//------------------------------// // The Hogwarts Express // Story: My Little Witches: Adventures in Hogwarts // by GingerSpice //------------------------------// Twilight had never been more excited about anything in her entire life. This was it, her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the very school that her B. B. B. F. F. had raved about ever since he came home during the Christmas holidays of his first year. The very school that had Celestia, her old teacher, as headmistress. The very school that Star Swirl the Bearded himself had attended. Sure, she already knew some simple charms, but what would she learn at this wonderful school of magic? More wonderful than anything else was the fact that Twilight would finally get to see her B. B. B. F. F., Shining Armor, year-round. Ever since he started his post as gamekeeper at Hogwarts, she only got to see him during the summer, Christmas, and Easter holidays. Today, she would finally set foot in the famous and prestigious magic school. Twilight took one last look in the mirror, made sure her new robes still looked perfect, grabbed her luggage, and clutched her parent’s hands as they all Apparated into a nearly invisible corner of King’s Cross Station. “Twilight, please don’t forget to write to us as often as possible,” said her mother. “You have Owlowicious for a reason. We don’t want to lose track of our favorite daughter.” As if on cue, the caged owl on top of Twilight’s bags gave a confirming “Hoot!”. Twilight smiled. “Don’t worry, Mom, I’ll remember. Besides, even if I do forget to write from time to time, you’ll probably still hear from Shining Armor. I’ll be fine. You’ll see.” Twilight’s father turned to his wife. “Don’t worry, she’ll be perfectly fine with her big brother there. He won’t let anything happen to her.” Her mother’s worried expression softened a little. “I guess you’re right, Nightlight. We shouldn’t worry too much. After all, Hogwarts one of the safest places a person can go,” She turned around to hug her daughter, and her husband did the same. “I hope you learn a lot at Hogwarts, honey,” Twilight’s parents gently pulled out of the hug. “Oh, and of course, don’t forget to have fun.” Twilight grinned with excitement. “I won’t let you down!” She grabbed her luggage and owl and dashed through Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Awaiting her was the Hogwarts Express itself. After pausing to get a good look at the train, she ran a car and climbed in with her luggage. Since she was fairly early boarding the train, most of the booths were empty. She chose an empty booth in the back of the car and sat down. She took Owlowicious’s cage and placed it on her lap. Thinking about all of the interesting classes she would take, Twilight began to stroke her owl and relax. She could get used to this. “HiI’mPinkiePieI’mnewherejustlikeyouwhat’syourname?!” Twilight shrieked and stared, jaw dropped, at the girl with curly—no, sproingy— pink hair who had just entered her quiet booth. What the heck had she just said? Why had she just screamed out a greeting to a complete stranger? She had almost scared the living daylights out of Twilight! The pink-haired girl realized how loudly she had spoken and how badly she had scared Twilight. “Oh, sorry. What I meant to say was, hi, I’m Pinkie Pie, I’m new to Hogwarts just like you! What’s your name?” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. This girl, Pinkie Pie, was just overly friendly. “Hi, there. My name is Twilight Sparkle. Go ahead, sit down, having someone else to talk to would be nice. So, have you heard anything about what Hogwarts is like?” Twilight was curious to know. Shining Armor talked about the school all the time, but it would be good to get another person’s input. Pinkie smiled and sat across from Twilight. “Oh, yeah! My sister Maud has already been there for a couple of years, and she loves it! Her favorite class is Transfiguration. She really likes turning other things into rocks, ooh, and turning rocks into different rocks! My sister is obsessed with—“ Pinkie was interrupted by loud and hurried footsteps running through the train and exhausted gasping. “I’m here!… I made it… Oh, man am I late? Please don’t tell me I’m late!”, said a raspy voice that was quickly approaching the girls’ booth. Finally, the voice’s owner arrived, putting her arms against the walls of the train car while she caught her breath. Her robes and rainbow-colored hair were sweaty, and she was gasping for air. Twilight’s calm expression quickly became one of surprise. “Oh my gosh! Are you all right?” Then, she became sort of confused. “How could you think you’re late? The train clearly hasn’t left yet.” The new girl turned to look at Twilight, then out the window. “Oh, right. I’m just late for a lot of stuff. Thank god I made it here before the train took off!” Another girl’s head came into view behind the rainbow-haired girl. She’d been so quiet, nobody else but her friend had noticed her. “Rainbow Dash, I told you that you’d just waste energy by running here. Anyway, who are you talking—” She turned to see Twilight and Pinkie sitting in the booth, both with rather surprised faces. Her own face turned pale as she quickly hid behind her light-pink hair. “Oh… um… Hello, there…” She began trailing off in a voice even smaller than the one she was already speaking with. “Come on, Fluttershy, you can’t hide from everybody but me!” The rainbow-haired girl, now known as Rainbow Dash, seemed to get this from her friend, Fluttershy, a lot. “They seem nice enough. In fact, why don’t we sit with them?” Rainbow plopped herself right next to Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy took a deep breath and parted her hair to reveal her face. Rainbow motioned for her to sit down, so she took a seat next to Twilight. “H-hello, girls. My name is Fluttershy.” “Yeah, we know. We heard Rainbow Dash call you by your name.” Pinkie would have continued, but Twilight was shushing her. “Sorry.” Fluttershy sighed, but gave a gentle smile. “I know. I’m sorry, I’m just… really shy.” Twilight smiled at her. “It’s okay,” She giggled. “We kind of guessed. Don’t worry, you’ll probably get over it eventually.” Fluttershy looked down to her feet. “Yeah… Eventually.” Twilight would have said more, but two more pairs of feet started running through the train car. A girl with a thick Southern accent happily sighed. “Yeah! I made it! And just in time, too!” As soon as she said those words, the train started speeding along the tracks, on its way to Hogwarts. A second girl, this one having a very strong European accent, caught up to the first girl. “I believe you mean, we made it.” The first girl, who had come into view as having blonde hair tied in a loose ponytail under a cowboy hat, turned to look at the second girl. “Seriously? I didn’t plan on coming over to this here train with you on my tail!” The second girl, now seen to have styled curly purple hair and blue eyeshadow, scoffed. “First of all, my name is Rarity. You might want to actually ask for somebody’s name when you meet them, thank you very much! Second of all, you wouldn’t even have made it here had I not provided you with directions to Platform Nine and Three Quarters!” “All you did was slow me down! See, now we’re both so late that every single booth in the whole darn train is full!” The bickering probably would have continued had Twilight not intervened “Stop! You can both sit in our booth. Just squeeze yourselves in.” The girl in the hat turned to look at Twilight, and the angry look on her face faded. “Well, that settles that. Come on, Rarity.” She said “Rarity” in a mocking tone. “Let’s just sit with these nice girls.” She sat down right next to Rainbow Dash, and Rarity squeezed in. “I’m Applejack, by the way. Nice to meet y’all.” One by one, everybody else in the booth introduced themselves. When they were finished, Twilight spoke up. “So… What has everybody here heard about Hogwarts?” Rainbow Dash was the first to answer. “Well, I know that they have a Quidditch team, and I love Quidditch! My dad and I play all the time!” She frowned and sighed. “Too bad first-years can’t try out for the team,” she said glumly. “Aw, don’t worry, Dash! You can always try out next year!”, Pinkie said, trying to cheer up her new friend. Dash smiled a little and thanked her. “Well, I heard that this fancy school we’re going to has great food!” Everyone in the booth gave Applejack a funny look. “Well, at least that’s what my big brother Big Macintosh says about the place.” “Interesting,” said Twilight. “Anything else?” Nobody answered. “Okay, why don’t we…” The girls continued to talk amongst themselves until they heard yet another smattering of feet running across the train. “Well, I think we’ve arrived,” said Twilight. “It was so nice meeting you all. See you in school!” Everybody said their goodbyes, and each one of them stepped off the train. “Hello, new students,” said Shining Armor. “Welcome to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.”