//------------------------------//
// 51 - Ponyville 
// Story: A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone 
// by gerandakis 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Fifty-One

Ponyville






A flare of flames heralded the arrival of a group of equines at the southern edge of Ponyville. A dark purple colt with black and blue mane and tail stood at the head of the group with an amber yellow filly with a red and yellow mane. Behind them, staring at the little hamlet with wide eyes, was a unicorn stallion with a forest green coat and a scruffy black mane and tail. His cutie mark showed a stylized dog paw. Rounding off the group was the majestic form of a phoenix alongside none other than Princess Celestia herself.

Turning around towards the south, away from the city, the white alicorn vanished in a flash of gold, reappearing a moment later, to find Harry and Sunset softly giggling at the still stunned Sirius. When Harry waved a deep purple wing before his eyes, Sirius finally managed to shake himself out of his confusion.

"You know, when Albus mentioned a land of talking ponies, I was positive he was having me on."

The Princess chuckled behind him. "No, Equestria is quite real. Now, since I have some more work I need to take care of, I have arranged for an old friend of mine to take you around town. If you'll excuse me." In a flash of gold, she vanished.

《Oh that Celestia with all her fancy teleportin'. So y'all wanna get a guide 'round Ponyville, eh?》

Turning around, the group saw an elderly earth pony mare with a green coat and a light gray mane that may have been blonde at some point. "Y'all can call me Granny Smith. Ah run Sweet Apple Acres, the orchard in town." She pointed a hoof behind her where their gaze fell on the expansive apple orchards she had mentioned.

"Sorry, what?"

All eyes fell on Sirius, before Sunset's hoof collided with her face. "Right, I haven't taught you Equestrian, have I? One moment." Her horn lit with a teal light that quickly compressed into a bead of light at its tip which she then touched to Sirius' forehead."

A moment later, Sirius spoke up again. "Did you just ... teach me another language?"

"She sure did! Them unicorns with their fancy magic." The elderly mare shook her head. "Now come along, y'all. Ah'll show you 'round town." With that she began walking off towards Ponyville proper.

Harry and Sunset followed her. Sirius, still glancing at Sunset on occasion, trailed behind them.

By the time Granny Smith had introduced them to town hall, Sunset was glancing around confused. "Say, is anyone else noticing that Professor Dumbledore is taking a long time?"

"Oh yeah, he did say he would only be a few minutes, didn't he?"

Sunset nodded. "He did. Granny Smith, could you wait a moment?"

"Sure thang, youngin. Ah'll be rahght here."

"Thanks. Philomena, let's see what's taking him so long."

In a flash of flame, the filly and the phoenix disappeared.

"Oh dear. She do that often?"

Harry nodded. "Quite a bit actually."





Dumbledore looked up from his desk when he noticed the flash of flame. "Ah Miss Shimmer, a good thing you have come back. It seems that Fawkes cannot find Equestria."

"Really? How odd. Philomena never had a problem with that. Come we'll show you the way."

As Dumbledore got up, Fawkes settled on his shoulder. Spreading her wings again, Philomena took them back to Equestria.





"Do them phoenixes have teleportin' too now?"

Sirius and Harry turned around from their conversation with Granny Smith to see that Sunset and Philomena had returned, this time with Dumbledore and Fawkes along for the ride.

The elderly red unicorn stallion turned to the bird that had perched on his back. "Intriguing. I wonder. Miss Shimmer, could you come fetch us if we're not back in a minute?"

The two of them vanished in a flash of flame and reappeared in another seconds later. "How very interesting. It seems phoenixes can travel to other dimensions only if they have been there before."

"Huh, guess we won't be exploring any other dimensions for the time being then." Shaking her head, Sunset went to introduce Dumbledore to Granny Smith.

Once introductions were out of the way, Granny Smith proceeded to show the group around town, introducing them to all the sights, which weren't terribly many. As such, she invited them over for lunch at Sweet Apple Acres."

"Now what're y'all gigglin' about?"

Sunset shook her head. "Sorry Granny Smith, but where we're from time run's a bit differently. For us it's actually about dinner time."

"Eh, works too. Food's food, know what Ah'm sayin'?"

"Fair enough," Dumbledore chuckled, he found he quite liked the eccentric farm mare. "We'll be happy to join your family for whatever this meal may be."

"Well, come along then. Sweet Apple Acres is the only sight o' Ponyville y'all ain't seen yet."





The farm truly was a sight to see. Apple trees stood as far as the eye could see, the fruit practically glowing in the midday sun. Sirius found that, much like it did in his human form, the amplified sense of smell of his animagus form carried over when he was a pony. That fact alone made the experience truly amazing. He also found that he was very much looking forward to dinner. The chances of it being apple-related seemed quite high.

Even without his sense of smell, the others were clearly enjoying the scent of her orchards, getting a smirk from Granny Smith. "Smells great, don' it? Yeh. Applebuck Season's right 'round the corner, so that'll be a whole heap o' work, but until then there ain't much ta do in the orchards. Bit o' tendin' to the trees o' course, but mah family is takin care o' that today.

"Sure, Applejack is still a bit young ta properly help with farm work and Apple Bloom is much too young, but Big Macintosh is already pullin' his weight helpin' his parents 'round the farm."

It wasn't long before the group reached the bright red farm house, where they were greeted by an orange filly with a straw blonde mane and tail, both tied together near the end. She couldn't have been much older than Sunset and Harry.

"And here we have mah granddaughter. Applejack." There was an undeniable pride in the elder mare's voice.

"Hi Granny! Ah've been busy gettin' lunch ready. Ah even made enough for yer guests."

"Ya found mah note then? Good. Go get the others from the fields, would ya? I'll see about gettin' lunch ready."

"Alraght Granny. Be back in a few minutes!"

The group watched in amusement as the energetic farm filly ran off into the fields.

"Now say, why're y'all here anyway? Celestia didn't mention."

"Assuming I conjecture correctly," Dumbledore spoke up with a hint of amusement in his eyes, "the reason we are here is that Sirius might be moving into town some time soon."

"New pony in town, eh? Good. Always nice to have new folk settle in." A proud smile came to her aged features, though it was a different kind of pride than the one they had seen her regard Applejack with. "Y'all know? I'm the last surviving founder of this here town. Mah family founded the place nearly two-hundred years ago an' ah've been watchin' it grow ever since. Always lahked it when new ponies came into town. Makes the place feel alive."

Sunset quietly smirked to herself. Thanks to her correspondences with Princess Celestia, she knew where the dormant relics that would one day purify Nightmare Moon were kept. If anything Ponyville would end up a lot more lively in a few years' time. Especially since the Princess had identified Applejack as another of the potential element bearers. Now if only some of the others didn't still prove so elusive.

While she'd been casually explaining her part in the town's history, Granny Smith had been steadily working away on some deliciously smelling dish, while the smell of an apple pie came from the oven. Pulling it out, she raised her voice. "Apple Bloom, lunchtahm!"

The steps of small hooves could be heard from the stairs and moments later a bright yellow filly with and equally bright red mane and tail and a pink bow in her mane that was, by all accounts, much too large for her size.

With another proud smile, Granny Smith placed the pie on the table and went to introduce the young filly, Apple Bloom.

It wasn't long before the second filly of the house returned, bringing back her older brother, a young red pony, barely old enough to be called a stallion, who turned out to be the Big Macintosh that Granny Smith had mentioned before, as well as her parents, a pale yellow stallion with a red mane that looked more or less like an older, male version of his youngest daughter, introduced to them as Bright Macintosh and a beige mare with a wildly curled orange mane introduced as Buttercup.

Apple Bloom, unintentionally, served as the conversational ice-breaker when the guests gave their names in return. "Serious Black? Hairy Butter? You have some funny names."

The resulting giggles from the visiting group only added to her confusion. Sirius quickly learned that explaining that his name was that of a star didn't exactly help, seeing how Equus was another planet entirely, not to mention in another dimension, and the stars and constellations here would, obviously, be different ones.





As the group ate, Dumbledore took the chance to consider what he had learned. The food was absolutely delicious, but he couldn't tell how much of that was due to his current species, and how much of it was the effects of the magic that clearly went into its making.

That Granny Smith was somewhere in the ballpark of two centuries old was startling to say the least. Had he not known the length of a local year, he would have assumed it to be shorter than it was on earth. Knowing that it was actually a little longer certainly put things into perspective.

His ability to judge people wasn't as well applicable as it usually was, seeing how he wasn't trained in getting a measure on ponies, but he could tell that Granny Smith was elderly, but not quite old yet. That meant that ponies could live to be well in excess of two-hundred years old.

That alone was startling, but it wasn't the only thing he had learned on this trip. Phoenixes could travel to other dimensions, but only if they had been to the dimension that was to be their destination. That would at least serve to explain why such a thing had never been observed at any previous time.

Now that he had been here, however, Fawkes could come to Equestria whenever he liked. The question of whether he could summon Fawkes across dimensions was one that still bore investigation.

Beyond those things, he had had a delightful afternoon. The fact that it had been a morning to the locals was disorienting, but ultimately of little consequence. Once the princess finished making arrangements, Ponyville would work handsomely as a safe place for Harry to stay over the holidays. It was fortunate that even the winter holidays were months out yet. More than enough time to get everything ready.

Satisfied that all things he could immediately control would work out to his satisfaction for the foreseeable future, he returned his attention to the meal and conversation.

Sirius, it seemed, was quite smitten with the little hamlet. Whether that was because it served as a contrast, in both tone and location, to the urban London manor he had grown up in, or because it reminded him of the small town charm of Godric's Hollow he couldn't tell, perhaps neither, perhaps both, but regardless, it was good to see the man's – or pony's, as it were – genuine smile.

Harry, similarly, had taken a shine to the town, it seemed. Again, Albus suspected, it was likely due to the contrast it had to his childhood home. The gossipy, suburban neighborhoods of Little Whinging, couldn't hold a candle to the pleasant, rural charm of Ponyville.

Not for the first time, he asked himself if there could have been a better option, one he didn't see. But no. Much though he thought about it, until the connection with the ambient magic here in Equestria had started to sustain Lily's spell, Petunia's home was really the only option.

The magic. That was another topic deserving thought. As he and Sirius mimicked Miss Shimmer, picking up the food in their magic, and marveling how the others, even Harry, were managing to do the same with their hooves, he felt the magic flow though his horn.

To most wizards it would have been an entirely foreign experience. And while the place the magic was going was unusual to him as well, the way the horn felt to his magic was not entirely new. It was much less focused, much less restrictive, than a wand, but still much more so than casting without one in his human form. Few western wizards ever bothered to learn wandless casting, so most wouldn't know and find the experience to be surprising in the extreme, but he found that it made a decent enough middle ground between the benefits of both approaches.

He also guessed that learning to control one's magic in unicorn form, might help a great many wizards gain the skill to cast wandlessly.

And then there was the ambient field. He could sense, faintly, the unfamiliar types of magic Miss Shimmer had told him about. It took a bit before he was able to discern harmonic magic from light magic, but after a few minutes of focusing on the magic he felt, he started to sense subtle differences.

At the same time he also started sensing something else, something that made his new coat stand on end. That could only be the chaos magic he had heard about. Before he could further dwell on it, he noticed that all of them had finished their lunch.

Buttercup and both Macintoshs said their goodbyes, the smaller one of the latter, ironically the one named Big Macintosh, in rather few words, and returned to their work on the fields. The rest of the family also wished their guests a nice evening, even though they clearly didn't quite understand why they were told to do so at noon.

Philomena then took all of them back to his office at Hogwarts. All of them save Fawkes, that is. He wanted to test if Fawkes could hear his summons across dimensions. Turns out, he could.