In a Strange Land

By: The Fanfic Stealer

Harry Potter X My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic crossover

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is owned by Rowling and WB. MLP:FiM is owned by Hasbro. I claim nothing from either of them.

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Chapter 4: The Q & A Session Strikes Back! (Part 2)

Twilight couldn't help feeling a bit giddy as her turn for questions finally arrived. From what she could extrapolate, she was at the very least in a completely different land, most likely past the Great Sea. Here, a new, sentient species that looked to be as advanced as ponies had evolved completely outside the influences of ponykind! What magicks did they develop? What technologies? What philosophies? Oh, she was so excited! An interview with what was essentially an alien! This was historical moment! She could almost imagine the thesis she was going to write!

She barely kept herself from squealing in glee at that last thought, and had to force herself to calm down. She took deep breaths, in, out, in, out. You have to actually ask a question to conduct an interview. Just keep a cool head, and ask the first question on the checklist. Right. She could do that. She gave a mental look over her equally mental checklist (no paper, no quill, no magic to conjure them… oh, here's hoping I don't forget!) and followed her own suggestion.

"Alright then," she began, "First question: what exactly are you? I'm fairly certain your species is mammalian, but beyond that nothing comes to mind."

"Well…" Harry moved into a thinking pose-- arms crossed, head tilted, and eyes looking up at the ceiling in thought-- and Twilight was momentarily distracted by how… cute he looked. She gave herself a mental slap-- what the hay was wrong with her?! They were two completely different species (well, not that the moment, but that shouldn't matter)! She shouldn't be finding him attractive!

…Then again, Spike was infatuated with Rarity, and Rainbow Dash might have had something with that one Griffon, if her brief-but-deep depression after that particular disaster was any indication, so maybe… Argh! This is why she didn't do romance-- relationships were so bucking confusing!!!

Further thoughts on the subject were promptly interrupted when her host finished gathering his thoughts and began talking:

"We're a species of bipedal sapient primates colloquially called 'humans,' 'mankind,' or 'humanity.' More formally, our race is called homo sapien, with our particular branch of humanity being called homo sapien magicis-- magical humans. We're the dominant species on this planet, the alpha predators of just about any region we settle in. We're also the only sapient species on the planet whose majority cannot wield magic of some kind."

Twilight frowned in thought as she went over what she'd just been told-- the only species whose majority cannot wield magic? She already knew that wasn't true-- while much wasn't known about the Minotaur race, it WAS known that they possessed strength that easily surpassed the strongest of ponies, but at the cost of their inability to wield magic of any kind. Most Griffons and Diamond Dogs also couldn't wield magic, the exception being those of their Royal Lines: the Line of the Griffon Wizard-King, and the Line of the Diamond Dog Overlord.

And why did he claim humans were the predominant species on Gaia? He didn't know about ponies, sure, but if his race was as advanced as she thought, they should have realized they were on the smaller of Gaia's two habitable continents, barely half of the size of Equestria. He also implied his race was aware of the other sentient races on the planet, so they should have figured out that the other, much larger continent was possibly dominated by Griffons, Minotaurs, Diamond Dogs, and/or Dragons, all of which were obviously better predators than humans, if her own soft hide and blunt, weak claws were any indication.

But his words didn't have that sense of superiority one would find in a species that believed they were predominant despite all evidence to the contrary, either, as there were none of the usual bodily tells-- passive-aggressive stance, nose turned up, etc etc. But if that were the case, why hadn't he said they were the predominant race on the LANDMASS, instead? Perhaps they had evolved a completely different system of bodily tells? But everything pointed at them having developed much like pony society did, so they should have at least SIMILAR tells, if not identical!

Argh! First question, and she was already confused!

"Is something the matter, Twilight? Did I not make that clear enough to you?" Harry asked, leaning forward to give her a concerned look.

"I'm fine," Twilight replied, blushing. She fought down her confusion, choosing instead to remedy it by asking one of the new questions she just added to her mental checklist. All of them were now under the first answer, indented with a bullet point each… and somewhat derogatory if taken in the wrong context, now that she thought about it. Horse-apples! She couldn't ask any of them without potentially insulting her host!

…Oh wait. Here's one that didn't make her sound like some kind of racial supremacist.

"And how are humans the dominant species of Gaia? The skin seems a bit on the soft side, and the claws on our hands are rather weak and blunt. Is there some kind of defense mechanism? Does the skin harden when in danger? Are these claws capable of being sharpened through thought?"

She expected an anthropological explanation. She didn't expect his surprised reply:

"How do you know that name?"

Twilight blinked. "Err… what name?"

"Gaia."

Twilight blinked again; where was this going? "It's… what we call the planet, after the Queen Mother Goddess. Err… why?"

"Nothing, nothing. Just… strange…"

"What's strange about that?" Twilight, feeling ever-so-slightly affronted-- Why wouldn't they name the planet after the giver of life and magic and the Honored Dame of the Royal Sisters?

"Nothing, really! It's more of a rather interesting coincidence, since we used to call our planet Gaia, as well…"

Twilight felt her mind freeze as she was hit with that particular bit of information. They USED to call the planet Gaia? What…?

Then little bits of information from their conversation earlier, things that seemed relatively inconsequential at the time, bubbled to the surface of her thoughts; come to think of it, Harry had been familiar with Unicorns, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies, though he referred to the last one as "regular" ponies. That meant that she had been wrong, and there HAD been some kind of prior contact between pony-kind and… mankind, he called it? And now this off-hand comment about how the name of the planet was now a thing of the past… could it be? Had they, rather than get thrown into another nation beyond the Great Sea, been instead… instead…

…Had they instead been sent forward in time?

Twilight could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate as panic set in, but fought it down ruthlessly. She could not lose her cool! S-she had to-- oh Celestia! What about Discord! Was he still out there? Were they in a bunker of some sort?

No! Think positively! Think. Positive. If Discord were to rule, all life on Equestria would have been wiped out-- he'd clearly shown his thoughts on the value of life: its only worth was how he could twist it to his amusement. There was not only still life, but sentient life-- if different then what she was familiar with-- so that must mean Discord had been defeated sometime in the past. But how? The Elements of Harmony were-- actually, where were they? Where--?

…Perhaps they had been left behind? Perhaps THAT'S how Discord was defeated? But they were still the Bearers, though! She could still feel her connection to the Element of Magic! So how…? Did the Elements disconnect when they left, and only re-connected with them after they arrived in this time period? That would make sense, and it wasn't like she'd ever disconnected from the Element of Magic before, so she had no sense of what something like that would feel like, hence wouldn't know if it had happened or not.

…Oh no… what about the length of time they'd been gone? It was long enough that "Gaia" had fallen out of usage… and this was a completely different sapient species… were they already there before Discord, only nopony had known of them yet? Or did they evolve sometime after Discord? What if ponykind had died out and humans had risen in their place?

…But… it took millions of years for a species to evolve sentience, and thousands more to get to the level of development these humans seem to have. Millions of… but that would mean… her parents, her brother… all dead and dust for a very long time… w-what had happened to them? What…? Had they been killed during Discord's reign? Had they lived to old age? Did Shining Armor go on to have a family? Had… had… a million years…

Her cheeks were wet. Why were her cheeks wet? She was… crying? No. NO! Don't break down. Not yet. Not in front of Harry. Not when the Princesses were barely a yard behind her. Strong. She needed to be strong. Like Applejack. Like Rainbow Dash. Like Fluttershy, and Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Like… like her friends. She had to be strong like them. She had to be strong FOR them-- they were going to be devastated when they learned what happened… oh dear Celestia…

Okay. Okay. Make sure first. Double check. Maybe she was drastically wrong, and there was some kind of misunderstanding. Double check. If her theory was confirmed, then she could excuse herself, go back to her room-- did she remember where it was? Yes, yes she did-- and break down where she wouldn't embarrass anyone. Ask. C'mon, Twilight, you can do this. A single question.

She looked up and met the extremely worried emerald-green eyes of her host. Oh right. They had been in the middle of a conversation. How long had she just sat there, crying? Didn't matter. Ask the question, then… then.

"H-how… w-what year is it?" she managed to choke out past the massive lump in her throat. Had she swallowed a rock while she was out of it? Silly, why would she-- no! Focus. Wait for the answer. She needed this answer. She needed…

Harry's look of worry was traded for one of confusion. "What year is-- why would you want to know that?" he asked, bewildered.

"Just tell me!" Twilight demanded, the combination of anxiety and fraying sanity making her disregard her manners for a moment.

"It's AD 2009," Harry told her, "But I don't know why--" His statement cut off as he gave her a look she, despite the gap between their species, recognized almost instantly: it was the look of someone working something out, and about to arrive at a startling epiphan--

"Oh for the love of--" he groaned, face-palming with enough force that the sound of palm striking forehead practically echoed through the room. He slouched back in his chair, sliding his hand down his face in exasperation as he did so. "Creator damn it," he mumbled around his hand, "barely two questions in and I accidentally give you a panic attack. This is why Hermione should be the one doing this…"

"W-wha?" Twilight choked out, confusion now warring with her anxiety, fear, depression, and many other negative emotions.

"I'm sorry," he said, removing his hand and focusing back on her as he fixed his posture, "but it seems as if I gave you the wrong impression. I take it you believe you've somehow traveled through time, probably to the future, correct?"

Twilight nodded, not sure where Harry was going.

"Well, you'll be happy to know that that is most assuredly not the case. My dear Twilight, you and your friends didn't jump through time, but rather between space-- you're in a completely different universe, in other words. I was just commenting on how strange it was that your people gave the same name to your planet as mine once did to ours. Again, my apologies."

It took Twilight a few moments to register Harry's words, but when she did, she felt a sense of joyous elation begin to bubble up from within her… which she proceeded to squash with extreme prejudice-- while time travel had been speculated to be possible, though only in whispers-- no one wanted to be laughed out of their field, after all-- inter-dimensional travel was another matter entirely; it just took way too much energy to pierce the veil that separated one world from the next, a generous estimate being somewhere around thirty to fifty times what Princess Celestia, the stronger of the two Royal Sisters, could produce at her best. As much as she wanted to believe Harry, what he was suggesting was impossible by the known laws of magical quantum physics! But when she tried to tell him that, he just smiled and explained:

"Magical laws relating to mana consumption only apply for regular magic-- Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, Light, Dark, and Neutral. Order, Chaos, and Void Magic work on a completely different set of rules due to their natures-- each one allows the wielder to bend all of Creation to their whims, not just specific bits and pieces of it. Order and Chaos are especially suited to warping reality, and strange, normally-impossible things are known to happen when those two opposing forces meet. In this case, your Order Magic from the Elements of Harmony and this… Discord's Chaos Magic ripped a hole in space-time-- something fairly common in such instances, actually-- and you and your friends were sent through the resulting portal."

Twilight absorbed Harry's words, turning them over and matching them with what she knew. Now that she really thought about it, it did make sense, somewhat: Discord kept on doing some downright surreal things, like vanishing her horn, or turning the roads soapy and slippery, or drinking the glass instead of the chocolate milk, while the Elements of Harmony were literally capable of performing miracles, as demonstrated by their healing of Princess Luna, a goddess so much more powerful than her and all of her friends combined, it was patently ridiculous. Any of those acts should have taken massive amounts of mane-na, yet Discord's didn't even seem to notice the complex magicks he'd performed, and they, themselves had only been slightly winded after defeating Nightmare Moon.

"That… that makes sense," Twilight found herself muttering. And it DID make sense, which meant…

"So… we're really in another universe?" Twilight asked, unable to keep the all-consuming hope she was beginning to feel from her tone.

"Yep," Harry replied, giving her a comforting and slightly teasing smile, "This isn't a million years in your future, or what have you. This is just your everyday parallel universe."

Twilight sighed in relief, and with that sigh released all of her anxiety, her panic, her anguish over the fate of Equestria. It also drained her of all of her energy, and she suddenly found herself more tired than she'd ever been before. The realization came with a jaw-cracking yawn, and her eyes became inexplicably heavy.

"I think we should continue this tomorrow," Harry said, "You look beat." Twilight shook her head, both to disagree and to keep herself awake.

"I-I'm fine," she assured him, even as another yawn escaped passed her lips.

"You're obviously exhausted. Excusable, considering the day you've had."

"N-no I'm not! I s-still have questions t-to ask…" Twilight argued, her voice beginning to slur. The table was beginning to look more and more comfortable every moment. Perhaps she could just lay her head down for a bit, shut her eyes, let them rest. She wasn't going to fall asleep from that, right? Yes, just a short rest, and she could go back to asking Harry her questions. A completely different world! Just think of all the things she could discover here…

"And they can wait for tomorrow. Come now, Twilight, let's get you to bed… Twilight? Twilight…?"

Zzzzzzz…

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"And they can wait for tomorrow. Come now, Twilight, let's get you to bed… Twilight? Twilight?"

"Zzzzzzz…"

Harry sighed and shook his head in exasperation, but couldn't help smiling at the sight of the purplette sleeping in the chair across from him, snoring softly in a decidedly feminine manner. Even to the last second, emotionally drained as she was, she was still pursuing knowledge with a passion only Hermione surpassed. He had to admit, it was just as cute with Twilight as it was with Hermione. He wasn't going to do anything about it, of course-- he was happily married, thank you very much-- but it didn't hurt to acknowledge the fact.

Pushing his thoughts aside, he got to his feet and vanished his conjured chair. Taking a step back, he gathered up a slight portion of his magic, infused his will into it, and released it towards the table. It immediately stretched until it was more than two-and-a-half times its original length and two times its width, lowered itself to half of its former height, and sank a little in the middle of its surface, so that it became a slight trough. Satisfied with his work, he conjured a comfortably squishy mattress and pillow on top, then gently levitated the sleeping Twilight onto the new bed before conjuring a fluffy comforter on top of her. She made what could only be described as "a cute little happy sound" as she snuggled into the mattress, and Harry fought down the urge to d'awwwww at how adorable it was. He succeeded, but just barely, and he couldn't do anything about the silly grin that was plastered all over his face.

He checked her over one last time, made sure she was comfortable, then wove a one-way silencing ward around her bed. It was only when he was positive that no sound would be reaching her that he spoke to the empty air, seemingly addressing no one at all.

"Smart, loyal, and damn cute… you made a fine choice in your choice of High Priestess…"

He looked up… and met the simultaneously amused and guarded eyes of the older-looking goddess. In the bed next to her sat the other goddess, who, unlike her elder sister, looked more guarded than amused.

"…Milady Life-Giver, Milady Rest-Bringer. Good evening."

Celestia bowed as much as she could from her position sitting against the backboard of the bed, and greeted, "Greetings, Lord Death."

Author's Note

A/N: I've been asked this a couple times and I figured I might as well address it here: no, there is no prequel for this fic! The story of the pre-established relationships (Harry/Hermione/Luna/Susan/Daphne/Neliel/Scylla) will pop up as flashbacks throughout the fic, and have no correlation with a previous fic. If you must have a reference, though, assume this is your generic Harry/Harem verse, and the girls got together with him through the usual circumstances: friendship, line of succession, rescue, coincidence, series of extraordinary events, the end of the world, what have you. That said, please don't ask again. If you do, you'll just get a referral to this author's note and maybe a not-so-flattering cameo.

Now, onto other things... Twilight seems the type to have thoughts that go a million miles per hour, so I tried my best to portray that here. Did I do well? Or did I flop?

...Oh, and Shit just got real. :- )

Review!