Chapter 22
Harry looks up the moment Lyra’s aura rejoins the room, standing out like a searchlight amongst candles. “Lyra?” he asks.
She glances his way, gathering up her papers in a bit of a hurry. “Oh, hi Harry.” She’d abandoned them a couple minutes ago, vanishing into thin air right as he had approached earlier.
He watches as some of her books leap into her bag of their own accord. “How do you do that?” he asks.
She glances up at him as her bag seals itself. “Do what?” She momentarily disappears, reappearing a half-second later without the bag.
“That,” he states, gesturing towards the table she’d been using. “Making the papers and books move on their own.”
She glances down at the desk. “Oh, that’d be Equestrian magic. Now if you’ll excuse me, Hermione’s in a bit of a tizzy, and I need to set something up for her. Later!” She vanishes.
He stares at the spot she’d vanished from for a second, and closes his mouth. He’d intended to ask his next question- but of course, the day he has a question for her is the day she violates her established pattern. He lets out a sigh, shaking his head, and is about to turn away- to go find Ron, maybe- when someone wraps their arm around his shoulders from behind.
He might once have been alarmed by that kind of action- but now, he had forewarning. He sensed her aura on approach, saw her arm by the shape of the same. It’s Fluttershy, the infinitely kind girl that had offered him that teaching job. She hugs him gently; he leans into her in response.
“You had a question for Lyra?” she asks.
He smiles. “Yeah, I did.”
“What was it?” Ever so gently, she guides him over to a vacant couch against the wall.
He moves with her, and takes a seat with her. “Well,” he mutters. “During Defense Against the Dark Arts, Rarity kept levitating wands back to their owners, whether she’s looking or not- or even holding her own wand. She told me it was Equestrian magic, but wouldn’t tell me anything else- she said to ‘ask Lyra’.”
“And now,” Fluttershy continues for him, “Lyra disappears right when you’re going to ask, after repeating more of the same?”
He nods. “Yeah.”
“I’m sorry,” Fluttershy informs him. “All the Equestrians have been instructed to do that.” She sighs. “Lyra is, after all, the only one that truly understands the difference.” She looks back up at him. “The problem is that British magic is like a subset of Equestrian magic. We can do absolutely everything that you can, plus some. Unfortunately, it’s that plus some that levitation falls into.” She smiles. “And, you know, Rarity is one of the best there is when it comes to levitation. Back in Equestria, she’s a seamstress- and literally no one can match her ability for quantity and endurance.” Chuckle. “Not even Twilight.”
“So…” he begins. “Is there a way I can learn to do something similar?”
“In theory, yes,” Fluttershy answers. “No one’s… figured it out just yet, though.”
“Um-!” he begins again, breaking off. Her aura has been growing stronger for the last few seconds, but he’s not sure how to phrase it. “Um…” He looks up at her, and his eyes widen. At least that problem is solved. “You’re glowing,” he states.
He promptly congratulates himself, in his head, on the utterly tactless declaration.
“I’m… Glowing?” Fluttershy asks, lifting her hand and looking at it. Then her eyes go wide in alarm. “What the-!?” she squeaks- before vanishing in a bright flash of pink light. The same color as the strange, auralike glow that had developed around her.
He looks down at the couch where she’d sat, then around at the various people scattered throughout the room. Nobody seems to have noticed her, nor him. He also doesn’t see her anywhere.
He lets out a sigh, leaning back against the couch. At least she’d answered his question before she vanished.
Then, she suddenly appears out of nowhere, right where she had been before, in a matching flash of pink light.
He lets out a startled yelp to match her squeak.
Then he watches as she lifts one hand in front of her, looks at it, and places it on her forehead.
“Is… Is something wrong?” he asks.
She shakes her head quickly. “No, it’s just…” She trails off, before moving her hand to the radio attached to her robes and steeling her voice. “Soft Touch, Alpha Oscar One.”
Then she passes out, right on top of him.
Draco Malfoy unfolds the letter his father’s owl just delivered to him at dinner. Mail usually isn’t delivered at dinner- but that’s just because it’s customary to deliver at breakfast, and that’s the one meal at Hogwarts that is utterly predictable in timing every time.
Or so they say. He didn’t have any morning classes today, so he didn’t put any particular effort into showing up for breakfast on time. As a result, he and some thirty or so Equestrians had the entire Great Hall to themselves; everyone else was in class. The food was still piping hot, too- so it’s not like it never happens.
Probably, if he’s honest with himself, simply almost never.
But in any case, it’s dinnertime now, and he’s unfolding this letter. He’s using it as a chance to practice that strange ‘hoofgrip’ Bonbon mentioned- but being careful, at the same time, to make it look like he’s using his fingers. Bonbon had made sure to explain the whole secrecy thing to him- and he agrees with it.
He gets it open, pulls it out, and reads it.
And facepalms.
He wonders, mildly, what it’s called if he does the same action as a pony. Face-hoof?
Dear Draco,
I’m going to be coming to the school tomorrow morning. It’s too dangerous now; I’ll teach you myself. Please try to avoid any further disasters, and be packed and ready when I arrive.
I apologize I won’t be able to come tonight; something has happened, and I’ve been summoned to an emergency meeting with the Board. I fully expect they’ll decide to expel all the Equestrians en masse, and replace Dumbledore; they’re clearly a threat to the livelihood of our students, and Dumbledore hasn’t done enough to guard against it.
Lucius.
His forehead slams down on the table in front of him with a groan, catapulting his empty plate into the air. He rolls his eyes, catching it telekinetically and setting it on the table next to his head.
“Something wrong?” Bonbon asks him.
“Yes,” he answers, not lifting his head, and thrusts the letter in her direction.
She takes it. “Oh? … Oh, yeah, that would be a problem. Echo seven. What’s your plan?”
“Plan?” he asks. “Do I have a choice?”
“Well of course you do,” she states. “Just like we Equestrians do. Should they try to evict us or Dumbledore without reasonable, specific cause, we’ll make an international incident out of it and force them not to. As a matter of fact, we’re getting things ready for that eventuality now- thanks for the warning. So, what’s your plan?”
He lifts his head to look at her. “My plan? My dad’s dead-set on removing me from this school. How am I supposed to change his mind?”
“You can teleport, right? And levitate? Be difficult to remove. If he tries to force you, only a directed spell can penetrate or block Equestrian magic- and that includes our innate magic. All them ‘leg-locker curses’ and binding spells are useless against us, as they are. So, if he tries using his wand, remove it from him. And when he lets go of you to chase his wand, drop it and teleport away.”
He stares at her.
“What? I’m just stating the obvious. I don’t know him, so any plan I come up with is going to be sub-par, but so? If you don’t want to go, don’t go.”
“Wait,” he mutters. “What happens if a student in Equestria decides they don’t want to go to school?”
“They get punished,” Bonbon frowns. “But nobody really ever does that- they have no reason not to go.”
“What if something dangerous happens?”
“Remember Lake Don’t-Mess-With-Twilight?”
He nods.
“That was Tuesday.”
“... And?”
“On Thursday of the same week, Twilight went with her friends to fight a psychotic monster. Fortunately, this monster- aside from actually being, ah, Equestrian- has since been reformed. She’s actually on our team, and she knows how to nullify magical ability.” She taps one of her ‘radio’ devices with one finger.
“What?”
Bonbon looks up at the ceiling. “Then on the following Tuesday, Twilight walked through a different interdimensional portal to apprehend the theft of an incredibly powerful artefact. By the time she returned home, she’d had a mighty destructive battle and reformed said thief. Who is also on our team, an expert in both human politics- that other world’s laws bear an uncanny similarity to Wizarding Britain’s laws, she says- and pyromancy.
“And then on Thursday-!”
“I get it,” Malfoy states. “That’s… quite the exciting life.”
Bonbon nods. “Oh, absolutely! It’s us, the Royal Equestrian Secret Service, that’re tasked with cleaning up after Twilight and co.” She shrugs. “I mean, it was only last year when our capital city was attacked by an entire race of shapeshifters, that nearly won. Would’ve won, if not for our contingency planning. So, seriously- do you want to go, or do you want to stay?”
“Stay,” he answers. “Definitely.”
“Alright. Now, decide exactly how you’re going to do that if he tries to get in your way.” She glances down at the letter. “When he tries to get in your way.”
“Um… Can I, uh, have help?”
“Sure. How about I involve you in our skull session tonight?”
He offers her his hand. “Sounds like a plan.”
She takes it, and shakes it. “It’s right after dinner.”
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read: "They can do things I can't and like every real wizard and non magical ever that makes them a threat to my complete control over this nation. They must be slaughtered. Make sure they are kept separate from each other so groups of five can kill each of them individually."
"Quite the exciting life." lol. that is a slow month for Princess Twilight Sparkle.
9650135
I think that'd be a fast and furious one, actually. Tirek, Starlight AND Sunset in two weeks is bound to be rare.
9650219
About a week and a half, actually. That was Tuesday, Thursday, and Tuesday, respectively- and Bonbon never got to mention what happened on the next Thursday.
9650135
Eh, it's closer to a busy couple weeks, according to the show. After all, the show gives the impression that there's about a week between each disaster- her weekly friendship reports, and while Lesson Zero seems to be the only time she comes up short, she never seems to have an extra.
But I'm making that a pretty typical week, here- reducing the lesser problems to more of a daily occurrence. I do that, in my stories...
So, seriously- do you want to go, or do you want to stay?
should be
So, seriously- do you want to go, or do you want to stay?
9650250
Even though she's stressing the wants to point out that it's his choice, rather than stressing the go/stay to, ah... I don't know why?
9650288
Them maybe it should this:
So, seriously- do you want to go, or do you want to stay? What do you want to do? Because, in the end, it's what you want that matters.
Sunset an expert in human politics huh? I'd say bring in the Sirens since they have been immersed in human culture for at least 1000 years...I think.
9650674
No. The sirens should not be reformed/redeemed. They were a plot device villain. A redemption arc would be sloppy and out of character at best.
9650703
That's up for the author to decide. Did Starlight deserve a redemption arc? Discord? Sunset? Who knows. Some authors even write a redemption arc for Tirek, Chrysalis, or Sombra. Point is...see first sentence.
9650738
As an insider (read: editor) I can say with certainty the no other EQG characters are planned for the story.
I’m curious what just happened with Fluttershy. She... almost ponied up? Manifested the ability to teleport?
9650936
Just a couple thousand horses to pick from. And Discord. And it wouldn’t make sense for the Sirens to show up if Sunset is here anyway. Since RR may not have happened, if it hadnt then Sunset would’ve had to come back at the end of EqG, meaning no one would have informed Twilight about the Sirens.
If it had is a different story, but I digress.
9651150
If you read very carefully, and analyze very thoroughly, there are enough clues to figure out what Fluttershy did- ranging from what happened to what her reaction was.
But no, neither of the above are it.
Have fun guessing! Or not-guessing, if that's your preference. (I kinda never know, these days.)
9651161
My guess is that she ascended to become an alicorn. I've no idea why though, all she seemingly did was partially answer Harry's question by being honest and kind to him. Perhaps by giving him the knowledge to connect with his destiny or something?
9651607
I have a different theory that I don't know for certain, and unfortunately can't share with you on the grounds of spoilers. I don't think it's an ascention though, after looking at Twilight's one in Magical Mystery Cure. Fluttershy's cutie mark isn't burned into the ground, and she didn't vanish in a pop of bright white light. (Hey! That rhymed!) (What are you doing in my comment, Pinkie? Get back in the fic, you silly filly.)
9651607
That would be correct. It's probably the result of a buildup of factors in Britain- and even though it happened, it won't be pivotal to the story- and will therefore most likely be glossed over.
It's really interesting to see a competent and !evil Malfoy. His father on the other hoof... unsurprising.
Wow, that detailing of the story really takes "For me, it was Tuesday" to a new level. And, of course, aren't those the air dates for the show...?
...How are you supposed to "clean up" after time travel? Or after a cross-dimensional adventure, especially when the portal's shut for a long time?
Not even Twilight? I find it hard to believe there is something magic-related that Twilight doesn't know.
9830905
She likely tried to know, but... Lyra has a rather unique advantage that gives her a perspective Twilight can't hope to match. Lyra's knowledge, on the other hand, is rather more severely limited outside of that field...