• Published 1st Feb 2019
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Harry Potter and the Crystal Empire - Damaged



The door of the Chamber of Secrets is just ahead, and Harry Potter has no clue what kind of changes will unfold once he passes it. Monsters will become friends, friends will become monsters, and Hogwarts itself will change completely.

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"Harry! Addera! Wake up! Somethin' strange's going on!"

My head felt thick and full of cotton wool. Wrapped up in Addera's coils again, I didn't even bother trying to get loose and heed Fred—or was it George's—call. I tucked my snout down into the warmth of Addera's coils and tried to dive back into the dream I'd been having.

Addera didn't even twitch her tail, for which I was thankful. "What is it? We're trying to sleep."

"A bunch of new ponies have arrived. Most of them are soldiers, but there's one—I think she's some kind of leader! Wings and a 'orn! George is trying to catch a peek at them at the front gate." So it was definitely Fred.

My brain discarded most of his words. Ponies—check. It wasn't until my thoughts got toward the meat of his words that some little voice in my head told me this was important. I lifted my head, only to have one of Addera's hooves brush one ear. "Are they more of the crystal ponies?"

"No! That's the thing! They're horse-ponies. Err, flesh and blood that is. And you don't even want to know how much magic is dripping off them." Fred made some nonverbal noises, and I could hear Ron stirring. "But if you don't care to see the awesome real ponies from wherever this land is…"

—We should get up, shouldn't we?— I asked Addera in parseltongue.

Addera's hoof seemed to be busy with my ear, though the rubbing wasn't quite as good as what a hand could do. —I doubt we'd be able to talk to them, Harry Potter, but we can very likely see them.—

Despite the ear rubbing quality being below the level of what hands could dish out, I found myself relaxing more. "More sleep would be good, though."

My choice was made for me when Addera began to slither and uncoil herself. Even my whine didn't get her to stop, and soon enough I was dumped on the floor. "You need to wash, Harry potter."

"Yeah, yeah." Stumbling through to the bathroom, I began the longer-than-usual task of washing myself. The advantage was there was a lot less of me to wash. The disadvantage was that almost every inch was fur, and under all the fur was scales—not flesh.

Cleaning was easy. The heaviest scrubbing brush we had made no marks on my scales, and my fur somehow seemed as tough as my scales. A Locomotion charm on the soap and another on what used to be a stiff broom and I got to work.

By the time I was done, I must have weighed nearly twice as much as normal thanks to the water in my fur. Rearing up, I managed to turn the taps off and then had to contend with drying off.

Getting angry would do the trick, but there was no guarantee that I wouldn't burn the tiles, the taps, and create some kind of explosion with all the water. Then another thought hit me. "Am I fireproof to regular fire?"

The test was simple. I turned the cold tap of the shower on again (because unlike wizards, I could learn sane things), and tried to set my hoof on fire. "In-sen-dee-o!"

What should have been a little pop of fire gleefully fed on my magic and caused a blast furnace burst of blue and red fire that enveloped my hoof. The first thing to register was that this was the same kind of fire I burned with when I got angry, and the second thing to register was that it didn't hurt at all. In fact, my hoof was fine.

I giggled at the sight of my untouched limb. "This is perfect! In-sen-dee-o!"

In hindsight, using a Fire-Making charm as a blow-drier was a very wizard thing to do, but it worked. It only took seconds under the intense heat of my weakest fire spell to dry myself off completely.

The weakest fire spell, however, left big scorch marks on the wall and looked like it wanted to do more. Okay, that was easy to fix. "Skur-ji-fy!" Learning that one from Hermione had been worth every second. The magic rushed to do my bidding and left the wall sparkling.

I groaned. There was now an amazingly clean section of shower.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Neville had walked into the shower and had caught me cleaning the walls. All the walls.

"Cleaning. No one else will do it." I finished getting the last of the shared shower wall clean and started walking for the exit.

Neville looked from me to the sparkling clean shower. "But why?"

"Have you ever looked at something really rusty, or really dirty, and cleaned just one bit of it, Neville?"

"But why'd you clean any of it?"

"I had to clean away the burn marks." It was the most natural thing to say, and also the most wizard thing to say. Being at Hogwarts meant I'd get away with it. "Do you want to know why I left burn marks in the shower? I had to dry myself off."

With that said, I turned back to the exit and walked from the shower as if setting myself on fire was now a perfectly normal thing to do. The voice of all wizardom in my head was perfectly satisfied with that, and judged it sensibly handled. My common sense sparked up and told me I should have just cast the Scouring charm on myself.

Was that the solution I was missing all this time? The honest answer to all my worries that I was turning into a wizard, was to apply more magic with a liberal helping of common sense?

I thought about it more as I walked back to the dorm room I shared. When I walked in, Ron and Addera were hissing softly to each other, Dean was pulling on his shoes, and Seamus was writing in his journal.

Walking to my bed, I jumped up and had to dig around under the covers to find Ginny's diary. A quick pair of Locomotion charms later and I opened her diary and started to write.

Was that—

As if my writing woke her, words started appearing before I'd even gotten to ask my question.

That was so much energy! Harry, that was amazing! I could feel you all night!

I'm glad. Something strange has happened. George said a bunch of new ponies have arrived, and they look like they are better organized than the ones we rescued. We're going to go and try to get a look at them.

Good luck. I'll try to work out how to do this apparition stuff while you're doing that. Hopefully I'll see you later.

I closed the diary and hugged it to me. I'd been there when Ginny had gotten stuck in the diary, and I'd be there when she got free of it. I tried to channel my hopes and dreams into the book, as if to feed it and give her more freedom in the meantime.

Then something occurred to me. "What if these ponies know about King Sombra? What if they know how to free Ginny and get her body back?"

Ron lifted his head and looked past Addera. "What?"

"I mean, what if they know something we don't? We have to ask them about him!" I used my teeth to grab Addera's backpack and pull it on my own back. A little work with the straps and I had them over my shoulders well enough that I could carry the thing, only for Addera to slither over and impose herself between me and the door. "Addera?"

"There's a reason, Harry Potter, that I accepted the burden of carrying your things." She held a hoof out toward me. "The backpack, Harry Potter, is not immune to your flames."

The great Harry Potter, Wizard of Common Sense… had none. Grumbling, I slipped my forelegs out of the straps and offered Addera the backpack. "I think I need to find somewhere to be angry again."

"Urgently, Harry Potter?" Addera's hoof reached casually up to her face. I knew what she was ready to do, and I appreciated it.

"No, not urgent, but I feel it like a building pressure." Speaking about it, like using the bathroom or yawning, seemed to make the pressure worse. I bit my lower lip. "It might be a little urgent."

Addera scooped me up with one leg and slithered out of our dorm. For a moment I wondered where she was taking me, when she entered the common room. It might be impossible for me to get angry at Addera, but if I thought about anything else, it brought with it a hint of anger.

My hooves were suddenly back under me, and I blinked a few times at how quickly Addera had moved across the hall. I looked down to see flames licking the underside of my belly, then looked back toward Addera—and outside the fireplace. "Thank you, Adde—"

It became too much. I clenched my teeth closed and felt the flames under me join new fire pouring from my body. Stomping angrily on the wood that had been burning, I felt it give with satisfaction under my own fire.

"Just let it out, Harry Potter." Addera didn't need to uncover her eyes and I didn't need to be under her spell to follow her advice. Blue-purple flames dripped off me and sent heat pouring into the stones of the fireplace.

I turned to look at Addera, and saw her remove her glasses and look at me. She did have pretty eyes, but I didn't feel the same bewitchment come over me as normal. The fireplace was too small for me to pace, but I did manage to stomp my hooves around a little.

"You're not under my control, Harry Potter!" Addera sounded quite happy with herself. She reached up and put her glasses back on. "Are you almost done?"

"No!" I stomped a hoof on the old iron grate in the fireplace and wasn't prepared for my leg going through it. I looked down in surprise and tried to step back from the iron that had apparently just melted under my hoof. "Whoops."

"'Er, Harry, are you alright?" George sat down in a couch not too far away and watched me. "Did you just melt the iron grate in there?"

I looked at George, then down the leash he held to the creature that'd been walking at his side. The lizard looked yellow-red, and had slightly glowing flesh. Where it sat, the wood smoldered slowly.

"Is that—? Is that a salamander?" It was hard to focus too long on anything or I expected I'd get angry at it. I looked from the creature and up to George. "Why've you got a salamander?"

"Well, it didn't feel right just letting him die, not after what we put 'im through. Just gotta give him a bit of pepper before walks, and he knows not to set things on fire, don't you Ember?" George reached down from the side of the couch and ran a finger under the salamander's throat.

The sight of him quickly pulling his hand away before he got burned, and the pleased look on the salamander's face, was so startling and off-beat that I lost track of my anger and it fizzled out.

The pressure was gone. My urge to burn things was sated with a few minutes of angry stomping. Gingerly climbing out of the fireplace—mostly to avoid getting dirty again—I walked over to George and his pet. "You called him Ember?"

"Yeah, hey, careful! He'll burn—" George cut off as I started tickling the salamander under the chin, then turned it to a full head scratch. "Right. Of course fire doesn't hurt you. Silly me to think the great and powerful Harry Potter would be inconvenienced by a little thing like fire."

"It comes with being a wizard," I said.

"Alright, Mr. Wizard, are you ready to go and gawk at the 'orses?" George stood up and led Ember to the hall that led out of Gryffindor tower.

Walking after him, I expected Addera to follow and wasn't disappointed when she was right beside me. In just three days—almost four now—she'd gone from a monster to one of the more stable parts of my life.

"You're smiling a lot, Harry Potter." Addera's voice was more her own than ever, and I could definitely pick up a hint of curiosity in it.

"Well, I was just thinking about how you are a stable part of my life now, but you want to know the most stable?" I asked.

Addera nodded.

I tried not to giggle as I said, "My bedroom."

"Good one, 'arry!" George opened the painting outward and nearly walked into Hermione. "Are they still out there?"

"Yes, but McGonagall is getting ready to head out and talk to them. What took you so long?" Hermione jumped aside at the sight of a salamander scorching footprints onto the stone floor.

"Harry had to have a bath, then a steam—in that order—and finally he put on his frilliest dress. 'Ell be the bell o' the ball for sure." George tugged on the leash, leading the way with Ember at his side.

"Where's Fred?" Addera asked.

"He's keeping an eye on the front door. Couldn't get him or Alicia away from it." Hermione fell in beside Addera and me, and we started after George. "Ron?"

I looked back to see Ron leading Dean and Seamus. "Decided to come?"

"Woulda been nice if you'd told us you were leavin'!" Ron said as he reached us.

"I was trying to avoid setting Hogwarts on fire at the time. Sorry, Ron." Then I noticed he was holding the slightly scorched pieces of his old wand in his hand. "What're you doing with that?"

"It saved our lives once. I thought it could do it again. So the way I figger it, I make it look like the broken wand is intact and leave its handle exposed. That way, if anyone tries to steal it and use it on us, kablammo!" Ron looked proud of his logic, and given how well the wand had screwed up his own spells and Lockheart's spell, he had every right to be proud.

George looked back at his brother with a surprised expression. "Here, that's right clever that is. Fancy a Weasley not just being smart, but bein' tricky-smart."

The further down we walked, the more students that seemed to be milling around talking. We reached the main hall just as the front doors opened to reveal McGonagall, Dumbledore, and just two of the pony people.

I cast a hurried Locomotion charm on the shard of scrying mirror I knew was in Addera's backpack and floated it out to look through.

Both the ponies were big (compared to me at least). The white one with electric-blue mane and tail looked amazing. He (he was definitely a he with how he walked and looked) had armor on that made him look like some kind of Roman soldier's horse, except for a glaring thing missing—no saddle.

The pink one was so pink it was almost impossible to think of her as anything but female. She looked regal, with a slim tiara on her red/gold/purple maned head. The way she walked was different to the male (should I call him a stallion?), she didn't grind each hoof down, but walked daintily—almost a prance.

What really got my attention was that both of them had horns as long as my head, and the female had wings too. Apart from the fact they looked vaguely horse-like, they didn't seem to act anything like horses.

"No wonder Tourmaline called you a not-unicorn," Hermione said. "You look nothing like that."

Getting close enough to them to ask about Ginny and Sombra would be impossible, but the inkling of an idea started to form. I turned away from the pair as McGonagall led them into one of the meeting rooms. "We need to get outside. Everyone'll be so distracted by those two that the rest will be practically deserted."

"If we go out the front door, everyone will see us. We need to use another exit," Hermione said.

Everyone looked at George.

"Oh, that's just great. You think that just because of who I am, I'd have a sneaky way out of the castle that no one else—except Fred—knows about?" He looked disappointed he didn't get a single groan. George turned around. "Follow me."

The way out turned out to be from a tunnel in the basement, hidden behind a few big round barrels, and then through a damp cave that let out of a tiny entrance near the lake. Fred and Alicia were waiting just outside the entrance looking entirely too happy.

"Ah! Finally worked it out, eh? Glad you could join us," Fred said as he helped us out of the cave.

George grinned at his twin. "Well, I didn't want to give too much away. 'Arry was the one who figured out the plan, but our Ron is starting to get particularly tricky."

Rounding on his younger brother, Fred looked at Ron critically. "Blimey. Anyone'd think he's a Weasley."

Chuckling at the twins' antics, Alicia gestured along the lakeshore to the other side of the viaduct. "They're waiting up there. We looked for a way up, and found one on the left side of the viaduct."

Fred slipped in beside Ron as we walked past the pylons that held up the viaduct above. "How's me old bat holdin' up? Cracked any skulls with it?"

"Just the one so far. Someone was sneakin' up on Harry." Ron sounded pleased about his efforts so far with the bat, and I couldn't exactly say he hadn't earned it. "Now I got a new idea, but I can't tell everyone or it'll be useless."

"What is it?" Fred asked.

Ron went on to describe his broken wand idea, and the pair worked on a few nitty-gritty parts until we had to start climbing the steep slope toward where the ponies were.

Addera proved to be the best climber of the bunch of us, and I was thankful she grabbed me up in a hug before slithering up. Just behind us, surprisingly, was Hermione. Ron, George, Fred, and finally Alicia brought up the rear.

"… heard the captain, we hold here. These are some strange creatures, but they're a school. I don't want anypony to go hurting anyone or I'll have your oats for a week," a commanding voice said from the top.

—Should we go all the way up now, Harry Potter?— Addera's voice was very low, quieter than she could speak English.

Then it hit me—the creatures above spoke perfect English! I shook my head. "We might as well go up. Try not to remove your glasses."

To my surprise, Addera pressed her snout to the back of my neck in what felt a little like a kiss, and slithered us to the top of the rise.

"Whoa! Hold on. What did I just say? Look at the size of the little one." The same voice from earlier apparently belonged to a big white unicorn that looked similar to the one in the castle, but his helmet plume was a little smaller. "You're Royal Guard of the E.U.P., act like it."

"Err, hi!" I said as Addera put me down. "My name's Harry Potter."

The big pony looked at me with amazement, but I quickly realized it was mostly for my friends reaching the top of the rise behind me. "Keen, Flag! How about you take a new assignment?"

Two new ponies, neither of them big like the others, walked over. "Sir?" both asked.

"Your new assignment is interspecies relations."

These two ponies looked different. The unicorn had a more off-white fur than the others, but his yellow mane and tail were bright as could be. The pegasus was a study of darker shades. A black mane and tail were the highlights to her dark-blue fur.

"Hi there, I'm Flagessio, but you can call me Laggie. This is Keen Eyes." Flagessio said, gesturing to the off-white stallion with one wing. "What're your names?"

We each said our names, introducing ourselves like this was the most normal thing in the world. But then, I'd introduced myself to a phoenix, a basilisk, and plenty of other creatures.

When all my friends looked at me, I realized I was apparently going to be the spokesman. "So, one of my friends got caught up with some bad stuff, and someone stole her body. Do you know who King Sombra is?"

Apparently I wasn't likely to ask something that would get a greater reaction. Flagessio and Keen both froze and stared at me as if I'd grown more horns and bigger fangs. "Lieutenant Star? You're probably going to want to listen to this," Flagessio said. When the big unicorn walked back over, Flagessio gestured to me. "Say that again, please?"

"I was trying to save a friend in some caves under Hogwarts, that's our school, and when Vold—when the person I was saving her from did something and got into her mind. Well, King Sombra was already in there, and when he shoved us all out, he left with my friend's body." I looked between the now stunned Lieutenant Star and Flagessio. "Do you know how I can help my friend?"

Star's horn started to glow, and I felt what seemed to be a hurricane of magic pour into him. A scroll appeared in midair, followed by a quill. "Flagessio, you need to take this to Princess Cadance and Captain Armor. I don't care how you get in there, just don't hurt anypony."

Flagessio took the scroll when the quill was done with it, using her wing to catch it from the storm of magic that raged mere feet from my face. Feathers should not be able to do what hers did, but that was far less interesting than the interest she started paying us. "How would you all like to come with me? You can tell everyone I'm just bringing a message."

I barely caught Star saying "clever" when Ron shoved his way to the front of the group.

"Come with us. We'll make sure the teachers don't bother you." Walking toward the viaduct, Ron looked like a man with a mission, probably because he did have one. His action was catching, and we started to move after him—Flagessio at our side.

I looked up at the mare as we walked beside her. "What was so important about him?"

"Star Flare?" Flagessio asked.

"N-No. King Sombra. Is he a real king or something?"

"Yes and no. He took over a nation far to the north of ours a thousand years ago. When our princesses went to challenge him, he ripped his whole city into the void to escape them." She had a very nice voice, sounding Italian. "We spotted your school, and thought it might be him returning."

We were about halfway across the viaduct. "Is that why you sent soldiers?" I asked.

"Yes and no. If he's back, there'll be a war." Flagessio's words made a shiver run up my spine. War, as a word, had a lot of meaning for the people of the United Kingdom, let alone wizardkind. As dense and stupid as the Dursleys were, even they had immediate relatives who'd lived in the last world war.

"He came with us, we're sure of it. There's been crystal ponies wearing these strange helmets attacking Dumbledore's wards. We managed to get some free, but I don't know what they said after that. No one tells me anything unless I land in the thick of it." I was aware of the others speaking—mostly George and Fred discussing the quickest way to get to the meeting room we'd seen McGonagall lead the visitors.

Flagessio smiled and looked down at me. "I imagine you land in the thick of it a lot?"

"You would not believe." Hermione, who'd been clopping along beside me, looked over the top of me at Flagessio.

"Are you the descendants of the crystal ponies?" Flagessio asked.

"I don't think so? At least, both my parents were just normal people. We're still trying to work out why I turned into this, when others turned into other things. One of the teachers, Madam Hooch, turned all the way into a crystal pegasus, but Harry here turned into something else entirely." Hermione had engaged problem-solving-mode, as was evidenced by her excitement. Next thing I expected her to do was ask if she could— "Can I feel your feathers?"

"Hermione," I said, "It might not be—"

Flagessio cut me short with a little laugh. "It's alright. Just don't go pulling any feathers out, I'm a little attached to them." She stretched one of her wings over my back and to Hermione.

The distraction made me look up and lose track of my hooves. Stumbling, I stumbled a few steps before Addera grabbed me out of what was about to be a fall. "Th-Thanks Addera."

"You're probably right about not being descendants of the crystal ponies. I guess if you were, you'd all become crystal ponies." Flagessio kept her wing out for Hermione until we reached the front door of Hogwarts. "Okay, where to from here?"

Students were crowded around the meeting room, and there seemed no way to reach it until Ron, Fred, and George shoved forward (the latter having given Ember's leash to Alicia. "Make way! Come on, you lot, get out of the way. We 'ave a messenger who needs t' get through! Make way!" Fred said, and his brothers took up the call.

Of course, the three of them shouting got people to move aside, but it also drew their attention to us. Addera moved to one side of Flagessio, Alicia took the other, and Hermione brought up the rear. We were like an arrow streaking through the crowd—until we reached our target.

Lucian Bole and Penelope Clearwater stood at each side of the door and seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the crowd from pushing right up to it.

"Alright, what's goin' on?" Lucian had a few inches of height over even George and Fred.

I was about to push my way past the legs of everyone when Flagessio herself stepped forward—using her mass more than anything else to make a path. "I have a message I must deliver to the princess."

Penelope looked at Lucian, who was looking back at her, and they both kinda shrugged, then gave Flagessio room to reach the door. She lifted a hoof and knocked three times.

Dumbledore opened the door a few moments later. His expressions started at mildly reproving, but changed the moment he saw Flagessio. "Your Highnesses, I believe you have a message."

There was a thrumming sense of magic in the room. It was like when a power line messes up and makes the air all staticy, or like when you get a thunderstorm without any rain. There was a lot of magic in the air—and it was constant.

"Sergeant Flagessio?" The big white stallion had been sitting on a seat at the table inside, but he got to his hooves and walked over. "Come in and report."

"It's more what this young colt needs to report, sir, and this letter." Flagessio extended her wing, the scroll extended. "Harry Potter? Come on."

Another torrent of magic, this time a greater rush than the one that the soldier pony had used, poured from the stallion's horn. I felt dwarfed and tiny by comparison.

Okay, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind when I wanted to see the ponies and ask them about King Sombra, but I could hardly argue with about half the school watching. At Flagessio's side, I marched into the room while Dumbledore closed the door behind us.

"This colt has seen King Sombra." The way Flagessio said it implied that there was something important about the fact. Everyone in the room looked at me expectantly, even McGonagall.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Well, seeing as I'm the most junior here," he said with a knowing smile, "I'll do the introductions. Harry Potter, Miss Flagessio, our headmistress is Minerva McGonagall, this is Captain Shining Armor, Princess Cadance, and my name is Professor Albus Dumbledore."

I felt a mild panic set in. Technically I'd sided with Sombra against Voldemort. Sombra seemed to be this world's version of Voldemort. McGonagall and Dumbledore would know if I lied. So I told the whole story, starting with me entering the Chamber of Secrets.

When I reached the part about siding with Sombra against Voldemort, all three ponies gasped.

"You understand—" McGonagall cut in before anyone else could speak, "—that Harry had no knowledge of this Sombra. He acted in the moment to save the life of his friend."

Princess Cadance shook her head in obvious denial. "Of course we wouldn't blame him for this. Sombra is to blame for all Sombra does. If a colt inadvertently helps him, it's not the colt's fault." She spared me an encouraging smile. "Please continue, Harry."

I continued, explaining about Ginny being stuck in the diary, making friends with Addera, and our escape from the Chamber of Secrets.

"That sounds consistent with what we know of Sombra, though our information is a little out of date." As Cadance spoke, I looked at her and realized that the huge magic spell I could feel casting was coming from her. Ponies were just a little scary.

The flood of magic came back from Shining Armor as he began writing a reply on the bottom of the scroll. "Take this back to Lieutenant Star, Flagessio."

"Thank you, Harry. Please escort Miss Flagessio back across the viaduct," McGonagall said.

I wanted to hang around, but could see she wanted me out of the room. I turned around and looked at the door. Now I suddenly wished I had spent time working on the door charm Hermione had taught to Addera. I was saved when Flagessio reached her wing out, grasped the handle with the tips of her feathers, and worked the door handle. Once again I was amazed by what she could do with her feathers.

"Come on, Harry. Hopefully your friends are still waiting outside." Flagessio pulled the door open to reveal that they were still there, and seemed to engaged in a staring contest of some kind with Lucian and Penelope.

"Harry!" my friends shouted.

Hermione managed to jump in and continue speaking before anyone else had a chance. "Harry! I felt an awful lot of magic being cast, and then George said maybe they were undoing your transfiguration, and we—"

"Can you escort me back to the camp now?" Flagessio asked, cutting into the conversation.

"Absolutely!" George and Fred said together. As one, they turned back to the crowd. "Make way!" "Move it!" "Clear a path!" Ron joined them after a moment, and together they cut their way through the crowd of students and got us all outside.

"What happened, Harry?" Alicia asked once we were out of the crowd.

"They just wanted to know what happened in the Chamber of Secrets. All of it." I glanced at Flagessio, then to Ron. "I told them everything." At last my eyes settled on Addera.

Ron looked incredulous. "What? All of it? Even what we weren't meant to—"

Fred punched his little brother in the arm. "Ron, if you wasn't meant to say it, don't say it now."

"Yeah," George said cheerfully. "Tell us later."

"Flagessio, when you bend your feathers like you were on the door handle, how'd you do that?" The question had been burning me up inside (not literally) and I just had to know the answer.

"Like this?" Extending her wing closest to me, Flagessio bent her feathers into a good approximation of a human hand. "All pegasi can do it. Haven't seen enough of griffons to know if they can do it too."

"You have griffons here? This is practically just like home! Well, except that all our magic is messed up and makin' it hard to talk." Fred looked at Hermione and winked to her as if they both knew a secret.

Hermione didn't realize that Fred was setting her up. "What do you mean? It hasn't made it any harder to talk."

George elbowed Fred. "Are you sure? A lot of people seem to be a little 'orse."

I couldn't help giggling at the joke even though it was an obvious and terrible one.

Flagessio wasn't laughing. After a few moments, to give us a chance to stop laughing, she asked, "Hold on. You said you do magic?"

"Yeah," I said. "I've seen ponies do magic. Is there something about unicorns that makes theirs really powerful?"

"Well, there are two kinds of magic, really. There's the mundane stuff—affecting clouds and weather for pegasi, helping plants grow as earth ponies—then there's big magic. Unicorns and alicorns do that. You've got a horn, so you can do unicorn magic, right?" Flagessio asked.

"Well, we do real magic, but we don't need a horn to do it." Ron pulled out his actual wand (the willow one his brother had made). "We use wands. Harry's no normal unicorn, though. Can unicorns set themselves on fire?"

"Surprisingly, they don't do it all that often. I've seen cadets set fire to each other before." Flagessio's voice still had a very Italian lilt to it that sounded so strange coming from a pony.

"Wait, you're in the military?" Ron asked.

Flagessio nodded in reply. "I'm a member of the E.U.P. Guard's Scout Corps. I'm the fastest long-distance flier in all Equestria. I even outflew a Wonderbolt in a straight line." By her big grin and boastful tone I had to assume a Wonderbolt was something amazing.

"Harry here flies like the wind, don't you Harry? I bet he could outfly you," Ron said.

Leaning over me, looking intently, Flagessio shook her head. "I've seen some unicorns float around with their magic, but to fly fast you need wings."

"Or a broom," Alicia said. "You're looking at half the Gryffindor quidditch team here. We all fly!"

"I don't." Addera seemed most adamant, her tone firm. "I think I would hate not being able to touch the ground."

Flagessio snorted. "Well, I still can't see how you'd fly with a broom. Is it magical at least?"

"Yes and no." When Hermione spoke up, she surprised me. Of everyone present, she was the worst flier (who'd ever been on a broom). "The brooms are made of magically-imbued components, but it takes a lot of skill to ride one properly."

"When things get settled down, we'll have to have a bit of a contest. I know they mostly sent unicorn Royal Guard with us, but I'm sure one of their pegasi would enjoy stretching his wings." We were almost at the other side of the viaduct again, and Flagessio waved a hoof at the guard ponies waiting for us.

"Royal Guard?" Ron asked. "I heard one of 'em say princess before. Is that pink pony with the wings and the horn a princess?"

"Yup! Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but don't let her hear you calling her anything but Princess Cadance. She's the princess of love, and has been the first we've seen except for Princess Celestia and Princess Luna in a while. When Keen and I reported the return of the Crystal Empire to Princess Celestia, she send Princess Cadance to deal with it." Flagessio was still talking as we reached the end of the viaduct. "And her husband, Captain Shining Armor."

"Sergeant Flagessio! Report!" Lieutenant Star wasn't standing far away, but his shout could probably have been heard all the way back in Hogwarts.

"Sir!" Flagessio's relaxed walking and easy tone was gone. "Message delivered, sir! Captain Shining Armor's reply!" She flicked out her wing, producing the scroll. Nothing could have marked her more as military than the way she responded—it was like in the movies!


Ginevra Weasley had control of her body still, though she could feel Sombra stirring. She didn't care about him for now. What concerned Ginny was her brother—shivering—pressed to her side. "You have to go back, Percy. You have to."

"N-No. I can't. He called me here. You don't know what it's like, Ginny. When he calls, I have to answer." Despite his words, Percy Weasley felt wretched. There was a gentle dusting of snow on the ground, and the cold ate into him.

He would die at my side if I ordered him, Sombra whispered in Ginny's head. He won't be able to stand again unless I tell him he can.

The voice startled Ginny. She jerked her head up and her ears twitched to seek the sound they hadn't heard. "You can save him."

Like you saved me? The touch of that hated magic burned both of us, Ginevra, but you protected me as much as yourself. Stirring more in the girl's head, Sombra easily flipped things around and was once more in control. "I reward those who are loyal to me."

Percy's head jerked up at the different tone of voice from his sister's mouth. No, not his sister's mouth—his master's mouth. "M-Master?"

"You will die out here. For all the service you gave to me, you would die merely for not hearing me give you permission to seek shelter." Sombra reached a hoof out and touched the cold flesh of Percy's face.

Help him! Ginny shouted into her own mind.

I intend to. Sombra began to twist and coil magic up. Funneling it, he fashioned a crude spell that wouldn't affect Percy, rather than redirect any other magic around him. "Cast a spell, Percy Ignatius Weasley."

Reaching into his robe, Percy drew his wand out. Magic potential gathered within him, poured around him, and focused into the short length of his wand. "W-W-What spell?"

"Something… hot."

The Fire-Making charm sprang to mind, and Percy cast it with both fear and hope in his heart. A plume of fire leapt from his wand with orange and red spurts, shooting to the cold wet log beside him.

The feel of soft fur sprouting out of his skin was a surprise, but the warmth it began to trap against his body was welcome. It took some extra magic to ensure the fire took, which also gave Percy a pair of pony ears and a tail.

After several minutes during which Percy's only thoughts were on regaining the warmth his exposure had cost him, he finally felt his thoughts collect. "What's he doing to me, Ginny?"

Your continued survival has proved useful. You have protected my interests, even helped me. You may speak with your brother. King Sombra knew when to admit something was fortuitous. He allowed Ginny only control of his head. This is his reward, Ginevra.

Gazing into her brother's eyes, Ginny could see the color of them had brightened from his normal pale blue to something more vibrant. There was also a slow swirling pattern in the color that was unmistakable. "He says it's a reward. He did something to change how you transform." Ginny fumbled for the words she could tell her brother to reassure him that everything would be okay, but she couldn't find any because she didn't think they would be. "Percy?"

"Yeah, Ginny?"

"I love you, big brother." No sooner were the words out than Ginny felt her ability to talk revoked. Thank you. Despite everything else—thank you for letting me talk to him.

"I love you too, Ginny."


"Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin: Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defense League, and five time winner of—" Shaking his head, the man snapped the book closed. "I was a right git."

"Language, please." Poppy scowled at her patient. "This is a school, and I won't have you using such words. Now, normally it's suggested that a patient suffering from a malformed Memory charm be given things to remind them of who they are."

"You said that already, Miss Pomfrey, but this doesn't feel real to me." Gilderoy tossed the book onto the side table. "Everything feels wrong about it, like this was someone who'd already been Memory charmed, as you called it. Magic being real I can get behind, but this foppish idiot—?"

"You were right the first time," Poppy said. "You were a git. Why, there was a young boy who broke his arm. It would have taken a simple spell to fix it all up."

"What'd he—" Gilderoy pointed at the book, "—do?"

"Removed all the bones from the lad's arm. Took all night to regrow them, and you can bet it hurt him." Poppy didn't exactly have a thing for schadenfreude, but seeing Gilderoy wince at the idea for causing Harry Potter pain was cathartic. "But, you've been given a chance.

"I won't lie. The likelihood of you getting your full memory back is not good. You may recover bits and pieces, but from what I was told your old self was trying to wipe the minds of two children. Consider this a chance to begin anew."

Gilderoy shook his head. "No—no that's not enough. You're right on one point, I must turn this blighter's work around and make up for his misdeeds. Just remaking myself won't do. Can I assist you, Miss Pomfrey?"

Poppy wasn't a woman to be gentle with a grown man's ego. "Let me see. Do I have a use for someone who can't do a lick of magic and has no knowledge of medicine?"

"Then I need to find someone who can find a use for me. What was the name of that nice lady from earlier?" Gilderoy asked.

"Headmistress McGonagall. I believe she's busy this morning. You could, perhaps, ask to make an appointment with her. I'd suggest being on your best behavior, she suffers fools not one bit." Busying herself straightening the beds, Poppy looked back at her patient. "Though she might appreciate you opening with an apology."

Author's Note:

Princess Cadance: What is you plan with the seemingly not-crystal em...castle?

"Given there are people living in it, I am unsure. Our plan was to infiltrate Sombra's castle and take him by surprise, but the plan has definitely hit a snag. One thing's for certain, they seem to bear almost as much dislike for Sombra as we do. Now if we can just find him and deal with him."


So I do this "Ask X" thing. X can be any pony within the story. You can ask them anything and they will definitely, hopefully reply. Keep the questions appropriate to the age-rating of the stories, and they will answer the best question in the author notes of the next chapter. The more votes a comment has the more likely I will get it to the right pony to answer. Try to keep it to one question per post! They will pick one question per chapter.

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