Reflections in the Dark
Sunset woke up alone and without presents, on the local holiday of celebrating with family and friends, and receiving gifts.
It was the best morning she’d had in many moons.
She looked at the book which was still lying next to her pillow, and rested her hand on it.
It was back to being a very precious object, and Sunset languidly stretched in bed as she thought up ways to enchant the book to never be in danger.
She stepped out of her bed and out of her pyjamas, savoring how cozy the dorm was, and appreciating the presence of the fireplace. As she woke up from the slightly chilly air, she aimed her hand at the fireplace, collected some of the heat, and coated her uniform with it before slipping into the now warm clothes.
She set to wandering aimlessly through the corridors of the castle, savoring the refreshing feeling of the cold air on her face while she magically kept her clothes warm, a serene smile on her face as she let her subconsciousness process yesterday’s developments.
The saddle was back on Sunset Shimmer. Celestia had confirmed it: Alicornhood, eternity, was within her grasp.
Sunset paused. Something was missing about that.
… Ah yes, of course.
She stretched her arm out, and dramatically clenched her fist, shaking it slightly as she brought it to her face, a determined expression upon it.
… Alicornhood… Eternity... was within her grasp!
Much better.
Sunset let out a satisfied sigh before wandering on.
“There you are!”
Sunset almost jumped at the sound of Madam Pomfrey’s voice.
“Miss Shimmer!” she said, very loudly, as she stomped through the corridor towards Sunset. “Would you care to explain the rumors I’ve heard?”
Sunset’s mood fell. Had she missed a piece of bloodied bandage during her last visit to the hospital wing?
Just play it cool, she thought to herself.
“What rumors would that be?”
“That you willingly drank veritaserum!” Pomfrey demanded, coming up to Sunset and looking down at her.
Sunset internally let out a sigh of relief, and shrugged at the medical witch.
“Maybe you should bring it up with your colleagues who make false allegations towards me,” Sunset suggested.
“Oh I will, you can count on that,” Madam Pomfrey said, angrily. “And now, you are to come with me, or I shall see you restrained.”
“Fine, fine,” Sunset conceded, and marched after Madam Pomfrey, who marched at a breakneck pace. “Just take it easy. You’re making me, a minor who apparently needs medical attention, exert herself.”
“Then let that be a lesson!” Madam Pomfrey barked, although she gradually slowed down. “And you don’t need physical rest, you need the aftereffects of the potion neutralized.”
“There are aftereffects?” Sunset asked.
“There can be, and I’m not taking any chances. Some wizards and witches have trouble clearing out some of the components, increasing the risk of mis-medication in the future, and with your propensity for hospital visits, young miss, you will require a thorough scrubbing.”
“Hey, except for the thing with the troll, I’ve never actually needed to spend time here,” Sunset said, as they entered the hospital wing once again.
She strictly speaking didn’t need medical treatment that time either, just a lie down would have sufficed, but Sunset kept that to herself.
Madam Pomfrey stopped and let out a shivering sigh, and nursed her temples. “Trolls. First year students fighting trolls. Merlin, help me,” she said, and looked at Sunset, her shoulder slumping and her demeanor softening significantly. “Please, sit down.”
Sunset felt that was enough sass for now, and did as she was told, sitting on the edge of a hospital bed.
“So uh… what does this involve?” Sunset asked.
“Nothing to worry about,” Madam Pomfrey said, and brought a brown glass bottle up from a cart and placed it on the nightside table, as well as a small bowl with what looked like small tufts of hair.
She started carefully dropping individual pieces of hair into the bottle and gently shaking it around.
“So… humans can have trouble clearing out veritaserum?” she asked.
“Some, yes.”
“Well then, I shouldn’t–” Sunset said, with a confident smile, before stopping herself. “... Uhm… I shouldn’t skip out on that.”
Madam Pomfrey looked at Sunset with an eyebrow raised, and Sunset looked away sheepishly, her eyes wandered to the rows of books inside Madam Pomfrey’s office, visible through the window that made up an entire wall.
“So what you need to become a healer is in those books?” Sunset probed.
“Most of it,” Pomfrey said.
“That might be useful. Think I can take a look at those?”
“No. I’ll not have first years running around practicing medicine on each other.”
Madam Pomfrey finished up the simple concoction, and looked up to see Sunset with her wand out, levitating several large magnifying glasses from the small carts next to the bed, and a mirror, in order to read the titles on the books from where she sat.
“Medical… maladies… volume four,” she slowly read, squinting her eyes to see the distant font.
Sunset looked up at Madam Pomfrey, and sheepishly waved her wand again. “Crepinde,” she muttered, making the mirror and magnifying glasses float down to the floor.
Madam Pomfrey didn’t have the energy to scold Sunset anymore, and simply shook her head. “You are impossible,” she said, as she held out the bottle to Sunset.
“That’s good, isn’t it? It’s like the far opposite of being easy,” Sunset said, and took the bottle, emptying it in one swig, and then looking at it. “Hmm. That was better than I thought it would be. What is this?”
“Butterbeer,” Madam Pomfrey said. “Now you’d best get along to the feast.”
“Oh right, it’s rist… k-kist... mess… that thing,” Sunset said, and stood up. “Thanks again.”
Sunset heard the sound of another bottle opening as she rounded the corner.
—
The feast in the dining hall was honestly pretty much the same food as was always eaten during the dinner, only more kinds of meals at once, and a lot of it.
Then again, that’s how feasts worked in Equestria as well, with the general mood and energy helping with the general understanding that this was supposed to be an evening of much eating and quaffing, or as it often played out, stuffing and binging.
The Weasleys and Harry had all gathered in the middle of the Gryffindor table, somewhat reluctantly In Percy’s case, and everyone seemed very welcoming of Sunset.
It was rather nice, really, listening to Fred and George’s intentionally stupid-sounding laughs as they pulled at magical present-tube-things with spells on them to fit larger gifts than normally possible inside them.
With the food and drink, and the soothing development yesterday, Sunset drifted into a sort of haze of content-ness, like a budgerigar relaxing in the surrounding cacophony.
“Have one,” Fred said, and handed Sunset a present.
Sunset pulled it open, producing the same blast as the other ones, and found a set of bouncy balls with that increased velocity with each bounce.
Sunset raised her eyebrows at that, before hiding it away inside her robes. “Potent.”
She got a good few hours of studying in the common room, since Percy was up in the boys’ dorm and Harry and the rest of the Weasleys were out on the grounds, having a snowball fight.
After such a lazy day, Sunset was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep. Not that she minded. There were several days off left, and even if there weren’t, she only needed a fraction of her mental capacity to master spells.
The curtains of her bed facing the fireplace were drawn, and the cozy, orange fire chased away most of the wintery cold of the dorm, while leaving just enough to make it extra cozy to take shelter underneath her comforter.
She had to admit that while the curriculum was often so very simple, or useless, there must have been something that felt straining about her life at Hogwarts, as it was very nice to have a holiday.
The soothing calm was shattered by a blood-curdling scream.
Somewhere, in the distance, something very bad had just happened.
Sunset was out of the bed in less than a second, landing on her feet in a wide stance in her nightgown, as her comforter was still coming to rest behind her.
Her wand was in her hand and her nails were glowing, as she forced her adrenaline to focus her rational mind rather than her instincts.
The sound had come from another wing of the castle, but she had to be sure that it was not a distraction.
She leapt out of her room, and swooshed down the stairs in quick, bounding steps, wand raised high, and eyes and ears quickly scanning her surroundings.
The common room was empty and quiet in the low, red light of the ember in the fireplace, and she silently bounded up the stairs to the boys’ dorm.
The door quickly swung open, the wind from that scattering wrappings from presents and candies, as Sunset jumped in, head on a swivel.
But all was still, except for the snoring from Ronald, the volume of which was quite impressive for an eleven year old.
There was no Harry however.
Sunset narrowed her eyes as she thought, then cast an obfuscating spell on herself, before she vanished, and reappeared in the large hallway on the fifth floor of the wing the sound had come from.
The patter of quickly walking feet echoed from around the corner. By contrast, Sunset’s bare feet silently darted towards the sound, and came to a halt by a corner that she stopped by, and listened.
“You asked me to come directly to you, Professor, if anyone was wandering around at night, and somebody’s been in the library– Restricted Section,” said Filch, his usual cocktail of smells accompanied by Snape’s sour ones.
“The Restricted Section? Well, they can’t be far, we’ll catch them.”
They set off towards the corner Sunset was pressed against, but with them as focused as they were on their destination and fleeing or hiding shapes in the darkness, it was easy enough for Sunset to just relax, calmly lean against the wall, and watch them pass her by with a slightly amused expression, completely oblivious to her presence.
Sunset was calming down. The faculty was out patrolling, and as low as her opinion was on the particular specimen she just witnessed, she had to assume that they’d at least try to keep tragedies from happening.
Besides, if there was danger afoot, she’d obey the rule in this particular case and let those two walk into it first if they so wished.
When she paused to think about it though, she realized that it was probably just a student breaking curfew, and the scream had been an alarm.
… A part of Sunset felt strangely challenged by that.
She also suspected she knew which student.
To her amazement, she could feel Harry’s normally slightly nervous but mostly neutral scent, right from where Snape and Filch had just stood.
Carefully, she crept forward to the door that was only slightly ajar. She couldn’t help laughing to herself from Harry’s daring. Snape hated Harry, and Harry had been standing mere feet away from him, after curfew.
She pushed the door open ever so slightly, and there he was, looking at a mirror. He spun around with a shocked look on his face, and Sunset barely had the presence of mind to duck behind the corner.
He saw through her illusion that easily? That was impossible. Snape’s senses were as slippery as he himself looked, and even his perception could be grappled by Sunset. Perhaps Harry really was a force of nature, killing Dark Lords as a baby and all that.
“Mum?” she heard him whisper.
That was when Sunset realized what room she was standing outside. She peeked around the corner again, and saw him standing with a hand on the glass of that mirror, the one showing one’s true desires, looking up at, to Sunset, unseen figures standing behind him.
“Dad?”
Sunset’s mouth fell open slightly, as Harry slowly raised his other hand, and rested them both against the mirror’s glass.
She felt strangely humbled from standing there, witnessing this, before her shoulders sagged, and she slipped away, rounding another corner before vanishing in a flash, and reappearing beside her bed in the Gryffindor girls’ dormitory.
She slid into bed, adjusted her cover, and settled down to rest.
The coziness of the room was as glorious as ever, but it didn’t hold the same appeal it had done only moments before.
Sunset shut the curtains, turned over, and slowly fell asleep.
—
Sunset could hear Harry and Ron sneak out of Gryffindor tower the following night, but decided not to follow them.
She noticed that Harry’s mood was very muted, and since there were so few students in the common room, that really helped dampen the mood. He would be lost in thoughts most of the time, and barely touch his food.
“What do you think?” Fred asked in a low voice from the couch, glancing back at Harry sitting by himself. “Go fish.”
George put on the sou-wester and lowered a miniature fishing rod into an aquarium on the table to try and coax some cards swimming around in it to nibble at the hook.
“He’s obviously worried about his academic achievements,” Percy said, his nose deep in a book of ministers of magic.
“Mm, of course,” said George, not looking up. “That’s what orphans usually think about during Christmas time.”
Percy didn't look up either, but his face did turn slightly more red.
Sunset was curled up in an armchair next to them, reading the last parts of The Standard Book of Spells, volume 2, with the cover switched out with the previous volume.
“Have you noticed anything, Sunset?” Fred asked.
Sunset knew of his nightly excursions, but preferred not to lie unless necessary. “Hmm… some. Nothing interesting though.”
That night, she heard Harry make half an effort at sneaking down out of the tower, while she lay in bed, pondering.
A part of her simply shrugged and encouraged Sunset to roll over and fall asleep.
But Harry was making so much noise he was bound to get caught sooner rather than later.
On the other hand, why would she care? They weren’t friends, and even if they were, he'd be better off making other ones.
Though he might not be able to make friends if he was expelled.
…
Sunset threw off her covers, stepped into her fuzzy slippers, and teleported to an empty classroom a short distance from the room with the mirror.
She reckoned that she was probably not doing anyone any favours. At least if there’s any truth to the notion that a good deed is only a good deed if it’s a sacrifice.
Walking carefully up to the room with the mirror, Sunset paused when she heard voices.
She took a few quick steps forward, and like before, lurked outside the threshold and listened in. It was Headmaster Dumbledore, speaking in a calm voice.
“... However, this mirror gives us neither knowledge or truth. Men have wasted away before it, entranced by what they have seen, or been driven mad, not knowing if what it shows is real or even possible.”
Sunset kept absolutely still.
“The Mirror will be moved to a new home tomorrow, Harry, and I ask you not to go looking for it again. If you ever do run across it, you will now be prepared. It does not do to dwell on dreams, and forget to live, remember that.”
With a few steps around a corner and a flash, Sunset was back in the girls’ dorm in Gryffindor tower, where she slipped back into bed.
She didn’t sleep however, she just stared up at the bed canopy, without seeing it.
<<... It is possible. I will do it.>>
—
A few days into the new year, the student body came back, and took away the soothing solitude of the girls’ dorm.
“Hi, Sunset!” Lavender Brown said, during the evening meal. “How was your holiday? Did you do anything fun?”
“We visited Lavender’s parents,” Parvati said. “Their house is huge! And Mrs Brown works at the ministry, so we could do magic around her.”
“So what did you do? Anything exciting?”
Sunset was just looking at them, a bit of sandwich in her mouth. She had learned that it was best to until they were both quiet for a few seconds before answering, so you could be reasonably sure that the duo was actually waiting for an answer.
“Oh, nothing much I guess. I… studied.”
Finishing the spell-books for the following year and getting well into the second year of potins, but she kept that to herself.
“Wow, that’s great,” Parvati said, in a thick voice. “Did you spend your holiday at Hermione’s?”
“No? Why, what did she do?”
“She studied.”
Sunset had to admit that she walked into that, and looked over at Hermione, her head together with Ron and Harry in a conspiratorial manner.
“They’ve gotten chummy, haven’t they?” Lavender Brown. “I wonder what they’re whispering about.”
“Mm, sports?” Sunset suggested. “Harry plays, right?”
“He’s the chaser!” Parvati said, a little indignantly. “You know, on our team?”
"Seeker," Lavender said, under her breath.
Sunset just stared at her, confused. “You drink him?”
“What?”
“... Nevermind.”
—
Walking towards the library, Sunset drew nearer to a loud cackling echoing through the hallways.
She rounded the corner to see Malfoy and his… whatever they were, Crabbe and Goyle, laughing loudly.
“Did you see him?” Malfoy said, which Sunset felt was a bit redundant, as she could tell they clearly had. “He looked like he was gonna cry!”
Crabbe and Goyle let out that particular guffaw of someone who has the opportunity to both laugh at something they find genuinely funny, and score points with their superiors by doing so.
Sunset had heard this before. She reckoned that there was a two third’s chance that it would soon turn slightly awkward as all three of them tried to milk the opportunity just a little too long.
That turned out to not be the case though, as Malfoy turned to see Sunset walking in their general direction, and immediately stopped laughing.
Crabbe and Goyle immediately followed his example, and waited for orders from a slightly pink Malfoy.
After a short moment of doing a sort of mix between clearing his throat, trembling, pulsating, and fidgeting, he signalled to his cronies to lean in, before whispering something to them and sending them away.
They marched off while casting slightly dismayed and nervous glances behind them.
Malfoy managed to look preoccupied for a moment despite not doing anything as Sunset walked past him, and then hurried to catch up to her.
“Good day, Sunset,” he said, trying to seem formal. “Did you have a good holiday?”
“Hello, and…” Sunset paused as she thought about what day it was that she had finally made contact with Celestia. “... Yes, I did. How about you?”
“Well, you know, it was ordinary. We had some relatives over, had a large dinner, and the rest of the time I could just relax while our servant made sure I was comfortable. It can be quite demanding, you know, being the heir to an important house such as ours.”
“Mmhm, I can imagine,” Sunset said, while internally rolling her eyes.
She had come across people who tried to impress her before. Little lords and ladies with noble titles waiting for them many years into the future, flaunting their families’ manners and values, who wanted Sunset to accompany them so they could flaunt their mansions as well. Or sports brutes who accompanied her in vain attempts to hold open doors or whatever in ways that showed off maximum amount of muscles.
It hadn’t been too bad though. She wasn’t old enough to get that sort of attention very long before Cadence showed up, and almost all attention was aimed at Ms Perfect Pink Pretty Princess and her pristine, polished, plump posterior.
A concoction of emotions inside Sunset tried to stir, but that had currently settled into an almost tar-like substance, and only rumbled.
Halfway out of Sunset’s throat, a growl died down to a sigh. Everyone’s eyes had been on Cadence, and… that was a good thing. Sunset didn’t need attention, she only needed herself, and her mind. Cadence had unwittingly been doing her a favor if anything.
“...lo? Sunset?”
Sunset almost jumped when she remembered where she was, and what she was. She looked at Draco’s worried and uncertain face, and realized that she was scowling ever so slightly, which was probably in many ways worse than a loud snarl and bared teeth.
She apologetically relaxed her expression, and glanced away. “Sorry, I was… miles away.”
A part of Sunset had caught a scent it knew it wanted more of, while other parts of her were wrestling the first part down, and firmly held Sunset’s face in both hands and told her that she had given that up. There was dignity and wisdom in detachment.
“That’s uh… that’s okay. So… what about it? I’ll be on the rightmost side of the Slytherin stands, and we can watch the match together?”
Dignity and wisdom. Prudence. Discipline. Worthiness. Authority. Strength. Self-sufficiency. Cunning. Mystique. Impressiveness.
“... Sure.”
Malfoy smiled, widely, and stepped back, his expression turning nervous. “Alright, great. I’ll… see you then,” he said, then turned around and hurried off.
Sunset was left standing in the corridor outside the library, not remembering why she was even there, and turned around and thumped her head hard against the stone wall.
<<... Stupid!>>
Brought to you by Raid: Shadow Legends 
Well here it is. This is what I was trying to write on while working the most intense job I've ever had, which I'm guessing had been authorized to suspend at least a dozen workplace and labour regulations.
I'unno. I guess it was okay. For there to be stronger chapters, there has to be weaker ones, or maybe the constant stop-and-start of how I tried writing this wasn't doing it any favour, or... maybe I'm just running out of ideas. I hope it's not the latter one.
I still hope you enjoyed it.
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Well, she's making some sort of an attempt at least. And here's Draco, having a go of his own!
The twins are just giving out SCPs now? Sounds legit.
Gah, not Raid Shadow Legends!
Why must it take so long to write a story, but be so quick to read. With that said, the chapter was great, and I can't wait to read more. I'm still excited to see the conflict that arises with Sunset's identity as a unicorn.
For the sake of offering ideas, if, say, Dumbledore or any other character was fatally injured while with Sunset, would it make sense for her to use her blood to heal them? The catch here would be that willingly giving her blood would remove its curse and not only heal the injured in their entirety bit also empower them.
Something like this would certainly set off an arms race of sorts, and following the destruction of the stone, Voldemort could chase after her.
Wow! This lives! Decent chapter even if I've completely forgotten what came before.
11010234
A part of her is at least. Other parts are adamantly against it
11010240
Well, you know, it's a toy from 1991 or earlier, so chances are they don't really work as advertised
11010264
I love how pathetic that title is. The almost two decades out-of-date community buzzword, the random fantasy-sounding words in the subtitle. It's just... mmpha! Chef's kiss.
11010276
Yeah, I've been trying to figure out what's so difficult about writing for years now and I still don't know the answer. Glad you like it though.
I have planned on Sunset using her unicorn blood to keep others alive, but I think it would mesh best with the story to have it be a student or someone else who doesn't have power, to keep the growing drama concealed from the movers and shakers of the world, and add to the suspense when things do come out. You know, like E.T, or hey, the Harry Potter books.
11010320
Sunset ended up at Hogwarts and is already a fully fledged magician and really, really powerful, but she tries hiding it and is all aloof and stuff. Glad you like it though
AN UPDATE!? WOW THANKS FOR THIS😘
11010349
You're welcome. Hope you like it.
An update??!!
Well, this is CLEARLY a sign of the Apocalypse!
I did not realize how much I wanted another chapter of this until I got one. Thank you.
It makes me wonder what will finally bring Sunset fully within Harry’s group of friends? It is probably going to happen now the question becomes when will Draco finally shoot him self in the foot with Sunset? I just had some serious vibes of what happened with Harry’s dad and Draco going the route of Snape. Hopefully this group will dodge the traitor.
11010370
Thank you for your comment
11010382
That's the question. I want it to happen, but this story takes place over several years, so I have to keep chanting "slow burn, slow burn, slow burn," in my head while writing it. It's not quite so obvious since Sunset is so aloof and not all that affected by the other students' words and rivalries, but Draco has come dangerously close to shooting himself in the foot more than once now. The ground around it is getting absolutely peppered
11010361
... and spell followed with him?
11010320
Yeah, I had to back up a chapter to remind myself where we were. Interesting to have a story where being much more powerful than everyone else doesn't particularly help solving the real problems.
11010644
That's very much one of my goals with this story. Thank you
It's like discussions I remember from back in the day about how unicorns are obviously so superior to the other tribes, since they can kill from a distance with their magic. And, sure, if personal combat and murder, or threats of violence, were hugely important in Equestria, I could see that.
I am delighted, relieved, impressed, and rather humbled by you right now. The fact that you decided to continue this story. Besides it being a crossover (and all the problems that go with that), you still chose to keep writing this even after the fact that the new hotness Gen 5 has now officially started. It really says something about you that you'd not abandon this story.
Needless to say, I was really happy to see the chapter update. It rather amuses me to see Malfoy struggling to 'court' Sunset and her being oblivious to it. A type of role reversal i don't often see, so it keeps my attention. And I love seeing Sunset's ongoing evolution as a character as she struggles to understand the world around her and her own feelings.
Please keep writing and posting!! I'll read it as long as there's more posted!
11010701
Hmm... it's funny, a big reason I write stories is that I want praise and recognition, but the moment I get something more than "this is great!" I'm not quite sure how to react, even though it's happened several times now.
I guess when people say more than "this is great!" I should say something more than "thank you." I just don't know what
Anyway, I'm glad you like it, and I'm glad you let me know. And yeah, oblivious Sunset is adorable
11010701
You put in to words very well ideas that I agree with
11010726
I am a devour of pone fics. Don’t doubt yourself or your writing as long as you write I will consume it like a cookie. Or like celestia does cake
In other words I will enjoy it
11010813
Oh I have to doubt myself. Not because I'd write crap if I didn't doubt myself, but because if one doesn't doubt themselves they probably write crap
... I think. Maybe. I'unno
Glad you like it
Man this update came at a great time. I have just rewatched the philosophers stone and had harry potter on the mind.
Secondly as someone who no longer watches mlp seeing all these new stories with characters I don't know kind of makes me sad. So thank you for still updating a story that has characters I know and love.
Lastly, any time you update this story is a great time because I love it so much.
Thank you for still writing this and not letting it die. Means alot.
11010819
Well doubts can be healthy in that regard just don’t let them ever stop you or I will be the big sad
11010830
Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked it
I have a feeling that the FiM cast will come back to the site fairly soon though. I think a lot of people will miss them. At least I hope they'll come back
11010835
Yeah... well that's the thing, I feel like not second guessing myself would very quickly lead to writing myself into a wall, and trying to think ahead leads to slow progress as I try and avoid the potential pitfalls. If only I could write stories without pitfalls really fast. But it's been seven years, and I haven't really managed to speed up my writing.
Harry’s actually the seeker, his father was a chaser though.
EDIT: intentionally wrong? The following joke means it wouldn’t just be a quick fix.
11010973
Oh, right. I mixed the terms up. I'll fix that tomorrow.
Edit: Actually, I came up with a way to fix it just now. So... fixed. Thanks for the heads-up.
Good seeing this one back, curious on her future interactions with the grounds and it's inhabitants. To be quite honest I'm not invested positively or negatively in her getting on with the trio, I can't see her having much reason to get involved in their shenanigans. Her being an unicorn and how that interacts with everything sounds more interesting around now.
That might've been influenced by last chapter (read again to remember the Celestia bit) and how magical her sojourn sounded. How happy she was.
Also because I want to see her meeting Earth's unicorns
Let's see if Draco will kill his chances for good or if they'll get closer to becoming friends now
It seemed like Sunset was a little less oblivious to Draco's game this time?
This chapter was good. It could use some more section breaks where you're jumping to a new scene. I very much enjoy every chapter though. You brewed up the perfect storm of what I look for in MLP crossovers when you decided to write this.
Argh, even here I'm not safe from the Raid ads!
I chuckled at Sunset insisting to herself she will avoid romance and immediately failing to avoid it from an 11 year old. Her tactic of not paying much attention to conversations with Malfoy keeps backfiring. Overall her attempts to keep a low profile continue to be funny as she doesn't always human very convincingly.
While not much happened, I do think you've done a good job weaving Sunset in through the canonical events without causing any big divergences; she can get around super fast and is nosy, but her desire to avoid attention results in her rarely interfering. I wonder how the book's finale will play out with her, though...
I forget; what was that scream? Was it Quirrel getting bit by the dog or something?
11011313
Hmm, okay, it sounds like my plans could work. She's gonna get involved with the trio eventually, and maybe I can nurse a want to see her get involved in time for her to do so.
Glad that you like it though, and yeah, I want to get to the third year, I feel a lot of the interesting stuff will happen that she can react to then, including unicorns. I think that's in year three at least.
Draco is... an interesting challenge to write, since in the source material we barely ever see what he's like when he's not trying to mess with Harry. What does he do when there're no designated enemies around? Luckily I've found some nice character analysis videos that helps.
11011317
Yeah, though the question remains whether she's gonna realize, or accept, that romance might be Draco's goal.
But yeah, there was a lot of stopping and starting when writing this, which made it difficult to keep cohesive. Glad you like it though. Don't feel like writing one of your own?
11011554
Thank you. It's always nice hearing how what you see in your head while writing something is what other see when reading it.
The first book's finale might not have Sunset doing much, but this story is planned on stretching longer than the first year. Also, the scream was from a book in the restricted section that Harry opened. An alarm of some kind.
Play Raid: Shadow Legends! Experience an epic journey! Waste your time and money on bullshit!
11011564
Write my own? Are you mad?!
Kidding aside, I've thought about it and even intended to write something here and there. I've had ideas, but I can never find the motivation. That's the hardest part for me, so respect to those who do manage it.
I'm much better at helping other people write their own ideas, when I find motivation (and time/energy) for that. If you ever want an editor or prereader for a chapter, poke me. 
11012374
I might do that. Thanks for the offer.
Sweet to see this continue I think it’s a great take on a more slow burn development of Sunset’s character. By now she has the answer she is just too blinded by immortality to see it without truth serum. If only there was some terrible husk of an immortal supervillain to parallel, but what are the odds of that.
Also who knew that Draco would be so good at comical relief.
11015262
I'm glad you approve
Yeah, Sunset has a few eye-opening moments in her future, and Draco has is quite a good fit for a comic relief. He's kind of pathetic, and he's a elitist, classist snob who was born into wealth, so pies are just drawn towards his face thanks to the omni-present force of storytelling-convention
I've been checking in on this story every few days, and my persistence was rewarded with a new chapter!
Overall, I enjoyed it. It's nice to have a bit of a down chapter, where the characters get a chance to breathe after the action and chaos of the preceding couple.
I'm curious as to where this will go. Will Sunset alter the events of HP in a significant way?
11015821
Glad to hear it
And yeah, Sunset's presence will change events of the story quite a bit. The question is just how to do it the best way
11016106
It sounds like your work schedule has eased up a bit.
11016246
Yeah it has, at least for the moment. I'm gonna see if I can get some more chapters out, while I have the time.
11016297
I know what you mean. The military has been running me ragged the past six months. I'm exhausted and surprised I'm still on my feet. Hopefully the next few months will be quiet and restful, and FIM productive, for the both of us.
This was a DELIGHTFUL surprise to come across on my road trip! I adore this fic, and to see an update totally just made my weekend~
11016833
Hooves crossed
11017680
Thank you. Glad to hear it
In the finding Nemo seagull voice "more more more". Anyway keep up the good work and take all the time you need.
11019262
Thank you. It's so far moving faster than before.
*snicker* Something more alcoholic?
Flubber!
Also, you've got one too many "with"s in there.
Nice depiction of how she's incrementally warming up to friendship without recognizing what she's doing.
*snicker* It took me a moment to get it, but once I did, it was fun.
Nice alliteration. :)
I like how you used exactly the same number of P words in both the expected title and the unexpected add-on. It makes it significantly more entertaining for some reason.
Great story can't wait for the next chapter
Hey I ship Sunset and malfoy
11046024
I think Sunset would protest that ship
I am appalled, simply APPALLED! How have I not noticed this fic before!? I just binged the whole thing so far and I crave MORE!! Please?
Wonderful writing and I find Malfoy's crush hilarious. Thank you Snakeskin Ducttape for writing!
11027183
Thank you. Glad to hear it
11046024
Yeah... we'll see how that goes
11061232
Thank you, that's very nice to hear. And yes, I've been writing some more which will soon be ready for publishing. The first book is turning into a bit of a slog to write. I want to get to book 3. I think that'd be more fun to write about.
That's a good thing though, isn't it? If she gave it a bit of... reasonably rational thought, she'd probably end up being quite neutral about Cadance, or maybe even thankful for her presence, it being the lightning rod for day-to-day annoyances.
Hmm. Wonder what her choice of poison is. Vodka maybe? Doubles as a disinfectant for people she angry with.
HA!
to wait
potions