Twilight was awoken the next morning by loud snores, which, after a quick peak past her curtains, showed that it was Gilda, who clearly did not care or was too tired the night before, to pull her curtains shut.
Twilight pulled her curtains out of her way as she slipped out of her rather comfortable bed and walked over to her trunk, feeling rather surprised when she saw Owlicious, perched inside his cage. A small animal skeleton was scattered about in the bottom of his cage. Twilight hoped it didn't belong to the pet of a Hogwarts student.
Twilight gently lifted the cage off her trunk, setting it on the floor next to her as she pulled out a piece of parchment, an ink well and a quill. She turned her head as Owlicious stirred, before turning back to her parchment and opening her inkwell.
She wrote down as much as she could, which included her new friends, her house, and how nice it was at Hogwarts, ignoring Owlicious as he took notice that his master was now awake and changed his perch to the foot of Twilight's bed as she continued to write her letter.
Once Twilight had signed the parchment, she rolled it up, binding it with a ribbon and then tying it to Owlicious' foot before handing him a small treat and nudging him out the window.
By the time Owlicious had vanished into the sky, the other students had begun to wake up and get dressed. Twilight went back to her trunk, packing her ink well and quill back inside and pulling out her black robes and pulling them on.
Apple Jack had woken up at relatively the same time as Twilight, and had been stroking Winona while Twilight wrote her letter. She had given Winona a large chunk of beef that she had saved from the banquet before heading down to the common room and was probably waiting to send a letter to her family as well.
Once Rainbow had woken up and changed into her robes and then gotten Gilda to do the same, the four of them made their way to the Great Hall by following Big Macintosh (they couldn't find Shining Armor) who didn't say anything the entire walk.
When the group arrived at the Great Hall, they found Shining Armor (and most of the other Gryffindor boys), already at the Gryffindor table, with a stack of schedules.
"These are the first-year course schedules," Shining passed a couple of the papers to the first years that now sat at the table. "The second-year course schedules... The third-year course schedules, the fourth-year schedules.." Shining began to pass out the rest of the schedules.
Rainbow grabbed a heaping portion of eggs, sausage, pancakes and a cup of marmalade. Gilda did the same, only she was already eating half of her sausages as she kept piling more eggs and pancakes on her plate, her schedule sitting ignored by her plate.
Once Rainbow had stacked enough on her plate to be sure of a stomach ache later, she began to eat, forcing food into her mouth with one hand, and holding up her schedule at eye-level with her other hand.
Apple Jack was very slow to put food on her plate looking at Twilight who had not even begun to put food on her plate, and was instead studying her schedule.
"We have potions first." Twilight looked to Apple Jack who didn't really seem to care.
"Ya' should worry about eatin' your food before your classes, Twilight." She muttered before beginning to eat the food she had piled onto her plate.
"Ugh, we have to deal with the Slytherins, don't we?" Apple Jack shot Rainbow Dash a look.
"Rarity is in Slytherin, Rainbow." Apple Jack gave Rainbow a reproachful look.
"So? She's probably gonna turn out bad, like all the other Slytherins." Apple Jack slammed her hand on the table, causing Rainbow to stop stuffing her face with eggs.
"Apple Jack!" Twilight looked at her, slightly panicked at the sudden show of aggression. Before Apple Jack could speak, she was distracted by something towards the ceiling and Twilight followed her gaze.
Owls were pouring in through hatches in the ceiling, circling over the tables, searching for their owners.
"There's the mail." Shining watched as a barn owl landed in front of him, and he untied the letter from its leg.
Twilight quietly piled food onto her plate, listening to the chatter around her as she ate.
"We should hurry up and get ready for potions, shouldn't we?" Shining had finished off the last of his breakfast and was already out of the Great Hall by the time Twilight had rushed through the last of her eggs.
"Twilight, I'm sure you'll be sick later if ya keep eatin' that fast." Apple Jack set down her fork, watching as Twilight started rushing her sausage into her mouth. Rainbow snorted as Gilda told her something rather hilarious, accidentally spitting up some of the marmalade she had been drinking.
However, Twilight paid Apple Jack's advice no mind, and had left the Great Hall the moment she finished the food on her plate.
The hallways that led down to the potions grew gradually more and more dismal. The Gryffindors seemed to feel the effect, and gradually their conversation died down as they walked. Apple Jack was very intent on checking on Rarity, and Twilight (although she wouldn't admit it) was also slightly worried how their friend was getting along in her new house. Her shocked face from when she was sorted into Slytherin the night before was strong in their memory.
"Rarity! Ey!"
Apple Jack sped up her pace, waving one hand as to catch the attention of the new Slytherin. At the sound of her name, Rarity turned towards Apple Jack's direction, and the two Slytherins whom had been having a conversation with her simply nodded and sped ahead, leaving Rarity to her two friends.
"Hello, Apple Jack, Twilight." Rarity sounded rather happy, compared to her expression the previous night.
"Hey, Rarity. How are ya?" Apple Jack took up the pace at Rarity's right side, and Twilight followed at her left.
"I'm rather well, why do you ask?" Rarity had slowed her pace.
"Well, ya looked rather shocked last night, and I was wonderin' if ya were okay?"
"Well, the Slytherin dungeon is rather gloomy, but I've met some lovely people there... Speaking of lovely people, have you spoken to Fluttershy or Pinkie yet?"
"No. Haven't had the chance." Apple Jack looked slightly saddened at the news that Rarity hadn't seen or spoken to the two either. "But I'm sure I'll get to talk to 'em soon."
"Well, we have Herbology with them tomorrow." Twilight hoped this information would reassure them. It seemed to do that, at least slightly.
"Maybe we'll be able to see them after Defense Against the Dark arts." Twilight mumbled hopefully, although neither of them seemed to listen, and were now talking about the conditions of the Slytherin dungeon. (Or rather, Rarity was complaining about it while Apple Jack simply listened.)
Eventually, the group reached the doors to the Potions dungeon, where the woman with the dozens of golden rings and her white streaked hair was standing, zebra cloak draped over her shoulders and upper arms.
The teacher gestured to the door and the students filed into the dungeon classroom. They were not expecting the decorations inside.
Vines dangled from the top of the dungeon ceiling, their ends tightened around clay bottles or just dangling limply in the air. The walls were decorated here and there with strange masks as well as shelves that were crammed full of potion bottles. The dozen or so tables that stretched towards the walls had vines climbing up the legs as though they had sprung up right beneath them.
The students slowly filed into their seats, observing the strange decor while the teacher simply stood at the door, watching in patient silence. Once the students had settled down in their seats with their supplies, the teacher began to speak.
"Greetings, students, I am Professor Zecora, your potions master." Professor Zecora pulled off her cloak as she walked towards her desk, and hung it up on a peg. Her footsteps echoed through the quiet dungeon as she stepped behind her desk.
"Now, this may not seem like magic to you young ones, and I don't expect you to understand the beauty of potion brewing at first. But, if you are patient, you will learn many things from me. The power of potions is a grand, and a very beautiful thing to know how to work. I'm hoping you will learn what I have to offer."
Silence followed her words before Professor Zecora waved her hand, the golden bracelets clinking together in a slightly musical tone.
"Today, we shall learn to brew a cure for boils. Surely you have the ingredients necessary?"
Professor Zecora sorted the students into pairs, leaving Apple Jack with Twilight and Rainbow with Gilda and set them to work on brewing a cure for boils. She walked in between the desks, checking in on those who seemed to be having trouble.
She ended up having to break up Rarity and another Slytherin, whom were on the verge of a physical fight. When the two started to get into an argument for the third time, Professor Zecora had stalked over to the front of their desk and was glaring at them through narrowed eyes.
"If you do not cease bickering with one another, you will both lose points because of the other."
The two were rather quiet for the rest of the class. Unlike Gilda and Rainbow, whom were more interested in goofing around, and hardly payed attention to the details of their instructions, instead talking about Quidditch and how unfair it was that they wouldn't be allowed to join until second-year.
They were interrupted from their conversation about broomsticks when their cauldron began to melt and their potion began to spill over the stone floor and burn holes into their shoes. The two went into a panicked attempt at cleaning up the mess, only for their hands and fore arms to be covered in gross, red boils.
Professor Zecora pulled her wand from her cloak and gave it a quick wave which cleared up the mess instantly. "Head to the hospital wing." She demanded, following the two towards the door as they let out small whimpers of pain.
Once the door closed, Professor Zecora turned to the students, who were all staring (and some snickering) at what had just unfolded. Professor Zecora waved her hand.
"Please finish up the rest of your boil cure and we will discuss what is to be worked on."
Most of the class seemed rather pleased when Professor Zecora only asked them to read up on Forgetfulness Potion in Magical Drafts and Potions for homework that night.
The next class was History of Magic and was taught by Professor Doodle, who Twilight had seen during the Start-of-Term Feast wearing the same Victorian collar that she wore in class.
Twilight immediately found this class to be far less interesting than the first. It wasn't that Matilda wasn't a good teacher, but her constantly cheery voice grew very annoying about halfway through her lecture, especially when every single word sounded like it was very important and although Twilight was sure not even half of the things she talked about were important, she still wrote it down in notes.
Apple Jack pointed out that Rainbow and Gilda had not turned up for the class as Twilight began to fall into a sort of daze halfway through a talk about the history of the Ministry Castle in Canterlot.
"It's probably for the best. They would have fallen asleep fifteen minutes in."
"Wrong," Twilight turned to stare at Apple Jack." They would'a fallen asleep five minutes in."
Sufficed to say, not much else happened in the class, and Twilight was surprised when Apple Jack appeared wide awake the entire time.
When she asked her about it in the corridor on their way to lunch, Apple Jack pulled up one of her sleeves to reveal a small blot of ink which stuck out among her freckles. "'Kept pokin' myself with my quill. Rarity told me she overheard it from a couple second-years. Although, Imma be honest, I doubt I'm gonna be able to recall anythin' to write that essay."
"Trust me, you won't be alone." Twilight replied, trying to remember the name of the man who named Canterlot.
Rainbow and Gilda did not reappear at the Gryffindor table when Twilight and Apple Jack arrived for lunch, and they were sure the two were probably not going to reappear until dinner, at least.
"What do you think about Hogwarts so far?" Shining asked as he began to eat what Twilight was sure was his fourth treacle tart.
"Well, your letters didn't do it justice." Twilight began to butter a slice of bread while Apple Jack gnawed on an apple slice, reading her copy of One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi.
"Say, wheres Rainbow and Gilda? I didn't see them in the halls."
Apple Jack looked up and she joined Twilight in recounting what had occurred in the Potions dungeon. A nearby third year had looked rather interested in the conversation, although Apple Jack seemed ignorant to him.
"They 'aught to be alright," Big Macintosh reassured, much to the surprise of the first years at his seemingly sudden ability to speak."Miss Redheart'll have 'em back on their feet by supper."
Apple Jack smiled, finishing off her treacle tart before looking at Twilight, "What? Ya think that Big Mac was mute?"
Twilight didn't reply, and went back to eating, her mind now focused upon their next class, Charms.
When the students arrived at the Charms classroom, the teacher was already standing behind his desk, a roll of parchment stretched out over his desk, and his wand sitting beside it.
"Hello, students. I am your Charms teacher, Professor Whooves," He introduced as the students filed into their seats. When none of them spoke, he cleared his throat and held up the roll of parchment and began to call out the names of his students before rolling it up and continuing his introduction. "Today, we shall simply discuss charms and the proper way to cast one." He shot a look at some of the students who had begun to moan about how they weren't going to learn what they wanted. This shut them up.
However, the rest of the class wasn't as boring as History Of Magic. Professor Whooves repeatedly used different charms on objects in the classroom in order to demonstrate how to properly cast the charms they had landed on discussing, like making a stack of books start to float upward, making his ink well appear and reappear, and casting a charm on a gloomy looking student whom became happy almost instantly. Twilight had made sure that her notes held every detail that Professor Whooves pointed out during these demonstrations.
His homework was to write a six-inch essay (or twelve-inch if they were feeling ambitious) about one of the charms they hoped to learn. Apple Jack was sure that Rainbow and Gilda were not going to be happy about all the homework they were bound to have by the end of the day, even if they weren't going to be present in class when it was given out.
Their next class was Transfiguration.
However, when the Gryffindor first-years reached the classroom, their teacher was not there.
Only when the students had all made their way to their seats, did their teacher finally appear.
A large cloud of smoke billowed out of the top of the desk with a loud crack and a tall man (whom Twilight recognized) waved away the smoke cloud that he had seemingly appeared in.
"Hello, new students! I am your transfiguration teacher, Professor Discord!" The man gave an exaggerated bow, holding out his wand in one hand. "I am here to teach you the most complex and dangerous magic you will ever learn here at dear old Hogwarts! And there better not be too much messing around, or you will have to leave my class, and you won't come back. I assure you."
His sudden change of tone sent chills up Twilight's spine, and from Apple Jack giving a small shudder beside her, she was sure that it had the same affect on her as well. However, this was forgotten when Professor Discord gave a quick tap to his head with his wand, and two horns sprouted out the side of his head, causing most of the students to stare in awe. Twilight included.
Of course, the class discovered that they would not be transfiguring horns onto their heads any time soon, as Professor Discord tapped the horns with his wand and they vanished before he went into a small lecture about transfiguration (while making rather hilarious side remarks and transfiguring items in the classroom) and watched as the students took down notes.
Once that was done with, Professor Discord held up his wand and waved it about, causing matches to appear in front of the students.
"You see those matches? Give you wand a good try and turn them into needles! Go on, then!"
However, despite Professor Discord's rather 'reassuring' words, none of the students made much of a difference to their matches by the time the class ended. His homework was to just keep practicing with the matches and write down what they got wrong and right.
"I'm sure mine was turnin' all pointy and shiny!" Apple Jack was muttering as they walked down the hall, only she ceased her muttering when a familiar face appeared around the corner.
"Rainbow! There you are! I was thinkin' you wouldn't be here til' supper!" Apple Jack smiled as Rainbow ran over and Twilight noticed how parts of her hands had faded red blotches, which was probably where the boils had been removed, likely by some sort of magic tonic.
"Me neither! Turns out that Gilda got the worst of it. The boils spread to her face!"
Apple Jack and Twilight began to run over the classes and the homework and Rainbow was very unhappy about having to do the work that she wasn't even in class for.
Defense Against the Dark Arts was the class that Rainbow was looking forward to that day, as she stated repeatedly on their way to find and climb up the stairwell.
The classroom itself looked much like the rest, other than the many different representations of the solar system which hung from the ceiling and slowly spiraled high above the students' heads.
The teacher, Twilight quickly realized, was Professor Luna. The only difference was that her robes were a slightly lighter blue and had silver crescent moons decorating the sides.
"Greetings, students. We are Professor Luna, your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." The students made their way to their seats, looking at the many different models of the planets which hung above them, which Luna took notice of.
"We were previously the astronomy teacher, but our sister, Headmaster Celestia, suggested we take the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. However, one cannot turn their back on the beauty of the night sky." Luna gently shook her head before continuing,"Please open your copies of The Dark Forces and start reading."
Professor Luna was very strict, glaring at any students who began to whisper. More than twice, Rainbow was the recipient of these frightening glares.
"Miss Dash. We would suggest you keep your remarks to yourself. We are sure that your parents would not approve of you receiving detention on your first day."
When Professor Luna finally ended their reading, she asked the students what they had just read, and then assigned homework, which was two chapters of reading, and then a foot of parchment with details about the creatures depicted in those chapters which was due Wednesday.
Rainbow let out all her annoyances about having too much work to do once they had left the classroom and were out of earshot of Professor Luna. Apple Jack and Twilight quietly agreed. Twilight was thinking over the amount of reading and writing she would have to do that night.
"Hey, Twilight. Do ya wonder why we didn't see Fluttershy or Pinkie in the hallways? I just noticed we hardly saw anyone we knew all day." Apple Jack muttered from one of the squashy armchairs by the fireplace, her book open in her lap.
Twilight looked up from her scroll of parchment which she had spread over a small table that she had moved over from the corner of the room and into the light of the fire Her seat being a rather fat cushion that was of the same material as the armchairs, which were all full of other students whom were working on homework. Or in the case of a third year and Big Mac, playing a small game of wizard's chess in the corner.
"I didn't think about that... Maybe they just had extremely different classes then us.. Or maybe they were too busy or got lost? I don't know. We'll surely see them at dinner."
Twilight, Apple Jack and Rainbow had returned to the Gryffindor Common Room after using a good half hour of their break hunting for their Hufflepuff friends so that they could at least finish some of the homework they had been given that day.
Even Apple Jack, who had been looking forward to her free time to find Pinkie and Fluttershy, admitted defeat in their search when they got trapped in a broom closet and had to be found by a sixth year, Spit Fire, who was also Captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Rainbow's ears had turned pink when Spit Fire found them and told them to"Try not to get yourselves stuck in any more closets, alright?"
"Well... At least we'll get to talk to 'em soon. I wanna know how Fluttershy and Pinkie are doin'. Rarity, too." Apple Jack didn't seem to notice Rainbow looking at her from over her copy of Magical Drafts and Potions.
Twilight nodded and she went back to writing her essay about the Floating Charm, one that she had picked out of her list of charms she was most keen to learn.
After around two hours, Apple Jack put away her book and left the Common Room.
"I'm gonna go and try to find Fluttershy and Pinkie. See ya'll at dinner."
Twilight didn't pay much attention as Apple Jack left and continued working on her History essay about Canterlot and the Ministry of Magic, repeatedly checking her copy of History of Magic which sat open at the top of her roll of parchment.
Rainbow had long since given up on her History essay, and was now reading her copy of The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection. Twilight couldn't blame her. The history of Canterlot was extremely boring and the way it was written seemed to make even the smaller sentences impossible to process until Twilight read them for the third time.
The two were thankful when dinner-time came around, and they made sure to stick close to Shining Armor. They were not keen on reliving the embarrassment of being discovered stuck in a small room.
Just as Apple Jack said when she left the common room, she was at the Great Hall, talking to Rarity, Pinkie and Fluttershy near the entryway. When she caught sight of her two friends, she waved for Twilight and Rainbow to come in her direction and they obliged.
The group was rather happy to be reunited, and Fluttershy was very adamant about how nice Hufflepuff was, Pinkie adding on to every other sentence.
"I was worried about you after Potions, Rainbow Dash. How is Gilda doing?" Rarity turned the subject and Rainbow was quiet before stepping away and pointing over her shoulder towards the students who were now crowding towards their tables.
"I ought to go find her. See ya!" Rainbow was gone before anyone else could object.
Pinkie began to bounce up and down, waving to someone else towards the Hufflepuff table.
"Oh! There's Cheese Sandwich! Maybe he has a new joke! See ya, girls!" Pinkie skipped off in the direction of her table and Fluttershy nervously twirled her hair before waving and shuffling over to the table, leaving Rarity, Apple Jack and Twilight.
"Well, it was good to talk to you again, darlings. See you!" Rarity waved and walked off to her table.
"We aught to get to our table, too."
"Yeah, you're right."
Dinner that night was similar to the Start-Of-Term feast, other than the fact that the meal wasn't as extravagant as the feast and that desert was much more limited.
Gilda had been at the table by the time Twilight and Apple Jack reached it, and she was having a lively conversation with Rainbow who was speaking around a mouthful of roasted potato.
As the first years changed into their pajamas later that night, Apple Jack fed Winona some beef that she had taken from the Great Hall and for a moment Twilight was panicked that she had forgotten to feed Owlicious, but then she remembered the school had an owlery and that Owlicious was bound to have eaten up there.
Twilight picked up her rolls of parchment and set them beside her books on the lid of her trunk after she had changed into her pajamas. When she checked over her homework in her head, she felt satisfied and fell asleep almost immediately once she had slipped under the covers.