You're Being Hugged, Harry

by David Silver

20 - From Britain to Equestria

"Crikey..." Ronald stepped off the train, officially leaving the human world. He could see ponies, many of them. They were coming and going from a train on a track other than the one he was on. His was a secret one for wizards and the like.

Horses, magic horses. He was looking at a lot of magic horses, and it got stranger still. "Wow..." Most of them were shiny, as if made of crystal. He could even see through a lot of them. He could... see their insides. That was kinda funny, and disturbing... "Huh..."

It was a magical land of equines, like his equine friend. That made sense... "Well, I came this far." Chickening out on the train station felt far too cowardly. Pulling his luggage along, he emerged into normal space.

And the ponies noticed him. They didn't immediately scream, but that they were watching him curiously was hard to miss.

With a heavy thud in the snow, a familiar tsuki arrived. "Ronnie!" Arnavon was on him in a moment, hugging fiercely. "I missed you so much." He clutched to the human like a lifelong friend, even if they had only met that year.

The friendliness seemed to put the ponies at ease. Anything Arnavon greeted like that couldn't be too awful.

Ron slapped Arnavon on the back warmly. "Good to see you too. I said I'd visit and here I am. So, uh, where do I go?"

Arnavon gave up on squeezing the stuffing out of Ronald. "Oh, yes, of course! You have no bits... So you will come this way." He led the way towards the castle with awkward steps instead of his usual bounces. "Harry will be so happy! They will let you stay there." He pointed to the castle. "That, the palace. That is where Harry and his family lives. You are a friend, so they will let you stay there."

Ron drew up aside Arnavon. "So, where do you live?"

"Same place." Arnavon clapped his hands in a firm strike. "We will be together again! Flurry is there too. All of us, together again. I'm so happy." Not that he was hiding that fact well with a big happy smile on his face. "Harry is practicing magic."

"Seriously?! I thought we were on a break. What's he practicing magic for?" He waved the idea off to the side. "I swear, what a busy body. You're not practicing, are you?"

"A little," admitted Arnavon. "But not nearly as much as Harry is. There's not as much magic around for me to practice with, and Harry would get mad if I practiced on his magic. He's using it."

"Core... look at this place." They had reached the stairs leading up into the palace. Ronald stepped up gently from one to the next. "Figured Hogwarts had it all beat out for impressive sights, but this takes some gettin' used to, you know? Look at it!" He raised both hands at the impressive structure they were climbing into. "So who owns it?"

"I do." There was Cadance, at the top. She smiled at Ronald and Arnavon as they joined her. "And it is a pleasure to meet you."

Ronald considered the alicorn before him. "Gonna guess... Are you related to Flurry?"

The right answer, revealed with her merry little giggle. "Is it so obvious? My precious little daughter... and I hear you've been helping take care of my son. Thank you." She dipped her head at the human. "Welcome."

Arnavon hugged Cadance warmly with one arm, having no fear of the monarch. "This is Ronald, a dear friend to me and Harry. Can he stay here?"

Cadance pricked an ear. "Of course he can, or we can get him a hotel room, or a small house. Whichever you prefer." She smiled at Ronald gently. "You are our honored guest."

Ronald stuttered without proper words a moment. "Um, thank you ma'am. This is... a bit new. It's like meeting the bloody queen!"

Cadance slowly tilted her head at the outburst. "I am just a princess. Do you have a bloodthirsty queen problem?"

Ronald waved his hands in front of himself, palms towards the royal pony. "No! No, just a figure of speech. She's fine, really." Cadance relaxed on that revelation. "It's just a lot. I don't meet royal people very often."

"Worry not. You are a guest, a friend of my son. That makes you a friend of mine, if you will have it. Now, of those options, do any appeal more than the others? You must be tired from your journey and I would have you given comfortable lodging while you're here. It would hardly do to be inhospitable guests." She reached up, tapping at her little crown. "You can ignore this. You're not even one of my subjects. You're not even a pony. So long as you are a decent creature, you have completed your obligations."

Ronald let out a mildly strained laugh. "Right, thanks... But it'd probably annoy Harry if I didn't treat his mom respectfully. I'd be sore if he treated my mom funny."

"Tell me about her." Cadance leaned in a few inches. "It sounds like you love her."

"Don't most kids?" Ronald shrugged. "She's been good to us all."

"A large family? Please, tell me more. I'd love to hear about it, and you." She waggled an ear. "I know only a little of humans and their ways, but we are all creatures, in the end. We have families. We love our mothers and our fathers. We love our siblings, in a different way... Sometimes with conflict, hm? But still a love, I hope?"

Ronald had stepped right in one of Cadance's preferred topics. He would not escape without describing his family life and its many love connections of warmth and rivalries. Still, it was kinda nice to have something that was genuinely interested in hearing about his family.

"What a lovely family you have. You've met one of mine already, two come to think. Flurry and Harry are both children of mine, one by adoption." She glanced away and back. "Had he told you of that? I feel awful now... I should be more careful when I speak."

For as much as Flurry and Cadance looked like two birds of a feather, Harry was a bit out, but... "To be perfectly honest, miss, I don't know how magic horses work. I wouldn't have guessed if you didn't tell me."

Cadance pouted a little. "Then it really is my fault." Her eyes flicked to Arnavon. "And you'll tell him."

Arnavon jumped in surprise at being addressed after so long of him just idling there. "Tell him what?"

"What happened." She gestured between herself and Ron. "So I'd best just fess up myself and avoid that drama. I love Harry, completely. He is my child, by blood or not matters little at this point."

"I wasn't trying to say otherwise!" Ronald stood at stiff attention. "I feel like I'm messing this all right up."

"You're not, promise." Cadance turned back to Arnavon, her wings half-folded. "Arnie, dear. I empower you. Find Ronald a comfortable place to stay. Tell whatever pony you speak to that they can ask me for payment."

Arnavon reared up and offered a salute, as sloppy as tsuki salutes tended to be. "Yes, ma'am! Come on, Ronnie. Let's get you somewhere nice and cozy." He grabbed for Ronald, snatching the human right up. "How big of a place do you want?"

Ron batted at Arnavon. "Cut that out! I got legs."

Arnavon released him to wobbling feet. "Yes... But mine are faster." He gasped with a big smile. "You never rode a tsuki before. It's fun!"

"How would you know?" Ron struggled to imagine two tsuki riding one another. Lewd, and also impractical.

Arnavon put two hands close together. "I wasn't always this big. As a little tsuki, I rode other tsuki, and it was a lot of fun. Human legs, they're good, but they don't fly."

Ron crossed his arms over his chest. "Your legs don't fly either, Arnie. You need wings for that."

"Try try!" Arnavon bounced in place without leaving the ground. "I promise, it'll be so fun!"

Cadance was still there, watching the exchange. "I have ridden a tsuki before. It is quite the experience. They don't fly, truly, but it's near close enough. You will soar through the air." She inclined her head towards Arnavon. "And he cares for you deeply, so he will not let you get hurt."

Arnavon bobbed his head at that. "I don't have a saddle. We're so good at giving rides, there are saddles, but I never got one." He pouted at this clear lack of preparation. "But we can give rides without one of those." He offered a fuzzy hand instead of grabbing at Ron again. "Let's go?"

Ronald considered the hand. "Well... alright, but if I say stop--"

"--Then we stop." Arnavon nodded as he turned to the side and sank to his belly. "Get on."

Cadance waved gently at the two. "Have fun."

"Thanks for--" Ronald didn't get a chance to finish his words. Arnavon had launched into the air, taking him right along for the ride.

With a great thump of his feet, Arnavon propelled himself into the air, a mamallian rocket powered by muscles and carefully designed tendons. "This is the Crystal Empire." It was one thing to see it from the ground. With the huge leaps Arnavon was performing, one could see it all from the sky. "Mostly ponies. Some tsuki, like me. And now one human, for a little while." He hit the ground, but it wasn't a jarring experience.

No, that energy he captured with his flexing tendons, winding up and throwing it forward into his next leap in a smooth rebound into the air. "I'm so happy you're here. Do you want to meet more tsuki? I can bring them by. Oh, sorry. How big?"

The excited Arnavon had forgotten his question for a moment. Ron, on the other hand, was busy holding firmly to Ron's thick pelt to keep himself locked in place. "You're not a broomstick... But almost as good?" Not like he had one of those. "This is really something else..." He wasn't immune to the rush of the wind and the wide vistas afforded by the new ride. "Oh, but nothing fancy."

"Nothing fancy." Arnavon hit the ground, just the propel himself at a sharp new angle in a sudden left and seeming to lose not a bit of momentum for the change in direction. "I know the place." He landed in front of a long but only two story building. "A lot of ponies live here. You can live here for a while."

Ronald considered the dwelling. On shaking feet, he dismounted from Arnavon. "That was... It was fun, really, but I'm done for now. Harry is something else, getting into brooms and all... I think, next semester, they teach us all a bit of that... But I'm getting off topic."

With greater confidence, he strode up to the doors of the building. "So it's an apartment building?"

"Yes!" Arnavon hopped right over Ron and vanished inside, his wagging tail the last seen of him before he popped inside. His considerable bulk was the only thing that made him pause a moment. By the time Ron reached the door, Arnavon was already chatting with a smiling pony. "Princess Cadance said she'll pay for it."

"Well..." The mare rubbed her chin softly. "I don't know tsuki to fib, so if you say that, I will believe it. You are telling the truth, right?"

"Of course!" Arnavon squeaked, looking horrified at the idea of lying. "Why wouldn't I? If she wasn't, then I would pay. Ron is a good friend. Oh there he is." He waved wildly at Ronald. "He's a human," he whispered way too loudly to be secretive. "They're neat."

Ronald nodded to his temporary landlord. Lady? Mare? "Nice to meetcha." He offered a hand and got a hoof in return to shake. "I'll do my best to not make a mess."

Author's Note:

Ronald gets an apartment to dwell in, yay! Also he's here now.

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Comments

[MatTheBook]

11326788
No

You're a pony Harry. A pony

[Booster Spice]

Harry not a Hairy Pony,

Arnavon is not an Owl,

Rons avin a do, ron, ron, ron, a do, ron, ron?

[harts fire]

Ron is in for all kinds of new things and this is just the start.

[badninja]

Well Ron is about to get a small taste of the insanity that is Equestria. I hope Umbridge gets an unwitting trip here to meet beings who can and should show her what real magic can do. That or Discord decides to make her life more interesting.

[David Silver]

11361896
Umbridge?

[badninja]

11361902

The only character who is more hated than Voldemort. That is how I spell her name.

[David Silver]

11364552
Hm? Rephrase?

[David Silver]

11364582
This story is that yes.

[tsaukpaetra]

Neat, he didn't go for the castle.