Chapter Six
The Wand Chooses the Wizard
It was a cramped and musty building, consisting of a desk with a man behind it, and boxes. A lot of boxes. In fact, the two had a harder time seeing a single surface inside the narrow shop that wasn't concealed by a mountain of boxes. Even if the place had exploded earlier, it showed no sign of it, even having a layer of dust lay over most of the interior. Rarity grimaced at that, the place could definitely use a good cleaning. The man looked up at them from behind his desk as the door closed behind them, and stood politely.
"Ah, welcome. Welcome..." Ollivander approached them from around his desk, favoring them each a glance with his pale eyes. Messy white hair spilled haphazardly from his head, framing a wrinkled face. "Curious that I find myself assisting so many young witches today... in pairs, no less..." He stared off into the distance blankly as if recalling a distant memory. "Red oak with a dragon heartstring core, twelve and a quarter inches, with a rigid flexibility... a curious little thing she was, with rainbow colored hair, ended up blasting the windows out when she... well, never mind," he dismissed his rambling, "You're here for your wands, and if I'm not mistaken, you're low on time. So which one of you fine young witches would care to be first?" He favored each of them with a small smile and an expectant glance. Sunset took the opportunity to showcase her generosity by allowing Rarity to go first. She didn't seem to mind, and Sunset wanted the opportunity to observe the process before going through it herself. "Hmmm," he hummed to himself, plucking a box out of the wall of boxes. He opened it with a practiced hand, presenting the wand to Rarity, "Holly, with a unicorn hair core."
Sunset ended up choking on her saliva after hearing that, bringing herself into a coughing fit, drawing the attention of the other two to herself, much to her embarrassment. Did he say unicorn? She thought to herself as she got her coughing under control. I thought unicorns were just some myth in this dimension... If they do exist, then why am I human? The sudden knowledge had too many implications, many of which she didn't necessarily wish to think about. She apologized to the other two weakly, letting them get back to their business, after an awkwardly long silence.
Rarity took the wand offered to her into her right hand, "What do I do with it?"
"Just give it a wave... Any way you like..." he instructed, snatching the wand out of Rarity's hand abruptly after she had done as he asked, "No... I thought not..." He returned the wand to its casing with a practiced hand and traded the box with another, handing another wand out to her, "Alder, dragon heartstring core." Rarity once again elegantly waved the front before her, as if she were conducting an orchestra. The action was, however, cut very short as he ripped the wand from her grip almost immediately. "Willow, unicorn hair core," he toned absently, replacing the previous wand with yet another one.
Sunset had no idea what the strange man was looking for exactly, but the strange interaction continued on for minutes more. They have to have gone through at least twenty other wands by now. She thought bitterly, wondering exactly what the old kook was even looking for. "Surely you can choose a wand faster than this?" she complained bitterly, watching from the side, causing Rarity to give her an apologetic look. Sunset felt a little bad for letting her impatience get the best of her. It wasn't Rarity's fault this was happening after all.
Ollivander merely gave her a level stare. "Why, we aren't choosing a wand," he explained, "The wand is the one who must do the choosing."
Sunset stared at him, dumbfounded. How can a little stick of wood choose an owner? Well, whatever. Dumbledore had led them here, so she'd trust in the man's expertise. It is unlikely that this is some elaborate prank. She stuck her hands into the pockets of her worn leather jacket before leaning against the wall, near the front of the shop, casually. No sense getting worked up over the situation, this world only stopped making sense a few days ago. It was difficult to get used to the changes of this world in the first place, but now she was finding out about a whole new world hidden within that world. She had become somewhat good at rolling with the punches.
Back when Sunset had lived in Equestria she had been a prodigy of a sort, only needing to see or hear something once before she could pick up the knowledge. It had garnered her fame, even so far as earning her the attention and respect of the highest power of Equestria. She grimaced as she recalled the memories of her old mentor. Enough time had passed since her falling out with Celestia that she could recall it with a more rational mind. In that time there was something she had come to realize: Celestia was right... about everything. Her head drooped as a slight frown formed on her lips. I miss her... She sighed sadly, as she began watching Rarity try out wands again to distract herself from her mind.
It was a short distraction, however.
"Pear... with a unicorn hair core, eleven and three quarter inches long, with a yielding flexibility..."
"Oh my... what's this?" Rarity asked in wonder as she took the wand, perking up at some foreign sensation. She extended her arm holding the thin, ornately carved, golden wand outward from herself. She flourished the wand elegantly causing a dazzling array of sky blue light. It formed at the tip of the wand and danced around the room weaving a graceful pattern before them. Rarity's eyes were wide, glittering like diamonds. "That was beautiful!" she exclaimed happily.
"Well done! Well done!" Ollivander cried out at the show, presenting Rarity with the box for the wand and leading her to the counter. "A pear wand will be a fine companion for you, my dear. A fine companion indeed."
Rarity smiled radiantly. When she looked back at Sunset, however, Sunset noticed her smile slip a little. "How much do I owe you?" Rarity asked brightly.
Ollivander displayed only a minuscule amount of shock when he wasn't going to immediately fit Sunset with a wand as well, but recovered quickly. "Seven golden galleons, my dear," he prompted to Rarity as she dug through her purse for the currency and handed it to the man.
"Thank you very much," Rarity thanked him kindly, "But if you wouldn't mind excusing the two of us though, I could definitely use some fresh air after that excitement." She smiled warmly at Sunset before continuing, "We'll be back in a little while for the other wand, if that wouldn't be too much of a problem."
"Not at all. The shop will be open late tonight, with school starting tomorrow," he replied as Rarity herded Sunset through the door, back into the busy street.
Rarity looked around the street before deciding to lead Sunset to her bag, and motioned for Sunset to go inside. Realizing she probably didn't have a choice in the matter and didn't feel like causing a scene around so many people, just decided to do as she was instructed. Sunset stepped into the bag, and began descending a comfortably sized stairwell that led further down. For how seemingly small the bag was, it felt remarkably spacious when she went to enter it. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she found herself in a very comfortable looking room. The room was scattered with various furniture: cushioned sofas, chairs, dressers, tables, clothing racks, and even mannequins. It was comfortably lit, even though Sunset couldn't see anything providing the light. Sunset was even shocked to see several doors leading to more rooms in the already spacious room.
Rarity entered moments after, and turned around to close the bag behind her before continuing the rest of the way down. "Come, darling," she said, putting an arm around Sunset and leading the two of them over to a sofa. They sat down together before Rarity looked over to her. "Sunset, dear," she began comfortingly, "whatever was the matter in there?" Whatever Sunset had been expecting, that was not it.
"What do you mean?" Sunset responded defensively.
"Oh, don't be silly," Rarity retorted dismissively, "you looked miserable." She rested her hand on Sunset's shoulder lightly before continuing, "Sunset, I know that we haven't been friends for long, but I want you to know that you can share anything with me and know that I will never judge you. Now I don't know what it is that is bothering you, but I want you to know that I am here for you if you want me to be."
"It's just-" Her throat caught as she turned to confront Rarity, and caught sight of her warm blue eyes. "It's-..." She bit down on her tongue to hold back the flood of emotions that were welling up in her. No... not now... She thought to herself in panic. She had spent the last three years alone. She had been strong and dealt with her problems, alone. Three years, alone, in a terrifying world, after having lost the only family she had ever known. But after three long years, she was no longer alone...
Her vision became blurry as Sunset tried once again to speak, instead only choking on a lump that formed in her throat. Panic filled her as she realized she wasn't able to hold back her emotions. Tears streamed down her face as she stared into Rarity's concern filled eyes. Sunset never offered any resistance as Rarity pulled her to her chest, wrapping her arms around her in a tight embrace. She rested her head on Sunset's, using one arm to stroke Sunset's hair comfortingly. It only took a moment before Sunset's resistance completely died, as she sobbed into Rarity's arms, letting out the ugliest noise she had ever made.
As Sunset's head lay against Rarity's chest, she took comfort in the sound and feel of Rarity's heartbeat. She had long since stopped crying, but had dared not move on the chance that the two might separate. She smells nice... Sunset thought to herself idly, still relishing in feeling each individual heart beat against her head. Any form of embarrassment she may have had for this situation had long since drained from her, still experiencing the wave of apathy that came after her long emotional outburst. All she cared about now was holding onto the one piece of warmth she had in her life right now, knowing that she would have to separate soon to finish shopping. Letting a few more minutes pass by, she finally gathered the willpower and pulled herself upright. "Thanks..."
"Anytime, darling," Rarity smiled at her warmly before appraising her wet blouse. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to change into a new blouse. White does not handle being wet very well," she winked at Sunset jokingly before heading through one of the side doors, closing it behind her. Sunset probably would have been more embarrassed about the see-through blouse if she hadn't spent the last hour crying into it.
Sunset leaned against the back cushion of the couch, staring blandly at the ceiling. She couldn't decide if this was the best day of her life or the worst. After having spent her whole life alone, she had been able to come to terms with the feeling of loneliness. It had never hurt her or bothered her before, she didn't know anything else. She pushed others away without a thought, they were a hindrance. After today though, she knew she could never feel the same way again. She felt changed. The life she had led up to this point suddenly felt lonely and drab, and now she felt afraid of losing the friends she had somehow obtained. She didn't deserve these friends, and she never wanted them, but now she was terrified of being alone again. She felt like crying again, but her eyes were completely dry from her earlier outburst. The silence was killed by the opening and closing of a door as Rarity entered the room again wearing an entirely new outfit. Apparently just changing her blouse wasn't enough for her.
A wave of guilt rushed over Sunset as Rarity returned. "Rarity," she began, "I'm so... so... sorry." Sunset cringed as she recalled back to her school life with Rarity. "I've done so many terrible things to you..."
Rarity interrupted her with a forceful hug, "Stop Sunset... you've already apologized, and I accepted." She smiled at Sunset warmly, "Don't beat yourself up over your mistakes." The two pulled away from each other and Rarity started leading Sunset to the stairwell, "Come darling, we need to finish getting our wands."
"My wand you mean," Sunset griped, as she ascended the stairwell with Rarity.