A Hogwarts Overtale

by Tums Festival

Liberty Unto Stasis

While Sunset’s first day at Hogwarts was as slow time wise as it was eventful, the rest of the week was the exact opposite. As time drew on, the twisting maze of a castle became navigable, strangers became acquaintances, and the unfamiliar became the familiar. Even Transfiguration, which she had expected to start being much more awkward, was going by smoothly. Despite their trespass, Missy’s initial care-free demeanor didn’t seem to be a front. She didn’t seem to hold it against them whatsoever.

In fact, on Friday, she even called Sunset over to her desk at the end of class, hosting a friendly smile.

“I just wanted to let you know that you’ve seemed to have generated a new buzz of intrigue in the upper echelons of the Federation,” she said, her eyes twinkling. “My off-school phone has been ringing off the hook with updates, and owls have been dropping me off notes by the hour. I’ve never seen so many bureaucrats so excited. Well, not that we're capable of much emotions aside from 'mildly satisfied' or 'moderately displeased', but you get the point.” She then winked. “Oh, and not to worry: I never mentioned where my information on Equestria came from. While some may be smart enough to figure it out, don’t expect them to bother you.”

“W-Well, that’s good,” Sunset nodded. “And professor, about the other day--”

“Getting to that,” Missy said sweetly. “Things have taken a step forward from mere musings. The Federation High Council will be convening in two weeks, and I have under good authority that they’ll be agreeing on a diplomatic overture to Equestria - one involving an official offer of alliance.”

Sunset’s eyes widened in excitement. ‘An alliance?! Between the Federation and Equestria?!’

Being the former student of Equestria’s sole leader, she expected her word would have some weight, but this was going beyond her wildest dreams. Despite her new goal of helping her new friends through their woes, her old one of bringing democracy to Equestria was still fresh in her mind.

‘An alliance means Celestia will have to look at the Federation more closely. She might even visit herself. Seeing first-hand what they’ve managed to accomplish… There’s a good chance it’ll convince her to try to emulate it. The first federal elections could start up by next year!’

“If Princess Celestia agrees to it, this will be the first step towards a closer union between our two nations,” Missy explained. “But even it in and of itself will be a substantial move. An alliance of the type we have in mind would mean increased trade, joint military operations, dual-citizenship opportunities, increased cultural exchange…’

“Increased interaction in general,” Sunset smiled.

“Yes,” Missy said. “And the list goes on and on. Keep in mind that there are no telephone wires stretching across the ocean, and long distance radio is a no-go thanks to interference in the Arcturian Sea, buuuut we do have aircraft specifically for flying important parcels. Assuming the plane doesn’t crash or wind up as some eldritch sea monster’s dinner--”

Sunset gazed at her blankly.

“--Which is very unlikely, I assure you - we’ll likely have an answer back in a few weeks.”

“That’s awesome,” Sunset said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Truly awesome. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“I figured you’d enjoy the news,” Missy grinned, though it soon faded. “Now, onto the other slightly more… volatile matter. I just want you to know that I actually admired what you did to a certain extent. That took quite a bit of moxy, all things considered. But still, there’s a reason that zone is marked off. The experiment we’re doing presents a physical danger to those around it. It’s not as much as the headmistress would like to think, but it’s there."

She lifted a finger. “However, that isn’t the most pressing concern. There is a very real threat that one of the Federation’s enemies - and believe me, we have them - could make use of what our operation finds. Do you ‘feel me’?”

Sunset nodded tepidly.

“Fortunately, Equestria is far from what we’d consider an enemy, so I didn’t need to execute you for espionage,” she continued cheerfully, earning another stunned look from Sunset. “I’m kidding… probably. But anyway, the sooner we ‘wrap things up’, so to speak, the better. That leads me back to you. Have you had any luck learning the intricacies of SOUL magic?”

Sunset, almost guiltily, shook her head. “Professor Dreemurr hasn’t covered it in class yet. I don’t think she’s planning on it any time soon.”

“Pity,” Missy pouted. “Luckily, you may not need to wait. Her daughter has taken a bit of a shining to you, hasn’t she?”

“Frisk?” Sunset blinked. “Well… yeah, but--”

“I know Frisk is a natural at it,” Missy interrupted. “Though an inherent talent doesn't mean an inherent ability to teach it. I'd say it's likely she may not know exactly how she does it, and therefore may not be able to help you herself. However, I doubt that’s the case with her mother. If Frisk were to ask her nicely enough for a private lesson or two…”

Sunset resisted squinting in confusion. Why couldn’t Missy just teach Sunset herself? Did she not know that she knew that she had the talent? And to ask Frisk for that kind of favor so soon after meeting her… it almost seemed like taking advantage of her friendship with her.

“I’ll uh… I’ll think about it,” Sunset said.

“Please do,” Missy smiled. “I’d hate to have to ask that wonderfully horrible little flower for help. While he might succeed where we have failed… giving someone like him a gun and expecting them not to shoot anyone makes both parties guilty when the inevitable happens. It would look quite bad on the ole’ resume."

Sunset furrowed her brow before folding her arms. While she was still elated by Missy’s news of the potential alliance, she was getting just about fed up with the professor's coy attitude about her ‘project’. "I don't understand. If it's that risky, why even consider it?"

Missy narrowed her eyes. "Because it could solve one of the greatest mysteries of the Federation. And perhaps return what we have lost." She then smiled widely. "I'll leave you to ponder that. A puzzle a day keeps brain fog away, yes? I'll see you Monday."

--

Lunch time has arrived once again, and Sunset joined her friends. And while she did, she noticed something interesting.

As Sunset was finding out, students of different houses sitting with each other at the same table wasn't the most common thing in the world. However, just like the integration of previously barred species to Hogwarts, it wasn't something they necessarily opposed.

Hermione, Frisk, Luna, and Sunset sitting together had garnered curious glances at first, though by the end of the week seemed to spark a new fad, even a sense of comradery among the young witches and wizards, because now everyone was doing it. Surprisingly, this even included a few Slytherins.

"Yeah, I know our house has a bad rep," Sunset overheard one of them say, chatting with the other houses. She sat near goblin looking at her with a surprising sense of affection. "And it's pretty well-earned, let me tell you. However, most of us aren't like that. Just look at the statistics. For every rotten apple that comes out of it there are ten of us who don't want anything to do with dark arts bogus."

"There really isn't anything inherently wrong with ambition, is there?" her goblin companion nodded. "Everyone has it, just some more than others. It's as natural as breathing."

"Exactly," the Slytherin said. "Now that we've pruned the bad apples, we can get back to what we do best: not the dark arts, but being all we can be!" She smirked, though unlike what Sunset would expect, it seemed to be more jovial than anything. “And that means beating you lot at Quidditch this season.”

This caused a stir of laughter and commotion, though out of the corner of her eyes, Sunset could have sworn she saw Hermione roll her own. Nonetheless, she held her tongue. Instead, it was Frisk who spoke first, his eyes laid upon a peculiar badge Hermione was wearing today.

"SPEW?" she blinked. "What's a SPEW?"

"I'm glad you asked," she smiled, as if hoping someone would do just that. "It stands for Society of the Promotion of Elfish Welfare."

Sunset gave Hermione a confused look, wiggling her pointed ears slightly. "Er… Hermione. While we appreciate the concern, is that… really necessary?"

Hermione blushed slightly. "I have been considering changing the name lately. SPHEW does make it sound less like a joke."

"Yeah, sure," Flowey said, giving her a sarcastic look. "Definitely more respectable."

"Society for the Preservation of House Elfish Welfare?" Luna said.

"Thank you," Hermione said, shooting Flowey a glare, before looking back at Sunset. "Yes, it's specifically referring to House Elves."

"The little guys that work in the kitchen?" Sunset asked. "I thought the Federation already gave them equal rights?"

"You… don't know much about them, do you?" Hermione asked.

"Well, no…" Sunset admitted.

"They were essentially a slave race until the Federation ordered them all to be freed," Hermione said. "Honestly, I can't believe it had taken their intervention to do it. Such a barbaric practice."

Sunset raised her eyebrows. She had heard snippets about the House Elves. That Lyonessian witches and wizards had some kind of connection with them. But a master-slave relationship?

"It really makes the tendency for magic users to look down on muggles laughable, when you think about it," Hermione said. "Most Terran Continent nations outlawed that sort of practice centuries ago. But their magical communities didn't really care about that, did they? They either kept doing it in secret or found loopholes in the law."

She looked like she wanted to gag on her food at this point, and Sunset felt like doing the same. The concept of slavery was almost diametrically opposed to her beliefs.

"Well, viva la Federation then!" Frisk said, a flash of patriotism coming across her as she gestured to one of their banners hanging from one of the walls. "For setting things right."

“Viva la Federation,” Hermione smirked.

“Surprised you’re saying anything good about them,” Flowey grinned wickedly. “What with you spying on them and all.”

“Flowey,” Frisk grumbled. “She already said she doesn’t want to talk about that.”

“Not, really,” Hermione said bluntly. “But I will say this: what’s going on in the dungeons is only conducted by a small group of individuals. I won’t judge their entire government based on the actions of a few.”

She then cleared her throat, clearly wanting to change the topic. “Anyway, yes, the House Elves are all technically free now. The Federation made any owners sever their magical bonds under the threat of jail time. The problem is that they’ve been so indoctrinated into this mindset of servitude that they haven’t embraced that freedom. And the Federation… well, they aren’t doing enough to rehabilitate them in my mind.”

“And that’s why you’re still doing SPEW,” Luna said.

“Exactly,” Hermione said, nodding fiercely. “As the name implies, it was never just about emancipation. We need to build an infrastructure designed around allowing them to enjoy their newfound freedom. But right now the only support I have is… well, Ron, Harry and a few others. And with Dobby gone--”

A look of tremendous sadness suddenly flushed over her. Immediately, Luna moved to comfort her, gripping her in a hug.

“S-Sorry,” Hermione said, giving the group an apologetic look and taking a shuddered breath. “Here I thought SPEW would take my mind off things, but…”

“No need to apologize,” Sunset chimed in, trying to cheer her up. “And the whole thing sounds really awesome, by the way. Do you need any help with it?”

Hermione didn’t seem all that surprised at Sunset’s offer, though she still immediately brightened. “Well… yes. I’d definitely love to have you onboard.”

“I would also like to help,” Luna nodded, a rare look of determination in her eyes. "I've grown quite fond of House Elves in recent years."

“I’m game, too!” Frisk beamed.

“Seriously, this is what you all want to do with your free time?” Flowey groaned. “Helping a bunch of idiots who don’t want to even help themselves?” He then glanced at Sunset with a smirk. “Besides, don’t you have that thing you’re supposed to be doing?”

“What thing?” Hermione asked.

“It’s nothing,” Sunset said, glancing away from her. “Besides, I can multitask. I might even know someone who could help if we need funding or anything like that.”

“Funding is always helpful…” Hermione’s eyes then widened. “But w-wait, wait a minute. You’re not thinking about asking Princess Celestia, are you?”

“No, not her,” Sunset said, chuckling bitterly. “I have a friend who’s a… well, revolutionary, for lack of a better term. Starlight Glimmer."

“Seriously?” Flowey said. “‘Starlight Glimmer’. What’s with you Equestrians and weirdass names?”

“This coming from the flower named Flowey,” Sunset smirked.

Luna nodded. “She has a point, you know.”

Flowey made a dismissive huff. “Bleh, it’s not like it’s my--” He stopped med-sentence, an annoyed look on him. “Nevermind.”

"Anyway, Starlight's one of the elected leaders of Magitek Made Easy, a pretty big worker co-operative." Sunset explained. "I started dabbling in Magitek a few years back, and got to know her through it. Partially cus of her, the company’s grown pretty successful over the last year, and let's just say its workers frequently thank her for it."

"What, with gold?" Flowey laughed. "And now she's a rich Socialist? Oh woooooow!"

"She calls herself a Syndicalist," Sunset corrected. "And like I said, she’s more than just a leader at the company. She’s a big time activist, too. She uses the majority of her gold to promote whatever causes she finds worthy."

"You think she'd be willing to give to SPEW?" Hermione said, a hint of skepticism in her voice. "An organization an ocean away?"

"She's an internationalist," Sunset said. "’May the oppressed of the world unite’. So yes, if we ask nice enough..."

“I suppose I'll dare to dream,” Hermione beamed. “Thank you, Sunset. This could open up so many doors. First things first, though, we’ll need to schedule meeting times." She grinned widely. "Meeting times! Hah! Five years of doing this at Hogwarts and it’s the first time I’ll actually have help.”

“I thought you said Ron, Harry, and a few others were already helping?” Luna asked.

“First time at Hogwarts I’ll have help,” Hermione clarified. “Harry and Ron, especially, were never that interested during their time here. They only came around once… well…”

Once again, sorrow washed over her. Sunset searched for a way to distract her, but couldn't think of anything. Fortunately, one quickly provided itself for her. This being in the form of a number of owls swooping down from the ceiling to deliver various parcels.

"Finally!" Hermione said, apparently forgetting her woes for now. "Mail's here!"

Each member of the group got one, save for Flowey. Luna received a copy of The Quibbler. Frisk received something from someone called Sans labelled Only to Be Used in an Emergency...

“Seriously?” she giggled, opening a small box containing none other than…

A whoopie cushion.

“Haw haw it’s funny because it makes a fart sound,” Flowey grumbled. “Smiley Trashbag really is a one trick pony, I swear. There isn't a cliche he won't go out of his way to use."

"So?" Frisk shrugged. "He makes it work! I've laughed at a skeleton of his jokes."

"Do you want to die, Frisk?" Flowey said, narrowing his eyes. "Because you're acting like you do."

"You know you'd get bonely if I did!" Frisk giggled.

"STOP!"

… And Hermione and Sunset received a copy of The Daily Prophet and Equestria Daily newspapers, respectively.

“Huh?” Hermione said, reading the front page of it with a look of concern. “Another disappearance? This time someone named Ambassador Spock. I swear, this is like the third since summer began!"

Sunset’s eyes widened in shock. The same thing was on the front page of her own newspaper, along with a picture of a stoic looking Vulcan Elf at the podium of some sort of award’s ceremony. Not that Vulcan Elves had any other pose, of course.

“Did… did you know him, Sunset?” Frisk asked, noting her look.

“Yes,” Sunset said, still reeling in disbelief..

Though on the train ride to Hogwarts, she had seen a mention of prominent Federation officials disappearing without a trace. That being in Luna’s copy of The Quibbler. However, she never thought it would happen to someone she knew.

“He is… was the highest ranking Federation ambassador to Equestria,” Sunset explained. “The one who got me my ticket to Hogwarts.”

Comments

[Crystonian]

You know its a big topic that Starlight is basically a communist for a time.

[Tums Festival]

10477998
Indeedy. She has a much less extreme stance in this universe, but she'd still start a revolution if she had the means.

[Crystonian]

10478024
Completely understandable. With new ideas come change. And the winner writes the history books.

[Comickook]

Excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Yeah, I enjoyed Sunset reflecting on how much she has gotten used to things at Hogwarts over the week, as well as the discussion about the news of Equestria and the Federation forming an Alliance. And, I have to admit, Missy's comments concerning what could happen to the plane sound a lot like Suspiciously Specific Denial. Though I DID really love Sunset and the others discussing Starlight and SPEW/SPHEW (especially Hermione being so glad to actually get real help on the House Elf issue) and Sunset mentioning Ambassador Spock was the one that got her that ticket to Hogwarts.

Anyway, quite certainly looking forward to more of this.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Oh good, we're bringing in Starlight. I'm sure that won't increase the odds of disaster. To say nothing of the ongoing disappearances and the very notable one that's we all know is coming.

At least the group gets to deal with house elves in the meantime. Definitely one of J.K.'s more problematic concepts. And I wouldn't be surprised if that whoopie cushion actually does get used in an emergency.

[herobrins mom]

aaawww....

just found this story and it was getting to the good part...

..why was this canceled???

[Tums Festival]

11250457

Less cancelled and more on hold pending a rewrite. I'm glad people enjoyed the current version but unfortunately, the direction it was going wasn't as planned out as it should have been.

[herobrins mom]

11257883
ah...so kind of like what the story SAPR is going thru on here...except you could have just put this on hiatus and rewrote it chapter by chapter...unless your starting it almost from scratch.