Prologue
The human woman, in her early 30s with frizzy curls that she had long since accepted could never be tamed, looked at the horse that sat across from her. Together they sat on pillows at a fancy, low to the ground, table in an even more majestic castle. Hermione had to force herself to blink, so as to not appear to be staring at the creature.
It was a slender white horse with a literally flowing rainbow mane, she could not described it as anything less then the most beautiful creature she had ever seen. The horse even had a long horn and large wings... an Alicorn, a sentient pony that achieved enlightenment and ascended into a demigod. It didn't have reality breaking abilities but she was far more powerful then even Dumbledore.
The natives didn't worship Alicorns but they did hold them in very high regard, believing the very fact they could achieve enlightenment meant they were qualified to rule the nation (or at the very least a city state).
The horse spoke, with a voice just as beautiful, yet had a hint of playfulness to it, "It's been so long since a being from your dimension visited our own... not since Starswirl had his falling out with Merlin and the Hogwarts' Founders," she thought back with a smile, and strangely such an expression seemed natural on the short snout, "May I ask what promoted this occasion."
"No other reason then I'm a book worm," Hermione joked, with all the pride she lacked as a child, "I'm afraid wizard kind has forgotten you exist. As Minister of Magic, it's my job to correct that. I think it is high time we set aside our differences and reopen trade and intellectual exchange."
"Really?" Celestia smiled, "Then I'd be most thankful if you hoofed over the secrets of wand crafting."
"We already intend to," Hermione smiled, however Celestia dropped her cup. The expensive China turned into worthless shards as it collided with the table, hot tea spilling everywhere.
The Alicorn started at the human in complete shock.
Imagine, Earth Ponies and Pegasus being able to directly channel their magic through spells. It wouldn't just be ponies either. All races would benefit, Yaks and Griffins especially. They would be able to restore their homelands and grow food more easily. It would be the beginning of a true utopia for their entire world!
Still, Celestia had only been making the suggestion in jest... admittedly as a playful tease for past grievances.
The secrets of wand crafting was sacred to wizards. Refusing to share the knowledge was the very thing that caused Starswirl to cut ties with them. Wizards all but worshipped their wands. They were their most treasured possession, loved more then their own children! They refused to part with the secret despite knowing all the good it could do for Equestria.
Ponies had been trying to figure out the enchantment on their own but had no luck in the last thousand years. This... this...
Celestia regained her composure, however much she wanted this she would not take advantage, "A lot can change in a thousand years," she admitted, "But the wizards I knew... there is only one reason I can think you would be willing to share the secrets of wand crafting... you're scared it will be lost..."
Hermione sighed, losing her smile, "There was a series of wars, Dark Lord after Dark Lord. The wizarding population was always small, even if you ignored boarders and counted the numbers of our entire race... but they have never, in all recorded history, been this low. After three global wars across the wizarding worlds, far too many wizarding families were lost. Worse yet, muggle families, with any history of magic in their lineage, were hunted down and butchered in the last 2 wars. So now very few magical humans are being born even through muggle families...''
"With how difficult it is for magical humans to bring a baby to term... and with how many of those children being born without magic..." Hermione had always thought it was just blind prejudice that fueled pure bloods bigotry... turns out it was a result of fear of exactly this happening. Magic was a recessive gene in humans. Breeding with muggles greatly reduced the odds of it manifesting. It still could, like any fluke gene, but it was worse odds then having a ginger child (which was actually why so many wizards had red hair).
Hermione swallowed her pride and admitted the problem, "With the projected numbers, our Sages predict we only have a Generation, two at the most, before it really becomes an issue... but it will become more and more apparent as fewer and fewer children are born with magic... The Ministry is going to fall. We wouldn't go extinct, not by any means, but there is little hope future generations will be able to maintain a stable government. Not with how scattered wizards are across the planet... combined with our shrinking population. In order to insure that our culture, or at the very least our knowledge, is not lost we had to turn to the other magical beings for help."
The young witch looked intently, "I have opened up Hogwarts to all magical beings. This way they can learn our art in exchange for passing it down to future wizarding generations. I have also given the fallen seats of the Board of Governors to respected leaders of various magical beings. That way at least some kind of stable government can look after magical creatures. Human families still make up the majority... but not by much... and we expect many of their houses to go without an heir...''
"We won the war but not in time to save our world. I'm trying to craft a better one from the ashes that were left behind... The remaining Governors are so desperate and fearful of what will happen to future generations they are going along with my plan despite past grievances...''
"I want as many of your children as possible to enroll in Hogwarts, free of charge, and later attend our magical universities. In exchange for giving your people unlimited access to everything we know, we hope that you will teach it back to our future generations."
Celestia looked back with a calculating expression, before sighing, "You're asking me to take on the burden of shepherding your entire species. From what you're describing, it could very well be several generations before wizards can stand on their own again."
Hermione's voice went a pitch higher, realizing Celestia was on the verge of saying 'no', "Wizards might have forgotten you, but the other magical races haven't. They respect you. If you ask them to make good on their promise they will listen."
Celestia groaned at that. The very reason she thought she could afford not interfere herself thrown out the window, "You don't think they will actually help you once you lose control of the Ministry," she rubbed a temple with her hoof.
Equestria had been having it's own problems in recent years. Enemies kept flooding in to plunder the ponies. Ever since the Changeling Queen bested her the other races became aware of just how weak the Princess of the Sun had become. She was approaching the end of her life. Oh she had another century in her, easily, but she was old even by Alicorn standards. True she didn't look it but that's just a result of how Alicorns age. They actually became more beautiful and taller the older they got... but they still died eventually. It just took a few millennium instead of the average pony's 500+ lifespan.
Approaching the end of her life was the very reason Celestia had guided Twilight to enlightenment, and why she took in Cadence before that. She was setting up a new generation of protectors and rulers... for when she was gone.
She hoped to have an Alicorn ruling each city state before she was gone, but a project like that would require more time then she realistically had. It took Celestia 10 years to mold Twilight through one on one training... and she was a progeny... it would likely take even longer for another to do it... longer still to find somepony not only holding the potential for such greatness but who wouldn't abuse the power the way the original Alicorn Dynasty had.
However the changeling attack revealed just how weak Celestia had became. She was still more powerful then most creatures... but no where near the near cosmic power she had at her prime. She could no longer fight an army on her own... nor stand up to world breakers like Changeling Queens... Unfortunately Celestia's weakened state became public knowledge before establishing the strength of Ponykind's new protectors.
Oh Twilight and her friends had some victories under their belt. Those, although impressive, actually encouraged would be conquerors to test their metal. Twilight and her friends had to prove to the other nations they were just as powerful as Celestia in her hay day. Hopefully they had done that with their recent defeat of Tirek and gaining their newfound Rainbow powers (something not even Celestia had done)... but it was too early to tell.
Ponyville was just barely named a City State. Twilight didn't even have a functioning guard or even castle staff yet. If Equestria devoted resources to other dimensions, regardless what they could gain through trade, they would be opening themselves to all their problems as well.
If the other species of Earth were willing to help the humans then Equestria didn't have to invest resources they didn't have... but if the desperation in the witch's voice was anything to go by they were just taking the bribe and running.
"A lot can change in a thousand years," Hermione repeated Celestia's words, "We went into hiding from the muggles and forced the rest of the magical world to follow us. Wizards were not very kind in our efforts to protect them. They lost most of their lands and nearly all of their freedom. Even though I have been trying to make amends and give them a voice... they realize most wizards are only accepting them out of desperation... there are still a lot of resentment on both sides... some of the beings loyal to us have warned me the other races are just using the opportunity to learn our secrets... with the intention of abandoning us to our fates later on.''
"There is a large fear that without the Ministry guiding and protecting wizards from muggles... they will become aware of us again... and then the Witch hunts will start all over. If that happens it very well could result in our extinction this time...''
"Most wizards have moved into the wizarding villages near their schools... but those villages won't have the resources to sustain themselves without exports. They can't even grow their own food as they tend to be built in isolated areas where magic pollutes the soil. It's difficult to grow anything outside magical plants but none of those are safe to eat... The villages weren't built to stand on their own but rather a safe place sponsored by the Ministry... the races that do like us don't have the resources to feed themselves and us, regardless what we pay them. If we have any hope of the villages turning into city states of their own, at the very least, we still need the help of all the other races just to make that possible...''
"I read what Earth ponies can do. Even if the other races do leave us to our fate you ponies can at the very least give us the resources we need to one day survive on our own. Please, we need your help, all our other plans have failed."
Well... that settled that. Celestia put down her hoof and looked determined at the young human, "I can't, in good concious, allow your people to fall. Equestria will help you," she promise.
###
6 Months Later
There were small wizarding communities all over the world: Neighborhoods, shopping areas, even farming communities for magical plants... and they were all... terrified. They were randomly scattered throughout their respective country, and couldn't hope to survive on their own... So they wouldn't.
These ponies were amazing. They had runes that, when placed around the perimeter of anything as small as a house to as large as a city, would transport the entire land mass to anywhere else. Provided there where connecting runes to complete the transport... it was bizarre as all hell that they had this but not Floos. Turns out they just didn't have the ingredients to create Floo Powder. It simply wasn't naturally occurring on their world.
Ignoring that, the real question was, where to set up the mishmash of neighborhoods? The prominent wizarding villages, near the magic schools, were the obvious choice, but there was still the issue of them not being able to grow their own food.
After looking at the maps of each country, the Ponies got an idea. They saw how Hogsmeade was connected by train to the middle of nowhere.
The land was chosen by early English wizards strictly because it was isolated. It was a nice place for large groups of wizards to gather without issue. The station was connected to various spots all over the country by primitive portals. This was before the discovery of floo powder or the perfection of Apparation. The Station was only used for the sake of tradition at this point. Still it was safely tucked away in an ordinary forest... meaning it was not only isolated but had rich soil perfect for farming.
True the ponies could have not bother with this and just transform the soil around Hogsmeade, but they said that would take decades to fight against the chaos magic that infested the land. Even then, without an Earth Pony staying behind to manage the area, there was no guarantee it would stay fertile for the more mundane plants.
However if they moved all the wizarding communities to isolated, nonmagical, areas in their country the wizards could become self reliance again. They just had to connect all the new towns to the school villages by a private trainrail. Then ship food they harvested from these areas.
Once all that was settled they moved EVERYTHING. All the communities were teleported, freaking Star Trek Borg style, into a carefully laid out city for each country. The only thing that wasn't were the Ministry buildings of each nation, as they were moved into the village near their school. The Ponies said it would help encourage relations with the other races to have their embassies near the school while also making the cities more independent.
It was quite the ingenious design too. They set up various business and shopping districts, as well as had all the neighborhoods close together in a new wizarding Suburbia... but the ponies also kinda pissed off the pure bloods by not stopping at magical neighborhoods.
The ponies tracked down all the known descendants of squibs and, against the wizarding world's wishes, offered them the same deal.
Many muggle homes vanished out of muggle neighborhoods (with the smokescreen of fires, sinkholes, and various other natural discoveries destroying them). Then they reappeared in a new muggle district in the magical city. There weren't many families left with the magical gene dormant, a little over a thousand, so their disappears in the muggle world went unnoticed. Just a series of tragedies in a particularly unlucky year, if anyone even noticed.
Although the wizards REALLY weren't happy about the other muggles that were let into the new wizarding cities just because they were related to, or even just friends with, the Squibs descendants.
Ponies really didn't give a damn about that. Many of the Squib descendants had friends, spouses, and even their spouses' family that they were not willing to leave behind. The ponies truly did not give a "buck" about wizard prejudices and encouraged all these muggles to come to the new wizarding cities.
The ponies did their best to make the muggles comfortable, with encouragements to leave their old lives and live in a hidden city away from the rest of the world. It was a hard sell but the ponies helped them set up their own businesses in a District of it's own: Vets, clinics, Movie theaters, shops of all kinds, clubs and bars, even arcades and various hangouts. Celestia gave them all the funds they needed to open up their businesses. Celestia even ran a warehouses that specialized in acquiring muggle goods (that used their own trucks to retrieve the products from the muggle world).
The Wizards had come to call this area the "Mundane District", located right next to the Muggle neighborhood. These businesses were unexpectedly thriving in the wizarding town, as both Muggles and Half Bloods tended to still be drown to muggle gadgets. Even some Pure Bloods were at the very least fascinated by it. Only the most stubborn pure bloods stayed away.
When the Pure Bloods tried to argue they were politely told to shut up. Really the ponies had a point. Most of these people had the magical gene regardless if it was dormant. There was a greater chance, if they breed with someone who also had the gene, their children would be born with magic. The wizarding world was dependent on them if they wanted to increase their population quickly.
The regular muggles might be a harder sell but ponies had spliced together the city, even constructed the buildings for muggle businesses. There really wasn't anything the wizards could do about the muggles in their city. They couldn't even hide from them as the ponies frequently traded with them. At least ponies seemed to understand that, given Earth's history, outing wizards to all muggles was dangerous.
The muggles in the new city the ponies talked directly and convinced them to come... it was rather amazing how ponies could be so convincing through singing. Could they be related to sirens? That could be explored later. There were more important things to consider at the moment.
With Wizards and muggles living in closer proximity, and forced to interact by the ponies, it was inevitable they would couple.
Yes Squib children would be born more frequently as a result of this but Squibs still had a vague Awareness of magic, even if they couldn't cast it. Magic wasn't just a random gene. Wizards were an actual subspecies that evolved out of humanity. So their non magical descendants weren't as non magical as the wizards assumed. They could still make potions and runes and enchantments, even use them. They just lacked that extra kick that allowed direct spell casting.
The fact these muggles could do it made the Half bloods and muggle borns realize they weren't as muggle as they thought. Their magical Awareness was still there, just more limited and in need of nurturing.
The other magical beings on the council voted to have muggles with a dormant magical gene classified as Squibs themselves, and given the same rights as Wizards. The wizards really weren't happy about that but they somehow lost the vote.
Further proof that the descendants of squibs were still part of the Wizard Subspecies, was that ordinary muggles, without even a dormant gene, weren't capable of learning any of the magical craftsmen skills nor could they use the items.
This implied there were other, perhaps more dominant, genes Wizards had that they just didn't know about. Squibs had always had the sixth sense when it came to magic. Wizards knew this. Why, or even how, they came to the conclusion that the children of Squibs lost it Hermione didn't know. What mattered is they had it.
The Magical Beings looked to be right. Wizards might actually be a legitimate subspecies of humanity. Like how dogs came in so many different species that could all still breed with each other.
Something in their biology made wizards far more different then ordinary humans then they had thought... Hermione needed to find out what that was. Perhaps with a combination of Magic and genetic engineering she could make the spell casting gene more dominant.
The real issue wasn't breeding with muggles. It was the fact magic was a recessive gene. Even pure blood wizards had a chance of their offspring not having direct spell casting. That was what was killing wizard kind. They needed to stop yelling about Squibs and breeding with muggles, and start finding a way to correct their DNA.
The fact a few of the muggles, now living in the wizard city, were scientists helped a good bit. Hermione was now employing them in the research division of the Ministry. They were eagerly working with Wizards to discover how to turn a recessive gene into a dominant gene, without generations of careful breeding. The ponies were helping too, with an amazing understanding of both Science and magic they could help the two sides understand each other's terminology.
Still, regardless of this now common fact, the wizards still weren't happy about including any of these people in their society.
Since the Ministry refused to take responsibility for them, the ponies had to. The ponies opened their own primary school in Mundane Districts. It had just been finished and their first ever term would start in a couple days, just in time for the new school year.
However the ponies didn't stop there. They demanded the Minister require all wizarding children, too young to go to Hogwarts, attend this school alongside squibs and muggles. Usually wizards homeschooled their children themselves, or at the very hire tutors to teach small groups of child together. It was hard to get the human govenors to agree to this, but after Celestia gave a rather angry speech where she threatened to leave and let them all die, they didn't really have a choice.
The primary school would teach all the basic things kids needed to know. Unfortunately the ponies had to open up separate schools afterwards. A school to teach the true muggles the various Sciences in much greater detail. Then a school to teach those descended from schools magical craftsmen skills. Then the University the Ponies built would have all three groups come back together to study whatever they wanted.
Celestia explained this was how their own education system worked. They taught little kids the basics together. However, since each tribe had a different kind of magic they could use, they had to be educated separately as teenagers. Then they went came back together at universities, to encourage inter-tribe cooperation, before apprenticing directly for a trade under a master of it.
The Wizarding education system wasn't so different. Now they just had to make arrangements for muggle and Squib schools, in order to teach them based on their nature strengths, followed by a joint university to prevent complete separation of the groups... and since the pure bloods weren't letting Hermione do that the ponies would.
Effectively the wizards had developed their own three tribes in these cities. Representatives of each "Tribe" came together and formed their own kind of council together, under the ponies guidance, with an elected official at the top. Hermione was happy to see Percy Weasley get elected as The cities first Mayor. It might have helped that not only herself, but Harry Potter, gave him their official endorsement. Unfortunately the muggle candidate kinda got left behind... a glimpse into things to come?
Like the Ponies when they first settled together, the human "tribes" would have to learn to tolerant each other... and maybe... one day... they could even embrace each other...
Until then, it was off to school.
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Huge, huge recommendation write a resume because while it might be good no one would really know what the story is about so until a resume is added I will not read it.
9114503
It has a "short description", though not a very good one. Fun fact, the long description is mandatory and per the site's rule must describe the story... so not this. This is useless.
Yeah, this isn't just a reader repelling eye-sore but a violation of Da Rules.
9114503
Not sure if this is what you meant but I added the short Description to the long description so people know what it is
Wow, this really good! I really like how you described how ponies would change wizard society! It's also cool how you put science into the mix! Keep up the good work!
9114529
Very good thank you very much, and realize that this was not for me but for you in the long run, sorry if it sounded otherwise.
Excellent start, looking forward to more.
There's a tag for Harry Potter now. You'd do well to use it.
9115818
Thanks
> not since Starswirl had his falling out with Merlin and the Hogwarts' Founders
Merlin died something like 800 years before the founding of Hogwarts.
Also, it's kind of weird for normal ponies to live 500 years. Then NMM would have been, like, proportionally as long ago as the US Civil War, not ancient history.
> she was a progeny
Prodigy. She is Twilight Velvet and Night Light's progeny, of course.
9590467
According to the Harry Potter Wiki, Merlin was born in the mid 900s and went to Hogwarts where he was sorted into Slytherin. He actually studied directly under Salazar and was around during the falling out.
Thank you so much for the review. I love hearing different interpretations of Harry Potter. J.K. Rolling has given so much supplementary material and it can sometimes contradict each other so is fun to debate it with fans
Well, no. Never eat anything bigger than your own head.
9680044
Lol
I'll be sure to fix that
Its definitely original as far as i have read. its hard to read for me.
1. There must be a reason why Celestia would give two bits about the wandlore. 1/3 of population has a wand on top of their heads, Expeliarmus would never work. The other 3rd uses sky magic and the last 3rd uses Earth magic.
2. You know what, maybe Celestia really needs to retire. Maybe, some other alicorn would figure out that Equestria really needs an army.
3. Extremist isolationism from muggles had always existed I guess. And speaking of which, I would assume those muggles were forced to live in the magic cities against their will because nobody in their right mind would abandon the lives they know just because ponies told them to.
I can't explain why, but this prologue is a boring read to me. It isn't even 4000 words, but it felt like reading it dragged on longer than some chapters I've read with 5 digit word counts. I wasn't able to lose myself in this like I can some others. It's actually the same problem I have with Rowling's own writing, and yet this is only the second of the more than ten Harry Potter fanfictions I've tried to read, whether crossover or otherwise, that I've had this same problem with, and with the first one it didn't immediately set in.
10376916
This chapter is a big info dump.
I know this Prologue is a big bore, but ask you reserve judgment until reading the next chapter.
I have a bad habit of writing info dumps for my first chapters.
Surprisingly entertaining and fun to read;
after the initial shock let go, so one can see what this story actually tries to say ..