Chapter 64
“Can someone get these people a newspaper?”
Agent Coal Sun very nearly blinks at not just the suddenness of the request, but in the expectation evident in the tone that it would be satisfied. Even though the girl isn’t one of the prominent people he picked out earlier. Perhaps he hadn’t picked up on something- or perhaps there’s a reason she’s wearing two microphones.
And perhaps there’s something in the newspaper that’s important to the situation at hand.
“Newspaper?” the Minister for Magic’s aide- at least, that’s what he assumes the woman is- asks confusedly.
The one boy left sitting next to the journalist- Harry Potter- smiles, rising to jog towards him, newspaper in hand. He offers it to him, before returning to his place on the couch.
Agent Coal Sun accepts the paper, unrolling it to skim the front page.
He hasn’t got it unfurled fully yet when a sudden motion occurs in the corner of his eye- and he gets a sudden feeling of danger. He reflexively draws back, dumping the paper on the floor and going for his gun, locking eyes on the source. Again, he doesn’t have time to fully respond, before the threat is handled.
It’s that man on the bed. He seemed to have gotten the courage to snatch the stick off his bedside table and try something with it. Exactly what he tried was pretty evident- a bolt of light blasted out of it, straight towards him. At the same time, a sudden sheen of blueish light had blasted out from Harry’s fingertips, forming a barrier that the red bolt of light had bounced off of. Also at the same time, Lyra’s stick pointed straight at the man- and a second bolt of red light blasted from it. She hit him dead on and, while his bolt- upon contact with the sheets- had started a fire, hers didn’t. Instead, his stick went flying, and he was knocked rather painfully into his nightstand.
Just a second or two after the sudden magical display, Princess Celestia’s anger practically oozes across the room, straight at the man.
The Minister for Magic actually facepalms. “That does it,” he declares. “He’s an idiot.”
Professor Dumbledore almost casually raises his stick… and extinguishes the burning bed with it.
Agent Coal Sun watches the attacking man warily for a couple seconds before reholstering his weapon and crouching to pick the newspaper back up again.
… That photo on the front page. Four students… three holding brooms.
So, they do ride on broomsticks and wave magic wands around. Nice to know.
He raises his eyebrow at the headline. A celebrity nearly killed a foreign envoy? Rather serious.
As he skims down the article, gleaning all the important details from it (including that the strange field the most recent explosion happened in is apparently used for a sport called ‘Quidditch’), he keeps his attention on the conversation going on in front of him.
Lyra looks confusedly at Harry. “Uh, Harry? How’d you do that?”
Harry seems confused as well. “Uh, do what?”
“That shield.”
He looks back at the space his barrier had been. “I just threw up a shield.”
Lyra raises an eyebrow. “Not what I mean.”
He tilts his head at her. “What do you mean?”
“That was a hardened air barrier, Harry. Real effective against things like punches, but magic goes through it like nobody’s business. Yet you blocked magic with it. How?”
He looks back at the space again, then shrugs at her and resumes his course back to the journalist. “I don’t know.”
Agent Coal Sun looks up from the paper, passing it to one of the Agents behind him to ‘read’ and photograph. So Lyra is a foreign envoy, at twelve-ish, and Ginny is a liason, at eleven-ish? He’s pretty sure his age estimations are accurate; it must be a nation with few or no child labor laws. Or, since Lyra and the Equestrians- he wonders, mildly, if all the funny-haired kids are Equestrians- came from another world, perhaps it’s a differing lifespan, growth pattern… or maybe, their portal does something funny to their physical ages. He could certainly see a youthful local being enlisted for some important role, like a liason, by a group of hundred-year-olds that happen to look just as youthful as the local. Perception can do quite a bit to that end, no doubt.
“Alright,” he begins, idly noting the burns evident on the attempted assailant’s clothing. Perhaps this is Lockhart- he does look like the sort that could win a smile award- and magic was sufficient to heal his burns quickly, but not mend his clothes?
On the other hand, he now knows what caused the explosion yesterday. A botched magic spell, that people like the Minister for Magic are probably here to deal with.
Oh, and that Princess Celestia is no doubt here to avenge, to a degree- for nearly killing her envoy.
He elects not to get in the way of the magical political battle no doubt happening in front of him, and bows gently, stepping backwards slightly. “We can wait until you are ready for us,” he indicates.
Rita can hardly believe her luck. Princess Celestia, Minister for Magic Fudge, and a bunch of unidentified muggles, all meeting Professor Dumbledore in the Hogwarts infirmary at once. Well… technically. Unlike the Minister for Magic, the muggles seem content to watch and wait for their turn.
Oh, yeah. She glances back at the third notepad; she’s already onto her fourth. Lockhart tried to burn the newspaper out of the muggle’s hands, no doubt trying to conceal what he’d done from them. He’d been foiled by Lyra, the foreign envoy; Celestia seems content to let the revelation of her royal status wait for a later time. From a journalism standpoint, she’s glad for that- she’s already got so much going on today that it'll be hard to cram it all into one article!
She makes sure to keep tabs on everything going on. Princess Celestia, Dumbledore, and Fudge have gotten into a rather extensive discussion of legal whatsits; Celestia has even mentioned interest in a medical exchange program- the very one Bonbon had suggested earlier, before Fudge arrived, she thinks.
The girls seem to be rather bored of the ongoing conversation. Lyra has gotten herself a very large foam wedge to lean against from somewhere, and all the other girls have lost interest… save only Sunset Shimmer, attentively following the discussion with a look of passive interest on her face.
Hermione and Draco got back shortly after Harry returned to his seat; Hermione holding a book. They’d asked Harry what happened, and he explained lightly. Hermione had then walked forward to chat with Lyra for a minute; it sounded to her like operational plans- lots of code words- so, while she did write it down, she won’t be allowed to include it in her article. Not that any of the codes would make sense to anyone if she did put it in her article; they might as well have been speaking ancient Egyptian. No, no, there has to be someone out there that would have understood that.
Now, Draco has walked around the discussing politicians to speak quietly with the muggles, holding the book Hermione gave him. She can’t quite catch the words, but the muggles seem intrigued.
“Hey, um, do you have a minute, while they chat?” Silver gestures lightly towards the various magical leaders having their discussion, stepping carefully closer to the lead muggle. She’d been told about the weapons they’d so nearly used on Lockhart, and isn’t too keen on finding out how fast she can select and deploy a suitable shield spell without any kind of combat experience. Unlike Harry, who told her about his shield blocking stuff it shouldn’t have, she’ll have to make sure she picks the appropriate type of shield for the weapon being used against her- or use a generic shield, but she can’t be sure those will be tough enough for the task.
The one in the lead raises an eyebrow at her. It’s not the kind of eyebrow she’s used to having raised at her from adults, though- it seems to her to be a respectfully curious eyebrow. “What is it?” he asks.
“This,” she informs him, tapping the Whiskey Tango book Hermione had given her. “According to Lyra, you’re ‘muggles’- what wizardkind calls non-magical folk?”
She’d been afraid that he’d be offended, but he isn’t. Instead, he nods calmly. “That would seem to be accurate,” he states. “Do I take it you have something to offset that?”
She nods. “Uh, yeah. The research Lyra has pioneered has included this.” She taps the book again, glancing down at it. “It’s… She’s got a lot of spells on this book, that- if activated by a witch or wizard- can turn a muggle into a witch or wizard.”
He raises his eyebrow even higher. “How so?”
“Ahh… by expanding capability. It’s not like the Papa Tango, so there wouldn’t really be any noticeable difference… except that you’d be able to use a wand, and wouldn’t need that… uh, whatever it’s called, to see through the perception filters around Hogwarts and other magical locations.”
His attention has definitely been drawn now. “Would it allow people to fly in?”
She blinks, and nods. “Uh… Yeah, if those spells have been stopping you. I mean, Ch-er, Skyhawk has been flying her helicopter in and out as she pleases, really- and she’s an Equestrian… which are, believe it or not, more magical than witches and wizards.”
“How long does it take?”
“Ah, it’s instant. I can trigger it now, if you’d like.”
He seems to consider for a couple seconds. “Does it hurt?”
She shrugs. “I’m told it tickles a bit, but that’s it.” She smiles. “It’s so far seen use on ‘squibs’, non-magicals born to magical families.”
He nods. “Does it have a name?”
“Ahh…” She’d hoped he’d ask that, but her prepared answer wouldn’t fit the conversation. “It’s called the ‘Whiskey Tango’... at least partly because it’s actually still secret from the wizarding world at large.”
Both his eyebrows fly upwards. At least one of his companions leans forward attentively. “Really?”
She nods. “Yeah. A lot of wizards still think we’re superior to muggles… Doesn’t exactly help that we are, objectively, in terms of individual capability. They tell me that revealing an easy way to close that gap right now could easily result in massacres on a scale we’ve never seen before.” She shudders. “Even worse than the Wizarding War that ended around eleven years ago.”
He grins slightly. “Then sure, give it a shot. We won’t tell.”
“Alright.” She places one hand on the cover, feeds it her power, and activates it. It’s exactly as easy as she’d expected; she effortlessly works her way through the complicated matrices to direct it to each and every one of the muggles… and, as she finally deactivates the Whiskey Tango, can sense that they’re all wizards now. “There, it’s done.”
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Lyra really love to find new guinea pigs for her new spell, even when she is in her current incapable state. Purebloods would scream at Fudge for unable to prevent this spell to reach Muggles' hand - right under his very nose to be exact.
Would you like to Dance?
How about a nice Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
Shouldnt there be a couple of Discords floating around nearby with this much chaotic fun?
Is there a reason Draco was referred to as Silver, and with feminine pronouns, in their section at the end when in human form (and thus a boy)? Or is this the case where Draco is actually self-identifying as female and Silver in the narrative, even when in her Draco human boy form?
Did Silver get the permission of more than just Lyra to perform this spell? Because judging by what happened with the catapult from their first year, I think we might want to make sure that at least Dumbledore should be aware of this before they do anything.
But it was cool to see Silver refer to herself as a she and as "Silver", it really puts us in the mindset that she would rather take on her Equestrian persona more than her original one as Draco Malfoy.
9950486
usualy because shield was an international organization. even then they got called out alot and it's noted they've gotten in some pretty serious trouble for there actions.
and yes, if the prime minister knows about wizards sure as hell likely she does as well.
Well the whiskey tango seems much faster than bacon ponies version in pbtv
9950919
9950920
Yes. That's actually semi-explicitly implied (Yeah, I know) throughout previous chapters- Silver has basically given up her identity as Draco, vastly preferring her Equestrian form... and so identifies as Silversong, even when in (male) human form.
9950936
This is true... and it stems from a difference in world structure, mostly. Phoenix had the difference between wizards and muggles being blocked thaumic pathways in the latter (which suggests artificial blockages could be made to turn a wizard into a muggle...); I have it deeper than that, at the magical core of the creature in question... where it's much harder to change in either direction. The Whiskey Tango is so quick & easy because it has the advantage of being designed based on a more complicated/powerful Papa Tango, which took at least a month for a skilled, knowledgeable, and resourceful pony to design & build.
9950920
That seems to be the intention, and frankly I'd rather be a cute horse than an overblown douche.
Which is what Malfoy is before it's kinda sorta maybe implied that he's not only spoiled but also that Lucius is very strict.
9950991
Yeah, right about.
Draco Malfoy: Overgrown douche, future noble of the land, pureblood supremacist, ordered about by his father every day of the week for as long as he can remember, likely despises every waking moment of his life. Absolutely no power over his own life.
Silversong: As free as the wind. 'Nuff said.
The way I look at it, she'd have to be a masochist to willingly pick the first. So what if she became a 'she' in the process, or became a pony? That's only more insulation from the despicable identity that was her past!
9950991
I'd rather be a pony than anything else, including a douche, so I get it, I'm just saying it's nice to see it from Silver's perspective, it really helps to kind of...set it in stone, I'd say?
9951010
Yea, it does. I'd probably miss a few things (like hands) but the upside is A: Alicorn and B: Human Animagus.
9951014
Definitely.
I might have to, in the coming years, find some way to "reset" her human animagus form, to be based on her Equestrian form rather than residual from her human past... Or give her another one, maybe. Hmm... Oh, I can already see how that might work. Ideas!
9951014
Well there is the hoofgrip. Also, don't you hate it when non-MLP watchers look at an Alicorn and say "Oh, that's a unicorn"? It drives me nuts, personally.
9951010
Agreed, definitely. It feels a little weird to read/write from the perspective of an apparently male character that refers to herself inwardly as a herself, and by a feminine name... but I agree.
That's actually one of the reasons that, even though I generally don't like the first person POV (not used here, this was third person limited), when I more recently threw together expository segments for OCs (One of which may appear in The Gate at some point, donno yet), I used first person... because it's easier to get a feel for who they are faster when they're speaking directly out of the page rather than being seen doing something by some odd narrator.
9951035
yes, definitely. If you've read my stories you know that I keep to third person limited, but sometimes I write First Person, because it seems more natural.
9951038
You know what they say, great minds think alike.
9951034
Does me too.
... Completely aside from how everypony (in the story) thinks Silver is still a unicorn, even though she's actually an alicorn.
9951043
well yeah, since they're given a reasonable excuse for not saying Alicorn, I don't mind. And I'm talking about real life, not in your amazing story
9950987
I do wonder if Harry will take that same path or not. On one hoof he is a celebrity of sorts, and has made some friends as Harry Potter in Hogwarts. On the other so is Draco Malfoy, and Harry's life as Harry Potter, prior to Hogwarts, was pretty awful, and he's been a pony for some portion of the Hogwarts experience so far.
Then again, his home life is much improved.
9951172
Thanks for pointing that out. That's entirely correct- and, while I haven't been focusing on Harry, he's had a similar amount of development: Namely, I gave him an initial situation... and let him take it from there. Right now, he identifies by both- as I recall, the most recent time I used his POV was during the summer, where he switched pronouns when he shifted forms. That said, it does still feel more appropriate to refer to him as a 'he', possibly at least in part because his name feels masculine. As for what she'll do when she gets herself an Equestrian name... Well, I guess we'll find out together, won't we?
(Yes, I just switched pronouns. Yes, that's because it seems improper to refer to her Equestrian form with a 'he'- as different from Silver, who still feels like a 'she' in either form)
I'm still surprised that the Whiskey Tango wasn't named the Wango Tango in honor of supposed American wizard and gun-nut (and that's coming from a fellow gun owner) Ted Nugent.
9951043
On that subject, what's keeping every pony from noticing the trio's wings?
Just in the best part...
Bang! Boom! Pow! Phil's a Wizard Now!
9950919
As a reference point to follow on from what the author already talked about. Remember in chapter 48, when Lyra saw Draco for the first time in year 2 and asked "so you like your pony form that much?" One can now assume that what Lyra saw was that the part of Draco's aura that carried his self identification (name and such) was now showing that she fullly self identified as Silver instead. Didn't quite make that connection before, but it makes a lot of sense now.
9951022
That's really cool that this has come up seeing as I was just thinking about that after the last chapter. I look forward to seeing how you choose to implement it.
9951475
Mostly the fact that in this story, the wings are sort of invisible/intangible when they're retracted and under the clothes. Not sure if those are the right words, but their wings are fully covered by their robes, and in such a way that the robes don't show as covering anything. And when the wings extend, they just go through the robes without ripping them. And it's not just the trio, Snape and Flitwick also have wings in their human forms, and they're hidden the same way.
Didn't the transform require a specific room with hardwired runes/matrix?
9952255
Yes and no.
At this point in the story, there are three transforms that have been mentioned, only one of which is immobile (and anchored to a room):
1. The Papa Tango, to turn wizards into ponies. Anchored to a room.
2. The Whiskey Tango, to turn muggles/squibs into wizards. Anchored to a book.
3. The Papa Echo, a high-powered version of the Whiskey Tango that also works on ponies. Anchored to a second book.
Silver's using the Whiskey Tango, so there are no location requirements. She did make passing reference to the Papa Tango, though- and had she been going to activate that on them, she'd have had to take them down to the special room.
9952427
So there are three, I thought there were two. Got it.
And the "Pony Enhance" is what Celestia used under Lyra's instructions, and that will give them immunity to the killing curse, correct?
Am I correct in thinking that it is the dual-core nature of the PT/PE that keeps you safe, as the killing curse can only destroy one core? Does that also mean that two castings of it will kill?
Reminds me of Zapp guns from Stargate SG1 at this point.
9952680
Well... technically, there are three. However, two of them- the Whiskey Tango and the Papa Echo- are effectively identical, differing only in the broadness of the targeting space (as in, who they can target).
Yes, Celestia did use the Papa Echo.
Assuming you meant "that" there... That's a no. At this time, only Lyra and Celestia have used the Papa Echo. It's the Papa Tango- or simply being an equestrian- that makes them immune.
... I have to ask, what gave you that idea...?
No, they still only have one magical core. Those spells only modify what is already there. The difference that makes Equestrians immune... is that their magic resistance is so much higher that the Killing Curse doesn't have enough power in it to fracture the (actually critical) inner layers of the core. As a result, the Killing Curse ends up just fracturing the outer layers- a partial version of what Lyra has been (rather casually) doing to Equestrians already. A second hit simply completes the destruction of the outer layers that would have taken a long time to repair... which allows those layers to be instantly reproduced by duplicating the inner layers, at the cost of just a little bit of power from that same core. A process Lyra has been calling a reset of their magic fields.
9952693
Yea, I did mean "that". Comment edited.
So, what happens if a sufficiently powerful caster, say Voldy himself, were to cast the killing curse at an Equestrian core?
yea ... why?
Also, thanks for clarification of what that spoiled process is. Which ...
Why is a reset fatal to non-equestrians if all it does is duplicate your inner layers to the outer layer?
9952795
Because it does so by shattering the outer layers, and allowing them to be automatically regenerated by the inner layers... and apparently, only an Equestrian core is robust enough to regenerate them, rather than collapsing completely.
As per powerful casters... I've developed already that, unlike Equestrian magic that comes from inside, wand magic draws exclusively on ambient energies. He can be powerful all he likes, but the Killing Curse won't do anything different- Lyra has even specified that those inner layers of the Equestrian core are completely immune to the Killing Curse, even if it manages to attack them. All in all, Professor Dumbledore is probably the only wizard capable of killing an Equestrian with the Killing Curse- and that, only with the Elder Wand. Well... before falling lessons happened, at least.
9952922
Hmm ...
Well, one thing that I like to see in pony/hogwarts crossovers is a look at the different magic levels. You're clearly establishing the power of ponies from a high-magic envonment.
What have we seen as the power/benefit of wanded wizards in a low-power environment? Thinking back, have we seen the Equestrians ever hampered by being in a low-mana environment? I don't think so -- I don't recall anything about taking longer to recharge after casting stuff, for example.
I think you've mentioned that wizard spells have to be more efficient -- less waste, more specialized, etc. -- but nothing that actually puts any limits/restrictions/penalties on ponies other than wanded wizards having centuries of spell experiments and finding new spells, while most unicorns only learn a few spells related to their cutie marks.
Or, actually ... what's the power-level of a PT'd wizard compared to a natural Equestrian? Is Lyra making high-powered trouble?
9953027
I'm actually having Equestria be a "spotty coverage" zone for ambient magic- some parts have ambient magic, some have none whatsoever. As such, pony magic evolved to be exclusively innate, completely independent from their surroundings. Wizards, however, live in a world with a very even magic distribution, save only in rare "holes", possibly including Azkaban... and so, while they are technically capable of innate magic, they instead learned to channel the ambient magic- because it gives them an effectively indefinite thaumic reserve to draw from, unlike an Equestrian that has a limited amount of magic available to them. (That limit tends to be pretty high, especially for powerful ponies like Lyra, but it's still there).
As for the power levels of a Papa Tango...
Yeah, she's making high-powered trouble. Or, at least, the opportunity for such.
9953044
Opportunity? Can you just imaging what happens if one of Voldy's minions finds out about it, and reports it to him? Say someone that is polyjuiced to look like a trusted head Auror.
9953097
Well, there is one advantage: The Papa Tango might be tethered to a room... but its location is kept top secret. Even Dumbledore didn't know where it was, until he chanced upon it and broke in.
But yeah, it's distinctly possible that Moldy will find out about it, eventually at least. Be able to find it, less likely; be able to use it, even less so.
9953106
Oh come on. If you give Harry Potter a light saber, you have to give Voldy the Death Star.
We all know what to expect. Harry's gotten the ultimate wizarding upgrade, Voldy has to get an upgrade to be able to compete.
EDIT: Ohh, I just realized. If wanded wizards are channeling ambient energy, and Equestria is a mixed-power world, then what happens if a PT'd wizard winds up in Equestria in a high-power zone?
9953121
... The point being, wand magic is completely independent of the individual wizard's core power level...
But yeah, I have a plan for Moldy. Most of the plot points won't be combat-related; I fully expect the 'final battle' with Voldemort to be a curbstomp battle somewhere in the climbing or falling action, not even the climax, of the overall story.
9953173
Then what is your explanation for some people like Hermione having very strong magic, while others were barely able to lift a feather.
Or why Neville is very clearly a plant mage (earth pony?) with talent there?
Or why someone like Lockheart is good with mind magic and not combat magic?
There has to be something that is individual in the wizard magics.
9953968
I haven't delved into that- but at least part of it is the wand... and part of it is the witch or wizard's bond with the wand, that bond that makes the wand capable of magic. You'll have to read the first section of Chap. 51 for Lyra's explanation of how that works... but the specifics of the link may make it favor different magics. As for "Very Powerful"... thanks to the nature of how the wand works, it's not possible for it to exceed the power available in the ambient fields.
And the reason Dumbledore would have been strong enough with the Elder Wand? The same reason the thing works when it has no core, really: It was made by Death himself. No doubt it creates magic of its own, possibly in addition to ambient absorption, allowing it to exceed ambient power levels.
The only reason Lockhart's spell managed to hurt Lyra so badly... was because she already had (several) spells running on herself, at much higher power levels, that his spell broke and drank from.
Ok, final comment (I hope) on this chapter, and then a new one.
Re-reading, I realized: The WT book was first in Hermione's hand (she's an agent, right?), and then in Silver's hands (not an agent if I'm tracking things right).
And Silver just says "I'll do it", without checking for permission with anyone.
Umm ... Discord? Are you in there?
Draco was raised with "Pureblood" teachings. Sure, he's learned a bit -- he's seen Equestria, he's seen Harry and Hermione -- but what he's doing, turning muggles into wizards, that's about as big of a "Lets destroy everything my father has taught me" as I can think of.
Err, sorry, what she's doing.
9954293
That would be correct.
You'll notice that, before Hermione gave Silver the book, she talked to Lyra... and probably Bonbon as well. And Silver is... well, she identifies as Silversong, who is something Draco Malfoy is not: Free. Doing that while in form as Draco (like she did) certainly would be a major problem... if anyone knew about it. She's probably only willing to do it because Dumbledore, Fudge, and all the important wizarding peoples that even might tell on her are thoroughly distracted.