14 — A Secret Exposed
Harry stared at the envelope after reading the address on it out loud, “That’s rather specific, isn’t it?” He looked up at Applejack worriedly.
His home was with Twilight, at the castle, unless she was off on a mission somewhere. Last night, though, he had been staying at the Apple homestead with the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. They had wanted to get an early start on their morning training so they would have the rest of the day for other crusading.
“Yes,” she murmured, frowning at the owl, “it is at that.”
“Well,” interrupted Scootaloo, “What are you waitin’ for, open it! It’s not every day you get a letter, you know.” She paused and frowned. “You know, I don’t think any of us have ever gotten a letter before, except you.” She grinned broadly, “So hurry up and open it!”
Harry flipped the envelope over and stared a moment at the wax seal. It had a fancy shield with a lion, snake, a four legged animal, and a bird in a square formation around the letter “H”. Underneath the shield was a little banner that had what he swore was Latin written underneath it. Was this a letter from his old home world? If it was, then this was a rather old-fashioned method of sealing a letter, he knew. He might have thought this was a letter from somewhere in Equestria, but the use of an owl threw doubt on that idea rather quickly. Equestrians used a postmare to deliver their post. Or magic.
He carefully broke the wax and shook out the papers inside, which unfolded themselves to lie flat the moment they hit the table. He stared at them uncomprehendingly for several moments, then started reading them aloud, with some stumbling over unfamiliar words and abbreviations.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
England’s Premier School
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Deputy Headmistress
The second page read:
HOGWARTS SCHOOL
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
England’s Premier School
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupils’ clothes should carry name tags
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A Beginners’ Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 wand
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS
ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS
He carefully laid the two pages side by side and studied them. He ignored the comments from the others around the table.
This letter was from home. Not the Dursleys, they weren’t home, but from somewhere in England. How the heck had that owl managed to find its way here? Did it use his portal? Did it use another portal? Or did the owls have a special way of traveling that allowed this one to find him here in this pony world?
The letter may have been from where he used to live, but it made no sense to him whatsoever. Why in god’s name would first-year students bring brooms to the school? Didn’t the kids think the school would have brooms for cleaning their rooms?
And thinking about what these two pages might mean brought back many feelings he had thought long buried about the Dursleys. He started shivering slightly. Bad memories. They had lied to him ever since he had been foisted off on them — foisted, their word, not his. They had claimed they were his relatives, but they had treated him as a lower form of life. One not deserving of love, respect, or even common decency.
They had said that magic didn’t exist, and yet he now knew that, too, had been a lie. He thought he had put all that behind him. He was invested in staying here, where he had love, respect, friends, and was treated just like everypony else. And, yeah, sure, dangerous things happened here like the Ursa Minor, Discord, Tirek, and a host of others, but they threatened everypony. He was just one of the crowd. He was just like everypony else. He was normal! Well, except for being on the small size.
And now, this letter.
Magic was real back there. So real that they had schools to teach it.
On the other hoof, maybe he was mistaken. Maybe there was a magic school here in Equestria, other than Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, that is. A school that used wands instead of horns. And claimed it was from England. Could there be an Equestrian island named England?
And actually told students to purchase gloves made out of dragon-hide — no pony would ever dream of killing an animal simply for using its skin for clothing! Not to mention those names were nothing any self-respecting pony parent would give a foal! Although, in a weird way, the books’ names did make puns with the authors’ names — it was almost Ponyish in a twisted manner.
So, definitely not Equestrian in origin. He snorted softly to himself. Well, he would have to ask Twilight to be sure. She would know. And she would tell the Princesses that there was a way to go between the two worlds, as the owl proved.
He had thought that was taken care of with a Pinkie Promise between the Cutie Mark Crusaders to reveal nothing about the portal. This sorta made that promise useless.
He sighed, heavily, and thought. I'm gonna have to tell Twilight about this.
“Yer right, Harry. We should definitely talk with Twilight about this.”
He looked up at Applejack. She was nodding her head. Huh. He must have said that last thought out loud.
Granny looked at the owl, “Well, dearie, Ah’m afraid we don’t have a ready reply. Do ya think you can come back tommorra?”
The owl sighed and gave a short hoot.
“If’n yer gonna stay the night, thar’s plenty o’ mice in the barn. Help yourself,” Granny said.
The owl perked up at that.
“Be car’ful o’ the woods, though,” she continued, “thar be some pretty nasty beasts in thar that would consider you quite a tasty snack!”
The owl gave her a close look, then nodded. He hopped once on the table, then launched himself into the air and out the window.
“Come on, come on,” said Scootaloo excitedly, “Let’s go! A school just for magic from your home!” Scootaloo had caught on quickly to what this letter meant, as had the other two.
However, as they stood up the three fillies discovered that their seating-cushions were stuck to their rears by tree sap. “Ah, ponyfeathers!” mumbled Scootaloo, “I forgot about that problem.” Although how she could forget it when her entire side was covered in grass was a mystifying.
“Language!” Applejack said, staring sternly at the offending filly.
“Sorry,” Scootaloo mumbled, blushing at getting caught.
Harry, on the other hoof, seemed to be clear of tree sap. In fact, not even that annoying itch inside his right ear — or was it the left? — that he thought was a remnant of tree sap was gone. Apparently, in his teleporting he had managed to leave the sap and grass behind! Which was strange because in the past he had teleported with his saddlebags without leaving them behind. He knew he could control what he teleported, it wasn’t by default everything on him, but he hadn’t known he had such fine control over what went with him.
There was no way the three fillies were willing to go to see Twilight Sparkle at the castle with sap and grass stuck to them — the scolding they would get if Twilight caught them getting sticky sap and grass in her castle, or, Celestia forbid, on any of her . . . er, Ponyville’s . . . library books would be epic!
So, it was off to the barn and the big tub. For the next hour the four of them worked at shampooing the sap out of the fillies’ fur — Harry had never seen gallon jugs of shampoo until his first experience with tree-sap. He had been even more surprised to learn that Applejack actually bought it in fifty-five-gallon barrels and decanted it into easier-for-the-fillies-to-use gallon jugs.
The fillies gave Harry narrowed-eye looks of disgust at his easy solution to the sap problem. As a result they relegated as much of the scrubbing as possible to him. Jealousy might also have been a part of that, especially on Sweetie Belle’s part — despite Harry’s attempts at instruction, she still hadn’t managed to teleport even one inch. Harry suspected she just hadn’t really had good motivation for her attempts. Apparently, just wanting to teleport wasn’t enough for the first time. You REALLY had to want to teleport!
Finally, just before lunch, they were finished. And after a filling lunch, the five of them set out for Twilight’s castle.
Ignoring the guard, who was well-used to Harry and the antics of the CMC and Mane Six, Harry banged open the castle door, and yelled, “TWILIGHT!” He hoped she was home. It would be just his luck that today she had gone off to Canterlot or someplace else equally inconvenient.
They heard hoofbeats coming down the hall. “Hi, Harry, AJ!” said Twilight as she cantered into view. “And girls! What a pleasant surprise! What brings you here today? I’m afraid no new Daring Do books have come in,” she said apologetically to the fillies as she came up to them. “And Spike is upstairs reading his comics.”
After hearing their explanation of the morning’s events, and briefly examining the letters, they headed for the library room. Twilight’s horn glowed lavender as they entered and the books in neat piles around her seat at the big table rapidly shot away and into empty slots all around as two dozen books — Harry counted them later — flew from the shelves and piled themselves beside her.
The fillies and Applejack amused themselves for the next half hour looking over the new books that had arrived at the castle library since the last time they had visited — three days ago. Harry carefully, and enviously, watched Twilight, studying how she used her magic and looking for clues on how to improve his own.
He was getting good at levitation and could hold seven things up at a time, as long as they weren’t too heavy. Or a single item, like his saddlebags or a basket of apples, up to about ten kilos. He had also mastered the fire-starter spell, the cutting spell, and about a dozen other tiny spells, such as the one to turn the page of a book or change the colour of his saddlebags. And Rarity had been teaching him illusions. Those, at least the small ones, he found easy. He now routinely hid his lightning-bolt scared flanks. It cut down on the drama when meeting new ponies.
He would much rather deal with remarks about his “blank flank” than the pity, and sometimes horror, ponies expressed upon seeing the scars and realizing they were not his cutie-mark. As for the scar on his forehead, the black fur directly over it hid it, but also revealed it in a way that most ponies took as an unusual birthmark. Which was fortunate, as any spell trying to hide the black fur failed after only a few minutes. Fur dye also failed. There was just something in the magic in the scar that refused any attempt at covering it up or hiding it. He had finally given up trying. Although, he had noticed recently, after the incident with the magic-stealing Tirek, that the scar there, and the ones on his flanks, were beginning to fade. Of course, that could be just his imagination.
Finally, she slammed the last book closed. “Nope,” she said. “Definitely no such school in Equestria, or the Crystal Empire, the Ponyish speaking countries. Nor is there a school by that name in Zebrica, Neighpon, Chineigh, Indwhinnia, Griffonstone, or the Dragon lands. And none of those book authors are in the last census report, nor in the Canterlot Library Index.”
Harry knew what was coming next. He sighed. There was no way out of it.
“So,” she said, fixing him with a steady stare and slightly manic grin, “Is this from your world?” He could feel her excitement at the possibilities — heck everypony could see the signs — she was almost vibrating at the prospects this letter provided.
Harry shrugged, “Maybe? I know my . . . relatives . . . lied to me constantly about how magic didn’t exist and was fake, yet I can do this.” He levitated one of the sheets of the letter.
She stared at him a bit more, then her eyes narrowed and her expression shifted to one of suspicion. “You seem more surprised by the letter than you are by the existence of a portal to your home world.” Applejack looked up from the book she was perusing at hearing this.
He knew she suspected the truth. He sighed again and looked down at the table-top. He had had plenty of time to think about that on the way over and while waiting for her to finish her research. He could try to say he didn’t know, but while he didn’t know exactly how the owl did it, he did know of a way for sure. Trying to avoid mentioning what he knew would backfire in the long run. Especially with the living lie-detector that was Applejack sitting at the same table.
“There’s a two-way portal in the Everfree forest that leads from here to there,” he said reluctantly, still avoiding looking her in the eyes.
“I KNEW IT!” she shouted excitedly, jumping to her hooves and hopping in place for a moment. “I knew there was a portal in the Everfree!” She suddenly stopped and looked at him. She raised an eyebrow and leaned forward intently, “And you know it’s two-way . . . how?”
By now the others were all back at the table. Applejack was giving him careful study. Even Spike was regarding him suspiciously.
He looked over at the other Cutie Mark Crusaders. After a moment’s silence they all nodded. They would support him in this. He was a part of the herd, after all.
۸- ̰ -۸
Harry waited until all he could hear were quiet snores from Spike in his basket, Twilight in her bed, and the normal night noises from outside. Then he slipped out of his bed and carefully worked his way downstairs. He even managed to avoid both steps that squeaked. Once on the ground floor he made his way to the front door, eased it open, and made his way outside. He closed the door as quietly as possible and gently walked off the porch.
Sneaking out would have been soo much easier if he didn’t have hooves and the library had carpeting. As it was, unless he was extremely careful his hard hooves on the hard floor tended to make a lot of noise that seemed to echo loudly throughout the building this late at night. What should have taken only a few minutes instead took the better part of half-an-hour.
On the positive side, though, at least Twilight had dismissed the guards that had followed him around the first three weeks after he had moved in. He never would have tried this if they were still here. And he had always been unsure of what the guards were supposed to do, anyway. Protect him from the ponies, or protect the ponies from him?
Once on the dirt outside, he quickly trotted off. He had made this trip in the daylight several times, so doing so at night wasn’t that difficult, especially with Luna’s bright moon shining down on everything. Soon enough, he passed through the wooden archway to Sweet Apple Acres. Minutes later he was nearing the place where Apple Bloom and her friends, now his friends, had found him a month ago. He took a moment to marvel that he actually had friends now, friends who were not afraid to be seen with him. Friends. He rolled the word around in his mouth. It had a nice comforting feel to it.
The guards kept a constant presence at that location, just outside the Everfree Forest. They had built a small barracks there with a roof-mounted observation walkway to increase the area they could see as well as protect them from a blind-side attack at ground level. They didn’t stray into the Everfree itself at night, deeming it needlessly dangerous to do so. Instead, at night, they relied on unicorn magic to watch the trail while during the day there were three patrols — dawn, midday, and dusk — that went as far as they could trace his original trail, looking for any others who might abruptly appear. And keeping any ponies from exploring and disappearing, in turn!
It was early summer, now. That made it easier for Harry to sneak through the grass just out of visual and magical range of the guards as he made his way into the Everfree. The woods looked as dark and gloomy as ever, and even the light of Luna’s moon didn’t make it that much easier for him to see his way. In any case, it didn’t take him long to cut through the forest at an angle and reach the well-worn path that led to his destination. The guards never suspected his presence.
It took another half an hour to move through forest. Even with the brilliant moonlight the forest was dark with menacing shadows hiding holes and protruding debris at every step. Then he was standing beside the tree where the guards had said his trail disappeared.
Just after getting out of the hospital, Twilight had had him retrace his steps through the forest — at least to the best of his remembrance. Around this entire area for about fifty body-lengths she had cast all sorts of spells searching for some signs of his passage, for some sign of a portal. She had ultimately concluded there was no portal, and if there had been one, it must have dissipated after Harry fell through it. Or else it was of such low power that the natural wild magic permeating the area completely masked its presence. In which case they would never find it except by sheer accident —literally stumbling through it.
“And while that’s possible,” she had explained, “it’s extremely unlikely given the power requirements such a portal requires to exist.” She paused, “Unless it’s powered entirely from the other side . . . .” She looked down at Harry, “But you told me that magic is virtually unknown where you come from, so that’s highly unlikely, as well.” She grabbed her lower lip in her teeth thoughtfully. “Except you can do magic and you have a magic field,” she said as she stared at him.
Harry shrunk down a little, as he always did when an adult confronted him.
“And, no, for the last time, you cannot examine the area yourself.” She frowned down at him. “Even with all these guards the Everfree is still too dangerous for a little colt such as yourself.” She gave a quick glance at guards standing around them. “If I can’t find it with my abilities, you most certainly will not be able to do so.”
However, long experience had taught him that adults could not be trusted. They had no qualms about lying to children — for the children’s own good, they always claimed. He had to try himself, just to be sure. It had taken him this long to build up the courage and determination. And to work out a way to do it without getting caught. Everypony would be most upset at him wandering into the Everfree Forest alone at night. But needs must, as he had once read.
He shook his head to stop that memory, turned his back to the tree, and tried to remember what had happened that afternoon in Little Whinging.
He had fallen several times after leaving the playground, he remembered, but had always managed to get back to his feet — his meditations since he had arrived in this strange world had paid big dividends in improving his memory.
All except the last time he fell. He had been staggering from one tree to another, barely managing to stay on his feet and wishing he had somewhere else to go besides the Dursleys. But that last time he had reached out for the next tree and instead of grabbing onto the tree’s trunk, he had fallen to the ground.
Or, more precisely, he reflected as he studied his memory, he had fallen to his hands and knees and then rolled a short ways to his left, somehow missing the tree that had been directly in front him. He should have crashed head-first into the tree’s trunk, at the very least, except he hadn’t.
And that time he just couldn’t get back on his feet, for some reason. Each time he tried to stand up, he overbalanced and landed on his hands and feet. He had thought it was because he was so hurt at the time. And he had been almost unconscious. Between the two the memory was more than a bit foggy and blurry.
But what if that hadn’t been it? What if it had been because he was now a small pony and no longer a two-legged human? That standing on his rear legs as a pony naturally made him overbalance and fall forward? And his concentration so shot that he hadn’t even noticed his new form.
That was the clue. Why hadn’t he caught the tree?
What if the tree itself were the portal? What if Twilight had been right and the portal pulled its power from his world and the inherent magic in the Everfree Forest hid the portal? After all, magic had to exist in his world or he could never have teleported to the roof of the school. Or done any of the other “freaky” things his relatives had accused him of doing that he now knew were manifestations of his magic.
He turned around to face the tree. Trembling, he raised a hoof and leaned it against the tree. Nothing unexpected happened. He stood with one hoof against the tree. He took a breath, stepped closer, and then reared up and placed both hooves against the tree. Still nothing.
He let out a shaky breath. Slowly, he shuffled his way around the tree, keeping his front hooves against it the entire way until he had completely circled the tree. He leaned his head against the tree between his forelegs and took a deep breath.
It didn’t make sense. He knew he should have fetched up against a tree in that last step in his home world, but he hadn’t. He suddenly had a flash of memory of wood on both sides of him, then falling down. He let out the breath. Was he crazy to think the portal that Twilight couldn’t find was this giant tree? That this tree led back to his Earth? To Little Whinging?
At that thought, he suddenly fell forward, wood flashing to his side.
He tumbled to ground and slid a short distance. He rolled over and just laid there on his back for a moment, staring up at a night sky hidden from sight by the tree canopy overhead. What had happened? He rolled over again, and pushed himself to his hands and knees.
His mind went completely blank. Hands and knees.
He looked down at his arms. He could see his arms! In fact, he could feel the cool night breeze blowing across his bare skin, everywhere. Skin. Not fur. He looked up, eyes wide, then looked around. Absolutely, this was the forest in Little Whinging and not the Everfree in Equestria. Even in the little moonlight that managed to make it through the leaves he could see the difference in the trees and forest floor. Not to mention that the moon above wasn’t nearly as bright as Luna’s.
And he could smell the difference. This forest smelled nothing like the slight odour of decay and menace that permeated the Everfree. There wasn’t the ever-present ominous feeling that something was going to jump out at any moment and eat him. And if he listened carefully, which he certainly was at that moment, he could hear the faint sound of car engines and tyres from the motorway running beside Little Whinging. He could even hear the faint sound of a door slamming.
Slowly he looked behind himself. There was a big tree. He turned around, still on his hands and knees. He balanced on his knees, ignoring the pain of small twigs digging into his skin, and placed his hands on the tree’s trunk, He leaned forward. Nothing happened. He stood up and leaned heavily against the tree’s trunk.
He started shaking. Had he made a mistake? Was he now stuck here? He wanted to go back to Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. He wanted to go back to the Ponyville library where he wasn’t treated as a freak. He suddenly fell forward and again rolled to his left a short distance.
Blinking hard, he unsteadily got to his hooves and looked around. He was back! He almost collapsed in relief. He stood there, shaking, for several minutes before turning around and looking at the tree behind. Did he dare try it again?
It worked exactly the same — he thought about going to Little Whinging and fell through when he tried to lean against the tree. He thought about Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, and walked back through.
He sat down and didn’t think for a time. How long? He didn’t know. Finally, he stood and slowly started back down the trail. He could go back any time he wanted. But he wouldn’t go back for a while. A long while. He wanted to learn as much as he could about magic here in Equestria. Then he would go back. He would go back and give the Dursleys’ double the pain they gave him. Or maybe triple. It was fun to think about. As he left Sweet Apple Acres behind, he began cantering happily back to the library.
He didn’t get much sleep after he snuck back into his bed. His mind just kept going over and over what he wanted to do to the Dursleys.
But first, he had to learn magic!
۸- ̬ -۸
Stats
Page generated in 0.028 seconds
Total duration
760 users online
613,876 hits today, 2,004,447 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.®
Hey maybe if they find the portal they can merge it with a mirror like the kind of portal that leads to Human Equestria where Sunset is at, also has Harry been shown that mirror by chance?
8977997
Mirror is a need-to-know item and in the Crystal Kingdom So Harry is oblivious to it..
8977997
Twilight was still a unicorn when he arrived. Surely Twilight would have said something if the events of EQG happened.
So eagerly looking forward to more. This is going to be fascinating in all its implications. I suspect Celestia is going to have a long talk with Albus Dumbledore.
8978005
You said that they are in Twilight's castle so shouldn't the Mirror be in Twilight's Castle now in a side room that is connected to the library or in her private library in her castle while the Town Library is in a different part of the Castle.
8978020
Perhaps. But then again, even if she did mention it, why would he care? His only interest would be if she intended on sending him through it. If she assured him she wasn't, he'd drop it.
And based on her descriptions of the inhabitants, he'd know it wasn't his world.
8978073
Canon doesn't mention when the mirror was moved, I don't think. So, it reasonably could be later.
8978093
Well the second Equestria Girls movie shows Twilight getting a LOT of books to put into her library of her Castle and she get's the journal that links with the one with Sunset, so they are in Twilight's castle and the mirror was moved there and the episode where Starlight meets Sunset means that the mirror is really in Twilight's castle.
8978117
Oh, I didn't doubt you, it's the timeline that's the issue. In the first EQG movie it's in the C.E., in Rainbow Rocks it's at the castle. When it was moved is unknown.
In my story, Twi is only a few months in as an alicorn, so it could be that EQG:RR is still months away and the mirror in the C.E.
This sentence proved enough for me that Harry has become a citizen of Ponyville.
Also, it seemed Harry just had a flashback about the portal. Maybe you should indicated the flashback part with something like "Three nights ago" or something.
Am I reading this right, that the horcrux was consumed by Tirek and not returned when he was defeated since Harry wasn't the owner of the soul part? That's... brilliant, and no one knows about that if this is true.
8978197
Well don't forget that Twilight got Castle Friendship right after she and her friend defeated Tirek, shortly after that episode was when Rainbow Rocks aired and it showed Twilight getting books for the library in her castle. My guess is that is before harry shows up in your story, but then again this is all up to YOU the author of this story.
8978295
I think you've got the timeline off. The first EQG film is when Twi visits the C.E. for her royal summit following her coronation as a princess of Equestria. Twilight's Kingdom (Tirek) occurs later. Rainbow Rocks was released in September, after the Kingdom's episodes in May.
Harry shows up while Twilight is is a unicorn, about one year after she arrives in Ponyville. About a year later, Tirek shows up.
8978407
Then you really need to fix your story since you said Twilight's castle in the newest chapter.
8978271
If he didn't get the horcrux back does that mean that the big prophesy is already broken?
Also... Harry will have his REVENGE!
8978415
Because Harry's been there over a year: Twi became an alicorn, Tirek did his thing, and the castle is now here.
So.. what do Horcruxes taste like? I'm guessing Black Licorice.
8978572
Nah. Like anything else that's badly burnt, tastes like charcoal. And burnt because that's what the AK does when it misses its intended target and blows up instead.
Wonder how Spike feels about the casual requirement of dragonhide gloves or similar...?
Also, Harry really should have checked if he could do magic as a human with no horn when he confirmed the portal exists.
8979093
Eh, he's ten years old. At first he's too interested in learning more about using his horn for magic, then he's more interested in staying in Equestria. As he said earlier, he doesn't want to go there, anyway.
8979128
True, I do like how childlike you have Harry in this, truly a CMC member by this point. He was obsessed with getting revenge on the Dursleys early on, but now he just wants to enjoy being in Equestria by this point over a year later. It's a lot of character development, seeing him exit the bad place he was in and grow as a person.
It does make me wonder if the whole meditation/occlumency thing is carried on going forward, or if it was just used early on by Harry, then abandoned when he fixed up his mind and psyche to be an open book for absorbing what it meant to be a pony.
It is a curious idea to wonder if Twilight Sparkle is a master of it as well, you'd have to be to hold so much knowledge without Eidetic memory. I do look forward to the expansion of that for Harry, since it helped him so much. Also wonder if that had any effect on his dreams and dream interactions with Luna, or if she never breached that barrier.
And the big question I have, are the other transformed going through the two-way portal as well (and if so, do they come with clothing? The flashback made it seem like Harry was naked.)? Can they use the two-way portal like he can, or do they need his assistance? And if they are transformed, is Spike still transformed into a dog? The idea of natural born Equestrians not being transformed is a weird one to contemplate, but I expect them to be transformed automatically to show there isn't much difference between Harry and the rest of them.
I really look forward to the rest of the story.
8978523
So I imagine the blood wards will have fallen at this point given that it has been 14 months and Tirek‘s involvement.
8985883 Ooh, that's a great point! I wonder what Tirek's pulling the magic out of Harry would've done to the horcrux? Would it have vanished? Would it have switched to Tirek so he's now a horcrux?
Oh...OH...Tirek did something good for once! Yippie! Throw him a party, Pinkie!
Not that meanie-weanie; he hurt my friends!
...Well, never mind.
You forgot the rat. Students are also allowed rats.
I was a bit confused this chapter, which refers to both the "castle" and the "library" interchangeably.
8978407
Err...about that, the text is kind of confusing.
Wait....... HOW MUCH OF A TIMESKIP DID THE WRITER USE?!
9167400
The owl arriving is about 15 months after he first arrived. The previous chapter covered about two months of that.
Teacher: Mr Potter, where are your dragon hide gloves?
Harry: Are you nuts!? My brother's a dragon!
9146855
this, and the rest underneath it are basically a flashback about when he found the portal about a month after first coming to Equestria
You’re not even going to acknowledge Hufflepuff’s Badger? How rude.
P.S. This story is good. It gains my seal of approval.
Isn't it, like, the only magic school in England? Not saying much, now is it? It could also be called "England's Worst School" and it'd still be correct. Or "England's Most Dangerous School", what with the cerberus, devil's snare, basilisk, Death Eater animagus, lack of safety procedures in Potions, Riddle-possessed professor and the acromantula nest.
Why do I keep finding two things inevery chapter?
The steps are carved out of solid wood? How exactly do they squeak?
alone at night
9267281
You would want to put horizontal boards across the tops of the steps, otherwise you would have sap soaking the top of every step (cause, you know, that's the way the wood grain grows -- and the tree is still alive).
Oh. And thanks for the at alone. Fixed.
Ok, first off, Hogwarts is not in England. It's in Scotland, which is a separate country.
It serves 4 countries - England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland (Magical Ireland remained united in HP canon).
You might be better off tweaking the line to 'Britians' Premier School'.
Wait, so, he’s a pony only here? Does this mean he’ll be human at Hogwarts? Because that’s disappointing.
Edit:
Noticed a lot of dislikes on this comment, probably because of how I phrased it. I say it’s disappointing because it ends up just being humanised ponies at Hogwarts, which isn’t too interesting. Having Harry end up in Equestria is interesting, but having him return and still be human is not.
I get that it offers a different perspective for him, that he’s been to Equestria and experienced a different life and a different kind of magic, but I don’t like the idea that he was turned into a pony only to end up being human.
I read a HP story a bit ago that gave the ponies the ability to transform into ponies and back. I found that uninteresting too, because while it had ponies in HP it removed the “pony” part of the equation. It’s fun to see the ponies in the human world, see their perspective their struggles and the various reactions. Soon as you turn them into humans you lose all that. They just become people from another place, having different ideas.
It was just my opinion that having Harry turn back into a human was disappointing.
This doesn't seem to be in this chapter anymore.
I love where this is going. I love the rich characterization and the solid prose and everything in between.
I did pick up a few typos and mistakes, though:
> He carefully laid the two pages side-by-side and studied them
side by side
> And thinking about what these two pages might mean brought back many feeling he had thought long buried
feelings
> They had said that magic didn’t exist, and yet he know knew that, too, had been a lie.
he now knew
> Well, except for being on the small size.
being on the small side (or: being a small size)
Never too late to correct, right? Anyway, again, awesome work! I'm off to the next chapter.
9433153
Thaknks! but I think “being on the small size” is correct.
I know the other HP story here focuses a bit more on Discord. But I would like to see a story where Harry meets Discord.
For some reason there are parts of this character that dont feel like harry, He was never one to dwell on revenge, I still feel there is more, but it pains me to say it has been more then a decade cents I read the 1st book. >_>
scared should be scarred since flanks can't fear anything.
I'm guessing Harry's uncontrolled magic Created the portal in the first place due to his desire to escape his relatives
missing word here
It occurred to me that maybe some species of Dragon shed their skin. Makes the dragon hide gloves a bit less squicky.
As 9334433 said, Hogwarts is Britain's most prominent magical school, rather than being specifically English.
9967588
reminds me of the book "the elvenbane" where dragons did that, and a young dragon made his adopted sister a dress out of his mother's shed skin!
FYI: she's a half-elf/half human with exceptionally strong magic.
As much as it would have been impractical, every time I read this, I find myself wondering what he would think to find out Applejack didn't buy it in 55-gallon barrels, but in 60-foot railroad tank cars (29,000gal/ea)...
9967588
besides it would be impractical to simply go out of your way to kill a dragon just to use its skin to make a normal pair of gloves. It would be like hunting down a sheep just to kill it and make a pair of socks, when we actually have sheep farms that specialize in sheering the fur off of Sheep to make wool products.