Harry is a Little Ho(a)rse at Hogwarts

by Teraunce

1-5: Minerva’s Medical Mystery Migraines

Leaving the Leaky Cauldron, Minerva makes her way to a nearby alley, often used for apparition and charmed so muggles don’t notice it. Making the apparition jump to the Magnolia Crescent/Wisteria Way alley isn’t hard either.

Realizing she forgot to change into muggle clothes, she transforms into her Animagus form and bounds along the side of the road towards 11 Magnolia Road.

Chatting idly amongst themselves while eating slices of pizza and watching the telly, the party is interrupted shortly after 1 by the sound of a cat yowling outside one of the sitting room windows and batting at it to be let in. Looking over at the cat, Aletia quickly pulls out her wand and magically opens the window to let Professor McGonagall in.

Before anyone can really say anything, she makes a big leap off the windowsill and transforms back into being a human, landing in front of Lightning. Looking into his stunned eyes so like his mother’s, her mask cracks a bit as she grabs him in a big hug and tears up a bit.

Seeing Lightning look at her for confused help, Princess Celestia breaks the tableau by reassuringly saying, “He really is alive Professor McGonagall. A bit changed and different, but I’ve tried to ensure he’s been healthy.”

Lightning awkwardly pats Professor McGonagall on the back now that she’s been identified. “This isn’t how you told me she usually acted.”

At those words, Professor McGonagall blushes and pulls back a little. “I had to make sure you were real Lightning. Your parents were both star pupils of mine and close friends.” Looking around a bit at all the people, she turns to Aletia and asks, “Although I can point out the rainbow-haired one as probably being Rainbow Dash, would you mind introducing me to everyone here, Aletia?”

After the round of introductions is all made, Professor McGonagall pulls out her wand and points it in Lightning’s general direction. “With your permission Aletia and Lightning, I’d like to get some baseline readings of you, Lightning.”

Receiving nods from the both of them, Professor McGonagall pulls out a piece of parchment from a pocket and casts her medical scanning spell having the results be printed onto the piece of parchment in her other hand. Once done, she looks at what it printed out:

1. Unknown Light Magic Shield Spell surrounding body. Probable | | Caster: Lily Potter |
2. Unknown DARK magic located in forehead scar. Shield Spell is | | keeping it out. Probable Caster: Tom Marvelo Riddle (Voldemort) |
3. Unknown Benign Magic. Caster Unknown. |

Professor McGonagall reads over the paper, looks up to say something, looks back down at the paper, and then finally asks with forced calmness, “Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Applejack, may I perform the same scan on your sisters?”

They are concerned by the forced calmness but figuring there is a reason for it, they acquiesce to her polite demand. Pulling out three more pieces of parchment, she repeats the process and receives the following reports:

Looking over the papers once more, Professor McGonagall turns to Princess Celestia. “Is having both sexes common amongst your people, Aletia? I had noticed the bulge in Scootaloo’s pants but hadn’t wanted to comment on it until now. If I hadn’t performed the charm myself, I also wouldn’t have believed the result Lightning gave either because he doesn’t look female.”

Princess Celestia shakes her head in reply while sighing. “No, it is not common. In fact, those two are the first I know of to have managed to self-transfigure themselves into being both. The pair of them decided to perform an experiment and haven’t yet managed to figure out how to fix it on this side yet.”

Nodding in some understanding, Professor McGonagall presses on. “In your letter Aletia, you stated he became a pegasus, but the results state he is a changeling. They also state Scootaloo is a changeling-pegasus. Care to explain what a changeling is and why the discrepancy?”

“The portal, as stated, transfigures one to have the best chance of survival on the other side. At least, that is what I have managed to glean from Starswirl’s notes. I’m sure you noticed the very dark magic in Lightning’s scar and the shield surrounding him?” Not waiting for an answer, Princess Celestia continues her mini-lecture while the rest let her speak for them as they resume eating pizza, “The shield reacts to nothing but the scar and is powered by love. In order to ensure he got that love, it turned him into a Changeling, insectoid ponies that can naturally shapeshift and whose magic is normally powered by absorbing others’ love. Back home, my nation is actually undergoing some turmoil over the discovery of Scootaloo’s true species. Before the portal stripped her of her pegasus disguise, we all, herself included, had no idea she was a changeling hybrid or that changelings were a tribe of ponies and hybrids were possible.”

Professor McGonagall follows the given thread, digesting this information with a frown on her face. “I suspect this also means they can be either male or female?”

“Or both,” Aletia agrees. “So far, however, only these two have managed that feat and one of them by accident. Lightning, and recently Scootaloo, you’ve actually been a big help with the changeling hives hidden in Equestria by proving to them they can break their racial curse and come out of the shadows. Most of the hives’ rulers actually contacted me because one of their ‘drones’ saw us when your holes filled and your chitin, fur, and mane changed colors to match your normal pegasus disguise. We’re still working on why it happened.”

Professor McGonagall nods and then firmly asks, “What guarantee do I have, Aletia, that they won’t change shape and/or sex to get where they don’t belong?”

Princess Celestia just shrugs and says, “They can’t right now anyways as humans, but when Lightning here was six, I had him go through Equestria’s version of basic magic education. Since his birth certificate listed him as a pegasus, he ended up becoming his own fake female unicorn cousin with the same exact colors. Lightning, how uncomfortable was it for you to change your colors, change your species, and change your sex?”

Jumping slightly at the sudden quiz, Lightning answers, “changing my colors or proportions or age felt very uncomfortable and awkward and false. Meanwhile, becoming a unicorn wasn’t too bad, and my becoming fully a mare was awkward and uncomfortable, and I did so because I had to, but I still felt real.”

Princess Celestia walks over and looks at the results over Professor McGonagall’s shoulder. “Thank you, Lightning. You’ll note the body shape differences between Lightning and Scootaloo. From their own testing, the hives have told me that their own people each have their own sex/gender and unique non-changeling form that they feel most comfortable in. Changing that form, they all reported feeling like Lightning did, and outside of their true form or that alternate form, they can be shunted back into their true form by a spell. Besides, Metamorphaguses exist amongst your own people Professor McGonagall.”

Recoiling from that verbal riposte and looking for something to change the topic, Professor McGonagall spots the pizzas and their toppings. “You do know that is meat on those pizzas, right?”

Before Princess Celestia can say anything, Rainbow Dash responds to that attempt to shock them, “I can’t see any way this bacon and ham could be much tastier.”

Princess Celestia tries to soften Rainbow Dash’s answer. “Ahem. Yes, while we may be superficially similar to your mundane horses, anatomy wise we’re a lot closer to humanity. You will note a lack of beef, but that is because some cows are sapient back home, and beef is extremely expensive due to all the safety measures put in place to ensure all beef comes from non-sapient cows.”

“I’ve also noticed you seem oddly comfortable moving about on two legs and wearing clothes,” Professor McGonagall prods again.

Rarity pauses in her eating and softly boasts, “Thank you, darling, for your compliments. The most troubling part was stitching it so the slits for the tail and wings were invisible but still allowed them to function if present. I do wish you had told me about the bras P-Aletia.”

Princess Celestia gives Rarity a brief glare. “I also did say we were closer to you anatomy-wise. Even standing quadrupedally, our legs support most of the weight while our arms provide extra stability. Our fur is short and thin enough that we have to bundle up in winter, and any person who spends significant time contiguously above a crowd or bipedal is expected to wear something to cover up.” Princess Celestia then sighs as she admits, “You are, however, right that we are oddly comfortable. I’d hoped the link would stay dead but still asked Lightning to prepare, and from there, it spread to everyone you see here. We’re pioneers of what Equestria will be like if the gate stays open, but very little would have to be done to accommodate us Equestrians. And Rarity, I already told you I’m sorry about the bra thing. It’s been over nine years since I had last had to wear one.”

Noticing the verbal slip by Rarity, Professor McGonagall lets it slide to dig into something else. “Arms? Legs? You make it sound as though they aren’t the same thing.”

“Because they aren’t. Given Equiis has several primarily bipedal races like Spike over there and every other one can be bipedal indefinitely, might as well use humanoid terms, just replacing the word ‘hand’ with ‘hoof’ except with ‘handy.’ Do you have any other questions, Professor McGonagall?”

Curiosity piqued again, Professor McGonagall asks while pointing at Spike, “Who should I speak to regarding scanning Spike?”

Twilight pauses in her eating to ask, “Spike, are you ok with her scanning you? I won’t force you to, bro.”

Sighing, Spike answers with a nod letting McGonagall scan him, wondering what information she’ll pick up:

What she reads for species causes her to blurt out initially, “but dragons can’t speak!?” She then more calmly continues, “at least our dragons can’t. Why does he look fully human despite it listing him as part-dragon over here?”

“Ours can, even if eventually, they can grow to be as big as yours. As for why he looks human, since this is a day for telling secrets and you are old enough to understand. Twilight, you remember the day you hatched Spike?” Receiving a nod, Princess Celestia continues, “I lied about a few things. Spike’s egg was never supposed to hatch. He had a condition causing him to be stuck in eternal hibernation. What your magic surge did was fix him using your own genetics and blood magic. You are one of Spike’s three parents by blood. Your parents and I agreed it was best if he was your brother legally. I suspect the result of this is that every time he goes through the gate, he will come out either a dragon or human on this end and either a dragon or unicorn on the Equestrian end.”

Both Twilight and Spike sit stunned for a moment digesting this information before looking over at each other and agreeing, “This changes nothing.”

Professor McGonagall huhs at that as well before looking out the window and going, “I have no more questions Aletia. I need to report back to Professor Dumbledore soon anyways.” Pulling out another sheet of parchment, she taps it with her wand, causing the same text to appear twice. She then tears one off and hands it to Aletia. “Here’s your reminder to meet me at the Leaky Cauldron at noon on the 29^th of July.”

After a hearty round of goodbyes, Professor McGonagall then heads into the bathroom to apparate, leaving everyone else to discuss what they learned and also watch the Telly.