Chapter 1: Talking Ponies?

“Sodding, buggering hell!” Harry shouted, his voice echoing around the empty seventh floor corridor, turning left and storming down the hall, venting his spleen all the way. There were no classrooms down this hallway; he had free room to work out all his frustrations.

Which he did with gusto.

Every damned Halloween it was the same thing! Something always went wrong for him! Screw Friday the 13th, eat your heart out ridiculous superstitions, Halloween had you all trumped when it came to Harry Potter’s life!

Harry could practically feel the steam pouring out of his ears; he hadn’t even gone near that bloody Goblet! The closest he’d been was when he watched and laughed with everyone when the Weasley twins tried bypassing Dumbledore’s age line, and, as talented as he was with magic, he was nowhere near skilled enough to get around such a complex rune system, especially when crafted by one of the most powerful wizards in recorded history.

Seriously, how could anyone believe that a fourth year could outsmart Albus Dumbledore? Even on at his worst, the near ancient Headmaster, the Supreme Mugwump of the Wizengamot, Defeator of Grindelwald, and holder of far too many other titles to list off, was a genius. Mind bogglingly eccentric, but a genius nonetheless.

Despite all of this, despite all evidence against the mere possibility that he could enter himself in, despite the fact that he could in fact give an alibi, Harry had been roped into the Triwizard Tournament, the legendary spectacle that had been brought back, after being cancelled for the death toll that came with the opportunity for fame and riches.

Because he could obviously do with more fame. In fact, that French girl, Fleur something or other, had nailed it right on the head: it was the opportunity of a lifetime! That was all the motivation an ordinary witch or wizard would need! But she hadn’t taken into account one rather significant issue:

Harry Potter wasn’t ordinary, not one bit.

Ordinary wizards didn’t go down trap doors to save a priceless artifact at eleven years old, nor did they slay a basilisk at twelve years old. And no ordinary wizard would be caught dead consorting with a werewolf and a convicted mass murderer – even if the werewolf was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher ever and the supposed mass murderer had been framed.

But none of that even compared to the pain he felt, that once again he had to deal with the stares and whispers from his fellow schoolmates, along with students from two foreign schools. From the Hufflepuff’s glares and angry mutters, to the uncertainty of the Gryffindors, to the cold shoulder treatment he received from the Ravenclaws, to the gleeful, taunts from the Slytherins, it was Second Year all over again.

Oh, and then came the badges, those stupid badges. The actual wording on them wasn’t the issue, Harry actually agreed about the Cedric portion of it. The fact that the majority of the student population at Hogwarts seemed to be wearing them, now that bothered him greatly. But even that wasn’t the most troubling issue.

His relationship with his friends, now that was troubling.

To be fair, Harry could sort of see why Ron was always so quick to be jealous; he was the youngest of six brothers, he’d shown his desire to find some way to stand out back when he looked into the Mirror of Erised back in first year. But still, it hurt horribly. Even after all they’d been through, all their adventures, all the laughter, that Ron could think Harry to be an attention seeking prat.

Harry would be lying to himself if he said that he could get over it easily, if he said that he could just forget it all and move on with his life without his best mate.

Hermione, well, she at least still talked to him, but their conversations had become rather awkward. She hadn’t come out and said it, but Harry could tell. She didn’t know what to believe; she put so much stock in books and authority figures that any sort of rule breaking was met with resistance, the few times she’d broken them had only been out of necessity.

While he was happy that she hadn’t outright abandoned him, Harry still felt as though he were alone in the castle. He couldn’t go to Dumbledore, as he didn’t want to make it seem as though he was conspiring with the aged Headmaster to win the damn thing, he couldn’t talk to Ron, and sending a letter to Sirius was a huge risk, since he was still a wanted criminal.

It was all just so bloody stupid!

Harry threw his hands up, shouting profanities at the top of his voice; why bother censoring himself when there was no one around to hear him?

“I’ve bloody well had it!” He shouted, pacing back and forth, wringing his hands into fists. “This is ridiculous! I can’t get a damn break! Not at Privet Drive! Not even in this stupid, bloody castle! I’m done! I’ve had it with all of this! Everyone! Everything! I want to go away! Far away! I want to be away from people, from wizards, from this entire bloody castle! Every brick, suit of armor, gossiping ghost, even this stupid, thrice damned door!”

He stopped suddenly, turning abruptly to face the aforementioned door. Harry slowly approached it, looking left and right, blinking and rubbing his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t seeing things.

Nope. The door was there. But… It hadn’t been there before, had it?

“Where did you come from?” Harry asked, talking to himself more than anything. Though, at this point, he wouldn’t be surprised if the walls started speaking to him. Weirder things had happened.

Naturally, the wooden door had no answer for him, but Harry continued examining it, first touching it to make sure that it was actually solid and not some trick the castle’s magic was playing tricks on him.

It was quite real. There was no trick as far as he could tell. Perhaps he’d just overlooked it; after all, he rarely came down this part of the corridor, so he couldn’t really say that this door shouldn’t be there, even if he hadn’t seen it the first time around.

Still, he could’ve sworn he specifically checked to make sure he would be alone.

Harry tentatively reached out and pushed open the door, peaking inside to make sure nobody had heard his rant. He was met by total darkness, a pitch black that was more typical of the dead of night rather than just an empty classroom.

“Hello?” he called, stepping into the room and quietly closing the door behind him. “Anyone in here?”

There was no reply save for the echoing of his voice through the darkness. Harry sighed in mild frustration, muttering the Lumos spell under his breath to give himself a bit of light. Still nothing!

This was getting stranger and stranger by the minute! He turned left, he turned right, he raised his wand up and pushed more magic through to light up more area, but still found nothing! No walls, no desks, no unlit torches or candles, nothing! Harry stopped suddenly, gulping and shakily pointing his wand to the ground, hoping that he wasn’t in some precarious position, balancing just barely on a narrow walkway, suspended above his doom!

Fortunately, the light showed that he was standing on the safe, solid cobblestone floor that he was accustomed to, so his previous bout of melodramatic panic was quite unfounded and – admittedly – a bit embarrassing.

Thank the powers that be that no one had been around to see this…

Satisfied that he was alone, Harry strode forward, looking for some source of light, anything that he could just light up instead of having to maintain an illumination spell until his temper cooled.

Harry knew full well how horrible his anger control could be at the best of times, and this was most certainly not the best of times.

The frustrated teen took a step forward; peering through the darkness in hopes that he might find something he could use to give himself a more stable light source. To his utter surprise, his foot never made contact with the floor, instead going right through and into an open space. Harry yelped in surprise, wheeling his arms in the air in an attempt to use the momentum to fall backwards and onto what he knew to be solid ground; he’d take the bruised pride over falling into some dangerous mess again.

Unfortunately, the laws of gravity don’t stop to give special consideration for comedic performances, no matter how ridiculous the person in question looks when trying to defy them. Thus, Harry fell forward into the darkness with a cry of despair, flailing and tumbling head over heels all the way.

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A purple coated pony with dark purple and pink streaked mane sat at a desk, reading a book on the history of her homeland, Equestria, by the candlelight. A bit of bedtime reading to unwind from a hectic, but fun, day in Ponyville was one of her favorite activities, especially when her dragon friend, Spike, her number one assistant, was kind enough to make her a hot cup of her favorite tea.

Twilight Sparkle, the most favored student of Princess Celestia, smiled and sighed contently as she took a sip. She’d have to do something nice for him tomorrow; he always seemed to know exactly which brew to make to suit her mood and the type of day she had, his ability to read her was almost uncanny.

Though, considering the fact that the two had been together since the day she’d hatched him as part of her entrance exam into the Princess’ school, this shouldn’t really be much of a surprise.

She glanced behind her to watch as Spike standing atop a ladder, balancing a large stack of books in one hand while trying to place a rather thick, blue covered book back in the right place on the shelf. He knew full well that he’d be in for an earful if he put so much as one of the librarian’s books our of place, so Spike wanted to get this right the first time around.

He really was her number one assistant, even if he did let it go to his head every now and then.

A loud bump from behind her, somewhere near the closet, caused Twilight to jump in shock, knocking over her teacup and spilling its contents all over her clean, organized desk. She growled in annoyance, turning her gaze back towards her startled assistant, who’d fallen from his perch and landed in a heap beneath a pile of books. “I thought you said you put everything back in the closet neatly,” she scolded.

Spike groaned in pain, pushing a copy of The History of Equestria off of him, before holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. “I did!” He insisted. “I put everything back exactly where you said!”

“Then what was that?”

“How in the wide, wide world of Equestria should I know? Maybe one of the shelves just collapsed or something?”

“Or something?” she repeated, quirking an eyebrow skeptically. “Why don’t you check and make sure you didn’t do a hasty job at the end?”

Her scaled assistant made as if to protest further, but he sighed, sagging his shoulders and stomping over to the closet, grumbling all the way. “Fine!” he snapped as he turned the knob. “But I know I did it right! I’ll bet you it was just one of those old closet shelves, Celestia knows this place hadn’t been kept well before we got he-AAAAAAAAAH!” Spike was cut off when a large, heavy object hit him directly in the snout, sending him tumbling down to the floor and knocking the wind out of him.

Twilight gasped in shock, rushing forward to check on her beloved baby dragon, but she stopped short as she realized something: this was no inanimate object! This was a living, breathing… thing!

In all her studies, both with Princess Celestia and independently, she’d never seen a creature such as this! The creature before her wasn’t covered in any sort of fur or scales, save for the messy black mane atop its head, it was garbed in what appeared to be a rough, wooly black robe and black trousers covering its legs, and strange objects covering its hind paws. Upon closer inspection, Twilight noticed that the creature’s forepaws resembled that of a monkey or gorilla, the opposable thumb was a telltale sign of at least some primate heritage.

“Ooooh, my aching head!” It groaned in what she judged to be a young male of whatever species he was. Well, at least now she knew she would be able to speak with him without having to bother Fluttershy to translate. “What the bloody hell did I –“ The new creatures stopped short upon seeing what it had come into contact with, before recoiling in fear, scrambling away from her fallen assistant. “Merlin’s beard, a dragon!”

Spike pushed himself up to view the thing that had knocked him over, fully intending to yell something back, but recoiled in turn when he realized that he’d never seen something like this before. “Dear Celestia, it talks!”

“I talk? How the hell are you talking? Dragons don’t talk!”

“Oh yeah? Well, I’m talking to you, pal! And I’m not the one who just came diving out of a closet and knocking over some poor, unsuspecting dragon!”

Twilight blinked rapidly as she watched the strange, new creature arguing with Spike, shaking her head and refocusing on the matter at hand. She focused her magic into her horn, which glowed magenta with magical energy, and fired a pair of quick bursts at the bickering duo.

Harry yelped in shock as he was engulfed in a strange magenta bubble, frantically looking for an opportunity to escape capture, absentmindedly noting that the little purple dragon had been subdued as well.  “What in the world?”

“That was me,” Harry turned his gaze to the unicorn, no scratch that; the purple, talking unicorn that had managed to capture him in some odd energy field. “No offence, but I didn’t think we’d get any important information from you while you and Spike,” she paused to point one of her hooves in the direction of the fuming dragon, who stuck his long, serpentine tongue out at her. “Were yelling at one another.”

Harry stayed silent. He could understand it somewhat, he’d be pretty hacked off if someone barged into his room and started arguing and yelling at one of his friends. Here, he was the intruder; he didn’t have the right to complain about being contained.

“Fine,” He nodded, relaxing his muscles and lowering his voice. “What do you want to know?”

“What do we want to know?” Spike repeated, still angry with the newcomer. “Well, gee, how about who you are! Or better yet, what in Celestia’s name even are you?” Before he could continue, his mouth was changed into a zipper and was quickly zipped shut. He turned his angry glare on Twilight, but his demands that she put his mouth back were muffled.

“Sorry about that,” Twilight apologized. “He’s a bit excitable. We’ve never seen anything like – well – you, before! The closest thing I’ve ever seen is a monkey, but you don’t have enough fur to be one of them.”

Harry scowled. “ I most certainly am not a monkey! I’m a human!”

She stared blankly, cocking her head to the side in confusion. “Hyoo – man?” She tried, testing the word on her tongue. “I’ve never heard of one of those before.”

“Well, I’m a human! So, they look like me!”

“Alright, so you’re a human, fine. Would you happen to have a name, or should I just give you one?”

“Do I look like a pet?” He asked gruffly. “My name is Harry Potter.” He carefully watched for her reaction, waiting for the widening eyes, glancing up to his scar or the babbling about how he was the Harry Potter.

She didn’t do any of those things; she simply smiled and nodded and, to his pleasant surprise, decided to introduce herself. “Hello, then, Harry Potter,” she greeted warmly. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, you’ve already met my assistant, Spike.” At this, Harry’s eyes flickered back over to the baby dragon, observing the way he seemed to calm down little by little as Twilight Sparkle held a civil conversation with their unwitting intruder.

“Yes, I’ve had the pleasure,” Harry deadpanned, earning an amused giggle from Twilight. He suspected that it would take a while for him to get used to her odd coloration.

Wait! Couldn’t this just be a dream? After all, unicorns and dragons don’t talk, and, no matter how convincing it may be, this could be just a very vivid dream. Hell, he probably fell down, hit his head and knocked himself unconscious. That would certainly explain why the little dragon had purple scales and green spines, of all things.

“This is just a dream, isn’t it?” Twilight stared in confusion as he continued. “This isn’t real, none of it is. I just fell and hit my head in that odd room, and I’m lying there unconscious, aren’t I?”

“No, this is all quite real,” she replied with a shake of her head. “You came tumbling out of my closet and into my home, Golden Oaks Library, in Ponyville.”

“Ponyville?”

“It’s the name of the town we’re in. But, let's stay focused. When you fell through, you collided with Spike and were complaining about how much it hurt, right?”

Harry shrugged and nodded, not quite seeing where she was going with this. “Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean –“

“Have you ever had a dream where you’ve felt pain?” She asked, cocking a brow at him. “One where you didn’t wake up just as you were about to hit the ground after falling, or where you could feel the pain of something hitting you?”

He opened his mouth to reply in the affirmative, but stopped himself. She was right. Every time he’d had one of those dreams where he’d fallen from the sky, even when he had that odd dream about the Slythering team riding dragons instead of brooms, he’d woken up just as he was about to be hit. Here, however, he felt pain; hell, his ears were still ringing from his headfirst collision with Spike!

This was no dream!

Harry felt panic set in, his heart started racing as the realization slowly came to him. “This is… real?”

Twilight nodded, her eyes softened as she watched him start to hyperventilate within the confines of her magic bubble. She’d been afraid that something like this would happen when he tried to pass this off as a dream rather than accept that he’d apparently stumbled into a new world.

“A new world,” he muttered, sounding as if he were trying to convince himself. “I’m in a completely new world! How the hell do I always get mixed up in these things?”

Now, that drew Twilight’s attention. “Going to new worlds isn’t a new experience?”

“No… well, sort of,” Harry replied lamely. “When I was eleven, I found out that there was a secret society of wizards, witches and all sorts of magic hiding in not only my home country, but around the entire world as well! But going to a new world entirely? I’m rather new to that!”

“Magic exists in your world?” Twilight asked, perking up at the prospect of learning about a new form of magic on top of meeting a member of a strange new species.

Harry nodded, feeling a bit wary as she bounced excitedly on her hooves. “Yes,” he answered hesitantly, covering his ears when she let out an excited squeal of joy.

“Oh, how wonderful!” She cried, clapping her front hooves together. “You’ve got to show me! This is so amazing!”

“Uh, sure, I guess,” he consented. He paused a moment, motioning to her magic bubble. “But first, could you let me out?”

Twilight’s cheeks reddened heavily. “Oh, right, sorry!” Her horn ceased glowing and both of her captives were released from their respective bubbles, falling to the ground with a thud. “Sorry!” She cried when the duo sent matching annoyed glares at her.

Harry sighed and decided to calm her down, this was nothing compared to having his arm broken by a bludger. “It’s fine,” he grunted as he rose to his feet and began dusing off his trousers. “I’ve had worse.”

“Easy for you to say,” Spike grumbled, having finally managed to unzip his mouth. “Wait until she does that a few more times, and add in teleportation!”

“Spike!” Twilight scolded in embarrassment. “I don’t drop you that much!”

“Yeah, you do! Try every time you teleport me without warning! Or when you get so excited about reading a book you use magic to pull it and me off the ladder!”

The sight of the previously calm and collected Twilight sputtering and blushing at the reminder of past failures was enough to bring a small smile to Harry’s face; he put a hand to his mouth to try to stifle his laughter, but didn’t make it in time to prevent the first bout from escaping.

Twilight lowered her ears, hanging her head in shame as the newcomer laughed at her. Here she was, the favored student of Princess Celestia, and a new creature, one capable of magic no less, was learning of her failures. Harry quickly recomposed himself and tried to appease her. “No, no! I’m not laughing at you, Miss Sparkle,” He said with a grin. “The two of you arguing like that just reminded me of a couple of people from my world! Frankly, you’re not the only one who’s had a few mishaps with magic.”

“What? You’ve pulled your assistant off a ladder?” Spike asked incredulously.

“Not quite, but I have had all the bones in my arm removed.”

“Huh?” The duo before him blinked, sharing looks of disgust at the images that sprung forth.

“Yeah, two years ago,” he said casually, having long-since come to terms with it.

When the pony and dragon considered the implications, their eyes widened in horror. “All of the bones?” Twilight gasped.

“How did you get your arm fixed, then?” Spike asked, horrified at the mere thought of all of the bones in one of his limbs being removed. The image he came up with was – ironically – that of his own forelimb being as floppy and useful as a limp noodle.

“Oh, that was an interesting experience, to say the least,” the boy laughed uneasily. “Y’see, we have these potions in our world –“

“You have potions too!” Twilight gasped, cutting him off in her excitement. “Wow! Just like Zecora!”

“Uh, sure, just like Zecora,” Harry chuckled, mentally wondering what the hell a ‘Zecora’ could possibly be. “Anyways, the school nurse gave me a bone regrowth potion. It hurt like you wouldn’t believe, but I had all the bones in my arm back by the next morning!”

Twilight’s eyes widened in wonder, her attention focused completely on the human boy’s tale, her mind working furiously to think of the possibilities, the applications of such a potion in Equestria! Broken legs, ankles, knees and hips had long plagued their race as permanently disabling; if they could use the premise of one of these bone regrowth potions, they could, in theory, come up with a solution to this problem!

But wait! Harry still had to show her his version of magic. That thought alone was enough to make the scholarly pony giddy in a manner that Harry had only seen from Hermione. Twilight dashed across the room, stopping just in front of Harry and resuming her excited bouncing. “Well, come one! Aren’t you gonna show me your magic?” She asked, her snout just inches away from his nose.

Harry just laughed in amusement; this was definitely what Hermione would be like as a pony, he was sure of it. “Sure I will, just step back a bit,” Twilight was quick to oblige, more than eager to see him at work. “Well, what do you want to see?”

She stopped bouncing for a moment, raising a hoof to her mouth in thought. She grinned as a thought came to her. “I know! Make something float! That’s easy enough, right?”

“Actually, that’s really basic for us,” he replied happily. “It’s one of the first spells we learn in school.”

“Yeah, that’s great and all, but Twilight can do that easily,” Spike interjected, folding his arms over his scaled chest. “So, how do we know this is a new type of magic?”

“Well, that depends on Twilight’s answer to my question,” he paused to pull his wand from one of the pockets of his robes. “Do you use a wand?”

She shook her head. “No, I focus magic into my horn, all unicorns and alicorns do.”

“… Remind me to ask you what that last thing is later,” Harry said after a moment’s pause. “But, the important thing is that you channel your magic into your horn, a part of your body. I have to bring magic from my body or surroundings and channel it into my wand, then I have to say the incantation.”

“Does all magic in your world require incantation?” She asked. Her horn glowed magenta again as she summoned a scroll and quill to her and began writing furiously, taking down every detail of information he’d given her.

“No,” he admitted. “More powerful wizards can cast spells without incantations, but I’m still in training.”

A laugh from Spike caused Harry to frown. “You’re still in training?” He cackled.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am,” Harry replied, smirking wickedly as a thought crossed his mind. “But, at least I’m not a test dummy.”

“Test dummy?” Spike repeated, unsure of what that meant, but not liking the sound of it. “What the hay is a –“

“Wingardium Leviosa!” Harry cut him off, flicking his wand at the confused dragon.

“HEY!” Spike cried as he was lifted off his feet and into the air, flailing his arms and tail, trying to grab onto something to right himself. True, he’d been levitated by Twilight before, but she was usually much more gentle with the way she did it. “Alright, fine! I take it back!” He cried.

Harry just laughed and waved his wand up and down, causing Spike to lower and rise up in the air along with its motions. “Too late for that! Shouldn’t you have seen something like this coming since you live with Twilight?”

“I get the point! Just put me down!”

“Think he’s learned his lesson?” Harry asked the giggling unicorn.

Twilight’s eyes twinkled in amusement. “Probably not, but you should put him down before he gets sick.”

Harry nodded, cancelling his floating charm and letting Spike fall to the ground with a bump, earning a glare for his troubles. “Hey, watch it!” The dragon cried, nursing a sore rump after his little fall. “I’ve got enough bruises there!”

“Maybe you should think about that when you laugh at others,” Harry shot back. “Don’t throw stones if you live in a glass house!”

Spike tilted his head in confusion, reaching back to scratch his spines. “What?”

“If you can’t take being laughed at, don’t laugh at others,” Twilight explained. “He’s making a point, one you should pay close attention to.”

“What are you talking about? I can take a joke!”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, looking down sternly at the young dragon. “Really, now? I seem to remember you finding it hilarious when our friends and I stepped in the Poison Joke flowers, but you got upset when we teased you for looking too cute to be a dragon?”

“That’s different!” He snapped angrily. “That’s part of who I am!”

“And my horn is part of who I am,” she replied calmly. “As is Rarity’s mane, Pinkie Pie’s humor, Fluttershy’s soft voice, Rainbow Dash’s skill in flying, and Applejack’s size and strength. But you didn’t have a problem laughing at us, did you?”

As he watched Spike hang his head and nod, muttering an apology under his breath, Harry made a mental note to ask what these things Twilight had mentioned were. The way she said it, they sounded like names. If they were, then they were definitely the oddest names he’d ever heard.

To be fair, Twilight Sparkle was up there, so he really shouldn’t be surprised. And Harry probably sounded like an odd name to them, so he didn’t have much room to talk.

He’d just chalk it up to his current predicament and leave it at that.

“So, what happens now?” Harry asked awkwardly, drawing their attention once again.

Twilight thought for a moment, frowning when no clear answer came to her. “I’m not sure,” she admitted grudgingly. “Personally, I’d like to study you and your version of magic a bit since I’ve never heard about humans before, but I don’t want to keep you here against your will…”

“If it makes you feel any better, the two of you have given me a better reception here than I’ve been getting in my world,” he tried with an uneasy smile.

“Well, at least there’s that,” Twilight smiled. “But, I’d like to at least have some idea on how we can help each other out.”

“Why not write to Princess Celestia?” Spike put in. “She’ll know what to do!”

“Uh, who is Princess Celestia?” Harry asked, completely lost at this point.

Spike just laughed, having forgotten that the newcomer would’ve had no prior knowledge of the Princess of Day. “She’s one of the Princesses of Equestria, she’s in charge of making the Sun rise and holds dominion over daytime.”

“I see,” he muttered hesitantly, not quite understanding the concept. “So… some… pony has to raise the Moon and hold dominion over the night, right?”

“That’s right!” Twilight chirped happily. “Her little sister, Princess Luna, raises the Moon and reigns over the night.”

“Makes sense, I suppose. And you think that Princess Celestia will help you figure out how to help me?”

TShe nodded once. “I’m sure! I’m her student, she trusts me with just about anything! I’m sure she can help us figure out a way!”

“No doubt,” Spike agreed. “The Princess knows more about magic than anypony in Equestria!”

“Well, if you say so, I suppose,” he said a bit unsurely. “I guess it couldn’t hurt. Anything is better than sitting here, twiddling my thumbs.”

Twilight nodded, turning to her ever-faithful assistant, who had already pulled out a quill and scroll of parchment. “Ready when you are, Twilight!” he said dutifully.

“Thanks, Spike. Dear Princess Celestia,” she paused, making sure that she didn’t go too fast for the young dragon. “Tonight, something amazing happened! A young creature, a male of his species, stumbled out of my closet in Golden Oaks Library. His appearance is rather strange, he has no coat or fur, save for a black mane, he walks on two legs and has arms, much like Spike's. He refers to himself as a 'human' and goes by the name 'Harry Potter'. Harry claims that he came from another world, but, as I am unfamiliar with such magic, I felt that this was something that should be brought to your attention. Please send advice on how to proceed as soon as possible. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike’s quill danced across the page at a rapid pace, scratching furiously against the parchment as he transcribed the last line of his friend’s message. “Twi-light Spar-kle,” he sounded out as he tried to make sure to follow those pesky spelling rules and not mix up letters as he sometimes did. “Got it!” he cried triumphantly, tossing the quill aside and rolling up the scroll. The tiny dragon took a deep breath and let out a small jet of green flame, incinerating the letter in his claws.

“What in Merlin’s name are you doing?” Harry panicked as his information ticket literally went up in smoke before his eyes.

“Relax,” Spike said, putting his claws up in a placating gesture. “That’s how we send letters to the princess through magic. Take a look for yourself?” He then gestured to the trail of smoke that began winding its way up towards the open window, as if it had a life all its own, and shot out into the night, vanishing from sight. “When I burn magical scrolls, they appear before the Princess so she can read them and respond within min – ACK!”

A sharp pain in his stomach prevented him from finishing his sentence; he hunched over, clutching his belly, his face contorted in a manner that suggested that he was under a lot of discomfort, before letting loose a loud, firey belch. The flames that sprung forward from his mouth began to materialize into another magical scroll, this one, however, had a rather fancy seal attached to the tie.

“Wow, that was fast!” Twilight noted happily. It seemed that the Princess had taken her situation quite seriously. “What does it say, Spike?”

“Gimme a second. She caught me off guard with that one,” Spike snatched the scroll off the ground and unrolled it, muttering under his breath about how annoyingly uncomfortable it felt for him to receive letters, and began reading. “My faithful student, Twilight. Your rather unique situation comes as a surprise to both Luna and myself – Oh, wow! You got the attention of both Princesses, Harry!”

“Uh, that’s great, I guess,” Harry said unsurely. “What’s the rest say?”

“Oh, right! Where was I? Ah, here! Many centuries have passed since the last encounter either of us had with a human, therefore, unfortunately, we do not have much information to give at this time. Please tell your new guest not to worry, as I will personally do everything within my power to search for clues on how to return him safely to his home world. In the meantime, you and Spike should show him around Ponyville and let him experience Equestrian life for himself and perhaps ask him a bit about his people if he’s willing to discuss it. Please keep in touch with any new information you get, I will do the same. Signed, Princess Celestia.”

Harry’s shoulders slumped in dejection; he’d been hoping that this would be a quick fix. “So much for that,” he grumped. “Looks like I’m stuck.”

“It’s not that bad here,” Spike tried to assure him. “The ponies are really friendly once they get to know you. Plus, I’m sure the Princess will have an answer for you soon enough.

“Maybe. But with my luck, this will involve some ridiculous quest at the end, and I’ll have to risk life and limb to go back and deal with everyone accusing me of something I didn’t do!”

“I’m sure it won’t be anything like that,” Twilight tried to assure him, making a quick mental note that his choice of wording made it seem as if this were completely normal for him. She’d have to look more into that later. “Even on the off chance that it involved danger, we wouldn’t make you go through it alone.”

He wouldn’t understand it for a long time, but, somehow, hearing this filled Harry with the same confidence he had when his friends resolved to help him protect the Philosopher’s Stone from Voldemort, the same feeling of being part of a group as he felt whenever he put on his Quidditch robes and walked onto the pitch with his teammates.

“Thanks, Miss Sparkle,” Harry said, smiling sincerely for the first time in days. “It means a lot to hear some – uh – pony say that.”

She smiled brightly, both at her success in pulling her new friend out of his dismal state of mind and seeing a genuine smile on his face for the first time since he’d stumbled into her library. But, in the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but draw connections between his annoyed grumbling and his sudden gratitude after she assured him that he wouldn’t be alone.

She’d only known him for a half an hour at most, but Twilight could easily tell that something was very wrong with Harry Potter. Something she fully intended to find out, just as soon as she was sure he wouldn’t pull a Rainbow Dash and flee at the first sign of questioning.

Better save that for later; Twilight could always figure it out once her new guest got comfortable with his surroundings and opened up a bit. For now, she’d let him have his privacy.

“Glad it helped!” She chirped happily, before raising a brow playfully. “And you can call me Twilight, Harry. There’s no need to be so formal!”

“Sorry, habit,” he replied sheepishly. “I’m still making the connection between this being a library and me being a student.”

Spike groaned in mock agitation. “Oh, please don’t put that image in my head!” he grinned at the light glare his sister-figure sent at him, but continued needling her nonetheless. “She’s already bad enough when she goes into research mode, I don’t want to imagine her in charge of a class!”

“You’re hilarious,” Twilight deadpanned, turning her attention away from the snickering dragon and back to Harry, who tried in vain to hide a grin. “Oh, don’t encourage him!” She begged. “He’ll start thinking he’s actually funny!”

Harry nodded his head understandingly. “Ah, well, I wouldn’t want that.”

“Hey! No taking her side! She’s got enough mares around to help her tease me! You’re the only sta – uh – guy around who will back me up!”

Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes at his dramatics. “I’m sure you’ll get over it,” she drawled.

“Easy for you to say,” he scoffed. “You’ve got five other mares who love to tease me all the time for being too little or too nice to be a dragon.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I still feel a bit dizzy from when I collided with you,” Harry offered. “You bounced up like I barely touched you though!”

Just as the young wizard suspected, Spike perked up almost immediately when he realized that the boy was telling the truth. “Yeah, I did!” He crowed, flexing his arms to show off what little muscle was hidden beneath his scales. Harry and Twilight stifled laughs at the sight of the baby dragon trying to showcase himself. “Strength of a real dragon! Hear that Twilight?”

“I don’t think there’s anyone in Equestria who can’t hear you, Spike,” she teased.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” he dismissed her with a yawn. “I’m beat, I’ll see you guys in the morning.”

“Goodnight, oh mighty dragon,” Twilight giggled, leaning down to nuzzle her little assistant as he passed.

“Just you wait, Sparkle,” he mumbled half-heartedly as he returned the gesture with a light hug before making his way over to his bead and flopping down onto it. Within seconds, the baby dragon was asleep.

“Wow,” Harry laughed quietly at the sight of the snoring dragon. “He really is a baby, isn’t he?”

She nodded. “As much as he likes to pretend he’s all big and bad, he’s a little foal at heart.”

“Well, he should make the most of it while he’s young. It seems like you two are really close, almost like brother and sister, if I compare you to one of my friend’s and his sister.”

“That sounds about right,” she laughed. “I don’t know what I’ll do when he does finally grow up.”

“Like I said, just enjoy it while it lasts,” Harry replied seriously. “You’ve no idea how much I envy the two of you; I can only wish that I had something like that.”

Twilight did her best not to be too nosey, but this was now the third hint he’d given her about his life in his own world. She had to ask about this one. “Do you fight with your siblings?” she asked, sincere in her curiosity.

“No, I mean I wish I had a relationship like that with some siblings of my own. I’m an only child.”

She’d put her hoof right in her mouth. Twilight winced, mentally berating herself for making assumptions about her new guest. “I’m so sorry,” she stammered. “I just thought –“

Harry waved her off. “It’s fine. I should’ve been more clear.” He paused his attempts to reassure him to stifle a yawn that managed to escape his lips; it had been a long, tiresome day in his world, and this new world ordeal was all the more exhausting.

“Looks like Spike isn’t the only one who needs an early bedtime,” Twilight giggled, drawing an eye roll from the raven-haired human.

“You go to a new world and tell me it’s not draining,” he shot back. “It’s been a long day in both worlds, for me.”

“Fair enough, I suppose. I have an extra bed, just give me a minute to bring it out.”

“You don’t have to, I can sleep on the floor.” Harry replied. She’d been gracious enough not to call whatever authorities existed in this world the moment he stumbled into her home. He didn’t want to burden her any more than he already had.

Twilight, however, would have none of it. “No, really, it’s no trouble at all. It just takes a bit of magic and –“

“No, it’s fine, I’d rather not burden you anymore than I already have.”

“You haven’t –“

“Besides, I’ve slept on the floor loads of times before. It’s not big deal at all.”

“No!” She snapped, putting her hoof down on the matter. Twilight strode forward, causing Harry to quickly backpedal into the very door he’d come out of. “Look! I can have that bed out here and ready in ten seconds flat! No one in this house, pony, dragon, human or otherwise, is sleeping on the floor! Got it?”

“Got it!” He squeaked, sufficiently cowed by her glare.

Almost instantly, Twilight reassumed her usual kind smile. “Great! Wait right there!” As the mare trotted off, Harry couldn’t help but stare.

Harry made a mental note never to be unfortunate enough to find himself in her crosshairs when she was well and truly angry. Harry had seen that glare before; he’d seen his bushy haired, book loving friend punch out that utter ponce, Draco Malfoy, after giving that glare.

Harry didn’t want to see what a unicorn with magical powers would do to him if he invited her wrath down upon him.

“See! Ten seconds flat!” Twilight proudly said, having pulled an extra bed from and setting it up while Harry busy trying to figure out how he’d gone from staring down a basilisk to cowering in fear of a purple unicorn’s wrath. She paused a moment to chuckle as she recalled Rainbow Dash using the same line back when she first meet the cyan coated pegasus.

Harry smiled uneasily and approached the bed, resisting the urge to cringe as an odd scent hit him. Of course, he should’ve expected this; it was a spare bed for a pony. He should’ve expected the faint scent of a pony’s coat to linger, it was, after all, extremely unlikely that Twilight would bother using magic to completely remove the smell since it would seem natural to a typical guest in her home.

Plus, he had the distinct feeling that if he tried to decline her generosity again, she’d magically bind him to the bed for the night.

“Thanks, Miss Sparkle,” he said, slipping back into his habit again.

Twilight rolled her eyes at him. “It’s just Twilight,” she repeated.

“Sorry, it’s going to take a bit to get used to all… this,” he replied with a gesture. “Used to being around teachers and all.”

She just laughed and nodded as she turned to trot over to her own bed. Twilight paused for a moment to stifle a light yawn with a hoof, before climbing in. She might as well go to sleep now, there wasn’t much point in trying to continue her reading now that her focus was elsewhere. With her curiosity now directed at Harry, she’d have to wait until morning to go into, as Spike called it, research mode.

“It’s fine,” she called back sleepily. “You’ll adjust, I suppose. For now, just sleep. We’ll straighten everything else out in the morning.”

“Uh, sounds like a good plan,” Harry said as sat down on his borrowed mattress and began pulling off his shoes and socks. He briefly considered whether or not it could be wrong for him to share a room with Twilight, but he quickly shook that thought off and slipped out of his robes. British propriety didn’t really apply here.

Twilight was a pony, he was a human. They were two completely different species, hell, they were from two completely different cultures! If he went based off of their rules, going starkers was probably acceptable, even among members of the opposite sex, if Twilight and Spike were any indication.

As soon as he realized where that train of thought had taken him, Harry slapped a hand across his forehead and suppressed a groan. Why the hell was he actually pondering this?

The now mentally scarred teen quickly unbuttoned his shirt and hung it, along with his robes, on a bedpost, before pulling back the covers and sliding in. He sighed, ignoring the odd smell of pony, and relaxed as his body settled in and became accustomed to the comfort of the rarely used mattress.

“Goodnight, Harry,” Twilight’s mumbled call sounded from her side of the room.

Harry turned to glance at her, snickering as she turned over on her side and snuggled into her pillow like a young child. “Goodnight, Twilight,” he replied as he closed his eyes and let sleep take him into its comforting darkness.

For the first time in days, he slept without worry, without the weight of false accusations on his shoulders.