Chapter 5: The Hogwarts Express.
“Good morning Princess.” Kibitz greeted as he entered Celestia’s personal chambers, Raven levitating a tray of steaming tea alongside him.
“Good morning Kibitz, Raven.” Celestia returned, smiling pleasantly at the pair as she trotted in from the balcony using her hoof to suppress a yawn “Busy schedule today?”
“As always, Ma’am.” Kibitz confirmed, smiling subtly at the flash of irritation in the Alicorn’s eyes that she quickly covered up as Raven poured her a steaming pot of tea “Though if it’s any consolation, I’ve set aside an entire hour for you and Miss Sparkle after Luncheon.”
“Bless you, Kibitz.” Celestia sighed, smiling gratefully at not having to deal with the trappings of court for another hour. It was times like this she truly regretted not forming a council to help delegate such matters after being forced to banish Luna. The problem with such an action, however, was that she’d already lived through the headache such a decision would result in.
Half the problems faced during the formation of Equestria had been the result of nopony being able to agree with what was best for the nation. The Earth Ponies wanted a Democracy with elected Leaders, the Militaristic Pegasi wanted an Stratocracy that prioritized the Armed Forces and the Unicorns…well the less said about their views on how things should be run the better.
“I trust Twilight has been settling in well?” the Princess inquired, hoping to taker her mind of the past by focusing on the future, namely a certain filly's role in it.
“Almost too well.” Kibitz admitted with a chuckle “I’ve received several complaints from the Head Librarian of her sneaking in after hours and building book forts to sleep in…several times a night in fact.”
“She does love her books…” Celestia chuckled, taking a sip of her tea just as a burst of flame startled Raven, the Princess’ catching the teapot with her magic before it could shatter on the ground before smiling at the new arrival “And good morning to you Fawkes, I trust Albus is doing well?”
“I’ll never get used to that…” Kibitz sighed as he helped Raven to her hooves, the startled unicorn glaring up at the male phoenix, years of dealing with Philomena’s antics letting her know he’d done that on purpose “Another report from Professor Dumbledore I take it? I trust Sunset Shimmer is doing well?”
“Very well, thankfully.” Celestia confirmed with a relieved sigh, though Kibitz didn’t miss the troubled look in her eyes “Albus tells me she’s made herself quite at home in the castle Library, despite the best efforts of the Librarian.”
“Ah, situation normal then.” Kibitz didn’t quite snark, it wouldn’t be proper and he was above such things, but it was strangely comforting to know that Celestia’s errant student hadn’t changed that much, though he quickly changed his tune at sight of her concerned frown “I understand your concern, Princess, but it has only been just over a month since she arrived in their world.” He reminded her while checking his pocket watch “If memory serves, the other students won’t be arriving until…later today actually.”
“I understand that, Kibitz.” Celestia assured him with a weary sigh “I just can’t help but worry about her. Sunset has a brilliant mind and is an excellent student…but that talent led to her being isolated from her peers. While I blame myself for pushing her away, I wouldn’t have been forced to take such action if she’d just opened up and made friends.”
Normally this would be the point where Kibitz would offer some sage words of advice, to remind his Princess that nopony could predict the future, but such platitudes fell dismally short when it came to Celestia, whom at times had seemingly predicted the worst catastrophes to ever befall Equestria over the course of her thousand-year reign, to the point many believed her to be all-seeing and omnipotent.
Indeed, early into his career Kibitz had been of the same mind, it wasn’t until he’d served as her Advisor for several years that he realized, as all his predecessors before him had, that at the end of the day his Princess wasn’t the infallible deity that many a laypony believed her to be. She was simply a sad, lonely mare who had the reins of power thrust onto her far too early with the loss of her mentor, and with the loss of her sister had been forced to mature before she ever got the chance to enjoy life, in order to ensure her subjects could enjoy theirs.
It was a humbling thought, but one that had galvanized the then young Kibitz into becoming the Stallion he was today. While there was very little he, or anypony really, could do to relieve the burdens Celestia had born for so long, he would always be there to provide moral support, if nothing else.
Well, that and ensure idiots like Blueblood were kept as far away from the throne room as possible. Seriously, take your eyes off the idiot for too long and he’d have all the paintings replaced with portraits of himself.
“Have faith, milady.” He offered solemnly, earning a look of surprise from the Princess and Raven “While I confess to not possessing the best opinion of Miss Shimmer,” he pressed on despite Celestia’s frown “I at the very least can acknowledge she isn’t a fool. If she hopes to survive in this new world without the benefit of your patronage, then she will need to at least make connections outside the school.”
“That is true…” Celestia acknowledged, some of the worry fading from her features “And Albus did mention that she was getting along well with one of the Professors.”
“Oh? Albus is it?” Kibitz noted, smiling coyly as he caught the telltale look of alarm in Celestia’s eyes before she averted her gaze to sip her tea “Far be it from me to comment on your private life, Princess, but I feel I must advise caution if you seek to start a long-distance relationship with a…younger Stallion.”
The ensuing spit-take, and the deliciously scandalized look on Raven’s face, was one of the many happy memories that would warm Kibitz’ heart until his dying day.
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy - Muggle Studies Classroom.
“And…time!” a cheery voice called out, Sunset sighing as she put down her quill and sat back, using her free hand to massage the one that had been writing for the past hour.
“Glad that’s over…” she grumbled, wincing as her joints popped before glancing up as her parchment was collected for evaluation “So how do you think I did?”
“Well if the quality of your penmanship is any indication then at the very least you’ve greatly improved from when we started Sunset.” Her examiner chuckled “Then again, if penmanship were all one needed to get ahead in this world we wouldn’t need wands.”
“I suppose that’s true.” Sunset chuckled, unable to help smiling at the older woman as she returned to her desk to mark the former Unicorn's efforts, said Unicorn releasing a sigh as she glanced out the classroom window.
It had been over a month since Sunset arrived in this strange, alien world with it’s strange variation of Magic. Needless to say, she hadn’t been idle during that time, pouring over every piece of text she could get her hands on, and a few she technically shouldn’t have had access to, from both her own collection and the Hogwarts Library.
As you might imagine, this hadn’t endeared her any to the Hogwarts Librarian, Madam Pince, who like many a Librarian before her was possessed of the belief that Books, as a whole, belonged on a shelf, preferably hers, and was thus predisposed to despise anyone, student, faculty or otherwise, who committed the sacrilege of taking them off said shelves and wearing out the words by reading them.
Fortunately for Sunset, there wasn’t a lot the old vulture could actually do to stop her from doing so provided she followed the, admittedly impressive, list of rules pertaining to the borrowing of said books, several of which she suspected to be of Madam Pince’s own design.
Unfortunately for Madam Pince, with the exception of the incident with the Mirror, Sunset was more than used to finding and abusing loopholes in Celestia’s many, many rules, and it had only taken a single conversation with Professor McGonagall before Pince was reduced to glaring impotently at the former unicorn due to her informing the Deputy Headmistress that looming over her like the vulture she resembled bordered on harassment.
‘I can’t believe I actually had to dig up a book of law to explain that being the same gender wasn’t a credible defense.’ Sunset marveled, shaking her head at how backwards this society could be, as she knew from experience that Mares were just as capable, if not more so, of harassing their fellow Mares as any Stallion ‘Good grief, it’s almost as if they’re stuck in the dark ages!’
“Well the results are in Miss Shimmer.” Her examiner chirped, drawing Sunset’s attention back to the classroom only to be faced with a kind smile “I’m pleased to say you’ve passed your Eleven-Plus exam with flying colors, congratulations.”
“Thank you, Professor Burbage.” Sunset returned, smiling gratefully at the older woman tiredly “I couldn’t have done it without your help.”
“Oh, think nothing of it my dear.” Professor Burbage assured her with a wave and a kind smile “I’m just grateful that the Headmaster gave me this opportunity.”
Charity Burbage was one of the younger Professors at Hogwarts, though by no means did this mean she was a spring chicken. If Sunset was pressed to place her age, she’d wager the woman was middle-aged at best, pushing forty at the very most. Then again, from what she’d read Wizards and Witches tended to live longer lives than their non-magical cousins, something she could easily believe considering how spry Dumbledore acted given his own impressive age.
The two had met when Dumbledore had happened across Sunset voicing her confusion on the lack of information pertaining to the non-magical world in the library, one of the few differences between this world and her own, as even in Canterlot, where the population consisted mostly of unicorn elitists, there existed texts from all three pony tribes, as well as a few other species that Celestia had acquired over the course of her thousand year reign.
Needless to say, the revelation that the Wizarding World had distanced themselves from their non-magical brethren, to the point the latter believed the existence of magic itself to be a work of fiction, had floored Sunset even more than Celestia’s dismissal had. Not even the fact they had done so for survival, and boy had the night terrors she’d had endured after learning about that particularly dark period of history been fun, did anything to help her come to terms with such a discrepancy.
In Equestria, Magic was synonymous with life itself. It didn’t matter what species of Pony you were, or even if you were a Pony at all, Magic existed in all shapes and forms, whether it was Celestia moving the Sun and Moon, to the simple magic of helping crops grow or making a child laugh. For an entire subset of a species to be forced to go to such extremes simply to ensure their survival…had Dumbledore not stepped in to correct her assumptions by introducing her to Professor Burbage, Sunset could have very easily written off the entire ‘Muggle’ World as a lost cause.
A Muggleborn herself, Professor Burbage was all too eager to enlighten Sunset of the truth of the Non-Wizarding World, providing her with books, newspaper articles and the occasional trip to non-magical London to let her expand her world view and watch several educational films that had been enough to blow Sunset’s preconceived notions completely out of the water.
It was like looking at two sides of the same coin. On the one hand you had the Wizards and Witches, with their spells that defied all the known laws of physics and a menagerie of beasts, creatures and beings that differed from their Equestrian counterparts just enough yet were also close enough that Sunset still felt pangs of homesickness every time she opened New Scamander’s Magnum Opus.
On the other hand, you had the Muggles, or Non-Wizarding folk as Sunset preferred to call them, having determined some time ago that the term was derogatory in nature, and while she would freely admit to being arrogant, in her opinion it was well-placed, she wasn’t a damned racist. Regardless of her sentiments however, there was no denying that, for all their Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, the Wizarding world simply couldn’t hold a candle to the achievements of their Non-Magical brethren.
‘I mean for Faust’s sake they’ve landed on the Moon!’ she exclaimed, shaking her head at the memory of Neil Armstrong’s iconic first step ‘And then there’s the internet thing…I can’t even imagine a spell that could do something like that!’
Make no mistake, Sunset had no desire to go native. She had every intention of mastering this world’s magic so she could achieve her destiny of Alicornhood, but while she may have disagreed with Celestia on many things, the one thing the Princess had never faulted her on had been her work ethic…save for the fact it prevented her from making friends of course.
And so, when she wasn’t taunting Madam Pince by flagrantly reading her precious magical texts in front of her, she often found herself in the company of Professor Burbage, learning about the various historical events, both the bad and the good, of what she’d come to regard as the ‘Sunlit World’.
It was during one of these conversations that Professor Burbage brought up her life prior to Hogwarts, more specifically her education. Like all first Years, Charity had received her acceptance letter at the age of Eleven, sometime after she had completed her eleven plus examinations.
At first, she’d been thrilled at the chance to go to Magic School, and indeed, she maintained those had been the best years of her life. However, upon graduating from Hogwarts, she noticed a trend among her fellow Muggleborns, namely that they had a hard time re-integrating back into non-magical society, especially whenever it came to finding a job without any indication of having completed a formal, non-magical education.
Needless to say, Charity hadn’t taken that lying down, and with a little help from her parents, who supported her beliefs to this day, she managed to not only complete her Secondary and Higher Education, actually earning a Teaching Degree from a credible University, she actively sought out the post of Muggle Studies Professor, despite it being one of Hogwarts less-popular elective courses.
“Not that it always was, mind you.” She’d informed Sunset one day while they were listening to Muggle Music, this world’s incarnation of Beaten Hooves apparently “Most people don’t know this, but back during the time of the Founders, Muggle Studies was compulsory for all Students, in order to help them blend in better with their neighbors.” She scoffed “Of course, things went downhill after Godric and Salazar fell out, so by the time the witch-hunts started most Wizards and Witches were more than content to just go into hiding. I won’t lie, it’s not like we had a choice, but I can’t help but wonder what our societies would’ve been like if we hadn’t cut ourselves off.”
‘Probably a lot more like Equestria.’ Sunset mused wryly. While the divide between the three tribes had lessened to the point of non-existence under Celestia’s reign, there were still pockets of resistance here and there that refused to give up their traditions. Earth Ponies in particular were notably hard headed when it came to any form of innovation that threatened their traditions, hence why the Canterlot Express required a full team of draw-horses despite having a perfectly good steam engine, and the less said about Pegasi Weather Management the better.
No, seriously, don’t ever bring up Weather Management Spells around Pegasi. Sunset learnt that lesson the hard way and had no desire to go an entire week without sleep due to freak thunder storms.
“Ah, here you are.” A kindly voice noted, snapping Sunset out of her thoughts as Albus Dumbledore strode into Professor Burbage’s office with a kind smile and his trademark twinkle in his eye “Still burning the candle at both ends I see, Sunset?”
“More like burning two separate candles, Professor.” Sunset quipped, not even bothered by his casual use of her name, more than used to Celestia doing the same “Have to do something to keep myself from getting cabin-fever until term begins.”
“Ah, I remember when I had such passion for learning.” Dumbledore mused, his eyes twinkling with merry approval “My brother Aberforth used to believe I was mentally damaged…still does come to think of it. To this day we still can’t agree on the matter.”
“O-kay?” Sunset mused, wondering if the old man was going anywhere with this, half expecting him to break into a lecture about making friends only for him to surprise her by pulling out a familiar looking wrapped package “Is that-?!”
“Mr. Ollivander sends his regards, along with his sincerest apologies for the delay.” Albus chuckled as she all but snatched the parcel from his hands “And not a moment too-soon it would seem, your fellow Students should be arriving tomorrow Night.” He smiled knowingly “Which reminds me, have you packed your things for the trip?”
“No point, since they’re already in the castle.” Sunset countered, ripping the paper off the package to reveal a wand case “I mean, is there even any point to me going on the train? All my stuff is already here, you could just sort me into my house and I’ll wait for everyone else.”
“As expedient and forward thinking as that may be, there are some traditions, sadly, that cannot be avoided.” Dumbledore admitted with a twinkle in his eye “And while the Hogwarts Express is, admittedly, one of our more recent ones, it is a rite of passage that all Students must go through.”
“If you say so…” Sunset sighed, rising from her chair and placing her backpack on her desk “I packed some things in here already, mostly books to read on the trip. The rest are in my trunk.”
“Then they shall be moved to your designated common room after the sorting this evening.” Dumbledore assured her “Now then, unless Professor Burbage needs you for anything else?” he smiled as the Professor shook her head “Then if you’ll come this way, Sunset, I shall escort you myself.”
“Whatever.” Sunset sighed, slinging her backpack over her shoulder as she waved farewell to Professor Burbage “See you later Professor.”
“Sooner than you’d think, Miss Shimmer.” Professor Burbage assured her, smiling cryptically at the confused redhead as Dumbledore led her out of the classroom.
Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
Harry grimaced as he dragged his trunk through the corridor of the Hogwarts Express, trying his best to ignore the multitude of students crammed into the other compartments, partially out of shyness, as he wasn’t used to being around children his own age due to Dudley’s gang scaring them off, and partially to avoid them saying goodbye to their families, yet another reminder of something he didn’t have.
With that in mind, he stubbornly made his way down to the back of the train, looking for an empty compartment where he’d be able to enjoy the trip to Hogwarts in peace, only to blink as he opened the last door, only to find it occupied by a familiar face, currently nose deep in a book.
“Oh, hello there.” Sunset greeted, her frown of irritation giving way to pleasant surprise at the sight of the Boy-Who-Lived standing in the doorway “Harry right? Come on in.”
“Thanks…” Harry stammered, setting down the cage containing Hedwig, the snowy owl Hagrid had bought for him in Diagon Alley, before struggling to shove and heave his trunk into the luggage rack, only to blink as it suddenly lifted off the ground and hovered into the compartment.
“Here, let me help you with that.” Sunset offered, her wand held out as she silently guided the trunk until it was tucked away before turning back to the boy “You gonna come in?”
“R-Right, sorry.” Harry stammered, shutting the door to the compartment behind him before taking the seat across from the redhead by the window “Um…nice to see you again…Sunset Shimmer, right?”
“That’s me.” The redhead replied with a nod before turning back to her book “And you’re Harry Potter…though clearly not the same Harry Potter everyone goes on about.” She smirked at his look of confusion “I mean, you don’t look like you’ve been going around slaying evil wizards and dragons all summer.”
“What?” Harry blinked, only to groan as he recalled the infamous ‘Harry Potter’ Shelf back at Flourish and Blotts, a collection of popular wizarding children’s books that depicted him going on countless ‘Adventures’ over the years “I’d forgotten about that…who comes up with this stuff?”
“I don’t know, but if I were you I’d start looking for a good lawyer.” Sunset advised, turning her attention back to her book “I mean, if I found out someone was making money off my name and image without my permission, I’d have them for every penny they had.”
“I think I’ve got enough money as it is.” Harry sweat-dropped, recalling the mounds of golden Galleons in his vault at Gringotts, and that was just his trust fund! “I’d be happy enough if they just stopped writing those books to be honest.”
“Not gonna happen.” Sunset shot that hope down in flames “Trust me, a…friend…of my old teacher is in a similar situation.” She shook her head with a scoff “Things got so bad she can’t even go outdoors anymore without donning a disguise and changing her name these days.”
“Ouch…” Harry grimaced, unable to help relating to the poor woman despite only learning of his fame over a month ago “So where’d you learn to do that thing with the trunk?”
“What? Levitation?” Sunset wondered, blinking at him in surprise over the rim of her book “It’s one of the spells in the charms textbook. What, did you leave them at the bottom of your trunk until now?”
“My relatives…don’t like Magic.” Harry reminded her with a grimace, recalling the mocking laughter of the Dursleys as they left him at the station with no clue how to find the Platform “They tried everything to keep me from finding out about it, if Hagrid hadn’t tracked them down I’d probably never have gotten my Hogwarts letter.”
He flinched as Sunset looked up from her book to regard him with an unreadable expression “They didn’t…hurt you, did they?” she asked, her tone a mixture of anger and some foreign emotion that he realized might have been concern.
“Uh, no…” he stammered, only to backpedal in the face of her stare “Well, not anymore…ever since Hagrid…” he paused as if remembering something before changing tracks “Well they pretty much left me alone for the last month, but I figured it’d be better to avoid making them angry by reading books on Magic where they could see them.”
“I see…” Sunset noted, though Harry could tell from her expression that the redhead didn’t quite believe him, something he’d gotten more than used to thanks to the Dursleys framing him as some sort of hooligan to everyone on Privet Drive.
“S-so I-uh…I see you got your wand…” He noted desperately in an attempt to steer their conversation away from his personal life, or lack thereof “What type is it?”
“Holly and Phoenix Feather, just like yours.” Sunset revealed, holding it up with a smirk “Mine’s thirteen inches though, so no worries getting them confused.”
“O-kay?” Harry noted, wondering why on earth she was smirking at him like that, only to jolt as the Express whistle sounded, glancing out the window in time to see the parents stepping back from the platform as the train began to move “Looks like we’re moving.”
“About time…” Sunset sighed, turning as if to return to her book, only to pull up short as her eyes met Harry’s “You want to learn how to use the levitation charm?” she asked, smiling at his look of shock “I mean, you don’t want to be the only one lagging a month behind everyone else, right?”
“No-I mean sure, I mean-!” Harry stammered, taking a moment to settle himself before nodding in confirmation “I’d like that, thank you Sunset.”
The next hour or so was spent simply going over Harry’s First-Year Textbooks with the exception of A History of Magic and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, both of which Sunset assured him he could read on his own time, since they were mostly theory anyway.
Normally Harry would’ve gotten bored long before this, for while he wasn’t as bad as Dudley, he was still a ten-year-old boy, and thus predisposed to finding lectures boring, even if the subject matter was something as fascinating as Magic. But there was something about the way Sunset explained each spell, guiding him through the basic wand movements whilst making suggestions for improvement, that held him riveted to her every word, so much so, in fact, that he didn’t notice the compartment door sliding open until Sunset turned to glare at the culprit.
“Can you be helped?” she demanded, startling to Harry out of his thoughts, the Boy Who Lived turning to follow her gaze, only to blink at the sight of the youngest of the redheaded boys he'd followed onto the platform.
“Oh! Um, sorry?” the poor boy stammered, gaping at Sunset in surprise before pointing at the seat beside Harry with a shy, hopeful smile “I don’t suppose anyone’s sitting there? Only everywhere else is full.”
“Really?” Sunset demanded, quirking a brow at the ginger disbelievingly “You’re telling me you’ve been walking up and down the train for…” she glanced down at her watch “An hour and a Half since we left the station, looking for a place to sit?”
“Um…yes?” the ginger stammered, glancing furtively between Harry and Sunset, as if hoping to garner sympathy from his fellow male “I mean, there were other places, sure but most of the people in them already knew each other and I didn’t want to-!”
“Hey, Ron.” Another voice called out, heralding the arrival of the boy’s twin older brothers, Fred and George if Harry recalled, though for the life of him he couldn’t remember which twin was who “You find a seat yet? If not c’mon with us, we’re going down the middle of the train, Lee Jordan’s got a giant tarantula down there.”
“Right,” mumbled Ron, sending one last imploring glance towards the compartment, only to be met with Sunset’s piercing stare and Harry’s apologetic shrug “I’m coming.”
“Did you really need to scare him off?” Harry asked after the compartment door shut behind the departing ginger “I mean, there’s plenty of room in here.”
“He’s got nobody but himself to blame for not grabbing a seat before the train left the station.” Sunset insisted with a wave of her hand “Besides, it was obvious he was looking for you.” She scoffed at Harry’s shocked expression “Oh don’t look so surprised, whether you like it or not you’re a celebrity to these people. Trust me, the sooner you get used to spotting potential brown-nosing gold-diggers, the less stress you’ll have to deal with down the line, though for now I’d settle for just not giving them your last name.”
“Um…alright then…” Harry stammered, wondering what on earth a ‘brown-nosing gold-digger’ was, deciding to put off asking for now as Sunset returned to instructing him on the nuances of transfiguration, the rest of the trip passing in silence until the arrival of the Trolley Lady, whereupon Harry purchased enough treats off the cart to give an entire orphanage diabetes, and two instances when a hapless looking boy and a bossy looking girl entered the compartment looking for the former’s lost toad.
“We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes’ time.” A voice suddenly echoed through the train, snapping them out of their review on Potion Ingredients, a field Sunset herself found to be fascinating, having not had much experience with them in Canterlot “Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately.”
“Huh, how about that…” Sunset mused, glancing down at her watch in surprise “guess time really does fly when you’re having fun. You’d better get changed into your robes.”
“Um…right…” Harry stammered, reaching into his trunk for his robes, only to pause awkwardly as he turned to find Sunset remaining in her seat, nose buried in a book once more “Um…do you wan’t me to leave or-?”
“Huh? Whatever for?” Sunset wondered, eyeing him like he’d grown another head “Just go ahead and get changed, it’s not like you’ve got anything I haven’t seen before.”
“Uh…right…” Harry stammered, flushing furiously as he turned his back to the girl, fully aware of her presence as he quickly undressed, slipping into his uniform as quick as possible only to stumble slightly when it came to his tie.
“Here, let me help with that.” Sunset offered, startling Harry, who hadn’t heard her move, as she reached over to undo his tie, the Boy-Who-Lived flushing as she fixed it correctly “There you go, if it makes it easier, just don’t undo it all the way when you take it off, they don’t need washing as much as your shirts will.”
“T-Thanks…” Harry offered, flushing slightly at her closeness, taking a moment to settle himself as he pulled on his long black robes “Um, where’d you learn to fix a tie?”
“Taught myself.” Sunset admitted with a shrug as she returned to her seat “I personally don’t see the appeal of them, or clothes at all for that matter. We never had to bother with that kind of stuff back home except on special occasions.”
“Wait what-?” Harry began, only to trail off as the train jerked to a halt, the two of them rising from their seats to join the crowd of students old and new thronging the corridor.
As expected of Celestia's former private student, she caught up with human magic pretty quick.
After a month in the new world and she still says shockers like that? Won't like, I did laugh when I first read it though :)
So does time go faster or the same speed in Equestria? And did I miss when Celestia and Dumbledore figured out that phoenix mail worked? I'll be honest I was betting Sunset's wand would be made with Celestia's hair or something after reading that part, so the reveal of 13 inch holly, phoenix was a bit anticlimactic, though it's good she finally had access to her magic again (after a full month!!!)
hmm... worlds to banish her to huh? Well Fairy Tail is always a fun one.
...is it weird that I'm starting to ship Harry and Sunset?
8911638
At this point I'm surprised there isn't a romance tag
Hmmm can't tell if Sunset's calling it right or wrong regarding Ron here, and even if she is right to what degree Ron would have been brown nosing.
The fact that his last option is Fred, George, and Lee plus a tarantula makes me lean towards Sunset being at least slightly off in her estimations of Ron, though I wouldn't place any money on a bet on my opinion.
Side note Harry actually did manage to read through his books during the month away, it's mentioned in the first few paragraphs of "Platform 9 and 3/4s". He even got Hedwig's name from A History of Magic, when the book was still interesting to him. (A pox on you Binns for making history boring, may your post life wanderings end so a proper teacher can take your place!)
So, Phoenix core, and Fawkes apparently has the ability to flame between worlds, thus facilitating the ability to transport missives and small items between them. Even if Philomena doesn't have similar abilities being an Equestrian Phoenix then it's still very likely that rather than being from Fawkes and therefore a "Sister" to Harry and Tom's wands, her wand core is instead donated from Philomena.
You know, I happen to be of the General Headcanon that Philomena is to Sunset as Spike is to Twilight. Not in the context that hatching Philomena was Sunset's Entrance Exam, but that Sunset hatched Philomena under Celestia's guidance at some point during their lessons.
This headcanon is based on the following:
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/12/8/1312387__safe_artist-colon-little-dash-tweenframes_philomena_princess+celestia_sunset+shimmer_alicorn_alicornified_backwards+cutie+mark_comic_crying_cu.png
S1:E22 is the only major appearance of Philomena to date in the series where she plays a major role and interacts with the characters in a significant way, and as far as I am aware Celestia never explains her origins In-show. I know she makes other appearances in the Comics, but as Comics are B-Canon at Best and outright contradicted by Show-Canon at Worst, their validity as a source for headcanon is up for major debate and best used as a framing tool or for padding margins of headcanon than a source of empirical data. Celestia refers to Philomena as "Young Lady", as a parent would scold an errant child, leading me to believe that Philomena is relatively young all things considered. I doubt she's more than a century old, seeing as after a certain point of age calling someone "Young" anything wouldn't jive. Even in the case of "Children in Adult Bodies" such as Fanon-Sirius, it'd be the mentality of "I may not be as old as you, but I'm not a child and I fully understand the seriousness of the situation, so don't talk down to me and Maybe I won't prank you six ways to Sunday later", and a certain level of respect is due...
Unless it's an "In Joke"... Which I can whole-heatedly see Trollestia doing given the antics Philomena was up to prior to the quoted exchange...
That doesn't change my Headcanon though...
As for the photo, I don't imagine it went Quite that way when Sunset left (For one, I can't see her keeping Philomena in a cage), but I could see Celestia taking Philomena in during Sunset's absence, and by the time sunset "Came Back" in EQG Canon it'd been over a Decade Equestria-side, and Philomena would be one more being she'd have to apologize to. An apology that would potentially be even more difficult than the one to Celestia, seeing as Philomena was basically her only friend despite also being her "Pet", and she'd abandoned her in her selfish quest to show up her teacher.
Now, I'm not saying that the Author should go this route, and this is pure personal headcanon and speculation, but if Sunset and Philomena Do share a bond like this it would go a long way towards explaining how easily Sunset connected to what would in any other circumstances be a "Random Phoenix Core Wand", custom order or no. Even if they aren't "Master/Pet" (I leave who's the master and who's the pet in the relationship up to your interpretation ), and Philomena is Purely Celestia's age-long companion, she would still share more of a connection to a feather from Philomena through their shared bond with Celestia than she would any random feather from any other Phoenix, even Fawkes...
After all; "The Wand Chooses the Wizard (or Witch, as the case may be)".
Worlds to banish Sunset to? Hmm. How about to another Harry's world? One by the name of Harry Dresden? Now he would be one heck of a mentor to Sunset.
Excellent chapter, just one interesting thing.
She's certainly an early adopter. Harry started his first year in 1991, and according to the Harry Potter lexicon, the school year starts with the train ride on September first.
According to some article I just googled, the World Wide Web first opened to the public on 6 August, 1991.
So... yeah, the dates technically check out. Sunset arrived at the literal dawn of the internet.
Well this is interesting. So Harry and Ron's friendship doesn't start the same way due to interference from Sunset. As they will be in the same house later (not sure where Sunset will end up but I still have high hopes on Gryffindor) they will likely become friends while in the common room. We didn't have any interactions with Hermione though which is strange. It could be that Ron going to the different carriage accidentally allowed them to find Trevor the toad early for Neville and Hermione never got to their room. I can't wait until Sunset and Hermione meet. I'm imagining a best friends/deadly rivals relationship where they have a mutual enjoyment of learning and magic but constantly end up trying to out perform the other.
Another interesting thing to note is that due to Sunset's prior magic history, she will be very advanced for a first year. She knows levitation and treats it as something extremely basic that all wizards should know even prior to school, whereas in the book and movie, levitation was a course for first years and they all seemed to have trouble with it bar Hermione. There is also the fact she has now taught Harry this skill early. As people already see him as a celebrity, helping to elevate his skills above other first years may actually be more harmful to Harry in the long run as his reputation will sore against his wishes. It will be interesting to see how this affects things as the story progresses. I am really excited about this, I can't wait to see more.
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1) They're eleven (I.E Harry is mentally while they both are physically). They don't have the hormones yet for Romance to even be a flicker of thought beyond what would amount to nothing more than a grade-school puppy-crush.
2) On top of being mentally older and therefore beyond the state of falling into said grade-school puppy-crushes, Sunset isn't trusting or open enough for even more advanced forms of romance of any kind to be a factor in her thoughts.
3) At this point in time Harry is too skittish and withdrawn for him to open himself to "Crush" type behavior, and will likely settle into a mindset of admiration and respect for Sunset as she helps him come to grips with his newfound celebrity and protects him from the people who would try to use him until he knows enough to do it on his own.
Give it time, though. I don't know if Cullexoh intends to include the whole HP series in a single story or break it up once certain "Milestones" are reached, but if an Actual romantic relationship (by which I mean something beyond simple shit-shipping for the sake of shit-shipping without anything of actual substance being present in-story) does form between Sunset and Harry they can always add the tag then. I personally think you may be right about Harry and Sunset in the long run, but am willing to wait and see how the story unfolds naturally rather than telling authors "SHip NaO! oR forEveR HoLd yOUr SToRy'S PiEcEs" at the expense of narrative quality, and will be content if they end up as just really good friends or in a Big-Sister/Little-Brother dynamic. It's still too early to tell.
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There was a mention of Hermione and Neville looking for his toad, but not by name, and yes, without Ron there to "Try turning Scabbers/Pettigrew Yellow" she would have had no reason to linger. The one I'm surprised didn't make more of a nuisance of himself was Malfoy, seeing as the train-ride was when he was properly introduced to Harry, even tough they'd "met" in the robe shop.
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Another thing to consider is that Ron was the one who convinced Harry that he did not want to be in Slytherin as well as the fact that since he befriended Ron and Hermione he wanted to be sorted into the same house as them. So the question is when the Hat wants to sort Harry into Slytherin what (if anything) will keep that from happening especially if Sunset winds up in Slytherin as I suspect she will.
Hah, Sunset scared off Ron, and by extension Hermione. I hope they eventually make the cut in this fic, though admittedly Sunset and Hermione both kind of fit the same niche. Excellent work.
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As per the first part, I too would like an eventual romance to grow between Harry and sunset, but it is far too early. Sunset is far to closed off and both are hormonally too young to really form a true relationship. Still come 3rd or 4th year and we might start seeing something potentially begin to bloom.
As for Malfoy, if things are playing out more like the movie then the book, the scene with Malfoy will happen in the castle just before the sorting ceremony, rather then the train.
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True, however he also had a dislike of Malfoy, which furthered his choice since Malfoy was selected to Slytherin before he was put in Gryffindor. He may still be reluctant to be Slytherin on that trait alone, unless Sunset gets selected for Slytherin. That may complicate things. It may also make him more inclined toward another house if she goes before him and doesn't get Gryffindor. It will be interesting to see what happens.
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fair enough: I was just pointing out that the author was kind of giving these two some excellent chemistry early on; as an aside, I'd be all for these two becoming like brother and sister, especially given I'm a bit of a Harry/Ginny fan
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Hagrid was actually the one who told Harry "There's not a single Witch or Wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin" after he left the Madam Malkin's. Given how Cullexoh is by and large cutting out un-alterted segments of Harry Potter Canon for the sake of brevity and continuity, I'm guessing this conversation was held while Sunset was being fitted for Her robes, so Harry has more than likely already been biased against Slytherin House. All things told, Ron's comments against Slytherin would have only somewhat reinforced a strong preexisting negative bias given his conversation with Hagrid also covered that his parents killer was from Slytherin, and that Harry doesn't want anything to do with that.
Also, given that P comes before S alphabetically, Harry's sorting is more likely to influence Sunset's than the other way around. Just sayin'.
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True. I mostly pointed it out seeing as Cullexoh seems to be relying primarily on the books as a source material rather than the movies (The sign of a True Fan, though that doesn't mean they can't integrate some of the better elements of the movies into the narrative. Granted, Malfoy showing up on the Train makes more sense than making a big production of things in front of everyone while they wait for McGonagall to return and lead them to be sorted (and thus risk public humiliation of being turned down by "The-Boy-Who-Lived" rather than only being embarrassed in front of his bookends and people he considers "beneath" him in an otherwise private train compartment).
Oh God, I did not need that mental image.
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Ah I forgot about that, so he'll probably end up in Gryffindor regardless. As for Sunset, honestly I'm like 60% sure she will wind up in Gryffindor simply because that's where characters in these kinds of stories always wind up but if that is the case I would like there to be a good reason for it other than Sunset wanting to stick with Harry.
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Believe it or not, but from my experience in the HP Fanfiction Fandom "Hinny" seems to actually be one of the Harder ships for authors to get "Right". In Contrast "Harmone" is almost stupidly easy for Fanfiction authors to get something passingly believable without going into "Romantic Plot Tumor" territory. That isn't to say that there aren't a massive amount of terrible "Harmone" fics out there... After all, "90% of everything is Crap".
I have and will read just about any ship and enjoy them all equally, so long as they're done well.
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I'm pretty sure J.K.R. did a "Word of God" bit and stated for the record that Dumbledore is gay and that he and Grindelwald were more than just intellectually involved during the summer they spent together.
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1) Never heard of puppy love?
2) Fair enough
3) A big sister/little brother thing would be pretty cute
Author willing, we'll see where it goes. I'm looking forward to whatever happens
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Yeah I remember reading an article years ago where Rowling stated Dumbledore was gay. But honestly if the author wants to ship them I won't complain.
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Unfortunately, Dumbledore's canonical sexuality does not function as brain bleach.
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the author still has the chance to include the scene between hp and malfoy while on the stirs. though it may play out differently with sunset present.
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"Puppy-Love" a proper ship doth not set sail.
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fair enough; oh, and as to that bit of info about the "ease" of shipping the two different pairings:
i died reading the end. now harry thinks sunset is a nudist.
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img00.deviantart.net/f70f/i/2014/065/f/9/sweetie_belle_x_button_mash__that_s_amore_by_steghost-d796lea.png
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Yeah; I got such a "big sister" vibe from her that I'm confused as to how old she is supposed to be. Eleven? Really?
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I think she's an older (teenage?) pony in an eleven year old girl's body.
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Isn't she already banished? If she's going world hopping, maybe with Harry, why not pick the cute androids of "Steel Angel Kurumi" for a less frequented trope,seies, whatever. They don't have hangups with clothes either.
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I was responding to the author's note where I assume the author is asking for ideas for future stories that use a similar premise.
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Yup. Physically eleven, mentally probably closer to 15-20. Her actual age isn't ever given I don't think, but in her Feature Comic (Again, B canon at best, but also the only source we have of her prior to the first EqG movie) she seems to be closer to graduation age at CSGU, either being about the same age as Cadance or a few years older, and Twilight is at one point observably still a filly without her cutie mark. The disparity between her only being an upperclassman in High School in EqG-Verse with Twilight being a similar age when she crosses the portal leads much of the fandom to assume time-shenanigans during the period when the portal is closed, and that it's actually naturally open "More Often" on the human side of the portal than it is in Equestria. What this means for this story, however, is still unknown.
Please tell me sunset will despise Draco and all of slitherin
Yeah. An eleven-year old body with an experience of years and years of Celestia's court, school and teachings. An iron will and a brilliant intellect. She doesn't think she's better than most everyone around her. She knows it, and is correct. Also she happens to be a pony in mind, which is significant advantage by itself (like with the modesty/clothing thing)
Voldemort has nothing on her, especially at this point. Glorious.
And, yeah. Ron was just the first one to fall.
Well you could banish Sunset to Magical Girl worlds like Lyrical Nanoha, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Mahou Shoujo Site, Pretty Cure, Sailor Moon, Sword Art Online, Code Geass or Youjo Senki the last would be interesting the interaction between Tanya Degurechaff and Sunset
Wasn't expecting interdimensional Phoenix mail, but I like it.
And up next comes the sorting. I'm still hoping for Slytherin, because it really fits Sunset's personality. And it would be great to watch her become Hermione's rival, with Harry and Ron caught in the middle. I'm already imagining them constantly competing for house points in class trying to out-nerd each other, and it's hilarious.
Hermione's probably the only Griffindor that Sunset would consider an intellectual equal, and they both have sort of bossy, confrontational personalities. They'll either be the best of best friends, to the eternal torment of everyone around them, or they'll end up rivals. And if Sunset ends up in Slytherin there's really only one way for it to go.
Hmm Sunset scaring away friends from Harry? That could lead to some potential dangers down the line. Will Harry make friends with Hermione and Ron later on or will we be altering history and have this be the Daring Duo of Sunset and Harry instead of the Intrepid Trio?
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There's a difference?
Missing a "t".
There are also a number of words throughout the chapter that are capitalized when they shouldn't be.
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There'll be less collateral damage if they're rivals.
8911948 If you have Sunset replace Hermione, you could insert Neville in Ron's spot. Then again, Ron really needed, other than something to remain canon?
relieve the burdens Celestia had born for so long
pouring over every piece of text
1. Borne.
2. Poring.
Have you heard of the inheritance series? You could have Sunset enter at Saphira's hatching and have Her Bound to Eragon through her. She could retain her magic and kind of be a familiar's familiar(that she would deny continuously.
So, a wand of Holly wood and Phoenix feather.
Well, according to this article we can definitely say this is an appropriate choice for Sunset. Also we can reasonably assume that it is one of Philomena's feathers which made the core of the wand.
Something about this paragraph seems off to me... I suggest splitting it into two sentences, the first ending with "peace", then rewording the rest to express the same points. That'll avoid the awkward repetition of "only".
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To be honest, I'm expecting Ravenclaw for Sunny... yes she has a great aptitude for politicking, but that's only because she HAD to learn it so she wouldn't be screwed over by other politicians. Which means it wouldn't be a good fit for her academic future. Ravenclaw's much more centered on the hard sciences (as much as that applies), thus aligning with Sunset's passions far better.
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I agree. I expected either Celestias hair, or Sunsets own.
Sunset's a nudist lol
Did Sunset just make a dick joke? If so have a mustache