//------------------------------//
// Ch. 15. Unexpected Negotiations 
// Story: If Wishes Were Ponies, Book II 
// by tkepner 
//------------------------------//

The temptation had been too great for the pegasi. After the rainstorm on another group of bigots, Harry saw the inevitable next rule posted.




15) No bringing or creating weather inside the castle, without a Professor’s permission. Don’t ask Hagrid for permission.


 

^·_·^


Three days after meeting with the two changelings in Equestria, James Wootton, M.I. 5’s Director General’s secretary, waved Castor into Sir Patrick Jeremy Walker’s office.

“Captain Searle, reporting as ordered, sir!” He gave the seated man a crisp salute and clicked his heels.

The man gave him a sour look, “Oh, knock it off, Castor.”

Castor grinned and sat in the chair to one side of the director’s desk.

Patrick leaned forward and steepled his hands on his desk. “The Prime Minister, and Queen, have considered this matter thoroughly. Given the changelings abilities at mimicry, they would give us an incalculable advantage in the world against our enemies. And that doesn’t even touch how useful one of them would be against home-grown terrorist cells, or even just criminal gangs. The problem is, of course, how do we secure their loyalty? Simply giving them sanctuary isn’t enough — the other nations would fight for the privilege if they heard about it. We can’t judge them based on human needs, we haven’t a clue what they want. Idealism against our enemies won’t work as they aren’t English. Or even human!

“From what little we know, they aren’t covetous of material things, so money and other items won’t work. The Prime Minister wants to give the changelings sanctuary, but only if we can guarantee they won’t simply disappear into the population or defect to another country.”

He pursed his lips. “There is a . . . method . . . our Military Special Technology experts know . . . that will compel people to keep their word in an oath. It should work with the changelings.” He sighed.

Castor understood that he meant a spell of some kind worked by a muggle-born wizard, a new-magical. 

“The difficulty with that is coming up with wording that will leave the fewest loopholes. Their suggestion never to work against the people or government of the United Kingdom is a good start. Your suggestion that they obey any lawful orders is also well-taken. In exchange, we can promise to provide for them and not to abuse their trust in us. 

“Unfortunately, we won’t know if the special technology works until it fails to work. Which could have catastrophic consequences.” He shook his head. 

“Then there’s the possibility that there might be some sort of long-term problem with them . . . ‘feeding’ . . . on humans. While some of our opponents wouldn’t care about that, would even be happy to supply food, the Queen would be greatly disappointed in us if we allowed that.”

“Well, sir,” Castor said, “If it’s a one-time exposure, based on what the Equestrians have been able to glean, there shouldn’t be any ill-effects at all. I imagine rotating the . . . collector . . . between churches with frequent weddings would fit the bill. We could use the guise of an assistant reporter or wedding arranger. With literally hundreds of locations with multiple weddings per day, in a city the size of London, the odds of the same person being present during two weddings are vanishingly small.

“Or we could put her as a nurse in a hospital in the maternity wards with new mothers.” He shrugged. “Exposing the regular nurses once a month, and the new families only once, ever, we shouldn’t have any problems — especially with the twenty-some hospitals in London, alone. 

“Or we could restrict this to military hospitals, that way we could have regular physical and mental check-ups on the families. If we did that, we might be able to detect any changes before it becomes a problem, and adjust things accordingly. The diasadvantage to that is that it might take decades to pick up on a difference from the control group.”

Patrick nodded. “That’s what the Prime Minister reasoned, too.” He sighed. “The biggest problem, as I have said, is securing the loyalty of the changelings.” He opened a folder on his desk and slid a paper to Castor. “Here’s what we’ve come up with for the oath. If they refuse, then we have to say no.” He frowned. “Of course, we won’t insist they take the oath until after the Equestrians allow them to pass through the portal.” He paused. “Assuming they do.” He stared intently at Castor. “Do you really think you can convince Princess Twilight to agree? And that she can convince the other Princesses?”

Castor nodded slowly, looking over the written oath. “If you add a line here that they forsake returning to Equestria unless forced or deliberately invited by one of the Princesses, I think so.”


^·_·^


Hermione’s birthday on September nineteenth was a success — and a total surprise to her. In a move somewhat reminiscent of Pinkie Pie, the twins had arranged an outrageous party in the Great Hall. It was the first party of the year, the Weasley twins declared, and they wanted to start off with a bang! 

That it was on a Saturday and they didn’t have to wait for the end of classes made their preparations a bit more difficult. Harry and the others in the herd managed to keep the party-filly distracted during the day as the twins spent the afternoon setting up the Great Hall. Then they hid their efforts behind a few notice-me-nots until it was time for the unveiling.

It was easy to distract the filly, as all they had to do was keep her in the library until it was time for the evening meal. With all six of them together working and reading ahead on their assignments, she never thought for a moment that anything was amiss. That all five were so agreeable to her suggestion to spend the day inside studying did not raise the red flags it should have. “I should have known,” she said later, shaking her head.

She didn’t even get suspicious that the Great Hall was as crowded as it was for dinner — tonight, there were no late arrivals. Word had circulated earlier in the day that there was to be a party in the Great Hall put on by the twins, and nobody wanted to miss that! Even the Slytherins were unable to muster the will to resist the temptation — the twins’ parties had that good of a reputation.

Her expression when the twins started casting their finites when it was time for desserts, and banners with balloons and fireworks appeared, was priceless. The long and innuendo-laden birthday song that followed had her blushing almost beet red. That the Equestrians had joined in the singing at the third stanza and started dancing on the tables and in the aisles as music filled the room had left the witches and wizards stunned, at first. Then they had been dragged into the dancing and singing by the ponies, who wanted to share the joy.

When the song finally faded, everyone in the Great Hall, professors included, were winded and red-faced. That Harmony songs might become a steady fixture at Hogwarts was slowly dawning on those students who had participated in one, or more, last year.

A giant cake appeared on their table directly in front of her moments after the song ended. It was a rectangular monster that built up in steps to tower over the partiers. 

She had to climb on the table to get high enough to blow out the candles on the top layer. Which, naturally, flared right back up as soon as she thought she had put them out. After the second try, she waved her wand and sent the lit thirteen candles chasing after the twins.

Elly sat at the Hufflepuff table beside her three “cousins.” The Hufflepuff table was beside the Gryffindor table, and her current seat as a Second Year placed her right across from the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who sat with their backs to the Great Hall wall. Naturally, she and her siblings sat with their backs to Harry’s herd as they didn’t dare draw the ponies’ attention. That her three cousins sat with her was not remarked upon because everyone knew they were related and she was doing her duty to family by sitting with them.

Although, based on how many ponies had come to Hogwarts this year, her three siblings might be better off closer to the middle of the rest of the firsties. She was starting to have second thoughts about not having one of them in Ravenclaw and the other in Slytherin. She would keep Earl close in the event he needed help — he was an unpredictable male, after all.

She was more than pleased at the feelings she was absorbing from the crowd. The party was as much a surprise to her as it was to most of the people in the Hall. She had missed the girl’s first party, last year, which had been more of an in-house thing, she guessed. Watching, listening, and feeling the reactions of the seven Second Year animagi had clued her in to what was about to happen. Listening closely as they bragged about what they had done told the actual mechanics of preventing the “party girl” from discovering it too early. Although it was odd to hear Harry keep referring to the human girls in his herd as fillies.

She happily applauded with others at the unveiling, cheered as the giant cake appeared, and laughed as the candles chased the twins around the Hall. She didn’t have to glance at her three lings to know they were surprised at just how raucous the witches and wizards were. Especially as the twins’ prank candies, cookies, and gums circulated, causing unusual and sudden, but brief, transformations.

The party lasted for several of hours before the professors started herding the students back to their dorms. As soon as Elly felt the professors’ moods become more serious, she immediately chivvied her three lings back to the dorm, to beat the rush. Once they were in their Dorm, she instructed the others to make jars and offload as much love-food as they could, then meet her back in the common room.

She knew the Gryffindors would merely continue the party in their dorm. A number of Hufflepuffs followed them as they headed for the “secret” entrance hole to Gryffindor Tower. Once inside, as she had expected, the raucous party continued. Some couples had already sought out comfortable places for kissing, snogging as they called it here, and for others to jockey for positions in petting the multitude of ponies.

For the new students from Equestria, being the centre of so much focused attention since Hogwarts had started was a giddy feeling. The petting and combing in the common rooms left most of them blissed out. That night was no different.

The lings would have an excellent opportunity to not only gorge themselves, but build a significant stockpile early in the year!

Plus, they could use the opportunity to spread the story of their “escape” from their destroyed village, and gain a bit more emotional support.

They had decided that that would be the best course of action regarding the three lings history. Their story was that their parents had built a safe-room under their home with strict instructions for the children to stay inside for a minimum of a week in the event of disaster.

The same disaster, they would claim, that had been sent Elly out into the wider world, and England.

Once they had snuck out of their underground bunker, it had taken them a year longer than Elly to make their way to England. They knew their great-grandparents had come from there, and that there might be family they could appeal to. Unfortunately, with three people, getting out of Papua New Guinea without alerting the magical, or the non-magical, authorities had been quite difficult. They had finally found a family friend who had been willing to help them by arranging plane tickets to England in exchange for the key to their family’s vault. It hadn’t had much in it, but what there was, was more than enough to get them out of the country and repay the friend handsomely for the risks he took.

On arrival, the goblins had put them in contact with their cousin, de Rippe. And the rest was obvious.

The three were “ickle Firsties,” now, as the witches and wizards at the school liked to call them. While they had access to everything Elly had learned already, they didn’t have the necessary experience with a wand to pull off being Second Year students. Knowing how to swing a sword doesn’t automatically make one a skilled swords-ling, after all. Muscle memory is as important as regular memory. As a result, trying to claim they had been well-tutored and could move into second-year with Elly would have probably failed spectacularly as they flubbed the wand movements. On the other hand, this put them in the middle of the mass of ponies that made up almost half of their class. The opportunities for stock-piling food more than made up for the boredom of the classroom lectures and reading.

Being in First Year, though, also meant they could help their classmates with assignments — they had access to the Elly’s hive-mind, after all — garnering friendship, and making it easier to blend in. Not to mention that being a year behind Elly would add a year to their food-gathering efforts. By then, their “romantic” restaurant should be able to take up the slack. 

Perhaps one of them could get into the maternity ward at St. Mungo’s? That place would be a fountain of love. Or perhaps they should concentrate on their restaurant? It could be as worthwhile as the hospital. Especially if the restaurant offered a free babysitting service for parents with children under eleven. 

They could collect the freely available emotion as the parents dropped off their children, enjoyed a “romantic” meal, and then picked their children up after. That would give them three opportunities instead of just the one with couples in a normal restaurant.

Elly had been startled at the number of ponies who had shown up at Hogwarts this year. She had hoped Harry and his herd-mates would return, but planned for the opposite. As long as the twins kept throwing parties, she had no doubts she would be well fed. That the four had returned simply made things easier for her. That the Princesses had committed so many ponies to learning wand magic indicated a sea-change was coming in Equestria, and made her doubly glad she wasn’t there.

Having so many ponies at Hogwarts would make the chore of gathering food so much simpler, given how freely the ponies emoted. It wouldn’t hurt to have an emergency stash that the lings could fall back on if something went wrong, however. The wizarding stasis spell would prevent the stored food from spoiling — not having such a spell on the other side of the portal had been one of the issues that had dragged down the hive.

Plus, having a class size twice as big as normal made it easier to hide. Three foreign students in a Hufflepuff class of ten would draw everyone’s attention. Any social mistakes they made would be noticed, and questions might be asked. But three in a class of twenty-two? No, the transformed ponies would be making so many mistakes that any the lings made would be ignored. Moreover, the House was delighted that they now had their own ponies to pet, and in a large enough number that arranging schedules wasn’t a chore. More opportunities at collecting. 

One rather unusual occurrence was that the Weasley girl in Harry’s herd was showing signs of jealousy. That wasn’t odd, there was always a bit of jealousy in a herd. What made this different was her jealousy seemed to be aimed at the girl who had gained the crystal-night pony form! Whenever the girl came around in the Great Hall or elsewhere, either as a person or as a pony, Elly could feel that little spike of yellow bleeding through. 

In the Gryffindor common room, even though the other girl was absent, Ginny was insisting that Harry spend an inordinate amount of time petting and cuddling with her.

Well before curfew time, the four lings were almost dizzy with what they had absorbed. Fortunately, everyone took the slightly dazed looks and not-so-steady walking as merely indications that the lings were sleepy. At the first intimation of that from one of the others, Elly had had Earl give a big yawn, and then the other three copied him. It made a few of the Gryffindors yawn, too, causing a bit of laughter. The four started back to their dorm.

A quick stop in the broom-closet where they had placed the empty jars took care of the problem, and filled all four jars nicely. With the jars safely hidden in their robes, the lings continued to their dorm, with none noticing their brief stop. 

Yes, Elly decided, this year was off to a wonderful start.

The best part, however, was that literally nobody . . . nobody . . . suspected they were here and what they were doing. The ling-detection spells were simple precautions the ponies had convinced the humans to use. The minor alterations to their appearances didn’t trigger any of the spells. It seemed that while they could transform with their magic, using this new ability to just . . . rearrange things . . . wasn’t the same. The fact that the lings could hide in plain sight without using any of their special magic was ironic, given the panic the ponies were in over lings.


^-_-^


The Equestrian First Years hadn’t taken long to develop a strategy for learning as much as possible. When they weren’t in classes, they were in detentions. When they weren’t in detentions, they were exploring the castle, the lake, the forest, just about everywhere where they weren’t supposed to be exploring. Which usually garnered them detentions.

In the afternoons, they took turns working on their assignments so no pony fell behind.

What was interesting to Harry, however, was that the detentions, more often than not, were with Professors Flitwick, McGonagall, Sprout, and Slughorn. Rarely were the Equestrians getting detentions in History or D.A.D.A. Filch had discovered that having them “help” in his chores was a lesson in futility. 

No matter whether it was an earth pony, a pegasus, or a unicorn, the pony just couldn’t resist using magic. It was all unconscious, but it was there. And the messes Filch needed to clean had to be done without casting magic. The problem was sort of like handing someone a piece of paper with words on it and telling them to look at the paper but not to read the words. They automatically read it before they realize that’s what they are doing.

Listening in to a few conversations, Harry discovered the new ponies’ reasoning about why the detentions weren’t considered “bad.” A Slytherin upper-year had apparently been trying to prank one of the new gullible Slytherin ponies — and it had backfired spectacularly. She had quickly spread the word that she had a way to get extra lessons! Harry had to face-palm as he realized that the ponies were under the mistaken impression that the detentions were extra lessons, not punishments!

They thought it weird that they had to misbehave to get the extra lessons, but then again, these were aliens. Who really knew how they thought?

Detentionees got more individual instruction, and better, or at least more complete, answers to their questions with the extra time they spent with a Professor or Prefect. Of course, that was only after the students had “helped” the Professors, or Professorial Aides, finish some of their chores. With the chores done early, the professors then had “free” time to devote to more instruction to the eager ponies.

Having nearly ten sets of hands at each detention meant any work was dealt with quickly and the ponies could concentrate on learning more. They could even help the Professors in grading the assignments for the other students, once the Professors explained what the assignments were supposed to teach.

Combined with book-walking, even if it was difficult to maintain for more than five minutes at a time for the Firsties, the ponies were rapidly outpacing the rest of their class in their understanding of what was being taught. 


۸-_-۸


Debby read through the oath, looked at Castor a moment, then re-read the oath. She handed the paper to Abby. “We agree.”

Castor didn’t bother hiding his surprise. “That quickly?”

Debby waggled her head from side to side. “We see nothing too onerous in this oath. You provide us a safe place to live, we help you as necessary — that’s better than staying here.”

“It’s less than the Queen-Mother asked of us — she demanded our lives. And discards us when convenient,” Abby said bitterly.

“That you include your obligations to us in this oath speaks well of your intentions,” Debby said as she stared at him. “It will be interesting to see how magic will enforce this oath in your world. We will obey to the intent of the oath, rather than merely to the letter.”

He nodded his understanding. “I thank you for that.”


^·_·^


“Ambassador Seitz, it is good to see you,” Blueblood said, greeting his visitor at the door to his office. In deference to their equal status, he had changed into human form. It was also a subtle acknowledgement that while the United Kingdom was a noteworthy nation, at this point in time, the true power in the world was the United States of America.

Raymond Seitz was the U.S. Ambassador to United Kingdom. Like most people in Britain, and the US, he was a pale pink, what the humans all insisted in calling white. He was slight-built man, with white hair, formerly black, and a receding hairline that left him mostly bald. He combed his hair over to provide a light covering. His, gold wire-frame glasses didn’t hide his brown eyes.

“What brings you to my humble office?” he said guiding the man to a comfortable chair, and taking one opposite him, with a table to one side of their chairs. A tea set was already in place. “Would you like a cup?”

After serving the tea and placing the saucers with their cups on the table by their elbows, Blueblood waited inquisitively.

The man smiled and took an envelope out of coat pocket. “First, President Bush would like to invite Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Twilight to the White House next month.” He leaned over and handed the envelope to the other Ambassador. “Naturally, if that isn’t possible, then perhaps in the Spring?”

Blueblood took the envelope in his magic and floated it to his desk. “I’m not sure the Princesses could manage another visit on such short notice, but knowing my Aunts, they would love another vacation. I will have this in Princess Celestia’s hooves this afternoon.”

The American smiled again. “If you could let me know their response as soon as possible, that would be excellent. We could arrange a State Visit reception in as little as a week.”

Blueblood nodded. “You said, first?”

“Yes.” He took on a more sombre mien. “Second, we would like to invite you to open an Embassy in Washington, the District of Columbia, as well as ask if we can open an embassy in Canterlot.”

Blueblood looked down for a moment.

“While we do have plans to ask for an Embassy with your fine country, we hadn’t set any timetable to do so, as yet. At the moment, our hooves are full dealing with certain activities in the United Kingdom and the rest of the Commonwealth.” He paused. “I will bring this to the attention of my Aunts, perhaps it would be beneficial to move those plans forward to next spring.” He raised an eyebrow as he studied the other’s reaction.

“As for establishing an embassy in Canterlot, I’m afraid that we will have to put that off for a while.” He leaned forward in his chair and looked intently at the Ambassador. “Let me assure you, it’s not because we have reservations about your country, it’s that there are certain . . . issues with crossing the portal.” 

Seitz looked at him questioningly.

“I’m not sure if you know this, but your universe exists at a certain energy state. That is, there is a fundamental level of energy in your universe that represents the absolute bottom. You cannot go below that level.”

He stopped, thinking. “My universe exists at a slightly higher energy level.” He paused again. “They are not that far apart, but the difference can be detected.”

The American nodded, although whether that was to encourage him to continue talking, or to signify he knew this information, Blueblood didn’t know.

“For us, the Equestrians, to be here is harmless. Our . . . extra . . . energy might slowly lower to match your local level, but it is inherently harmless to us. One way this appears is that here, we have two forms, human and pony. At home, we have only the one form. Our experts, and the United Kingdom’s, are struggling to understand this.”

He sighed. “The problem is, we don’t know how being in our universe will affect your people. Will our higher energy levels slowly build up in your bodies, then level off until you return home? Or will you be unable to adapt and the energy will build up enough to interfere with your ability to cope, and you die. Or, will being in our universe cause damage to you such that when you return, your body will be unable to adapt back to normal, and, again, you die.”

He stopped to see how the other ambassador was taking this. Not well, it appeared. It sounded like so much hot air, but he couldn’t explain the issue better without bringing up magic. And the Witchery Statute of Secrecy prevented that.

“We are working with the British government, and volunteers, to test how long people may stay in our universe. So far, we have had volunteers for a period of only a year, and we have been unable to detect any ill effects in them. Except for those volunteers, no British staff have remained in Equestria for longer than six months.”

Ambassador Seitz nodded in understanding, and frowned, thinking.

He wasn’t sure how much Seitz believed him, but it was what it was — until the witches went public.

It would be a decade, or several, in any event, before any non-magical was allowed to stay in Equestria for more than a year. It might even be a century as they waited for the first volunteers to die of old age to make sure the exposure hadn’t altered their lifespans.

“We would be willing to set up an Embassy with a rotating staff, keeping stays limited to six months, if you have no objections,” the Seitz suggested.

Blueblood nodded in turn. “I will convey that suggestion to the Princesses and get back to you.” It would take a bit of juggling to arrange things so that the Americans would assume the British coming through the portal and becoming ponies were actually ponies to begin with. And to prevent American Squibs or magicals from crossing. But it should be doable.

He was sure other nations would soon approach with similar requests. They might have to extend Canterlot a bit more around the mountain to create an “Embassy Row.”

Seitz stared at him for a few moments, sighed, then said, “I heard a rumour that you told a UN official that you have the capability to ‘glass’ a country.”

Ambassador Blueblood smiled gently. “You have the capability to use your nuclear missiles to glass any country in the world that you dislike.” He took a sip of his tea. “You have, in fact, used them to destroy two cities in another country in a war forty years ago. Since then, you have threatened to use them against your enemies should they attack you. 

“Why would you think we wouldn’t have a similar capability?” He tilted his head questioningly. “Unlike humans, though, we are inherently peaceful and have no interest in expanding our territory, we have quite enough of our own that we haven’t explored. Nor are my Aunts interested in ruling over anyone other than their ponies. The Princesses find Equestria quite enough to rule, why would they want to add more? It makes no sense to us.” he continued. “Quite frankly, we haven’t an army big enough to take over a country — our Guard is more of a police force — so it is a moot point to bring up.

“We are fascinated, however, by the rich diversity of your cultures on this world. You have explored areas of endeavour that simply never occurred to us to pursue. Equestria is more of a monoculture, so the different viewpoints expressed in your science, art, writing, and movies, are absolutely enthralling to us.

He straightened. “That being said, we will defend ourselves if attacked. Our history has told us that the only way to respond to an attack is to eliminate the threat. Trying to stave off a war by placating the aggressor has never worked. 

“Recently, a nation attacked Canterlot, intent on capturing it, planning to rule once they captured the Princesses. They no longer exist except as scattered individuals, and their capital is in a wasteland.” He leaned back in his chair. “I doubt your government would have done anything different.”

Ambassador Seitz slowly nodded. 

Blueblood smiled. “You can relay to President Bush and his military advisors that we haven’t the slightest interest in taking over any country, or this world. It’s simply too much work for too little gain. We will even sign a non-aggression pact, should you so desire.”

Their meeting ended on a positive note a bit later.


^-_-^