Chapter 1: Transposition of the School

I moaned in pain as I awoke from the most recent turn of events in my life.

Hi, my name is Harry Potter. In the night moving into my 11th birthday, after a harrowing week of my aunt and uncle fleeing from letter bombardment, a giant broke down the front door of the shack they hauled us to, that is them as well as my cousin Dudley and myself, and declared me a Wizard.

Crazy sounding? Oh boy you guys have no idea what is to come. I was invited to a school for magic, Hogwarts. And I got to go because Uncle Vernon, though I’m only really related to his wife and son, Aunt Petunia and Dudley respectively, fears two things above all: Tax Collectors and a 3 meter man who can bend a shotgun into a Pretzel with no problem.

So I got on the Train to Hogwarts, the Hogwarts Express, and there I met the first human being I could call friend: Ronald Weasley, or Ron for short. He had been a bit awkward, pretty star struck, but we got along fairly well. My next friend come later, though we didn’t become friends on the train, rather it was fire forged friends formed in a life or death situation.

Fending off a juvenile Mountain Troll on Halloween does that to you. The friend I mentioned was Hermione Granger, a Muggle-born witch, meaning she had no magical parents as opposed to Ron whose parents were from lines of wizards, making him a Pureblood, or myself as my mother was a Muggle-born, making me a Half-Blood. Yeah kind of racist these terms, I know.

Anyway, what happened here? What was the incident I mentioned? Well, it starts when I was shopping for school supplies with Hagrid, namely after I withdrew wizard money from the Gringott’s Goblin bank. Yeah a lot of details I’m leaving out, please bear with me.

Hagrid had gone there partially for me but also because he needed to retrieve an object hidden there inside a high security vault, my own was only medium level in security by comparison. And that was a pretty good vault I may add.

Anyway, the package he retrieved, as it turned out later that year, was the Philosopher’s Stone made by Nicholas Flamel, an Alchemist who had worked with Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, on various projects over the years. And it was sought after by a dark wizard trying to revive the murderer of my parents, the Dark Lord Voldemort.

Who obliterated himself trying to kill me.

Makes you wonder how hard it can be to kill a 1 year old toddler, am I right?

Anyway, fearing that the stone was in danger we decided to go down there and make sure the bad guy’s plan wouldn’t work. We even got past the challenges… and it went well until the chess board. You see, wizards have their own form of chess with animated chess pieces who follow orders. Someone, I suspect professor Flitwick, decided to make a huge statue garden out of them on a chess board and you can’t get through until you took out the white king on the opposite side.

Ron did that, he’s great at chess. But he got knocked out in the melee that was the chess board as he sacrificed the knight he had taken command of as the piece for himself. Yeah, kind of messed up that this happened but that happens when you have three humans on a chess board.

After that was a dead troll in a huge room, someone had been here before us after all as Fluffy, the three headed dog guarding the entrance to the gauntlet of obstacles, had already been sleeping thanks to an enchanted harp. And after that we had to deal with a potions riddle. But the bottle with the potion to move forward into the final chamber had only one ration remaining, so I decided to go alone while Hermione would grab Ron and get some help.

Well, and then I got into a scuffle with my Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Quirrel. He had been the Impostor all along, how didn’t we realize his acting was sus? He was right there among us!

As my recollecting continued while I tried to figure out what happened, I for some reason felt like I had made some weird anachronistic joke there, I don’t know why.

Anyway, he dragged me to the Mirror of Erised, or as I liked to call it, the Desire Mirror, but instead of seeing myself with my parents I saw myself pulling out the Philosopher’s Stone and putting it into my pocket. Where it appeared at that moment.

After that was a blur, last thing I remembered was grabbing something big and hard and smashing it into Quirrel’s skull while he was choking me and it breaking and…

“I broke the Philosopher’s Stone, didn’t I?” I muttered, noting a strangely high pitched tone to my voice. That was… disconcerting.

“It would appear so, Harry.” Spoke up another voice, feminine but I couldn’t put it quite. Though the tone was familiar along with the way the voice used inflections.

Opening my eyes and turning around, at which point I noticed a twitching of my ears… on my head… wait is that a Unicorn? “Wait, what happened? Who are you?” I asked, blinking at the unicorn which sported a white coat with a greyish brown mane and tail and a pair of half-moon glasses. Not to mention the- “Wait, professor Dumbledore? Why are you a female… little unicorn?” I asked, confused, something told me she was female, and quite a lot younger than I was sure professor Dumbledore was, merely a young adult.

“Well, that would be the result of your breaking the Philosopher’s Stone, or at least it appears to have been the catalyst. And I’m afraid I’m not the only one here who has become female.” She stated and as I sat up I realized two things. One, my hands were hoofs, two: my arms, or legs? No I could still move them like arms, were covered in white fur. And lastly, I was naked and something told me that lower body was that of a female.

“Wait, what did I turn into?” I asked and the professor did me a favor by floating a mirror in front of me. Said mirror showed me a small equine being with a horn but also two wings jutting out from behind my back. I didn’t have a black mane, rather it was red primarily with light blue highlights and turning back I saw a tail with the same colors too.

“We haven’t figured out the terms yet I’m afraid, but you’re one of six individuals who have been turned this way, including your friends.” Explained Dumbledore and I knew she meant by that turning into a winged unicorn.

“Who are the other three then?” I asked, worried about what may be the case.

“Rubeus Hagrid, Argus Filch, and the Ghost of Myrtle Warren, were all turned into the same type of little horse as yourself, with all diagnostic spells indicating that you’re all juvenile, more so than you yourself had been originally. Also, all female.” Stated Dumbledore and I winced, Hagrid turning into… this? And why Filch? And who was Myrtle?

“Are Ron and Hermione alright at least?” I asked, no reason to ask for the stone, it broke as already stated.

“They’re fine, though a curious phenomenon has been occurring as the amount of Muggle blood appears to have an effect on just how much we move away from human.” Explained the professor and on my confused look she chuckled. “As you can see, you and myself can stand on our hindlegs, same for Hagrid. We’re also all half-bloods in one way or another. Ronald meanwhile, who is a Pureblood, has been robbed of that ability same for Argus. Lastly, miss Granger and Miss Warren both are still largely human in shape except for the horse-like attributes. I am told it is called “Anthropomorphic”.” He explained and I nodded, not sure about all of this but at least they were alright.

“What about the rest of the school? Did everyone get transformed into… little girl ponies?” I asked, for a lack of a better term but Dumbledore shook her head.

“While everyone turned into such little ponies, not everyone underwent the change to female. I myself was about to enter the chamber where the stone had been when it broke so I imagine that may be my reason. Young Mister Malfoy is the only other example I am aware of and she’s quite vocal about her displeasure.” Stated the mare and I couldn’t hold back a giggle.

“Oh, and I may add that everyone above 20 become rejuvenated, Poppy told me that I’m physically maybe 17 years old while most of the student body above 11 were reset to that age. You yourself and the others who have been given this particular form seem to correspond to young children of maybe 7 or 9 years old.” Added the old wizard-turned-young mare.

“Wait, so Draco is a little unicorn now?” Asked Harry, amusement welling up within her but a shake of the head come from the horned pony before her.

“No, Miss Malfoy is a pony with wings, a Pegasus as it happens. As far as we can tell, excepting the degree of transformation, there are three types of these equines, four if we count your own. Ones that appear like regular equines but with greater strength and a strange geomantic sense, Unicorns who can work magic through their horns, and finally Pegasi, which appear to be able to move air currents. None of the latter have so far tried passing through the ever present cloud cover though.” Stated Dumbledore and I blinked at that, looking at her in confusion.

“Our transformations, sadly, aren’t the only thing that has changed, Hogwarts as well as a large portion of it’s grounds, have been transported to another world. We’re not certain about the specifics but beyond the school’s wards, everything is a wasteland some of our Muggle raised students have compared to fictional worlds after a nuclear war.” Explained the professor and I winced at that idea.

“Is there radiation out there?” I asked cautiously, getting off the bed I was on, albeit with a bit of difficulty due to being so extremely small as I was.

“Not to our knowledge, though there is a background field of necromantic magic hanging in the air. I have already adjusted the wards to keep that radiation out and to scrub it away from anything that enters the wards. Thank god for the Necromancer Wars of 1748 to prepare us for this am I right?” A twinkle of amusement was in the older ponies eyes and I giggled at that, shaking my head as I took a few steps to test those new hooves.

To my surprise, I felt natural, nothing felt wrong about this form, well, aside from the feeling of being a girl. The hooves were new and the wings would take some getting used to, but I thought I could handle it. “Professor, how are the others doing? You told me they transformed, but are they alright?” I asked, deciding to get to a more pressing issue but the mare nodded.

“They are, though young miss Weasley is being teased quite a bit by her older brothers as is. And miss Granger has been doing her best to get some new robes being that she appears as an 8 years old child in that new form.” Responded Dumbledore, chuckling after a moment and going down onto all fours. “And I recommend quadrupedal walking Harry, it is a lot easier to manage.” She added and after a moment, I heeded her words and fell onto my forehooves.

I did feel some popping sensations in my spine and shoulders and after some testing found that I had shifted into full quadrupedal form there. A small test of getting up had the same sensation happen and I was back to a bipedal physiology, as strange as the transition felt to me. “This is gonna take some getting used to.” I muttered before going back on all fours and following the professor-turned-unicorn.

“Oh trust me, I feel the same. Though being female makes little difference to my preferences.” Stated Dumbledore and it took me a moment to realize what she was saying, gender and sexuality could mean she didn’t change her tastes, but then…

“Wait, were you gay?” I asked, surprised to hear that and got a chuckle for my troubles.

“Was gay, though now I imagine I’m quite straight.” Stated Dumbledore and I blushed at that, she was quite open about it.

“Erm, what about clothes? Anyone have anything for me?” I asked, not liking that I was literally naked. Sure, there didn’t seem to be anything visible at first glance, but I’d like to at least not feel naked.

“Minerva, Filius and Bathsheda, our professor for Ancient Runes and Runology, are currently working on that. Particularly to make something to protect everyone if we have to explore outside the grounds or fight. I have been told that worlds like this tend to have some major crime issues.” Stated Dumbledore and I contemplated that, I had no idea about Muggle media honestly, the Dursleys never let me watch anything.

“I don’t know professor, the Dursleys weren’t very keen on letting me watch tv or play video games, so I don’t know what this kind of world would be like.” I responded as we left the hospital wing, heading for the Great Hall as I remembered.

“’Arry!” Exclaimed a young girl’s voice and turning around I was run over by a pony.

The small filly was a creamy white color with red-head red hair for a mane and tail but she also sported a horn and wings so… “Ron?” I asked, blinking as the equally small filly nodded, getting off of me.

“Yup, a lot girlier though.” Stated Ron, still grinning. “Glad you’re awake though, we thought that dark wizard did something to your head when you got knocked out or something.” Stated Ron as she let me get up and looking in the direction she had come from I saw another girl coming though this one looked like a pony with a completely human bodyplan except for the tail, wings, horn and hindleg hooves.

This one was a dark brown in furcoat with a lighter, auburn mane and tail and given that the only one of the six that were in the same boat as me who had dark skin was Hermione… “You okay Hermione?” I asked, getting up on two legs to be a bit less small than her. Didn’t help much since I was still tiny compared to the eight years old looking girl.

“Yeah I’m fine, just glad you’re alright Harry. Erm, where is professor Dumbledore going?” Asked Hermione and as I turned I just saw the genderswapped professor’s tail turn a corner into a door and-

“Did that door just vanish?” I asked stunned as apparently, the school was even crazier than I had thought before. Which was saying a lot given the moving staircases.

“Well, we better hoof it before Malfoy comes here. She’s pissed beyond believe at you.” Stated Hermione but my attention moved from her already as I heard wings flap.

“POTTER!” Screamed a white Pegasus filly with a black mane and tail flying at me, but I jumped aside which resulted in her crushing face-first into the wall.

“Malfoy?” I asked, looking at the now unconscious pegasus.

“Yup, she’s been one of the most fervent flying learners around, pretty sure it was partially to dive-bomb you, or to get on the Quidditch team if we figure out how to play like this.” Explained Hermione and I blinked, that was interesting.

“Well, I guess we better get to the Great Hall, what time is it anyway?” I asked as we began to trot along the corridor.

“Nine in the Morning, classes have been suspended for the moment until we can get everyone some clothes to wear.” Explained Ron and I stole a glance at Hermione who was wearing what looked like her uniform but with the bottom of the hem cut off and the sleeves shortened too. She also had her wings in holes it seemed. Well, I could see why the Anthro form would be priority, they had it easy there.

“I wouldn’t mind some pants.” I commented as I went back down to all fours for some easier movement. “Say, how do we fly? I’d love testing those wings out since I got them now and all that.” I asked, looking a bit at the pair of wings I now sported, if nothing else, the idea of flying without a broom, under my own power, certainly offset the whole girl thing.

“We’re still undergoing lessons, though Argent is the one who is taking to it the easiest out of us horned Pegasi.” Stated Ron and that tripped me up.

“Argent? Who is that?” I asked, I knew who all but one of the other three who had this form were, but those were Hagrid, a Myrtle and… “Wait, is Mister Filch calling herself Argent? Why?” I asked, confused by this whole idea.

“She is, yeah. Said that since she’s now young and in a new form, not to mention she now has magic, she’ll drop the Argus Filch thing, calls herself Argent Ambition actually.” Stated Hermione and I blinked in shock at that idea.

“Wait until you see Hagrid, she’s even shorter than the two of us.” Added Ron with a grin and I shook my head, a small Hagrid? Seriously?

“Don’t tease her about that Ron, remember how she kicked Goyle through a wall yesterday for that? I’m pretty sure she turned most of the mass she had into strength.” Stated Hermione and somehow I found that funny though…

“How did she do that? I don’t think we’re that durable, right?” I asked as we got to the last staircase to the Great Hall.

“Not all of us are, though we did test it on ourselves and we’re plenty strong too. Goyle’s one of them horse ponies, you know? The ones without wings or a horn. They’re all the physically strongest of the common three types.” Explained Ron and I nodded, it would fit Crabbe and Goyle to be honest.

“Man, I wonder what I would’ve been if I didn’t turn into, well, this.” I mused, Hagrid would’ve probably been the tallest Stallion of them all.

“Pegasus.” That declaration from Ron and Hermione took me for a loop.

“Okay, why? I get that I like flying but why?” I asked, honestly confused. There were other options, right?

“A natural flier who can do stunts on a broom on first try that takes most professionals years to learn? Nope, not a chance you’d be anything else.” Stated Ron with a grin on her face and Hermione nodded, which made me in turn pout. How odd did we look, I wondered at that point.

“Harry! There you are!” Called a new voice and turning I saw another filly with horn and Wings. This one had a pink coat to a extremely wild looking mane and tail, far larger than fit on a filly a head shorter than myself. She also had some impressively large wings I realized.

“Hagrid?” I asked and the filly laughed, nodding, her brown eyes as happy and warm as ever.

“Eyup, though some call me Ruby for some reason.” She responded and I noticed that her accent had gone away, which was a bit odd.

We trotted over to her and she fell into step with us. “So, are people expecting us gender changers to all change our names?” I asked curiously and Ha- I mean, Ruby, shrugged her wing.

“No idea to be honest, but I’m glad this happened, perfect excuse to let me back in as a student. Myrtle and Argent too for that matter. Mighty nice of whatever happened to revive all the ghosts though.” Noted Hagrid and it took me a moment to realize what that meant.

“So wait, it wasn’t just this Myrtle girl who got turned from a ghost into a pony? Speaking of, who is she? I don’t think I’ve seen her all year.” I asked, these were some rather ridiculous news to me.

“Sure are, and you wouldn’t know her anyway unless you got into a girl’s bathroom before this. She was haunting the second floor girl’s bathroom you see? Particularly it’s plumbing system.” Explained Hermione and I stopped for a moment at that point.

“Wait, why did she do that? Wasn’t she free to move around the castle?” I asked, confused by the idea anyone wanted to stay in a place like that.

“I can actually explain it better.” Spoke up Hagrid, sounding sad. “Back, shortly before they broke my wand and expelled me, Myrtle was found dead in that bathroom, petrified. I was found with a… well what they considered a dangerous animal, my pet Acromantula Aragog!” She explained, the mention of the animal causing her mood to brighten almost immediately.

“They thought I was the culprit because I was accused by a Prefect, Tom Riddle. I still don’t know why they believed it, Aragog is a nice spider, and he was only a baby anyway how would he kill someone? Not to mention, how does a Acromantula petrify someone?” I blinked as Hagrid had gone a bit on a rant there, but she was right, how in the hell was a spider, which were trap making predators that use venom to kill, supposed to petrify someone?

“Right you are Ruby! I can’t remember what killed me but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a beagle-sized spider.” This drew our attention from Hagrid to another corridor where two more ponies approached, one being a fully quadrupedal filly while the other was a young Anthropomorphic girl. Both displayed horns and wings though, and considering what I understood, it made identifying them easy.

The small filly for example was covered in a dark blue coat with a white, short mane and a white tail. This was obviously Filch, or Argent as she apparently wanted to be called. The other meanwhile was a like Hermione in every aspect, including the wearing of clothes. However she had longer hair/mane and her coat was white with her mane and tail being silver. That was more than likely Myrtle.

A second after that Ron’s face snapped over to Hagrid. “BEAGLE SIZED SPIDER?!” Exclaimed Ron in horror at the idea. And I couldn’t do anything except stare up at her where she somehow had gotten herself stuck on the ceiling. With her hooves.

“So, Ron got Arachnophobia?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

“Yeah, apparently her brothers transformed her teddy bear into a spider when she was little, so I can understand it.” Admitted Hermione and I nodded, sounded like a good reason though…

“How did they do it? They’re not that much older than us.” I asked, more than a little curious to hear that.

“Probably stole a wand and just did their own thing, you know them.” Answered Argent, a lot less hostile than I was used to from this particular person but she seemed a lot happier too.

“Um, guys? A little help here?” Asked Ron and at that moment, we realized she was stuck to the ceiling. Literally. And couldn’t get off.

“I have a feeling this will be happening a lot.” I muttered as Hermione cast some spell that she likely had learned about in the library.

There was a reason why the place was sometimes considered Hermione’s actual home.

Albus Dumbledore sighed as she slipped into the Teacher’s lounge.

“Oh Albus, back from visiting miss Potter?” Asked Filius Flitwick who, while partially Goblin in ancestry, was far enough along to be a Pureblood for the transformation. He was also a Unicorn.

“She woke up a few minutes ago Filius, she even took the whole transformation quite well.” Stated the man-turned-mare as she got up onto her hindlegs and walked to the coffee mug the House Elves had produced and, using a wordless Locomotor charm, poured herself a mug.

“Well I can’t say I’m surprised, she did take the whole magic thing well from what Hagrid said.” Commented Flitwick as he decidedly didn’t look at the headmaster’s ass. Being that he was now a young stallion and quite normal sized, well it couldn’t be helped much.

“Hopefully we find some way to bring us all home, and hopefully in human form. Though I suspect this won’t be as easy as saying so.” Stated Dumbledore as she brought her mug to the table and, with a bit of work, got up on it. “We really need to adjust the chairs around here.” She added, shaking her head at how unfit for their new anatomies the castle had gotten.

“Quite true that, especially for the ones among us who can’t get off our front legs.” Agreed Flitwick, being stuck as a Quadruped certainly wasn’t his idea of fun. At least he was young again, so that was a positive in his opinion. “What about morning announcements though, Albus? Shouldn’t you go to the Great Hall?” Asked Flitwick as he took a bite from his sandwich. Luckily for all the equine appearance they had, this species appeared omnivorous for the most part, though there was a preference for salads.

“Minerva is doing those today, not like we have much to report so far seeing as we’re still working on those protective… what did you call them? Bardings?” Asked Albus, eyeing the young stallion that was her co-worker. Hormones were quite a bother.

“Yes that is what we’re calling them. We still haven’t figured out what we can put together to integrate a minor shield into them though. The chance of Muggle weaponry being used here is quite concerning.” Responded Flitwick and Dumbledore nodded, taking another sip from her mug.

It was certainly a first in the history of Hogwarts, this situation.

Chapter 2: Tales of the Vendor

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I sighed as I looked at the new uniform, or barding, that I had been given along with other students.

It covered my private bits, it was enchanted with protective wards and included what most called Saddlebags, which were far larger on the inside than on the outside and had extra wide brims for that too, and with my wings slipped through holes on the top it also felt fairly natural.

Issue was that it included a bit of a skirt. Yeah, school uniform regulations and all that, I was a girl. Yadda yadda yadda.

Hermione’s own new uniform was far more based on the original Hogwarts uniform except for armor padding, being less flowing and accomodating her wings. It was also cut for a bipedal obviously.

Ron meanwhile had almost the same uniform as myself but while mine was cut in a way to accommodate me going into bipedal mode, her own didn’t. It still left room for movement but since she wasn’t going to get up it was more enclosed than my own. The same things counted for the other three “Alicorns” as some had started calling us.

Funnily enough, the three of them had been resorted with Hagrid going to Hufflepuff this time around, Myrtle being sorted back into Ravenclaw, and Argent, who was the most vehement on her new name, had been sorted into Slytherin. So while the majority of us were Gryffindor, there were still at least one of each of the other houses present in our group.

And it was a group. We were literally the only Alicorns in the whole school.

Anyway, some other notable things included Neville finally figuring out his year long problems with magic, his wand was his father’s originally and rejected him. Now that he was a unicorn his magic was cast from his horn and it would be pretty damn funny if that one rejected him too. Ron’s own magic troubles, due to her incredibly old wand, were naturally solved by the same token. And in fact, all of us found magic just jumping to our command without much prompting.

However, shocks come aplenty these days since we had visitors.

The strangers had been first spotted htrough their entering the wards. They were made of 2 wingless/hornless ponies, 4 unicorns that were armed with a variety of guns while also wearing fairly dedicated looking armor, and 4 twin-headed cows which were pulling along a pair of covered wagons which were controlled by the ponies without wings or horns.

“Is that… some sort of caravan? And are those cows intelligent or something?” I asked, looking to Ron who looked just as confused as myself as we watched the teachers go out ot meet with the apparent traders, all of them decked out in the protective bardings that they made for themselves.

I did notice that one of the unicorns was using a scoped rifle to look around, expending a whole lot more magic than was reasonable in my books to do so. It was a mare, I think? Not entirely sure, but she was using the scope to check us out and…

“I think the unicorn with that scoped rifle just saw us.” I informed Ron and Hermione, who were at one of the windows with me.

“Geez, your eyesight definitely got way better.” Noted Ron, squinting at the obviously-a-guard pony.

I was surprised when a silvery bird suddenly flew through the window, it was clearly some sort of spell but it was Professor Dumbledore’s voice that come through. “Miss Potter, Weasley and Granger, would you mind coming down here? Our guests were interested in seeing you.” I blinked, that was a strange spell.

We ultimately made our way down, I wasn’t quite sure about flying down from the third floor and Hermione hadn’t figured out how to fly in this anthropomorphic form at all, so we took the stairs. It took us around 10 minutes to get down there but the whispers that come from the caravan were quite obvious.

“Dear Celestia, actual Alicorn fillies!” Exclaimed one of the cows with the cow’s second head nodding along, looking as gobsmacked as the first.

“Who is Celestia?” Asked Hermione curiously, looking to me of all ponies.

“No idea? Ah, professor Dumbledore, what is going on?” I asked, noting how the other three had also come out of the castle now.

“Well Miss Potter, apparently our guests have some knowledge of your current forms, or at least what pony variant you are.” Explained Dumbledore to us and I looked at them curiously.

“Well, the filly certainly doesn’t seem to know something common like that boss.” Spoke up one of the guard ponies, which admittedly was kinda an obvious descriptor.

“Well, we’re not really here to talk but if ya got some grub for us to eat we’ll fill ya lot in since you’re apparently not from around ‘ere.” Stated the mare the guard spoke to, which apparently made her the boss of this group.

“Right this way ma’am, we were having lunch when you come within the wards.” Stated Dumbledore before leading turning to lead us inside.

“I’ll unfasten Mary and Bella boss, go ahead.” Spoke up the second, I think Merchant, pony and the “Boss” nodded before following Dumbledore inside with us on their heels with two of the guards staying behind with the caravan while the remaining two come along.

Solid Matter had been to a lot of places in the Wasteland, including this particular area on Route 44.

There were no settlements around here, just a straight road. Or at least it had been. Instead now sat a completely out-of-place castle surrounded by green fields, a healthy forest and inhabited by ponies, mostly foals though. The young mares and stallions in charge were also interesting, as they included Pegasi alongside Unicorns and Earth Ponies. But the biggest surprise were the Alicorn fillies.

Four of them looked like normal ponies while two were tall, gangly creatures with monkey-like hands and a clearly made-for-bipedal-locomotion body. Being led inside the castle so casually also spoke of their unfamiliarity with the Wasteland, though she was kind of glad that she was an honest trader, not a Raider or Slaver, that would be bad.

She also saw a lot of moving paintings, they weren’t screens since they weren’t glowing from within and the castle looked extremely old-fashioned with candles and no electricity. What was however even more interesting were the ponies depicted within, or the lack of ponies. While there were some pony-like creatures in some of the paintings they weren’t the focus of it, but the mount of a bipedal creature in flowing garments or armor in some cases. They looked like the bipedal foals were all a mixture of their species and ponies.

The Alicorns also didn’t draw anywhere near the attention that her own party did, with all the foals wearing the same basic uniform with colored highlights in four patterns, red and gold, green and silver, blue and copper and yellow with brown.

“Say, ah, what’s with the colors?” Asked Sure Shot, one of her Caravan guards as he looked to the white filly with the red and blue mane who blinked a moment.

“Huh? Colors? Oh wait, you mean our house colors?” She asked and the wording seemed off, but on a nod she shrugged. “They represent what house we’re in, students at Hogwarts get sorted into one of the four houses, those being Gryffindor, that red and gold, Slytherin, which are Green and Silver, Ravenclaw who have blue with Copper, and finally Hufflepuff, which are yellow with brown.” She explained, which helped explain the pattern, but not why there were those “Houses”.

“So, and what are those houses for?” Asked Sure Shot, again. He was a curious Unicorn but that helped them more often than not.

“Honestly, I don’t know. I think they’re mostly hold-overs, as they were established by the Hogwarts Founders. The sorting happens based on characteristics or something, like Gryffindor are brave, Slytherins are cunning and prefer Purebloods, Ravenclaws want knowledge and Hufflepuffs value loyalty.” Explained the Potter filly as she didn’t seem to worried.

“What do you mean “Pureblood”? Some kind of selective breeding?” Asked Trigger Strike, her other guard, looking at the filly with a raised eyebrow.

It was, however, the white with red filly who spoke up. “Not really, it’s this weird believe some families got that marrying Muggles, that’s our word for non-magical humans, degrades their “Blood”. My own family is technically pureblood too but that’s just because we haven’t had a Muggle-born for a few generations.” Explained the filly, not at all perturbed sounding.

Then the bipedal 2 shades of brown girl spoke up. “Mind you, it had some effects on us when we got here, all the Purebloods are fully turned into ponies and can’t get up onto just their hindlegs while Muggle-born like myself remain mostly humans and Half-Bloods like Harry can stand on two legs but look the same as Purebloods.” She explained and the first filly, as if in demonstration, stood up and continued walking on two legs, which was surprising.

“Man, so you were like the ponies in those paintings? Or humans I mean?” Asked Sure Shot, which was a good question.

“More or less, though we didn’t run around in that kind of clothes. Also, Ron, Hagrid, “Argent” and myself weren’t female before this mess, Hagrid and Argent also were faculty members.” Added Potter and got a dirty look from the blue filly.

“I take it Argent doesn’t like remembering that? What were their roles? Were they teachers?” Asked Trigger Strike as the blue filly raised her nose and pranced a bit away. Sure had some problems that one.

“No they weren’t, Argent was a Squib, that is someone who is born to a magical family but has no magic, and worked as the Janitor here basically. And Hagrid got kicked out of the school because he was framed for Myrtel’s death because he had a giant spider for a pet.” Explained Potter and then stopped when the three Wasteland Ponies tripped on their own hooves.

“Wait, I think one of the Alicorns was supposed to be named Myrtel, how is she alive?” Asked Solid Matter, speaking up to the filly finally who flinched a bit.

“Sorry, I got so used to people knowing about this kind of stuff. Back on Earth, when a wizards or witch died a sort of imprint of them was left behind, what we call Ghosts. Myrtel was one of those after she was petrified by some monster. When we got sent here, all the ghosts got kind of reincarnated as ponies around the same age group as the teachers, except for Myrtel who become the same as us. Funny we come up with that Alicorn term here too.” Commented Potter, quite a chatty one there.

“Well, I have to say I’m glad for them if that happened. Being a ghost probably isn’t fun.” Commented Sure Shot with a grin of his own. “By the way kid, what’s your full name? I only know the headmistress called you Miss Potter so that’s your family name, right?” Asked the guard and, yeah, that was a good question.

“Ah, my first name is Harry, though I’ve been told I got a second name based on my dad, James so it’s Harry James Potter.” Explained the Filly and even in Solid Matter’s ears that name sounded masculine, definitely not one that you would give a filly.

“You’re not going to keep that name are you? I mean, no offense but it just doesn’t seem to fit with you being a girl and all.” Stated Trigger Strike and the filly pulled back her ears, a clear sign of her discomfort.

“I don’t want to change it, aside from the fact I hope we can go back home at some point it’s one of only two things I’ve got from my parents, the other is my dad’s invisibility cloak.” She responded and that took Solid Matter by surprise.

“Wait, are you saying you’re an orphan?” Asked Solid Matter, surprised by this but the filly nodded.

“Yes, my parents died when I was a year old because some evil wizard, calling himself Voldemort”, at the mention of that name almost everyone within earshot flinched, “wanted to kill me. For some reason his spell rebounded off of me after he killed my parents though and last I saw him he had possessed our old Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Who’s dead now.” Explained Harry and that sounded… strangely well informed.

“How did you find that out? Did they just tell all the students?” Asked Trigger Strike, and Solid Matter had to wonder if their conversation was going to be just with the filly.

“Nope, we were there! Well, Harry was at the last bit.” Spoke up the white filly with the red mane, coming up beside them. “Hi, Ron Weasley, youngest son-turned-oldest daughter of Molley and Arthur Weasley.” Added Ron, still a bit awkward on the whole girl thing though she did at least keep it in mind.

“So, you saw who did that professor in?” Asked Trigger Strike and Harry had to giggle at that. It was kind of telling what was actually the truth.

“Sorry, no. Professor Dumbledore got to where we were only after I smashed a Philosopher’s Stone into his head so hard it broke. He- Ah, I mean she, said it vaporized him on the spot when it exploded and we think that may have been what sent us here.” Explained Harry and that was quite a tale there.

“Philosopher’s Stone, like that old legend about how the Zebra had been trying to use their alchemy to make some kind of stone to give them an elixir of life?” Asked Solid Matter, she had been to enough Ministry hubs to have read on the espionage reports regarding this.

“I guess so.” Answered Harry, cocking her head to the side. “It was made by a man named Nicholas Flamel, a French Alchemist who worked with professor Dumbledore on a few things. He’s been around for centuries but I’m not sure how much longer he can live without the stone. It’s also the only one ever made from what we found out.” Explained Harry and wasn’t that a nugget of information.

“Heh, and you used it as a bludgeon? Why didn’t you use magic?” Asked Trigger Strike and then got a flat look from the filly.

“I’m a first year student who was raised by non-magical relatives who hate anything that is in any way shape or form different from them, especially magic, and I wasn’t exactly average in height for my age of 11 years either.” Responded the Alicorn filly and, given that all the portraits were obviously of adults, that made it quite obvious that she wasn’t in any way able to do that.

“Touche. So, you said this is a school, a school for magic, right? What do you guys learn around here?” Asked Sure Shot, changing topics to something else.

Harry, deciding obviously to drop the topic too, looked to the ceiling in contemplation. “Well, I only know what first-years learn. There is Defense Against the Dark Arts, which basically deals with defending in magical combat but we weren’t learning much from professor Quirrel. And we don’t have a teacher for it anymore either.” Began Harry and this made them flinch a bit.

“We also have Charms, which deals with non-combative magic spells, like the Levitation Charm, Wingardium Leviosa and the light making charm, Lumos as well as it’s counter spell the Nox charm. There is also Transfiguration, which deals with transforming things from one thing to another, so like making a rat into a teacup for example but those are temporary.” Explained Harry and that sounded a bit defensive.

“Next is Astronomy where you study the stars and constellations, which honestly is the most Muggle thing in the curriculum.” Explained Harry and some snickers were her answer for that statement. “Um, then we also have Potions which, well, it’s about making potions. Kind of like what I heard Muggle schools do later than what I attended in science class. Mind you the teacher there is Professor Snape, he doesn’t like me at all. We actually thought HE was the one after the Stone.” Explained Harry and Solid Matter got the impression that there was something rather nasty between them.

“To be fair Harry, he’s been a lot more mellow recently with you, though I don’t know why.” Spoke up the brown colored biped filly Hermione.

“Well, yeah but I’m not sure why. Anyway, moving on we also have Herbology which is about the study of magical plants. Our friend Neville excels at that and… well then there is just Flying lessons with Madam Hooch, which used to be about flying on an enchanted broom. I kind of skipped ahead to playing a sport on said broom. A year early.” Stated Harry and Ron snickered at that.

“Yup, youngest Seeker in half a century’s worth of Hogwarts history, I was there when Harry dove for a falling Remembral and caught it without crashing into the ground on his first lesson.” Added Ron proudly for her friend, which was sounding quite impressive given they weren’t natural fliers.

“What’s a Seeker exactly? And what is that sport?” Asked Solid Matter, interested in hearing such a bizarre word, but then they finally reached the doors of the Great Hall.

“Maybe while we eat we can talk about it some more?” Suggested Harry and was met with agreement from the others.

Entering they were told to sit where they wanted and seeing Harry, Ron and Hermione heading for one table which was decked out in red and gold while the other three split up to the remaining tables, they headed there themselves.

“Haven’t changed the furniture here have you?” Asked Sure Shot, eyeing the clearly made for the non-ponies benches and tables.

“To be fair we had other concerns, like getting clothes for everyone.” Admitted Hermione as she sat down herself.

As Solid Matter turned her gaze from the humano-form pony back to the table she was startled to see food there where there had been none before. “Where did that food come from?” Asked Solid Matter, looking at them suspiciously before a chorus of “Locomotor” droned around the hall and various eating utensils flew into the air to work on getting food on the plates.

Looking over she saw Harry taking a number of different things, including a rather impressive helping of meat. “You’re not perturbed by the food just appearing?” Asked Solid Matter, looking at the filly, and wondering if she was at all concerned with the meat.

“Not really, I figure whoever cooks just teleports them up here for us or something. Luckily they can replicate the ingredients or we may have had a problem here.” Explained Harry and that caught her attention, they had a way to replicate fresh food stuffs?

“Actually it’s the House Elves of Hogwarts who do it.” Spoke up another young stallion who looked similar to Ron and sat next to another who looked identical to him but while one was white with red mane, the other was red with a white mane. “By the way, I’m Fred Weasley, this is George Weasley.” Introduced the colt himself and the one next to him.

“Stop joking you two, we all already know it’s the other way around, thank god you got color-coded.” Rebutted Ron, before stuffing her mouth with a way too large piece of steak. And not in any dignified manner befitting a Alicorn. Nope, like a colt brought up by a feral tribe of Hellhounds instead of ponies. Or what he imagined a Raider eating something would look like.

“Don’t mind Ron, she doesn’t know manners.” This statement come from Hermione, who looked and sounded defeated.

“I can see that.” Muttered Solid Matter and looked around again, seeing quite a lot of students using the same trick, including the two apparent twins except… “Wait, how are you using a spell? You’re an Earth Pony.” Asked Solid Matter, looking at one of the twins, the one called Fred, who had the same spell going.

“Hey, just ‘cause I don’t have a fancy horn doesn’t mean I can’t use my wand to cast spells.” Shot the colt back, lifting up a hoof and showing that, put there with some tape, was a clearly ornate stick. A wand, if the colt was right.

“Wait, you mean everyone who isn’t a Unicorn here can cast spells with sticks?” Asked Solid Matter in surprise, not having expected something like that.

“No, everyone here owns a specially made magical focus known as a wand, made of a combination of magically imbued wood with a core made from a magical substance, generally a part from a magical creature. Most of us have stuff like Unicorn tail hair, the kind you find in the Forbidden Forest, they’re pretty big but not sapient, Tail Feather of a phoenix, the headmistress for example has a phoenix familiar, or the heartstring of a deceased dragon.” Explained Hermione as way of explaining to them.

“We do have a surplus of wands nobody uses anymore, since, well, unicorns and us six.” Stated Harry at that point. “Though it took most of the others a while to figure out how to cast with their horns, it was harder for the six of us to figure out how not to.” Added Harry a moment later and that got some laughter out of the Caravan workers.

At that point the remaining members of the caravan, including the two Brahmin, come into the hall and while the latter two were somewhat perturbed by the meat here, one of the older ponies from the school come over with bails of hay and Alfalfa for them, very healthy Alfalfa, the kind you see in some old pre-war textbooks rather than the stuff that grew after the Megaspells.

“Hey boss, I think I want to quit and settledown here.” Said Trot Alot as he come over.

“I doubt anyone wouldn’t.” Responded Solid Matter before remembering something. “Oh right, we haven’t introduced ourselves yet, right? I’m Solid Matter, I own the All that Matters Caravan. This is my employee Trot Alot, the two Brahmin over there are Mary Days and Bella Takes. As for our guard friends, they’re Trigger Strike, Sure Shot, Kaboom Alot and Alpha Strike.” Explained Solid Matter and got plenty of weird looks for it.

“Okay, you have some of the weirdest names I’ve heard in my life. And I attend a school called Hogwarts.” Stated Ron at that point and got laughter from the six Wastelanders.

“You’re ones to talk, Ron Weasley, I can’t figure out what your name even means.” Responded Solid Matter, all too amused by the disparity between naming conventions.

“Her full name’s actually Ronald, it’s a common name in English speaking countries actually. Same for Harry.” Spoke up Hermione at that point, which meant that it was just a name the parents liked.

“And Ron’s parents were kind of fishing for names I guess.” Spoke up Harry, drawing their attention. “She has five older brothers and one younger sister, two of her brothers have already finished school while her younger sister is… She’s supposed to attend Hogwarts next semester, isn’t she?” Asked Harry, turning to Ron who nodded with a frown.

“Yeah, no idea how mom and dad are doing right now, with all of us missing and stuff.” Stated Ron with a frown on her face.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure professor Dumbledore will find some way to bring us back or at least make a portal home or something.” Assured Hermione her friend who nodded, though not looking all that happy about it.

Somehow, Solid Matter felt that this would be a very strange trade hub soon.

It was an hour or two after we had gotten to lunch when I was outside, with a lot of other students, looking at all the wares that the caravan had been carrying.

They ranged from various firearms, a lot of them looked very much like what Muggle would use though some were older “Magical Energy Weapons” as the labels put on them said. There were laser and plasma pistols as well as rifles, a lot of pistols and rifles, ammo of all different kinds, and so on.

“Man, the ponies around here use a lot of Muggle-like tech don’t they?” Asked Ron as she used Locomotor to lift one of the guns up and-

“Ron don’t point that at your face!” I exclaimed and caught the handgun before she could drop it, or fire it accidentally into her own eye.

“You kids never had any gun control lessons?” Asked Mary as she trotted over to us, she was one of the two-headed cows, or Brahmin, who were part of the caravan.

“No, we’re just kids and unlike the US, the UK has some very strict gun control laws. Not to mention that wizards generally don’t use guns at all even if they’re adults.” Explained Hermione as she took the gun from my own Locomotor and put it back where it had been.

“Sounds heavenly, and if this grass is anything to go by probably should be called Paradise.” Stated Bella with a chuckle, and I could believe her. She and her kind were what had become of a normal population of cows over generations in the magical radiation of the Wasteland. There was none of that but naturally the genetic mutations of her kind wouldn’t go away.

“Yeah, unless you’re near Number 4 Privet Drive, then being anything but Dursley-tier normal makes it hell.” I responded, to me this place was a lot better, I didn’t need to go back like I would have at the end of the school year.

“What is a “Dursley”? Are they a Raider gang?” Asked Mary, both heads cocking to different sides and I realized it was the second, smaller cowhead who had spoken.

“Erm, I don’t know what you mean with Raiders but… They’re my relatives, and legal guardians. Namely my maternal Aunt Petunia Dursley, her husband Vernon Dursley and my cousin, who is their son, Dudley Dursley. And they hate magic. I don’t think even the Witch Hunters in Salem Massachusetts or during the Witch Hunts in Europe hated it anywhere near to how much they loathed it.” I explained, sighing at the memory of them. Sure they hadn’t done anything that could be proven later on, but it was abuse, I knew that.

“Oh dearie, it’s alright, if you’re here they can’t hurt you right?” Asked Mary, her big meaty nose pushing into me and I chuckled, nodding. I liked the Brahmin, they were smart like, well, ponies I guess, but they were also big and had that friendly big animal vibe to them.

“Yeah, as bad as the outside world from the Wards is, to me this is like paradise, I’m stuck here, and here is nowhere near the Dursleys.” I stated, smiling at the idea, a life without the Dursleys. I could live as a girl if it meant being far away from them. With my friends, even if I found it kind of funny how much of a 180 degrees turn Argent had made in personality, she was a friend now too.

“Say, Bella, do you think maybe...” Mary interrupted my reverie, looking to her, as I had heard, cousin and herdmate.

“Maybe, they have some weird magic here, maybe they can make use of it.” Agreed Bella, the two of them seeming to know what the other meant.

“Say, dear, can you look in my saddle, there should be a Arcana-tech device with a big screen and a band to fasten it to your leg in it.” Asked Mary, laying down so I could get up easier.

“Um, okay?” I asked, not sure about this but I climbed up on her and opened it. It took me a moment to find what she meant but the description was kind of unique to one item inside. “This one?” I asked, holding out the strange leather and metal device in my Locomotor spell, showing it to her.

“Yes, that’s the one. We’ve been searching for someone who would buy this old Pip-Buck 3000 but the thing is damaged, barely even plays the radio. It mostly just takes up space to be honest but maybe you can repair it?” Suggested Mary and I jumped down, looking at the thing.

“Okay? Hey, Hermione? How did that spell go again you used to repair my glasses on the train?” I asked and Hermione blinked, then smiled.

“It’s Reparo, wait a moment.” She come over, looking at the device before drawing the wand motion with her hand. “Re-Pa-Ro.” She chanted, a burst of magic coming from her horn.

As it hit the Pip-Buck, the damaged screen mended itself, the various cracks in the device did too, and soon after the screen lit up in green. “Whoa! You got the Pip-Buck working?” Asked Solid Matter suddenly and I jumped in the air out of surprise.

Turning around I found the mare, an Earth Pony as we had been informed was her kind of pony called, looking at us. “Ah, yes miss Matter, the mending Charm is a second-year charm technically but, well, I got a bit excited before school started.” Explained Hermione, walking over to have at least one person who was on eye-level with the mare.

“Well, I did promise myself I’d give it to whoever can make it work, kind of useless junk to us, so I’d say you can keep it. Heh, you wouldn’t also have a replication spell would you?” Asked Solid Matter and I looked to Hermione, and she looked to me.

Two hours later I stood with a Pip-Buck around my right foreleg/arm, Hermione the same, and Ron and Ruby, Hagrid decided to go with that name from now on, yes, were handing out more to the students while in the background professor Flitwick stood, dusting off his left forehoof with his breath, quite satisfied with himself.

Meanwhile the Caravan was now leaving, with over 200 Pip-Buck 3000s in mint condition, various enchanted pieces of armor, warded foodstuffs and their saddle crates expanded to the size of a warehouse with featherweight charms. Not to mention various books for first and second year spells.

Yeah we had traded a lot. I won’t lie.

Chapter 3: Development of the Lands

View Online

“Good morning my little ponies! This is DJ-Pon3 coming to you once again from Tenpony Tower! And what a beautiful day it is, even if the sun never comes through the clouds, a little bird has sung to me that something amazing has happened!

“Over way east, in the Ponston Wasteland a patch of green has appeared, one several times larger than any settlement in the wasteland! At it’s center is a school set within a castle and it’s inhabitants are magic practicing travelers from Another World!

“Yes ponies young and old, foreigners to our very reality have come here and brought their unique magic with them.” DJ-Pon3, a mysterious pony who broadcasts the most popular radio show in the Wasteland.

I had been listening to… him? Her? Well, it’s not clear, they speak in mannerisms like a she but the voice was male. At the same time how hard can voice modulating magic be for someone with such instinctual magic like a Unicorn?

“So, enjoying your radio?” Asked Seamus Finnigan, he was one of my classmates in Gryffindor and turned into a Pegasus with a gray coat and pink mane. Interestingly his tail was blue.

“Yeah, haven’t you tried your own?” I asked, knowing that we’ve been producing those Pip-Buck’s in the hundreds so far thanks to replication charms.

“Not much, it’s kind of fun at times but they only have a few songs.” Responded Seamus, fiddling with his own wrist computer. Because what else were those things? “See anything?” He asked, and I sighed.

I just had to volunteer for overwatch. Grabbing some clouds from up above and making small cushions to lay on was nice and all but being one third Pegasus meant that I was also perfectly capable of being a lookout for the school.

It had a lot of the teachers spooked how there were bandits, called Raiders, out in the Wasteland and with word apparently spreading about us, who was to say nothing would come our way? In any case I took my binoculars and checked the horizon again, sweeping my sight across the boundary of Hogwarts. “No, nothing so far. I really hope it stays this way.” I admitted, I didn’t like the idea of Hogwarts being besieged or something, even if, as far as we knew, we had the air superiority in every respect, having the largest Pegasi population below the clouds.

“Well, it’s nice we’re not getting attacked, say, how was moving into the girl’s dorm?” I almost dropped the binoculars when he asked that and turned to him in disbelieve that he would ask that. “What? You were a guy until less than a month ago, I’d ask Ron, or I guess it’s Rainy now, but the last guy who asked got written up for harassment by Percy.” He argued and I face-hoofed.

“Sean please tell me you’re not already after girls, I’m 11 years old, biologicall 8, and I’m not even sure if I even like girls, boys, both or neither.” I responded and he blinked, not expecting that. “Besides, I was more distracted with the fact that I’m stuck with a skirt for being a girl and that I can be happy to not be naked.” I added shortly after and he chuckled at that, not sure if he was doing so in embarrassment or at my expense.

“Alright, I get it. On another topic, do you think they’ll find a way home? I would really like to see my parents again, even if I’m stuck like this.” He asked, sounding worried.

“If I’m honest, I don’t know. And I wouldn’t mind staying here, sure it’s a blasted wasteland but I can stay at Hogwarts over the summer.” I responded, continuing to listen to the radio as the DJ spoke about a recent sacking of a Slaver town called Old Appleloosa in his area of the Wasteland, pretty far from Ponston from what we had gathered.

“Hey I’m curious, why don’t you want to go back to wherever you grew up? I mean, you’re famous, so wouldn’t it be kind of nice living there?” He asked and it took me a moment to realize that no, I shouldn’t shove him off the cloud for saying that. I had a bad habit of forgetting that not everyone knew of how I grew up, I didn’t like talking about it.

“Trust me, if you met my relatives you wouldn’t want to go back there. I didn’t know I was famous until Ha- I mean, Ruby showed up to give me my letter after they spent a week trying to run away from them so I wouldn’t become a wizard. They’re… honestly I can’t think of another word other than Magiphobic, or racist would probably also work. They’re, like, the Muggle equivalent of Pureblood supremacists.” I explained and that got Seamus to shudder at that thought.

“That bad huh? You sure you’re not exaggerating?” He asked and honestly? He was asking me to shove him off the cloud.

“No I’m not, before the letters I was forced to sleep in a closet under the stairs, they only moved me into the spare bedroom that had been Dudley’s toy dump because of them fearing what happens if someone actually read the address these letters were sent to. And less said about Margory Dursley and her hyper aggressive Bull Terriers the better.” I responded, flipping onto my back with a sigh, closing my eyes.

“Why am I imagining them being hit by a colorful nuclear explosion?” I asked, blinking for a moment to realize, I may have been a bit too interested in the idea of Balefire Bombs and how well they would go with Privet Drive #4.

“Man you got some issues, I wonder if anyone on the faculty is good with psychology.” Muttered Seamus, giving me funny looks as I tried to calm down, he had a point on that but still.

“I wonder if they can get a radio transmitter going, would be nice if we could report in without flying over.” I changed the topic, yes. To be fair, seeing as we were in a situation where our survival was on the line if everyone didn’t do what they could to help, made this whole thing a bit complicated. We had the means of production for our own weapons and ammo, after all replication works here, even if magical batteries had to be recharged manually, and repairs were easy.

More over the teachers had raised the old fortifications of the castle and erected a barrier around the school, which was for the moment taking the form of a high wall with small gateways into the territory, including a large, by Pegasi standards, hole above the Quidditch pitch if we ever got in contact with any Pegasi and they weren’t hostile.

Not a high chance, but a chance nonetheless.

Naturally that meant that we were mainly watching the gateways on the ground, which made things a lot easier on our part let me tell you. And if you wonder why I say territory, it’s what Hogwarts had basically turned the area into, our territory. We maintain control of it, it’s the school’s wards that maintain the grounds in their current state, we inhabit this place in general.

Basically we’re a faction here, a sort of bridgehead of Magical Brittain in a sense.

“Well, it would help a lot. Especially with that caravan heading our way.” Stated Seamus and I almost fell off the cloud before rolling over the other way and getting my binoculars on.

Sure enough, another caravan had gotten to the gate, it was a visible gatehouse for the barrier basically with a smaller barrier holding it closed. “Well, can you go report it? I go see who they are.” I told Seamus before taking my own rifle, slinging it on my back and flying off to where the caravan, which as far as I could tell wasn’t Solid Matter’s caravan, was looking at the barrier.

I wondered what they had with them, trade would be nice.

Soaring Hopes stared at the strangely made barrier before them, it was quite obvious that this was the famed “Hogwarts” she had heard about, the otherworldly school that had claimed this area where they had landed.

The fact they had erected a barrier as a sort of fortification, additionally to more traditional stonework walls and fortifications, spoke a lot about the dedication to the defense of the area they showed.

“Flier on 12 o’clock!” Reported Starry Swirl, her second in command as he stood atop the caravan cart he was piloting, the unicorn buck holding his binoculars with telekinesis.

“A Pegasus or one of those Alicorn Fillies?” Asked Soaring, turning to him and wondering who this may be.

“Hmm… Eyup, it’s a alicorn, white with red mane and blue streaks in it. Got a nice little rifle too.” Reported Starry Swirl, which Soaring soon enough saw for herself as the filly come close enough for her to see well before landing and trotting over, her wings tucked in at her sides.

“Hi, erm, can I help you?” Asked the filly, she was tiny! She had to be incredibly young.

“Yes, I’m Soaring Hopes, we’re traders from the Crimson Caravan company and heard that the ponies here had some interesting services to offer. We have quite a few items we can offer in exchange and a lot of spare caps for trade too.” Explained Soaring, smiling at the small filly who, if she were to go out on a limp, had been keeping guard over this entrance.

“Oh, well, alright. Can you please wait a moment? My partner has gone to the castle to get someone here, I’m just the scouting party basically.” Explained the filly and that got some giggles from Boistrous and Betty, a Alicorn as a scout was quite a bit heavy.

“It’s alright dear, what’s your name?” Asked Soaring, noting that the filly was quite mature in her mannerisms, being quite calm for her age.

“Well, I’m supposed to say Rose Evans, changing my name because of the whole gender thing is still weird.” Muttered the filly, now identified as Rose albeit it was apparent that she hadn’t been a filly before coming here. The rumors had been talking about some of the students and staff turning into ponies of the opposite gender for example.

“Oh? What was your name before then?” Asked Soaring, settling down in her seat, a bit of conversation would be quite nice while they waited, the castle was quite a ways off after all.

“Harry Potter, the whole Rose Evans thing was because my mom’s family had a habit of naming their girls after flowers and, well, Evans is my mom’s maiden name.” Explained Rose with a shrug, not bothering to take her rifle into a guard position. She was quite confident, it seemed, in the barrier between them.

“I see, are you adjusting well at least? I heard some rumors about the race the people here were before coming here and it sounds like quite a change.” Asked Soaring, hearing the Brahmin twins settle down themselves.

“It’s been fine, walking on all fours is quite easy for me but I like to at least try and not be that far down most of the time so I do tend to get on two legs when I talk to most people.” She explained and that got a raised eyebrow, which she noticed.

“Ah right, you probably don’t know that. Well, there are three distinct levels of pony form we all assumed. Those of us who come from families with very few non-wizard relatives or very distant one at least, are basically pure ponies, so they are obligate quadrupeds.

“Those who have come from entirely non-wizard families but have been born with magic, Muggle-born, are almost entirely human but their bodies took being a pony and sprinkled it all over the form basically so they have the heads of ponies, any related appendages and their feet are hooves too. Also, fur.

“Finally we have those like me, who are half and half basically. Half-Bloods, got the same anatomy like Purebloods but we can get up on our hindlegs and can walk easily on them.” Explained Rose and Soaring found that one quite interesting. It also tickled her curiousity on how that difference actually come about, the whole Pureblood, Half-Blood and Muggle-born thing sounded awfully racist to her.

“But otherwise you just have a mixture of all the pony races?” She asked the filly, curious about that.

“Yup, though it does make figuring out how we can play Quidditch a bit complicated, what with most of us having hooves instead of hands. Half-Bloods actually are the majority among us students you see?” She asked and that was an interesting tidbit of information. She didn’t seem to be concerned with keeping that secret at all, which was kind of funny.

“What is Quidditch?” Asked Starry Swirl and, yeah that was a good question.

“Oh, it’s a sport. Two teams, seven players on each team, and there are four balls. The teams are divided into 1 Keeper who guards the goalposts, three chasers whose job it is to try and throw one of the four balls through one of the three goal post rings, the one called the Quaffel, which scores you ten points. There are also two Beaters who use a club to beat off two other balls, the “Bludgers” which are wooden balls covered in an iron shell, into the other team.

“Finally we have the Seeker whose entire job it is to find and catch the fourth and final ball, the Golden Snitch. The game only ends when the Snitch is caught by one of the Seekers and it awards 150 points to the team that caught it. I myself am the Gryffindor Seeker, though I haven’t played more than two games since I’m a first-year student and, well, there are three games each house participates in, one against each of the other house teams. The third for us was kind of canceled when we got here. Like all the classes for the rest of the school year.” Explained Rose and Soaring had to wonder just how brutal that sport had to be if there was something like this.

“By the way, can I ask you something miss Hopes?” Asked Rose and Soaring blinked, wasn’t that a polite little filly.

“Sure, but call me Soaring, Miss Hopes is my mother.” She responded, chuckling at that bit of a clishe statement.

“Oh, alright, then call me Rose or Harry, only the teachers call me miss insert-last-name-here. Though most have already changed to Evans.” Soaring chuckled at that response herself, she liked the girl. “Anyway, ah, I was told that Pegasi aren’t normally down here, how come you’re not above the clouds?” Oh, that question was a good one, Soaring had to admit.

“Well aren’t you asking the good questions? To answer you, I’m a “Dashite”, a Pegasus who abandoned the Enclave. Couldn’t stand sitting around on the clouds all day or to endure their stupid propaganda. Got my Cutie Mark burned off for the troubles.” She explained, turning a bit to show her flank which bore the burnbrand in the shape of Rainbow Dash’s Cutie Mark.

This made Rose flinch. “Ow I, sorry if it’s a sore topic. I also got a scar but mine’s nowhere near that big. And I’m not sure if I still have it in this form.” Explained Rose and got curious glances from the Caravan members. “When I was a year old my home was attacked by an evil wizard, calling himself the “Dark Lord Voldemort”. He killed my parents and then tried to kill me too but the spell rebounded on him, destroying his body. From that I got a scar on my forehead, it’s in the shape of a zigzag line.” Explained Rose and that was quite interesting to hear.

“Sorry for your loss kid, must’ve been quite traumatizing.” Stated Soaring but Rose shook her head, which was odd.

“I can’t remember that night, don’t worry. My life until I come to this school was worse. I don’t know how it is with ponies but baby humans can’t form long-term memories until we’re around 3 years old so, to me? That isn’t even a memory.” Explained Rose with a shrug and Soaring couldn’t help a small smile at the irony. Not remembering your own parents would be a curse, but here it was also a blessing in disguise.

“That’s a mighty long time to mature enough for that.” Commented Boistrous Bellow’s secondary head, looking to the filly while her primary head was looking around for raiders.

“Well, yeah? Humans are kind of some of the slowest aging animals back on Earth. It takes like 20 years or so for someone to mature fully and in the modern era the average lifespan is like 90 years with 120 years being the oldest I know of. I’m 11 and at my age we’re not even hitting puberty usually though I heard there are outliers there.” Explained Rose and got some raised eyebrows, because this filly looked quite a bit younger.

Naturally she wasn’t dumb and could tell their thoughts. “Madam Pomfrey, the school nurse, says me and the others were regressed to around 8 years old, like all the students were turned back to 11 and all the faculty members are now something like 17.” Explained Rose and yeah, that about fit her size and physical development too.

“Well, how old were the teachers?” Asked Starry Swirl, raising an eyebrow.

“Um… I don’t know? I think professor Dumbledore fought someone named Grindlewald around the time of World War 2 which happened in the early-1940s or something and when we got here it was 1992? And he, ah, she was an adult back then already?” Explained the filly, and wasn’t that quite a leap.

Suddenly, before any more questions could be asked, a gout of fire errupted behind the filly who jumped up before the fire went out again, depositing three beings. First was a young pegasus colt with a gray coat, pink mane and blue tail, next to him was a young unicorn mare with her own gray coat but both mane and tail being long and white. The third was, however, a bit shocking. That being a red and gold bird with flames still licking at it, though the bird was quite old looking.

“Ah, hi professor Dumbledore, how did you get here?” Asked Rose a bit surprised and Soaring Hopes had to wonder too, that wasn’t any teleportation she had seen so far. But that was unmistakeably a phoenix. Not a Rad-Phoenix, a normal, proper and healthy phoenix.

“That my dear girl, is thanks to Fawkes here, phoenix magic is quite potent, particularly in the healing and apparition department. Phoenix apparition can even bypass the wards of Hogwarts.” Explained the unicorn mare, now identified as the old man-turned-young mare to the filly. “Now, I understand that you are our visitors? I hope miss Evans hasn’t been rude to you?” Asked the mare and Soaring couldn’t help a chuckle.

“Not at all, she’s been most entertaining while speaking with us, and very polite. Anyway, I am Soaring Hopes, leader of this caravan. We’re part of the Crimson Caravan company and come here to, well, trade.” Explained Soaring, indicating her fellows with her wings.

“I see, well I believe miss Evans can very well be trusted, so if she seems to like you I’ll allow it. Please wait while I lower the gate, since I have to go to the Wardstone of Hogwarts to adjust the shield.” Explained Dumbledore before erupting again into fire of the phoenix.

“Ouch, my eyes.” Muttered Rose, rubbing at her eyes and shaking her head.

“You okay there Har- I mean, Rose?” Asked the colt, going over the younger filly as she stood up. He was a pegasus and that just made it this whole endeavor more interesting.

“Yeah I’m fine, just looked right at him when that fire flash got off.” Explained Rose but moments later the barrier holding the gate closed vanished. “Ah, looks like you guys can come in. Seamus can you go back to the guard post? I think I’ll handle leading them to the market place we set up.” Asked Rose and her companion nodded before flying off to what appeared to be a cloud.

“Well, using a cloud as a watch tower is quite a good idea for Pegasi.” Commented Soaring as she jumped from the cart, with Betty leading her sister inside and Starry Swirl come down to ground level too before the little congregation moved forward.

“So, how come you guys don’t have any guards? Solid Matter and her caravan had four of those.” Asked Rose, sounding curious.

“The road between here and Novac are controlled by the Blood Trotters Tribe, they keep Raiders at bay if you can pay their toll so we don’t have trouble going around here. I heard though they want to send a representative here at some point.” Explained Soaring, not seeing trouble to share this with the student of this school who kept to the ground with them.

“So ponies live in tribes then?” She asked, curious about that bit of info.

“Basically, most larger settlements belong to a tribe or two. After Equestria went to hell 200 years ago society basically went to tribalism for survival.” Explained Starry as they followed filly along the rather hilly countryside of the other world that had been transplanted here.

“Huh, that makes sense I guess. Makes me wonder why everyone we’ve met so far speaks English though.” Admitted the filly as they crested a hill and saw a small collection of tents not far. There were a number of fillies and colts there, supervised by a handful of older ponies. Not that many to be honest, nowhere near the number of foals.

“Well that’s a nice little tradestation you guys made here.” Noted Soaring with a smile as they began to trot down to the nestled together tents and tables.

“Thanks, we still want to make some more permanent stuff but security has priority.” Explained the filly with a small smile on her face as they trotted down and then between the stalls. “Hey Hermione, can you help us here? These guys are more caravan traders and they’ll need to set up their wares, I think?” Called Rose, looking to them for a moment and getting a nod.

From further in the tent collection come at that point another being, bipedal, fairly tall, with dark brown coat and bushy, lighter brown mane and tail. She, for that was quite evident from her face, also wore a form appropriate version of the same uniform as Rose and had both a horn and wings.

“Sure Rose, and- oh you’re a Pegasus right? I thought outside the school there were none under the clouds?” Asked the humanoid filly as she come over, notably her equivalent of saddlebags were white with a red cross on them.

“I’m basically a rogue, Soaring Hopes is the name by the way. These are my partner Starry Swirl and our transport assistants Boistrous and Betty Bellower.” Explained Soaring as Rose got up on her hindlegs, gaining the same kind of gait as her friend. Naturally the mild popping of her spine rearranging itself was heard too by the fine ears of the ponies and Brahmin.

“Glad to have you miss Hopes, let’s get you set up.” Stated Hermione with a smile before waving her hand and speaking “Locomotor” as she did so, causing fold-out tables and chairs to come from a storage area.

Neat trick indeed.

“Guns and Bullets? What kind of magazine is this?” Soaring chuckled, maybe she already had a little trade coming up for her.

Chapter 4: Adventure of the Foals

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I sighed as I, once again, wondered about my life’s choices.

It had been 34 days since Hogwarts was transported to the Ponston Commonwealth, the most used term for this section of the Equestrian Wasteland. Not that there was a government, it just had been a Commonwealth as part of the old government. It was complicated given that this was a monarchy, or Matriarchy.

Anyway, 34 days of students bored and unable to leave. 34 days to get used to the rhythm of being ponies. 34 days of getting used to the new appendages and using magic in these forms.

34 days were a damn long time I tell you.

So, I, Rose Evans, aka Harry Potter, alongside Rainy Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ruby Hagrid, Argent Ambition and Myrtel Warrens, decided to set out from the school. Set out to where? We didn’t know. We wanted to explore the wasteland and we had all intentions to come back when July 31st come around, we had set our Pip-Bucks to that dating system just to be sure.

We had around a month to do this, and we had every intention to return eventually. Luckily the Crimson Caravan traders under Soaring Hopes had a Arcana-Tech device that allowed one to teleport to registered locations of the Pip-Buck, so we could teleport back to Hogwarts if we needed a quick way of teleportation. It was easier than trying our hands on the spell itself.

Naturally we were only even allowed because the six of us were probably the hardest to keep controlled in the entire student population, as we have both horns and wings, while the others had only one or neither of those two things.

Naturally, there were those who weren’t quite as welcome.

“You know, Draco, you could just stay.” I stated, looking over at the white and black filly who, along with her two bodyguards (read meatshields) had insisted on coming along.

“And let you run around while we’re stuck there? No a chance Potter.” Shot back Draco, still refusing to accept alternate names. She herself hadn’t chosen one for example.

I just rolled my eyes, I was the physically younger here and I was more mature. “Suit yourself, though you really should get yourself some weapons.” I told her, floating out my hunting rifle to inspect it one last time while we were waiting for the “Gate” of the shield to open for us.

“And lower myself to the level of a Muggle? Never.” Retorted Draco in return, she had also given up on arguing against me just calling her Draco, it made it easier not to try and strangle her when I thought of her as the Pegasus filly Draco rather than the snob Malfoy. Admittedly, the difference was skin-deep at best.

“And yet you let Crabbe and Goyle run around with them.” I retorted, my eyes on the two who had Battlesaddles on, armed with shotguns. Why they chose shotguns, I don’t understand honestly said. Damn things are inaccurate as hell and near useless at range, I knew that even before we had gone through some gun lessons from Professor Dumbledore.

“They don’t have a horn or wings, so them using these things is perfectly reasonable.” Shot Draco back as if she wasn’t basically saying they were just pony Muggles without their wands.

“Suit yourself, I guess. But don’t come to me crying because you got hurt because of your refusal to even use a handgun.” I retorted, she couldn’t use her wand freely after all, having to hold it in her teeth or her wings and given the latter left her groundbound… yeah.

“Whatever Potter.” I had to wonder who taught her that using someone’s last name was somehow a curse word. Probably her dad if I was being honest, he sounded like the kind of person who would.

“At least she isn’t the daughter of a Death Eater.” Shot back Rainy at that point, her temper was as usual rather short with Draco but I could see why, the Malfoy heir-turned-Pegasus was probably the most problematic student at Hogwarts at this point in time.

“Shut it Weasel, it’s Potter’s fault we’re here in the first place, if he had just left that stupid stone alone we wouldn’t be in this place!” Snapped back Draco and I frowned, I needed to remind myself that she was raised in this stupid “All Pureblood Supremacy Supporters are Good” kind of environment, Ruby had made that quite clear as it stands.

“Draco, you try defending yourself and not, in a panic, grab the nearest stone to smash into someone’s head. I didn’t want this to happen, but I don’t regret stopping Quirrel from acquiring the stone because if I hadn’t, we would be in way more trouble than just being female ponies right now.” I retorted, storing the magical energy pistol that I had gotten off of one of the merchants in my saddlebags before adjusting the position of my rifle.

“Spoken like a Blood Traitor, Potter.” Growled Draco and turned away from us, turning her nose up in one of the most arrogant poses she had. She didn’t seem to realize how this made her just look like a cute little pony strutting away.

I rolled my eyes at her before turning to the gate. We would be traveling on foo- I mean, hoof for now, seeing as there were two Earth Ponies with us and they were also assigned to pull a cart with our supplies. We also had one of the Hogwarts House Elves, Sparkle, with us. They were a type of house fey who serve wizard families, though based on how Draco was outraged by Sparkle’s friendly behavior and lack of groveling, the happy House Elf wasn’t the norm, sadly.

As the gate finally opened I took a breath and stepped forward. “Alright everyone, forward march!” I declared, setting our marching direction through the North gate, for the closest place of interest, a Stable in the area which had laid dormant for 200 years.

Stable 111.

“Attention, Critical Containment Failure Detected. All Stable Residents Vacate the premises immediately. I repeat, Attention, Critical Containment Failure Detected. All Stable Residents Vacate the premises immediately.” This loud, obnoxious, pre-recorded and, more importantly, mechanical voice was the first thing Lyra Heartstrings heard when she was unfrozen.

As the cryogenic chamber she was in opened she felt herself fall forward and just about managed to catch herself before looking up, finding Bon Bon coughing right in front of her face. “Bon Bon! Oh Celestia you’re alright!” She exclaimed, embracing her friend for the first time since they were put in stasis.

“L- Lyra? *cough* H- how long were we in there? What containment failure?” Asked Bon Bon, sounding fearful as the two turned around to see what the others were doing. What they saw wasn’t doing them any favors however.

Next to Lyra’s pod was an empty pod, they knew who had been in there but she was missing. Other pods were open, their occupants trying to stand but coughing from the unfreezing process. What was worse still were the dozen or so cryopods that weren’t opening, red lights with a skull and crossbones above them showing that something went wrong there.

“L- Lyra? Where is Snowy? What happened here?” Asked Bon Bon fearfully, trying to stand alongside her Marefriend.

“I don’t know, these ponies, they took her I think but… when did they do that? I- how long were we in here?” Asked Lyra as the two began to walk around the room they were in, one of 50 cryopod chambers, each of them containing 50 cryopods each for a total of 2500 spots inside the Stable.

When news had come of incoming Balefire Spells everypony had been ushered from the nearby town of Sanctuary Hills to the South of the Stable, into the Stable. Including the visiting pair of unicorns and their adopted daughter.

Of the 50 pods around them, 29 had failed with their occupants expiring but mummified by the frozen state. The only pod not occupied in chamber 23 had been the one in which Snowy Dreams, the little unicorn filly that was their daughter, had been in.

“Please, let Snowy be alright, just please.” Whispered Bon Bon, shaking her head as they, along with the living residents of the Stable, made their way through with various other ponies joining the growing herd. Mares, Bucks, foals, elderly ponies too. By the time they made it to the controls for the Stable’s elevator, of 2500 ponies, 794 survivors were waiting to leave the Stable, quite fearful at that.

Lyra was about to open the Stable Door that led to the elevator shaft, using a Pip-Buck she had picked up off of a dead scientist, whatever happened here she didn’t like it, when the doors began opening on their own.

“Sweet Celestia have mercy, please no monsters.” Whimpered Bon Bon as they stepped back and watched the rolling door begin the process of opening before being pulled back.

At which point voices filtered through.

“And I tell you again, this is a stupid idea, you’re stupid and I will not be held accountable when you get yourself killed. I’ll be laughing, you hear me Potter?”

“There are literally no hostiles detected on this Eyes-Forward-Sparkle thing Draco, we’re fine. Besides, who knows what is in there?”

Both of these voices were from fillies, the latter much younger sounding than the first and as the door rolled aside, the sight made quite a few of the ponies gasp, and the visitors turn around.

Standing on the other side of the doors were a small group of nine. Four Alicorn fillies, which was in and of itself strange, a Pegasus Filly, two Earth Pony Colts and two spindly, bipedal creatures who looked like they were heavily deformed alicorns but had the seeming characteristics of fillies themselves.

“Dear Celestia, they’re foals!” Exclaimed Bon Bon at that point, her eyes wide as she saw them all, and all except for the Pegasus filly were armed.

“Potter?” Asked the Pegasus Filly, showing she was the first voice.

“Yeah Draco?” Asked the white Alicorn filly with the red mane and tail with one blue highlight in both.

“Didn’t you say this place was abandoned?” Asked the Pegasus, now identified as Draco.

“I said nobody has been here in 200 years according to Soaring Hope. Nobody told me about Stable Dwellers.” Responded the Alicorn filly, somewhat hollow sounding.

“Fair enough I guess. How many are there?” Asked the Pegasus who, Lyra realized was the only one in the group without a Pip-Buck of her own.

“Umm… I don’t know? The EFS is a bit overloaded.” Stated the Alicorn filly as the Pegasus stepped back a couple paces. Fishing a stick out of a holster with her wing. Weird. “Draco, I don’t think your wand’s gonna do much, and I think they’re unarmed?” Asked the filly a bit unsure of herself.

“Ah, who are you? Did you come from outside the Stable?” Asked Lyra after a moment, looking at the foals who seemed far too clean for someone who lived in a world after the Megaspells. And also those bipedal ones…

“Erm, yes and no? Sorry ma’am, I’m Rose Evans, those are my teammates were, kind of, an exploratory team from Hogwarts, a school for magic. Our school got transported to this world by accident about a month ago.” Explained the filly, Rose, clearly taking the lead there.

“Accident my ass!” Exclaimed then the Pegasus filly, glaring at the smaller one who sighed tiredly. “You smashed that damn Philosopher’s Stone into Quirrel’s head and it exploded with magic! It’s your fucking fault we’re stuck like this!” Shouted the filly angrily as the two Earth Pony’s who had stayed with her, nodded along with her statement. Clearly, there were some divisions.

“Draco, we’ve been over this! I don’t give a damn over whether or not your family thinks letting Voldemort”, here the others all flinched, “come back would be the best thing ever, he was fucking evil and killed my parents on top of that, not to mention that this whole “Blood Purity” nonsense is complete bullshit to begin with!” Shot back the filly, spinning on the older filly.

And thus commenced a rather lengthy argument that had several of the adults covering foal ears, or other pony’s ears. Like, none of them even understood what was going on here!

I sighed, after two hours, with my argument with Draco taking about 10 minutes, we had finally helped the survivors of Stable 111 evacuate the apparently defunct stable.

It was rather amazing to think that the ponies here had used cryogenic freezing to at least preserve over 700 ponies successfully, even if it had been 2500 on entry. The terminals of the Overmare had at least proven that preservation was the whole point of this Stable, no experiments. The whole cryogenic freezing angle had apparently been because of space restrictions in the area and wishing to make a Stable capable of holding as many ponies as possible for the whole area.

Well, it was a nice thought at least. There had been at least two more levels planned but those never got finished before the bombs fell.

Moreover, the Stable-Tec workers had been keeping tabs on the Stable for over a century, waking up from cryogenic freezing to check the systems and deal with pests. But the entries ended around 184 years after the bombs. It was noted that they were woken up by a signal from the Institute of Arcane Institute of Research and Education, the AIRE as it was.

There were a lot of pony skeletons all over the Stable indicating that they had been attacked by whoever had sent that signal, and from what we pieced together, they had taken a foal that was with her adopted mothers in cold storage while doing so. In the years that followed, without maintenance, errors in the machinery led to the failing of Life Support to nearly 1800 of the 2500 pods, killing their inhabitants.

This was depressing, to say the least.

“You want to help us find Snowy?” Asked Lyra in surprise, looking at me. She was one of the two mares whose daughter was missing. The other, Bon Bon, was walking next to her as we led them to Hogwarts which, apparently, sat where a town named Sanctuary Hills had been before the war.

“Definitely, I mean, I can’t help too long, school is supposed to resume on the usual date, but I want to help. Ro- I mean, Rainy and Hermione also want to.” I explained, smiling a bit knowing I had their backing me up. We hadn’t spoken about it with the other three yet, they were kind of busy helping to herd the survivors along from the rear rather than the front, but I highly doubted Ruby would decline.

“Thank you! We’ll need any help we can get to find Rainy, I don’t care how much older she is now, she’s our daughter!” Declared Bon Bon and Lyra nodded seriously, it made me smile, it kind of hurt given my own upbringing but if I could reunite them with their daughter, make a family whole that was ripped apart for no reason? Yeah. I wouldn’t dream of anything less.

“I just realized something, you guys never told us why you were let out of that school like that, I mean, you’re just foals, right?” Asked Lyra at that point and I blinked, what kind of question was that?

“Well, we have Summer Vacation and strictly speaking, the teachers don’t have much say outside of that. Not to mention it was driving some of us kind of nuts to be cooped up in there with a whole world to explore.” I responded shrugging as it seemed to me like a pretty normal thing to say.

“But what about your parents? Aren’t they going to be worried about you?” Asked Bon Bon, she sounded pretty worried about me, though I suppose that’s to be expected.

“I don’t know about Rainy and Hermione’s parents, Myrtel, Argent, Ruby and myself all don’t have any. Those three are all really old already, Myrtel got revived when we come here but was a ghost who died, like, 50 years ago, Ruby was a student at the time and I don’t know how old Argent was before she become a filly.” I explained, I never really asked them about any family if I was honest. It just seemed so… private.

“What about you? What happened to your parents?” Asked Lyra and I honestly didn’t hear quite how worried she sounded. I guess I was kind of used to nobody talking too much about it.

“I said it when I argued with Draco, didn’t I? Voldemort killed my parents, I was only a year old back then and can’t remember a thing, but yeah, I’m an orphan. It’s been almost 11 years now actually since that happened.” I explained, closing my eyes to think back to the image I saw in the Mirror of Erised, maybe I should ask the professor if I could have it, if it wasn’t broken by the magical explosion. I would like having the ability to see them.

“Wait, what about adoption? Snowy lost her parents during a Zebra terror attack so we adopted her. I can’t think why nobody would adopt you, you seem so a nice filly.” Asked Lyra, sounding worried as I realized only later.

“Not really, I was raised by my aunt and her husband, though I can’t say I look forward to the idea of going back to them. Even if we can transform back, I really don’t want to see their reactions to me coming back after a year of magic school.” I admitted, trying not to think of them, really trying hard.

“How horrible is that? What sort of ponies mistreat a foal just because they don’t like something that foal can do?” Asked Bon Bon, sounding livid at the very idea of something like that.

“Well, it got a bit better when they started freaking out about the acceptance letters. They didn’t want someone coming to make sure I was alright with them and not being abused. I actually got to move out of the cupboard under the stairs to that second bedroom my cousin was using to store stuff he didn’t want anymore.” I explained, a small smirk forming at the memory of how hard they scrambled to change the address from what it had been.

Suddenly I was scooped up in the hooves of Bon Bon, which was quite surprising to me. “Sweet Celestia Lyra! We can’t let that happen again! I won’t let that happen again! You’re staying with us!” Declared Bon Bon which really threw me for a loop because, what?

“You’re right! No foal should go back to people like that! Don’t worry Rose, if your aunt can’t be your mom, we’ll just be! I bet Snowy won’t mind a little sister either, we can be a family!” Declared Lyra with just as much vigor as Bon Bon had just done.

“Wait what?” This was the most intelligent thing I was able to bring out because, well, what am I supposed to say? Someone wanting to adopt me? What? I swear my brain just short circuited at that point from sheer amount of confusion I felt at the idea.

How much does it say about my relatives that I don’t know how to handle the idea of adoption?

Chapter 5: Seekers of the Lost Part 1

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I swear to god, my face was as red as most of my hair.

How do you handle someone wanting to adopt you? Someone who won’t take no because your reason for arguing is your lack of understanding of the concept of maternal love? Someone who can pick you up, cuddle you, knows all the right spots to scratch your ear?

No I didn’t get transformed into a cat, thank… Celestia I guess? Anyway, not the point. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the affection, it felt right to feel this. But I don’t know how to react to it. I never experienced it, or at least I couldn’t remember doing so. My parents had been gone so early in my life I can’t remember them, and the Dursleys never showed me this kind of love.

Hell, the closest they come to do so was not throwing me out of the car in the middle of nowhere, naked. But now? Now there were two ponies who wanted to adopt me. Two ponies who heard my story once and just decided I’d be their daughter because, to them, family is important. They lost their first adopted child and still want to bring her back, but they had still this kindness in their hearts to offer a complete stranger a place in their family.

And I wish I knew how to move celestial objects so that I can do what that curse word I heard a few times so far. Namely, r*** Malfoy with the Moon.

Somehow I felt inadequate as a Alicorn that I had no idea how to do this kind of trick.

Anyway, if you wonder why I wish to violate my classmate with the planet’s natural satellite right now, it’s the constant hollers. She was making fun of me, fun of the fact I didn’t know how to handle this situation, how to handle people wanting to be my parents.

Weirdest thing was? I couldn’t say I didn’t like it.

“Can’t even keep a straight face can you Potter? So desperate for attention you play the little girl card?” And there went Draco-Motherfucking-Malfoy again, running his mouth.

“You know what? I’ve had it with you! I don’t know what you think gives you the right to just make assumptions about me but you don’t know anything about me! You know what I’ve been keeping myself from saying this whole year Draco Malfoy?” I asked, gritting my teeth. I don’t know what was coming over me, but I had it to the moon with her!

“I know your Kind! Your parents gave you whatever you want, treated you like a king and talked all the time how great you are, and now you think that whatever you say goes! That the result of draconic Diarrhea they spat out for the last 11 years about your greatness is truth! But there is one thing you don’t know. Nobody thinks you’re all that great! You have some fancy ass name, so what? Out in the real world you’re nobody!” I snarled at her and she moved backward, as if I was some rabbid animal. Admittedly, right now I felt like biting her!

“I know what the world outside looks like! The world is a merciless, unrelenting place that doesn’t give a damn how high and mighty your name is in the wizarding world! As soon as you get on the nerves of someone who doesn’t care or doesn’t know about your family, they’ll knock your lights out, push you down and beat you up!” I told her, advancing forward from where Lyra was still sitting, stunned.

“You think I’m like you, I noticed that the moment you opened you damn mouth on the train! But I’m not! I didn’t grow up in a loving family! I didn’t grow up in luxury! I didn’t even know this stupid fame was a thing until Ruby took me to Diagon Alley! I was the undesirable, the unwanted, the god damn pimple on the oh so beautiful and normal ass of the Dursley family’s home!” By this point Crabbe and Goyle had stopped the wagon and were coming over but, you know what? I wasn’t going to let them! With barely even an exertion of will I just pushed them away, back to the wagon!

“I don’t know how to handle someone wanting to be with me! I don’t know what family is because I didn’t have one! My happiest memories to date involve getting Hedwig, coming to Hogwarts, meeting the first friends I’ve ever had and just being treated nicely! And now shut the fuck up before I try bringing the fucking moon down to shove it up your ass!” I screamed, now inches away from the frightened Filly before me, who promptly ran away as I started trying to take in breaths.

And then I was splashed with water. “Erm, Rose? Sorry but your mane was burning.” Spoke up Rainy as I blinked, still breathing hard but… that helped?

At that point I was grabbed and brought to the wagon again, I didn’t even struggle as that outburst actually tired me out quite a bit. “It’s alright, you’re going to be alright. Do you want to talk about it?” Asked Lyra and, for the first time, I felt like I should.

I barely even noticed one of the Stable Survivors picking up the unconscious Crabbe and Goyle, while two others took up their positions on the wagon.

I just… I talked. A lot.

Professor Albus Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, aside from a lot more titles than professor or Headmaster, had been quite surprised when Rose’s group was spotted coming back with what appeared to be a small army of hundreds of ponies.

Now, it didn’t take a professor to realize they had to have encountered refugees they thought had the best chance at survival at Hogwarts. So, she headed to the gate to greet them, it was already open with a number of armed students waiting just in case.

What she hadn’t foreseen was finding that Crabbe and Goyle were unconscious, Draco Malfoy was as far as back as she could, five of the six Alicorn students were herding the hundreds of ponies along, while Rose was asleep, with a pair of mares tending to her.

“Welcome, I would like to know what is going on but I imagine all of you aren’t here without any reason.” He stated, eyeing the large group of ponies.

“I’m sorry professor, they’re all survivors from Stable 111.” Spoke up Hermione Granger as she walked over. “They were frozen in cryogenic sleep for 200 years, but someone killed the staff keeping the Stable running and only 794 out of 2500 residents survived as far as we know with the exception of a filly who had been kidnapped when the maintenance staff was killed.” Explained Hermione and that hurt to hear.

“I see, and who are these two? They seem to be comforting Rose.” Asked Dumbledore, wondering why Rose was literally sleeping by them. She also had cried, she could see the tear stains.

“Rose had an… Well there isn’t any better way to put it, she had an outburst. Like, her hair even turned into fire so pissed off was she. Thing is, Lyra, that’s the Unicorn, and her wife Bon-Bon, that’s the Earth Pony, they decided they want to adopt her and, well Rose got incredibly awkward with that.” Explained Rainy, looking concerned for the small Alicorn.

“Professor, did you know how bad Rose had it?” Asked Hermione and that caught Dumbledore’s attention.

“What do you mean?” She asked, for now letting the topic of adoption slide. She had steered the idea clear for a long time mainly because the Dursley’s blood relation would protect Harry from being detected, but now? Now they were in another world and it wasn’t clear if Voldemort survived the magical blast of the Philosopher’s Stone. She would prefer the answer to be a resounding No, but she had enough experience to know that it never was this easy.

She would be proven quite right.

I sighed as we set out once more.

It had been three days since we brought the ponies of Stable 111 to Hogwarts and they began to build themselves a small town, many a filly and colt had lost their parents in the 200 years of sleep but the ponies from 200 years ago had one thing in spades: Kindness, that much I had seen.

What was more, Professor Dumbledore had basically confirmed that while she had set me up at the Dursleys, she hadn’t known how they treated me. The address on the envelope had been added automatically and nobody had checked. Quite an oversight it seemed. And after I woke up she questioned me intensively about it, growing more and more upset about it.

Eventually she confirmed that she had someone watching me but no reports had come in about the treatment. Who was watching? Arabella Fygg, the Crazy Cat Lady of Privet Drive. It did explain why she tended to treat me better than other adults but it caused the question of why she never reported it.

However, in the end, Dumbledore had declared, under her authority as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederacy of Wizards, that the Dursley’s guardianship over me was null and void. Followed by her officially declaring my adoption by Lyra and Bon-Bon who had a good chuckle.

I… I actually felt better like this. I don’t think I ever had a chance to just cry and let loose about all that had been going on in my life. Venting against Draco, being comforted by two who just wanted to help me as mothers? Those were new things but it helped incredibly well.

I am a bit ashamed to admit that the three day delay was largely my fault. My emotions had been so tumultuous that I couldn’t be let out of schoolgrounds. However, it had given me time to come to grips with the fact that I was adopted now, that I had a new, living family who WANTED me to be with them. And that I now had an older sister, somewhere out in the wasteland. One I had to save.

Snowy had been a year old when she was abducted, so now she would be 17 based on the date since her abduction. I don’t know how I feel about the idea, but one thing was for sure, the AIRE were bad guys, abducting a filly who had been placed in the Stable to save her life? Killing people just so they could do so? Leave the parents of the child behind with a high chance of systems failing, killing them?

Yeah, I was starting to like using the term “Bring down the Moon” as a threat, it sounded awesome and if I figured out how to make a spell strong enough for that, being a Alicorn should allow that, right? Well, if I could, I would smash the moon into their base. After retrieving Snowy and evacuating anyone who wasn’t evil, naturally.

Anyway, we were heading south now, the AIRE, a school of arcane sciences, had been located in Ponston proper, Hogwarts occupied a large area that had, before our arrival, been Sanctuary Hills, a suburb to the North of Concord. I was a bit surprised by how much this name matched a city in the US, but alternate universe and all that. Ponston though seemed to be relative to Boston by that logic.

Anyway, our group had gotten… somewhat lighter? Draco and her two cronnies had stayed behind, something about horse madness. I suspect she didn’t want to admit she was in the wrong or something, would sound like her.

However, the six of us were still coming along, and both Bon-Bon and Lyra had joined us. So we were eight ponies, all of us armed, all but one of us able to use spells, and six of us weren’t taught the spells of this world. At least I had gotten some serious practice with Locomotor by this point, as well as generic telekinesis as it was taught as to all Unicorn foals here. Weird idea to me.

“Still can’t believe someone picked up Vynil Scratch’s Artist Name and just kept it alive for 200 years. Wonder what sort of pony her current successor is.” Commented Lyra as we listened to DJ-Pon3 over the radio of my Pip-Buck.

“I don’t know. What do you think Tenpony Tower was before the war?” I asked in return, trying not to think too much about the fact that, yes, this was my mom now. It still felt so alien to me, having a family.

Bon-Bon, I noted, looked up with a frown. “Probably one of the Ministry hubs, they often had towers as part of them as well as the defenses needed to probably survive a Megaspell detonation. Can’t say which one until we get a map of that area or the name of the city it’s in.” Explained the mare and I nodded, I wouldn’t mind going there and meet DJ-Pon3 if I was honest, I liked their show actually.

“On another topic...” Spoke up Hermione, she was sitting in the cart and keeping track on her Pip-Buck of where we were going. “Have you been to this Concord place? I know that in our world a city of the same name has a history museum.” That was a good question to be honest.

“Concord has one here too, it’s pretty famous since Twilight, that’s Twilight Sparkle, the Ministry Mare in charge of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences, had curated every exhibit, document and every book in the library that is part of it. I remember how proud she was about that, up until she collapsed from working 65 hours long.” Explained Bon-Bon and I couldn’t help a giggle at that.

“Sounds like your sister from another universe Hermione.” I called over to her and got a pebble to the head for my troubles. This just got more laughs from us.

If you’re wondering about the cart, why we had it with us and who was pulling it… I should start at the last one. It’s Ruby, aka Hagrid. Remember how I said in another entry how she was the single strongest pony in the school, physically? I didn’t put it in those words? Oh, well, it’s true though. She is the smallest pony among us, sure, but she apparently traded the extra mass for sheer strength or something. She was also extremely tough.

Anyway, for that reason she was pulling the cart, though it had been enchanted.

That brings us to the next question, why do we have the cart? Well, this was turning into a very long quest now, you see? We want to find the AIRE remnant or whatever, their base of operations, their motives, and most importantly, Snowy Dream. So, the teachers had spent the three days we rested applying spells to the cart. Many more than there had been before.

For starters, the entire thing was now coated in a Notice me Not spell array, meaning that while we were inside, nobody would notice the cart and would leave us alone. They would even, without noticing, avoid bumping into it. Next was a Magical Radiation reflector, meaning that in a 15 meter radius around the cart, all magical radiation was blocked out. Same went for magical substances.

Third were expansion charms, which had left the cart with the dimensions of a medium-sized house. Kind of impressive am I right? Well, to make sure anything inside didn’t break the wheels of the cart they also put Feather-weight charms on it so it wasn’t actually that heavy to move with, and it also had numerous spells on it that meant it would be resistant to damage.

Lastly provisional dividers had been set up within to form rooms for everyone, including a kitchen, bathroom which used runic stones to conjure water from any nearby sources, pure water, for the purposes of toilets and showers, same goes for the kitchen sink. Said kitchen had rad-scrubbing enchantments in it, based off of a talisman that had been in Lyra’s possession.

It was kind of funny, the sheer complexity of wizard magic meant it was more stable and easier to apply long-term with the right methods. As soon as the patterns of magic in the talisman had been cracked they had reverse-engineered it with runes. And promptly managed to make a device that could do the same, drawing out magical radiation, without an upper limit beyond a need to discharge it through the field after a while.

We had jokingly given the cart even a name. Hogwarts One.

“Hey, I see two hostiles on my EFS.” Spoke up Hermione, grabbing her rifle as she did so and I did the same with mine.

Looking through the scope I saw two large… “What in the hell are those?” I asked, confused, seeing the spherical creatures with various bulging cistes on them and small wings, buzzing around a half-eaten carcass of a Brahmin.

“Let me see… What in the hay happened to the Parasprites?” Asked Lyra after taking her binoculars to look. She had mentioned Parasprites, adorable looking but annoying magical creatures, they swarmed things and ate anything that wasn’t a living creature. Given what they were feeding on right now, that habit changed.

“Well, I don’t think we can easily get through there without dealing with them, I kind of feel sorry for the Brahmin, though, I hope she was already dead when they got to her instead of...” I shuddered at the thought, the way these things were ripping pieces out of the carcass…

“Okay I got an ID on them from miss Solid Matter, based on her Bestiary those are Bloatsprites, mutated forms of the pre-war Parasprites and highly aggressive scavengers. They also kill to make fresh prey if they can.” Explained Hermione, reading off a copy of the bestiary that apparently was distributed by a group known as the Minutemares.

I felt a bit amused because that sounded an awful lot like Minuteman from the US, just another parallel I guess. I took aim, waiting until one of the Bloatsprites landed to eat, then shot it. The thing died almost immediate as Ron took up his own shotgun and, as the other Bloatsprite come within range, fired at it. While a Shotgun was less than accurate, it’s wide firing area meant the Bloatsprite didn’t survive the encounter anyway.

“Dear Celestia, why did everything have to go like this?” Muttered Lyra with a sigh and I felt quite bad, naturally we all had a bit of a culture shock from arriving here, but we had over a month to get over it while they had been only three days long out here. To them, it was probably even more charring, we had Hogwarts from the start and had stayed there for over a month after all, acclimating ourselves, preparing ourselves.

Finally, not quite knowing what to do, I just did what felt right and… yeah I hugged here. She had done that a lot the last three days on me too, and she’s… my mom, right? So it’s alright.

A few minutes later Lyra had calmed down enough for us to continue, though we did cremate the carcass, to let the Brahmin at least rest without any more scavengers desecrating her. There were no signs of a caravan so she likely had just died here alone, as sad as that was it at least meant nobody else did.

Concord, which wasn’t far ahead, was another thing. It was an old abandoned ruin of a city, the buildings were rural with only two or three stories for the most part, but it showed signs of the pre-war times. There were banners, flags, even posters were still visible. All kinds of propaganda pieces including one showing a pink mare with darker pink, cotton-candy like mane and tail. The poster read “Ministry of Morale, Pinkie Pie is Watching You, ALWAYS!!!” which made the wide-eyed, wild look of the pony even creepier.

“Dear lord I still can’t believe Pinkie authorized those things.” Commented Lyra, shaking her head. “That damn addiction really drove her up a dozen walls I swear.” Muttered Lyra as we continued and I raised an eyebrow at that idea.

“You knew that pony? Was she as crazy and controlling as that poster sounds?” I asked, as we passed by a billboard with another pony, yellow Pegasus with light pink mane and tail, holding up a Coca Cola looking bottle, reading “Sparkle Cola! The Carroty Good that no Mare can Live Without” which was… weird, but I liked it better than the Ministry of Morale poster.

I wondered if anyone ever got their GPS or whatever confused between their mom and the MOM. Probably happened at least once.

“Yeah I knew her, we lived in Ponyville originally, and so did Pinkie Pie and all the other mares who would become the Ministry Mares, basically the parliament under Princess Luna. Sadly the new job drove her to drugs like Min-Als and then she made those Party-Time Mint-Als too… And that basically contributed to the group breaking.” Explained Lyra, sighing sadly at the memory.

“Knowing Pinkie she’s probably still watching through those posters, as a Ghost. Girl never cared much for what is normal.” Stated Bon-Bon and I giggled at that idea.

I had wanted to ask them for more stories but then we heard a loud booming sound, not like a cannon or a rifle but… kind of like electricity? I don’t know. And as we got closer we heard gunshots too, along with a scream of pain.

Rounding a corner we come to a straight street at whose end stood a large building, the largest in the whole city. I could make out someone on the balcony and as I looked with my Binoculars I found a brown mare with black mane, wearing a type of trenchcoat. She was also an Earth Pony with a Battle Saddle, on which was mounted a pair of ramshackle weapons which shot lasers.

Turning my attention down I found a number of other ponies taking cover and potshots, only they sucked at aiming and the one on the balcony was in turn having trouble hitting them due to their cover. It did say a lot that the mare was on a balcony with a simple wooden railing and still standing though, not that she could dodge any of the bullets.

I didn’t know what overcome me, but seeing the desperate struggle of the mare up above and the raving attackers below, it set my teeth on edge. Before I could even think about anything else, my rifle spoke and a pony’s head exploded, which at the time didn’t even hit me. On my mind was only “Save these Ponies” and the rest was just a blur to me.

When I come to my senses I heard Lyra talking and my head was swimming. I would later learn that I collapsed after my adrenaline rush had subsided, seemingly from the shock of killing ponies but it had remained until we had been through all the Raiders on the outside and inside. Apparently I had rushed in without thinking and gotten quite a few bullets for my troubles too.

Bon-Bon was giving me a bit of a lecture as I was processing all this but the situation still wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, more Raiders were on the way and our best chance was a suit of T-45 Power Armor up on the roof, inside a crushed Sky Carriage.

So, the plan was set with us holding the fort here while Lyra took the armor for herself. Though we needed a magical power core and, well, I had some practice actually. A minute later I brought the core back up, the task of hacking the Terminal had been a nice distraction and the impending fight was doing so too. With Lyra in the armor and with a Minigun to her name, only one problem was still standing in our way really.

“Hellhound Ghoul!” Shouted one of the civilians who had been protected by Free Life, the Minutemare who had been trying to protect them so far. The creature in question was a huge, bipedal creature with features of a canine and huge claws. It was also decomposing and lacked most of it’s fur so…

“Lyra stay here!” I shouted to her then flew into the air, grabbing the Laser Musket from Free Life and spun it up three times, I had seen how it works from her after all and as the “Hellhound Ghoul” wasn’t even paying attention to me, it didn’t take me long to wait for it to kill the last Raider. One shot after that was all it took to disintegrate it.

At this point, I let out a shuddering breath as I landed unsteadily, because right now? It hit home. I had killed. I had killed sapient beings. I had killed no less than 5 Raiders and this Hellhound creature, whatever it was. I was a killer.

Lyra nearly had a panic attack as she galloped to Rose and the filly simply fainted. She had been wondering when she would collapse, or have a panic attack.

Rose was only a filly after all, killing people in the rush of the moment was one thing but as soon as the fight was over, it was only natural for her to lose her temporary cool, to lose the fight against the anxiety of killing. She had known a number of ponies who had PTSD from the Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge. Young Bucks and Mares who had never touched a weapon before that fight and who had broken under the pressure.

And now Rose, the little filly from another world, whose only ever real fight had ended in her breaking a magical artifact by accident while being choked. There was no chance that there was a 99% or less chance of her not even registering the fact she had killed this Quirrel person, and now she was crashing from a full on battle against Raider ponies.

“Please be alright, I promise, everything will be alright.” She whispered as she placed the filly on her back, secured with her magic as she ran for the cart that was left behind in the rush to the aid of the Minutemare. “You’re not alone. I won’t let you be alone in this.” She whispered as she started on a spell while the others helped the survivors.

Lyra didn’t care about the complaints of one of the survivors because she was tending to an unconscious filly. She was a mother, she was this filly’s mother. Not by blood, but she had promised herself to give this foal a happy new life here. She wouldn’t fail her, not like she failed to protect Snowy.

Never again.

Chapter 6: Seekers of the Lost Part 2

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Another escort mission, Free Life and her small group of 5 surviving ponies from Quincy.

We had made our way to Hogwarts, again. And there I woke up. I still shudder at the memory, so many dead. So many dead at my hooves! I- I killed Quirrel too, right? But it didn’t feel like that, like maybe the stone broke before I did any real damage but wasn’t that an explosive in the end anyway?

Those were the kinds of thoughts that plagued me, I calmed down after a few days but, and I’m not even ashamed of saying this, I couldn’t sleep without Lyra and Bon-Bon next to me. Nightmares, I don’t remember their faces but every night I would wake up screaming and crying.

Let me tell you, nightmares from killing a whole group of ponies, especially with no prior experience in doing so, not something I recommend. Up until that point I had never even fired a shot of my rifle outside the firing range that had been set up way back when for practicing with guns. I had only used tem as a sort of last-resort hold-out weapon. Or in other words, it had been for show.

But as soon as I had seen how bad that situation had been, I had rushed in, without thinking and… just started shooting. Spells were so much harder to use in this manner, they need preparation, they need cognizant actions. You must be aware of the spell to cast it. But a gun? A gun is just point and shoot. Even with Telekinesis, which was a far more easily used form of the Locomotor Charm, was barely a thought to use for that.

To put it in the words of Free Life after I woke up again, I had some sort of instinctive hero complex, seeing someone in need of help just made me rush in to give it to them without a second thought for my own safety. I had gotten a clop to the head for that after she said that, saying a filly shouldn’t be this reckless, but she still commended me for my quick action in saving them.

Professor Dumbledore, on the other hoof, had offered to see if she could use a magic known as Negligimency to try and help me through my issues. Apparently the form she would use was beyond the mere reading of thoughts and was instead a shallow dive into the mind.

I don’t know what he did but after what others told me was five hours of both of us being basically comatose, I was at least able to function again, though from what I was told this much wasn’t enough to get it all mended. The best we could do was to continue as best we could with me trying to get to grips with this whole ordeal and, well, I really didn’t want this to become normal for me.

Free Life stayed at Hogwarts with the other Quincy Survivors, partially because she had a better grip on Talisman creation as she, like most Minutemares, had learned how to make her own Laser Musket, which admittedly used parts from other laser weapons but a lot of it was still fully original. She had even given me her own, stating that I could probably use it in the future.

What stood out, somewhat, was the fact that the trade post we had set up originally was by now a small town on school grounds. From what I heard in the five days we stayed, most of the students were living there for now since living in the school outside of the schoolyear was seen by them as quite odd. I had to admit, in some regards I understood it, but I’d still rather live in Hogwarts than with the Dursleys.

Well, not that I would, Lyra and Bon-Bon had actually bought one of the houses that had been set-up in the town while I was unconscious and showed it to me later. I even had my own room, as did Snowy Dreams, though her own was left largely untouched for whatever she would want.

Technically she was 17 now if they didn’t cryogenically freeze her or something, so she was an adult by Wizarding standards. But… I really hoped, for their sakes, that she was able to recognize them when they met again. I don’t want to think about the alternative for them when they had lost so much already. God, I don’t know how to feel about all this, writing all this down now…

Anyway, we hit the road. Again. Third time’s the charm they say, right?

Naturally there was the chance of more Raiders, the term for hostile ponies like the ones I had killed. They were bad news, hunting other ponies, killing, raping, pillaging. They were as far from civilized ponies as possible safe for “Feral Ghouls” like the Hellhound Ghoul I had also slain in that battle. Problem was, the idea of shooting at more of them made my stomach turn.

I can face Voldemort with little problem, but being forced into fighting to the death against ponies, sapient creatures, who were desperately trying to survive, was another thing entirely to me. But, there was no getting around that, we had to make due and with the deadline on our expedition drawing rather close, we decided to hit up the AIRE campus itself, located in Ponston.

Some other places of interest included a Ministry of Wartime Technologies, MWT for short, factory in Mareington, a Ministry of Arcane Science Hub at a place called Ponevac, which appeared to be a settlement more to the West of Mareington. Which coincidetally indicated that was in fact a Motel pre-war rather than a settlement. At least according to Lyra.

“Why would a MAS hub be in a motel? Isn’t that some sort of super important research facility?” I asked as we made our way to the said hub first, it was more valuable, arguably, than the loot we could possibly get from the MWT factory. Not to mention it may have some info on the AIRE and it’s activities, which was more commonly now known as the Institute.

Right, I may need to mention that. According to Free Life, there was no known faction called the Arcane Institute of Research and Education, only one known as “The Insittute”. According to her this was an extremely shadowy organization which operated a number of synthetic ponies, not just robots but synthetically made flesh and blood ponies. This, coincidentally, was first observed 14 years ago, well within the timerange of Snowy’s kidnapping.

Coincidence? I think NOT.

Anyway, point is that we were in need of information and had to get them as soon as possible, our timelimit was coming up after all. School was going to start soon.

“I remember the place, the hub wasn’t under the motel but not far from it either. Maybe they have built a settlement through this motel or built one around the hub?” Suggested Bon-Bon as we continued on our way. Admittedly the idea made sense, the hub wasn’t far from the township’s waypoint, so that would make some sense. The map itself certainly wasn’t detailed enough to make out the geography, nor did it have any kind of township map.

It took us a full five hours to reach the town, we barely paused so that another one of us could take over pulling the cart and we were literally after a while staying in there when not doing that. However, Ponevac come into visual range and…

“Pony Resort, No Vacancy?” I asked, barely able to make out the outline of where the various missing letters had been and left a discolored outline in the sign. It was kind of funny, the ponies had taken Pon-e-Vac and just made Ponevac out of it. I had a feeling there would be some place with a name which the inhabitants would be incredibly ashamed of if they knew the meaning.

“The place certainly has seen better times, that old Spike Gift Shop is still standing though.” Noted Lyra, pointing to a huge bipedal structure in the form of what I guessed may be a young dragon? Not sure about that. It certainly looked the part with the purple scales, green crest of spikes along the back of the thing and all. I could also see the glint of a gun or something from the open mouth.

I could also see that the town was using the old resort/motel as a sort of entry area with a large wall made of overturned cars encircling several old and new buildings beyond what had been the original perimeter of the motel’s land.

In the distance there was also a tall tower-like structure visible, South of Ponevac and I was pretty sure beyond the town’s defenses, so not really part of it. “So, should we go inside and check it out?” I asked, as we all disembarked from the cart to look at the ticket booth of all things that stood at the entrance of the town.

“Well, it would be best if we can get some information, maybe they know something about that hub we don’t.” Suggested Bon-Bon and, after a short bout of discussion, we decided to head inside. Naturally it was at this point that another pony interjected.

“Welcome in Ponevac, are you a Caravan family?” Asked the receptionist, an Earth Pony mare, speaking in a bit of a bored drawl.

“We’re explorers, but we do have some wares to sell. We come from up North, at the new place called “Hogwarts” if that name rings any bells?” Asked Lyra, as one of the two adults of our group she took the position of leader for now, which was weirdly my position.

“Ah, right the Caravan traders mentioned that place, big castle, green fields and a forest, surrounded by some hyper powerful barrier right?” Asked the pony, still sounding bored somehow. Clearly she didn’t care much about that. “50 Caps for entry. Per adult and 25 per foal.” She added in a complete nonsequitor.

“Wait, 250 caps just for entry?” Asked Bon-Bon in disbelieve, and I couldn’t fault her, this made no sense at all!

“Town’s rules, not mine. The Steel Rangers raised the prices to keep undesirables out after they took up shop here.” Stated the mare and we all stopped. Steel Rangers, Free Life mentioned them, a faction made from descendants of wartime soldiers, elite soldiers of Equestria more precisely, equipped with power armor and the most powerful and advanced weaponry of the country’s military. Well, short of the elite Pegasi soldiers.

“Well, that got quite complicated then. Are they the “Keep Ponies safe from dangerous technology” or the “Keep Technology safe from Pony use” type?” Asked Lyra, she had a few choice words when she heard what the Steel Rangers had devolved into since the war.

“They’re the Ponston Chapter, main chapter of the area at that. And it’s the former, thank Celestia for little mercies.” Stated the mare, whose name I still didn’t know yet, but as Lyra was starting to haggle with her I turned my attention to the town, trying to figure out where we could get information.

Naturally, first idea would be asking the Steel Rangers, but who was to say they wouldn’t turn us around and demand we leave the tech alone? Yeah, we needed to figure out what was on the inside of that place, maybe there were notes we could take back to Hogwarts, some magic-tech device we could use, anything that could help Hogwarts.

“What’s going on?” Asked a voice at that point and as I turned I saw a stallion in full on power armor approaching with two others with him. The Stallion was an Earth Pony, lacking a horn and, obviously, also lacking any wings. His body was covered fully in armor though he wasn’t wearing a helmet so I saw that he had a dark brown coat with a black mane. Mounted on his armor were a Minigun and what looked like a missile rack.

The two others were a young Unicorn mare with a yellow coat and brown mane. She wore red bardings under professionally made chest armor and at her side was an energy rifle. The third member of the group was another unicorn, a stallion again. He wore a jumpsuit with several pieces of armor on and had a large laser rifle on his side.

“Ah, Star Paladin Danse. Nothing much, these ponies come from that Hogwarts place that displaced the Sanctuary Hills area apparently.” Explained the mare as if this was of no concern to her. Yeah, I didn’t like her much.

“Lyra Heartstrings, I’m a survivor of Stable 111 and this is my wife Bon-Bon. I take it from your armor that you’re with the modern Steel Ranger faction?” Asked Lyra, eyeing the stallion cautiously.

“I am ma’am, and I would like to know what is with these creatures, they appear to be Alicorns for the most part but I can’t even tell what the two bipedal ones are, or how there are Fillies of those abominations.” Stated Danse, frowning at us which made me in return frown.

“What makes you think they are abominations? They’re all students from Hogwarts, transformed into those forms by the transit into our reality. Not to mention, what is your issue with Alicorns? Did something happen while we were frozen?” Asked Lyra, taking a defensive stance between us and the trio.

“Frozen? What do you mean by that?” Asked Danse instead of answering, glaring at Lyra as the younger Stallion took his weapon into a ready stance.

“Bon-Bon, myself and 2498 other ponies, were brought into Stable 111 when the Megaspells were detected. We were put into cryo stasis for the last 200 years but around 16 years ago, someone using access codes of the Arcane Institute of Research and Education tricked the maintenance staff during one of their routine maintenance cycles to let them in, killed the workers and abducted our daughter, Snowy Dreams. Of the 2500 ponies in that vault, only 798, not counting Snowy, come out alive with systems failing.” Stated Lyra and that seemed to surprise Danse at that.

I decided at that point to step forward myself. “Okay, can everyone calm down? I think I can feel static electricity with how tense this situation gets.” I stated, looking between them before sighing.

“Paladin, I hate to say it but the Filly has a point.” Spoke up the young mare, eyeing my as she did. “Reports did indicate that there were four Alicorn fillies and two more that were in a strange mixed form between Alicorn and their original form.” She continued to reason with the Paladin which seemed to calm him somewhat down.

“Good point Scribe, there is no reason to start hostilities with foreigners. However, I must ask what all of you are doing here of all places. Ponevac is Steel Ranger territory and your own is far to the North of here.” He asked, turning to me as if Lyra wasn’t important.

Well, I wasn’t exactly known for my subtlety. “We want to explore the MAS hub, to see if there is anything we can use to either bring our school back home, or establish a connection to Earth, our home planet. We’re willing to offer trade deals if that is what you want, we got enchanted equipment made with a different style of magic, we can reproduce items you have, including weapons and ammo, and our teachers can probably set up Anti-Radiation stuff too?” I suggested, kind of losing steam after a while.

“Paladin Danse, sir, these claims seem to fit with reports from Caravans that went there. According to them, there is a huge Radiation-Scrubbing field all around their territory and based on my scans, none of the fillies is showing any radiation exposure. In fact it looks like the radiation isn’t even coming within a meter of them. Same with the two mares though there are trace amounts of radiation.” Reported the young mare, her horn had been glowing the whole time so that was interesting.

“I see, however I can’t allow you entry into the hub, it is Steel Rangers territory and only members or those deemed trustworthy enough are allowed to do so.” Stated Danse and… huh that was interesting actually.

“Then what do we need to do to be trustworthy? We don’t really have any arcana-tech or whatever aside from these Pip-Bucks, and we kind of produce these things by copy-pasting them with a spell from our world.” I asked, lifting the device to make a point.

Somehow, his frown didn’t sit well with me.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Paladin Danse was a proud Stallion and member of the Steel Rangers.

He believed in the creed to protect pony kind and to collect the tools to make a better tomorrow by recovering lost technologies and reverse-engieering them so they could be put to good use for the better of all.

It didn’t sit well with him, however, to take foals with him, but sadly as it turned out, the two mares weren’t soldiers and the six fillies, for a lack of a better term in his opinion for the bipedal ones, at least had a variety of spells, including one that was explicitly made to disarm an opponent. The leading filly, Rose Evans, had demonstrated that on his order by casting the spell on him.

And ripping both of his guns off their holsters so they had to be reattached properly.

//Sweet Celestia who come up with that spell?// He thought with a shake of his head as he, Scribe Hailing, as well as the fillies Rose, Ruby and Raining, made their way through the ruins of Mareington to the MWT factory. Funnily enough the party of Hogwarts delegates had planned to go there next to scavenge for anything they could use.

It was quite interesting what they had to offer, for example Rose had insisted on giving the scribe one of the specialized bardings that had been produced by their teachers. It was a trade good technically, but she had reasoned that a gift of good will was far more valuable than anything. Said Barding was a far superior piece of armor to the one the Scribe had been wearing, being a chest and flank armor with a pair of large saddlebags, expanded on the inside so much that each side could hold a hundred times their external volume in contents and charmed to be weightless.

On top of that little benefit, the barding was enchanted to project the same Radiation-scrubbing field that the fillies enjoyed, a small forcefield was also included, enough to take a hundred small-arms rounds or a dozen heavy rifle rounds, as well as a minor healing effect.

He had to admit, this thing reminded him of Powerarmor, and his suit’s systems could pick up that it was the same set of enchantments on the bardings of the fillies. One thing was for certain, these wizards didn’t do things in half-meassures.

To add to this, the three fillies with him were all Alicorns, not artificial mutant Alicorns, but proper ones, even if they had been transfigured from another species by coming here. Their natural skill at flying made them incredibly useful as scouts and their magical abilities were not only impressive, but useful too. The “Alohomora” charm for example rendered regular lockpicking completely obsolete.

Then there was the fact that they had intrinsically preset spells at their disposal, a simple chant was all they needed to activate it, the magic twisting into the spell patterns with the ease of a gunshot and it’s trigger. Best of all? Rose had, without prompting, started teaching two of these spells to the scribe, namely Alohomora and Locomotor, a type of telekinesis spell which was easier than telekinesis as it didn’t need active concentration to maintain.

//Heh, filly probably doesn’t think information sharing to be detrimental, she’s a kid after all, and from a school. But if the students learn this much so easily, what can the teachers do?// He thought, thinking back to a particular potion he had heard some of the other fillies talking about, namely Hermione Granger, one of the bipedals, had been discussing with Knight Raising Tensions his accusations that they probably had a way to infiltrate it and were just a distraction.

She actually brought up a potion that could make them able to turn into someone else but pointed out in the same breath, how that potion was humans-only, meaning that by all likelihood, it wouldn’t properly work either with their new bodies or the transformation into a pony. Species Divide and all that. She also displayed some horror at the idea of anyone testing this on someone or themselves.

“Wait you’re searching for the Institute?” That caught Danse’s attention, Hailing had been talking to the filly about why they had even brought the two mares with them.

“Yup, we suspect they were the ones behind the kidnapping of Snowy, because the Arcane Institute of Research and Education had it’s codes used by the ponies who took her, and killed all the workers.” Explained Rose with a frown on her small face. Danse remembered this Snowy being mentioend by the mares as their adopted daughter, who had been abducted.

“Ouch, well now you got the “Enemy of my Enemy” point on your side.” Stated Hailing and this made the filly stumble a step though he had to commend her reflexes as her wings beat a second later to stop her from faceplanting on the spot.

“Wait, you guys are against those Institute people too?” Asked Rose with a blink and he didn’t need a spell to tell him that the girl was entirely serious in her surprise. Well, it did lend credence to her previous statements that she hadn’t said that to pull them onto her side.

“The Institute misuses technology, no idea in what way, harming the ponies of Ponston’s surrounding area.” Stated Danse, deciding to weigh in himself. “We of the Ponston chapter are dedicated to the original mission of the Steel Rangers, protecting the citizens from such horrors. Elder Maxon has declared it our prime priority to seek out the Institute and put an end to them and their schemes.” He explained as the filly caught up to them, a smile forming on her lips.

“I’m glad to hear that, I haven’t heard much good about them except about how good the school was before the apocalypse, but I can’t accept them just abducting toddlers while leaving 2500 innocent ponies to their fate for no damn reason other than no caring!” She exclaimed and Danse smiled, the sheer vigor in the filly’s words certainly raised his spirits there.

“Well said Rose, still hard to believe that even those pony replacing monsters would sink to such lows. Wish we could find some teleportation jammer so we don’t need to keep the base occupied by most of the chapter.” Stated Hailing and Danse nodded… until he noticed the filly stop.

“Something the matter, Rose Evans?” He asked, turning to her, the surprised look on her face was quite strange in his opinion.

“Wait, you guys need an Anti-Teleportation ward? Oh boy howdy you’ll love professor Flitwick.” She finally stated before coming back to their side.

“Professor who?” Asked Danse in confusion, he could discern this was likely one of her teachers, seeing as she often referred to professors.

“Professor Filius Flitwick, he’s Hogwarts’ Charms teacher and the head of Ravenclaw House. He’s a master of charm-type spells whose very purpose is to imbue magical effects into objects and people. Alohomora is a charm, Wingardium Leviosa is a Charm. I’m 99% sure he can make something to block magical teleportation, Hermione told me that Hogwarts is protected against something like that already. And if he can’t alone, I’m sure the professor for Ancient Runes can help. She made the runic combinations for all the enchanted stuff we use!” She explained and Danse, very suddenly, felt like he had just stumbled into an old, untouched cache of Arcano-tech in mint condition.

“Solar Flaring Orgasm of Celestia, you’re joking right?” Asked Hailing and earned the single most confused expression from the filly that she had given to date, her face scrunched up in a way that was unique to pure and unadulterated confusion.

“I don’t think there is enough soap to wash that out.” She finally stated and Danse very nearly laughed at that. Good point but to be fair, swearing was appropriate.

“Well filly, I believe we just found something worth trading a weapon’s cache for. I will speak to the Elder after this, a meeting between your school’s leadership and him to discuss this would likely be for the best.” He stated, not bothering to hide his mirth at the sheer coincidences that had befallen him. First, a small group of ponies who literally waltzed into Steel Ranger territory to seek entry into their base, willing to trade armor comparable to light powerarmor in protection, and now they found the teachers could solve one of the biggest issues, if not more.

“I wonder what they’ll say about those enchanted water filters to purify water from magical radiation.” Muttered Rainy at that point. Way too loud to pretend she hadn’t wanted them to hear this and, quite frankly? Danse was going to need them to give him a report on what was possible for masters of their magic. Because if they could reverse engineer that, then there was little that was impossible he imagined.

“Oh dear Celestia, a source for Water Talismans, you foals don’t know how valuable that is!” Exclaimed Hailing as Danse rolled his eyes.

Way to expose it, Scribe.

Author's Notes:

Level-Up!

Barter: +10 (40), Medicine: +4 (30), Speech: +3 (45)

Skill Selected: Intense Training (2) – Charisma: You have gotten quite good at this whole “Convince people they like you” stick, haven’t you? I mean, look at that Steel Ranger Paladin! Barter: +2 (42), Speech: +2 (47)

Quest Perk Obtained: Brotherhood in Steel (1): You have found common ground with members of the Steel Rangers, not yet enough that they’d let you join but certainly enough to lend you an ear or two. Barter: +3 (45), Speech: +3 (50)

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~
A/N2:
I'm glad that the fanfic was approved, I haven't come here in enough time to have up to Chapter 14 ready so... yeah, I'm uploading.

For those who commented already, thank you very much for the support, particularly

farfandavid187

for the lengthy Review.
To answer that review, the main focus is on the impact Hogwarts has on the Wasteland, so you will hopefully not be disapointed by me, hopefully. Combat isn't so much of a focus as you may have noticed so far, though I can promise that some things will come up.

Lastly, for anyone who wonders about hte town or the fact that the Brotherhood here is more along the lines of the Applejack's Rangers while being clearly based on the East Coast chapter during FO4, well this is technically a original chapter from me, as far as FO:E is concerned.
I can perfectly justify making them friendlier and not such massive assholes to outsiders and I haven't even tried explaining the past of this chapter so... You'll have to wait and see :D

Chapter 7: Seekers of the Lost Part 3

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Paladin Danse certainly knew his way around these parts. I would give him that.

The city was a complete urban ruin, while Concord had been devastated by the Megaspell fallout, Mareington seemed to have been a lot closer to the actual explosion. The city had large portions of it blocked by rubble, buildings were inaccessible and streets were made into kill zones by the residents.

And by residents, I mean Raiders. I won’t lie and say I didn’t kill, again, but when the alternative was to let those with me die? I couldn’t exactly stop it. At least I made their deaths fairly swift, using the Laser Musket instead of a normal kinetic weapon, or if at long-range, using headshots that were instant death.

I was dry heaving by the third ambush and I could tell the two Steel Rangers were worried.

“I sometimes forget that not everyone has foals as early as nine years old go on field missions.” Muttered Hailing as I finally drank a potion on Ruby’s insistence which would have the effect of keeping me calm, to make sure I could function without breaking down from that experience.

“To be fair, in our world you can’t join the military until you’re 18 years old and in most of the developed world armies have been largely delegated to home territory protection.” Stated Ruby, while rubbing my back. “Back when You- I mean, Voldemort was terrorizing us, I was in the thick of it despite being banned from using magic after I got framed for the Heir of Slytherin incident 50 years ago. My ma being a Giantess kind of helped there.” Explained Ruby, we were currently resting in one of the more stable buildings, nice cover and time to stay calm.

“So you were an old man before becoming an Alicorn? And wait, you were a half-giant? As in, you were half a gigantic pony?” Asked Hailing, raising an eyebrow at the smallest filly of our group.

“Not a pony, giants are a race of human-like magical beings that can get up to 10 meters tall, that is around 30 feet if you use the Imperical system. I have actually a half-brother. But anyway, yeah. I was a half-giant though I can’t say I’m that sad about no longer having that form.” Explained Ruby, patting her own horn as a way of telling them the reason.

“Since we’re resting for now, what is this Heir of Slytherin incident you just mentioned?” Asked Danse, keeping an eye out for possible trouble.

“Oh, right. 50 years ago, when I was 13, during my third year at Hogwarts, someone opened the “Chamber of Secrets” which had been built by one of the Hogwarts Founders, Salazar Slytherin, and unleashed a monster inside. A lot of Muggle-born students were petrified but only one died from it, Myrtel Warrens.” Explained Ruby, looking to the ceiling with a sigh.

“You mean your friend, the same filly with the extremely pale coloration?” Asked Hailing, sounding surprised by that revelation.

“Eyup, when a witch or wizard dies an imprint of their consciousness may be left behind in areas with strong connections to magic or places that are very old and had importance to them. Myrtel was one such Ghost. She and the other Hogwarts Ghosts got all reincarnated as ponies when we got here.” Explained Ruby and that certainly surprised them.

“Anyway, as I was saying, Myrtel was the only fatality of the incident but one of the Prefects, those are senior students who help the faculty keep order among the students, Tom Riddle, found me with my pet Acromantula Aragog. Even though Aragog was just a baby I was convicted as a scapegoat and the whole incident ended at that time too.” Explained Ruby, a frown on her face.

“I still say that Riddle guy was probably the culprit.” Muttered Rainy with a scowl on her face.

“Ahem, anyway, because the ministry determined I was the culprit, they broke my wand and put me in Azkabanm the high security prison used by wizards like us. At least until professor Dumbledore managed to bail me out. I’ve been helping out around the school since then, working as the keeper of keys and grounds. At least until we come here and I was permitted back into being a student.” Explained Ruby, smiling at the memory.

“I see, one question, what is a Acromantula and would it have been able as an adult to do that?” Asked Danse, there was something about his tone that made me think he wasn’t liking the implications.

“Not at all! I know others consider them dangerous but Acromantula are just cute big spiders! They can’t petrify you and sure, as babies they’re around half my size and so was Aragog, but their venom can’t hurt anyone and Aragog is well behaved!” Explained Ruby, not at all seeing the flinch from Hailing or the thinning of the Paladin’s lips at the idea of a giant spider.

“Please don’t remind me about the fact we got a whole nest of the things in the forest.” Muttered Rainy, shuddering and visibly repressing her own gagging.

“So, a non-lethal, baby giant spider, with no ability to petrify while an adult, was blamed on petrifying a student? Wouldn’t it make more sense for it to have been a Cockatrice or Basilisk?” Asked Hailing, looking puzzled at the idea.

“They didn’t really care if it made sense, they wanted a culprit and I was delivered to them as such. Wizards don’t do logic very often.” Responded Ruby with a sigh.

“Wait, what is a Cockatrice? Or a Basilisk for that matter?” I asked, deciding to turn the conversation around to what this was about.

“They’re magical beasts found in Equestria, both able to petrify with their gaze. Both also hatch from a snake egg that had been incubated by a cock. The main difference is their morphology. A Cockatrice takes an avian appearance with serpentine aspects such as a snake’s tail while a Basilisk is a type of giant snake.” Explained Hailing and I frowned.

“That sounds nasty, but those Basilisks would fit Slytherin for sure, the house’s coat of arms shows a snake.” I stated with a frown, it did definitely sound like something that could be “Slytherin’s Monster”. Much better than a spider.

“But do they exist in your homeworld?” Asked Danse, his interest was seemingly earned in this conversation. He wasn’t the most talkative pony I had met to be honest. Well, we all turned to Ruby, who was the magical creatures expert outside of the school’s professor for that one elective class.

“Sure do, it’s highly illegal to breed them though. Then again, Salazar Slytherin lived over a thousand years ago.” Stated Ruby and yeah, that about summed up the chances of this not being the case at all.

“So, we have a super murderous snake monster under the school somewhere, and a whole nest of giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest, and that’s not even mentioning the tribe of isolationist centaurs in said forest, the giant squid and merfolk, along with other nasty water creatures, in the Black Lake, and then we have Fluffy at your hut too.” Stated Rainy, shuddering.

“Wait, what is this Fluffy?” Asked Hailing, sounding somewhat concerned why a name like that was thrown in with various monsters.

“Three-Headed Giant Dog.” Chorused Rainy and myself, both of us remembering that Rotweiler-looking pet of Ruby.

“Wait, you have a pet Cerberus?” Asked Hailing in disbelieve, and made the rest of us pause.

“Ah, Hailing? I don’t think we talk about the same thing? Three-Headed Dogs are a rare breed of magical canines. The term “Cerberus” in our world refers only to one specific example from mythology.” I asked, not liking the idea of what may be these Cerberi of the Wasteland. Fluffy was plenty scary, dangerous, Scary Dangerous and dangerously Scary.

“They’re a type of Hellhound, who are descendants of Diamond Dogs. They mutated to have three heads instead of one and grow to about twice the size of their cousins.” Stated Danse and I shuddered, remembering the monster I had killed in Concord.

“Great, wasn’t like the decaying thing from Concord was ripping apart ponies with ease already.” I muttered, shaking mildly at the memory.

“You fought a Ghoulified Hellhound?” Asked Danse, sounding impressed and I shrugged my wing.

“More or less. I don’t think there are a lot of ground-bound targets without weapons or magic that can hurt me. And I had a Laser Musket with all the time in the world to take aim so...” I left the statement hanging at that point but it was clear they understood.

“A sound strategy there, regular Hellhounds are already deadly combatants but a Ghoul is probably a hundred times worse.” He stated, shaking his head.

“I wasn’t really thinking, I just wanted it gone so it wouldn’t hurt anyone.” I responded with a sigh, trying to keep out the image of that half-melted face and mutated body. It looked so much like one of the zombies in Dudley’s many movies, but somehow worse because it was real!

“That’s about as good a reason to get tunnel vision as you can get, protecting others that is. And considering you kept the greatest advantage you have in mind while doing so I can’t find much a fault there. Celestia knows, I lost too many Scribes and knights who thought they were tougher shit than a Hellhound.” Stated Danse, shaking his head at the memory and I could appreciate his attempts to reassure me.

“I just hope we get through here before we have to rest for the night, I don’t think I can sleep without...” I didn’t continue, it just felt… so strange. I couldn’t feel safe, couldn’t feel fine enough to sleep without Lyra and Bon-Bon with me. It was so weird compared to the years of solitude.

“I see.” Muttered Danse, as if he could read my thoughts. He sighed regardless and stood up. “We should get going again, make sure your weapons are in condition to fight and double-check those shields. Understood?” He asked and we nodded, standing up and doing as he wanted.

Soon after we moved out again, with Danse ordering us three to fly up and keep watch from an elevated position rather than on the ground with him and Hailing. I did spin up my Musket, it made things easier if I didn’t have some physical body to look at after the fact even if the disintegration of the body was gruesome in it’s own right.

It was almost an hour after we resumed the march that we reached one of the access tunnels of the factory, namely a pipe leading into it. There were hostiles ahead which is why we were stopping for now. “You alright Rose? You look kind of pale, well, more than just with the fur.” Asked Hailing, sounding concerned as I shuddered.

“Y- yes. Just give me a moment? Gods, I- I don’t like killing.” I muttered, sitting down and just trying to calm down. Getting shot at and being pumped full of adrenaline meant I could ignore the whole thing even if only for a moment, but when it faded? Yeah, not fun.

“You know, it is good that you take no pleasure in taking lifes.” Spoke up Danse and I looked up to the Stallion in powerarmor, he had taken off his helmet to look me in the eye apparently. “The pony who enjoys to take another’s life is one who is approaching the status of Raider. Remember this disgust Rose Evans, for it is proof of the kindness still nestled within your heart.” He stated, he sounded somehow much older than he looked, I would’ve guessed him being maybe in his 20s if I compared him to how the Teachers now looked.

“T- thank you.” I muttered, lying down to calm my nerves easier. I really needed to get control of this, I didn’t want to be a burden to the others because I couldn’t stomach this. But at the same time, he was right. Feeling disgust, discomfort and all the other feelings about killing? That was the right feeling, wasn’t it? Enjoying to take a life was being like that murderer, like all those Raiders who killed for fun.

Maybe I would be able to put my feelings aside one day and overcome this, but I swore I wouldn’t devolve into someone who could kill in cold blood for no reason.

I refused to become like him.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Paladin Danse watched the filly as she lay there, her breathing still desperately trying to come under her control.

While he knew that it was weakness to become so vulnerable from simply killing scum like Raiders, he also knew that it was only healthy for a child to feel that way. She wasn’t a Steel Rangers Scribe, Innitiate or even a mercenary. She was a child who had volunteered to help and was doing her best to accomplish this goal.

“Paladin Danse?” He turned his attention to Hailing as she trotted over, her horn glowing as she set up a privacy spell.

“What is it Scribe?” He asked, the fact she put up a privacy field indicated that it was something the fillies weren’t meant to hear.

“I have been running the scans you ordered, the unidentified magical field you remember?” She asked and he nodded. His suit’s systems had detected it around Rose Evans from the start, thus why he had accepted the three coming along as a way to earn their way into the MAS Hub.

“Do you have results?” He asked, curiosity overcoming his caution.

“Yes sir, it appears to be a Type-L9 field, a Willing Sacrifice Ward.” He stopped at that and turned his head to the resting filly, still shuddering as she fought through her emotions.

“So her parents gave their lives to protect her?” He asked, he knew of these wards. They weren’t common, few ponies these days were willing to do this for their children. But it wasn’t unheard of or something he hadn’t seen before.

It most commonly occurred in Ghouls. Even Feral Ghouls could retain their parental instincts, either protecting their Ghoulified foals, themselves feral or not, or protecting foals they had, in their mindlessness, adopted, mistaking them for a lost foal. When killed in their pursuit of protecting these children a Type-L9 forcefield was generated, which protected the foal from any magical threats.

Love was, in a way, one of the strongest magical forces known to ponykind. There were stories of foals coming out of iradiated places, speaking of their parents shielding them against the Megaspells and never Ghoulifying. The sacrifice of these ponies saved their foals, granting them the strongest magical shield known. Heroics like that, a sacrifice of love, was perhaps the greatest show of character.

He took a breath, he shouldn’t get emotionally attached. These three were for all intents and purposes mercenaries hired by him. They would depart after they were done. However, he had a feeling things wouldn’t quite end there. Senior Scribe Static Shock had expressed interest in this field, so if this information leaked she may be pressured into staying.

“Hailing, keep the information quiet for now. We will see about further details later.” He ordered and the unicorn mare nodded, dropping the field and trotting over to Rose to try and help the process along. Innocence was, in a way, something that had to be protected more than dusty technology. The irony of a Steel Ranger Paladin thinking that wasn’t lost on Danse one bit but then again, he wasn’t part of those fanatics like Cottage Cheese and his chapter.

“Thank Celestia for the Elder’s more level headed decisions.” He muttered under his breath before putting his helmet back on to run some diagnostics on his armor.

No need to have reloading be a problem.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Albus Dumbledore sighed as she sat in the infirmary, she hadn’t felt all that well lately, feeling quite bloated too.

She wasn’t the only one, she had seen a number of other of the ones who had turned into young mares, so faculty and the female ghosts, suffering similarly to herself. Only the mares though and none of the students. It was quite odd in her opinion, children tended to get sick much easier than adults after all. Though maybe it was one of those mutated diseases from the Wasteland. There was no telling what diseases were out there.

Poppy Pomfrey had been dealing with these kinds of illnesses for a few days now so Dumbledore was quite confident that the school nurse knew what she was talking about when she told her that the potion she was going to ingest was going to identify what was inside of her. A strange way of saying it would identify the kind of disease, but Poppy Pomfrey was the medical expert at Hogwarts.

“Here you go dear, just drink it and we’ll see.” Stated Poppy, handing the vial to the young mare and watched as Dumbledore did as instructed. Moments later, thick, pink clouds come out of her ears and nose, surprising her. “Well Albus, congratulations. It’s a filly.” Stated Poppy and, with a giggle, watched the gears come to a screeching halt inside the pregnant mare’s mind, before she feinted.

Sighing the nurse picked the unconscious pony up and placed her in a bed in the hospital wing before grabbing some parchment and a quill. On it was a list of all the mare names in Hogwarts that were adults and from Hogwarts to begin with, with most having a box next to it which had a Y, X or a box filled out with black next to them.

“Thank god I take potions to suppress my menstrual cycle, who knew that pony heat would kickstart our population growth?” Muttered Poppy with a shake of her head. Earlier that month everyone had been getting restless as the mares had gotten into heat and, well, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that a lack of experience with these extra strong instincts would lead to something.

“Hmm… who may be the father this time? Severus is out, he is baking with Minerva, the Bloody Baron? No miss Ravenclaw has his foal and I’m pretty sure she wasn’t letting him out of there during that period… Maybe…” She chuckled, feeling quite youthful with how she was trying to figure out who had slept with who exactly. Didn’t help that for a good while of the first month they had no clothes, though she had yet to see any of the Muggle-born teachers and ghosts reveal it.

Down in the Teacher’s Lounge, Filius Flitwick sneezed and had the sudden feeling he had fucked something up. And it involved the headmaster’s… quite fine ass he was quite sure of that.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Down in the Slytherin dorms Draco Malfoy was having a bad day.

First, she got scared off by Harry Potter. When that freak got so mad at her that her mane turned into magical fire, Draco’s Flight or Fight Reflex kicked in. And Flight kicked Fight so hard in the nuts, her Fight instinct’s a girl now. It was a primal fear, before a being so far higher up the magical food chain that everything in Draco’s body screamed for her to get out of that situation.

Let the Alicorn cool her heels, that was the closest to a coherent thought that had went through Draco’s mind at the time. And she did. No need to start a fight when the opponent has easy access to magic, can fly and is heavily armed, right? At least, Draco would tell anyone who asked that was the reason.

However, if Draco Lucius Malfoy was honest, she was scared. Scared shitless.

Draco wanted to rage, wanted to pick a fight. But she couldn’t. When Potter went out again with her group, now accompanied by the two mares who had adopted her, Draco refused to come along, too scared of triggering her year long rival again. Too scared to allow herself to confront her about the whole ordeal. Then, when they returned not even a day later, again, Draco wanted to mock her again, for fainting. But when she overheard the reason, her mind went blank.

Harry Potter had killed. Not just one, not two, but five ponies lay dead in Concord because of Harry Potter. Not only that, but an undead creature known as a Hellhound had been killed by her as well. The description drove all bravado out of Draco. And then, the “Minutemare” Free Life had decided to hold a demonstration on guns and how dangerous they were.

As a demonstration Professor McGonnagal has transfigured a ball of hay into a cow. Which got vaporized on the spot with the Laser Musket Free Life had on her. Then she systematically took apart another transfigured cow using normal guns.

Needless to say, Draco Malfoy wasn’t stupid enough to want to go out there. Protective magical shield or not, she didn’t want anything to do with the outside world of the Wasteland ever again. And knowing that Potter was now running around with that same Laser Musket wasn’t putting any more bravery into Draco Malfoy at all.

Then there was Snape, for some reason he had been acting weird around McGonnagal for a few days now, being rather pale and nervous around her. He had acted similarly weird around her a few weeks into their stay which was also around the time that the majority of teachers had gone weird, as did many ghosts.

It didn’t take a genius to guess what it meant. Menstrual cycle probably, making it quite clear what had happened. As well as what this meant for the current situation. It only got worse when Draco saw Professor Dumbledore, during last lunch, walking to Professor Flitwick, whisper something, and him fainting instantly at her hooves.

This didn’t bode well for Draco. If one male-turned-female individual could become pregnant, then so could any of them. Naturally, being a filly had, in this regard, a benefit as she was too young for it apparently. But while Harry Potter and her group were reduced eight years old, therefore it would take maybe half a decade before they were to endure this if this ran along with the norms for humans, Draco was only a few years away from possibly becoming sexually active.

And that prospect? Becoming the mare to carry a stallions foal? Becoming pregnant? This she feared above all else. It was a horrible feeling to be this vulnerable, to fear the future that had yet to come. She would need potions, potions that could suppress this, potions to induce sterility for the duration if she couldn’t stop it from happening in the first place.

“Oh god, why do I have to suffer this way?” She asked herself, burying her face in her pillow as she tried to banish the thoughts of her possible future from her mind. Draco Malfoy was a male! He was the heir of the Malfoy family! He was meant to impregnate woman when he grew up, not be the woman to be impregnated, much less by a horse!

But, there was no denying what was between her legs now, and she knew it. “Damn that Potter, damn her to hell! If not for that meddling blood traitor we wouldn’t be here!” Cursed Draco angrily, trying to find some fleck of light but failing to. The only thing she had that she could do was to try and find a way home and, hopefully, restore herself to being a male.

But the origin of this entire problem was also already on the case of solving it. So what could she do? She didn’t have the courage to go out there and face that world. To face a world filled with monsters, necromantic magical radiation and psychopaths wanting to kill everyone they saw.

So all she had left was to distract herself, and there was something that had come up during lunch after Flitwick had fainted.

“If I can’t solve the problem myself, I will just learn what I can about how this world makes magic so readily available.” She muttered as she stood up and headed outside.

Her target? Free Life the Minutemare, her and her class on Talisman creation.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“AGH!” Screamed a figure as it emerged.

The figure was at first a skeleton made of mismatched bones, but soon flesh began to manifest around it as it continued to howl in agony. The process continued after the muscles and flesh had finished, skin following them and finally black fur covered the body, white feathers the wings, and a blue mane with red stripes emerged from the scalp and the figure’s tail, finishing the formation of a pony.

“FUCK! What in the hell happened? I thought drawing magic into myself, as easy as it is here, would be enough with that blood sample from Potter to give me a body! But I didn’t think it would be this painful!” Exclaimed the filly, then stopped after a moment, after hearing her own voice.

“Why am I, Lord Voldemort, a girl?!” Exclaimed one Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior as she realized the form she had taken.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed, finally we had gotten through the Raiders in the factory, after dealing with their basement of pony Ghouls I may add, and had found what the Paladin wanted.

It was a powerful, industrial scale energy Talisman which would apparently help to power the MAS hub. We were allowed to scavenge the area for anything else we wanted, a favor from Danse. It did help to distract me from all the death. Again.

I was searching the filing cabinets when I found something. It was a small booklet titled “Thaumaturgy and You”, it was a medical journal it seemed, about healing spells and even patterns for healing Talismans. I won’t lie and pretend I didn’t take it simply to have something that would distract me.

After this we left the building and made our way back to Ponevac, where we arrived only after sunset, luckily we didn’t encounter any more trouble along the way. And, I admit, I was glad nobody was commenting on my keeping myself occupied with the book. Not looking up, not paying attention. Just… distracting myself with anything but the fact I had to kill, again.

I was honestly turning into Hermione I think. Ears deep in a book and all that. Maybe she would find it interesting? It was educational after all.

As soon as we were in Ponevac the Paladin led us directly to the Hub along with the rest of our team. We were ushered in and given quarters, and told Scribes would be reviewing any item on hand over night and we may be able to check it in the morning.

I was… I was actually thankful. I was given a room alongside my moms and… Huh, I started calling them that. That’s… a bit weird.

But, it meant in any case that I could sleep. A lot more at peace than I would’ve been alone.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

As the visitors laid in their assigned quarters, Star Paladin Danse made his way to the office that was the Elder’s quarters.

“Danse, report.” Ordered the elder of the Ponston Chapter, Elder Artoria Maxson as the Unicorn Mare turned her attention to him.

“The mission at the MWT factory was a success ma’am, no fatalities to report. However, also no contact with Synths. They appear to not have been interested.” He reported, kneeling before his superior who sighed.

“I see. Were the contractors you hired a hindrance?” She asked, naturally she had received a report from Rising Tensions. He had been against the idea after all.

“While one of them did take the need to kill rather poorly in spite of her apparent reflexive urge to help others and stop Raiders, they were definitely more of an asset. I have intel that their teachers can possibly alleviate our teleportation issues with their own form of magic in fact, among others.” He explained and the Elder frowned in contemplation.

“And you deem this intel believable?” She asked, leaning forward on her desk.

“Scribe Hailing was monitoring the conversation, as far as they were concerned all that they said was true. We also have an example of their own armor style, heavily enchanted I may add but at least on par with minor models of power armor on it’s own due to a force field and a Radiation repelling field.” Explained Danse and he could literally see interest turn to full on attention.

“I see, I assume none of the fillies can implement these on their own?” She asked, naturally the idea of recruiting someone like that would naturally appeal to her.

“I am sorry but no. Three of them were students that just finished their first year at the school when they were transported, another had no magical abilities before coming here and the remaining two fillies, while having more years of training, haven’t performed magic for 50 years. My full report on the situation will be provided in the morning.” He stated and Maxson nodded in return.

“And all they want in exchange is finding something that can either transport them back or may connect to their world?” Asked Maxson, contemplative.

“Yes Ma’am, their only request in exchange for their aid was the permission to search our stores for such an item. I have assigned Hailing and a number of other scribes under my command to that task.” Explained Danse and Maxson nodded.

“Good thinking then. Anything else to report?” She asked, and Danse paused for a moment then nodded.

“Yes, the leader of the group the filly calling herself Rose Evans, has been bonded to a Type-L9 field. From conversation it appears that her parents died trying to protect her from a Raider-like wizard named Voldemort who died when his spell was reflected back at him while he tried to kill the one years old foal.” He explained, it sounded so absurd to his ears to go to such lengths to kill one child but…

“I see, I will leave actions regarding our… guests, up to you, Paladin. Do not disapoint me.” Stated Maxson and this was as clear a dismissal as Danse would likely be getting so he nodded and left the office after a short bow.

The Steel Rangers Elder on the other hand sighed, turning around in her chair as she looked out over the small town that her predecessor had decided to protect while also taking the hub for the chapter as their base.

“Things are getting interesting, aren’t they, Elder Lyons?” She asked, sighing as she turned back around as her eyes met a photograph, of a young filly with an elderly Earth Pony Stallion. It made her smile just a bit, but the job of the Elder involved a fight against a opponent with endless troops.

Paperwork.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning come almost too soon for my tastes, but I suppose in a military complex, early mornings are to be expected.

We were escorted to large storage facility after being given a basic breakfast, and boy was I glad for the rad scrubbing force field. My Pip-Buck told me there was quite a bit, though nowhere near lethal, doses of radiation in those rations. Not surprising considering the state of the world. Luckily those Rads were removed by my suit’s Anti-Radiation field as soon as I grabbed it.

I did notice Scribe Hailing nearby marveling at the Rad-Purged food she was now consuming, still wearing the bardings we had given her.

Anyway, back to the storage space, am I right? You don’t want to know what they serve in their cafeteria compared to Hogwarts.

In the storage facility we found five items. All of them ornate mirrors in their own right. “These are the best guesses on our part to what you need, the Ministry of Arcane Sciences was working on these mirrors to create portals into another world in case evacuation was needed. As you may guess, this didn’t work out for them.” Explained a Unicorn Stallion nearby, Head Scribe Belonging Wisdom.

“Each of these mirrors is missing some sort of coordinate, we believe it may be sufficient to use your magic as an anchor but we can’t tell for sure.” Stated the scribe, looking down on his own Pip-Buck which was probably displaying notes or something.

“That’s amazing. Thank you sir.” I stated, I was quite happy even if it was still only a portal, if we could establish a connection to Earth… Well I wouldn’t go back through, but it would be good for everyone.

“I still can’t guarantee for it to work, but yes, this is the best we were able to find so far.” Stated the scribe and I nodded, smiling. I was just glad that we had a chance at all.

Walking to the central mirror I followed instructions to place my horn to the right-hoof gemstone and to channel some magical energy into it. This energized the mirror and…

“What was that?! Who is there?! Show yourself or I will hex the whole room!” Exclaimed a voice from behind the mirror and I blinked in surprise at that.

“Wait, Mad-Eye Moody? Is that you?” Asked Ruby at that point, trotting over in surprise as I gave her room to come.

“Who is asking? If this is some sort of prank brat I will find you and I will put you in Azkaban if I don’t like your answer!” Declared the man and… wow, just wow.

“It’s me, Rubeus Hagrid! Ah, what was my order code again, ah… Right! Order ID Charlie Charlie Foxtrot Alpha Beta Beta Charlie Foxtrot!” She declared and a long pause followed while everyone stared at her for that one. Order?

“What the- Hagrid, you better have a good explanation for this! The whole damn school vanished over a month ago and now you sound like a little girl and are inside the this mirror in the confiscated items storage of the Unspeakables?” Asked the voice and I blinked. Wow, that was… that was surprising.

“Ah, alright but I think the professor would be better at explaining this Moody, it’s quite a tale but the short version is that the whole school got transported to another world. And it also transformed everyone when that happened, myself, Argus Filch, Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Draco Malfoy and professor Dumbledore all got our genders turned over and us, plus Hermione Granger and a revived Myrtel Warren, but minus the professor and the Malfoy boy-turned-girl, got turned into little ponies with wings and a horn. And everyone else is a pony one variety or another with wings, a horn or neither but enhanced physical strength.” Ruby was talking fast there, and hadn’t taken a breath until she was finished.

A pause followed this, then… “You know what? Get me Dumbledore. Or the thing you’re talking through to him, her or whatever.” Ordered the man before the sound of steps could be heard as he walked away from the mirror, apparently deciding he needed a break.

“Well, it appears our part of the deal has been fulfilled.” Stated Head Scribe Wisdom as he watched. “I have been informed to tell you that, if this worked, to take a second mirror with you, after we have connected it to another. The Elder wishes to have an easier way to communicate and trade with your school.” Informed the man and, well, I didn’t have anything that I could say contrary to that.

With that said, we loaded up both of the mirrors and, to our surprise, were also given an old “Sky Carriage” modified so that a cart attached to it would benefit from it’s enchantments. These enchantments would allow the magic of a pegasus, or in our case a Alicorn, to flow through them and let them fly.

Or in other words, we had a new mode of transportation. I hadn’t expected that.

Chapter 8: Restoration of the Connection Part 1

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I sighed.

Ponston, we have a problem.

You ask why? Well, we accomplished one of our goals, sure, we established contact with the Ministry and thus Earth.

However, treking back to Hogwarts, even through the air, took a full day and with that marking day 39 of our stay here, and the reconnection with Earth, it was decided to halt exploration for the time being to prepare for school. Strangely, my moms were fine with it too.

What was more surprising was when people were coming through the portal. First Alastor Moody who had been described as a nasty old Auror, magical police basically, with way too much paranoia for the modern times. In Equestria he become a gray unicorn stallion with wild, brown hair. And aside from not aging down he was also tall.

Like, from hoof to horn he was easily 5,4 feet tall. Or 164.59 centimeters. And he was built like a Earth Pony stallion from the Steel Rangers.

He, Dumbledore and McGonnagal all exchanged various code phrases and codes, often so fast nobody knew what either said, but he was able to confirm their identities. At which point others got the green light to come through.

First was miss Weasley, who instantly hugged her sons, and daughter, and fussed over them. When Rainy pointed me out she come over and checked me for injuries. Being that she was a Earth Pony mare and quite strongly built herself, that said a lot.

“Oh dear you certainly got into some trouble didn’t you Harry?” Asked Miss Weasley finally and I blushed a bit but nodded.

“Yeah, I guess so miss Weasley. Also, thanks again for showing me to the train back then.” I said, smiling a bit and she smiled back.

“Quite alright dear. I must say you do look quite adorable though.” She stated and I blushed.

“You must be miss Weasley, Rainy’s mother.” Spoke up Lyra, catching the woman’s attention as my adopted mothers trotted over. “Sorry, I wanted us to introduce ourselves. I am Lyra Heartstrings and this is my wife Bon-Bon. Rose and Rainy have spoken quite well of you, as brief as our adopted daughter’s interaction with you was.” Stated Lyra and Molly blinked, then turned to me, then to them.

“Oh my! You were adopted? I’m so glad, when I heard Albus left you at the Dursleys of all people I swear I could’ve thrown him out a window! But you got a new mother, no, two of them!” I was quite surprised at the outburst as Miss Weasley hugged me, continuing to express her happiness that I found a family.

Yeah, it was a bit strange but I won’t lie, it felt nice too.

More and more parents filtered into the school after that, siblings too. Apparently the mirror had been set up at the Leaky Cauldron for this purpose with a guard of four Aurors around it. Even Tom, the bartender, showed up to see what form Hagrid had taken and laughed himself into a coma at the sight of the tiniest pony in the whole school.

Then he woke up to find Professor Flitwick over him and when informed who he was, promptly did it again. Admittedly the irony was quite funny but you get used to it after a day or two with this. It also turned out that Professors Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Hooch, Professor Sinistra and The Grey Lady or more appropriately, Helena Ravenclaw, couldn’t pass through the mirror at all. None of them could and it took Madam Pomfrey a good minute of laughing to reveal why.

“Albus Dumbledore is pregnant.” Miss Weasley fell on her rump after hearing that declaration though she wasn’t the only one shocked silent by the revelation. It also meant I’d be susceptible to become pregnant when I grew up which was… disconcerting to be honest.

“I’m more freaked out by the Slytherin and Ravenclaw House Ghosts having a foal.” Admitted Mister Weasley, Ron’s dad who was named Arthur Weasley, rubbing his wife’s back to help her get over the shock.

“To be fair, I’m a little girl horse now mom so… I’m not sure how high on the list of Oh Crap’s this goes. And you haven’t even seen the Wasteland.” Admitted Rainy and promptly caused the mare to faint.

“I wonder what made her faint, the reminder her youngest son is now her oldest daughter, or the fact we’ve been gallavanting around a post-nuclear wasteland.” I commented to Hermione who looked around us.

“Ah, Mister Moody? Do you know if my parents are also coming?” Asked Hermione after a moment, walking over to the scarred stallion with the artificial eye.

“Y’er a Muggle-born?” He asked, eyeing the distinctly human-like appearance that he had already been informed to mean she was mostly Muggle blooded.

“Yes sir, but they know about magic, they were with me when we bought my school supplies but I think they may not be able to find the Cauldron if they had been informed.” Explained Hermione and the Auror nodded with a frown.

“Fine, I send someone to check for the parents of Muggle-born, can’t be that hard to spot.” He muttered before going back through the mirror. I wondered if he kept his clothes in the other form. Nobody would want to see an old man naked I imagine.

When Moody come back he did so with numerous more parents, all of them turning into the Muggle-born variety of our pony forms. Luckily, whatever turns us into ponies seems to ignore the clothes on Muggle-born and family, though it did indicate they all had one thing in common: Magical ancestry of some variety.

I did notice a single mare with white fur and blonde mane with Draco, she was a unicorn notably. I suspect that was her mom but where her dad was, I didn’t know.

After all this was settled we were herded through the mirror to Diagon Alley and a new surprise awaited me. “I can’t see!” I exclaimed, I hadn’t had problems with my eyes since coming to Equestria and I also realized that I was no longer on all fours, I rarely stood on two legs since, well, my front hooves were kind of useless for the most part. Especially compared to just using magic.

Speaking of, I had hands.

“Rose here, what’s wrong?” I heard Hermione and as I turned it took me a moment to see her due to, well, I was shortsighted again.

“You don’t have fur anymore.” I finally blurted out, surprised as Hermione seemed to have reverted to being human except for retaining her pony ears from what I could see but was otherwise free of fur.

“Yeah, and you look like we Muggle-born do in the Wasteland, I think that whatever is changing us between worlds is getting a bit confused. But anyway, you can still see, right?” She asked and I strached my head, my still equine head.

“A bit? I think my eyes got turned back to what they were before all this.” I explained and she sighed before pulling out something from her bag and handing it to me.

“I was kind of afraid of that when we heard how the return back is turning people back to normal. Though apparently only the ones not in the blast radius.” She stated and I knew she meant our initial transit.

Putting on my glasses I saw two woman step out of the mirror, both of them with the colors of Bon-Bon and Lyra respectively and followed by a young girl with the colors of Rainy. As in, skin color and hair color. “Huh? So that’s what it’s like to be bipedal?” Asked Lyra interested, looking down on her new hands as Rainy walked over to us.

“So, any idea why I changed the same way as those two?” Asked Ron, looking to the pair of ponies-turned-human. I was kind of glad that all of our bardings were made to conform to whatever bodyshape we had to avoid needing exact meassurements, we weren’t naked for that reason alone.

“I think the mirror is interpreting you as just a pony? I mean, Purebloods seem to have the most pure pony form so maybe you’re just far enough removed from Muggle ancestry?” I suggested as more and more students come through.

While most of them come here to go home or at least have something to do outside the Wasteland, I was here with Lyra and Bon-Bon to formalize my adoption in the Ministry of Magic. It was on insistence of professor Dumbledore since the magical connection to the Dursleys was otherwise impenetrable. Yeah, turned out that part of the reason the Dursleys had me was that Dumbledore had set up a magical ward on that house to keep Voldemort and his followers away from me.

But with my now residing in the Wasteland, as living among Muggles was right out with my new form, there was no reason to keep it up. So, we were going to cut my familiar ties with the Dursleys and make my adoption into the family of Bon-Bon and Lyra official. This also come with the benefit that there would be no adoption war once that all come out since it was a family from outside the ministry adopting me.

Well, we got a lot of weird looks on the street for sure, considering I was a little horse girl, accompanied by weirdly skinned woman. Oh, and escorted by Aurors. We were led to a ministry administered shop where we were led to a chimney.

“Have any of you ever used the Floo Network?” Asked mister Moody, he looked even more severely scarred as a human, did you know that?

“No, I’m not familiar with any magic of that name from our world and we’re new to this one so… Rose, did you…?” Lyra was asking and I shook my head.

“No, I was raised by Muggles, remember? The only means of magical transportation I went through were that mirror and the barrier to the Hogwarts Express.” I responded, noting the other Auror, a young woman with pink hair, making a weird choking sound.

“Trainee Tonks, what is so funny?” Asked Moody with a snarl and the apparent trainee Auror come to attention on reflex. I had to wonder how strict he was.

“I’m sorry sir, it’s just, she’s Harry Potter right? I didn’t think she wouldn’t know about the Floo Network since, well, you know? All those stories?” Responded miss Tonks and that brought me up short. Stories?

“Don’t believe everything you read in a children’s book, or do you really believe this kid tamed a dragon?” He asked in return and I had to hold back a choke at the idea of that kind of story. I had handled a dragon, sure, a baby dragon. Who bit Rainy. And we barely made it through until her brother’s friends could pick Norbert up.

“Sorry Sir, I will be more mindful from now on.” She apologized like a chastised child. Admittedly she looked like she had just graduated the year before I got enrolled in Hogwarts so… She was young.

“See that you do. Now, how this works is simple, throw the damn powder in and step into the fire when it turns green. Then say, loud and clear, where you want to go. In this case it’s the “Ministry of Magic, Office for Magical Adoptions”, got that?” He explained and we nodded. It sounded fairly useful though I had my doubts we could help set that up in the Wasteland, who knew what sort of BS the radiation could play on it.

A quick go through of the Floo later we arrived at the office and I sat down on a bench, waiting for my moms to finish the paperwork with Moody.

“So, how is the other side?” I blinked as Tonks sat down next to me, looking very interes-

“Wait wasn’t your hair pink just now?” I asked, staring at her now neon green hair which then shifted to dark blue instead.

“It can be whatever I want, I’m what we call a “Metamorphmagus”, meaning I can change my appearance at will. Though I doubt I can match the change you underwent.” She explained, a grin on her face and I giggled. She had a point. “So, how about my question? I heard some people talk about a Wasteland?” She asked and I blinked, she hadn’t gotten the details?

“Well, it is called the Equestrian Wasteland overall, though it seems to be sub-divided into places like Canterlot area, the Hoofington Wasteland, and Hogwarts got dropped into the Ponston Wasteland.” I explained which just got her more interested it seems.

“Why do they call it that though?” She asked, prodding for information much?

“Some 200 years ago the kingdom of Equestria under Princess Luna was at war with a nation called Zebrica, which was an empire under Zebra rule. Equestria was close to winning since they were in the process of completing several big projects and pushing the Zebras back, but the Zebras used reverse-engineered Arcano-tech called “Megaspells” to create missiles that could deliver a super strong version of the Zebra “Balefire” spell which normally is pretty small, but the Balefire Bombs created were like literal nuclear bombs.” I explained and noticed her swallowing nervously.

“You’re a Halfblood miss Tonks?” I asked, realizing the implication of her being nervous about that word.

“Ah, just Tonks, alright? And yeah, my dad’s a Muggle-Born. Got my mom disowned from the family. So, nuclear war? In a world of magic horses?” She asked, apparently already having heard about what the locals looked like on the other side.

“Ponies, but yeah. The sky’s constantly cloudy because the Pegasi, who are a type of pony with wings, covered it all up to divide themselves from those on the ground. No idea what they tell themselves about the surface though. Also, from what I’ve heard on the radio from comments of the DJ, the old capital of Equestria, Canterlot, is covered by some gas weapon known as Pink Cloud and the remains of princess Luna were found there. She and her older sister princess Celestia, were Alicorns like me.” I explained to her, indicating my wings and horn.

“Huh, so… winged unicorns then?” She asked and I couldn’t stop the giggle.

“More or less, apparently an Alicorn is a pony with all the powers of the three races, so I’m a Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony, all at once. That’s why Ruby, ah, she was Rubeus Hagrid before the whole transition thing, can punch someone twice her size through a solid castle wall, casually.” I told her and… got a wide-eyed stare.

“Wait, Rubeus Hagrid? That big teddy bear of who I could swear was half giant? How small did he get? And, wait, did you say she? Rubeus Hagrid’s a little girl pony now?” Tonks, at that point, devolved into loud laughter as she apparently decided that the idea was hilarious. It was, don’t get me wrong, but it left Ruby with a bit of a size problem I could empathize with.

“Hey, it’s not nice to laugh at her while she isn’t here. Also she’s the smallest in the school, I mean, myself, Hermione, Ron, or Rainy, Argus Filch, Myrtel and Hagrid all got turned into Alicorns, and female ones, of around eight years old. But Ruby is also very small compared to us.” I explained, and giggled as Tonks just kept laughing at the image.

“Tonks, I believe I told you to watch the girl, not nearly knock yourself out from laughing.” And cue Alastor Moody ruining the, well, mood.

“S- Sorry sir! I was just trying to make idle conversation since, well, what better way to distract a child?” Well, given even that child could tell that’s a completely made up line, nope.

I stood up, seeing as my moms were back now and apparently had paperwork with them? I stopped for a moment because, well, it still feels weird how easily this come to me at that point. I guess I was clinging to this after what I had to do in the Wasteland, and maybe also at the Dursleys.

Did I mention that I was relying on them against the nightmares? Because holy shit, I was relying on them for the helping me against those nightmares.

“So, we still need to get to Gringotts to get this notarized, not that access to the vault would help in the Wasteland since I doubt there is a pile of Sparkle Cola caps in that vault.” Noted Lyra with some amusement while me and Tonks walked over to them.

“Cola Caps? Why would those be useful?” Asked Tonks as we headed back to the Floo access area.

“Bottlecaps of the Sparkle Cola and Sunrise Sarsaparilla brands are used as a currency, since after the Megaspells no more are being produced. So there is a finite number of those Bottlecaps around even if you can find more. At one point traders decided to use caps as a currency, that spread around the Wasteland through them, then give it 200 years to stir and you end up with an economy based on them.” I explained, shrugging. It was something we had been learning from the caravans that come through Hogwarts.

“Okay? So, did you ever drink this Sparkle Cola thing?” Asked Tonks, while we had arrived in the Floo Hub, for a lack of a better term, there was currently a line to the floo entrance to Diagon Alley from the ministry.

“Yup, got a carotty aftertaste, you’d be surprised how good that tastes when you’re a pony. There are also other flavors I heard, but if there is any left, well, you’re asking the wrong girl for that.” I explained shrugging. “Admittedly I’ve only gotten as far as Ponevac and it’s Ministry of Arcane Sciences tower so I’m no expert.” I admitted further and that, in turn, led to a rather lengthy explanation of the MAS Hub and what the locals were like.

The fact I had only known very little of the settlement and mostly knew of the town’s protecting chapter of Steel Rangers was hampering that, though it did interest Tonks to hear about Paladin Danse and Scribe Hailing, not to mention what little I knew of their command structure.

I mean, wasn’t really all that interesting.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, that was concerning.” Muttered Kingsley Shacklebolt as he sat across from Alastor Moody in his office.

He has been assigned as the task force leader concerning the Hogwarts situation. The school was impossible to recover and fully humanity was, seemingly, impossible to restore to those who had been ripped away with it.

What was concerning was a recording made by Nymphadora Tonks while she had been talking with Rose Evans, aka Harry Potter, about the child’s experiences in the other world. Aside from a large amount of talk about flying without a broom and how freeing that was, what concerned him were the Steel Rangers.

The chapter, meaning a subset of the organization, in the local area of Hogwarts, the Ponston Chapter, appeared to be reasonable, but her talking about what others said about chapters from elsewhere painted a stark divide. There were those like the Ponston Chapter who sought to restore Equestria to it’s pre-war glory and protect the ponies, basically holding onto their pre-apocalypse mission, and then there were those who instead sought to protect technology and hoard it.

And apparently, the latter outnumbered the former. On top of that, while Hogwarts was amazingly well protected thanks to the wards coincidentally including ones that repelled necrotic magic as well as a strong magical shield, the world outside justified well why the students were now wearing a uniform more in line with armor and meant to protect them.

“Hmph, I think it’s a good idea to have those Wastelanders teach some things, the brats need to learn how to defend themselves or else they won’t be ready for the real deal!” Stated Moody with a growl and Shacklebolt sighed, obviously the old warhawk would say that.

“What do you think of these new classes Dumbledore has decided to implement? They seem to be meant in case students decide to go out into that Wasteland. I mean, gun safety, Talisman Manufacturing, Combat Tactics, Survival Training.” He asked, looking at the list of new classes which, according to the data, would be mandatory on a Bi-Weekly basis.

“To be frank? Best fucking idea the old goat had in years. Though I guess she isn’t old anymore is she. Pregnant with a foal of all things, from Flitwick.” Muttered Moody with a frown and Shacklebolt flinched mildly at that. He had head about that. The fact that Dumbledore would continue working as headmaster instead of, well, waiting out the pregnancy was mainly because the projected duration was 10 to 11 months.

“Well, there isn’t a whole lot we can do to stop it, given that we’re dealing with a school full of children, the chances of none of them wandering off into the Wasteland at some point, especially when some of them can literally fly on their own, teaching them how to survive is a good idea.” Admitted Shacklebolt as he leaned back sighed.

“You still don’t like it, do you? You’ve gotten soft then, there are way too many Death Eaters still out there and these kids could get into another war any time. And I’m not talking about a war in that other world.” Stated Moody, scoffing at the idea of sheltering the children from the need to defend themselves. For all that he had no patience to be a teacher, he’d sooner take up that DADA job than let those morons baby them into being helpless.

He didn’t fight that war so that some pussy paper pusher could ruin the future he had fought for. “You know that a lot of the Ministry officials will be up in arms over teaching those children how to use what are literally Muggle weapons made for ponies, right?” Asked Shacklebolt, and naturally he was just as aware of those morons as Moody himself.

“Tzk, I’d love to see them try and enforce that, last I checked all Hogwarts has to do to stop someone coming through is break a mirror or keep a well armed guard there. And apparently they’re getting a trade deal with a military organization in Powered Magic Armor.” Countered Moody, taking a sip from his canteen as, honestly? He needed a drink.

“Not gonna lie, if I hear that pink toad in a woman’s costume try to grab for more power one more time? I’m gonna take that gun I took off of Potter and shoot her myself.” Stated Moody, holding up a small handgun even though it had a strangely shaped grip.

“Wait, when did you grab that? And didn’t she notice?” Asked Shacklebolt, blinking as he stared at what he thought may be a 10mm pistol.

“Kid wasn’t paying attention to those bags she was carrying, nor did anyone else. She had 14 of these things, 12 shotguns, 14 Sub-Machine-Guns, 3 high-caliber sniper rifles, and some sort of handmade energy weapon. All in one bag and I didn’t check the other.” He stated and, not for the first time, Kingsley Shacklebolt was reminded why Alastor Moody was the one Auror, who made Unspeakables spill the beans.

“So, the Boy-Who-Lived, who is now a pony, was carrying a small militia’s worth of firearms on her person. Good lord how did you infect her with your Hyper Vigilance this quickly?” Asked Kingsley, shaking his head, then he saw something scarier than a raging mother dragon with you between her and her eggs: A grinning Alastor Moody.

“Who said I checked after we got here?”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Solid Matter sighed in relief as she passed through the gate that marked the entry to the Hogwarts Grounds.

This marked her third visit to the lush green land of this castle and it was each time quite reinvigorating when the wards washed out the radiation in her body and barding. Not to mention her goods.

“Good to see you again miss Solid Matter, it’s been a while.” Greeted a colt who come to her, she recognized him as Percy Weasley, the older brother of Ron, or more accurately now, Rainy. He was a Pegasus notably and like all his siblings, Quad-Bound.

“Quite so Percy. How have things been here?” She asked with a smile as Trot Alot urged the two Brahmin along while she spoke with the colt.

“Quite good actually, Rose and her group have come back with a sort of portal mirror they found in the hands of a group called the Steel Rangers and were able to establish a connection to Earth. Though I must admit that I am a bit disapointed with the professors as they have revealed that a lot of them let their hormones drive them into intercourse, leading to quite a few of them pregnant.” Explained Percy as he led them to the market town that had grown around the school.

“For real? Who are the lucky Foaling mares?” Asked Solid Matter brightly, quite excited to hear that the school was having foals. Within the Wasteland, any healthy foals were welcome and for the small population of Hogwarts, healthy foals were practically guaranteed.

Percy naturally didn’t quite understand that, though he did answer. “Professors Dumbledore, McGonnagal, Hooch, Sinistra and the former House Ghost of Ravenclaw, the “Grey Lady” or Helena Ravenclaw, as her full name is. Fathers are, in order, Professors Flitwick, Snape, who is responsible for both professor McGonnagal and Madam Hooch, Peeves our former Poltergeist and finally the Bloody Baron. Who has yet to give his name. I swear to god, that man is more in love with that title than the poor lady Ravenclaw.” Muttered Percy and that surprised Solid Matter, but it made sense in a way.

“Don’t worry too much, first time heat is always the hardest to resist and in the later stages of puberty it gets even worse. I am pretty sure this all happened because of their not being accustomed to these kinds of natural instincts.” Reassured Solid Matter the young colt with a chuckle.

“Just wait until your fillyfriend goes into heat, you won’t have trouble understanding them after that.” She added and laughed as the colt’s face turned a glowing red color. She found it cute if she was honest but he was also way too young for her tastes. “Anyway, I am glad to hear them foaling, in the Wasteland any new life is treassured by us civilized pony folk as it is the only future for which we can hope.” She explained to the young Weasley as they reached the town and he excused himself while Solid Matter, Trot Alot and their hired guards began unloading their wares.

She did notice Soaring Hopes of the Crimson Caravan had already put up her own store. It was surprising how easy trading with them was when they met in such neutral territory like Hogwarts. Sure, the Crimson Caravan was cut-throat but she had come to respect her fellow Caravaneer for her dedication to the clients they now shared. Hogwarts was, after all, a small community with all the needs in the world.

In all seriousness, Solid Matter hadn’t had to carry every imaginable good she could think of to one single location, knowing she’d leave without what she come but tons of what she didn’t have and could sell elsewhere, anywhere else.

Hogwarts was a unique market of trade. And Trade they did.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kellog, I have a mission for you.” Kellog raised his eyes as he watched one of the doctors enter his living accomodations.

“What’s the matter doc? In need of some more “Test Subjects”? Or do I need to get someone to be replaced?” Asked Kellog, standing up as he did, watching the scientific pony take out a clipboard and handing it to him, it showed an area he knew as the Sanctuary Hills Ruins.

“Reports have come in that over a month ago, a castle surrounded by lush fields has appeared and replaced the ruins in this area. I want you to infiltrate the area if possible and capture one of the reported Alicorn fillies.” Stated the doctor as Kellog flipped one of the pages, seeing six images, four being of fillies and another two of… unique physique.

“I see, though why? I thought you gave up on that project.” Asked the mercenary and got a scoff in return.

“Restoring the lab? Yes, we have given up on reproducing the IMP experiments any further. However these are Alicorns, not just artificial ones. We may be able to utilize them in our Synth project. Besides, you get your pay, we’re willing to pay double if you capture one and still full if you can at least place a beacon there. We hope that it can help us bypass their Anti-Teleportation field.” Stated the doctor, using a hoof to push up his glasses as he did.

“Well, haven’t been to that place in a long time, but sure.” Kellog grinned as he said that, blue, bug-like eyes giving the doctor the chills. “Just remember to prepare the food too.” Stated the Changeling as he changed into a Pegasus.

“Good, and before you leave, there has been a disturbance in the corpse disposal unit, radiation was sucked into a single point but we weren’t able to ascertain it’s nature. If you find anything unusual and necromantic, try to capture it or at least report it. We want it alive.” Stated the doctor before leaving as Kellog chuckled.

“It is getting quite interesting around here it seems.” Muttered Kellog before leaving his quarters for the armory.

He had a hunt to go on.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Riddle was having one of the worst days of his, or her, existence to date.

Given her original state as an interwar orphan in a shitty orphanage, that was an achievement to be proud of. Problem was that her troubles come from more of these equine creatures, much like what she had become but much larger.

“Thy Resistance will crumble, before the Goddess you shall kneel!” Declared three voices, from those damn green winged Unicorn things as they continued blasting at her own shield and cover.

“For fuck’s sake, I swear to god if I get out of here I will blast this whole place.” Growled Tom as she tried thinking of something to do.

Then, when a stray blast hit a building nearby, rattling it, something fell down. It was a Muggle looking gun and while Tom Riddle was loathe to admit it, the residual energy of death, the same type as the Killing Curse, and which these things were absorbing, meant that she couldn’t rely on what should be the unblockable curse. Fiendfyre was right out too, the stuff just made them bigger!

Grabbing the gun with her magic, thank magic for Locomotor, Tom was thankful for a single thing about growing up in the Muggle world: Being drafted into the army even if only shortly, and learning how to fire a gun from there. Shooting into the air she took aim at the left-most of the creatures and as they turned their eyes up, shot.

Now, normally the shot from a simple Hunter’s Rifle wouldn’t be enough to penetrate the shield of three Alicorns. However, what Riddle didn’t realize was the special ammunition loaded into it, 5 bullets of Star Metal. Five bullets that could punch through magical shields as if they weren’t there.

And as the bullet passed through the skull of the first Alicorn, the horror dawned on the other two before a fourth appeared, this time purple. Seeing as this one may very well have a different ability, Riddle shot her too but while it avoided the headshot, with the bullet still hitting the horn, all three vanished in what Riddle was sure was apparition.

She landed after that, breathing a sigh as she saw this. Then she turned to her back.

“Wait, these things work?”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I yawned as we passed through the mirror once again and I fell onto all fours.

It was midnight by the time we had gotten through all this stuff with Gringott’s and fighting through the celebrations for the renewed contact to Hogwarts, and I just wanted to sleep.

Luckily for me, I found myself lifted onto the back of a taller pony and, after a moment, just fell asleep. I was so done with the day I didn’t really care for whose back I was sleeping on as she trotted with me somewhere. I just enjoyed the sensation and fell asleep.

To my surprise, while my dream started off as usual with the faceless Ghoul ponies that were a strange amalgam of, well, Ghouls and the growing number of Raiders I had killed, they soon vanished with the factory, the same that I had helped Paladin Danse capture, replaced by a starry nightsky.

“Well, this was quite a horrible nightmare, even we haven’t visited one so horrible in our lifetime.” Spoke up a voice and as I turned I saw a tall mare, a Alicorn Mare, with a midnight blue coat and flowing, starry nightsky like mane, had appeared behind me. She wore jewelry notably and had a mark on her flank, a Cutie Mark, of a black background with a crescent moon on it.

I recognized her, even if only from descriptions. “Princess Luna? I thought you were dead, DJ-Pon3 said so.” I asked, confused as I was certain that the ruler of Equestria had been reported positively dead.

“Our life has ended indeed young one, but our soul is still lingering within Equestria like many others. Thy nightterrors have been as a beacon to our senses and and we wished to see to thy safety. Imagine our surprise as thy identity is that of a Alicorn filly.” Stated the mare and I had to parse that through, she spoke in a weirdly accented English, like an amateurs interpretation of Old English.

“Okay? So, I’m being visited in my dream, by the ghost of another Alicorn who died 200 years ago. Stranger things have happened. Erm, are you alright though? I… didn’t hear much good of how you died.” I asked, and a chuckle escaped the mare’s mouth at that.

“Thy kindness is appreciated, by our well being is of little concern. We must apologize for taking so long, thyne nightmare has held on long enough.” Stated Luna, smiling at me and I blushed.

“N- no it’s alright, I’m honored you would come to me when, well, you should find a final rest? Or something like that? Sorry I’m not good at this.” I muttered, feeling awkward at this whole ordeal.

“It is fine, though we may not rest yet we have come also to free thyself of a dark presence.” Spoke Luna and I blinked, what did she mean? “Turn around young one and behold thy Nightmare Moon.” Stated Luna and I shuddered at how dramatic that sounded. But as I turned around, horror gripped me.

Standing behind me was a another filly, a Alicorn too but her body was nearly entirely decomposed. Where black fur still persisted was patchy and her wings had taken the shape of batwings. What was most horrific was the empty, glassy eyes and half decomposed flesh that exposed bone in some places.

“W- wait, what is that?” I asked, stepping back in horror at this creature as it salivated.

“A foul piece of necromancy that latched onto thy scar, a piece of another’s soul we shall exorcise as it has been feeding on thy suffering.” Stated Luna and, as I turned to her, I saw it. Her horn come aglow, a symbol like a crescent moon appearing before her before blasting the apparition which screeched in pain. Then it desintegrated.

A moment of silence followed as I blinked away spots but felt her nuzzle me. “Are thou alright young one? We hope thy mind did not take damage.” Spoke Luna and I giggled.

“Y- yeah I’m alright. Thanks princess Luna. But, what now? How did that thing get into me anyway?” I asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“This we cannot tell, but for now we believe thou has earned a good rest. Sleep well little star, for as our moon has waned, we hope thine sun may yet rise.” Spoke Luna and… faded. I did feel a strange sensation, but after that point, my dream transitioned to something else, I can’t remember quite what it was though.

Maybe, just maybe, that was for the best though.

Chapter 9: War of the Wastes Part 1

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I yawned as I awoke, after what may be the best I had slept in weeks.

“Good morning sleepy head.” I heard Lyra, and felt her nuzzling me. I just leaned into it, the sensation was still so strange but I couldn’t really resist her. It was one of my favorite new experiences, no matter how long I had been receiving this by this point.

“Good morning, mom.” I muttered, yawning yet again as I blinked a few times to try and wake up a bit faster.

“You slept a whole lot better than yesterday, had a nice dream?” Asked Bon-Bon with some amusement as blearily tried to recall what I had dreamed but… There was only the beginnings of my normal nightmare…

“I think the ghost of princess Luna visited me?” I muttered and felt Lyra stiffen at my side.

“Princess Luna? Rose she died 200 years ago, how would she come to you?” Asked Bon-Bon, sounding somewhat concerned as I stood up, which the two also did, and shook myself.

“She said she’s only a spirit, but she stopped the nightmare I was having and then… right there was this black Ghoul looking filly in my head, she said it was some sort of necromancy? She banished it though.” I stated, remembering this odd… thing.

“That isn’t good, we should ask your headmaster, maybe she has an idea.” Stated Lyra and I nodded. Though before that, well… Did I ever mention that being groomed is nice? Having a body full of fur makes morning heads into morning bodies, and since I didn’t grow up a girl I don’t really have the experience on how to deal with that.

Luckily, I liked it when they brush me, it was a morning ritual that I just enjoy so much. I suspect others would think the same of coffee, but I don’t drink that stuff, I don’t like the taste. Maybe it’s a filly thing, maybe it’s silly, heh, but it’s too bitter for my tastes. Also, last time I did drink a full mug in an effort to stay awake to avoid the nightmare, I blacked out and woke up two days later.

On top of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences Hub with a Spritebot under control of Scribe Hailing. Telling me I needed to get off the roof.

I also, apparently, somehow stole Paladin Danse’s armor in a caffeine induced, hyper-active attack. I had also done the following:

Rewired the main reactor to somehow produce literal sunshine and rainbows.
Herded a bunch of Feral Ghouls into the building who now act like Earth cattle.
Brought a Enclave Cloud Ship down full of confused and scared Pegasi.
Destroyed the Sparkle World Raiders, apparently they were a Raider coalition in an old theme park or something.
Made a bunch of robots dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. Including Spritebots and Sentry Bots, neither of which should be anatomically capable of that and nobody knows how to stop them.
Finally, I stole 60 Cakes out of the cafeteria and I don’t know where they went. That’s as many as six tens!

So yeah, needless to say that I was officially prohibited from ever again touching Lyra’s personal stash of high-concentration coffee powder, ever again. And I still don’t know what I did that they call the “Great Flash of Maxson” but their Elder was apparently very cross with me about the whole ordeal. I think it involved photographs, at least I saw some of the initiates looking at some?

Anyway, that quick tangent aside, not like it matters much what I did while hyped up to the gills on Caffeine anyway, or that I had been prohibited from flying around the hub unless I was being pursued by enemy Vertibucks or something, apparently those were a type of VTOL aircraft from this world.

I won’t lie, it took me a minute to understand what that meant, Vertical Takeoff or Landing aircraft, that is what the acronym means, but regardless, I wasn’t allowed to fly there anymore. And even in the above exception I wasn’t allowed to fly anywhere near the South-side 20th floor central window at 9 PM to 4 AM. I really need to figure out what I did there. And apologize for whatever it was.

Anyway, we made our way after the somewhat mandatory filly grooming to the Great Hall, we didn’t live in a house of our own, mainly because most of the Stable 111 refugees were still too many for what had been built up so far, but they were getting there. And besides, Hogwarts had enough empty, unused classrooms to accommodate the full 2500 that went into the Stable, comfortably, so that was something, right?

Anyway, getting to the Great Hall meant passing by a number of windows and… “Mom, what is with that green thunderstorm?” I asked, staring at the outside where the shield was visibly flaring against the weather. That didn’t look normal at all.

“That, Miss Evans, would be a Radstorm.” Spoke up another voice and, turning around, I saw Free Life had come out of another Hallway.

“Radstorm? What, does that mean that is a radiation storm?” Asked Lyra, sounding nervous about the idea.

“Aye, half the Balefire Bombs targeting Ponston’s military industrial complex hit far in the South-West of the state, the area was so over saturated with the radiation that it soaked into the soil and now, every now and again, the fumes get mixed up with the occasional thunderstorm resulting in, well, this. We’re lucky we have cover in this school. Rad Away rations always get kind of close in those things.” She explained, shaking her head as she did.

“So, why didn’t we see any of these before?” I asked, cocking my head to the side which made her chuckle.

“They don’t tend to get this far up North, and you guys haven’t spent that much time down south. Ah, by the way, I was told to inform you not to leave the premises, the barrier is being kept closed for the time being so it would be rather difficult to get in.” Explained Free before leaving the three of us to our own devices. I did notice that she had a wand on her.

“Well, we weren’t planning to leave any time soon after all. Let’s get going.” Stated Bon-Bon and I with that we set off again. I did notice that I was walking between them and… it made me smile a bit. I felt happy, just being with them. Maybe this would be how I’d have felt had my parents survived back then, though it also showed how much I missed out on thanks to Voldemort.

As we entered the Great Hall, which during our stay had been a bit remodeled in so far as that the tables and benches had been adjusted to be comfortable for ponies and Anthropomorphic ponies alike. It helped a lot to be sure. More over, with the school year not yet starting and most of the students who could staying on Earth with their families, the tables had been largely removed for a single large table where we all could eat.

As professor Dumbledore had said, the House divide was for the school, why keep it during summer vacation? Admittedly, we were staying at the school during Summer Vacation. But still, it was a nice gesture. “Hey Daphne, I didn’t know you were staying here.” I greeted one of the friendlier members of House Slytherin, Daphne Greengrass, as we got to the table and sat down.

Being a Pureblood witch Daphne was, obviously, an obligate quadruped and was also a Pegasus on top of that. We had gotten to talking during shared shifts watching the gates for intruders. She did smile at me, I was pretty sure she found me cute in the way you did a puppy.

“My parents are on a business trip uproad, so I can’t very well go with them given what skin color I would have.” Explained the blue Pegasus with a green and red mane and tail.

“Makes sense to me. What do you think will they do when school starts again? I… kind of vaporized our DADA teacher, with an exploding Philosopher’s Stone.” I asked, flinching a bit at the mention of vaporizing a teacher. I was pretty sure I was the first student to kill a teacher before exam results come out. I was, like, 90% sure some student went a bit mad after getting a T, which means Troll, on their exam results so… yeah.

“Get a new one. I heard from the older students that nobody has held the position for a full year since before last year’s graduates entered their first year so…” She explained and I blinked.

“Well that’s not ominous at all.” I muttered, shaking my head at the sheer absurdity of a teacher’s position having a turn-up rate like that.

“You’d be surprised.” Spoke up Percy Weasley, he was the only one of his brothers, including Rainy, to stay at Hogwarts for the moment. He was a Prefect or so he reasoned. “I can confirm that I haven’t had a single teacher of that class for a full year. The year before you come we had two because professor Aberhart had to go on Maternity Leave halfway through the schoolyear.” Explained Percy and my eyes wandered over to the professors who were, well, foaling.

“So Foaling leave is something that is practiced on Earth too? I swear I remember back when everypony believed Twilight Sparkle to be foaling when she, miss Honor Student, took sick leave for two months.” Stated Lyra and I remembered the name, Twilight Sparkle was the mare in charge of the MAS back in the day.

“Well, hopefully we get a better one this year than Professor Quirrel. I’m pretty sure “Possessed by Voldemort” is the lowest any teacher has gotten.” I commented, ignoring the flinches of those in earshot of my comment. I’ve been dealing with it for over a month now, my smashing his host’s face in so I kind of lost fear of Voldemort.

Hell, who knows? Maybe he turned into a pony like the ghosts and is currently scrambling around the Wasteland, trying to figure out how to Muggle. “Why are you snickering?” Asked Lyra, confused at my apparent mirth.

“Oh, nothing, I just imagined what would be if Voldemort got turned into a pony and is no desperately scrambling to learn how to fight like this. I mean, what are the chances that he knows how to fire a gun? Or do it with hooves?” I asked, and suddenly the others laughed too.

“I’m meant to be on the other side but… yeah, good point. I can’t imagine my parents doing well based on what I heard about the outside world of this side.” Agreed Daphne, shaking her head.

Naturally that was all speculation, whatever he had become, what were the chances he got a pony body?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“Fucking gun, where are rounds for this thing?” Asked Tom Riddle as she gritted her teeth, trying to find ammunition.

She had ran out of bullets after three of these aggressive equines, meaning she had only five bullets in the magazine fed rifle she had acquired. Sadly she was neither familiar with the weapon’s model, much less it’s caliber. And her education in Muggle weapons maintenance was limited to say the least.

She wasn’t drafted until the tail end of the war after all, and dropped out not long after. And now she was regretting it. With her favorite curse crippled, Fiendfyre being weird, and the sheer ferocity of the locals she had little choice other than keeping a much more primitive weapon on her until she found something to shoot with.

Namely a spear she took off a corpse.

“How pitiful, for one to hold the gift we hold yet so weak.” Spoke a voice and the wraith-turned-filly gritted her teeth as she turned on the blue mare that appeared from literal thin air. She had concluded that these creatures come in three varieties, the green ones with Legilimency, the purple Apparition experts, and these stealth blue ones.

“Hold your tongue creature, I’ve slain many like you already!” Snarled Tom as she brandished the spear angrily but this only made the creature laugh harder.

“You believe you can take on our unity with such a pitiful weapon? You killed us only because of the bullets of that gun, you have no power beyond that.” Declared the creature. It was getting on his nerves. “But very well, our goddess is a gracious goddess, we shall grant you a gift if only for thy tenacity.” These words, well, now Tom Riddle was beyond confused as the mare turned.

“Follow us, thy lack of understanding of thine form betrays thy origin. We shall bring you to ones who can teach you and make thee worthy of being kin.” Stated the Mare before walking ahead of him.

Tom Riddle didn’t know what in the hell this was about, but she was an oportunist by nature, and she had figured out that being here had, somehow, helped her regain her cunning which she never realized to have lost in the first place.

Seriously, in hindsight she had realized that killing a large portion of the population for disagreeing may have been a bad idea. Naturally she had never gotten beyond elementary school and was raised in an orphanage, but that was hardly an excuse.

All that being said, she followed the creature, she had no other alternative really and at least for now, it appeared to be friendly. “I assume you know what the term for this form is, do you? I didn’t take it voluntarily.” She stated, if she had her way she would’ve been human, male, and in the glory that had been her before her fall, and not… this.

“We are Alicorns, the greatest form of ponies in Equestria. Our mission as Unity is noble as under our goddess we seek to grant this power to all unicorns in Equestria, to grant them the gift granted to us by the goddess. A gift once only held by the princesses who ruled Equestria before the last day when the Megaspells hit.” Explained the mare and Tom frowned, that was quite a…

//Wait, do I sound like that when I preach? Oh god I do. Why do I realize this sort of thing now of all times? Damn that Potter, probably his blood.// Thought the revenant filly darkly.

“Thy birth was a surprise to us, Necromantic Alicorn.” Spoke up her guide at that and Tom faltered a moment. She knew. “Yes, we have observed thy progress from the start, the three you met first were a test. We have never withnessed a Ghoul rebuilding a body out of the bones of lesser ponies and nothing but the radiation, such feats are not normally possible.” Stated the Alicorn and and Tom decided not to mention that at least part of it was likely Potter’s-

“We also know of thy use of another’s blood, likely what led to thy form. Our observers have watched an almost identical Alicorn filly wander with a small herd around. Unlike thyself, that filly was acting like a small child, acting as if the death of lesser creatures meant something. Thus we chose thee.” Explained the mare then and Tom had to put together what that meant.

Harry Potter had turned into a Alicorn like she herself did. Harry Potter also didn’t take well to killing, which objectively made sense, the boy was 11 years old. And quite sheltered though even Tom would’ve admitted to likely hesitating if she had killed at that age. She hadn’t seen the truth of the world yet at that age, after all. And naturally, Potter helping these creatures, it fit.

“Great, so I’m stuck as an imperfect… I guess a Homunculus is the best analogue. A undead one.” Tom Riddle was not happy. Not happy at all. Sure, she had the blood of Potter and maybe that would negate the pesky protection, but she was stuck as an imperfect copy of that brat. And to add insult to injury, this may explain the more introspective behavior she had been experiencing.

“It appears so, our goddess has no experience of this sort as the Balefire Bombs are fairly recent.” Stated the Mare and Riddle scowled, not helpful in her opinion, not helpful at all. Or reassuring for that matter.

As they continued to trot along the devastated streets a nothing seemed to attack them, likely because there was a huge ass horse in the lead. But this changed when they come to a relatively rubble-free road in the middle of the street which gave a nice view of the West and East ends of the city. And then a bright flash of green light was seen in the distance to the West.

“What was tha-” Tom had just said that when a scream echoed from the mare and turning around she saw her clutching her head in pain.

“N- no! Mother! NO! This cannot- Her voice! Her voice is gone!” Screamed the mare and Tom took an involunatary step back. It took her a few seconds to comprehend the inane rambling of the creature, but it wasn’t too difficult to figure out. The “Goddess” the creature served had been destroyed by whatever that was. And that couldn’t mean anything good.

“Get a grip you! You wanted to lead me somewhere, do so and I will help you!” Demanded Tom as the blue mare stared at her, then nodded.

Tom Riddle didn’t know what was going to happen, but if she wanted to regain power, she may need to play the hero to this creature. She needed a powerbase after all and a guide. Even if said guide was going insane.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight Sparkle felt herself get loose from the amalgam of minds known as “The Goddess”, the insane amalgam of pony minds primarily led by whatever remained of Trixie.

However, it was under her own power, just after realizing what was going on, Trixie’s mind had kicked her out, her mind and her soul, telling her to safe herself. Then went silent when the Balefirebomb took her life at long last.

Twilight had sought refuge in one of the Alicorns, but the mind of said Alicorn was occupied and she was only able to take over long enough to hear Pinkie’s last words, then had to leave. But, she found something. Another Alicorn, this one with damaged magic, a damaged connection and no mind.

“Alright, gotta get used to this new size. And body. And why again were all of the Alicorns so dark in color anyway? Sweet Celestia I need to focus. Okay, where can I find a place to stay and heal… Right, that shielded castle, right? Maybe they let me in, they have six Alicorns.” Muttered Twilight.

Not for the first time wondering what world she had created.

She just hoped that she would have a chance to repent.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

The bright flash from the West startled a lot of us.

It had been during lunch time, after most of us castle-stayers had done some pseudo-lessons with our guests, the best thing we could do in this situation if we didn’t want to visit Earth. What was more shocking was what one of our newest visitors said.

“A Balefire Bomb! Someone set of a Megaspell!?” Exclaimed Elder Artoria Maxson as she stared out at the flash of green light that was visible all the way here. She had, along with a small delegation of Rangers and Scribes, come to Hogwarts to negotiate with us. This also meant we had now information what that flash was, but not the context.

“Please stay calm! The detonation must’ve occurred quite a way away from us so therei s no threat to the Castle even without our wards!” Called Professor Dumbledore over the clamor of voices that erupted, but it was enough to silence them.

“I don’t like how this is looking, I apologize but I must return to Ponevac and prepare in case of an emergency. Danse, I station you and your man here for the time being, be ready for anything understood?” Stated Maxson and Danse nodded, saluting before she left. Not even waiting for a reply or rebuttal from the headmaster.

“What threat?” I asked, into the silence that followed and Danse’s face darkened.

“An all out assault by the Enclave or worse.” Stated the Steel Ranger before beginning to bark orders at his man who quickly ran to do as he told them to.

I wasn’t liking this all.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Kellog ground his teeth as he glared at the huge shield surrounding this place.

“For fuck’s sake, why did I have to be assigned to this, in the middle of a Rad Storm in this area, while they turtle up?” He asked angrily before taking another Rad-Away potion to keep up with the radiation outside the shield.

“Why do I feel like, I’m in a shitty as buck situation?” He asked with a growl, not for the first time wishing his kind was Rad immune like a Ghoul or Alicorn. But no, he was a Changeling and all he could feed on was love, not Necromantic magical residue. In the air. As plentiful as that shit was.

“You know what? I go looking for the random ass disturbance in Downtown Ponston. Not like that can be any more dangerous than this shit.” He muttered, shaking his head as he flew off again.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Up in the clouds, on the Cloudship [Righteous Fury]…

“Sir, we have ascertained the large enemy location to be beneath us. Orders?” Asked one of the bridge officers as Cloudy Skies, the ship’s captain, looked down on the tactical display.

“Fire all cannons.” She ordered, not even bothering to descend below the clouds. Moments later, as a consequence of the fact that Hogwarts had a magic repelling shield up, all of the Plasma shots bounced off, sending the Cloudship into ruin as it was struck.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Red Eye stared down at his wine glass.

Or rather the shattered remains of it on his table.

“Well, I don’t like this omen.” He muttered, standing up to go and mobilize his troops.

War was coming.

Chapter 10: War of the Wastes Part 2

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To be frank, seeing the giant airship that crashed outside the Hogwarts wards was… odd.

Professor Dumbledore said that they had shot at the shield but with it’s magic repelling properties, the this just led to several of their own powerful artillery shots hitting them instead, wrecking havoc on the ship. Naturally the Pegasi that attacked on the ship weren’t going down without a fight and flew at Hogwarts to continue whatever reason they had to attack in the first place.

Only to hit a literal firestorm of stunning charms from everyone present. Given that there were over 800 spellcasting capable individuals on the other side of a near impenetrable shield, it was not much of a surprise, the Ponies from Stable 111 had been taught how to do it and had been able to fashion rudimentary wands for all the Earth Ponies.

Additionally, the professors were laying down a withering firestorm of their own, while students and residents like us were firing like Semi-Automatic rifles, the shots from the teachers had more in common with Anti-Air Machineguns or Flak Cannons as hundreds of spells were racing up into the sky from each of them.

Particularly, Professors Dumbledore and Flitwick reminded everyone why the latter was the master of Charms in a school led by a legend, and the latter reminded everyone why she was a legend to begin with. Pregnant or not, Albus Dumbledore was a force of nature compared to the rest of us.

Within two hours of the Cloud Ship crashing we had all the pegasi knocked out, chained up to keep them from doing anything, had their bardings, or rather Powerarmor of all things, removed, and naturally they were relieved of their weaponry, mostly energy weapons and heavier or more advanced guns. That was cool, especially since there were like close to 500 Pegasi, all armed, that had come out and when we went in to check, found another couple hundred survivors who were injured or tending to them.

We had to stun them, keep the medical workers back, or do all kinds of other stuff just to clear the place. And yes, I was among those who went in, being an Alicorn basically made me one of the most resilient ponies in the school, being able to fly and throw up a powerful shield. I was assisted in this by Ruby and Argent, Myrtle had left the school like Hermione and Rainy, as she had wanted to find her relatives as she had two younger siblings.

Anyway, the incapacitated, wounded, and the few Pegasi who were non-coms, were all brought within the shield and put into confinements to be questioned later. They were given simple food, nothing too fancy but given their actions, who were they to argue?

“Man this stuff looks amazing.” I muttered, looking at a suit of the Pegasus Powerarmor that we had recovered, unlike the suits that the Steel Rangers used this stuff was sleek, not that bulky and if my Pip-Buck was to believed, had a built-in magical forcefield even better than the one we had on our own Bardings.

“I’d say so, this is high-quality pre-war technology.” Stated Danse as he appraised a laser Minigun. “Naturally, given that we have no Pegasi of our own, I can’t say those armors will be that interesting to our chapter. And Spoils of War are a thing.” Added Danse, then smirked at me as I grinned. What? I had been a boy before all this and I’m a kid! You try not to be floored at the idea of keeping a suit this cool looking!

“I just wonder why they attacked us.” I added, frowning as I couldn’t understand it. We didn’t bother going above the cloud cover after all and it should’ve been obvious that weren’t some Raider gang.

“No idea, though I suspect it may have to do with your bringing down the [Ornary Judgement] back in your rampage.” Stated Danse and I flinched at the reminder of my lapse in judgement under the influence of extra strong coffee. “Besides, I doubt that it was a coincidence that the ship was right above our heads already back then.” Stated Danse, sighing at the knowledge that, yes, the Enclave was ready strike there.

Naturally then an Alicorn Filly got somewhat drunk on Caffeine had apparently stymied their plans. “Did you guys find out anything about why they were there?” I asked, concerned with the idea that this may not be an isolated incident. And I couldn’t think of many places that were similarly well protected to Hogwarts. Scratch that, Hogwarts would survive a Balefire Bomb hitting it.

“Not a word from what I know, say what you want, this Enclave is quite good at playing the Propaganda Game. The ponies we captured from the one you took down insist on calling us Savages for refusing to allow them free reign to leave and protecting “Uncivilized Savages” from being “Put in their Place”. Needless to say I don’t see the ones who were shot down by your shield doing any better.” He stated, a small nicker at the idea of a Cloudship shooting itself down escaped him.

“Could I help? I’m a Alicorn so maybe they’d listen to me? I mean, I’m clearly not one of those artificial ones you mentioned before, they’re all adults right?” I asked, trying to think of some means to help out in all this and it did earn me a contemplative look.

“I suppose that could work. We’re going to go through the ship’s communication logs, the one you brought down back then had only orders to hold position above us until further orders were given.” Stated Danse and I nodded, they hadn’t fired on the hub or the town so… yeah.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go see if Professor Flitwick can help with this!” I declared and, before Danse could figure out what I was saying, I grabbed the armor and flew off.

I was gonna have Power Armor!

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

First Lieutenant Light Charge of the Cloudship Righteous Fury, let out a sigh as he sat in the interrogation room.

It had been 5 days since the ship he served on, a Raptor-class Cloud Ship, had crashed and they had been stunned and taken prisoner by the ones they had shot at. Somehow they had retaliated with equal force and, after a week, he wasn’t even sure they had taken any damage through their shield.

Oh yeah, the shield. The giant bubble of magic surrounding the entire premises of this place. Said place appeared to be a castle, a really old, masonry based castle. The kind that Earth Ponies would’ve built. This was surrounded by a large area of verdant flora which was encapsulated by the great shield that protected the whole area. A shield which also insolated them from the radiation.

They had opened holes in the protective layer, most notably over a stadium where no pony was playing at the time, and on four cardinal points where traders were coming and going. Pegasi foals were a common sight, what he thought may be the descendants of Dashites, but there were also several young adult Pegasi in the mix. And naturally, also the Alicorns.

He had seen these fillies, most especially the one with a white coat and red and blue mane. That one was quite happily walking around in a suit of Enclave Power Armor that had, quite frankly, been magically adjusted to her 8 years old looking size. She even had her horn stick out of a hole in the helmet of all things but there looked to be no damage to it!

Anyway, the Enclave soldiers were all prisoners of this place. They had attacked them, they had lost, and now they were held captive. Only… it wasn’t like the stories.

For starters, the Enclave Soldiers had free reign to roam around the area of the shield, admittedly they were unarmed and their armor was gone too, but still. They had no access to wherever they kept the spoils and they had put some sort of harness on them which they couldn’t remove, preventing the use of their wings.

He hated to admit it, but those were the most considerate savages he had ever heard of. The projections on the savagery of the grounders were very different. What shocked him the most was their actual trading with other Grounders, like civilized ponies. Sure, they used bottlecaps as a currency, but he could imagine a number of scenarios leading to that.

However, the biggest shock had been when he had been approached by the Alicorn Filly who had made one of the armors her own. “So, why did you guys attack our school?” Asked the filly, on her back was a haphazard energy rifle he had seen some others use, it had a winding mechanism on it too.

“School? What are you talking about? We attacked this fortress, not some school, I admit we had apparently the wrong information given you’re not marauders apparently, but you shot back with equal force.” He retorted, he may as well be using this to gather information.

“What for- Oh, right, you mean the castle right? That’s not a fortress, though it is where the wards and shield come from. Hogwarts Castle is, like over a thousand years old, and has been used as a school for at least a thousand years.” Explained the filly and then looked at him weirdly when he growled.

“Don’t lied to me, our records show that 200 years ago the pre-war settlement of Sanctuary Hills stood here. Your base has replaced it somehow.” Stated Light Charge, he remembered the briefing on the strange replacement. While it was a beautiful sight, a fortified position like this was a threat to the Enclave’s reclamation efforts.

“Well, I won’t lie about Hogwarts being new to this world, but that’s because of an accident at the tail-end of last school year.” Stated the filly, again with the school though he supposed he could listen to her claims. “You see, professor Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, is friends with an Alchemist named Nicholas Flamel, the only man known to have created a Philosopher’s stone. A true, fully functional Philosopher’s Stone capable of creating the elixir of life and turning lead into gold.” Explained the filly and wasn’t that an interesting story, though with her sitting down and monologuing, he could at least get some information on what one of their affiliated Alicorns believed.

“However, thing is, someone wanted to steal it to revive an evil wizard named Voldemort. He kind of obliterated his own body over 10 years ago when he tried using a Killing Curse on me after killing my parents, left me with a scar and him without a body.” Explained the filly and… okay he would be filing “Wizard” under the same category as these strange ponies for now.

“Now, he wasn’t dead. Don’t ask me how, nobody knows or at least they won’t tell a first year, going on second year, student at least, but he come back possessing Quirinus Quirrel, formerly the professor for Muggle Studies. Ah, Muggle is the wizarding term for people without magical blood or ancestry. Someone who does have that ancestry but no magic is a Squib. No I didn’t make those up.” Light Charge blinked, just now the filly had pre-empted his objections to those terms, as if she had explained this before.

“Anyway, the stone got transported and stored here at Hogwarts. I don’t know where exactly, I know what the route was since I had to get through there with my friends, but that’s it. They put a lot of puzzles and challenges in the way but I’m not 100% sure why they made them stuff a first year student could learn.” She explained, sounding resigned and annoyed. Security certainly didn’t sound that tight.

“I mean, Fluffy and that Mountain Troll were the only real danger that we couldn’t handle on our own. Devil’s Snare is something you learn about in Herbology early in your first year, flying keys are difficult to deal with if you’re not a good Seeker, that’s a position in the wizarding sport Quidditch where you have to catch a little, very fast moving ball named the Snitch, Wizarding Chess is a literal game, and the last one, following after the troll, is a riddle with potions.” Explained the filly and there was a pause as she began rubbing her head, clonking on her horn as if she wasn’t used to it.

“What is a Fluffy? I believe I heard about the term trolls before but I don’t think any creature from before the war was called Fluffy and was dangerous.” Asked Light Charge, by now he was quite curious, and she hadn’t even finished her little tale, as strange and unbelievable as most of it had been. There were a lot of unicorns here though so…

“Ah, Fluffy is the name of Ruby’s, ah, she’s another Alicorn filly like me but before we come here she was the Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts. And a Half-Giant 63 years old man at that, giant three-headed dog.” Light Charge took a moment to digest that claim. One, the filly just said that there were more than the three Alicorns he had seen and at least one of them was male, before what she claimed had transported this place here.

“And how did she turn into an Alicorn? And what sort of pony was she?” He asked, curious to hear the answer.

Said answer surprised him. “That’s the thing, she wasn’t a pony, none of us students or the professors were. And before you ask, you can differentiate us from the refugees because we wear either school uniform bardings or at least have put our house’s coat of arms on armor if we got some.” She pointed for emphasize on her flank where someone had painted a rearing lion with a big H over it on the armor.

“Wait, that’s not you painting a Cutie Mark on the armor?” He asked, now realizing he was seriously just outright curious about learning more about the strange creatures he was facing. “And what were you before becoming ponies then?” He asked, as an afterthought and the filly sighed.

“We were humans, Homo Sapiens Sapiens, only sapient species on Planet Earth, third planet from the star Sol. We have one natural satellite, commonly called The Moon or Luna by some, our star is also a white main sequence star a couple billion years old. Humans are a bipedal species with very little fur, mainly on our heads, with two genders, male and female, though Gender Perception can vary.” She explained and… yeah that was clearly an annoyed rubbing of her forehead, so no horn normally.

“Ugh, my Muggle schooling ended in Primary School, why am I teaching an adult human biology?” She muttered and, yeah, it sounded rather hilarious out of context. “Anyway, ah… Have you see the ponies with the very strange looking bodies? The tall, thin and bipedal ones?” She asked and he nodded, he had seen a few of those around, yes.

“Well, those are what Muggle-born, which as far as we can tell basically means they’re descended from Squibs somewhere in the far distant past, turn into in this world. They’re the closest to looking like humans, just… You know what? Come with me, we got a ton of paintings in the castle and none of the people in them turned into ponies.” Stated the filly standing up and Light Charge decided to humor her. He hadn’t been in the castle itself so far, so that would be interesting.

She led him up a path and, after a few minutes, they reached large double doors which were already open. A few of the post-war militia known as Steel Rangers stood guard, he had seen them leutering around the premises, allies of these ponies. “Alright, that’s Sir Barkedin, I don’t know more than that but that’s pretty normal for a human’s appearance.” Stated the filly then and he looked where she pointed to find…

“That’s what you looked like?” He asked, stumped at the odd creature depicted in the portrait. It was wearing armor though, and was glaring at… “Is that picture moving? Wait, are all of them moving?” He asked, startled to realize that because, well, what the hell?

“Yup, wizarding photographs and portraits get treated with a special potion to make them mobile though I’ve never seen any images other than Hogwarts Portraits moving between one another. They can also talk and are, I think, mostly Sapient. Though they can’t do anything to you.” Explained the filly and Light Charge sighed in relief, the idea of those things moving was kind of disconcerting.

“Just don’t make professor Dumbledore angry, she’s pregnant right now and may send the statues and suits of armor to kick your flank.” Added the filly and giggled as he spun to stare at the huge amount of, well, exactly what she had said.

“What?” He finally got out, noticing that the suits of armor were clearly made for these human creatures.

“They’re also enchanted, on the headmaster or deputy headmaster’s command they can come to life as a final line of defense of the castle. I swear the founders didn’t do ANYTHING in half-meassures, they even had the wards have a function to repel malignant magical energy and purge anything passing in of the stuff. That’s why radiation doesn’t get in.” Explained the filly, like that sort of thing was just normal.

“Let’s get back to the point, alright? What happened to supposedly land this giant piece of land here?” He asked, trying not to let the girl’s tangents get in the way of him getting answer out of her.

“Oh, right. I broke the stone.” That same moment, when she made this statement, his hoof slipped on the polished marble of the hall, and he faceplanted.

Hard. “What do you mean you broke the stone!? How do you break a Bucking Philosopher’s Stone?!” He asked genuinely in disbelieve that she could just admit that.

“Hey, I was a eleven years old kid being choked by a grown man, I just grabbed the first thing I could find that was really hard and smashed it into his skull. Not my fault the mirror gave me the stone for wanting to take it but not wanting to use it. Stupidly obvious test of character.” She explained and he stared at her in disbelieve at those words.

“Wait, why didn’t you have a gun with you? Aren’t you Wastelanders absolutely in love with guns?” He asked, trying to figure out this filly, and failing as she scoffed.

“We’re not originally from the Wasteland. I’m Brittish, not American. We have sane Gun regulations.” She stated, which surprised him. “I never even touched a gun, ever. If I had I would’ve probably been thrown out of the house for daring to touch Uncle Vernon’s things. Then we come here and I had to learn how to use a gun, but I didn’t know how awful it is until I just… I don’t know, it was like a trance, I saw ponies in trouble, being attacked by Raiders and just- the thing I remember after I was done was I was in the room with the Quincy survivors, and it only hit me what I had done when the adrenaline subsided. And I fainted.” Explained the filly, this was the first ranting he had heard from her and… she was ranting about her troubles adjusting?

“Why are you telling me this? We’re enemies.” He asked and the filly stopped, blinked and looked at him in confusion. “You’re one of those Wastelanders, you’re a disruption of our mission to restore order under the Enclave to Equestria. On the one hoof you take down our cloudship with some sort of Plasma batteries, on the other you do nothing but stun our forces when we try attacking. You take our weapons and armor, and you restrict our wings, but you let us wander around freely as if you had nothing to worry about.” Light Charge didn’t get it, this was nothing like he had heard and these ponies were even stranger.

However, the fillies gave him a wry smile. “Well, I guess I ramble. Hermione rambles about books, Rainy rambles about that Quidditch team she’s a fan of. I ramble about my weird life. Heh. But, tell me something mister. Why do you act like what you’re doing is righteous or something, when your ships are attacking innocent settlements?” That question threw him for a loop because, what the hell was she talking about?

“What do you mean? The Enclave is targeting Marauders and those who would oppose our restoration of order.” He responded, he was by now just confused, this filly was an enigma but in response, her horn glowed for a moment before a mechanical voice come from the armor.

||This message is Captain’s Ears only. Sender ID P9r7SS-d774G-uF89. Verification Code: II88r7. Innitiate Operation Cauterize. Goals are as follows: The objective of Operation: Cauterize is to kill or destroy forces that could hinder the Enclave's introduction to Equestria. These forces included: Former Enclave members (Dashites) and their associates. Renegades: Slavers and Raiders. Anyone who holds information that could jeopardize the mission. Anyone who opposes the Enclave.||

Light Charge choked on his own spit because, while he didn’t know the ID, he recognized it as an Enclave ID, the pattern of it as well as the P9r7SS line were common among IDs in the Enclave, but there was more.

||Addendum: Cloudship Righteous Fury is to reposition itself over North-Western Ponston state, destroy the structure there and all it’s inhabitants, seize any Stable 111 survivors for purposes of experimentation. After destroying the creatures masquerading as Ponies, secure whatever means of contact there is to the other world, seize it to be reverse engineered for conquest.||

“Where did you get that? How did you get such classified information?!” He asked, horrified both by the implications of what had been read out by the suit’s AI, but also that such had fallen into the hands of an enemy.

“I… think I’m wearing your captain’s armor now.” She stated and… yeah he didn’t know much but that was a possibility. “Also, the Steel Rangers were investigating the computer logs of the ship, they had found the message there too. And honestly? We did you a favor, I don’t know if you realize this but there isn’t anything to receive your cloudships or whatever on the other side if you tried going through, and from what we know ponies turn into colorful humans on Earth just like we humans turn into ponies here. And I don’t think you guys can take on Germany without magic.” Explained the girl and, now Light Charge was confused.

“Didn’t you say you’re from “Brittain”? What is this Germany place?” He asked, some concern forming in his mind as the filly smiled at him.

“Another country in our world. They incited the bloodiest war in the history of our world which also resulted in the deployment of two non-magical Balefire Bomb equivalents against another country.” She explained and Light Charge paled at the idea. “They also lost the war and only have a token force to defend themselves, with all of their equipment being outdated by around 50 years.” And now Light Charge felt like she had kicked him in the balls, telling him the Enclave would lose against that.

“What about that America place?” He asked, almost afraid of the answer.

“What about the US? They’re the only country on Earth who used nuclear bombs in a war. Remember how I mentioned non-magical Balefire Bomb analogues? That’s what we call Nuclear Bombs. And they’re firecrackers compared to the stuff the US has stored up all around their country, and they have thousands of those.” He could see the mirth on her face at his horror. Oh god she had a sadistic side too didn’t she?

“Did I mention that most countries have a fleet of sub-surface ocean vessels that can launch those nuclear missiles across continents?”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“And that, miss Evans, is why you do not tell any pony about the horrors of our world.” Finished Professor McGonnagal her lecture against me while Madam Pomfrey tended to the Pegasus I had scared to the point of feinting.

“But ma’am, I didn’t only told him the truth.” I argued back, still smiling a bit at the fact that, somehow, I had scared the living daylights out of someone who thought he was tough just because he had more advanced tech than everyone else around.

McGonnagal sighed, shaking her head as if she had seen this happen a lot. “Why, every time there is something going on, are you involved?” She asked and I shrugged in response.

“I guess I’m always at the wrong place at the right time?” I suggested and thanked my lucky stars that school hadn’t started yet.

Otherwise I’d probably have lost Gryffindor 200 points or something like that.

Fred and George would probably be proud of me if I did that.

Chapter 11: War of the Wastes Part 3

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Day Six of the Enclave attacking Equestria.

We heard over the Radio, with DJ-Pon3 having been temporarily shut down until she made a new channel elsewhere, that a Pegasus Ghoul named Ditzy Doo had destroyed three Cloudships using a radiation laden, as she had been overloaded with the stuff saving the famous Stable Dweller, Sonic Rainboom. We had seen the shockwave from here so… yeah.

Anyway, all across Equestria, resistance was beating the snot out of the Enclave forces, DJ-Pon3 had dealt with one of the weather controlling SPP towers, a Canterlot Ghoul and his mouse companion had rammed one cloud ship, filled with Pink Cloud no less, into another cloudship.

The Canterlot Ruins were destroyed, Friendship City had taken severe casualties from the assault, Red Eye, the infamous Slaver leader, was dead from battling the Enclave at his main base, as was his cyborg dragon underling.

Did I ever mention how odd this world is?

Anyway, on our front the Steel Rangers had finally convinced their captives to help them fly the Cloudship I had brought down, a Raptor-class Cloudship, so they could take down the SPP Tower above Ponston. Surprisingly, I was with them, as were many of the older students who had become Pegasi as well as Ruby and Argent.

We all had size adjusted Enclave Power Armor, giving us a nice bit of protection, especially on top of our normal barding which allowed us to shut off the armor’s Anti-Radiation functions in favor of the radiation repelling charms of the barding. Moreover, the Pegasi among the students who had volunteered had their wands integrated into their dominant hand/hoof’s wrist so that spellcasting was easier for them.

What surprised me most was two Pegasi in particular, two Pegasi with the family name Malfoy.

Yes, Draco Malfoy had chosen to join the assault. And with her was Lucius Malfoy, her father. Well, one of them had to be taking the Pegasus form after all, and her mom was a unicorn here. Anyway, yeah. We had some reinforcements there. And while I had heard that Mister Malfoy had been a follower of Voldemort, in this kind of scenario? It’s a boon to have a dark wizard on your team.

What was more surprising was that both Malfoys had equipped the Power Armor and Barding as the rest of us and, unlike with our venture to Stable 111, Draco was also wielding a set of weapons in a Battle Saddle, namely a .50 caliber Minigun on her left, and a Gattling Las cannon on her right. Her father meanwhile had a 9 shot missile pod on both of his sides with two Machineguns on his back for quick swap-out in battle.

In this way they had basically made their roles clear.

For those not aware, which I assume means my readers, we were divided into 3 “Wings”. A-Wing was assigned interception as their role. They were armed mostly with machineguns and other rapid-fire weapons. Their role consisted of intercepting enemy Pegasi and escorting B-Wing members. B-Wing was the bomber category. They were armed with missile launchers and were meant to deal the bulk of the damage on the larger enemy units such as Cloudships and the SPP tower.

Finally we have X-Wing, You wonder why we broke the letter sequence? Well it’s because X-Wing was the X-Factor. This wing consisted of the bulk of our best spellcasters and also our Alicorns. This didn’t just mean myself, Ruby and Argent either, as 27 Artificial Alicorns had joined the assault, quoting that their “Goddess” was dead and their later master, Red Eye, was too. And they were now hoping we had a Gender Changing potion for them to use.

Yeah, turns out they’re all female due to how they were converted and needed some stallions. Nobody would point out how they could probably just get it on with a normal pony, because your average adult Alicorn, meaning all the Artificial ones, was around 6,6 feet tall. Most stallions have trouble getting their hooves that far up, much less getting one up there.

Anyway, putting aside reproductive issues of huge woman horses with wings and a horn who just lost their hive mind goddess, I may have to mention why I’m still a girl when there is a potion like that. The answer may surprise you. We tried.

Yup, we tried it. Didn’t work at all. Even when Hermione and Myrtle tried, it didn’t affect them. However, to test if it was different for these potion-created Alicorns, one who had the mind of a stallion drank the potion and actually transformed into a stallion Alicorn.

After that they agreed to wait with their payment until this was all over and they had fulfilled their part of the deal. Though one of the Alicorns went into another room with the new Stallion and… we all know what they did there. Same that a lot of professors did.

Anyway, if you’re wondering about the Steel Rangers, aside from serving as the ship’s anti-boarding contingent as well as intending to board enemy Cloud Ships if possible, we had managed to find an old spell that created artificial wings for non-Pegasi to fly as well as one for them to walk on clouds. These were then translated into runes and spell patterns such that the students who had taken Ancient Runes and the Scribes of the Steel Rangers could modify their armors to have them intrinsically in them.

It’s all kinds of BS what we did in such short an amount of time, but given that we were largely outnumbered, it was reasonable to do. I was pretty sure Professor Flitwick was flexing on the Scribes a bit since he did the bulk of the spellwork on working out how to transcribe the spells into something Wizards could use our methods to create the same spells at a faster rate than them.

Yeah, I had a feeling he was at least subconsciously trying to assert his dominance since, well, he had a girlfriend? How odd was it to think that? Anyway, well, he had impregnated a mare so, I guess instincts took over there too? But the end effect was that as many Steel Rangers as we had gotten ready in under a week, were now able to assist in the assault on the Pegasi strongholds.

To ensure that our ship, which was only a Raptor-class ship even though the Steel Rangers had salvaged the downed ship that had crashed near Hogwarts for weapons and other parts so it was much heavier armed now, would survive an engagement, it was enhanced with the same type of Magic repelling field as Hogwarts. It was a less advanced or powerful version but it would be able to reflect away from the hull up to 9 shots on an equal level of power to the main guns of the Raptor-class.

The ship had also received a significant up-arming in smaller cannons, namely Gattling Lasers, mounted miniguns and even flak cannons. We were going up against Pegasi, not dragons or Zebras so… yeah. Anti-Air defenses are needed. Testing had shown that Pegasi power armor was, while magically shielded, not very good at taking mass damage from flak cannons pumping out hundreds of exploding rounds every second.

As we approached the cloud layer above, I checked my gear again. I had actually a pair of miniguns in a Battle Saddle to completement my favored, and by now enhanced to five-crank capacity, Laser Musket. “So, this whole Dashite thing, it’s just them being salty about Pegasi not all being completely obedient? And nobody thought that’s a weird thing to do?” I asked Light Charge, my wingmate so to speak.

He was in A-Wing and was basically my minder for the mission. “Pretty much, the term was coined because of Rainbow Dash whose Ministry of Awesome formed the foundation of the Enclave but she was against the isolationist policies.” Stated Light Charge, adjusting his own Battle Saddle one more time. He had been given his armor back after a thorough interrogation by the professors.

From the two ships we had roughly 64% of their crews who had joined us, the remaining ones were now prisoners of war. “Man, people really don’t take much to indoctrinate, no matter what world they’re from. Or that stupid tendency to cult forming just happens a lot.” I muttered, then put on my helmet, it had been by now modified to also cover my horn with armor.

“Everypony! Ready yourselves we’re about to break the cloud cover!” Echoed from the internal speakers of the ship as the large deployment doors opened. Outside we could see the clouds rushing by while the machinegun emplacements within the hangar prepped themselves to open fire at a minute’s notice.

Then, we broke through into the sun and several plasma bolts impacted the shield as Pegasi rushed us. “FIRE!” Shouted Paladin Danse as every cannon on the ship opened up on the hostile Pegasi, only Flak Cannons and Machineguns, none of the main armaments though heat seeking missiles didn’t wait much either as a field of death was created on the ship’s starboard side.

“Everyone! GO!” I shouted before jumping out, followed not long after by Alicorns and Pegasi alike while 12 Vertibucks, escorted by 6 Sky Tanks deployed as well, loaded with Steel Rangers or, more appropriately, Applejack’s Rangers.

Ahead of us were two Raptor-class Cloudships, those were the targets of two-thirds of the Vertibucks, the last four were going to the city around the SPP tower. Why? To evacuate all civilians, so that the ships could fire on it once that was done as well as disabling it’s defenses as a secondary objective. Yes, evacuating the civilians was the priority.

We’re the good ponies here, we play by the proper rules of engagement. The first part of our mission, that is us Alicorns and the senior students from Hogwarts, was to help protecting the Vertibucks against Enclave forces. Simple enough you may think, but these weren’t exactly the fastest aircraft around and Pegasi can outfly them with ease. It was our responsibility to take them down if we could, though I’d have prefered non-lethal methods but sadly that would be a bit hard to achieve.

As for why we were going into this, well, this was the Enclave’s primary base of operations in the area, this included a small dockyard for cloud ships and several of those, based on reports, were unfinished ships too. Yes, you hear that right. There are unifinished, but otherwise new, Cloud Ships.

This included the far more powerful Thunderhead-class of Cloud Ships. Capturing that one, finishing it and making it a secondary, mobile base for the Ranger chapter, was one of the major goals of the operation. Luckily the shipyards weren’t near the tower, that would suck.

“Hostiles at 12 o’clock!” Shouted Light Charge and yeah, I could see that quite easily.

“All ponies! Weasley Screwer!” I ordered and A-Wing broke into several groups, flying in all possible directions to confuse the… 20-30 Pegasi. “Alicorns! Shields!” I added and moments later shields layered on shields surrounded the Vertibucks and Sky Tanks, not too early either as several missiles rained on us but between Alicorn shields being ridiculous, even my own, we had six green Alicorns, which were able to link up spellcasting as part of their telepathic abilities.

Moments after that, gunfire rained into the enemy formation as they had to break apart to avoid being hit. The Weasley Screwer was a weirdly named maneuver that aimed to confuse the enemy by splitting apart before racing in and starting to attack. Several heat-seeking missiles shot into the enemy Pegasi, taking down each targeted pony as Hogwarts Pegasi starting launching spells of their own.

I was hoping that they would get the hint.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“We lost 68 of our troops already sir! And our weapons aren’t working!” Reported one of the bridge Crew of the Cloud Ship [Blind Vengeance] as it rocked from missile hits against it’s armored hull.

“Continue to fire! Take these Dashites down!” He ordered angrily as Plasmabolts continued to fire into the now evasive enemy ship which was keeping itself perfectly safe from enemy Pegasi and even disrupting the Plasma fire against it with the same weapons, detonating the bolts prematurely with it’s kinetic weapons systems. “Order every pony into the air! This is an order!” Screamed Captain Savage Dive as he gritted his teeth and braced against another detonation.

“Spell Matrix 5 is down! Starboard Plasma Cannon is non-functional!” Reported another of the officers and he gritted his teeth, this wasn’t how it should be.

Operation Cauterize should’ve been a complete rout of those Wasteland scum, but not only was the Cloud Ship ahead of them had been brought down with magical force, but the one sent to destroy the anomaly and capture the magical artifact to the other world was shot down entirely! And that was without mentioning all the losses in the rest of Equestria where there wasn’t a single operation that didn’t end in disaster!

“Boarders! We have been boarded!” Screamed one of his communication officers and his blood ran cold at that. That’s impossible! Where are our troops!?” He shouted angrily as more explosions rocked his ship.

“We’re down to 21% of our aerial troops! Shipboard security is engaging the enemy but they’re supported by unicorns who are using some sort of sleep spell!” Reported the officer from before and Savage gritted his teeth in anger.

“This is an order! Anyone who is knocked out is to be shot! Do not let them capture anyone to brainwash them!” He screamed and horrified looks followed his orders. “Did I stutter? ANYONE WHO DISOBEYS WILL BE A DASHITE TO BE EXECUTED FOR DISOBEDIENCE!!!” He shouted, jumping up, with his Battlesaddle ready to fire on anyone who would dare to oppose him.

Then a gunshot was heard. And Savage Dive fell to the ground with a hole in his head.

“Enough of this madness.” Growled the now former Vice-captain of the ship, Distant Dream, as she stepped over the corpse of her former superior.

“M- Ma’am?” Stammered the sensor officer as the mare sighed, stepping to the ship’s captain’s chair.

“Captain Savage Dive was killed during the fighting in the ship. Do you all understand?” She asked with a stern look and this got no opposition.

It did help that the other ship of their defense fleet stopped firing on the enemy, in spite of no more hits. “Ma’am, w- what do we do?” Asked the communications officer, gulping. This wasn’t something any of them had trained for.

“I suggest surrendering.” Spoke a voice and as they turned around, they found one of the invaders, an Earth Pony in power armor, flanked by two Unicorns in the doorframe. “We have already disabled everyone else of your crew, surrender the ship now and this can be over within an hour.” Stated the stallion as Distant Dream swallowed, not liking this at all but…

“Very well, but only under one condition, you do not harm the citizens in the city.” Stated Distant Dream, looking at the Stallion whose face was fully covered by his helmet.

“Ma’am, you have nothing to fear in that regard. We have sent a team to evacuate all civilians from within the vicinity of our primary target, the SPP tower so nobody will be harmed when we finalize this operation. Now recall what remains of your troops.” Stated the Stallion and Distant Dream sighed, she didn’t have enough firepower here to take on someone in that type of armor.

“Very well. Recall all troops, we can’t win this.” She stated, it pained her to admit defeat but… honestly? The Enclave was losing. They were losing hard! The most successful operation had been destroying Red Eye and his followers and that cost General Autumn.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

In the city, organized chaos was reigning.

The Applejack’s Rangers that had landed there were organizing a steady evacuation, even helping out those who needed help moving as they didn’t want to leave anyone without their belongings for this operation’s success alone.

“Please come this way ma’am, the area around the SPP won’t be safe much longer!” Called Rainy Weasley as she was trying to make an elderly mare come along.

“No, I refuse to obey some no-good terrorist! Attacking the Enclave, such savages!” Exclaimed the elderly pegasus mare as she was doing an impressive job holding onto her doorframe as Rainy was pulling on her with magic.

“Ma’am, we’re going to destroy that damn tower so it stops blocking the sky from everyone down below! Now stop acting like a little foal and be reasonable!” Snapped Rainy before deciding a new approach, namely by sending the mare backward, turning her around and flying her out.

“You good for nothing-! Your manager is going to hear about this!” Exclaimed the mare as Rainy rolled her eyes and put her with some of the Rangers before going inside and packing up anything of value she could find before trotting out again.

“Good luck, my mom has no issue with this and we have summer vacation, so I don’t actually have to listen to any of my teachers.” Remarked Rainy, yawning as if she wasn’t even concerned as she basically packed up for the self-entitled mare. “Why do I feel like Muggles have to deal with this stuff a lot more?” Wondered Rainy, then shook her head as she deposited the mare’s belongings outside the blast radius and continuing on the mission at hoof.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Elder Artoria Maxson couldn’t say she wasn’t pleased, Operation Clear Sky was going perfectly so far.

Admittedly, she had come in with a bit of overpreparation, for all the archaic ways of magic the Hogwarts faction used, they certainly had an interesting way of using patterns. For a start, they didn’t recreate the patterns of magic itself, rather they used “Runes”, of which there was a variety of such but the most common was the Elder Futhark. What was interesting was that they were letters, not patterns.

While transcribing spell patterns onto objects such as crystals was a good way of enchanting them, Runes were much more stable, far more conductive and extremely precise in the way they operated. The meaning of each rune individually or as a collective held power, and one single pattern could be used to invoke a variety of different spell effects by simply adjusting which were activated.

On top of that was Arithmancy, a study of numbers and their magical significance. This field of research, completely foreign to the Steel Rangers, allowed the Hogwarts teachers to near effortlessly calculate what each pattern signified, how to translate them into runes, and what sequences were needed to complete the process. That took a day to recreate the Hogwarts magic repelling ward.

And that was by twice the length of the rest, the longest time needed to do so.

“Elder Maxson? Volunteer Weasley has just reported in, the entire area we are to bombard is evacuated with belongings included.” Reported one of her Rangers, having communication devices with the volunteer force from Hogwarts helped certainly.

“Good. Status on restoring the burnt out talismans?” She asked, it was a bit of a problem with near-system hits on these ships, the Talismans weren’t very good at keeping themselves in shape when they were rattled by heavy weapon impacts.

“90% operational Ma’am. Paladin Danse is reporting 89% readiness and [Steel Heaven] is approaching optimal firing solution.” Artoria smiled under her helmet, a custom one for her as a Unicorn but still a fully enclosed helmet nonetheless.

“Good, let’s clear the skies of our home, shall we?” She asked, feeling quite happy with what was about to happen.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I smiled as I handed a stuffed animal to one of the foals that I had to evacuate, it was apparently based on a Ursa Minor, a pre-war ursine creature resembling a nightsky in coloration.

The filly had lost it a week earlier and had insisted on finding it before going, but I had convinced her that my Alicorn magic could find it very easily but only if she went with her parents and the big metal ponies. Turned out, Usi had been under their couch the whole time.

“Geez, I think I now know how dad feels because of his work.” Spoke up Rainy as she come to land next to me, drawing my attention to her as both Argent and Ruby landed next.

“What happened?” I asked, the three of them had been in the primary evacuation convoy after all, escorting the Vertibucks carrying the ponies meant to evacuate the civilians.

“Self-Entitled old crone who wanted to report me to my Manager of all things. Do I look like I work for some grocery store?” Asked Rainy and I giggled at that shaking my head.

“I can’t say I had that problem, most of the foals I herded to safety were pretty nice and their parents were able to see the, well writing on the wall.” Stated Ruby, stepping up. She was probably one of the smallest ponies around in our physical age range so… yeah.

“Hmph, I had to deal with off-duty guards, they were so stand-offish I had to hex them and move them myself. All 30 of them, out of a pub.” Stated Argent and after a second of staring at her, we all fell into laughter at that image of little Argent doing that.

“You enojoy being able to cast spells now, don’t you?” I asked smiling, it felt right, she had been denied her magic at birth, so why shouldn’t she?

“I certainly am. Hermione has been a great tutor, more than those self-help pamphlets I had in my office.” Stated Argent, nodding. None of us pointed out that those were a scam, given they were targeted at Squibs, who had no natural magic.

I was about to make another comment when a bright flash illuminated us and, as we turned around, we saw Plasmabolts shoot from the three Cloudships, racing to the SPP tower and in a single Salvo, destroying it. “Huh, guess mission accomplished.” I stated and the others nodded. It certainly looked like we had cone as we had planned.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Nightmares, my old foe.

Well, it was quite normal by now, killing ponies made me relapse but I was glad that this wasn’t staying for long. “Greetings once again, Rose Evans.” Spoke the deceased ruler of Equestria as the nightmare gave way for the starry dreamscape of the princess.

“Nice to meet you again Princess Luna. Thanks for, you know, this.” I stated, rubbing away the tears that had formed even here. The only positive part was that I was able to function consciously during combat now. I wasn’t sure it was a good thing or not but I hoped I wouldn’t go crazy and go American Highschool on anypony.

“Thy worries are quite easy to see, little one. It is good that you see the negative side of such development but we believe thee need not worry of being corrupted. Thy dedication to others is too great.” Spoke up the older Alicorn and I chuckled as she laid down, basically inviting me to lay at her side.

“I hope you’re right. And I’m glad we were able to stop any civilians from dying too.” I stated, smiling a bit as the atmosphere was quite nice and, somehow, I could feel the bodies of my moms next to me too.

“You are very welcome young one. By the way, we were thinking about something.” Stated Luna and I looked at her, curious.

“Would thee like some lessons on Alicorn magic?”

Chapter 12: New Year of the School

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I had to wonder how we got to this.

It had been two weeks since the battle which had ended the Enclave’s control of the sky over Ponston. In that time, over in the Western areas of the Wasteland, the rather famous Stable Dweller had breached the defenses of Neighvarro and taken up residence, and control, of the Neighvarro SPP tower. And she opened the skies for good, revealing the lies of the Enclave to it’s citizens.

Things didn’t quite quiet down, there were still Enclave remnants clinging to the delusion that they had done nothing wrong. There were also Raiders, Slavers and all kinds of monsters around the Wasteland. The Ponston Chapter of the Applejack’s Rangers, as they had declared their allegiance to the faction formed by the late Paladin Steel Hooves, was a great relief as they had taken up outposts around the Ponston Wasteland.

I hadn’t even known Ponies played Baseball before the end of the war, much less that some had built a city inside of a Baseball Stadium. Said stadium was now known as Sparkle City, the largest settlement in the area and home to thousands of ponies.

Anyway, what was today was a visit. From the New Canterlot Republic.

Never heard of them? Who are they? Why are they coming here? Well, to make it simple, they’re a coalition of settlements in the West, founded by the companions of the Stable Dweller and chapters of the Applejack’s Rangers. They were trying to reestablish a government, this time a democracy, in the Wasteland. It was still only a small faction all things considered, by DJ-Pon3’s statements only four settlements strong, including Junction Town, which was their capital and an old railway junction.

As for why they had come here, by Dragon no less… Oh, yeah they have a friendly dragon, the guardian of the Megaspell Gardens of Equestria. A Terraforming spell. Yes that’s ridiculous, I know. Though Lyra and Bon-Bon were very happy to see him again. His name was Spike and he was just as happy to see them in turn since they were all from back before the Last Day.

Anyway, the delegation, consisting of Spike, the Dashite Deadshot Calamity, Griffon Mercenary Leader Gawdyna Grimmfeathers and Stable 2 Unicorn dweller Velvet Remedy, had come to ask us to join them. Yeah, they wanted Hogwarts to join them as a city.

I bet you’re asking “But Hogwarts isn’t a city, is it?” Well, to that I must say you’re not quite right. You remember that trade station-turned-town south of the castle? Yeah, it had gotten a bit big by now. Apparently when you have the biggest piece of safe real estate in the area, most people pack up and turn up at your place. A small city was forming down there with 1042 inhabitants so far, not counting any of the students.

Additionally, after the battle around 200 Pegasi had moved clouds down to be within the safe zone of the school’s bubble, making a sort of secondary settlement above ground. They still weren’t at the point of trusting Wastelanders but that was fine with most, many didn’t trust them either since, well, they were from the Enclave and all that.

Anyway, I didn’t know why but I was roped into being the representative of the student body, Lyra was the same but for the Stable 111 survivors, and Paladin Danse had also joined as a representative of the Applejack Rangers chapter. Professor Dumbledore was here as a faculty representative while I was introduced to Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, as he had come for the Ministry of Magic.

Why was he here? Well, Hogwarts was still technically part of Magical Brittain, though not by any stretch of the imagination on it’s territory, even if I had found that the Ministry having territory was debatable. Strictly speaking there was one purely magical village under Ministry control. Wizarding communities were mostly hidden places and locations among Muggle cities such as Diagon Alley.

Everything else? Brittish Muggle territory.

And, well, things weren’t getting better. “Wait you want to accept? Albus I understand that you can’t leave but Hogwarts is part of Magical Brittain!” Argued Minister Fudge, sounding quite distressed about it all since the professor had stated interest in agreeing.

“Cornelius, you realize that we’re not exactly in a position where this statement holds true, right?” Asked Professor Dumbledore, looking at the man across her still very much used half-moon glasses. I was half expecting they were for show, if my eyesight was corrected in this form, why not her own?

“Minister Fudge? I know I’m not an expert but I think also think it would be better.” I spoke up, which drew attention to me. I was used to attention by this point, Hogwarts had a lot of staring in it. “I’m not too familiar with the way the ministry works, but as I understand it, the ministry has no standing military, only a small military police called Aurors who are trained in subduing or defeating wizards and witches.” I stated and got nods of confirmation from the professors, as well as smiles of encouragement.

“But we’re not in Brittain, this is the Equestrian Wasteland and ponies don’t work by the same rules. I’ve been out there, I’ve fought against Raiders, Enclave soldiers and monsters. Nobody knows what may happen, the shield is strong but we can’t make sure that nobody gets through who may be hostile to us.” I stated, in particular the Institute come to mind in that regard.

“Dear child you’re overstating the danger, Aurors are some of the strongest wizards around.” Argued back Fudge, and I asked myself, is he seriously convinced of this propaganda?

“Sir, with all due respect. By all accounts there are more Raiders in the Ponston area alone, than there are magic capable humans in the UK. And besides, I know there are laws that would hurt all of us.” I stated and that made him reel back but I wasn’t going to halt there.

“Minister, sir, everyone who was within the boundaries of Hogwarts, every single one of us? We were transfigured into ponies. Or, as I was told by someone, we had a permanent True Polymorph spell applied to us. The change is irreversible, we may revert to human-like forms when on Earth, but none of us pass for human.” I explained taking a breath as everyone was transfixed on me.

“I can’t keep awake in History of Magic Class, but I don’t need to in order to figure out that there is a severe Anti Non-Human sentiment. Between blatant racism and the number of times the Goblins decided they had to fight for their freedom, I have no doubt that we would be treated poorly if we didn’t have a way to defend ourselves or allowed the Ministry to govern us when we can’t have representation as we are.

“I’m sorry to say that, but we can’t afford to deny the offer, not only because it means we can be free from laws that are unfair to us as we are, but because we’ve been surviving on trade in this world for months now. And honestly? If a 12 years old kid has to explain to you why it makes sense for us to join the NCR, then you need to burrow some books from the library. Or ask Hermione.” I got some chuckles for that one, at least from those who knew my friend.

“Well Cornelius, I believe you have been schooled.” Added the professor as the minister looked abashed at the idea of having been defeated in a political debate by a preteen. I could tell right there, he had no more arguments to throw at us.

With that, Hogwarts and it’s surrounding settlements joined the NCR, the first of the Ponston Area cities but not the last.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Kellog hammered his head into the shield, again.

He had come back to try again but found that the shield was closed, AGAIN. A sign painted on the side of the thing said that a diplomatic meeting was being held at the time and therefore all trade was halted for the time being.

“This fucking shield is mocking me.” He muttered to himself before turning around and going back. He may as well search the anomaly instead. He hadn’t had any luck on that front but at least there was no shield keeping him from even attempting to do it! He had even been forced to feed on Raiders with falsely induced love. It wasn’t optimal but on the other hoof, he didn’t have results yet.

With that Kellog left the premises, hoping he could find whatever he needed soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

A few days after the political meeting I was asked by the Steel Rangers to head up to the shipyards in the cloud city above Ponston, the former home of the SPP tower..

“Elder Maxson? You wanted to see me?” I asked as I come spotted her near an observation window in shipyard drydock #9. Yeah, they weren’t very good at naming things around here.

The ship itself was visible through the window, it was huge, far larger than the Raptor-class vessels I had seen before with an adjacent Raptor reinforcing that notion. The ship itself appeared to be finished and had even been repainted in Applejack’s Ragers colors of gunmetal gray with apple-red lines and accents. Prominently, the Enclave insignia had been painted over sloppily so it could still be somewhat seen, but over it was now, on an orange background, the insignia of the Applejack’s Rangers.

“Holy shit, she’s beautiful.” I whispered, getting up on my hindlegs to see it well. And yeah, the ship was beautiful in my eyes, probably in part due to not being restrained by a need for aerodynamics or Hydrodynamics with weapons on both ventral and dorsal sides of the ship.

“Indeed she is, the engineers who designed this class were quite skilled in their trade.” Stated Elder Maxson, I could see her smiling at the giant ship that was scheduled to become her chapter’s new mobile base.

“So, what did you need me for ma’am?” I asked, I had kind of gotten into this habit of treating her like a superior, I had technically worked for the Rangers for quite a few things by now, even going on a few missions with their Scribes from time to time.

“It’s nothing too complicated, but one of the reasons why the Enclave never tried to finish this ship was that the reactors on her need a special kind of ignition spark to start working. This spark can only be created by one kind of creature and until recently, natural members of that species were extinct.” I blinked owlishly at her for that, because, well, it was kind of obvious.

“So, you need a car key and I happen to be close enough in model to work?” I asked and the mare chortled at that, seeing my joke for what it was.

“So we’re hoping. We had already tried with the artificial Alicorns, which we suspect was the plan for the Enclave as well when they tried to negotiate with the Goddess, but their magic is incompatible.” Explained Maxson and I nodded in understanding, they were basically just mutated Unicorns, they had the wings and physique, but artificial Alicorns likely lacked much of what the princesses as proper Alicorns had.

“Alright, let’s do this!” I declared, why did I agree you ask? Well, for one I like the Rangers, they’ve been our allies for quite a while and had joined hands with us in an alliance not long after our first contact. They were also the ones who had provided us with an incredibly valuable artifact which allowed us to reach beyond time and space to Earth.

And lastly, for a more pragmatic reason, the Applejack’s Rangers were likely the strongest force who could oppose the Institute, they had the technology to help the Wasteland recover all that it had lost, and for all that, they also had the discipline to pull it off. So, quite frankly, helping them meant helping the whole Wasteland.

Anyway, the Elder of the Applejack’s Rangers chapter led me to an airlock which led to the ship itself. As she was a Unicorn she couldn’t fly over but the enchantments on her hooves meant that she could walk across the cloud bridge of the ship just fine.

I was led to the heart of the ship where a Ministry of Wartime Technologies mega reactor sat, something which I was told, could basically run the equivalent of Nuclear Fusion on magical energy. After it got jumpstarted that is. And this was why I was here.

“Alright, let’s do this.” I muttered, channeling magic into my horn, forming a ball of it before using Telekinesis to take a hold of the ball of energy and inserting it into the machine.

The VROOM of the generator coming to life was beautiful beyond compare.

“Well, Rose Evans, I believe that is about all we needed in preparation. Would you mind staying for the launch ceremony?” Asked Artoria, smiling broadly at the sight.

“I’d love to.” I responded, smiling myself, after all: I had just secured our side one of the most powerful flying warships in existence.

I just felt like there was nobody who had a bad day today!

Kellog growled as he left the premises of Hogwarts, his left eye twitching.

“I finally get in, and then I find out, all the Alicorns are gone! Luna Fuck me with the Moon!” He cursed as he stomped away.

Third Time’s the Charm, yeah, good joke.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Tom Riddle sighed, sitting on the throne she had taken.

The Alicorn who had led her here hadn’t mentioned that all the ponies here were “Raiders”, which made them fairly insane murderers and bandits. Even though, whatever had made her into this made her a lot more conscious of her own actions, she felt that these ponies were worse than her at her worst.

Lord Voldemort had been methodical, he had a mission and a vision. Sure, he had been opposed by those who disagreed, but he had fought for an ideal. These ponies? These Raiders? They were no better than wild animals lashing out. Hell, she knew wild animals not this bad. A wild animal could have compassion, could show mercy. These Raiders were just monsters who enjoyed inflicting suffering for no reason!

But, she had taken command by force, and was working to drive them into shape. And as they say, if you have nothing but a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For this reason she had basically used her magic to torture them into shape, basically. She didn’t give a fuck if that was ethical or whatever.

So yeah, she killed the Raider Boss here, subdued his subordinates and went on a small war of her own against nearby Raider Gangs. The Alicorn, whom she had given the name Marine for simplicity’s sake, had stayed with him. She had lost her connection to her sisters and had decided to stay with the last order she had, namely guiding her.

Being here had other benefits too, though also some disadvantages. For starters, she couldn’t use her name to intimidate others. She was also hard pressed to fight here since the locals used so much magically enhanced weaponry. To add salt to the injury, a few of the nearby gangs had salvaged Power Armor, magically enhanced armor that let them carry heavier weapons and which had been in circulation for ages.

As for advantages, for starters this world had no widely spread government, settlements were at best in loose coalitions and traded. This was all thanks to a war that had devastated the land in a manner similar to Nuclear war, a war against a shamanic ZEBRA nation no less.

Naturally, there were problems.

“What do you mean these Applejack’s Rangers got a giant airship?” She asked, tensely as she glared at the single Pegasus Raider under her command. One “Dashite” who had become a Raider in his time. How ridiculous was that?

“It’s as I said! They managed to get that unfinished Thunderhead-class Cloud Ship going, They’re far superior to the more common Raptor-class Cloudships but it’s engine couldn’t be started without a proper Alicorn.” Exoplained Savage Tornado, not his birth name, Riddle knew that. But then, what man wanted to be known as Shiny Prosperity of all names?

Yeah, she felt for her most civilized Raider underling. “Well, I hate to say this but it doesn’t appear as if we’ll be able to hold our position. Savage Tornado, go and spread this order: Everyone is to pack up their belongings and meet at the Northern Highway. We’re leaving for the Northern province.” Stated the small Necromantic Alicorn as she stood up.

“We’re fleeing?” Asked one of the Raiders present, not the brightest lad around.

“No, we’re retreating you fool. As it is, we do not possess the strength to take on what we’re facing.” Stated Riddle. It was galling to her, but she had to make sure she didn’t have to start from scratch, so migrating to an area they wouldn’t pay attention to was her best bet.

“We must ask of thee, have thou chosen thy new name?” Asked Marine as she walked up to her lady and master who looked at her, a grin on her face.

“Yes I have, this world has a very strange nomenclature standard but it suits me.” She explained while walking down the elevated platform of her throne. “Lord Voldemort was my title before, but it was also a fool’s title, I have outgrown it.” She stated, her eyes, crimson in color, watched the Raiders moving about, doing as ordered.

“I am Nightmare Cesar, the future ruler of this world!”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So… this is Hogwarts?” These were the words which Fred Weasley heard when he was on patrol and spotted a small caravan had come through the nearby Eastern gate.

“Hi there, what brings you to our little neck of the Wasteland?” He greeted them, seeing in particular that they had an escort of Applejack’s Rangers with the insignia of the NCR as escorts. Particularly, these appeared to be Western Rangers due to the insignia on the armor.

“We’re here for trade, miss Fluttershy was hoping that the rumors of powerful potions was true.” Spoke up one of the caravan po- no correction, it was a Zebra stallion, surprisingly enough. He was referring to a middle-aged Pegasus Mare with a yellow coat and pink mane. She looked incredibly stressed and worried.

“Well, while as a Gryffindor I can’t say I like the Potions Master here at Hogwarts, Severus Snape is most definitely the guy you want to talk to about potions, no doubt about it. I mean, he has the personality of rotten milk but… yeah.” He stated, only half-jokingly which got some chuckles from the ponies that were part of the caravan.

“We’re searching in particular for a potion that can reverse petrification.” Spoke up the Zebra again and one of the ponies pulled aside the tarp over the wagon, showing what may have been mistaken for the statue of a bunny.

“Ah, right. You want Mandrake Restoration Draught then, that’s a potion that reverses magical transfiguration effects, so as long as the petrified subject isn’t dead yet on the inside it will be able to restore your friend there.” Stated Fred, he had read about that potion in a Potions lexicon a while back, it wasn’t a cure for Lycanthropy, sadly speaking, but it was useful in many other circumstances and was something he and George would need in order to work their experiments.

“D- do you have s- some?” Asked Fluttershy at that, sounding nervous. She had the posture of someone who wanted to hide under a rock or who had suffered greatly.

“Sorry, not right now. As the name suggests the stuff needs Mandrakes to be made. Adult ones at that. Hogwarts doesn’t’ usually have life specimens and around this time of year, they would be infantile at best.” Stated Fred and got some weird looks for it.

“Mandrak Roots are kind of Anthropomorphic, as in, they look like human babies. They also scream when taken out of the Earth with adult ones being able to kill. I’ll go ask one of the professors if they stocked up on any Mandrakes for Herbology or something, I’ll be right back.” Stated Fred before spreading his wings and flying to Hogwarts while some others took over guiding the caravan to the town.

He loved being a Pegasus.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I yawned as we headed for the market.

Lyra and Bon-Bon wanted to see if there was anything new to buy today since a few caravans had come in the morning, but honestly? I was kind of more interested in what I was learning at the Rangers. You see, after I had basically played spark plug, I had been granted access to tutors from the Rangers. They had one of the largest surviving archives of arcane knowledge in the Wasteland.

Yesterday I had been undergoing lessons on Talisman creation as well as magical pattern theory. To be honest I was contemplating to ask if I could take the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes one year early, the idea was just so interesting and I had seen what could be done with either side, so what if I did it with both?

And when I was good enough, I could use that to help in such matters or even make goods to sell out in the Wasteland, many would probably kill for some of the magical items I had seen around the school and which I may be able to replicate. I mean, self-repairing weapons alone would be great. A enchantment to replicate on trigger the ammunition in your weapon, that sort of thing.

Was I nerding out at all the ideas I had? Maybe. Hailing told me that I sounded like Scribe material with how much I was looking forward to the ability to make items that could be helpful for other ponies and create what was in a way, components in Arcano-tech devices. Hell, I was looking forward to next week’s lesson on Pip-Bucks! Hermione, when I last wrote to her, had asked who I was and what had done to myself because I was sounding like her.

To be fair, I did.

In any case, as we walked something caught my eye, it was a semi-rectangular device that, on closer inspection, had a screen on it and was on a stand with a number of Earth items. The owner of the shop was an Earth Pony mare wearing visitor bardings, her coat was teal colored with a blue mane.

“Howdy there, would ‘ya like some of ma wares? Fresh outta da Muggle Markets.” Spoke up the mare and I blinked, realizing that she stood on two legs, a Half-blood then. Looking to Lyra she nodded to me as permission, so I trotted over and got upright to look at the items more closely. “Oh? Y’er a student of da school?” Asked the Mare and I nodded.

“Yes ma’am, Rose Evans, I’m gonna attend my second year when school starts again.” I stated, though I had to wonder why what sounded like an American witch, had come here.

“Ya look mighty young fer that, but I guess yer one of ta Aligirlies?” Asked the mare and I blinked, a bit taken aback by that wording.

“Erm, it’s Alicorn, actually, but yes? Is that a problem?” I asked, not sure what to think about her.

“Not at all, yah see I ain’t a witch but a wizard maself, so a know ‘ow it is ta be turned into a girl.” Explained the apparently wizard-turned-mare.

“Well, for you it’s temporary, the Philosopher’s Stone that brought us here exploded in my face.” I responded and got a chuckle for that.

“Then y’er dat ‘arry Potter kid eh?” She asked and I nodded, a bit surprised that I wasn’t getting the usual response to that, I wasn’t a fan of the fame and all that, but on the other hoof, I wasn’t used to this kind of tone when I met someone for the first time, at least among those who were part of the magical community.

“Um, yeah? Sorry I’m not that used to wizards being this… well, neutral about me. It’s nice not to be looked at like I should be Jesus or whatever, but it’s kind of odd.” I admitted and got a chuckle from the as of yet unnamed American wizard.

“No problem kiddo, ya a big name da UK but ova in da US we don’t see da big deal. If ah ‘ad ma way with dat Voldi fella, I would’ve pumped ‘im full of lead. First Amendment and all dat. Oh, and by da way, name’s John Johnston.” I actually laughed, both with the name and the way he called Voldemort.

“Okay, anyway, what’s this?” I asked, deciding to get to business, pointing to the device which, on closer inspection, was made of plastic largely.

“Oh, dat? Dat’s a Game Boy Light, it’s a fairly recent design from da Japs.” Explained John as she pushed the rectangular device to me and I cocked my head to the side.

“What does it do?” I asked, I wasn’t sure, maybe Dudley had gotten something like this?

“It’s a Game Console kid, itta play da games of Nintendo.” She explained and got out another package with a number of large rectanges of plastic in it. “Never had a basic Game Boy?” She asked, looking at me quizzically and I shook my head.

“No, I didn’t have a good home until I come here and was adopted.” I explained, smiling a bit at the memory that, yeah, I now had a family.

“Ya know what?” She asked and I looked up, seeing a smile on her face. “I wanted ta sell in Galleons but ya look like ya need it, so let’s trade with da Caps.” She stated and I blinked, surprised, but it made me smile.

I hadn’t gotten any new wizarding money since my visit to Diagon Alley over a year ago, so this was good for me.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

When I found Lyra and Bon-Bon again my saddle bags had a few new contents, charmed to indestructibility. For one I had two consoles, the Game Boy Light and a Game Boy Mini, which was a slightly older model without backlight.

I also had a “Link Cable” to connect them to one another as well as few games, those being Pokemon Red, Blue, Yellow and Super Mario Bros. I had bartered them down to 422 caps total with a Spark Battery for John to study for his own use. I was interested if I could convert one into something that could be used by the Game Boys, otherwise I had to buy new ones from Earth every now and then, though John did sell me 20 spare batteries.

What I hadn’t expected as seeing my moms hugging, and crying into the shoulder of, a Pegasus mare. She was yellow, with long, flowing pink hair and wore glasses. She also wore old looking traveling bardings and saddlebags.

“Who’s that Pony?” I asked, confused as I stopped next to what I thought may be a Zebra, though I wasn’t sure how those looked here in Equestria, for all I knew the mare was just weirdly colored.

“You’re from around here I take it? That is Fluttershy, the Ministry of Peace Mare and former holder of the Element of Kindness.” Stated the mare and I took a moment to absorb that info.

“Wait, wouldn’t that make her, like, over 200 years old?” I asked, she didn’t look anywhere near that old to me!

“She was trapped in the form of a tree since The Last Day after she was teleported out of the Canterlot Ministry of Peace by Rarity, the mare in charge of the Ministry of Image. She was then transformed by Killing Joke plants but we were able to restore her to normal.” Stated the gray and white mare and I was a bit surprised to hear that, this was a pretty convoluted situation but…

“That explains why Lyra and Bon-Bon are so happy to see her, being frozen in Stable 111 for 200 years means they haven’t seen any of their old friends since then.” I stated, smiling at knowing that, which I noticed surprised the mare.

“So that’s how they’re alive huh? Say what do you have to do with them anyway filly? And I thought the minimum age here was 11 years old, not 8.” She asked, frowning as I turned to her.

“Erm, in order? They adopted me, but I’m from Earth, that’s the world all this come from. As for my age, everyone got turned younger, I’m actually 12 years old. I just happen to be among the six who got turned back the most to eight years old. And, one of the six who got turned from male to female.” I explained, waiting for the reunion to end.

“So you’re one of the kids that got turned into Alicorns?” Asked the mare, raising an eyebrow and looking to my back where my wings were, naturally, visible.

“Yup, Rose Evans, formerly Harry Potter. And you are miss…?” I wasn’t the best at this kind of conversation, I wasn’t even sure if I was talking to an Earth Pony with stripes or a Zebra.

“My name is Xenith, why are you looking at me like that? Never seen a Zebra?” She asked and I blinked, taken aback a bit by that.

“Ah, no? Not in this world at least. Sorry it’s just a bit odd since, well, Zebra were at war with the ponies 200 years ago, right?” I asked, a bit curious on how that worked.

“My Grandparents were survivors of Stable 3 near Zebra Town. It had equal numbers of Equestrian Zebra and ponies in it but failed ultimately.” Explained Xenith as she eyed me, I wasn’t sure what she thought about me to be honest.

“So, Equestria still kept at least one Stable to try and save the Zebra that lived within their borders?” I asked, the stories I had heard painted most pre-apocalypse ponies as highly racist against Zebra, though to be fair, Pink Cloud.

“Well, I suppose that is true. It didn’t work out but yeah, it saved them. I assume you’re also the filly Velvet was talking about, the one who gave that “Minister Fudge” a good dressing down during the negotiations for Hogwarts to join the NCR?” Asked Xenith and I stopped for a moment, blinking in surprise at her saying that. I knew who she was talking about, naturally.

“You know miss Remedy?” I asked, surprised and got a snort of laughter out of the Zebra.

“Yes, we were traveling companions with Littlepip and Velvet’s Coltfriend Calamity.” She stated and I blinked, then it clicked.

“Wait you’re a companion of the Stable Dweller?!” I exclaimed in surprise but nopony paid us any attention as they were watching the reunion between the three pre-war mares. I would do so too but Xenith kind of grabbed my attention like that python I had accidentally released from it’s enclosure at the Zoo, last year during Dudley’s 11th birthday.

Not that the snake had done anything except leaving the zoo to try and reach Brazil.

“Yes, we were her companions. Littlepip is still staying at the SPP tower and refuses to leave so we’ve been going around doing our best to help.” Stated Xenith and I nodded, I remembered the news on DJ-Pon3’s radio show after it had come online properly again.

“It’s kind of weird, I- usually I’m the one drawing in hero attention but now I meet someone who helped with saving way more than even the most ridiculous claims about me.” I stated, grinning as, well, it made me quite happy to actually meet someone I saw as a hero, contrary to myself as I was just a survivor.

“You’re famous?” Asked Xenith, I could tell she wanted to change the topic to avoid me, well being a fangirl but hey! I had a good reason!

“Kinda, when I was a year old a evil wizard named Voldemort killed my parents and vaporized himself trying to kill me too. I still don’t know what caused that, and I had too much on my mind after the Philosopher’s Stone exploded in my face to ask anyone.” I explained, shaking my head at the inciting incident for the transportatation.

“Sure sounds like you have your own fair share of hardships. Though, if you were adopted by those two only after coming here, where did you live before that?” Asked Xenith, sounding a bit too inquisitive for my own tastes but, honestly? I had no reason not to tell her.

“Number Four Privet Drive, Little Surrey, which is London Suburbs, United Kingdom of Great Brittain an island off the North-Eastern coast of the European Continent. I was… raised by my maternal aunt, Petunia Dursley nee Evans, and her husband, Vernon Dursley. They’re the biggest Magi-Phobes I’ve ever seen.” I stated, sighing as I remembered that time.

“Sounds nasty, I take it you can’t go back to them anyway like this?” Asked Xenith, I noticed a hint of disgust, which I thought my imply that she may be a mother herself.

“Nope, Half-Bloods like myself turn into Anthropomorphic forms, like what Muggle-born are on this side. Muggle-born meanwhile look like normal humans with pony ears, tails and, in relevant cases, wings or horns. “Purebloods” so people with very distant Muggle relatives, turn into humans fully but their skin and hair matches their pony form.” I explained, shaking my head.

“And with the fact that getting here with the school means this is permanent, and nothing anyone tried so far has worked to reverse it. Or the being a girl bit for that matter. And given Hogwarts boasts some of the greatest experts of it’s fields of study, including Albus-Motherbucking-Dumbledore, yeah. Irreversible.” I stated, not even stopping at my use of coloquial swearing.

“What’s so special about this Dumbledore fellow?” Asked Xenith and I had to remind myself she didn’t know about the professor.

“Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Dumbledore is the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Supreme Mugwump of the International Association of Magic, holds the honor of Order of Merlin First Class and discovered a dozen different uses for dragon blood while working with is friend, the Alchemist Nicholas Flamel who is the only person to ever create a fully functional Philosopher’s Stone.” I stated and Xenith stopped for a moment, mulling that over.

“Wait, so you weren’t joking when you mentioned a Philosopher’s Stone exploding? Are you sure that was a real, functioning Philosopher’s Stone, the pinnacle of Alchemy all Zebra Alchemists have been trying to make for centuries, that kind of stone?” She asked and I blinked, then remembered that it had been mentioned before that Zebra not only practiced alchemy but also had tried to make that thing.

“Well, about as sure as the disembodied wraith of Voldemort was when he tried stealing it from one of the most secure vaults in one of the most die-hard security obsessed banks on Earth which includes literal guard dragons on it’s lower floors.” I stated and Xenith’s mouth hung open. “If you want we could go up and ask professor Dumbledore if mister Flamel is still alive and would be willing to talk to you? I kind of shattered the stone by accident though...” Admitted and… yeah it’s funny every time when I watch a pony’s jaw dislocating and hitting the floor.

“You broke a Philosopher’s Stone?! WHY?!” She screamed enraged, catching the attention of those around us for good reason.

“I was being choked by an adult man, and the mirror it was hidden in decided depositing it in my pocket was a smart move.” I explained, my ears nailed to my skull at the volume.

“Ah- is, is everything alright?” Asked a voice and as we turned around, I saw that miss Fluttershy had come over, with Lyra and Bon-Bon glaring at miss Xenith for screaming at me.

“Yeah, it’s alright I, well, I kinda messed up in a bad situation. Um, I’m Rose Evans, miss Fluttershy, nice to meet you.” I said, extending my hoof as Xenith muttered under her breath something about retarded fillies or something.

“Nice to meet you, and please, just call me Fluttershy. Lyra and Bon-Bon told me already some what happened, and I thank you for helping all the ponies from Stable 111.” Responded Fluttershy in a soft tone, sounding rather meek.

“It’s alright, I think they did more for me than theo ther way around heh. Ah, hey, ah, okay if I leave? I think I owe miss Xenith a visit to the headmaster, I kind of upset her because of smashing the Philosopher’s Stone. Maybe he can arrange something with the Flamels?” I suggested and saw Xenith perk up at that idea.

“Alright, but Bon-Bon, you go with them just in case the Zebra tries anything.” Stated Lyra, glaring at the mare who flinched at the reminder of the, admittedly not unfounded, hostility the two wartime mares still had. And yelling at me hadn’t made them friendlier to her.

Well, at least we could try mending some fences, or how that saying goes.

Right?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“Finally! This thing is working!” Declared Draco Malfoy as she held up the device she had been building the last few weeks.

She had talked to Free Life and the mare had taken some convincing, but had agreed to give Draco some lessons on what she knew of Talisman creation and the fabrication of machines on basis of those.

Draco just finished her homework on this discipline: Building from individual parts a Laser Musket, with some basic construction instructions patterns, but the work had been all her own. She had done some of her own research and integrated some part of her own, such as a metal casing, heatsinks and an extension “Barrel” with focus lenses.

She hadn’t thought that the nearby village with the Muggle library would ever be useful, but as it turned out in her testing, Laser Muskets are still lasers. So books on lasers were quite useful there. She did wonder if her mom would be missing that gem she had taken from her collection to try and make the thing better. It seemed to channel energy a lot better than the one she had been given with the assignment.

“I really hope I don’t get in trouble.” She muttered, shaking her head before putting away the gun to her bag. If Potter could make himself a strong hero, then Draco Malfoy could too.

If only his mother would quit wanting to dress him up like a girl!

Chapter 13: School of the Wizards Part 1

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A/N: So, before I start this chapter, yes I am now using “Physical” line breaks because Fanfiction dot net is a huge asshole with those *sigh*

Anyway, we’re finally in the next arc of this story, the Second Year Arc, the Chamber of Secrets Arc. The “Good Luck there Buddy” Arc.

I have currently no idea how I’m gonna handle this.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ POV 1: Rose Evans, FPV ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“You want us to allow you into the Arithmancy and Ancient Runes classes, early?” Asked Professor McGonnagal, staring at me with the sort of disbelieve which we usually left for one of the bigger stunts Fred and George were so fond of doing.

“Yes professor, would that be okay?” I asked, sitting as small as I was, in the chair before her. I suspected it would be a lot less comfortable for someone who wasn’t as small as I was.

“Strictly speaking there is nothing against it, but you realize that you’re still a second year student, right? These are classes meant for third year students and later.” Stated the professor with a frown on her face, naturally she was worried about that.

“I know, but I’ve been taking lessons on Equestrian magic and how to use their pattern style to make talismans. If I learn to use Ancient Runes and Arithmancy I may be able to make some really amazing things, which would help the school, the town and the NCR too!” I argued back, I wanted to help and being a technician of sorts would be the best possible way to do so!

“Miss Evans don’t take this as an offense but you’re still a child, you shouldn’t be thinking about this kind of thing.” She argued back with a frown and I scowled at her in return.

“So? Remember last time I was “Just a Child”? Last time led to us being brought here, because you wouldn’t listen to us. Last time Rainy, Hermione and myself had to go down there, through all the obviously a test things you put there that any first year had a decent chance of overcoming. Last time I shattered the Philosopher’s Stone and got turned into an Alicorn Filly.” I shot back and she flinched at each accusation from her.

“And besides, I’m not just a child anymore I- I have killed, professor. I killed Professor Quirrel, I killed those Raiders in Concord, the Feral Ghouls and Raiders in the Ministry of Wartime Technologies Factory, as well as countless Pegasi during the assault on the SPP Tower.” I argued further, closing my eyes, the flashes of those batttles still fresh in my mind, and making me shudder.

“Mi- no, Rose, I know you want to help, and I know that we failed to provide you with a safe environment here, but you must understand that we have reasons for keeping these materials restricted from students until they reach their third year.” She argued back, a lot less heated than my own arguments though.

“So? I probably know more about applying magic to combat than a seventh year and besides, I’ve been doing a Hermione for weeks now, learning magic way ahead of first years.” I stated, admittedly having little to no schedule for months but the ability to cast magic? Yeah I wasn’t very occupied, even though the games I had purchased did give me a lot of things to kill time with now.

McGonnagal sighed, rubbing her forehead to try and fight off a headache I knew was coming because of me. “Fine, I suppose I can’t hold you back much. We will have to change your schedule a bit though, as second years aren’t meant to attend these classes so you would have to attend them alongside third year students.” Stated McGonnagal and I smiled as wide as I ever smiled.

I was accutely aware that Muggle children aren’t meant to be giddy about more complicated school work, much less arrange for it a year earlier than they should get to do those. But I’ve been hanging out with Hermione for two years now, so being infected with Hermione-itis was inevitable.

Yes, Hermione is such a bookworm, we made up a disease that makes you studious and named it after her.

Though I did hear some of the Stable Survivors talk about Sparkle-Disorder in the same context.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Getting my school supplies was easy, for one the required supplies now excluded normal robes and instead included special shape-changing bardings instead. Since the students would all be assuming pony shapes of various types, that was a necessity.

The school evidently had gotten a deal with Madam Malkins so they would pay half the price for all the enchantments necessary for these uniforms, and would in return supply the parameters and spell patterns to be woven into them to make these high-quality protective attires.

A wand was also mandatory, unless you were a returning student who was a Unicorn or, in my case, an Alicorn. I didn’t know where my wand went though, it wasn’t found in the chamber so some assumed it got blasted to bits by the stone’s detonation.

Anyway, school supplies other than this included the normal set of books, but for me also Arithmancy and Runoology books, the appropriate supplies for those classes, but some of the more daft selections too. “Why are there so many books from this “Lockhart” guy?” I asked, confused about this inclusion of various Gilderoy Lockhart books. I hadn’t seen them before but I could see a lot of the older fillies being extremely happy for some reason.

“Aw man, just great. My mom is a huge fan of that guy, has a huge collection of his books you know? And now we must buy this crap?” Asked Rainy, not anywhere near as enthusiastic as Hermione who was chatting the ears off of Ruby who looked a lot less enthusiastic. The fact that she looked even younger in Anthro-form may have to do with that.

“Hermione, I know he’s a big wig but I personally can’t see how. Remember I was working at Hogwarts when he attended and he was nowhere near as great a wizard as those books make him out to be.” Contested Ruby with a sigh, pushing again through another gap between people.

“But he has the Order of Merlin Third Class!” Argued back Hermione, clinging to a copy of the man’s autobiography. Titled “Magical Me” or something. It reeked of self-agrandization

I decided to tune them out as miss Weasley led us with Ginny and the rest of her family through the crowd. She and her husband, Arthur Wealsey do you remember? Well, they were chaperoning us alongside Lyra and Bon-Bon as they knew the place better than my own adopted family did.

Notably, my saddlebags were already ladden with all kinds of new supplies, ink, paper, gemstones (they were surprisingly cheap, nobody knew there was a huge market for those just part that mirror) owl feed for Hedwig, grooming materials for Hedwig and own feathers…

Yes I preen my feathers, got a problem with that? They get kind of messed up in my sleep and I’ve seen every Pegasus do it too, even Draco Malfoy did it. Who was strangely a lot less confrontational in the last few months and I had even heard say of her setting out with Caravans and Minutemare volunteers.

I think I’m gonna tell you guys about that later.

“Outta the way! Outta the way! I am with the Daily Prophet!” Shouted someone suddenly and I was pushed aside by some reporter. My hand drifted to my side, to my saddlebags, ready to draw something but I stopped myself. This was Earth, not the Wasteland. I shouldn’t shoot people for being rude or self-entitled, not even if they’re both and I don’t care about their newspaper one bit because it’s nothing like DJ-Pon3.

“You alright?” Asked Rainy, helping me up as I brushed off my bardings, which included a small overcoat to help me blend in a bit better.

“Yeah, I was just surprised. What’s with the commotion anyway?” I asked, having tuned out my surroundings because of all the senseless commotion going on. I had been going over my lessons with princess Luna actually, she wasn’t as experienced as her sister in that, or so she told me, but she was pretty good nonetheless in my opinion and taught me quite a lot about magic.

“Gilderoy Lockhart is apparently hosting an autograph season here, and mom is going mad.” Stated Ron with a sigh which caused a nuclear frown on my own face. I didn’t know what the big deal was supposed to be with this guy, he lived on Earth, I probably had lived through more dangerous situations since last school year had started, than he had his whole life.

“Oh? What do my eyes see there in the crowd! If it isn’t students of Hogwarts!” Declared a voice and I flinched as I realized we had been spotted, and the voice sounded so annoying too.

A tall wizard with a large, flowing and colorful robe come toward us as the crowd parted around our group. I could already pick out exactly where to shoot to disable the man. Not kill, disable. Permanently. Yes I was talking about paralyzing him in a single shot. No armor, no protective magical fields, nothing of the sort. Just some normal human without a kernel of common fucking sense.

“Oh my! I believe my eyes must betray me, if it isn’t Harry Potter in the flesh!” My trigger finger was twitching, I just wanted to get this over with, get the books that I was actually interested in, and get away from the crowd. But no, this buffoon had to come and decide-

There was a loud crack as I did the hand-equivalent of full power Alicorn bucking against the wizard, when he tried grabbing me, and moments later the 10mm pistol I kept on me for this was pointed at him too. “Don’t. Touch. Me.” I ground out, this was a stranger, trying to definitely pull some sort of publicity stunt with me, and he tried grabbing me.

“R- Rose! You just punched Gilderoy Lockhart!” Exclaimed Hermione in horror but I didn’t lower my gun.

“He tries grabbing me and dragging me into his publicity stunt, he can count himself lucky if I don’t shoot him.” I ground out as the man extracted himself from the wall, looking bewildered. “I don’t care if he is some sort of celebrity, I’m not gonna let him use me and-” I saw a flash and glared at the photographer before using telekinesis to grab his camera and crush it.

“Hey!” Exclaimed the man in shock at that but I just crushed it even more until it was a ball of dense metal and plastic shards, not a camera.

“I never consented to being photographed, or being included in your newspaper. So leave me out of it or I will see if I can get a Goblin Lawyer.” I snarled at him before turned around. “Mom, can you guys get my books? I need some fresh air.” I grumbled and left with an affirmative from the two, shooting another glare at the wizard who looked confused by my gun.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I wandered a bit before finding myself at the icecream parlor and sitting down, sighing.

“Can I get you something dear?” Asked the proprietor of the shop and I nodded.

“Yeah Icecream please, Stracciatella maybe?” I asked, burrowing my face in my arms as I wanted to get my emotions back under control. The Wasteland was simple, wander around, explore, trade, shoot monsters, mutated or otherwise, or learn about having parents who love me.

“So the great and powerful Harry Potter can’t handle the press?” I looked up on hearing this, finding a rather beautiful woman with pale-blonde hair, very light skin and very expensive looking robes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out this must be Draco’s mother.

“I’m a 12 years old kid in the body of an eight years old girl. I don’t know about magical law but taking photos of a child without permission is a crime in the Muggle world.” My answer obviously surprised her, which made me smirk a bit. “I grew up in the Muggle society until the transposition incident, no idea about the magical side though.” I stated, sighing.

“Also, can you call me Rose? I kind of go by Rose Evans-Heartstrings it’s… a bit complicated, miss Malfoy.” I stated and the woman looked surprised at my recognizing who she was. I found that funny. “You look like your son, er, daughter, before the whole transformation, you know? Just, you’re female, with long hair and all that.” I explained to her and the woman raised an eyebrow at that.

“Well, I would hope I look like my own child, but good deduction from you. Also, I would like if you could refer to my son as such, he may be biologically female right now, but he still identifies as male. I am somewhat surprised that you would abandon the prestigious name of your father, if I am honest.” Stated the woman and… sat down. Huh.

“It was on Professor Snape’s suggestion, I think he didn’t like my dad and, honestly? It’s no more my name than Evans since that’s my mom’s maiden name. Better than Dursley any day. By the way, I didn’t think you would want to talk to me, I kind of transfigured your son into a filly.” Responded, cocking my head to the side as I wasn’t entirely sure how to take the relatively friendly behavior.

“While I hold to much of my husband’s… missgivings about you, Rose, I would like to let it be known that I am not blaming you. I heard what led to the incident, and I can’t say it was your fault for rushing into that, thinking such danger was afoot.” She stated and I blinked, that wasn’t what I had expected.

“Wait, Rainy said Draco’s family is all about this whole Pureblood stuff, so basically pro-Voldemort. But you sound like you’re saner than a Raider on Dash.” I stated and got a weird look for my troubles. Right, I wasn’t in the Wasteland right now.

“A Raider is basically one or more of the following: A Bandit, a Mad Pony who just kills for fun and/or a murderous psychopath who has lost their mind. Dash meanwhile is a hallucinogenic drug that accelerates one’s perception, meaning you can process sensory information faster and thus can react better, but it’s addictive. I’ve seen a few Dash Heads already.” I explained and got a raised eyebrow.

“So, you’re comparing the followers of the Dark Lord to insane bandits on drugs?” She asked, sounding amused.

“No, not at all. I’d be insulting the Raiders if I said Death Eaters are on their level of sanity.” I rebuked and that got me a giggle from the woman, someone had humor it seemed. “And… I don’t know what to think of your husband, I am thankful that he come and helped us to take down that SPP tower a few weeks back, I definitely didn’t think he would be that effective as a first-time Pegasus, but the ease with which he just killed any Pegasi who got in his way was...” I left the statement hanging, not liking to remember that particular scene.

“Oh? Lucius did mention you were right in the thick of it, definitely didn’t sound like you were holding back yourself with your weapons, Rose.” Stated the woman and I sighed, knowing what she meant.

“Would you believe me that I basically shut down when in combat? I just… kind of compartmantalize it all. It’s not as bad as the first time I was in battle but I still get nightmares and can’t even sleep without help.” I added, looking away, not mentioning that said help was both from Princess Luna as well as Lyra and Bon-Bon sleeping next to me.

“I see, I guess that is the kind of response a child would have. To be honest, I wish Draco could stay away from such danger, but he is as much in that other world as you are, and he’s been… experimenting.” Stated miss Malfoy and I raised an eyebrow at that but she chuckled at me for that. “Sorry, I won’t tell you. He thinks I haven’t noticed it actually, so it is a bit of a game to me.” She explained and I nodded in response, made sense to me.

“Well, at least he can still come to Earth and live like a human, right? With him being white with a black mane he just looks pale and… You don’t have anything against the goth style, do you?” I asked and for a moment I could swear she looked at me like I was the biggest little weirdo, then chuckled.

“Ah, I see that you are a pony of culture little one. Don’t worry, I was born into a family where dark and dreary was basically the family motto. Though officially it was about purity of blood above all else. I should introduce myself properly though. I am Narcissa Malfoy nee Black, sister of Andromeda Tonks nee Black and, sadly, one Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black. I am, through your grandmother, your aunt.” She explained and that made my eyes widen because, holy shit.

“Wait, let me get this straight. Not only am I basically cousins with Draco, but do you mean that I’m related to that Auror Trainee, Tonks too? And the woman who tortured Neville’s parents into madness?” I asked shocked, because that was beyond shocking to me. Especially the part where I was related to Bellatrix Lestrange of all people!

“Ah, Nymphadora. Yes she is your cousin though her mother was, due to the matriarch of the family, disowned for marrying a Muggle-born in Ted Tonks. And yes, Bellatrix is… well for a lack of a better term, to the Black Family anyone who was a supporter of the Dark Lord was a golden lamb. People like my cousin Sirius and Andromeda meanwhile were considered Black Sheep.” She stated and that brought me up short a bit there.

“Wait, who is Sirius? I never heard of that name?” I asked, because how large was my number of relatives anyway? Even if distantly related at best.

“Sirius Black, he was your father’s best friend. I… I suppose I won’t break any vows by telling you this, but he was placed in Azkaban after his arrest under the presupposition of being the betrayer of your parents, but he had never any sort of trial to defend himself. I believe that is as far as I can tell you. Enjoy your stay here for a bit, little niece.” Stated the Malfoy Matriarch before standing up as I blinked, bewildered at the sudden bomb dropped on me.

When Lyra and Bon-Bon located me later, I had one request. “Mom, can we go check if there are Goblin Lawyers? I think I have an Uncle who got stuck as an innocent into wizarding prison.”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

It took the better part of the few days between then and school starting for us to get a Lawyer from the Goblins to look into the Sirius Black case.

When I told them who had tipped me off, their interest was peaked at least though the fee was quite high, higher still should we be unable to bail him out. However, Narcissa had all but stated that the accusations were wrong, and given her husband’s status as a Death Eater, that made it likely to be true, given that she acted so conspiratorial.

Naturally, red tape and bureaucracy got in the way. It was in fact easier to get a pass into the military base of the Ponston Steel Rangers chapter than it was to get the Ministry of Magic to go and check if they did due diligence on someone’s arrest or not. I just hoped it would pay off and we were helping someone innocent getting out of what was described to me as a living hell.

But, alas, school started again, and this time? This time I was a second year and didn’t need to get to Hogwarts. I was there already.

But, for the sake of tradition, the old location of Hogwarts, which now housed the ruins of Sanctuary Hills, were cleared out from mutated beasts and frightened ponies that had been only recently discovered to have been among the things transported, were led back to Hogwarts to join the community there. They had all been in the same colorful-human form that Purebloods displayed on Earth, by the way.

Anyway, as for why the this was done, the mirror was placed there with it’s Hogwarts side moved to where the boatride would begin. As I said, tradition was being what was most considered here.

What was different was that while we waited, a number of new faces were there. For starters, Gilderoy Lockhart was revealed to be the new DADA teacher, I found that out on the way home from my punching him into a wall. Thank Celestia we weren’t at school yet, I was getting into a bad habit there.

Next on the new list was Scribe Hailing with two Applejack’s Rangers guards with her. Then there was the Guest of Honor, the NCR’s president, Velvet Remedy who was escorted by her husband, Deadshot Calamity and Fluttershy. Though the latter sat apart from them.

There was also a Spritebot, a small, floating robot with wings which was a cross between radio and mobile weapons platform as it had a laser gun strapped under it. This served as the eyes and ears of Spike, who couldn’t rightly attend the feast as another NCR representative since he was, well, a huge dragon.

To round this out, Cornelius Fudge with two Unspeakables as his escorts, had also joined the feast to represent the Ministry of Magic. To be honest, this looked less like a Start-of-Year feast and more like we were holding a international conference or something. Which, in hindsight, wasn’t that far off all things considered.

Anyway, seeing as all the students were relatively uniform in their ages now, with six exceptions which were us Alicorns, the uniforms were a bit adjusted. Aside from our Bardings bearing our house’s coat of arms we got stripes in different colors of the rainbow.

The colors were as follows:

First years: Violet

Second Year: Indigo

Third Year: Blue

Fourth Year: Green

Fifth Year: Yellow

Sixth Year: Orange

And finally Seventh Year: Red

So yeah, I now had indigo stripes on my bardings, though I wasn’t allowed to wear my Power Armor, which was a shame since it was the coolest piece of equipment I had. Well, short of the literal Cryo-Gun I had found while scavenging Stable 111 last week, but that’s more cool in the most literal sense of the word.

Then the First-Years come in. All of them were were wearing their uniforms though they still lacked their house’s coat of arms. Mixed in among the ponies of all three varieties were also a handful of Griffons, which had shocked a few since Griffons traditionally couldn’t use magic in the eyes of most, and even an Artificial Alicorn which had been a young filly when she had been absorbed.

There were also a much larger number of new students than the previous year since the human first years were supplemented by twice their number in Wastelander students from both Philosopher’s Town, which was the official name of the town that had been formed a few weeks back, as well as other areas of the NCR. This meant that this was the first year that actual students from non-human races joined Hogwarts.

And naturally this led to all kinds of funny names being called, such as Sylvana Fangraiser (Griffon), Righty Thunderhoof (Earth Pony) and at least one Zaberst Tarot (Zebra Filly). Oh yeah, there is also a whole town of Zebra foals apparently, who kick out all who get their Glyph Mark, their equivalent of the Cutie Mark. Though they are discussing to set up a new town near Hogwarts, since that would make things easier.

Then it was time.

“Weasley, Ginevra.” Declared Professor McGonnagal and…

“Rainy, I thought Ginny was your sister?” I asked, staring at the young Unicorn Colt stepping to the hat before it just cried “Gryffindor” before it properly touched his head.

“Yeah, and I’m supposed to be her older brother, so I’m not overly broken up about it.” Responded Rainy and… yeah, fair enough.

“Phew, this is gonna take some getting used to.” Spoke up Ginny as he come over, shaking himself a bit and moving a bit uncomfortably in his pants. So… probably involved his new bits.

“Hey Ginny, I guess your parents are for the time being back to the original sons to daughters ratio?” I asked, trying to make some conversation and the newly made colt snorted.

“Mom is going to freak out about this, I can tell that much already. At least it’s only temporary for me. How are you guys holding up?” Asked Ginny and us Gryffindor Alicorns looked at one another.

“Well, Rainy and myself had a few months to get used to peeing while sitting, and I don’t know how any colts handle the new anatomy. I didn’t exactly check how accurate that one is.” I stated, not wanting to get details on that one. I was a good decade short before I could claim to be an adult, physically at least.

“Oh boy, I don’t look forward to that.” Muttered Ginny, shuddering at the idea. “I wonder why everyone is turning into ponies and that not one Griffon has come through.” Added Ginny, looking at all the new students which had bulked out the number of students at the school significantly.

“No idea, maybe ponies come to Earth in ancient times and had kids with humans? I mean, ponies seem to turn into technicolor humans on Earth.” I suggested, it made about as much sense as anything else in my opinion at least.

“It would at least explain the way wizards and witches get transformed while coming here, you know? Based on how much Muggle blood one has? I can’t test it but it’s probable that “Pureblood” in this context means that the non-magical percentage of their genes got so small over time that it doesn’t factor in, or that by that some didn’t inherit any non-magical genes by this point.” Stated Hermione, looking quite interested in the topic herself. It did sound like it may be true but I wasn’t a geneticist.

“You know what’s actually freaky?” Asked Rainy suddenly and we all looked at her. “Look to the head table, I’m pretty sure that stallion is Professor Binns. Lockhart has managed to annoy Professor-motherbucking-Binns.” Stated Rainy and well spun around and, sure enough, we got to see Binns, who was a Pegasus Stallion, lose his patience, grab a tray, and smash it into Lockhart’s face.

“I didn’t know he can get agitated at all.” I commented, blinking.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ Kellog 3rd Person POV ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Kellog stared through a window into the giant hall.

And at the hundreds of students and several heavily armed Wastelanders.

“Nope, fuck this shit I’m going back.” He muttered, before flying off. No way was he going to try getting in there now to nab a Alicorn foal.

It wasn’t worth the risk.

Chapter 14: School of the Wizards Part 2

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Person POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I smiled as I talked to Rainy and Ginny throughout the feast, we were just finishing up desert (ice cream is the food of the fucking gods) when the food vanished, so it was time for the start-of-year announcements and getting to our dorms.

“Attention please everyone, I know you must all be quite tired right now and that you probably want to go to bed but there are some announcements I still need to make.” Announced Professor Dumbledore, standing up from her place at the Head Table. There was nothing to see yet from her pregnancy, or at least not with the particular bardings she wore.

“First, I am happy to announce that the second floor corridor on the left side wing of the castle, is no longer off-limits, even to those who do not wish a most painful death.” That got a lot of laughter out of us seniors because, yeah, Fluffy wasn’t there anymore, he was prancing around the Forbidden Forest and terrorizing it’s critters last I had heard.

“Secondly, I want to remind our returning students and inform our new students, that even if you’re packing a small army’s worth of weaponry, the Forbidden Forest on the school premises is off limits. Breaking this rule without good reason means at best a week of detention with Professor Snape, at worst it means expulsion. How severe this is will be determined by your loadout on entering and how much of a nuisance you made yourself to our neighbors the Centaurs.” That was a lot more explicit than last year, though admittedly almost everyone here was now packing heat. Particularly unicorns and Pegasi.

“Thirdly on this painfully long diatribe, I must inform you that all students of first year and all members of a Quidditch team or who desire to do try-outs for their team, must attend flying lessons due to the change in how brooms must be ridden in these new forms.” Explained Dumbledore and excited murmurs raised among the students, I did notice Malfoy shooting me a challenging grin which was… kind of weird to be honest, but then sh- I mean, he was very much of the opinion he was the master of Quidditch and broom riding at the school.

“To add onto this, all Pegasi students of the first year, and those who haven’t bothered trying it, are required to attend flying classes in relation to their wings. For those not in the know, Pegasi are ponies with wings but no horns. If you have a horn but no wings you’re a Unicorn. If you have neither a horn nor wings, you’re an Earth Pony, and if we have overlooked someone turning into a pony with wings and a horn, please inform us so we can add another Alicorn to our count.” Chuckles come up as everyone heard these words, it did sound a bit ridiculous.

“Next, regarding excursions beyond the boundaries of the Hogwarts shield. First years must be accompanied by at least two senior students for each first year and second years must do the same at a 1:1 basis unless they own a suit of Power Armor and have undergone some combat training. To reitterate, beyond our shield, is a Post-Magical Nuclear Wasteland, we do not call it that for no reason. When not within the shield, do not remove your bardings, they include protective wards including a minor shield protecting you from weapons but most importantly, a ward that holds off magical radiation.” Explained the professor and whispers were heard from the firstyears as they heard this.

“Next, tomorrow classes will be suspended, and that is so that the students who have been out in the Wasteland can give the new students some first-hand lessons of their own, for the sake of brevity and variety. More over, it is meant to ensure that all students get some more acquainted with their new forms. Adding onto this, we have been provided by Ditzy Doo of the Absolutelutely Everything delivery service, with copies of her “Wasteland Survival Guide”, with 100 copies waiting for your perusal within each of the house common rooms. Feel free to peruse them and ask your classmates native to this world too. Miss Silver Bell in particular can certainly tell her fellow Hufflepuffs a lot, being that she is miss Ditzy Doo’s adopted daughter.” Explained the professor further and I smiled, I had met the filly a few times when her mom, the pre-war Pegasus Ghoul Ditzy Doo, had come for trading.

“Having said that, please be mindful of how you speak to miss Ditzy Doo, as while she suffers from Ghoulification, a Necromantic process that turns it’s victims into semi-undead known as Ghouls, she is fully sapient and non-hostile. However, she is also mute as regretfully, her tongue had been cut out a few decades ago.” Added the professor and inquisitive glances were shot at us, naturally that made some uneasy, the thought of undead and all that.

“Last on our list of announcements, and trust me this is quite a long list already, we have some changes in staff. For starters, Rubeus Hagrid, our Keeper of Grounds and Keys, has retired due to her transformation into a Alicorn Filly, joining her fellow Alicorn fillies in the second year as a Hufflepuff. The same goes for Argus Filch, our now former Castle Caretaker. Please remember that they have adopted the names Ruby Hagrid and Argent Ambition respectively.” Explained Dumbledore and both of the two waved, though Hagrid was comically hard to see among the Hufflepuff students.

“Next, professor Kettleburn of our class on Care for Magical Creatures has also decided to retire before he becomes part of the food chain. He is succeeded by Miss Fluttershy, formerly of the Ministry of Peace of old Equestria.” Announced then Professor Dumbledore and I blinked in surprise as the Pegasus mare stood up, bowing with a shy expression. Well, that was a surprise.

“Next, seeing as our transposition into this world involved among others the death of Professor Quirrel, we naturally have a successor, as many may have heard, that successor is professor Gilderoy Lockhart for Defense Against the Dark Arts.” Went on the headmaster and I cringed at the cheers and swooning from our female population, though thankfully most every filly of first year status or even some second years, were looking uncomfortable with that one too.

“However!” Declared Dumbledore and waited for everyone to quiet down. “We have further additions to our staff to announce.” She continued and everyone’s eyes were glued to her. “As of this year, every Thursday will be dedicated to new classes critical for anyone who wishes to explore the Wasteland, and we have new professors for that. First, Scribes Hailing, Stomping Hooves and Rising Sun of the Applejack’s Rangers will supervise Wasteland combat classes as well as weapon and armor maintenance lessons in a rotation.” Stated the professor and murmurs of interest went through the crowd.

“Secondly, Free Life of the Minutemares has agreed to head Survival lessons and lead school excursions.” Explained the professor and… we all stared at the lack of a certain Minutemare. “Sadly, due to her duties as a Minutemare, miss Free Life cannot join us at this feast for the moment, so in cases where she is called away for her duties, Professor Hailing has agreed to stand in for her in these lessons.” Explained Professor Dumbledore and murmurs echoed around, I was quite happy for Hailing, she was a junior Scribe when I first met her but now she was getting the opportunity to be a teacher in a position that could positively affect the Wasteland.

“As a last note, before we all head to bed, if anyone has any questions regarding the Applejack’s Rangers or the Minutemares, don’t hesitate to ask their respective representatives or Miss Rose Evans and Draco Malfoy respectively, as they are both working with these organizations. Now, how about heading to bed?” I blinked, I hadn’t expected to be called out as a Rangers contact, but I was also surprised to hear that Draco of all people was with the Minutemares.

Even so, the Prefects began to herd the First Years (pun intended) along while all of us who weren’t first years or Prefects, headed up in our own ways. Fliers gotta fly, some galloped and others did a rather interesting form of parkour to through the school’s corridors.

If nothing else, this would be an interesting year.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Arriving at the common room as the first was a nice touch for Rainy and myself.

Being Alicorns with ease of flying, unlike with Hermione who had still not figured out how to fly, gave us an advantage. I did notice some stacks of Wasteland Survival Guides on the table and also on some other places, which was nice and would mean the new students could read them. These little books were plenty helpful in my opinion.

“So Rose, wanna bet what will happen this year?” Asked Rainy, yawning as she settled down on one of the chairs here. They had long been adjusted to be comfortable for both ponies and humanoform ponies so they were nice to sit on.

“Really now? Why should anything happen this year?” I asked, laying down on the sofa and taking out my preening set, my feathers got a bit out of whack at the table from shuffling around students.

“Come on, last year we had a Troll, a dragon, the whole Forbidden Forest debacle and finally the quest for the Philosopher’s Stone which culminated in us teleporting to another world and turning into girl-ponies with wings and a horn. And that’s without mentioning the 200 years old popsicles under the hill and the war above the clouds we got into.” Stated Rainy and…

“Alright you got a point. Five Galleons it involves Voldemort and the Chamber of Secrets. And ten on him being the guy who opened that place 50 years ago to frame Ruby.” I finally relented to her and Rainy stuck her tongue out at that.

“Come on, now you’re seriously pulling every option? And besides, why Voldemort? Didn’t he get blasted away or something?” Asked Rainy and I smiled crookedly at her.

“Same was said last year.” I responded and Rainy stopped at that, then groaned. “Why are you groaning? I’m right.” I teased her, giggling at her scowl.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up. But how about we don’t jinx it quite that much?” Asked Rainy, shaking her head as other students began to filter in after us, finally.

“Alright, though we did get through some seriously messed up stuff already.” I noted, smirking a bit. It was true after all, both of us had seen combat above the clouds, fought Raiders and small herds of feral Ghouls, the works. I wasn’t looking forward to sleeping without the presence of Lyra and Bon-Bon, my chances of nightmares would increase but at least I could hope that Princess Luna would be there to help.

“Ah, miss Evans?” I blinked and looked over, seeing a Muggle-born boy of the unicorn variety. He had a muggle camera on him.

“Rose is fine, how can I help you?” I asked, it felt weird to be the senior student now but if I could help another student? Then it was fine with me.

“I wanted to ask if I could take a picture, ah, I’m Collin Crevey by the way.” He stated and I admit, he was sounding rather nervous. Though given what I knew of the stories circulating…

“Sure, at least you asked unlike some people.” I stated, standing up and Collin smiled brightly. Kind of adorable how he did that. About 20 seconds later I had 4 photographs he made. Two of myself, two of me with Rainy and Hermione. He kept one of each while we got the other two and he was quite excited to get them magiced up to be moving.

“So, anyone want to ask questions?” I asked, seeing as all the first years were there and watching us as I waited for a response from them.

“Yes! I have one!” Exclaimed a girl, who was a Half-Blood from the looks of it since she stood on two legs. “Erm, is it true you wrangled a dragon?” I blinked, that wasn’t the question I had anticipated. At all, ever.

“Wait, what gives you that idea? I’ve met a dragon, from Equestria but those are fully sapient, so why would I be wrestling one? I mean, I’m so small, I’d probably have trouble with a baby dragon.” I asked, cocking my head to the side. Seriously, what was up with that?

“But I read a book that said you wrangled a Norwegian Ridgeback Dragon when you were nine years old!” Exclaimed the girl, way too enthusiastic for my tastes if I was being honest.

“Are we talking a baby dragon?” I asked, this scene was so beyond bizarre.

“No, a fully grown one! It’s in Harry Potter and the Cauldron of Secrets!” Exclaimed the girl, taking out a book which had the most bizarre cover art of a black haired boy with a gaping lightningbolt-like scar. Like, looking like a burn mark instead of the cut I had.

“Sorry to say this, but I didn’t even know that there were books about me, and fantasy books at that.” I stated, which garnered me some shocked gasps from those around us. “First of all, I was raised in Little Surrey, by Muggles. And not nice ones. I’m not being biased or anything against Muggles but… well if you ever run into Vernon Dursley, don’t mention you’re a witch. He and his wife, my maternal aunt Petunia, are Megiphobic. Like, Burn the Witch levels.” I stated wincing at the memory of those three.

“B- but the book series tells about all kinds of adventures you had! Like breaking into Gringotts to find the Excalibur! Or participating in a tournament of mages where they summon the spirits of mighty warriors of the past like Cuchulainn and Heracles!” Argued the girl and brought out even more books. This was getting absurd, like, really absurd.

“Who come up with that kind of stuff? No, I didn’t do any of these things, I didn’t learn about magic until, literally, on the second of midnight onto my eleventh birthday, while my relatives were fleeing from the Hogwarts fleet of Letter Dive Bombers known as owls, a literal half-giant broke down the door to the cottage they had fled to in order to deliver my mail.” I stated, shaking my head.

“Then why did you let them write this? And why did Professor Lockhart write in his Autobiography you were his protegee?” Asked the same girl and…

“Wait, he did what now?” I asked, shaking my head, then something else occurred to me. “And what makes you think I gave anyone permission to make those books? I’m 12 years old, I can’t legally sign contracts and I didn’t know about the magical world until last year.” I responded, shaking my head at the kinds of nonsense people made up over my name.

“Bu- but you defeated You-Know-Who!” Exclaimed the first year, getting pretty upset about this all. Was she really such a fan of that series?

“No, something my mom did caused his spell to rebound or something I was a defenseless toddler and if he had a gun on him I wouldn’t be here. The closest thing to defeating him I’ve come was last year when I got into a fisticuffs with our previous DADA teacher, who was possessed by him, and smashed the Philosopher’s Stone to pieces on his head because I couldn’t fight back otherwise.” I stated and murmurs were heard around us, apparently this girl wasn’t the only one who had read these books. She sounded more obsessed with books than Hermione!

“Listen, if you want to know what I actually did do involving magic, I can tell you. It probably would work as a object lesson anyway.” I stated, which made them look at me in interest. “Well, for starters, on Halloween of last year, Professor Quirrel let an adolescent Mountain Troll into the school. He cornered my friend Hermione in a bathroom with Rainy and myself, still human back then, rushing in to safe her.” I explained seeing widening eyes around us.

“Take it from someone who was there, don’t stick your wand up a troll’s nose, wait for your buddy to pick up the thing’s club with magic and drop it on his head. Magic itself doesn’t work on them you see?” I stated and giggles answered me, the tension going away.

“Next, if you ever encounter a Three-Headed dog, remember the legend of Heracles and his 12th labor: Play music, it’s gonna fall asleep instantly.” That got even more giggles, the image was funny yes. “And if you have to keep a Philosopher’s Stone in the school, don’t hide it behind obstacles that a group of mildly intelligent first-year students can get through. Trust me, Devil’s Snare isn’t that dangerous, nor are flying keys, a life-sized Wizards Chess Board or a potion/poison/tea riddle, no matter how smart you think you are with it.” Giggles continued at those declarations.

“What about the Wasteland? Or those Applejack’s Rangers?” Asked Colin, bouncing up and done in excitement to hear about that.

“Well, the Wasteland is about what you expect from nuclear war. Everything is irradiated, ponies barely cling to life in some places and there are people who go mad, we call those Raiders. Mind you, there are some really messed up things, like Ghouls out there.” I added and saw confusion on the faces of the human first-year students.

“To explain, Ghouls are any form of life which has been exposed to heavy radiation and mutated by it. They have no life signs at all, meaning they appear to be undead and they also look the part. However, there are two types of Ghouls: Normal Ghouls who are just normal people like you and me, just looking messed up, and then there are Feral Ghouls, ghouls whose minds have eroded, making them act like stereotypical zombies. You can tell them apart since normal Ghouls will still act normally while Ferals will be charging you as soon as they see you. Though if they can see is another question. As you may remember Ditzy Doo is a Ghoul Pony of the Pegasus variety and is one of the most popular Ghouls in the wasteland, being the proprietor of a reliable trading company and the author of one of the best books around, the Wasteland Survival Guide.” I explained and floated up one of the copies.

“Wait, what’s so special about that book?” Asked another girl in Ginny’s class, good question admittedly, though she was a Pureblood so… yeah.

“Simply put? Ditzy Doo is a well over 200 years old Ghoul Pony. She has experienced the Wasteland since day one. And this book? It and it’s later editions contain her accumulated knowledge and wisdom. This Pegasus mare put together the most comprehensive survival guide you can ask for as a newbie here.” I explained, I had been reading these books for a while now, they were great for teaching survival tips.

“But why would we need to learn that? It’s not like we’ll be in danger or something once we have learned magic here, not to mention what is the worst we could encounter?” Asked the same girl and I frowned, now she was being a bit of an asshole, and quite prejudiced. Well, I was supposed to introduce them to the reality of the Wasteland, and nobody else had stayed around so…

Using my Pip-Buck’s inventory management function, I brought out the heaviest weapon I had. The .50 caliber Minigun only didn’t hit the floor because of my telekinesis, but it was bigger than me, and that was intimidating.

“This, is a Bronco 4000 TS8 Rotary Gun, the most common form of what is more properly known as a Minigun. It fires, while the trigger is pulled, up to 200 rounds of .50 caliber bullets per second. These are the same type of bullets used in Anti-Machine rifles, meant to punch through heavy armor and destroy anything on the inside. Short of a Balefire Egg Launcher, or a undetonated Megaspell exploding in your general area, THIS is the worst you can encounter. And those Bardings you all wear? They won’t do anything to stop this thing from tearing you all to pieces.” I stated before putting it away and standing on my hind hooves, to make myself bigger you know?

“But if you want the absolute worst you can encounter, take your pick between Hellhounds who can tear through Power Armor and dig so fast it’s a viable combat strategy while being smart enough as well as strong enough to carry these guns. Or Feral Ghouls who are literal zombies who want to tear you limb from limb. Then there are Slavers who want to capture you and force you into forced labor for however long they let you live before they get bored. And lastly we have Raiders, who are going to torture, rape and murder you just for the kicks.” I stated and the filly gulped at what I said.

“This, isn’t Earth, this is the Wasteland. I have fought and killed to defend others. If you go out there, you will have to do the same or die in a pitch. The world is a cold, cruel and nasty place that will beat you down in a second and keep you there as long as it can.” I looked at each of them, I didn’t want to scare them but it had to be said.

“Within the shield of Hogwarts, you’re safe. It’s pretty much impervious to all radiation, any weapon we know and can be closed in seconds to prevent anything from going in or going out where openings are normally kept. However, you remember what professor Dumbledore said, for the sake of preparing you to be able to defend yourself, either here or on Earth, you will go on excursions outside the shield.” I stated and saw them gulping, yeah, they had to know.

“I will be blunt, we don’t have the supplies to get you all the best gear, most of the other students who got transported here like us didn’t go out outside as much as myself and my friends, the ones who become Alicorns, did. And even then, the furthest we ever got was to Ponevac, a settlement near the Ministry of Arcane Science hub that serves as the primary headquarters of the local Applejack’s Rangers chapter. The most combat anyone else saw was among the Pegasi of our student body, who took part in a combat operation with the Applejack’s Rangers to open the skies and stop the Enclave. But that was a situation unlike any you find down below, and they have no experience. Hell, I may have the highest body count among us students and I don’t think I have the experience to be supervising anyone.” I stated, closing my eyes and sighing.

“But why must we use Muggle weapons? We have magic so why overcomplicate things?” Asked again that same filly as before and I had to wonder if she was really that isolated from the world around her.

“Question, what is faster? A bullet, or a Stunner? What can be fired faster? A gun or a curse? The answer in both cases, is the first. To fire a gun you just need to aim, then pull the trigger. At the ranges that wizarding duels take place, that’s one step. I don’t think anyone short of a professor can actually reduce spell casting to the point of not needing to wave the wand and speak, but even they are nowhere near the speed of a gun being fired.” I stated, glaring at her.

“I have come to realize that there is a ridiculous narrative being spun in the Wizarding World, that we are superior to Muggles because of magic. However, last time I was in Diagon Alley, I looked up casualty rates during the war against the Death Eaters. You know the result?” I asked, and the girl looked confused about why I brought this up. It would surprise here, I was sure.

“A 1:20 ratio between Muggle to Death Eater. Particularly because the majority of attacks against Muggles was against military personnel, who tore apart Death Eater squads like they’re made of paper masche. Those soldiers and even retired veterans, had to be obliviated. There are records of 584 Muggles being obliviated after they successfully repelled Death Eater attacks with their guns.” I explained there was a mass of bumps as the first years took in the information that Death Eaters had basically been torn apart.

“Fact of the matter is, that while wands are versatile, guns are machines of war. While Muggle studies will talk about some guns, they are outdated, I checked. They think the musket is the most advanced gun. Believe me, the Minigun I showed you is almost the same as it’s counterpart on Earth. And to add onto this, magic and technology have been blended here.” I stated and lifted my Laser Musket out of my saddlebags.

“See this? This is a magical Laser Musket, it uses magical energy to generate a concentrated Photon beam. And as crude as this one looks, Laser Muskets are among the deadliest mid-range energy weapons there are. You know why? Because they can be charged with more energy than any other laser weapon. That crank here literally is used to load in charges of energy. It disintegrates the body into dust.” I stated and gulps were heard before I lifted my foreleg.

“And this is an even more impressive piece of Arcano-tech, one which all of you will receive. It is called a Pip-Buck and it comes with various arcane support applications like inventory control, the Eyes-Forward-Sparkle which can identify hostile and benign entities around you, an auto-mapping function, a GPS, and most importantly, Stable-Tec Arcane Targeting Spell, or SATS for short. This last spell automates aiming and firing with accelerated perception. In other words, anyone with a Pip-Buck can shoot faster than the eye can blink.” I stated, looking around the small crowd, I saw some of the native first-years mumbling excitedly at the information they would receive a Pip-Buck of their own.

“Now, I think we all can agree that this meeting has gone on long enough, so let’s get to bed everyone, and remember: A gun is your best friend in the Wasteland, never leave without ten of them.” I stated before jumping down, landing on all fours and heading up with Rainy following and the first-years being brought along to their dorm by Hermione.

I sincerely hoped we wouldn’t need to be teachers for them more often.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 2nd Person POV – Albus Dumbledore ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Albus Dumbledore sighed as she sat down in the conference room, technically it was a larger than usual but not used Class Room but who cares really?

With her were Cornelius Fudge, Velvet Remedy and the other representatives of the factions Hogwarts dealt with now.

“Albus, I must sincerely object to this new plan of basically training the students into soldiers. What are you thinking?” Asked Cornelius, sounding concerned, at least he hadn’t gone mad with power yet, or let that Under Secretary of his corrupt him too much.

“I am sorry Cornelius, but I am trying to prepare them for the future. We have confirmation that the Dark Lord had returned last year, at least partially, as he possessed Professor Quirrel. If he finds another way to return to life, it may very well be vital for these students to be able to defend themselves. And what better way than one that has worked in the past? After all, Muggle with training in firearms were one of the hardest targets for the Death Eaters during the war.” She stated, amusement coloring her voice at the memory of that little tidbit that had likely driven Voldemort up ten different walls.

“Nothing against you Albus, but the idea of the Dark Lord returning is quite ridiculous, don’t you think? He is dead, has been so for over a decade now.” Stated Fudge, he clearly didn’t like to be told that another war may be happening within his tenure as minister.

“I’m afraid that hope can be dashed.” Stated Hailing, the Scribe and new professor bringing out report sheets. “In the last month there has been a shuffling in leadership among Raider gangs in the Ponston Area. This happened not long after a strong shift in the Radiation Fields near one of the boneyards. Remember, radiation here is magical in nature, Necromantic in fact. Is it so far fetched to think that this may be related? Not to mention the fact that all the ghosts in Hogwarts become living ponies, including that Poltergeist.” Stated Hailing and Fudge cringed at the reminder.

“In any case, let us for now act in correspondence to the assumption he may be back or possessing someone.” Stated Dumbledore, sighing as she thought about the idea of Voldemort and what he could do in this world. There was so much that had been destroyed, she didn’t want even more devastation to befall this world. A world her first child would be born into.

“How do I know this isn’t an elaborate plot to take over the ministry with a prepared army?” Asked Fudge, and yeah, there went his paranoia.

“Cornelius, do I need remind you who had been almost voted into office against his will and rejected it? I don’t want your position, I want to remain the headmaster here and ensure the next generation. Also, it doesn’t speak well of you that you would be afraid of someone just taking over and being accepted.” Stated Dumbledore, smiling mischievously as the minister recoiled at his own blunder there.

“Besides, how would I be ruling? I can’t leave this world through the mirror, as I am pregnant.” Stated Dumbledore, her hoof wandering to her belly which still didn’t bear a bulge.

“Wait you’re what?” Asked Fudge at this point and Dumbledore blinked, not having expected that response.

“Nobody has told you?” She asked and the minister shook his head, his eyes now as wide as saucers. “Well, apparently ponies have heat cycles like horses, and none of us were prepared for the instincts that this cocktail of related hormones would cause. So, several mares, including myself and Minerva, acted appropriate to our physical age, not our actual one, obviously. And we didn’t think about contraceptics.” Stated Dumbledore, sipping her tea as she watched Fudge faint on the spot.

“I wonder how he’ll react to learning Filius is the father.” Noted Minerva, a small smirk on her face.

“Oh Minerva, I want to have fun with him, not kill him.” Countered Albus with a wink, it felt quite odd to act so much like a school girl but then, she was the right physical age for graduation class. So why not?

“Besides, Filius is far better in bed than you may think.” Added Albus, chuckling at the memory. After all, while the spark had been hormonal, she couldn’t deny an attraction, and Filius certainly didn’t mind her own appearance either. She just hoped they wouldn’t make another foal too soon.

And no, she wouldn’t mind another pregnancy after this one. At least two years after this one that is.

Chapter 15: School of the Wizards Part 3

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Falling asleep that night left me as expected with a nightmare, but thankfully, princess Luna come to the rescue.

“And that is why isolating oneself from the outside world to the point that you think you can win in a gunfight with a wand is stupid.” I concluded what I felt were my bi-daily stupidity reports. It says a lot about the kind of society wizards have that I, a 12 years old cartoon-looking pony who is physically 8 years old, can give concise reasons what is wrong with the society, isn’t it?

“I understand your dismay, but you must also understand that girl was still a child, and being sheltered in that secret society must also make it hard to understand such things.” Stated Luna, she had over our time together learned how to speak in modern English. Nothing against her but talking like the King James V bible isn’t good for anyone’s mind.

“I know but… Earth has guns. Hell, I’m like 99% sure there are at least a dozen wizards killed every year in the US from gang fights or shit like that. Their gun laws are less restrictive, or so it seems to me at least, than here in the Wasteland.” I stated, feeling more than a little annoyed at the sheer ignorance of wizards at times. I read the whole book for Muggle studies from someone attending that class.

“How? There are no laws in the Wasteland regarding gun ownership.” Asked Luna, feeling clearly a bit confused by my wording.

“Yeah, but in the US it is literally a public RIGHT to own a gun for no other reason than owning a gun. There are, in fact, more guns in private circulation, than there are people living in the US.” I stated and got the most gobsmacked look from her that I had ever seen.

“That can’t be good for a country that isn’t in constant threat from hostile raiders.” She muttered, and I smiled a bit, she had a point.

“They have a couple hundred school shootings a year from what I heard, I never went there myself but with guns being more a status symbol than anything… well it’s not surprising that they’d have trouble.” I admitted, sighing as I thought about how messed up that was. I could also see how the US would probably look after a similar war to the Last Day, probably wouldn’t do as well as Equestria did though.

“Well, I believe we should not tardy any more for this night Rose, I am curious how your first lessons on Arithmancy and Runes will work with my teachings though.” Stated Luna and I smiled widely as she decided we would skip ahead to tonight’s lesson on magic.

We had been working on Talisman creation to the best of her, admittedly very advanced, abilities to teach. She didn’t have nearly the amount of experience Celestia had, as she had been telling me for weeks now, but in my eyes she was certainly a fantastic teacher. Too bad nobody else could learn under her since, apparently, something on the moon happened and she was left jettisoned back to Equestria and was now bound to my dreamscape or something.

Seriously, magic is weird.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke up it was 6:49 AM, though to me it had been almost two days in the dream.

It was a benefit of having a master of dreams inhabiting your dreams, she can accelerate time perception inside so that more time passes in the dream than outside of it, though she refused to accelerate it beyond this speed for the sake of keeping me from going mad or something. I wasn’t entirely sure, but it did mean I kept getting days worth of lessons every night and was progressing steadily forward in my studies.

Anyway, I took a shower first thing in the morning, drying myself with a simple drying spell and then, at 7:12 AM, went to the common room with my book on Ancient Runes for a bit of studying ahead of schedule, I had already gone through the whole thing but was repeating my reading of it to ensure I had it memorized. Luna was helping me in that regard.

The fact I was being compared to Twilight Sparkle at this point was… a bit weird, I hadn’t been this studious in the past, but the idea of making things that could help others? Create devices that made magic more accessible? Remove the boundary of mundane and magic? Yeah, that was something I wished to be able to do. Not only that, but ideas were swirling around in my head, after all: Magic was everywhere in radiation, what could we do with that?

Sadly, the Ancient Runes textbook (meant for third years so first year of taking the class) wasn’t very advanced, but it gave me a decent understanding of the runes. I hoped that Luna and me could figure something out from that information and her own magical know-how one of these days, it was similar enough to Pattern Scribing that she was able to work with it somewhat.

“Hey Rose, what are you reading?” I looked up, seeing Neville and Ginny coming down from the boy’s dormitory.

“It’s a new textbook I need to study for classes, I got permission to attend two electives early you see?” I asked, lifting the book a bit to show them.

“Ancient Runes? Why would you want something that complicated?” Asked Neville confused and I giggled a bit at that as Ginny was trying to get his tail through the opening in the barding.

“Because I want to, well, basically become a aritfact manufacturer, someone who makes magical items. I’ve been studying Pattern Scribing, the method by which ponies make Talismans which is an adaptation of Glyphing from the Zebra culture, for the same reason. If I can figure out how to combine them through Arithmancy in an effective hybrid system, I may be able to make things greater than the two forms individually.” I explained, smiling as I sat down the book.

“Wait, so you want to make things like those Pip-Bucks?” Asked Ginny, getting his tail through and lifting a loose… Pip-Buck.

“Ginny, how do you hold that Pip-Buck? You have hooves?” I asked, a bit stumped at the sight before me as the colt blinked a bit surprised.

“Ah, I don’t know? I just wanted to lift it up. Also, can someone help me put it on? I can’t do it with one hand, uh, hoof I mean?” Asked Ginny and I sighed before casting my Telekinesis and fastening the device to his leg with it.

“There you go, though I do remember Pegasi using their wings like arms a bit? Apparently the feathers can do that but I haven’t figured out the trick yet.” I stated, stretching out my wings to make a point with them. It was just a kind of weird thing to think about, grabbing stuff with wings. I had gotten pretty used to telekinesis for most of my grabbing needs.

“Well, what about magic? I saw you use some during the feast?” Asked Ginny, cocking his head to the side as he sat down and mulled that over.

“Well, there are two options and I imagine at least one will be taught right away, that’s either Pony Telekinesis which is basically the simplest spell they have, or the Locomotor charm, which is better for fine control quite so much concentration. Wizardry seems to be a lot more simplified than pony magic since we have standardized spells that work automatically, but it is also more rigid. Pony magic meanwhile is more intuitive but needs you to also learn how to perform the spells manually, constructing them basically.” I explained, it was a bit complicated and I wasn’t the right pony to try and teach this stuff.

We continued talking like that to kill some time while the rest woke up or we had to get to breakfast, as the day was free we didn’t have to hurry so much. I eventually showed Ginny how to operate the Pip-Buck and he decided to turn on the radio. To DJ-Pon3.

“Hello hello my little ponies! It’s a beautiful morning in the Wasteland with a clear sky as I hear from West to East! And I’m you’re host, DJ-Pon3, bringing you the news! First, the otherworldly magic school of Hogwarts has opened it’s halls for new students today, with first year students from their home world as well as of surrounding areas! What’s more, Fluttershy, the former Ministry Mare restored from a tree a few weeks ago, has joined the school as a new teacher!” I was a bit surprised that we had made the news like this, but then DJ-Pon3 had been interested at least.

“In other news, negotiations with Sparkle City have been once again fruitless. The NCR’s Trade Embargo is holding strong but Mayor MacDonough still refuses to lift his prohibitions against Ghouls as the NCR’s requirements for trade demand. Mayor Hancook of Goodneighbor has been reported as quite vocal against MacDonough’s unreasonable attitude.” I frowned, I heard about what was goingo n in Sparkle City, the place was racist that was for sure and as Hogwarts was a NCR territory, something they refused to become due to the Ghoul Equality Act, trade was… not happening. Not directly anyway.

“In more positive news, at least for the Alicorn Race, for the rest of us that depends on who you ask, we have the first confirmed case of a pregnant Alicorn mare. She was impregnated by a Alicorn stallion who had taken a Hogwarts potion for this and they’re currently expecting what is expected to be a colt. So, Shining Glide and Valiant Heart, congratulations from me!” I blinked, I recognized the names, those were the Alicorn mare and the newly made Stallion who had, erm, gotten it on right after testing the potion on the latter.

“Hey, Rose?” I looked up to Ginny as the DJ plucked in a song by Velvet Remedy. “What’s going on at Sparkle City? What do they have against Ghouls?” Asked Ginny and I sighed, there was a can of worms if I had ever seen one.

We still had some time luckily.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

At breakfast things were less tense.

The primary topic going around were the various new classes we would have and what may be done about Hogsmeade weekends, which was a third year thing so not too interesting to us. There was naturally the option to go to the town on schoolgrounds.

Anyway, I was quite happy to leave the explaining of things to the Prefects, whose job it was to begin with so, yay for me! But seriously, I was the last pony you wanted to play teacher, I was getting kinda studious, sure, but how do you explain Equestrian magic theory when you had been learning by trial and error the more basic stuff, and gotten only at the higher level proper teaching? Not to mention that I wasn’t comfortable with trying to teach the first-years how to do spells for their year.

At the head table, Lockhart was harassing Professor Fluttershy who looked ready to punch him. Given what I had seen of the mare, that was an accomplishment if nothing else. The fact that his upright sitting indicated he was a half-blood kind of gave me a sour taste in my mouth, I really couldn’t stand the guy at all with his pompous attitude.

In other news, Free Life, or Professor Free Life I guess, was attending breakfast and was conversing with Professor Hailing. I couldn’t hear what they were saying but they seemed in agreement on something or another. There were also some graduates from last year around, wearing the uniforms of the Minutemares even though they had the bodies as young as all but six of the students.

You can tell which ones weren’t the same age I assume?

“Here are your schedules.” Stated Professor McGonnagal as she walked to us, handing out papers with the schedules for everyone. She then turned to me. “Miss Evans, please meet me in my office after Breakfast, understood?” She asked and I nodded, a bit confused as I tucked my schedule into my saddlebags for the sake of keeping them clean. They even had a plastic cover around them that looked like it had been vacuum sealed before the opening was melted shut.

“So, why does professor McGonnagal want to see you?” Asked Rainy, sounding confused and I shrugged.

“No idea, maybe it has to do with scheduling issues? I did want to start some electives early after all.” I stated. It made sense to me, we had a full day cut out of the normal schedule for the new classes after all so the time table had to be rather tight in places.

Anyway, I finished my breakfast then headed to where I knew Professor McGonnagal’s office to be. Last year had taught me that, by the way. Reaching it I stood up to knock and on a call to enter, I did so. “You wanted to see me, Professor?” I asked, closing the door behind me.

“Ah, miss Evans yes.” Stated the professor, putting down some papers. I had to wonder what they were about but I didn’t press the issue. “Please take a seat.” She stated and I followed her instructions, though was just tall enough to look over the desk at her. “Now, I did see you didn’t look at your schedule yet, correct?” Asked the professor and I nodded, making her sigh.

“Very well then, I will be blunt. Scheduling with your request in mind didn’t work out, but due to the increased size of our student body neither does the usual way we handle classes.” Stated the professor before placing a strange device on the desk. It was a crystalball with a number of rings around it and a dial or something at the top. It was attached to a small band which I could tell was meant to be worn around the upper arm/leg.

“This, is the solution we have found.” Stated the professor, sighing as she looked me in the eye. “This device is a Time Turner, a magical artifact which permits limited time travel. We acquired some of them and were able to produce more, particularly this modified version. It can’t change the past however.” Stated the professor before pushing it to me.

“So… what do I do with it?” I asked, not quite sure what to think about it.

“Use it to attend classes, obviously. You can see on the time table where classes would overlap, you will be attending classes for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes along with third year Gryffindors and I expect you to do well in that class, Rose Evans-Heartstrings.” Stated the professor and I gulped, barely anyone used my full new name, which included my adopted mom’s last name along with my mom’s maiden name now.

“Understood ma’am.” I stated, gulping with some nervousness, this was quite a burden.

“Good, see to it that you do so. Also, miss Evans? If you abuse this privilege then you will be lucky if you only get detention until the end of your sixth school year. Do I make myself clear?” She asked and I nodded, I could tell that she wasn’t going to be lenient on this.

The next five minutes was spent with her explaining to me the way the device was operated, turning the dial a number of times until I had turned it enough to charge up the time travel to a certain number of minutes. I was supposed to use this to go to several classes and only for that, though I had permission to also use this in case of needing some rest from the enhanced schedule, and yes, homework was permitted to be a reason.

“This is a whole lot more lenient than I thought, professor.” I remarked, cocking my head to the side and got a chuckle out of the young mare.

“Maybe, but I wanted to make sure you do not collapse from your own studies. I am expecting good results miss Evans, and don’t let the Weasley Twins get their hooves on this or else you will be punished as if you had abused it.” She informed me and I nodded, a bit nervous but still strapped it to my upper left foreleg in a way that my wing would cover it while I was on the ground. Notably the Time Turner come with preset buttons to adjust the dial to 10, 20, 30, 40,50 and 60 minutes travel. It was kind of convenient.

Best of all, if I held the dial while pressing the buttons multiple times, I could get even more mileage out of it.

That was… kind of broken.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

To my surprise the senior students had, after this meeting, decided to rope me into a demonstration.

By having me shoot a plate of Raptor-class Cloudship armor to pieces with a Minigun. “And that’s why if the gun’s spinning, you start the fuck running.” I concluded after my gun slowed down it’s spinning, the barrels had gotten a bit red with heat to be honest.

“God Damn, and Muggles have that?” Asked a Slytherin third year, looking terrified. He had been around to see what this was about.

“Erm, not exactly, this thing’s far too heavy to be carried by a human without their own form of Power Armor I think. In fact I’m pretty sure a normal Battlesaddle wouldn’t work either. But they have guns like this mounted in turrets on their ships and probably some trucks too, and a lot more guns with comparable shot-by-shot firepower if not the volume.” I explained, which caused a few of them to feint.

“Um, miss Evans?” Asked one of the fillies from the Wasteland, she was a Pegasus filly with the Dashite symbol, though not burnt in, still drawn on her flank. I wasn’t sure what that meant.

“Yes?” I asked, no I don’t know her name, there were close to 200 first year students here so… yeah.

“I heard someone say humans have weapons like Balefirebombs, are they common?” Asked the filly and I blinked, that was morbid bit of information to give a foal.

“Yes humans have weapons similar in devastation and power, they’re called nuclear bombs. They’re non-magical and instead create the explosive energy by splitting atoms in a chain reaction. As for how common they are, well, there are a lot of countries that have nuclear Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles, or just ICBM. Two of the strongest had an arms race after their invention and have a couple thousand between them I think.” I explained and shudders went through the various foals.

“Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone will start a nuclear war on Earth for plain old survival’s sake.” I stated, shrugging. It made no sense to me why anyone would want a nuclear war, what with everything being nuked if that happened and all that. Earth had way too many nukes. So unless some megalomaniac got into power and decided that he wanted to destroy everything that disagreed with him, Earth was safe.

Admittedly I had heard about how around my time of birth the Americans got a bit Hyper-Religious, decreeing just about anything that wasn’t Bible compliant as demonic but… well so far they hadn’t devolved into a Theocracy, which was the most likely scenario that would lead to them starting a nuclear war with the Soviet Union kind of broken apart now.

Religion was really not a great thing to have involved in the government, that’s how we ended up with 99% of all cultures looked at by Christians being exterminated and surplanted by enforced Christian religiosity. Exhibit A being Celtic believes, Exhibit B being “Name a European Pre-Christian Culture” and Exhibit C being “Name a Native American Culture from Meso-America”.

So yeah, I don’t have the greatest of opinions on Organized Religion, particularly the Christian religion and it’s subsidiary religions. Yeah, I am talking about everything related to the Abrahamic Religions, including Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormonism and whatever other names the thing had bred like Cancer due to fanatics, psychos and just plain frauds.

Anyway, after the demonstration I left for the library to check out any more books I could find on my early electives collection. Madam Pince gave me quite a weird look when I asked about Arithmancy and Ancient Runes books, but relented when I gave her a note from Professor McGonnagal on my early attendance of those as well as showing her my notebook.

As for books, there were quite a few though she refused to give me any of the more advanced materials, though some basic runic introductory materials were allowed. Those dealt mostly with the basic mechanics that were employed by Artificers, which were those who made use of runes in permanent or at least long-lasting enchantments.

Naturally this was largely theoretical and the most I would learn was the practical application of spells to create heating items or water purification enchantments, and naturally the all beloved magical light stone which was basically Lumos in a box. However, those were already plenty for building my basic understanding so… yeah.

Additionally, Arithmancy books I had access to only reached the point of explaining the methods of the mathematics involved, not much in practical terms though I would be working with Luna on those, her being way older than myself and far more learned in such matters. Also, I had purchased a high-grade calculator with all kinds of mathematical tools so… yeah. Way more useful that way.

I was hoping I would be able to use these basics in combination with what I was learning from Luna to make my own, improved version of the Pip-Buck, create add-ons or just upgrade the thing. She did mention that she wasn’t an expert on the technological side but how many were?

Worst case scenario, I would check if there were any technicians around in Ponevac.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ Omake: Marriage Law Rejection ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ Time: Breakfast, First Day of School ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ Note: This is non-canon. ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

It was quite strange, I decided, when an unknown Barn Owl flew in through the window.

Now, normally this wouldn’t be odd, many of the students got mail from their parents through owls. I had a pet mail owl named Hedwig who was still confused by my new form.

However, this also meant I visited the Owlery on a semi-regular basis, so I had quite some familiarity with the owls there and truth be told, they didn’t get to deliver much mail with our main connection being that mirror and the Wasteland being too dangerous to use them for that.

This owl, noticeably, was unsteady and collapsed not long after landing and a quick use of my Pip-Buck told me there was damage from Radiation. That was washed out by the wards sure, but the damage to the owl’s cells was there.

The owl was taken to miss Fluttershy after that to be treated, her being the new teacher for Care for Magical Creatures and all that, while the letter was left to me. Said letter had been addressed to Harry Potter, and had the seal of the Ministry of Magic on it.

As for the contents…

“Rainy, since when is the Minister of Magic a “Dolores Umbridge”? And why is she trying to marry me off to some pureblood girl?” I asked, genuinely puzzled since, well, my name had been changed officially to Rose Evans, the letter described a law that required all marriable age witches and wizards to comply if they were available, which appeared to be everyone regardless of marrital status.

There were threats of Auror retrieval, repercussions and the like. Basically, it was a letter about a law so asinine that I could feel Luna cringing in my dreamscape and hear the creaking of bones as the Ministry Mares who were dead turned in their graves from how cringe worthy that was.

Like, who wrote this law? Who in their right mind thought codifying a law this asinine could be, in any way, succeed? I could tell that anyone who this applied to would probably flee the country. And then the date struck me. 2006, 14 years in the future.

“It’s from another timeline.” I muttered, realizing the implication of this before retrieving a parchment and balloint pen (yes I have common sense) before starting to write the response letter.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Ministry of Magic…

I'm not sure how I can put this but I believe you got the wrong timeline. Somehow. First of all, while I was Harry Potter I've changed my name a few months ago, and I'm currently 12 years old and in my second year at Hogwarts.

We had a bit of an accident and you would know that if you were the Ministry of Magic from our timeline, because Hogwarts got shunted into another reality, the Equestrian Wasteland because I... kind of shattered the Philosopher's Stone. Don't ask me how that works, as I said I'm a second year student.

Now, a few problems arise with you trying to marry me off to Ginny Weasley, who is 11 years old and attending Hogwarts as we speak, since we managed to make a connection to the Earth of our timeline. If you don't understand what that means, which I wouldn't be surprised by, ask a Muggle-born to ask their parents or a former Muggle teacher, what "String Theory" is, but to put it simple it's like this: Time isn't linear, each decision or event creates a branch in the timeline with every outcome creating a new branch.
This is as opposed to different realities, which is what happened to Hogwarts as the Wasteland isn't Earth, the world is called Equus. Don't ask me why, the only ponies who know died like 201 years ago and I can't ask Luna until I fall asleep tonight.

Oh yeah, I should mention this. I'm no longer human. Or male. In fact I'm physically not even 12 years old, I'm more 8 or 9 years old in physical age.

Why? Magic.

Anyway, I'm Rose Evans now, I'm a Alicorn which is a Pony, which yes, is a equine species divided into three tribes generally, those being Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns. Alicorns like myself, Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, Argus Filch and Myrtle Warrens, or as we are now that is, are a fourth variant which combines the abilities of the above three variants. Now, technically Alicorns have become a bit of a race of their own, at least they are starting to reproduce now which they can only do because we had a gender change potion, no idea if you have that one too.

Doesn't work on us, we tried. Even tried on those who haven't turned into Alicorns like Professor Dumbledore or Draco Malfoy. Those of us who got sent to Equus during the event that brought Hogwarts here literally can't be changed from our current state.

Anyway, even if I was to go to your world, as far as I know I'd be turned into the same Anthropomorphic form that I assume on our version of Earth, that's to say that I'd be a pony with the anatomy of a human except with hind hooves and all the bits of a pony. And I have both a horn and a pair of wings. If you want someone who turns fully human, ask any of the Purebloods, they come out as humans with colors matching their pony coats.

But I wouldn't bother, we're kind of armed over here. See, when I called this place The Wasteland, I wasn't joking. This world got bucked with magical equivalents of nuclear bombs and

Now that I'm writing this I remember how abyssmal the education standards in regards to information on Muggles is. Buck me with the moon this is getting technical here.

Basically, a nuke is a weapon of mass destruction which splits atoms in radioactive materials, releasing a powerful blast of energy which ionizes the area, blasts to bits who cities and vaporize anyone within miles of the place. Basically, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it happened all around this world but with magical necrotic spell bombs of equal if not superior firepower.

Yes, I am saying this place got nuked with necrotic magic. And Necromantic seeing as Ghouls are basically living dead. And the place is kinda iradiated with leftover magical energy known as Radiation around here.
My point is, Hogwarts is keeping up a huge, magic repelling energy shield 24/7 with regularly closed openings. It is powerful enough to repel the primary magical artillery guns of a Raptor-class Cloudship, which for your info, is a giant Arcana-Tech warship roughly equivalent of a carrier-cruiser hybrid, each of which can devastate cities. And we're friends with a faction called the Applejack's Rangers, or at least one of their chapters, which command three of those ships with a flagship in the form of The Prydwen, a Thunderhead-class Cloudship.

If you don't understand the implications, Raptor-class ships are pretty damn small compared to the Thunderhead-class. Those are like Main Battleships from WW2. You're looking at a floating, giant fortress armed to the proverbial teeth with weapons that make Raptor-class ships look like firecrackers.

To add to this, you know how I said Professor Dumbledore got turned too? Well, he's a she now. She's also pregnant with a foal. From Professor Flitwick.

Yeah.

But the best part? She's back to being 17-18 years old. She got the youth of a Hogwarts graduate and the power and experience of Albus Percival Wulfric Brian-Celestia's solar flaring Mareheat-Dumbledore. Have you seen your Dumbledore go all out once? I did, when a Raptor-class Cloudship crashed after firing on the Hogwarts Shield, it's Pegasi crew tried bullrushing us. If us students, all together, were like firing a bunch of Semi-Auto rifles into the air, then the teachers were like Flak or Point-Defense Cannons.

But the Headmaster and Professor Flitwick? Well, let's just say that I will swear like a bucking Sailor, it looked like there were 90 teachers where Flitwick stood, and around 200 worth of them firing stunners was roughly the equivalent of Professor Dumbledore laying down suppression fire.

So, tl;dr (that is Too Long, Didn't Read btw) We're literally the biggest, most insurmountable fortress in a world that went to hell, and that's not even mentioning our stores of Power Armor, Arcana-Tech weapons and magical targeting systems we wear around our forelegs.

So, don't bother my underage flank, or any of the other students who are all reduced to 11-12 years old with us Alicorns all being around 8-9 years old physically. We can't bucking reproduce, even if we wanted and we're not human. And even if one of the colts got someone pregnant here, they'd be unable to leave because the only connection to Earth we have, magical mirrors, don't let pregnant mares through.

Also, I'm happily adopted here now, and I will be going over the winter break on more exploration with my moms Lyra and Bon-Bon to find my adoptive sister Snowy Dreams, their first adopted child.

And I happen to like a Magical Laser Musket as my primary weapon which vaporizes most things in one shot.

Sincerely

Rose Evans-Heartstrings

Adopted Daughter of Lyra and Bon-Bon Heartstrings

Student of the spirit of Princess Luna of Equestria

Second Year Student of Hogwarts

Wasteland Badass

The Wrong Potter

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

After I was done with this I put the letter in the original envelope, not having touched it until I pressed on it to close it, and the next moment it teleported away with my Anti-Magic Field flaring.

“Bloody hell, that was a Portkey!” Exclaimed Rainy at that point and I blinked. I didn’t know what a Portkey was but I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it.

I wondered how the Ministry of that other Earth would be reacting to the letter, probably badly if that was the kind of people running it.

Author's Notes:

Level-Up!

Barter: +7 (62), Guns: +10 (60)

New Perk: Tag! You have become even more proficient with another set of skill! +1 Tagged Skill. Science (+15 (82)

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: To RDDash: I’m adding this answer to this chapter’s afterword. To put it simply, this has no relation to what is shown in FO:E, I still don’t know why you think that FO:E Alicorns being all IMP created would impact a magical conversion caused by the explosion of a magical artifact never seen in Equestria, or at least in this iteration of it.

Moreover, your comment about Hagrid seems to imply it’s just an aesthetic choice on your part, which given the only relation I can draw with Hagrid is because he’s bigger than a Super Mutant, kind of sounds insulting to him that you would say he would be the only viable out of the group.

Fact is, I haven’t established a reason for why those six in particular were transformed into Alicorns while Dumbledore only turned into a Unicorn. It had, however, nothing to do with IMP/Taint in any way shape or form, nor is here a limit from what is shown in FO:E since it involves OCP magic.

Chapter 16: School of the Wizards Part 4

View Online

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

School started the next day after the day that had been set aside for acclimating the new students to the whole situation.

A lot of the native students had spent a good junk of their time just enjoying the lush green of the school’s fields, a few outright grazing while others played by the lake. Hell, they loved the lake’s giant octopus! There we also found out that the tranposition altered the lake’s merman population, which was now made of ponies with tailfins and dorsal fins instead of hindlegs. They were also coherent outside the water, which I was told by Ruby was unusual.

As for classes, strangely unlike last year we had classes mostly around the same time each day. Though there were some variations of this.

8:00 AM – 8:20 AM: Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM: Transfiguration

9:40 AM – 11:30 AM: Double Herbology/Ancient Runes (Monday, Tuesday, Friday)

11:40 AM – 12:30 PM: Lunch

12:40 AM – 13:30 PM: History of Magic

13:40 PM – 14:30 PM: Potions

14:40 PM – 15:30 PM: DADA/Arithmancy (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday)

15:30 PM – 18:00 PM: Free Period

18:10 PM – 18:30 PM: Dinner

18:40 PM – 7:30 AM: Curfew

Additionally on Thursday, as announced, classes were entirely dedicated to the new subjects:

8:00 AM – 8:20 AM: Breakfast

8:30 AM – 9:30 AM: Survival Basics

9:40 AM – 11:30 AM: Magic Pattern Study

11:40 AM – 12:30 PM: Lunch

12:40 AM – 13:30 PM: Wasteland History

13:40 PM – 14:30 PM: Artificer Theory

14:40 PM – 15:30 PM: Weapon/Combat Training

15:30 PM – 18:00 PM: Free Period

18:10 PM – 18:30 PM: Dinner

18:40 PM – 7:30 AM: Curfew

It also meant that I would be attending Ancient Runes and Arithmancy for the first time today.

Hermione and Rainy were pestering me on how I was going to get through two lessons that run concurrently to one another, twice today but I assured them I had a way to do it. I also promised to let Hermione know if the electives were worth it for next year, seeing as I was ahead of our year in getting electives done. I did promise Rainy to get her a cool magic item if I learned how to make one, though she wouldn’t listen when I told her that she did have several already with the Pip-Buck, uniform and energy weapons.

She wouldn’t listen but I didn’t mind much. Hermione did tell me not to skip out on DADA since it would be our first lesson with someone as famous as Gilderoy Lockhart and I felt disturbed by the fact that she was talking about this grown man like he was a Rockstar or something.

Also, Order of Merlin Third class is barely even an award, geez.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

In Transfiguration it turned out that, given the new constraints of allocating one full day to new subject matter, meant that smaller year groups such as us second years, were attending classes together as a whole.

As in, all four houses were now attending Transfiguration here.

The lesson started us on another practice spell, turning beetles into buttons. If you’re wondering, the spells so far had all been for practice, transfiguration relied more on imagination and the understanding of the subject matter rather than individual spells. There were those, sure, but most Transfiguration spells were broad in nature and concentrated on allowing the user to determine the resulting form.

As such we were this early on mostly learning how the spellwork functioned, though naturally for us horned students, that involved less movements.

“YES! I DID IT!” I blinked and looked over to see… Argent prancing around, a perfect button before where she sat.

“Well done miss Ambition.” Spoke up professor McGonnagal, sounding actually amused by the behavior. Given that she had known Argent as Argus Filch for decades now, I could understand her feeling happy for the filly. I was definitely impressed myself, my button still had legs that moved, and Rainy had her beetle’s legs removed so… yeah, not a happy beetle.

“Ten points for Slytherin.” Stated the professor while I was contemplating this and Argent beamed at that before coming back over. With the amount of Houses attending together there was no real reason for segregation with many people mingling with other house students. Well, Argent was the only Slytherin to do so but still.

Our own group consisted of the six of us along with Neville, who was doing better than Rainy which just made the colt even happier because his magic actually worked as it should. By the end of the lesson, about half the class had at least two full on buttons, with Argent boasting 40 and only stopping, because Professor McGonnagal decided she would be running out of beetles if this continued.

Only a few never got to full Beetle transfiguration, and Ruby had cried when she had finally gotten over what was basically stage fright of her messing this up. She had apparently been bad at the subject during her previous school time. Her crying, by the way, was out of happiness because she got the second highest number of complete transfigurations, at 12 buttons and was praised.

Quick Reminder: Ruby had been banned from using magic for almost 50 years for something she never did. And seeing something difficult like Transfiguration working so well for her, that was catharsis comparable to Argent’s gaining of magical powers.

Anyway, after this we headed for Herbology and I knew that I was likely also heading for Ancient Runes later in my personal timeline. Thinking in Time Travel also causes headaches, 1.2/10, won’t recommend. Anyway, we made it to the greenhouses and were brought to the more dangerous Greenhouse where we were made to put on earmufflers, they had been enchanted to fit our heads regardless of our head shapes.

Why? Well we were repotting Mandrakes, baby Mandrakes at that but they could knock you out. Again the class was attended by all the students of our year so the whole task was over quickly and we were then, after that was done, given a practical lecture on magical plants care with several new ones present. These were, notably, all from the Wasteland and one in particular, Killing Joke, was only held at bay against affecting us because of magic on it.

You’d think Mandrakes were the most dangerous magical plant here, but Killing Joke causes near impossible to revert transfiguration with more often than not fatal consequences. The thing liked to base those on ironic interpretations of things the victim said or did in the past, how they could tell, nobody knows. However it was how Fluttershy had survived for 200 years.

Anyway, the class ended after two hours of this sort of lesson and I left to get to someplace I was alone before using the Time Turner to 2 hours and 10 minutes, thus I would hopefully have the time to get to Ancient Runes, though it was a trippy experience when time began to flow backward around me as if someone was reminding it at 10 times normal speed.

However, in the end I was left alone and headed for my class, arriving two minutes early.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Bathesda Babbling ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Bathesda Babbling took a moment to watch her new students settle in.

Ancient Runes was never the most prestigious of the electives, few had the patience or awareness to know what power they held. However ,this year appeared different, as for the first time in 10 years, her third year students numbered more than 10 from all houses. They number 29.

And to make it even stranger a year, one of them was second-year students Harry Potter, or Rose Evans-Heartstrings now. She had been informed of the filly’s reasons to be here. She could appreciate it and she knew it was similar to the reasons of most of the third-year students here too. After all, for once Ancient Runes was in the spotlight, being the basis for the Bardings which were now one of the best suits of light armor in the area. And everyone knew she had been key in the creation of the runic array involved.

“Alright class, please settle down.” She ordered, noticing the curious glances at the second grader. “I am Professor Bathesda Babbling, and I will be your teacher in this subject until you accomplish one of three things, namely dropping out, failing the minimum requirements of your OWLs tests in this subject, or graduating from Hogwarts. I hope you all leave me through the third option.” She stated and got some chuckles from the students, smiling brightly at this.

“Now, as many of you may have noticed, we have an early entry into our class, miss Evans-Heartstrings is a second grader but has been given permission to attend due to her studying Pony Artifact Crafting before, making her more predisposed to this subject.” Explained Professor Babbling and murmurs started at that, not that they were negative ones, just curiosity about what she had learned.

“However, you are all equal in one aspect, none of you have any experience dealing with Runes themselves and for that reason, we will start on the basics of the basics.” She stated before tapping the top of her work desk which activated a rune. As a result, the full Elder Futhark alphabet with name, meaning and all the most mundane information, appeared on the blackboard behind her.

“Ancient Runes is the most long-lasting way of enchanting items, it can create mechanisms akin to Muggle machines, can create magical items that boggle the mind, and much more. Among the Founders of Hogwarts, Helga Hufflepuff was the one who introduced Ancient Runes, or Runecrafting in her time, to the curriculum. The creation of Artifacts is still called Runecrafting, and anyone dealing with ancient curses in tombs will tell you, this is just one language of many that were used.” She stated, smiling as she saw the attention of those before her.

She got so rarely to show-off with her specialty. “Yes Miss Evans? You have a question?” She asked, seeing the filly raise her right front-hoof.

“Yes ma’am, my friend Rainy’s older brother, William “Bill” Weasley works as a Gringott’s Bank Curse Breaker. Does that mean to get a job like that you need to attend this class?” Asked Rose and this made her smile, excited whispers echoing around the room at the notion that such a job would be available after they completed this course.

“Quite right miss Evans, 10 points for Gryffindor. As Miss Evans has surmised, Runecrafting is one of, if not the, most important skill needed by a Curse Breaker, as negating a runic spell requires the ability to decypher the spell itself and craft a counter to it. Due to the more widespread use of it, the Elder Futhark in particular is very good at this job, as the conceptualization of it’s power is more ingrained than Hieroglyphs. Naturally, modern Kanji can also be used as they are far more known than even that.” Explained the professor as she watched the curious looks she got.

“Remember, Elder Futhark would’ve been a lost language to most of the world, but between the Muggles rediscovering it and sharing the information, Elder Futhark regained much of it’s ancient power. However, Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana are actively used, widely spread writing languages. The Asians use them extensively in their own Runecraft disciplines for this reason.” She explained, with a few of the students taking notes. She was pleased that Rose was among the first who had done so. Without prompting.

“I suggest everyone who hasn’t started, to write this down. This is an important introductory lecture after all.” She stated and those who hadn’t before, scrambled to get out their notebooks and quills to do so. She did note that Rose Evans was the only one using a mechanical pencil rather than using a quill. While this was non-traditional, she didn’t hold those traditions in high esteem herself.

“Professor! Evans is using some Muggle artifact!” Exclaimed at that point one of her Slytherin students, having noticed the item used by the filly instead of the traditional quill. Also predictable.

“I am aware of that mister Jones, and I approve of it.” That stopped the colt in his tracks, a Pegasus unlike her own Earth Pony status, he had obviously not expected that. She used her wand at that point to levitate her own fountain pen off her desk which surprised those around her. “As you can see, I use a pen myself, it makes inscription far easier. I did take the freedom to acquisition pens from our trade partners for each of you after I got the list of new students.” She stated, levitating the items to each of them, which surprised Evans the most as she too got one.

“Notably, these Fountain Pens don’t need to be refilled by hand, they’re a common item among traders and larger townships and have a Talisman in them, the small crystal on top, which functions in a manner similar to a Water Talisman but for ink. It is much easier for them to produce too, so they sell it.” Explained Bathesda as she watched most of the students, they were Muggle-born or Half-Blood mostly, only a few Purebloods from Slytherin were there, picking up the pens to use them.

Evans also switched to the new pen since her own was a normal and ordinary one that would need to have it’s ink capsule switched out eventually.

The lesson continued from there, with the focus of this first lesson being mostly on the meaning of the Runes and, this Bathesda Blabbins knew, would go on for quite a while into the future too. But, if she was honest? She couldn’t be happier with this new class.

After all, interest in Artifact-Crafting had been declining in recent years.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

After the class was over I made my way to the hallway around a corner from where the others wouldn’t see me, my past self had just passed by and I got there moments before the others come into sight.

“Hey guys, what’s taking you so long?” I asked jokingly, and I was quite hungry too since I was two full hours late for lunch as it was. Though I wasn’t regretting my choice of taking the electives early so far, Ancient Runes was fascinating and the teacher was the first in the entire school who had apparently common sense.

I just hoped my Arithmancy Teacher was the same.

At Lunch I showed Hermione my lesson notes from Ancient Runes and when I asked one of the third years to confirm I was there, well, I laughed as Hermione scrambled to explain how that was possible since I was in Herbology with the others.

I told her that, if she figured it out on her own, I would let her study with me using my notes and what I learned in the class that didn’t go into those. Had a pretty good memory thankfully so… yeah. And she was all in with that idea.

After Lunch it was to History of Magic.

I had hoped I could actually sit through this one but… Yeah. If there was one person who could transform back to his normal state, then it was Professor Binns. He hadn’t done it yet, but he could bore himself to death. I didn’t last 10 seconds and I just sat through double Herbology and Double Ancient Runes! At least I got some sleep out of this, as did everyone else except for Hermione who was… Hermione.

“Thanks for the notes again.” I thanked her, yawning as we left the class for the third period of the day: Potions. I hoped that Professor Snape was in a good mood at least.

“It’s fine. I still can’t believe he could drone on like that with all the interesting things we were talking about. It took me actual effort this time to stay awake.” Stated Hermione and I nodded, knowing exactly what she was talking about there.

“Please let me get through this without an accident.” Mumbled Neville, shuddering at the thought of something happening because of him.

“Hey don’t worry Nevill, I’m sure things will work out. Besides, we all had months to acclimate to this new form and you can use Telekinsis if something were to go wrong.” I responded, patting him on the back as he nodded, his confidence had increased but clearly, he had still fear over our Potion’s Professor. Though to be fair, he had been doing some serious mistakes in the past and the only one professor Snape was harsher on than Neville, had been myself.

We arrived in the classroom, which appeared to have been expanded to accommodate all of the houses attending together. Naturally, when the professor entered he was the one to sort everyone into two-pony teams and it almost looked like he was deliberately pairing up non-Slytherins who wouldn’t have a good chance of working together. Yeah, he was acting like a bit of a dick.

Anyway, the lesson was going quite smoothly, Rainy was able to stop Neville from messing up too much and the professor wasn’t bothering me the way he normally did last year. Which I kind of felt may be related to the name change, he had wanted me to adopt my mother’s maiden name and, well, him calling me Heartstrings may have indicated that he was trying to separate me from my dad? I had asked Ruby and she told me that they hadn’t gotten along and he had a falling out with my mom.

And yeah, it’s kind of odd to imagine the head of Slytherin House to have been friends with a Muggle-born, but I had met quite a few Slytherins I could at least get along with, even though Draco was a nightmare most of the time I had interacted with him.

Though, speaking of Draco, he was doing pretty well with those wings by now, which was kind of odd to see. He also had the Minutemares emblem on his back. That symbol was a lightningbolt crossed over a Rifle with three stars at the center-top, and both sides in the free spaces created by the crossed lightningbolt and rifle.

It was kind of odd to imagine Draco Malfoy joining a militia whose entire purpose was to be heroes. Not to get into any stereotypes but he had been pretty isolationist most of our time before we reestablished contact with Earth but I also hadn’t seen him in quite a while until yesterday. Anyway, next up was DADA and I had hoped that it wouldn’t devolve into a catastrophic mess and we would actually learn something this year.

Turns out, being a celebrity meant nothing for your skills.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“Welcome my dear students! Welcome to your first class with my magical me!” I cringed inwardly at the man’s entry.

Gilderoy Lockhart had turned up as a unicorn stallion with Neon Blue Fur and Neon Pink mane/tail and, weirder still, a translucent, gemstone like quality to his appearance. I would love asking someone about what sort of Pony he was, but not him. The man was the last person who would know about that.

Anyway, he began a longwinded spiel about his greatness or whatever and I was starting to feel tempted to just walk out, right then and there, because holy fucking shit, he was ranting. Worst part of it all was that he claimed it was all true what he had written in his books, which had a small problem.

“Professor, I have a question.” I spoke up, after the obvious lifting my hoof to get called out on. “How can you claim that all your books are true when in your Autobiography you claim to have taught me when I was younger? Last I remember none of my Elementary School teachers looked anything like you, and I certainly didn’t get any magic contact before someone tore down a door to deliver my invitation to Hogwarts. In other words, I never met you before I you tried to grab me in a bookstore to use me in promoting your books.” I stated and he was clearly taken aback.

“Now now, no need to be so modest-” He began but, quite frankly? I was fed up already.

“Don’t give me that “Don’t be so modest” crap, I’m not going to play along and I’m sick of people pretending as if they know who I am. I never read any of those books who are supposed to be about my life, but I read your biography and the nonsense you wrote about teaching me.” I stated, scowling at the man who looked rather uncomfortable at my rebutting him.

“Whoever you based that off of, it’s not me. I wasn’t raised in a druidic sect in Scotland, I wasn’t trained in magic since the day my parents died, and I didn’t even know you existed until I read that list you used to make everyone at Hogwarts buy your books. And I’ve since read through them, by the way.” I continued, making quite a few murmur uneasily about my apparent dismissal of him.

“And I have another question there, why do you pretend as if your using that spell on the Wagga Wagga Werewolf solved the issue? Does this second year student have to tell you that Lycanthropy can’t be cured by that spell? Doing so wouldn’t solve the problem, it would have left that man a human for one full moon at best and afterward he would still transform. You didn’t get him help, you didn’t cure him or anything, you reversed his transformation once, and ran aaway.” I stated and the mutterings were now getting quite agitated.

“Now miss Potter, I assure you it is just as I had described. Why would you even question it? I am famous for it!” He asked, and I could tell he was nervous.

“Then why are you here? Why are you wasting your time writing books anddoing needless little events instead of going around, finding Werewolfs and curing them? Hell, why is nobody doing it if it is so supposedly effective? I question it, in other words, because you have too many contradictions, have proven yourself to be willing to lie if it benefits you as in the case of pretending I learned under you, and there is no evidence that your claims about the spell are correct.” I stated and ignored Hermione trying to signal me to stop, but I wasn’t going to.

“Also, “Professor”, why do you call it a charm? Charms are spells which enchant objects or people, such as producing light, giving them camouflage or reflecting attention. By the way it is supposed to work the Homorphous spell sounds more like a type of transfiguration or, if it affects Lycanthropy specifically instead of forcing a transfiguration into a human, a Counter-Curse. That is because Lycanthropy is best described as a blood or fluid-borne curse, a curse that acts like a type of conditional rabies.” I stated and Lockhart looked very much uncomfortable with being confronted like this.

“Oh, and one last bit, by every account, because I was adopted and changed my name, it’s Rose Evans-Heartstrings, not Harry Potter now. And considering how many fantasy novels have used that name against my will? I prefer people not using it.” I stated, sitting back down as people just stared at me. I didn’t really care, I was just so fed up with people misappropriating my name for their own gain.

Surprisingly, Lockhart refused to play into my provocations, proclaiming me “Confused” or something because I had an “Identity Crisis”, the man was mental if he thought that would work. I could see it in most of the class, and it only got worse when his lesson began with him literally releasing a swarm of pixies, getting overwhelmed in moments, and then leaving US to solve the mess.

Hermione did just that and naturally made stupid excuses. I could barely wait to get out of there and excused me to a bathroom to travel back in time and get to Arithmancy.

I swear to god, this was the first time that I had a math class I genuinely enjoyed. After the literal snore fest that was History and the complete and utter clusterbuck of a DADA class, leaning about Numerology and some tidbits on how that could be used to decypher a spell’s components or even extrapolate the requirements for a certain effect, was Awesome, capital letters deserved.

After that class I rejoined the others in the courtyard outside the school for the free period. Hermione was also ripping her hair out from learning I had been to Arithmancy too and that I had relaxed there quite a bit since attending the Lesson-Falsely-So-Called of DADA under Lockhart.

She was also quite cross with me about calling it that. But honestly? He wasn’t anything special. I was more amazed by some of the “Simple Tricks” I had learned from Luna about using Telekinesis than I was over Gilderoy Lockhart, who was blowing hot air out of both ends as far as I was concerned.

I just hoped there was a good reason why he had been hired in the first place. And that the reason wasn’t just “He’s Famous” because otherwise, I’d be more qualified than him.

And from what I had seen? I probably was actually more qualified.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Albus Dumbledore ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

She sighed as Lockhart left the Headmaster’s Office after coming in to explain the blunders he had made over the course of the day.

Oh, and to complain about Harry Potter, still refusing to acknowledge the filly’s embracing of her new self. The girl was irritated, understandably, due to what was so utterly fictitious nonsense, it was a miracle in the professor’s mind that nobody had made the connection that it made no sense.

Not only were all the novels the book had basically set itself in-between, been completely nonsensical on every conceivable level, but everyone knew where all the surviving druidic and Celtic remnants lived so… After reviewing the book she had come to the conclusion that she had to investigate this whole thing and miss Evans gave the final push.

“Alastor, I would like to request for you to contact our old friend Remus, I need him to seek out someone for me.” She stated, recording in a Patronus before sending it out to reach for Earth. If the Wagga Wagga Werewolf was still out there, Remus should be able to contact him and find out the truth of the whole story from the primary victim.

She looked up as she was alerted to Minerva approaching the office and smiled at her old friend as she stepped in. “Albus, what was that about just now? Lockhart almost ran me over while rushing from this direction, grumbling about unhelpful horses.” Asked Minerva after she entered, frowning at the strange occurrence.

“Well Minerva, it appears that miss Evans has been quite vocal about him. In a quite negative way. I’m sure you have heard how horrible his lessons have gone so far.” Stated Albus, leaning back in her chair, it was quite comfortable to sit in, being a small pony like this and quite young too meant she had no back problems anymore even if her tail was was a bit of a problem.

“What did he do this time?” She asked, sighing. She had heard a lot of talk from various students who had him before her own lesson for them. None of it good.

“Aside from releasing a flock of live pixies into the second year class? Miss Evans has been chewing him out for using her as a character in his Autobiography despite never meeting her, much less when she was young. Moreover, on review I have found that his book has been using elements of the Harry Potter novels as if they were true.” Stated Albus, pushing up her glasses with a hoof, she hadn’t gotten a pair properly fitted for her new body, and she didn’t want the indignity of putting a string around them to hang them onto her horn.

“Dear lord, no wonder she would be upset about that. I have heard that she has been disparaging the idea of those novels about her after the start of the year feast.” Stated Minerva, sighing as she sat down in one of the armchairs of the office, doing so upright as was a privilege of Half-Bloods like them.

“I take it she was only informed at that point?” Asked Albus, shaking her head and making a note to talk to Fudge about that next time he visited, which she knew would be on the next Saturday. He had insisted on leaving them as is until Harry spoke up against them, reasoning that the silence meant he approved of them. This naturally ignored the fact that Harry hadn’t been in the wizarding yet at the time, not even once since his parents died, and only at Hogwarts later on.

“Albus, be honest with me, why are we endorsing that man? That nonsense with the Homorphus Counter-Curse alone should be enough not to hire him.” Asked Minerva, sounding utterly done with this shit. Albus took a couple seconds to marvel at the fact that she would think in such a way, youth had… odd effects on her mind. Not just the extreme sex drive either.

“He was the only one to volunteer, to be honest. After our last professor was vaporized by a Philosopher’s Stone Fision reaction and all that.” She stated and smiled Minerva’s head snapped in her direction with an almost pained expression at the joke.

“Albus, we need to make you older, you can’t keep talking like one of our students.” She finally stated and Dumbledore giggled at that, quite a conundrum, wasn’t it?

“I honestly said don’t mind being a bit more youthful Minerva, after all we can more easily understand our students this way. Besides, you want to go back to creaking bones, old-age aches and having a body that is shriveling up faster than a grape under the Dessicaria curse?” She asked and Minerva flinched back at that. Yeah, nobody liked being old, not even much younger adults were that fond of being adults.

“Besides, you sure you want to fast-forward the pregnancy on either of us? I’d prefer not squeezing out a fully grown filly by the time I accelerate to 20.” Added Albus and, yeah, Minerva paling at the idea was more than enough proof of how bad an idea that would be.

“Great, you just had to remind me of what is growing in me. I just hope it won’t grow too big.” She admitted, rubbing her belly though also still lacked the bulge of pregnancy, same as Albus herself.

“Don’t worry, I spoke to Fluttershy and she told me that pregnancies don’t tend to have the mare incapacitated at any point. Though she said twins had a habit of making walking somewhat troublesomeeee… It’s twins, isn’t it?” Asked Albus, seeing the horror dawning on the Transfiguration professor.

“Yes, dear god why did Severus have to give me twins of all things?” She asked, slamming her head into the table.

“There there, it wasn’t his fault, those hormones had us all go crazy.” Stated Albus after walking over and patting her on the shoulder for that. Being that she got impregnated herself due to that episode… yeah. Pony hormones were brutal. “Also, I have asked Alastor to seek out Remus, to see if he can find the Wagga Wagga Werewolf to verify what really happened back then.” Added Albus while walking back, noting the surprise on Minerva’s face.

“That… That’s surprisingly proactive from you Albus. You tend to be more passive in my experience unless you think that the situation can’t be handled by those involved.” Stated Minerva, quite surprised by the fact that the headmaster had gone ahead and basically started an investigation just like that.

“Maybe, but as it stands we can’t really afford to have a liability with us. And if the pattern so far holds true… well I don’t think I have to explain to you why that is quite bad.” Stated Albus, sitting down as Minerva nodded, it made sense to her.

Albus just hoped that things wouldn’t get out of hoof any time soon.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Draco Malfoy ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Draco Malfoy sighed as he looked at the diary.

His father had insisted that he keep it, even though they had both determined it was dangerous. He had been tempted to open it and write in it, but something inside of him just felt it was wrong. The fact that his Pip-Buck was indicating what it identified as Radiation, wasn’t reassuring either.

Based on those facts, combined with the fact that it couldn’t be contaminated by outside radiation, made him quite sure it was detecting Necromantic magic of some sort, since Balefire Bombs worked on that type of magic. Knowing this, Draco didn’t trust the Diary of Tom Riddle one bit and it didn’t help either that he had overheard Hagrid, or he supposed Ruby now, talking about this person framing her.

So, why was he now staring at it instead of walking into the office of Professor Snape? Well, procrastination was a thing, you know?

“Mister Malfoy, what is the matter here?” Draco almost jumped to the ceiling after hearing those words, though he ended up hovering. Looking down he found Professor Snape looking up at him, an eyebrow raised.

“Sorry professor, I was… nervous.” He admitted, landing before picking up the diary again and holding it out. “Sir, I believe this item to hold something necromantic, father gave it to me to deal with as he was made to hold onto it by the Dark Lord.” He explained, not pushing around the issue but also not outright saying that it had been entrusted to Lucius Malfoy. That would be damning to the highest degree and the most Gryffindor thing he could’ve done.

“I see, a wise decision then.” He stated, taking a hold of it with his own magic. Unlike what that implied, Severus Snape was a Pegasus. Thing was also that he didn’t care as he had mastered wandless magic and wordless one too, so casting Telekinesis was as easy for him as breathing. “20 points to Slytherin for bringing this to my attention mister Malfoy, a wise decision I must say.” He stated before turning around and trotting away with the book held in his telekinesis.

Draco Malfoy on his part gave a sigh of relief before turning around to go topside again and head for the town’s Minutemare office.

It was his turn as coordinator.

Chapter 17: School of the Wizards Part 5

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, I can actually sue those writers?” I asked, sitting with Lyra and Bon-Bon across a Goblin.

This was Crooked Tooth, he was a lawyer. The goblins were the only ones in the Magical World operating law firms, using magical artifacts to disguise themselves as humans and attend law school in the Muggle world. Yeah, they had more than two halfs of half a brain cell to rub together, here in the Magical World, that’s pretty damn impressive.

“Yes you do, it is a case of defamation and, more importantly, breach of privacy. Additionally you do not receive any royalties from them, we have checked.” Stated Crooked Tooth and I nodded, I had suspected as much to be honest. “Now, we can sue them to take the books out of production and make an official apology, not to mention paying you up to half the earnings they reported to have received. Question is, our payment.” He stated, and I blinked a bit. I hadn’t actually thought on money.

“Erm, mom? Alright if I decide it myself?” I asked Lyra and Bon-Bon, saying “Mom, Mom” just didn’t work to be honest. They nodded though so I turned back to my lawyer. “Well, since I have a pretty full vault with more money than I’ll need for my school attendance and that’s the only thing so far that I can use money for when nobody comes over to trade from here, erm… how about 75% of the money goes to Gringott’s and in return my vaults get moved to higher security?” I suggested and… yeah it was hilarious to watch the Goblin’s mask slip as he caught a coughing fit at that.

“Mi- Miss Evans, are you aware what you’re suggesting here?” He asked in disbelieve and I smiled at him in return.

“I have no idea about the numbers sir, and while Professor Binns can make stuff that could be turned into a quite thrilling movie into the most boring lecture to ever be made, I know that it is best to try and get along with the Goblins of Gringott’s Bank. I’d really prefer having some form of good rep than money I don’t need.” I explained and saw him grinning, a hint of greed there. Not surprising.

“Fucking hell, a Wand Waver with common sense.” He commented and I smiled, tapping my horn.

“Not really using any wands anymore mister Tooth, but I get it. I swear there are some people who just don’t think about anything beyond what they’re told.” I stated, thinking about Gilderoy Lockhart.

The Goblin snorted at that, leaning back. “Well said there, I suppose I can’t argue with you not being a human witch anymore. Anyway, we can arrange for that, the money you’re giving up to us is far and enough based on my estimates alone, to get that vault upgrade. Though we Goblins like to make a good will trade, so I will ask that you make another request in that regard.” He stated and I blinked, that was… odd.

Cupping my chin I thought about it. There wasn’t a lot that I could ask for, Goblins were notorious for seeing selling something as a simple matter of leasing it away. So there was that. However, something come to my mind, something I had seen weeks earlier.

“Mister Tooth, I… Do you know a way for a fraction of a soul to be embedded into something? By magic that is?” I asked and he tensed up, so yeah he knew. “A few weeks ago the soul of Princess Luna, the former ruler of Equestria, entered my dreams and banished something inside of me. She said it was a fragment of an evil soul or something. And since then my scar has been healing up.” I stated, I had checked when on Earth and sure enough, the jagged line had faded heavily.

“You’re saying you were a Horcrux, but the soul of a pony freed you from that soul fragment?” He asked and I blinked, that was a rather specific term.

“If that is what they’re called? Princess Luna said that I had been, basically, turned into a “Type of Soul Jar” or something, but because the containment was so badly made and eroded by my magic she was able to break the containment and push it out.” I explained and the Goblin nodded, frowning.

“A accidental Horcrux then. I suspect that may have been from that Dark Lord then. Quite troubling that a fragment of his soul could lodge itself into you.” He admitted, then his eyes widened. “Tell me, can you detect something like that when you see it?” He asked and I blinked, not expecting that.

“I- I think so? My Pip-Buck may react to it at least since it would be Necromantic magic right? Like Radiation in the Wasteland?” I suggested and got a wide eyed stare for that.

“You can detect Necromantic magic, as in, the darkest forms of magic?” He asked and I blinked, then had to remember that Geiger Counters on Earth weren’t calibrated like that.

“Actually, it’s a somewhat common spell back home.” Spoke up Lyra and drew our attention to her. “It was developed during the war with Zebrika after the Zebra started using Balefire weapons, which would always leave behind a residue of sorts which released harmful energy that could kill you. The Pip-Buck we all have has an integrated spell matrix to do so automatically.” Explained Lyra and the Goblin stared at us for several seconds, then he grinned with a greedy glint in his eyes.

“Well now, how many do you have left over?” He asked and somehow? Somehow I felt like we just walked into a minefield of trade deals.

“We can produce more, they’re Pip-Buck 3000 models which isn’t the most advanced version out there, but we don’t have any of those.” I explained in return and the Goblin nodded. “So, you want them? Why?” I asked, cocking my head to the side as I wondered where they could use those.

“Necromantic magic is one of the most common elements in cursed traps. If we can detect them ahead of time, then we can much more easily break these curses and have less risk for our employees. You wouldn’t believe how much trouble it is when your Curse Breaker gets trapped by a cat statue, unable to move away and ultimately turning into another copy of it because some smartass decided to remove it’s partner.” He stated and I… honestly? That sounded kind of crazy.

“Please tell me there aren’t any where Bill Weasley works?” I asked, quite nervous at the prospect of those.

“Oh, yeah we’re pretty sure we got all of them, Had to hand it to that Muggle secret service that handles the paranormal, Something Creepy Follows or something.” He stated and I had to wonder what sort of agency was named that, or tasked with stuff like this. Also, the abreviation of SCP Bureau or something sounded weird. SCP Foundation would probably work but still…

“Well, I know where we store the spare ones, we kind of trade in them and other goods professor Flitwick can clone with charms.” I admitted, scratching my cheek in a kind of nervous tick I had developed. It was also quite odd to have hands again even if it was only temporary.

“Well, now we have a trade deal potential but still not much compensation for you basically dumping tens thousands of Galleons on us. This is more money than some of the richest families have.” Stated Crooked Tooth, sounding quite severe there. Then he looked at what I was wearing for a moment.

“Say, I remember hearing that the world Hogwarts was put in, while inhabited by technicolor horses, was quite dangerous. What sort of protections do you students have?” He asked and I blinked, a bit taken aback by this but I realized what he was implying.

“It depends on the student, by standard everyone’s school uniforms are enchanted with medium shield enchantments, Anti-Radiation shielding and Anti-Kinetic shielding in other words, and light weight leather for physical armor. And everyone is kind of free to wear other armor too, I have some Enclave Mark 3 Power Armor I got modified for my horn.” I explained, tapping the offending piece of… I think it was made of either Keratin or was a bone growth. No idea honestly, we didn’t do X-Ray tests.

“Well, that sounds interesting. I believe I have an idea on how to do this now. Anything else you want to do with the money?” He asked, he was… well I don’t think a lot of people have ever seen a content and happy Goblin in their lives. Much less one who was happy about them.

“Well… Could you put 20 of my 25 percent into the Weasley family vault? As an anonymous donation? I just… I’ve seen what Rainy had been using before all this, and she’s been having a hard time before the transformation because even her wand was a hand-me-down that barely obeyed her.” I explained and the Goblin nodded, writing something down in his notes.

“Very well, I will forward this to your accountant once the legal battle is over. I wish your other case were this quick to work out.” He commented and I nodded, my mood souring at the amount of red tape thrown at me for the investigation of Sirius Black’s case.

To be honest, I was starting to think that the ministry was stonewalling me to avoid admitting their past mistakes. This just put me on edge even more and gave me a quite bitter taste in my mouth. Here I was trying to figure out if there was an innocent man behind bars, after already all but proving that Rubeus Hagrid was innocent of Myrtle’s murder.

And yet, I was being held back from doing so because of some stupid fear over whether or not the ministry would look bad.

I hated politics.

I wasn’t a politician, but I already hated politics with the raging heat of Celestia’s Solarflaring Mareheat.

Only a billion times hotter than that.

…

What? I spend most of my free time around the schoolgrounds or talking with Applejack’s Rangers at their base. My moms had already given up on my vocabulary as is. Though I swear, it’s the Dursley’s fault, I think getting thrown here unlocked something they had suppressed within me or something.

That is assuming I was a potty mouth by nature. Which I wouldn’t be surprised by at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“And that’s why my latest nightmare was a older looking Ron being turned into a cat statue by a cat statue.” I concluded my explanation to Princess Luna as she had come in to this nightmare, looking somewhat befuddled about the change of scenery.

“I admit, this is the oddest thing I’ve seen yet. And you say they’re contained by some government agency?” Asked Luna, shaking her head at the memory of that strange scene. I was sure the statues didn’t look anything like the ones I had imagined naturally.

“That’s what mister Crooked Tooth said. He did mention it’s international though.” I responded, still puzzled about it. Naturally, the idea of Bill Weasley, the older brother to one of my best friends, being subject to such a fate… yeah, I was justified to be afraid.

At least it wasn’t the guilt this time around.

Ah, you may be asking when this all takes place, to answer that question, on Wednesday, after the final class of the day, I had been taken to Diagon Alley by Lyra and Bon-Bon to discuss my lawsuit with my lawyer. It still was the first week of the school year, by the way, my second class on Arithmancy had been today.

Anyway, we returned afterward to Hogwarts before heading through the mirror to the Ponevac MAS hub to inform Master Scribe Raging Flame about the request for negotiations from the Sovereign Goblin Nation of Earth. Apparently they had unified the various tribes running the banks in 1842 without anyone noticing. I had gotten a good laugh out of that.

So, now that we’re up to speed, I’m sleeping. And having nightmares. And having lessons with Luna. As I had no nightmares yesterday she hadn’t come to visit me there so I could have a calm sleep, so I was basically retelling my past two days.

“Well, I am glad that the situations with overlapping classes has been solved for you Rose. And I believe it is a good idea to start of as basic as they did with Ancient Runes as Artifact Crafting appears the same as Talisman Scribing.” Stated Luna and I nodded, I could tell as much from my lessons on the latter already, though I still hadn’t learned how to do more advanced Artifact Crafting.

“I hope I can get good at those two subjects, maybe we can figure out how to use them with Equestrian Enchanting to do something even better.” I stated, smiling at the older Alicorn who chuckled, smiling too.

“That is quite a goal and I’d love to see you succeed. I wish we could communicate with my sister though, Celestia was a lot better at this kind of activity.” She explained and I nodded, I knew her feelings on the matter, but I couldn’t just get to the SPP Tower in Neighvarro to visit Celestia, and even if I could, Luna was in my head so…

“I’m sorry we can’t visit her it’s… I don’t know how I’d even begin trying to get to her.” I admitted. I knew where she was, or her mind and soul anyway. That was also where Littlepip, the Stable Dweller, was at the moment, sleeping in a Stasis Pod or living within the SPP tower, managing the weather and keeping the princess company.

If I was honest, my position as host to the other princess was a lot better. A lot less stressful too if I was being honest. “It’s alright Rose, I am just glad to know that she isn’t alone anymore and maybe, someone may be able to make a new body for both of us.” She stated and I smiled, she was right after all. If nothing else, the Institute was a thing, they and their Synths may be the clue we needed for that.

And if all else fails? I ask Professor Dumbledore if he can contact Nicholas Flamel, if he was still alive, and ask if he could use Alchemy to make a Homunculus or something for them to inhabit. Worse comes to worse I give him my DNA if he needs a Alicorn sample or something. I was just hoping the best Alchemist known to mankind could do it.

As I was about to respond to her however the dreamscape shook. “Oh my, it appears you are being moved Rose. I can’t say for certain but it seems you’re being abducted.” Stated Luna and I blinked, surprised to hear that. “You should wake up, and see if anything happens.” She stated and I nodded after a moment of contemplation before my vision become blinded by light.

Waking up was always weird.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Coming to I found myself bound by ropes, and slung over the back of something black, chitinous and pony-shaped.

“Tzk, woken up have you now little princess? Well I don’t care. Your magic won’t help you now.” Stated my captor and turning I saw the back of a black, hairless head with insect wings in front before me, it appeared he was carrying me.

“What in the- who the hell are you? Or, what are you?” I asked, weirded out by the fact that this creature was abducting me. Also… “And why do you call me princess?” I asked, definitely weirded out by this… thing. What was that anyway?

“Tzk, you talk too much. I suppose someone from another world wouldn’t be educated enough, I am a Changeling, a species that existed before the war. And I’m taking you to my employers for them to use you. Not like I care what they will do to you, I get my payment, they get to experiment on some brat. Win Win in my books.” Stated the Changeling and I realized that, among all the possible factions he could be working for, there was one which was quite obviously the only one who would abduct me.

“You work for those Institute Buckers?” I asked angrily and he snorted in response, as if dismissing me.

“I’m a mercenary brat, I don’t care what my cargo thinks about who I work for, and don’t think you’ll be able to use your stupid magic on me, I have a Talisman that reflects any magic you could try and I have bound your wings. You won’t be able to escape me.” He proclaimed and I had to wonder if he was really that arrogant. He didn’t bother removing my Saddlebags, my Bardings, and neither did he remove my Time Turner.

“You didn’t go through my stuff, did you?” I asked, I had gotten into a bit of a bad habit to keep them on in case of, well emergencies. It had started while I was traveling with the others to the few places we had gone.

“You wish, I wanted to but those stupid bags wouldn’t open. So I’m just taking them along for the eggheads to get open. Not like a subject to experiments will have much use of anything.” He stated, and I was getting the impression that he wasn’t joking with how callous he was.

“Heh, mistake there. As soon as we land you’ll lose me, I guarantee that.” I responded with full confidence, knowing my Time Turner would allow me to jump backward in time without him as I was wearing it, unlike him.

“Man you’re dumber than those damn princesses of you ponies, teleportation won’t help you, you would just take me along and that won’t’ work.” He responded and I had to wonder if he was so blind or something.

“Oh I guarantee you I’ll be fine. Seriously you don’t have a clue what people in my universe are capable of.” I retorted, almost giddy at the idea of trouncing this asshole with ease.

“As if, there is nothing you can do to me and you wouldn’t be able to draw anything from those accursed bags.” Retorted the Changeling, sounding annoyed.

“It’s not in my Saddlebags, though you wouldn’t survive what’s in there anyway.” I responded getting a growl from him. “Hey, look on the bright side, there are worse things than being mocked by a filly you think is helpless. I could be telling Yo Mama Jokes. You wouldn’t believe how many I’ve been fighting to tell to my cousin Dudley. Ten years living with his parents and I’d be dead if I had said a single one of them.” I continued, almost giddy at the prospect of using those.

I mean, I couldn’t use them on Malfoy anymore, his mom was apparently my aunt AND was fairly friendly too! “Seriously, Yo Mama Jokes? You know what? I’m bored, fire away you little cunt while I get that damn pick-up location figured out.” He responded and I had to wonder if he thought about the fact that I was from another world. I had a lot more references to throw around.

“Okay. Yo Mama is so fat, the sun uses her as a waypoint in the sky.” Misflap there, he hadn’t heard that one it seemed. “You’re a miracle, you know that? I have no idea how your dad could impregnate a Feral Ghoul like Yo Mama.” I continued and eeped when he dropped a foot there.

“What did you call my queen?!” He shouted at me, and apparently Changelings live like bees if he had a queen for a mom.

“I said, Yo Mama is so Ugly, she must’ve been a Feral Ghoul. I mean, look at you, Miss Ditzy Doo looks right as rain by comparison.” Now he was glowering at me in anger but hey, he challenged me to a Yo Mama contest.

“You know what? Yo Mama is so dumb, she had a kid with a dumpster!” I blinked at him for a moment.

“Are you targeting my birth mom? I’m kind of an Orphan on that and she was top of her class.” I responded, not even remotely perturbed which made him lose a flap. “Anyway, Yo Mama is so FAT, when she hit the Afterlife, Princess Luna got ejected into my brain.” Another five feet we dropped at that, fast ball special I’d say there but I’m not an expert on non-Quidditch sports. But hey! It’s fun to watch him squirm.

“Okay, what the hell?” He asked completely befuddled and I could tell why, the Yo Mama Joke was a weirdly specific and very weird one, especially with who else was involved without any prompting or reason. It was the definition of a non-sequitor.

“Yo Mama’s so dumb, your combined IQ is in the negative.” I just kept going, ignoring his indignant squawks as I unloaded on him. “Yo Mama’s so old, she babysat Princess Celestia. Yo Mama’s so short, Brock caught her thinking she was a Geodude.” I continued on, I could feel the Changeling trying to figure out what the hell I was calling his mother.

“By the way, Frankenstein called about Yo Mama, he wants his monster back so he can try and make her more attractive than a Feral Ghoul who was left in a tanning stall for five hours.” I continued and he still didn’t get it, I could tell.

“You know what? Fuck it! I can get another!” He growled, landing and bucking me off. As he went to get his gun, he had unicorn-like magic it seemed, I set up my Time Turner to one hour. “Any last words you Chrysalis damned brat?” He asked, aiming at me as I stood up.

“Yeah, Time Travel’s a Bitch.” I responded and triggered the Time Turner, time rewinding before he could fire and depositing me an hour earlier in time.

Now, where was I on the map anyway?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Kellog ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

“What in the-?” Kellog stared at the spot where the filly had vanished, he had seen her casting a spell but it wasn’t happening anything before she vanished.

It would’ve taken far longer for her to teleport if she even could and it wasn’t so much invisibility as it was vanishing, he had heard the pop of the air rushing back into where she had been. Searching the area awarded him nothing and the realization hit him like a brickhouse. “The little bitch tricked me. She seriously just fucked around with me to get me to land early.” He muttered, if nothing else he had to give her points for performance. And imagination because good lord, he had no idea what half of the references were.

And he never heard even one of those Yo Mama Jokes, he needed to memorize those for later use. Then he stopped. “Am I taking roasting notes from a preteen filly? Great, this is a new low.” He muttered shaking his head before heading out. He may be able to make it back to that castle and snatch a different one.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Kellog’s eye twitched as he stared at the sign in front of the closed off shield.

[I told you, Time Travel’s a Bitch. I got back way before you and told the headmistress about this. Also, chances are you should start running. Fluffy is on guard duty.]

“Who the hell is fluffy?” He asked confused before he felt something wet land on his head. Looking up, his eyes dilated, his ears fell backward and his wings went limp. “Oh, that’s Fluffy.” He muttered, then started running, a 2 ton, three-headed, ground-to-head 4 meters tall dog chasing him, barking, growling and howling all at the same time with a tag reading “Magic Reprisal Artifact” on a collar around the middle head.

The Institute would receive news of him deciding to drop the Alicorn abduction job the next day while they were treating him for near amputation of his hind legs and a huge bite wound in his ass. Not to mention the large chunk bitten out of his tail.

Kellog regreted a lot that day.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Omake Time! Takes Place during Breakfast of Wednesday, Rose POV, 1st Pony View ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Title: Marriage Law Rejection Letters AU Part 2! ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed as I sat down for breakfast. It had been relatively peaceful so far, not even nightmares last night and no crazy stuff had happened while I was on the way to Breakfast. Maybe I would have a week that resembled the one other students had.

Yeah, pipe dream I know.

As proven by a mail owl flying in, looking singed as if she had been in a fight with a dragon or something and she dropped dead on the table.

“Oh my god!” Exclaimed several students as the teachers rushed over to look at the bird.

“It looks consistent with tissue damage from Radiation, I think this owl got attacked by some irradiated animal before reaching here.” Stated Professor Dumbledore with a frown as she examined the bird. “Also, miss Rose? There is another letter for you.” She stated and I sighed before using Locomotor on the letter and floating it over to open it.

Reading over the letter just revealed what I feared. “These weird alternate-timeline ministry people don’t believe me. And they say someone will teleport in a minute after I have touched it to arrest me for resisting.” I stated, feeling disgusted at the sheer amount of presumption this letter held.

“Well, I believe we can safely say that they’re not going to give up easily, so why not send it back? We have figured out the way that Portkey was working.” Stated Dumbledore and I nodded before starting my own response letter, the professor was also putting before me the official letter from Minister Fudge.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

To whoever has to read and then report this…

I am once again responding to this to inform you that no, I am still neither capable, available, nor eligible for your law. I am also neither a citizen of your ministry, of the right age or the right species.

I have been informed by both my Lawyer, one mister Crooked Tooth of Gringott’s Bank, that your “Law” is breaking so many ICW agreements and laws that anyone can declare a war on you over this and have their backing.

Included with this letter will be a chastisement from our timeline’s Minister of Magic from Brittain, as well as an official warning from the President of the New Canterlot Republic, to which Hogwarts has joined I may add as part of their nation, Velvet Remedy. Please be reasonable and take this seriously, because I alone outgun you heavily and it doesn’t appear that your connection to us is within the barriers of Hogwarts.

Be also aware that while your previous owl had survived the ordeal, the one you sent this time died after being attacked by a predator of the Wasteland, which I was informed may be a Rad-Phoenix, a mutated phoenix that had become fused with Balefire and is therefore extremely radioactive and predatory. Please don’t risk any more owls and do not risk your Aurors on a fool’s errand. They won’t make it into Hogwarts, they’d be lucky if they made it to the outer bounds of the school.

Also, I am still physically only 8-9 years old, am a girl, a pony, can’t turn back into a human, and I was never a part of your timeline. I don’t care if you think I must do “My Duty™” because I don’t have a duty to your world, especially since I can’t do what you demand in the first place. And even if I was a colt, I’d have a dick so big, any human I’d try it with would probably die.

I had sex-ed before going to Hogwarts, in Muggle school. Shows you who is more well prepared for this.

I implore you to stop this madness before somebody dies because of your negligence and obsession with enforcing this useless law before you start biting off more than you can hope to chew, even if your entire population were to come here for war.

The NCR is a post-apocalyptic government, and we still have a military larger than your population which I have been told, was around 1000 including Muggle-born as of our current year of 1992. And if you’re still so desperate, your population is likely far lower than this.

In hopes of never hearing from you again.

Rose Evans-Heartstrings

Formerly Harry Potter

This isn’t the Potter you’re Looking For

Ask a Muggle-Born for the reference.

PS: I have a Minigun, and there is nothing mini about that thing. It’s normally mounted on vehicles. I have telekinesis for that. And it fires armor-piercing rounds meant to kill modern tanks. Don’t even try testing me.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

With my letter finished I folded it and put it in the offered envelope before a spell was cast by professor Dumbledore and the letters vanished after touching each other.

Hopefully this would work.

Chapter 18: School of the Wizards Part 6

View Online

~~~~~~~~~~~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.

Chapter 19: A Change of Pace Part 1

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I wondered, not for the first time, how freakishly convenient those mirrors had become.

It was now the weekend, Friday had been as much a DADA disaster as every other time Lockhart had opened his mouth in class, while we were going through some basic lessons everywhere else which still did more to teach us than anything Lockhart had said all week long.

Anyway, why did I start this whole segment off with the mirrors? Which Mirrors? Well, the portal ones, duh. See, the Applejack’s Rangers had, with some help from the Hogwarts staff, figured out how to make more of those mirrors and transported a few to key locations. One of those locations was was Junction Town, then there was at New Appleloosa one as well as at Ponyville, which had been taken over by non-hostile Hellhounds.

That was our first destination, by the way, the ruins of old Ponyville. Why did we go there, who are we? Well, myself, Lyra and Bon-Bon. While I was at school they had apparently heard that there had been some weird events on the Long 52, a pre-war highway going south from Canterlot to the Emerald Coast. A location which had, during a crisis involving The Herd, a Raider and Tribals army, been renamed as “Nightmare’s Fall” with the traders bringing this information, noting that there had been a lot more graves erected while nobody was there.

All of them were near an old war-era grave of one Rainy Days, with one grave being right besides it, a post-war grave with the name Puppysmiles Days on it. This had drawn their attention, they had known both of them, having lived in Canterlot.

According to Lyra, they were Earth Ponies with Rainy Days being the mother of Puppysmiles and a senior engineer. Her daughter had been only 5 years old when the bombs fell more or less, an extremely young filly in other words, and would’ve been in Canterlot during the Pink Cloud release same as her mother. It made no sense for the newer grave to be hers except if she become a Ghoul.

Our journey started near the Canterlot Ruins, or what little remained of them. “So, this is the Long 52?” I asked, looking down the road as we stood near a sign that proclaimed this Route 52, though it was damaged by time. Amazingly, none of the Enclave bombardment had actually damaged it, which was a bit strange.

“Sure is, though it has seen better days.” Stated Bon-Bon, wearing a Hogwarts-modified Armored Stable barding and a Battlesaddle with a pair of 12.7mm Sub-Machineguns on either side. I myself had my Laser Musket at hoof with my Minigun attached to my saddle at the side, and naturally I wore my power armor. Lyra meanwhile had only a pair of pistols holstered and was instead carrying medical and other supplies in expanded bags.

We all had some supplies, sure, but we also needed space for spare weapons, repair tools, ammunition if we wanted to change it out since the replication spells could only replicate existing ammo, and so on. “So, let’s get going, hopefully our bardings are as good at heat protection as they’re supposed to.” I commented and, yeah, it would be needed. With the clouds largely clear, the Long 52 was basically the equivalent of a Highway through the Nevada Desert.

So yeah, we set out, all of us with goggles with lenses that darken based on the amount of light hitting them. No that’s not a new invention from Hogwarts, apparently Professor Flitwick had those lying around for years from an excursion into Egypt with a class ages ago. Yeah. School excursions had been a thing for a while. Then the Wizengarmot decided to cut the funds for those. Because fuck children having fun, am I right?

Anyway, we were trotting along, occasionally having to deal with some mutated Parasprite descended creatures called “Paradores”, until we were halted by a pair of ponies in tribal armor. “Hold it, who goes there?” Asked one of them, a mare, young-adult.

“We’re travelers from Hogwarts, North-Eastern Ponston. I’m Lyra Heartstrings, these are my wife Bon-Bon and our adopted daughter Rose.” Explained Lyra, speaking calmly to the duo which I assumed were from the Red Trotters Tribe.

“Hogwarts? You those ponies who made those mirrors?” Asked the other, a Stallion, unicorn variety. His companion was an Earth Pony.

“No, the professors at Hogwarts helped to figure out how to enchant more, but none of us three know how to do it.” Explained Lyra to the pair as I watched the exchange.

“I see, and why is that unicorn filly wearing Power Armor from that Enclave? We may not be experts on this high-tech stuff but I know for a fact those suits are for Pegasi.” Stated the Earth Pony stallion, frowning as I blinked, a bit surprised to hear that.

“Ah, right. Rose is actually one of the students who were brought to our world with her school, and that turned her into an Alicorn actually.” Explained Lyra and to demonstrate, a flexed my wings with a smile, showing these armor plates weren’t empty.

“Huh, those weird rumors were right then. Well, you’re in Red Trotter Territory now, it’s 200 caps per adult, though we’ve adopted a policy that foals can pass freely so the little tin can wearer doesn’t need to pay.” Stated the mare and I cocked my head to the side.

“Why did you adopt that policy? Did something happen with a foal?” I asked curiously and the two ponies looked at one another before turning back to us.

“Yeah, you could say that. A few months ago, before that nasty Enclave business started, a filly in a yellow Hazmat Suit come through this area. Two of our tribe intercepted her and, well, killed her. Or so they thought. Kid turned up on the main camp of the area not long after and, while passing by, went to a place we called the “Carnival”. A monstrously defect robot there was abducting our foals until that filly come by and stoned it and the whole barn it was operating from, to death.” Stated the mare and both chuckled as we stared at them in confusion.

“It’s the truth, or at least that is what we all heard. Even saved the last foal that was abducted and that one got us most of the story. Kid was basically impervious to the laughing gas or whatever was in that barn and also to the radiation and just took out a stone and bashed in the head of that robot. Hell, energy weapons didn’t do shit to her apparently.” Explained the Stallion and I was quite surprised, because that sounded kind of ridiculous.

“Yellow Hazmat Suit? Did it have a bubble-shaped helmet and pink interface lights?” Asked Bon-Bon, which made me turn to her.

“Yeah, actually that’s what we heard. Kept talking to some voice nobody could hear apparently too.” Stated the mare of the two, raising an eyebrow at my adopted mother, it was kind of specific to be fair.

“A Mark VI Omni-environmental Hazard Suit, Those were just through production around the time of the Megaspells, but how would a filly get one? They would’ve been distributed to all the foals in-” Bon-Bon’s ramblings stopped at that point and she looked to the pair. “Can you tell me what the name was of that filly? And what color her coat and mane were?” She asked, sounding nervous.

“Uh yeah, pink coat, as far as anyone could see through that helmet, and a blonde mane. And I’m pretty sure the only ones who haven’t heard her name are those who haven’t been around here. Her name was Puppysmiles and she’d ask anypony who listens to her if they had seen her mom, apparently named Rainy Days.” Explained the mare and I gulped.

We had just found evidence of 205 years old filly walking around, not noticed as a Ghoul, with the same name, appearance and mother’s name as the one my mothers had known before the end of the world.

This was getting complicated.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Hermione Granger ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Combat wasn’t for Hermione, she had found that out pretty easily.

While she could fire a gun, even more easily than most of her fellow students, she hated it. She didn’t want to kill anyone but defense was needed. However, she had found something she could do when, not if, they went traveling again together.

While Rose was out and about with Lyra and Bon-Bon, chasing after rumors of a new post-war grave made for a filly they had known before the end of the world, Hermione was in the Ponevac MAS hub, in the medical wing of the facility studying. Studying what? Medicine.

She had, effectively, taken it upon herself to be the team medic once they set out again. She still remembered how Ron had been injured during the chess game and she wasn’t able to do much, or even before that when he had been bitten by Norbert, Ruby’s then baby pet dragon.

For these reasons, above all else, she wanted to become a medic, someone who could help ponies by healing them. Sure, Rose in her blind rage could tear apart a hundred Raiders with her minigun, but who was there to patch her up? Nobody so far other than, maybe, Lyra. One of the most important lessons she learned was to make Healing Potions, the potent magical potions that could heal most injuries and close them.

There were potions like that in Wizarding circles, she knew that, but she wasn’t brave enough to ask professor Snape for extra lessons, the man was in a sour mood 90% of the time anyway and she had heard that he had overlapping classes too, and was currently sleeping.

“Oh it turned red!” She exclaimed as she recognized the coloration as being indicative that the Healing Potion had succeeded.

“Well done, I’ll take it for testing to see it’s grade.” Stated Scribe Dawning Sun as the Earth Pony stallion used some cybernetic arms to take a hold of the potion cauldron to take for testing. Hermione was quite content with that, most of her group had kind of settled in with the Rangers in some way, most notably there was Rose who had gotten famous for activating the Prydwen’s main generators, allowing the Cloud Ship to be claimed by the chapter.

She herself was basically working as an independent scribe of sorts, working for the Brotherhood in a similar function to one anyway. She wasn’t one who liked killing, and like Rose she had been having nightmares about it. But while Rose had seemed to accept that she had an instinct to rush into danger to save others, Hermione was almost certain this was a form of Survivor’s Guilt driven Hero Complex or something, Hermione didn’t have that.

She would be a healer, a saver of lives. Too bad there were no classes on that at Hogwarts, maybe Madam Pomfrey could start an elective about it?

Hermione would LOVE to learn from her some healing spells.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Argent Ambition ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Argent was quite content with herself.

After decades of being the butt of way too many jokes, pranks and nasty attitudes from students who figured out her status as a Squib, Ardent was finally ready for a new start. She was magical, not just mundane magical like being a Unicorn or having the ability to use a wand.

No.

She was a Alicorn, and she had the beautiful privilege of magic that was incredibly powerful, natural flight and the strength to punt a Weasley through a solid stone wall of the castle. Not that she had much inclination anymore, they weren’t HER problems now. Hell, she was friends with Rainy Weasley.

The cherry on top was naturally, she was young. She was a new person, a new pony in fact. There was nothing left of Argus Filch within this adorable, colorful filly she had become. She was also talented in magic, a point of pride for her, and she was a good shot too, the least hesitant to fire a gun.

It was kind of odd, to her, how the others were so broken up over it. Sure, it was killing ponies and all that, but those were bad ponies, Raiders, Feral Ghouls too since they were basically undead who couldn’t move on. But alas, the others were all children or very innocent at least in the case of Ruby and Myrtle. Even if Ruby had been in the Wizarding War way back when.

“Hey kid, pay attention!” Argent snapped at attention after being caught daydreaming. She was currently at a firing range alongside a large number of Applejack Ranger Innitiates. In her mouth was held a 10mm pistol with which she was aiming at the moment. If you were wondering why she was practicing firing with her mouth, she didn’t want to rely on magic alone, magical exhaustion was a thing.

As for how you hold a gun, Pony handgun equivalents like the Applemac 44BC, the one she was using right now, were designed with the grip horizontal from the body of the gun. This meant that the barrel and firing mechanism, as well as the sights, were right in front of one’s eyes. The firing mechanism itself was mounted in a way that it was easy to reach with one’s tongue too, while you were biting down on it.

Energy weapons on the other hand didn’t have a trigger to pull but were, like the Sparkle 76b, which was a laser pistol, designed to fire when a section of the bottom of the grip, was squeezed. It meant misfiring was semi-common but it also ensured some safety.

//Alright, let’s put those tongue skills to the test. Thankfully that tongue of mine is pretty damn effe-// Her train of thought broke off at that point for a moment before she pulled the trigger with her tongue, sending a bullet downrange.

“What was that about Argent?” Asked Innitiate Boiling Waters as she looked over at the smaller filly.

“Nothing, just… Innuendos. Innuendos never change.” She responded to that, after putting her pistol down following her firing eight shots with it.

This naturally confused her conversation partner.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Ruby Hagrid ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

“Aw so he is your dog? He’s so cute and well behaved!” Gushed Professor Fluttershy as she petted the left side head of Fluffy while Ruby sat on the dog’s right head, smiling with pride.

“I know right? Three-headed dogs are said to be so dangerous but Fluffy is a big softie! People just see a big animal with lots of teeth and think “That’s dangerous!” but in the end it’s nurture over nature.” Declared Ruby happily, proud of how well behaved Fluffy was with the pegasus mare.

“I know what you mean, most every animal can be taught to be a good pony but sometimes, that doesn’t work.” Stated Fluttershy, smiling as she remembered her own many little friends. “By the way, Ruby? I was told there was a herd of Hippogryphs on the premises but to speak with you about them.” Asked Fluttershy and Ruby blinked, a bit surprised to hear that.

“Oh! Sure you can! I raised the whole herd myself you see? Benefits of living here for 50 years, I suppose.” Explained Ruby, a glint of pride in her eyes as she remembered fondly all the Hippogryphs she had come to know and raise.

“Well, I was wondering, why are they living in the forest? Why aren’t they building their own settlement? I mean, I know that Hippogryphs had their own kingdom here in Equestria.” Asked Fluttershy and that made Ruby pause for a moment until she realized what the problem was.

“Ah, you think they’re like Equestrian Hippogryphs, right? Well, I don’t know about those, but Hippogryphs from Earth aren’t sapient, they’re smart don’t get me wrong, but they’re still animals on the level of Orca whales or dolphins. Didn’t change a thing coming here, I’ve been checking up on them all this time you see?” Asked Ruby and Fluttershy nodded in understanding.

“Mind you, they can’t be taken lightly, Hippogryphs are Apex Predators on Earth, strong as a horse, deadly as an eagle. They’re also incredibly prideful animals, and can understand to a certain level human speech so they will lash out if provoked. Professor Kettleburn needed my help a few times calming them down when fourth or fifth year students got too full of themselves with the herd since, well, those claws are wicked sharp.” Explained Ruby, remembering with a sigh the sheer amount of stupidity some wizards showed.

“I see, I’m glad you’re still helping out, by the way. I’m not familiar with the animals living here so I’m afraid I may make a mistake caring for them.” Admitted Fluttershy, looking sad at the idea but Ruby smiled at her.

“No problem miss Fluttershy, I don’t think I could just sit down and do nothing for all the animals, student or not I’ve been the Keeper of Keys and Grounds here for nearly half a century now, professor Kettleburn is probably the only person who is more familiar with them than me. That reminds me, I should go to the Hippogryph Herd, they need their weekly supplementary meal.” Stated Ruby, flying off of Fluffy to head to her hut, still her home on school grounds.

“Oh? What do they eat?” Asked Fluttershy, following the Half Giant-turned-Tiny Filly, the balked at the smell that wafted at her from within.

“Uh, meat? They’re carnivores obviously, even if their hindquarters are those of ponies they’re still predators.” Stated Ruby, carrying several troves large troves filled with blood, intestines and various pieces of meat. If nothing else, Locomotor paired with the power of a Alicorn, was the best possible spell for her.

“W- where do you get that from?” Asked Fluttershy, looking pretty green around her muzzle at the sight and smell of the food.

“We buy it in bulk from contacts in Muggle Slaughterhouses, it’s mostly byproduct of meat production from cows, pigs and chickens and- Oh, right. Those animals aren’t sapient, they’ve been domesticated thousands of years ago on Earth and have been used for food production just as long. We’re just taking advantage of the Muggles not using all of the parts since those aren’t very edible for humans.” Explained Ruby, leading the way into the forest while Fluttershy trailed behind.

“I see, so humans are carnivores?” Asked Fluttershy, curious on the strange creatures that lived in the other world, though Ruby shook her head.

“Technically humans are omnivores, though there are restrictions on what can be digested. We can digest both meat and vegetables and basically cook them together, you must’ve seen that on the feasts, right? It’s how humanity got around eight billion people on Earth now since we have such a variety of different food sources.” Explained Ruby as they got to a large clearing with a huge number of, to Ruby and Fluttershy alike, huge Griffon-like creatures with the hindlegs of horses. These were, notably, distinct from pony behinds due to the way the hooves worked contrary to Equestrian ones, and the anatomy in general.

“They’re beautiful.” Whispered Fluttery with wide eyes as the huge animals turned their attention to the pair.

“They sure are, some of the most majestic animals around if you ask me. Mind you, this herd is about as domesticated as house cats, they’re in other words, animals who let themselves be cared for by humans but are pretty independent. Though they have understood that staying here is for their best in this new world.” Explained Ruby to her before trotting to a series of stone troves near the herd, eyes following the small filly.

“I see, do humans… use anything from them?” Asked Fluttershy, staying near Ruby out of sheer herd instinct, worried about the danger of these animals. They dwarfed Gilda, Rainbow Dash’s old friend, by a significant margin and looked like they could tear her apart in a second.

“Well, I know their feathers are popular in some circles for Wand Cores, and their livers can be used in certain potions. But the latter are only harvested from those who have died natural deaths, both because you have to be absolutely beyond daft to try and kill these guys, and because any other method kind of invalidates their effects. Mind you, that potion is insanely valuable specifically because Hippogryphs have to trust a harvester and allow them to do it, for the liver to be harvested.” Explained Ruby while filling the troves with her collection of meat.

“I’m glad to hear they’re not hunted, though harvesting them after their deaths just seems so… so cruel.” Admitted Fluttershy as the herd gathered to feed. She could make out around 49 adult Hippogryphs and 21 younger ones. “Say, what are the young Hippogryphs called? Are they Foals or Chicks?” Asked Fluttershy, curious as some of the younger Hippogryphs looked at her, their attention caught by the question.

“Chicks, they’re more birds of prey than horses after all, they also lay eggs instead of giving life birth. Oh, and a little suggestion? Don’t go near any nesting Hippogryphs. Best case scenario is you lose a limb.” Explained Ruby and Fluttershy gulped, that was definitely not what she was expecting, but it made sense. These were after all Super Predators, living in herds on top of that likely made them quite protective.

Ruby for her part just hoped things would go well for Fluttershy, she couldn’t wait for next year when she could take electives again.

She loved Care for Magical Creatures!

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Rainy Weasley ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Rainy Weasley was used to being one of the youngest in her family.

The imperative words were “One of” in this case. Right now? She was younger even than Ginny, who was meant to be her younger sister but, biologically, was her older brother now. At least Ginny wasn’t making fun of Rainy and felt just as uncomfortable with being a colt as Rainy felt being a younger filly.

Right now though, Ginny was back to being her sister, and Rainy was still the younger of the two, though she now sported hands instead of hooves. The reason being that they were having a lunch visit with their parents at Madam Frouquette’s Ice Cream Parlor, along with Rainy’s school attending brothers. It was one of those benefits of the mirror staying 99% of the year in the Leaky Cauldron and regulations of visiting out of the school being more lenient.

“So, how has the school been treating all of you now?” Asked Rainy’s mom with a smile as she sat with her mostly quite colorful children, hugging Rainy in particular because she was so small again.

“It’s been alright, though with Mister Filch now, well, now being a student and no longer patrolling the hallways, it’s been quite a bit more work for us Prefects.” Stated Percy with a frown, naturally he was more concerned with the change in schedule.

“Hey, it’s not Argent’s fault, she wants a new start and if that means she’s no longer breathing down our necks, I say let her.” Stated Fred in return, defending the far more likeable former faculty member in her new form. “And as far as I’m concerned, things have been way more interesting, I heard some students talking about going out to the Wasteland for Christmas vacation, you know? Check out other locations, scavenge the ruins, helping out people in the Wasteland?” He continued and Rainy could feel her mother tense up at the idea.

“And most likely to charge on ahead is Herd of Roses, eh Rainy?” Teased George with a dumb grin on his face, which made Rainy growl at him.

“I told you we’re not going to call ourselves that.” She protested this stupid nickname.

“So you don’t deny you’re planning to go out there again with the others?” Asked her mom at that point, making Rainy flinch mildly, but she had steeled herself for that.

“Yes, we still haven’t found the Institute’s location, and they have abducted Snowy Dreams who is, basically, Rose’s older sister now. Besides, we’re six Alicorns, a Unicorn and an Earth Pony, and all of us have gotten our hooves on Power Armor. Besides, we all but joined the Applejack’s Rangers by this point with all of us learning or training under them.” Stated Rainy, remembering her own lessons under them.

“I still don’t like the idea, children shouldn’t put themselves in danger like that.” Stated her mom softly, sighing however in resignation since, if what she had heard was true, then this little “Herd” was about as likely to be stopped as her husband’s car.

“To be fair mom, they’re pretty well equipped. Power Armor, heavy weapons, powerful shields, at-will magic. I don’t think there are a whole lot of wizards who can beat any of them and Rainy here is still hiding a pistol under those robes.” Stated Fred and got a squawk of protest from his second-youngest sibling-turned-Youngest Sister, in protest.

“A… pistol? That’s a Muggle weapon, right?” Asked their father, a bit confused but Rainy sighed and unholstered her 12.7mm pistol, it was a Tangerine 55 iron-sighted model with a silencer. She had modified it to readjust it’s grip so it was in the normal position for a gun of this type for human use.

“It’s a magazine fed 12.7 milimeter pistol, each magazine holds 20 bullets but it got enchanted to generate new bullets so I don’t have to reload. I have normal ones chambered right now.” Stated Rainy before holstering the firearm again as she was starred at by her parents and sister. “What? I can’t use magic outside Hogwarts, right? So having at least a gun if something happens is kind of reassuring.” Stated Rainy and got odd looks from her parents and sister.

“Rainy, why would you think you could be attacked?” Asked her dad, sounding somewhat worried and Rainy blinked, then remembered they weren’t experienced with the Wasteland. Admittedly, she was probably a tadbit paranoid too because of it, but…

“In my experience, it’s better to be safe than sorry, that’s all. I guess I’ve gotten a bit used to the whole Wastelander mentality, but if a Death Eater shows up, by the time they lift their arm I’ll have already targeted them in SATS or something and, well, ended the threat.” She explained and got flinches from the two adults, but nods from Fred and George though not Percy.

“Don’t be ridiculous Rainy, all Death Eaters were incarcerated.” Rebutted Percy at Rainy’s explanation and she just lifted an eyebrow.

“Isn’t it an open secret that half the upper echelons of the Death Eaters bought their way out of prison time? I mean, dad said Lucius Malfoy was casting the unforgivable curses and from what I read, you need actual intent for those to even work.” Countered Rainy and got a frown from her older brother.

“Are you suggesting the Ministry wasn’t doing it’s due duty? Rainy that is-”

“Exactly what I’m saying, Rose is trying to get a trial going to ensure Sirius Black was actually guilty instead of being incarcerated without a trial and as an innocent since the whole thing made no sense to her, and Lucius Malfoy has, what? 12% of the total wealth in the Wizengarmot backing him?” Interrupted Rainy him and that made Percy shut up, he hadn’t expected her to be that heated.

“Listen, I have somewhat doubts he would do anything, he helped with the Enclave situation back then but the same I can’t say for most of the other “We were under Imperius” masters of the same spell.” Explained Rainy, before sighing as she subconsciously leaned into her mother. “Mind you, I’m pretty sure my paranoia is at least partly because of the Wasteland and that battle at the SPP tower.” Explained Rainy, shaking her head as her hand stayed at the grip of her pistol.

“Alright, so… why do you have in your saddlebags then? I mean, you’re the only one carrying those under your robes.” Asked Fred and that surprised Rainy quite a bit as her mom’s eyes widened at hearing her child was carrying a bag of holding.

She didn’t know there were two.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Draco Malfoy ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Draco frowned as he watched a stallion outside the barrier, taking notes.

He was wearing the uniform of the Gunner’s Talons, a mercenary group that was responsible for the Quincy Massacre. And they had a spy here. “Geez, that old mare was right, they’re preparing to attack us too.” Muttered Draco, grabbing her sniper rifle using her deployed Locomotor charm and aiming.

“Not on my watch, motherbucker.” Growled Draco before firing a headshot into the stallion.

Behind cover, outside her sight, Drastic Meassures gulped when she saw Rampaging Rage die to a sniper, she could see, through a periscope, the Minutemare dressed Pegasus Filly that did so. “Fuck, Gunner won’t like this, he won’t like this at all.” Muttered Drastic Meassures before packing up. She had to report this to her superior to make sure nopony made any stupid decisions.

Killing the last of the Minutemares to wipe away that useless goody-two-shoes group was something she would delight in. But how do you assault something that was literally downing Raptor-class Cloud Ships by reflecting their own shots?

The, to her, unknown answer? You don’t.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Omake Time! Takes Place during Christmas Break, Rose POV, 1st Pony View ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Title: Short-Lived Invasion of Hogwarts ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

It was a normal day, or as normal as it gets around Hogwarts.

We were currently preparing, since it was Christmas break and so we had some time, to go out and search for clues on the Institute and maybe help some ponies along the way. We also had a 84% chance of getting turned around in the middle of it to get someone or something back to Hogwarts. Well, those plans kind of died.

“GAH!” Namely when a human, not pony, riding a Wyvern got shot down outside my mom’s house. Turns out that there was an otherworldly invasion going on with a portal opened in the middle of the town. And they were totting very Roman looking armor and weapons.

By the time we got out there, the enemy had been largely dealt with in one way or another, casualties on our side were luckily low due to the shields everyone had on them due to the bardings, and we had captured around 29 Roman Soldier LARPers with the gate not fading at all.

“You know, you guys are lucky that portal opened here and not on the other side of this province.” I commented, standing before one of the officers of the enemy forces, who looked equal parts furious and confused.

“I bet you wonder why considering you got your flanks kicked. The reason is that on the South-Western edge of the Ponston area lies the “Glowing Sea”, that place is so oversaturated with necromantic energy that anyone in those rags like you, would die in seconds. And that’s before mentioning the feral Undead, insane Artificial Alicorns or Hellhounds living there.” I explained with a smile, which wasn’t reassuring to them.

Not my fault.

Chapter 20: A Change of Pace Part 2

View Online

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

There were a lot of odd things out in the Wasteland.

Ghouls are one thing, they’re basically the living dead, held alive by the necromantic powers of residual Balefire Magic. Pink Cloud appears to have been a similarly strange thing, seeing as it was Necromantic magic assuming the form of a gas. The deadliest motherfucking gas to ever be created, mundane or magical that is.

And then there was Puppysmiles Days, a little filly who would’ve died at Canterlot 200 years ago if she was in one of those suits, but instead she awoke a few months ago, set out apparently and started down the Long 52 highway, to search for her mom.

That was what we had figured out from the story of Puppysmiles Days and the Carnival horror she destroyed. The Ghost of 52, was none other than the filly whose grave we were searching for.

After our encounter with the Red Trotters and paying the fee, we continued on, stopping at one of the outposts but not resting since we had a limited timespan before we had to head back and we wanted to get as far as we could. Only stopped around midnight when we set up camp with me casting the Notice Me Not charm on our camp to protect us from Raiders.

The next day, which was the Sunday, we started on our way again. Our first goal was Salt Cube City, which I did comment sounded like Salt Lake City in the US. “Huh, funny that. The city was named such because of a giant salt cube made from a quarry and brough there. I’m afraid they were having a convention when the bombs fell so… Yeah, a lot of casualties.” Stated Lyra and the two mares sighed, knowing that this tragedy couldn’t be averted in all honesty.

“What I don’t understand is, why did the Zebra target that city? It’s not supposed to have been an industrial powerhouse, right? Nor a military base, it was a tourist trap.” I asked, puzzled by how the Zebras could’ve wasted a Balefire Bomb on something like that. It wasn’t like it would’ve done any good for them.

“The Zebras were fanatics, I can’t even begin to understand what was going through their heads but this? This is pretty tame considering what happened at Crescent Moon Valley and Luna Academy.” Stated Lyra and I couldn’t disagree with that. I had heard the horror stories, of Pink Cloud which wiped out a school full of foals. And it all started from a misunderstanding and trigger happy guards on the side of Equestria.

“I wonder what made them do it though.” Muttered Bon-Bon, she looked so heartbroken at the memory of the war and… yeah, the two lost all of their friends in the Last Day, they had only been visiting Sanctuary Hills when the Megaspells hit, so they weren’t well acquainted with any of the other Stable residents with which they had been herded into the Stable that day.

“Mom… can we change thetopic? This is getting kind of depressing.” I requested, not liking to think about all this much longer since I wanted to sleep and this was just getting worse and worse in my opinion.

Hopefully we wouldn’t get into any trouble tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Agent Muller, Site 20, Earth ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Within a sparse room a large group of individuals sat, wearing a mixture of labcoats or tactical gear.

All of them had a somewhat strange, circular insignia on their shoulders with the inscription “SCP” under it. These were members of the SCP Foundation, an international organization operating separately from any individual country. Translating the acronym gave away their mission: Secure, Contain, Protect”. Namely, to secure anomalous entities and objects, contain them, and protect humanity from them.

Agent Muller was a member of MTF Omegon-8, also known as the Witch Hunters.

This was a Mobile Task Force, a military unit specialized in containment of anomalies, tasked with the containment and securing of all manner of harmful Thaumaturgical objects. And this briefing was for this task force as well as their assigned scientific members.

To the front of the room walked Doctor Angelique Ratter, she was the site director of Site 20 which was located in Scotland. “Alright everyone, settle down. We have a lot to cover so let’s not waste any time.” She stated, sounding tired but to be fair, dealing with the nonsense of the GoI, or Group of Interest, that they were primarily assigned to, was kind of par for the course.

“So, to start with, a refresher of recent events. A few months ago GoI “International Confederacy of Wizards” had an incident in which the local magical school for the anomalous humanoids known as “Wizards” has vanished to be replaced by a devastated landscape and a number of settlements, none of them occupied but devastated as if by a nuclear war, along with ravenous monstrosities.” She begun the briefing, this was well known and thankfully the ICW’s Brittish member state was at least competent enough to contain that mess.

“However, a few weeks ago the school made contact with the British Ministry of Magic again. According to reports one of the students had shattered an instance of SCP-M922, a Philosopher’s Stone, created by Nicholas Flamel in self-defense against a professor possessed by PoI “Voldemort” or more accurately, a malevolent spirit of his.” She explained and noted one of the MTF members raising a hand to ask a question.

After being given the signal to speak Timber, who was an anomalous individual, or more accurately, a Wizard of non-magical parentage, asked: “Didn’t Voldemort undergo a LK-class Recoil Event when his killing curse was rebounded at him?” That… was a good question.

“We’re not privy to the details but recent reports indicate the existence of two or more SCP-M192 objects, “Horcrux” as they call it. One has been destroyed recently after being handed over by a student to the faculty.” Explained the doctor, which was very much a relief, those things were so beyond annoying to deal with, stupid wizards and their retarded rituals to avoid death.

“Moving on, the school suffered a Class-8 Reality Shift Event, swapping places with a location called “Sanctuary Hills” and it’s surrounding area. The affected area was equivalent of the school’s school grounds. Everyone who was within the castle was transfigured permanently into a local species from the other reality, to be designated as SCP-MP-001.” Explained the Doctor before activating a projector with four images on it.

“These are equine creatures coming in four known varieties. These are “Earth Ponies” who are anatomically most similar to horses with hooves and normal phsyique but are physically superior to two of the other three varieties, “Unicorns” which bear the same anatomy but possess a horn which can serve as a focus for anomalous energies, “Pegasi” which are ponies with wings which possess a natural form of Atmokinesis and flight, as well as “Alicorn” which combine the three in a greater way with wings and a horn each.” Explained Doctor Ratter before pressing a button, changing the view to images of six winged and horned individuals.

“Of the Hogwarts residents, six have been transformed into Alicorns, two of each “Blood Status” variety. As you can see, the changes vary. “Muggle-Born”, which I hope to not need to explain to anyone here, become Anthropomorphised versions of the ponies, possessing the features of ponies but also hands. Half-Bloods and Purebloods both have the same anatomy with Half-Bloods having a slightly altered bone structure which can lock itself into being either fully Quadrupedal or fully bipedal at will and in seconds. Purebloods on the other hand do not display any anthropomorphism and are permanently quadrupedal.” Explained Doctor Ratter before another slide show was shown, this time with a group of six girls.

“This is an image of the same group of students while on Earth.. As you can see they turn humanoid after returning but this is only so for native Ponies and returning residents who had been there during the translocation.” Explained Doctor Ratter, crossing her arms.

“This Time Purebloods become near indistinguishable from humans except for their skin and hair colors, those matching their coat and Mane respectively, while Half-Bloods become as Anthropomorphic as the Muggle-born had been while the Muggle-born look human except for having equine features such as ears, a tail and, in this case, wings and a horn. Notably, natural ponies become the same as “Pureblood” wizards.” Explained Doctor Ratter, sighing at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation, and Muller could understand why.

“Are there any plans to contain this incident?” Asked another of the MTF members, Granger was his name.

“Currently, no. As is the foundation’s policy, due to the ICW’s own isolation and secrecy laws containment is already established with the only contact point, a mirror which serves as a portal between the worlds, located within the magical pub known as the Leaky Cauldron. Currently Amnestics aren’t necessary due to the only civilians aware of it being ICW citizens and the parents of first-generation wizards and witches attending the school.” Explained Ratter, then nodded to the next raise hand.

“What kind of world were the brought to, and is the school actually still active if you said they’re attending?” Asked Granger and it took Muller a moment to remember his cousin’s daughter, him being a Muggle-born too, was attending the school. Since she was in second year she would’ve been at the school during translocation.

“First, yes the school has reopened on the same date as the previous years. Secondly, the world they landed in, colloquially referred to as the “Equestrian Wasteland” is a world dominated by more animal-esque lifeforms such as ponies, many of them sapient. As the name implies, however, this world has undergone the magical equivalent of a Nuclear War, 200 years ago. The locals did survive in underground nuclear shelters called “Stables” or in rural areas and hardened and shielded structures.” Explained Ratter and now Muller winced to himself, that wasn’t a good place to live.

He raised his hand and was called on. “How likely is a containment breach? What sort of technological level are we talking of or are they as technologically backward as the wizards?” He asked, it was a real concern to the Foundation obviously, the ICW sub-nations had produced a lot of anomalous threats over the years, not least of which were the favorite wardens of the British ministry.

“Good question.” Stated Ratter, then sighed as she seemed to contemplate her answer. Then she clicked the remote for the projector and another image was shown. This time of the same white filly with the red and blue mane but now wearing a suit of armor which looked suspiciously highly advanced.

“First of all, containment is more than likely secure. The other side of the mirror is protected by the wards of Hogwarts which have been repurposed into an outright energy shield which as proven itself capable of taking fire from heavy magical weaponry from a capitalship. And this segways into the next point well. Technologically, pre-Apocalypse Equestria was fairly advanced.” Stated the doctor, stepping aside for easier view of the image.

“This is one of the Alicorn Fillies wearing a Mark 2 Pegasus Enclave model Power Armor. As you may be able to tell, this piece of equipment was designed for Pegasi use, thus the armored wings. The tail is, yes, mechanical in nature. There is also a helmet but we didn’t get an image of it on. Or of another pony wearing this armor.” Stated the doctor and this made some of the others chuckle.

Then the presentation switched to the next image, which wasn’t so much a laughing matter.

“This, is the Thunderhead-class “Cloud Ship” [Prydwen] in escort formation with the Raptor-class Cloud Ships [Retribution of Canterlot], [Ray of Hope] and [Liberty Prime]. These are multi-purpose flying warships using magically enchanted clouds to fly.” She explained before the diagram changed, from the four flying ships to what appeared to a diagram of two of them, of different sizes. And what looked like a large aircraft carrier.

And the smaller was the size of the carrier labeled [USS Enterprise] with the serial number CVN-65. “These depict the Raptor-class and Thunderhead-class respectively. As you can see the Raptor-class is equal in size to a Enterprise-class Nuclear Aircraft Carrier, while the Thunderhead-class is roughly five times that size.” At this point Muller felt just a tiny bit feint. Because holy shit.

“These ships are armed with several extremely heavy magical artillery cannons, each firing the magical equivalent of Plasma bolts the size of a dump truck, and after modifications, also a multitude of smaller plasma, laser and kinetic guns for point-defense and smaller targets. They also have a number of missile silos and carry up to 2000 Pegasi in Enclave Power Armor on top of the regular crew and “Sky Tank” and “Vertibuck” auxiliary craft.” Explained Ratter further, now images of smaller ships, one like a flying tank the other a type of VTOL aircraft.

“These ships are currently under control of the Applejack’s Rangers faction, namely the Ponston chapter. This is a splinter faction of the “Steel Rangers”, which were founded by survivors of the Equestrian military and their families, with the new faction breaking away to follow their original mission of protecting ponies from danger rather than just hoarding all technology.” Explained Ratter and yeah, it painted quite a contrast between the two sides.

“Furthermore, Hogwarts and it’s lands have joined a new government that formed following the “Day of Sunshine and Rainbows”, an event when a Unicorn Mare took over control of a weather control system and ended Operation Cauterize. This government, the New Canterlot Republic, has commenced trade relations with the local ICW branch, and appears to have formed a democratic government instead of a monarchy as the old Equestria had been.” Continued the doctor, then sighed.

“This brings us to another matter. Every weapon used in the annihilation of Equestria’s nation were Necromantic in nature, and their detonations left behind a type of anomalous energy residue, a “Radiation” as it is. Those exposed to it sometimes mutate, with their vital signs shutting down.” Explained Doctor Ratter before a new image appeared, made of two photographs.

Both images showed standing, but decayed looking, corpse-like ponies with no fur and only some strands of mane or tail fur. There were, however, differences. “They have SCP-008 there too?” Asked one of the scientists, sounding horrified at the possibility. Yeah, SCP-008, the infamous Zombie Plague, would be a pain to have a break out of.

“No they don’t. These two images show so called “Ghouls”. While they are in fact undead by all accounts, there are differences. On the left we have the Ghoul Pegasus mare known as “Ditzy Doo”, she is a merchant and proprietor of a business known as “Absolutely Everything” as well as the author of the so called “Wasteland Survival Guide”, using her 200 years of experience in the Wasteland as the basis.” Stated Ratter and Muller felt somewhat relieved to see that there wasn’t a zombie plague.

“The other however, is a more dangerous Ghoul, a Feral Ghoul. If you need an analogue in containment, it is similar in temperament to the victims of SCP-049 after their reanimation. Any Ghoul can turn feral eventually, but neither the Ghoul condition nor being feral, are contagious in any way. There is also a Ghoul variant.” She continued and the slide changed to the image of an armored, clearly Ghoulified pony with a mouse in a hamsterball riding on the stallion.

Notably, this pony had batwings and wore dark, menacing looking armor, though strangely it looked almost like it was part of him. “These two are Lionheart, a Batpony guard who served the Equestrian ruler Princess Luna as one of her personal guards, and the entity only known as Mouse.” She explained, pointing out the fused on armor.

“Lionheart is a so called “Canterlot Ghoul” as he was turned into a Ghoul by exposure to the gas-form Necromantic Megaspell of Pink Cloud. This corrosive, smoke-like bio weapon was deployed in the old capital of Equestria, Canterlot, wiping out almost all of it’s residents including Princess Luna herself with Princess Celestia, her older sister who had stepped down from the throne for her, fleeing.” Explained Ratter and I felt sick to imagine that a bioweapon was used on a large population center.

“Side effects of Pink Cloud Exposure and Ghoulification through it, include the fusing of bodyparts to an inanimate object you were in contact with, such as in Lionheart’s case, his armor. Most of the Canterlot Ghouls went Feral but there was a population of intelligent Canterlot Ghouls living in the ruins until they were destroyed in Operation Cauterize, which was an operation by a governmental body known as the “Grand Pegasus Enclave’ to eliminate any resistance or danger to their status-quo. Given their 84% Cloud Ship losses, it appears to have been planned by the equivalent of a UIU tactician.” Stated Doctor Ratter, and, in response to everyone staring at her like she had grown a second head, she went out to get a tv.

Five minutes later everyone was left staring. “So, the undead, lazy-eyed, winged pony who is a Post-Apocalyptic Item Shop vendor, just broke some magic sound barrier which released a radiation sonic/light burst so hard, it made a rainbow sonic boom, and destroyed three of those Cloud Ships along with the cloud cover?” Asked Granger after a solid minute of silence.

“Yes, and she did it a second time over a location called Ten-Pony Tower allowing them to use the Solar Laser Megaspell weapon in the tower against the Enclave.” Stated Ratter with a sigh, as everyone stared at her.

“So, what’s with the mouse with that Lionheart guy? Why was that one in a pink Hamsterball?” Asked Agent Gardner as he apparently chose that moment to change the topic from Sonic Radbooms to a previous topic in the form of the weird mouse.

“Oh, that one? That’s a dragon transfigured into a mouse. She was apparently the mother dragon to a whole load of eggs which had been used as an entrance exam for a magic school managed by Princess Celestia. She was transfigured into her current form to reduce the amount of Pink Cloud she was breathing out, thanks to the fact that she absorbed the original Megaspell. That hamsterball is actually translucent, it’s just filled with Pink Cloud as to contain it.” Stated Doctor Ratter with a sigh as she put away her laser pointer.

“These two are considered heroes of the Operation Cauterize events, they captured several Cloud Ships, using them as ramming devices to destroy others after driving off or killing their crews using the Pink Cloud emanating from Mouse. They are currently living at New Appleloosa however and are not hostile.” Stated Doctor Ratter, which was a relief though that was a bit of a short lived relief.

“This is a Hellhound.” This statement come after the next slide was shown, which depicted a huge, bipedal canine seemingly talking to what appeared to be a adult pony. Given ponies were fairly small you’d think this wouldn’t mean much, but given scales so far this thing must’ve been huge.

“They are a fully sapient species of bipedal canines capable of tearing power armor and tanks apart as well as digging at such speeds that they can use this as a viable combat strategy. This is on top of their use of magical and conventional weapons, I may add. They notably evolved from a species known as “Diamond Dogs” after exposure to a particular chemical known as the Impelled Metamophosis Potion, or more colloquially, taint.” Stated the doctor which didn’t sit well with anyone. A mutagenic potion huh.

The next slide come up and it showed what appeared to be three horse-sized Alicorns, all of them in one of three very dark colors namely purple, blue and green. “These are the next topic, Artificial Alicorns. Unlike the true Alicorns at Hogwarts, these are mutated Unicorns made to resemble Alicorns using the Impelled Metamorphosis Potion. The three variants are purple teleporters, blue cloaking spell users and green Telepaths. After the Hivemind entity known as “The Goddess” was destroyed a few months ago, they have come to gain the other variant’s powers but at a lower powerlevel and have been slowly reintegrating into society according to reports.” Explained Ratter, another scientist then lifted his hand to signal a question, being called on soon after.

“Where do those reports come from exactly?” He asked, sounding suspicious.

“Several of our agents have gone undercover to the other side and have been gathering information under the guise of Ministry of Magic researchers.” Responded Ratter easily enough, obviously she had expected the question, not surprising. Regardless, she pressed her button and a new slide come into view of the assembled MTF members, this time showing what appeared to be a Pony-like creature with white fur and black stripes like a Zebra.

“Anyways, this is the next species we are to talk about, Zebra. 200 years ago, the Empire of Zebrica, after a losing war, launched magical nuclear weapon equivalents, Balefire Bomb Megaspells, against Equestria. From information we were able to gather, they were particularly desperate to destroy Princess Luna after she had taken the throne after her sister stepped down. This appears to be based on a prophecy regarding an alternate personality known as Nightmare Moon, which had taken over the mind of the princess 1200 years earlier.” Explained the doctor, not changing the image since it was obviously not all there was.

“Functionally, Zebra share most of the same traits as Earth Ponies, meaning they are physically superior to humans as well as Pegasi and Unicorns, but they also have a type of spellcasting of their own, namely the creation of “Talismans” enchanted items which can trigger spells. They used this to create ballistic missiles which would activate the Balefire Bomb Megaspells as well as bombs with the Pink Cloud among others. Zebra are also known for Alchemy and Potions Making.” Explained Doctor Ratter before a new clip with several images were shown.

One was of a group of small Zebra, foals more than likely, with guns and other weapons clenched in their mouths or mounted on saddles. The other was of tribalistic Zebra in tattered gear with tattered flags. “There are several factions of Zebra in the Equestrian Wasteland, two of which were encountered by our survey teams. The first are the “Wasteland Crusaders”, a tribe made of Zebra foals who, until recently, had been banishing those of them who had grown beyond a certain point. This, as we have been told, was following their parents being abducted by Slavers, leaving the Foals behind.” Explained Doctor Ratter, sighing as she conveyed yet another rather disheartening fact of that reality.

“The other faction was encountered around the area known as the Hoofington Wasteland, named so due to centering around the city of Hoofington which has been long abandoned due to it’s dangerous aberrant magical radiation. This second faction are descendants of the Zebrican army who continue hostilities after 200 years. Basically, those Japanese spec-Ops people who missed the memo in 45.” This was met with some chuckles, some small jokes were kind of something normal to the unit, not the foundation at large but when you deal with anomalous communities like the British Ministry of Magic, who throw common sense out the window by breathing, you get your chuckles where you can.

“Moving on, we have confirmed information on the names of the six Alicorn foals. They are, unlike the Artificial Alicorns, by all magical means of investigation 100% authentic Alicorns, making them currently, the strongest beings known.” Continued Doctor Ratter as she switched to a slide of one of them, this one the white coated filly with the red and blue mane who had been wearing that armor.

“Subject 1: Rose Evans-Heartstrings, orphaned at age 1, originally male. Adopted by a lesbian pony pair, Lyra Heartstrings and Bon-Bon, who were cryogenically frozen in an Underground Bunker 200 years ago. Originally the subject’s name was Harry James Potter, son of James Potter and Lily Potter nee Evans, taking her mother’s maiden name.” That surprised Muller, the rather famous Boy-Who-Lived was now a small filly of all things.

The slide, however, moved on to another white filly but with a purely red mane and tail. “Next is Rainy Weasley, formerly Ronald Weasley, Pureblood and before the transformation, second-youngest child of the Weasley Patriarch and head of the Department of Magical Aritfact confiscation, or what it’s called. Anyway, currently the youngest daughter biologically.” Stated the doctor and… yeesh.

The third slide showed one of the Anthropomorphic children, a dark brown girl with bushy brown hair. “One of two who were female originally, Subject 3 is Hermione Jean Granger, Muggle-born daughter of Dentists and… Agent Granger, sit down. You were aware from the start your niece was involved.” That statement surprised a few, including Agent Granger who winced in return before sitting down while the doctor moved on with the slides.

This time it was another filly, she had a cream coat with extremely long, bushy, brown mane and tail combo. She stood bipedally and next to Rose, making it clear she was the smallest of the group by a large enough margin to be noticed in this stance.

“Subject Four, Ruby Hagrid.” This met with silence as everyone stared at the biggest change up until now. “Originally named Rubeus Hagrid, a Half-Giant wizard who was convicted on false charges as a scapegoat of the Heir of Slytherin incident 50 years ago. She is the same biological age of 8 years as the others and has been reenrolled into Hogwarts as a student.” Explained Ratter and that made those who attended Hogwarts smile just a bit.

The fifth slide was of a pale Alicorn filly with a bright blue coat and a silver mane and tail. She was photographed seemingly on a firing range as she had a gun in her mouth. “Subject five: Argent Ambition, formerly Hogwarts Caretaker and Squib Argus Filch.” This announcement caused more than one of the resident wizards to exclaim “Bullshit” in response to this, but they were largely ignored.

“She has been enrolled in Hogwarts after a crash course with the others in second year. Same for Subjects 4 and 6.” Added Ratter and if Muller was honest? If Filch was a Squib then he could perfectly understand his foul attitude. Nice for him to be made able to do magic too now.

“Subject six is former Hogwarts occupying ghost, Myrtle Warren, the last Victim of the Monster of Slytherin and only fatality of the incident 50 years ago.” Stated the doctor, showing a slide with an Anthropomorphic girl with a white coat and silver mane and tail. The fact that the ghosts got turned into living ponies was a surprise.

“Lastly, we were made aware of a malevolent organization operating within the Ponston ruins, called the Institute.” Stated the Doctor, the slide show changing to an image of a dead pony with another standing over them, holding some metal parts in their hoof. “This Institute has been known for performing unethical experiments and replacing ponies with duplicate impostors known as Synths, short for Synthetics. An unnamed operative of a thought-extinct race known as Changelings, tried abducting Subject 1 for unknown purposes but the subject escaped.” Explained Doctor Ratter which just made that group another something to look out for.

“Do we know anything else about the Institute? And how dangerous are they?” Asked Doctor Davis Taran as he frowned. A sigh escaped the doctor as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“Well, strap in boys, we’re going down a Rabbit Hole that would make Alice proud.”

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – ???, Glowing Sea, Ponston Wasteland ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed as I reloaded my gun.

It was the fifth time a Synth had come to my cave to try and capture me, this weekend alone. Luckily they didn’t have much of a chance.

As I headed back further into the cave I heard the jingle I had programmed my Ham Radio to give off when someone was sending on it’s frequency, it was one of the few things I had to spice up my dreary hideyhole. “Yes Mobius? What is it?” I asked after picking up the receiver, feeling already tired at this point.

“Well aren’t you a bit cranky, eh Vergil? Not happy to hear from your old buddy Doctor Mobius?” Asked the computer generated voice I knew from the other side.

“I’m a bit tired alright? Just had to fend off more of those damn Synths. So, what’s the matter? The Railroad doing alright?” I asked, as I tried to keep from yawning too much. My magic was doing quite fine but mental exhaustion was a thing.

“Well, you’ll love the news I have, it’s not about the Railroad though. You see, I just got news that a few months ago, almost 800 ponies got out of Stable 111 and are currently staying in a Radiation shielded area nearby. Maybe They are among them?” Suggested the doctor and I blinked, surprised to hear that.

“Please tell me that isn’t some sick joke, after what Kellog did there...” I didn’t like finishing the sentence, closing my eyes to keep myself calm. That atrocity was just not something I liked to be reminded of, much less in jest.

“I may have some screw loose girl, but I assure you I wouldn’t joke about that. Mind you, the stable once housed 2500 ponies, the loss of life is quite staggering even with 800 survivors.” Responded the doctor and I nodded in agreement.

“Well, I hope things will go well then. Direct them to me if anypony comes your way.” I stated, smiling, a rare thing for me to do if I was being honest. Especially with everything that had been going on.

“Sure will dear, Mobius out.” With that the transmission cut to static as I hung up myself, a small spark of hope growing my be breast but I contained it, to make sure it didn’t draw more to me.

Maybe, just maybe, today was a good day after all.

Chapter 21: A Change of Pace Part 3

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I yawned as I awoke in the morning, my dreams had been fairly calm this night, which I was thankful for at least.

“Hey there, had a good sleep?” Asked Lyra, nuzzling me as I sighed contently, damn you don’t realize how much you miss out on something until you get it, you know that? I don’t think I’d be able to make it through school entirely if I hadn’t been adopted and introduced ot this, who knows what sort of experience I would’ve had?

“Yeah mom.” I mumbled before yawning again and getting up to help with putting away our camp.

We packed up the tent and other equipment we had used, a cleaning charm was quite useful there, then continued on our way. Thanks to our destinations being along this Highway there was no danger of us getting lost, thankfully.

We eventually made it to Salt Cube City, or the settlement made in the ruins of it. There were a few of the skyscrapers still left in the city, but on the other hoof, most of the rest was ruins with tents or makeshift houses around. There were a lot of traders though. Especially around the central dome.

“So, there was just this huge cube of salt in the center of the city, and that’s the main attraction it had?” I asked, not quite sure what to think about this whole concept.

“To be fair, it was the biggest natural deposit of salt found in Equestria up to that point. The thing was carved out of the rock and while it was a perfect cube, it was so little work to make it into one afterward that people considered it a bit of a miracle.” Explained Bon-Bon to me as we made our way inside after paying the toll for entry into the city, it wasn’t that much to be honest, 20 caps a pony, 10 for a foal.

I had a feeling, this was related to a certain undead filly.

“Well, you seem to know a whole lot more about that cube than the rest of us folks, had a Ghoul tell you that?” Asked a voice and as we turned, a older stallion come over, he was accompanied by a mare with a radio tower for a Cutie Mark who looked… out of place here.

“No sir, Bon-Bon and I were locked up in Cryogenic pods in Stable 111 for 200 years. So, we’ve been around when that cube was discovered. I take it you’re a local?” Asked Lyra, looking at the pair of Ponies as they come over.

“You could say so, you can call me Mister White, I had run the White Apples Tribe until a few months ago along with being employer of the Hired Hooves. Though I’m now retired, and just wander as a trader for fun.” He explained and I blinked, that was kind of weird, and I didn’t get most of what he meant by that.

“I see, well we’re only passing through, we heard that a filly in a Mark VI Omni-Environmental Suit had come here, a foal named Puppysmiles searching for her mother, Rainy Days.” Stated Bon-Bon and I noticed the stallion tensing a moment.

“So you’re searching for the little Ghost?” Asked the mare with Mister White, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes that is what some people have called her I think. Did you meet her?” Asked Lyra and the pair looked to one another for a moment.

“Well, you can say that.” Started Mister White, sighing. “I kind of hired her, thought that suit may make it easier for her to see into that dome over there. Turned out quite alright but I didn’t know she was invincible so… Not the proudest day of my life, even though it saved the town.” He admitted and… yeah, it was kind of a shit thing to do, sending a small child out to do something.

“Why didn’t you send someone else?” Asked Lyra, sounding concerned even though we had kind of figured out that Puppysmiles hadn’t been a normal filly by any stretch of the imagination.

“I admit, my actions were… well not much point to dance around the pot, is there? I was a horrible person. I was only interested in getting an idea on how to get rid of the Ghouls. I didn’t realize how messed up it was until it was done. She was just this strange filly who wandered in wearing a state-of-the-art environmental protective suit and wanted to go in anyway so… Yeah. Naturally now I know she was a literal ghost and basically invincible anyway.” Explained Mister White and yeah, it was shitty of him to do so.

“Well, you wouldn’t know by any chance a place where we can place a portal mirror we have with us to return to the school? I don’t think we’ll make it much further before Rose has to return for classes tomorrow.” Explained Bon-Bon and I bit my tongue on that one. I’d love to continue and find something more about Puppysmiles, but yeah. School was necessary.

“I believe we can arrange that. Hogwarts has become somewhat of a household name as a trade hub after all and I believe it won’t take much convincing to set it up.” Explained Mister White and smiled. “In fact, if you return next week, I assume that is when it would be weekend for that school, I think I’ll have something ready for the three of you. Just as a bit of a favor.” He stated and we looked to one another.

That sounded… interesting, at least?

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Sunset Shimmer ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset Shimmer, once a student of Princess Celestia and one who had fled Equestria out of selfish desires.

Sunset Shimmer, now lead singer of the Rainbooms and graduate of Centerlot Highschool.

Sunset Shimmer, an explorer who had gone through the mirror after hearing it had become active again, only to find herself in an unknown location.

The Mirror in question was one which had connected to a place called Earth, one with humans and no ponies, but also no overt magic. That was until Sunset had run afoul of some “Wizards” and had, instinctively, tapped into her magic without knowing what was going on. The MACUSA had been surprisingly understanding when they come after her, surprising for an isolationist culture like this.

Then, a few months ago, at the same time that news come that the British magic school of “Hogwarts” had disappeared, the mirror become active. The mirror which had transported her to Earth and which sat in the base of the schoolyard fountain in Canterlot High.

It had gone inactive 2 years earlier, a few months before Sunset would’ve gone back to steal the Element of Magic for herself which was back before she had gotten therapy and been helped by her later on friends. But she hadn’t noticed the mirror going active until she was approached by the MACUSA again, this time with rather… disturbing questions.

“Does this look familiar?” Asked the magical policemen as he showed Sunset Shimmer a strange, bloated creature which was clearly not from Earth and was a sickly green color.

“I- not really? I mean, it looks like a deformed Parasprite, I think?” She answered, uncertain about the creature. It would be pretty disturbing for the cute and ravenous creatures to… change like that.

“You’re correct. This creature is a so called a “Bloatsprite”, it come through that mirror portal last week and had to be destroyed as it was attacking students. Before you ask, our knowledge of what this is called comes from the Hogwarts incident.” Explained the MACUSA agent and Sunset frowned. She remembered reading about that, in one of those magic newspapers she had subscribed to a while back.

Hogwarts, a British school for magic, the premier school of such in Europe alongside Berbeauxton’s in France and Durmstrang in the upper Northern reaches of Europe, had vanished near the end of the 1991-1992 school year and was replaced by some post-apocalyptic looking landscape.

“How are they related?” She asked, it concerned her deeply if she was honest.

“Hogwarts was, apparently, transported to another world. That world had suffered a severe apocalypse which involved magical weapons of mass destruction being launched between two nations, in one of which Hogwarts was transported. More specifically the school landed in the ruins of Eastern Equestria, the Ponston Wasteland.” Stated the agent and Sunset visibly flinched at this wording.

“E- Equestria? But how? It hasn’t been that long since I was there, how could Equestria be destroyed?” She asked, fear in her voice at the idea that her home universe had been devastated like that. She had seen in human fiction what this sort of world could look like.

“That is the thing, you were there last when Equestria hadn’t reached the industrial age. However, the war that destroyed it did so after an industrial revolution over 200 years ago.” Stated the officer which made Sunset recoil at the idea.

“But it’s only been two years since the mirror stopped working! There is no way 200 years could have passed!” Argued Sunset, shivering at the idea of such an extreme difference in how much time had passed between the two worlds.

“It is the best explanation we have at the moment and every report of our embassy indicates this to be accurate. More over, before the war Equestria appears to have gone through a massive industrialization period, leading up to the war itself. This resulted in them developing magically derived analogues to many technologies the Muggles have, such as guns and tanks, but also much more advanced concepts such as powered armor and energy weapons of the laser, plasma and cryokinetic kinds.” Explained the officer and Sunset felt her stomach dropping more and more.

“Sweet Celestia, why? I don’t understand how things could go so wrong, Equestria… I don’t know if Equestria had ever an actual war in it’s entire history!” She finally stated, shaking her head, it just didn’t sound right, not in the least!

“We’re not sure ourselves, the details on what led to all of this are, as far as we can tell, lost to history after 200 years of ponies clinging to existence in the post-apocalyptic world. Currently, we have removed the mirror from school grounds and put it under supervision with aid from an International Organization which deals with anomalous artifacts like this and have more resources to dedicate to this.” Explained the officer and Sunset nodded, she knew that the MACUSA was a fairly small, non-militarized organization.

“So, where do I come in? I left Equestria apparently decades before their industrialization, much less that war.” Asked Sunset, feeling sick at the thought of all that death and destruction.

“Well, we would request that you and your friends travel to the UK, alongside diplomats from the MACUSA. The UK is currently in control of the only mirror leading to Hogwarts with several other portal mirrors located within the world of Equestria. Your task will be to establish relations if possible and investigate the history if possible. We’re also concerned with certain… elements within the British Ministry gaining access to weapons like these “Balefire Bomb” Megaspells.” Explained the officer and Sunset nodded.

“Alright, I’ll talk to the others and ask them if they want to come along. I’m definitely going there to investigate for myself.” Stated Sunset, swallowing a lump in her throat.

“Very well, please inform us about your decision within the next 48 hours and prepare for the trip. One last thing, you will more than likely need to talk to the locals about getting some… I believe they call it “Barding” as the one produced at Hogwarts is warded against residual magical radiation from the Balefire Bomb detonations. Mind you, Hogwarts itself is free of this radiation due to it’s wards protecting it.” Stated the officer and Sunset nodded, swallowing a lump in her throat, again.

“Just what kind of fucked up weapons did the Zebra invent?” She muttered under her breath, shuddering.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So, you’re saying that your Homeworld went Magipunk, got blown to shit and now it’s basically a post-nuclear wasteland but full of magic?” Asked Rainbow Dash after they had all gathered in Sunset’s apartment to discuss the situation, which got her some weird looks.

“Well, yes, that’s the basic state of things. And a British magical school, Hogwarts, is now stuck there with all of it’s inhabitants at the time of their transportation being permanently turned into ponies.” Stated Sunset, not liking the sound of those facts. Sure, the “Pureblood” wizards could pass as human, nobody commented on her own yellow skin or flame-colored hair. And in the city they lived in those hair colors weren’t that uncommon even though Sunset had realized that the skin color was a residual effect of her being from Equestria, at least on the others.

“Well, I would love to go there, that magical technology they developed sounds fascinating.” Stated Twilight, taking notes as she did so. The mousy, overly studious girl had been a late addition to their group, the counterpart of Sunset’s fellow student of Celestia and a former student of Crystal Prep School. She had, somehow, managed to develop devices to detect and later absorb, magic and it took them quite a lot to get her out of a bit of a magical overload.

It was an interesting situation. The first time they had found out about magic on Earth had been when three “Sirens” had come to Canterlot High and attacked. They were repelled in the end but it had been an uphill battle. It was a few months after the Crystal Prep incident that the MACUSA had stepped in, contacting them. It appeared the proximity of the portal had made those within the walls of the school magical, or it may have been Sunset’s pressence, nobody knew.

“Well, I’m not gonna sit here and let you two go alone, I’m in!” Declared Rainbow Dash in answer to Twilight.

“Heh, I’ll obviously come too, I’d love to see what my counterpart ended up doing there.” Stated Applejack, grinning at the idea of an adventure.

“I- I will go too.” Spoke up Fluttershy, the only one of the group with a living counterpart. It was one point of information she had gotten in a ledger, about the situation of Equestria that is. “I want to make sure other Fluttershy is okay, I’m worried what being alone in such a horrible situation has done to her.” Stated Fluttershy swallowing nervously.

“I go too, I can’t stand the idea of letting those poor children go around in what may be rags! And if I can help some ponies with other things? All the better.” Stated Rarity, quite sure of herself and that got some chuckles from the rest.

“Oh I’m gonna go too! If Fluttershy the Pony is sad I’ll throw her the biggest bestest party of all!” Declared Pinkie Pie at that point, bouncing in her seat with excitement at a whole new place to, well, party up. It was one thing that really didn’t match the current state of Equestria.

“Well, I guess then we have a decision, huh? Alright, I tell Officer Williams we’re all going. Pack up everyone, we’ll be going to the Wasteland.” Stated Sunset Shimmer and got nods from those around her.

Operation: Wasteland Contact, was a go.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

I sighed as we stepped through the mirror into Hogwarts.

The mirror had been set up in the middle of the Saltcube City dome and was now going to be a hub for trade. Yeah, so basically normal activity at Hogwarts and it’s Trade Hub. I did notice that there was a lot of traffic, even when it was this late in the afternoon.

“So Lily, I think you should go to your house now, we see you tomorrow during your break, alright?” Asked Lyra and I nodded, smiling before we went our separate ways.

I took flight and made my way to Hogwarts. I could probably get some dinner and then? Sleep sounded awesome. Sure I was tempted to use my Time Turner to get more time, but that would be misusing the device and I didn’t want to do that. Sure, while I didn’t believe the stance the mainstay Steel Rangers followed that magical devices, or technology, shouldn’t be used without supervision, I could agree that there was a time and place for using something and such things shouldn’t be used lightly.

Coming to the Great Hall I opened the doors just enough to enter and the attention of those inside was instantly on me. Luckily, not negatively. I made my way to the Gryffindor table and sat down, getting a good selection of food offered a moment later.

“So, how was that Route 52 trip?” Asked Rainy after swallowing something she had been eating.

“Interesting, and a good test of the bardings I think. I didn’t feel the desert heat at all.” I responded before taking a bite.

“Did you find anything out?” Asked Hermione, looking at me expectantly, it was nice to be back to be honest.

“Yup, apparently the “Ghost of 52” was in fact Puppysmiles Days, a filly from 200 years ago who Lyra and Bon Bon knew due to ther mom, Rainy Days. She apparently revived as something like a ghost in a hazmat suit and was running along the road to try and find her mother though the only guy who knew the full story, Mister White, didn’t want to “Spoil” the conclusion.” I explained and we soon lapsed into a merry conversation about the things we had done each. I was a bit surprised by Hermione pursuing a medical education from the Applejack’s Rangers chapter, but then again we had worked with them a lot.

Rainy meanwhile talked about how her she had to let her parents go over all the items she had on her, father marveling over her laser rifle since it was, instead of a Muggle weapon enhanced with magic, a device meant to channel magical energy from a battery into an array of Talismans which turned the energy into a beam of light, a laser in other words.

The fact it had a scope on it and thus could be used with far more precision than a wand hadn’t helped and she had to show him how it was used later on the Burrow. Her mom hadn’t been happy but conceded that having a weapon that could end a fight relatively easily was preferable to taking it away from her. Ginny had chimed in at that point to say that she found it unfair that their mom had conceded to Rainy but refused to let him go with us on our next excursion.

Mind you, I could understand why. We had been dealing with and training under various traders who passed by before we ever left the schoolgrounds, we had also been older than him and had a full year of magical education behind us. Not to mention the fact that we didn’t need permission at the time since it would’ve been fairly difficult to stop us, especially since it was summer vacation at the time.

After dinner we headed back to Gryffindor Tower, I was especially tired from walking all day and so I didn’t even wait for anything to go to bed.

Besides, Luna had told me she would start on some more advanced lessons soon. I couldn’t wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Twilight Sparkle ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“I can’t believe it! Twilight how did you manage to get out of Trixie?” Asked the Ghoul Pegasus as she stared in wide eyed wonder at the tall Alicorn mare who had come to her.

“I’m not quite sure Rainbow, I think Trixie ejected me and the others from the Hive Mind, maybe it was a last vestige of her wanting to repent, or maybe it was just self-preservation. I don’t even know if Gestalt and Mosaic were ejected and got to bodies of their own or not.” Explained Twilight with a sigh, ignoring the stares she got from the passing-by Pegasi of Thunderhead City.

“Well, I’m just glad there’s more of us still alive than I had thought. Or, well, as far alive as I count, being a Ghoul and all that. Did you know I have no Life Signs?” Asked Rainbow and Twilight smiled just a bit, it was a well known fact from what she knew from the various absorbed Unicorns, that Ghouls were essentially animated corpses, which obviously made some sense to her given the nature of Radiation.

“Well, I wish I knew what happened to the others, I know Pinkie didn’t survive, Littlepip played a recording of her’s before I had to vacate the Alicorn body I was inhabiting at first because it had a mind already. But the others I’m not so sure about.” Explained Twilight with a sigh as she thought about all they had lost over the span of 200 years.

“Well, I can tell you, though it’s not all that pretty.” Stated Rainbow, sitting down and sighing. “First, Spike’s alive, he calls himself Watcher around most people and is still standing guard at the Gardens of Equestria. We should go visit him, I’ve done it before but… well the only pony I can think of that he would be happier with seeing than you is Rarity, unless he lost that crush.” Explained Rainbow and that got her a neighing laugh of her old friend at the memory of the smitten baby dragon he used to be.

“What about her? Rarity I mean, what happened to her?” Asked Twilight and Rainbow Dash’s face fell.

“She’s dead, I found her bones 154 years ago when I went to investigate Canterlot. Barely made it out without my armor fusing to me. She was stuck with her hoof in a window, in the Ministry of Peace hub and from what I’ve been told by a eyewithness, this come due to her plucking a hole in the window to buy some time for a teleportation spell. She died of exposure to the Pink Cloud but managed to cast the spell.” Explained Rainbow Dash and Twilight choked on a sob at this knowledge, Generosity, to the very end.

“Speaking of, the ones she saved? They’re Fluttershy and Angel Bunny, and Fluttershy’s still alive. Evidently the teleportation spell had sent her as close to Zecora’s hut as possible but she landed in Poison Joke, which transformed her into a tree. Angel Bunny’s been petrified too but Flutter got freed and is currently working at a place that has a potion to reverse petrification.” Explained Rainbow and Twilight nodded, glad to hear that their friend had made it in one way, though she had a feeling it wasn’t without mental scars.

“What about Applejack? What happened to her?” Asked Twilight and Rainbow Dash smiled softly.

“That actually is one of the nicer things. She went to Ponyville to help with the evacuation into Stable 2. But the Overmare, Sweetie Belle, didn’t let her out. Did you know she was in a relationship with Steel Hooves? You know, Applesnack? She was with his foal at the time. She, as far as I know, died of old age in the Stable, her descendants more than likely including both Littlepip and one Velvet Remedy, the latter being a direct descendant of Sweetie Belle from what I heard.” Explained Rainbow and Twilight nodded, relief flooding her at knowing that, at the very least, one of them had a peaceful death.

“There is a bit of bad news though.” Stated Rainbow and Twilight looked at her, concerned. “You see, I met a mare from Stable 99, your descendant.” She stated and Twilight’s face almost immediately went red as a tomato. “Yeah I found out about you and Big Mac, sadly that mare died but, on the bright side, she had a foal that had been transferred to a surrogate because her cybernetics wouldn’t let her carry the baby to term. Her name was Blackjack, by the way, total badass but had the worst luck I’ve ever seen.” Explained Rainbow Dash and Twilight swallowed, she wasn’t sure how to think of that.

“I… I remember her, the Goddess was trying to make her assassinate Littlepip and had all those horrible plans for her too. Luna damn it, now I feel even worse about being unable to stop Trixie.” Muttered Twilight, hanging her head in shame at the memory of that event.

“It’s fing Twilight, I mean, you didn’t have much of a chance with Trixie as she was. Look at me, I couldn’t stop those assholes using my Ministry’s work to screw over all the ponies on the ground by forming that stupid Pegasus Enclave. And I still needed Blackjack and her group’s help to stop that damn plot to make a Pegasi affecting strain of the Raider Disease.” Stated Rainbow Dash with a sigh, and Twilight patted her on the back, she knew that feeling.

“You know what? We should go check on Fluttershy, we’re the last of our friends and I doubt we can find Rarity’s remains in the rubble for a proper burial, sadly.” Offered Twilight and Rainbow chuckled.

“You sure you want to go with this old bag of bones to a school for kids? I never was the studious type.” She responded and Twilight couldn’t help a laugh of her own.

“Don’t worry, I’m going to help you with any homework they may give you. Besides, we’re the same age.” She responded and the two friends chuckled at the humor.

With that, the previous bearers of Magic and Loyalty set out to find Kindness.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Omake Time! ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~ Title: SCP File: SCP-MP001-a ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~

Item Number: SCP-MP001-a

Object Class: Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: Subject is contained alongside SCP-MP001 and all other instances, by GoI “International Confederacy of Wizards” or ICW. Disinformation campaigns on the Internet are to remain the primary means of keeping the public unaware of events, focused mainly on the Scottish Highlands around Hogsmeade.

Description:

SCP-MP001-a is the designation for Hogwarts student “Rose Evans-Heartstrings” or Subject-1. The subject was formerly known as Harry James Potter but due to the transposition event, has been transformed into a biologically 8 years old young member of the equine race known as “Alicorns”.

Ths subject takes the shape of a white, horse-like creature with a single horn on the forehead and a pair of wings capable of flight. The horn functions similar to ICW related “Wands” and allows the casting of anomalous spells. Subject is particularly powerful because of it’s nature as an Alicorn and can perform major forms of Telekinesis alongside the standard spells list of ICW citizens.

SCP-MP001-a currently resides within the “Equestrian Wasteland” and is therefore contained alongside the primary anomaly leading there. Subject has also shown benevolent tendencies in interactions with others and at this point does not appear to pose a threat unless provoked.

It is noted by MTF Omegon-8 that there has been an effort made by Goblins, on instructions by SCP-MP001-a, to fight against the continued production and distribution of materials vital to Procedure Octogon-Gamma-9, used in the containment of [Redacted]. It is advised to contact the subject or it’s Goblin lawyer to try and dissuade them from this cause of action, though the aforementioned Lawyer is unlikely to comply due to the promise of 75% of profits from suing the publishers and writers going to the Goblin ran Gringott’s bank.

Proposal SCP-MP001-a 1:

Submission By: Doctor Bright

Goal” Recruitment of Subject into MTF Omegon-8 due to subject’s inherent abilities of Atmokinesis, superhuman strength, resilience and magic.

Response: DENIED, - 05-1, 05-2, 05-4

Notes: This is a kid Bright, we’re not the most ethical of organizations but we’re talking about a civilian school child who we have no authority over. Not to mention that [REDACTED]. So knock it off!

Proposal SCP-MP001 1:

Submission By: Doctor Auto Clef

Goal: Cease SCP-MP001, toss a nuke in and shatter the mirror. Boom, we’re rid of the damn thing.

Response: DENIED 05-1 to 05-13 (Consensus)

Notes: SCP-MP001 is one of the least dangerous anomalies we do not directly contain at the moment, not only that but the other side is situated on a school for 11 to 17 years old children and teenagers. Our motto is Secure Contain Protect, not Seize Cauterize Pulverize. - 05-1

Proposal SCP-MP001 2:

Submission By: Agent Teryl Granger

Goal: Make direct contact with Hogwarts leadership and try to establish both a solution for the legal situation and possibly trade for Arcanotech Devices such as weapons and other such objects.

Response: Pending

Notes: Congratulations on being a rational human being in spite of SCP-MP001-3 being your niece. We will review your request for now. If you can get in contact with the subject, try to be subtle. 05-1

Chapter 22: A Change of Pace Part 4

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~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

The second week of the school year went by fairly easily.

Lessons were still staying relatively basic and Hermione was ripping her mane out trying to figure out how I was attending two classes at the same time. It was amusing. I did keep my sleep schedule reasonable by using the Time Turner on occasion to take a nap where others wouldn’t find me easily, and I had run more than once into a professor doing the same. Hell, I had slept next to Severus Snape on Wednesday.

No, not that way, like a foal next to an older pony, normal ass sleeping. God I’m spending too much time around older teens I think.

Anyway, the highlight of the week come on Friday afternoon, when a purple Alicorn and a power armored Ghoul Pegasus with bushels of her multi-colored mane, come to visit Hogwarts. At the time I had been volunteering for overhead watch for the South gate and while neither Ghouls nor Alicorns were exactly a rarity, the pair who had gotten the first Artificial Alicorn pregnancy at Hogwarts for example had settled down in the town, these two were distinctive due to the Alicorn having a lighter than usual coat AND a Cutie Mark, while the Ghoul Mare was, on top of what appeared to be a rainbow mane, blue in color.

“Halt, please identify yourselves.” I halted them, having flown over after raising a barrier. This was procedure these days to make it easier to keep track of new and unknown arrivals. I had for that purpose a talisman linked to my Pipbuck that controlled the closest gate.

“Hoo you must be one of the Alicorn students, right? Geez is that how princess Celestia looked as a filly?” Asked the Ghoul, whose identity I was suspecting but wanted confirmation.

“Yes, I’m Rose Evans-Heartstrings, now would you two mind iden- why are you looking at me like that?” I asked, the two had gotten shocked expressions on mention of my second family name, admittedly the Ghoul may have known Lyra. More than likely in fact.

“Wait, Heartstrings? Like Lyra Heartstrings? I thought all the students here were from another world, not related to anypony from before the war?” Asked the Alicorn, sounding very much shocked by this revelation.

“I’m not related by blood, Lyra and Bon Bon have adopted me after we found them when they got tawed in Stable 111.” I answered, wondering when I got an ID from those two.

“Wait they’re still alive? Sweet Celestia how did the Cutie Mark Crusaders manage to keep those two alive?” Asked the Ghoul and it took me a solid five seconds to remember who she was talking about, the Stable-Tec founders who had been part of a group of fillies whose goal it was to earn their Cutie Marks.

“Everyone who entered Stable 111 was cryogenically frozen, so they didn’t actually age over the course of 200 years. Sadly, around 16 years ago the Stable’s maintenance and security personnel, who would wake up periodically to perform maintenance, received codes from the Arcane Institute of Research and Education and were slaughtered, with Lyra and Bon Bon’s adopted daughter, Snowy Dreams, being taken. We think the culprits are the “Institute”, a faction around here who apparently replaces people with Synthetic creations. No idea what that means.” I explained and sighed before standing up to get a bit more height, surprising the two with my bipedal standing.

“Now, identify yourselves will you? I’m currently on guard duty for this gate and I can’t let some Ghoul and an unidentified Alicorn waltz in. We had Raider Alicorns before.” I stated and both looked at me, then turned to one another bewildered before the Ghoul mare shrugged.

“Alright, fair enough I guess. I’m Rainbow Dash, formerly of the Ministry of Awesome, and next to me is Twilight Sparkle, mind and soul and all that transferred into that body.” Stated the Ghoul, Rainbow Dash.

“Well, I was suspecting that.” I admitted, then used a tap on my Pipbuck to open the gate. “Sorry about the suspicion, we’re one of the largest communities around these parts by now and we’ve had members of Gunner’s Talons scouting out the school from outside the barrier and given someone tried abducting me...” I explained, shrugging.

“No sweat, I understand why you were so insistent about security with how the Wasteland has been. So, can you point us to where Fluttershy is around here? And maybe Lyra and Bon Bon? Would be nice to see some old friends.” Responded Rainbow Dash and I chuckled at that.

“Sure, Professor Fluttershy lives down in the town, and not far from my moms house either.” I responded and gave them some more directions to go, but I didn’t go along with them as I had my guard duty here. I’d be a pretty bad guard if I abandoned my post like this because of some VIPs coming through. And I didn’t have an excuse since this shift was my assignment alone since I had the firepower and magic for most situations.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Rainbow Dash ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash had seen a lot, she knew the same couldn’t be said for Twilight due to her being stuck in one place for two centuries, but it was fairly clear that the Alicorn filly had her somewhat distracted as they made their way to the town.

“So, Twilight, what’s on your mind?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking to her friend who was startled from her obvious contemplations. She missed those kinds of moments, Twilight being a nerd who overthinks things, Applejack overworking herself, Pinkie being… well, Pinkie. You get the idea.

“Ah, sorry it’s nothing, it just felt like she had a familiar magical signature, not her core magic mind you, more like something has attached itself to her.” Explained Twilight, her voice still a bit odd to Rainbow Dash as it sounded much closer to the voice of Princess Celestia or Luna than her friend. But then she herself was a Ghoul and had a voice more gravelly, than just about any old Stallion from before the war.

“Who did it remind you of?” Asked Rainbow Dash, looking at her friend in curiosity as they passed by some Caravan Traders who looked at them curiously but neither paid them much mind.

“Well… It felt, just a bit, like I was standing across from Princess Luna on opposite sides of the Throne Room of Canterlot. Like she was incredibly far away but I could feel it coming just from miss Evans.” Explained Twilight and Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, or what was left of that area of skin anyway.

“Interesting, I wonder if that means anything.” Mused Rainbow, smiling a bit knowing it would take Twilight’s mind off of the troubles of their world for a little bit longer. A mystery to contemplate was a good mystery in her books.

After asking around, the ponies here were a lot more accepting of them surprisingly with a few Alicorns sprinkled here and there, including families who had been such before being absorbed into Unity. However, they eventually found the houses they were looking for, with one of them having a lot of animals around it who turned to them, including a large animal resembling a pony, a horn on it’s head but far too large and not the right shapes for being a native unicorn.

“Huh, wonder what that is.” Mused Rainbow Dash, watching the pure white creature as it grazed off to the side of the house, it’s sideways oriented eyes not missing them both.

“That would be a Unicorn from Earth.” Spoke up a voice and turning around they found a tiny Alicorn filly trotting over. Her mane and tail were individually gifted with twice the volume of her own size. “Hi, name’s Ruby Hagrid, formerly Keeper of Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, now student. Can I help you two?” Asked the filly, smiling at them with a bright smile that felt just too bright.

“Uh, yeah. We wanted to visit Fluttershy, I’m Rainbow Dash by the way, this is Twilight Sparkle.” Explained Rainbow Dash, deciding to cut to the chase as she watched the tiny Alicorn who looked way younger than the first they had met.

“Wait, like the Ministry Mares? Miss Fluttershy’s old friends?” Asked Ruby, quite surprised to hear that.

“Formerly, Ministry Mares yeah, these are her house and the house of Lyra and Bon Bon right?” Asked Rainbow Dash and Ruby nodded, smiling.

“Yeah, I bet they’ll be glad to see you two, miss Ditzy too.” Stated Ruby, before running to the doors, leaving the two mares stumped for a moment.

“Did she say, Ditzy? Like, Ditzy Doo?” Asked Twilight as she blinked.

“Yeah, I- I thought someone had taken her name, I didn’t know she was alive. Or, well, a Ghoul if she’s still around.” Spoke up Rainbow Dash before Ruby come back out the door and waved for them to come in.

Inside they found, indeed, both of the mares from Canterlot, Fluttershy, and a gray Pegasus Ghoul with strands of yellow mane and a lazy eye. “I- it’s really you?” Asked Fluttershy after seeing the two of them.

“Sure is, geez this has turned into a huge reunion huh?” Asked Rainbow, smiling as the two walked to the group as Ruby left the house, Fluttershy’s house.

After all, she wasn’t going to spoil the sweet moment.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“So you’re a teacher now Fluttershy? Man I always thought Twilight would be the first one to go into teaching among us.” Stated Rainbow, chuckling at the thought of this development. “Mind you, I can’t think of anypony more suited for a job like teaching “Care for Magical Beings” than you Flutter, remember that time you won a staring contest against a Cockatrice?” Fluttershy immediately flushed at the teasing, which just filled the room with more laughter.

Well, aside from Ditzy, who had to use a small blackboard and marker to write down what she wanted to say. [I’m just glad you two are alive, I thought for sure you were dead Twilight, after me and Littlepip met that Alicorn you were possessing and when your Cutie Mark faded from her.] Stated Ditzy, her writing pretty crisp given she had years of experience writing with her mouth now.

“Yeah, I was lucky that this body had been vacated because the horn was damaged by a Star Metal round. The damage has since healed due to the radiation but I’m not entirely sure if I want to test it yet.” Explained Twilight, lying on the ground as to make her on relative eyelevel with the others who sat on chairs and sofas around the room.

“Man whoever did that had to be pretty lucky, Purple Alicorns aren’t exactly known for staying in one place.” Stated Lyra and Twilight nodded.

“Yeah, it was odd. I remember hazily a dark pony but I can’t quite remember the details of the situation. I think Trixie had set up an observer or something.” Stated Twilight, rubbing her head with a sigh as she felt a headache coming up. It was odd, something seemed to have happened when she was ejected from the hivemind to block out certain memories.

“Well, I hope that Alicorn’s fine then, not shot up to hell by whoever shot your current body up.” Stated Rainbow, patting her friend on the shoulder as to reassure her.

I mean, it wasn’t like that pony would be much of a threat.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Nightmare Caesar/Voldemort ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

“For fuck’s sake, those “Children of Necro” can’t possibly be that well entrenched.” Growled Nightmare as she poored over the reports on the campaign on the island of Far Harbor.

They had been doing quite well until they found that a Hive of “Changelings” had vacated their base of Arcadia and moved in with a group known as the “Children of Atom”. It seemed that these Changelings were escaped Synths or something from the group called the “Institute” in Ponston.

That wasn’t the main issue though, even though Changeling spies were a headache as they were able to infiltrate her ranks and wreck havoc.

The main problem were the Children of Necro, a religious cult worshiping the Balefire Radiation and Necromancy. They were somehow resistant or immune to it and occupied an old Equestrian base on the island. It was well fortified, well supplied and it was iradiated.

Heavily Iradiated.

To make matters worse, a lot of Far Harbor residents had fled to a former Stable in a nearby Hotel, holing up with the Robobrains there who apparently chose to give the Asylum in exchange for assistance in fending off the Raiders.

On the rest of the island, things weren’t going much better. The Fauna on the damn place was vicious to a truly ridiculous degree, a “Mirelurk Overlord” for example occupied a large farmstead, there was a Mirelurk Queen in a nearby lake, and however those “Gulpers” bred, it seemed that for every Gulper killed another 20 took it’s place.

So yeah, things weren’t going to plan. Far Harbor, the Settlement, was well under Nightmare’s control, but there was the issue that her forces weren’t all that well equipped and now running low on ammo, with much of it stolen. Worse yet, the new slaves weren’t cooperating, quite vehemently refusing to work by stating that it was “better to be dead than working for Raiders”.

“Thy frustration we can understand, we cannot do much with our limited forces however.” Stated Marine and Nightmare sighed, her adviser was right there. They only had around 300 Raiders at the moment, and most of them were Earth Ponies with only a handful of Unicorns. Weapons were mostly melee weapons which wasn’t great against energy weapons and armor was… pathetic to be honest.

“Well, we’ll just have to raid somewhere nearby then. We cannot allow these Reprobates to continue resisting. Send Vulpes to the coast, he is the round up any Raiders or mercenaries he can. We have enough of those stupid bottlecaps for it I’m sure.” Ordered Nightmare and Marine bowed her head before heading out.

“I will not allow myself to be defeated here, this island will be mine with nobody denying my rule or I will burn it all down.” She growled under her breath as she glared out at sea.

Her rule was destiny itself, she was sure of that.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 3rd Pony POV – Sunset Shimmer ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

Sunset sighed as she and her friends finally got off of the Portkey, an international model that had taken four days to get alongside their passports for Britain.

They got some odd looks, especially Sunset herself who was naturally gifted with her colorful hair and yellow skin. The others only had the hair of their pony counterparts as far as anyone other than Sunset saw, but naturally non-magical people had a habit of dying their hair so… yeah.

“Hello there, here for a trip to the Wasteland?” Asked the Bartender, raising an eyebrow as he put down a glass he had been cleaning.

“Erm, yes? Does that happen a lot?” Asked Sunset, looking around at the weirdly run-down looking pub. //Why is this place like this?// She wondered in her thoughts.

“Well, the mirror’s over there. I take it ya girls are helping some native from over there get back after getting lost here?” Asked the bartender and… well he certainly had ideas.

“Actually, we’re from Canterlot Highschool, while Sunset is from Equestria she come from a mirror at our school which disconnected a few years ago and seems to have reconnected recently.” Explained Twilight, adjusting her glasses as she did so.

“Huh, didn’t know they had more mirrors leading here, you from Ponston, New Appleloosa or something? We’ve had some caravans come through for trade you see?” Asked the man and Sunset made note of these new names, Ponston she remembered as a city which had started construction around the time she left.

“Actually, for some reason time passed much faster on the other side before Hogwarts was transported there. I left Equestria long before that war we heard about.” Answered Sunset and the response was quite a surprised look from the man.

“You serious lass? Geez, sorry to hear that. I… the place is pretty messed up, just be prepared, alright?” He requested and Sunset swallowed, then nodded. “Here, put these on when you get through, don’t know much about ya time but ponies started wearing clothes and these are enchanted like the Hogwarts uniforms.” Explained the man, getting out a set of seven piles of clothes which Sunset realized were cut for ponies.

“Thanks, I hope there are some more stylish models though.” Admitted Rarity, looking at the fairly bland piece of clothing.

“Sure, just gotta pay up for that one.” Answered the man and they left for the mirror which hung from a wall.

“So, how does walking on all fours work?” Asked Rainbow Dash, turning to her friend who was the only one who had been to Equestria.

“As far as I know the transition helps, I didn’t have trouble walking on two legs when I got to Earth remember?” Responded Sunset Shimmer and, with nods, they all walked to the mirror before passing through one after another.

On the other side of the mirror they found themselves in a large townsquare, lush grass growing beneath their hooves and the small township looked fairly reminescend of wizard architecture. However, walking around them were various ponies, including Anthropomorphic Muggle-born, Halfbloods standing on their hindlegs along with normal ponies.

“Huh, we didn’t turn into those Anthro ponies, is it because we’re the counterparts of normal ponies?” Asked Twilight curiously, looking at her purple hoof until her glasses fell off. “Wait, I can see without my glasses? How does that work?” She asked surprised but Sunset chuckled, helping her pick up her glasses and putting them in her hair.

“Magic, Twilight, it’s magic. Now, we should get changed, I don’t think any of us want to walk around like this.” Stated Sunset, waving her hoof at their current situation with them slipping through over-sized human clothes.

“Yeah, no offense but being naked isn’t on my to-do list.” Stated Rainbow Dash and after a bit of asking, they were directed to some booths for changing into pony bardings. Apparently they were set up for visitors like them.

The bardings they now wore consisted of a basic bodysuit, not too different from what Sunset had been told to be the ones used in Stables, though with their crotches covered. Their flanks were, notably, revealed, likely for their Cutie Marks though the only one of them who had one was Sunset Shimmer herself, the others were human originally after all. There was also some more cloth above it, namely a small robe of sorts which was worn over the the bodysuit and was noted to be RAD repelling.

“So, where are we supposed to go anyway? To the big castle?” Asked Twilight as they walked through the town, looking around at the buildings, there was a cross of roads running through all the way and it was quite obvious that it was only growing as there were a handful of unfinished buildings visible on the edge of the town from the town center.

“Professor Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” This voice interrupted them and as they turned, they found a small filly with white fur to a red mane with blue strips in it. At first glance Sunset had thought her to be a unicorn, as she had a horn on her forehead, but a pair of wings on her sides contradicted it.

“P- professor? Su- Sunset?” Asked Fluttershy, not sure what to do at this point as the Alicorn Filly raised an eyebrow at the strange occurrence.

“Err, right, sorry but this isn’t the Fluttershy from here, we’re a Music Band from Earth, the Rainbooms. And my friend here is the counterpart to… er it was Minstry of Peace, right?” She asked, not sure what to think at this point but the filly nodded.

“Yes, Professor Fluttershy was the Ministry of Peace Mare, so does that mean those others are all… basically the Ministry Mares but from Earth? How does that work?” Asked the filly, eyeing them suspiciously and Sunset flinched a bit.

“Listen, it’s complicated okay? I’m from Equestria but the portal mirror I went through was disabled almost 3 years ago and it seems time passed almost a hundred times faster here while we were disconnected. We’re just here to see how the Fluttershy from here is doing and to make contact for MACUSA, which is the American counterpart to the Ministry of Magic.” Explained Sunset, trying to keep the likely well armed filly from turning hostile.

“Seriously? That… Well I guess it’s not the weirdest thing. I’m Rose Evans-Heartstrings by the way, Gryffindor Second Year student and Quidditch Seeker on the House Team. If you want to see Professor Fluttershy, she lives right next to my moms so I can lead you there.” Explained the Filly and Sunset let out a sigh of relief at that.

“Please do, we don’t know our way around here sadly.” Stated Sunset and Rose nodded before heading in one direction which they followed.

“So, how was it transitioning like this?” Asked Twilight, trying to get some info from the filly.

“Transition to what? Being a pony? A girl? Making my Nimbus 2000 a bit obsolete while having a replacement for a my wand stapled to my forehead?” Asked Rose, and while the words would’ve been somewhat snarky normally, she had said them in a casual way which implied that she wasn’t angry about the question.

“Uh, generally? Coming here?” Asked Twilight, not sure how to take that.

Rose? Rose shrugged. “It’s been alright, I think my body got most of the instincts done. Though the whole moving into the girl’s dormroom was quite a lot stranger. I mean, not as strange as the Headmaster becoming pregnant from our Charms professor, or the deputy headmistress who is also the Transfiguration Professor and head of Gryffindor house, becoming pregnant with the foal of the potions professor who is the head of Slytherin House. And less said about the ghost impregnating the ghost the better.” Explained Rose and the six Highschool students looked at one another, then decided they may need to ask a whole lot more questions later on.

~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~ 1st Pony POV – Rose Evans ~~~~~~~~~~~O~~~~~~~~~~~

The group of Ministry Mare Look-alikes was… odd.

Particularly since I had seen the various posters of their pony counterparts in Ponston. Especially Pinkie Pie. Most Especially Pinkie Pie. Wonder why?

“Wait, WHOA! There is a huge billboard with my face on it!” Yeah, that. If you’re wondering, there was a huge billboard from the Ministry of Morale overlooking the area, up on the hill of Stable 111. It was probably the most disconcerting poster around, the typical “Pinkie Pie is Watching You, FOREVER” poster. We would’ve taken the thing down months ago but there was a forcefield we couldn’t bypass, protecting it.

“Ministry of Morale, basically the Counter-Espeionage ministry, not to mention a secret police. From what I heard the Pinkie Pie who lived 200 years ago was a addict, addicted to Party-Time Mint-Als which she had made from the Zebra DrugMint-Als. Some “Pinkie Sense” got supercharged by it to let her see the future or something.” I explained and noted how Earth-Pinkie’s ears flattened at that, looking horrified.

“Well, that’s not good. Say what happened to our other counterparts? We know Fluttershy’s counterpart is still alive, something about a magic plant? What about the rest of us?” Asked the Rainbow Dash counterpart and I looked to her for a moment.

“Hoo boy, that’s gotta be a long story.” I muttered, getting raised eyebrows for it. “I don’t think I want to tell the tale, leave it to the adults I say, it’s the better option.” I stated and noted the blue Pegasus pout at that. “Though I will tell you this: There are three Ministry Mares still with us and here at Hogwarts. Two of them showed up Wednesday from what I have heard.” I added and that got their attention.

Hey, if I was going to leave them hanging, may as well give them something to think about, am I right?

Fallout: Equestria – The Hogwarts Chronicles

by Fanficwriter1994

Chapter 1: Transposition of the School

Chapter 2: Tales of the Vendor

Chapter 3: Development of the Lands

Chapter 4: Adventure of the Foals

Chapter 5: Seekers of the Lost Part 1

Chapter 6: Seekers of the Lost Part 2

Chapter 7: Seekers of the Lost Part 3

Chapter 8: Restoration of the Connection Part 1

Chapter 9: War of the Wastes Part 1

Chapter 10: War of the Wastes Part 2

Chapter 11: War of the Wastes Part 3

Chapter 12: New Year of the School

Chapter 13: School of the Wizards Part 1

Chapter 14: School of the Wizards Part 2

Chapter 15: School of the Wizards Part 3

Chapter 16: School of the Wizards Part 4

Chapter 17: School of the Wizards Part 5

Chapter 18: School of the Wizards Part 6

Chapter 19: A Change of Pace Part 1

Chapter 20: A Change of Pace Part 2

Chapter 21: A Change of Pace Part 3

Chapter 22: A Change of Pace Part 4