105 — Not as Safe as Thought
“At that time, though,” Castor explained, “I said she could visit mine, not knowing what Princess Luna meant.”
He looked at the Prime Minister.
“She literally entered my dreams that night. I had no idea I was dreaming until she spoke up. From what she explained, normally she only enters dreams that are nightmares — nasty red and black roiling messes of cloud, she said — so her ponies can have a good night’s sleep. The blacker the cloud the worse the nightmare. There aren’t many that have nightmares, despite their six million population. Mostly, she said, it’s the small colts and fillies. She reassures them and helps them battle their nightmare. Sometimes she consoles them, other times she tells them to ask for help — when they wake in the morning — with the problems that created the nightmares.
“Rarely, she has to actually fight against a nightmare monster, as-in there are actually monsters who can enter a dream from the outside and attack a person. Such attacks can change their personality or even consume them, she told me. Such happenings are extremely rare, she said. But it is why she roams the pony dreamscape.”
His audience was looking alarmed.
“She did mention that pink dreams are private, and after encountering them when she was just learning of her dreamscape powers — several thousand years ago — she has made it a rule to never go into one.”
That got a few frowns, and snorts.
“Human dreams are very chaotic, she said, and the only ones she had encountered were when Harry Potter first came to their world. They left her very worried about his sanity. The dreams she saw at our experimental hospital with both our patients and the volunteers had lessened her worry somewhat that he was abnormal by human standards, but didn’t reassure her on his complete sanity. She understood that the patients and volunteers were all military personnel and did not reflect an actual cross-section of humanity.” He paused for a drink of water.
“That still left her with the problem of deciding if all humans are insane by pony standards. She hoped that my wife’s and daughter’s dreams might assist her.”
He shook his head. “She can enter a human’s dream and observe it, but unlike pony dreams she cannot subtly control it. She is, in her words, ‘swept along like a feather in a windstorm.’ Fortunately for us, she has great difficulty separating imagination from reliving a real experience. Her ponies’ dreams tend to merely reflect a peaceful reality unless they are having a nightmare.
“It was quite bizarre to have her ask, ‘How did you do that,’ when I had a coffee machine appear and deliver a cup of coffee in my dream.” He frowned. “For some reason it tasted like a banana.” He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He didn’t want to wander in a meeting with the Prime Minister.
“As you can imagine, this is, if you’ll pardon the pun, a nightmare for security.” He again looked around the room. “Fortunately for us, when she does more than simply observe the dream, or tries to search for something specific, she creates what I have heard called a lucid dream. I was immediately aware of her, and could take control of my dream.”
He tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. “That was unusual to her. Most ponies, it seems, do not have the ability to lucid dream. Or, at least, have the ability but rarely need to use it.”
He again shook his head. “However, that isn’t important. What is, is that we must warn everyone that there is a very real and distinct possibility that Princess Luna might drop into one of their dreams. And I don’t know what we can do to prevent that from happening unless we can somehow make our dreams pink clouds all the time.”
He clasped his hands and looked around.
“And, I’m worried that asking her not to enter our dreams, to respect our privacy, could be another problem.” He stopped a moment at their looks, realizing they misunderstood what he meant. “Not that I think she wouldn’t do as we asked, but what if one of those ‘dream monsters’ she mentioned makes an appearance?” he explained. “If we’ve asked her not to look in our dreams, we’re essentially defenceless to something that might be capable of killing us, or doing grievous harm to our psyche.”
There was a moment of silence as they all considered that problem.
“Next, at the Ball in honour of my Knighthood, I met with Albus Dumbledore. The wizard, Headmaster of Hogwarts and Chief Warlock of their Wizengamot — parliament.”
That raised some eyebrows. “I didn’t know he had been visiting Equestria,” said the Home Secretary.
Castor shook his head. “This was his first time through the portal. And to say he was as shocked as I was at the reality of Equestria is an understatement.” His smile was as ironic as his tone when he said, “He is convinced that Equestria is actually Atlantis, but hidden from us by powerful magics we cannot hope to penetrate.”
They stared at him in disbelief.
“He makes a good argument, I must say.” Castor sighed. “He takes the existence of so many human mythological animals in Equestria as proof that the Greeks, and a few other ancient civilizations, stumbled across a portal — which is quite plausible. They never realized that it wasn’t on Earth, and so named the place they went as Atlantis. They assumed it was ‘across the sea.’ Hence, in his mind at least, Atlantis and Equestria are the same place. And that it is hidden here on Earth, masked from the rest of the world.”
Castor looked down at the table and back up. “When I suggested it might be another world, he belittled it. He said wizards had looked for other worlds with magic and concluded ours was the only one.” He shook his head.
“And the reason we will never be able to convince the wizards and witches that Equestria is actually another world is because of the next item on my list.
“However, before I get to that, there was the mention of a prophecy twelve years ago. A creature that the Princesses called the God of Chaos said that because it wasn’t revealed in full by Dumbledore to anyone at that time, we escaped nuclear annihilation via World War Three, and the Soviets using their doomsday bombs in the Urals.”
There was dead silence at that point as the others exchanged horrified looks.
“I don’t know how we can get verification of this, but that’s more M.I. six than five.” He looked over at Sir McColl and shrugged. “I’ll list in my report the exact date mentioned, as near as I can figure. Maybe if we ask nicely, the Soviets will cooperate.” The man adopted a pensive expression and frowned. Major just snorted.
“And I met a creature, Princess Celestia said he was Discord, the God of Chaos. I’m not sure who or what he is. I think my daughter managed to get a picture of him. Whatever he is, he fits the description of our worst nightmare regarding aliens. He claims to be a minimum of six thousand years old.”
He paused to gather his thoughts. “Princess Celestia told me some of the things she has seen him do. If I hadn’t seen some of his antics at the Ball, I would have said she was exaggerating, trying to see how much of a mug I was.”
He looked up with a haunted expression. “He breaks every law of the universe, and considers the universe his play thing. He plays with physics the way a toddler plays with playdough.”
A voice from above interrupted them, “Why, thank you, Warrant Officer First Class Castor Searle, Honorary Knight of the Realm of Equestria.”
Discord was looking down at them through a steel trapdoor in what they knew was a solid wooden ceiling.
“I don’t think anyone has ever given me such a nice introduction.” He bowed as he floated down through the trapdoor.
Their mouths dropped open. Number Ten Downing was under anti-apparition and anti-portkey charms.
Discord slowly spun until he turned right-side up. The trapdoor disappeared.
“Magic?” the Prime Minister said hesitantly, glancing at the others.
Discord grinned a crocodile grin, his face morphing. “Oh, no. What I do is as far above magic as the nuclear furnace of your sun is bigger than a match.”
He opened a square door in the air, reached in, and took out a miniature sun and five planets. Four were small and the banded fifth was much larger and had a giant red spot. The planets hung stationary in their orbits around the sun that he held in the claws of his left “hand.” Little signs floated above them, identifying Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and Jupiter, just in case anyone couldn’t figure it out from the way the third and fourth planets looked like blue and red marbles, respectively. The blue one had a smaller silver ball beside it with a tiny sign planted into it that read “Moon.” There was a black darkness behind them that made them easy to see.
Smoke began to curl up from where he held the sun with his claws.
Castor noticed that it was suddenly darker outside, as if a cloud was passing over the building. He stared out the windows for a moment, as did the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary and Sir Walker, who were also facing the windows. The forecast had said it would be a cloudless day, and so far it had been. A rarity in England at this time of year.
Everything in view, however, appeared to be under a cloud. Although none could be seen out the windows.
Discord leaned closer to Major. “The IRA will be in contact, soon. And Benny Hill will pass on.”
He straightened, smiling. Then he looked puzzled and sniffed the air. He looked around the room and then at his smoking claws. From the way he was holding the sun, one of his claws rested against part of the surface, obscuring that portion from the third planet. “Ah!” he said, and dropped the sun, waving his claws and blowing on them. “Hot! Hot! Hot!” he said breathlessly.
Through the windows, Castor noticed, as did the others, that it had turned bright again. The miniature solar system disappeared. Castor feared that whatever had happened, had been seen by nearly every person outside on this side of the Earth. The telly this evening would be interesting.
The strange creature looked at the five men sitting back in shock.
“Well, have to go, Tally ho! There’s a certain pegasi I need to see for tea . . . .” He opened a rip in the air with a sound much like that of a Velcro strip opening. They could see a banded planet through it, appearing similar to Jupiter, but the sun to the side was much, much bigger. There were two moons in profile.
The men knew, somehow, that the other side of the rip was deep space. Perhaps it was the clarity of details on both the star and planet. Or the way the temperature dropped as the heat was sucked out of the room.
He started to step through, then stopped. He looked back at them with an expression of embarrassment on his face. “Oops, wrong pegasi. I said a certain pegasi, not 51 Pegasi.” He slammed it closed, like someone pulling down a window shade. “However, with only a four-day year, a tea with Fluttershy would last a quarter of the year . . . .” He smirked, “Bellerophon is so jealous.” He then opened a new rip. This time it sounded like someone opening a shirt held closed by snaps. Castor could see a mountain in the distance, with what he recognized as Canterlot visible on one side.
Discord stepped through and closed the jagged rip with a giant zipper that slowly faded away.
They sat in dead silence for several minutes.
Castor, his mouth extremely dry, said, “That was Equestria. I recognized Canterlot on that mountain in the distance.” The others turned their attention to him. “Celestia said it required all of her and her sister’s magic, plus a magical artefact, to seal him away and prevent his meddling. She says he’s reformed now, one of their friends, for certain definitions of friend.”
He looked bleakly at the other stunned men, their faces white with shock. “I think it’s safe to say we do not want Princess Celestia or Princess Luna mad enough at us to sic him on us. Or even just they, themselves, taking offense, if they have enough power together to constrain such a creature.”
The others nodded slowly.
There had been more they had planned to cover in the meeting. But after seeing Discord, and Castor’s revelations regarding the sisters, they decided it would be better to reschedule the remainder for another day. After Castor had completed a report on his “vacation” in Equestria and had it in all their hands. With any conclusions or observations he had to make. And photos.
He was going to probably wear out the ribbon on the typewriter.
This creature, as he had said, was their worst nightmare for an alien contact.
Any creature who could open a portal between dimensions, at random will, and across hundreds of trillions of kilometres, made their problems with the Soviet Union and China — or the colonies — pale into insignificance.
Her Majesty’s government would do everything they could to keep Discord and, by extension, the Equestrians, happy with them.
And there would be some rather intense study of the star known as 51 Pegasi.
۸-_-۸
Elly was frustrated and annoyed at the situation, but she couldn’t let anyone realize that her smile was fake. She had awoken at six with the intention of sneaking into the mirror room in the early morning. With curfew over at six-thirty, she had plenty of time to prepare for the day. She knew no one would be up and exploring at that time. Most students preferred to sleep as late as possible.
She had calculated that she would have about an hour and a half, maybe two, before classes started. More than enough time to glean what she could of what might be her heart’s desire and what she might need to do to get it.
Unfortunately, her room-mates had surprised her when she had returned from the shower. They were awake and had wanted to know why she was. A quick, “Woke early and couldn’t get back to sleep,” hadn’t helped. They had decided to get up, too, and accompany her to breakfast. As long as they were up, they might as well get in a bit of studying before classes today.
She couldn’t dissuade them. To tell them, outright, to ‘piss off,’ as the older students sometimes said when friends and acquaintances were annoying, would damage her relationship with them. She couldn’t afford to do that for no reason.
So, she had been in the Great Hall before breakfast, wasting time she could have spent examining the images in the mirror, making small talk with her classmates instead. She didn’t need to study, she had memorized the year’s textbooks. She could take the year-end tests and pass easily. She could probably even pass the practicals of the wand exercises, although her magic was weak in comparison to most.
But she couldn’t let them know that. She had to pretend difficulties to prevent any suspicions that she was smarter than she let on. Still, it wasn’t a waste, as a good infiltrator knew her information thoroughly — a mistake could ruin the infiltration and lead to severe problems, or even death. Practice made perfect, and this forced practice was quite valuable in learning patience. Plus, she was putting the time to good use.
Most of her studying was into the culture around her. There were just so many things she didn’t know that all the others, even the muggle-borns, took for granted. A charm disguised her current book, about the Romans in England, as a standard textbook, to avoid suspicions while she was reading it at lunch.
۸-_-۸
“Could I have your attention, please?” There was a sharp ringing sound as Albus tapped his cup with his wand. It was part way through dinner and everyone was present. Or, at least, almost everyone.
The room quieted down quickly and the students turned to face him.
He smiled genially. “You may remember we had a little excitement last term regarding the infamous Chamber of Secrets.”
There was soft and nervous laughter. Then the room again grew quiet. Perhaps even more-so than before. “We have finished canvassing the extensive chamber, and the tunnels and rooms around it,” the Headmaster continued. “We found what we believe was Salazar Slythern’s study,” he announced proudly. “While there were some books and artefacts, it seems the Founder took most of his work with him when he left the castle.” He scanned the room as excited chattering broke out. “Alas, most of the tomes appear to be in Parseltongue and cannot be read by those without that gift.” He waited for the noise to abate. “Anything that might pose a danger has been removed, and the room itself cleaned. On Saturday, the Prefects will be given a tour of this historic room and its history explained. Objects that we found, items left from when the castle was built, will be on display. As well as a life-size replica of the basilisk that lived there for so long.”
He smiled at everyone in the room. “The tours will be quite educational, if I say so myself, as well as rather fascinating.
“Every Saturday for the rest of the term there will be two one-hour tours for interested students, in groups of ten. The tours will be conducted by the Prefects, and will be organized in order of student seniority. Seventh Years will receive priority, as they graduate soonest. Please see your House news-board for signup information.
“There will be a few tours for Ministry personnel. In May, we intend to open these tours up to the general public on a first-come, first-serve basis. We will charge the public a modest one sickle to reimburse the Prefects for their valuable time and to pay for cleaning and maintaining the facility.”
He smiled again at the students, then raised his arms. “Thank you for your attention.” He sat back down at the table.
The room started to buzz with speculation and anticipation.
۸-_-۸
Elly had tried to sneak away after the last class before dinner, but that had been a failure. Her friends had wanted to discuss the day’s assignments before heading for the library.
Elly skipped dinner that evening, knowing that everyone else would be there. Which left her at least an hour with the mirror — to study what it showed without interference. She was especially interested in what it might show her regarding choices she should make.
Frustratingly, the faces of the humans kept fading in and out. The Equestrians tended to show up the most. Which, when you considered what a bonanza they were in emotion compared to the wizards and witches, was not exactly a surprise. Somehow, though, she couldn’t imagine them being willing partners in donating emotional food to her.
It also wasn’t a surprise that some of the lings in the mirror were her old classmates from when she was training. She would have liked seeing them again. But they were all dead, she knew. Heart’s Desire, and all that.
Once more, she was startled to hear voices outside the room. Again, she hid herself with spells in a corner.
The disturbance was, of course, the Equestrians. This time, however, they had brought the rest of the Gryffindor cohort, as well as Myrtle, the twins, and the rest of the Quidditch team. Without a doubt, the room would have been overcrowded if it hadn’t had been a classroom at one time.
Elly spent more than a few minutes worrying that one of the students would trip over her — literally. The ones not in front of the mirror were wandering around the room and exploring. She wished her new form would let her walk on walls and ceiling as her Equestrian form had. She vowed to see about adding that capability in the future. If it was possible. If she could get it sorted.
“ ’Cor, that is soo brill!” “Blast!” and “Blimey!” were just the beginning of the exclamations from the newcomers. Hermione reminded them, several times, that the mirror showed them what they desired and not what was definitely going to happen in the future. Or had happened in the past. She, it seemed, had somehow found time today to look up the mirror in the library and what it did.
“Apparently,” Hermione began to explain, “The mirror is rather famous for trapping wizards and witches into thinking that what they see in the mirror is real, that if they try hard enough, what they see will become true. Or that their deceased loved ones are really on the other side of the mirror and can hear them and respond.”
She shook her head sadly. “Unfortunately, it can’t do that. The people in the mirror are reflections of the viewer’s hopes and dreams, nothing more.” She sighed heavily. “The reality is that the people you see in the mirror, how they are reacting, and what they are doing, is just a figment of your own imagination.”
She brightened. “But it’s a great tool for seeing what you really want, versus what you think you might want. Especially if you can compare today to what you saw a week, or a month, or a year ago,” she concluded enthusiastically.
“I do wonder why it’s in this room here, though, so easily accessible. And it’s even stranger that we’ve never noticed it before yesterday!” She looked at the others waiting their turn at the mirror. “It must have been only recently put here. While we were on hols, you think?”
Every once in a while, and especially when an Equestrian took a turn, Elly got a brief wave of love. But she resigned herself into being trapped in her corner until they left. Which would probably be just before curfew. In the meantime, she was bored and aggravated at the circumstances.
This time though, she managed to escape a bit early when some of the group started back while the older students stayed. She quickly crossed the room and attached herself to the rear of the group. She still used the notice-me-not, but if anyone did notice they would merely think it was one of their friends, and not a little Hufflepuff.
۸-~-۸
Tuesday went the same as Monday for Elly. She just couldn’t escape her dorm-mates. What a time for them indulge in their camaraderie! Under other circumstances she would have been overjoyed at their acceptance of her and the pleasurable feelings coming from them.
It was late afternoon before she could escape the clutches of her friends, immediately after the last class. She cited being drowsy because, for some reason, she hadn’t slept well the night before.
She saw three students standing on the platform outside the room with the mirror. They were leaning against the wall. She slowed and looked at them, puzzled and annoyed. Why were they here?
At her unspoken question, the Ravenclaws closest to the door said, “Oh, you’re here to see the mirror, too? It’s as fantastic as they say! You’re better here now than later. The line will reach the bottom of the tower soon, I’m sure.”
Elly blinked. Her confusion must have shown.
“It’s the Mirror of Erised. Haven’t you heard?”
She nodded slowly. It was too late to retreat.
Fifteen minutes later she walked into the room as another student, a Ravenclaw, walked out. A Prefect was standing just inside.
The line had grown to the point she couldn’t see it beyond the curve of the tower.
“You get five minutes to stand in front of the mirror. Stand on the ‘x’ on the floor. Wait your turn,” he said — as she had heard him say twice already. He explained that the mirror only showed what you desired, using images from your mind. It did not show the future or past. Nor was it a window to the land of the deceased.
“Time!” he called, after a few minutes.
The student staring at the mirror startled, gave the prefect a questioning look, and then sighed. He stepped around behind the mirror. The Prefect said, as she had heard him say to the others, “Stand on the ‘x’, when I call time, exit behind the mirror so you don’t block the next student.”
It was as she had seen the night before. She took her time in front of the mirror to memorize every detail rather than try to interpret what she saw. The problem was that the longer she stood there the more details and lings that appeared in the mirror.
She heard, “Time!” said beside her. It couldn’t be time already! She had barely stepped in front of the mirror. A quick look at his frowning face and she took a step away from the mirror. She shook her head as she slowly walked behind the mirror and the next student took her place.
“Quite an experience, wouldn’t you say?” said the Headmaster, standing outside the room as she exited.
She looked up at him and nodded, her mind filled with the images she had just seen. She blinked and looked away. The students in the line were now nervous, worried the Headmaster might order them to leave before they had had a turn.
Elly was trying hard not to panic. The last thing she wanted was to be known and recognized by someone in a high position. And you couldn’t get much higher than the Headmaster of the school! For her, safety lay in anonymity.
۸-_-۸
Author’s Note: * Within astronomy, ‘Pegasi’ is genitive singular, not nominative plural.
Stats
Page generated in 0.046 seconds
Total duration
1,087 users online
1,974,700 hits today, 1,996,409 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I think you want "what was".
Also, you have two paragraphs with an introduction to Discord.
... So why does Q want them to pay attention to 51 Pegasi? Other than it being the first exoplanet we found?
I am starting to think the mirror will not be used as it was in the book. Either that or Elly is going to stop Qurillmort. Hopefully she will take the friendship of the ponies when they find out her secret. Also I did want to see her reaction to the Discord Rule and realize who it was about and the danger of him showing up.
Wait a minute... did Discord point the muggles towards 51 Pegasi? Jumpstarting the finding of exoplanets???
Anyway, this fact asks for this:
Huh... The more you know...
nice work.
Somehow, I don't think this is quite what Dumbledore intended for that mirror.
9531966
Fixed. But, at this time, no one KNOWS 51 Pegasi has a planet. In fact, at this time, no one knows ANY other stars have planets.
Welp, the radiation from 51 pegasi should be enough to kill everyone in the room, and the entire block where the building is in an instant, and eventually just the entire city if they were lucky, I imagine discord shielded the portal against heat, radiation, light and the vacuum of space.
Whelp so much for using the mirror to protect the stone. Now that its public knowledge its useless for that purpose.
Elly I think you would be surprised what this particular group of Equestrians are willing to do.
9531977
I wonder what would happen if Discord showed this to Dumbledore and explained that while the timeline may have been changed thanks to him and the ponies the underlying facts presented are correct?
9532050
Not really all that it is known is that it is at the school, after giving everyone in the school a chance to make use of it Dumbledore could then move it so he could use it to protect the stone with the excuse of making sure no one becomes obsessed with it as is known to happen, he could even lie to make people think he is removing it from the school which would remove the problem altogether.
So what happened to the changeling detection runes that the professors from Celestia's school were supposed to add to the castle? Twilight implied that they'd been instructed to do so when they first showed up, so really they should have been in place within the first few weeks that Elly was there...
9532075
They only force a changeling into it's default form and stuns them temporally in the process, the portal gave Elly a human base form so as long as she does not try to transform while at Hogwarts she will be fine, in other words she is unknowingly exploiting a blind spot in the runes.
I now wonder when they are going to mention HP Lovecraft's eldritch abominations after their meeting with Discord.
9532084
perhaps... but it wouldn't be the first time a detail was forgotten in this story. Like the student chests that are supposed to have the Hogwarts lockout that should only let one student enter at the time. Or that they're not supposed to have a working floo connection. Could have just been wording in that case, but the shop owner implied that they couldn't have a working floo at all.
9532093
The author had explained that one in the comments once someone noticed, apparently the CMCs broke the rules and left their school trucks at home and took four deluxe trunks with them to Hogwarts.
You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but it is *dashed* difficult to fool Dumbledore. After all, he's run the school for years, fought the greatest wizards to a standstill, and managed to keep ahead of the Weasely twins. He is also not particularly fond of age restrictions on toys, since he permitted Harry to run around with a (censored) artifact. Reminds me of the Revenent from PS238.
Do these constant reminders that this is a fantasy world have anything to do with the story? Or are you just trying to project awe and disbelief on to the audience by saying that the people in the story feel it? It's hard to feel awe towards anything when it's a fantasy story, since you've already thrown both physics, and logistics out the window.
The man adopted a pensieve expression and frowned. Major just snorted.
'Pensive' is the correct term to describe tension. Pensieve is the memory blender in Dumbledore's office.
9532021
You have to admit this way everyone has support to prevent them pining away in front of the mirror.
Plus Hermione’s idea on how they can use it (as long as there is strictly supervision of said use) is a novel idea and everyone there now knows how it functions so few will believe it shows the future.
9532050
The best way to hide something is in plain sight. If Dumbledore squirrels the stone away in that mirror, Voldemort will never find it. After all, Voldemort expects it to be in the most heavily secured hole that can be found, because that is what he would do. Thus the mirror, being out in public like that, is a terrible hiding place, and is thus beneath his notice.
9532050
Actually it's even better now. Just think about it is any dark wizard really going to think the stone is in a place where even kids can get to easily. All Dumbledore has to do to make the cover even better is to say that it's for a class project or something in enchanting.
9532098 It's hard for someone else to fool Dumbledore, but if you can get him to do it to himself, it's really damn easy.
9532040
Given that the portal apparently sucked the heat out of the room while leaving the air where it was, I'd say it's safe to say he did more than that. The vacuum of space resists the transfer of heat, because there are so few atoms there for it to transfer to. Granted, physical contact isn't the only way to send heat, but it's generally much faster than radiation, especially at the temperatures humans normally operate at. The challenge of controlling the temperature of orbital habitats is in keeping them cool enough to be livable.
Er.. there was an entire Luna-centric episode about lucid dreaming. Ponies don't seem to be much different from humans in that regard. The moment the realize a dream is a dream, they can exert control over it. Even more so than humans, I'd say, as the few lucid dreams I had rarely afforded me that much control.
One gripe: This one takes place in January 1992, but the Soviet Union offically ceased to exist in December 1991 and I doubt that changes, since the trouble had been going on for months. Please correct that.
Also, great going Dumbledore. After all, there IS someone in the castle who CAN read those books. God only knows what kind of new stuff he's going to learn from them.
9532097
in the comments is not in the story. In the story it was forgotten and never mentioned again. Not even to explain why the professor's have not enforced the rule since the trunks haven't been kept secret. It's the same with the Changeling runes. Why they haven't worked has not been addressed in the story, so it is currently forgotten.
9531983
Platypus venom is also an option. It is unique in the animal kingdom in that it is not designed to kill, but rather inflict as much pain as possible by making the pain receptors fire out of control.
9532093
Trunks. They were bought, officially, by the adults for the adults. No lockout. Student trunks were bought for the students. Harry and the fillies 'loaned' two trunks to the Weasleys. The kids then took the adult trunks to school. Just as there is a 'catch' to the children not casting magic at home that means pure-blood kids can do so behind house charms and not get caught, this, too is a loophole.
Floo connection. Read above.
9532189
Personally I think they are looking the other way. Three witches from a far off place where magic is common. Keep in mind but their head of house has seen enough to be thinking that Dumbledore would have trouble against them and that was before any world shattering reveals happen. And meeting Spike doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Discord is just straight up flexin' at the mundane humans in this chapter, hah.
So Equestria has a 4 day year? Interesting to note, though given how Celestia raises the sun each day, it does call into question the orbital mechanics of their solar system. Unless it's actually geocentric, and we're kind of using the idea of a 'year' in reverse. Or perhaps she's rotating the planet itself instead/in addition...? And then how do Luna and the moon factor into all that?Or I'm over thinking/misunderstanding this, which I'll grant is a strong possibility. Nice update.Edit: Upon rereading it, I see that solar system was an entirely different one that Discy showed prior to Equestria. My bad!
9532189
It is true via word of god which is just as valid.
9532283
I think you made a mistake Equestria has a year that is almost if not exactly as long as an Earth year though given how the sun and moon work on Equus years can't possibly work the same way as in our universe, 51 Pegesi b the planet that Discord was talking about orbits so close to it's star that it has a year that is only 4 days long and was contemplating what it would be like if Equestria had a year that short.
9532088
Don't give them.... Oh dear. *Discord and Mr. Black laugh maniacally in background* You gave them ideas. *laughing continues unabated* that or they are having an evil laugh contest. He is just a fragment of my psyche and even I don't understand him sometimes.
I definitely like how Discord toyed with the Caster and British minister. I can only imagine how the Princesses and the Mane 6 would react to his acts.
Dumbledore might have not studied the physic of light. The distance of the faraway planet, for example, ten thousands light years away from Earth means light need ten thousands years to travel from that planet to Earth. In other word, what you are seeing at this planet is what happened in the past -- ten thousands years ago -- of that planet. That indicated nothing on the present state of the planet. So to assume that there is no life on other planets just because he saw the past state of the planet is a bit haste reasoning.
9532189
Until the story outright retcons it, that remains a fact. Think of it as supplemental information.
9532378
The other point to consider: wizards may have in fact checked out the entire universe, and determined that there is no other magic in our universe. Equestria is most likely in a different universe, with different physical laws.
This is a concept that, as far as I can tell, Dumbledore has completely ignored. Any good science fiction reader, even as far back as 1992, will be aware of this possibility.
And, would you believe I was thinking of that very same Acappella Science video? I just did not think to link it.
9532378
Honestly, I don't understand why the muggles are so quick to dismiss the possibility. There is far more evidence that supports the idea of Equestria being a place on Earth hidden by magic than it actually being another world that just happens to share so many similarities with Earth including language. Heck Discord proves that such a thing is plausible.
Poor Elly, I don't see why knowing what does the mirror want to still look at it.
9532432
Besides straight-up being able to see that the entire country is far, far, far larger than it ever could have been on earth without going undiscovered regardless of means? Add in some maps of their planet, phenomena that would be impossible to hide effectively, different stars, completely different day and night cycle and so-on? Yeah, it's safer to just assume it's a different world in its entirity.
9532432
the flash vibrating multiverse theory maybe? i remember something my physics teacher told me when they released equestria girls (its a brony too),he said that every idea of other worls or other realities in our minds was in reality messages of existence like saying"hey,we want you to know we exist" and he was trying to open a rift portal to prove it ,in these moment i lost contact with him ,so i dont know if he succeded or failed
9532470
For the same reason people smoke when they know they are addictive.
9532511
Yeah but that can all be explained with magic, even the part with Equestria being far too large to reasonably occupy any place on the planet.
welcome to the UK Discord enjoy your self..
9532378
You're assuming that magic is lightspeed-limited. The spells they used to observe the nearby stellar systems might be real-time.
In which case, there's an urgent need to slip some muggleborn wizards and witches into astronomical research.
TK -
Will we still get the planned Thursday chapter?
(proceeds to hunt down fans and COMMAND them to like the fic...)
9532710
tldr; yes there is still lots of Dumbledore bashing and ponies are still portrayed as perfect with Starlight's rant being the only time anyone has said anything bad about them. Of course being a villain her views don't mean much.
The Discord bit was simply glorious.
Two things.
1: I had a friend who claimed to have a program on his computer that allowed him to actually FIGHT the computer virus using powers from varioous video gamess that he had on it at the time. He wasn't fooling anyone.
2: My brother had a similar experience to that. He told me that a powerful vampire blocked his path to a pleasant night's sleep. I told him to teach that bloodsucker that this was his dream, and FORCE him out. He never complained of it again.