//------------------------------//
// [RVS]21 - History 
// Story: A Phoenix Beyond the Veil - The Philospher's Stone 
// by gerandakis 
//------------------------------//


Chapter Twenty-One

History






Molly Weasley woke up to the first rays of dawn, as she always did. She had offered the girls to fit Ginny's room with extra beds, but the four had happily declined. Seeing the Sunset and Hermione transform and curl up on the bed with Ginny and Luna laying down to either side of them had explained why.

Molly had silently vowed to have her teeth checked. That much sweetness couldn't be healthy.

As she made her way down the stairs, she was surprised to find a pair of expressive, teal eyes watching her through the partly opened door to the darkness of Ginny's room. She was surprised that Sunset was already awake. Giving the filly a nod, she made her way back down the stairs, missing Sunset lay her head back on Hermione's barrel and close her eyes. She might have been awake, but she wasn't in the mood to get up, especially if it meant leaving the comfortable bed.

Not to mention the others were still asleep. Sunset had no intention of waking them.

In the kitchen, Molly moved to make breakfast. She was operating mainly on autopilot, having gone through the motions so many times that she could practically do it in her sleep. Her mind was elsewhere, drawn back to the pair of eyes she had seen from the darkness of Ginny's room.

Sunset Shimmer.

She had known the girl for well over a week now, and still she was a walking riddle. She clearly had magical training, but none of her magic was remotely familiar to Molly. She spoke not unlike an American, but had a slight, almost British accent. Still, she vowed to not be from Britain and had claimed to never have visited the Colonies either. She and Hermione also occasionally spoke in a language only they seemed to understand.

Then there was the fact that whenever she went to that 'homeland' of hers – Equestria, she called it – she went there by phoenix. Wherever it was, it was clearly too far away for any other method of travel. Sunset had proven that she could apparate quite well after all, though she didn't call it that.

The phoenix was another mystery. Thus far she had only ever heard of one contemporary wizard with a phoenix. Albus Dumbledore. An immensely powerful and influential Wizard and a steadfast defender of the light. Was Philomena's presence a sign that Sunset was destined to something similar?

Sunset had claimed that she had hatched and raised Philomena and the bird, as far as Molly could tell, seemed to confirm that. That was of little help, however, as only Dumbledore and Fawkes knew how they had met.

Still, despite all the questions she had, Molly was rather content. After all, today she would get answers. Not to mention play host to some of Hogwarts' faculty. She had asked Philomena to give the letter she had written to Minerva. The answer had come promptly, sent back the same way and confirming that not only Minerva, but also Professor Dumbledore and a few others would come.

Yes. She would learn much today. And she could hardly wait.





Albus Dumbledore hummed happily as he made his way to the teachers' lounge. When school was out for the summer holidays, the professors took their meals there most of the time.

He would be visiting the Burrow today, to learn more about the mysterious Miss Shimmer. He knew that she was from a different dimension and had the ability to alter her species to fit in with humans. Muggles might have called that ability impressive, wizards called it animagus.

She clearly had advanced magical training. Perhaps today he would learn more about this 'Princess Celestia' and about Equestria as a whole.

His robes flowing in his wake, Dumbledore strode into the teachers' lounge. He would not be going to the burrow alone, when Minerva had announced Molly's offer at dinner the evening before, Filius, Pomona and Septima had announced interest and chosen to come along. Minerva, of course, would be joining them as well.

He happily made small talk with the other professors, putting the matter of Sunset Shimmer out of his mind for the moment.





Harry folded the journal closed and put his pen away. He smiled happily as Sunset materialized next to him. Without a word, she looked around, spotted Harry, smiled and closed her eyes. A moment later he stood in front of the Burrow. Sunset led him inside and they both sat down in the living room.

It didn't take long before there was a flash of flame and Philomena appeared, perched on Bill's shoulder, Charlie at his side. They had returned to their respective homes abroad for the night, but had no intention of missing Sunset's story. Moments later there was another flash of flame and five people appeared in the corner of the room.

Harry immediately recognized Professor McGonagall, but the other five were unfamiliar. Beside his transfiguration teacher, there were two men and two women, seemingly playing a game of opposites. The men were both of average figure, but one was extraordinarily tall and the other extremely short. The two women were about the same height, but one was rather plump while the other was very slender.

The phoenix on the tall man's shoulder trilled happily upon seeing Philomena.

In moments, McGonagall introduced her companions as Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts and Professors Flitwick, Sprout, and Vector, the teachers for Charms, Herbology and Arithmancy respectively.

Not long after, everyone was gathered and Sunset was sat in an armchair in the center of the room, her audience spread across various chairs and couches. The professors had expressed surprise when Hermione had transformed and taken positions in his laps to safe space. He couldn't help but think he had heard a groan from McGonagall.

When everyone was settled, Sunset began.

"For those who don't already know, I am Sunset Shimmer, and I come from a different dimension."

Those words alone were enough to leave the Weasleys dumbfounded. Hermione showed no surprise and Harry wasn't sure if Luna was capable of doing so. The Professors, too, showed no surprise at the revelation.

Unperturbed, Sunset continued. "In my homeland, I look like this." She took her unicorn form and continued. "Formally, I am Sunset Shimmer, daughter of Sunspot and Stellar Flare, born into the House of the Sun and the Aetheris Tribe, former Student of the Sun." She smirked at the various confused expressions and raised eyebrows she received.

"To unpack that, Sunspot is my Father, Stellar Flare is my mother, I also have an older brother named Sunburst. The Aetheris tribe, also known as the Unicorn Tribe, is one of the three great tribes of Equestria along with the Aeolis tribe, the pegasi, and the Eterris Tribe, the earth ponies. The House of the Sun is an ancient Equestrian noble house, created about eight-hundred years ago, when the house of the Firmaments split into the Houses of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars. The House of the Firmaments can trace it's history back, more or less, into the Pre-Harmonic era."

Seeing no change in her audience, she sighed quietly. "Looks like we'll need a tangent to explain our tangent. Very well. The History of Equus, my home planet, is split into several eras, the first of which, ending about one-thousand-five-hundred years ago, is the Pre-Harmonic Era. It was followed by the first and second Harmonic Eras, interrupted by the chaos years. I won't go into too much details about those, but suffice it to say that in those days, time keeping was difficult, so nopony knows exactly how long the chaos years really were.

"The second Harmonic Era ended several centuries ago and was followed by the Celestial Years of Peace which continue to this day. On the Equestrian calendar it is currently the nine-hundred-and-ninety-fourth Celestial Year of Peace.

"A few more notes on the Equestrian calendar in general: We have seconds, minutes and hours that almost perfectly match those here, no idea why. But our days have twenty-two hours, not twenty-four and our years have four-hundred of them. If you do the math you'll notice that an Equestrian year is therefore forty hours longer than a year here, sixteen more than a leap year.

"At the same time, for every eleven days that pass here, twelve pass in Equestria. Anyway, back to the original topic."

She smiled at the audience. "I won't bore you with centuries old history of my family. Instead I'll tell you what exactly I did back in Equestria.

"Basically, when I was four, I managed a quite nice feat of magic. A roaming party of dragons had managed to steal a phoenix egg, but they lost it when they passed by Sire's Hollow, the village where I lived at the time. They came back looking for it, of course, but I found it first. I hid the egg until they gave up and then took it home. I was practicing my magic before that and I used a fire spell to keep the egg warm."

She smiled sheepishly. "Turns out, magical fire is something phoenixes need to hatch, together with genuine love and care. Without that, the eggs can survive in oviostasis for decades. I happened to provide what the egg needed, and the phoenix hatched." She pointed a hoof up at Philomena who was perched on her head. "This phoenix, to be exact.

"As it turns out, Phoenixes have an innate connection with the sun, and so does Princess Celestia, she can feel it when one hatches and she also knows when one was magically hatched. So she came by to investigate. When she learned what had happened, she met with me and, I guess, she saw something in me, because she made me her personal student, giving me my own room at the palace and training with me every day. That's also when I learned that she is actually a distant relative of mine, her mother was the sister of one of my distant ancestors, back before the house of the firmaments split up."

"Hold on," McGonagall interrupted, "are you saying she is over eight hundred years old?"

"Closer to twelve-hundred, actually. She gained immortality when she used some of the most powerful magic in Equestria to imprison a powerful evil and end the chaos years, starting the second Harmonic Era."

"Immortality?" Dumbledore asked quietly.

"Well, either that or at least a very long lifespan. I only know that she hasn't really aged since. Anyway. It's her responsibility to move the Sun and Moon to bring about day and night, so she isn't just a ruler. She has lead ponies for countless generations. And she's taught me everything I know about magic, excluding the things I learned here, of course."

"So I take it then," the small man McGonagall had introduced as Professor Flitwick asked, "that your level of magical expertise isn't normal for one your age?"

"Oh no. Not at all. I'm actually one of the most powerful spell casters known in Equestria. Technically any unicorn could learn any spell, but most don't bother learning more than a dozen spells at most."

Seeing the incredulous expressions of her audience, she nodded. "I know. I don't get it either. Most ponies are incredibly complacent.

"Ponies have underestimated me quite a few times. That was always fun. Like the various times when somepony tried to foalnap me to get ransom from the princess. Not sure what they expected would happen. Even if I couldn't easily deal with them and leave them for the royal guard to pick up."

Caught up in her memories, Sunset didn't notice the startled expressions of her audience.

"Well, eventually I went a bit crazy. Turns out that level of power and skill doesn't really mix all that well with a prepubescent mind. I got into fights with the princess more and more often and, finally, about half a year ago now, I decided to leave, and come back to prove her wrong at some point. Like I said, I wasn't really thinking straight.

"I did some research for a bit, then I learned of a mirror that was a portal to a different dimension. So I snuck into the royal vaults of Canterlot, where it was being kept and went through it with Philomena. I can only guess that Philomena messed with the configuration of the mirror, because it wasn't supposed to lead here. Anyway, I quite like it here, and I realized that the Grangers were giving me the one thing I was missing all that time with the princess. They were treating me like family. I was lonely before. Now I'm not." She lit her horn and phased over to where Hermione was, hugging her tightly. "And that's basically my story. Questions?"

There was a moment of silence, then the woman that had been introduced as Professor Vector spoke up. "You say that Princess Celestia raises and lowers the sun and the moon. Surely you exaggerate."

"No."

"Pardon? Are you aware of the amount of power doing such a thing would require?"

"I am, professor. I have been at her side many times she did that. I have seen and felt that power first hoof countless times. I can take you to watch later, the next time would be about seven hours from now."

"I do believe I would like to see that as well," the headmaster admitted.

Seeing the expressions McGonagall, Flitwick and Sprout were wearing, Sunset smiled. "Should I just assume all five of you want to come along?"

They were silent for a moment, then Professor Sprout sighed quietly. "That obvious, huh?"

Sunset giggled. "I can't really blame you. It's an impressive thing to see." She tilted her head for a moment. "Then again, that's generally the case when a pony acts upon their special talent."

"Special Talent?" Even despite all the startling revelations of the morning, Dumbledore's expression never seemed to go beyond mild intrigue.

"Yes Headmaster, everypony has a special talent or destiny, symbolized by this mark." She pointed a hoof at the stylized red and yellow sun on her flank. "It's called a cutie mark and is earned when a pony realizes their true talent and destiny. I got mine when I was six, I was a bit of an early bloomer."

"And what, if I may ask does your mark represent, then?"

Sunset nodded. "Of course. In its most basic form, my mark represents my affinity for fire and pyromancy. But split in two, as it is, it also marks me as a manifestation of the binary nature of fire, of its ability to both nurture and destroy, sometimes both at once, think a forest fire, for example. I got it when I refined the basic spell that I used to hatch Philomena. It's become a bit of a signature spell of mine."

"What kind of spell is it?"

"A light magic fire spell, not unlike phoenix fire."

"Would you mind demonstrating?"

"Of course." With an amused smirk, Sunset lit her horn. For a short moment, the light was her usual teal before shifting to a pale gold. Then, without warning, she burst into flame, completely engulfed in fire of the same pale golden color.

To say Harry was startled when one of the two fillies in his lap suddenly caught fire would have been an understatement. Hermione clearly had seen this spell before as she simply curled up next to Sunset who smiled down at her. A moment later the fire spread across Hermione as well. Harry's surprise only mounted when the fire didn't harm any of them them. It didn't burn, it was simply a pleasant warmth that seemed to warm their hearts and minds just as much as their bodies.

The professors were similarly startled, but for a different reason. Dumbledore drew his wand to scan the burning fillies, looking quite intrigued at the results he saw. "Remarkable, like a patronus."

Sunset let the fire go out and returned to her human form as she jumped from Harry's lap. "Like what?"

Dumbledore looked at her with a soft smile as he explained. "We only know of one spell with a similar magical signature. It's designed as a defense against creatures known as dementors. Let me demonstrate. Expecto Patronum."

Sunset took a step back when a silvery figure of a phoenix appeared between them. She absently applied her usual scanning spell. "Yes, definitely light magic. One Moment." Well familiar with light magic, she drew her own wand and repeated the incantation. "Expecto Patronum."

A golden light, much like the fire before, erupted from the tip of her wand, quickly forming into the shape of a small lizard that quickly climbed up to her shoulder, looking at the phoenix the headmaster had conjured. "Interesting. I take it the shape means something?"

Dumbledore, the other professors and the adult Weasleys in attendance looked at the golden Patronus with varying degrees of surprise. They had never seen one of that power before. Suddenly, Sunset turned back to the headmaster.

"Hold on. Did you say this was the only light magic spell wizards know?" Dumbledore nodded. "Well no wonder you have such a problem with dark magic. Without light magic to balance it out, its bound to run rampant. Guess I'll have to help with that."

"Are you saying you know more of this light magic?"

"Of course. I was the princess' protége. Dark magic is a common threat to Equestria. Of course I'd learn how to counter it. Light magic just happens to be one of the most effective ways of doing that. Learning how to do that I also learned the more casual uses of light magic."

"Casual uses?"

"Well, light magic has a natural connection with purity, so it works well for spells to clean and heal. Allow me." With a smirk she drew her wand, dispelling the Patronus with a quick swipe. She held it at her side and a golden light appeared once more at its tip. Walking over to the nearby fireplace, she tapped it against a decorative plate stood atop it. The light flowed off the wand and over the plate, leaving it practically sparkling.

Dumbledore came closer to look at the plate in more detail. With his magically enhanced vision it didn't take him long to realize that the plate was clean on a level beyond the physical. Whatever this spell was, it was far more thorough than Scourgify could ever hope to be.