If Wishes were Ponies . . . .

by tkepner


125 — Investigating

In less than a year, Ponyville had dramatically changed. The population must have doubled, at least, to the colt and fillies’ surprised eyes. They spent the weekend just exploring the expanded town.

The Portal Exclusion Area now had an entire battalion of six hundred Guards assigned to it, a huge number considering the size of Ponyville. Three additional platoons, sixty-six Guards, had been directly posted to live at his mum’s castle’s new barracks. They were her personal Guards, to her dismay. She had told them to assist the local law enforcement.

The train depot had been expanded — there were now trains arriving and leaving almost every hour. Improvements included three separate sets of tracks. One was for cargo shipping, of which there appeared to be quite a bit. The second was for passengers embarking and disembarking, sometimes on two different trains at the same time. The third went to the Portal Entry Building beside Sweet Apple Acres. Harry had heard two ponies in the train station talking about something called a Roundhouse being built.

The train-station building itself had been enlarged. It now featured a spacious transfer room with five floos; two for outgoing and three for incoming travellers. There was a ticket booth, with lift gates to control access, between the two outgoing floos. The prices for the various destinations were clearly posted.

The building also had an enlarged waiting room with comfortable seating, and an all day and night luncheon counter.

Harry doubted that floo-travel to individuals’ homes and businesses would be as wide-spread as it was in wizarding England. Installing six million floos would be a massive undertaking. At a thousand installations a day, it would still take sixteen plus years. Just training enough ponies in the installation and control procedures would take years. It was far easier to set up depots. Maybe in fifty years he would start to see most businesses and homes with floos. But not now.

The cargo shipping yard was more of a huge warehouse with multiple tracks on each side. Products from England were unpacked from their inside-enlarged, pony-wagon-sized boxes and repacked into either inside-enlarged saddle-bags or into train-cars for transport elsewhere. And the reverse was done for products from Equestria to England. The train cars themselves were not expanded to prevent problems with conflicting enchantments.

New apartment buildings dotted the outside edges of Ponyville on new streets, as well as new restaurants and stores.

And a new Quidditch stadium took up one corner of the town. It was in almost constant use by pegasi teams. Some were organized, some were ad hoc.

Ponyville was no longer the sleepy little town it used to be. It was a bustling, growing boomtown, now that trade rules and commerce had entered into full swing.

۸-_-۸

It was a week later that the Weasleys were due to arrive for their three-week holiday in Equestria. Sirius, Harry, and the fillies waited impatiently just outside the Portal Dome. His mum was inside, by the Portal Tree, and with the attendant.

They all watched

Scootaloo sighed. “What’s taking so long? They said they’d be here by ten!” she groused.

Sirius laughed and shrugged. “The Weasleys are almost always arriving at the last minute. It’s nice to see some things haven’t changed in the last ten years.”

“But it’s almost ten, now!”

“Look!” Apple Bloom said excitedly, bouncing up and down as she pointed into the Dome, “thar’s Mrs. Weasley!” It was true. Harry could see a pegasus with dark red mane and tail exiting the portal, behind a blue-maned business unicorn with large saddlebags. The steady stream of ponies exiting the portal were a bit less than two-ponies apart, a celestial. Outgoing ponies were already queuing up at the rotating door beside Harry and the fillies, waiting for their turn for the next hour.

Each arriving pony stepped to the side to take off their robe and put it on a hook for an outgoing pony to use. “Oh, there’s Percy . . . Fred . . . George . . . Ginny . . . Does anyone know who that is?” Harry said. A unicorn he didn’t recognize, except for a Weasley-red mane and tail, was behind Ginny. Had one of her brothers come through? The Weasleys were all grouping together to one side, waiting for their entire family.

The blue-maned unicorn, now revealed as having a blue-green coat, and a printing-press cutie mark, was already halfway around the tree.

“And there’s Ron . . . .” Harry was astonished to see a grey unicorn with wheat blonde mane and tail collapse on top of Ron as he came through the Portal. Ron said something they couldn’t hear through the Dome and the grey unicorn tried to scramble upright. The other Weasleys surged forward to help Ron.

Immediately, nearly a dozen ponies jumped into action. The Weasleys were quickly surrounded. The ponies in the remote stations on the Dome clearly unlocked their weapons and swung them to point directly at the Weasleys. There was much shouting going on, both inside and outside the Dome. From what Harry could hear, someone had tried to sneak through the Portal, somehow. A red light was blinking on the Dome’s Entrance and the rotating door had stopped. It trapped two people and three ponies inside the two quarters that weren’t open. The travelling ponies inside the dome all stopped where they were as they were surrounded by guards.

Guards ran from the partition wall behind Harry and the fillies, and quickly took formation around the Portal Dome entrance/exit. Harry and his friends were being watched closely by two squads of three ponies.

No more ponies came through the portal to follow Ron, so there must be a way of communicating back and forth.

“What’s happening? What’s happening?” No pony answered them.

Sirius was as puzzled as they were. Harry and the fillies bounced from hoof to hoof anxiously. After about half an hour, Harry and the fillies were escorted to a locked room in the Partition Wall with a large window that looked out into a corridor. Sirius was guided into a different room. They saw that the Weasleys were similarly being escorted, as was the grey unicorn. The single unicorn had almost a dozen Guards flying and walking around him, at various distances that left him no chances of escaping.

In fact, everyone still inside the Dome, including the two people trapped by the door, were escorted to separate rooms in the Partition Wall.

His mum showed up a few minutes after they had been placed in the room.

“What’s happening? What’s happening?” they demanded, worried and crowding close to her.

She smiled, and shifted nervously. “It seems Ron had a passenger. His pet rat Scabbers?” She looked at them to make sure they were listening and understood.

“Yes?” Harry said as he nodded.

She sighed. “Turns out Scabbers was really a wizard in hiding.”

They all shrank back, their eyes wide at that statement.

His mum nodded. “We’re still checking the facts. And it’ll be a couple of days before we’re sure. But it seems that Peter Pettigrew has been hiding with the Weasleys, as a normal rat for the last ten years and some months.”

They just stared at her in disbelief. They had all seen the rat, even played with him a little bit. The thought that it really had been a wizard in hiding . . . was disgusting. Although it did explain the rat’s rather extraordinarily clean habits.

“Scabbers’s been rather anxious the last few days, after they started planning to come here. He’s tried to escape a couple of times, so they’ve been keeping him in his cage. He was in his cage, hooked to Ron’s rucksack, when they went through the portal.”

She sat down. “Unfortunately, the Weasleys are all caught up in this and are being interviewed to clear them of deliberate involvement. It’s rather clear they knew nothing about this wizard hiding with them, but we want to make sure no one can accuse them of collaboration.” She smiled. “On the other hoof, there is quite a large reward for the capture of Peter. Oh! And Sirius is being questioned to verify that this wizard really is Peter Pettigrew.”

The princess stood back up. “In the meantime, I’m afraid we need to give you interviews, as well. Not that anypony thinks you’ve done anything wrong, mind you.” She stopped and stared at Harry and the fillies, and then blinked. “Well, not anything regarding Peter, that is.” She smiled gently. “I’ve sent for Rarity, Applejack, Holiday, and Lofty. Because you’re all still in school, an adult relative must be present during the interview.” She turned to Harry.

“And since I am here already, let’s start with Harry.” She smiled reassuringly. “It’s nothing bad, I promise, merely tedious.” She turned and headed for the door. Harry followed her. Just as she was about to close the door behind them, she said to the fillies. “Do try to remember as much as you can about Scabbers, but don’t discuss your stories with each other. If the stories you tell are too much alike, the interviewer will suspect you are trying to hide something when you aren’t.”

As his mum had promised, the questioning was tedious in the extreme and took most of the afternoon, with a brief break for lunch. “When did you first see Scabbers? Did he do anything unusual for a rat? Did he ever do anything to indicate he might be more than a rat? Were you ever suspicious of him? Tell me about every time you saw him.” Yeah. Really tedious. And they frequently repeated the questions in slightly different forms. Didn’t they understand him the first time? It’s not like what he said in answer would change all that much.

Still, his mum was right beside him the entire time. After it was over, she took him to a new room, where he found the fillies and Ginny waiting. Also in the room were two unicorns he had never met, although both had the Weasley-red mane and tail. One had a soft brown coat and the other pale-yellow.

Ginny was rather teary-eyed. The two stallions were consoling their sister.

“Princess Sparkle,” Ginny said, straightening. “This is my oldest brother, Bill Weasley,” she pointed to the pale-yellow stallion. “He works at Gringotts as a Curse-breaker.” Harry noted he had an earring that was a fang and wasn’t quite as scrawny as Harry had expected from someone just turned into a pony by the portal. The earring would gather him some notoriety quite quickly, here in Equestria, Harry knew. In fact, Harry was surprised the Guards had released him so soon, despite the fang!

She pointed with a wing to the brown-coated pony, who had a long shiny burn mark on one foreleg. “And this is my second-oldest brother, Charlie Weasley, who works at the Romanian Dragon Sanctuary.” Charlie’s muscles stood out from a thin frame. Harry wondered how he would react upon seeing Spike.

“And this is Princess Twilight Sparkle,” she said, bowing.

Both Weasleys performed awkward bows, and stumbled a bit. “Sorry,” mumbled Charlie. “Not used to having four legs.”

“I am pleased to meet you both,” Twilight said. “And you needn’t be formal with me.” She scrunched up her face. “I hate all that formality stuff.” She smirked. “As for four legs, I’m sure the twins will be happy to give you all the exercise you need to become comfortable.” She glanced sideways at Harry. “And Harry tells me the quickest way is to stop thinking about it.”

“Ah,” said Bill, nodding. “And this?” He crossed his eyes looking up at his new horn.

What followed was a lesson in using your horn to do magic that admirably kept everypony occupied as the afternoon progressed. At regular intervals, the other members of the Weasley family showed up. By dinner time, everyone was finished. Sirius was the last, as he knew the most about what Peter had been like, and the things they should ask that no one but Peter would be able to answer. He would have to come back over the next few days to assist them in their questioning Peter.

Peter was still being grilled about every facet of his life. And the interrogation would continue tonight, by Princess Luna, while the wizard slept, Harry knew. By the time they were finished, they would have a complete picture of what the Death Eater organization had done in the past, and who the existing members might be. And Peter’s involvement.

When brewed with the proper ingredients, the Seeds of Truth had become invaluable in questioning anyone accused of a crime. It was magic itself, via the blooming flowers in the flower tray in the middle of the table, that judged if a person was truthful. Lying, except by omission, was flat out impossible.

“In addition,” Twilight explained after they were all together, “on the promise that we wouldn’t return him to the wizarding world, he has promised to tell the truth.” She snickered. “Apparently, from overhearing conversations at The Burrow and at Hogwarts, he knows that if he showed his face anywhere, he would spend the rest of his life in Azkaban.”

Based on what Harry had heard of both the Canterlot Dungeons and Azkaban, the former was much preferable to the later. From what his mum had told him, at least the Canterlot dungeons would give him a lifestyle not all that different from what he had been living at the Weasley Burrow. That is, lazing around, eating, and sleeping.

They were all pretty tired by the time they returned to the Castle, so it was a quiet, “Welcome to Equestria,” dinner at the Castle that evening, at first.

Charlie and Bill had focused on Spike as he set the table and brought out their meal. Watching their eyes bulge out the first time he came out of the kitchen with a platter had be immensely amusing. Watching their jaws drop when he greeted Twilight was equally comical. Sirius kept glancing between them and chortling at their expressions.

They had barely started dinner when Twilight apologized to the Weasleys for inconveniencing them at the Portal. Mr. Weasley had immediately apologized for causing the problem in the first place.

After several rounds of apologies, Rarity stood up and politely declared the matter settled. She then suggested, “Why not partake of the Ponyville Day Spa, tomorrow? You can join me, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rainbow Dash at our regular appointment. You can relax and restore your peace of mind. And it would give you all a new appreciation of just how fine the pony form is. It’ll be my treat to welcome you to Equestria!” She glanced at Ginny and Molly, “And I’m sure you would enjoy having a professional show you how to preen your feathers.”

“Oh yes, that’s a marvellous idea,” declared Myrtle. “Can I go, too?” she aimed her question at Twilight. The former ghost clearly remembered what her trip to the spa during Christmas break had been like. And after the sparse facilities of Hogwarts, she was more than willing to be pampered! Twilight nodded, smiling.

Harry watched as Mr. and Mrs, Weasley looked uncertainly at each other. “Go on,” Myrtle urged. “You’ll definitely find it worth it.” And then regaled them with how wonderful an experience it was, something they should definitely do while here in Equestria.

“I would go, too, if I weren’t involved with a certain . . . rat,” Sirius said calmly, gritting his teeth when he said ‘rat.’ “I can tell you it is quite relaxing.”

The two Weasleys looked at each other and made faces until Mr. Weasley turned and said, “All right. We’ll give it a try.”

It took a bit more to convince the older three Weasley boys.

The twins, it turned out, had an appointment the next morning with Filthy Rich. It was regarding their earnings, so far. Plus, they had some new ideas they wanted to share. And some improvements on their Gender Gingers.

Harry didn’t bother fussing. He knew that as soon as the fillies had decided to go, that he was going to be brought along. And that protesting wouldn’t work. Not that he was really bothered, anyway.

For some reason, Sirius smiled and chuckled whenever he looked at Harry and the fillies, when they were together.

In the end, even Ron decided to join them, although for him it was the realization that his parents wouldn’t let him stay alone at the palace if everyone else was going. And he didn’t trust his brothers enough to stay with them.

۸-~

The Spa trip in the morning was off to a fairly early start. They were almost late for the appointment, as was usual for the Weasleys, according to Sirius.

Harry decided, as he relaxed into the hot tub, that a quiet morning after yesterday’s excitement was just perfect. He couldn’t help but sigh as he overheard Applejack whisper to Twilight, “Just like a colt, fights against a bath until he’s in it, then you can’t get him out!” They both giggled.

At first, it had been embarrassing, though. Ron had asked what Harry and the fillies had been doing this past week. That had led to his mum telling them how, on Tuesday morning, the Cutie Mark Crusaders — unfairly, in their opinion — had been officially banned from the Ponyville Shipping Depot and Warehouse, and its environs.

“Hay!” Sweetie Belle had objected. “We apologized! And nothing was permanently destroyed or ruined, either. And we promised not to rearrange any switching and transport systems to make them more efficient.”

That had then led to Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom explaining how their Monday had gone. And how five train-cars ended up in Appleloosa, and seven others in Manehattan. And that the cars had managed to make the trips without train engines — or the correct cargo. The cargo part was, admittedly, a mistake.

“Hay! I thought that switch read ‘W’ for West. I didn’t know I was reading it upside down and it was supposed to mean Manehattan!” had objected Scootaloo. “And if that switch was west, then the other must have been east, right?”

Plus, another train car had burst into flames part-way to Fillydelphia, also without a train engine. Or cargo. An alert pegasus had seen it and put the fire out before any real damage had occurred. No one was sure exactly how that had happened, or how the car had made it that far without anypony noticing it.

“It escaped its corral all on its own because it wanted to be free,” Apple Bloom had claimed in defence. “They couldn’t prove we had anything to do with that car, but they decided to blame us, anyway.” She pouted and glared at her sister.

That grounding, at least, had been only for two days. Nothing had been damaged — at least nothing that couldn’t be easily repaired with the new reparo charm now being taught to everypony with a wand. Which was mostly the Guard, at this point.

“The simple utility of that spell guarantees that wands are going to be in every pony’s hoof,” Twilight explained. “We already have a several decades backlog.”

Harry did feel that the numerous Keep Out posters that featured their likenesses were a bit over the top. The train-station ponies were posting one every pony-length on the new chain-link fence being built around the warehouse depot.

Harry had spent the days exploring the castle, and discovering that it now had a secret passage from the entry hall to the tallest tower. And a slide from the same location to the pool. Plus, he could practice magic without anyone complaining. It hadn’t been much of a grounding, in his opinion. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Their attempt at helping out at the train station Thursday afternoon, as porters, had been quickly stopped mere minutes after they had started. The Station Manager’s brother worked as one of the managers at the Warehouse Depot. And he had been watching for the colt and four fillies. He had allowed them to help for about an hour under his, and all five of the porters, direct and close supervision. For some reason, only new ponies to Ponyville allowed them to touch their luggage.

One frail, long-time resident, Chelsea Porcelain, when she had seen them headed for her trunk — that had to weigh as much as she did, from its size — had left her walker, run to the luggage car, picked up the trunk, and ran home without looking back.

Harry hoped she hadn’t hurt herself.

And only one car had been de-railed!

Naturally, none of the four had gained a Cutie Mark to show for their efforts in any of that.

One interesting thing they did learn that week was that there was now a long, split-rail fence guarding the edge of the Everfree Forest. “Oh, yes,” his mum explained to the Weasleys as they soaked in their mud bath, “there are so many new ponies in town that we’re afraid some might wander into it, not having been told of its danger.” She sighed, “If you go there, you’ll notice the fences is about a hundred celestials away from the forest. We had to concede some space to make up for what we took away with the Portal Exclusion Zone. The fence extends for quite a distance in both directions, making it obvious that we’re giving up that land to the Forest. We’ve already seen signs that the forest has started expanding to the fence.”

All the Weasleys present looked at her as if she were mad.

She shrugged. “It’s Harmony. We took what was the Forest’s for the Portal. For balance, to maintain Harmony, we must trade what isn’t, to it.” She looked at their shocked expressions. “We must provide an outlet, otherwise we might have some unpleasant creatures making excursions into Ponyville.”

“Truly?” said Bill, shifting to look intently at her curiously.

She smiled sadly at him. “The region was created a thousand years ago in a great magical battle that laid waste to the area that makes up most of the Everfree. Incredible quantities of both good and bad magic were released, and settled into the very land. It took a while for us to notice, but when this area was created, other places calmed down and became friendlier to us.” She glanced around the room.

“Experience over the last thousand years indicates it is more than just a forest, it is an expression of wild magic. And balances all the tamed magic we ponies created. If we were to . . . completely eradicate it, hundreds of smaller versions would appear all over Equestria.”

She sipped her cup of complimentary tea. “Harmony is the balance of good and bad, not the elimination of one or the other.”

The Weasleys all sat back in contemplation.

It was nearly noon when they left the Spa, so they decided a leisurely lunch at Sugarcube Corner was an excellent idea. The building was much larger, now, and featured an outdoor dining area. Pinkie Pie was no longer the only employee.

They were worried they might not find an available table because the outside area was simply packed with customers. What was the inside like?

Pinkie popped up beside Twilight, as they dithered in the street, making everyone except the Ponyville ponies jump in shock. “Go right in!” she said gleefully. “I’ve got your table all prepared!” Twilight gave the hyper pony a quick hug and a warm smile.

“Thanks!” she said.

Then the pink pony zipped back inside.

A few minutes later, inside the café, the Weasleys were amazed to see Pinkie Pie standing beside a table roped off in one corner, with exactly the number of seats they needed.

Mr. Weasley turned to Twilight. “Did you send a message?”

She shook her head. “Nope. It’s just Pinkie Pie. Don’t think about it.”

They had no sooner arranged themselves around the table, than Pinkie returned with a tray. She began setting out muffins, slices of cake, and cider juices while dancing around the table.

“How did she know what to bring us? And so quickly, too,” Mrs. Weasley said, nibbling cautiously at a muffin. Her eyes grew wide. She leaned back and looked at the muffin. “This is delicious!” she declared.

“Pinkie’s cooking usually is.” Applejack said, with a blissful look as she ate her apple-chunk muffin. “Almost as good as Granny’s.”

It was quiet for a few minutes as everyone tucked into their meal. Almost as fast as they finished one muffin, cake-slice, or juice, Pinkie slid another in its place before they even knew she wasn’t still in the kitchen.

“Was it difficult for you to get time off from your jobs?” Twilight looked at Charlie and Bill.

The two exchanged sheepish looks, and shrugged.

“Truthfully?” said Charlie, arching his eyebrows. “When I asked my boss at the Reserve for time off to visit with my family at Princess Twilight’s Castle in Equestria, he said, ‘no,’ quite emphatically. I’m actually on payroll with orders to foster good relations with the Equestrian government and to learn what I can about the Dragons. I’m supposed to ask if I can see some of the dragons here, to assess how different they are from our dragons. And if you might know of any spells we don’t, or techniques for handling them.”

Spike fell off his chair. “Really?” he said incredulously.

Charlie smirked awkwardly. “Uh yeah. For example, you look a lot like an immature Romanian Longhorn, only purple instead of green. Most of our dragons reach maturity in three or four years, so it’s difficult to believe you’re almost eleven years old and still not grown.” He shook his head. “And I can say, so far, if you’re typical, mentally, that comparing you with our dragons is like comparing a mermaid to a bullfrog.”

Spike looked confused for a moment.

Harry put in, “Think seapony, like in your comics.”

“Oooh!” said Spike, nodding as he figured it out. “And I’m still a baby. Wait until you meet a grown-up!” He scowled. “I wouldn’t bother with the teenagers,” he muttered. He glanced out the window into the distance, obviously thinking of PeeWee.

“That is one of the things I planned to do later, ask you who I needed to talk with to secure permission,” Charlie said as he looked at Twilight hopefully.

She nodded. “I’ll have to check with Princess Celestia. I don’t know who among the dragons would be approachable. Did you bring any tribute for them?”

“Tribute?” He tilted his head questioningly.

“Oh, yes, you can’t just go up to a dragon without offering something to their hoard. They’d dismiss you out hoof,” she said.

Spike nodded. “That’s not a problem if you didn’t,” he said helpfully. “There’s plenty of gems around. I’ll show you which ones are particularly tasty.”

Charlie gave him a look that suggested he wasn’t sure if the little dragon was joking or not.

“Okaaayyyy,” Charlie said unsurely.

“We’ll discuss this more, later,” said Harry’s mum, and looked at Bill.

He ducked his head slightly and smirked. “Yeah, the same thing happened with me.” He straightened. “When I asked my boss at the current worksite, he almost threw a portkey at me to return home, with orders to tell that to the Head Goblin.” He chuckled. “The Goblins want to establish trade with Equestria, and want to send a trade delegation. I’m a scout, to see just what might be of interest and to arrange an itinerary.” He looked at Spike, then back at Twilight. “They are especially interested in the enchantable gems.”

Twilight studied him carefully, then nodded. “We will discuss that later, as well.”

They spent almost an hour at the bakery, before heading back. Just as Twilight reached the door to leave, Pinkie appeared beside her. “The surprise party for newcomers is tomorrow,” she stage-whispered.

۸-~