//------------------------------//
// Chapter 8 
// Story: Harry Potter and the Evil Within 
// by Damaged 
//------------------------------//

I never used to sleep in. Back in England, living with my aunt and uncle, I had to be up first to start breakfast and get the kitchen cleaned up. Even in Hogwarts, when it was in Scotland, I would wake up early. I guess it was because the bed felt wrong—soft.

Being coiled up in a lamia's tail coils, however, was just about the best way to sleep. If Addera didn't wake me up, I'd have slept in until noon every day.

"Wake up, Harry Potter, or I will dump you on the floor."

"That's mean, Addera." I had to move quickly as she uncoiled, gathering my legs under me and shaking my coat out. "I'll go have a shower."

Leaving her, I went to take care of my morning things. It was always fun to just unload and get clean and dry in the most wizard way possible—I would wash myself clean and then think angry thoughts.

Dry, I walked back to our room and grabbed my saddlebags and books, then headed down to the Gryffindor common room. 

"There you are, Harry!" Ron rushed over to me. "Professor Lupin came in earlier and took Ginny to see McGonagall. He said that when you wake up you had to go th—"

"Ah, Harry." Lupin was taller than all of us owing to being half-blood and standing upright. "Please come with me if you're done with your morning rituals."

It was all happening so quick that I barely had time to even think of asking before Ron did, "Professor, what's going on? Harry an' my sister didn't do nothin'."

"No, they're not in trouble," the professor said, his tone was always so calm and even. I had to wonder if he could teach me anything about reducing my need to let off steam. "There's just a few things that need discussing."

He led the way outside, and even thought I looked back at Ron to see if he had any idea what was happening, he shrugged at me. "Sir, what is—?"

"I have been asked not to discuss anything, sorry Harry. I don't know anything, anyway, except who the headmistress has asked me to collect." That's when I realized he was a pony now.

"You changed?" I asked him.

"It seemed silly and I was starting to miss magic. What's a wizard who can't cast a spell?" He was still wearing the clothes he'd worn when I'd last seen him. Was being a pony something so familiar now that it barely even registered?

"Uh, I guess he'd be a muggle—wait, more like a squib." I thought about it more, but squib seemed the closest. We were almost all the way to the office when I realized that he hadn't said anything else. He knocked, McGonagall's voice answered from within, and I was shoved through and the door closed behind me.

In the room Ginny and McGonagall were waiting for me. Walking forward, I jumped up onto a free chair and looked over to where Ginny's book sat, then to her.

"Now you're both here, I can begin. We have come into a list of names that the Ministry wish to know more information about. The pair of you are on it." She looked at me, raising an eyebrow. "You don't look impressed, Harry?"

"Yeah. It's bad that they want to know about me, but Voldemort did a lot more than get to know me. Besides," I said, "I guess that puts me and Ginny in the same basket, so we might as well spend more time together since we will be an easier target to protect."

"That's a good idea!" Ginny said, looking about as excited as a living caricature could. "We can shore up each others' weak points. Maybe even lead the Ministry on a wild goose chase."

It was a good point. "That would let the others on the list do the things the Ministry don't want them to do."

"You will cease this line of questioning; both of you. You are not to attempt anything that would put either of you in danger, and that includes acting as bait for the Ministry. The others on the list are all adults and all of them are far better equipped for dealing with anything the Ministry could pit against them." McGonagall didn't sound happy at the idea. In fact, she sounded even less happy than usual. "The only reason I'm telling you is so you could be aware in case you notice anyone spending more than the usual amount of time watching you.

"Now, please make your way to the great hall and try not to speak a word of anything I've said to anyone else." When I jumped to my feet, McGonagall cleared her throat. "Harry, please escort Miss Weasley."

"Oh, right. Sorry, Ginny." I used a locomotion charm to pick up her book and put it in my saddlebag.

Ginny followed me, walking beside me, on my way out the door. "Thanks, Harry. I guess this has to do with them attacking me and Searing Spear. Oh, or me breaking Mr. Trencent's wand when he tried to obliviate Cadance."

"We probably shouldn't talk about this outside the Gryffindor tower. You never know when someone is watching or listening out here." I sped up, wanting to get back to the great hall as quick as I could. There was something odd now, the feeling of being watching might just be my imagination, but now I was imagining it I couldn't stop.

The relief I felt as I stepped into the hall was palpable. With everyone around me, it was easier to blend in and be invisible. What surprised me the most was seeing Hermione and Draco sitting close and talking. Maybe they were on the list too? Why else would Hermione be talking to him?

I made my way to the Gryffindor group where Addera and three of Ginny's brothers sat. I bounced once onto the bench and a second time to reach Addera's coils. Rather than talk, I instead used a locomotion charm to reach out and pull a plate over that was a complete English breakfast.

"Well?" Ron asked.

Ginny looked at me. I started eating. "New dueling practice for me. The headmistress suggested Harry to help me practice more since he can absorb attacks easily." She said it so smoothly that it didn't even sound like a lie. Wait, was it a lie? They could have talked about anything before I arrived.

"Maybe that's what Draco and Hermione have been talking about. They've sat together all through breakfast." Ron pointed at the pair. "It's not natural. I mean, I know Draco is different now, but how can she be so interested in him?"

"Ron, are you jealous?" I asked.

His head snapped around and he glared at me instead of Draco and Hermione. "What? Jealous of him? With her? Harry, that's horrible. Hermione is—She's my friend is all."

Beside me (and technically under me too), Addera was working her way slowly through a plate of sausages and eggs. She looked at Ron while she chewed. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking about, but just as I was going to she took another bite of sausage.

"What's this?" George asked. "Why's our brother blushing like that?"

Ginny giggled. "Harry just asked him if he's jealous of Hermione spending time with Draco."

Fred reached past his twin to pat Ron on the shoulder with one hoof. "Better luck next time, Ron."

"There are plenty more fish in the sea." George elbowed Fred aside and took up the role of faux comforter. "Speaking of, how's your Alicia doing, Fred?"

"She's feeling right sick these days, George. No matter what we do, she's always feeling a little horse."

Grunting out a groan, Ron turned to the side and tried to punch George in the shoulder, but his brother just moved with the hoof. "You two are the worst."

Fred looked like he'd just been given a birthday and Christmas present at the same time. "No, Ron, what Addera's having for breakfast is the wurst." 

I groaned. If no one stopped Fred, we'd have this all day. "I wonder what they're talking about?"

"Who?" Fred asked.

George poked Ron in the ribs with his hoof. "Ron's girlfriend and Draco."

"Hermione is not my girlfriend!" Ron's shout had, predictably, come just as the room became quiet, ensuring that everyone—including Hermione—would hear it. His eyes widened and he buried his face in his forelegs.

Before the twins could even start up on Ron again, Hermione sat down beside Addera and me. "What was all that about?" she asked.

"'All that'?" Ron asked. "What were you doing with Draco? And why didn't anyone remember seeing you get up and leave the tower today?"

"Their first lovers' dust-up?" Fred asked, to which George nodded solemnly. Both of them laughed and backed away when Ron turning on them again. 

Turning my own attention back to Hermione, I asked, "Where were you if you weren't in the tower?"

"I can't say." Hermione huffed her breath and rolled her eyes in Ron's direction.

Sure enough, Ron came back with, "You were with Draco all night, weren't you? What do you see in him?"

Turning to glare down at Ron, Hermione looked like she was about to have a grade-A witch moment. "At least Draco doesn't lie about what he feels anymore. Unlike someone I could name."

"What do you mean?" Ron asked, only to me it sounded more like a demand.

"I mean, Ronald Weasley," Hermione said, "Draco is being a far better friend to me now than you are." Standing up, she plucked the two salad sandwiches off the table (that had just appeared, already wrapped in foil) and stalked back down the hall and out the door.

"Ron?" I asked.

"What is it, Harry?"

"You're being a git." Standing up, I bounced off Addera's coils, leaving her and Ron behind. When I got to the door of the great hall, I saw Hermione heading for the stairs. "Wait, Hermione!"

She waited for me to catch up before continuing along the hall to the stairs. "Can you believe him?"

Should I say something or just let her get it out? Witches were the hardest to understand, but I decided to sigh. "He's worried about you, but he's also being stupid about it."

I guess it was the right thing to say because Hermione just stopped walking beside me and let out a sigh. "You're right, Harry, but he's being overprotective. Draco has turned over a new leaf, and he's helping me with a project for school."

"Figured it was something like that. You both seem kinda into classes this year—well, you're always into classes, but Draco seems to be too." I kept pace with her when she started walking again. "Where are we going?"

"Gryffindor. I need to get changed for classes." She led the way upstairs, picking the right ones to get us to the entrance to the tower. "Does he really think we were t-together?"

I had to rush to think if I'd ever heard her stammer like that. She sounded worried about something. "He might. I don't know, but has he ever said anything like that?" When she shook her head, I let out a snort. "I figure, then, that it's his problem."

She turned and looked down at me, smiling. "Thanks, Harry. I needed to hear that. You can eat one of my sandwiches if you're still hungry." Hermione gestured to her foil-wrapped breakfast as she put it down, then made her way to the girls side of the Gryffindor tower.

I glanced at her sandwich, but I'd eaten enough to get by without having to steal her breakfast. Besides, she was bigger than me. Sitting there, guarding her food, I watched George's salamander dancing in the fireplace.

Fire was pretty awesome, but I was going to have to work around the fact I couldn't do much else but fire. Like, when I tried to use my horn to hold things. How could I stop it incinerating everything I touch?

Maybe it would just take practice? I guess the easy way to test that is to find a safe way of practicing and, seeing a log sitting beside the fireplace, I had my answer.

Focusing through my horn, I tried to pick up the log. Successful, I hefted it deeper into the fireplace just as my magic ignited it. To my surprise the salamander jumped from the core of the fire onto the log even before I put it down. 

Remembering what Snape's experiment had found, I used my magic to pet the salamander—who showed every sign that he enjoyed it. I moved closer and lay down right in front of the fire, continuing to pet… I think they called the salamander Ember.

The soft clopping of hooves on wood let me know when Hermione was back. Lifting my head from the fireplace, I looked up to where I knew she was standing. "Sorry. Ember looked lonely and I figured my telekinesis wouldn't hurt him."

"I need to learn how to do that. Can you teach me?" Hermione asked.

Turning back to look at her, I raised my eyebrow. "You want to learn how to set things on fire with your horn?"

She froze and looked at me for a second. I could practically hear the gears turning in her head. "You're probably right. Maybe I'll ask Draco to teach me."

Ah, there we go. Now the awkwardness is back. Hooray… "I don't think we'll ever be friends—err, Draco and me, that is. We just…" A new silence built after I trailed off. Turning my attention to Ember, I did my best to avoid thinking about the pink elephant in the room.

"Too much history, right? Draco talks the same way about you."

"Should life be this confusing at just thirteen?" I asked.

Hermione, towering above me, shrugged. "I don't know, Harry, but it sure seems to be that way."





"Pathetic." Sombra examined the documents that he'd had Herbert Trencent write for him. To him, the method by which the Ministry used mental control through memory removal was primitive, but at the same time utterly ruthless and almost impossible to remove. It was the last part he enjoyed the most.

All too often, of the centuries he'd reigned, had Sombra seen his minions stolen away and his delicate work to control them undone. No more. "Put it on."

The small circlet of metal looked innocuous enough, but Herbert had watched it be forged and witnessed the depth and delicacy of magic that had gone into it. Part of him screamed to stop, to run, to go and beg the ponies for protection from the monster beside him—but that part was not just weak, it was shouted down by the rest of his mind. Picking it up, Herbert touched the clasp at the back and reached up to his neck with it.

Sombra felt the link form when Herbert fitted the collar, felt it settle as the little clasp clicked and magically obliterated itself—leaving the circle unbroken. "Good. Very, very good. Now, feed me your magic so I can more easily make a second one." He didn't want to admit it, not even to a completely controlled creature, but just making one of the collars had cost him the majority of his power.

He wanted another two of the collars for two very special ponies. In one, a stallion, he'd sensed such devotion and dedication as to make the most ruthless ruler in Equestria's history drool. In the second one, an alicorn, there was a limitless power that would let him make as many collars as he wished.

Then, more than ever before, he could own the Crystal Empire and all its citizens. With the power of an alicorn under his control—nothing would stop him.





The train ride to Baltimare had brought Luna, Percy, and a small contingent of guards closer to their target far faster than any form of transport—even flight—would have. But now they had a problem. "An airship will run the risk of having a dragon take it as a challenge. A seagoing ship would be far slower and still run the risk of attracting dragon attention."

Percy Weasley looked over the notes. "You specifically asked for pegasi for the flying, right? You said there is no point in trying to fight a dragon."

"Just because they lack spellcasting, the Royal Dragoon pegasi are quite useful if a fight is required. But, yes, I believe we'll take an airship. There is a royal skiff kept in each city in Equestria—maintained for just such situations." The matter had, of course, been decided in advance. She'd sent word to have their airship ready to fly.

It only took a scant twenty minutes to board and stow their equipment on the airship. Percy, more used to a society that avoids showing off the fantastic and magical, seeing flying airships and casual magic done by unicorns in the street—going about their daily lives—was starting to get jumpy. Part of him was always suspicious and expecting a Ministry of Magic wizard to jump out and point a finder (or hoof, these days) at him and accuse him of not doing something about them.

"You look on edge. Is something amiss?" Luna asked Percy when their things were settled on the ship.

"In my world—the one I came from—magic is kept hidden from the humans who can't use it. All this"—he gestured expansively to encompass the ship, the city, and as much of Equestria as he could conceive of—"makes me think our police are about to stomp in and obliviate everyone."

Feeling the gentle tug as the ship was cast-off, Luna gave Percy's question much thought. "This Ministry was those police, correct?" When he nodded, she continued her musing. "Seems like they were trying to hoard magic for magic's sake. We prefer to share our secrets."

Nodding, Percy opened his mouth to comment on that system when the door to the small map room opened and a pegasus guardpony in armor saluted.

Swirlywhirl waited for Luna to salute her back before relaxing. The order of address was something drummed into every Dragoon, but being the highest ranking of the nine sent with Luna meant she was always going to be the one doing most of the talking. "Your Highness, we have cast-off and are underway. We picked up the two scouts who have been keeping an eye on dragon activity. They reported that the dragon youths are restless again, but are staying clustered on the island itself." 

Musing on the information, Luna smiled. "Good work, sergeant. Send in the scouts at their convenience—and I mean theirs. You may also relax the address to informal."

Relaxing somewhat, Swirlywhirl nodded. "Thank you, ma'am. Our journey should be no more than a week with the course we have laid in. I'll have those scouts come and see you." Getting a nod from Luna, Swirlywhirl gave a more relaxed salute and backed out of the doorway—closing it behind her. 

Dialing back to where their conversation had left off, Percy said, "I do think your system is superior, but eighteen years of doing something one way is a hard habit to break."

"Well, no time like the present to work on that. Cadance mentioned you haven't had any practical training in Equestrian magic yet. Is this correct?" Luna used her magic to pull the supply of books she brought with her closer.

Feeling a little panic, Percy shook his head, then nodded it vigorously. "Yes. I mean, that's correct. I figured out how to use my horn like a wand to cast wizard magic."

"Your magic, wizard and witch magic, is extremely efficient and seems tailor made to work with your particular scope of memorization. Unicorn magic is a little more wasteful, but with practice it is easier to use and more flexible than I've seen wizard magic to be." Luna had to smile at the idea of unicorn magic being wasteful. Twilight Sparkle would call it so—after seeing wizard magic—but it would pain her with every spoken syllable.

The prospect was exciting for Percy and, despite having just finished his studies at Hogwarts and plunged into adulthood, he found himself diving into learning magic anew for nearly ten hours a day.

Over the course of two weeks, he'd gotten the base understanding of how Equestrian magic works and was actively studying magic books to memorize patterns that could be cast silently, completely still, and with barely a thought. 

The scenery became mundane enough, though curious. Volcanic activity was on their left side and open ocean was on their right. Keeping a good distance from the coast, Percy started to notice something in the skies above the volcanoes. "What are those?"

"Dragons," Luna said. "They will hopefully keep their distance. Young dragons are the most worrying—they haven't yet developed the core of draconic apathy that suppresses curiosity and a need for dominance."

Knowing his brother's favorite topic to a fare-thee-well, Percy was feeling a little confused. "Dragons? Big brutes that would rip you apart as soon as look at you?"

"I believe we are calling two different creatures dragons." Gesturing to the figures flying in the distance. "They are only young dragons. They grow many, many times larger than this ship at adulthood, become immune to just about anything anypony could use on them—including common sense and magic—but become more apathetic as they age."

"You're speaking like they're intelligent."

Reminded firmly that Percy was from a different world, Luna nodded. "They are. Yours aren't?"

"My brother likes to think they are. They're not, though, he just has a soft heart and a tough hide." Percy closed his eyes and thought about meeting his brother again. It was exciting, given he'd been steeling himself against the idea he might not have made it.

Luna chuckled at the last comment. "Your brother sounds like a young alicorn I used to know. She made friends with a manticore."

"Manticore? They might be another thing that's different on our world. They are considered a dangerous pest and are to be killed if found."

Recoiling a little, but forcing herself to concede that Equestrian manticores were dangerous too, she sighed. "Body of a lion, leathery wings, and a scorpion tail?"

"Right." Percy had to just accept that creatures with the same name, that looked the same, were very different here than on Earth. "Can you test my patterns again, please?"

Her face relaxing, Luna nodded. She could remember a young filly going to her mentor and asking for the same help. "Start with light, and let's work our way up."





Rake felt embarrassed—it had been Inferno who'd seen the airship first. The moment she was aware of it, though, she felt all the hoarding desires rush back. Narrowing her eyes on what she could only think of as a target, she stretched her wings and used her powerful rear legs to launch into the sky.

"Rake!" Charles Weasley galloped out of the cave he'd taken to living in and charged along underneath the dragoness. "Rake! Land, dammit!"

Opening her mouth as she soared upward, Rake had her jaws wide and was just about to unleash her flames when her brother cut in front of her and forced her to break off her attack. "What are you doing?!"

"Idiot dragon. They aren't here to take your hoard!" Inferno glared down his sister, fire leaving his lips in drips and sprays. "Land and wait for them to come and say hello. They will be impressed by the size of your hoard." Sometimes he wondered why he bothered, but Inferno would never let his sister down. "Get down now!"

The intensity of her brother's fire snapped Rake out of her focus on the airship. She shook her head, looked at him, and felt sheepish. Spiraling down to the settlement, she pointedly avoided saying anything until they landed, which is when she lifted her talon up, claws folded, and gave her brother a fist-bump. "Thanks."

Inferno shrugged his shoulders and gave his sister a smile. "That's why we make a good team." Smiling was something new and strange for him. In only a few short months he'd been steadily trained how to smile by Beatrice Bent-Twig. 

Grunting, Rake lowered herself back to the grass and let out a huff of scorching air—not quite enough to ignite the grass, but close. When Charlie walked up to her, she closed her eyes. "Shh. Leave sleeping dragons lie."

"That doesn't work, Rake, if you're the one saying it." Charlie walked right up to her, stood in front of her face, and reached a hoof out to poke her between the eyes. The moment his hoof made contact, her eyes flew open to reveal they were crossed. "There, see? Now, when they arrive, if they ask what you were doing—you were checking to ensure they weren't a threat, okay?"

"Huh?"

"You're the guardian of our town here, so you were doing your job."

"That's a load of clay. I would have destroyed that ship and everyone on it if Inferno didn't stop me. I can't control myself, Charlie." She had never spoken softer words before in her life, but she trusted Charlie not to repeat them. A dragon like her had a reputation to uphold.

Sitting down beside her, leaning against Rake's shoulder, Charlie asked, "What do other dragons do when something threatens their hoard?"

"They kill whatever it is and destroy it so it can never come back."

Ignoring the vehemence in Rake's words, Charlie moved on. "And, is there some way that you could trust another dragon to not steal your hoard?"

"If they gave me something, I might trust them just to look. It'd need to be something good." Rake tried to muddle through her feelings for Charlie and hoards in general. It was hard, mostly because her brain kept wanting to bend all her thoughts back up to the airship that was slowly approaching the ground.

"So them giving us a magic fireplace that lets wizards and witches travel here and back would be a good trade to look and talk to me?" 

Rake lifted her head and turned her neck to look at Charlie from one eye. "Maybe. They better not ask you to leave."

"Doesn't matter if they do, Rake. If Mum wants to see me, she can just step through the fireplace and come here to say hello. Everyone else, too." Standing up and stretching, Charlie leaned sideways and put his whole weight against Rake. "Everyone called me crazy for liking dragons so much. There was one girl in Hogwarts that told me, 'If you like dragons so much, why don't you just marry one?'"

"W-What do you mean by that?" Rake asked, trying to control the odd feeling inside.

"Mostly, that I prefer the company of dragons more than that of other people." Seeing the airship starting to graze the ground, Charlie straightened and started to walk toward it. "Come on, old dragon, come and defend what's yours and tell them to sod off if they try anything silly."

"'Sod off'?" Rake asked, standing on all fours and walking slowly at Charlie's side.

"It's fighting with words, Rake. Swearing at them, telling them where they can go and what they can do there." Shrugging, Charlie nodded at the huge blue pony at the front of the ship. "Her especially. You don't need to take no flak from them. If she tries something, put yourself between her and me."

"But try using words first. Got it." Rake smiled, and a smiling dragon—to anyone not used to seeing a dragon smile—was a truly terrifying sight. She knew this and was happy to consider it the first part of her fighting without fighting.

Alighting on the ground, without any guards, Luna dipped her head. "I apologize if we arrived unannounced. I hope we aren't interrupting?" She straightened again in time for Percy Weasley to rush past her and freeze before Charlie.

"That's my brother's cloak," Percy said, gesturing at it. "Are you—?"

Charlie laughed and jumped at his brother, tackling Percy in a big hug. "Hey, is that any way to greet your big brother? Looking good, Percy. How is everyone back home?"

"Mom cried until Harry got us your letter. It was hard to watch, but George helped keep us all going. Hogwarts was part of some huge city from here, and when it came back—well, now there's a lot more to Hogwarts.

"But we're all doing okay. The big thing—no wandmakers made it through, that we know of. That's why finding you was so important. You made a wand and it works!" Letting go of his brother finally, Percy froze when he heard a huge throat being cleared just beside him. Looking up, he realized there was a huge dragon right there. "Uh, hello?"

Charlie hoped that she wouldn't pick now to try fighting for him. "Rake, this is Percy—my little brother. Percy, this is Rake. She and her brother are protecting us here."

"Oh." Still looking up, Percy tried his best to work with the idea that she was an intelligent creature and not just his brother's latest pet. "Thank you for looking after my idiot brother."

Of all the dragons to bring up family with, Rake was probably the only one who would actually understand what it meant. "Idiot brothers are important. I figured this one would have someone who'd be upset if he became cat food or something."

"You should have seen him the first time he found a dragon. He just blindly walked toward it and reached out a hand to pet the thing." Percy bumped his brother with a hoof. "Took you how long to get that hand regrown?"

"Ugh, this was a bad idea," Charlie said.

"I think this was an excellent idea." Rake smirked at the sibling dynamic the pair had as it tipped in Percy's favor. "How long did it take?"

"Six months. Mum wouldn't let the doctor speed it up—she said it would be a good lesson in not sticking parts of myself into holes." As soon as he said it, Charlie realized that he had a princess still listening to their chatter. "Sorry, uh…" He was at a loss. "How am I meant to address you?"

"Just Luna will be fine. We are not in Equestria—in fact, we are in your lands, lady dragon." Again Luna dipped her head. "First and foremost, we are trying to locate and make contact with all the wizards and witches who came to Equestria. There are some who are not as easy to reach as yourselves, if you can believe it."

Considering the way Luna acted, Rake was somewhat content with how things were going. She liked Percy—liked how happy Charlie was to have some family near—and so far she felt no twinge of protectiveness toward Charlie. "There are others here. They are all under my direct protection. If they don't wish to leave, you will not make them."

The threat in Rake's words came through loud and clear to Luna. She wasn't sure if the dragon before her had a fully adult layer of scales, but if her resistance to dream magic was anything to go by, it was not a fight Luna wanted anything to do with. "We are in complete agreement there. This land is not mine to rule—it is yours—and since Charles looks to be perfectly comfortable with your leadership, the crown of Equestria wishes only to extend a hoof of friendship."

Rake mulled the words over and found them acceptable. Her need to protect assuaged, she relaxed and nodded to Luna's declaration. "Good. Friendship doesn't come easy to dragons, but we're trying." Turning her head, Rake looked back in time to see Simon and May Bent-Twig approaching.

May was typical for a half-blood witch in Equestria, no longer having hands, she walked upright beside her husband and not shy about showing her arm/forelegs as being a soft and pale blue crystal. Simon, atypically for a squib, bore a horn upon his head and a body of orange crystal. 

"Friends of yours?" Simon asked his wife.

May was careful not to shake her head lest it be noticed. "I wouldn't know if they are, but I think the big one is the pony Charlie was talking about. Not sure who the short one is. She looks kind of important."

"I'm sure she is. Doesn't mean I'll treat her any different than anyone else." Simon stopped talking as they got closer. "We have visitors?"

Charlie cleared his throat. "Yeah, we do. This is Luna and the runt beside her is Percy, my brother. Percy, Luna, this is Simon and May Bent-Twig. They're living here with their three children."

Luna was well aware that Charlie had left her title off. There were royalty in Equestria's history that would have seen that as a slight, but given her efforts to not hold herself above anyone else, she just let it go. "I'm to assume you and your children are from Earth too?"

May nodded. "Bea, Bella, and Stefan are all doing well with their powers, and Charlie's little ones are doing great." She couldn't help it, and the look of shock on Percy's face confirmed that he'd fallen for her joke.

"My two…?" It took Charlie way too long to realize to whom May was referring. "Oh, right. Yeah, they're doing fine. They sure do help to keep the place safe."

"Charlie! Mum's going to be—" Percy was cut off as two Earth dragons swooped in, one landing beside Charlie and licking his cheek. "You brought them here? They're your 'little ones'?"

Luna puzzled out that the two creatures were not from her world. She observed them and quickly realized they had no intelligence and were nothing more than pets. "If you don't mind, we can set this Floo device up and leave you to your community here."

"Where will be the other locations on the Floo network?" May asked.

When Luna looked at him, and so did everyone else, Percy realized this was his cue. "There are already Floos installed in the castle in Canterlot and in the Crystal Empire's castle. At this time we're being a little cautious with them, since we still have elements from the Ministry, uh…" Trailing off, Percy realized he was going further than he needed to. "Charlie, the Ministry has gone mad. They're attacking people and everything. We put the Floos in guarded rooms. Yours will be the only one not in one."

"I don't think that will be a problem. There are not many places for someone to hide, here, and many big creatures that would delight in picking their bones clean." Rake flashed her teeth. "And I'm not even one of them."

Appreciating the joke in the spirit of friendship, Luna nodded and reached a hoof to her chin. "The question is, how do I trick them into traveling here?"

Tilting her head back, Rake laughed a gout of flame into the sky. All the stories she'd heard of ponies seemed counter to Luna. The alicorn knew how to joke, show respect, and so far hadn't tried to actually take her hoard. "Let them through, Inferno would love some target practice."

Walking up beside his sister, Inferno gave his own version of a smile. Instead of fangs on display, though, liquid fire leaked from his mouth without any effort at all on his part. Unlike his sister, who was more comfortable on all fours now, he still walked upright. "Sure. What do they look like?"

"I think the easiest way would be to ensure that anyone who comes here is someone Charlie knows and can verify. Or, if there was a group, at least one person he knows." Luna looked at Charlie and got a nod from him. "Perfect. Now, I understand we require a fireplace to install this transportation method?"

"Uh, yeah. I mean, yes, we do." Percy had the complex ritual safely written down and stored along with the few precious reagents needed.

"I'd rather not have it in one of our homes, if you don't mind. Perhaps we can build an outside fireplace?" Simon was more than a little worried about the way they'd described the Ministry. He'd spent his whole life under the specter of don't tell anyone about magic without having the ready ways a wizard should be able to protect against it.

"That should be a simple matter." Luna lit her horn and started pulling on magic. More and more she dragged into herself before finally opening a conduit into the ground itself. The chimney was the first part to breach the surface. It grew from the rock far beneath the plane, shaped by Luna's magic and brought to the surface by her will.

The former humans all stared in awe as Luna ripped a huge and ornate stone fireplace from the ground itself. Round, about two ponylengths from the center to its outer edge, it had plenty of room to make a full bonfire within it.

"Will that be sufficient?" Luna asked.