"Hi, Harry. Heard it wasn't going so well in there?" George sounded normal, not at all like he'd been mind controlled by an ancient pony wizard. "Why're you looking at me like that?"
"Because last time I saw you, you were being mind controlled." I looked at George—now a fire-colored pony—and felt even more kinship for him. "What happened?"
"I'm still mind controlled, but it's by Addera now. Waaay better than Sombra." George gestured at Katie (also a pony) and Eliza (who resembled Hermione's midpoint as far as changes went). "We all are."
Katie reared up on her back legs and held her forelegs out before her. "I am under your command!" She fell forward pretty quickly, and had everyone giggling for a bit.
I watched as Eliza passed Addera her glasses, and when I realized she had them on, I leaned up and nuzzled the underside of Addera's jaw. She'd saved my life. This was probably it—she didn't owe me anymore. Would she leave me?
A bump to the top of my head broke me out of my sudden reverie. I looked up to get another bump from Addera's snout. "What?"
"Just making sure you're alright. How is your leg, Harry Potter? Your ribs?" Addera's voice was thick with concern—so much so it amazed me. When I didn't answer fast enough, she nuzzled at my horn.
"I'll be alright! You really used your whammy on them? What'd you do to make them act so—normal?" If the option was walking or riding in Addera's arms, I would normally have gone with the former, but right now it felt better to be where she could protect me most. Realizing Sombra was toying with me, that he'd planned our fight, was scary. Even Voldemort hadn't had that much foresight and planning.
"I just told them to be themselves, Harry Potter. I—I'm not proud of doing this to them, but the alternative is worse." Addera helped George and Katie gather up their robes and things up. George's robe in particular had shed a lot of extra things that had nothing to do with a game of quidditch.
"Don't worry, oh mistress of mind magics, I won't 'old a grudge." George might sound chipper, but I could see him looking down at his wand with a worried expression. "'Arry, how'm I supposed to hold my wand?"
My eye was caught by something gray that'd rolled out of George's robes. Normally a roll of tape would have nothing to do with quidditch, but for the game we'd just played, it was required equipment. "Remember how you laughed when they taped me to my broom?"
Eliza let out a giggle and stepped closer. She picked up the tape and reached for George's wand. "Lean forward. This will be a tricky bit of work without you shifting around."
I giggled myself into a full laugh as Eliza taped first George's, then Katie's wands to their heads. I was stuck laughing at them, and it was the perfect revenge for them taping me to a broom. "Unicorns!"
"What I don't get," George said while rolling his eyes up and inward to try to look at his wand, "Is why some of us are going all the way, while others stop halfway like Hermione and Eliza."
"I wasn't exactly using the best spells." Eliza tucked the roll of tape into her robes and drew her wand and bat out. "I'm—well—not the best witch."
"What?!" Snorting in a sign of shock, George stomped a hoof. "You're bloody brilliant on the quidditch pitch! And I have no idea what you've done to your broom, but it even left Harry's behind when you charged."
Watching blue crystal blush was a new experience that I wished I had my glasses for so I could see better. "We need to head out and find where Sombra went. He didn't have the Heart with him, so it mustn't have been in there."
"Where else would the Heart be? Haven't the ponies been searching for it?" Katie asked.
"Let's go out and ask," I said. When Addera hissed a little, I looked up at her. "What?"
"There's a war going on, Harry Potter. Albus Dumbledore himself carved me a way through the fighting to reach you. I'd rather not take you back through that." Addera's voice was strangely neutral, and it didn't take much thinking to realize she was masking her emotions.
Addera was scared.
I puffed up my chest—even if it hurt my sore ribs—and cleared my throat. "We have to go out there and help. If nothing else, we have to find Dumbledore and tell him what happened and that the Heart isn't here. We have to because if we don't, no one else will."
George and Eliza seemed to perk up at that, Katie always looked like she was ready for a fight of some kind, but it was Addera who looked down at me with her mouth agape.
"Well?" I asked her.
—For a thousand years I was safe and trapped down here, Harry Potter, and in one week with you I've been in more fights for my life than any sane serpent would get in.— Leaning down again, Addera pressed her cheek to mine. "We should go before I get an attack of sanity."
Addera held me so still I could barely move, which was good because I was fairly sure my leg was broken—having dealt with a broken arm earlier in the year, I knew that pain. She helped the others get out the hole we'd slid down, and soon we gathered on the rocks above, where we discovered Addera hadn't been lying about a battle.
Red flashes of light flickered and flared as helmeted ponies shot blasts at the students and teachers still standing. I couldn't make out most of what was going on, but there seemed to be a huge clump of the helmeted ponies to one side, and it looked like they were getting their butts kicked by someone.
"What's going on?" I asked.
George and Katie took off at a run and a shout. Both already screaming spells and sending them at another big group of helmeted ponies. A second later, Eliza jumped on her broom and launched into the sky.
Not waiting to explain either, Addera shot forward and drew her wand from somewhere in her mane. Pointing it forward, she cast a Disarming charm. "They're crowded around Dumbledore. There's someone—somepony—standing with him."
Dumbledore, now that I knew who the figure was, stood straight and gestured around him with his wand. The helmeted ponies countered and blasted, sending bolt after bolt at him—but none seemed able to connect. The pony standing with him was amazing, deflecting each attack at the last moment in what looked to be a bucking, impenetrable dance.
Eliza reached the helmeted ponies before any of us (her broom was amazing), and she swung down with something in her hand. As she connected her bat with a helmeted pony, they dropped to the ground in a heap.
George and Katie were still launching spell after spell, and while a few connected with their targets, each needed a lot of head swinging and luck to connect, but the helmeted ponies were numerous.
A concussive blast hit the circle of helmeted ponies just before us, and for a moment I saw Dumbledore as a pony (recognizable from all his gray mane and beard)—standing upright with his wand raised toward me—smiling a fraction before a red beam got past the other pony's defense.
Addera charged through the gap and past the circle of downed wizards and witches—all students bar one—to Dumbledore's side.
"I can hold them off now, Harry," the dark-maned earth pony that had been guarding Dumbledore said.
I did a double-take. The voice belonged to Gemma. Gemma Farley was the pony who'd been fighting at Dumbledore's side. With a vast swathe now cleared—by Dumbledore, for us—Gemma could keep up and return a few shots.
"Harry?" Dumbledore's voice was soft.
I squirmed and jumped out of Addera's arms, ignoring the lance of pain from my back leg or the clutching tightness that grabbed my ribcage when I landed. Winding through the last of the downed students, I reached Dumbledore. "Sombra was in the Chamber looking for the Crystal Heart. I tried to fight him, but—"
"But he was wearing you down. Severus told me about your magical fire, Harry." His voice was strained, but Dumbledore still had a smile for me. "If only we had it. The pony witch said that the Heart is key to defeating him, but not where it was."
"Why would he think it was down there? He was locked up for who-knows how long. Surely he'd know it was or wasn't there."
"Who knows indeed. How old was that chamber, I wonder? Old enough—" Dumbledore slumped a little, "—that Salazar put Addera down there to guard Sombra?" His eyes widened and he reached a hand out to rest on my shoulder. "Harry. It must be the wardstone! The wardstone is the Crystal Heart, it has to be. It was removed from the foundations when Hogwarts was built. Harry, you must take the pony wizard to my office and—and help them." Dumbledore looked like he was losing his battle with unconsciousness. Given how all the students around him seemed to be breathing still, I hoped he was just stunned too. "Go. Go quickly."
When Dumbledore slumped, I ignored all my pains and jumped forward to press my ear to his chest. A steady heartbeat and the sound of lungs inhaling and exhaling meant the world to me. Okay, that was good—now I wouldn't go crazy on the spot and try to burn everything.
Everything except living creatures.
Like a fireball shooting up above my head, the revelation echoed around in my skull. "Where's Professor Snape?"
"Harry! You have to get the Heart, Harry!" Gemma's words were strained. I don't know how she'd worked out to hold her wand in her hoof so quickly, but she was slinging spells faster than any witch or wizard I'd seen.
"Find Snape! Addera!" I turned to look at Addera. "You have to find Professor Snape and tell him to BURN the helmets off the crystal ponies. Our fire won't burn them, but it will burn their curses away!"
"Ex-pel-lee-ar-muss!" Addera lashed out with her spell at the nearest helmeted pony, then turned back to me. My horn itched with all the magic that was being cast around me—particularly from Gemma—but I quickly realized each caster felt subtly different, as did every spell. —I'll tell Professor Snape. You find that Heart, Harry Potter!—
I nodded and picked my path back toward the castle with my blurry eyesight. Despite my leg hurting worse than ever, I set a quick pace. The pain and my blurred eyesight saved me from recognizing most of the people on the ground, but here and there I spotted either the human face of someone knocked out before they'd cast a spell, or the robes and features of a pony (or almost pony) that had gone down fighting.
Little pockets of resistance still held here and there, with students banding around teachers to support them. There were two figures alone in a sea of helmeted ponies, their voices raised. I could only see the tip of Snape's horn, but it flared again and again as his sharp voice pronounced a litany of spells. McGonagall stood upright, holding her wand skillfully in one hoof as she sent one after another of the mind controlled ponies down.
Angling toward the pair—and approaching the horde of helmeted ponies around them—Addera took Snape the information that would let him dispatch the helmets themselves wholesale.
Green eyes flared and turned toward me, and I watched one of the helmeted ponies line up. So focused was I on them and not losing my footing that I didn't see a bludger come out of nowhere and smack into the side of the helmet. The green eyes flickered and went dim, and the pony fell to the ground.
A glance up—a brief one since it took my eyes away from where I was hobbling—showed me Madam Hooch with her wand held in her mouth, directing two bludgers around in curving arcs. She looked wild, though I had to wonder where she'd learned to cheat so well.
Around the stadium it seemed like chaos. People fighting the helmeted ponies, people being overrun by them, and people overrunning them. I charged for the side door of the castle (what I'd heard called the sally port by someone who'd known way more about castles than I ever thought I'd need to), and reached it just as a pony did.
I looked up at the purple unicorn and tried to smile as best I could. "Uh, hi! Professor Dumbledore said the Heart thing you're looking for is in his office. It's called a wardstone or something."
"My friends are trying to protect your friends. If you know where the Crystal Heart is, we need to go there right now before King Sombra finds it!" The urgency in her tone only increased the adrenaline pumping through me.
I quickly muttered the door-opening spell again, or what had worked in the Chamber, and it had the added advantage of actually ripping the door off its hinges—bonus points for wizard style. "Uh, I'm Harry, Harry Potter."
"Twilight Sparkle. What's the quickest way to get to the Heart?" She didn't seem to cast a spell, and yet I felt only the slightest twitch of magic as her horn glowed bright.
"Follow me!" I tried to gallop into the castle, but my broken leg twisted and pulled a cry from my throat as I started to fall. Before I could hit the ground, however, I was lifted up in white-purple magic that visibly covered me. "What the—?"
"You're hurt? Sit on my back and tell me where to go!"
I didn't have much choice than to hold on to her neck with my forelegs and look around somewhat blindly. I guided her up to the first and then second floor, and to the Gargoyle Corridor. When she came to a stop at the huge arched entrance to the Headmaster's Tower.
"Welcome back, Mr. Potter. Professor Dumbledore is out." The huge stone gargoyle spoke as it stepped firmly between us and the doorway. "Interesting mount you have."
I looked up and up and up at the huge stone creature. I'd never heard it talk before, but then I'd only seen it twice, and both times someone was escorting me into the office. "Sherbet Lemon," I said.
The gargoyle scoffed but didn't move. "Of all the headmasters I've served, Dumbledore was the only one who ever took the time to just—"
"And he's lying outside, unconscious, in the middle of a war-zone. Please, he sent me—us—to find the wardstone in his office, and that's the only password I know that lets anyone—" I stopped speaking when the gargoyle stepped to the side.
"Why didn't you say it was important? Quickly, up the stairs!"
"Thank you!" Twilight and I both said together.
"Where do I go—Oh!" As Twilight asked, the spiral staircase slowly grew upward. She stepped onto it and started walking as it carried us up.
Like my previous visits, Dumbledore's office was impressive. I was pleased when even Twilight made a gasp of excitement, though she was looking at the bookshelves for some reason. There were magical things all through the room—everywhere you could look—and some of them were even alive.
"Is that a phoenix?!" Twilight practically ran over to Fawkes' perch. "Oh gosh, it is!"
I slid down from Twilight's back and used my good side to catch my weight before hobbling around in a circle. "What's the Crystal Heart look like?" It didn't help that I could barely see.
"Well…" Twilight's tone dragged off worryingly. "It's a heart—and it's made out of crystal."
As I turned to look at her, I noticed movement at the stairs. "Who's—?" I got no further. Sombra's form slowly came into view as he walked up to the landing. "Sombra!"
"Ah! A crowd has come to witness my coronation." Sombra stepped slowly around the room, keeping his eyes on us while also maintaining his distance. "You were a surprisingly adept adversary, Harry Potter, but you lacked wisdom. My prison cell was scarcely the most advantageous place to fight me."
Twilight, surprisingly, stepped between me and Sombra. "Why are you doing all this? Just stop and we can talk about it. It doesn't have to be this way!"
"Hmmm. You know what? You're right." The illusion of Sombra took a few careful steps closer to Fawkes and he tilted his head up to examine the phoenix. "Therefore, in the name of friendship and togetherness I ask for your unconditional surrender, assent to my rule, and—oh let's add a cherry—what say you try out this wonderful hat I designed? I promise you, there's one in both your sizes."
Shifting her stance a little, I could feel energy thrumming through Twilight Sparkle as she prepared for something. "I won't let you get away with this. Once we find the—"
"Crystal Heart?" Sombra asked. "It's gone. Lost to the ages. Almost two thousand years I'd spent on that magicless mud-ball. When I weakened my bonds just a little, creatures came and stole my crystals. They took them all over—spreading my magic thin. One of them took the Heart, and now it's stuck there while we're here. What say, little unicorn? Call Celestia and Luna, have them send me back so I can fetch it."
My eyes strayed to Fawkes. He was a bit of a hero to me, and after feeling his fire remake me, I felt there was a connection between us. Fawkes was shimmying on his perch—still looking the worse for wear after his molt—and kept looking one particular way.
It took every ounce of common sense to shove down the wizard in me and not turn to look. Instead, I cast my poor eyesight forward to see if there was something that would reflect enough of the location.
Then I saw it.
The stone looked more worn than the others around it. I couldn't make out all the details, but I could see a large crack down the middle, and I could feel something bubbling within—magic. If this was a weapon against Sombra, I had to get to it before he did, but common sense reminded me of how quick he snared my mind in the Chamber.
Whatever happened, I couldn't afford to get angry. Getting angry would mean so many priceless items would get destroyed for no reason. I fixed my eyes just to the side of Sombra, which was why I barely noticed another figure reach the top of the stairs.
The unicorn—that I strained not to look at—had orange fur, a reddish mane and tail, and white socks on each hoof. It was Percy, and he looked like death warmed up. The thing was, as I well remembered, Percy Weasley was an exceedingly well-trained wizard—he was top of his classes and perhaps even top of the school. Or so I hoped.
"Ah, Percy, so good of you to rejoin me. You know I promised your sister her family and friends would not be harmed, but I'd like for you to confirm that this unicorn is unknown to her?" Sombra had turned to look at Percy while gesturing at Twilight.
George Weasley felt more and more worry fill him. It wasn't like he hadn't been away from Fred for longer, but not knowing where any of his family was started to become a heavier and heavier yoke around his neck.
Addera had slithered off to find Snape for something Harry'd thought up, but he'd taken up a position beside Gemma Farley—with Katie Bell taking the other flank, and Eliza O'Leary sending shots down from above. "Who was with you here? I can't work out who's who in this madness!"
Gemma had barely had a moment to think about who was who, but with a competent wizard and witch at her side, she was able to escape the iron focus her defense of Dumbledore had taken. "Slytherin and Hufflepuff. Who're you looking for?"
"His brothers. His sister. Probably anyone who can stand and cast would be a good start!" Katie parried an incoming bolt with a shield and sent a Disarming charm after the helmeted pony who'd sent it. "Is this lot thinning out?"
Opening her mouth to reply, Gemma's eyes widened as a bludger came speeding out of nowhere and glanced off at least ten helmets. Gemma had never been big on quidditch, but seeing the iron-sheathed wooden ball knock a dozen of her foes down sure made her appreciate it now. "It is now. You should have seen him! I've never seen a wizard cast like that!"
Rainbow Dash was still getting used to having children be so much bigger than her, but the three that were defending all their fallen friends struck a chord with her. Pumping her wings hard to gain a lot of altitude, she tipped forward and aimed a hoof out—then she began to dive.
She wasn't going to reach the speed needed for a sonic rainboom, but that wasn't as important to Rainbow as hitting her marks just right. When she neared the ground, she stretched her wings a little wider and angled them to send her into a horizontal flight just above the heads of the helmeted ponies harassing the three.
One-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight— Rainbow Dash barely felt the impacts in her hoof—straight as it was—as she delivered a knockout blow to several dozen of the helmeted heads. At the end of her strafing run she pulled up and shot back out of sight before any return fire could reach her. What pleased her more than the effect of her dive was the cheering she heard from below. "Awww yeah!"
"Bloody heck! Did you see that?" George stared at the pony arcing back into the sky as fast as she'd dropped from it. "That was brilliant!"
"Don't spend too long singing 'er praises, there's a few she missed!" Katie had learned how to aim her taped-on wand with practice, and delivered a quick one-two take-down of another helmeted pony.
Eliza circled the damaged stadium, her eyes peeled for helmeted ponies that were pressing students and teachers too hard, and sending down her best Disarming charm to disorientate the attackers. Not for the first time did Eliza wish she were better at magic, but one advantage she had was that her broom was fast and nimble enough that she could avoid the few shots the helmeted ponies threw her way.
At least, Eliza managed to avoid the blasts until a group of helmeted ponies all looked up at her at once. One blast—dodged. Another blast—dodged. But the first two shots were to force her into position. A red beam swept behind Eliza's back and took the end of every twig on her broom clean off. A fourth shot turned the end of her broom's handle into sizzling splinters.
Feeling her broom give its last, Eliza was aware that she was falling. Kicking the broom away from her, she turned to the only thing she could think of to stop her hitting the ground hard enough to ensure she'd spend a long visit to the hospital wing.
George looked up at the shriek of surprise and watched Eliza lose her broom. He started pounding his hooves as fast as he could to get closer, only to watch her pull her robe up and spread her wings. For a fraction of a second George Weasley thought the girl was going to be fine, but there was more to flying than just having the equipment.
Panicked thoughts rushed through George's head. A regular Bounce charm would actually hurt her if she landed on a wing. A basic Levitation spell would need him to touch her. Levitation charm required more words than George could probably belt out before she hit. At last he pointed his wand and cast his best Hover charm.
The spell grabbed Eliza when she was just ten feet above the ground. One moment she'd been falling and flailing with her wings, the next she slowed to a gentle floating. Turning her head, she saw George galloping toward her. A little smile spread over Eliza's lips a moment before the stunning bolt of magic hit her.
Already aiming his head at the helmeted pony that hit Eliza with the stun, George shouted, "Ex-pel-lee-ar-muss!" at the top of his lungs, only to hear a similar call come from somewhere beside him.
Both spells hit the ground of helmeted ponies and—thanks to their blast radius—knocked all of the targets down.
Panting, looking around for more threats, George was surprised at getting a punch in the shoulder. He turned to look at whoever had helped him dispatch Eliza's attackers, and grinned. "I shoulda known it'd be you."
"Like I'd let you get away and save yer bird on yer own." Fred punched George in the shoulder with a hoof again for good luck. "Well that's going to ruin one game, aint-it?" He held up a bright red hoof.
George held up his own hoof—orange—and compared their apparent opposite-complemented colors. "Yeah, but still—Wait a tick. 'Ow'd you hold your wand?"
"Like this?" Fred asked with his wand held firmly to the end of his hoof.
George burned with envy for nearly a minute before he remembered something—or rather, someone. "Let's check on Eliza. Did you see 'ow fast she is—was—on that old broom?"
"Yeah, and there was something odd about the shots that took 'er down. Those ponies couldn't have planned that themselves, it'd take way too long. Someone's controlling all of them." Pausing, as they walked toward where Eliza was hovering, Fred looked at George. "You've got a thing for 'er!"
"Shut up!" George realized at the last moment that he had no way of catching Eliza when his charm wore off. "Well, maybe. But come on, you saw her flying!" Deciding on a full levitation charm, George cast it and dispelled the previous one at the same time. "She was amazin'."
"On the old thing she was on? Yeah. Bring her this way," Fred said.
"Gemma and Katie are over there. Dumbledore with a bunch of Hufflepuff and Slytherin went down." George pointed with a hoof. "Kinda respect them for standing up with the old 'eadmaster."
"Alright, alright. We head there and start levitatin' everyone back to the stadium. Where's Ron?"
George sighed, knowing they had committed themselves to something just as important as finding their little brother. "I was hopin' you were gonna say he was with your lot. Let's get all these sleepers moved and then go looking for him."
Percy Weasley woke from the nightmare he'd been living—or so it felt to him. There was a snap of tension as he felt something kick into the part of his being that Sybill Trelawney had pronounced "Atrophied to uselessness."
Stumbling off the bed, he found himself stuck on all fours still. Some part of his hazy mind put together the facts that no one in the school had found a way to reverse the change yet. Shaking his head to clear the fuzz from it, Percy felt a great need to reach the Gryffindor tower.
His body felt new all over again. Percy looked down at his hooves as he walked through the hallway and out into the castle itself. White-painted hooves, orange fur, and—when he turned his eyes toward each other and up—a horn on his head. "This is my punishment."
When Percy reached the painting, he realized how wrong everything was. There were no students in Hogwarts, and it was far too quiet. "Open up!"
"What's the password?"
Groaning at the fact he didn't know the week's password, Percy had just one fallback to use. There was a second password that was never to be used except in extreme emergencies, and never with anyone else around. "Prefect password—Percy's full of it."
"Percy Weasley, is that you?" The fat lady sounded shocked. "I knew some students were feeling a little hoarse, but I do believe you've taken it too far."
"Sorry, ma'am, didn't really have a choice. I'm in a bit of a rush…" Despite not having the time to be nice, Percy knew there was nothing to be accomplished in being short with her—except wasting more time.
"Quite understandable, dear. In you go." The fat lady shifted her painting and the doorway into Gryffindor tower opened.
Percy clattered through the hole, almost stumbling as he worked out how to get his hooves to navigate uneven terrain. Something called to him—something important.
Rushing through the common room, Percy ascended the stairs toward the boys' dorms, and stopped on the floor his brother called home. Rushing to Harry Potter's bedside table, Percy found what he was looking for immediately, opened the diary, and screamed.
Ginny Weasley had finally worked out the trick of pulling someone into her diary. When she felt someone open her cover, she quickly worked the magic and expected Harry to crash into her reality. When she saw Percy—her big brother—standing in the library and looking confused, she ran over to him and hugged him. "Percy!"
"Ginny?!" Percy wasn't just surprised, he was shocked. For a start he was human, but so was Ginny. He hugged her to him just as tight as he could. "What happened? Where's Sombra?"
"Still somewhere with my body, I suppose. Where have you been? Percy? What's wrong?!" Ginny pulled back from her brother and looked up into his face. When she saw tears in Percy's blue eyes, Ginny pulled him to her again, but her role was opposite to what she she needed. "Tell me everything."
Slowly, Percy managed to get his emotions under control, then lost that control as he told his little sister everything. He bawled like a child again as she held him, and he felt the uncontrollable need to just purge everything he felt. Eventually, he finished and was empty. Minutes—hours passed. "What do I do?"
"Was it—she—really me?" Ginny felt Percy nod against her. "Are you sure it wasn't Sombra using my memories? He has my body, there could still be—"
"It was you. I felt it was you, but there was something missing that I feel now." Percy snorted back a sob. "She had no soul, Ginny."
Memories swirled around in Ginny's head. The private study of Tom Riddle's told her much about several darker things—in particular the darkest and most final of curses: Avada Kedavra. It would drive a soul from a body and halt the body, but she mused over what would happen if the last step failed. "So—So she has all my memories and being, but not my soul?"
Percy could only nod again.
"That shouldn't be possible, but we can't rule it out. She—I—wouldn't be helping him without a good reason." Her mind racing, Ginny tried to come up with a plan. "We have to stop her so we can show her a way out of his clutches. We need to find what Sombra is using against her and stop it."
"I think something bad is happening. I think Sombra is invading, looking for something."
"The Crystal Heart—Harry told me about it. It was a weapon that could be used against Sombra. If you can help Dumbledore and the ponies find the Heart, before Sombra does, he can be stopped and this other Ginny can be freed."
Finding out his baby sister had been rent in two hurt Percy. He was man enough—despite his age—to want to protect his family above all else. He'd failed. "I'll find Dumbledore. He needs to know it's in Hogwarts and not outside. Why else would Sombra attack?"
"Take me with you." A pang of worry filled Ginny. "If he finds me, he'll use me, too."
Percy shook his head. "You won't be safe with—"
"Take. Me. With. You! You're the only one I can trust, Percy. I believe in you." They were the last words of Ginny's Percy heard before he was ejected from the book.
A new fire burned within Percy Ignatius Weasley, and it scorched the parts of him that Sombra had shrouded in shadows. Bundling up Ginny's diary, he tied it to his foreleg with a charm. Then he froze, shocked that he'd cast magic at all. "I guess this horn is good for something."
When he left the Gryffindor Tower, Percy heard heavy hooffalls echoing through the stairs. Crouching, feeling the new fire warm him against the cold, he watched Sombra climb the stairs looking magnificent in a shroud of dark magic. How Percy knew it was an illusion, he didn't know, but he followed the tyrant toward a hallway he knew well.
Only when Sombra ascended the stairs into the Headmaster's office did Percy carefully slink up the hallway. "Sherbert Lemon," he murmured softly to the stone gargoyle before noticing the creature was frozen solid. Percy hadn't even seen what Sombra had done to the gargoyle, but the new fire within him let him ignore the casual use of magic that had killed such an ancient guardian.
Shining Armor hadn't thought about the implications of the flare. It was a call for help from ponies under his command, and that was all that mattered. "Move out! Prepare for full offense. I'll handle defense!"
As she crested a ridge with the Royal Guard surrounding her and Shining, Cadance could see the warzone that Hogwarts castle's sports field had become. She gasped, watching the students on the near side falling to the helmeted crystal ponies—having turned themselves into ponies in their efforts—and further terror gripped her as she saw some of them having helmets fitted. "Shiny, we have to stop this. This is not right!"
"You heard the princess!" Lieutenant Star Flare wanted to look good for his captain, wanted to look good for his princess, but he was also a pony through and through—he wanted to do good because it was good. "Bring up the pace. Let's show those helmet-heads why we're the best! Stuns and takedowns only, those helmets are controlling ponies, not the other way around."
"Sir!" six voices shouted. The squad had arranged themselves into a V formation with their captain in the front and Shining Armor taking up the final position on their right flank. Big ponies, their hooves sounded like thunder on the cold ground as they charged into the fray.
Shining Armor's horn flickered to life moments before the first red beam lanced out at the Royal Guard. The pink glow that surrounded just eight ponies was powerful enough that it could have protected an entire city—with this level of focus, the beam wasn't just reflected, it was nullified.
Their first target was the group of helmeted ponies that were fitting new helmets to students. Their V dove deep into the enemy and relied on the helmeted ponies' self preservation to keep them out of the way of lashing hooves.
Once she was close enough to see the students rising to wobbly legs with the dark headgear and glowing green eyes, Cadance let loose with her frustration and desire to see this end. "Stop!"
Alicorn magic was a different beast to most pony magic. It carried with it enough raw energy to forge its own patterns completely dependent on the will of the alicorn. It made new spells as quickly as the caster could think.
Dark helmets cracked and broke, dividing in half and falling from the heads of the students. Cadance turned her power on the crystal pony invaders next, and began sweeping her spell around the nearest.
Ronald Weasley shook his head the moment the helmet fell off of him. He could only stare at the pinkest pony he'd ever seen in awe as her power freed not just the students around him, but the formerly helmeted crystal ponies too. The quidditch match could have gone better, he reflected, as he looked around for his wand.
The pull of a wand to its wizard was strong, and though Ron had only cast a few hurried spells with his new one, it had been made by his brother and had accepted him fully. Though he could feel the living willow calling to him, Ron couldn't see it among the bodies of the students still unconscious.
Shouting at the top of his lungs, Ron put all his desire into the forefront of his mind and cast a Summoning charm with just a gesture of his hoof. The drain to him was immense, but he saw the wand squirm out from between two crystalline bodies and come flying toward him.
There was no time to think, Ron grabbed the wand between his teeth and growled out a Locomotion charm around the wood. When his wand wobbled and shook, but floated free of his mouth, Ron Weasley ran toward where the Royal Guard had put up a defense. "What can I do to help?!"