"So, this is Harry's world?" Sunset Shimmer murmured.
Sunset Shimmer was having a relatively good weekend, all things considered. Especially after the... less-than-stellar reception of the festival's events not too long ago. The last thing she remembered was being atop the school building, singing her heart out where no one could hear her. She had felt something inside her, it felt like her old magic. And then she blinked and appeared... wherever "here" was. After being dropped into this strange place, the first faces she saw were Twilight Sparkle and Harry Potter, who kindly explained precisely what happened. She was in Harry's home world, a place with humans and magic. Even now, only a few minutes after arriving, Sunset could feel her once-dormant magic flowing through her again, as though it had never left in the first place. She didn't even notice when Twilight tried to get her attention.
"Earth to Sunset Shimmer, hello!" Twilight shouted, waving a hand in front of Sunset''s face.
Sunset Shimmer snapped out of her stupor. "Sorry, I was just... surprised. This is where Harry's from?"
"Yeah, this is my home world. Try not to be too impressed," Harry deadpanned.
Sunset scoffed. "It has magic. Honestly, I'm glad the old me never ended up here. And speaking of, how did I get here?" Sunset looked just beyond where they stood, to the bustling street behind the two. The humans beyond were oddly dressed in robes.
"What was the last thing you remember?" Twilight asked.
"I was at school," Sunset thought back to the sight of the sunset from the school's roof, "I was singing."
"Maybe you accidentally used your magic? You haven't used it in a while, right? The last time was—" Harry suggested.
"The Fall Formal, yes, I remember." Sunset Shimmer frowned. She was used to people bringing up the Fall formal and now Harry was, and he wasn't even there!
Harry shook his head. "Actually, I was talking about the Musical Showcase. Twilight told me you transformed to help with the sirens. But that was the last time you had magic. Maybe you reactivated it when Twilight and I crossed over?"
"Oh," Sunset said, more than a little embarrassed. She paced up and down the alley for a second. "Uh, sure, that could be possible. Of course, that would depend on how you managed to get here. If you used Twilight's portal, a three-way link could've formed. If my book was still connected to Twilight's portal, then I might've been caught in your transit."
Twilight joined Sunset in pacing the alley's width. "I never considered the repercussions of reusing the same portal to link three locations. With your book removed, I didn't think anything from your side could leave," she confessed. "But the portal over here isn't bound to a mirror, it's like a moving door, you just need the right key. I should be able to send you back easily enough."
Twilight held her hands out, obviously trying to perform some sort of spell. The space in front of her let out magenta sparks, but nothing happened. Twilight narrowed her eyes and focused harder on the air in front of her. A glowing orb formed for a second then fizzled out. Eventually, she dropped her hands with a groan.
"I can't open a portal." Twilight huffed. "I don't know why, but the portal refuses to activate. I'm sure there's a workaround."
"Hold on, I've got the spell somewhere in here," Harry muttered, sifting through his bag. Eventually, he pulled out a thick book. "Here,"
Twilight grabbed the book and flipped a few pages. Sunset leaned over to look at the pages. Dozens of spells littered the book, mostly in Equestrian. Many of the spells were ones Sunset didn't recognize, which was rare. She noticed utility spells, a few combat-orientated ones, and, eventually, that portal spell Twilight mentioned. Impressively complex, but well-designed. A few of the details were woefully outdated, but by all means, it should've worked.
"I learned your spell, not that I can use it yet," Harry said. "Maybe you and Sunset could use it? All three of us could try. An alicorn and two unicorns should have plenty of power, right? If we spread out, we could imitate a..." Harry tapped his forehead, thinking. "...I remember this... Oh! A six-point ritual."
Sunset understood Harry's idea. Six was a powerful magical number, so three unicorns (or two plus an alicorn) spreading their power could "fake" six total casters. There were, of course, a few flaws with that plan.
"Looks like somepony's lessons are paying off. Maybe you're smarter than you're giving yourself credit for?" Twilight spoke, poking Harry's arm.
"Well, I had the best teacher," Harry said.
Twilight blushed in response. Sunset, despite the circumstances, smirked.
"Well, it's a nice gesture, but the problem isn't power," Twilight said. "Too much and we punch a hole into more than our three worlds. No, whatever's stopping me is different. I'll send a letter to Celestia, see if that works"
"So I'm stuck here?" Sunset exclaimed. Oh, Celestia, this is bad! First the mirror world, and now this! Why does this keep happening to me?! What am I supposed to do now!?
"We're all stuck here," Twilight corrected.
"Of course I know that!" Sunset shouted. She grabbed a fistful of hair over her forehead, where her precious horn should've been. "You two wanted to be here, I didn't!"
A hand crossed Sunset's back to rest on her shoulder gently. Susnet's head spun to see Harry standing behind her, with a calm expression. Sunset didn't know if it was a spell or something, but the erratic thoughts and panic slowed down for a moment.
"Calm down, Sunset, please," Harry said, face still serene. "I know you want to get back to your friends, I understand. I promise we'll try our best to get you back. Until then, focus on the bright side, you won't be gone for more than a minute." Harry's reassuring smile didn't fade.
Sunset nodded to herself. Yeah, that made sense. She just had to think of this as a vacation. A long vacation. Yeah, that would work. No pressure.
"So, what's the plan?" she asked.
"First, I think we should get some rooms in the Leaky Cauldron, so a withdrawal from my vault at Gringotts is needed," Harry said. Harry raised his hand to the turquoise strand in his hair, then paused. "Right, underage magic," he groaned.
"What's age got to do magic?" Sunset asked incredulously. That seemed oddly specific.
Twilight shrugged, waving her hand in a so-so manner. Twilight and Harry quickly explained the state of wizards. The magical and non-magical were separated, Humans under seventeen can't do magic outside of school, and they were "traced" to enforce it. Even with Harry's warning from their first meeting, Sunset struggled to understand why humans couldn't share magic, or why they tracked their young.
"However, Harry's magic is Equestrian now, so the trace might not work," Twilight said. "But, best to be cautious; I made a counter-spell last year." She reached out and tapped Harry on the forehead, allowing a storm of magenta lights to swirl around him and disappear. It looked like impressive spellwork to Sunset, the invisible barrier against one spell. Afterward, Twilight waved a hand in front of her face, changing her skin tone. Harry did the same, but only to hide the turquoise that mixed with the green in his eyes and the stripe of color in his hair. Sunset felt rather out of place with her yellow skin.
Harry looked at her and said, "Humans here have less unique skin tones here. You'll need to disguise yourself. You can keep the hair." He offered the spellbook to her and flipped to the page with the spell needed.
Sunset nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure! I think..."
Sunset focused on her magic. She hadn't done this in years, how hard could it be? She hadn't been one of Celestia's students for nothing! Sunset focused on what was needed to disguise her skin tone, just like Twilight. To her frustration, nothing happened. I saw her cast it! So why is it so hard!? Come on, Sunset, you can do this!
Sunset's control over her magic wavered, not acting like it used to. Her skin turned pink for a moment, then sickly green. It took her a good minute before her skin was to what she thought was an acceptable color not too far from her normal yellow. That was... pathetic.
"There, did it work?" she asked, checking herself over.
"Perfect," Harry said. He gestured for them to follow him to the end of the side alley. "Welcome to Diagon Alley."
Sunset Shimmer drank in the sight before her. The street bustled with many humans dressed in many different robes. Various shops displayed magical knickknacks and items. There were magical household items, sports, and even toys and candies. She couldn't help but stare as she passed many stores; these humans relied on magic for everything! Sunset's previous experience as a human kept her attention away from some items best left unseen by a unicorn.
"Come on, we'll need to visit the bank first," Harry said.
Harry led their group through the doors of a large white building labeled "Gringotts". The inside was filled with small, humanoid creatures, hunched and rather unpleasent-looking. Harry called them goblins. To Sunset, they looked like they came out of some fantasy novel in the non-magic human world. Harry led the group and saw one creature who could help him with his withdrawal, at least, Sunset assumed it was a withdrawal. After presenting his key and asking for a withdrawal, they were led down a passage by a different goblin. The new goblin escorted them to a cart that would navigate the tunnels beneath Gringotts.
"You might want to hang on, these things go pretty fast," Harry warned them.
"Is that safe?" Twilight asked.
"One speed only," was the only thing the goblin said.
Harry leaned into Twilight. "I can hold your hand," he said with a sing-song teasing tone. Twilight didn't bother to respond as she grasped his hand. Behind them, Sunset chuckled at the two.
"You know, I never thought about how cute you two—"
The cart hurtled down the tracks before Sunset could finish her sentence. The wind whipped by as they dashed left, right, and down at random. It felt like a rollercoaster, all speed and twists and turns. Sunset giggled madly at a particularly violent dive. In front of her, Harry was quick to snatch some necklace that had floated out of his shirt during the dive. Eventually, the cart came to a stop near vault seven-hundred-something and the goblin told them to get out.
"That reminded me of a rollercoaster. Does this place have those?" Sunset asked.
"Uh, yes," Harry said, still looking at the object in his hands. Sunset peered over his shoulder. He was holding a locket of some sort, and something swirled beneath the surface.
"I don't think I've ever gone that fast on the ground," Twilight said as she swayed. Sunset resisted another giggle as Harry let her hold on to him for stability.
Harry kept his eyes pointed down at his amulet. The locket flipped open, revealing the crystal inside of the artifact. The clear stone had a faint grey-and-pink lightning bolt-shaped streak in the center. The bolt spun wildly before the pink end pointed in one direction, like a compass. Harry twisted the thing, but it kept pointing in the same direction. When Harry tilted the thing sideways, the tip pointed diagonally down. Through a brief spout of trial and error, They discovered it was pointing in a direction below them, deeper into the bank's tunnels. Sunset wondered why Harry's amulet looked like a compass.
"What's it doing?" Twilight said, pointing at Harry's amulet.
"I don't know, it's acting like a compass for... something."
"Key, please," the goblin said, startling them. Harry put his amulet back and handed over his key, which was promptly used to unlock Harry's vault. Harry stepped inside keeping himself positioned between his friends and the vault. Sunset looked past him as he tried (unsuccessfully) to hide the mountains of gold and silver from her and Twilight's sight. Wow, I bet that's worth a lot of bits.
Sunset let out a low whistle. "Wow. Didn't think to mention your friend was loaded, princess?" Twilight and Harry let out matching shouts of indignation, causing Sunset to chuckle and shrug. "I'm just teasing, you two make it too easy. Seriously, how much is all this worth? It must be a small fortune by anyone's standards, magic or not."
Harry glanced back at his coins before he walked out of his vault. "I, uh, don't actually know? I prefer not to think about it. This is what my parents left for me after they, well, you know. I'd rather not put a number on what I got."
Sunset ended her questions there. Harry didn't pry about her life, she wouldn't pry about his parents. Orphan honor code or something, I suppose.
A few minutes later they returned to the surface, laden with a few extra pounds and ready for the next step. Harry led them to the end of the alley when he stopped short, looking at one of the shops. Sunset followed his gaze to the little shop, labeled Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 B.C. Personally, Sunset thought the place looked very run-down. But, given the happy pair of young wizards that stepped out of the shop, Sunset was inclined to believe that there was more to this place than appeared.
Sunset remembered Harry's wand when he first "visited", a pale foot-long stick. Evidently, it was important for wizards. Maybe these "wands" are magical artifacts important to humanity's culture? wondered Sunset. I've seen Harry cast spells without it. Maybe it is more cultural than functional? A relic?
Harry turned back to Sunset and Twilight.
"I know I said we'd go to the Cauldron," he said, gaze flicking towards the shop, "but—"
"We've got time," Twilight replied.
Sunset learned to Twilight. "Why are we going to a dusty old shop?"
"Harry... lost something important to him when Tirek attacked," Twilight answered. "Hopefully, Ollivander can repair it."
Harry opened the door and gestured for the two girls to go first. Sunset looked around with curiosity. Hundreds of boxes were lined up on shelves like shoeboxes in a department store, but it was so dusty and gloomy, like no one had cleaned in years. But Sunset could feel the magic in the air, something old, but refined, like Canterlot's library.
"Hello again, Mister Potter," a soft voice spoke. An old man entered from the back of the store, eyes gleaming in the light.
"Hello, Ollivander," Harry spoke.
"How nice to see you again. Holly, phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple. Still works, I trust?" The old man, Ollivander, asked.
Harry fidgeted slightly. "Not as well as it used to, sir. My wand, it was broken, snapped."
Ollivander paled. "It was such a good wand. A rare combination, of holly and phoenix-feather. Might you still have the pieces?" Ollivandar asked, eyes somehow growing wider.
Geeze, this guy is kooky, Sunset thought. She looked at the dozen of boxes. Are these all wands? Why so many, and are they all the same?
"That's why I'm here, I was wondering if it could be fixed," Harry said as he opened his bag. A small bundle of cloth floated out, which seemed to surprise the old man.
"Wandless and nonverbal magic? You are full of surprises, Mister Potter," Ollivander said with a mirthless chuckle. "I was right to think we must expect great things from you. It makes me wonder why you wish to have your wand repaired at all, seeing as you don't need it as badly as others who would want a replacement."
Sunset tilted her head in thought. Does magic in this world require wands to work? Can Harry perform magic "wandless" because of pure skill or by using Equestrian magic? We definitely apply to both categories, so that's a question for later.
"This wand meant a lot to me. Can you fix it?" Harry asked.
Ollivander shook his head. "Wands are fickle things, and that is beyond anyone's ability to control. But may I see it? It was such a fine wand."
Harry unwrapped the end of the fabric, opening the end to slide his hand in, gripped the wand, and pulled it out. He took it from the cloth and gasped.
Of everything that should have happened, this wasn't one of them. What Harry drew from the cloth wasn't broken. He drew out a long piece of wood, unbroken and in pristine condition. The wood was as pale as holly with veins of darker material, the handle was smoother, and the length a little longer. By all accounts, this wasn't his wand. Yet how did I get it?
"That is not the wand I sold you," Ollivander said, sounding as perplexed as Harry.
"I- I know. I- This- It doesn't make any sense," Harry stuttered. "I had it with me when I got here." Harry sifted through his bag, looking for where his wand should have been. I packed the wand myself. No one in Equestria could've possibly replaced it! And why would someone on Earth swap a perfectly good wand for a broken one? But the cloth I wrapped it in is the same! HOW!?
"May I see that wand?" Ollivander asked, stretching out his hand. Harry numbly followed Ollivander's directions, still looking through his bags. The moment the wand touched Ollivander's hand, the old man's face contorted in confusion. He held it up, inspecting it from all angles. He gently applied some pressure here and there and ran his hand up the wand's length.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, but this is not one of them, nor does it bear a resemblance to the works of any wandmakers I know." Ollivander waved the wand about, as though testing its balance like a sword. He tapped it with a lithe finger. "Roughly thirteen inches. The wood is not like any I've held before. In many ways, it reminds me of holly and oak, but not a perfect mix. It is supple to a point, then firmly unyielding." Ollivander lifted the wand to the light. "This is a curious mystery," Ollivander said, wide-eyed and curious. "I... must investigate..."
The old man vanished into the back of his shop in but the blink of an eye.
"Well, that was..." Twilight fumbled for a word.
"Weird?" Sunset suggested.
"Let's give him a minute," Harry said. "I'm sure he means well."
Harry waited ten minutes before he dared to venture into the back of the shop. The place was a mess, more so than the rest. Several more boxes littered the floor, and papers and books were strewn about. And at the center of this storm was Ollivander himself. The man looked like he had aged another ten years in the time he had gone. His attention was completely absorbed by the wand in his hands. He didn't even seem to notice Harry and his friends.
"Mister Ollivander...?" Harry tried to get his attention.
Ollivander spoke with slow, tired words, "Few wizards appreciate the subtlety of wandlore, Mister Potter. But for those of us who do, we see something unique in every wand. But the wand... yes, this wand... the core is unlike any I've seen. I don't know what it is, but it is unique." Ollivander stood up, still staring intently at the wand. He walked a little closer to Harry before looking at him with wide eyes.
"Whatever the core is, it's not exclusively loyal like a unicorn's hair, but it longs for connection. It does not boast strength like a dragon's heartstring, but it is willing to display that power. It lacks the detachment found in the phoenix's feather, but asks for growth. Even outside of my three wand cores, this one is bizarre." Ollivander held the wand up to his ear. "But wh-when I listen to this wand, I-I hear some-something different than any other core. This wand has six— seven— no— six unique sounds, all wound together like a— a—"
"Harmony?" Twilight suggested.
"Yes! It sounds like a beautiful harmony with six distinct voices— sounds—."
"Elements?" Sunset inquired.
"Exactly!"
"But will it work?" Harry asked.
Ollivander's gaze turned to Harry. "Will it work? Well that's the big question, isn't it, Mister Potter? Who is this wand's master? I've always stood firm in my belief that the wand chooses the wizard. Loyalty is different in each wand, but this one is peculiar. It isn't asking for a master, it seems content to look for partners, equals, or—"
"Friends," Harry realized. He looked over his shoulder at his friend, who was clearly having the same epiphany.
The Tree of Harmony gave me this wand. It's my bracelet!
"I suspect this wand is not won but befriended. It might work for any with equal loyalty." Ollivander's next words were spoken softly. "A word of warning. There is a strange power beneath this wand, Mister Potter."
Ollivander handed Harry the wand back with quivering fingers. When Harry gripped the wand he felt a swirl of energy flow through him, like when he picked up his first wand. The wand felt perfect in his hand.
"Thank you," Harry said as he and the rest left Ollivander's shop. He waved the wand around, confused.
"Well that was... informative?" Twilight said.
"At least we know where this came from. But why would the Tree of Harmony's bracelet transform?" Harry wondered. He glanced at Twilght's wrist, where her bracelet was unchanged.
"Can someone fill me in? What 'tree' and 'bracelet' are you talking about?" Sunset asked.
Harry spun back to face her. He'd forgotten she hadn't been around for the tree's discovery. "The Tree of Harmony is where Princess Celestia and Princess Luna got the Elements of Harmony to defeat Discord. It's what gave Twilight her castle, and me a bracelet. I think it transformed into a wand."
Harry held the wand in his left hand, curious. He tapped it once against his right wrist, where the bracelet used to be. Suddenly, it wrapped around his wrist like those silly slap bracelets and transformed into its bracelet form, with all seven of its marks.
Realization dawned on Sunset's face. "I suppose that does make sense, The Elements had to come from somewhere, they couldn't have been made by anypony."
"Yeah, but I still don't—" Harry was cut off when he bumped into someone behind him. He turned around to see who he bumped into. "Hello, Professor McGonagall!" Harry said. The Transfiguration teacher startled a bit at Harry's greeting. She blinked owlishly in surprise. "Twilight, Sunset, this is McGonagall, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts."
"Good afternoon, Mister Potter. I'm surprised to see you. I heard your living conditions were changed, how are you?" McGonagall said.
"I'm great. I've been out of the country. I came back to see about attending Hogwarts another year."
"Well, I should sure hope so. Despite your propensity for trouble, you are a fine student. Were you getting supplies?" McGonagall asked.
"Sort of?" Harry admitted, not sure how to tell his professor that he wasn't sure about coming back. "Professor, if you don't mind me asking, how are things here, since I left? Is he—"
McGonagall glanced around nervously "I don't think I'm the one to talk with about that, not here. Why don't we go to the Leaky Cauldron, you have a few days before you need to buy that stuff. It's not safe for you here, not even in broad daylight."
"Has something happened?" Harry asked.
"There are people and places that are better suited for answers, Mister Potter. The Ministry has its eyes and ears everywhere these days. Follow me."