After Dumbledore pocketed the locket and gave Twilight the applications, he went to the basement to relay a cover story for the locket with the Order. Everyone was shunted upstairs until the ordeal was over. When the meeting was done, all but Sirius, the Weasleys, and Lupin had gone their separate ways. After everyone left, Mrs. Weasley invited the kids to the dining room for some dinner, which led to the most awkward conversation of the afternoon.
"Alright kids, come take a seat in the dining room," Mrs. Weasley said with her motherly-yet-too-sweet tone. "Mrs. Sparkle can sit at the head of the table."
Twilight, who had arrived late, stuttered. "Mrs? I'm not married."
"Oh- I assumed—"
Sunset facepalmed behind Mrs. Weasley. "Ginny told her mom about your promotion, and she assumed it was because you married up. I was trying to correct them."
Twilight's face flushed scarlet. "Married?! Celestia, no! I've even dating anyone yet! Why would you think that?!"
Twilight felt immensely mortified at Mrs. Weasley's idea. Her? Married? No, not anytime soon. She hadn't even started dating anypony. Who'd she even consider trying to date? The guard from the Crystal Empire? No way!
"As I said, I'm trying to correct her," said Sunset
"Mrs. Weasley, my position was earned, not given. I'm not that important, there are still three other princesses, I've barely hit my stride!" Twilight said. Mrs. Weasley looked a little embarrassed at her presumption, although Twilight didn't blame her. Human royalty didn't function like Equestrian royalty, and that was understandable.
"Okay, this is great and all, really, but I'd like to eat, so can we shift focus?" Sunset said.
Dinner was a relatively quiet affair after that. Twilight noticed Sunset was significantly less apprehensive about eating meat, so she ate without complaint. Due to the meeting and impromptu discovery of these "horcruxes", by the time dinner was over the sun had already begun to set. Hermione and Ginny showed Sunset and Twilight where they would be sleeping for the night. The room was less dusty but would require more cleaning in the morning, but it wasn't worse than the castle in the Everfree, so Twilight didn't mind that much. Sunset seemed more at odds with her surroundings, and Twilight felt a pang of guilt. Sunset had her life uprooted so many times, even if the first was self-inflicted. Hopefully, she'd cheer up if she found a way home.
The next day, Sunset woke up and found Twilight alone in the dining room, reading over some papers. When she asked what Twilight was reading, the princess responded by saying Dumbledore gave them papers for teaching assistant positions.
"I'm sorry, we got what?" Sunset demanded angrily.
"Dumbledore found two piles of paperwork for teaching assistant, addressed to us." Twilight handed a paper over to Sunset.
Sunset grabbed the letter and tore it open irritably. A teaching assistant application?!
"This is ridiculous. We weren't even here a full day, how did this happen?" Sunset scowled. She crumpled the paper and threw it across the room.
"Sunset, calm down, there's no need to get so upset about this," Twilight insisted.
"No need?!" Sunset shouted. "Twilight, I had friends for the first time in my life, I've finally moved past the Fall Formal, and all of a sudden I'm here, with no way back. My whole life just got turned inside out again, you can't tell me to calm down!" Her magic sparked irritably, igniting her hair in a wreath of flames.
"Uh, Sunset, your hair—"
"I know. It did that back in Equestria." Sunset sighed, letting her flaming hair go out. She collapsed on a chair, moaning miserably.
"Sunset? Do you want to talk about it?" Twilight asked, laying her hand over Sunset's.
Sunset nodded slowly, closing her eyes. How do I phrase this? Twilight is in the same position as me, both of us are far from home, but she is the more willing traveler.
Sunset fumbled for a word to describe how she felt. "I don't like it. Everything feels upside-down, again."
"Sunset, are you... scared?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Sunset admitted. "When I left Equestria, I wanted to be someplace with magic away from Celestia. When I arrived, I nearly broke when I couldn't use magic. So I reverted to what non-magical skills I had. Cunning, manipulation, lying. I feel sick just thinking about who I was back then. I wanted power, I felt I deserved what Celestia kept from me. All that negativity festered because I didn't see the value of friendship. Then I went back to Equestria to steal that crown. At last, I had magic again. And I used it to endanger everypony back home. And when I got my hands on the crown in my human world, I... you know, turned into a demon.
"For all the time I've had magic, I've been a bad person. I don't want to back to how I was before we met. I have magic again, and I just had to lose contact with every friend I have back at CHS. They saw me for more than my mistakes. I miss them, and I'm stuck here." Sunset felt choked up as a tear slid down her face.
Twilight moved closer to Sunset, wrapping an arm in a side hug. "I know, I miss my friends in Equestria too. But until we can get you back, I'll be there for you. I know Harry will be as well. And you have nothing to worry about being who you were. That part of your past isn't who you are today. You used that magic for good against the Dazzlings. I promise you, once we can send you back, I'll do it."
Twilight slid one of the papers to Sunset: a letter addressed to Celestia.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Harry and I made it to Earth safely. We're staying in a safe house Dumbledore set up. However, there is a small problem. My portal accidentally dragged Sunset Shimmer with us. I tried to send her back, but I can't get the portal to open from this side. The spell isn't working. Until it can be repaired on Equestria's side, we're stuck here. We're hoping for an expedited repair so we can send Sunset back to the mirror world.
Your faithful princess,
Twilight Sparkle.
Another tear trickled down Sunset's face as she looked at another reminder that she was stuck there. But, maybe, things could get better. Perhaps attending that school would make things more bearable.
"When were you going to send that?" Sunset asked.
"Right now." Twilight rolled up the paper and tapped it once with her finger. The paper flashed white, then disappeared.
"I think I need a moment to think this over, maybe get some fresh air," Sunset said.
"Yeah, you do you. Take some time to get used to here," Twilight said, patting Sunset on the back.
Sunset stood up after thanking Twilight for her words. The formerly magicless human walked to the front door, intent on doing a little walking and planning a surprise for her two friends.
Harry decided 12 Grimmauld Place was... marginally better than the Dursleys. The sleeping situation was better by default, beating his old cupboard by a wide margin. Mrs. Weasley's cooking was fantastic. But after a hearty breakfast, they all fanned out to start cleaning the house. The morning was spent cleaning the bedrooms. After that, they spread out a bit more. Harry chose the drawing room, as it was often used. Harry cleaned with Ron and Hermione, the other three Weasley were on another floor, and the two Equestrians were somewhere else.
Mrs. Weasley probably wouldn't know what to do with Twilight. Harry laughed imagining Mrs. Weasley telling a princess to clean a room like a maid. And at the moment, Harry was cleaning the dining room like said hypothetical maid.
"So, Harry, what was it like to learn magic during the summer?" Hermione asked as she dusted off the old piano.
"Amazing. Twilight's a brilliant teacher, taught me loads of spells. Her brother trained me to fight with magic proper," Harry said, recalling his studies and training sessions. It was distinct from anything in Hogwarts. "Equestrian magic is very different from wizards'. Their magics have few incantations and no wand movements, like this." Harry lifted his hand, and several items floated out of the shelf he was cleaning. They orbited around him as he sorted through the items, from junk to unknown to potential danger.
"Harry!" Hermione scolded, sounding like she'd seen him kick a puppy. "Underage magic, Harry! You can't do that!"
"I can't get caught doing it," Harry smirked. The objects around him swirled in a wave, almost tauntingly. "When my magic was restored after Tirek, it was replaced. I might not register as a 'wizard' by magic." Harry shrugged with air quotes. "We don't know if the trace is active on me, but Twilight removed it just in case."
"Bugger me, is there anything that girl can't do?" Ron said in disbelief. "Fred and George always said they'd figure out how to do it. She's probably better than half the teachers."
"Funny you should say that," Harry said. "Twilight and Sunset got applications to be teaching assistants. They'll be at Hogwarts as long as they can manage."
"Why Hogwarts?" Hermione asked.
"Two reasons: our way back to Equestria is down indefinitely and Twilight never misses the chance to learn or teach magic," Harry said. He set down his sorted items and picked up the nearby broken glass, arranging them back in place over their panes. A quick spell later and the glass was restored as good as new. Of course, that spell was taught by Rarity, who said something along the lines of "mares like a stallion who can make a place presentable" or something. But, if Harry wasn't doing chores at the Dursley house, it was an improvement.
"I shouldn't be surprised anymore," Hermione sighed. "But I'm so jealous you can learn and cast spells." The witch looked at the duster in her hand longingly, probably wishing it was her wand.
"I could ask her to try," Harry said. "There's no guarantee. As I said, after Tirek ripped out my human magic and the Tree of Harmony stored everypony's magic, mine could be unicorn magic for all I care."
"How did that feel? I mean, you were more or less turned into a squib," Ron asked with a shudder. Harry shuddered as well. "You have to admit, it's a terrifying thought, losing your magic."
"I'm not going to lie, it hurt like hell. After my possession was reverted, I just felt sore, but that might've been my injuries. When my magic was replaced I felt better, like a part of me was put back in place."
Someone knocked on the doorframe. Twilight Sparkle walked into the room.
"Hey, has anyone seen Sunset?" Twilight asked. "She said she was going for some air, but I haven't seen her for a while."
As though she'd been summoned, a bright flash of light signaled Sunset Shimmer teleporting in a moment later. A small bin rested at her feet. "I was out getting some fresh air, what's I miss?"
"For three hours?" Twilight asked.
"We've been cleaning for three hours?" Ron exclaimed. "No wonder my arms hurt."
"Well, who wants to take a break?" Sunset asked. She lifted the bin in front of her, loaded with pieces of muggle technology. "I was thinking of a movie night. Is that alright?"
"Yes!" Harry, Hermione, and Twilight said, the former two out of the desire to avoid cleaning.
"What's a movie?" Ron asked.
Sunset walked through the room and put down her bin of stuff. "I took a walk to clear my head and found this broken old VCR player sitting around. I thought if I could find a tape or two and a projector, I could fix it up to watch a movie. It took a while, but I found an old pawn shop three blocks down the road. I offered to fix some stuff in return for a broken projector and then bought a tape. Pretty good deal." She pulled out a few tapes and set them aside.
"You can do that? Fix those, I mean?" Harry asked.
"Of course, a little bit of magic doesn't hurt my odds." Sunset held up the power cords, but there were no outlets in the room. Sunset held out her hands above the cords. "Of course, this would be a problem if I couldn't generate electricity with magic."
A yellow orb lit up between Sunset's hands, which she jabbed the power cords into. "I've still got to repair the projectors, it's a little more complicated. While I fix this, why don't you all move the couches and pick a movie." Sunset sat down and tinkered with the devices, repairing them in short order and connecting the two devices.
"Seriously, what's a movie?" Ron asked, picking up a VHS tape.
"Moving pictures, Ron," Hermione said. "Sounds and images. Muggles produce films for entertainment."
"Muggle entertainment?" Ron said. "I don't know anything about that."
"Neither have I; I never got to go to the theaters," Harry said. He picked up a film made by an American company. "But I heard good things about this one. It's fiction, all made up for fun."
"Oh, yes!" Hermione said. "An animated film about animals who—"
"Don't spoil it!" Sunset shouted from across the room.
"It can't be that good," Ron grumbled.
"Go get your siblings, I'm sure they'll enjoy it," Hermione insisted. "Unless you'd rather clean?'
"And get some popcorn!" Twilight yelled back.
"Already got some." Sunset said.
Sunset tossed out several microwave popcorn bags. Ron rushed out of the room as Sunset and Twilight set out their movie setup. There was a crackle of magic as the projector spit out an image onto an illusory rectangle that floated in the air.
"Magical blackboard?" Twilight asked.
"Means I don't have to use a screen," Sunset explained.
"Why not project the image directly? It'll get better resolution."
"I didn't want to. I don't think the resolution is that good."
Harry and Hermione moved the couches to face the projector. Harry sat down on the far right of the first couch. "Okay, who's sitting where?"
Twilight sat down on the right of the second couch. "I got my spot."
"Are you sure you don't want to sit next to him?" Sunset teased, pointing at Harry.
Harry huffed in faux indignation, a petty revenge plan already formed in his head. Harry flexed his wrist, transforming his bracelet into a wand. He then pointed it at Sunset. He recalled the transformation spell Twilight found in the Castle of the Two Sisters. There was a flash of light before Sunset was replaced by her original unicorn body. Sunset looked surprised by the transformation, stumbling on her old hooves. Harry blew on the tip of his wand before snapping it back on his wrist.
Sunset glowered. "Really? Well, how's it with the shoe on the other hoof!" She blasted a spell at Harry, who was unable to dodge. Before he realized it, Harry was back in his unicorn form.
"Hey!" Harry shouted. He jumped off the couch, stalking toward the yellow unicorn. "Why I ought'a—"
A different redhead abruptly tackled him. Ginny squeezed Harry's neck in her arms, squealing. Harry couldn't find the words to speak or the strength to get out of the headlock. Harry couldn't get a full breath to cry out for help from anyone. He could hear Ron and Sunset cackling madly. The twins followed behind Ron and joined in mocking Harry's misfortune from the doorway.
"Oh, why didn't you tell me there was a unicorn!?" Ginny gushed. "He's so cute! His mane is so fluffy and his fur is so soft!"
Sunset couldn't stop laughing and fell to the ground as her laughter overpowered her breathing.
"Could you let go of Harry, please?" Twilight asked.
Ginny's arms slacked for a moment. Harry managed to get a breath in.
"Ginny, stop! It's me! Harry!"
Ginny dropped Harry, red as a tomato. Harry rubbed his throat and greedily took gulps of air.
"Harry!?" Ginny squeaked, blushing. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know it was you! You just looked too soft and cute—" Ginny cut her sentence off, embarrassed.
"I don't think we look that cute," Twilight said. She floated Harry to sit next to her on the couch, then cast the spell on herself, transforming into her alicorn body. "Find a seat, we have a movie to watch."
"You can talk?" Hermione asked. "Animagi can't speak while transformed."
"Well of course we can talk. How else do we hold a conversation?" Sunset snarked. She sat on the same couch as Twilight and Harry while the other humans sat on the other couch or the floor. Sunset pointed her horn at the popcorn bags she'd brought in, instantly popping them. "Have to say, I missed being a pony. I should've transformed earlier. I missed my horn."
Sunset reached up to caress the appendage before saying, "I guess what I should be saying is thanks, Harry. Now, movie time!"
Harry leaned back as the group watched the projector play the movie. He could get used to this.
"Well that was unrealistic." Ron said when the credits rolled.
"Ron, it's an animated film, it's not meant to be realistic." Hermione said.
"It was about talking animals." Ron insisted.
"Is that a problem?" Sunset said in a deadpan voice. Harry and Twilight looked at him with equally scrutinizing eyes.
"Don't lie, you cried when the father died," Ginny said.
"I wasn't crying, it's the dust in here." Ron protested, crossing his arms and huffing.
"Must have been a lot." George noted.
"For that many tears? I'm surprised we aren't choking," Fred added.
"Of course, I did clean the dust away, so I don't know where it came from," Harry chuckled. Nearly everyone in the room cried at that scene, and Harry knew Ron wasn't an exception.
Before they could pick on Ron more, Mr. Weasley poked his head into the room. Evidently, he was back from work.
"Hey, kids." Mr. Weasley said. "Molly said—" his eyes caught on the projector— "what'cha got here?" he asked.
"Watching a muggle movie," Fred said.
"Oh really? I've always wanted to go to one, but never figured out how. How do they move an image without magic? And what about sounds?"
"It's simple, really," Sunset said. She ejected the VHS tape and held it up. "This tape is sensitive to magnets and holds imprints from the image and sound. A VCR can play back the recorded message by detecting the magnetic material."
Arthur picked up the VHS tape like he'd been handed the holy grail or a royal artifact.
"Incredible. To think Muggle can achieve so much without magic."
"Please, this thing's archaic. If you want to see something advanced, you should see the internet," Sunset said.
"The what?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah, I don't think I've heard of that," Harry said, equally puzzled. The "Internet" didn't sound familiar.
"Seriously?" Sunset asked. "I thought you lived with nonmagical people?"
"I haven't been keeping up with muggle news as well as I should," Hermione confessed. Harry voiced similar sentiments.
Sunset sighed. "Well, I guess it'd be hard to explain without a reference. Just think of it as an invisible intangible cloud that contains the sum of all modern knowledge that anyone, anywhere, at any time can access, and you get the barebones idea."
"Incredible," Mr. Weasley said, awed. "The things those muggles can come up with. Now, where might one find this 'cloud'? What kind of weather should I expect from it?"
"You said Mrs. Weasley said something?" Harry asked, knowing that Mr. Weasley wouldn't stop if he was allowed to keep asking questions.
"Oh, Molly said to come down for dinner."
Everyone stood up to rush to the dining room. Harry packed Sunset's film equipment onto a shelf he cleaned and turned to leave.
"Harry, Twilight, wait a second, would you?" Sunset asked.
The three stayed behind as the others left to get their food. Sunset summoned the papers Dumbledore had delivered the day before, now uncrumpled.
"I... I think... I'll give this teaching assistant thing a try," she said reluctantly.
Twilight let out a squeal of excitement. "Now all three of us can go! Come one, let's go tell the others." She flapped her wings in the air, exiting through the door, Sunset trotting not far behind.
Harry then remembered that he hadn't learned the counterspell.
"Wait!" Harry shouted after them. "How do I turn back!?"