Early Witch Gets the Pixie
There was a snort from Sunset’s bed, as she lifted her head from her pillow. <<Rhubarbs.>>
What followed felt naggingly familiar to her, though she couldn’t put her finger on why, as she stumbled out of bed already dressed in her clothes, muttering incoherently to Hermione about needing to wear a nightgown while swaying down the stairs towards the great hall, and collapsing next to Harry and Ron by the Gryffindor table.
“Morning, Sunset,” Harry said.
“Mmmrnin,” she responded, trying to get both her eyes to look at Harry at the same time.
Her head swung back towards the table, and she probed, bleary eyed, for her quarry.
Ron filled up a mug of coffee and pressed it into Sunset’s hands, which had been grasping in confusion around the plates of food, before acting on deeply ingrained muscle memory, and swallowed half the mug’s content in one gulp.
Relieved, Sunset slumped, and rested her cheek in one hand as she poured another cup and grabbed a hard-boiled egg.
“Thank you,” she sighed in relief, as her brain started working enough to simply be considered exhausted rather than non-functional.
“Had a nice summer?” Ron asked, smirking.
Sunset let out a double yawn, and nodded, eyes closed. “Yeah. You guys?”
“Yeah, pretty good,” Ron said, noncommittally.
“Same here. Better than usual, actually,” Harry said.
“Good.”
Sunset let the boys turn back to their original topic, which didn’t last long before the owls started to arrive with the mail.
A general sense of concern rapidly blanketed the table, and Sunset wished it would go away, as it encouraged her to wake up, which was far down on her list of things she wanted right now.
A slice of bacon was her next visit, when suddenly a voice absolutely boomed in her ears.
Hundreds of pairs of eyes turned to stare, as a woman started shouting at magically enhanced volumes from a letter Ron had received.
“... STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY’D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT UNTIL I GET HOLD OF YOU. I DON’T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT–”
That was as far as it went, before Sunset, cheek still in one hand, and with an annoyed expression, grabbed the letter and tossed it into a juice pitcher, where it bubbled angrily but impotently at Ron, only muffled parts of words being discernable.
“... Thanks,” Ron said, relieved.
“Mmm,” Sunset mumbled, and took another bite of her bacon as the pitcher hissed and sputtered.
The summer was still clinging to life on the whole, but on this day in particular, it was a refreshingly gray day, with a hint of an invigorating chill in the air, that Sunset savored as they sauntered towards the greenhouses on the grounds for a herbology lesson with both Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.
A slightly bruised and unusually annoyed Professor Sprout was trudging up towards them with a turquoise-clad Gilderoy Lockhart next to her.
“Oh, Hello there!” Lockhart said, loudly. “Just been showing Professor Sprout the right way to doctor a Whomping Willow! But I don’t want you running away with the idea that I’m better at Herbology than she is! I just happen to have met several exotic plants in my travels…”
Between the breakfast and the fresh mountain air, Sunset assumed she had woken up properly, but Lockhart’s words made her hesitate. She looked blarily at the smiling man, wondering what kind of a conversation she missed that made this sound reasonable.
“Greenhouse Three today, chaps!” Professor Sprout said, noticeably struggling to sound normal.
Sprout’s word choice was one of those things that Sunset sometimes struggled with when speaking English, and which possibly applied to other human languages as well, as Sunset noted that none of them were wearing, much less actually were, loose fitting leg-hoses.
The class started moving towards Greenhouse Three, anticipation building in the air. Professor Sprout unlocked the door, and they all shuffled inside.
Herbology class, and especially Professor Sprout, reminded Sunset a little of the royal apothecary greenhouses in Canterlot, no-nonsense and sometimes dour ponies expertly handling exotic and often dangerous plants with a steady and practiced hoof.
“Harry, I’ve been wanting a word,” Professor Lockhart said from just outside the greenhouse. “You don’t mind if he’s a couple of minutes late, do you, Professor Sprout?”
Harry looked very uncomfortable, as Lockhart said, “That’s the ticket!” and shut the door.
The class looked through the windows with confusion and sympathy at Harry’s expression, as he tried putting as much distance between himself and Lockhart without actually stepping away from him.
“What is he talking about?” Seamus wondered out loud.
“Merlin only knows,” Sprout muttered, before putting in effort to look more neutral.
After a few minutes, Lockhart turned with a swish and strutted away.
Harry entered, and Professor Sprout was clearly eager to take her mind of what had just happened, and began promptly.
Going by what she had learned during the last year, when combining magic and horticulture, humans had access to many inherently magical plants, while ponies more often used magic when interacting with otherwise mundane plants. She didn’t want to propagate stereotypes, but she felt that a lot of earth ponies would really like to learn from Professor Sprout.
It was quite a fascinating lesson. Professor Sprout demonstrated the care of young mandrakes, a plant that Sunset had never seen before, and while it was not her favorite subject, that she was seeing things that no pony had ever seen before was more than enough to keep her interested.
Other than that, it went as usual. The teacher would ask a question, Hermione would raise her hand and answer correctly, the teacher would smile and give her points, and then they’d start learning.
The young mandrakes were plants, hence why they were learning about them in Herbology, but their roots looked like chubby little creatures, with the leaves forming what looked like great bushes of hair. They needed to be re-planted into larger pots, complicated by the fact that their screams were dangerous, at least when they got older.
Everyone except Neville struggled greatly, though Sunset did note that simply using sheer strength helped.
“Well done, you two,” Sprout told them, as they all removed their earmuffs, and gave them some points. Sunset didn’t pay attention to how many.
“These things were kinda gross,” Dean Thomas noted after class, as they were walking back up towards the castle. “They looked like little babies.”
“Human babies look like that?” Sunset asked, before her face froze.
“Well, sort- uhm… have you never- wait, what do you mean, ‘human babies’?” he asked, making several others also give her befuddled looks.
Sunset stared at him, stone faced, before simply saying, “nothing- oh, look, something interesting,” and pointing towards a cloud.
Everyone turned to look, and just kept marching.
“No, seriously, what do you mean by that?” Dean insisted, as they caught up with her again.
Sunset’s eyes shifted back and forth for just a moment. “I… misspoke, okay? I’m tired.”
By now, her classmates were all giving her uncertain looks.
“I thought you were a muggle-born,” Seamus blurted out.
“You don’t think so anymore?” Sunset asked, trying to sound casual, and to cut this conversation off at the pass.
“Well…” Seamus started. “It goes without saying, you can’t be a full muggle-born if you’re a halfbreed or- uhm, I mean, if, uh…”
“If one of your parents is a magical creature,” Parvati supplied.
“What makes you think along these lines?” Sunset said, making another, even more feeble, attempt.
Ron shrugged. “Dunno. It would explain your ears,” he said, as they marched into the castle.
“My ears?” Sunset said, giving him a questioning look.
“Yeah, they’re all pointy. Makes you look like a giant fairy.”
“Ron!” Hermione said, giving him a stern look.
“What?” he said, looking back at her, confused.
“That’s not- you don’t- ugh, forget it,” she said.
“Is that… common?” Sunset asked, carefully, as they re-entered the castle. Aside from Flitwick, and maybe Hagrid, she thought all humans looked very similar to each other, at least compared to ponies, although perhaps not as much when compared to Gryphons.
“What is?” Dean asked.
“Having, uh… or… being mixed… species? Mixed genus, perhaps?”
“Now you do sound muggle-born,” Lavender noted.
“Not exactly common, but it happens,” Ron said, shrugging.
“Huh, I see,” Sunset said.
That’s as far as the conversation could go, as the boys and girls separated to get a quick wash to get the grime off before making their way to transfiguration.
Mixed species and mixed genus couples were nothing that raised an eyebrow in Equestria, and would at most lead to some politely curious questions. It wasn’t exactly a free-for-all, with different species preferring different geographies, which limited their ability to mingle comfortably, but mixed-species offspring seemed to work a little differently in Earth’s magical world than it did in Equestria. Sunset was reminded of a pair of siblings, one an earth pony and the other a thestral, one of the grandparents of which was a thestral as well.
Taking on partial traits from another species, which is what she figured her classmates had been talking about, was extremely rare, and the data from when it happened was limited.
Also, Sunset didn’t care about what her former schoolmates said. Diamond dogs and ponies could not interbreed: Trot-weilers were a myth.
In the transfiguration classroom, McGonagall was her old, prim self, and without welcoming the class back, handed out beetles for everyone to turn into coat buttons.
Sunset ended up by herself, which she didn’t mind. She knew of this spell from before, but hadn’t practiced it, mainly because she hadn’t bothered going out and looking for beetles or other suitable animals.
“♪I’d ask my friends to come and see… an octopus’ garden with me, badum bum bum bum…♫” she sang quietly to herself as she calmly transformed the beetle back and forth, with her wand, nails, and hair when no one was watching.
She gave the beetle a rest, and dug out her book, the one where she was cataloging all her research, and started writing down the differences between the spell when cast with her wand and when cast with her hair.
The topic of how bridged her two different types of casting magic were, since it was her hair in the wand, was also something that perhaps could do with some research.
“Miss Shimmer, why are you not practicing?” McGonagall demanded.
“Because I feel I know the spell, professor,” Sunset said, politely but coldly.
“Let me see then.”
Sunset put her book down, and easily cast the spell on the beetle, remembering to vocalize the spell, turning it into a coat button.
Before McGonagall could say anything however, Ron’s wand made a sizzling noise, and let out a large amount of dark smoke.
The class coughed and sputtered, but the foul smell sat particularly bad with Sunset, who immediately conjured a slightly glowing forcefield around her.
“Is everything quite alright, Mr Weasley?” McGonagall said, testily, as the smoke cleared.
Ron let out a few more coughs. “Y-yeah, professor… or, uhm, no. I think I need a new beetle.”
McGonagall turned around and went to retrieve a new beetle, when she noticed the faint glimmering around Sunset, distorting the air around her slightly.
Sunset gave her a long and utterly neutral look, before she snapped her fingers, and the shield vanished.
Sunset was the first person out of the classroom when it was time for lunch.
The caffeine was wearing off, and Sunset mostly wanted to take a nap. Perhaps an eight hour long one, before turning in for the night. She forced herself to eat an okay lunch, before sauntering out towards the courtyard, and even managed to almost walk in a straight line.
Not paying attention to her surroundings, she found herself standing to the side of Draco Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, and Harry, Ron, Hermione, and a small, camera wielding Gryffindor first year Sunset felt she should probably have remembered since she would’ve seen him sorted the evening before.
“Signed photos? You’re giving out signed photos, Potter?” Malfoy loudly asked, making Sunset jerk her head up with the volume of his voice.
“Everyone queue up! Harry Potter’s giving out signed photos!”
“No, I’m not,” Harry said, angrily. “Shut up, Malfoy.”
“Are they worth money?” Sunset wondered, peering over Malfoy’s shoulder. “If so, I’ll take one.”
Malfoy turned around, and seemed to be caught off-balance by… something.
“You’re just jealous,” the small first year insisted, which Sunset had to admire since she was pretty sure the humans around him could physically handle him the way she could normal humans.
Malfoy rallied, and smirked at Sunset before turning back towards the others.
“Jealous? Of what? I don’t want a foul scar right across my head, thanks. I don’t think getting your head cut open makes you that special, myself.”
Sunset silently weighed that. True, scars, non-magical ones at least, had no direct utility, but there were certainly rangers coming back from tours at Far Watch, and monster wranglers coming back from Tempest Valley, that sported some really dashing scars, used to great effect by going out to places in Canterlot where singles hang out, and pretending to not know how cool it made them look.
The argument had apparently gone on without her, because wands were being drawn, but Gilderoy Lockhart suddenly appeared, and how he could’ve gotten this close without people noticing him in robes like that, Sunset had no idea.
“What’s all this, what’s all this? Who’s giving out signed photos?”
Before anyone could say anything, he put his arms around Harry’s shoulders.
“Shouldn't have asked! We meet again, Harry!”
Sunset winced at Harry’s expression.
“Come on then, Mr Creevey,” Lockhart said. “A double portrait, can’t say fairer than that, and we’ll both sign it for you.”
“Will that be worth money?” Sunset asked.
“Shut up, Sunset,” Harry muttered.
“Nice one,” Malfoy said, having moved to Sunset’s side.
“I was being serious,” Sunset pointed out, shrugging.
“So, how was your summer, Sunset?” Draco asked, his hands behind his back and an overdone dignified expression on his face.
The bell rang, and the crowd started to quickly disperse and move towards the classes.
“Fine, yours too, I hope,” Sunset said, hoping that was polite enough as she walked backward towards the great hall. “See you later.”
Malfoy just stood there, opening and closing his mouth several times before slumping a little.
Sunset and her classmates had all previously met the teachers in all their subjects before, with the exception of Gilderoy Lockhart, and so there was a sense of anticipation in the air, although the observant would notice a mix of flavors. On one hand, there was genuine excitement at the idea of finally learning from this esteemed champion of good and justice, and on the other there was a more… carefully curious kind of anticipation, and the person who exuded that the most was Harry, who, when the class filed into the classroom, sat in the back and built a sort of fort of Lockhart books and hid himself behind them.
When the whole class was sitting down, Lockhart grabbed Neville’s copy of his book, and held it out in front of him. The portrait on the cover winked.
“Me. Gilderoy Lockhart, Order of Merlin, Third Class, Honorary Member of the Dark Force Defence League and five times Winner of Witch Weekly’s Most-Charming-Smile-Award… but I don’t talk about that. I didn’t get rid of the Bandon Banshee by smiling at her!”
Sunset tried to share a look with Hermione, but found her staring at Lockhart, transfixed.
“I see you’ve all bought a complete set of my books. Well done. I thought we’d start today with a little quiz. Nothing to worry about, just to check how well you’ve read them, how much you’ve taken in…”
He started handing out papers, before going back to the desk. “You have thirty minutes. Start… now.”
Sunset looked down at the questions, then let out a sigh.
1. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favourite colour?
2. What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition?
3. What, in your opinion, is Gilderoy Lockhart’s greatest achievement to date?
His books had actually been fairly thrilling at times, and at some points informative. She did know, from reading about them earlier, that humans cursed with lycanthropy found silver to be very painful to touch and even uncomfortable to be near when they were transformed, and Lockhart’s accounts of when he had used silver against werewolves seemed very accurate. However, it’s not like she had never ran across a Daring Do knock-off in her life, and it was less that there were clear signs of self-aggrandizement so much as it was the books’ main feature. The difficulty was separating the… embellishment, from plain fiction, but in either case it cast doubt on the factual correctness of the rest of the text.
Tired, grumpy, and with a slight stomach ache, mostly stemming from her tiredness, Sunset decided to answer the questions, not as best as she could, but as best as she fancied.
1. Whatever he’s wearing at the time.
The second one required some thinking.
2. To avoid colic.
3. To be hired as a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
To the side, Hermione was scribbling away at a blistering pace, blushing frequently. Sunset sniffed the air, then felt very mildly nauseous, and regretted sitting next to her.
And so Sunset kept writing the answers as best as she could, while idly coming up with names that rhyme with her teacher’s name, like Tilde-Soy Dock-Smart, Build-a-Toy Shock-Wart, and so on, but she soon ran up against a wall, when nothing sounded better than Filled-Ahoy Block-Fart.
40. What attire do you think compliments Gilderoy Lockhart’s Billy-Boy Pockmark’s smile the most?
40. Any robe in his favorite color.
Thirty minutes later, their new teacher was standing in front of the desk, looking through the quiz results, shaking his head an tuting to himself.
“Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite colour is lilac. I say so in Year With a Yeti. And a few need to read Wanderings with Werewolves more carefully. I clearly state in chapter twelve that my ideal birthday gift would be harmony between all magic and non-magic peoples, though I wouldn’t say no to a large bottle of Ogden’s Old Firewhisky!”
He gave them an overdone wink, and Sunset felt herself go slightly numb from disbelief, or perhaps as a defence mechanism to disassociate with a reality that hosted someone this awkward.
Around her, people were either sharing her expression, or quivering with silent laughter. At least all the boys were.
“But Miss Granger knew my secret ambition is to rid the world of evil and market my own range of hair-care potions. Good girl.”
Far down in some corner of Sunset’s mind, she realized that it might’ve been a bad idea to make fun of the teacher on the actual quiz, before she realized that she had probably forgotten to write her name on it.
“In fact… full marks!” Lockhart continued, as he flipped to the end of Hermione’s papers. “Where is Miss Hermione Granger?”
Hermione carefully raised her hand.
“Excellent! Quite Excellent! Take ten points for Gryffindor! And so, to business…”
From behind the desk, he produced a large cage, covered with a dark cloth.
“Now, be warned. It is my job to arm you against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind! You may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this room. Know only that no harm can befall you whilst I am here. All I ask is that you remain calm.”
Sunset sighed again, mellow from boredom-induced serenity.
She realized that if Lockhart really did have something dangerous or scary underneath that cloth, she would’ve been set up like a world class chump, but still she couldn’t muster any enthusiasm.
“I must ask you not to scream. It might provoke them.”
Lockhart swished the cloth off, revealing–
“Yes! Freshly caught Cornish Pixies!”
Sunset blinked, first with one eyelid and then the other, as Seamus let out a loud guffaw. The tiny creatures inside fluttered about, hissing and snarling at the class while rattling the bars. Sunset thought they looked a little like evil breezies, and the thing was that no matter how evil a breezie was, it would still be a breezie.
“Yes?” Lockhart asked, beaming in Seamus’ direction.
“Well they’re not- they’re not very dangerous, are they?” he managed, between laughs.
Lockhart wagged his finger smugly at Seamus. “Don’t be so sure! Devilish little blighters they can be!” he said, and put his hand on the door to the cage. “Right then. Let’s see what you make of them!”
He opened the cage, and the pixies immediately shot out like a swarm of angry bees. A swarm of angry bees with little hands, and a determination to wreck everything around them.
The girls shrieked, and so did the boys, as the blue little creatures zoomed about with books, inkwells, and every other loose object they could find, throwing them at students who took cover underneath their desks.
Sunset shrouded herself in a forcefield, just like she had in McGonagall’s classroom, and leaned back in her chair, looking at a pixie trying to gnaw through her shield with its little fangs.
“Come now, round them up, round them up! They’re only pixies!” Lockhart shouted, then swung his wand around and shouted, “Peskipksi Pesternomi!” to absolutely no effect. The only thing he managed was to have his wand stolen and thrown out a window.
“Sunset! Help!” Neville said, loudly but carefully.
Sunset looked up to see him hanging by his robe in the chandelier. She stood up, pulled out her wand, and carefully lifted him off before dropping him into her outstretched arms.
“Uh, thanks,” a blushing Neville said, looking into Sunset's very sleepy eyes as he clambered onto his feet.
Sunset sighed again, and pointed her wand at the cage they had come from.
It started flying through the air on the side, the hatch smacking continuously like it was a frenzied beast, hungry for pixie flesh.
The foul little creatures let out a yell of warning, and tried to avoid the wireframe monster, but to no avail. The cage shot forward, and whenever one of the pixies caught its attention, it suddenly got just too slow to avoid the rattling maw.
The class, and Lockhart, looked up in amazement at the show, and before long the last pixie was back in the cage, with the hatch closed, and back on top of Lockhart’s desk. The pixies shouted in fear and indignation before the piece of cloth was magically lifted up and thrown over them.
The whole class slowly emerged from under their desks and gave Sunset a collective, stunned look.
“... Well! You can’t argue with the results, but I daresay the method could use some improvement. I had a somewhat more efficient solution in mind,” Lockhart said, still smiling widely while looking at the slowly blinking Sunset.
“Yeah, we saw,” Ron muttered to Harry.
“If I were you, I would’ve–”
But that’s as far as he got before the bell rang, and Lockhart’s smile took on a more relieved character.
“... But it would take far too long to explain it before supper. I know you’d all love to stay, but we’ll continue this before long. Class dismissed.”
Sunset’s bag flew from the backrest of her chair into her hand, and she swung it over her shoulder before turning around and walking out the door.
Halfway down the corridor she realized that she was surrounded by her classmates.
“Wicked! Where did you learn to do that?” Dean asked.
“Self taught,” Sunset yawned.
“All like, zoom!” Seamus agreed.
“My gran’ and I saw her do magic before we even started at Hogwarts,” Neville told Parvati and Lavender.
“That was really quite good,” Hermione noted.
“Can you believe him though?” Ron asked Harry, as Hermione helped them magically mend their books which had been damaged in the classroom.
Out of pure habit, Sunset went into the dining hall and sat down at Gryffindor table, surrounded by her classmates, still asking her questions.
If she had had more presence of mind, she would’ve gone straight to the Gryffindor dormitories. which became very clear when she slowly tipped to the side and collapsed against Lavender, snoring loudly.
“Yeah… she didn’t sleep very well the first night here last year either,” Parvati told the rest of the class.
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Always love to read more of this.
And yeah, Book 2 is actually quite boring until the stuff with the Snake starts happening, even from Harry's perspective, he spends most of the beginning of this book being annoyed by Dobby or Lockharts antics.
And aside from that there's the stuff with quidditch which I'm sure Sunset won't care about in the slightest.
Oh, also this is the book where Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood, Sunset's been relatively neutral towards him but I feel like that's going to put him down in her eyes.
11372191
Malfoy calls Hermione a mudblood during Quidditch practice early one morning, so Sunset will probably have to learn about that from the rumour mill. And the trio is very hush-hush about their involvement and investigation into the snake mystery, so I might have to come up with a lot of my own material for this year. Year 3 might be better, but as I'm planning things right now, year 4 is where I might have a lot to work with.
I'm glad you like it though
11372194
Yeah I don't imagine it'll happen right away, but Book 2 is where Malfoy goes from being a relatively basic bully to kind of a piece of shit, and only gets worse.
To be fair they don't even investigate the snake all that much, they spend far too much time investigating Malfoy, just to find out that's a dead end, and then Hermione ends up putting it together because of harry mentioning he hears something in the walls. Sunset could probably figure it out on her own, the fact that all the Chickens get killed is a huge red flag if you happen to know anything about Basilisk's.
And yup, Book 3 gets way more involved, what with there being malevolent undead roaming about.
Book 4.. That'll be tricky, I don't imagine Sunset would have much stake in the tournament, but I can imagine some interesting things.
11372197
Oh good, sounds like what I'm planning for book 4 isn't immediately obvious.
Basilisks might work differently, or be a different kind of creature, in the Potter-world compared to Equestria. I mean, we all know that the gaze of a basilisk petrifies you, but in the Potter-world, it just plain kills you, unless you receive a "diluted" gaze, in which case you're trapped in a sort of stasis... which they call petrification? What's up with that? Meanwhile, in Equestria, petrification is actual petrification as we know it from myth and fantasy; you turn into stone. It's also reversible in Equestria.
So Sunset wouldn't be walking around trying to figure out what kind of monster petrifies people, because what's happening at Hogwarts is not petrification to her. She'll try and figure out what kind of creature puts people in stasis.
I would love to see her proven wrong.
11372224
I just put that in there because of the pun
11372225
Why am I not surprised by that?
11372198
To be fair basilisks don't actually turn people to stone according to regular myth, cockatrices have some history with that tho.
That might just be how petrification works in the potter-verse seeing as they do have a cure for it and everything, and they don't realize that a Basilisk is the cause so other things probably cause petrification.
I still don't think it would be too hard to figure out, Hermione basically looked it up in a book immediately after realizing it might be a snake with very little else to go on, since they put all their efforts into the 'malfoy is behind it all' direction.
It's actually incredibly weird to think about it, since, they have cures for petrification - which has to be able to be done by more than just Basilisk's, because everyone seems to not know Basilisk's can petrify until harry surmises that perhaps seeing it indirectly causes petrification.
Additionally Sunset should probably be aware of how the creatures in this world aren't the same as her own given the unicorn situation, so her assuming it would be any creature she knows of would be a bit rash.
Thanks for the update, I hope you feel better
11372246
I do, and I'm glad you like it
11372236
I know them to petrify people from fantasy. Except for Harry Potter of course. I'd say that that's not how petrification works in the Potter-world, so much as they have the same term for two different, somewhat similar effects.
And I think that it should be hard for people to figure this out. If it's easy to figure out, that just means that everyone is dumb for not doing so early. I think it's best if Sunset doesn't figure it out easily either, especially when there are other hyper-competent people at the school as well, because, I've brought this up before, but as a wise man once said, "Hey, what's that? What's that on the ground there? Is that the script?"
Sleep well sunset
Sleepless Sunset has zero fucks to give.
And we're back! Poor Sunset, sleep-deprived and dropping hints she shouldn't be.
And then there's a Lockhart, Sunset hasn't had near enough caffeine for this.
Poor lad, keep trying eh? You'll get there, you just need to believe in yourself!
11372197
You never know, maybe he'll get distracted this time around.
Poor Sunset should value her sleep more. She didn't even realize get transformation is slipping up!
I mean, she didn't have pointy ears before, did she?
Trot-weilers are me new favourite piece of fan lore. Had me in stitches.
Great stuff really enjoyed the chapter.
11372300
It's gonna take a lot of time and effort to catch the eye of this Sunset Shimmer, but then, Malfoy can be pretty tenacious. We'll just have to see what happens
11372293
11372257
Cut to Sunset.
pbs.twimg.com/media/DPwC78MVAAE8Tg5.jpg
"Buuuuh...!"
11372326
Thank you, glad to hear that. I've been saving that pun for years
11372312
She did. They're not pony-ears, or night elf-size, more like the elves from the LoTR movies. It has only been brought up a few times though.
Oh, thank you so much! I was starting to think this story had been forgotten. Glad to see you're still somewhat invested in it.
Heh, that was a fun little chapter. I wonder if Sunset will berate herself for how she acted while sleep deprived? And I wonder how long it'll take for her realize that while his books are semi-realistic, Lockhart himself is a total fraud? I greatly anticipate seeing how her perspective could change things up from canon.
11372368
Oh I have plenty of plans for this story, and plenty of scenes I wanna get to, it's just that real life gets in the way.
And yeah, Lockhart. It's a mystery how no one else in the wizarding world sees through him before the late spring of '93. Maybe Sunset should just try and avoid him so as to explain why she doesn't either.
11372368
He may be fraud but his books were real stories with actual people changed to himself. If I remember correctly.
11372380
Could be that she may think that after all those adventures he just lost it and gone senile (in his own special way)?
11372449
Hence why I said 'semi-realistic'
11372225
To be fair, that line got a genuine laugh out of me.
11372194
Yeah this seems to be a common problem with fan fictions, if you have your extra character do too much then their stealing the show. If they don't do enough people ask, why are they even here. And of course if a character makes too many changes to a series of events it can wildly change or even destroy a plot line.
Still, I am very interested to see what you have planned. And no need to rush, I actually enjoy filler content. I feel it gives a chance to build actual character depth, and not just a quick grab bag of traits.
11372380
It's the privilege that comes from being attractive.
11372380
Well Dumbledore saw through him, it's just that Lockhart was the only person who applied for the job which is why Albus hired him, he had no choice but to. on the other hand this did provide him with the opportunity to expose the guy as a fraud, by putting him right alongside the real deal for everyone to compare. It's also possible that someone would notice all the factual errors in them by getting as many as possible to read the guy's books, particularly students who would not if not forced to. I can't remember which one it was but one story I read had it so that his books had a lot of chronological errors to the point where multiple events set on different sides of the planet seemed to take place simultaneously. Perhaps while the trio is busy with the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets, Sunset could spend some time working to expose and discredit her new Professor.
Now that the idea has been put out there, I wonder if the idea of Sunset being a halfbreed of some sort, thus explaining her unusual name and appearance, will start to make its rounds in the school rumor mill, it would be fun to see that dog her for a while with theories as to what her non-human heritage is, which gets funnier with the fact that Sunset literally can't deny those accusations without revealing the truth since if I remember correctly she has openly admitted to being an orphan who doesn't know who her parents are, which could also be a good explanation for why she acts like a muggle-born, a girl with subtle non-human heritage who grew up in the muggle world as an orphan, that could serve as a nice cover for a while until the truth inevitably comes out.
Poor Draco, the guy just has no chance at all, does he? I mean Sunset is actually a lot older than she appears to be, mentally speaking at least, then there is the fact that Sunset still sees herself as a pony so that makes it less likely that she will find humans attractive unless the transformation has some effects on her mind, which admittingly would be fun to explore as time goes on. and knowing this Sunset his aristocratic attitude is already a major turn off and that's before taking his racism into account. Now I wonder how he'd react to the possibility of Sunset having non-human heritage.
11372456
Thank you
11372461
At least fanfictions that follows the storyline of its source material. It's both a help and a hindrance that I didn't have when I wrote mlaabq. Good thing that Sunset Shimmer is the protagonist, which means she has depth, has growth left to do, and is really fun to write about.
And I'm glad to hear that. I have a few sources of actual content I'm saving for when the canon story isn't providing anything. Hopefully they'll last until I reach the richness of books 3 and 4.
11372464
You know, I can actually buy that. I was gonna make a note about how that should have no impact on Dumbledore, but then... Oh, I'm so tempted to bring up Rowling's tweets, which I've only heard about second hand. Oh let's not. You know what I'm talking about anyway.
11372449
I don't think he's supposed to be very old, judging from how the witches, or at least Hermione, keep dreaming about him. One moment... yeah, according to the wiki I guess he's supposed to be 28-29 during Chamber of Secret.
11372468
Hmm, yeah, I'm gonna give that idea with Lockhart some thought. No chain of events spontaneously pop into my head, but still, there could be something there.
You know, I'm gonna have to read through this myself, because I can't remember who she's told that she can't remember her parents and who she hasn't told.
Sunset find humans to look appealing. I haven't committed to which degree and in which way, but she's certainly not disgusted by her current body. I think she can find humans attractive.
Now, I'm probably walking into a giant minefield here, but I've never seen pureblood supremacy as an analogy for racism. Remember that J.K. Rowling is British; they're not obsessed with racism the way Americans are, they're obsessed with classism. You are born into a certain level of wealth and respect and dignity, and it is absolutely imperative that you do not mingle with people from lower levels, or allow them to infiltrate your level in any way.
Sunset for the win. I like how she is starting to catch on to the fraud. Now I wonder how she her secret will come out and how her friends will react.
Almost gave yourself away there, Sunset. No amount of memory spells will fix that.
Ooooh, so close! Alas, the train of thought was derailed before it could reach the station.
11372191
Huh. Yeah. Now that you mention it, I'm struggling to remember what happened in book 2 outside of the whole giants snake thing and one or two Lockheart shenanigans.
11372502
I can tell you what I have planned if you want
11372527
Oh you underestimate her. Still, I can see a cascade of complications that would just get worse and worse if she tries altering the memories of her entire class
11372541
You want her to be exposed? It's gonna take a while, but eventually...
Book 2: hearing voices, mysterious attacks, figuring out how to get to Malfoy, shenanigans, Dobby, Lockhart, Hagrid and Aragog, Ginny, Dumbledore being ousted, and the showdown. I feel I should remember Dumbledore being ousted more vividly.
Oh, and Ginny. I should probably give her some screentime as well. She's barely in Prisoner of Azkaban, and I can't say I remember her much in Goblet of Fire either.
11372556
Nah I want the surprise. I get the feeling that reveal is not going to happen this school year.
11372564
I can reveal that no, it will not, although depending on how some later parts of year 2 will play out, some characters might have reason to be really curious about her.
11372491
Perhaps once she's lucid enough to notice these things a series of classes with the guy would be enough for her to realize that Lockhart has absolutely no idea what he's talking about, which could cause her to go back through his books directly looking for inconsistencies, and from there could decide to expose the fraud for what he is, which as I should point out is exactly what Dumbledore is hoping for.
Well with the Hogwarts rumor mill, if Sunset told one person she's told them all, especially if she said it, anywhere someone could overhear her.
So yeah the idea that Sunset is girl with non-human but incredibly potent magical ancestry, who grew up as an orphan in the muggle world would be a great cover as it would rather neatly explain just about all of her idiosyncrasies
Fair enough about Sunset finding humans appealing in some way to some degree, but there is still the (unknown to all besides Sunset) sizable age gap to consider, as well as Draco's attitude which even just taking his aristocratic side into account would be a huge turn-off, as Sunset does have a well-established distaste for nobility, and a strong belief that power should be earned not by blood but on a person's own merit through talent and hard work, for Draco to even have a chance he needs to change his entire worldview.
Well... the Death Eaters are at least partly analogous to the Nazis, with Voldemort being explicitly, though somewhat loosely based on Adolf Hitler... so yeah racism definitely is a factor involved here, it's just that the Malfoy's mix in classic British aristocratic classism on top of things then there is the situation with the house elves and, you can't say the Pink Toad's views, which has been established to fall perfectly in line with the Death Eaters aren't racist, and "mudblood" is clearly a racist slur, since it has the exact same negative connotations as the "n" word, which no classist slur in the English language has.
Though admittingly Draco couldn't quite walk the walk and made a complete 180 in his older years with his own son, but during his Hogwarts years, his views or should we say his father's views since he is always just spouting what his dad tells him would likely be outright repulsive to Sunset, once she learns of them.
11372569
I wouldn't mind knowing how Sunset's secret comes out, I can't stay away from spoilers for anything for the life of me. simply send me a PM so that you don't spoil it for anyone else
11372571
Since Lockhart's books are based on real accomplishments that he have claimed as his own, and since they're supposed to be very popular, I figure that they're actually quite believable, well-written, and consistent with how things work in the Potter-world, although probably highly embellished. Or at least believable if you've never met Lockhart and seen how inept he is. Though Dumbledore wanting him exposed is something I can see.
I wonder what creature that people will think Sunset has as part of her heritage. I'm not all that familiar with celtic mythology, but I think there are elements of it in Harry Potter, which I guess there kinda has to be considering where it takes place, in which case Sunset could have some sort of fae ancestry. Perhaps some kind of human-sized fairy queen.
Sunset's age gap is one of those things I keep intentionally vague, much like the age of the canon characters in Friendship is Magic. Are they 15? 19? 27? Do they age at the same rate as humans? That they live longer than humans is one of my favourite headcanons, which also happens to handwave Sunset's age. Some people have been going over the whole subject with a microscope, comparing her age with Twilight, speculating how old Twilight is when season 1 begins, and how old Sunset can plausibly be while still being in high school, and I always wish they'd wave the whole subject away.
Of course the death eaters are at least partially analogous to nazis, fictional bigoted groups almost always are. And remember that Dolores Umbridge clearly wants to exterminate "half breeds", including werewolves, while the death eaters has werewolves within their ranks, more seeing them as below them on the totem pole, though clearly still useful, so they're not aligned there. "Mudblood" I guess. I'm still convinced that Rowling tried to make the pureblood supremacy just "generic bigotry", but her being a Brit makes it look most like British classism. At least it does to me.
And I'm not entirely sure they'd despite Sunset and treat her as some sort of lesser sub-human if they learn she is part unicorn. An aristocrat wouldn't want his children associating with beastly werewolves or brutish giants, but a really beautiful young woman with magic powers up the wazoo, who is part unicorn, which is a wonderous, magical, beautiful, powerful creature that represents health and beauty and dignity, not to mention that this is unheard of in history and will make the whole thing really special and exclusive? Now that I can see an aristocrat being mostly comfortable with.
11372584
Alright. Though it will require requisite spoilers to establish how Sunset gets to where she is when she's exposed.
11372491
I meant not from old age but from exhausting his brains from too much dangers in so little time. As alternative to have heart attack or PTSD. If you think that this is too far fetched then nevermind.
P.s. racism in Harry Potter universe isn't outright evident because those who it is aimed at aren't humans.
11372624
Oh, okay sounds more likely. Sure, sounds like an idea she can play around with in her head at least.
First year it was turnips, second year it was rubharb. My money is that third year it's gonna be parsnips. The mystery goes on.
Great chapter again.
11372650
Maybe she's just hungry. She needs to step it up if she wants to get through the whole Stardew Valley produce list though
Glad you like it
11372248
To be fair, there doesn't technically need to be any difference in the basilisks, only in how they affect Humans in comparison to the four tribes in MLP. It could even be as simple as changes caused by the levels of ambient magic.
Also, It's likely Dumbledore knew what was in the Chamber of Secrets, for just as you said, it would have been pretty simple to work out, but did not know where it was, thereby making the information of what was in it useless. There is no reason Sunset can't be in the same boat.
11372747
Sure, there are all kinds of handwaves one can make. Just gotta figure out which one feels best for the rest of the story.
I know the wise old man is often supposed to be all passive and just guide the hero even though he could take care of the problem easily, but I think that Dumbledore would try and neutralize the monster if he knew it was a basilisk. The rooster's crow supposedly kills it, so they could just fill the castle with roosters and have them make a huge racket, but maybe Dumbledore and Sunset missed that part. It would be an interesting sight to try and depict though
"We have a basilisk on the loose!" Sunset lifts the phone on her desk. "Get me Colonel Sanders!"
First off, really loving this story. I've seen more then a few Sunset at Hogwarts, and I feel like this is the best one. You've done a good job of balancing her being powerful, without making her a superhero who can solve all her problems with a quick spell. It's a refreshing change, and gives her room to grow as a character.
You know with how secretive she is about herself, as well as being able to see the thestrals, I suspect that some people might thinking she's the Heir of Slytherin instead of Harry.
11372855
I've seen one that intrigued me far in the past where the Sorting Hat puts her into Slytherin, but that one hasn't been updated in years and ended before it really kicked off. Disappointment. Really hope this one updates quasi-frequently and doesn't die.
I just read straight through from the start (to chapter 15).
I really appreciate how organic Sunset being there feels so far. It's also really nice to see her having her own side story without removing the original - not just forced into Harry's or outright replacing him. Malfoy's crush is kind of strange.... Perhaps to setup for a fall that creates animosity?
11373085
The crush gives Malfoy something to do other than be a cardboard cutout of a school antagonist for Harry, since Sunsets maturity level renders his usual interactions kind of toothless. Plus to a normal kid she is pretty fantastic and cool, and if I'm remembering right her appearance has a bit of otherworldly beauty.
This is both my favorite HP/MLP crossover story, and my favorite Sunset story.
It's also just on my top shelf in general.
Some new commenters lately. Welcome
11373208
Glad to hear it. Let's hope I can keep it up
11372855
Feel free to share some links to the other Sunset at Hogwarts fics, in case I've missed any of them, especially on sites besides this one.
Thank you very much
Now, Sunset actually is really, really, powerful. It's a big part of why I wrote this to begin with. She can absolutely wreck stuff with her magic, but she doesn't. I have a link to a blogpost in the long description that goes into more detail.
11373060
Sunset Shimmer and the Boy Who Lived. Yeah, I'm also hoping that one gets resurrected at some point, half of the time it shows up in the Also Liked tab.
I have plenty of plans for years 3 and 4, and I'm working on some ideas for where the story can go after that, which are harder to figure out, but hopefully I can come up with something until then.
11373085
Thank you. And yeah, when I started writing this, Malfoy and his crush is something I wasn't expecting would be so interesting to think about. Humanizing the Malfoys is an interesting thought experiment, and rarely flattering towards them.
11373134
Ah yeah, what I just said
And yeah, Sunset is the prettiest girl at school. I haven't drawn attention to it all that much, I suspect it would've come across as a little weird if I did, so just keep in mind that Sunset is a very cute and pretty young girl, about to become a very beautiful young woman, with as you say a somewhat otherworldly quality to her. It plays into the whole premise of having a super duper amazing and special protagonist and trying to keep it entertaining.
11373137
Don't like black pudding? Yeah I'm not much of a fan either.
dark gloomy evil breezies, swearing in Swedish sounds adorable
11373286
Why Swedish?
Now that I think about it, I think having Sunset perceive everyone from more motherly point of view would be preferable considering the age gap and emotional maturity. When she left she was an almost-adult, while those kids are still primary schoolers. Having her mingle romantically would be straight up weird, and make little sense as they simply think different. On another note as much as I can understand humans populating this website wish that ponies like humans romantically, I personally find the idea perverted most of the time. Especially from teenager-hormonal standpoint of the school setting.
That aligns quite nicely with Sunset's polite refusal of Draco and caring, yet guiding help to Neville. Any different understanding should be quite uncomfortable to a healthy person.
Regardless, in response to this chapter, Sunset's casual approach to hiding her ability due to sleep deprivation should definitely cause some movement among the teachers in the following chapters.
While following the story key moments is basically the mother of all fanfics, I think this story really needs some deviation. Since you decided to skip first year resolution in it's entirety, and I don't think it's possible to skip second without seriously exposing Sunset's secrets, I hope it's won't end up with her simply following along sleepily until natural resolution, but also I think Sunset definitely should not take center stage either. So many stories love putting their protagonists as a main dish of the world, it's both boring and very refreshing that you didn't do it yet. But if course, boring in regards to het not having anything interesting to do, I wouldn't want her to meddle with the plot.
Exelent one. Sunset's the best human-pony.
Sure she is.
Btw in some HP stories there is 'appeal to Magic'. Will SunnyShimmy summon by doing this element of harmony/geode/Twilight herself?