Chapter Seven
Change Looms
Sunset and Hermione settled into a weekly routine of sorts. On weekday mornings, the two would go to school while Emma and Dan went to work the clinic. After school, they would return home together and prepare lunch before doing their homework, except on Fridays when Sunset had her Aikido practice, leaving Hermione to return home on her own and do her homework before fixing lunch in time for Sunset to teleport home.
In the afternoon, Sunset would jog to the nearby park to practice Parkour, except on Fridays where she would do her homework at that time and Saturdays when she took a break from her exercise. Hermione would usually read a good book. Occasionally she would accompany Sunset on her practice instead, having been informed by Sunset that physical health and fitness had a noticeable impact on magical power and mental focus.
For an hour every day, Sunset taught Hermione magic. The lessons ranged from theory of all kinds, over practice and learning new spells, to creating spells from scratch. The latter was a tricky matter, but with Sunset's help and a thorough understanding of the basic rules of magic, even that challenge couldn't stand in Hermione's way for long.
Finally, on the Saturday before the last week of school, there came a time Hermione had been anticipating for a long while. For the last week, Sunset had been teaching Hermione thaumic phase theory, the science behind teleportation. They had isolated a destination, a vacant house a few streets away, and Sunset had been teleporting the two of them there and back at the end of every one of their lessons for the last two weeks, enabling Hermione to watch the spell form and get used to the sensation.
Now the time had come. With a final, encouraging smile, Sunset vanished in a flash of light, not bothering to mask her own teleport, both starting point and destination were warded, after all. Taking a deep breath, Hermione focused and began crafting the spell. She first focused in on herself, marking what she wanted to teleport. With that firmly set into the spell, she next focused on the destination, feeling the magic find the route there on its own.
With the fundamentals in place, she began setting her safeties. Power supply, destination clearance, ward check, pattern safety and half a dozen others found their place in the forming spell, making sure she would arrive safely where she wanted, or not teleport at all. After ten seconds of carefully crafting the spell, she marshaled her power and pushed it into the spell, focusing her intent.
The world around her flashed a pale green and she found herself in the living room of the vacant house, just as she had intended. She started as two arms wrapped around her from behind, enclosing her in a proud hug, she only relaxed when she saw red and blonde hair draping over her shoulder. 《Good job sis, I knew you could do it.》
After having done so for months, Hermione didn't even think about answering in Equestrian. She just did. 《Thanks sis, couldn't have done it without you.》
Still mid hug, Sunset teleported them back, just as Emma and Dan returned home. They ate out to celebrate this milestone.
With exams over and grades not coming until Friday, school was a relaxed affair for this last week. They spent the lessons watching movies, playing games and generally doing anything but actually learning something.
While some of the games got a little tedious for the two, the week passed quickly all the same. Before long, Friday was there and grades were being given out.
And Hermione was panicking.
《Oh dear, Sunset, what if I failed, I don't know if all my answers were correct? What if I wasn't good enough-》She was cut off when Sunset leaned over and pressed a finger over her lips.
《Shhh. It's all right, you did great, I know you did. And let's be honest, even if you did fail, what good would it do to fret over it now?》
《I guess, but-》She cut off again, this time when the teacher placed the sheet with her grades on her table.
Sunset smirked, she might not have managed to calm Hermione completely, but she had managed to distract her long enough for there to no longer be any reason to panic. 《There you go, straight As except for one C in PE. How very surprising.》
Sunset stopped her snark when she saw her own grade sheet being placed on her table. Of course, no one had questioned why she didn't have any grades from any point before the winter break. Hermione leaned over, looking at the sheet. 《You did well yourself. Straight As except for a single C in home EC. For someone who arrived from a different dimension half a year ago, that's pretty good.》
As the two shared a laugh, Miss Pritchard returned to the front of the classroom. "Now, before anything, I would like to congratulate Miss Granger and Miss Shimmer for tying as best in class."
To the polite applause of their peers, the two young witches shared a high-five, laughing as they did. Unseen by the class, a spark of magic passed between them as they had both subconsciously sent a bit of magic into their hand. Their eyes widened for a second, but they were quick to hide their surprise, seeing how this was clearly a matter of magic and not to be discussed here.
Class let out soon after and Sunset and Hermione slipped onto the roof of the school. Once Sunset had set up a simple privacy charm, Hermione spoke up. 《What was that?》
Sunset herself seemed deep in thought, looking at her sister with a gentle smile. 《A thaumo-harmonic connection. It occasionally happens with some Equestrian channeling methods. So far, nopony knows exactly why it happens, but we know that a deep bond of trust is one of the requirements.》 Their eyes met for a moment. 《I'm honored.》
《Wow. So what was that I felt there? Was that your magic?》
《My reservoirs, yes. Mind you, this wasn't a true link, it was just a spark. A longer link can form a true connection, sharing much more than just a glimpse into the other's magic. It's not telepathy in the usual sense of the word. It can't transmit thoughts, but you can sense emotions and, to a degree, intent.》
Hermione looked at Sunset for a moment longer, then her hand lit up a pale green and she offered it to her sister. Lighting up her own hand, Sunset took it, and the moment they touched, the spark jumped once again, but this time they didn't break the contact. They simply stood there, at the edge of the roof, looking over the small town and exploring the connection that had formed between them.
They didn't speak. They didn't send thoughts. They didn't need to. Both of them knew what the other meant, and that they were both enjoying the sensation. They stood there for a few moments longer, enjoying the view, before Sunset teleported them home.
The start of the holidays was much like any other weekend, only Sunset and Hermione replaced their study for school with matters of science and magic. Soaking up knowledge like sponges did water.
On top of that, Sunset began teaching Hermione the basics of Arithmancy. With her primary schooling now complete, Sunset figured she was ready to understand the basics without much issue. The material was complex, but Hermione managed to keep up.
With so much time on their hands, the two continued their training. Sunset had visited the local library to borrow some instructional books on Aikido, so she could train without the course at school. At the same time, the two kept up their Parkour practice. Sunset was getting good at it and Hermione was catching up as well.
It was about a week after the end of school that something truly remarkable happened.
Sunset slept in.
It was only when a confused Hermione on the way back from the bathroom was looking into her room, that she woke up.
With a groan, Sunset pushed herself off the bed. 《Guess I was awake too late last night. Ah well.》She shook her head, her hair falling into form easily.
Hermione stared at her for a few seconds. "Oh come on!" she called out finally. "That's so unfair."
"Huh?"
"Your hair. You shake it once and everything falls into place. Meanwhile I'm stuck with this bushy mess." She gestured to her head in exasperation.
"Oh. That's my innate magic. Without it my hair would be just as messy. I think I could enchant something to get you the same effect."
A second later, a slight disturbance of the air was the only sign that Hermione had been in the room.
Sunset chuckled. 《Oh. The joys of teleportation.》
With a barely visible flash of light, Hermione returned, a crimson hair ribbon in her hand. 《Would that work?》
《Sure. I can use that.》With a sly smirk, Sunset took the ribbon and held it for a moment. Her hands began glowing a pale teal. The light then flowed onto the ribbon, coating it completely. After a few more seconds, the light seemed to seep into the material.
Almost instinctively, Hermione cast an aura sight spell, lighting up her eyes with magic as she watched the enchantment form. A mere few seconds later, the light faded and the ribbon looked as inert as before.
Taking it back, Hermione tied it into her hair, marveling as it fell into smooth waves behind her. With a grateful smile, she enclosed Sunset in a hug. 《Thanks sis, you have no idea how much that was bothering me.》
About one and a half weeks after the end of school, the Granger household enjoyed a relaxed morning. Dan and Hermione were only just getting up, preparing themselves for the day, while Emma and Sunset were preparing breakfast.
A noise from the front door announced the arrival of the mail.
"Sunset dear," Emma called from the other end of the kitchen, "could you go fetch the mail please?"
"Sure thing." With a happy bounce in her step, Sunset made her way to the front door. Lying on the floor was the stack of mail, three letters from various companies, a thin package for Dan and a card from Emma's sister lying on top of two larger letters.
Curious, Sunset picked up the pack and separated out the two big letters. They were made of yellow-ish parchment, not stamped and addressed in emerald-green ink. Intrigued she picked out one of them and read the address.
Ms. S. Shimmer
The second bedroom on the right
150 Ryde Park Road
Rednal
West Midlands
Normally I would want Sunset to make note of all the bad puns that are about to hit her in the face, but she is from the land of horrible Pony Puns so I don't even think she would notice.
Getting their wands is what I'm truly curious about. Sunset has been doing spell work very well without one, but is far stronger with her horn. From what she has said, it seems that human magic is horribly inefficient. How the wands interact with her type of spell casting, either as a horn or something more like a bad regulator will be fun to see.
So, Sunset got two letters?
9518540
No. The second one is for Hermione
9518515
Not really, the only human magic she has seen so far was apparition and a basic cleaning spell, the first happens to be extremely rudimentary compared to what she knows, the second was too quick for her to really analyze. She doesn't really know much about human magic yet.
I'd been wondering about Sunset's easy mastery at such a young age, but this makes things clear. With a strong grasp of bedrock concepts, she can build her own knowledge base even without any external training. 'tis inefficient, true, having to discover every little thing for herself, but she has more than enough talent to make up for it.
It just goes to show, yes? Never neglect your fundamentals! If you understand why something works you have endless options to create new things.
I don't really like Harry Potter, but I absolutely love this story do far. Keep up the amazing work. I'm really looking forward to what comes next!
Shouldn't the letters arrive by owl?
9518515
Nah, she's going to consider them pretty mild and weak. After all a pony knows all about quality lame puns
9520003
It's never actually specified how those letters arrive, but in the first book, Harry finds his letter in the morning mail (even though it isn't stamped so it probably wasn't delivered by the mail service.) I can only guess that the house elves of Hogwarts personally deliver them to muggle households for new first years, they are experts at going unseen afterall.
I see you're taking a page out of IWWP and making teleport a spell so easy even a child can do it. This honestly always bugged me because it is a major contradiction of canon, if Teleporting is so easy why doesn't every unicorn learn it?
Magic normally has a difficulty curve, you have the spells at the bottom which pretty much everyone knows, like levitation, then you have the harder ones only some wizards bother to learn, like teleport. You've basically put teleporting, something that is normally considered high-level, and placed it on the same level as levitation.
I'm not saying it should be impossible for Hermione to learn it but as a novice in magic it should be one of the last things she learns, it shouldn't be something that someone with no experience in magic can pick up a few weeks regardless of the teacher.
9526209
Well, the first Equestria Girls movie seems to contradict the "it's hard to teleport" thing; Sunset Shimmer has been living in the multicoloured-human world, as a human, for apparent years, yet as soon as she arrives back in Equestria (to take Twilight's crown, the Element of Magic), she can teleport just fine, despite the complete inability to keep practicing it (and thus avoid getting 'rusty'). This makes it seem as though teleportation is no big deal, that there's absolutely zero risk in doing it even with zero practice.
There's more fridge logic things in this scene too; how did she know how to navigate the Crystal Empire's palace, when it did not even exist when she was last in Equestria? How can she gallop so naturally on all-fours, when she's been a biped for all the intervening time (and later is shown stumbling after returning again, this time to meet Starlight)? How did she know the Element of Magic was in use, and what it looked like?
The beginning of Equestria Girls makes no sense...
As a bit of an addendum, Season 9's the last MLP:FiM season, yet I'm pretty sure Friendship Games showed the statue portal's base being damaged, with magic leaking off of it; has that ever been brought up again? I was kinda hoping for some sort of conclusion to this plot point, to be honest.
I have to read and see but I don't actually see any reason for Sunset to go to Hogwarts
The decision to make Sunset fairly OP by Magical Britain standards was a dangerous one, but so far, I think you have done it right.
Without Hermione to teach, it would have been rather dull, but so far it has kept my attention quite nicely.
There are a few flaws, but I don't feel comfortable talking about them without reading further. (Since things in future chapters could turn them into complete non-issues.)
I was holding out hope that sunset was still bent on equestrian domination, but it sounds like she's just all around the best human/pony/being to have ever lived with literally zero faults.
Eh well. I'll give a few more chapters to see if any conflict arises.
Ya, that doesn't have voyeurism written all over it.
9685260
Sunset isn't a bad person, not the way so many people like to portray her. In some ways, she's a bit like Prince Blueblood. She's a manipulator, accustomed to getting what she wants, and as is typical of many manipulators, would come across as a very nice person. I'm curious to see where this leads because I picture Dumbledore as a manipulator too. He's a world-class manipulator who has everyone convinced he's a nice person. The reality is he's the kind of person who wouldn't think twice about sacrificing an innocent to accomplish his goals. Sunset did what she did because she'd harbored a deep-seated resentment against Princess Celestia.
9693656
This is a load of nonsense, Dumbledore does not needlessly sacrifice anyone if anything he's not cruel enough in how he manipulates others in order to go up against someone like Voldemort. Dumbledore could have used Harry from the very beginning to draw out Voldemort but he didn't because he didn't want to put Harry in harms way if it could be avoided. He manipulates others but its never for selfish reasons and its never at another's expense.
By comparison, Sunset absolutely was not a good person as she actively went out of her way to manipulate others to gain power for her own selfish reasons and she didn't care who she had to hurt to accomplish those goals.
9693682
Dude. Dumbledore knowingly put an orphaned child with his negligent relatives. He even admits it. Not only that, but he let’s innocent children wander close to death while doing little to prevent it. That’s only scratching the surface.
You know that door he openly talked about with the deadly dog behind it that could easily swallow a child whole? Yeah, that door can be unlocked with a FIRST YEAR CHARM. What about the Triwizard Tournament? The one that was shut down because of the HIGH RISK OF DEATH? The one he allowed an underaged student to partake in?
Shall I go on?
9800383
He left Harry at the one place he would be safest and hoped Petunia would put aside her feelings towards her sister to care for Harry which she did it just didn't stop her from being a jerk. Even after finding out how they treated Harry (which remember is exaggerated by most fanfiction) it's not like he could do anything since Harry's safety was more important than his happiness between school years.
Not sure what you're referring too here he has never sat back and done nothing when he'd known someone was in danger.
He told them to stay away because it was dangerous I'm not sure why people think more than that was necessary its like complaining about how the only thing keeping kids out of a construction site is a warning sign. Sure more could be done but I also don't think there is anything wrong with expecting children not to be suicidal idiots.
You're also forgetting about how someone intentionally entered Harry into the tournament, Dumbledore did nothing because that would have forced the culprit to do something else and at least they could control what happened during the tournament.
It's mentioned a few times in this first act of the story that they make lunch after school is over. I'm just curious what time of day is the school finishing?
9827129
In the UK school ends at around 2:30.
9800383
9800435
I try to keep an open mind when it comes to this, however one of the best ways to get a kid to do something is to tell them that they aren't supposed to do it, the younger the kid the more likely that this will be the outcome. I can see the points you both have offered... and the reasoning is sound on both sides. Yes Dumbledore placed Harry in a place where it's heavily implied not outright stated that he was abused, but it was the safest place for him simply because of the fact that Dumbledore convinced everybody and their grandma that it was the safest place for him. Sure kids should be trusted to not be suicidal idiots, but curiosity killed the cat and all that and Dumbledore could have put up a better lock easily (he is stated to be the most powerful wizard in a century, and has the elder wand). Yes there was danger around ever corner, but Harry is a trouble magnet, and since dark magic congregates, it's only natural for Harry to run into an abnormal amount of danger. Yes Dumbledore did sometimes send kids into dangerous situations, but he’s a chessmaster for a reason, and had others nearby to pull them out immediately in case they couldn’t handle it. Really the only time he slipped up was year four, with the whole imposter moody fiasco, I'll leave you to your opinion on that one, but the guy is over a hundred years old, and you have to slip up sometime.
9800435
This is a school, it has a duty of care to keep them safe. Dumbledore has failed that duty of care, first students should not havea way to get into a dangerous area but even we ignore that in the second year he did not order an excuation when a basilisk was loose in the school and had pertrified multiple students.
10013227
Truth be told I've heard some pretty good arguments for why he told everyone about the corridor since then. The best explanation was that it was a trap and he was acting under the assumption that anyone could be the thief even a student, thus telling everyone where the stone was hidden was the best way to lure the thief to the trap. Worst case maybe Fluffy hurts a student but all non-magical wounds are easily heald and considered not a big deal so it would be considered their own fault for going where they were told not to go in the first place.
As for why he didn't evacuate the school in book 2, simply put he couldn't. Doing so would have been giving the culprit exactly what they wanted, once word got out that that muggle-borns were being targeted odds are the Ministry might take steps to keep muggle-borns out of Hogwarts for their own safety and even worst Lucius would have Dumbledore removed as headmaster for failing to protect the students. The only smart move he could make was try to keep things quiet and solve the problem before things got out of hand.
10013257
Problem, if it was a trap then more work should have been put in to create the trap. With the front guarded by a spell a first year could cast, the Devils' Snare which can be stopped by a simple oveprwered light spell and a simple chess game someone smart enough to break into Hogwarts would know it was a trap.
Also you could have easily made a lock that Alohomora wouldn't work on and would require more work to open. The fact that group of first years could get in there is dumb, it should require a spell that you would have to be at least a graduate of Hogwarts to open.
10103485
The whole point was to delay not stop, the true thief would have no problem getting through all the trials and ultimately get stopped by the mirror, giving Dumbledore enough time to reach the room and catch them, essentially it was a honey pot.
Anyone else would get stopped by the earlier trials, and to be fair while a bunch of first years did get through them it's important to remember that they only accomplished it thanks to possessing specific skills that helped them through some trials (Hemione's knowledge getting them past the plant and the logic puzzle, Ron being skilled at chess) as well as the benefit of Quirrell going first which made things easier for them (Fluffy was already asleep, the correct key's wing was damaged singling it out and the troll was put to sleep).
Friendship!
that's pretty creepy
Well, that's explains it.
It's THAT kind of story.