//------------------------------//
// Ginny Weasley 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire — Intermission 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

Without anyone opening her covers, Ginny harrumphed a little. Her world was limited to the contents of the book, but that didn't mean she couldn't do anything. Everything that Tom Riddle had learned up until his sixth year at Hogwarts was within the pages, and while Ginny was excited enough to learn magic, some of what Tom had learned disgusted her.

There was, however, a lot of what he learned that intrigued Ginny. The problem was for her that the diary was written chronologically, and to keep studying the vast knowledge that Tom had gained, she had to study every aspect of his personal self and his research.

She was just about to start working on learning what Tom had discovered about curses in his third year when someone opened her up.



Hello?





Hi, Ginny, it's Ron. Do you want to talk? Only, Mum said we shouldn't bother you if you don't want to talk, but I figured you'd want to since—



Ginny could practically hear her littlest-big-brother stammering on and on.



I want to talk, Ron. Your handwriting's getting better.



It was, too. Compared with how well he'd written with a pen strapped to his hoof, his current writing was actually legible to Ginny.



Thanks. I've been practicing and I think pony mouths might actually be good for this kind of thing. Dad's out looking for the right place to put the farm down while Mum seems to be pulling pots and pans out of her bag so she can make dinner for everyone over an open fire.



It sounded cozy to Ginny, and a pang of desire to be herself again threatened to overwhelm her. It wasn't fair that an ancient pony had stolen her body and left her a disembodied ghost stuck in a book, and she screamed that into the endless void that existed just beyond the covers of the book.



Are you alright, Ginny?





NO!



Ginny kept screaming the word, not caring who could or would listen. She screamed it until it had no meaning anymore and was just a noise. She kept screaming until she heard crying. The sound, so sharp and so raw, broke through her rage and loss because it was a sound from outside the book.

Scrubbing all her pages clear of the inky mess she'd made of them, Ginny tried to get through to her brother.



Ron? Please, don't cry.



But the crying didn't stop, and worse, it made her cry too.



Ron? Please, Ron, I didn't mean to shout.



"What's going on? Ronald Weasley, what's the meaning of this?"

It was their mother. Ginny cried more for knowing her big brother got caught crying because of her.



It was my fault, Mum.



"Here. That's Ginny's book. What have you been talking about?"

Concern weighed heavily in her mother's voice, and Ginny wanted to feel a hug so much it hurt.



Mum, I just got overwhelmed and… Ron got worried. Please don't punish him.



"Ginny was upset, Mum. I'm alright. I was cryin' for her." Ron's voice shook a little. "Really. I mean, she can't when she's stuck in that book, so I figured I can."

A carefully measured sigh left Molly Weasley. "I'm glad you love your sister that much."

The sound of footsteps leaving was all the information Ginny got that someone had walked away from her.



Ron?



"Yeah, I'm here. I kinda forgot you can hear what I say. Do you mind if I just talk?" Ron's voice still sounded a little rough.



Can you help me with something?



"Ginny, you know you can rely on"—Ron made a loud snorting sound, the kind most males make when dealing with a bout of crying they weren't prepared for—"on me."



Let me explain it before you commit to this. When Harry and me were in the Chamber of Secrets, Tom (that's Voldemort) was draining my life so that he could exist outside the book. Like a really clever poltergeist that's actually me.

When he did it, it was killing me, but I think with all the extra magic here it could work much safer. But there's no guarantee of that. If we are going to do this, we need Mum and Dad to help.



"If this does anything else weird to me, you'll never hear the end of it. But, I'll talk to Mum and Dad about it. Probably Dad, since he won't yell at me so much. Sorry about earlier."

Despite having spent a school year putting up with her big brother putting her down for hanging around him too much, it was a bit of a surprise to have her cool big brother back. A good surprise.



Okay. I'll try to work more on this stuff to find out how Tom did it. Thanks, Ron.



"So, uh, what do you plan to do when school goes back?"

That was a question and a half for Ginny. She was pretty sure she could ace second year with everything she'd learned from being in Tom's place in the book-school, but his extracurricular activities had started becoming more the focus of his study.



I don't know. Maybe I can work out how to do this poltergeist thing and can go to classes like that.



"It's getting kinda late. Mum was just checking to see what was up. We're sleeping in the big tent Dad borrowed for the big quidditch game that was going to happen. I guess that's been called off. Did you want me to put you out in the common room so I don't bug you with my snoring?"

A new fear flooded in. Without someone to open her book and read her messages, all Ginny could hope for was a long life stuck inside the book with Tom Riddle's lessons playing out.



No! I mean, can you just put me near your bed somewhere? Is there a bookshelf in here?



For a soft moment Ginny was afraid Ron had already put her outside somewhere. Panic rose and she was just about to scream onto the pages when she heard a movement.

"Yeah, there's a bookshelf in here, Ginny. You're going to have to put up with my snoring all night. I kept trying to tell Harry I don't snore, but then he used a spell to record it and there's no getting around that."

Ginny had to figuratively bite her lip to keep from laughing onto her pages.



Good night, Ron.



"Good night, Ginny."

She felt the soft sound of her book being put down on a shelf, heard Ron walking across the room and getting into bed, and not a minute later his snoring started. It was music and warmth dressed as nasal cavity distress.





With the comforting, echoey snores of Ron to keep her sane, Ginny decided to tackle some third year, but that meant she had to work through it chronologically—and that resulted in her starting off the year as Tom arriving off the train to find his "friends" waiting for him.

It would have been easier to imagine them as humans if she had a proper view of each one, but all Tom ever saw when he looked at them was pawns. They were weak-willed or strong of magic, some both, but they were all loyal to him.

Loyalty, Ginny knew, came in the form of respect and admiration—but Tom claimed it with fierce aggression and held it with fear and terror. She had to sit through it all, watching as each toady would fawn over him and his ideas. The ideas might have been brilliant, but some of them were also horrible.

Curses were Tom's main focus. He seemed to have books upon books of information about them. Much as Ginny wanted to study other things, and not specifically curse spells, they were something for her to learn while she let his memories play out.

So she started with the fast-casting curses, like Tom did. Swift things that confuddle and confuse or just put someone off balance. Here, in the book, she didn't get tired from practicing magic and could work all day and all night on getting her form and style perfect.

Tom was an orphan, or so Ginny learned. He was frequently among the first to arrive at Hogwarts each year, and that meant several days of being there without anything to do. But Tom never wasted time, not anymore. He was in the library to research spells and often had to steal books that he knew he wouldn't be able to borrow.

The knowledge of all those books was in the diary with Ginny. She sat down at a library desk—same as Tom—and read about curses to trip, curses to twinge the muscles in a wrist so they would drop a wand, curses to cause someone's eyes to blink and blind them for moments, and more curses besides. Tom loved curses.

For any other wizard, knowing they were learning in the footsteps of Lord Voldemort would inspire the deepest hatred of the diary, but Ginny could look past Tom's emotions and designs—a spell was a spell was a spell.

Third year started and she found herself focused on Potions, Dueling, Divination, and (with deep irony) Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Potions turned out to be another thing Tom was good at. He learned about many Potions, and with more time than was in the world, Ginny did too.

Divination seemed unrelated to what Tom wanted, and it soon became clear to Ginny why he'd taken it—he could convince the teacher he was actually participating and then spend the entire class studying absolutely anything else.

Defense Against the Dark Arts almost seemed to be the opposite of what it intended. Tom spent all his time studying the defenses taught and explored curses and potions to overcome those defenses and spells. In short, Ginny realized he used the class to know his enemy.

Dueling, though, was where Tom actually had time to enjoy himself. It wasn't one of the normal electives, but instead was a special class thought up by the head of house Slytherin—Walburga Black. Tom had to work extra hard for the woman, however, because nothing was ever good enough when it came from a non-pure-blood.

She personally used Tom as a whipping boy to teach the others how to use curses to disrupt and humiliate, and though Ginny could feel his hatred for her simmer, he studied the art all the harder because he recognized someone who was a master at something he wanted to learn.

The pure-blood comments from the witch were something that always helped Ginny through the harsh lessons. Walburga would lash out with snide comments as often as spells meant to impede her, and all the comments did was remind Ginny that she was one thing Tom or Voldemort could never be—she was a pure-blood witch.

She was getting through the classes and spending a little time on the side, perfecting the things even Tom struggled to get right given the limited time he had for school, when she heard the snoring stop about halfway through her second day of third year.

"Ugh. This bed is the worst." Ron's words came swiftly followed by a fart and a soft laugh.

Ginny couldn't believe her brother, though she could just ignore it since she was the intruder here. She ducked back into her study to finish off the second day by the time she heard Ron pick her book up off the shelf he'd put it on.



Good morning, Ron!



It felt so good to be with her family. Even if she couldn't hug them and smell them and— Ginny realized that, given Ron's earlier flatulence, not smelling might be a blessing.

"Morning, Ginny. Did you sleep—uh. Do you sleep?" A yawn might have cut him off mid-thought, but Ron got back to it afterward.



I don't really sleep in here. What I did was do the first two days of third year at Hogwarts.



"Wait, you're studying in there? How's that work?"

Such a normal conversation, compared to what Tom did when talking to people, was a relief.



Well, Tom went to Hogwarts for six years. He wrote so much of it in this journal that it just absorbed the whole thing. I can walk around Hogwarts, at least anywhere he walked, and study anything he studied.



"Uh, Ginny? Isn't Tom—Isn't he he who should not be named?"

Ginny hadn't specifically thought about it, but she did think there was a logical way to examine the situation.



When everyone came back to Equestria, did anyone see him come through?



"Well, no."



So he's still on Earth. I don't think he can hurt us here.



"I guess. But here, doesn't that mean you're learning what he who—you know who—learned? When he was our age, anyway."

It all seemed irrelevant to Ginny. She would learn what she could and ignore the rest. But that wasn't what Tom did, was it? He learned all the tricks that could be deployed against the dark arts and turned them around. She found herself smiling at the idea of it.



Ron, did you know he studied Defense Against the Dark Arts?



"What?! Why would he do that?"



Because he wanted to know how people would try to stop him from using the dark arts, and used it to practice ways to get by their defenses.



There was a lot of quiet. Ginny was about to ask if Ron was okay when she heard him inhale to speak.

"So you're doing the same? Studying how he learned to use dark magic so you can learn how to fight it?"



Exactly! Plus he didn't just learn dark magic. Did you know he trained for dueling? Lots of easy-to-use curses in that.



The sound of air rushing confused Ginny, until she realized Ron had tossed her down somewhere. Given there was no sound of contact, she had to assume it was the bed.



Ron? Did you just throw me on the bed?



There was no reply except for the rustling of clothes. A nervous thought hit Ginny and she wondered what Ron was doing. She decided, in the end, that she would wonder and get some work done.

The night of Tom's second day of Hogwarts third year was not something Ginny was prepared for. His studies had uncovered a spell called the Cruciatus Curse. Ginny knew of it, but Tom wanted to test it out. His first target was a rat.

Ginny didn't want to cast it. It was one of those bad things you don't do, but because Tom Riddle cast the spell, and because she was experiencing six years at Hogwarts as Tom Riddle, Ginny Weasley performed the spell and watched as the rat began to writhe and scream in agony.

"GINNY!"

Ron's shout snapped Ginny out of the moment and she was able to pull back from the book's grip.



Sorry, Ron. I was distracted.



"More than bloody distracted. Read your pages."

Ginny's heart froze as she read her pages.



No!

Please Don't!

Don't Hurt It!

STOP!

I Don't Want This!

Why Do You Hate It?!



Her pages were full of the words begging the book to stop and let the rat live.



Sorry, Ron. I guess that's a good sign that I'm not going to fall into Tom's mindset.



If she still had a human body, Ginny would have been shaking. Tom's thoughts and his methods were just wrong to her. He never considered the feelings of others except as a puzzle to solve if he wanted something from them.

"What was it?"



He learned the Cruciatus Curse and used it on a rat. I couldn't stop thinking of Scabbers.



She heard Ron's gasp at the mention of his old rat.

"What's going on in here?"

Ginny easily recognized her mother's voice and quickly scrubbed all her pages clean.

"Nuffin', Mum. I was just talking to Ginny about how she's going figuring out this book. She said she wants to try using my magic to let her pop out for a cup of tea."

Despite her inner giggling, Ginny realized that Ron hadn't mentioned her studying, Tom, or the Cruciatus Curse. On top of that, he was asking about getting me the ghost-spell-thing.

"We can talk about that after breakfast. Come on—and bring Ginny with you."

Once the sound of their mother's footsteps left the room, Ginny heard Ron say, "Don't worry, I wouldn't leave you behind."



Thanks, Ron!



She wasn't sure if he'd seen her reply, but just knowing he'd grabbed her was reassuring.

None of the lessons had grabbed her focus quite like Tom's first time casting the Cruciatus Curse. She'd always felt in control, but Tom had been so fixated and so intent on the rat's screams that it must have been a vivid memory that he wrote a lot down about.

"There she is," George said. "Hey, Ron, how'd you sleep?"

"I couldn't get a wink," Fred said. "Mostly because there was some kind of dragon in the room beside us all night. I swear! It musta been huge!"

Their mother's exasperated sigh was evident even to Ginny. "Lay off, you two. Here, Arthur, have you found us a place yet?"

"That's what I intend to do today. This tent is cozy, but I'd really like a hot cup of tea."

Her dad's voice soothed Ginny more than she could believe. She relaxed and listened to her family talk about their sleep and what they were going to do. Ron kept the most quiet of all of them, though, and Ginny worried that he might be doing it to not spill her secrets.

Still, when breakfast started clearing up, Ginny heard her mum say, "I'll be having a chat with our Ginny."

The familiar sensation of being picked up came again, and while her mum was quiet, she heard hooves clop as her brothers left the room.

"Now then, what's this about popping out of the book?" Molly asked.



There's a trick that… that I think I can figure out from the information in here. Tom was able to make himself manifest outside the diary, like a poltergeist, and he did that by using the magic of someone else.



"Hrmm."

Ginny felt a chill go through her at how relaxing it was to hear her mum's voice in that contemplative tone.

"From what Albus told me, the ghost of Tom Riddle was using you to fuel his actions. That it would be destructive, ultimately."



Mum, I know that, but I don't need to steal someone's body. I just want a weak, partly-corporeal form I can exist in. It's kinda hard to interact properly in here.



When her mother was silent for a bit, Ginny started to grow worried.



I don't want to hurt anyone. I just thought that with all the magic here, maybe it wouldn't be as stressful for someone to lend me some.



"That's a good point, actually. Perhaps we can try talking to one of those ponies that lived here already. They might have some idea of how magic works in this world."



Mum, have you used any magic yet? I heard everyone talking about how they turned into ponies, but the only one I got a good look at was Harry.



"Harry looks a little different to the rest. He's akin to a whole other breed." Molly let out a sigh. "I used some magic last night to help with dinner. Your mother has a tail now."

Ginny could barely hold her giggles to just being internal. Every time she thought she had herself under control, she felt an urge to write out her laughter.

It gave her pause, when she regained her focus, that she had started to write out her feelings at time without meaning to.



Well, to hear Ron talk, it's not so bad. He was even able to write in me using just his mouth. I managed to convince him to just talk. It gets a bit lonely just being able to hear and not see anyone.



"Well, since your father's out getting The Burrow and our farm spread out again, I think we can spare a little walk into the city to find out if anyone knows how this trick of yours might work. Surely if the ponies don't know, we can ask Albus or Minerva about it."



Thanks, Mum.







"It's like you have your entire self wrapped up inside that book. Who made it?" Cadance asked.

Ginny had to imagine the princess that was talking to her. A pony much bigger than the rest that had wings and a horn and—apparently—more magic than any wizard or witch Ginny's mother had ever seen.



The person who made it was named Tom Riddle, but it's probably a good idea he's not around. He wasn't nice.

I am kinda trapped in here. It was that Sombra wizard who ripped away my body and left me as a bare soul. Harry got the book to accept me so I could survive until my body was found but… but I don't think that will happen now.



"But you want to try making yourself an avatar that would let you do stuff?" This time it was Shining who spoke.

"You'd know better than me, Shiny. I rushed through training in unicorn magic, but you embraced it."



An avatar? I think that's right. I just want to be able to reach outside this book.



Ginny felt real hope. Of the two, Shining seemed to be more knowledgeable about how magic worked than anyone Ginny had ever met—even Tom.

"I think that can work. You'll need a powerful source of magic, but it should work."

"So, Shiny, she just needs a strong source of magic?" Cadance's voice seemed inflected, waiting for an answer that Ginny never heard. "Well, we have one of those. Me."



What? But what if it hurts you?



"Do you plan to hurt me?"

It seemed silly to Ginny. People could get hurt without others meaning to.



No, but



"I am a big filly, Ginny. If you didn't harm your brother, I should be more than okay."



But with him I just pulled him into the diary. This might be



Cadance interrupted Ginny again. "Ginny, just try it. Please?"



I don't exactly know it. I remember how Tom did it, though.



When there was no reply, Ginny focused on that feeling. The draining, sucking of her magic. Of course, Tom had used mesmerism too, but she figured that wasn't required with a willing subject. She pictured Cadance and reached out to her.

Instead of pushing out, however, Ginny found herself sucking Cadance in. There, in the calm library of the book, where Ginny spent most of her study time, stood Cadance.

Struggling not to squeal in girlish excitement at seeing a huge, pink pony, Ginny cleared her throat. "I think I got this bit wrong."

Looking around the room, Cadance turned to look at its only other occupant and nodded. "I believe you are right. How long will this last?"

"Oh! Hold on."



I think I did it wrong. Cadance came in here instead of me going out there. This might need more practice.



"I told them what happened. Uh, I think I need to let go of you to let you back out again." Something ached in Ginny's heart, though, one important thing that she couldn't deny. "C-Can I hug you before you go?"

Stepping forward, Cadance reached a foreleg out to pull Ginny close. "You haven't had much company in here, I take it?"

Shaking her head, Ginny pressed her face into Cadance's mane, then tried (and failed) to keep from crying. She clung to Cadance, and when the first full sob came, a flood of them soon followed.

"You poor dear. This is not how anycreature is meant to live."

As she sat there bawling, Ginny felt like her emotions were welling over with intensity. But it couldn't last forever. Slowing her sobs, she tried to remember that she wasn't hugging her mum, but a princess. An adorable, pink pony princess with an amazing mane she was surely making a mess of. "S-Sorry."

Letting Ginny pull free, Cadance stood tall again. "Anytime you need to talk just come and see me. I'll leave instructions that you and anyone carrying you is allowed to see me at any time."

"But you have a whole country to run!"

"Correct, but I have help in doing that. You, on the other hoof, don't have a lot of potential friends you can hug right now. And that brings me to my second request." Cadance cleared her throat. "Please, don't attempt to do this connection with anycreature else. There's no telling how somepony with less magic might handle this."

Taking a deep breath to get a hold of her emotions, Ginny nodded. "C-Can I keep being connected to you?"

"You definitely can. You're a pony in my care now, Ginny Weasley. When a princess makes a promise, it doesn't get broken." Cadance closed her eyes and a pulse of magic ran through Ginny's world. "I promise I'll do everything I can to help you. All you need to do is ask."





Ginny had expected the link Cadance had made to break. Any second, she thought, the princess would need her magic for something else and it would be a neat slice. But after a week it hadn't changed.

Each day she focused on spending time with her brothers and parents, but each night she studied a full two days at Hogwarts so that at the end of the week she was two weeks into Tom's third school year.

Dueling had become her favorite class. If ever there was somewhere she could test her ideas regarding counter-cursing, it was there. She also didn't particularly mind hurting the students or even Walburga Black herself—mostly because nothing Ginny did persisted. Every day would be clean and once more in line with Tom Riddle's school history.

That's when the letter had been delivered, but not by an owl. A large gray stallion waited at the door while Ginny's mother read her the letter. She only knew what the stallion looked like because Ron had described him.

"It's an invitation to the castle. Princess Cadance wants to meet with you again and see what you've learned. Here, Ginny, why does she have this interest in you?" Molly Weasley asked.



Mum, she just wants to make sure I'm okay. She promised me she'd help any way she could. Maybe she has something she came up with?



Ron was reading what I'd written too, and he jumped from his chair. "I'll take her, Mum."

"You two be careful. I know we're supposed to trust them and all, but there's something odd going on between them and the Ministry. Even your father's worried."

Ginny could hear worry in her mother's tone, but there had been a fair share of that just from everything that had happened.



Thanks, Mum. Hold me up so Ron can't see, please?



"Right you are, he's getting his things."



How is your magic going?



"Oh. Oh, well, you know how it is, Ginny. Tail's grown in, and I'm hiding all my extra hair under a cloth tied over my head. Ears too. I don't know how much longer I can hide the clopping of my feet."

As her mum spoke, Ginny could hear a kind of false cheer in her voice.



Mum, it's okay. Lots of people have turned into ponies. You'll still be my mum!



She could feel when her mother closed the covers of the book. At first Ginny was worried she'd said the wrong thing, but then she heard hooves clopping into the kitchen.

"You ready, Ronald? Here you are, now take care of yer sister."

"Yes, mum!"

Ginny felt Ron pick her up and then heard his and the other pony's hooves clopping on the stone path as they left the house. Every step Ron took, Ginny could feel herself getting closer to Cadance. The sensation was normally hidden behind the normal noise of life in the house, but now she was quite aware of it.

The sound of his hooves changed to the more solid crystal-hoof on crystal-pavement sound, and a bit later it changed again to a sound I'd only heard when Ron had been on the steps of the crystal castle. The world seemed so much different when all she could do was listen, but Ginny was starting to learn to pick out key things that let her know what was going on.

"Ah, Ginny's here? Could you bring her over please?"

Cadance's voice bubbled with excitement that surprised Ginny. She heard Ron mumble something as his hooves clopped on the stone inside the castle. What Ginny could feel, though, was her book being picked up in Cadance's magic.

Her magic, to Ginny, felt almost like home. Every day Ginny could feel the gentle trickle of it through the link they'd forged, but having so much of it so close was a whole other deal.

"I sent a letter to my sister-in-law, and she sent back a spell I'd like to try, if you'll let me?"

Her pages opened, and Ginny could feel the magic that opened them. It felt good to be close to Cadance again.



Sure!



Ginny could feel Cadance's rush of magic. She didn't really have anyone to compare it to—not ever having felt others' magic before—but she assumed it was a lot.

Then she noticed something moving on her pages. The movement was a tiny, inky horse. It took Ginny an embarrassing amount of time to realize it was Cadance.



How did you do that?



"It's a spell. Well, a spell and a trick of thinking. It's called a Hayscartes' Method—I think. Twilight wrote about a dozen pages of notes on it, and I'd be lying if I said I read all of them. She's a wonderful pony, and smart as can be, but she likes writing books for the fun of it."

The strangest thing with the book-Cadance was little speech bubbles appeared and Ginny heard her speaking out loud.



How long does it las



Ginny stopped her question as Cadance popped out of the book.

"Uh, not all that long. Twilight hinted that I'd have a few minutes, but I guess I need to practice that more." Clearing her throat, Cadance raised her voice a little. "Nopony worry, I will be entering Ginny Weasley's book for some time. Guard this room and the book."

The sound of hooves snapping to attention was unique to Ginny, but she recognized it from sneaking out of the house to watch the Edinburgh Tattoo with her brothers. A memory floated to her of all the brave-looking soldiers marching along, and she was stung with the desire to see again.

"Pull me in when you're ready," Cadance said.

Ginny worked the magic she'd learned from Tom, and drew Cadance into the book. Rather than the library, however, she was sitting in the Slytherin common room with its richly decorated couches and chairs, soft lighting, and no one else around.

"This is different from the library. A little dark." Looking around, Cadance seemed to examine the furniture and the huge glass wall showing the lake beyond.

"It's the Slytherin common room. They don't let non-Slytherin in here, but it's not like they can stop me in my own book. When you were in the book with that spell before, could you see out?" Ginny stood up from the couch she'd been sitting on—Tom's favorite—and walked over to the window.

A huge form swam past just at the edge of Cadance's vision—where the murk swallowed the depths up. "I could, yes, though not well. How goes your studies?"

"I got two weeks into the school year now. Tom studies a lot of nasty spells, but it is giving me the chance to work out ways to counter dark magic and curses." Ginny felt excitement at being able to talk to a real person. She wanted to talk about every little thing she'd done, and so she did.

Every minute detail of her week, every spell she learned and every counter-spell she researched, even her improving practice with duels was spilled out and served up to Cadance. It got so much that Ginny felt like she needed to stop, but she just couldn't until she'd said everything.

Cadance, sitting down and watching the water as she listened, reached out with just her wing to put around Ginny's shoulders. "You've had quite the week. Have you considered spending more time exploring?"

The question surprised Ginny, though she found herself leaning against Cadance. "Exploring?"

"Well, this Tom has certainly written about far more of this castle than you have visited yourself—this room for example. Have you tried exploring the castle to see what he found?" Cadance worked at Ginny's far shoulder with her primaries, rubbing the spot slowly.

"I…" Ginny turned to look at Cadance. They were practically eye-to-eye, though when she stood up Cadance seemed a little taller. "I hadn't thought of that. It will take some time, there're a lot of floors."

"Time is something you have."

Ginny calmed down and thought about the idea. She knew most of Hogwarts, or so she figured. At least she knew the hallways pretty well, and the doors that led off from them. "I wonder if he ever got into the other common rooms?"

"There's no harm in trying. How well is your memory for such things?"

The surely-imagined warmth that soaked into her was building up Ginny's self-esteem by the second. "I—I guess it's been better than usual since I came in here. I can remember every moment in full detail."

"The book is a journal, right? So it makes sense such an item would aid in recollection. Or perhaps, being your journal now, it's recording your memories for you?"

"I don't know if there's an easy way for me to test that right now, but I can definitely go exploring. I'll have to spend some time to make a mental map that can survive the stairs moving, but that's half the challenge, right?" Cadance felt less like a teacher or adult to Ginny than like a friend. A big, pink, pony friend who gave the best advice and hugs. "Could I, um—Would it be okay if—"

"Just ask me."

Ginny closed her eyes. "I really want to brush your mane. I don't know why, I can't explain it, but I—"

"Go ahead."

"… just can't stop thinking about—Wait, really?" Ginny looked at Cadance in surprise.

"Of course. If it would help you relax, and I know it will help me relax, go right ahead." Cadance lifted her wing back and shook her head a little to send her mane flying in all directions.

Making an excited squeal, Ginny manifested a soft brush into her own hand and went to work. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this! It's so soft…"

"I noted the time slip last time I was in here. It seems like hours can pass as minutes outside. That means we have plenty of time." Turning her head just a little, Cadance tilted head back a little so Ginny would be able to access more of her mane.

"Yeah." It was hard to focus on talking while there was so much mane to brush, but Ginny managed. "I can change it a little. Right now I have it as high as I can. I don't want to waste your time out there."

"That's thoughtful of you. Thank you." Cadance's mane was completely and perfectly brushed already, but she seemed perfectly content to allow more brushing to take place. "Have you thought about what you wish to do when you are done with everything this book has to teach you?"

Ginny bit her lower lip as she thought on the question. "I don't kn— I'd like to protect people. I'm learning a lot about fighting dark wizards—but it will be hard to do that while stuck in this book."

"Then we need to come up with ways for you to be able to exist outside the book."

"I'm sure I just need to get to the end of third year, but I don't want to get ahead of my friends too much." Brushing a pony princess was a really good way to distract herself, Ginny realized. Her hands could work while her brain wandered without interference from her normal mental roadblocks.

"With time moving as it does in here, that might be inevitable. You want to gain the ability to walk on your own four—two feet." Cadance tilted her head to look back at Ginny and smile. "Sorry, I guess I'm too used to ponies. So, you wish to become a warrior for good?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

Cadance chuckled. "Not exactly."

That's when Ginny remembered whose book she was in. "Okay, I guess you're right. I've just always felt like I wanted to."

Loosing her wings a little, Cadance let out a relaxed sigh. "Let me tell you about a friend of mine. When we first met, he was a few years younger than you are now and I was perhaps a year older. I had my cutie mark, but he didn't.

"He didn't like me very much, but it was because he didn't get close to me. I understood he was younger, but it was frustrating because there was part of me that said—that told me he was the one.

"We got to know each other and we grew up together. Each year that passed, I felt that bond with him grow stronger, but when he got his cutie mark it added something new to him. He got it defending me, and it seemed to light a fire within him almost as strong as the one linking us together.

"I was scared at first. Terrified it would take over all of him and the we that had grown would cease to be. How wrong I was. He grew ever bigger, swelling with our bond and his need to be a shield to those who needed one.

"That's when I realized that both those parts of him were parts I loved. Seeing him helping others helped me realize I wanted to do the same. Unlike him I am not a fighter, however, but I have learned even to fight beside him as he needs me, and he stands beside me with the fights I am better at."

"Shining Armor?" It was the name Ginny knew for Cadance's husband, and the moment she said it she felt the whole world (or diary) around her go pink. It was like the temperature rose and she had a big, warm Inverness cape wrapped around her. She didn't really need an answer with a reaction like that.

"Shining Armor." Cadance's words seemed to make the warmth of the diary grow even more. "When I see his face firm up and he puffs up his coat a little, I know he's found somepony he wants to protect. When Princess Celestia got news of an invasion coming to Equestria, he put a shield around a whole city."

Ginny actually paused brushing for a moment as she took that in. "He put a shield over a city?!" When Cadance nodded, she started brushing again. "Wizards and witches—good ones—can usually shield a few people at once if they all huddle. Did it work?"

"It worked for three days. We didn't even realize we had a snake among us. Queen Chrysalis, a changeling queen, had slipped into Canterlot before the shield was put up. She overwhelmed me, locked me in the crystal caverns below the castle, and then took my form and drained Shining for three days.

"Then a hero came and freed me. Twilight Sparkle—the little filly I'd foalsat through her younger years—had seen something in Chrysalis' charade that led her to suspect things weren't right. The drain she put on Shining—Twilight's big brother—also had him acting strange. She freed me and together with Shining we ejected all the changelings with our magic." Cadance tilted her head to let Ginny work a little easier on one side. "Would you like to know the funniest bit?"

"Y-Yeah." Ginny's focus on the story was almost to the exclusion of her brushing. Almost.

"All this happened on the days leading up to my wedding, with the wedding itself being when we kicked her out."

Swapping sides, Ginny was devoted to her work—if only so she could say she'd done a proper job of brushing a princess' mane. "Wow. So you had to do it all over again later?"

"Absolutely not. I commanded the nearest pony with a rank high enough to marry us and we did it there and then."

Giggling at the vehemence, Ginny felt buoyed up by positive emotions. She did a little more brushing before it hit her. "Your magic is filled with your emotion!"

With the brushing on hold, Cadance turned to look at Ginny, and in doing so saw that there was a pink glow to the normally dim and green-themed room. "And my magic is what's fueling your world. I can try to tone it down a—"

"No! Please! I like this. It feels"—Ginny waved her hands around a little to try to summon the words she needed—"good. Nice. Everything was always tainted with Tom's thoughts. Feeling the lightness and joy in here makes it a lot easier to remember why I want to protect people."

"I'm glad you like it because it would have been a bit of a strain to rein myself in. If this helps, though, I'll try to focus on happy thoughts as much as I can." Her horn glowing blue, Cadance lifted the brush out of Ginny's hand. "Now it's your turn."

"Wha—?" The magic spun Ginny around and she soon felt the brush working through her hair. Each stroke caused her mind to melt and her defenses to lower even further until she was sitting on a couch backwards with Cadance behind her.

"Now, you have a lot less hair than I do, so this will go faster, but I want a promise from you, Ginny."

The brush was always in motion. Ginny had no meaningful reason to resist its relaxing, compelling ways, but she was a little worried that Cadance would ask her to do something she didn't want to. All she managed to say, though, was, "Hmm?"

"In case you hadn't noticed, Ginny, I have a lot of magic. I'm an alicorn who has only a basic knowledge of working spells, which means I don't tend to use a lot of it." Working with Ginny's hair, Cadance started arranging it a little more, moving it this way and that to attempt to get an idea of how it wanted to sit. "I want you to promise me you will use it."

"A-Alright."

"That didn't sound very committal. I mean it. Not everypony—everyone—in my empire needs my direct help, and that means that when someone like yourself does, I can give my all."

The brushing had mellowed Ginny out to the point where she could barely think about the room around them—instead just listening to Cadance and trying to understand what she was working up to.

"I want you to bring your mother and father in here when you get home. I know doing so will use a significant amount more magic than you're using to have me here, but it is a price I am happy to pay."

It was crazy. It took Ginny so much magic just to have one person in her book. "But it's a waste. It uses—"

"Ginny, you won't be allowed to brush my mane again unless you do this."

Laughing, Ginny sighed and tilted her head back to look at Cadance upside down. "That's silly and the most threatening thing I think you could use at the same time." The threat did what Cadance asking nicely wouldn't, though, and it finally got through to Ginny how much Cadance cared for her. "I'll do it tonight."





When Ginny got home, she thanked Ron for the lift and asked him to pass her to their mother. Just hearing her mother's voice calmed Ginny down from the nerves she was feeling.

"Now, what is it, dear?"



When I was talking to Cadance, she made me promise to spend a lot of magic to bring you and Dad into the diary so I could talk to you both face to face. Would you—



"You don't need to ask that last bit, Ginny-dear. If this princess wants you to use up her magic, you use it, but remember that such deals come with a price. A price you might not even recognize."

Her mother's tone implied that Ginny should think far more carefully about Cadance's deal than she'd already done. It made her think about what it was Cadance really wanted. So far the princess had acted a lot like the teachers at Hogwarts—Ginny had to concede, however, that she only meant the nice ones.



I'll have to work out what that price is. Is Dad home?



"Let me go get him."

Ginny heard her mum's footsteps lead away somewhere, thought she could hear her talking, then a pair of footsteps returned. She was getting good at counting footsteps to tell how many people were nearby.

"This'll be exciting," Ginny's dad said. "What's it like in there?"

"I don't know that. You'll have to ask Ginny," her mother said.



I can make any room in Hogwarts that I can make most rooms in Hogwarts.



Halfway through writing, Ginny realized she didn't really want to bring up Tom Riddle with her parents.

"Right, well, how about you just find us somewhere warm, then? Oh, like the main hall. We could sit at the table in there, in front of the fire," her father said.

Ginny knew that room well, having had meals there for months. Reaching out with her magic—Cadance's magic—she grabbed both her parents and pulled.

Looking at her parents, Ginny barely lasted a quarter of a second before she rushed to her mother and hugged her. Squeezing her slightly shorter mum, her tears started to flow again. "I missed you!"

Despite her arms having changed color to deep green, her red hair having intensified, and now sporting a tail and hooves on her feet, Molly Weasley scooped her daughter up and hugged her back. "There there. You're okay, Ginny-dear."

Walking around the huge hall, inspecting everything he could, Ginny's father finally stopped and turned to face his wife and daughter. "Here then, you have the building spot-on, but why is everything pink?"

Lifting her head from her mother's shoulder, Ginny looked at her dad and then the room around them—and giggled. "It's the princess' magic. Whenever I use it, I just feel so much lighter and—and pink. Can't you feel it, Dad?"

It was then Ginny noticed her parents glance at each other and a look passed between them. She'd been trying to understand such looks for a while, but her parents didn't make them often enough—around her—for her to pick up on what they meant.

"And you just feel light and—and pink?" Ginny's father asked.

"Well, yeah. I mean, I also feel like my heart is pounding, but it's not like I even have one of those anymore. Not really, anyway. When I asked Ron, he said Cadance is the princess of love. I guess that's why she wanted me to bring you in here." Looking between her parents and feeling her love for her mum and dad swell, Ginny knew that was definitely true.

That's when it hit her—Ginny realized she could feel their love radiating back at her. For a moment she almost broke into tears again, but instead just contented herself with walking up to her dad and giving him a hug. "Thanks for coming in, Dad."

She didn't care if he could only manage an awkward and very British fatherly hug with one arm. Her dad was a little embarrassed, but his love for her didn't waver.

Looking around the decidedly pink-themed dining room, Ginny's mum chuckled. "I believe I need to meet with this princess of love, but I do approve of her letting you use her magic for this."

Ginny hated the feeling she got as she realized she was literally burning up Cadance's magic. "I should let you go. This is using an awful lot of magic. I—I think I should do something to pay Cadance back for this, but I don't know what."

"We'll go see her in the morning and work out something, dear," Ginny's mum said.

"We should be letting you go. I'm sure the princess will need some magic," Ginny's dad said as he let her go. "You know your mother and I are proud of you, Ginny?"

Blushing, Ginny nodded. "Yeah, Dad."

"We'll check-in on the princess tomorrow. Don't stay up too late."

"Okay, Mum." It was easier not to argue that she didn't need to sleep. Ginny gave her parents another smile and then let them go.





Ginny could hear her mum and Cadance talking. It was just them getting to know each other, discussing the Crystal Empire itself, and a little talk about Hogwarts. Eventually the topic of Ginny came up.

"Thank you for giving me and my husband time with her last night. I know she can hear me right now, which is why I'm saying it out loud—it hurts me to see what was done to her. She's making the best of it, and if you can help her, I'd owe you a lot."

It surprised Ginny to hear her mum let loose like that. All through her life, her mother had been this huge, stable rock in her life.

"A debt does not need to be paid—by yourself, your husband, or Ginny. I gave my magic freely." Cadance's voice was warm and welcoming, and it made Ginny let out a laugh of pure joy to hear. "But I think I can do one more thing for her.

"I could teach her to use the magic she's borrowing."

What annoyed Ginny the most was that she couldn't say anything. She wanted—needed—to be part of this conversation. The best she could tell, however, was that her mother was holding her under one arm.

"I think we should ask Ginny her intentions."

A relaxed sigh left Ginny when she heard her mum say exactly what she wanted to hear. She got ready for guests—which mostly meant heading for the dining hall and dressing the place up a little. It was still pink, though now it had comfortable couches instead of the hard benches meant to seat hundreds.

"You'll want to set her down on a flat surface and open her. I believe having the book closed hinders her somewhat," Cadance said.

Ginny could feel the moment her book was opened. It was like she had both more magic and more reach with it. Extending it out, she felt Cadance and her own mother and tugged them into the book.

She beamed in excitement at her mother and Cadance. "I'd like to learn more magic, if you'll teach me."

It was impossible for Ginny to miss the look Cadance gave her mother.

"I would prefer it if you did teach her, honestly. At least so that she can understand how your magic works while she's using it." Ginny's mum gave her warmest smile, leaving the room a little more pink for it. "Now, Ginny-dear, I think I can leave you to it."

Rushing over to her mum, Ginny hugged her tight. "Thank you."

"It's quite alright. Between all my children right now, you're not the one I worry for the most."

"Charlie." It strained Ginny's heart to think of her big brother—one among many. "I'm sure he's hit the ground running, Mum. He's fearless, our Charlie. He takes care of dragons!"

"Of course he does, but I'm still allowed to worry about him."

"I know he'll be fine. He has to be." It was the best way to decide the problem, in Ginny's mind. He would be safe because she wouldn't let him be otherwise. "I love you, Mum."

"Love you too, Ginny. Now let me out, I have to go see someone about an owl." Ginny's mum faded as Ginny ejected her from the book.

"Now, can you tell me what you've already experienced with my magic?" Cadance walked closer and settled down on a couch.

Ginny brought her mind to bear on what she'd felt since Cadance had let her use magic. "You're the princess of love, right?" She waited for Cadance to nod. "That's what I've been feeling, isn't it? Mum and Dad's love for me. Also, all this pink is invading the book."

"Part and parcel of my magic, I'm afraid. There is some good news, however. I have written a letter to my sister-in-law, and she is trying to devise a spell that will work opposite to that Hayscartes' Method. She won't be done for several days—at the earliest—which gives us both time to come to grips with my magic in your hoo—hands."





It took a week for Twilight to formulate a spell and in that time Ginny and Cadance explored what Cadance's magic could do inside the book and out. With a little focus, Ginny even extended her emotional sense outside the book.

She'd also spent each day doing a day of schooling at Hogwarts—in the diary. At one day per day, she knew she wasn't going to be getting far into the third-year, but it no longer seemed so daunting. What she looked forward to was actually acting in the real world and, she hoped, hugging her parents and attending Hogwarts herself in the real world.

Every day a member of the Crystal Guard would come to The Burrow and take her to the castle. She practiced—as Cadance had instructed her—just sensing the love of the pony carrying her and possibly beyond them. So far she'd only caught wisps of love from the guard each time, but it was a start.

The closer she got to Cadance, the more intense a feeling of love Ginny felt. To her new sense, Cadance was like a raging inferno and comparable only to her husband.

"I have it, Ginny. This spell will let you manifest in the real world again."

Cadance's voice excited Ginny, and she quickly reached out and scooped Cadance into the intensely pink dining hall at Hogwarts. The moment the papers that Cadance held were within Ginny's book, she could see them as clear as day. "How does it work?" It was, of course, not written like any spell Ginny had encountered before.

"This is complicated even by Twilight's standard. Okay, let me see if I can step you through the patterns and calculations." Cadance furrowed her brow as she examined the pages, her mouth moving a little as she worked through the spell. After several minutes of focus, she sighed. "This is not easy, but the advantage you have is lots of raw power and you're within your own domain with control over how time flows."

At last Cadance started describing the patterns needed to make the spell work. At first it seemed a mammoth task for Ginny, but then she remembered the one thing she had plenty of was time. By the time they were done with their normal daily session, she'd managed to master about a quarter of the spell.

"I wish we could keep going," Ginny said.

"We have two full months ahead of us before your school year starts. At the very least we'll find a way for you to attend." Despite her insistence that their time was up, Cadance produced a hair brush and passed it to Ginny.

This was relaxation for both of them. Ginny settled down and let all the tension out as she started brushing Cadance's mane. It had started as more of a gag, but now it helped them both relax after an intense session of magic lessons.

"Mum's really worried about Charlie. She's tried everything to get through to him, but we can't even find out where he is let alone get a message to him." It was also a time for gossip. Ginny had a few things to get off her chest. "And I worry about him too."

"I can't exactly start a search—my hooves are full dealing with these Ministry of Magic people—but I can ask Auntie to try finding him." Cadance let out a relieved sigh as the brushing worked away the stress of her morning. "Apart from my time with Shiny, this is a highlight of my day, Ginny. Thank you."

Ginny blushed, but didn't stop brushing. "When I graduate from Hogwarts, I'd like to—to come and work for you. If, I mean, I can get out of this diary."

"Even if you're stuck in there for the rest of your life, there will be a place for you at my court. You're sharp, even for a filly, and I am always happy to surround myself in smart pon—Ugh. Why is it so hard to remember you're not a pony?" Cadance let out a frustrated whinny.

"It's fine. I know what you mean, anyway."

"No, Ginny. It's not about you—well, not just about you. I have the Ministry of Magic from your world to contend with too, and they insist on using human terms for them even when some of their members are completely pony.

"And, I understand that. That doesn't help me with getting it right. Everypony and hooves and foals—It's ingrained."

"Then keep practicing with me." Ginny held up her fingers and snapped them, producing a clone of herself standing in front of Cadance. It was something she'd been practicing inside the diary. Making a body double in a world you control every aspect of was one thing, using it was another.

With her focus split, Ginny kept brushing while looking at Cadance from the front. "Everyone." She created a chalkboard beside her and gestured to where everypony had a line through it and everyone was underlined.

Cadance burst into giggles. "Yes, teacher!"

Flipping around the chalkboard, Ginny revealed it had hooves crossed out and hands underlined. "Hands!" Now she couldn't hold back her own giggles.

The brushing finally halted and Ginny combined her focus back to one body, and despite their giggles, they both realized the day was done. "Did you really mean that?" Ginny asked.

"My offer?" When Ginny nodded, Cadance continued. "I did and do. We work well together, you're a quick learner, and short of something devastating happening, we're going to get you a way out of this diary."

Ginny hugged Cadance tight, squeezing her neck and fighting not to cry. "Thank you."

Extending one foreleg around Ginny's shoulders, Cadance gave her a warm hug. "You're welcome, Ginny. Would you like to spend a little more time here? The castle, that is. I could have you on the arm of the throne beside me."

"I'd need to let Mum know I—"

"I can send somepony to give her a message."

Inhaling, letting the warmth of a new friendship run through her, Ginny nodded. "I'd like that."





It took the rest of the week to fully come to grips with the new spell and how to work it, but with a new appreciation for how complex pony magic was, Ginny could feel Cadance and Shining's presence outside of her book as if she was already standing beside them—they glowed to her new love-sense like an inferno.



Okay, I'm ready to try it.



"Just remember, it's definitely going to use a lot more magic the first time you cast it. That penalty will taper off with usage. I'm ready when you are," Cadance said.

The idea that all magic—pony or wizard—was just a collection of patterns was curious to Ginny. She had the thought of testing to see what parts of the patterns she could leave out and what was required, but that was something to test later.

Starting off with the complex pattern, she imagined it drawn on each page of a book in layers. By the time she got her book to 100 pages, she felt she was almost done with it. As it turned out, she only had 20 more to go.



Okay, I've built the spell. Here comes the magic.



Ginny started feeding magic into the book. It wanted to twist and reshape itself, but she held it firmly in place with a glare to do her mother proud. The magic just kept flowing, so she kept feeding it. The book started to turn pink at first, then began glowing with a pink light, and finally it started radiating little love-hearts—then the magic book she'd made opened up in the air and shoved its magic onto her.

The (predictably) pink flash of magic hitting her startled Ginny, but when the light faded she was even more surprised. "I did it!" She could see Shining and Cadance and the Guardponies and the castle and—"Wait, what's wrong? I can't move properly."

"Oh. Oh my." Cadance walked over to Ginny. "The spell worked, but it seems to be far more like the Hayscartes' Method than the opposite of it should be. You're not exactly—The best way to explain it is you're a caricature of yourself."

Stretching her arms out in front of her, Ginny looked down to see inked lines of a picture portraying her arms. It was silly and she giggled appreciatively.

"Here." Shining Armor levitated a large mirror over and held it up before Ginny.

She really was a living caricature. A picture from a book made real. "I look really strange. I wonder if I could change the spell to fill me in a little." As she spoke, Ginny became more and more aware of the fact she was outside her book. In the end, she gave an excited squeal. "We did it!"

"How's the magic draw? Is she taking too much like this?" Shining asked.

Cadance smiled and walked around Ginny to inspect the work of the spell. "A little more than having two people in the book at the same time, but I'm not struggling to maintain it. I think the Crystal Heart is helping."

"The power required will go down with usage. Eventually it will be using a fraction of this much energy—that's the nature of new magic." Shining drew surprised looks from both his wife and Ginny. "What? You think Twily got all the brains in the family?"

"No, Shiny, I know you're smart, I just keep forgetting that it applies to magic, too." Cadance kissed his cheek, which got a happy-silly grin from the stallion. "Sorry."

"You know, I never thought I'd be living in the shadow of my little sister. I mean, she was always going to be amazing, but she's saved the world several times now. Where am I at? One?" Shining nuzzled Cadance's cheek, then looked surprised and spun back to look at Ginny. "S-Sorry."

"What? No! I mean—" Ginny was a little shell-shocked. She'd felt a heavy drain moments ago, as her use of the spell sucked away at Cadance's love, but now it seemed like she was practically flooded with magic. "I don't want to interrupt."

"You're not interrupting. We only got married a few weeks ago—" Cadance paused as she noticed the dark ink lines that had made up Ginny's form changed. No longer black, they were a soft pink. "Did we make a little more magic?"

"I-I think so." It was hard for Ginny to even think of people (or ponies) being that free with acts of affection. Her own parents were more restrained, though she had to wonder if that was constrained given how many of her siblings were always around. She noticed the pink accent to her line-work too now, and giggled. "Why does everything your magic touch turn pink?"

Cadance just giggled.

"You wouldn't believe how lucky I've been to stay white." Shining picked up the mirror from where he'd put it, then shrieked. "My magic! It turned pink!"

Panic rose in Ginny before she noticed Cadance's droll stare. "Uh?"

"His magic has always been pink. What's odd is that mine's blue. I guess we compliment each other like that." Cadance held out a hoof to Ginny. "Can you move? Can you hold things? Let's test this while we have plenty of energy to work with."

Reaching out her hand, Ginny took hold of Cadance's hoof and gave it a little squeeze. "I guess I can hold things."

"That doesn't mean you're fully corporeal." Shining picked up a feather-quill from a nearby writing table and floated it over with his magic. Reaching out, he poked at Ginny with the nib.

"That feels really odd. It's going into me?" Reaching down, Ginny took a grip on the feather and pulled it out of her body. "But I can hold it."

"It probably has something to do with your will, then. Try looking at the feather while I poke you with it. If you can see it, it might make things different." Shining used his magic to gently tug on the feather, leading to Ginny releasing it.

This time, watching the nib touch her skin and then push inside was odder still. "Uh, was it meant to stop?"

"This is interesting. Perhaps it's only unattended objects that you can do that? Cadie, try pushing the feather in with your hoof while I watch," Shining said.

After a few more pokes they established that anyone but Ginny—when poking at her with something—couldn't actually affect her. "I wonder how it would work with big things? Could you try shoving a chair through me—slowly!"

Shining had a notebook out and was writing furiously in it. "Give me a second. If we don't get all this written down, Twily will never forgive us."

"He's right. She can be very intense when it comes to magic and science. Here." Cadance picked up the chair with her magic and brought it closer and closer to Ginny. When the large back of it pressed against her, then pushed inside her body, Ginny gasped and disappeared.

The shock of having her spell undone in such a way left Ginny a little confused for a moment, but she narrowed her eyes and re-summoned the book she'd made—filled it with magic and popped out of the book again. "That wasn't fun."

"There's one last important thing." Cadance picked up the diary Ginny's soul was bound inside of and held it out to her. "Can you hold your own self?"

Blinking in surprise, Ginny reached a hand out and tried to hold the book. The moment her hand started to take the weight of the book, she felt a tingle run through her projected body. It wasn't a shocking disruption like the chair had been, but she felt like something very wrong was happening.

Pink magic grabbed the book and pulled it away. "Ginny, please go back into the book."

Looking up at Shining, Ginny looked then to Cadance—who looked a little pale. "Oh no!" She let go of the spell and snapped back into the diary.



I didn't hurt her, did I?



"Cady? Cady, are you okay?" Shining asked.

"Y-Yes. That was a lot of magic just now." Cadance's soft voice sounded strained. "Shiny, a kiss will help."

Ginny examined how she felt. It was like the pink was fading from the book around her and she couldn't feel as much magic as she had before.



Please! Is Cadance okay?



"I'm alright, Ginny. We now know you can't pick up your book like that." Cadance sounded a little shaky still.

Hearing a kiss, Ginny's world was flooded with pink again. It was like Cadance was ignited with new power. She focused everything she could on not using it, though.

She waited, and waited, and waited, and finally decided to focus on the spell rather than listen to see if they were kissing or—Ginny didn't want to think about that kind of thing.

Looking at the first page, she tried to get an idea of what was going on. She touched a little magic to just that page and watched how it flowed. There were parts of the pattern that weren't even activating, though she could appreciate that they might be activated by other pages.

She got through nearly thirty pages worth of understanding how the spell worked when she heard her name called.



Hello?



"It's Cadance. I'm feeling better now. You can use magic again, just please don't try to hold your book." There was no hint of the earlier strain in Cadance's voice.

Focusing magic on the book, Ginny manifested herself into the real world again. She spotted Cadance close by, reading the page of the diary. "I'm sorry, I—"

"No. Don't feel sorry for that. We were testing a theory and learned from it. Nopony—no one will take any lasting harm from it." Cadance turned to the caricature of Ginny and walked forward to hug her.

It was impossible to resist such a hug, so Ginny didn't try. Instead she leaned into Cadance's touch and hugged her back. A new surge of pink rushed through her, flooding and filling out the insides of the diary with more pink and causing her own dark lines to run to pink. "We have one more test to do, but we can do that tomorrow."

Cadance leaned back in surprise. "What's that?"

"Distance. How far from the book I can keep this shape. If I can leave the book here and walk around Hogwarts and the city, it would be really convenient." Ginny smiled a little bashfully. She could feel the love radiating off Cadance—could also feel the bond of friendship between them. "And then the most important bit."

"Which is?" Cadance asked.

"Can I hold a brush like this?"





Walking was something new for Ginny—at least in her caricature body. She walked along beside the unicorn in armor and couldn't help but smile at everything. There were ponies trotting around town on business, humans too, and all sorts of people in shapes between the two.

Some paused to watch her, while a bunch of foals trotted up and pranced along beside the Guardpony and her—only scattering when she turned her head to look at them. "S-Sorry, I should have asked your name."

"Searing Spear, ma'am," the mare said. "I take it you can't carry your book yourself?"

"Noooo. Last time I tried, it drained a lot of magic. Ca—Princess Cadance almost fell over." Despite the topic, Ginny couldn't stop grinning at being able to get outside. "My name's Ginny Weasley."

"The prince and princess have a lot of faith in you." Searing cleared her throat. "It's good to see the descendants of our lost cousins coming home again. They gave up so much for us—fighting for us—that it's hard to believe they're gone now."

"It's hard to think they are our ancestors. Growing up, witches and wizards are taught that there's something that gives us magic, that it's not in normal humans, but none of us had any idea that source was ponies."

"You're an interesting filly, Miss Weasley."

"Cadance has been trying to stop calling witches and wizards pony," Ginny said.

"Princess Cadance has to deal with the feelings of everyone she talks to. She's also not got a thousand years of noise in her head from an angry old wizard who tried to take over the world." Snorting a little, Searing seemed to calm and then let out a sigh. "Sorry, like I said, a thousand years is a long time to have him in my head. If you want, I'll try to—"

"You can call me filly and pony if you want, Miss Spear."

Turning and looking at the odd being that kept pace with her, Searing smiled and chuckled. "We're almost back to your—"

"That book is a dangerous artifact. You need to hand it over right now."

Searing went from relaxed trot to ready for action in the blink of an eye. Ginny could see the tenseness in her stance. Following her glare, Ginny spotted the man that'd spoken. He was short, but still had his hands—in one was a wand that was pointed right at Searing and her. "That's my book."

"Stand behind me, Ginny." There was no softness in Searing's voice. She put up an air-permeable shield and narrowed her eyes. "You're interfering with the official business of a Guard of the Crystal Empire. State your name and your affiliation, and back down immediately."

"There's five of us. What do you think you can do against five trained wizards?" Raising his wand a little higher, the strange man made a quick flourish and sent a spell sizzling through the air that hit Searing's shield and shattered it. "Just give us the book and you can go."

Tilting her head back a little, Searing's horn was soon pointed straight up and she sent a blast of magic skyward. A purple-red flare danced in the sky above them. "Five? You're about to have fifty Guardponies here."

Ginny had had enough of standing around uselessly, but without a wand she felt powerless. That's when she got an idea. Her caricature-self had clothes on, inexplicably, which meant it wasn't just her it was creating. Focusing her attention, she created a wand in her hand. "I wonder if this can work?"

There was no time for Searing to ponder her companion—her five opponents started casting and hurling spells at her. A combat-trained fighter herself, she fended off the first volley and managed to stop four of the next lot, only for a stunner to slam into her.

Shock turned to anger. Ginny jumped over Searing's collapsed body to put herself between the five attackers and the mare. In book-time, she'd spent the last several months drilling on dueling techniques from one of the most effective duelists that ever lived. The first two spells that came her way, Ginny flicked to the side on pure instinct.

"Is that a witch?"

"You! Lay down your wand! We're with the Ministry!"

"The—?" Another spell came her way and Ginny countered it and put up a shield. "If you're with the Ministry, why are you fighting us?"

"Miss, you're under the influence of that diary. It's an evil artifact!"

Noticing one of the wizards circling around behind her. Widening her shield, she drew heavily on Cadance's magic and felt a rush of power in response. "You don't understand, this is my diary now."

With a wizard at each cardinal point around Ginny, the leader of their group unloaded another shield penetrating bolt.

Ginny barely had time to see her shield break and realize there were four more spells incoming when a pink shield flared bright around her. Two stunners, a sneezing charm, and a stinging hex all fizzled against the shield around her.

"Halt! Cease this fighting!" Shining Armor's voice cut through the air. "Round them up. I don't want them getting away this time."

Still on edge, Ginny tracked various ponies as they ran to find the wizards who'd been attacking her, finally settling on Shining, who walked through the barrier around her without trouble. "W-What happened? Why were they attacking Searing Spear?"

"You're safe, both of you. I won't let them through my shield." Leaning down to check on Searing, he let out a relieved sigh. "She's okay—just knocked out. Did they hurt you?" The last he asked of Ginny.

"N-No. When Searing got stunned, I couldn't stand back." Shivering, Ginny rushed against Shining and hugged him. "They're supposed to protect witches!"

Reaching around Ginny, careful not to banish her, Shining asked, "Who was supposed to protect you?"

"The Ministry of Magic."





Ginny sat on a chair in the kitchen of The Burrow and stumbled her way through what had happened. Her parents were both there, as was Shining Armor. She tried to look at her dad, but the closest she got was his shirt before lowering her head again—she could feel the incredulousness radiating from him.

"There's no way old Herb would have organized this. Attacking a child? He knows it's our Ginny trapped in there, and I assured him the book isn't a threat anymore." Ginny's father shook his head. "Besides, anyone can just claim they're from the Ministry."

Looking at her mother, Ginny could read her look—don't argue with him. She sat there and waited for anyone to ask her a question.

"We caught at least two of the attackers. Would you like to verify their identities and intent?" Shining asked.

"Oh. Well, you know I'm not normally involved in that side of things." Looking down at Ginny just as she looked up at him, Arthur stiffened in his chair. For several long seconds he looked at his daughter's image before nodding. "Seems like it's time to change that. Ginny, I'd like you to come too, so you can be sure these were the wizards that attacked you."

Shining nodded to that, to Ginny accepting that her dad should find his word at least somewhat dubious. "That's understandable. If you'd like to walk back to the castle with me, I don't believe we should be interfered with."

Ginny's mum got to her feet first and made her way to the stove to toss some wood into the firebox. "I'll have your dinner ready when you get back. Don't be too long, dear."

When Shining and Ginny's dad stood up and made their way to the back door, Ginny rolled her eyes. "I need one of you to carry my book." She pointedly tried not to laugh when her mum chuckled.

"Oh. Oh, dear. Of course." Ginny's father picked up the diary and started off again after Shining.

"Bye, Mum!" Ginny ran off after her father and Shining, catching them out walking through the garden. "So Searing is going to be okay? It looked like they used a stunner on her, but it was hard to tell."

"Our medic said she was just unconscious, but we'll find out when we get back. How long were you defending her for?" Shining asked.

"I-I'm not really sure. They used a charm that destroys shields, then hit her with the stunner before I could work out how to make a wand appear, but then I realized they weren't going to stop with just that, so I started out just defending. You saw the flare she sent up, right?" Ginny asked.

"That's some good instincts. Yes, we saw the flare. It alerted our garrison to deploy. I was inspecting their exercise at the time and came running." Shining turned his head to look at Ginny. "I'm sure she'll thank you herself, but I want to thank you—on behalf of the whole Crystal Empire—for defending one of our defenders."

"I mean, all I did was what anyone would. We'd been talking and things happened so fast." Fumbling at what words to say, Ginny was sure she was blushing right up until she wondered if a line drawing that walked and talked could blush.

Shining gave Ginny one of his best supportive smiles. "Don't be surprised if Cady wants to do something special for you. The sergeant was there to protect you, not the other way around."

"Protect her?" Ginny's father asked. "Protect her from what?"

"This isn't the only incident of wizards or witches identified as working for the Ministry doing this." Shining let out a sigh. "The truth is, they're making a lot of problems for us and have the backing of a lot of wizards and witches—like yourself."

"If you're right, and this was Herb's doing—" Biting back his words before he spoke them, Ginny's dad looked at his little girl. "There's not a whole lot I wouldn't do for the Ministry, but it comes second—always behind my family."

Ginny couldn't say anything. Her dad's words seemed like a huge thing that now stood between her and the Ministry. She knew how he was, though, and managed to resist the urge to hug him for it.

No one attacked them on their way back to the castle, something for which they were all grateful, and the four ponies at the entrance (two unicorns, an earth pony, and a pegasus) snapped off brisk salutes to Shining on the way in.

Inside, in the throne room, Searing Spear stood along with several other guards—with three mostly-human wizards. As soon as Ginny entered the huge hall, she saw a look of recognition on Searing's face along with a smile. "That one there was the one leading them," Ginny said, pointing at one of the wizards wrapped inside a bubble of magic. "Can they see us?"

"No. They can't hear us, either, unless we change the spell." Shining walked up to the one Ginny had indicated. "Mr. Weasley, do you—?"

The pained expression on Ginny's father's face said all anyone needed to know. "All three of them are wizards for the Ministry." The words practically fell out. "But why would they be—?"

"I can allow sound in and out. I'll ask them, you can keep quiet if you wish." Shining waited for Ginny's dad to nod before his horn glowed for a moment. "You were working for the Ministry of Magic when you came for the diary?"

"Not sayin' a word," the wizard said.

Shining looked back at Ginny and her father and rolled his eyes. "So you're denying you said you were from the Ministry?"

"That's right!"

"Perfect. Since we have one of our own guards as an eyewitness, you're charged with assault. You will be held in our dungeon until I decide what to do with you." Shining gave a wink now.

"Wait! Don't we get a trial? You have to arrest us all proper and read us our rights!"

"Punter," Ginny's father said, "you're speaking to the leader of the Crystal Empire. He doesn't need to give you any rights and he doesn't need to put you on trial."

"Is that you, Mr. Weasley? You tell 'em they can't just lock us up like this!" the man called Punter said.

"I'm only here, Punter, because you attacked my daughter. You said yourself that you weren't sent by the Ministry, so I can't act on your behalf. His Highness here can do anything he wants with y—"

Punter looked around in his bubble of magic, clearly not able to see anyone outside. "But I was here from the Ministry! He just told us to say we wasn't! Anyway, we didn't mean to attack your kid, Mr. Weasley."

Ginny had never seen her dad get furious before. Right now he looked about ready to punch his way through the bubble and do bad things to Punter. "Da?"

Her father froze and reached out to her. He held her tight enough that she trembled a little—feeling on the edge of becoming incorporeal again. "Punter—"

"Yeah, Mr. Weasley?"

"I'll tell someone at the Ministry you're here." Ginny's father nodded to Shining.

Flicking the ball again with his magic, Shining let out a sigh. "He can't hear us now. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"No, Mr.—Your Highness, I'm sorry that we seem to have brought a problem to your world and dumped it on you." Rubbing Ginny's back, her father straightened. "I'll be going to the Ministry now to have a talk with a few people I'd hazard to call friends."

Letting go of her father, Ginny bit her lower lip and looked over at Searing Spear. "Thank you—for protecting me."

Searing held her stance for a moment before walking forward to Ginny and bowing her head. "Thanking me? There's no telling what they might have done to me. Thank you."





Ginny didn't get to go to the Ministry with her father the next day. She asked her mother if she could go to the castle for her daily lesson with Cadance, but her mother had just given her a glaring stare that silenced her.

"I'm going to spend some time studying." Ginny discorporated her form and went to the Slytherin common room again. It was far more cozy now it was pink and not green, but she ignored all that and sat on a chair while pulling her legs up against her chest. "This sucks.

"It wasn't like they could beat me. I was defending Searing perfectly fine! I can look after myself!" Grabbing up a cushion from the couch, Ginny threw it across the room at the wall. "And now I'm grounded because I did the right thing!

She stewed on the subject further, growling or letting loose with magic alternately as her anger played out. When she heard her father's voice outside her book, though, she quickly worked the spell to manifest herself again.

"Ginny," her father said, sounding a little surprised. "I don't want my little girl tangled up in all this mess, but it looks like I'm not going to get a say in it."

"Arthur…" Ginny's mum said.

"She's already involved, Molly. Keeping this from Ginny will only leave her ignorant, not safe." Her father turned to Ginny. "It's what those at the castle said. Herb tried to explain it away as a miscommunication and we handled this without you because you were too close to those involved."

"That's a load of hogwash!" Ginny's mother said. "I should march up there and—"

"I've been talking with others from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They're not happy with what Herb is doing, mostly because he's employing draconian tactics that even the Aurors wouldn't undertake." Sitting down at the table, Ginny's father took the cup of tea her mum passed him and sipped at it. "Punter's not meant to be doing enforcement—he was hired as a clerk because his father wanted him to have a position at the Ministry and had enough strings to pull to get him in. Him and his lot are thugs."

It was the most frank Ginny had ever heard her father. He'd always spoken with pride about the witches and wizards working for the Ministry. To hear him call them thugs was a shock. "S-So, what can we do about it?"

"What can we—?" Ginny's father looked surprised at the question from her.

"See? This is what comes of bringing your work home. Now our Ginny wants to take up her wand. Have you—"

"Mum!" Ginny had never raised her voice to her mother before—not seriously. She hoped she didn't look too startled by her own shout. "Mum, what am I meant to do? They want to take my diary. They want to take me. If I don't do something, next time they might do it."

Ginny's mum narrowed her eyes for a moment, then let out a sigh. "You're growing up too fast by half."

"But I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes. Yes you're right. That's why we're going to have our own lessons." Puffing herself up a little more, Ginny's mum looked at her with a challenging expression. "If you're going to war, you're going to do it right."

Clearing his throat, then looking apologetic for it, Ginny's father went on. "We're having a meeting tonight—the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, that is. You're welcome to attend, Ginevra."

When her father broke out her actual name, Ginny knew he was serious.

"Well, she'd better go now, because I can tell you right now, Arthur, I'll be going. The odds that the boys will miss this are very slim—which means there will be no one to protect Ginny." Her mum gave Ginny a firm look that brooked no argument.

"What about inviting Cadance or Shining to attend?" Ginny asked.

"It's none of their—" Looking surprised at his own vehemence, Ginny's father sighed. "Well, I guess it is their business. Okay, we need to go and have a chat with them and see if they'd like to attend."





Shining Armor brought a second pair of eyes to the meeting with him. Candle Light stood at his side, a mare who Ginny had noticed was always looking anywhere but where you expected. She had a fairly normal coat and mane color (yellow coat and orange/red mane and tail), but there was something about her that just seemed a little more intense than any other pony she'd met.

"I'd like to make my stance known first, so you know what you're dealing with from at least one authority in the Crystal Empire," Shining Armor said. His words got a lot of nodding from those assembled, but there was one—one paranoid old Auror—who stomped his way up to the front ranks before Shining.

"What right do you have to stand there and here?" Alastor "Mad Eye" Moody asked. His wild eye circled once around before focusing on Shining.

"You want all my credentials, fine." Shining closed his eyes and then he started to speak. "I grew up in Canterlot with amazing parents and an equally amazing sister. I attended Princess Celestia's school. I joined the E.U.P. Guard as soon as I was old enough, raised through the ranks with determination and hard work. Joined Princess Celestia's Royal Guard and again rose through the ranks to commander. I met a beautiful mare who was just crazy enough to marry me. Our wedding was the scene of a covert invasion attempt—emphasis on attempt. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna recognized our potential and sent us here."

"If even half of that's true, you have a better character than 'alf of this lot—me included. Alright, Arthur, where do we stand with these daft bastards?" Alastor seemed to forget all about Shining now, turning his gaze on Ginny's dad.

"It's Herb from the Obliviators. He's lost it completely." Ginny's father raised his voice. "Who here's actually been called in to do their job?" When no one actually said anything, he nodded. "And yet he got Punter and his mates to nab my Ginny's diary—the one she's stuck in. They attacked one of Shining's soldiers, and it was only Ginny's quick thinking that saved the pair of them."

Alastor looked pretty angry, turned, and spat on the ground. "Sendin' untrained wizards to—Was there any reason why he didn't just talk to you?"

Losing track of things a little, Ginny could still hear murmuring among the other wizards and witches present. She barely realized when the crystal pony that'd come with Shining, Candle, had slipped up beside her. "Uh, hello."

"Hey, my name's Candle. The Empress asked me to come along and keep an eye out for you. What's—?" Candle froze when two ponies walked up and flanked her. "Excuse me, I was—"

"Oh, we know what you was doing, miss." George distracted the strange pony as Ron circled around Candle to put himself between Ginny and the mare.

"Everyfin," Fred added. "Why, we even know—"

"Ugh." Ginny had finally had enough of her brothers' antics. "It's okay. She's okay. Shining picked her to be here, and he wouldn't pick a pony he didn't trust."

Ron seemed to take it as a challenge. He puffed out his chest and, despite being shorter than her, attempted to give Candle an intimidating glare. "Yeah? Then what does she do? Why does he trust her?"

"You could have led with that." Candle glanced in Shining's direction, then looked back at Ron. "I'm a spy."

Ron's eyes widened. "I knew it!"

"Well, to clarify, I'm Shining and Cadance's spy. I'm here to familiarize myself with everyone important in this organization so I can recognize them again should they need help." Candle lifted her hoof and poked Ron in the chest. "What do you do?"

"I—I take care of my family and friends is what I do."

Ginny considered that she could either get really mad at her brothers or think they were being super-awesome. While it was a bit annoying, she tried to go with the latter. "Everyone is kinda looking after me, but I can take care of myself."

George pushed Ron to one side and sidled up to Ginny. "I heard about that. Dualing ten wizards at the same time and not missing a beat!"

"I 'eard she was fighting twenty," Fred said. "And two of them were Voldemort."

"If Mum heard you, she'd clip you both around the ears." Ginny reached down and put her hands on Fred and George's shoulders. "Sorry to waste your time, Miss Candle, but my brothers are a little overprotective. Also, it was only five, and none of them were Tom."

"Tom?" Fred asked.

George nodded. "Tom Waysander. Ginny's new boyfriend."

"He's not—Wait. Who's Tom Waysander?" Ginny asked, starting to feel lost again, but at least now it was well-trodden ground. "I meant Tom Riddle, Voldemort."

"Oh, little sis is on a first-name basis with 'im now." Fred held a hoof up to the side of his face and asked too loudly to possibly hide it from the others, "Is he a good kisser, then?"

"I bet he is. 'Ad a lot of time to practice an' all that. Here, Ginny, isn't he a younger chap in there with you?" George asked.

"He's not in here anymore. I kinda take his place in classes and stuff." Barely able to stop herself from giving her brothers more ammunition, she manifested her wand into her hand. She glared at her three brothers. "Next one to speak gets silenced."

Ron opened his mouth.

"I mean it! If you're going to stay over here, you need to let other people talk."

George opened his mouth next, and before he knew what had happened Ginny had cast a spell on him.

"Here, where'd you learn that? That's fifth-year level, that is!" Fred was next to get hit with the silence spell.

Ron, showing the most sense of the three, clamped both forehooves over his mouth and shook his head.

"Right. Glad we all have an understanding. That will wear off in a little while, or you can go and ask Mum to remove it." Ginny let her breath out. "And if you must know, I've been working on my dueling. Silencing charm is basically an I win in those situations, because any witch worth her salt can brush aside someone who can only cast non-verbally."

"Clever. I take it you're learning these things in the diary, ahead of your normal class level?" Candle asked.

Ginny sighed in relief at not being interrupted. "Yes. I'm learning things that Tom—the previous owner—was taught. He had a strict teacher for dueling, and she was teaching all her students spells far beyond their normal class load."

"Very handy. Cadance mentioned that you could change how fast or slow time ran in there. How many days can you study in one day?"

Ron, showing he was a little smarter than his brothers, sat down and just listened.

"Well, I could probably manage two to three days of study, but it's tiring. The more I focus on study, the closer to normal time the diary works, and if I'm interacting like this, I have to keep it at normal time."

Candle raised an eyebrow and grinned. "Have you tried? Have you attempted to make yourself faster while out here like this?"

"I—" Ginny started to reply, then had to restart when her thoughts started chewing up the problem. "You know, I haven't. I just assumed that was the case."

"Well, why not try it?" Candle asked.

Ginny was almost at the point where she was going to try, but then remembered that the magic she'd be burning wasn't her own. "Not now. I need to check with Princess Cadance before I do anything new. Last time she tried having me pick up my diary and the drain of that almost drained her completely."

"Oh." Squeezing her lips into a tight line, Candle let out a sigh. "Sorry. All this magic is a bit beyond me. I have the same basic magics of all crystal ponies, but what you wizards do is beyond amazing."

"Witch."

"Huh?"

"I'm a witch. Wizard is the male term, witch the female." Ginny giggled a little at the mistake once she realized there was no intent to insult her.

"You witches do amazing things." Candle raised an eyebrow.





The details of what was going on with the Ministry became secondary to Ginny's efforts to improve her magic and, in particular, her dueling. When she wasn't studying in Tom's classes, she was either working at dueling with Walburga Black or learning magic with Cadance.

What had surprised her was learning tricks from Candle. "So I hide it like this?"

Candle Light winced at the attempt to conceal a coin. "If your arm wasn't transparent, yes. You could try lining the coin up edge-ways with your line there." She reached out her hoof and gently prodded Ginny's arm. "How's your dueling going?"

Flicking the coin a little more with her fingers, Ginny managed to line it up with the line of her drawing-like arm. "Good. I've been goading Walburga each time to get her to fight me, but even that isn't enough anymore. I'm going to try cloning her in the book so I can fight multiples at once."

"That's good, but there might be a better way. Why not clone yourself and duel them?" Candle pulled out a deck of cards and started working on shuffling them in various ways.

"But I want to learn how to fight dark wizards."

Passing the cards to Ginny, Candle raised an eyebrow at her. "And those thugs from the Ministry—were those dark wizards?"

Learning sleight of hand from a pony had taught Ginny the concepts, but there was so much she could do with her fingers that ponies couldn't with their hooves. She was basically inventing card and coin tricks as she went. "Well, no…"

"And dueling is two things, being fast and knowing what spell to use?"

"Yeah."

"So it seems like trying to improve your reflexes would be best done by fighting yourself. That way, as you get better, you have continually-improving opponents." When Ginny held out a fan of cards, Candle plucked one out with her hoof, looked at it, then slipped it back in.

Shuffling the cards, Ginny half focused on what her hands were doing while also mulling over Candle's words. "I guess. I do need to get faster with slinging spells. I want to practice in real life a bit, too."

"Well, you'll either need a unicorn or one of your compatriots for that, I'm afraid." Candle burned Ginny's hands, watching for the tricks she'd been working on.

"This is your card?" Ginny asked, dealing the top one off and showing it to Candle.

"Ha! No—"

The smile never left Ginny's face as she held up the deck to reveal Candle's card was on the bottom.

"Now you're really getting it. I saw the force, but it was more subtle than your last one." Taking the cards back, Candle started to shuffle them herself. "You need to use some misdirection so people don't see you push the card to them. Stare into their eyes to break their focus, mouth something to them, or even use your magic to distract."

The suggestion sparked an idea for Ginny. She looked at the cards and started to smile wider and wider. "That's the best idea ever. Misdirection!"

Shuffling the cards, Candle raised an eyebrow at Ginny. "Huh?"

"With my magic. No, wait, I don't mean using magic to misdirect—that's not a bad idea, though—what I mean is to use misdirection while dueling. Distract them with magic while using magic!" Ginny's thoughts started to race and she tried to come up with all the ideas for distracting and misdirecting magic she could. "I think I—"

"That's a good idea." Candle held out the cards again. "But you have time to work on that later. Now, show me how you'd best misdirect me while trying to do a card force."





Ginny looked at her brothers and let out a sigh. "This isn't working."

"It's not bloody working, Ginny, because you're kicking our arses." Ron struggled to get his forehooves under him. His wand, made of the wood from the whomping willow, lay on the ground in front of him.

"Yeah, Gin. We get that you're getting good at this—" Fred said.

George groaned and shook his head. "… but when you took out Bill, too, that's just bananas."

Bill actually had a wide smile for his sister. "It's a good trick, Ginny. I'd have never thought to use faster, distracting spells to put a wizard off while you build up something better."

"Who can I test it on next?" Ginny asked, already pondering ways to use such basic spells as she'd been working with.

"Well, Dad's kinda busy. Have you thought about asking at the school?" Finally standing on his own four hooves, Ron picked up his wand and slid it into his hidden holster. "I'd like to see you try Dumbledore or McGonagall."

"As if I could even face them like that." Despite downplaying, Ginny bit her lower lip and pondered exactly that. She'd seen how fast Dumbledore could cast a spell without uttering a word at the battle with all the crystal ponies. She'd even seen McGonagall doing amazing feats of casting herself. "But hopefully they'll know people I can learn from."

The problem for Ginny was she had no one to take her to the school that day, so she spent the afternoon and evening helping her mum make food up. It was simple work—making stews and duplicating them just once—but it was rewarding and let her chat with her mother about magic.

The next day she was scheduled to spend a day learning with Cadance. The walk to the castle, as always, was tense. "How are things going with the Ministry?"

"Worse than ever. Our guards are keeping them out of the open, but they've taken to hit-and-run tactics. If you get caught out alone, well, put up a signal flare and try to hold out as long as you can." Shining had Ginny's diary in his saddlebags, safe and sound as they approached the steps of the castle.

"So with the new school year starting, things are expected to be bad?" Ginny asked.

Shining paused for a moment and clenched his teeth. "I sent a message to their leader. I told him if his people disrupt a single student, I'll deal with them as if they're an enemy of the Crystal Empire."

"How'd that go?" Ginny walked up the stairs beside Shining.

"They'll find out if they test it. I didn't want to put a line in the sand, but foals are—sorry, children are that line." Shining's horn flared bright pink and the side entrance doors of the castle opened smoothly for them.

Inside, Ginny spotted Cadance talking to another pony she recognized. Gemma Farley. When she'd first found out Gemma was giving Cadance advice, she'd panicked, but then she'd slowly gotten to know Gemma.

Ruthless, utterly single-minded, and loyal to a fault to Cadance and Shining. It was a shock for Ginny to find herself admiring that, but after knowing so many Slytherin house students in the book, she now had a new appreciation for their skills.

Cadance lifted her head from the discussion she was having with Gemma to look their way. "Ginny! We were just discussing an idea that I'd like your input on."

The swell of love from being near Cadance made Ginny's lines turn a light shade of pink. She kept to the side a little, however, knowing there was a more important greeting about to happen. When Shining advanced directly to Cadance, Ginny felt almost overwhelmed with raw magic. Her diary was buzzing with energy and, for a moment, she contemplated if she would have enough magic to lift her book herself.

"Ginny Weasley. How's life in a book treating you?" Gemma asked as she approached Ginny. "We've been working on a way to show people what the Ministry is actually doing. It's hard, though. All the older wizards and witches seem so fixated on the Ministry being a thing that they don't accept that it shouldn't be."

Trying to ignore the smooching monarchs, Ginny looked down at the ground and tried to follow the problem Gemma was presenting. "Well, I mean, we could try luring the Ministry to do something bad in a public meeting."

"What's this? A Gryffindor using guile?" Smirking, Gemma raised an eyebrow. "Been learning things in that book, have we?"

For a moment Ginny contemplated denying it, but it was the truth. Also, Candle had been teaching her tricky things too. "Spending all day around Slytherin means I'm gonna pick some things up. So, good idea?"

"Great idea, except Cadance already turned it down. She wants them uncovered without any risk. I tried to argue that that's not how this will work, but she too nice for her own good."

The wistful sigh Gemma made surprised Ginny. "You don't think that's good?"

"What? No, it's perfect. Literally perfect. You think I would help someone else like this? Shining and Cadance are—They're pure. They will stand up for the rights of every downtrodden pony. They would even defend the Ministry if a greater threat arrived and threatened to smash the fools." Gemma shrugged her shoulders. "So we keep working at other ideas until the big event."

"Big event?" Ginny asked.

"We're—" Gemma turned to look at Cadance and Shining, only to see them still talking. "Well, you're in on all this anyway. We're holding a coronation. Shining and Cadance are going to take their full titles and give titles to two ponies and two humans. Well, former humans."

Ginny jumped ahead in her reading of the situation. She wasn't as canny as Gemma, but she could follow along with the older witch's plans. "And inviting the Ministry, I take it?"

"Absolutely. They will learn their place is below not just pony royalty, but also below the wizard and witch we will be giving titles. Don't breathe a word of this to anyone, you understand, but our aim is to not just show them how small they are, but to make it an event where we can spot every one of their agents."

"Ahem." Walking over to Gemma and Ginny, Fire Glow insinuated himself into the conversation. "Needless to say, we don't want to outright provoke them, so it would be best if you were not present, Miss Weasley."

"Well," Gemma winked at Ginny, "if we were aiming to cause the Ministry to lash out publicly, that'd be a grand way to do it. But we're not doing that." She sighed expressively and rolled her eyes.

"So what can I do?" Ginny asked. "I've been practicing dueling."

"We're hoping it won't come to a magic fight at the ceremony. If it does, we'll have to put the Ministry down fast." Shining was done greeting Cadance and had wandered over to the trio. "So it might not be a bad idea to have you there, just not on display."

"Wait, why?" Gemma asked.

"Because we've been training Ginny." Cadance kept her eyes locked on Ginny as she spoke. "You told me, when you first came to me, that you wanted to protect people. I've been guiding you into the use of love magic and Candle has been teaching you deception. After the little brawl with the Ministry wizards trying to foalnap you the first time, and the training you've put yourself through, I think they would struggle to get a spell anywhere near you now. Isn't that right, Ginny?"

Ginny could just stare at Cadance. The encouragement she'd gotten from Cadance now seemed so obvious to her. "I—I did want that, and I still do. I'm just—You spent so much time with me. I didn't think it was—"

"You've been practicing day and night in that diary. I can feel every bit of magic you draw from me, Ginny. Candle tells me you've had a new breakthrough with your deception training. What was it?"

It was still impossible to actually blush as a line drawing, but Ginny wouldn't have been surprised if she was. "I—I started using misdirection, it's a sleight of hand trick, to hide what spells I was casting. I tested it with my brothers."

"Your brothers are no older than I am," Gemma said.

"I tried it with Bill, too. He—he didn't do any better than the others. It just seemed so easy to confuse them to look where I wanted them looking."

"That's why I want you there. If those wizards from the Ministry start anything, I trust that you can at least recognize what they're doing and put a stop to it." Cadance smiled and raised one eyebrow, clearly fishing for a reply.

"You gave me everything I asked for." The realization was less of a shock than knowing Cadance could arrange it all without so much as a hint. "And there's another good thing, you don't need to have me like this. I can hear just fine inside the book, and I can manifest with a moment's notice."

Gemma stared between the two royals and finally settled her gaze on Ginny. "This is absolute madness, but with this thing going on, it's a good strategy."





Ginny was straining as far as she could to hear everything. Every murmur, every whisper, and every gasp of shock was hers to process as the party went on around them. She listened as Jenny Sparks talked to Candle, she listened closer still as the Ministry wizards tried to get together and discuss Jenny's quick departure.

Just like they'd planned, Ginny performed three quick acts of magic within the book, causing Cadance's magic to flicker. She could count the seconds until the diary was opened as Cadance disengaged from her conversation partner.

"Yes, Ginny?"



The Ministry wizards are trying to get together and do something. They noticed Jenny go missing.



"Thank you. The witch in question is being taken to a safe location. If you hear them starting to act, feel free to manifest yourself."

Cadance sounded sure of herself. It made Ginny worry just a little less. She kept up listening when she heard what she'd worried about. Two syllables—"oh" and "bha". Slowing time to a crawl, she manifested herself out of the book and was eye-to-eye with a wizard that had his wand raised and pointed at Cadance.

A fast spell was needed, something she could cast before the next syllable of the spell finished. It wasn't a hard choice given she'd used this spell on countless wizards and witches in duels. Fracturing jinxes were so simple she'd learned it in her first year. She raised the caricature of her wand, pointed, and let loose with an orange blast of magic that homed-in on the wizard's wand.

Herbert Trencent looked shocked when he got less than half his spell out and his wand snapped in half when a jolt of orange magic connected with it. He had to squint to make out the shape of something between him and his intended target.

"What type of spell was that?" Cadance asked.

"Memory charm. He was trying to wipe part or all of your memory." Ginny felt sick to her stomach at how close it'd been to a successful ploy. "He can't cast now his wand is broken."

"Thank you, Ginny. Feel free to remain out now. The cat is out of the bag." Cadance walked up beside Ginny, and then walked with her toward Trencent. "What is the meaning of that spell you just attempted to cast on myself?"

Trencent looked from his broken wand to Ginny, but then settled his view on Cadance—a worried expression on his face. "Y-You misunderstand, Your Imperial Majesty, I was merely casting a-a detection spell. I only wished to divine the full extent of your magic heritage."

"That's b—" Ginny stopped. She wanted to give him a good yelling at, but Cadance had murmured a word under her breath—wait. So she bit back the rest of her outburst and instead focused on the other Ministry wizards around them.

There were three wizards who looked to have itchy hands wandering to where they might have a wand concealed. She was so focused she barely heard what Cadance said.

"While it's appreciated that you have the initiative to learn more about ponies, we would ask you not to attempt casting spells on us. Our protectors may take things the wrong way."

Trencent's eyes flicked toward Ginny. "I had meant to ask about that. This is the young child who became trapped in that evil artifact?"

Wincing at being called a young child, Ginny was about to protest against the book being called evil, but she heard Cadance inhale, and remembered she'd been told to keep quiet.

"The artifact itself bears no predilection toward evil or good. Evil magics were used in its making, but since then it has saved a life. As for my apprentice's stature, I myself had to face down an evil sorceress when I was but a filly. Sometimes the drive to fight for one's friends and family is far greater than age might suggest. She has both the skills and the ethics required of her station, and I couldn't be prouder of her." Cadance's voice had become a moving mountain of ideas. It was like nothing could stop her from saying her piece. "And I intend to continue to tutor her for as long as she would allow me."

Ginny found herself staring at Cadance in surprise. She hadn't heard the story Cadance was referring to, but she was excited to hear it now. She tried not to look at Cadance and grin, but it was a hard fight given the circumstances.

"Well, if that's your intent, I certainly won't get in the way—though I will be appraising her parents of your intentions." Slipping away his broken wand, Trencent gave a bow and then turned—leaving the pair behind without a shred of his magic clinging to them.

Only where the Ministry wizards were out of earshot did Cadance turn to Ginny. "You did great. We stopped their ploy and you proved yourself."

It was a moment of pride for Ginny, but she couldn't help but remember what Cadance had said before. "You really want me to be your apprentice? How will that work with Hogwarts?"

"We'll make it work. You only need to spend a few minutes with me in your book to spend an hour or two studying. We'll talk to our new duchess to arrange those minutes each day." Cadance looked around the party and noticed the Ministry wizards had all filtered out.

Candle Light slipped up beside Cadance and Ginny. "I arranged for our guest to be somewhere safe. Did everything go according to plan?"

"Mostly, but at the same time no. Herbert Trencent tried to modify my memories. Ginny stopped him, but I understand it was a near-thing?" Cadance looked to Ginny with a raised eyebrow and got a nod in reply. "So we have to count the Ministry as outwardly hostile now."

"That's exactly what my guest said would be used on her should she try to resign from the Ministry. I offered her safety and relief from such things. She's in the guest suite next to yours, with a pair of unicorn guards watching the door." Looking at Ginny, Candle gave the girl her brightest smile. "You stopped him?"

"Broke his wand in half with a jinx. It was surprising, though. He's meant to be a big-shot Obliviator, but any witch or wizard should have had a shield up if they were planning to do any kind of offensive magic." Now that she thought on it, Ginny had no idea why he wouldn't have.

"He thought he had me alone." Cadance spread a wing and gently used it to hug Ginny. "He didn't expect me to know what spell he was casting. He certainly didn't expect me to respond in time to stop him, and by then it would have been too late."

Ginny was surprised at how exacting Cadance was in her estimation. It was a complete shock to her, though, how close things had come to the Ministry getting the upper hand. "I can't be with you every day. Protecting you, I mean."

"Now we know they're hostile, though, we can take advantage of that." Clearing her throat, Cadance affected a posh voice. "You must understand, we don't want another misunderstanding like at the party, so we'll have to ask you to leave your wands at the door."

Candle snorted. "That will work. Do we have a way to detect if they try to sneak a wand in?"

When both of them looked at Ginny, she shook her head. "I've been focusing on dueling, remember? Maybe you could try asking one of Hogwarts' teachers?"

"A good idea if I've heard one. I'll try asking our new guest, then I'll head upstairs and ask there." Cadance nodded to Candle. "If you'll arrange for my husband to escort Ginny home?"

Bowing her head, Candle smirked and replied, "Of course, Your Imperial Majesty."





After the big night, things settled back down for Ginny. She got back into her training and didn't encounter a single Ministry wizard on her way to and from the castle. As the weeks passed, The Burrow got an owl-delivered letter from Hogwarts.



Ginevra Weasley, Ronald Weasley, Frederic Weasley, and George Weasley,

We expect school to start within two weeks, and are inviting any students who wish to continue their classes here at Hogwarts to be here shortly. Below is a list of things you're expected to bring. 



"Are we, Mum?" George asked.

Looking among her children, Ginny's mum closed her eyes for a moment. "I can't think of a safer place for you than Hogwarts. There're strange things afoot, and your father is landing himself right in the middle of it. Let's see that list and we'll get you your things somehow."

"Don't you mean ahoof, Mum?" Fred asked.

Now a pony herself, Ginny's mum was lightning fast with batting at her son's ears with a hoof. "You mind your manners up there. Your teachers are under extra stress now, and the last thing the school needs is to lose another Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

George leaned to the side and shoved Fred. "Well, we had Dumbledore at the end of last semester. If he keeps doing it, I can't see anythin' bad happening to him."

"Doesn't matter. I don't want to be hearing you two causing problems. Don't think I can't march up there and grab you both by the ears and haul you home again."

George and Fred looked at each other and sighed. "Yes, Mum."

"And you all watch out for Ginny. Don't let any strangers run-off with her book."

Ron joined in with the twins in their chorus. "Yes, Mum."

"And all of you, I want you to study hard and don't get caught up in any antics from the Ministry."

Now Ginny grinned and waited for her brothers to start before joining them. "Yes, Mum."

"We'll catch a train to Canterlot tomorrow and see about buying the things you need. The princess has been nice enough to sponsor our Ginny with her tuition, and when she heard about you other three she added a bit more to help. I tried to tell her we couldn't take it, but you can't just say no to royalty."

Ginny nodded to that. "Found that out too. They, I mean Cadance and Shining, expect to have whatever they ask for followed to the letter. But it—they don't ever ask for too much. I'm saying this wrong. What I mean is—"

"It's alright, dear. Things are just a little odd right now. Hopefully by next semester they'll be a bit calmer." Ginny's mum knew exactly how much hugging her daughter could take before it would break her spell—she'd been testing it every day of late—and tested it right then and there. "Now, I asked Minerva to send a letter to Harry, he should get it around the end of the week. He's going to try to contact Charlie."