Chapter 18: School of the Wizards Part 6
~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~
My nightly adventure, aka my abduction by an Institute agent and apparent Changeling, ended kind of Anti-Climatic.
I got commended for basically outsmarting my captor, getting away and being unharmed by him. Lyra and Bon-Bon were naturally giving me an earful about how risky provoking him had been and to never do that again. I didn’t mention that I was basically “Provoking” him by telling Yo Mama Jokes. Sadly I went a bit overboard there and didn’t get to see the entrance he was taking me to.
Even so, I had an idea where he had been heading roughly and had handed that to the Applejack’s Rangers through Hailing. A lead on the Institute was a huge thing for them naturally. And since we ourselves wanted to get to them too, this was to our benefit as well.
Anyway, that whole episode basically banished my nightmares, so I didn’t get to my lessons with princess Luna. Does it say a lot about me that I’m disappointed at this point when I don’t have nightmares? I mean, I knew what could trigger them, but I wasn’t going to go out and kill Raiders to get nightmares if I could help it at all.
Anyway, first day of Wasteland lessons.
Interestingly, the lessons plan was the same in layout as our other lesson plans, only everything replaced by a Wasteland related classes. For example, Transfiguration, our first class normally, was replaced with Survival Basics. Here the first lesson centered on spotting traps and how to recognize areas likely to be irradiated. Free Life was quite insistent on teaching the latter though we had to leave the schoolgrounds for that since, well, radiation doesn’t last within the perimeter.
Anyway, after that was a double class lesson on Magic Pattern study, which translates to studying the patterns of spells to cast them more easily. This was the Equestrian way of casting spells, using patterns of pure magic and causing them to react. As for the lesson itself…
“Alright everyone, settle down.” Called Hailing as she looked over us, we were probably the most colorful students she ever had, consisting of all three Pony races as well as the three types of morphology we displayed. “Alright, I am as you all know, Scribe Hailing of the Applejack’s Rangers, and today will be the first official lesson for all of you on the subject of Equestrian Magic and how to craft your spells.” She stated, looking at us before sighing.
“Well, I won’t dance around the bush, all of you have already learned basic spells like telekinesis and shields. So, we will focus for the foreseeable future on something else. Namely reducing the casting process for Earth magic to the same level as Equestrian Magic.” Stated Hailing and I blinked because… what?
And she still just moved on to making patterns on the chalkboard with the words “Stupefy”, “Expeliarmus” and “Lumos” under each. The simplest pattern was Lumos and it took me all of five seconds to recognize the other two patterns to be similar to the wand movement but with some extra lines, to their respective spells.
“Can someone tell me what these patterns remind you of?” Asked Hailing, turning to them and as I raised my Hoof she smiled. “Miss Evans, what is your answer?” She asked, clearly amused by the fact that others had hesitated longer.
“They’re like the wand movements for those spells, but with some lines added. I assume those are corresponding to the pattern created by our the incantation?” I asked and got a large grin from the Scribe.
“Got it in one, very good. 30 points for Gryffindor. So, yes these patterns were reverse engineered from the Wizarding spells after analyzing the magical patterns they create.” She explained before grinning at us as if she were a shark who had found the juiciest of all tuna in the ocean. “For the rest of the period, you will attempt to cast these spells with nothing but the magical pattern. Anyone who gets it before lunch earns 20 points for their house for each of these spells they manage.” I had to hand it to her, she knew how to motivate competitive foals, and the House Cup was a competition.
Naturally, Lumos was mastered by EVERYONE within moments. It was barely more complicated than Telekinesis as it was, in wand-use, a flick forward and one two-syllable word chant. Meanwhile the other two were all kinds of complicated, though they weren’t as much as probably something convoluted like Wingardium Leviosa which had so many precise movements and two words made of a total of six syllable.
I myself had the easiest time I imagine, I could already see where the lines were meant to be in terms of Arithmantic calculations and fact was that the order of the lines being made related to both the wand movement’s order and the lines representing the chant were likewise meant to be drawn in magic in the right order. Determining which lines represented which word was the primary concern naturally.
All that to say that Stupefy was the easier of the two, being that it is a three syllable shooting spell rather than a long-chant charm. I imagine my own magical aptitude as a Alicorn helped too, not to mention my experience with this type of magic as well as my lessons on Arithmancy.
So yeah, I was the first to get a total of 40 points and the only one to do so before the first hour was over. It took me the bulk of the second period time to finish Expeliarmus, the most common combat spell aside from curses.
Let me tell you, I learned in the post-school lessons to prepare us in case of emergency, more about DADA than I ever did in official classes. Professor Flitwick really got the wrong job for all that he is a master of charms. Did you know he was a duelling champion in his hay days? And no, that pun wasn’t intended. Naturally being a young stallion now, he wasn’t just spry in bed but also back in his prime, only better due to experience.
In the end around 68% of the students got all three done, the bulk of those being made of Ravenclaws with us Alicorns also succeeding. One highlight come around the end of the class period when Draco asked a question: “Professor, is there a particular reason to relearn these spells in the Equestrian system?” This was her question, though I could see why it was being taught already, there was after all a good reason to combine the systems.
“Good question mister Malfoy, and to answer it, let me explain something.” Stated Hailing before levitating a wand off of her desk, showing it to us. “Wizarding Magic is, by it’s very nature, highly ritualistic. The movements of the wand, the incantation, They’re part of a ritual which shapes the magic into a pattern to trigger the spell. This gives Wizarding magic an edge in terms of how stable and self-sufficient the spells are.” She explained before putting the wand back down.
“As an example, the Stable Mare, Littlepip, killed an Alicorn at Old Appleloosa by dropping a box cart on her, a feat she just barely managed to pull off using Telekinesis. A wizard or witch on the other hand, can do the same with the Wingardium Leviosa charm with barely any effort. The reason for this is, that the ritual of casting the spell reinforces the phenomenon of the spell itself, meaning the the magic expended in casting it is enough to maintain it for the most part while leaving the caster without the burden of lifting more than their wand.” She explained and I nodded from my seat. Ron managed to do it in our first year on a Troll’s, well, basically an uprooted tree it was using as a club.
“However.” Began Hailing as murmuring died down over the rather counter-productive explanation. Counter Productive for making a point in the favor of Equestrian Magic at least. “This also means that wizards rely on this process, meaning it takes them longer. However, skilled wizards can do away with incantations or wands entirely.” She explained and I could tell there were some surprises, after all this was similar to how pony magic works, but she wasn’t finished.
“As you may see, this is an ideal primer for later in your schooling, so that you can more easily learn this advanced form of your native magical system. However, there is another reason for doing this here. This is, mainly, because learning the more complicated and complex Equestrian spells will require an understanding of more complex spells beforehand. By teaching you how to cast these familiar spells, I will be easing you into Equestrian spells slowly. With that said, homework will be assigned. Namely, until we come together next week, practice these spells. Anyone who can master one of them to the point of being able cast them on command, gains 50 points for their house.” She explained and I swallowed. Now that was one way to prime us for the task, wasn’t it?
The class period ended not long after and we headed for lunch. The prime topic at lunch was the stark contrast between the teachers of the two sides of the subjects. Particularly Lockhart was doing quite badly compared to some of the classes so far. Yesterday, for example, had consisted of him reading out of his own book and then demanding we write a poem about it for him.
Hermione had that one already finished and was nagging me about making my own too which was our topic.
“Hermione, listen. I know he is a teacher, but nothing in his books makes any sense. And I don’t feel comfortable with him demanding we write poetry about him. How narcissistic can he be? Especially while I’m suing him over one of those books.” I asked and her eyes widened, shocked. “Hermione I told you I was suing everyone who wrote books about me or with me as one of their characters while pretending they’re accurate.” I pointed out to her, that book was particularly infuriating as it treated a large number of those books like they were actually true.
“It- he just made a mistake?” Tried Hermione and got unimpressed looks from Rainy and myself for that.
“’mione? You realize that book’s way too much into those other Harry Potter Books? It references several of them. That seriously brings it’s authenticity into question if you ask me.” Responded Rainy, putting a sausage in her mouth which shouldn’t be able to fit inside. Girl had some serious eating habit problems.
“M- Maybe he was tricked? I mean, how many people have seen you among wizards before Hogwarts?” Asked Hermione, trying desperately to cling to her idea of Lockhart.
“Hermione, I looked it up. He’s 28 years old. In physical terms, you, me, Rainy, Ruby, Argent and Myrtle? We’re almost 20 years younger than him. He is asking children to write glorifying poetry about him. And as for that “He may have been Tricked” bit… Are you serious about this? He was clearly aware of those books and tried capitalizing on them. Hell, he outright had his “Harry” come back from one of those stories.” I countered and Hermione flinched at that and yeah, I felt horrible for acting like this, but she had to understand.
“Listen Hermione, I know he is a big name, I know that you see books in high regard and all that, but just because a book claims it’s telling the truth, it doesn’t mean that it is. Moreover, it’s creepy how he low-key flirts with all the girls, even more so when so many of them actually reciprocate it.” I stated, shuddering at the thought of that. He did it with ME too, so guess how I felt about that!
“Oh come on, it’s not that bad.” Argued Hermione with a frown and I gave her a flat look.
“28 years old, flirting with 12 and 13 years old girls.” I countered.
“Actually, he’s trying with first years too.” Spoke up Ginny as he looked over at us and caught our attention. “It took me telling him I got turned into a colt by going here to make him back-off from me.” Added Ginny and I stared in befuddlement. Differentiating between colts and fillies, or mares and bucks, wasn’t hard. It was kind of instinctive actually, with how our bodies conformed to different ways like with males having more horse-like head shapes than females.
“Hermione, see? He’s not even able to tell when he’s talking to a colt, and he’s going after first years!” Pointed Rainy out, sounding quite upset about her sister-turned-brother being harassed like this by the professor.
“Doesn’t speak well of him either that he couldn’t tell Ginny was a colt.” I pointed out, scowling at the sheer idiocy this man was displaying despite being tasked with teaching us how to defend ourselves from dark magic. There wasn’t a lot worse in my opinion.
“Well, it was one time and Ginny is a girl on Earth.” Tried Hermione to defend him, again. I had to wonder where her brain was right now because it seemed on vacation.
“Actually it happened twice.” Spoke up Ginny and we turned to him. “He went after my friend Luna too.” He explained and earned flat looks from us, which made him sigh.
“Luna Lovegood, he’s like me, a girl who turns into a colt while here. He got sorted into Ravenclaw and we have DADA with them in our year group. Worst part is that he’s quite proud of having been in Ravenclaw originally.” Explained Ginny and I winced at the idea of sharing a house with the blow-hard.
Before we could continue our conversation, however, the flutter of wings caught our attention. Looking up I saw Hedwig come in through a window, carrying a letter and bringing it to me. “Oh, thanks girl! Want some bacon?” I asked, offering her the peace of meat and she happily accepted the platter I moved to her while I perused the letter.
~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear Rose
I hope this afternoon finds you well. I’m writing you to request a meeting in my office, it concerns the Chamber of Secrets incident 50 years ago as well as the likely culprit.
Professor McGonnagal will lead you there once your classes are over.
Sincerely
Albus Dumbledore.
~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~
I blinked at that, I hadn’t thought that something would come up this early, but if it meant I could help dealing with any problems early… yeah.
Anyway, to cut it short on our further discussions, Hermione kept being stubborn about not judging Lockhart. The fact she had to clean up his mess the first lesson we had with him, was apparently lost on her. Anyway, back to classes.
After Lunch, we had Wasteland History. With Stomping Hooves behind this one the lesson was, surprisingly, quite interesting. Nothing like History of Magic where everyone was waiting for Binns to show up dead. Again. From boring himself to Death.
Then we got to Artificer Theory which sounded a whole lot like Ancient Runes, though the method was somewhat easier, inscribing directly the magical pattern on an object that was magically conductive. In this case it was most commonly a crystal of some sort. What set apart Artificer Theory from Artifact Crafting, was the fact that these magically enchanted crystals, serving as Foci or just batteries and often just outright as spell-in-a-can, were integrated into devices that were designed to access the magic and process it.
This was what made the Pip-Buck so absurdly powerful, it automated an incredibly complex targeting, storage and even a mild precognition spell all at once at the press of a button. The Eyes-Forward-Sparkle alone was all kinds of insane, the fact that the Pip-Buck could administer automatically potions you had in your saddle bags, detect things in the environment that could be hostile or were at least self-aware enough to do something, and naturally the S.A.T.S. system were all marvelous magical constructs.
Naturally, at this stage we weren’t taught how to make them, only maintenance was touched. I myself was already ahead of that obviously since I had been taking lessons from the Rangers for a good junk of the time since the fall of the Enclave’s base above Ponston.
I was half convinced it was payment for my activating the Prydwen for them, I hadn’t done it for one but it made some sense. I should probably mention homework, it was mostly about writing a essay on the contents of “Artificer Basics Volume 1” by authors Twilight Sparkle and Applejack. Meaning it was a cooperative publishing by the Ministry of Arcane Sciences and Ministry of Wartime Technologies.
I wasn’t going to ask about where they got it from, the books thesmelves were clearly printer copies of another text, so it was likely something one of their founders brought into the Steel Rangers organization when they were formed.
Anyway, after Artificer Theory was Weapon/Combat Training lessons, this time with Rising Sun, the third member of the Applejack’s Rangers. She was a Unicorn Mare and ran the lesson somewhat like we were training for the army. She had set up a shooting range, along with a ton of other military exercise bits and pieces, like an obstacle course, urban warfare simulator (because holy shit, that’s something we’ll be doing around here. And I’m not being sarcastic either) as well as a wide selection of what we were told were stun weapons made to look like normal guns with their bolts altered to follow the same rules as normal bullets.
A lot of effort, I know, but better than having us do exercises on one another with live weapons. We’re in a Wasteland, yes, but do we look like fucking Raiders?
Anyway, the lesson went quite fine in my opinion and after this was the free period, at which point Professor McGonnagal come to bring me to the headmaster’s office. As it turned out, there was a revolving staircase guarded by a stone Gargoyle, a golem of some sort, which moves up like an escalator.
“Ah Rose, please come in.” Was called by the mare before I could knock. Neat trick, I wondered what magic was involved in detecting me.
Entering the office I found a multitude of weird gizmos on various shelves and the professor seated behind a desk. I couldn’t very well look over it so I fluttered my wings into a bit of a hover and saw there was a small book on the desk. “You wanted to see me, professor?” I asked, landing on the large armchair before the desk, my point of view was again somewhat limited by this position but it was better than flying for so long.
“Indeed, this item was brought to me by professor Snape, young Draco Malfoy had handed it to him explaining that his father claimed it was a dark artifact and to do as he saw fit with it. Quite a wise decision on Draco’s part, handing this over that is.” Stated the professor and I cocked my head to the side, staring at the hardback bound diary.
“How is it a magical artifact though? It looks like a really old diary of someone, nothing more.” I asked, I knew from my studies that paper made for a horrible Talisman material as it would burn up on use.
“That I am afraid ties to it’s original owner. Tom Riddle Junior, or as he called himself, Voldemort.” Stated Dumbledore and I felt a chill roll down my spine. That put the diary into another perspective, and also revealed something.
“Then Voldemort was the Heir of Slytherin from 50 years ago, right? Why didn’t anyone make that connection?” I asked, it just sounded so obvious given everything that the guy stood for. It also made it even clearer how much the Ministry had fucked up back during their arrest and sentencing of Ruby based on the claim of one student.
“I tried to appeal the verdict based on that information, but the ministry wouldn’t have any of it.” Stated Dumbledore, looking at me with a tired expression, I could tell that she was tired of politics. “They didn’t want to believe that the boy who they had heralded as a hero for stopping the murderer of an innocent, was in fact the same man who become the most feared Dark Lord of our time.” Explained the professor and I grit my teeth, I had experienced that myself, namely by the amount of push-back I had gotten for trying to investigate whether or not Sirius Black had been convicted legally at all.
“So, what does this thing do? It can’t have done much to Draco if he could hand it over so easily.” I asked, frowning at the piece of magical work. Something about it felt wrong though, it felt… yeah, it had the feeling of Radiation to it, I had sensed that even with my barding’s protections.
Death Magic, in other words.
“This Diary is no ordinary magical item.” Stated Dumbledore at that point, grabbing my attention. “It is a Horcrux, a container for the shard of a soul. It is a creation of darkest magic, but inferior to most due to it being created in the youth of the creator.” Explained Dumbledore as she levitated the book up.
“Under normal circumstances, this would try to make us preserve it, to make us hold it so it can take control of us. However, the bindings to the soul are lackluster at best, limiting it’s abilities.” Explained professor Dumbledore as she scowled at the offending item.
“So… how do we destroy it?” I asked, it reminded me of what I had heard about “Soul Jars” like the SPP Tower in Neighvarro, where princess Celestia was bound.
“There are a few options, though none of them are very safe. First is Fiendfyre, a fire curse which shares characteristics with Balefire from what I can tell. However here it is particularly problematic as for one, Hogwarts actively works to purge this sort of magic, and for another, outside the wards the overabundance of Radiation dissipates the Fiendfyre spell itself, breaking down it’s magical matrix due to being defused within this constant field of similar magic.” Explained Dumbledore and I frowned, it was… complicated.
I could tell what the problem was, mind you. Fiendfyre, as a wizarding curse, was ritualistic and extremely strict in it’s parameters. Balefire Radiation meanwhile was pure chaos, necrotic magic which breaks down what it touches. With Fiendfyre being so similar, it’s structure would break down as the magic would be drawn to imitate the Balefire radiation, diffusing it and negating the spell matrix.
If someone wonders how Balefire Bombs and Balefire Eggs can still work, it is because of their Talisman based structure, being purely magic from this world and starting as the source process of Balefire radiation. I know it seems dumb for such a situation to be fact, but that’s wild, uncontrolled magic for you. I had also heard that the Killing Curse, which was Death Magic obviously, didn’t work properly either, the Necrotic magic of radiation diffusing it’s structure and energy into itself.
“So, what other options do we have?” I asked, looking to the professor who turned to me, sighing.
“Well, it isn’t much better I am afraid. Basilisk venom is known to be deadly enough to destroy Horcruxes, but due to the ban on their breeding there is no secure source of the venom. Well, outside the suspected Monster of Slytherin.” Stated the professor and I frowned at that, I didn’t like the idea one bit myself, if we were right and the monster was a Basilisk, then the one down there was responsible for the death of Myrtle.
“How would we enter the Chamber of Secrets? Any ideas?” I asked and here I saw the professor smile a bit.
“Actually, I had an idea. My mental faculties, while clouded in certain areas at times, are quite a bit more flexible these days.” She stated and I knew what she was referring to, but I won’t spell it out here. “Voldemort was a known Parselmouth, so was Salazar Slytherin. I believe the entrance to the chamber. However, that depends on one thing, the possibility of some part of Voldemort having entered you, and possibly granting you that ability.” Stated Dumbledore and I blinked, remembering my first dream with Luna.
“Right, I remember.” I stated, drawing her attention. “Well, ah, I had a dream, or more like a nightmare over a month ago I think, and in that dream Princess Luna of Equestria come to my rescue, banishing it. She also showed me some… thing that took the form of a Feral Ghoul and said it was a soul fragment. So, I was a Horcrux I guess, but I’m no longer one, she banished it.” I explained and that surprised the professor, but it also brought a smile to her muzzle.
“Well, thank god for that then. I was worried on how to deal with such a possibility miss Evans, I couldn’t think of a method no matter how hard I searched but it seems the problem was solved. But now we have to hope at least the ability stayed, if nothing else.” She explained and I smiled, at least she hadn’t thought of killing me it seems, even though I wasn’t one who would’ve held it against her. If it had meant dealing with Voldemort for good I’d probably have volunteered.
~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~
We eventually come to the conclusion that the best place to start trying was at the bathroom where Myrtle had been haunting, it wasn’t hard to find thanks to the professor knowing it.
There we searched until we found, on one of the faucets, a snake engraved on it. “Subtlety wasn’t his thing, was it? Also, was this even a bathroom in his time?” I asked, puzzled by the fact that the room had been a possible entrance for a thousand years.
“I wouldn’t know, I’m older than I look but not even I am that ancient, you’d have to ask lady Ravenclaw for that.” Explained Dumbledore and I nodded, deciding to get this over with as I concentrated on the snake one the faucet. Imagining it as a real one, trying to recall the sensation of speaking to the Python at the zoo.
|<Open.>| It was eerie, my ears able to pick up the oddity of my tone as I spoke. Moments later the faucet glowed and the whole sink moved aside with part of the wall, revealing a large pipe going down. “Huh, that worked. I wonder if he knew that this looks like what I heard water slides to look like?” I asked, looking down the pipe.
“No idea myself, I never went to one.” Responded the professor as we stared down the pipe.
“I think I’ll go get my power armor, and maybe some more supplies.” I stated and the professor nodded in agreement, stating she was going to bring some other teachers to help out too, just in case.
By the time I got back there were professors Flitwick, Fluttershy, Snape as well as Hailing present along with Paladin Danse. All of them armed with the Paladin in his Power Armor. There was also a large, red bird with the headmaster which I had seen in her office before.
“Ah, Rose there you are. We were just about to send for you, we’ll need your Parseltongue more than likely down there.” Explained Professor Dumbledore and I nodded, my helmet keeping my head covered while I had engaged the magical sensors to obscure my actual view. It should work against the Basilisk.
“Any tips on what may happen if I can’t, well, control the Basilisk using Parseltongue? I’m not related to Slytherin as far as I know.” I asked, trying to figure out whether or not I had anything I needed to worry about there.
“We try avoiding it’s gaze and do our best to shoot it up. We can extract the venom or a fang of it after it is dead, there is no reason to risk the lives of anyone here if we don’t need to.” Stated Danse and I nodded, bringing out my Minigun since my Laser Musket would do way worse to our chances.
Getting down the pipe was the easy part too, it was a wild ride, sure, but we had Featherfall charms applied to us by Professor Flitwick and so we didn’t get hurt. The hard part was for us to get our bearings but calling up the Mapping function of our Pip-Bucks was more than enough to get us going in the right direction.
After a minute or so of trotting along, finding a truly gargantuan snake skin at one point, we made it to a huge pair of double-doors with way more bling than should be needed and a huge crest made of snakes. |<Open!>| I commanded, which easily saw the gate open before us, though it swung outward so… “So… how come this thing is meant to be locked when it is just a blocking mechanism but it swings in our direction, which is also where the mechanism is?” I asked, completely baffled by the design. Then again this was 1000 years old wizard architecture.
|<Quite bold of you to criticize Slytherin’s work, little creature.>| I tensed up as I heard that voice, it sounded like a snake and I… didn’t find it on my EFS as a hostile?
“Rose, what was that hissing sound?” Asked Dumbledore, sounding tense.
“I think someone is in there, and they’re speaking Parseltongue.” I responded, stepping forward with my scanner-based visualization. |<My name is Rose Evans-Heartstrings, I am a student of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, second year. Who are you miss?>| I asked into the room, deciding to go formal.
|<Hmm, it has been a while since a student come to me, but I suppose after what happened to me I shouldn’t be surprised about one being a horse.>| Stated the creature and, from a hole far up in… it was a statue, I think? Well, from it come something slithering down.
|<I am Tiamat, guardian of Hogwarts by order of Slytherin. Tell me little student, why do you seek me out? Has the Heir sent you? Is there an emergency?>| Asked the creature which my sensors detected as a “Siren”. That was… odd.
|<I am with Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and several professors, we were seeking the help of the Basilisk within this chamber, which I assume you had been, as your venom can destroy the Horcrux given to the supervising teacher of the Slytherin House.>| I explained, being careful with my wording not to offend the creature before me.
|<A Horcrux?! What vile creature made such a thing? And how did it find it’s way into the school?>| Asked Tiamat and I could hear the sheer rage she felt at the notion. That spoke at least in her favor, and a bit in favor of the founder who bound her.
|<Miss Tiamat, do you remember, 50 years ago? You killed a student with your gaze up in a bathroom, a young Ravenclaw student.>| I asked and my sensors detected her tensing up. |<This act, even though it was through you and probably not intentional, was enough for the last heir’s soul to split in two, and he placed it in his diary.>| I explained to her, keeping the conversation as the others were keeping careful watch I imagine.
|<Wait, what do you mean student? The human who had seen my eyes directly was a Muggle, the heir told me so. Same as all the others he told me to petrify.>| Argued Tiamat, sounding quite angry but not at me, that I could tell from her tone.
|<No, Myrtle Warrens was a Muggle-born, meaning a witch or wizard whose parents and grandparents had no sign of magic. From what we were able ascertain, she likely had a Squib Ancestor too, since magic is purely hereditary and Muggle-born still at least partially display transformations like everyone else.>| I explained and didn’t flinch when Tiamat shot at me, she was inches from my face.
|<Tell me, is that the truth little student? Did the heir of my master dare use me against a student and create such a vile piece of magic as a Horcrux using that death?>| She asked angrily and I stared, best I could, into her eyes in return.
|<Yes he did, and he went on to become the worst wizard of all. He terrorized Brittain for years before he went after me, killing my parents. He tried killing me too, but his spell rebounded on him, and last year he tried returning but I stopped him.>| I explained and could feel her warm breath on my muzzle, my mouth exposed like in the case of most Enclave Power Armors.
|<I see, I must apologize for my lack of knowing, I have been locked up here for a long time and was only ever called out once. I believed the heir would call me to defend the castle, as is my duty, from the savage invaders of the North, or hostile non-magicals of the Church.>| Explained Tiamat and I flinched a bit. Naturally that stupid Bible passage was a topic there, not to mention the Viking raids.
|<There haven’t been Viking Raids for centuries by now, it’s been a thousand years since the time of the founders you know? And the Non-Magicals, or Muggle now, don’t even know of magic anymore, only the children who are born among them with magic are informed along with their parents. And the world’s also quite secular now for the most part.>| I explained, relieved that, maybe, we could get along like this.
|<I see, though I have to wonder what is with these… things, everyone is pointing at me?>| She asked and I blinked, then realized she meant the guns.
|<Those are weapons, after what happened 50 years ago we all thought it best to be safe rather than sorry in case you were hostile. And before you ask, they’re a type of kinetic weapons, meaning that they fire projectiles that penetrate the skin and these are super powerful too. We brought them since Basilisks are magic resistant.” I explained to her and I could almost feel her raising an eyebrow, or whatever was her analogue.
|<So, Non-Maigcal Weapons, and you think they could hurt an ancient, 1000 years old Basilisk which had been bred by Salazar Slytherin to have the toughest skin possible to defend Hogwarts against any invaders? I have a hard time believing that these weapons can do any damage to me in my prime, though as I was transformed a few months ago, I can’t say that I have a guarantee now.>| She admitted and I nodded.
|<I understand what you mean, but these weapons are far beyond anything you would’ve known back in the tenth century. See this one? The one I’m carrying?>| I asked, lifting up my minigun in demonstration but not threateningly.
|<Yeah, it’s rather large, is it a melee weapon?>| She asked and I had to hold back a nicker of amusement at that question.
|<Would probably hurt if I hit someone with it, but no. This is a “Minigun”, I know it’s name makes little to do no sense but it is the strongest ranged weapon in this room. It uses the alternating barrels to direct the flight cylinders made of metal with a conical end which is propelled by a small, chemical explosion. The explosion imparts thousands of times more speed and therefore force, into the bullet than any Ballista could.>| I explained to her, lowering the gun as she slithered back a few meters.
|<I have currently .50 milimeter Full Jacket rounds loaded and had the barrels modified such that the bullets get enchanted so they explode if they come to a stop after firing. And this thing fires hundreds of them every second, with me able to hold it with telekinesis easily on target.>| I continued and I heard her gulp, which made me smile.
“Luckily you’re not evil or something, and we can talk this out miss Tiamat, Guardian of Hogwarts.” I finished my explanation, switching to normal speak to make the others know.
“Guardian of Hogwarts? Do you mean Salazar Slytherin did all this to place a guardian in the school?” Asked Dumbledore, sounding intrigued and I nodded.
“Yes, from what miss Tiamat told me, she was his solution against the attack from Norse tribes and to protect the students from persecution by the Catholic Church with their anti-Witch policies. Sadly, Tom Riddle was the first to reach her and misuse her.” I explained to them and they lowered their weapons in response.
|<I am terribly sorry for what I did under that boy’s instruction, however under my current form I believe his Parseltongue and inherited authority won’t affect me.>| Explained Tiamat and I relayed the information to the assembled professors who nodded.
“Then I am glad we cleared this up, miss Tiamat. Though I must confess I am curious, what did you turn into?” Asked Dumbledore, apparently seeing something more than I did.
“Our armor’s sensor spell identifies her as a Siren, which is strange as the only ones known to ponykind were banished millennia ago by the princesses. However as far as I am aware, a Siren lacks the petrifying glare of a Basilisk.” Stated Paladin Danse sounding somewhat concerned by the whole deal.
|<I don’t know if I have it still or not, but the rats that I’ve been feeding on since coming awake on the day of my trnasformation, have reacted to my bite as normal. Their instincts prevent them from looking me in the eye though.>| Explained Tiamat and I, once again, translated for the others.
“Well, it is worth a shot. Miss Tiamat, would you please bite into this book? It is, as I am sure miss Evans told you, a Horcrux and we would like to see it destroyed.” Explained Dumbledore and a moment later, there was the sound of tearing paper and a horrible shriek before osmething was spit onto the ground.
|<Done, I am quite pleased with the result if I am being honest.>| Stated Tiamat and I could tell that something was dissipating, so we had an Anti-Horcrux school guardian, that was nice.
|<Thank you miss Tiamat, that’s two Horcrux… what’s the plural of Horcrux?>| I wasn’t sure at that point what to say, but it meant there were two less pieces of Voldemort in the world to terrorize it.
|<That fiend made MORE of those monstrosities? By the founders, what has the bloodline of Slytherin come to?>| Asked Tiamat in disgust and I could tell why.
|<The other Horcrux was an accident, a piece of his soul lodged itself in a scar I had gotten during the incident when I was one year old, so I was a Horcrux, but whatever my mother did, it stopped it’s influence from affecting me. And recently the spirit of a powerful pony, Princess Luna, banished it from me so I’m free of it entirely.>| I explained and heard a sigh of relief from the serpent.
|<Good to hear, and glad you didn’t suffer from it’s effects. In any case, would anyone have a means for me to see without my eyes being able to be looked into? I would like it to be able to patrol the school without risking a student again.>| Explained Tiamat and I translated for her.
It was Hailing who responded first. “I can probably fashion her a pair of reinforced wrap-around goggles with glass that is basically a one-way mirror pair. That way she can look outside but her eyes won’t be looked at.” Explained Hailing and damn, that was a pretty simple solution.
Without needing magic to create it either. But it also meant we had our solution to the problem for now as well as another defender for the school.
Hopefully things would go smoothly for the rest of the year.
~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Nightmare Cesar ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~
Nightmare watched the proceedings from atop the central tower of the town.
Far Harbor had been a nightmare to reach, but with her army of Raiders, the settlement was subdued easily enough. She wouldn’t be killing them, though. She needed them alive after all to bolster her forces and as the basis of her future conquest.
Just the issue of that damn fog everywhere, it was annoying and hid many of the monsters lurking on the isla-
“GULPERS!” Cue and attack by fog creatures.
“Luna fuck me with the moon, not again!” Cursed Nightmare as she brought her spear up. It wasn’t enchanted, but calling it Longinus and putting some straps of cloth at the end to make it greater looking was the best she could do to make herself look like more of a menace.
Being a small Alicorn Filly just didn’t work for that.
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Very good and now the school has a siren protector
https://youtu.be/9kSP0SOimhA
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I thought that the "KIll the Basilisk" trope was trotted to death by now, besides we don't know the exact circumstances of Slytherin's hatred of Muggle-born or how severe that dislike was in the first place.
For all we know it was justified distrust for the time, not sure how far Christianity would've spread in Brittain at the time, but knowing the kind of organization the Vatican had been historically, I wouldn't be surprised if the wizards had to cover up a sort of Crusade or two which were against wizarding communities and learning institutions.
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You know, I really like your story, a fascinating fanfic, especially when it comes to humor, even though it's not indicated, it's well thought out and it's organic, even hilarious, the whole issue of gender or species change , like most of the characters, they are taken in a way These changes were even positive, even some changes such as rejuvenation do not seem to work against him in a detrimental way, not quite the opposite, the weights that went up in old age were the more benefited in this new world where their old bodies had played against them more than a problem the new condition is at worst a minor difficulty like using wandless magic or changing hands to helmets or the different environment of a world in relative peace a post -Apocalyptic world, a literal wasteland where you have to learn how to use muggle weapons or have to understand the concept of magical radiation,
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one wonders what the professors and other staff at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry are like. zardry has the answer. It's easy, teachers are veterans of 1 or 2 wizarding wars, as is the case with Headmaster Dumbledore or Professor Minerva McGonagall, or at least what the Fantastic Beasts, Dumbledore's Secrets canon says. The thing is, this story fascinates me so much every time. I read a new chapter I wonder how long it will be until the next chapter
Another excellent update.
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Glad you like it :D
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I'm glad you like it so far. I try filling in any gaps I can think of in terms of lore about the school itself, as you may notice from my use of fanon regarding Ancient Runes and Arithmancy in more practical terms than just reading a dead language and probability calculations with a touch of magic, or whatever Arithmancy is supposed to be in canon.
And regarding humor, I try not to focus on it but as I told a friend on fanfiction dot net, if you can't include a bit of humor and references in your story, then what are you doing?
I try keeping my story, on the sliding scale of crack to Grim Derp, with Crack being that one Naruto Zelda crossover with Naruto characters replacing all the Zelda characters in Ocarina of Time, and Grimderp being Project Horizons but with the Chaos Gods of 40k invading, somewhere in the happy middle, I take it serious, but try to offset the sheer depression of the situation with funny moments.
As you may recall, I don't treat a child killing people as if that child was just a game protagonist, Rose has nightmares for weeks after her first kill and needed Lyra and Bon-Bon to get through it, and later also Luna.
She can function in a fight, but she is a child. She can fight under adrenaline and, you may notice, she has a bit of a trigger when she sees others in danger, aka a Hero Complex, but when the adrenaline fades she basically collapses in on herself, though she starts getting better at working through it, as we saw on the way to the MWT factory.
And yes, I am kind of proud that I can say I managed to do so well so far.
Miniguns in Fallout are probably based on Vietnam era gunship helicopter 7.62 mm M 134 miniguns. .50 is a lot heavier and the gun has 3 rotating barrels. That thing is used as a main helicopter gun.
Technically speaking several different versions of the minigun exist chambered in .223, .357, .44, 5.56 mm, 7.62 mm, 2mm EC, 5mm, 4.7mm, and 10 mm.
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I'm basing it on what is used with the Fallout Miniguns, which is the same ammo type used for Anti-Material Rifles which, as I remember it, use .50 caliber or something, I'm not 100% certain what that means since I'm not from the United States of Guns.
very interesting cursing, right there ..
Is this truly relevant now? though I can see the frustration of distractions.