//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Stable 107 // Story: Spellscribe // by Solaris Vult //------------------------------// Harry was relieved when the needles pulled themselves out of his body and felt something cold attach itself to his neck and thigh, it quickly grew warm, and when he looked, it was glowing a pale red. Finally, the machine let go of his body and he tried to stand, then fell on his face… Right, he had been turned into a horse, how could he forget… He tried awkwardly to stand on all-fours, but his knees, elbows? Buckled, and he face-planted again, he bumped a large protrusion sticking out of his head against the floor. Why didn’t the crazy horse-doctor remove that? He thought briefly to himself as he braced his limbs a bit better and managed to shakily stand, crawling his way to a table with an old dusty mirror, he stared at himself, transfixed by what he saw… He was a colorful horse alright, pale blue fur with a brass-colored mane and tail, which was very patchy with areas of tender red skin where he had laid in the acid. His eyes were blue, but the white parts of his eyes were stained a pale yellow… That wasn’t what caught his attention though, the long boney and grooved spike coming from his forehead… The doctor said something about a unicorn, he just thought she was crazy, now…     “I have a horn!” He exclaimed, surprised, but that was really just a drop in the bucket compared to the mounting whirlwind of questions in his mind. Had the doctor been in the room, Harry would have rushed to ask some of these questions, but she had left. Harry’s ears swiveled on his head, and he realized he could suddenly hear a lot better than he used to… He could hear water rushing in pipes, he could hear distant popping and snapping noises, he could hear the clip-clop of hooves, the hissing of steam, a distant radio playing music, it was amazing… And quickly overwhelming. That was when he learned how to tune out the sounds he didn’t want to hear by twisting his ears… The things he could do with these ears! He would be able to hear Dudley coming from a kilometer away!     “Did you tell her?” Harry heard a voice just outside, “About the taint in her system.”     “No,” The doctor, Silver’s, voice responded, “How would you react if you found out you had an unstable mutagen in your system?” There was a pause, “And keep in mind that this filly is not a Steel Ranger, she doesn’t have the military discipline of the other foals…”     “What about that other mutation?”     “The one in her eyes? Don’t worry, while it is rare, it’s certainly a documented one, I’ve come across a dozen ponies in my life that had the same condition, if anything it’s helpful, it will give her better vision in low-light environments.”     “So, what are we going to do with her?”     “That’s up to the Star Paladin, but knowing her, she’ll keep her.”     “Guess I’ll make some room in the foal’s quarters…”     “Wait there’s also a scar below her horn, it seems-” Harry pulled his ear away. Putting everything else to the side, he wasn’t sure what to think of that last part, he certainly didn’t want to go back, especially not as a horse… If either his aunt or uncle found out that he was now a horse… Yeah, he wasn’t going to be going back… The futility of the situation started to sink in, somehow, that mirror sent him here, it was the only logical explanation, and while sending him here it turned him into a horse, and a girl on top of that, he felt between his hind legs, yep very much a girl, he didn’t know what to think about that either, but that was the least important thing in his mind, right now, it was simply a matter of fitting in and trying to learn everything he could about this weird, weird place… At least then he might have a chance to survive. Soon enough horses wearing massive bulky suits of armor came marching in and said they were taking him… Her… Harry would need to get used to that, to the Star Paladin, not seeing much of a choice, she nodded and followed, but kept an eye out, trying to figure out exactly where she was… It was big, he passed through a room called the Atrium, large, filled with horses, ponies as she realized they were called, marching to and fro, many wearing thick red or blue robes, others in heavy suits of armor. A few machines, some looking like ponies but with weird glass-domed heads, and others that resembled a floating headless spider, followed the red-robed ponies. There was a big symbol, a winged sword and several apples, painted over a symbol that looked something like a cog-wheel, with faded numbers below it, reading “107” Eventually, after going through several corridors, without any windows she noticed, Harry arrived at a room labeled “Overmare’s office”... Inside was a room right out of one of Dudley’s comic books, a circular desk covered in computer monitors, walls with blinking lights and symbols, and a chair that seated a horse in armor, this one not wearing a helmet, with a long black cape and goggles on her, he assumed it was a her based on what some of the ponies had said, forehead, between a pointed horn just like Harry’s, if a little shorter, at least in comparison to her head… She stood up and walked over to Harry, as she did, one of the ponies in armor whispered into Harry’s ear, “She’s a bit, eccentric, just roll with it, I personally find it annoying” The woman-pony looked down at Harry, in what felt like a dramatic pause before a speech, “The filly of mystery, appearing half-dead in ruin lost in time, I have many-a-question for you, and you shall answer them…” Harry paused for a moment, thinking of what to say, the truth seemed really like the only solution, and from the expression on the Paladin’s face, he somehow got the impression this horse liked the unintentional dramatic pause his thinking provided, “Well, this is going to sound really weird, and I don’t think you’ll believe me, but it is the truth… I don’t think I’m from this world… I was living in a house, on Privet Drive, with my aunt and uncle, when something came out of a mirror my uncle Vernon was keeping in his room, he killed it, then threw away the mirror, then I found the mirror, fell through it, and ended up inside that dark place you found me… Also, I’m not a horse… Pony… I’m a human, the mirror turned me into a pony.” The other armored ponies stared at one-another in confusion, and the Paladin paused, “How am I to believe such claims, and what exactly is a ‘human’”     “Umm…” Harry began, “Well, humans stand on two legs, and we have a pair of arms which come out of our chests and we can use them to grab stuff, we have heads, kinda like yours but less round, and without snouts, and we don’t have horns, or tails, but we do have manes, in fact, they’re the only hair on our bodies, well, except for some men, who have hair on their faces…”     “Sounds horrifying,” The paladin said, “You said you came through after you fell into a mirror, explain…” After what felt like hours of interrogation, Harry was sent outside the room, but put her ears against the door, trying to hear what the ponies inside were saying.     “Do you seriously believe her story, sounds like just the ramblings of some insane filly to me?” One of the armored ponies said.     “I placed a truth spell on her when she walked into the room, I could tell if she was lying or not… She believed every word… And it certainly wouldn’t be the craziest story to come out of the wasteland.”     “I still think it’s insane…”     “We know the Las Pegasus MAS hub was experimenting with portal spells, trying to augment teleportation to allow for the creation of intra-dimensional gateways, it is possible that this filly is from another planet, her transformation from a ‘human’ to a pony could be attributed to the way teleportation spells are calibrated, I don’t know any myself, but I’ve read through plenty of pre-war documents on them” Harry pulled her ears away, all the talk of magic was confusing, magic didn’t exist! That’s what everyone said… Perhaps here it did… Or perhaps their ‘magic’ meant something else, Harry remembered her history teacher saying something about how the ancient humans thought chemistry was magic… It took a few minutes that seemed to drag on for hours, but some decision was made, because one of the armored ponies stepped out, from his voice, the same pony that told him about the Paladin’s supposed eccentricity. “Harry Potter, that’s your name?”     “Y-Yes, sir?”         “Well, we have some good news and some bad news for you… The bad news is that we cannot get you back to your home, the Las Pegasus MAS hub went into lockdown shortly after we found you, the place is now crawling with sentry bots, turrets, and all sorts of automated security, cleaned out the last of the bloatspries, but makes any further attempts at exploring the hub nearly suicidal…” Harry didn’t know how to feel about that, but he had already resolved that going back to her aunt and uncle was out of the question, at least in her current state. “The good news is that Star Paladin Crescent Bolt has given you permission to stay in Stable 107 for as long as you wish, you are now a member of the Steel Rangers…” Harry didn’t know what to think about that either, at least he wasn’t forced to stay, but it sounded like he still didn’t have much of a choice, he… She, would just need to stay, for now, perhaps there was some place a bit better out there, but she would need to learn a bit more about this world… As she was being shown around the building, taking mental notes on the names and places of everything… The hydroponics bay, the reactor bay, the scribe dorms, the knight dorms, the paladin dorms, the engineering bay. He… She… Still getting used to that, Harry contemplated the implications of some of the stuff that she had overheard… They kept calling this place the ‘wasteland’, and there were plenty of places, like the place she had come to this world in, which were ‘pre-war’... Some war happened, that was for sure, and there were places built before the war, that these people… Ponies... don't like to go because they’re dangerous… Why wouldn’t the police or military just go in and clear out these places then? Especially if they’re filled with monsters like the kind Vernon killed, and the kind that attacked her? Eventually, she found herself in the Filly Dorms, the room was, like everything else, concrete and metal, with drawers made from plastic made to look like wood, and plenty of bunk-beds, there were young ponies, ‘fillies’ Harry soon realized was the correct word for them, of all ages, most wearing patchy red robes that looked like they were far older than the ponies wearing them, some were naked, although, Harry realized that nudity wasn’t as big of a deal to these creatures as it was to humans. The armored pony, a Knight, Harry surmised, quickly got the attention of the fillies, “Excuse me, the Star Paladin has rescued this filly from the Las Pegasus ruins, she’s going to be a new member of the Rangers, and will be staying in the stable for the foreseeable future…”     “A new filly!”     “A unicorn too!”     “I wonder if she knows any magic?”     “Probably just another dumb wastelander…”     “I wonder if she brought any food?” Harry tried to back away, all the attention made the hair on his back stand on end, attention was bad, it meant he was in trouble. One filly, one of the older ones, with a turquoise mane and a two-tone black and blue coat, “Hey, hey, back away, she’s scared.” Harry was relieved when the fillies seemed to understand and pretended to ignore her, they were still looking, but Harry was finally able to breathe again, “S-Sorry, it’s been a while since we’ve got a newcomer, I was just as scared my first time here…”     “T-Thanks, I… I don’t like attention…” Harry admitted.     “I understand, we’re all scared of something… So, what happened?”     “What?”     “How did you end up here, with the Rangers?”     “I don’t really know… I was, in a ruin, I think, then I almost died, the doctor-pony, Silver Heart-something, I don’t remember her name, said I had bad radiation poisoning and some acid burns… I don’t remember much, I just remember being scared, then someone found me and brought me here…”     “Why would you go into a radioactive ruin? Don’t you know how dangerous pre-war ruins are!”     “I umm-” Harry paused, looking for the right words, “I’m not from this place, the Star Paladin thinks I got teleported here, or something…”     “Ah, yeah, there is all sorts of broken magical junk out there, all kinds of weird spells just waiting to be unleashed…”     “Well, I was with my aunt and uncle, and I fell through a mirror, into that ruined place…”     “I bet they’re worried about you, your aunt and uncle.”     “I… Don’t think so… They didn’t like me.”     “O-Oh, they were those kinds of ponies…”     “Those kinds?”     “My parents were raiders, I don’t remember much, I just remember I got beaten and touched a lot, then the Rangers came in, they were scary, I remember gunshots, and blood, lots of blood, and this metal monster looking down at me, I thought he was going to kill me, until he took his helmet off… That was the first time I ever saw another pony take pity on me…” Harry didn’t respond, letting the filly’s story sink in, “I-” Harry paused, “I’m sorry…”     “Don’t be, it was years ago, I barely remember it, and I’m here now! With the Rangers, they’re the future, my family were barbarians, they deserved to die.” Harry was shocked by what the girl-pony said, “But, no one deserves to die!”     “I guess you haven’t seen too much of the wasteland then, don’t worry, you’ll see eventually, it’s hell out there… Anyway, my name’s Victory, Victory Flame.”     “Harry Potter…”     “Funny, you’re missing half your hair!”     “I guess… Heh…” Harry paused, “It… Umm… Grows back, right?”     “Yeah, unless it’s a scar, don’t think that’ll scar though, it looks like nice red meat.”     “Well, I, umm, have one scar,” Harry pulled up her mane, and sure enough, right below her horn was a lightning-bolt shaped scar.     “How did you get it?”     “I… Don’t know, my aunt and uncle said it was in a car crash.”     “You had a working car!” The filly’s eyes lit up.     “Y-Yeah, well… Umm… I don’t think it was a crash though, I remember, a green light, and laughing.”     “Weird, I would say you were shot with a magical energy weapon, but, well, those leave very different scars… I’d know,” The filly pulled away part of her robe to show a horrible burn-mark on her neck.     “H-How did you get that?”     “I… Don’t remember, to be honest… Silver says it was from an untreated magical plasma burn…”     “What’s all this about magic?”     “You… Don’t know about magic?”     “No! Vernon always said that magic wasn’t real!”     “Wow… Umm… Well, you’re a unicorn, how do you not know about magic!”     “I… Umm… But, magic isn’t real?” Victory looked confused, then sighed, “Lily!” She called, and quickly a purple and white filly trotted over, she was one of the others in the room that had a horn.     “Victie?” She asked, “What do you need?” Her voice was a little softer than Victory’s.     “I was wondering, can you show our new unicorn here, Harry, some magic?”     “Ooh! Yes!” Lily clapped her hooves together, somehow balancing on her hind-legs while she did so. Then, Lily’s horn started to glow a deep violet and sparks flew from the tip, forming an orb that just sat there. Harry was transfixed, he touched the orb with a leg and it evaporated.     “W-Woah… That was…”     “Magic!” Victory said.     “A simple light spell, I love them, they’re super easy and really pretty!” Lily said, “Can you do one?”     “I… I can’t use magic…” Lily gasped, “Y-You’re a unicorn! And you don’t know any spells!”     “Not, really… I’m not even really a unicorn.”     “Umm, girl, you have a horn…” Victory said.     “But, I-”     “Let me help!” Lily put her horn to Harry’s, a little awkward as they were millimeters from each-other’s face, but Harry suddenly felt an onrush of power, like an invisible wind, he felt energized, and not like adrenaline or a taste of caffeine, no, this was something deeper. Lily pulled away. Harry suddenly realized that there was a yellowish light in the room, coming from just above his head, he looked up, and it moved, he felt his horn, it was warm, he pushed that heat outward and- A ball of golden light floated in the sky, somehow, he knew that there was a certain pattern to it, a way to direct the energy in his mind, if you made the pattern in your head, the energy would flow in the correct way, and- Another ball of light. He looked up, unable to take his eyes off the light… So… That was magic... A few more minutes Passed, Lily introduced herself as Lilith Lapis, a unicorn who was born to the Steel Rangers in Stable 107, then... The song playing in the background, from the old-fashioned radio in the back of the room, ended, a long and slow song that Harry didn't care much for, but then a voice, masculine and silky, came over the radio "Fillies and Gentlecolts, it's your host! DJ Pon3!"