Classes on Halloween were light. It was difficult for the younger students to concentrate as the stories of the scheduled feast circulated.
To see how the entire Great Hall had been transformed was delightful. A thousand live bats fluttered from the walls and ceiling while a thousand more swooped over the tables in low, black clouds. They made the candles floating in the air, and in the pumpkins on all the tables, stutter and flutter. The pumpkins muttered and howled, at first, scattered down the tables with one every yard. Then they started telling ghost and bat jokes. Harry was impressed with their inventory.
The feast appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the start-of-term banquet, and they all began to dig in.
Professor Quirrell was not at his place, which was unusual, but the students didn’t care.
They were partway through meal when several Slytherin witches girls suddenly squeaked, followed a few moments later by the wizards. Then followed an exclamation of “I’m a boy!” almost at the same time as another shouted “I’m a girl!”
Harry’s first reaction, and most of the rest of the school’s, was to laugh. Until a Ravenclaw wizard, suddenly grasped at his chest, wide-eyed. Startled, they had all examined the feast laid out before them, and the gasps and exclamations had rapidly spread across the room. Even the Head Table occupants were not spared.
People were frantically casting detection spells that came back negative. Whatever was doing this was not something that triggered the poison-detection spells.
Just as several of the more senior students were starting to get mad, and muttering angrily at the Gryffindor wizard twins, they reversed back to their normal gender. Within five minutes of the first surprised gasp, everyone in the room had spent at least some time as the opposite gender.
The First Year Slytherins and Gryffindors were laughing so hard at their table-mates that several fell off their seats. Once restored to normal, some of the other students began to laugh as well.
The relieved sporadic laughter continued a while until Professor Quirrell suddenly burst into the hall. He looked frightened, and his turban was askew. He rushed to Professor Dumbledore’s chair and slumped against the table. He desperately gasped, “Troll — dungeons —” His eyes rolled up and he collapsed to the floor. He had fainted.
The hall erupted into panic.
Professor Dumbledore set off a cannon blast with his wand. “Prefects,” he boomed into the stunned silence, “take your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!”
Harry remained seated, as did the fillies, while all the other students jumped to their feet and started for the Great Hall doors. The four had had multiple experiences with dangerous animals in the Everfree Forest. Knowing a dangerous creature is wandering nearby, and then charging through the trees when you had no idea where the danger was, was a fool’s choice. Better to hunker down until the danger made itself evident — then flee from death as fast as possible.
Percy cried out “Follow me! Stick together, first years! No need to fear the troll if you follow my orders! Stay close behind me, now.” He quickly noticed that most of the first years were not moving.
“Well, come on,” he said as a knot of students clogged the doors.
“NO!” Harry said firmly. “We don’t know where the troll is. He could be around the corner or on the stairs! It’s better to stay right here!” The fillies nodded agreement. The other Gryffindor First Years slowly sat back down.
The Gryffindor First Years reaction, or rather their obstinate inaction, drew the attention of the professors who were deciding their course of action at the Head Table. Professor McGonagall stalked over quickly. “Move,” she said, “Get back to the dormitories!” She made pushing movements with her hands.
Half their number jumped back to their feet. Harry and the fillies remained seated.
Harry looked at his Head of House. “Do you know where the Troll is? Do you know he isn’t somewhere other than the Dungeons? Where the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are now headed to their sure deaths if he is in the dungeons? Or our deaths if he isn’t? We’re safer here, together, in this Hall with all the teachers!”
Her eyes shot wide open. She immediately turned and fired off a double cannon-blast from her wand. Then she held her wand to her throat as her voice rang through the silenced Great Hall and into the corridors outside. “ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY! THE TROLL COULD BE IN THE HALLS! I REPEAT, ALL STUDENTS RETURN TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY!”
The uproar grew even louder as students outside the hall returned and those inside stood frozen in indecision.
“Minerva!” said the Headmaster as he came to them, “What are you doing? I said all students to their dorms!”
“And the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs dorms are in the dungeons — where the Troll is supposed to be! Unless you want to take the chance the Troll will meet them on their way, they should stay here!” She put her wand to her throat and said, “ALL HUFFLEPUFF AND SLYTHERIN STUDENTS RETURN AND STAY IN THE GREAT HALL! ALL STUDENTS TO THE GREAT HALL! All Prefects, take House attendance immediately!”
By the surprised look on the Headmaster’s face, quickly replaced with an expression of thought, he had not considered that the troll may have wandered from its original detection point.
The bedlam lasted for ten minutes before slowly settling down to a dull roar, the feast on the tables completely forgotten. By now, there were only a few professors left, gathered at the head of the Gryffindor table. The Headmaster and the others had all gone in search of the troll.
Professor Quirrell was rennervated and seemed displeased that he was the centre of a crowd, and that the Great Hall was as full of students as it had been when he had arrived. Professor Sinistra brought him up on what he had missed. He scowled and stuttered unintelligibly for several minutes before taking his seat at the Head Table.
Harry shook his head in dismay. And that wizard had wanted to go with the Headmaster and the others to confront a basilisk? Incredible. He was just like one of the Flower sisters in Ponyville. Well, maybe not. At least he had gone to warn them instead of collapsing on the spot!
Attendance, to the great relief of all, had shown that all students were present and accounted for, with everyone taking their places at their proper House tables. A portrait had been dispatched to tell the troll-hunting professors.
The portraits had finally located the troll on the second floor, almost halfway up the castle. The Gryffindors or Ravenclaws might have met it on the way to their towers! The Headmaster and the Heads of House swiftly tackled the problem.
Professor Quirrell spent the entire time staring at Harry and the three fillies, scowling. Harry wasn’t sure why, they had just acted in the safest manner possible. Besides, the professor had been unconscious, so he should be glad they had stayed. Otherwise he would have awoken by himself in an empty room. And the wandering troll might even have found him before he woke up.
He should be grateful to them! And not scowling as if they had spoiled a secret plan of his.
It wasn’t that much later when the Headmaster returned and took his place at the Head Table. “Well,” he said jovially, “We seem to have had a rather Halloween-ish scare for the evening’s entertainment, in addition to the wonderful gender-reversal prank provided by person’s unknown.” He had smiled at the twins, who promptly stood and bowed to him, and then to the room in general.
His smile had grown larger. “I don’t think such a harmless prank deserves punishment, although I’m sure Professor Snape will want a full accounting of the potion-making process. Five points to each of you.”
Said professor just scowled at them.
He gestured at the room in general. “Please, don’t let a little excitement ruin your appetite. Dig in!”
It took a few minutes, but soon the room was back to the happy and excited atmosphere it had had before the prank and Troll. Except for their DADA professor who still wore a sour expression.
Naturally, the talk of the room was how a troll could have slipped inside the wards. Why hadn’t the protective charms detected it and prevented it from doing so? Harry wondered how such a possibility had escaped Twilight’s spells?
He shook his head and returned to his treacle pudding. Bonbon, he was sure, would send the Princess a letter later tonight.
۸-~-۸
Albus stared at the muggle Friday Times newspaper, completely befuddled. There, for all the world to see, was a picture of Princess Sparkle and Prince Blueblood. With their names listed. And odd hair colouring. Standing with them were muggle Prime Minister and the Home and Foreign Secretaries. And they were announcing the opening of the Equestrian Embassy, a foreign country on the other side of a portal! And mentioned that there were other nations there that would be introduced soon, as well.
The imposing marble building behind them was listed as being in Little Whinging, Surry.
He felt his stomach drop at the implications. There could be no mistake about that. It was not a coincidence. The “portal” Princess Sparkle had mentioned and the portal in the news-story had to be one and the same.
Were they bloody barmy? This completely ignored the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! No, it didn’t ignore it, it destroyed it! The repercussions when the rest of the world learned about wizards and witches would ruin them. The Islamic world, a quarter of the world’s population, would go into a frenzy. As would the Christians, a third of the world’s population, albeit to a lesser degree.
True, there were some societies that were more welcoming, such as the Japanese. But they made up less than two-percent of the world’s population. For all intents and purposes, all the muggle societies feared and hated wizards and witches.
This announcement would make the witch-hunts of the Middle Ages look like a friendly neighbourhood party! It would be a repeat of the wizard genocides committed by the communist Chinese and Russians, only much, much larger.
This completely destroyed the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy! This was a disaster of monumental proportions. And being in such a prestigious muggle newspaper, and on muggle radio as the article mentioned, there was no way the Ministry Obliviators could wrap this story back up as a joke or fraud — not with that enormous building in the background that anyone could visit and see. The international editions were already being delivered across the world, he knew, meaning it wasn’t even just the English Isles that received the news. It would be impossible to obliviate the entire world!
There was even the announcement of a ball on Saturday next at the new Embassy, with every foreign ambassador in England invited.
This exposed the Atlanteans to the muggles in the largest way possible. And it had happened on British soil! He needed to talk with Princess Sparkle as soon as possible. No, he needed to talk with Miss Bonbon and Miss Heartstring, first!
But one thing puzzled him. The Equestrians had stated that their appearance on the other side of the portal was different, that their native appearance was not as people but as ponies — with included pictures of the six types of ponies. There was a different man or woman standing by each to give a bit of scale. Three were Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity.
That was what made him sit back and think, and re-read the article. Why would they claim to be ponies, first? And what did that mean to the Statute of Secrecy?
The major saving grace — that he could see after re-reading the article — was that the word “magic” was never used by those five, or any official quoted. Instead, they called the Equestrians’ abilities an advanced “technology.” While some of those involved referred to the re-growing of lost limbs by amputee soldiers as “like magic,” nowhere did anyone claim it was magic.
In fact, the Equestrians, and the British government, insisted it was an advanced form of technology. Just one of many technologies that they were more than willing to share — including a cure for many cancers. A fair exchange for ideas and earth technologies that they had never considered — things like the telephone and television. And they were delighted by the variety of art and culture they saw in this new world. If anything, they were more enthused about that than anything else, according to the article.
Rarity had apparently gone on a long and enthusiastic rant about how the fashions they were seeing would “. . . revolutionize Equestria.”
The Statute of Secrecy held that wizards and witches should not disclose the existence of magic. It did not say you couldn’t live among muggles, or all the muggle-born families would be in violation of it. And neither could wizards live in non-magical communities such as Godric’s Hollow or Ottery St Catchpole.
But based on the pictures in the article, it certainly was magic at work. Just from the descriptions given by the volunteers he could see the use of Skele-Gro, dittany, a blood-replenishing potion, and muscle healing spells at work.
But the medical cures were all described as being technological in basis and action. Not magic.
The volunteers also insisted that they had been participating in a test of the technology at a government facility in England. They, too, never mentioned the word magic, except that it was magic-like how the new devices and medicines had cured them. The article declared a new medical renaissance was about to sweep across the world. No longer would losing a limb be a life-altering event. Instead it would be a mere inconvenience.
A companion article to the main article waxed poetic on the mere existence of the portal. The article said the portal was giving their physicists a new understanding of the universe and how it worked. The scientists anticipated the discovery of a working star-drive engine in the next ten years. And the possibility of instantaneous travel to a star with a portal once the starship arrived at its destination. “The universe is at our fingertips!” the article declared.
There was a philosophy article that dealt with the ramifications of another intelligent race out in space. What it meant that man was not alone. And how that one simple fact might affect different religions on the planet, especially those that claimed man as the favourite of their god. After all, here were aliens who clearly were superior in many ways to men. And inferior in others — no hands in their native world!
There were many quotes from major leaders of the major religions. Complicating the issue was that the aliens professed to know of gods, but did not worship them. That was a major revelation. Some saw it as an opportunity, others as blasphemy.
But by presenting themselves as ponies, they defused the whole problem with the various religions telling their followers to abhor magical humans. Any muggle seeing a pony wielding magic would not think to look for a wizard or witch. And they blamed their appearance on the portal. They claimed it changed them when they went through to look like humans, to better blend in with the majority intelligent species on Earth. And provided pictures from their native world to prove it.
But Albus was focused on the magical aspect. How would the wizards and witches perceive this?
Perhaps he had time to begin damage control. He could only hope so.
The English Ministry of Magic wasn’t the sharpest of tools at the best of times. They wouldn’t notice this announcement, if ever, until someone brought it to their attention. Forcefully. Such as the ICW sending a delegation demanding action about this grievous blow to the Statute of Secrecy! And publicly reprimanding England, with a suitable punishment to follow.
However, as the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, he could stall any such actions for a time. They had never had to contemplate such a massive display of magic — only the Yankees in twenty-six had ever come even close to this degree of disclosure. That had been because of an obscurial. And they had been saved by a fortuitous intervention of a thunderbird and someone who could control it.
He just had to figure out how to defuse the situation without jeopardizing his position. He needed an explanation to protect England.
The Unspeakables in the Ministry probably knew, but what they would do was uncertain at the best of times. Most were too wrapped up in their own research to care about the outside world. To most of them, the Ministry was just a building they had to walk through to get to work. Being exposed to the muggles wasn’t something that was usually their concern — until the Minister brought them into it.
But the longer he thought on the matter, the better the situation became. In fact, as he considered it, it was quite clever of the Atlanteans. They claimed to be from another world — as if there was really another world that supported life! And the gullible muggles had accepted that explanation.
The wizards had known that there was no life beyond this planet for several centuries. The wizards had used powerful amplification spells on their telescopes to examine all the nearby planets. They had been able to detect magic on all of them, but had seen nothing that indicated life. Even scrying for life on the other planets had failed to detect anything larger than a krill. Anything smaller they were not interested in.
And outside of the solar system? Nothing. No signs of anything. It was possible that the great distances involved made such detection impossible, but their best wizards had decided that wasn’t likely. They had, after all, found planets around the binary Alpha Centauri and then Proxima Centauri, as well as that dim star the muggles had named Bernard’s Star. But nothing living. Or, at least, what the wizards called life.
The local planets, he knew, had all been the recipient of muggle machines that were looking for life. If there had been a civilization of any kind the muggles would already have discovered it. And their scientists were convinced that other planets — not just inhabitable planets, but planets at all — were vanishingly rare. So the muggles, too, knew there wasn’t any other life-form out there.
But the Equestrians claimed their portal was to another world, distance to this one unknown. If they limited access to Atlantis, as they appeared to be doing, then no one would see the moon and discover their deception. Even allowing others through the portal would work as long as they limited it to times when the moon was not visible. And with a little magic on the muggles, it would be quite easy to prevent them from even noticing the moon when it was visible.
Now that he considered it, they could even charm the visitor to think the moon they saw was different than the one in the sky on Earth, as were the constellations. It wouldn’t even be that difficult to develop such a spell. Just an illusion that only the spell recipient could see. A spell that would warp the muggle’s perception of the night sky. An official at the port could routinely cast the spell on every visitor under the guise examining their passports.
And if they ensured that every visitor to Equestria only saw them in their pony animagus form, they could keep up the charade that it was their normal form. And, as Atlanteans appeared to revere Poseidon, that wouldn’t be that difficult. After all, even if they didn’t overtly worship him, they did acknowledge his influence. Why else would they use those pony and horse terms for everything?
Yes, as long as they claimed to be from another world they could evade the rules of the Statute — he had to snort at the gullibility of the muggles. The Equestrians would be safe if they didn’t do anything blatantly magical. No hexing or cursing someone, or transfiguring or conjuring something. All they had do was pretend what they did was “technology.”
After all, they had never signed the Statute. They hadn’t even known of its existence until Minerva had told them about it. That was a technicality, but it was still true.
And, based on what he read in the newspaper, the Equestrians were being scrupulous about labelling everything they did as technology, not magic. The article had even quoted a famous muggle writer, Arthur C. Clarke, who had said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” The Prime Minister had readily agreed with that quote. And insisted that what the Equestrians were showing were technological marvels.
In short, the Atlanteans were hiding magic in plain sight.
And calling it technology.
And the muggles believed them.
Which, technically, meant the Equestrians were not breaking the Statute
He sighed deeply and stroked his beard.
The International Confederation of Wizards might complain that the English Wizards had done nothing to prevent the Equestrians from making their announcement. But Albus could, quite reasonably, point out that it would be impossible for a country the size of the British Isles to prevent a continent-sized country, as Atlantis was, from doing anything they wanted.
In appearance, the situation was similar to Sparta and the Persians at Thermopylae. There was only the one portal, and it was in Little Whinging. Access was extremely limited. The wizards, in theory, could box in the Equestrians.
The Equestrian’s, however, could simply move their portal to a new location, such as France, Germany, or the Russian wilderness, he could point out. Theoretically, it should be possible. Then they could move thousands of fighters through it before the wizards knew where they were. And it would be impossible to stop the invasion.
If they were interested in invading, which he knew they weren’t.
At least this way the wizards knew where the portal was.
The article did not say that the other countries mentioned were inhabited by intelligent creatures that mirrored those from Greek mythology.
The link to Greece and ancient history would ruin their strategy. After all, if they were from another world, how did they explain so many coincidences with Greek legends and history? The fact was, they could not. The muggles would see through their ruse immediately.
The language compatibility, on the other hand, they could explain as an artefact induced by the portal, or a special translation technology.
He wondered if they had demonstrated either apparition or levitation to the Prime Minister, and called them teleportation and telekinesis. That particular muggle, the Prime Minister, knew the truth about magic. Had the Equestrians talked about magic at all? Or had they kept him in the dark and promoted the “technology” as just that, technology?
And if that important muggle agreed that what they did was not magic, could Albus use that argument to persuade the ICW to do nothing?
It would be quite amusing if the Atlanteans were building up an entire façade of having technological wonders and hiding magic completely. By providing those medical cures to the muggles, and making the silly claim that it was all technology, they were distracting the muggles from magic while doing magic.
It was just like a muggle stage magician, doing things in plain sight while distracting their audience so the audience never noticed what else the magician was doing. He knew several had been investigated by the Obliviators to make sure they were not wizards breaking the Statute of Secrecy. Every trick had to have a proper explanation for the muggles — or close enough to not matter. That way a clever muggle wouldn’t be able to deduce the existence of real magic.
In fact, reading the article a third time, from the view point of someone who didn’t know about the Atlanteans or magic, he noticed the Equestrians had done and said nothing to indicate that they were not simply advanced muggles!
The Atlanteans were actually supporting the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy by pretending to be merely very technologically advanced muggles, he realized. Even the wizards and witches who saw the article would not suspect the Equestrians were not who they said they were — aliens. The only ones to know the truth were the wizards and witches who had seen either Princess Sparkle or Prince Blueblood. Most of whom were now at Hogwarts!
۸-_-۸
The power of arrogance and self delusion compels you!
Dumbledore's theorizing is like reading the comments of smart people on a story you know the plot of. Lovely deductions. Solid arguments. Logical conclusions. Completely wrong. XD
Oh my freaking gosh. This is amazing. Albus, the old fart, is so convinced that the ponies are from Atlantis That he doesn’t believe the article. And why should he? They’ve been given proof of no life for a cery long time. This is simply marvelous.
Oh, Dumbles. You make me sad.
9377704
I agree with you on that. I wonder when Dumbledore will find out that his thinking was a little wrong in some places.
I can't wait to see how Albus's views on the entire situation are completely torn to shreds. Judging by the rest of the story it should be highly entertaining to read.
9377723
I've got to disagree, First off, the author can still circle back around and show the unvailing of the ponies from their perspective. Second, seeing the dumbling Dumbledore be such a fool is funny.
Oh Dumbledore, you silly old man
Poor Dumbledore he just doesn't get it yet. I wonder how he will react to the idea that magic in Equestria is a science and also has its own technological part. I still see the Ministry of Magic is going to get called out on this hard but by then it will be far to late when some very pointed questions will be asked.
As Doctor Who say is amazing how well humans which does include wizards can convince themselves of what they want to believe
Just waiting for the bombshell to drop when someone realizes that there actually IS another world through the portal.
My reaction to Dumbledore's reaction:
9377723
I must disagree... there's something you're missing. Exactly what, of interest, would happen at that unveiling? All of the characters mentioned, save the 'various religious leaders' that tend to be very predictable and boring (no offense), are already in on it... and would have nothing new to say.
I agree with this method of revelation, through Dumbledore; this way, not only do we get his bumbling guesses (which, he doesn't realize, are exactly that: guesses that he's rationalized), but we get all the high points of the revelation without having to worry about the corresponding boring sections. Like the many reporters snapping photos and jockeying for position, or the religious leaders touting variations on the same one, two, or maybe three themes.
Yes, the event is a major pivotal event- but it's also a very small event, in that nothing really happened. It's the backlash I expect in future chapters that makes it pivotal- and it's that same backlash that can be fun to read. Just like the backlash of letting Sweetie into Hogwarts was a pivotal event- but if you look back, it was glossed over as a side point to getting Harry in.
All in all, though, an excellent chapter, tkepner. I can't wait to see what's coming.
Hmmm. Was Blueblood ever introduced to the Wizarding community? I'm guessing he may have gotten a wand, but I seem oblivated on that point.
Sigh, Dumbledore and his imagination, he could need to cross the portal to believe anything
P.S: I can't believe no one did a Smurf joke when they were all purple
This does give the Ministry department of Secrecy another tool other than Obliviating witnesses on large-scale magical reveals. All they need to say is "It was the new Atlantians" and all the muggles will nod agreeably.
Ponies will, on the other hand, lie to wizards that they are humans and just fooled Muggles, otherwise if they confess that they are non-human beings, Dumbledore will have to expel CMCs from Higwarts and conficate their wands, because otherwise, if he or/and Ministry grants ponies exception from their laws, this will lead to another Goblin Rebellion.
9377791
They know about him but he has no interest in getting a wand. Referred to it as a crutch.
9377799
The school accepted them and Dumbledore would try to avoid expelling the CMC since it includes Harry, Package deal, remember?
Confiscate their wands? Go ahead. They'll get new ones when they get back to Ponyville.
“ it was quite clever of the Atlanteans. They claimed to be from another world — as if there was really another world that supported life! And the gullible muggles had accepted that explanation.
The wizards had known that there was no life beyond this planet for several centuries.”
Maybe next time Dumbledore brings it up twilight will just bluntly tell him that they only lied about the technology part and everything else they said was true
Plus tell him that they never actually said they were from Atlantis and Dumbledore just decided they were from there
9377815
Goblin Rebellion is much more dangerous than Harry's departure.
the easiest way to out smart Dumbledore is do nutting.
O is Dumbledore in for a surprise if he ever finds out the truth.
Wait, this big reveal takes place just after the Halloween feast, which is at the end of October. Term starts on September 1st, so all this crazy stuff at Hogwarts, plus the reveal of the embassy, all happened in the span of just 2 months?!
Dumbledore despite your attempts at humility you are still too arrogant to realize just who is being deceived, while it is true that the Equestrians are hiding magic in plain sight, that was actually the decision of the Muggle Government and Equestria has actually been completely honest about their origins, and with regards to extraterrestrial life it seems that your wizards stopped looking passed the nearest star which is just 4.4 light-years away when the entirety of the visible universe is 46.5 billion light-years across with anywhere from 200 billion to 2 trillion galaxies each with as many as 100 billion stars and likely just as many planets and crap ton of moons.
You need to take into account the fact that the probability for an event such as the formation of extraterrestrial life taking place increases dramatically the bigger the sample size and a sample size that big means the formation of advanced extraterrestrial life somewhere is a near guarantee and that's just the visible universe it's likely that the universe is actually infinite in scale meaning that it is a certainty that if you go far enough in any direction you are bound to eventually find a million different intelligent extraterrestrial civilizations some of which might greatly resemble Earth.
On top of that you fail to consider the possibility that the portal leads to another universe entirely and in such a scenario absolutely anything is possible no matter now bizarre like Equestria with it's numerous unexplainable similarities to Earth.
Though to be fair I will give you the fact that there was much more skepticism regarding extraterrestrial life in 1991 as the first confirmed detection of exoplanets came in 1992 with the discovery of several terrestrial-mass planets orbiting the pulsar PSR B1257+12 and it wasn't until 1995 that 51 Pegasi b became the first exoplanet orbiting a sun like star to be discovered, but you do need to keep an open mind to new possibilities and evidence even when they suggest that long held wizarding beliefs may in fact be wrong, muggles have been doing that for centuries, they call it the scientific method.
Anyway I very much look forward to you figuring out the truth and just so you know Equestria from their perspective are not lying when they claim to be using science to do what they do as they see magic as a part of science with Twilight even seeing herself as a scientist rather then as some kind of witch or sorceress.
9377819
Indeed. What would the wizards in England do if the goblins all decided "Nope, we've had enough of your BS." and closed their doors and took all their money with them? Or even if they just held it hostage. I may be missing somethings, since I haven't read the last few books or seen the movies (and it's been a while since I've even done that), but putting all their wealth in the hands of a group that they've had difficulties with in the past seems like a bad idea on the wizards' part.
9377837
The smartest of men must be cautious to not outsmart himself.
Uh... Too on the nose.
9377857
Actually most of it happened within the first two weeks of term, there was a recent time skip.
It's happening!!!!!!!!! Have the sun fall on them!!!!!!!!!😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈😈
If it's possible to create and move the inter-dimensional portals around, it will be easy to reach far distant areas of our solar system. All you need are 2 portal sets, send one portal to, say, Mars, and put the other in a secure environment. On the Equestrian side, put the 2 portals close together. Then all you have to do is step through one portal into Equestria, then through the other, and boom! You're on Mars! In fact, this could work both ways, with a similar setup being used in Equestria to visit distant planets or whatever. As long as you can physically get one portal to anywhere in the universe, you can get there instantly by slipping through the other dimension.
I think it is rather fitting that the chapter which brings one part of this story to an end and starts another comes out on New Years Eve.
Sooner or later, Twilight is going to deliver a speech about the idiocy of the Earthlings dividing themselves simply due to having different ideas or talents. She will tell them about how keeping apart nearly doomed the three tribes to extinction, and how only by sharing their talents and ideas were they able to survive and thrive. The muggles will think she is talking about religion and politics. The Wizards will understand she is actually telling them the Statute of Secrecy is dumb.
Within a week of that, I suspect there to be a LONG line at the Equestrian embassy as the Wizards who cannot accept the changing world decide to leave while they can.
9377819
Very much so. And I'm sure he would if he had to. But if it comes up, he's going to be looking for ways to avoid it.
Keep scheming, Dumbly. You’ll eventually create yourself a diplomatic incident that Twilight will use to go mama-bear on you with — if the troll incident wasn’t already a good reason enough.
And if you try to strong arm them into doing things, remember...
“THE SUN IS A DEADLY LASER” especially in the hooves of Celestia.
9377789
Thank you for putting words to what I was thinking! I personally thought it a great writing technique to show rather than tell. Show the effect of the Equestrians revealing themselves through Dumbledore's thoughts, and for what is to come when the penny drops when it's revealed they actually are from another world. Rather than just telling us at the actual event of the reveal. Plus it shows that the Ponies are being really smart about avoiding breaking the wizardry laws.
9377937
You're welcome.
New it finally beguines and all the shit hits the fan. I am sure that the Equestrians would get a far better deal with the muggles then with the wizards sense they had the chance to speak with the government while they only really talked with the goblin bank and a few hight authorities of the wizards. I am skeptical of the wizards taking the discover very beneficial for them or take it well.
You know on the point of them not basically taking a flamethrower to the Stature of Secrecy Dumbledore has a point since they aren't blatantly claiming what they are doing is magic but saying it's advanced technology. On the other hand I'm still awaiting the reveal to the wizards that 'Yes we are aliens, yes we are from another world and lastly yes we really are ponies. Oh and our leaders are basically a goddess of the sun, goddess of the moon and guardian of dreams, goddess of love and goddess of friendship and magic.' That should cause a fun reaction from the wizards.
I am soooo looking forward to when Dumbledore finally learns the truth.
9377897
I would have to disagree with that, Dumbledore's complete botched guesses and assumptions based on what he's seen of the Equestrians isn't entirely based on humor, it is more a character flaw which the books themselves established strongly. Dumbledore firmly believes in his own hubris, it essentially leads to his downfall. So in my case I don't find it amusing, at least not in the laugh out loud way. It's more of an 'oh this ill informed pompous know-it-all thinks he's completely grasped the situation, boy is he going to be shocked when the egg firmly lands on his face'. It's like knowing a secret and having a hard time keeping it to yourself, you just laugh at what the expression will be on the person's face when they realize what's what. I don't see that as too funny, just kind of bemusing anecdotally.
Also I have no idea what you find interesting in reading material, but it's clear that we are not seeing this story the same way. Which I suppose is to be expected... I just can't fathom some of your complaints though, they've been all over the place with every new chapter and it's a tad confusing honestly. Especially as, from my point of view, the author has maintained the consistency and tonal ideals of this story a lot more than Magic School Days' author has. (I mean in MSD there's some weird sliding time nonsense going on where Canterlot Wedding hasn't taken place yet, but Discord is reformed and his Season 3 and onwards lovably self... So... yeah, compared to MSD this story has definitely maintained proper pacing, continuity and canonicity within it's own world comparatively.)
9377819
Why do the Goblins rebel? I mean they already pretty much have control over the Wizard's economy. Unless they really don't have as much control over the gold as we think.
How long until Dumbledore just decides to visit the Embassy?
Also now that all of Twilight's immediate plans are done (setting up the initial embassy and dealing with the Dursleys) she can start focusing on other stuff like arranging Harry's adoption which she can let Castor and the solicitor deal with until she needs to sign the papers, and looking into Sirius's case, though she will need to deal with the backlash within the Wizarding World though thanks to Dumbledore she has a little time before that blows up and she also needs to put some time and effort to extending Equestria's friendship to the rest of the world with the U.S. likely being a bit of a priority but now that they have a hoof in the door within the U.K. Blueblood can likely handle most of that so Twilight should have a little more time for personal projects.
9377897
You're entitled your opinion, just like the rest of us are entitled to our opinion of you and your arrogant prattle.
Frankly, the reveal of Equestria to Muggle Britain was foreshadowed so heavily, planned very carefully by the involved parties, it's surprising that you expected to be surprised that it actually occurred without much of a hitch! Conflict regarding diplomatic actions like this are NOT instantaneous. It takes TIME for news to disseminate, TIME for the envy and rancor to grow before ANY kind of reaction occurs. Unless you expect everyone everywhere to continually have knee-jerk reactions simply to show a conflict, which is much less believable than magical ponies with access to magical friendship howitzer.
9377957
I'm the first to admit I suck at explaining my opinions. I have no problem with how Dumbledore came to his conclusions it makes sense, what I hate is that it's all he does. Dumbledore in this story has repeatedly been portrayed as an idiot who only makes bad decisions while the ponies are portrayed as hyper-competent and completely infallible. Even when they do make mistakes it's never treated as a big deal while every mistake the wizards make is this huge spectacle. I'm just sick of the one-sided nature of this fic and it's unwillingness to do anything that might make the wizards look like anything other than idiots.
For god sakes, it even did the troll scene a scene that's been done to death in Harry Potter fan fiction when it could have simply done a brief summary of the event. Meanwhile, it simply brushes over the most unique aspect of this fic, ponies making first contact with the muggles, as if it were the least interesting part of the story. God forbid we get the ponies views on one of the biggest things to ever happen to their society but clearly, Dumbledore coming to the wrong conclusions yet again is far more entertaining.
It's clear this story is only interested in bashing the Harry Potter books which I would be okay with if the ponies took their fair share of licks as well.
Frankly, at this point, I'd declare MSD the better story as it at least limited it's bashing to a single character while using both universes to their full potential instead of constantly mocking the inferiority of one over the other.
9377864
9377960
I may be mis-remembering here, but I thought that the secret to the Goblin Rebellion was that the wizards lost, or it was at least close enough for them to sue for peace, and it was under these peace terms that the goblins gained control of the money supply. I don't know. It might have been a fan-fiction thing.
9377960
Throughout the books series and movies Goblins shown strong displeasure with the situation in which only humans can own wands and study at magical schools. If they learn, that Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation and Chief Warlock of Wizengamot himself made exception for previously unknown beings, easily giving them rights and privileges that Goblins were fighting for dozens of generations, Goblins will most definitely revolt.
9378012
9378015
That just sounds stupid to me. The Wizards lose and sue for peace? If the Goblins just wanted wands and equal rights, why would they settle for something else if they were so close to winning?
It would make more sense to me if the Wizards won the last war with the Goblins, and slapped them with a job they hate as a final insult. It would explain why goblins are always so rude and quick to anger. They don't want to be bankers and wait on Wizards hand and foot.
I wonder if the uh … magic-like technology of the Equstrians, will be able to help some famous people with medical issues. Like Steven Hawking, or the actor that played Ernest P. Worrell (Jim Varney). I hope them ponies are well prepared for lines.
9377966
I'm rather looking forward to Dumbledores visiting Equestria and realizing it genuinely is another world and the potential implications of the mirroring e.g Manehattan.