Chapter Ten
The Hogwarts Express
Sunset blinked several times as she stepped through the barrier. The sensation on her vision was rather jarring but overall it felt rather normal. Illusions were not a magic commonly practiced in Equestria, so it was relatively bizarre for her, but still not too shocking. Illusion magic was generally disregarded from magical studies as being pointless. Not many unicorns found merit in illusion when they could accomplish something more substantial with little effort. She didn't have much time to think on the peculiarities of the barrier before a voice called out to her.
"Please step away from the entrance so you don't get hit by newcomers," the attendant called out to her, prompting her to approach the train. The station was bustling with people and creatures, cats and owls darting in and out of the crowds of students. "First years sit in one of the back two passenger cars," the man continued as she neared him, gesturing further down the train. "There will be more attendants that way to help direct you." His attention turned from her as he called to another student who had wandered through the barrier. After his dismissal, she wandered down the direction he had pointed her in, soon finding another attendant shouting out for first years to board.
"First years here! Only four to a cabin!" the lady called out, before noticing Sunset approach her. "Hello dear, your first year here?" Sunset only had to give a hint of a nod before the lady continued, "You're at the right place then, go ahead and board either of these two cars." She gestured toward the last few cars of the train behind her. "Just go ahead and look for a cabin that isn't full, and go ahead and unload your things in there. There should be space for luggage overhead. Your cart will have to stay out here. Let me know if you need something else," she finished her explanation with a practiced finesse, before returning to calling out for first years.
Sunset took that as closure and began lifting her things up into the train. She was glad she decided against having a pet, giving her less things to have to carry around, not that that was her reasoning. Pets were a waste of time and effort, she was destined for much larger things than cleaning excrement. After she loaded the few things on her cart, she passed her cart over to an attendant who came for it, and boarded the train with her belongings. She could, if uncomfortably, carry all of her things in one trip down the side hall of the train. As she passed each door to the cabins, she looked into a small window to look for her friends. It was still rather odd to her to have friends. It had been a few days now, but it still felt unreal; a few days couldn't dispel the enchantment that she felt over the shift from her lifetime of loneliness.
Her heart sank when Sunset finally found the cabin Rarity was sitting in and found it full already. She recognized Applejack in the cabin, as well as Ron, but there was another girl there, whom she didn't recognize. She briefly considered asking one to leave before she discarded the thought, knowing it wouldn't be received very well with her friends. It was a hard habit to break, her old way of thinking. She could only blame her own habit of always going last, preferring to be able to size up her competition, or just to learn as much as she could before going through things herself. Finding herself walking further down the hall, she began looking for the rest of the group.
It was on the next and last car of the train before Sunset found the next cabin with her friends in it. This cabin, much to her displeasure, was also full, consisting of Pinkie, Fluttershy, Harry, and another boy whom she didn't know. She grumbled to herself, at least noting that she hadn't found Rainbow yet, and continued down the train in search of her. She found herself panicking somewhat as she didn't find Rainbow in any of the cabins she passed, until she reached the very back cabin of the train. Any thoughts of finding Rainbow slid from her mind when she found a pair of girls she had not expected on seeing at all. She slid the door to the last cabin open and stepped inside. "Twilight?" she asked incredulously, "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to Equestria."
Despite appearing much younger and smaller in appearance, it was definitely still the same girl. Twilight adjusted her glasses akwardly, seeming a little put off by the sudden confrontation. "Oh... uh... hello..." she greeted her awkwardly, trying her best to think on what to say. "This is probably going to sound weird, but I'm not the same girl that you met... Trixie explained the situation to me..." She looked over to the girl next to her for support. Sunset's gaze followed her and when her eyes fell on Trixie, she too appeared much younger. The girl stiffened up noticeably under her gaze. Sunset tried looking to see if the two had a pendant as well, but she couldn't see if they did under the robes they were already wearing.
Sunset's mind worked quickly, puzzling out the situation, realizing that this wasn't the same Twilight in moments. So this is this world's Twilight Sparkle... she thought to herself idly, as she looked the girl up and down. Unlike the other Twilight, this one wore her hair in a little bun, and wore thick square glasses. She definitely seems more nerdy. It was going to be a difficult change. She knew the two were different, but they were also so similar that it was hard to think of them as different individuals. They even sounded and acted similarly. "It's a pleasure to meet you," Sunset greeted her formally. "Is it alright if I sit in this cabin?"
"Sure."
"No!" Trixie snapped at her at the same time.
Sunset ignored Trixie's retort, and calmly began putting her luggage up on the rack above them and taking a seat across from them. She toned out Trixie's animosity, and Twilight's confusion, as she stared out the window. "Uhm, I never caught your name," Twilight prompted her, trying to lighten the mood.
"Sunset Shimmer," Sunset replied disinterestedly.
"...Oh..." Twilight finally replied after a moment of silence, seemingly drawing a connection in her mind, and giving Trixie a confirming glance. Sunset noted the reaction out of the corner of her eyes, realizing she wouldn't get an opportunity to start out fresh. It seemed that Trixie had already explained what happened at their last school to Twilight. She sighed softly as she continued to stare out the window in the strained silence that fell over the cabin.
This is going to be a long train ride...
"Aw... Hand-me-downs can't be that bad," Applejack tried comforting Ron as a loud whistle sounded, signaling the departure of the train, before it kicked into motion. The express slowly built up speed before finally leaving the station behind. "Ah always got hand-me-downs from my family, Ah figure it's full of history and love."
"Yeah..." Ron said glumly, staring at his taped up wand, "Love..."
Rarity had noticed his frayed and worn robes from the moment she first saw him in the station. She had refrained from comment or action until she had known the specifics of his situation, but now that she knew, she felt emboldened to a new possibility. She was still tired from all of her work from last night, but nothing gave her energy more than creating a new ensemble, and this boy was in need of her help. "Do either of you know how long the train ride usually takes?" she addressed Ron and the girl who sat across from her and Applejack.
"Oh... uh... I have no idea, I don't usually talk about stuff like that with my brothers," Ron admitted guiltily.
"The train takes around seven hours from leaving the station to arriving in Hogsmeade," the girl, who had introduced herself earlier as Hermione, stated as if quoting a book. "Did you know that the train was only used for the last few hundred years? Before that students had to-"
"Perfect!" Rarity interrupted, jumping up out of her seat. Hermione looked somewhat disgruntled at the interruption to her monologue, but didn't comment. "Ron, darling, come with me." She pulled her bag down from the luggage rack, and opened it up. Ron who seemed somewhat confused, just looked over to Applejack for an explanation, but just got a shrug and a knowing smile in response. Rarity stepped into her bag and began descending into her boutique.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed in surprise. "How do you have one of those bags? Aren't they incredibly expensive?"
"Shush," Rarity silenced him. "We have limited time and I only need you for a minute." Ron took a moment to recover from his shock before descending into the bag with Rarity. He took much longer than she did, taking extreme caution not to damage or touch anything. When he finally made it down the spiral stairwell, he gaped openly at the ornate room scattered with mannequins adorned with various beautiful outfits and designs.
"Are you rich?" Ron asked suddenly, still trying to take in everything that was happening.
"Hardly," Rarity chuckled in amusement. After putting on her orange spectacles, she approached Ron with a measuring tape. "You'll have to lose the robe if you'd like the measurements to be accurate." She waited a few moments for him to take off the frayed piece of cloth before continuing, "Now, arms out, dear." She worked quickly, measuring each relevant part of his body to fit a new robe, even taking a few extra measurements to make sure. If there was anyone who needed wonderful new couture, this was the person. It needed to be perfect. Finally deciding she had everything she need, she returned back to her desk. "Okay, that should be all I need from you now, you can return to your seat."
"Uh... okay... thanks..." Ron replied dazedly, still processing the situation he found himself in. He sauntered over to the stairwell and began to ascend again, back to reality. He clambered out of the bag back into the train, drawing the curious looks of both of the girls in the cabin, before sitting back down in his seat.
"What was that about?" Hermione blurted out.
The question just got a chuckle from Applejack. "Just Rarity bein' Rarity," she commented fondly. "Ah reckon you won't have ta worry about those hand-me-downs anymore."
Hermione looked at the bag longingly, being the only thing so far that had caught her curiosity enough to take her from her books or talk of her books. She grudgingly forced the bag out of her mind, as the person whom owned the bag wasn't even present for her to inquire about it. She never had to worry about it for long, as a sharp knock on the door interrupted the group. The door slid open revealing an old hunched over witch pushing along a cart of strange candies and snacks. "Anything from the cart, dears?" she asked them kindly.
Applejack looked over the cart in wonder, realizing some of the candy was moving. She looked back at the other two before asking, "You two want anythin'?"
Hermione looked over it curiously but shook her head. Ron shook his head before replying, "I... uh... I brought sandwiches." Applejack smiled at him warmly, seeing much of herself in the boy. She understood having such a modest upbringing, being raised on a farm, but he didn't seem to take it as well as she did. She turned back to the lady with the cart.
"How much for three of everythin'?"
The lady worked quickly, grabbing three of each item, and handing them off to Applejack. It was only a few moments later, when the other half of Applejack's seat was filled with odd, yet tasty looking treats when she got a reply. "That'll be thirteen sickles and four knuts." Applejack hadn't even touched her stipend yet. She had actually tried to return it, but her attempt was adamantly refused, leaving her with a sack of coins she had felt guilty over having.
She pulled out a golden galleon from her bag to show the lady. "How many o' these gold thingies do Ah need?"
"Just the one, dear." She grabbed the golden galleon and returned several silver and bronze coins back, which Applejack just dropped in her bag and put away. After a quick exchange of thanks, the lady slid the door shut and continued on. Applejack figured this way a pretty good use of the money, having had all of her school supplies already provided for her. It was a little redundant, honestly. Why have the stipend if they've no need to spend it.
"Feel free to help yerselves to this, Ah bought enough for all of us."
Ron appeared scandalized. "Is that bag full of galleons?" he asked in shock, getting a nod in return. "Bloody hell..."
Hermione was equally shocked, "That has to be hundreds of pounds worth of wizarding currency."
"Oh... uh... do you two want some?" Applejack asked foolishly, still unsure what to do with it. She felt bad that she should have this money, having done nothing to earn it in the first place. Splitting it with these two would help her conscience.
"No, it's your money," Hermione denied firmly. "I'd recommend putting it away and carrying less with you though. You don't need to carry that much around with you. Even just a small handful of galleons is a bit much to carry around at once..." Applejack put away the bag, feeling a little sick about it. She hadn't known how much money this really was until now. She preferred not knowing.
The door slid open again, revealing Fluttershy and an awkward boy next to her. As she did, several chocolate frogs hopped into the cabin from the hall.
"Hello," Fluttershy greeted the group kindly yet resolutely. "Have any of you seen a toad around? Poor Neville lost his pet."
"Not until now," Applejack commented idly, looking around at the chocolate frogs hopping around the cabin. "What's with these?"
"Pinkie thought it would be funny to release hundreds of chocolate frogs around the train," Fluttershy said in possibly the angriest tone Applejack had ever heard from her, which was not very angry sounding at all. "Except they got loose in the cabin, and Neville's pet got lost in the confusion."
"Wouldn't that leave'm in the cabin? How did they get out?"
"A group of three boys opened the door to the cabin," Fluttershy muttered in irritation. "Didn't even find out what they wanted, between Pinkie and the swarm of frogs, they were scared off. Well, if you haven't seen him, I'll go keep looking."
"I'll help you look," Hermione said, jumping up from her seat. "It's just too sad losing a pet. It will go by much quicker with more people looking." She followed the other two out into the hallway before sliding the door shut behind her, leaving the other two in shocked silence.
Ron took a moment to gather up the chocolate frogs that were in the cabin, and put them with the rest of the sweets, before biting into one of them. Applejack thought it was a little weird to eat something that still moved, but she had seen enough oddities to not have her question it at this point. She herself went for one of the pastries, not being the biggest fan of candy. The two enjoyed some of the food and stared out at the fields that passed by out the window.
"So is there a house you hope you'll be sorted into?" Ron asked suddenly, breaking the silence as he grabbed a pastry for himself.
"A what?"
"Y'know, a house. I hope I'm put into Gryffindor, my whole family was put there," he continued the conversation awkwardly, appearing uncomfortable in sitting in silence. "I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be so bad either. As long as I'm not Slytherin. I've no idea how my family would react if that happened." He shuddered at the thought.
"Ah've no idea what a Slytherin or a Gryffindare is," Applejack responded honestly.
"Oh... uh... well, new students start off the year being sorted into one of four houses," he started to explain awkwardly before deciding against it. "They'll probably explain more when we get there," he finished awkwardly, labeling the attempted conversation as a failure.
The two decided to spend the time quietly, sharing the hoard of treats amassed between them, as the methodical clicking of the train on the tracks helped fill the silence, while the scenery rolled past them on the window. They were around halfway through the confections when the scenery began making a drastic change from the normal fields, finding a dense line of trees obscuring their vision in the window instead. She had no way of keeping track of the time, but several hours must have passed since the situation had happened earlier.
The two jumped at the noise as the door slid open suddenly, revealing Hermione, and a couple more chocolate frogs.
"We found him. You'll want to change into your robes now, we're almost there," she commented haughtily, taking her seat again.
"I don't have my robes," Ron replied, giving Applejack a worried look.
"She'll have finished 'em by now," Applejack responded with a small laugh. "Go down and check on her, she's prolly just makin' extra."
He stepped back into the bag nervously, still concerned about interacting with something so valuable. As he entered the large open boutique at the bottom of the stairwell, he noticed a new line of robes and various outfits beside Rarity. He stared at the line with his mouth hanging open. "Are these for me?" he asked in shock.
Rarity perked up at the voice. "Oh, there you are, darling! I was just putting the finishing touches on a few of them," she commented proudly. "Why don't you try on one of the robes." She snatched one of the robes off of the rack beside her, and began helping him into it.
"It's too small," he griped as he was fitting his arm through the sleeves.
"Oh, nonsense," Rarity countered. "Put it on first before deciding that. I made it to your measurements." He finished putting it on, and buckled a few of the silver clasps on the front. "See? Oh, you look simply divine!" She laughed at her work delightedly. "I told you it would fit fine, you're just used to baggy clothing." He stared at his reflection in the mirror in shock. He couldn't decide whether it looked more like a suit or a robe. It was comfortable to move around, leaving plenty of slack for his arms, yet still fitting snugly around his torso. These robes appeared entirely too expensive for him.
"I can't take these..." he said hoarsely. "These have to be worth a fortune."
"You can, and you will," Rarity insisted firmly. "I made them just for you, as a gift." Rarity smiled at him warmly, before gathering up the rest of the clothes she had made him. "Now take these and pack them away in your bags, these are for you too. I'll follow you up in just a moment." She took off her glasses before turning away, cleaning up her desk, and started slipping into a robe of her own.
Ron took the armful of clothes and wandered dazedly back up the stairwell.