Hagrid determinedly suppressed his worry as he led the two girls to Ollivander’s. He’d suspected, when they emerged unladen from Madam Malkins, that they’d put their new robes in the same place as their skateboards- and had asked to make sure they had their robes. They’d both confirmed, so he’d given them their ice creams and started leading them calmly to the next store on the list- for parchment and quills.
Only, when he’d gotten there, he’d found out they both already had an extensive supply of both of the above, though they appreciated knowing where the local supplier was.
After that had been Flourish and Blotts… which was fairly uneventful, all told. Twilight had wanted to buy a stack of books thrice her own height, but Lyra had stopped her, saying it wouldn’t fit in her pocket… and that they could come back to buy half the bookshop later, once everyone got their stuff for Hogwarts. The store attendant had been mildly alarmed when she said that, especially when Twilight evidently made plans to do exactly that.
Then they’d headed to the potion equipment store, for their cauldrons, scales, and gloves. Why Lyra had explicitly asked if dragons could talk, Hagrid couldn’t figure out- and neither, apparently, could the attendant that served the girl. While they were there, the girls had discussed some things that sounded enough like potion making techniques to Hagrid for him to be fairly certain that Professor Snape would just love to have them in his class… and not necessarily in a good way.
The astronomists’ had been next, where they’d talked about the kinds of telescopes on display… and the kinds available in Equestria. Apparently, Twilight had a fifty-foot telescope back home- something which had alarmed the shopkeeper.
Then the apothecary, which both of them had explored thoroughly… without touching anything. Not unlike most muggleborns, though with better self-control.
Then, because Lyra had wanted an owl, they’d gone to Eeylops Owl Emporium… and both he and the proprietor had been driven a little crazy by how they seemed to be chatting with the owls. So of course, the cage for Lyra’s new owl had vanished tracelessly, while Alto himself- she’d already named him- rode on her shoulder.
He took a deep breath as he came even with the store, and turned towards it. “Here we are. Ollivander’s,” he informed them. “Only place for wands, Ollivander’s.”
Garrick Ollivander looked up from his worktable in the back of his shop when the door chime went off. He had customers. Fortunately, he was just selecting the materials for his next wand, not actually making anything; he’s been expecting a large number of customers, and he really didn’t like putting a half-made wand into stasis or forcing a customer to wait until he finished it.
He rose smoothly, and made his way to the front of his shop. He’d had a much lower customer density than he was used to, for the Hogwarts invitation period. Usually, he would see between forty and fifty-five customers over about two weeks following the letters- and, at that point, he’d seen exactly six in just over a quarter of that time.
He paused briefly when he spotted the customers. One he recognized- Hagrid. He had been here only a few days ago, guiding a nervous muggleborn boy and his mother through the alley. Now, he had two girls and no adults with him, suggesting one of the rare cases of a muggleborn witch or wizard being thrown out of the family upon receipt of their letter.
Perhaps the strangest part about the two girls wasn’t how their hair seemed to defy the laws of physics as he knew them, but the owl riding on the blue-and-white-haired girl’s shoulder… with no cage or luggage in sight. Compounded with that, both girls seemed to be studying the shelves from their place next to Hagrid (who had leaned tiredly against the wall to wait this time), as if there were something there to learn, rather than with the normal curiosity. As he made his silent approach, he picked out a few words they were muttering to each other.
It seemed the lighter-haired one, with the owl, was having more success in whatever studying they were doing. She was saying something about ‘bonds waiting to happen, but none complete’.
He stepped into clear view. “Good afternoon.”
Both girls gave a small start, turning to look at him. The owl spread its wings partway for balance, before refolding them. Hagrid opened his eyes.
“Good afternoon,” the owl-toting girl greeted him in turn. “This is where we get our wands, right?”
He was immediately taken aback; her cheerful, almost happy-go-lucky attitude was quite unusual for anyone entering his shop, let alone anyone that had been disowned. It was making him curious what their situation really was, or if it was just that they were a little bit crazy. “Who do I have the pleasure of working with today?” he asked. They didn’t look like they came from any of the pure-blooded families.
The owl-toting girl answered him with the same, unusual cheeriness. “I’m Lyra Heartstrings, and this is Twilight Sparkle.” She gestured towards the other girl. “We’re here to get our wands?” She looked up at the shop. “And, ahh, probably warn you about what’s coming, too.”
He paused, raising an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“Yeah. We come from a land that’s magically isolated from the rest of the world… and about a week and a half ago, we opened a gate through that barrier. We’re just the first two… and we’ve already confirmed over two thousand to follow, this year.”
He blinked. “How many total?”
Lyra shrugged, while Twilight spoke. “We don’t know yet. The estimates for the final count range from eight to eighteen thousand right now.”
“... Ahh,” he muttered. It certainly sounded like he’d have a busy month and a half- though fortunately, since he had about a hundred and thirty five thousand wands for sale at that moment, he needn’t worry about running out… this year. It did sound like he’d be at risk of running out in the coming years, though- and it was distinctly possible he could run out of time to serve them all. “Shall we get started?”
“Yep!” Lyra answered cheerfully.
“Ahh… How about you first?”
She grinned. “Why not?” Then she looked up at her owl. “Think you could ride Twilight’s shoulder for a few minutes, Alto?”
“Hoo.”
“He might need my shoulder to be unoccupied, for his measuring tape.”
“Hoo.”
“Yeah, I know. Please?”
“Hoo.” The owl- Alto- spread its wings and made a quick hop to Twilight’s shoulder.
Ollivander blinked. “You can talk to owls?”
She nodded. “Yeah. I think it’s a part of the magic we have, unique to our… civilization, on the other side of our Gate. The same magic that makes it possible for us to safely pass that gate, actually.” She glanced up at Alto. “I’ve noticed that the owls seem to possess a different form of that same magic, allowing them to pass safely. Good thing, too, with how many Hogwarts letters needed to cross.”
Twilight scowled at her.
“... Ahh,” Ollivander muttered. “So, which is your wand arm?”
“My wand arm… That’d be my dominant arm, right?”
“Dominant arm?” Twilight asked, blinking.
“Yes,” Ollivander nodded.
“Ahh… Um, I don’t know, to be honest. Probably ambidextrous.” She shrugs. “Dominant arms aren’t nearly as prominent- or common- where we come from.”
“Really?” Twilight asked.
“Alright then,” Ollivander smiled. It wasn’t often he got an ambidextrous customer- fortunately, they were often easier to find the right match for. “If you could hold your arms out for me? Yes, just like that.” He drew his measuring tape, and set it to work.
Lyra glanced back at Twilight. “Almost everyone in this world seems to have very prominent dominant arms- such that ambidextrousness is actually rare. From what I’ve seen so far, the wizarding community is no different.”
“Wow,” Twilight muttered.
Ollivander smiled to himself, and started his normal spiel to the girls, pulled down a few boxes, stopped the measuring tape, and started trying wands. He did find it interesting that Lyra had to ask if the unicorns could talk. He’d told her they couldn’t, but that the same was technically true for owls, so he didn’t know if they could talk to unicorns. Both girls had, for some reason, found that funny.
Hagrid had then mentioned that they’d asked before if dragons could talk, and asked them if they were going to ask about phoenixes too.
Lyra’s answer had been straightforward, and confused both men to no end. “Nah, those can’t talk where we come from. Very intelligent, though.”
Eventually, both girls had wands- Alto had hopped back to Lyra’s shoulder as soon as she was done- and had paid from a small pouch stuffed full of coins that Lyra had gotten from somewhere.
“Hmm,” Lyra scowled, her pouch vanishing into thin air, and her wand following suit- just like Twilight’s. She scanned the shop visually. “That took about seven minutes, for the two of us. If we assume that’s about representative of all of our people, and that he works eight hour days with customers back to back, about how long would it take?”
Ollivander winced; that would be a lot of work.
“Well,” Twilight scowled. “Depending on which estimate we look at, it ranges anywhere from two months to five months.”
“And September First is in about a month and a half.” Lyra scowled. “Hmm… You know, I’d hate to ask this of her, but do you think Starlight would be willing to help with that?”
Twilight rubbed her chin. “Probably, yeah. We’d want to make sure there was someone to help her with, you know…”
Lyra shrugged. “So we just stick one of your friends in each of her first waves, and trust her for the rest.”
Twilight nodded. “Good point. And she’d probably be willing to help, depending…”
“Hmm…” Lyra looked skywards. “... Yep, she’s accepted her offer.”
“Really? Then yeah, she’d most likely be willing to help.”
“With… what?” Ollivander asked.
“Mm?” Lyra asked, turning to him. “Oh, spreading the load. Starlight is good with time manipulation, so with her help, we could have our people coming in here to get wands in manageable waves from now through, what, February?” She glanced briefly at Twilight, who nodded. “And yet all have our wands by September.”
“... Ahh.”
The fifth Blade pierces the void to open the gate...
The incomplete spear forms the fifth part of the GATE
Lost it here.
Thankfully, empty mouth. This time.
Ok Lyra, I expected more from you. All these animals that have different talking behavior on your side, and it didn't occur to you that maybe they are different on this side?
So, post reform Starlight eh? Or possibly sort of mid reform, given the asides. Certainly will help poor Ollivander out with what's coming his way, hehe.
How did Lyra talk to Starlight?
10157583
Yeah... She's smart, but she knows she's smart... so she's liable to miss things.
10157609
Yep, mid-reform or so. Technically post-reform, but I understand she did a few questionable things "post-reform" in canon (never watched that far myself), and considering where I'm putting this story in the MLP canon (albeit a bit of a modified MLP), she hasn't had enough time/practice to get over those questionable urges yet...
10157616
... By walking up to her and speaking.
Starlight's not present, and she didn't talk to Starlight in this chapter. She talked to Twilight, about Starlight.
10157616
I believe that when Lyra looked up, she was remembering either a list of acceptances she'd read, that had Starlight's name on it, or she was remembering talking to Starlight about it, and Starlight told her at the time she'd accepted.
It's a tick I do sometimes, change my focus point to a blank area when I am trying to remember something.
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10157649
When I wrote that, I was thinking that she was remotely checking her spellwork on the Gate, to find the magical bonds formed by accepting a position at Hogwarts... and recognizing Starlight's signature on one of them. But yeah, both of those work too.
10157657
Okay
10157657
Ahhh, that works too.
neat
Poor Olivander, the load's not going to be light on him.
He's going to have more galleons than he knows what to do with by the end though. At least some fourteen thousand of them.
I thought that was Minuette's specialty, no?
10158081
And time turner's, and...
There's some five or six background ponies with that same cutie mark, unfortunately. I chose Starlight because of what she did with time travel and the Cutie Map- in order to create such a spell, she'd have to have not only a lot of power but a thorough understanding of the principles involved... suggesting that short- or even mid-ranged time travel, as different from long-ranged travel like the Cutie Map event, would be easy for her... She just needed extra power for the long-ranged one to work.
10157912
That he will. I believe my estimate was about 88,000 galleons per year, based on the canon price of 7g... equivalent to approximately $9 million USD, using the conversion rate I've decided for this story ($100USD = 1g). In that same, ahh, comment on my own blog post, I believe I also outlined possible business plans for him, too...
10157648
I remember reading somewhere that the tendency to look in one direction when remembering and another when making something up is consistent enough for police to use it as a hint when interrogating someone unaware of that.
You'll want to double-check that it's not an urban legend though.
10158154
To my understanding, Starlight is a genius when it comes to spell understanding & improving. Meaning the spell (or something related) must be exist first for her to work with - as when she worked with Starswirl's original time travel spell. In this case, having somepony with time as their specialty would be better. (some specialties cannot be duplicated with spell)
In addition, I don't think time travel spell will benefit in this situation. You would need somthing that would slow down the time within the specific area (Ollivander's shop). But this won't end well with anyone inside the area, since their time would pass a lot longer than outside world.
10158250
... Well, a time travel spell could help, by reason of just jumping forwards in time until he's free, buying wands, and jumping back to where you came from...
10158286
That would mess up the upcoming future. At best this would mean, Ollivander is going to have (Equestrian) customers non-stop for five months straight after the class start.
And can we take something from the future to be used in the past? I mean before it exists?
10158316
Yes... so long as you're careful about how you do it. And besides, chances are, they all do exist, they're just sitting on shelves...
10157616
Maybe Lyra did her own time blink to go talk to Starlight?
This is basically a time turner taken to the Extreme!
In Canon, Hermione had to deal with keeping time loops consistent and all the trouble that had, with only a few hours of looping. This would just be using high-powered, highly focused Equestrian Magic to do something that earth magic permits, but earth magic lacks the ... power? finesse? control? to do properly.
And yes, I also took Lyra's "glance at the gate" to be checking if Starlight had accepted or not.
One of the things that confused me about the old version was why they didn't seem to bother much with Harry. As with canon, the signs of his life with his relatives should have been obvious. I'm also curious if this will be a manipulative Dumbledore or not.
Admittedly, once you bring in that many ponies, canon takes a very sharp jog off a cliff. The upside to that is that I have no idea how this will end up going!
This is pretty neat so far, but I'm still quite confused as to why Lyra*, and why Twilight comes off as so clueless.
*TBF, I never cared for her as much as other background ponies.
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Why Lyra? Because I picked her some long time ago, which I did because she's related to Bonbon in so many cases.
Why Twilight seems so clueless? Because Lyra is doing it... deliberately.
Twilight seems like Watson here. It's not like Lyra lived in human world for years in her brief experimentations - how did she knew about it, and yet TS didn't know about it, despite the fact that they both travelled to other world(s)? Please don't say that Lyra downloaded entire internet into her brain. Well, anyway, in just one-two weeks TS would be up to speed, if she isn't deliberately being sabotaged.
I'm a bit dubious ponies would tend towards ambidexterity, for the same reason fish-turned-human shouldn't: the existing hypothesis I subscribe to as to the origins of handedness is that it's simply a side effect in creatures which happen to have hands of a deeper linkage between instinctive survival-oriented movement and a individually preferred direction for it, which in any species forming herds or packs seems to work best for species survival when most (but not all) share the same orientation. Ambidexterity is certainly uncommon in our own world's equines. Though you could argue that ponies, having no evolutionary history and no form of herd behaviour to start with, would be excepted - or that they aren't ambidextrous but have never actually paid enough attention to the concept to realize it.
10329655
Probably that last one...
And of course, the part where unicorns would tend to be "exempt" from handedness, from using their horn all the time.
Then how, even though she claims ambidexterity here, whenever she uses her wand, it's always in her right hand, making her actually right-handed... (Not mentioned in story text, but that's how I envision it)
10169667
Is Lyra shooting her with a dumbass ray every night? I wouldn’t think Twilight is this clueless about humans considering she’s been one multiple times by now.
10385773
Pretty sure eqg isn't canon to this story