrupt movement of so many Equestrian guards had certainly attracted their attention. That the guards had been carrying obvious military equipment, and were prepared for combat, had been rather alarming. That they had disappeared so quickly hadn’t been reassuring in the slightest. 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, they had crossed quickly from the Portal Dome to the Embassy, and out of direct sight. The British knew these Guards were not at the Embassy, but the other nations would not be sure. It would take a few days for their spies to realize the Guards had moved on — the building was certainly large enough to house them, if the Equestrians had wanted to do that. But if they had done that, they would be visible moving around the building.

With their teleportation ability, and the new floo-network, the ponies could literally be anywhere in the world.

Overall, the last few months had been hectic, but promising. The two countries had been exchanging rather a lot of information, and other things. The business-boom of their “new-technology” was making itself felt. The unemployment rate, which had been rising for several years, had started to plateau. 

There were even signs that it might be starting to drop.

Nearly every hospital in the world wanted a new “cancer-cure” machine. That the device was priced about the same as a small house or expensive ambulance made it extremely affordable. Practically every hospital wanted one, or even two. And with nearly sixteen thousand hospitals in the world, that was a good market. 

The bone-growing kits were equally popular.

They hadn’t needed to “spike” the medicines with gem-dust for non-magicals, as they had first thought. Instead, the experts had come up with splints that were arranged around the broken bones. The splints were, of course, actually magic rods . . . wands. Staffs? Whatever. Just having such a magical item beside the injured bone provided enough magic to allow the medicines to work correctly and consistently. Minor cracks or simple fractures took mere hours to correct instead of the normal weeks.

Unfortunately, while the splints could be production-lined, the new medicines could not. The Apothecarist had thought it a prank, at first, back in January when Castor had asked the price per tonne for the needed ingredients. And then fainted when told just how many tonnes he wanted. Castor had wiped out the store’s on-hand supply, and then the store’s warehouse supplier’s stock. Then the European reserves, as well.

The new greenhouses were just now starting to reach production levels for those ingredients. The large number of earth-pony farmers being instructed by wizard professionals had been a considerable help. The supply still nowhere matched the demand, but it was improving.

Nevertheless, the kits were fetching quite a mark-up on the black market. And the Skele-gro replacement medicines were even higher.

Like the cancer-curing machines, new-tech pods made of such rods allowed amputees to regrow lost limbs while hiding the magic. Those machines were more expensive than the cancer machines, and a hospital required more of them, as they took days at a time for each patient. The waiting lists, at the moment, were huge, but they were making significant progress. Military veterans had priority.

And the machines were just as popular in Equestria as they were on this side of the portal.

The flow of goods ran both ways: the Brits supplied the mass-made equipment and the Equestrians supplied the magic rods.

The experiments with re-growing lost organs, such as eyes and hearing, were showing promising results. As were the experiments with severe-burn victims.

That didn’t count the equipment the Brits were selling, either. So far, they had moved three steam locomotives, several thousand bogies and wheel assemblies, hundreds of green-house kits, and about twenty thousand collapsible metal garden carts with hard-rubber wheels through the portal.

Consultations on setting up at least three full-scale mining operations and ten manufacturing facilities were underway, too.

Negotiations were currently in process for the creation of an additional portal location to handle the flow of commerce. A much bigger portal. Located near a sea-port.

And several of the discussions between the astronomers and physicists had broken down into fist-fights, to the watching Equestrians’ astonishment. The two groups were now sulking in different parts of the Canterlot Palace, he had last heard, using Equestrian interns as neutral-party messengers.

In addition, there was a joint British-American rocket launch in the works for a trip to the moon to test the range of floo-travel and portkeys. With both feather-weight and expansion charms “tech,” it looked to be a game-changer in space exploration. 

The arts were another flourishing market for the Brits, as the ponies built cinemas and set about creating their own production facilities. Creating pony versions of popular films and books was turning into a massive industry in Equestria. And they were importing people from Britain, Canada, and the Colonies as fast as they could convince them to share their expertise. And if they had magic, it made luncheon conferences that much easier.

“Around midnight, last night, Harry Potter was in a . . . ,” Prince Blueblood hesitated, then said in a disparaging tone, “supervised detention,” he didn’t quite roll his eyes, but Castor could see he wanted to, “in the Forbidden Forest beside Hogwarts.” His return to a blank look expressed clearly his opinion of the matter.

“There is apparently a problem with something harming native creatures, unicorns, to be precise.” He frowned delicately at the thought. “Not one of our ponies, fortunately. But, still, a very unusual event worthy of investigation by the proper authorities.

“Leaving aside the dubious educational value of a group of children led by a half-giant traipsing through a deadly forest in the middle of the night, there was an incident,” he continued in a conversational tone.

The humans exchanged alarmed looks.

“Apparently, Mr. Potter, along with a Mr. Weasley and Mr. Hagrid, came upon a centaur.” He looked around the table with an aloof expression. “That is, if you aren’t aware, a creature with the body of a pony and the head and torso of a human instead of the head and neck you would normally find on a pony.

“Equestria has a tense relationship with the centaurs of our world. A year ago, one of them, Tirek, discovered how to steal magic from ponies. He attacked Equestria, growing more and more powerful. For a brief time, he conquered our nation.

“His actions killed many pegasi, who fell to their deaths. On the ground, most ponies could survive without their magic. They were, however, greatly weakened and unable to protect themselves from predators. Many of those living at the edges of our nation suffered losses. It was a small percentage of the population, to be sure, barely one percent, but any such loss is devastating to the families and relatives. The Pegasus Tribe is still in the process of recovering.”

Castor was stunned. A one percent loss of life in a population of six million was worse than the Jewish Holocuast in Germany, who accounted for less than six-tenths of a percent of the population. And this was caused by one creature?

“It was a traumatic event for the ponies of Equestria.” Blueblood paused a moment.

“As a result, Mr. Potter reacted in a manner wholly consistent with his previous encounter with Tirek. He ran and called for the Equestrian Royal Guard and Princess Twilight Sparkle.”

Castor could see the slight smile of approval the ambassador had at the end of that sentence.

“Princess Sparkle led one hundred and thirty-two Guards to Hogwarts to deal with the issue.” He looked around the table, again. “That was the first group of Guards you saw leaving the Portal Dome.

“On arrival, she determined that it was a false alarm. The centaurs in the Forbidden Forest have no interest in acquiring magic. Nor the means to do so, they have said.

“However, our forces did have contact with the creature that was hunting the unicorns. One Guard was severely injured, as was a native unicorn. Both were safely evacuated and are being treated. Both are expected to recover.” He stopped, then smiled. “Actually three, as the unicorn is a mare and was with foal, which was delivered safely.

“In view of the fact that the creature is still roaming the Forest, Princess Sparkle brought in another hundred and eighty Guards and support staff to patrol the school and its grounds.” He paused and smiled. “That was the second group of Guards you saw.”

He looked at the Prime Minister. “This is a magical problem, and you do not yet have the troops you need to respond quickly to an immediate threat in that area. The Guards will only be at the school until June twenty-first.”

He looked at the others in the room.

“The Princesses and I feel that we have a good working relationship with the United Kingdom, and we wish it to remain so. The only reason Guards were sent was because of the suddenness of the incident and the danger that, if it were true, it would be catastrophic. There was no time to alert your forces to the problem. We had to act immediately. And you couldn’t have responded with your present forces without violating their Statute of Secrecy and involving the world-wide community.

“We will not leave any Guards at Hogwarts when the students leave for the summer in three weeks. They will all return to Equestria.”

He turned to face the Prime Minister directly. “If there is any need to change that, I will inform you and ask your permission.”

The ambassador stood and bowed.

“Also, the Princesses wish to formally thank you, in writing, for the weapons and samples you have provided at our request.” He pulled a letter from his pocket and gently placed it on the table, then slid it to the Prime Minister. “Without them, there is no doubt that both our Guard, and the unicorn mare and foal, would be dead. And that there might also have been many other casualties as well.”

The room was quiet for a moment.

Prince Blueblood bowed, again, then sat at his seat at the table.

“Perhaps we should set up a direct line of communication to your office, such as the Americans have with the Kremlin, so that we can readily alert you to problems?” he suggested. “And vice versa.”


۸-_-۸