You're Being Hugged, Harry

by David Silver

23 - Don't Go

A smaller tsuki crept closer, perhaps braver than the others. She sniffed gently at Ron, looking them over curiously. Ron noticed the rabbit creature. "Hey?" He waved a little, unsure how to respond properly.

"Hello," she chimed, rising up to her hindlegs and hopping the rest of the distance to be nice and close. "You're interesting." Not a subtle creature, she sniffed at him all the more blatantly. "You're not a pony, or a tsuki." She was clearly of the new generation, speaking with some finesse. "So little fur." She reached up to muss his mane, ruffling Ron's head without any lick of shame.

Ron gently swatted her hand away, but she was pressing in all the closer. "Nice to meet you... um... I'm Ron."

"Hi, Ron," she chimed with a big smile. "I'm Tillybell." She leaned in. "I made up that name myself." She sounded quite proud of this. "Most tsuki don't do that." Another thing she seemed proud of. "Did you make up that name?"

"Parents gave it to me," he admitted, not proud, but not ashamed. "Right fine name if yer asking me."

"Aw, thanks!" She had mistaken his words for refrerring to her name. "Ron's a nice name too. Simple, short. Short names can be fun. Easy to remember! Ron ron ron," she repeated the name quickly as if dedicating it to memory. "Ron... Yep, like it." She went back in for some fresh sniffs. "Where are you from?"

Ron looked to Harry, but there was no help there. Harry was busy chatting with a few other tsuki about something and not paying any attention to him. "Well, you see..."

"I don't," she complained. "Tell me, please."

"Right, well... I come from a little island called Great Britain."

"Oooo!" She clasped her paws together in a single clap, remaining together. "The sounds interesting. With a name like that, it better be good. Is it good?"

"It's great," he jested with a lopsided smirk. "Love it there. But it's a whole world away from here. You have to ride a magic train just to get there."

Oh, how her eyes widened at the idea. "Wow... And you came all that way? What for?" She grabbed his closer hand, casually rubbing and inspecting his hand with her own, pawpads slowly rubbing along each long finger and back to the palm, as if that anatomy was quite fascinating indeed.

Ron colored, face darkening as the strange creature casually made herself at home. "A little space, please."

She went still, but did release his hand. "Sorry." She fell back to all fours, going from taller to shorter instantly. "I didn't mean to bother you..."

"It's alright..." Wrong word. She had his hand again. Since it was alright, clearly she was allowed to resume her inspection. "Tsuki have hands too," he noted. "Shouldn't be that new."

She thrust up a hand almost in his face, her fingers spread wide. "My hands are not your hands," she noted bluntly, as if that was an obvious fact. "Look. Yours have almost no fur. Yours don't have these." She tapped his nose with one of her paw beans. "Yours have different claws." She played her claws against his, comparing them. "Yours are longer. I bet you'd be really good at delicate things."

Ron ducked around her fuzzy hand. "I bet yours are really good at not getting cold in the snow, and you can land from those big jumps of yours without getting banged up."

"Would yours?" she asked, considering his hand anew. "I guess they would." She turned her hand back to herself, gazing at it with new appreciation. "Our hands are very different." She grabbed his hand to press hers against it, comparing it one to one.

"You're really... into hands." Ron managed to retrieve his, stuffing it into a pocket out of sight.

"There are other parts of you that're really interesting." She pointed up at his forehead. "You don't have horns, so you can't grab magic like we can. Can you do magic? You need a horn to do magic, I think." She turned that pointer on Harry. "He has a horn, and I bet he can do magic."

"Harry? He's learning, with me." Ron drew a wand into view. "Here's my horn."

And so the wand was grabbed. He was still holding it, but so was she, gazing upon it with naked wonder. "You made a horn?! Clever! Clever! Ooo... Could a tsuki do magic with one of these?"

Arnavon apparently heard that. "I don't suggest it. I tried it. I can, a little." He held up two fingers close together. "But we're better with our own horn. I'm gonna learn magic! If I get it right, I'll bring it back and show it to you."

"Would you?!" gasped out Tillybell with obvious wonder. "I can't wait." She began to bounce in place. "You're Arnavon, right? I heard about you. You live with the ponies, don't you? You write! You write a lot. That's what you do." She nodded, as if sorting these facts out for herself as she went over them. "Right?"

"Right," agreed Arnavon, pointing to Harry. "I'm also his owl, and I visit the human world and I'm trying to learn magic!"

She resume clapping with eager joy. "Please show it to me when you finish. I'll think of a favor..." She clucked her tongue on her teeth in thought. "Oh! You seem nice. Are you mated yet?"

"No." He inclined his head. "Why?"

"Because I will take you as a mate, and I'll be yours." A somewhat old fashioned offer, but given entirely seriously. "You seem nice, and you have big plans. I like that. And I want to learn magic too."

Arnavon considered the lady-tsuki with all due gravity. "Do you write?"

She shook her head. "No no. That's another reason I like you. Maybe you could show me how to write too? I want to make words that others can see even when I'm not even there. That's magic!"

"First spell I knew." Arnavon thumped his chest, looking quite proud of that fact. "What do you do?"

She pointed down one of many tunnels. "I help at the smithy. I make things." She made a hammering motion, vigorous with a sharp stop at the end to imply the striking of something at the end. "Hard work, but good work I think. Can you make things?"

"Only write."

Lillybell grinned at Arnavon. "I know something you don't. Show yours and I will show mine. A fair trade."

"Very fair." Arnavon nodded and came at her with arms out. They collided in a hug of apparent agreement.

Harry blinked softly at the exchange and leaned in towards Ron. "Did they just skip from 'hello' to being engaged, just like that?"

Ron shook his head slowly. "Not sure if I should be jealous or something else right now. Well, we ain't rabbits or nothing. Can't really measure up to rabbits doing what rabbits do."

Harry tapped at Arnavon's side. "Hey, not to rain on your parade or anything, but are you really just... alright with marrying sometsuki you barely know?"

Aranavon waved at Lillybell. "I'll get to know her, and she will get to know me. She seems nice. She wants to know magic too, like me!" That this seemed a simple matter, Arnavon did not hide. "Didn't she seem nice?" He was looking to Ron then. "You two were playing."

Ron laughed nervously at that. "Not sure I'd call that 'playing'--" He made quotes in the air. "--exactly, but sure, she seems nice."

"Thank you." It wasn't as if Lillybell was far enough away to not hear everything said. "You seem nice too, but I'm already engaged." As if that was on the table, and the only reason she had declined Ron was because she was already taken, and no other reason at all.

"To me," added Arnavon, if that wasn't entirely clear. He leaned in and rubbed his nose on hers, the two churrruping in a shared moment of bliss, as if they'd been together for far longer than a minute or two. "I can't wait to learn all about you. Oh. I live in the Crystal Empire, the pony town." He pointed off towards it. "Will you come with me?"

"Gladly." She bounced in place. "I always wanted to see there. That's where all the ponies live, right?"

"Not all, but a lot." Arnavon explained this with pride in his knowledge.

Harry rubbed behind his head with a hoof. "Uh, Arnie, congratulations and all... but you're heading back with me to school, right?"

Arnavon fell back to all fours. "Oh, yes. Lillybell, will you wait for me?"

"Of course. But where are you going?" She nosed past Arnavon for a better look at Harry. "Where are you taking him? Is it safe?"

Ron shrugged at that. "Mostly. But that's where he's learnin' magic and all that."

"Oh!" Lilly nodded with understanding. "Then you have to go. King Sombra asked you to." She put both hands on her own chest. "I'll wait for you to come back. How long will it be?"

Arnavon counted on his fingers, requiring going back a few times. Math was not his specialty. "This many moons." He held up some fingers for her to see.

"Not fast, but not slow," she decided. "Okay."

With agreement reached, they shared a nod. She looked at Arnavon's saddle. "Hm?" She looked at his companions. "You only have one, but two." She directed two fingers at the pony and non-pony guest. "How will you carry them both?" She hiked a thumb back at her posterior. "I can take one."

Harry lifted into the air with a glow of his magic. "I can handle myself, but thank you for the thought."

"Oooo." Lillybell applauded the effort displayed. "Will you show me how to do that spell?"

"I'll try." It wasn't as if Arnavon had such spell himself just yet. "I have a lot of learning to do first."

"I'll agree with that." They met, hoof to paw. "Let's head back. We have to ask mom about getting a bit of crystal."

"Oh, yes." Arnavon lowered down to his belly. "On."

Ronald stepped up onto his mount, just for Arnie to rise under him and provide a lift. "I think I have the hang of this..."

He did not. But he made it out of the hole, a new figure hitting the snow just after Arnavon. Lilly was keeping up with them easily. A fit tsuki, she could bounce with the rest and hopped just as high and fast as Arnavon did. "This is the first time I ever left the warrens." She sounded excited, not scared. "I hear such amazing stories from others that come back. Oh, you make stories. Maybe you could tell me an amazing story?"

Arnavon considered that a moment. "There once was this tsuki..."

"Oooo." Her attention was securely held, and they all got to hear Arnavon shout over the wind the story of the tsuki who discovered the pony sport of buckball. They had no magic, but being able to jump real good and kick the ball were fine tasks, so they played the earth pony position well enough to make it to the finals, to the surprise and admiration of fans of the game. How they did in the final game? Well, you'll have to ask Arnavon to tell you that someday.

"I want to try that game." They landed as one within the warmth of the Crystal Empire. "While you're learning magic, I can learn buckball. Then, when you get back, we'll trade. And we can play magic buckball, together!"

"Yes!" Arnavon bounced without leaving the ground, mindful of his rider. "That sounds super fun."

Ron took the chance to slide to the ground. "Thanks for the ride. Hope you two have a good... time? Do you have a wedding or something or are you already past that?"

Lillybell's eyes widened. "A wedding! That's a pony thing, but I want one. Do you want one?" She pressed on Arnavon. "It could be a lot of fun."

"I'll read up on them," promised Arnavon without giving a yes or no on the actual idea. "I bet Cadance would know."

"Right!" Harry shook his head. "We have to visit her anyway." And off he got at a strong walk towards the palace.

Author's Note:

Tsuki are just plain wholesome. Fight me!

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

A Tsuki Smith?

This is gonna be fun with the energy manipulation abilities.

[ramdom_player201]

11455089
I mean that it doesn't seem to be a school charter, as this version isn't students only, but rather open to all magical beings with the school as just one of the stops. I believe that the train in the original books only transported students.

[howard035]

I love Lillybell. Ron should bring his own tsuki rabbit back to Hogwarts!

[David Silver]

11455091
Harry did not become a pony in the original. So many inconsistencies in these words...

[tsaukpaetra]

Some people just have different courtship procedures.
Cute little yin-yang pair. Given time they will do fantastic things...