//------------------------------//
// Chapter 21: A Change of Pace Part 3 
// Story: Fallout: Equestria – The Hogwarts Chronicles 
// by Fanficwriter1994 
//------------------------------//

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I yawned as I awoke in the morning, my dreams had been fairly calm this night, which I was thankful for at least.

“Hey there, had a good sleep?” Asked Lyra, nuzzling me as I sighed contently, damn you don’t realize how much you miss out on something until you get it, you know that? I don’t think I’d be able to make it through school entirely if I hadn’t been adopted and introduced ot this, who knows what sort of experience I would’ve had?

“Yeah mom.” I mumbled before yawning again and getting up to help with putting away our camp.

We packed up the tent and other equipment we had used, a cleaning charm was quite useful there, then continued on our way. Thanks to our destinations being along this Highway there was no danger of us getting lost, thankfully.

We eventually made it to Salt Cube City, or the settlement made in the ruins of it. There were a few of the skyscrapers still left in the city, but on the other hoof, most of the rest was ruins with tents or makeshift houses around. There were a lot of traders though. Especially around the central dome.

“So, there was just this huge cube of salt in the center of the city, and that’s the main attraction it had?” I asked, not quite sure what to think about this whole concept.

“To be fair, it was the biggest natural deposit of salt found in Equestria up to that point. The thing was carved out of the rock and while it was a perfect cube, it was so little work to make it into one afterward that people considered it a bit of a miracle.” Explained Bon-Bon to me as we made our way inside after paying the toll for entry into the city, it wasn’t that much to be honest, 20 caps a pony, 10 for a foal.

I had a feeling, this was related to a certain undead filly.

“Well, you seem to know a whole lot more about that cube than the rest of us folks, had a Ghoul tell you that?” Asked a voice and as we turned, a older stallion come over, he was accompanied by a mare with a radio tower for a Cutie Mark who looked… out of place here.

“No sir, Bon-Bon and I were locked up in Cryogenic pods in Stable 111 for 200 years. So, we’ve been around when that cube was discovered. I take it you’re a local?” Asked Lyra, looking at the pair of Ponies as they come over.

“You could say so, you can call me Mister White, I had run the White Apples Tribe until a few months ago along with being employer of the Hired Hooves. Though I’m now retired, and just wander as a trader for fun.” He explained and I blinked, that was kind of weird, and I didn’t get most of what he meant by that.

“I see, well we’re only passing through, we heard that a filly in a Mark VI Omni-Environmental Suit had come here, a foal named Puppysmiles searching for her mother, Rainy Days.” Stated Bon-Bon and I noticed the stallion tensing a moment.

“So you’re searching for the little Ghost?” Asked the mare with Mister White, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes that is what some people have called her I think. Did you meet her?” Asked Lyra and the pair looked to one another for a moment.

“Well, you can say that.” Started Mister White, sighing. “I kind of hired her, thought that suit may make it easier for her to see into that dome over there. Turned out quite alright but I didn’t know she was invincible so… Not the proudest day of my life, even though it saved the town.” He admitted and… yeah, it was kind of a shit thing to do, sending a small child out to do something.

“Why didn’t you send someone else?” Asked Lyra, sounding concerned even though we had kind of figured out that Puppysmiles hadn’t been a normal filly by any stretch of the imagination.

“I admit, my actions were… well not much point to dance around the pot, is there? I was a horrible person. I was only interested in getting an idea on how to get rid of the Ghouls. I didn’t realize how messed up it was until it was done. She was just this strange filly who wandered in wearing a state-of-the-art environmental protective suit and wanted to go in anyway so… Yeah. Naturally now I know she was a literal ghost and basically invincible anyway.” Explained Mister White and yeah, it was shitty of him to do so.

“Well, you wouldn’t know by any chance a place where we can place a portal mirror we have with us to return to the school? I don’t think we’ll make it much further before Rose has to return for classes tomorrow.” Explained Bon-Bon and I bit my tongue on that one. I’d love to continue and find something more about Puppysmiles, but yeah. School was necessary.

“I believe we can arrange that. Hogwarts has become somewhat of a household name as a trade hub after all and I believe it won’t take much convincing to set it up.” Explained Mister White and smiled. “In fact, if you return next week, I assume that is when it would be weekend for that school, I think I’ll have something ready for the three of you. Just as a bit of a favor.” He stated and we looked to one another.

That sounded… interesting, at least?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Sunset Shimmer ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset Shimmer, once a student of Princess Celestia and one who had fled Equestria out of selfish desires.

Sunset Shimmer, now lead singer of the Rainbooms and graduate of Centerlot Highschool.

Sunset Shimmer, an explorer who had gone through the mirror after hearing it had become active again, only to find herself in an unknown location.

The Mirror in question was one which had connected to a place called Earth, one with humans and no ponies, but also no overt magic. That was until Sunset had run afoul of some “Wizards” and had, instinctively, tapped into her magic without knowing what was going on. The MACUSA had been surprisingly understanding when they come after her, surprising for an isolationist culture like this.

Then, a few months ago, at the same time that news come that the British magic school of “Hogwarts” had disappeared, the mirror become active. The mirror which had transported her to Earth and which sat in the base of the schoolyard fountain in Canterlot High.

It had gone inactive 2 years earlier, a few months before Sunset would’ve gone back to steal the Element of Magic for herself which was back before she had gotten therapy and been helped by her later on friends. But she hadn’t noticed the mirror going active until she was approached by the MACUSA again, this time with rather… disturbing questions.

“Does this look familiar?” Asked the magical policemen as he showed Sunset Shimmer a strange, bloated creature which was clearly not from Earth and was a sickly green color.

“I- not really? I mean, it looks like a deformed Parasprite, I think?” She answered, uncertain about the creature. It would be pretty disturbing for the cute and ravenous creatures to… change like that.

“You’re correct. This creature is a so called a “Bloatsprite”, it come through that mirror portal last week and had to be destroyed as it was attacking students. Before you ask, our knowledge of what this is called comes from the Hogwarts incident.” Explained the MACUSA agent and Sunset frowned. She remembered reading about that, in one of those magic newspapers she had subscribed to a while back.

Hogwarts, a British school for magic, the premier school of such in Europe alongside Berbeauxton’s in France and Durmstrang in the upper Northern reaches of Europe, had vanished near the end of the 1991-1992 school year and was replaced by some post-apocalyptic looking landscape.

“How are they related?” She asked, it concerned her deeply if she was honest.

“Hogwarts was, apparently, transported to another world. That world had suffered a severe apocalypse which involved magical weapons of mass destruction being launched between two nations, in one of which Hogwarts was transported. More specifically the school landed in the ruins of Eastern Equestria, the Ponston Wasteland.” Stated the agent and Sunset visibly flinched at this wording.

“E- Equestria? But how? It hasn’t been that long since I was there, how could Equestria be destroyed?” She asked, fear in her voice at the idea that her home universe had been devastated like that. She had seen in human fiction what this sort of world could look like.

“That is the thing, you were there last when Equestria hadn’t reached the industrial age. However, the war that destroyed it did so after an industrial revolution over 200 years ago.” Stated the officer which made Sunset recoil at the idea.

“But it’s only been two years since the mirror stopped working! There is no way 200 years could have passed!” Argued Sunset, shivering at the idea of such an extreme difference in how much time had passed between the two worlds.

“It is the best explanation we have at the moment and every report of our embassy indicates this to be accurate. More over, before the war Equestria appears to have gone through a massive industrialization period, leading up to the war itself. This resulted in them developing magically derived analogues to many technologies the Muggles have, such as guns and tanks, but also much more advanced concepts such as powered armor and energy weapons of the laser, plasma and cryokinetic kinds.” Explained the officer and Sunset felt her stomach dropping more and more.

“Sweet Celestia, why? I don’t understand how things could go so wrong, Equestria… I don’t know if Equestria had ever an actual war in it’s entire history!” She finally stated, shaking her head, it just didn’t sound right, not in the least!

“We’re not sure ourselves, the details on what led to all of this are, as far as we can tell, lost to history after 200 years of ponies clinging to existence in the post-apocalyptic world. Currently, we have removed the mirror from school grounds and put it under supervision with aid from an International Organization which deals with anomalous artifacts like this and have more resources to dedicate to this.” Explained the officer and Sunset nodded, she knew that the MACUSA was a fairly small, non-militarized organization.

“So, where do I come in? I left Equestria apparently decades before their industrialization, much less that war.” Asked Sunset, feeling sick at the thought of all that death and destruction.

“Well, we would request that you and your friends travel to the UK, alongside diplomats from the MACUSA. The UK is currently in control of the only mirror leading to Hogwarts with several other portal mirrors located within the world of Equestria. Your task will be to establish relations if possible and investigate the history if possible. We’re also concerned with certain… elements within the British Ministry gaining access to weapons like these “Balefire Bomb” Megaspells.” Explained the officer and Sunset nodded.

“Alright, I’ll talk to the others and ask them if they want to come along. I’m definitely going there to investigate for myself.” Stated Sunset, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Very well, please inform us about your decision within the next 48 hours and prepare for the trip. One last thing, you will more than likely need to talk to the locals about getting some… I believe they call it “Barding” as the one produced at Hogwarts is warded against residual magical radiation from the Balefire Bomb detonations. Mind you, Hogwarts itself is free of this radiation due to it’s wards protecting it.” Stated the officer and Sunset nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat, again.

“Just what kind of fucked up weapons did the Zebra invent?” She muttered under her breath, shuddering.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, you’re saying that your Homeworld went Magipunk, got blown to shit and now it’s basically a post-nuclear wasteland but full of magic?” Asked Rainbow Dash after they had all gathered in Sunset’s apartment to discuss the situation, which got her some weird looks.

“Well, yes, that’s the basic state of things. And a British magical school, Hogwarts, is now stuck there with all of it’s inhabitants at the time of their transportation being permanently turned into ponies.” Stated Sunset, not liking the sound of those facts. Sure, the “Pureblood” wizards could pass as human, nobody commented on her own yellow skin or flame-colored hair. And in the city they lived in those hair colors weren’t that uncommon even though Sunset had realized that the skin color was a residual effect of her being from Equestria, at least on the others.

“Well, I would love to go there, that magical technology they developed sounds fascinating.” Stated Twilight, taking notes as she did so. The mousy, overly studious girl had been a late addition to their group, the counterpart of Sunset’s fellow student of Celestia and a former student of Crystal Prep School. She had, somehow, managed to develop devices to detect and later absorb, magic and it took them quite a lot to get her out of a bit of a magical overload.

It was an interesting situation. The first time they had found out about magic on Earth had been when three “Sirens” had come to Canterlot High and attacked. They were repelled in the end but it had been an uphill battle. It was a few months after the Crystal Prep incident that the MACUSA had stepped in, contacting them. It appeared the proximity of the portal had made those within the walls of the school magical, or it may have been Sunset’s pressence, nobody knew.

“Well, I’m not gonna sit here and let you two go alone, I’m in!” Declared Rainbow Dash in answer to Twilight.

“Heh, I’ll obviously come too, I’d love to see what my counterpart ended up doing there.” Stated Applejack, grinning at the idea of an adventure.

“I- I will go too.” Spoke up Fluttershy, the only one of the group with a living counterpart. It was one point of information she had gotten in a ledger, about the situation of Equestria that is. “I want to make sure other Fluttershy is okay, I’m worried what being alone in such a horrible situation has done to her.” Stated Fluttershy swallowing nervously.

“I go too, I can’t stand the idea of letting those poor children go around in what may be rags! And if I can help some ponies with other things? All the better.” Stated Rarity, quite sure of herself and that got some chuckles from the rest.

“Oh I’m gonna go too! If Fluttershy the Pony is sad I’ll throw her the biggest bestest party of all!” Declared Pinkie Pie at that point, bouncing in her seat with excitement at a whole new place to, well, party up. It was one thing that really didn’t match the current state of Equestria.

“Well, I guess then we have a decision, huh? Alright, I tell Officer Williams we’re all going. Pack up everyone, we’ll be going to the Wasteland.” Stated Sunset Shimmer and got nods from those around her.

Operation: Wasteland Contact, was a go.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed as we stepped through the mirror into Hogwarts.

The mirror had been set up in the middle of the Saltcube City dome and was now going to be a hub for trade. Yeah, so basically normal activity at Hogwarts and it’s Trade Hub. I did notice that there was a lot of traffic, even when it was this late in the afternoon.

“So Lily, I think you should go to your house now, we see you tomorrow during your break, alright?” Asked Lyra and I nodded, smiling before we went our separate ways.

I took flight and made my way to Hogwarts. I could probably get some dinner and then? Sleep sounded awesome. Sure I was tempted to use my Time Turner to get more time, but that would be misusing the device and I didn’t want to do that. Sure, while I didn’t believe the stance the mainstay Steel Rangers followed that magical devices, or technology, shouldn’t be used without supervision, I could agree that there was a time and place for using something and such things shouldn’t be used lightly.

Coming to the Great Hall I opened the doors just enough to enter and the attention of those inside was instantly on me. Luckily, not negatively. I made my way to the Gryffindor table and sat down, getting a good selection of food offered a moment later.

“So, how was that Route 52 trip?” Asked Rainy after swallowing something she had been eating.

“Interesting, and a good test of the bardings I think. I didn’t feel the desert heat at all.” I responded before taking a bite.

“Did you find anything out?” Asked Hermione, looking at me expectantly, it was nice to be back to be honest.

“Yup, apparently the “Ghost of 52” was in fact Puppysmiles Days, a filly from 200 years ago who Lyra and Bon Bon knew due to ther mom, Rainy Days. She apparently revived as something like a ghost in a hazmat suit and was running along the road to try and find her mother though the only guy who knew the full story, Mister White, didn’t want to “Spoil” the conclusion.” I explained and we soon lapsed into a merry conversation about the things we had done each. I was a bit surprised by Hermione pursuing a medical education from the Applejack’s Rangers chapter, but then again we had worked with them a lot.

Rainy meanwhile talked about how her she had to let her parents go over all the items she had on her, father marveling over her laser rifle since it was, instead of a Muggle weapon enhanced with magic, a device meant to channel magical energy from a battery into an array of Talismans which turned the energy into a beam of light, a laser in other words.

The fact it had a scope on it and thus could be used with far more precision than a wand hadn’t helped and she had to show him how it was used later on the Burrow. Her mom hadn’t been happy but conceded that having a weapon that could end a fight relatively easily was preferable to taking it away from her. Ginny had chimed in at that point to say that she found it unfair that their mom had conceded to Rainy but refused to let him go with us on our next excursion.

Mind you, I could understand why. We had been dealing with and training under various traders who passed by before we ever left the schoolgrounds, we had also been older than him and had a full year of magical education behind us. Not to mention the fact that we didn’t need permission at the time since it would’ve been fairly difficult to stop us, especially since it was summer vacation at the time.

After dinner we headed back to Gryffindor Tower, I was especially tired from walking all day and so I didn’t even wait for anything to go to bed.

Besides, Luna had told me she would start on some more advanced lessons soon. I couldn’t wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Twilight Sparkle ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe it! Twilight how did you manage to get out of Trixie?” Asked the Ghoul Pegasus as she stared in wide eyed wonder at the tall Alicorn mare who had come to her.

“I’m not quite sure Rainbow, I think Trixie ejected me and the others from the Hive Mind, maybe it was a last vestige of her wanting to repent, or maybe it was just self-preservation. I don’t even know if Gestalt and Mosaic were ejected and got to bodies of their own or not.” Explained Twilight with a sigh, ignoring the stares she got from the passing-by Pegasi of Thunderhead City.

“Well, I’m just glad there’s more of us still alive than I had thought. Or, well, as far alive as I count, being a Ghoul and all that. Did you know I have no Life Signs?” Asked Rainbow and Twilight smiled just a bit, it was a well known fact from what she knew from the various absorbed Unicorns, that Ghouls were essentially animated corpses, which obviously made some sense to her given the nature of Radiation.

“Well, I wish I knew what happened to the others, I know Pinkie didn’t survive, Littlepip played a recording of her’s before I had to vacate the Alicorn body I was inhabiting at first because it had a mind already. But the others I’m not so sure about.” Explained Twilight with a sigh as she thought about all they had lost over the span of 200 years.

“Well, I can tell you, though it’s not all that pretty.” Stated Rainbow, sitting down and sighing. “First, Spike’s alive, he calls himself Watcher around most people and is still standing guard at the Gardens of Equestria. We should go visit him, I’ve done it before but… well the only pony I can think of that he would be happier with seeing than you is Rarity, unless he lost that crush.” Explained Rainbow and that got her a neighing laugh of her old friend at the memory of the smitten baby dragon he used to be.

“What about her? Rarity I mean, what happened to her?” Asked Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s face fell.

“She’s dead, I found her bones 154 years ago when I went to investigate Canterlot. Barely made it out without my armor fusing to me. She was stuck with her hoof in a window, in the Ministry of Peace hub and from what I’ve been told by a eyewithness, this come due to her plucking a hole in the window to buy some time for a teleportation spell. She died of exposure to the Pink Cloud but managed to cast the spell.” Explained Rainbow Dash and Twilight choked on a sob at this knowledge, Generosity, to the very end.

“Speaking of, the ones she saved? They’re Fluttershy and Angel Bunny, and Fluttershy’s still alive. Evidently the teleportation spell had sent her as close to Zecora’s hut as possible but she landed in Poison Joke, which transformed her into a tree. Angel Bunny’s been petrified too but Flutter got freed and is currently working at a place that has a potion to reverse petrification.” Explained Rainbow and Twilight nodded, glad to hear that their friend had made it in one way, though she had a feeling it wasn’t without mental scars.

“What about Applejack? What happened to her?” Asked Twilight and Rainbow Dash smiled softly.

“That actually is one of the nicer things. She went to Ponyville to help with the evacuation into Stable 2. But the Overmare, Sweetie Belle, didn’t let her out. Did you know she was in a relationship with Steel Hooves? You know, Applesnack? She was with his foal at the time. She, as far as I know, died of old age in the Stable, her descendants more than likely including both Littlepip and one Velvet Remedy, the latter being a direct descendant of Sweetie Belle from what I heard.” Explained Rainbow and Twilight nodded, relief flooding her at knowing that, at the very least, one of them had a peaceful death.

“There is a bit of bad news though.” Stated Rainbow and Twilight looked at her, concerned. “You see, I met a mare from Stable 99, your descendant.” She stated and Twilight’s face almost immediately went red as a tomato. “Yeah I found out about you and  Big Mac, sadly that mare died but, on the bright side, she had a foal that had been transferred to a surrogate because her cybernetics wouldn’t let her carry the baby to term. Her name was Blackjack, by the way, total badass but had the worst luck I’ve ever seen.” Explained Rainbow Dash and Twilight swallowed, she wasn’t sure how to think of that.

“I… I remember her, the Goddess was trying to make her assassinate Littlepip and had all those horrible plans for her too. Luna damn it, now I feel even worse about being unable to stop Trixie.” Muttered Twilight, hanging her head in shame at the memory of that event.

“It’s fing Twilight, I mean, you didn’t have much of a chance with Trixie as she was. Look at me, I couldn’t stop those assholes using my Ministry’s work to screw over all the ponies on the ground by forming that stupid Pegasus Enclave. And I still needed Blackjack and her group’s help to stop that damn plot to make a Pegasi affecting strain of the Raider Disease.” Stated Rainbow Dash with a sigh, and Twilight patted her on the back, she knew that feeling.

“You know what? We should go check on Fluttershy, we’re the last of our friends and I doubt we can find Rarity’s remains in the rubble for a proper burial, sadly.” Offered Twilight and Rainbow chuckled.

“You sure you want to go with this old bag of bones to a school for kids? I never was the studious type.” She responded and Twilight couldn’t help a laugh of her own.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you with any homework they may give you. Besides, we’re the same age.” She responded and the two friends chuckled at the humor.

With that, the previous bearers of Magic and Loyalty set out to find Kindness.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Omake Time! ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Title: SCP File: SCP-MP001-a ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Item Number: SCP-MP001-a

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Subject is contained alongside SCP-MP001 and all other instances, by GoI “International Confederacy of Wizards” or ICW. Disinformation campaigns on the Internet are to remain the primary means of keeping the public unaware of events, focused mainly on the Scottish Highlands around Hogsmeade.

Description:

SCP-MP001-a is the designation for Hogwarts student “Rose Evans-Heartstrings” or Subject-1. The subject was formerly known as Harry James Potter but due to the transposition event, has been transformed into a biologically 8 years old young member of the equine race known as “Alicorns”.

Ths subject takes the shape of a white, horse-like creature with a single horn on the forehead and a pair of wings capable of flight. The horn functions similar to ICW related “Wands” and allows the casting of anomalous spells. Subject is particularly powerful because of it’s nature as an Alicorn and can perform major forms of Telekinesis alongside the standard spells list of ICW citizens.

SCP-MP001-a currently resides within the “Equestrian Wasteland” and is therefore contained alongside the primary anomaly leading there. Subject has also shown benevolent tendencies in interactions with others and at this point does not appear to pose a threat unless provoked.

It is noted by MTF Omegon-8 that there has been an effort made by Goblins, on instructions by SCP-MP001-a, to fight against the continued production and distribution of materials vital to Procedure Octogon-Gamma-9, used in the containment of [Redacted]. It is advised to contact the subject or it’s Goblin lawyer to try and dissuade them from this cause of action, though the aforementioned Lawyer is unlikely to comply due to the promise of 75% of profits from suing the publishers and writers going to the Goblin ran Gringott’s bank.

Proposal SCP-MP001-a 1:

Submission By: Doctor Bright

Goal” Recruitment of Subject into MTF Omegon-8 due to subject’s inherent abilities of Atmokinesis, superhuman strength, resilience and magic.

Response: DENIED, - 05-1, 05-2, 05-4

Notes: This is a kid Bright, we’re not the most ethical of organizations but we’re talking about a civilian school child who we have no authority over. Not to mention that [REDACTED]. So knock it off!

Proposal SCP-MP001 1:

Submission By: Doctor Auto Clef

Goal: Cease SCP-MP001, toss a nuke in and shatter the mirror. Boom, we’re rid of the damn thing.

Response: DENIED 05-1 to 05-13 (Consensus)

Notes: SCP-MP001 is one of the least dangerous anomalies we do not directly contain at the moment, not only that but the other side is situated on a school for 11 to 17 years old children and teenagers. Our motto is Secure Contain Protect, not Seize Cauterize Pulverize. - 05-1

Proposal SCP-MP001 2:

Submission By: Agent Teryl Granger

Goal: Make direct contact with Hogwarts leadership and try to establish both a solution for the legal situation and possibly trade for Arcanotech Devices such as weapons and other such objects.

Response: Pending

Notes: Congratulations on being a rational human being in spite of SCP-MP001-3 being your niece. We will review your request for now. If you can get in contact with the subject, try to be subtle. 05-1