//------------------------------//
// Chapter 73 
// Story: The Gate 
// by computerneek 
//------------------------------//

“Before we do that, though,” Ginny announces suddenly, “there’s a little something we might want to take care of.”
Everyone turns to look at her.  “What?”
She draws a small diary out of her pocket, tossing it flat on the table.  “That.”
“What is that?” Harry asks.
“That…?”  Hermione scowls, stepping closer to bend over it.  “What…?”
“That,” Ginny begins, pointing at it.  “Is Tom Riddle’s fifty-year-old diary.  I’ve been writing in it all summer, until now…  and he’s been writing back.”
“That sounds…  ominous,” Harry mutters.
Morning blinks.  “Where is he?”
Hermione looks at her.  “What?”
“It’s not uncommon for two books to be linked in Equestria,” Morning states.  “So writing in one causes the writing to appear in the other.”
“Ahh…  No,” Hermione shakes her head.  “That’s not what this is, at all.  But the list of books related is utterly confusing, so…”
“I think that’s what’s been opening the Chamber of Secrets,” Ginny continues, “by mind controlling, or possessing, or whatever else, me.”
Hermione reaches forwards to flip the cover open, but Silver slaps her hand away.  “Wait.  In my dad’s study, there’s a safe I’m not allowed anywhere near, because the contents are all ridiculously dangerous.  The few times he’s had it open in my presence, I saw this sitting on the top shelf.”  She gestures at the diary.
Harry reaches over, and flips it open.  “And that’s probably why, then…  It’s blank?”  He looks up at Ginny.
She nods.  “The ink vanishes into it.  And then, he writes back to you with the same ink.”
Silver scowls at it.  “That’s…  suspicious.  Any trends, Hermione?”
“Well…”  She scowls.  “A lot of the books seem to be specifically about dark magic…  Oh, and one of them is about horcruxes.  Um…”  She blinks.  “Er, the list is about the same as the one about horcruxes.”
Ariel suddenly appears out of nowhere, landing on the table and staring at the diary.  “You-  You mean that thing could be me?”  She looks fearfully up at Silver.
Hermione shakes her head instantly.  “No, that’s not you.”
“Used to be, Ariel,” Ginny states, scooping her off the table and into a hug.  “Used to be.  That thing is, so it’s obviously not you.”
Morning stares.  She hadn’t realized the ‘Ariel’ she’d mentioned earlier had been a real pony- let alone one made of magic, of all things!  Then of course, what was Ariel talking about…?
“Hmm,”  Silver mutters, scowling at the diary.
“What-!” Ariel begins, as Ginny wavers in her seat, grip falling loose.  “Ginny!”  She puts a hoof against Ginny’s chest, looking at all the others, who are looking at her in alarm.  “It’s controlling hurk!”  Ginny’s hand had clamped around her throat.
Hermione’s hand makes a little arc, before shooting out, straight into the diary.





Several buzzers go off.
“What this time?” a black-suited Agent mutters, turning to look at the screen…  then blinking, and looking up at the Director.  “Oh, just another explosion at Hogwarts.  Probably…”  He trails off, watching the screen as more data comes in.  “Er, an explosion that also happens to rate as a seven point three on the Richter scale.  What in the world are they doing over there?”
The Director sighs, before looking across the room at another group.  “Someone get Coal Sun back to Hogwarts.  Send him this info, we need to investigate.”  He gestures vaguely at the screens.





Dumbledore sighs, walking pleasurably along the shore of the Castle Lake.  It’s been so long since he last had time to do something because he wanted to; there was too much he had to do because he, well, had to.  But that’s all- finally- been taken care of.
He smiles out across the water, towards the castle.
Then, he leaps backwards in combined fright and surprise.
A massive cone of boiling white energy comes straight through the castle wall and plows into the ground next to the Castle Lake.
When it finally goes away, he’s been knocked over by both the pressure of the blast and by the shaking of the ground.  He scrambles upright, and steps up to the new crater, looking down into it.  It’s easily six times the size of the Castle Lake- which is slowly spilling into it.





Madam Pomfrey stiffens, grasping desperately at her desk when the castle suddenly shakes violently.  Then she turns her head to peer into the rest of the medical wing, but Glowing Blue’s bed is already empty.
She sighs as the shaking subsides.  “Please come back alive,” she pleads into the silent infirmary.





Morning Sun recoils flat against the wall, staring wide-eyed at Hermione’s massive energy expenditure.  She sees Ginny twitch oddly, hand falling from Ariel’s throat- then Ariel screams, as if something were torturing her.
Finally, as the massive cone of energy dissipates, Ginny collapses forwards against the table…  crushing Ariel against it on the way.
“What Just Happened.”  The demand comes from just to Morning’s right- where she’s certain no one had been a second before.  A quick look confirms what she’d heard- it’s that girl, Hidden Light, from the hospital wing.
Hermione whirls in place.  “What-!”
Silver also whirls in place, looking instantly uncomfortable.  As a matter of fact, her expression looks exactly like Morning felt when Ginny caught her in that bathroom.
Harry simply turns his head, and speaks calmly.  “Hermione saw fit to smite the Horcrux.”
Hermione covers her face with her hands, before turning to glare at Harry.
“And you didn’t call for me?”
“Ahh…” Harry mutters.
“Um-!” Morning stutters.  “We- We didn’t know what it was until seconds before it tried to possess Ginny.”
Hidden Light looks at her for a second, before looking at Ginny- who has woken up, and is cradling a shuddering Ariel in her arms, hugging her close.
“I- I didn’t know I could do that,” Hermione stutters.  “I- I thought it’d just disrupt control.”  She looks back at the diary, still lined up with the hole in the entire castle.
Hidden Light teleports almost instantly to the other side, peering out the hole.  “Hmm…  Yeah, that’s a lot of power.  I don’t know if even Celestia could do that.”  She then grins, looking back at Hermione.  “I wonder if they’ll call it Lake Don’t-Mess-With-Hermione?”
Hermione puts her head in her hands again.  “Oh God no,” she moans.
Hidden Light shrugs.  “I know if it were up to me to name it, it’d be the Muggleborn Lake.”  She looks back out.  “How much damage do you think it did?”
“A lot,” Ginny mutters.
Ariel squirms out of her arms at the same time, pulling herself onto the table.  “I-!” she begins, before wincing, steeling herself, and speaking again, this time without the pain in her voice.  “I need to tell you something.”
Hidden Light looks at her.  “You’re…  Ariel, right?”
She bows her head.  “Yes.  And…”  She glances back at Ginny.  “Ginny was wrong.  That thing-” she points at the diary with a wing- “was me.”  She looks up at everyone else in the room, looking around.  “And when you destroyed it, I…  remembered everything that it did.”  She looks down.  “I know where the Chamber is.  And how to open it…  And how to summon the monster.”  She looks up.  “And what it is, but we already know that at this point.”
Silver blinks.  “Meaning…?”
Ariel nods.  “Yes.  That…  I was mind-controlling Ginny to open the Chamber, to attack the muggleborn.  Because…”  She sighs, and looks up.  “Because I am Lord Voldemort.”  She says it in an apologetic tone, though.
Ginny snatches her up from behind, making her squeak in fright.  “No, you’re not.”
“But-!” Ariel begins.
“She’s right,” Hidden Light states.  “You’re not.  Voldemort is elsewhere.  This diary once was a horcrux of his.”  She looks up at Ariel.  “But you’re Ariel, not Voldemort, no matter how you came to be.  Nopony will be judging you for what you didn’t do.”  She takes a deep breath.  “So, I take it the attacks have been stopped, permanently?”
Ariel nods.  “The diary is toast…  I won’t be doing it any more, promise.”
Hidden Light sighs.  “You weren’t doing it, Ariel.  It was probably the residual spellwork on the diary these last few times anyways, after you had already been ripped out of it.”  She looks around the room.  “But the attacks have stopped, right?”
Ariel nods.  “Yes.”
Hidden pulls out a chair and sits down.  “But the monster still survives.”
“...  Yes.”
She sighs.  “I hate to say it, but we need to go down there, and kill the monster.  End the attacks, for once and for all.”
Ariel presses herself into Ginny’s chest.  “That…  That won’t be easy.  That basilisk is at least eight hundred years old.”
“And that’s where the problem is.  Because I can’t go anywhere near that thing without being petrified, or killed.  You can, so long as you don’t look into its eyes.”  She looks at Hermione.  “And if you can do that, you can probably gaze into its eyes and survive, like Fluttershy did.  Right?  You do have…?”  She taps her forehead.  “Ascended?”
Hermione blinks, one hand going to her forehead.  “Uhh…  I…  Er…”
“Yeah,” Harry answers for her.  “All three of us, actually.  If…  I mean, we’d rather not have anypony find out, if at all possible.”
Hidden chuckles lightly, before looking at Silver.  “And the same for you and your new look, right?”
Silver gasps.  “What-!?  Uh-  Yeah!  Yeah, thank you.”
She chuckles softly.  “Anyways.”
“Wait,” Ariel inserts.  “Why can’t you go anywhere near it?”
Hidden pauses, looking at Ariel.  Then she looks at each of the others in turn, including Morning, and finally sighs.  “Alright.  If any of you ever tell anyone what I’m about to tell you, I will personally hunt you down.”
Hermione blinks.  “Ahh…  Okay.”
“You…  don’t have to make it a threat,” Harry mutters.  “But we’ll keep your secret for you.”
“Well…”  Hidden sighs.  “I can’t go anywhere near it…  because I’m blind.”
Hermione looks at her.  “Uh…  You seem to be seeing just fine to me…?”
Hidden chuckles.  “I mean, technically, I’m totally blind in my right eye, and so badly nearsighted in my left that you’d have to punch my eyeball for me to see you clearly.  I mean literally, I am blind.  It’s actually because of that that I discovered my ability- and that I use it, all the time.  I can shine my light wherever I want to nearby, and see everything that it shines upon.  This includes the Basilisk’s eyes, even if it’s facing away from me.”  She sighs.  “Fortunately, my light always has perfect vision.”
Hermione scowls.  “Is…  Is there a way to come up with a counterspell?”
Hidden looks at her.  “A counterspell…  to my light?”
“No, no!”  She shakes her head.  “To the basilisk, so you could stand in front of it and stare back into its eyes without worry!”
This gets her a chuckle.  “Probably not…  But yeah, why not give it a shot.  Well, Ginny, Silver, Ariel, and Morning too, if you’re any good at spellcrafting…”  She puts her hand out on the table, scattering a curious pattern of glowing lines onto it.  “That’s the spell matrix it uses to attack.”
Morning recognizes it almost instantly, and steps forwards for a better look.
Yes, it is what she thinks it is.
“That…  That’s Changeling magic.”
Everyone looks at her.
“It’s what?” Hermione asks.
“That’s Changeling magic,” she repeats.  “Old stuff they don’t use anymore.”
Harry tilts his head.  “Why?”
She reaches one hand down to the table, channeling her magic through it- and projects a small, simple matrix onto the table, glowing green instead of Hidden’s blue.  “This is why.  It’s the counterspell.”  She looks up at Harry.  “And since just knowing the counterspell matrix is enough to render that monstrosity useless…”  She gestures at Hidden’s diagram, and sighs.  “There’s a reason they use pods these days.”
Hidden stares at her.
“So…  how would it kill?” Silver asks.
Morning points at one of the circles on Hidden’s diagram.  “This here.  If the caster holds the spell for too long, or with too much power, that feedback loop will, eventually, kill.”  She sighs, dropping her arm down.  “Another reason they switched from it:  If the caster cuts after the first iteration, without allowing the loop to activate, nothing happens.  It has to iterate a minimum of thirty times before it starts taking effect.”
“You’re awfully knowledgeable about Changeling magic,” Hidden states suddenly.
Morning’s breath catches, and she flinches away, suddenly fearful.  “Uh-!”
Silver wraps an arm suddenly around her shoulders, having still been standing.  “Hey, don’t be afraid,” she practically coos.
Morning just squeaks.
“Actually, Glowing,” Hermione states, and Hidden turns to look at her.
“Hmm?”
“We were just about to go introduce you to her.  She’s Equestrian, and deathly terrified of ponies for some reason…  but she’s got this amazing transformation ability.  I don’t think even Two Face comes close to what she can do!”
Morning hangs her head.  Make it quick.
“Transformation ability?” Hidden asks.
“Yeah.  Seems to involve a lot of green fire for some reason.”  She shrugs.
Morning gives an involuntary shudder.
Silver squeezes her gently.  “You okay?”
She doesn’t respond.  Her eyes are tearing up, but she ignores that too.  Unless her guess is way off, she’s already dead, and just doesn’t know it yet.
Hidden sighs, shaking her head with what might be a sad chuckle.  “Morning?”
“Mm?” she manages, her voice nearly cracking.
“How many?”
She shudders again, eyes closed.  “J-Just m-me.”  Her voice definitely broke that time.
Silver tries hugging her, but she shakes her off.  “What’s wrong?  Morning?”
She finally looks at the girl, who seems genuinely concerned.  “She’s a pony,” she states the obvious, her voice cracking.  “And she knows what I am.”
Silver shrugs.  “So?”
She rolls her eyes.  “You…  You really don’t know what Changelings are, do you?”
“A wizarding pest,” Hermione supplies helpfully.  “Not found in Britain, it’s much too cold here.  But further down South, they can be pretty nasty.  Furry little chameleons, even worse than the garden gnomes we have up here.”
Hidden Light just looks at Hermione in wonder, but Morning lets out a snort of laughter.  “Oh, yeah, those things you call changelings.  I can even turn into one, if you want.”  She steps forwards, twisting out of Silver’s grip.  “Because they don’t have anything on real Changelings.”  She shifts to match Hermione, then matches her tone exactly.  “An Equestrian pest.  Not found in Britain, it’s much too tasty here.  But over in Equestria, they can be pretty nasty.  Chitinous little parasites, we’re true shapeshifters that attacked and nearly took the pony capital a few years back!”  She lets out a huff.  “Do you get it yet?”
Hermione can only blink, visibly taken aback.
“Tasty?” Hidden Light asks curiously.
She sighs, flopping herself down in a chair, without dropping Hermione’s image.  “Yeah.”  She glances over at Hermione.  “Changelings eat love.  And for some reason I haven’t been able to figure out,” she looks at Hidden Light, “all the British people- including whatever you call these three- are practically overflowing with it.  No, literally- they pour it off like a geyser.  So much that-!”  She snorts.  “In Equestria, it’s nearly impossible for a Changeling to survive on ambient love.  Not entirely impossible- I managed it, after all.
“But come here, and-  and I’ve been absorbing so much ambient each day I could probably feed the entire hive with it!”  She sighs.  “Then I hyperventilated a few weeks back, and apparently Changelings don’t wake up over here.”
“They don’t?” Hidden asks, surprised.
“Apparently not,” Ginny shrugs.  “She hyperventilated in Harry’s arms after the most recent attack, and despite there being no medical or magical reason that anyone or anypony could find, she wouldn’t wake up for two weeks.  Until I broke out the Whiskey Tango, that woke her right up.”
Hidden Light looks at Ginny, then at Morning, a strange grin spreading across her face.  “You, ah, don’t happen to have become one of those love-geysers, do you?”
She looks at the girl, then down at her own hands.  “I…  I don’t know.  And…  and that scares me.”  She looks up at her again.  “I haven’t been able to figure out what that tango thing did to me.”
Hidden Light looks somehow contemplative.  “I wonder…  what do you think would happen if, next time we find the Hive, we take them here?”
She snorts.  “And get them to walk through Ponyville?  Fat chance.  But, if you did manage to get them here…”  Her eyes slowly widen.  “No, no, you do not want to.  They’re too…  hungry.  They’d gorge themselves here, then Chrysalis would make more.  And more.  And more.”  She looks up.  “Then she’d go back to Equestria and succeed in a repeat invasion, for no better reason than that she’s greedy.”
Her eyebrows go way up.
“And you’re able to speak against your Queen?”
She nods.  “I…  I haven’t heard a single ‘nother Changeling on the hive mind for years.  Ever since the ponies first found us at the edge of the badlands…  and they left me behind.”
Hidden blinks several times.  “There were no Changelings left in the place.  We scoured the place, searched for stragglers.  Took ‘em out.  I was part of that operation.”  She looks sadly down at the table for some reason.
She sighs.  “I…  I was one of the many Chrysalis spawned with the express purpose of outnumbering ponies in the invasion.  I…”  She closes her eyes.  “I was number four hundred sixty-three thousand, nine hundred twelve.”  She opens them again.  “I was…  inexperienced.  I spent the entire attack disguised as a male Changeling.  I…”  She takes a deep breath.  “I was amazed I managed to pass myself off as a captured pony.  All the others that tried, got caught.”  She looks up at Hidden.  “I’m not a threat to anyone, or anypony, I swear.  I never learned any of the gathering techniques, even the harmless ones- absorbing ambient is all I can do.”
Hidden shakes her head, smiling.  “Morning, I’m not worried about you.  Any more, at least.  I’m more worried about what the others will think if they find out before we’re ready- or what will happen if other, more dangerous ‘lings stop by.”  She looks up.  “What happens if Chrysalis starts shouting orders?”
She shakes her head.  “The hivemind doesn’t carry direct communication more than a mile or so, best-case scenario.  And I can disobey her, it’s just…”  She shudders.  “She doesn’t take disobedience very well.”
Hidden grins.  “We beat her once, we can do it again.  Just tell us where to shoot.”  She glances at Hermione’s hole in the castle.  “Er, hopefully not that literally.”  She looks back at Morning.  “Anyways, I’m moderately curious what your natural form looks like on this side of the Gate?”
“Uhh…”
“Completely aside from how disorienting it is to have two Hermionies in the same room.”
She blinks, looking down at her hands.  “Oh, right.”  She closes her eyes, and shifts back to her natural form, before opening them again.  “Sorry, I…”  She trails off, staring at her arms.  This is the first time she’s assumed her natural form in years, save only that brief moment in front of the Twins- which had been enough to tell her that her natural form has a human shape on this side.
She…  still has her exoskeleton, definitely.  And it still has its holes in it.
Except, rather than holes clear through her body, these are only holes in her exoskeleton.  Light-toned human skin is visible underneath.  She blinks, then looks down at the rest of herself.
She seems to be wearing a deep grey blouse, with a bright emerald green skirt, hiding much of her exoskeleton- and body- from view.  “Huh.”
“Feel funny or something?” Hidden asks.
She shakes her head.  “No, I just…  I haven’t looked at my natural form on this side of the Gate before, so…”  She shrugs, dropping her hands down on the table.  “It’s just not what I was expecting.”  Then she scowls.  “Speaking of different, is it just me, or does my voice sound a little funny?”
Hermione shrugs.  “Sounds human enough to me.”
“I don’t think any two forms you’ve taken yet have sounded the same,” Harry suggests.  “And you did say it’s been a few years.”
Silver sighs.  “Now that I’m thinking about it, that is a bit of an odd voice for an eleven-year-old to have.”
“Exactly!” Morning states.  “It sounds…  off.”
“Well, um, is it possible you’re a lot older in Equestria, and it’s showing through like your, ah, exoskeleton?”
She winces.  “Maybe, I guess.  I mean, I was just a nymph when I went into hiding.  I suppose I could have grown up a bit.”
“No,” Hidden states suddenly.
She looks at the girl.  “What?”
“I think…  I think you’re referring to how you don’t sound like a drone, right?”
“A- A drone!?” Hermione asks instantly.  “She’s no drone!”
Hidden holds up a hand.  “That’s what the lowest level of Changelings are called,” Hidden informs Hermione.  “The most common kind, that comprised more than ninety percent of the attack on Canterlot.”
“The one that hatches from the eggs,” Morning nods.  “A drone can evolve into any of the other kinds.”  She looks at Hidden.  “I…  I don’t sound like one?  H-How am I different?”  Her voice rises to a bit of a squeak towards the end.
“Sounds more…  motherly, I think,” Hidden continues.
“Moth-!?”  She squeaks, one hand flashing to the top of her head.  She quickly finds hair, looks at it, and resumes her search.  She doesn’t find any extra protrusions on the top of her head, though.
Finally, she lets her shirt snap back into place- she’d pulled it away from her chest so she could peer down it- and looks up.  “I…” she begins, before trailing off, wide-eyed.  “I’m a royal.”
Silver blinks.  “A royal?”  She glances at Hidden.  “That make her like us?”
Hidden scowls.  “I don’t know.  Only three kinds of Changelings participated in the Canterlot invasion, that we know of- drones, warriors…  and Chrysalis herself is Queen.”
Morning blinks.  “Uh- no.  I’m…  Somehow, I’m a broodmother.”
Hidden blinks as well.  “Uh…  What’s a ‘broodmother’?”
“I- There’s exactly two kinds of Changeling royals,” she states, in a bit of a trance.  “Queens and broodmothers.  Only females can become royals- and the big thing that distinguishes a royal, aside from size and chitin colors…  is that they’re fertile.”  She closes her eyes, and puts her face in her hands.  “Which means, if I really want to, I can actually lay eggs and spawn more changelings.”
Hidden stares.
“So, if the Queen participated in the Canterlot attack,” Hermione begins, “why didn’t any broodmothers?”
“Because they’re vulnerable.  Broodmothers have a decent offense, but they’re utterly defenseless.  A Queen has good both- and even a drone has better defenses than a broodmother.”  She looks up at Hermione.  “Chrysalis left the broodmothers behind because they would only have slowed the rest of the hive down.  Broodmothers are slow.”
“You know,” Hidden mutters.  “If the Whiskey Tango made you a broodmother…”  She looks at the others.  “I wonder what the Papa Tango would do?”
“Well, we could find out,” Silver muses, putting a finger to her chin.
“We can?” Hidden blinks.  “I thought only Lyra could activate it.”
Ginny slowly raises her hand.  “I…  I know how to activate it.”
Hermione looks at Morning.  “Want to find out?”
Hidden shrugs.  “Then- optionally- help us hunt basilisk?”