Lyra pulled the door open just moments after she knocked. “Oh, Hermione! You’re early.”
She nodded. “I don’t like being late.”
“Even though ‘late’ doesn’t mean much for this class, unless it’s over half an hour late. But still, that’s a good attitude to have.” She shrugged. “Especially since it’s very highly recommended to show up to the classes you teach at least half an hour early- gives you time to go over your lesson plan with your partner… or come up with such a plan, if need be.”
She tilted her head. “Wouldn’t…?”
Lyra shook hers. “In accordance with Hogwarts tradition, every class mixes exactly two houses… and since we’re using two-instructor teams, that means we’ve used one instructor from each house per class- your instructor partner will not be in the same house. And, to help cover all the bases, we’ve also flipped the pairings- Flitwick teaches the Hufflepuffs with the Gryffindors, and the Ravenclaws with the Slytherins, but you’ll be teaching Gryffindors and Slytherins, alongside a Slytherin instructor partner.”
She blinked. “Then- But I teach just before lunch! If they’re not in the same class…?”
Lyra smiled. “Easy: All of our Slytherin and Ravenclaw Charms instructors had an early breakfast and already went through their cramming sessions. They’re in class with Flitwick right now.”
“Meaning…”
“Yeah, it’s tough. I am sorry about that, but we didn’t have much choice.” She shrugged. “Anyways, come on in.” She held the door wide.
Inside was a large, rectangular room, with three doors off one side. The first was labeled ‘Bathroom’, the second ‘Closet’, and the last one was unlabeled.
In the middle of the room, positioned a little towards the door, stood exactly twenty desks, lined up perfectly in rows four deep by five across, and facing the head of the room. The spacing between them struck Hermione as abnormally large, at a minimum of three feet.
At the head of the room, there was a podium in the middle, a larger ‘teacher’s desk’ sitting next to it. On the other side, in the corner, there was a set of five chairs, four of which were occupied… by people she didn’t recognize, all Equestrians.
And in the middle, a good ten feet directly behind the podium, stood a massive, circular… structure. It was glowing faintly, with five different colors- light gold, dark blue, purple, light teal, and turquoise, in equal parts. It had a wide, inward-pointing cone-like top and bottom, a cylindrical core, and something strange inside the transparent core.
“... Wow,” she muttered. It was quite breathtaking, with the concentric rings of colorful symbols floating in the air around it at several points.
Lyra glanced at it. “Yeah, it’s a sight to behold, isn’t it? That’s our TARDIS core, that makes the whole thing possible. Took all five of us to build it, and we’re the finest spellsmiths Equestria has seen since Starswirl the Bearded. Anyways, all the other student instructors for this session can be counted on to be exactly five minutes early, giving us around…” She glanced at her wristwatch- which, Hermione noticed, was a smartwatch. “Nine minutes to kill. Unless you want to go fetch something first, of course.”
She shook her head. “No, I’m ready.”
“Alright then.” She led her over towards those five seats. “We- that is, me and these four- will be teaching these instructor sessions. We’re also all student instructors ourselves, but…
“Anyways. Allow me to introduce you to…
“Starlight Glimmer.” She held her hand out to the first girl in line, a Slytherin with a teal stripe in her long purple hair. “She’s really the expert on both our unique Equestrian magics and time magic, making her experience crucial for the TARDIS core. She’s also one of very few to have managed self-levitation- an extremely tricky spell even I can’t manage.”
Starlight bowed her head, blushing lightly.
“Sunset Shimmer.” She held her hand out to the next girl, a Gryffindor with red and gold hair that reminded Hermione of a bonfire. “She studied directly under Princess Celestia for a while, then went on to her own research in another world. It was only recently we reconnected to her world, and found out how similar it was to this one. She’s very quickly become a social and legal expert here, even better than me- and her research has given her a very unique perspective that was… immensely useful in figuring this thing out.”
Sunset shrugged. “All in a day’s work.” Then she chuckled.
Lyra grinned. “Then of course, Princess Twilight Sparkle.” The third girl was a Ravenclaw, with a twinned pink and purple stripe in her dark blue hair.
“Please don’t bow,” Twilight pleaded immediately, making all four of the others- including Lyra- chuckle.
The last one, a Slytherin with midnight blue hair, grinned amusedly. “Neither to me. I’m on vacation.”
Hermione blinked. “... Okay.”
Lyra chuckled again. “Anyways, she’s also studied directly under Princess Celestia, moved to my hometown to continue her studies, and very recently joined the elite ranks of the Equestrian royalty… as the Princess of Friendship, believe it or not. She’s really good at it- and while her experience is all with Equestrians, I’ve found most of those principles carry over to this world as well, and we’ve been working to figure out exactly how the two worlds differ. Her unparalleled magic research was crucial for the TARDIS core. And as a matter of fact, I get the feeling you would get along with her quite well.”
Twilight grinned. Hermione raised an eyebrow.
Lyra smiled, and indicated the last girl. “And Princess Luna, Princess Celestia’s sister and Diarch of Equestria. She’s well over a thousand years old- and nobody knows exactly how long, since both she and her sister lived through the Chaos Years. That, combined with her rather unique magical experiences over the last thousand years, gives her unparalleled experience with her rather unique perspective- also immensely useful in getting this thing working.”
Luna nodded calmly, wearing an amused smile. “My dear sister is older than me, but when she took over ruling duties and gave me a thousand years of free time on my Moon, I became better than she at… certain things.”
Lyra chuckled. “Yeah, I missed that, didn’t I? In Equestria, Princess Luna actually physically controls the Moon. Princess Celestia does the Sun.”
“... Ahh,” Hermione mutters, before turning to Lyra. “What about you?”
“Me? Oh. I’m just the one that opened the Gate.”
Starlight snorted. “Don’t sell yourself short, Lyra. You know as well as I do that you graduated second in class at Celestia’s School for Gifted U-Raeths.”
“And that your, ahh, unique advantage was instrumental in making the portal to Pedestria stay open indefinitely,” Sunset declared.
“And that the TARDIS core would have been impossible without that same advantage,” Twilight continued.
“And don’t forget you’re the only person in the entirety of Equestria that can penetrate Tia’s Vault undetected, even when she is in it and knows you’re coming,” Luna chimed in.
“Face it, Lyra,” Twilight stated. “Whether you like it or not, you’re one of Equestria’s elite as well. I’m actually a little amazed you haven’t ascended, with all the stuff you’ve been doing.”
Lyra sighed. “Not that it hasn’t tried,” she muttered.
“Exactly! Do you know of anypon-anyONE, sorry- else that can block harmony?”
“Wait, she blocked harmony?” Starlight asked.
“She stopped herself from ascending?” Sunset asked, before looking at Lyra. “Did you really?”
She nodded. “Fifty-six times, by now.”
“Wow,” Luna muttered.
“What?” Lyra asked. “I wouldn’t be that great of a Princess- and besides, we all know I’d hate it to the extreme.”
Sunset just stared. “You do know that was my dearest ambition for, like, thirty years, right?”
Lyra nodded. “Yeah. Not mine.”
She shook her head. “Whatever.”
“Besides, I’m clearly not one of the best. I was second in class at Celestia’s School.”
“Twilight was in your class,” Sunset countered instantly. “That was inevitable.”
She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Hermione stepped back over to her seat, and sighed. She had passed their exam with flying colors on her first try- Lyra had even told her she’d designed it to be impossible to do as well as she’d done, but she’d done it anyways! After telling her that she’d scored a hundred and seventy-three percent on the practical exam, Lyra had shown her what was in the closet, and the third, unlabeled door.
The unlabeled door had hidden a small banquet hall. All the food in it was timelocked, but would unlock whenever she reached for it- meaning, it would always be fresh. The closet had contained a few supplies… and a bed.
Lyra told her to take what she needed, rest as long as she wanted to… then sit in her seat to return. She’d said something about the ‘layered timeline’ making it possible for her to take as long as she wanted without making anyone wait, or coming out any later than she would otherwise.
So she’d done that. She’d eaten a small lunch, had a good night’s sleep, and eaten breakfast.
She took a deep breath, looking around the room again. She’d put the bed away and everything, so the room was just as spotless as when Lyra had snapped her fingers and disappeared with the rest.
It still had only one desk in it: Hers. It was anchored to the floor, so it couldn’t be moved. After the instruction, Lyra had snapped her fingers, and all the others had disappeared. When asked, she’d said something about ‘multilayering the timeline’ to allow them each to have a one-on-one quiz-and-tutor session as long as they needed… without interfering with the others, or making them wait.
The TARDIS core, however, was not here. Instead, there was a large, empty wooden box bolted to the floor as a marker. Lyra had said that it had stayed behind in the “prime” room that they had done the main instruction in; sustaining all twenty-one additional layers.
Apparently, that twenty-first layer was for the five instructors to eat and rest in as necessary, before moving on to the next student.
She sighed, and sat down.
Immediately, nineteen other desks, with seats and occupants, faded rapidly into existence around her. She glanced around at them, taking in the startled looks of almost everyone in those seats, all looking wildly around- probably experiencing something similar.
At the same time, the five instructors faded into existence at the head of the room.
“Well, that happened,” Lyra began, once the initial confusion died off.
Starlight smiled. “Yes it did. This has been a good week and a half.” A twitch at the corner of her eye, that Hermione was close enough to see by virtue of her front-row seat, suggested that it was nothing of the sort.
“Anyone have any final questions?” Sunset asked the class.
The Hufflepuff that had sat next to Hermione at the beginning spoke up. “Why couldn’t this have been covered before we came here?”
The response was instant. Princess Luna regarded him coolly, but Twilight’s dagger-glare spoke volumes. Lyra sighed, turned her head, and facepalmed slowly. Sunset’s expression flattened into something Hermione recognized instantly as a poker face. Starlight’s hands clenched into fists as she closed her eyes and started into some silent breathing exercises.
“You know perfectly well why,” Luna began.
“Then you could have done it anyways!”
Hermione groaned. There was always someone like that.
Sunset looked sideways, at Lyra, Twilight, and Luna; Starlight was on her other side. “Echo?”
“Yes,” Starlight declared instantly.
“Yes, echo,” Twilight muttered.
“Agreed,” Lyra nodded, turning to look past Twilight at Luna.
Luna sighed. “Make it so.”
Lyra stepped forward. “Alright, Prince Blueblood. I’m really sorry to have to do this to you, but you asked for it.” She held out her hands, and moved one in a circle next to the other.
A massive, circular array of golden symbols whirled into existence in the air in front of her.
She then put her hands together, and pushed on the center.
It glowed brightly, almost like the sun… and a moment later, he was gone. She raised one hand, and snapped her fingers.
When she had first activated the TARDIS core, only a small portion of the symbols surrounding it had brightened. Now, all of them shone brightly, and the oscillating thing in the middle- it was moving up and down- accelerated suddenly.
There was a blinding flash of light, then the five of them were standing in a neat row once again… and the seat Lyra had just emptied was occupied again, though by someone else.
She also had a sudden wave of dizziness, and her head hurt a little- she could remember this girl being in that seat through the entire instruction segment, but she could also remember Blueblood being there. “Ow,” she muttered, putting her hands to her temples. She wasn’t the only one.
“Sorry about that,” Lyra sighed, “but that’s what it takes to remove a student instructor right now.”
The new girl- Cloudchaser- blinked. “So… So… Wait. I remember you asking me if I wanted to teach, and also not asking me.”
Lyra nodded. “Yes. We just created a grandfather paradox, then restabilized the timeline with a predestination paradox. That kind of thing will always give time travelers- which includes every one of us- headaches. Blueblood was just…” She shook her head. “He won’t remember this at all.” She grinned. “Though I’ll have to admit, it was immensely satisfying to incinerate him like that.”
“If only you could do that without immediately undoing it, eh?” the girl to Hermione’s right muttered. She hadn’t caught the girl’s name.
Sunset nodded sagely. “Fortunately, he’s the only one that bludgeoned his way onto the instructor teams- everyone else got here on pure merit, so that should be the only time we need to do that.”
“So,” Lyra announced cheerfully, slapping her fist into her opened hand. “Anyone have any last-minute questions?”
There was a general denial throughout the room… and Hermione suddenly remembered that there had only been girls in the room all along. Yet with Blueblood… No, that was the past that had never happened.
“Alright then,” Lyra smiled. “It would seem we’re done here.” She snapped her fingers.
The TARDIS engine behind her moved a couple times, made a single sliding noise, and emitted a distinct thunk, at the very moment that the door to the rest of the castle blinked back into existence.