96 — Hidden
They had just passed the Poison Joke patch when Harry heard the rustling to the side of the path. A moment later, the lead guards let out a warning shout. Harry saw three timberwolves blocking the path ahead. He took a quick glance behind, and sure enough, there were three more behind them. From the noises to the sides, and the glowing yellow-green eyes he could see peeking out from the trees to either side, he estimated that there were at least four or five more. Maybe even ten.
The timberwolves clearly hoped they would panic and run off the path. Which would give the wolves hiding in the forest the opportunity to ambush the terrified and fleeing ponies. Especially as the snow patches and ice would hinder their progress.
The guards quickly herded the younger ponies into a bunch. The wolves moved closer. The smell of rotting meat began to surround them.
Harry and the fillies, used to meeting predators, quickly formed up. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle stood with their sides tightly pressed together. Scootaloo stood on their backs. She spread her wings as wide as she could. They made for a much larger and more formidable appearing opponent than the wolves expected. They hoped. At least it had worked with some of the other predators in the Everfree.
Harry guarded against an attack from behind and looked for a way out.
Ginny saw what Scootaloo had done. She quickly imitated her atop the twins. Ron and Percy guarded their backs.
The guards formed a loose square around both sets of ponies. Myrtle nervously stood beside Harry. They watched the three that were on the trail to Zecora’s tree.
Harry wished the group wasn’t so large. Now that the fillies had wands, they could teleport out. Or he could take Scootaloo while Sweetie Belle took Apple Bloom. But with such a large group there wouldn’t be time to organize an escape before the wolves attacked. Some pony, inevitably, would be left behind. And he didn’t know if the unicorn guards could use the teleportation spell fast enough to avoid being caught.
Wands!
“Get out your wands,” shouted Harry to the fillies, “Use locomotor mortis.”
The timberwolves were confident. They didn’t outnumber the prey, but the prey were trapped. Having them bunch together actually made it a bit easier to get a good meal for the pack. If they had scattered, then the timberwolves would only have caught the slow and inattentive ponies.
The alpha wolf advanced and growled menacingly. He wanted them to run.
The twins didn’t wait, and neither did Harry.
Harry hurled the leg-locker at the nearest wolf. There was a snapping sound. The wolf’s four legs locked together. Harry saw that one leg had completely snapped free. It slammed into the front legs. The now three-legged wolf promptly fell apart.
Behind him, he heard the twins yell, “bombarda.” And Percy said “reducto.” Followed almost immediately by the same from Myrtle.
Harry didn’t know those curses, but the explosions behind him told him they had hit something. Myrtle’s target simply fell to splinters.
Ginny and Scootlaoo had cast their own spells. As had the others. Some wolves were the target of more than one spell.
In seconds, the ponies had “killed” almost every wolf on the trail.
The lone wolf still trapped with the leg-locker spell thrashed, growled, and snapped at his surroundings, but couldn’t get traction in the snow. The remaining wolves stopped all sounds. Those still partially hidden in the forest just stared.
Percy and the twins, however, did not stop. Their cries of “reducto” and “bombarda” continued. The three were shooting destructive spells into the forest almost at random, Harry thought. At anything that they thought had moved. They were shooting at shadows. But some of the shadows were wolves.
The guards were stunned. They had been readying for a charge by the wolves in front and back when the wolves had simply ceased to exist. Then the other wolves slowly coming into sight had similarly exploded.
The timberwolves had gone from the prospects of an easy meal to losing over half their pack without any warning. As they considered the situation, one of the ponies shouted something. A timberwolf investigating the piles of splinters beside a second suddenly exploded into splinters, too.
That was it. The remaining timber wolves turned and ran. The odds of getting a meal had just gone to zero. Their companions would reform and join them later. Meanwhile, they would hunt other prey.
“What just happened?” asked one of the guards, into the silence after the sounds of the fleeing timberwolves faded.
“Magic happened,” Scootaloo said smugly, waving her hoof holding her wand. Then she laughed. It might have been a bit hysterical in nature, but no pony cared.
The pegasus with the rifles looked at the twins and Percy, and then at the new clearing that surrounded them. A tree creaked and fell as they watched. “I want one of those,” the pony said, nodding at the stick in Scootaloo’s hoof. “And where can I learn those spells?”
Percy looked up at him. “Being one of Princess Twilight’s guards, I should imagine all you have to do is ask her. Or ask at the Portal buildings, they can help you.”
After a pause, the earth-pony sergeant nodded firmly. “We’ll do that.”
Harry smirked. “And when you get a wand, ask her to teach you how to teleport. She’s made a teleport version that works with a wand. Then you’d never be trapped again.”
The ponies’ eyes all got wide at that, especially the earth-pony’s.
The sergeant looked around. “We’d better move on before they fully reform.” He looked over at Percy, “Would you mind watching our back-trail, in case any of them decide to follow us?”
“I wouldn’t mind at all, sir,” Percy said, puffing up slightly at the responsibility.
“Good. Hop on my back and keep watch.”
Percy looked at him uncertainly, then shrugged and jumped up onto the bigger pony’s back. He turned around so he could look behind them while the sergeant walked last.
“Reform?” asked Fred.
“Yes,” answered another. “See,” he said, pointing. The sticks from one of the exploded wolves were slowly forming a heap.
George took a step back and looked at the other piles of slowly wiggling leaves, sticks, splinters, and short branches. All had a slight glow. He walked to the closest, and studied the pile. He used his hoof to spread them apart. After a moment, he lifted a brightly glowing stick. The sticks around that one still strived to reach it.
He dropped it on the ground again, and cast “incendio.” The glowing stick burned fiercely for a moment before falling to ash. The sticks around it stopped moving. He looked at Fred. Fred nodded. The two began walking over to each pile of moving sticks, removed the one that was attracting the others, and reduced it to ash. The bound timberwolf watched them with narrowed and glowing eyes.
The guards watched as well. “Huh,” said one unicorn. “Gotta tell the others about that trick. Maybe we can teach them to leave ponies alone.” He gave the lone remaining wolf a vicious look. They need one alive to spread the fear.
After the twins were done, the group once more set out for home.
۸-~-۸
They arrived at the castle after lunch. Once they were inside, their escort headed for the barracks to file a report. The non-unicorn guards wanted to ask about wands. They all wanted to ask about the combat spells. The ones demonstrated by their charges had looked quite useful. Especially that leg-locker. It would come in quite handy with chasing down fleeing criminals. And would do so without any collateral damage. Always a plus when apprehending ponies.
“MUM! I’M HOME!” Harry yelled
“She’s out!” came the answering yell from deeper inside castle.
Harry shrugged. “Come on, let’s get something to eat,” he said. “I’m really hungry.”
Scootaloo’s stomach growled loudly. She blushed, but stared at them defiantly. The others were, frankly, too hungry themselves to make much of a fuss about it. And the scare they had just had had left them all a bit subdued.
“I hope there are some leftovers,” Harry added.
A few minutes later, they arrived in the kitchen. To their surprise, there was a large platter of sandwiches on the preparation table in the middle of the room. There were also ten glasses of hot apple-juice.
Alright,” said Scootaloo, swooping over and grabbing two sandwiches off the top. She happily started munching on one. The rest galloped over and dug in. They didn’t even wait to move to the dining-room.
After they had all demolished one sandwich and had started on the next, Harry stopped and said, “Spike out-did himself with these! They’re really good.” He took another bite.
“I can’t take credit for them,” came Spike’s voice from the door. “Squeaker did lunch today.”
Harry turned and looked at him. He knew everyone who lived at the castle and this was the first he had heard of Squeaker. “Is that a new pony?”
Spike snickered. “Naw,” he said, leaning against the doorframe and smiling. “Squeaker’s actually from the other side of the portal.”
Everyone stopped and stared at him.
Harry frowned, “Mum hired someone as a cook from the other side?”
Spike’s smile grew larger. “Not exactly,” he said slyly.
They continued to stare at him.
“You remember when Luna went through the portal to get that snake?”
They nodded.
“Well, when Twilight came back through,” he snickered again, “she had an accidental passenger.”
Harry and the fillies began to frown at him.
He continued to smile at them. Then he laughed. “Watch this,” he said. “Squeaker!”
There was a pop and a creature Harry never seen before appeared. Everyone gasped and took a step backwards. The unicorns turned their heads to point at the thing. The others lifted a hoof with a wand in it.
It was tall enough to look Harry in the eyes. Its eyes were smaller than Harry’s, but its ears were much bigger. It had large wings, too, so it could obviously fly. It had narrow and thin arms and legs, with clawed hands and feet. And it was dark pink. And it was wearing a clean pillowcase as a tunic. The pillowcase had Twilight’s cutie mark on it.
“Squeaker is here, Spikey!” it said. Then it looked with horror at the other ponies. It gasped, “We’s not be seen by outsiders!”
“It’s fine,” said Spike dismissively. “Harry is family now.”
Squeaker repeated, “We’s not be seen by guests!” He started to pull on his large ears, but then switched to his wings.
The Weasleys and Myrtle were staring at the creature, dumbfounded. Harry and the fillies were puzzled. Percy, frowning, tentatively said, “A . . . house-elf?”
Squeaker nodded, “I’s be a house-elf,” he said.
“What’re you doing here?” Ron blurted out.
Spike burst out laughing.
Squeaker looked defiant.
“Twilight told me,” Spike said, after he recovered, “that the . . . ,” he tilted his head at the house-elf, “Headmaster?”
Squeaker nodded enthusiastically.
Spike nodded, too, “Headmaster told him to obey her as if she were him.”
Squeaker continued to nod, this time a bit smug.
Percy face-hoofed, then said, “ow.”
They heard the clear thup as he hit himself on the muzzle.
“Let me guess,” he said, massaging his sore muzzle. “The headmaster didn’t say for how long.”
More nods.
“And he didn’t tell you it was only until they caught the snake.”
Still more nods.
“And you won’t obey her order to return because the Headmaster’s order supersedes hers’.”
The nods hadn’t stopped.
He stared, narrow-eyed, at the house-elf and then sighed.
He looked around the room, then at the other Weasleys.
“What we have here-a is a failure to communicate,” he said, in a Yank’s deep Southern accent. He blinked and looked puzzled for a moment. Then he continued, “And a stubborn elf who has construed his orders to his best advantage.” He stared with narrowed eyes at the house-elf. “I’m sure the readily available magic saturating this world helped that decision.”
He looked at his brothers and sister, and at Myrtle. Then he looked at the curious Equestrians and Harry. He sighed.
“A house-elf is a creature,” he said to Harry and the other Equestrians, “that must attach itself to a master. Without a master, or a generous supply of magic such as at Hogwarts or Diagon Alley, it will die. In exchange for magic, the house-elves agree to work for wizards and witches. On the other hand, house-elves find joy and fulfilment in working, so it is an equitable arrangement.
“They are rare in that you can only find them at Hogwarts or rich families. Or occasionally in Diagon Alley.”
He turned and looked at Squeaker, who was standing with his arms crossed and staring back at the wizard.
Squeaker lifted his chin and said, “Squeaker has whole castle to himself.” He glared at Spike and they heard him mutter, “Even if others clean and cook sometimes.”
The fight over whether he took care of Twilight’s castle, or the maids had been epic, Spike knew. They had finally compromised. The maids took care of the public areas, he took care of everything else. Plus, he snuck into Twilight’s lab and cleaned whenever he thought Twilight wouldn’t notice. Spike noticed, however.
The house-elf had been ecstatic when the students had arrived for the holidays. Ten more rooms to clean! And, he got to serve Harry Potter! He could hardly wait until the wizard returned to the castle this summer with his three mates. After seeing the one called Ginny, he thought it might be four mates. And Myrtle would be here, too. Spike knew Squeaker could easily fit the new additions into his schedule without slacking off on the barracks that housed the castle’s guards. Although Twilight didn’t realize that the little house-elf considered the barracks as part of the deal.
Spike thought it was awfully funny.
“I think the plentiful magic in this world is just too attractive for him to want to leave,” Percy said. He studied the house-elf carefully, who now looked guilty and was tugging on one of his wings.
“And so, unless the Headmaster, himself, comes here and orders you to return, you’ll be perfectly happy to stay and carry out his orders, won’t you?” Percy concluded.
The house-elf looked decidedly uncomfortable, and abruptly vanished.
Spike burst out laughing. Then, while they continued to eat, he told them of the arguments he and Twilight had had with the creature. The elf stubbornly refused to leave because of his “orders.” He was a good elf, he didn’t disobey orders! Twilight had countered he had to obey her orders, according to his orders, and she ordered him to return. After going back and forth several times, he had vanished.
They had thought it settled and that he had returned home. Then, three weeks later, Princess Luna had stopped by one evening and asked if their elf was lonely. It seemed the others in Canterlot were worried about him.
It was the first time that it had occurred to Twilight that the other four house-elves had also come through the portal — and that the house-elf might not have gone home.
A quick demand of “Squeaker!” and the resultant pop as he teleported into the room, had demonstrated that the elf was still in Equestria.
And so, Spike explained, there were four house-elves in Equestria and one in the Crystal Empire. And three pregnant house-elves delighted to finally have permission to have babies — the new floo connections between the palaces were quite useful in that respect.
They weren’t happy about being forced to take a day off every month, and accept a whole bit every week. But they could do whatever they wanted on that day, even if it was work. And spend the bit on anything they wanted, even if it was supplies for cleaning.
The other four envied Squeaker because he had managed to derail Twilight into arguing about him being in Equestria. Thus, he had managed to escape those conditions. He wasn’t paid and worked every day, to his delight and the others’ dismay.
The only question anypony had had at the time was, just where the tartarus the elves had set up their sleeping quarters without any pony noticing?
۸-_-۸
Bright Star was dumbfounded when Top Marks brought in a whole group of guards that Saturday mid-afternoon.
The two researchers weren’t officially there that day. But both had decided, independently, that the quiet of a weekend made for an excellent work environment. And been surprised they weren’t alone in that plan when they had met each other as they walked into the corridor in to room.
Still, when Corporal Steady Charger had appeared, saying there were visitors at the front desk, Top Marks had gone to check.
Bright Star had dismissively said, “It’s probably some big wig throwing her political weight around trying to show others what she can do. I expect you’ll quickly send the pony on her way.”
He had smiled wryly and headed for the front desk.
So, the guards were quite unexpected.
“These gentle-stallions need to have wands,” Top Mark explained. “Several of them were in the Everfree with guests of Princess Twilight from the other side of the portal when they were beset upon by timberwolves. They were rather impressed when their guests wiped out the Timberwolves before the guards had a chance to act.”
He stopped and gave her a significant look. He knew she didn’t like Twilight, even though she had tried to hide that fact. No pony here knew the reason for that. Yet. She had hopes they never would.
“Considering these are her personal guards, I feel we should assist them. Keeping the Princess safe, after all, is important to the kingdom.”
Not quite gritting her teeth, she nodded, smiled, and grumpily said, “Of course. Who’s first?”
It took nearly three hours to equip the twelve pegasi and earth-ponies with the correct wands. The first two ponies had learned lumos, nox, reparo, and diffindo by the time they finished with the last.
And she had listened as the pegasus and earth pony had once more explained what the Hogwarts’ students had done in the forest.
It thrilled her to the core to hear how the ten students had worked together to demolish their attackers. Six humans-as-ponies, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, had shown up the highly trained, and proud, guards. Who, in turn, now demanded such abilities for themselves so they could “properly” protect their Princess.
Which she didn’t find nearly as thrilling. Protecting their precious Princess Twilight, that is.
But, my, how having one’s pride hurt could motivate a pony!
And ponies with no access to magic wanted to learn magic, regardless of their cutie marks. And now could! A sea-change was building. It was about to sweep across Equestria. And that thought she enjoyed, and it sent chills down her back that made her shiver in excitement. The others all saw her big smile after each guard picked up his wand and shot sparks across the room. Others probably thought she was only happy because she had matched them to a wand.
If they only knew that each guard who picked up a wand was a nail in the coffin of the friend-destroying cutie marks.
The two researchers then spent the next hour teaching the sergeant the incendio and reducto spells while the others taught each other the first four spells.
When they finally left, Top Marks made sure to give them several of the training manuals with the useful spells a guard might need. It wouldn’t be as good as in a classroom with a proper teacher, but the guards were motivated to learn all they could as fast as they could. And she was sure they would be back to take part in those classes!
When he returned, Bright Star frowned, then said “Hasn’t anypony bothered to make sure the Princess’ guards were in the loop with the Canterlot guards?” She shook her head. “Sometimes ponies can overlook the most obvious things!
She paused. “Should we mention this to anypony? Has anypony bothered to clue in the Ponyville garrison?” She looked at him and said, “Or are the only ones on the training roster the Portal and Canterlot guards?” She sighed, and started cleaning up the work benches and storing the wand materials.
It was clear that the use of wands was going to spread. That meant a lot more schools teaching how to use the wands. Which meant friends wouldn’t be leaving friends behind simply because there wasn’t a school close enough to teach them what they needed to know. Or their parents weren’t rich enough to send them to a boarding school far, far away.
And with them all using magic, the earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies would be equal. What one could do, the others could do, too, not matter the tribe.
“I’m heading out,” said Top Marks. “There’s supposed to be a Ball in Canterlot. Supposedly, the Princesses gave a knighthood to a human who’s been helping the portal negotiations.” He grinned. “I hear the nobles are all in an uproar about it — ‘Oh the horror,’” he said dramatically, and placed the front of a hoof against his forehead. “‘a foreigner being elevated to Equestrian Nobility!’” He sighed. “‘How will we ever survive!’” He pretended to swoon.
She snickered and he laughed.
After he left, she sat down and looked around the room, considering. She had done quite well here. She knew everything there was to know about making wands. She had even made four for herself, and hidden the extras in bands that fit over her hooves but were hidden by her coat. Undetectable expansion charms, notice-me-not charms, and colour changing charms prevented any pony from suspecting she had them.
She had a complete set of the fourteen Hogwarts’ books on wielding magic. She had already read completely through the first three books for both charms and transfigurations. Her research had provided her a reason to peruse the books in Flourish and Blotts. She had purchased another dozen books on offensive and defensive magic, and the wizarding society in general.
Her original objective to get revenge on Princess Twilight was rather silly, in retrospect. Yes, Princess Twilight had ruined her position in her perfect town. But she had exposed how the belief that everyone should be equal was a hard sell in Equestria. “My Town” as she had quietly called it, had proved that. At first, the ponies had supported the idea, but after living it, they had turned against it. Some had hated it.
She had been too early. In another twenty years or thirty years, or even a hundred, after every pony could use magic they would understand that they were all really equal, she might have been able to succeed. But today?
The tribes were too different and too settled in their ways, today. And cutie marks still held too much value in their eyes. And reducing or taking away their individual abilities had been the wrong approach. Even inside the unicorn tribe, the differences in power were too great to deny.
No one in their right mind would think that they were the same as Princess Celestia or Luna. She had looked into the magic related to moving the sun and moon, and it was far beyond her abilities. Oh, she knew the spells. That was simple. But the power? Not a chance. It would take a hundred average ponies to do the job that Princess Celestia did everyday. And they would need all day to recover in time for sunset.
But adding to their abilities so that Cutie Marks were no longer as important? Wands would do a lot to even the playing field. Earth ponies and pegasi would easily match the unicorns. And unicorns and earth ponies could magic wings when they wanted. And pegasi and unicorns could magic earth pony abilities.
“Anything you can do, I can do, too!” would be the motto of her new town.
She began to hum as she considered her alternatives.
“If I go, there will be trouble,” she softly sang, barely noticing the music swelling in the background as she danced around the room.
In a new world where there was magic, but none of those awful cutie marks, she could do soo much. Although, that stupidity about “pure-blood” was irksome. Fortunately, she would be well-funded. She had the gems she had secretly harvested on her days off, so bits, or rather, galleons, would not be an issue. She would be free to do what she wanted and go where she wanted.
As far as the ponies would be concerned, she went through the portal for research. Then took the floo to the Leaky Cauldron. And disappeared. They would look for her, perhaps even think she had been kidnapped.
Hmm. That wouldn’t be good. Perhaps she should send them a note through the mail? She could say she had decided to visit relatives in Manehattan and would return later. Yes, that would be a good plan. And the new floo network would make it a matter of only an hour to mail something from Manehattan while still returning here in time to sneak through the portal. Teleporting that distance would be exhausting, but doable. She could even leave several extra letters with a lawyer and have him mail them for her at weekly intervals. That would cement the impression she was in Equestria.
Once she was in Diagon Alley, a simple colour change on her hair would fool most ponies. A change in the colours of her clothes would further disguise herself. And she would disappear into the human magical world.
“And if I stay, it will be double.” She pirouetted on the wand-wood selection table.
If she stayed, she would have plenty of time to study and perfect her wand magic. Which also meant the Guard would have more time to realize an enemy of Princess Twilight was right inside their most important research facility — or, at least, the most important at the moment.
She was always looking over her shoulder for a pony to notice that her fake cutie mark tended to fade out during the day as her true cutie mark tried to assert itself. And then the pony would ask, “Why?” And the moment one did, she would have to flee — for their next action would be to call for a guard.
It was odd to think that a new world, a totally foreign world, would be more of a haven than the one in which she grew up. She would be a completely different form. But having hands was useful, and her new height would let her see much farther. There were many advantages to that new form. Although the big mammaries at the top of her chest took a bit of getting used to.
“Should I stay, or should I go now?” She sank onto a chair and into The Thinker’s pose.
If she left now, or soon, it would be on her terms. She wouldn’t need to worry about some pony stopping her. If she waited to be discovered, she would have to flee, instantly. And while she had everything she owned in her saddlebags — thank you very much, expansion charms — there was always the chance somepony might grab it as she ran.
Or they might trap her and take her prisoner. The security around the portal had been severely upgraded since the changeling snuck through. That would be the trickiest part.
“Should I cool it, or should I blow?” She jumped up and trotted in a circle in time to the dying music.
She would tell Top Mark on Monday that she had a sick relative in Manehattan, and would be going there at the end of the week. After a week in Manehattan, she would sneak back and go through the portal early in the morning. With luck, they would think she was still in Equestria for weeks after she had left.
The guards at the portal would recognize her. But the higher-ups would think she was in Manehattan. They wouldn’t start a search until Top Marks reported her failure to return from her visit.
And there would be a lot of confusion as they tried to reconcile her apparently being in two places at the same time.
۸-~-۸
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Okay then, Starlight has not in fact turned over a new leaf, she's just changed her methodology. I would almost say that she's managing to do the right thing for the worst possible reason, but it seems like she has a very specific endgame in mind. One that will undoubtedly stir up a shitstorm.
The house elves in Equestria reveal was pretty cool too. Excellent chapter!
For the love of all that is good Dumbledore is missing Four house elfs and hasn't even bothered to check. Now onto Starlight I hope she isn't aware of all the security and she tries to make a break for it but gets captured by the security on the other side. Then again she does make for an interesting villain even though she is completely bonkers. Hopefully she meets Starbursts and he slaps some sense into her thick skull.
I'm almost impressed with how deluded and deranged that pony is.
Nice
Welp, now we have our new enemy going for the portal, though her plans are now less dangerous, still, what will she do for revenge? she appears please with the wands.
Honestly I am hoping to see how starlight reacts to the true human history.
Looking at her pitifull dreams shatter while history shows her how similar ideas ended in our world
Or what happens if she founds herself traped Whit sunburst
strips.garfield.com/iimages1200/1984/ga840228.gif
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Cool Hand Luke
Overall an enjoyable chapter the house elf reveal was amusing though concerning that nobody noticed them following them through the portal, seems like a huge breach in security. I also find it weird how the ponies are okay with just taking them but whatever. I also find it hard to believe Dumbledore wouldn't notice 4 house elves missing but this story seems to get great mileage out of the "because he's dumb" explanation.
I think the only problem was how half of it was spent focusing on Starlight trying to decide if she should make her move and going over in excruciating detail what she plans to do. I appreciate when a story explains this stuff but it's better if it happens while the character is performing those actions, after it's already done or shortly before the action is performed (in which case I'd expect her to put her plan into action in the same chapter). The way its used here makes it come across as filler.
Also, I've been patiently waiting for an explanation but I have to ask, where the hell did the invisibility cloak come from? It makes sense that Dumbledore could sneak it under the tree in Hogwarts (I expected Harry to find the present upon his return to the school) but how the heck did he get it to Equestria under the tree in the castle? I have a hard time believing he would entrust such a priceless and irreplaceable artifact/family heirloom to an owl.
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Probably sent via house elf, but I wouldn't put it past him to send it via owl.
Those house elves can get anywhere.
It makes me happy to have my favorite pony acknowledge the advantages of the humanoid form. And that's not even touches on the advantages of bipedal locomotion.
I like how we got into her head a bit here. She's still missing a few key truths but here ideals themselves aren't inherently wrong. Pursuing equality of opportunity for all is a noble endeavor. The problem is is when you confuse it with equality of outcome. That's where the whole thing falls apart.
Yes Starlight, by all means enter our world and discover that a world without cutie marks doesn't make a world equal.
And is it just me, or do house elves become more fairy-like in Equestria?
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It all depends on if Starlight Glimmer will be willing to listen to the half-bloods and muggleborn she recruits to her cause, and delegate power as needed unlike many fandom!Dumbledore interpretations.
In "Her Town", she didn't have any right-hand-men, advisors, or trusted lieutenants, just a very simple organization where she's the leader and everybody else doesn't have any roles, position, or authority.
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Unfortunately that is a problem even for us. There are always going to be people who are just plain better at doing things then others. Some people can turn one dollar into thousands while others will spend it and not have anything.
For a moment there I thought she'd still try to go foward with the crazy plan. Fortunately I was wrong, it's interesting to see Starlight realize the "problem" was not what she perceived. Although I wonder if, by studying human history, she'll notice that not having Cutie Marks doesn't change jack on the same things she hates so much. Or that there's something called "therapy" that she really, REALLY should give some deep thought into going, y'know?
Well, move over Riddle! You are in danger of being bumped out of the '#1 Impending Danger to Wizarding Britain' slot.
Starlight is still a nutball, but she's a carefully planning nutball!
I have to admit, for a moment I was expecting the Crusaders to do that totem pole thing.
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Darn, and here I thought it was referencing Major Payne. Though looking at it, it looks like Major Payne hadn't come out yet.
I wonder if starlight, once she finds out that there are not equality between wizards, and wizards with muggles, will became something akin to voldemort, but as the opposing faction, voldemort support the pure blood philosofy, so and opposing faction that look to protect muggles, muggle borns and half bloods, and also destroy the corrupt ministry, would be típica of starlight, and having the endgoal of giving all earth humans magic, as a fuck you purebloods, she could use the tree of harmony, plant a new one, or some other method to give equality in general.
9452518
Exactly. People are not equal. They are diverse due to their ambitions, desires, and experiences. And because of their differences some are better then others in certain areas. Hence, diversity of outcome.
But I think we all agree that everyone should be granted the opportunity to pursue their goals regardless of the circumstances of birth or social class. Hence, equality of opportunity.
9452480
Well, Dumbledore makes such atrocious decisions in canon, you either HAVE to go with the 'evil' or 'dumb' approach. Granted, this is because Rowling didn't plan out the plot, or the rules of the magic when writing the series, but still.
Personally, I always find misguided or mistaken/distracted Dumbledores to be best, as you can tell he's a genuinely good man in the books, just hamstrung by Rowlings poor writing. The cartoonishly evil Dick Dastardly types are just...Meh.
9452480
Or maybe he doesn't care and is happy for them? This is the closest we've seen house elves make a decision for themselves since Dobby. That is something Dumbledore would be joyful about, if anything.
9452630
Most of his decisions make sense people just like to jump on the Dumbledore bashing band wagon. He does make mistakes, he wasn't meant to be perfect, but people like to pretend all he did was make mistakes. Not to mention most of his mistakes are understandable with good reasons behind them yet some people ignore that and just call him stupid (like the author saying he only put the ring horcrux on because he's an idiot rather than complex emotional reasons).
9452639
Sure I just doubt that's the authors intention since he is very much against Dumbledore as a character.
9452648
The Ring was perfectly understandable. Others are easily explained away (like the first books 'challenges' being just window dressing for the mirror), but other sensible things are underwritten by Rowlings bad writing in later books (the Fedelius charm made perfect sense in book 3 and then Rowling undermined the entire thing in book 5 etc.). There are quite a few examples.
9452662
Sure but holding poor writing against the character is just petty. It's like when people use the movies as an excuse to bash Ron.
Starlight needs the equity vs equality speech. Cutie Marks are already a form of equality being being able to follow a friend to an expensive school is an issue of equity. Wands actually help address both.
Starlight really could spark a shift in pony society if she would kept past the 'Cutie marks are bad' mindset. Which sadly can't happen until some major external influence.
I hope Starlight doesn't do something that she both worlds will regret.
9452673
True, but we have to go off of canon, sadly.
And we don't even need the movies to bash Ron. He does do plenty in the books. Or rather, doesn't do anything much. He's not 'Ron the death eater', but he's just an unpleasant character.
9452692
The point is the bashers seem upset at the fact that Dumbledore isn't perfect so they focus on his mistakes and forget the good he does. Heck this story goes out of it's way to make Dumbledore a character who does nothing but make mistakes as if that's all there is to him. Even using the excuse that he makes mistakes because he's old and senile.
Every character does questionable things at one point or another yet the way some fan fiction read (including this one) Dumbledore is apparently the only one who makes mistakes and needs to be punished for them.
9452440
That is not really surprising. Elves take care of their own organization from what I can see, and would likely bring a problem like this to his attention normally. If the missing elves sent a message back, those in Hogwarts would probably avoid informing the headmaster. After all, House elves love working, and the ones missing went on Headmaster's orders, and are clearly being given work to do. House elf society wouldn't see anything wrong with that.
9452437
Yep. Thing is, she will likely do some good before something goes horribly wrong.
Aside from doing anything she can to support the spread of wands, her new idea of "Uplifting" ponies along with her brilliance in spell-craft (I think?) do suggest she will help with the whole uplifting equality thing, which is probably positive.
If it goes really well, I can see her trying to figure out a way to let Muggles use wands. After all, anything else would violate her goals.
9452480
First, any order that can be misunderstood, will be. The head house-elf heard the order, so he's not about to say anything. And I really doubt Dumbles takes house-elf attendance every day. So unless the head elf mentions it, I doubt he would ever notice.
9452654
I have to laugh at that, as I'm not against him at all, just portraying him as he is in canon, except not out right stupid.
9452698
Dumbledore is constantly making mistakes because he is working off of a faulty premise and his wrong pre convinced notions and when operating in such a scenario one would be prone to making many mistakes.
9452630
I agree with the distracted angle.
Dumbledore has ALOT on his plate, and this story acknowledges this. All the staff of Hogwarts is overburdened, especially Headmaster Dumbledore, and Deputy Headmistress, McGonagle.
Dumbledore's old, and having to deal with the issues of the ministry, wizarding politics as a major figure, as well as the headmaster, AND concerns about voldemort.
9452714
You say that but you've devoted entire chapters to Twilight yelling at Dumbledore about how he's a massive idiot based on things that are definitely not canon. Honestly it's almost as bad as dogger claiming his Dumbledore isn't evil.
So Starlight still doesn't understand the guards wanting to learn magic isn't actually a nail in anything because they're learning magic to help pursue their cutie marks and role as guards, and possibly enjoy some personal hobbies like Thunderlane's cooking.
I'm not sure I like the Timberwolves being burnt sure they're dangerous but they are animals purusing their natural instincts in their natural habitat and the twins just killed a lot of them.
I wonder how Starlight would react to the sheer amount of death, misery and destruction caused by humanity in the name of equality as well as the fact that there still is huge areas where its lacking (sexism, racism, religious intolerance) in spite of their world having no cutie marks.
starlight glimmer this sounds like fun times.
House elves having baby's don't let Fluttershy see one.
9452726
To hell with the Timberwolves, they don't seem to be useful for anything in the ecology of the Everfree. At best, they are the result of black sorcery due to them infesting the woods and craving for flesh (the rotting flesh smell) despite not needing it for sustenance. Hell, they are more akin to spirits possessing wood rather than actual lifeforms!
9452719
Yeah.
To sum up, he's head of the magical UN, speaker for the British Parliament, Headmaster of a school, leader of a Vigilante group, and does all his own research into Horcruxes and the like.
Either ONE of those jobs could easily cause someone to overlook things.
It is true that they can, but the real question is how many would bother spending time in what they obviously not good at. It might be fun and convenient some time. But in the end, nothing beat what you were born to do.
9452437
9452513
She sounds just like any typical self-centers (many are villains) who think the whole world is against them and try to make everything around them comfortable for them to live in. Still, it would be amusing to see how she is going to build her town in human world. She might not know but we have several annoying organizations, such as Human Right Watch and religion extremist groups, who would stop at nothing to question her methods and treatments.
9452698 There is some justification for that. It can easily be argued that Dumbledore's actions were utterly vile.
A far better discussion of Dumbledore's actions than I could provide.
While you can, and I suspect will, argue some of the conclusions, you can not deny the points it is based on, or that the conclusions are one valid way of interpreting them.
9452767
Thanks for the link - I just read it, and all I can say is: woah, that's a quite good analysis.
Personally, I prefer authors that play with the main/canon story and made it better - like with Methods of Rationality. At least there Dumbledore wasn't shown as the canon one, but one who was better.
9452767
Being able to argue something doesn't make it right. Dumbledore bashing happens because people decide they hate him and latch onto any example that might prove their pov as the right one.
This comment does a pretty good job explaining why Dumbledore bashing is a thing:
The bolded definitely describes the Dumbledore of this story pretty well.
9452751
I'm more surprised the ponies hadn't taken to burning timberwolves before. It's truly a "Why didn't we think of this sooner?" moment. Best excuse I've got is that starting fires before they reanimate is difficult (lack of hands makes tool use hard even if they are intelligent) and most unicorns don't know enough magic to start fires (so even basic prestidigitation is beyond them).
I mean they're feral magical constructs that pose a public health hazard to nearby settlements. Assuming they are in fact unnatural in origin and do have no niche in the natural ecology then I'd say burn away. Then again for all we know they may be the primary food source of the Usra Major or some other apex magical predator. Lots of unknowns.
9452838
Got to love MLP canon, right?
Maybe they tried but didn't find out where the Timberwolf anchor was - thus only burning the outer layer rather than the anchor. It shows when the twins actually bother to get close and study the moving remains rather than leaving in a hurry like the ponies were intending to, only to permanently deal with the threat.
Go humans go!!
9452845
I prefer the idea that Timberwolves are just magical creatures rather than eldritch abomination so I do not support the complete genocide of the Timberwolves population. Burning them after they fall apart is like knocking out a real-life wolf then going out of your way to shoot it in the head. It just ain't right.
9452823
Thank you too for the link - it provides a good counterpoint, and perhaps a good alternative to the usual 'Dumbles is a jerk/Dumbles is a fool' dichotomy.
I am loving some of the comments in the thread.
9452845
Two things humans excel at: Problem solving, and creating new more complicated problem to deal with tomorrow.
9452848
I'm half-agreed, there'd not enough information to decide whether extermination is the proper answer. I'd be surprised if Twilight hasn't researched them already, but then again I'd figure it's about time for the Princess to have an oversight about her world as well.
9452848
The only notion that supports your claim lies in their ties with that super-duper special Zap-apple that Granny found when young in the woods.
Other than that, they are hostile to whoever enters the woods - add to that them being basically constructs that rise when crumpled, they don't fill the same niche as one would say... a manticore or hydra, which I can say are apex predators.
Or maybe they do, but their hostility does feel deliberate rather than instinctive - pushing the ponies out of the borders of the woods. A Tree of Harmony defensive countermeasure, perhaps?
... Nah. Too little information, and what does gleam through ain't pretty.
Edit: I never claimed they were eldritch abominations. That dubious pleasure belongs to Nightmare and Discord. I do believe they are artificial constructs, though.
9452858
Well, they are predators and ponies are a prey species so they don't really need a reason to try and eat them.