A Hogwarts Overtale

by Tums Festival

Old Faces, New Uniforms

Though Sunset was surprised at Missy’s casual tone at their trespassing, it didn’t mean they were out of the woods just yet. While she wasn’t exactly acting like it was an interrogation, that was almost certainly what she intended to do. Why else would she split up the group, leading both Hermione and Luna away into a vacant room, seemingly to question them in pairs?

‘Before we have a chance to make up some story together,’ Sunset thought.

This left Sunset, the eye-patch wearing aquatic lady known as Undyne, the scientific lizard called Alphys, and Frisk standing in the hallway, Flowey still firmly in the latter’s grasp. Despite the circumstance, Sunset was the only one apprehensive. To Frisk, this was apparently a reunion of some sort.

“I can’t believe you were stationed here and didn’t tell me!” Frisk pouted, though obviously not in an overly offended tone.

“Ha! We honestly didn’t even know you were here, kid,” Undyne smirked. “We knew Queen Toriel, er, Tory was going to be teaching at a magic school, and that you’d be going with her, but we didn’t have any idea it’d be Hogwarts.”

Alphys suddenly looked worried. “T-Toriel? H-Here?”

Undyne leaned down and gave her a comforting peck on the head. “Don’t worry, Boo. It’s a big castle. Should be plenty easy to avoid her.”

Alphys sighed in relief, nodding in agreement. “R-Right. True.” She then turned to Frisk, smiling brightly. “H-Hogwarts, though. I guess I should be surprised. This is the best magic school in the Federation, after all.”

“I knew this little punk had it in her,” Undyne grinned. “Anyone who could beat me should only accept the best.”

Sunset glanced between Undyne and Frisk, confused as ever. ‘Some sort of… magical sparring?’

“Heh, it wasn’t a big deal,” Frisk said humbly. “Mom probably pulled a few strings.”

“Nobody likes false humility, Frisk,” Flowey grumbled. “Especially not me.”

“I see you’re still hanging around that thing, though,” Undyne said, giving it a death glare. “Honestly, Frisk, there are better pets out there.”

“I’m nobody’s pet, bitch,” Flowey snapped, earning a smack on the ‘head’ from Frisk. “OUCH! Hey!”

Sunset was practically stunned. This was the first time she had ever seen Frisk get physical with the weed, let alone get this angry.

“That was not a nice thing to say at all, Flowey!” Frisk growled.

“She called me a pet!” Flowey argued, before noticing Alphys tepidly creeping up to him. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

“H-Hello, Asriel,” she said shyly.

Sunset did a double take. ‘Asriel?’

“Who?” Flowey said, folding his two ferns for arms. “Never heard of them. Stupid name, though. Probably a stupid face, too. Most definitely stupid parents. After all, they hired you, didn’t they?”

Alphys swallowed hard, but managed to keep her composure.

“He uh,” Frisk coughed. “Still doesn’t like being called that.”

There was an awkward silence, and Sunset feared this reunion among friends might have just been ruined. ‘Gotta try to reroute this conversation... ‘

“Um, so,” Sunset began, gaining their attention. “Uh... hi there.”

‘Well, that could have gone better.’

“Oh, that was dumb of me,” Frisk bemoaned. “I should have introduced you. Alphys, Undyne, this is Sunset Shimmer of Equestria!”

“Hello, Sunset Shimmer of Equestria,” Undyne said, growing a smirk. “I’m Undyne of Ebbot.”

Sunset blinked, unsure how to respond.

“Hah, I’m just messin’ with you!” she grinned. “Unless you really do do the full title thing, which is fine by me. However, I’m cool with just ‘Undyne’.”

“'Sunset’s' fine as well,” Sunset replied, sighing in relief.

“And I’m Alphys,” the lizard said shyly, still shaken from her interaction with Flowey, perhaps. “I… um… never meant an elf with antlers before.”

“It’s an Equestrian Elf thing,” Sunset shrugged, chuckling politely. “Kind of a pain for walking through shorter doors with them, but they do make us look… um...”

“Mystical?” Frisk suggested.

“Yeah, that works,” she laughed. “But yeah, you said you’re both from the Underground?”

“Born and raised, you betcha,” Undyne grinned. “And guarded for the longest time as CAPTAIN! Well, til this little punk went and freed us all. Cost me the job!”

Sunset gave Frisk a joking look. “How could you, Frisk?”

She merely smiled innocently.

“Pffft, joke’s on her, though,” Undyne cackled. “I loved doing gym teaching on the surface. And I love MACO even more than that!”

“What’s MACO?” Sunset blinked.

“I’ll forgive you for that but only cus you’re from half a world away,” Undyne said. “Stands for Mobile Assault Command Operations. The Federation doesn’t like making enemies, but if trouble comes knocking, we’re the first one’s there. HOORAH! And that usually means demon incursions.” She sighed dreamily. “So nice to be able to kick the crap out of actually evil things and not just… you know… um, lost humans.”

She gave Frisk an apologetic look, to which she merely rolled her eyes at.

“Does… the Federation usually have problems with demons?” Sunset blinked.

“Ehehe,” Undyne said, scratching the back of her head. “Well, we didn’t always, but then there was a certain… incident involving a teleportation experiment. It’s the reason why those spells are illegal now. No apparating or anything like that anymore.”

Sunset furrowed her brow. Apparently, Equestria wasn’t the only nation that banned it. Celestia would never tell her exactly why, either. Just something about ‘not needing another Sombra’, whoever that was.

“Still,” Undyne shrugged. “Without em’, I’d have nothing to fight, so… go team twisted magic!” She then smiled down at Alphys. “Not that I don’t mind a… quieter mission or two once and a while, of course.”

‘Nice seeing the Federation embrace all kinds of progress’ Sunset thought cheerfully.

“Quieter mission?” Frisk said, raising her eyebrows. “So wait, is that why you’re here?”

“Yepper,” Undyne said. “Can’t believe I forgot to bring it up earlier, but Alphys here now officially works for the Federation Magical Research Administration.”

“Wait, you got the job?!” Frisk said happily, setting Flowey down and rushing over to hug the Astral, who blushed profusely. “That’s so awesome, Alphys! I knew you would!”

“H-Heh, I-I certainly didn’t,” Alphys said, patting her friend on the back before releasing the hug. “When I s-sent you the letter about it, I w-was almost sure I blew the interview.”

Sunset’s elven ears could barely pick up Flowey mumbling something, but she couldn’t make it out.

“Pffft,” Frisk said, making a dismissive motion with her hand. “Like the Federation would be dumb enough to to turn you down.”

“That’s what I told her!” Undyne said, shaking her head in exasperation. “Didn’t believe me, though.”

“Well, the w-way the interviewer was looking at me…”

“She was a Vulcan Elf, ya’ goof,” Undyne laughed. “They always look like they hate everyone, even when they’re talking to each other! I think it was the opposite, though; she wouldn’t have given you a crazy high stakes first assignment otherwise.”

“T-True…”

“And this is that assignment?” Sunset asked.

“Mhm,” Alphys nodded. “W-We’ve actually been here since mid-Summer. The project’s been slow, but it kind of has to be for it to be safe.” She glanced at Flowey. “I… didn’t want to rush anything this time around.”

“We’ve also been pretty much cooped up down here, too,” Undyne said. “Been so focused on keeping this thing going smoothly that we didn’t even know students were coming back til like a few days ago!”

“Minister Who i-is sure we’re making progress, though,” Alphys said, before smiling slyly. “Though hopefully not too quickly now that you’re here.”

“Progress with what, if you don’t mind me asking?” Sunset asked.

“Ehhh, can’t talk about that too much,” Undyne said. “If I did I’d have to spear ya’. Kidding’ ,kidding.” She took a deep breath, her expression taking a sterner tone. “Though yeah, speaking of that, I really gotta ask… why did you guys sneak into the restricted zone to begin with?”

Frisk suddenly looked very guilty, glancing away from her. “We uh… we were just worried about our friend, is all.”

“Friend?” Undyne said, raising an eyebrow.

“Hermione,” Sunset said.

“T-The one with the cloak?” Alphys asked. “The invisibility cloak?”

“Mhm,” Frisk nodded solemnly. “We heard she was coming down here and didn’t want her to get in trouble.”

Undyne closed her eye. “That’s… that’s worrying. I mean, I really don’t want to accuse her of anything, but the invisibility thing kind of sort of makes it look like she was…”

“Spying,” Flowey spoke up.

“Flowey, not cool!” Frisk snapped.

“What, just finishing what she was saying,” he shrugged.

Undyne’s face turned even more sour. “Frisk… I’m not gonna ask you to rat out your friend. But if she was spying, she could be in deep trouble…”

“E-Especially if it was for another nation,” Alphys said. “That’s technically a… federal offense. That being… er…. treason.”

Frisk and Sunset’s eyes widened in horror.

“Hang on, hang on now,” Undyne said. “This is only if she was spying for another nation. And even then, the Federation isn’t gonna shoot her or anything. They’re pretty lax on punishment, so it’d be more like… jail time.” She lifted a finger. “Really comfortable jail time, though. This is if she’s an adult, of course.”

“Oh no!” Frisk squeaked. “They couldn’t do that to her! She’s a war hero!”

“A war hero?” Undyne blinked. “Which war? That Lyonessian Wizarding War thing?”

Frisk nodded frantically.

Sunset, however, kept her composure. “I really don’t think she was spying for another nation. That wouldn’t make any sense.”

“Look, before you say anything more, don’t tell me anything you know if it might make her look guilty,” Undyne said. “I’d have to report it. However, if you think there’s anything that might help her, just tell Minister Who. She’s crazy eccentric - like Asgore if he was hopped up on monster coffee - but she’s also pretty reasonable from what I’ve seen. Whatever you do, though, just don’t lie to her. She’ll know.”

“Oh dearest, no need to be so dramatic,” Professor Who said, walking out of the nearby room with a worried looking Hermione and a still serene Luna in tow. “I don’t bite that hard.” She turned back towards Luna and Hermione. “Thank you both for that enlightening conversation. Especially you, Ms. Lovegood.”

“You’re welcome,” Hermione grumbled.

“Do you really think we’ll find proof of Langoliers one day, professor?” Luna asked, obviously picking up a previous conversation. “Daddy says it would be difficult thanks to their incorporeal nature.”

“We may never,” Missy said whimsically. “By all accounts they’re a highly abstract entity - one that may forever be beyond our ability to provide scientific evidence for. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t strive to. After all, we are the music makers, and we are the dreamers of dreams.”

“Wandering by lone sea-breakers,” Luna continued for her. “And sitting by desolate streams.”

Flowey gazed at them blankly. Then, in a mocking Lyonessian accent said: “You what, mate?”

‘For once, I agree with him,’ Sunset said. ‘I’m not going to even bother asking what I missed, though.’

“This is getting out of hand,” Undyne chuckled, looking between Missy and Luna. “Now there are two of them.”

“I appreciate anyone with an open mind,” Missy beamed, before raising a finger. “Though that doesn’t mean anyone’s ‘off the hook’ just yet. Still, if after we’re done and everything’s clear… meet me in my regular office sometime tomorrow, Ms. Lovegood. I’d like to discuss the Toclafanes you mentioned… and another even more curious matter.”

“I would love to!” Luna said, more excitement in her tone than anything Sunset had heard yet. Thi was despite the fact Missy hadn’t drawn a conclusion about what they were doing just yet.

“Alrighty then,” Missy smiled, before turning towards Sunset. “Though now for more ambiguous matters. Ms. Shimmer, If you could grab that adorable little talking flower--”

“Piss off,” Flowey grunted.

“--and come with me, that would be fantastic, as my long lost boyfriend used to say.”

She turned and walked towards the vacant room.

And as Sunset picked up a grumpier than usual Flowey and began to follow her, she couldn't help but squint in confusion. 'Long lost boyfriend?'

Comments

[Starkeeper_Ponyfic]

Why can't I like stories twice, Fimfiction? This one is good enough to deserve it!

[Comickook]

REALLY good job on this latest chapter. LOVED the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. Yeah, I can see where Sunset might spot the "unofficial" interrogation. And, yeah, I DID enjoy seeing Frisk getting peeved enough to actually smack Flowey. The dialogue with Undyne and Alphys was pretty enjoyable too (especially with the name "Ebbot" being used for the Undertale world and Undyne pretty much admitting that he is part of the Federation's answer to the Marines) and, even if Sunset was lucky enough to never have to deal with Sombra, it IS understandable why Equestria didn't want to risk another Sombra coming up.

REALLY looking forward to more of this.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Interesting to see connections between teleportation and demons. Makes me wonder if a certain Dr. Freeman was involved in whatever made the Federation ban it...

“Do you really think we’ll find proof of Langoliers one day, professor?” Luna asked, obviously picking up a previous conversation. “Daddy says it would be difficult thanks to their incorporeal nature.”

All you need to do is find yourself in a doomed timeline. That's relatively easy; just do something monumentally stupid, especially if Alternian trolls are involved. The real trick is finding a way to survive with proof in tow.

I do love Missy's air of genial, eccentric menace. It's hard to balance goofiness and doom, but you're pulling it off fantastically. Looking forward to the next leg of the not-an-interrogation.