68 — Obstacles
Dumbledore managed to conceal his surprise. He stroked his beard, thinking. This would be an unparalleled opportunity to meet the Atlantean experts for an extended time. It wouldn’t involve the Ministry, which eliminated an entire realm of problems, and allowed the enchantments to be upgraded without taking significant amounts of time away from his other research.
“That is a most generous offer, Your Highness,” he said nodding. “When might we expect them?”
She worried her lower lip with her teeth for a moment. “I’ll have to get Princesses Celestia and Luna to okay everything and agree on whom to send.” She paused, thinking. “Possibly by Monday?”
He nodded. “Excellent, that will give us time to prepare rooms and an explanation for the students.”
“And tell the students that you are going to be searching the school for those ‘Dark’ artefacts and that any found will be confiscated,” she added.
He stroked his beard for a moment. “Yes, that is most definitely an excellent suggestion.” He smiled happily.
“It has been a most enlightening day, Princess Sparkle. I thank you again for your assistance in capturing the basilisk, and,” he looked down at the drawer in his desk, “for finding Rowena Ravenclaw’s Lost Diadem.” He smiled gratefully as she nodded. “Was there anything else you wanted to discuss before we all start on other tasks?”
She blinked and frowned. A scroll flew up from her briefcase and she started running down the list it contained. “hmm, check, check, check,” she mumbled, her quill making the appropriate marks on her scroll.
Prince Shining Armor just smirked, and said, “That’s my sis,” while shaking his head ruefully.
Miss Rarity sighed, Applejack rolled her eyes, and Pinkie Pie just giggled and finished putting the last layer of frosting on a cake that was sitting on one of the tables by the couch. Rainbow Dash, still in her pegasus form, was once more floating near the ceiling and looking out the window. This time she was flying on her back in a position reminiscent of a cat on a bed hanging its head off the side. A clearly impossible feat. He shook his head at the sight.
She had made it almost to the end as they silently watched when she suddenly stopped. She gritted her teeth, but then continued. Finally she stopped and looked up. “Almost everything scheduled for the day is done.” Oddly, she did not look happy about that. The quill was making additional notes on the paper.
“Yes?” he said inquiringly, lifting an eyebrow.
“Show me where the Cerberus is so I can check the charms. And tell me what he is guarding.”
Dumbledore sighed. He had hoped she had forgotten that particular item from yesterday. He looked at the three professors, all of whom looked ready to object, and shook his head slightly. They stayed silent. He stood, pushing his chair back. “Then we should be off. Fortunately, it is not far from here.” He ushered the group down the stairs.
“A good friend of mine, Nicholas Flamel . . . ,” he started as he led them to the third-floor corridor on the right-hand side.
۸-~-۸
Spike answered the knock at the Castle door. A unicorn mare was standing there. She had a light-blue coat and two-tone purple mane and tail.
“Hi! How can I help you?”
Hesitantly, she asked, “Is Princess Twilight Sparkle in?”
“Nope. She’s off doing something important.”
The mare looked crestfallen. “Oh. I was hoping she could tell me something about the portal in the Everfree.” She worried her lower lip a moment. “I was just over there, and the guard said they were hiring.” She looked down at the dragon and frowned. “I wanted to find out a bit more before I applied — I’m new in town, you see, and I need a job.”
“Pshaw,” he said, waving a claw, “I can answer your questions.” He puffed out his chest a bit, “I’ve even went through the portal with Twilight the first time!”
“Really?” she said, surprised. “You must be very brave to explore a world through a portal.” She looked at him in awe.
He blushed. “I suppose I was,” he said. “Well, come on in, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Are you sure that’s alright?” She glanced at the two guards, one on either side of the castle door.
He waved a claw again, “It’s fine, Twi said they’re gonna need a bunch of ponies for the embassy, so it’s not like it won’t be big news when the word gets out.”
She walked into the entry-way as he shut the door.
They went into the kitchen where he fixed them tea. Then he spent the next several hours regaling her with his adventures on the other side. She was especially interested in the wizards and witches he had seen. And how the ponies had paid for everything.
۸-_-۸
The Gryffindors next stop was Scrivenshafts. While it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the other two stores, it did have some really ace items: the Self-Inking quill that did any colour you wanted; Ink-Be-Gone Erasers (“Sucks up ink-spills, splotches, and mistakes, but leaves what you want!”) — Harry knew that was one he was going to buy; Never-Ending scrolls (“Tap your wand to cut-off the length you want!”) — another useful item; Self-Spelling Quills (“Never misspell a word again!”); Self-Writing Quills (“Just tell it the subject!”); Smart-Answer Quills (“Just like the Self-Writing Quill, but smarter!”); Grammar-Checking Quills (“Says what you mean without errors!”); Ultimate Quills (that did what all the others did); Sugar Quills (“Snack while you write!”); Scroll Storage Boxes; and much, much more.
Still, it didn’t take all that long for the Gryffindor cohort to finish perusing the selections on hand. Although they did have to drag Hermione out, protesting she wasn’t done yet.
“Well,” George said — Harry had decided that he would just start calling the first one to speak George — “There’s only one place left to see.”
“Not that we’ll spend any time there really,” said Fred.
“But you should all meet the proprietor,”
“It’s only proper.”
The twins leading, and Percy following to make sure they didn’t lose any stragglers, they set off for the next destination, The Three Broomsticks. This time, late afternoon, the lines were gone.
“Rosy, my love,” called out George as they filed inside.
Truth be told, Harry was starting to get tired. Except for lunch, they had spent the entire day on their feet. It was with great relief that the Gryffindors settled themselves into sparkling, clean chairs around sparkling, clean tables.
The witch sauntered over, eyes sparkling and a genuine smile on her face. Harry wondered how she managed that. She had to have been running non-stop all day, just like the other shopkeepers! And most of them were starting to look a bit ragged around the edges.
“We’ll have seventeen butterbeers please,” Fred said.
It was a lot like the Leaky Cauldron, only bigger, cleaner, nicer, better lit, rather welcoming . . . . On second thought, Harry decided, it was like the Leaky Cauldron only in that it had four walls, a roof, and served alcohol and lunches.
On the other hoof, “There’s a reason for the Leaky Cauldron to look like that,” Mr. Weasley had earnestly told them last month.
“It’s the muggles, don’t you see? The ones with only a bit of magic, right? They can see the pub, but having them wander into Diagon Alley would cause a ruckus. So, instead, they see a dirty, dingy pub. Puts them right off, it does, and they aren’t inclined to go in. If they do go in, it looks like something they don’t want, and they leave.” He gave a smile. “And if they’ve already had a bit too much when they come in and want to stay, Tom gives them a subtle hint with his wand, and off they go.
“It’s all a part of keeping ourselves secret, right?”
They had duly nodded in understanding.
But that made The Three Broomsticks all that more interesting to look at. It had a high ceiling, with two staircases, one at either end at the back. Each went up to a wide balcony on that side’s wall that had tables overlooking the main floor. There was a connecting balcony, with tables, over the bar. The staircases also each had a corridor leading away from them farther into the building. “There’s meeting rooms and apartments down those,” George had explained.
“Over the kitchen and storage rooms. Right nice I hear,” added Fred.
“Toilets are under the stairs.”
“Wizards on the left,” Fred pointed.
“And witches on the right,” George pointed.
Their arms crossed each other.
The next half-hour was spent in idle conversation and sipping their drinks while watching Rosemerta bounce around the room filling orders and talking to her customers. Well, watching the buxom Rosemerta was what Percy and the twins did. Harry and his friends spent their time comparing notes on what they had seen and bought. And what they planned to buy from the catalogues they had picked up. And making use of the facilities under the stairs.
۸-_-۸
“Let see if I understand this,” the princess said. “You have the single most valuable artefact in Magical Europe, maybe even in this world, in your possession.”
Dumbledore nodded sagely.
“And you think that a dark wizard, working with a spirit Tom Riddle, is after it?
Dumbledore nodded, again.
“And instead of sealing it away somewhere where it can’t be found or accessed, you are keeping it in this school?” Her voice had risen a bit at the end.
He nodded again, and said, “Hogwarts is the most secure and safest location in all of England, not even Gringotts is as secure.” He smiled.
She shook her head, as if to clear it, and continued, “Behind a bunch of obstacles designed to slow down this dark wizard.”
“That is correct.”
“But not stop him or incapacitate him?”
“Yes, precisely.”
“Because you want to capture him and get him to tell you where this Tom Riddle is?”
He nodded. “Yes, you grasp my strategy perfectly.”
She, and the other Atlanteans, stared at him wide-eyed.
She looked at the other three professors. They just stared back at her.
She closed her eyes.
Dumbledore noticed her lips moving slightly, as if she were counting.
She took a breath and opened her eyes to look at him. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR BUCKING MIND?” she yelled. They all winced. She was standing stiffly, hands at her sides, fists clenched, feet about shoulder-width apart, her head slightly inclined in his direction.
He looked at her nonplussed. He noticed that her heretofore nicely coiffed hair had several hairs sticking straight out. Another joined the rest as he watched. And her hair, as a whole, almost seemed to be floating.
But that had to be his imagination.
And her eyes were a bit wider than normal.
“I assure you, Princess Sparkle, that . . . .”
“You know what you are doing?” she finished, half-hissing at him.
He stopped, startled.
“Just as you knew the students would not explore this corridor, or what lies behind this door? Just as you knew there was no way to get to the Chamber of Secrets? Just as you knew that I was exaggerating my estimate of the size of the basilisk?”
More hairs popped out of her hairdo.
“Twi?” came the hesitant voice of Applejack. “You might wanna calm down a bit?”
“Just as you knew there were no horrendously dangerous and hate-filled cursed items in the castle?” continued the princess. “Just as you knew it was perfectly safe to put on the cursed tiara?”
“Uh, Twilight,” said Rarity, stepping over and placing her hand on Princess Sparkle’s arm.
“Based solely on your record over the last twenty-four hours, I would say you DON’T know as much as you think you do!”
Dumbledore drew himself up stiffly. “Your Highness . . . .”
“Just on the spur of the moment,” she said in a in a low tone, “what would you do if, while you’re at a Wizengamot meeting, your dark wizard were to imperius a few students into walking into that room with the cerberus. And then, while he’s occupied with eating them, sneaking past into the next obstacle with a few others? It’s what Queen Chrysalis or King Sombra would have done.”
The other Atlanteans looked a little sick at the thought, but they all nodded.
“Would you even know he had entered this room? I think not, or you already would have known just how many students had taken a look at the cerberus!”
“He would never do that. It would prematurely reveal his presence to the public and the Ministry,” Dumbledore replied carefully. “It would be solid evidence, and the Ministry would begin to fight back, to counter his plans before he could connect with his former supporters.”
“Oh?” she said. “You have that in writing on a contract, I take it?” she said sarcastically. “I’m sure, that with only one-sixteenth of a soul, he is just as sane and calm as any other wizard or witch. Whom, I now suspect, have the self-control and common sense of a suicidal lemming!” She rolled her eyes.
“And once past your cerberus, he would work his way through to this artefact, wasting the lives of your students along the way. Why would he care if it took ten, twenty, thirty, or forty lives for him to get to this artefact? Especially if they’re all muggle-born or half-bloods. In the past, he had no problems with his Death Eaters slaughtering those children and their parents for entertainment!
“King Sombra spent tens of thousands of lives creating and keeping his empire, Queen Chrysalis spent the lives of thousands of her changelings, her own children, trying to get what she wanted. Why should your Tom Riddle do any different, if this thing is so valuable?”
She stopped and took a deep breath, visibly calming herself. She placed her hand on her chest, then she exhaled, moving her hand away. She took another breath and repeated this several times.
“Right. Let’s do this. Let’s see just how hard it is to get to this thing.” Her features hardened into determination as she turned to face the door.
Dumbledore stared at her, his face a bit heated at her tirade. It had been a long time since anyone had berated him so thoroughly. And, he had to admit, with some justification. She was wrong in her conclusions, but still, there was a bit of truth hidden there.
She flung open the door, not even noticing that it had been locked much more securely than a simple alohomora could open, and stepped inside.
Fluffy stood and started growling.
She transformed into her alicorn form, and three-headed dog started to look confused.
She nodded her head and music started playing in the room, a sweet lullaby of some kind. A lullaby Dumbledore had never heard — “Come little children, . . . ,” he heard her softly sing. Fluffy stared at her for a moment, then sat down. Slowly he settled lower until he was lying down.
The rest of them, the professors and the Atlanteans, watched quietly from the corridor behind the Princess.
Then he lowered his heads until all three were resting on the floor. His eyelids slowly began to droop, with first one head and then the next closing. It took less than five minutes before all three heads were snoring.
The princess strode inside confidently. Her magic reached out to lift the sleeping dog and gently moved him to the back of the chamber. A blue shimmer seemed to come between them and the cerberus.
“There,” she said, “That will prevent any noise from reaching him, as well keeping the music playing for the next hour or so.” She turned and looked back at them. “Well, come on.” She quickly strode over to the trap door. She stared down at it and sighed.
They slowly followed behind her. Fluttershy ran over to the Cerberus and began cooing at him and gently petting his heads.
“You didn’t even hide the trapdoor!” she said accusingly. “At least you put a magical lock on that door,” she pointed back at the corridor with a hoof, “That will not open to a simple alohomora. However, I’d have the trapdoor move to a random location on far half of the room each time someone opened the door to come in. Then I would block the walls, floor, and ceiling with a spell so that somepony like King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, or myself couldn’t just sink through the floor like this.” Which she proceeded to do.
Dumbledore exchanged surprised looks with Severus. Minerva said, “She actually walked through the wall of the witches’ toilets on the second floor to find the pipes that led to the basilisk.” Filius nodded.
A moment later, the princess was back, flapping her wings. “Ugh,” she said. “That’s awkward.” She looked back at Dumbledore. “Of course, my trapdoor would be a fake and lead to a trap from which he cannot escape. I’d make it a spirit trap, too, just to be safe.
“The real trapdoor I would place on the ceiling, which would certainly slow down most wizards.” She glared at Dumbledore, and then looked down at the trapdoor, “Well, at least this has an alert spell on it,” she said drily.
He nodded.
She opened the trapdoor and jumped down. A moment later, a bright light shone from the open door. Her voice drifted up, “Okay, just jump down, I’ll catch you.”
Dash just grinned and dove, tucking her wings close as she passed through the trapdoor. The others started jumping in. Fluttershy was the last to make the trip, gently settling beside the princess as the rest stared at the small tangle of vines slowly creeping their way closer.
The purple alicorn stared at him, puzzled.
“Pomona’s idea. It’s Devil’s Snare, it would entangle and trap anyone who jumped into it,” Dumbledore explained. “It fears fire. In another month it will fill this chamber.”
She sighed. “And the first thing any wizard or witch would do in the dark is to LIGHT THEIR WAND! And then a fire when they see a plant trying to capture them. Which effectively means this is no obstacle to a wizard or witch.” She shook her head sadly as they moved out of the room and into a short corridor. “I would have placed light-and-heat-loving vines and made him crawl around in the dark looking for the doorway out while trying to evade the vines. And that door I would place partway to the ceiling. And put up an anti-flying charm.”
The next room they encountered had what they at first thought were birds, but Dash’s keen eyesight quickly corrected that impression — those were keys with wings flying around in it. Hundreds of keys, flitting back and forth, swooping down and shooting up, swirling around in a great flock of glittering metal.
“Filius’ contribution,” the Headmaster said quietly. “You must catch the key to open the door.”
She sighed again, and walked across the room to the door, stopped a moment, then walked through the door.
Dumbledore winced as she opened the door from the other side. They followed her across, with Dash detouring into chasing the keys for a moment.
“Come on Dash,” said Applejack, “Or you’ll get left behind.”
Dash squawked and dove through the door as Applejack was closing it, a mass of keys chasing her. The two tumbled into Pinkie Pie who was trailing the others as the keys thudded into the door behind them. A short argument erupted over whose fault it was that they ended up in a pile. Pinkie Pie just giggled throughout it.
The chess set caught their attention, next.
“And this is Minerva’s work. A rather excellent set of transfigurations.”
“Oh, neat!” cried Pinkie Pie and charged out onto the board and started climbing the pieces. They started moving the moment she touched them. The knights’ horses began to hoof at the squares they stood upon, the kings and queens turned as if to look at them, as did the bishops.
Rainbow Dash flew over it to the other door and waited for them. They started across the chessboard to join Dash. The chess-pieces ominously began to move towards them, lifting their weapons threateningly. The princess just shook her head, and frowned. A blast of light came from her horn and swept across the board, sweeping across the room and leaving a huddle of limp chessmen slumped along the wall to one side.
Pinkie Pie shook her head beside Dumbledore, “They weren’t nearly as much fun as I thought they would be.”
As the pieces slowly recovered, the group walked into the short passageway to the next room.
“Oh, my word! What is that smell?” asked Rarity holding her hand over her nose. Pinkie Pie was wearing a muggle World War II gas mask, once more in pink camouflage. And looking blandly at the rest of them staring at her.
“It’s a troll,” explained Dumbledore, “provided by Quirinus.”
Twilight didn’t even slow down. A purple bubble shimmered around the troll that had been napping against the wall beside the other door. They dimly heard its roars and thumps as it tried in vain to break out of its temporary prison.
The next room had a table with potion bottles on it.
“Severus came up with this,” Dumbledore said. “Most wizards are terrible at logic puzzles.”
The flames covering the two doors were a bit startling, but, again, the princess didn’t slow down as she once more walked through the wall and around the flames covering the door, demonstrating how useless that particular challenge was. She came back out on the other side of the door a moment later. She walked over to the potion vials and studied the note on the table, then the vials. After a moment, she nodded and pointed. “This one should have the correct potion.” Then she asked hopefully, “Unless you were extremely clever and made all the potions instant-sleeping potions?”
Severus slowly shook his head, and then said, “As you have already demonstrated, you could avoid the puzzle completely.” He took out his wand and pointed it at the far wall. The black flames went out.
They walked straight into the next room — there was no passageway this time.
She turned to the Headmaster. “So, if you were in one of the monthly meetings of the Wizengamot, as Chief Warlock, could you have gotten here before I made it here?” She raised an eyebrow inquisitively.
Dumbledore had to admit it, “No, I’m afraid not. I expected it to take anyone at least an hour, perhaps longer, to make it through all the obstacles.” He looked at the floor. While her walking through walls was completely unexpected, her solutions to the chess game and the troll were blindingly obvious, now. And, she had been correct in her evaluation of Pomona’s Devil’s Snare, an extremely simple trap, one he could now see even a First Year would have figured out without difficulty. Only Filius’ key-room and Severus’ potions puzzle would have taken a knowledgeable, and skilled, wizard any real time to solve.
“Then, I would assume your dark wizard could also do it as fast as I did.” She looked around. “So, where is the artefact? And what is the obstacle? If it’s like the others, it will take only a few moments to bypass it, as well.”
Dumbledore looked around, too. “Alas,” he said, “the artefact is not in here. I . . . .”
“Not here?” Twilight said astonished.
“Yes, I . . . .”
She grinned, suddenly happy. “That’s brilliant!” She started trotting in place. “He goes through all those obstacles, no matter how fast, and there’s no artefact here!” She spun in place. “Yes! Finally!” She started to look earnestly around the room, her forehead furrowed in concentration. “So, where’s the trap?” She gasped. “Is it the room?” She started casting a few spells.
“No,” Princess Sparkle said, after a few moments, puzzled. “The walls in this chamber have no spells to contain anything.” She turned slowly. “Hogwarts’ anti-apparation spells and anti-portkey spells are up. And there’s no floo. So, he can’t escape the room magically. But what’s to prevent him from simply walking back out once he realizes the thing he wants isn’t here?”
Dumbledore shifted uncomfortably. “I haven’t placed the final obstacle, actually.”
“Ah,” she said, still happy. “You’re still working on that.” She nodded, then paused a moment, one hoof in the air, thinking. “As long as he knows it is inaccessible he’ll wait to do anything? Is that what you hope?”
He smiled. “Yes, that is essentially correct. He won’t make a move until he knows the item has been placed behind the final obstacle. To move before then would end in catastrophe, for him.”
She frowned again. “And how will he know that? You can’t exactly take out an ad in the Daily Prophet, now can you?”
۸-~-۸
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I am going to say this Twilight needs a crash course on basic personal safety around her home. She also needs to learn, or ponies in general, need to understand what a secret is and not to spill it. Spike just told Glim Glam far too much and she is so mentally incompetent that she will destroy everything Celestia wants done because Starlight is nuts. I hope some humans catch on about the lack of information control and call the Equestrians on it. As for the challenges I think you will definitely make it interesting.
Also I believe by this point Dumbledore and Snape where onto the fact that Qurrilmort was there.
I remember a story about Nicholas Flamel doing the same. Transfiguring Fluffy into a puppy, destroying the plant, then destroying the door with the keys and transfiguring the chess into the size of a normal one, then taking care easy of the troll...
I wonder what could Twilight reaction might be to the Mirror of Erised
Ah, picking apart the overly simple series of obstacles and traps is fine with me. I do think that Twilight needs to work on her diplomacy, however.
Even her friends thought she was going overboard in this chapter.
Aside from that, excellent work as usual!
You read that list too! And yes a lot of her criticisms are valid.
Unless, of course, that this was more of a test for his future weapon(Harry), then a trap for Voldemort. Of course, I don't know if your taking your Dumbledore in that rout.
9274471
Do you remember the name of the story?
Really have a strong point there. Also wizards are DUMB
I’m almost scared at how in the hell he’ll answer that one.
they're
ones
the door
I really hoped we were done with this crap.
The problem is all Twilight is doing is ignoring the rules of each challenge and just bypassing them with an ability that doesn't exist in either canon (walking through walls). Why would destroying the chess pieces let you pass if they just reform?
Look I get the puzzles are simple but that's not the problem being showed here it's just Twilight cheating her way through them all something we know can't be done otherwise Quirrel wouldn't have bothered to complete each challenge.
It's one thing to point out flaws that exist in the original story but it doesn't count if you just make up shit to make things look worse than they are.
I fully expected twilight to spontaneously combust and continue ranting at the witches and wizards until she couldn't speak anymore.
9274482
Sadly, no... It's one of those stories that I followed many months ago and they did not finish or updated.
I know you replied to my post in the last chapter TKepner but as that's gone I can't access it to see what you said. Also I think the chapter editing may have mucked up the comments as they show up on the main story page but not the chapter page.
Fun little chapter and I suspect Dumbledore will just quietly pretend that he intended the whole time to not have the artifact in the final chamber now to make himself look better in front of Twilgiht.
Also that never ending scroll would be the perfect gift for Twilight considering how many she goes through and possibly put the store she buys them from out of business.
I'm surprised that Pinkie suddenly having a cake in Dumbledore's office didn't get more of a reaction.
9274399
I'd guess its 10-20 men. The term is familiar and for some reason I'm thinking roman as I know they had centuries as a military unit but I'm not confident on that.
9274489
Actually its a well known issue give someone a problem and they'll find a solution if they can, give someone a problem with certain framing e.g. the implied you must play chess to get past the chess set and most people will solve the problem that way. Hand someone an axe in a forest and ask them to get you firewood most of the time they'll cut branches off tree's rather than gathering dead wood. Twilight's go to response of energy blasts as her magic of choice is to just blast the chess pieces into oblivion as her unconcious framing is her home magic and the need to do this fast. Riddle's unconcious framing is his magic and the need to do it subtly.
9274473
honestly if anything she underplayed it. i'm sure if twilight took a minute to make rarity applejack and rainbow dash really think on the danger presented to the sisters they'd be ten times as livid.
9274489
The canonical hinders, obstacles and traps are absolute rubbish, half of them you barely even need magic to slip past and pretty much all of them are frankly, not a threat in the slightest. If Voldemort was even slightly creative in his thinking and not just absolutely bonkers due to running on tiny pieces of his soul then these obstacles would serve no practical use, and so many of the obstacles being as terribly ineffective as they are makes it so most of them may as well simply never have existed in the first place.
Dumbledore bashing happens for a reason. And in my opinion, a good one. The plot of the first book is in hindsight, now that I am older, blindingly simple and full of holes.
Good chapter, I like seeing Dumbledore bashing myself. *munches popcorn*
9274473
To be fair, Dumbledore is a school headmaster rather than a politician, at least on paper. Also, they are trying to establish relations with the muggle world, rather than the magical community. As far as Twilight is concerned, Dumbledore is just a incredibly stupid principle with an Impressive sphere of influence.
“And, I’ll get a bunch of down votes for Dumbledore-bashing.”
Until you get to the point of literally having him be assaulted by a member of the mane 6 and having ponies go nuclear at the sound of his name, my upvote is secure.
9274489
Actually, she’s shown using her magic to pull ponies through walls. Not teleporting them, but actively moving them through walls. I would assume that because her magic allows her to move things through walls that she can then move through walls herself.
Just as being able to teleport others at a distance from her means she must be able to teleport herself.
9274488
Thanks.
Personally, I've so far read two different types of HP-fics: The dumbledore-is-good-but,well,dumbledore that this one is, and the dumbledore-is-a-manipulating-bastard that a lot of stories with powerful non-main friendlies tend to follow (I suspect the original Harry Potter work follows this pattern, and MLP itself seems to, with Celestia). Honestly, both the HP-fics I've read are well done- so both approaches work (The other one is your inspiration).
I suppose the issue comes up that we either sideline Dumbledore, as the HP books did, or we put him in the limelight and try to explain his mistakes, as both stories have done. Either of the two approaches above work for that explanation; of course, there is always the cop-out dumbledore-is-good-but-Voldemort-is-both-smart-and-stupid, where Dumbledore is heavenly good, made no mistakes... and the world follows some strange logic whereby his tricks can actually work against a smart Voldemort. Honestly, I prefer the "dumbledore-bashing" ones- and I must say, I'm not sure which approach I prefer- manipulative bastard, or dumbledore.
9274517
Oh, so I ca’t deploy Frank, the fashionable (thanks Rarity) bat of Dumbledore bashing?
Well the best way to find out if your defenses are perfect is to have someone test them out. That's just smart thinking 101. Every time he had a teacher put a defense in place he should've had the other teachers come up with ideas how they would've got by them then ...after it was fixed ...asked them again till they didn't have answers. Then move onto the next trial. That all potions being sleep droughts was a good idea. Having to have the known potion on you going down into the trial to get past it means only the maker of the trap will be ready since it could be whatever potion he wanted.... ...buying more time. Hell if he puts the wrong recipe down there for them to make one that takes a while to brew even after they make it it'll be the wrong one to get past the trap. Why do they need to give a fair trial the guy their trying to catch murdered 100s. Hymn I would've assumed mcgonagle would be the keys ... quiditch fan that she is....and flitwick would be chess ... silly ravenclaw with their intelligence and strategy.
9274534
Not with this storyline you've selected- that wouldn't be applicable, since he was doing everything in ignorance rather than by intent. Frank was to punish him for doing it by design.
I mean...yeah, the puzzles were pretty dumb. But everybody already knows that, and spending a whole chapter on bashing it is beating a place where the dust that used to be the bones of a horse used to be.
While I don’t mind some good ol’ bashing, I just hope you don’t have them holding the idiot ball for too long. After a while that can get boring.
9274525
What episode is that from? I have a guess but I'm not completely sure.
Even so, the point of each room was that you needed to complete each challenge as intended. You suggest you can just cheat but if that was an option why did Quirrel do each challenge as intended?
It would have been much better if you came up with a way to actually solve each puzzle instead of simply suggesting that ignoring the puzzle altogether would actually work. I know they never said you couldn't cheat but that's generally implied in this kind of thing. It just seems lazy because if it really is as flawed as you say you should be able to explain yourself beyond saying well "he could just cheat".
Ahh, yes. Kate Covington's beautiful cover that got used in an MLP fan animation. Did you know she now has a licensed studio version available for purchase if anyone wants to send her more than just thanks?
The problem with Twilight's idea to make it impossible to get through is that people not trying to steal the stone need a way to get through the rooms. Yeah, they could set up a trap free route but then all of a sudden there is a way to easily get around all the traps.
I would have thought "Hushabye Mountain" would have been a more appropriate lullaby.
Still, I do agree with the fact the traps are useless. The Devil Snare especially.
And how long is it before Twilight finds out Qurriel has the spirit of Voldemort partly possessing him?
Also just going back to the Horcuxes, from what I can understand, the diadem was in fact the last proper one (before Nagini, who is still to be made into one), the Diary was the first, and thus most powerful, so when it does appear that should hopefully give Twilight the best data point.
9274556
Only during the setup. After the setup, the only accesses needed are to Fluffy and the troll. The troll can have his food and such delivered by a one-way portkey that Dumbledore personally sets up on the food/drink when it is sent. Fluffy gets his food from Hagrid.
I love Dumbledore, but he had really gone senile since Harry was born, and everyone else respects him so much for all of his great accomplishments when he was in his prime that they don't question him
9274544
I think that was the inspiration manifistation episode where spike gave rarity that book and she bejewelled everything ... I think.
9274556
Personally, this seams easy: Dumbledore has the Elder Wand, so why didn't he just stick the Stone in a clearly visible spot on a pedestal in the Great Hall, then place an unbreakable shield spell around it that only he can reach through? Or, do what Voldemort did with the locket horcrux, hiding it in some far-off cave- but use the above-named spell rather than a potion?
(Spoiler for final Harry Potter book... Or so, it's been so long since I read it)
9274556
If anything, I'd think that's a good thing. If the person who set up each trap is the only one who can bypass it, then you've got yourself a standard consensus-based authentication system.
9274544
Inspiration Manifestation S4E23 where Rarity gets given the dark magic spellbook by Spike and is possesed to go on a rampage of improvements. Golden streets, crystal tree's, gemstone houses, turning a foals party into a high fashion party (including one poor Mariachi Stallion into Octavia) and other changes. Also got Twilight to scold Spike afterwards because she had to get Luna and Cadence to help her spending hours putting everything to rights. Mayor Mayor comes running up to her while she's trying to figure out what's going on and tells her the pagoda has been turned into solid crystal trapping two ponies inside resulting in her pulling them through the walls.
9274574
9274582
The plan wasn't to keep the stone locked up forever, Dumbledore intended to return it to his friend once it was safe. It was the whole reason he was trying to catch the thief because his friend would be in danger if he hung onto the stone but he would also die without it (the fact Flamel decided to destroy it, in the end, is irrelevant).
There had to be a way to actually get through each trap so that they could retrieve the stone at some point.
9274591
Yes.... So the spell on the pedestal is set up so only he could penetrate it, based on his innate magic... And, for catching the thief, have it petrify anyone unauthorized that touches it, with warning signs posted? With a special petrification release trigger, as a touch from Dumbledore, on that same magic-filter?
I mean, with the Elder Wand, really no one can beat power-oriented spellwork he does. Except Twilight, she can trump it without issue.
I mean really. You're talking to a programmer- I've already poked all the holes in it. Though of course, since it's programmers that instinctively do that (called "idiot-proofing") and wizards don't have programmers...
Well to be fair the ponies are overpowered by virtue of the 'walk-through-walls' magic. What's the point of putting an unbreakable lock on the invulnerable door if the enemy can just go through the wall?
I've been faced with this sort of tear down before acting as a DM to a particularly smart wizard player in D&D. I have since sworn of letting magic exist or at be player accessible in any future campaigns.
9274596
Yeah that's another thing if walking through walls is a thing people can do then there is literally no way to secure anything. It's either something only Twilight can do in which case her complains aren't valid since she cheated, or it's something anyone can do in which case the rooms would be charmed to block such a thing. Unless such a charm doesn't exist in which case back to problem one.
9274571
Two problems with that. First, Tom got the diadem after he left Hogwarts. Then he waits fifteen years before making it a horcrux? And only then after making horcruxes out of the cup and locket? Nope. I can’t see him waiting all that time to make a horcrux. Why wait?
Second, if he were really interested in magic numbers it would make sense for him to do it in steps: Three, Five, and Seven.
Diary and ring gives him three soul pieces.
The diadem and cup make for five.
The locket and Harry (planned) make seven. (locket and cup are interchangeable in the time-line.)
Of course, you can say that the ritual involved is time consuming, painful, and exhausting, thus meaning you can’t make the horcruxes close together in time, so he made the horcruxes as he found the items. He did the diary first, then the ring (in fifth and sixth years at Hogwarts). Rowena gives him the clues to the location of the diadem, so after he graduates he takes the summer to find the diadem (he certainly would not wait fifteen years to begin looking for it, now would he?). Then he takes a job at the pawn shop to search for other treasures, leading him to dowager Smith. But it takes him years to get her to show him her treasures, and to discover where she hid them. So those are the last two he gets and converts to horcruxes.
9274489
I have to agree with you. It's also kind of funny how people seem to be split on this issue. Every comment complaining about how the MLP side is being shown as more powerful than the HP side has a lot of upvotes and downvotes. I think it can be summed up with the first rule of fanfiction: If you do anything to increase the protagonist's power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. Or in other words: You can't make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star.
Here's a copy of the first 3 rules of fanfiction from Less Wrong:
Rule One: If you do anything to increase the protagonist's power, or make their life easier, you must also amplify their opponent or add extra difficulties to their life. You can't make Frodo a Jedi unless you give Sauron the Death Star. Otherwise, even if it is well-written in all other ways, your story will suck because the reader will know to expect an unending string of easy victories, leading them to neither wonder or care about what happens next. The Mary Sue is not defined by her power being too strong, but by her challenges being too easily overcome.
Rule Two: Originality isn't easy, but it is simple: Just don't do stuff that's already been done. Even if all of your other characters are going to be absolutely true to canon, you still shouldn't have Harry Potter facing the same three challenges in the Triwizard Tournament because we've already read about them a thousand times. Put in three differentchallenges. Seriously. It can't hurt. Don't just go through the same events everyone has read about a thousand times before. Writing fanfiction lets you borrow the characters and the world; it doesn't exempt you from needing to surprise the readers and give them something new to read.
Rule Three: The premise of a story is a conflict and its resolution - someone with a goal, which they take action to achieve, and severe obstacles that they must replan to deal with (not just speedbumps along the way), and some ultimate resolution of the conflict in which the people and their situation have changed. "What happens if the Terminator is sent back in time to kill Voldemort" is not a story premise, just a fleeting mental image. "What happens if Harry Potter is under constant attack by shape-changing robot assassins" is still not enough of a premise. "Harry Potter is under constant attack by shape-changing assassins, and by the time he manages a spell to wall off the future he's already learned not to trust anyone" could maybe be a story's premise (though you wouldn't put that in the summary, or tell any reader that until the story had ended). You can change this plan later - but you should at least have one to start with.
So if you have a lovely mental image of Frodo with a lightsaber:
1. Figure out how to make his life more difficult, to make up for the lightsaber.
2. Decide what's going to happen differently in your fanfiction than in the other ones you've read.
3. Know what Frodo wants and what's going to get in his way, and have a plan for how it will all end.
9274596
Awww but I like magic. To be fair I know your feeling I've had that kind of player as well who take a magic system, twist it into a pretzel and do things with it that completely demolish your campaign.
9274595
Yes but that's all under the assumption that you could actually set up such a thing. Yes, magic can do anything but that doesn't mean wizards have actually figured out how to do it. It's not a flaw if you assume anything is possible because then there is literally no way to make anything foolproof because no matter what you come up with I can just make up a way to get past it.
9274591
Dumbledore can apparate anywhere on Hogwarts’ grounds. So he has total access at any time.
The biggest issue is that there was nothing set to enforce that someone would deal with the riddles the way they were intended. Discord did that to the mane six when they went through his maze by removing their magic and wings. Anyone who's ever played a tabletop rpg or DMed knows that sometimes the best way to deal with a puzzle is to find a workaround (sometimes that's the actual point) and unless the DM is a pathetic poor sport they'll allow it but make a note of it for later use on how to prevent it. Simply put this wasn't bashing this was pointing out how inadequate the defenses are. It's normal for security systems to be tested but that wasn't done at all with the defenses used by Hogwarts. The commonsense of most of the wizards simply seem to be to accept things as they are as a standard or the only way to do something. It's one of the reasons Harry and Hermione were so successful in cases where other wizards (most notably the nobles) would fail. Simply put they didn't think like most wizards because of their 'muggle' upbringing. Combined with their talent for magic it made a difference as they (primarily Harry as Hermione sometimes fell into the mindset trap) actually questioned things and didn't simply accept everything as is.
9274601
Well there is the possibility of a specific ward to cancel that particular ability. But that'd be so obvious to security everyone would use it. So at most this is just another case of pony magic being OP due to having access to a spell wizards don't.
Since my comments on 67b are gone I will put a few of them here.
If Luna Lovegood were to spend the next summer becoming close to Harry, the CMCs and the rest of the Gryffindor cohort, would that be enough for her to be sorted into Gryffindor instead of Ravenclaw?
Considering that Voldemort believes that only he should be allowed to live forever I wonder how he will react to learning about Celestia, Luna and Discord?
9274616
Just because it wasn't explicitly said that you couldn't bypass the challenge doesn't mean you could. We assume you can't bypass them because Quirrel bothered to go through each one as intended and if he couldn't cheat his way through no way could a bunch of kids do it.
9274608
Well that's why I adapted a psionic system similar to Biotics from mass Effect to my campaigns. Let's the people who want unnatural abilities do clever solutions but is far less of an all-solving hammer to any problem.
Telekinesis I can adapt for, teleportation is harder. As any DM who had to patch against the summoning of Blue Whales will tell you, magic can be game-breaking if you don't restrict it HARD.
Dumbledores final trap was actually pretty good
You can’t get the stone if you want to use it
And Voldemort wants to use it
And to ask someone to help would require a lot of trust which he doesn’t have