Rarity trotted over to the platform at the train station. "Why do I have to carry my own bags?" She whined. "Where's Spike when you need him..?" She groaned. She hated having to do everything for herself. She levitated her many suitcases behind her.
Applejack walked over behind her. "Howdy, Rarity! I didn't expect ya to be so early."
"Well, I wanted to be able to get some time to design a new fashion line before we left." Rarity put her bags down and opened one, grabbing a quill, some paper and a clipboard. "And I was worried I wouldn't make it because I had to carry everything myself!"
"Well you do have a hefty load there. You seem to have brought yer whole house with ya." Applejack looked at the huge pile of suitcases which were a few inches taller than her. She was only carrying a single saddlebag.
"Well, I only packed for a short trip. A vacation would be a different story." Rarity replied.
"Well, with you I guess it would be." Applejack shrugged.
"The Dash has arrived!" Rainbow Dash announced as she zoomed towards the train station. She landed right beside Rarity. "And it looks like the egghead's late!"
"First of all, I'm not an egghead." Twilight corrected, scaring her friends as she slipped out from behind the train station. "Second of all, I'm always punctual, I arrived an hour before all of you!"
"And you were behind the station the whole time? Wow, you really are weird." Rainbow Dash commented.
Before Twilight could reply, Pinkie bounced over along with Fluttershy. "We're ready to go!!!" Pinkie chirped.
"Hold on, we have to wait for someone else." Twilight briefly checked her watch. "He has to be here in the next five minutes or he'll be late."
"Who?" Applejack asked.
"Leo," Twilight replied. "You know, the human."
"Oh, that one! I remember him!" Rarity said, looking up from her notebook. "He's quite the extraordinary creature!"
"You can say that again!" Pinkie stated. "I've never seen anything like him!"
"Yes, well, humans are quite rare unless you go through the portal. There you can find millions of them!" Twilight took a book out from her saddle bag. The book had a sun on the front cover. "It was an amazing experience, too bad I couldn't pinpoint the source of the leak from this world to theirs."
"Humans are so different, they stand up on their hind legs and have... Fingers..." Fluttershy said quietly.
"Eh, they could stand to be about 20% cooler." Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. "I mean, they can't do anything."
"What do you mean by that?" Applejack asked.
"Well, they don't have wings or horns..." Rainbow Dash shrugged
"You practically just defined an Earth pony." Applejack narrowed her eyes.
"Well, I mean..."
"Earth ponies are stronger than the rest of us ponies and have as much talent as the next pony." Twilight finished.
"Yeah! That!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. "That's what I meant!"
The train approached, stopping at the station.
"Oh! Leo's here!" Twilight shoved her book back into her saddlebag. "Leo! You're just in time!" She yelled, waving at Leo, who waved back.
"So, where are we going?" Leo asked.
"The Crystal Empire!" Twilight said, pushing her friends in the train, which soon started down its railroad to the Crystal Empire.
"Why?"
"To go to the mirror that will take us human world!"
"What!? Why?!"
"Don't you want to see more people like you? It must be hard being a human in a world of ponies."
"Yeah, but I like it here!!!" Leo protested. "How will Starlight react to this?"
"Don't worry, I left a letter for her, she should find it in the mail." Twilight shrugged. "If she's reasonable, she'd understand my intentions of putting you in your original environment."
"Won't she follow us?" Leo asked.
"Nope! I didn't specify where exactly I was taking you." Twilight said proudly.
"Starlight's smarter than that, she'll probably use a tracking spell!. When she finds me, I'll be dead!"
"Don't worry, I got tons of magical experience." Twilight winked. "Either way, after we go in, the portal would close after a few days, just enough time for me to let you get settled in and leave."
"Wait, you're going to leave me there?!"
"Well I think it would be best for you. You'll go to school, graduate, go to university, it'll be amazing! By the time you're through, your brain will be full of knowledge!" Twilight sighed.
"That doesn't sound fun at all." Leo yawned.
"That's because you've been home schooled! Once you've actually been to school, you'll never want to stop going!"
"But I'll have to leave every one behind. I might never see Starlight again!"
"They have human counterparts, though. That's a plus." Twilight thought for a moment. "Though they don't have much magic."
"I'll hate it there." Leo concluded.
"No you won't! They have amazing stuff there! Like, umm... Computers!"
"Here we have talking dragons."
"They have books!"
"We have them here too."
"They have Nintendo!"
There was an awkward silence. "What's a Nintendo?" Leo asked.
"It's something the humans made, super hard." Twilight frowned, remembering the many times she had failed at the game, causing her friends to laugh repeatedly. "I wasn't used to opposable thumbs at the time but I bet no other human could do it either!"
"Then why'd they make it?" Leo questioned.
"I dunno, to make a quick buck of off the fools who tried to beat it, the ones who failed each time. I think that there's only one guy who beat it."
"Who?"
"Flash Sentry..." Twilight sighed dreamily.
"Isn't that the new guard they put on patrol in Canterlot?"
"How'd you know that?"
"Equestria Daily, the new newspaper that came out a few weeks ago. They feature tons of stuff, art, small stories about Equestria's favourite ships..."
"Ships? Ponies write about boats?" Twilight cut him off.
"No, it's when you pair up somepony because you'd think they'd be a good match. They even make ship names, a mashup of the two's names. The most famous shippers are Lyra and Bon Bon, who are considered cupids for their match making." Leo explained.
"How come I never knew about that?!" Twilight yelled.
"It's relatively new, almost all ponies know about it since it was in a few magazines so word of those are spreading quickly." Leo shrugged. "I read in this article that the first ever shipper was a mare named Derpy. She had a moment where her vision got a bit messed up so she saw two ponies kissing instead of talking to each other and she yelled out the ship name. She's been in like, thirty interviews since last Tuesday."
"Wow. I need to make something super quirky, and I'll be super famous?" Twilight asked.
"I guess."
"You know, it's surprising that your face isn't plastered all over the place. I thought ponies would be more... Shocked about you." Twilight thought aloud.
"Well, I like it that way. At least I can live a somewhat normal life."
"You realize you aren't living a normal life, right?" Twilight asked.
"Don't go talking about that agai-!"
Twilight cut Leo off. "You're surrounded by ponies when you're a human. Isn't that strange for you?"
"Nope!"
"But it can't feel normal to you. I mean, you know you aren't like any of us. You can't find creatures like you anywhere in Equestria. How are you comfortable with that?"
"I enjoy being unique." Leo replied.
"Ugh! You aren't getting the point!" Twilight groaned.
"Hey, is that the Crystal Empire?" Leo pointed to a giant crystal structure rising above the rest.
"It is! I can't wait to see Cadance!" Twilight squealed. "We're here!"
The train stopped as everyone filed out, then it was on its way back Ponyville.
"It's still dark." Pinkie Pie complained.
"You booked us a hotel, right Twilight?" Rarity asked. "I need my beauty sleep, you know."
"Well, I... Didn't have time to book one." Twilight admitted.
"See? You aren't always prepared!" Rainbow Dash laughed.
"Don't worry, no pony's perfect, I'm sure we can find one soon." Fluttershy reassured Twilight.
"Right, let's go!" Twilight shouted, speeding ahead of the rest, who followed her into the empire.