57 — Communication, That’s The Key!
Outside of that bit of excitement, lunch was lunch, and Harry was pleased to see that Myrtle was enjoying herself — and eating enough to feed his cousin and uncle . . . twice! At least she wasn’t weepy and depressed as she had been as a ghost. And the fillies were slowly adapting to the heavy meat and sweets diet presented by the house-elves. Although the fillies, and most of the other younger students, Harry noticed, preferred the sugar-rich sweets to the boring meats and vegetables that also appeared on the table. But, then again, the ponies seemed to like a sugar-rich diet back home as well.
Having never had the chance to enjoy sweets as a younger child, Harry hadn’t developed as much a sweet tooth as a human and actually preferred the fruits and vegetables — although the treacle pudding had found a special place in his heart . . . er, stomach, that is. And then there were the muffins and cupcakes Pinkie provided . . . .
The Slytherins were unusually quiet, however. And the looks some of the older wizards were casting at the animagi were . . . disturbing. Harry was positive he saw one wizard smiling and trying to catch Hermione’s eye. Not that she noticed, being more involved with planning experiments with Ginny in mapping out how their pony-forms could use magic effectively.
The afternoon was spent playing a modified version of dodgeball as ponies — they used their wands to shoot colour spells at each other. Harry and Sweetie Belle had some difficulty adapting to using their wands instead of their horns, which ended with them being tagged out a quite bit more frequently. As-in, almost immediately! Not only were any spells sent by their horns not counted, they had to concentrate harder to direct their magic to their wands, creating delays which made their reactions that much slower. Hermione didn’t have that habit to break.
By the time dinner rolled around, they were pretty exhausted. Both from the physical exercise and the magical casting. And Harry, Hermione, and Sweetie Belle looked as if they had been attacked by a demented paint-store.
They had learned that ponies holding a wand in their mouth could cast spells, rather well it seemed. The pegasi and earth ponies were more adept at it, having had to learn how to talk while picking up and carrying things in their mouths that unicorns had used magic to carry. Turning into a pony while holding the wand also worked at casting spells as a non-unicorn pony, but was very tiring — and you had to point your leg at your magical target.
But then again, some unicorns did that anyway back home. Or, at least, pointed in the general direction of where they were shooting a spell. Twilight did it frequently when she cast the teleport spell at someone or something.
While tired, Harry did notice that once again the animagi were the centre of many conversations. If the owlery hadn’t been already emptied, he was sure it would have been, again. Animagi that could use their wands was certainly newsworthy.
As on other nights, most of the Gryffindor wizards involved themselves in arm-wrestling, chess, and other activities that many of the older witches gigglingly called “manly.” It was a way to combat “. . . the deadly, emasculating cuteness of the little ponies,” claimed one Seventh Year student. Those big expressive eyes, trembling lower lips, ears that just had to be scratched, and ever-so-soft tummies that begged to be rubbed . . . they were just too cute. Resistance was futile, but at least they could reclaim some of their self-respect with some “manly” activities.
Others continued the marathon Monopoly tournament they had started previously — with one of the ponies close enough for petting when the game became too intense.
A new, and surprisingly popular “manly” activity, was exchanging hexes, gradually increasing in severity until the loser declared he was giving up. The twins had arranged a scoreboard with hex-off rounds leading winners higher and higher until — only one would survive. There was a lot of side-betting going on.
At first, Harry and Ron had resisted the witches’ pleas. Then they had realized that it was rather soothing. No matter how displeased one might be with the day, getting a good combing/petting restored one to equilibrium. And it felt just soo good. It even seemed to help Ron get over his disappointment and anger at his little sister infringing on his Hogwarts experience. Harry had expected Ron to be the most vocal in resisting the witches’ appeals, but he was usually one of the first to comply. The only qualification seemed to be that he wanted to be as far from his sister as he could get.
The pegasi found that human hands made preening their wings feathers much simpler and quicker. And preening, itself, was a soothing form of meditation for pegasi.
Harry did notice, though, that there seemed to be a few witches from the other Houses in their common room, sharing in the petting. No Slytherins, he was relieved to see.
Yes, it was good to be a pony with so many willing slaves . . . servants . . . friends, they were FRIENDS!
۸-_-۸
Looking back, Dumbledore had only thought Sunday was a long, tiring, aggravating, and unpleasant day. Monday was worse. Far, far worse.
Sunday had been mostly repetitious and boring in the extreme as he calmed frayed tempers and upset parents. The worst part had been dealing with the reporter from the Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter. She had spent most of the interview trying to get him to promise her a meeting with Harry Potter. For the greater good — and to shut her up — he had finally agreed to a short meeting next weekend. In exchange, he hoped, she would write a mostly truthful account of how Myrtle had been brought back to life. Without implying that everyone involved was a Dark Lord or Lady in training, of course.
He had even given her what he thought was a wonderful quote. After telling her, “It is not Necromancy as we commonly use the term. In fact, it is about giving genuine life back to one who lost it, the exact opposite of what most necromantic rituals achieve,” he had said. “It is an extremely powerful healing spell that, unfortunately, has a limited application. However, using an ancient ritual, these children have shown that under certain circumstances, death, like broken bones and other physical injuries, is not permanent.”
He had considered telling her it was a ritual that seized a person moments before they died and brought their body forward in time to merge with the ghost. But then the Ministry would insist the Unspeakables enforce the time-travel laws — he shuddered at the thought of losing an entire First Year class of any House. Not to mention what the Atlanteans would do if the Ministry harmed their children. Yes, that was a can of worms he did not want to open.
So, he had emphasized the healing part of the ritual when speaking to Rita, and hoped she would make that part the central point of her article.
It was a faint hope.
At least with the carrot of an exclusive Harry Potter interview in front of her she wouldn’t completely throw them to the Dark Side. Maybe he should have offered her chocolate chip cookies, too?
He sighed. What a horrible day Sunday had been. On the other hand, depending on what Rita wrote, today might be quiet and he might actually get done the work today that he needed done. And he could pretend yesterday hadn’t happened.
His floo suddenly burst into green flames. “Headmaster Dumbledore? Are you there?” came the cultured voice of Stephen Macmillian. “What’s this I read about foreigners teaching our children unapproved Dark Magic rituals?”
Dumbledore slumped in his chair for a moment before straightening. “Why don’t you come through, Stephen. I’m afraid Rita might be a bit sensational in her article. You know how she is.”
“I think I will.” His head disappeared. A moment later he was wanding away the soot on his clothes. He looked at the older wizard gravely. “Good morning, Headmaster,” he said, nodding his head.
The Headmaster stifled his desire to sigh, and, instead, greeted the other wizard with a smile. “Good morning, Stephen. Have a seat,” he said warmly, waving a hand at the armchair at the corner of his desk. “Would you like some tea?”
Dumbledore could see that the rest of the day was going to be as bad as yesterday. He would have to put off notifying Madam Bones about watching the Dursleys lest they, in a fit of spite, mention magic and the wizarding world.
This was not a time for people to start questioning his judgement. Not when Voldemort was attempting a comeback. He would need to make up a story for why the Dursleys’ knew about magic and wizards. One which wouldn’t lead the Aurors to Harry, and reveal his mistakes.
And explain why the Dursleys might be inclined to expect him to rescue them in exchange for their silence on the subject. He couldn’t afford to have his reputation tarnished at this point. Not now, not when Harry was at last attending Hogwarts and might need his political support to fend off wizards and witches looking to exploit the boy. Or manoeuvre him into a place where they could hurt him, either physically or politically.
Perhaps he could leak that a phoenix had taken up with Harry, just as Fawkes had taken up with him so very many years ago. He could even imply that the bird was Harry’s familiar, just as everyone thought Fawkes was his familiar. Coupled with the boy’s unicorn animagus form, it would give Dumbledore a stronger position in the Wizengamot as his mentor. And lay to rest any rumours that the foreign witches were corrupting the boy.
Yes, that would work out well. Between the power demonstrated in being an animagus, having a magical unicorn as that animagus, and having a phoenix as a familiar, as well . . . well, that would place Harry was very high on the “Light Wizard” scale.
Many of the politically Undecided wizards and witches in the Wizengamot would flock to the “Light” banner if he had Harry Potter’s endorsement, with those bona fides, allowing Dumbledore to pass some of those laws that he had sponsored previously that had failed. Not all would pass, of course, but with careful planning the really important changes would make it through. And it would move some of the less dedicated Dark families towards being Undecided. Things in the Wizengamot would still be balanced, just with a tilt more in the direction he thought England should move.
He nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Macmillian took that as permission to speak and began a tirade fuelled by Rita’s article.
When he stopped to take a breath, Dumbledore interrupted. “Did you, perchance, bring a copy of the Daily Prophet? I haven’t yet had the opportunity to acquaint myself with her article.”
Grumbling, the other wizard reached into his robe’s pocket and pulled out the paper. He handed it to the Headmaster and sat back to give him a moment to peruse it.
The floo flared green again. “Headmaster Dumbledore? Are you available?” came the refined voice of George Turpin.
He suppressed his sigh. It was going to be a very long day.
And the letters from the owls returning from Saturday’s mass exodus would be landing on his desk today, too, he remembered.
۸-ꞈ-۸
The parliament of owls that Monday morning was impressive, to say the least, as almost every witch received a letter. And many a wizard received a message, as well. The Firsties were especially grateful that they had been practicing their shield spells.
History of Magic still had no replacement, so they spent their time revising their Charms assignment and “reading” ahead by book-walking. Which made Charms itself almost tedious. Professor Flitwick didn’t seem to understand that they all had quite thoroughly covered the material he was presenting and wanted to get straight to the spell casting.
Still, the fact that half the Gryffindors managed the finite incantatem spell perfectly the very first time they tried it made the professor positively ecstatic. “Never! Never have I had so many students get the spell correct on the very first try,” he gleefully declared. “Two points each!”
Harry grabbed Hermione’s arm and squeezed it to keep her from blurting out that they had been using the spell almost daily back at the Weasley homestead for the last month. She shot him a wounded and upset look as he whispered, “Don’t, he’ll take the points back. Nobody knows we had permission from the Headmaster, and people will be jealous!” Somewhat mollified, she settled back in her chair, still glaring at him and rubbing her arm. Then she gave a small smile. She had never really had anyone get jealous of her abilities until she had started Hogwarts with her new friends. Well, jealous in a good way, that is, not being snide or critical of her in a hurtful manner.
The other Gryffindors, and the Hufflepuffs, took heart at how easy the others had made it look and the entire class was soon casting it correctly. Professor Flitwick rewarded their hard effort with an assignment-free night! A night which, Hermione declared on their way to lunch, they would spend studying ahead so they could do this again!
The cohort was undecided on whether studying ahead or doing assignments would be more tedious.
At lunch, the number of available bachelor wizards dropped more than little. Almost all the witches in all the Houses had seen Myrtle’s thoughtful looks at the wizards around her, and decided to strike first for the wizard they wanted. The creepy little smile she had while checking out the wizards at mealtimes had certainly helped in those decisions. Even Slytherin House sported a few less available wizards than the night before.
How long those couples would last as couples was another thing entirely. But, in the meantime, there was an awful lot of snogging going on in the third Year cohorts and above.
Myrtle, though, didn’t seem to care as she skipped merrily to her classes and greeted everyone with a giant smile. She positively lit up all her classes with her exuberance and joy at simply living. And she flirted with every wizard in sight. And some witches, as well, causing more than a little consternation.
The number of red faces she left in her wake was enlightening to those students who were smart enough to pay attention, and forced the twins to alter their betting system to include a few new options. The betting was heavy that by the weekend Myrtle wouldn’t be as “innocent” as she had been when she first became a ghost — in more ways than one.
۸- ̬ -۸
Transfigurations was another tedious class, with a lot of technical note-taking and warnings. Even the fun part was a bit boring. Now that they had all mastered changing a match into a needle, they worked on speeding up the process and making the needles fancier than before. For some reason, Professor McGonagall seemed tense whenever she looked at Harry and the fillies, as if she expected something to explode at any moment.
Harry couldn’t help but wonder if the Headmaster had told her about the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ reputation back in Ponyville that Rarity had recited that first day at the Weasleys’ farm. Or maybe he had shown her the letter from the Princesses.
Still. They were in her classroom. Under her supervision. And this wasn’t Potions, after all. What could the CMC possibly do in her class that would cause a commotion? He stopped a moment and looked at Scootaloo’s concentrated stare at her needle. Sweetie Belle seemed to be staring out the window, until Harry noticed the faint flashes of reflected light. On closer examination he thought he could see the stitched outline of a carousel forming up on the curtains. Apple Bloom was staring at the ceiling, apparently lost in thought. Then he noticed that she had acquired a box of matches from somewhere and was launching the finished needles at a wooden beam overhead. When he looked closer, he could see she was building a tiny wall of needles that formed her initials.
He sighed. Who was he kidding? They were the CMC. They could turn anything into a disaster if given only a few minutes’ inattention by the adults. He looked around the room carefully, checking for any hidden jars of sap or other things that could draw the attention of his herd-mates and become a lesson in how to turn harmless objects into chain-disasters.
Professor McGonagall looked even more nervous when she noticed him scrutinizing the room so meticulously. She began looking around the room nervously.
In D.A.D.A. Professor Quirrell was intensely interested in the ritual they had used to restore Myrtle. His stutter was nearly unnoticeable. At least, until he discovered that the ritual required a unicorn to freely donate blood during the ritual. Then his stutter returned with such viciousness that it was almost impossible to understand what he was trying to say.
After class, Hermione declared, “He is one of the worst teachers I’ve ever seen! I can barely understand him, and his explanations don’t make sense.” The other Gryffindors, at least those who had had primary schooling, all nodded in agreement. “If we want to pass this class we’re going to have to do the work ourselves!” she had concluded.
As a result, the Gryffindors’ late afternoon was dedicated to learning what their Defence professor was clearly incapable of teaching them. They took turns book-walking and quizzing each other.
Being out on the front lawn in the warm sun was a terrible distraction, though. What should have taken them only an hour or so took almost the entire rest of the afternoon. Sweetie and Harry, who had the most experience with spell casting from living in Equestria, spent their time explaining and coaching the others. That and the animagi wasted an inordinate amount of time chasing each other around as ponies trying to hex each other with their wands held in their mouths.
Which was giving them an enviable familiarity with silent casting as holding a wand in your mouth tends to make you mumble a bit. Such things didn’t matter when you were carrying a bag or bucket. Not a good thing to do, however, when casting a spell! It only took one painful bang from the wand in their mouths to disabuse them of the notion of trying to speak the spell and chance muffing a word.
Harry noticed Professor Quirrell watching them from a castle window for part of their animagus play. This time, he seemed especially enamoured of the two pegasi playing at aerial combat-hexing.
Still, they managed to cover the lesson that they were supposed to have learned in class today. They even managed to work ahead several chapters. And completed the class assignments from Tranfigurations.
At dinner, Harry was surprised to see that the Headmaster looked just as tired this evening as he had yesterday. He didn’t look tired as in physically worn out, but there were lines on his face and he seemed more subdued than his normal exuberant self. He had had a tiring day, it appeared. Harry wondered what he could have been doing to wear him out so much. Professors Snape and Quirrell both seemed amused at the older wizard while Professor McGonagall didn’t glare at him nearly as severely as she had been for the last few dinners.
But Harry did see the Headmaster give a startled jump when Professor McGonagall appeared to be talking with Professor Sprout. She was holding her cup in her left hand at that moment.
Although, every time Professor McGonagall looked at Harry’s end of the Gryffindor table she appeared relieved for no reason Harry could discern.
Except, perhaps, that her Firsties hadn’t blown up anything today, hadn’t broken any of the laws of magic, nor performed previously unknown rituals that should have been beyond their capabilities and understanding. Hmm, yeah, maybe she did have a reason to be relieved. On the other hand, there was still this evening.
Professor Snape just scowled at everything while conversing with Professor Quirrell. Harry was relieved to see the back of Quirrell’s head for most of dinner instead of him staring towards the Gryffindor Firsties as he usually did. Although, Harry did wonder at the wizard’s apparent fascination with them. Why them and not the Ravenclaws or Slytherins?
Dinner was almost complete when there was a flash of light overhead, and an irritated voice said, loudly, “Philomena! You brat!” A voice Harry instantly recognized.
Harry, and everyone else in the Great Hall looked up to see a purple pegasus wheeling around in the rafters. A red and gold phoenix flew in front of her and trilled a short song that sounded a lot like laughter. It then disappeared in another flash of light.
“Twilight,” Harry cried out, standing and waving his arms. “Clear the table,” he ordered the fillies, looking down briefly. They started grabbing platters and plates and shoving them aside.
The twins had decided to attend lunch and dinner today, causing many people around them to worriedly recast their poison detection charms at periodic intervals as they ate.
The twins whipped their wands up and quickly levitated the silverware, goblets, and plates down the table. And dumped most of their contents into their fellow Gryffindors’ laps. Completely by accident, of course, as they quickly assured their dorm-mates. Their grins while doing so did not convince anyone that it was as accidental as they claimed.
Twilight had spotted Harry and glided towards their table, daintily slamming into the table top and sending cracks across its surface. She sighed and looked down at the table, “Cheeseburgers!” she mumbled, embarrassed. She gave Harry and the fillies a rueful smile and rubbed the back of her neck with her right-front hoof. “Still haven’t quite got the hang of these wings,” she said.
The students stared at her in disbelief. It took a lot of power to crack a solid wood table that was thicker than their fists. She should, at least, have had sore hooves. Instead, she barely noticed.
And they had never seen a unicorn with wings.
She straightened, folded her wings, and cleared her throat, “Well, anyway, what’s this about you materializing a ghost?” she said sternly as she fixed Harry with a penetrating glare. Standing on the table, as she was, put her slightly above him. At his hesitant nod, she smiled broadly and started walking in place excitedly, her tail whipping back and forth.
“Was it hard? Did it work the first time or did you have to change the spell matrix? Was it exhausting? How much of your magical reserves did it use? Did you do it yourself or did Sweetie Belle and Hermione Granger help? Did you use your wands? Were you ponies? Did you do it outside or inside? Did that help? Was she a recent ghost? How did she die? Were there any side-effects? Have you tried it again? What did she think about it? Did she ask you to do it? Is she still here? Can I meet her and ask a few questions? I made a short checklist . . . .” A scroll popped out of one of her saddlebags and she held one end up to him. The other end of the scroll unrolled down to the table and then to the edge. Hermione jumped back. It fell to the bench seat, then fell to the floor, and continued to unroll across the floor until it hit the wall.
Harry thought it must be at least ten feet long.
The crowd of students now around him were staring with bugged-out eyes at the alicorn.
“Well? Why aren’t you saying anything?” she demanded, stopping her trot to stamp a hoof, and spread the cracks in the table-top.
“Uh . . . where’s Spike?” was the only thing Harry could think to say. If he had been here, the little dragon would have been trying to slow her down. He was about the only one not an Element of Harmony who could.
Twilight rolled her eyes, and snorted. “That brat, Philomena, didn’t give me time! I had no sooner grabbed my saddlebags, and, poof, here I was!” She lifted a hoof to stamp again, but Harry grabbed her leg.
“Ah,” came the soft tone of the Headmaster as the students parted to let him through. “Princess Sparkle, I presume?” The other Head of House professors followed him.
The alicorn spun in place to face him. “Oh, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore!” Harry could see her blushing. “I’m sorry,” she said, genuine remorse and embarrassment coming out in her tone. “I wanted to send you a message that I was going to be coming tomorrow but that brat, Philomena,” Twilight rolled her eyes, “surprised me and just brought me here, instead of taking the message.” She narrowed her eyes and glared at where the phoenix had disappeared as she brandished her rerolled questionnaire-scroll in her magic. A trill of laughter seemed to hang in the air for a moment. The scroll flew into her saddlebags.
By now, the entire Hall was watching and listening to them. The students were somewhat familiar with the ponies, by now, but this one had arrived via phoenix, whom she had loudly proclaimed a “brat.” She also had both wings and a horn. And the latest gossip spreading across the hall said she was an honest-to-Merlin princess! Most of the Ravenclaws were standing on their benches and the Slytherins had climbed atop their table.
“Yes,” Dumbledore said, stroking his beard lightly. “I dare say she surprised us all,” he said, his eyes twinkling. “I applaud your rapid transformation into your animagus form so you could fly instead of fall. Excellent reflexes! It was so fast, I didn’t even see you do it.”
Twilight blinked. “Oh, I didn’t . . . .” Harry grabbed her nearest leg and squeezed. She glanced down at him. “. . . ah, yes,” she said continued, “that’s what I did.” Harry was trying valiantly not to face-palm himself with his other hand.
“Well, then,” the Headmaster continued, “perhaps you’d like to return to your normal form and we can discuss whatever brings you here.”
“My normal form?” she said uncertainly, then continued, “. . . Oh, yes, of course. How silly of me. I was so intent on talking with Harry that I forgot to do that.”
Harry’s eyes went wide with horror. From what she had said, she had clearly been in Equestria when Philomena had snatched her. He urgently grabbed for her leg, again, saying, “Wait!”
It was already too late. He was holding her ankle.
۸- ̫ -۸
Stats
Page generated in 0.038 seconds
Total duration
977 users online
1,394,073 hits today, 2,054,621 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.®
It hit 900? Must have dropped below right after.
...that means we get a second 900 chapter, right? :)
9212404
9212266
Huh? I don't get it, I saw 890 now I see 888, so what's the deal? Does this site have really fickle likes or do some people automatically like something before reading then quickly remove said like when they wind up not liking what's going on? Either way this fickle numbering up and down ruins my plan, how can I make the really stupid joke when I like if the site constantly changes what the number is?
9212404
Statistics page still shows 900, though. I think a few people are gaming the system . . . . Next goal is 1,000 likes!
And Live Reader Count is broken again. It shows no readers where views at the bottom of the page are steadily incrementing.
She's going to flash the entire school, isn't she?
Ladies and Gentleman, today we have the exciting show of see Princess Twilight Sparkle nude for every student
P.S: I see only 889 upvoted 900
Yesterday when someone said that it's 3 likes from 900 it was at 887 for me? Something fishy is going on here (888likes atm)
Hahaha, Twilight's giving everyone a free show.
Nice work Purple Smart!
Dumbledore setting Harry up for an interview is a hilariously presumptious misstep on his part. The poor kid and his guardian- Twilight are probably both going to each be pissed and annoyed, respectively. Excellent chapter!
9212409
That was me. And yes, that means we hit 900 twice.
Naked Twilight, everyone stares, and she's like, "What?"
9212416
You were not alone. Maybe I should stop using the statistics page? It's always behind what the main page shows by at least a day, if not two (for example, Statistics has dislikes at 45 for the last two weeks, yet on the main page it shows 43).
Wow, fragment continues taking over. Harry needs to visit Tree of Harmony.
9212429
I think either way was fine. I had already decided to remove my like regardless, it's just the update email reminded me to actually do that.
In the next few seconds Myrtle will be taking detailed notes.
And this is why one should never let Twilight know that they have performed a brand new magical feat while away from the proper accessories locations she will require to not mollify and embarrass everyone involved or in viewing area, whichever you'd prefer.
I can just see Discord laughing his tail off at this and popping in for a good dose of chaotic applause.
9212462
Good lord, I had to read that sentence twice to parse it from gibberish! Very convoluted. A comma or two would have made it much more legible.
9212466
Personally I decided to remove my like untill I actually like the story again. Not because I wanted to game the system.
If I knew this story was pony Harry Potter and the CMC roflestomp Hogwarts I wouldn't have started reading. I am invested enough to keep reading, for now. But it no longer ranks as a story I like.
Well now, guess the whole school just got a eyeful LOL!
9212466
Actually, looking at the Statistics page, I think you can't back-down an up-vote/down-vote except on the main page. As I said, a month ago the number of down-votes hit 45 on the main page, but then dropped to 44 and now is at 43, yet the Statistics page shows 45! And looking at the up-votes shows a similar pattern, It shows that today (last 24 hours) 13 up-votes, with a previous total of 888, giving a total of 991 right now, not 889.
I'll stick with the numbers on the Statistics page.
Hooo boy, this is gonna have some silly shenanigans indeed.
Hopefully Harry is quick on the trigger and blames "the brat" for pulling her out of the shower or something similar to cover up the situation...
To all the people who brought the number of likes up, thank you. This was a very nice thing to come home to after having two wisdom teeth pulled.
Well, things are getting interesting now, I wonder how it will affect the main plot of the story for here, I would have though that the Slivering house would have their own 'defectors' if they are primarily lead by ambition, I doing thing that would make them all bad (stuck up sure), but I wouldn't thing some would care about house solidarity if they get to learn a few new things on their own that doesn't affect their standing from the other houses; unless the older students accuses anyone of them of being traitors to the group and have been harassing then to not fraternizing with outsider or the first years. Wonder if some of then when behind other back and learn hot to turn into a pony by spying. I wonder if Twilight is going to go thought a magic dual and gets offered a teaching position as a foreign exchange program. I know she doesn't have the time unless she uses the travel case. I wonder if in the Goblet of Fire Neighsay is going to be CSGU representative?
9212496
Yes, that appears to be the situation. Only the main page changes numbers if you change your mind.
Knowing that, though, it is amusing to watch, isn't it?
And that is when all the student witches suddenly became very self-conscious about their body image, and when several student wizards learned that foreign princesses are casually comfortable without clothing. Much to everyone else's embarrassment!
Keep up the good work with this story, the updates to this are currently one of the highlights of my week. Also, it is always good to see more Twilight in this story.
9212469
As comments typically, typically mind you, are merely conversational in nature proper grammar and punctuation is hit or miss. Run-On sentences are definitely going to happen more often than not in a comment because we don't all take the OCD stance of completely typing up something and then shoving in the proper breaks and things to ensure decent legibility. (Especially when we rush and hit post fast without reading it out loud as opposed to reading it only in our heads.) So the fact that my previous comment was perhaps difficult to read is completely understandable.
Now, seeing as how the statistics are accurately portraying this at over 900 I shall put actions to words.
Have another like because IT'S OVER 900!!!
I too see the like count below 900, but I'm not going to complain about a bonus chapter.
Looking forward to nude Twilight! It's easy to fix; I think she could easily conjure up appropriate clothing (though Rarity would no doubt complain about the dreadful quality of the stitchwork).
Well this is going to end well. I hope Twilight puts a stop to the interview or makes Rita write the truth. Then again I don't think she will be ready when the crown backs Harry’s libel suit against her and destroys her reputation.
As for the number of views and of viewers, there appears to be a flaw in the software. If you're a speed reader like myself, the board will often refuse to count the chapter as having been read. You have to either manually check the chapter off in that little read/unread box in the chapter listing, or you have to sit there and wait, with the chapter open in your browser, slowly tapping the page button in order to satisfy what seems to be a rather inaccurate timer of sorts with the job of determining if you're actually reading or just skimming.
This has happened to me a LOT when reading short chapters - they often take me a minute or less when they're a thousand words or less, and the board won't acknowledge that I've read the chapter.
EDIT: It also sets those annoying red line bookmarks in chapters if/when I've left my tablet sit for a bit because of an interruption or distraction. Irritating, to say the least.
Meh ... It's not like she'll be embarrassed only harry will after the boys and some teachers ask him if she's single... and it could easily be explained off ... she did find herself in midair and casting magic that quickly might of had a error or two. *fingers bunny ears up and down motion* Hoping she pulls a jedi and senses a dark disturbance and ousts quirel then becomes the new dada and history teacher.
9212528
Huh. So it's my reading speed that has caused me to build a habit of going to the front page once a week and clearing out the bookmarks without really looking at them?
Sorry, but should I recognize the names Stephen Macmillian or George Turpin?
Just when you think the chapter is going to be uneventful, POP here's Twilight! Of course she's fascinated at hearing a theoretical spell being used successfully. Also this opens up the avenue of letting Twilight tour Hogwarts which should be interesting.
Now the question is was Twilight already on this side of the portal (and thus most likely already dressed but shifted) or did she teleport through the portal and all the way to Hogwarts with Philomena's assistance?
Not sure everyone going to see Twilight Royal naked form.
Earlier Chapter it mentioned that the Equestrians learned to change forms with clothes on. At least I remember reading that. Besides this is Twilight we know she been practicing shifting so could have learned how to do so.
9212536
George Turpin I think is an ally of Superman, if my memory is correct.
I'm now expecting twilight to conjour awful looking clothing, and rarity using her twilight sense, is going to barge into the great hall screaming twilights name with a bolt's of cloth in tow to make twilight a new set of cloth's right then and there.
9212536
They're probably just random common names picked to be the fathers of Ernie Macmillan and Lisa Turpin.
9212550
Dan... Dan Turpin is the ally of Superman. George Turpin is probably somebody from the Parents of Student group or a member of the society employed by the Daily Prophet or something. Just a guess.
9212531
Or more likely be explained as part of Philomena's prank.
It suddenly hit me but now I can't get it out of my head, the moment Twilight slams on the table reminds me of when Celestia landed on the balcony in season 1.
9212306
True, rollercoasters can be made of wood. But the one in Cloudsdale in the Grannys episode, was no different from modern ones made entirely of steel.
The point I'm making is that while Equestrian technology and industry is less advanced than even 1990s technologies, it is well within the same ballpark and comparable capabilities. A modern engine will impress ponies, but they will now what they are looking at and recognize some of the parts and principles
there are a million ways i can see this going depending on twilight, most aren't good for Dumbledore, a few aren't good for Rita skeeter, and a few end up with twilight as the new history of magic teacher.
9212586
I'm crossing my fingers for that, I mean as celestia said the embassy was a secondary objective.
Well, that’s going to have MANY young students blessing Twilight, Merlin, and everything else.
Why are they even here? Seriously, what is the point of even having them come to Hogwarts if it's all just a waste of time?
9212568
I thought I was missing a Dick Turpin reference.
9212595
it also means Dumbledore can no longer get away with things like offering Rita an interview he technically has no right to offer, an interview even in a wizard news paper is still a neutral legal matter and thus harry's legal guardian gets to decide not his magic guardian, i'm hoping twilight stays around to out rightly deny the interview and possibly threaten legal consequences on Rita for what she's already done. (freedom of the press is a thing yes, but there are limits within the law)
9212570
True
The downward trend in views per chapter is completely natural. Some of it is people leaving the story or the site over time, but most of it is simply people re-reading the earlier chapters after a time and adding to the view count there. The site doesn't count opening a chapter several times in a row, of course, but if you go back after a few weeks (or even days) it adds to the views there, as far as I've seen. So don't worry about people jumping off from the story, it's just that it's so good people read it more than once.
Besides, the last chapter only came out a day ago and already got more than half again of the story's Likes in views.
I hollered over at Ethyl and said “Don’t look, Ethyl!” But it was too late, she’d already been mooned!