Chapter One: Hogwarts Express

Equestria, the land of harmony and friendship, is what it is described as. Although, beneath the surface of towering buildings, ranbows, and the many celebrations, you would find something much more interesting.

A world of magic.

"You know, I doubt our appearance will help us blend in with Muggles." A tall man muttered, the slightly shorter woman beside him jabbed him in the side.

"Calling them Muggles doesn't help much, either."  She responded, although her voice didn't betray the warmth in her eyes as she looked at him. In between the two adults was a girl with evenly trimmed purple hair that boasted a streak of hot pink. The girl was pushing a cart that had a large trunk that was double her size and had a small metal cage perched on the top, with a large fluff of feathers sitting inside.

"There, Platform nine. We're close. Come on, Twilight. Shining's already on board and waiting." The man pointed in the direction of the black sign and then pointed to another that read 'Platform Ten.' There was a large space of brick wall between the two signs, several odd looking people standing and looking around, pushing trunk filled carts that matched the small girl's.

"Now, Now. Go on Flutters. No need to be worried." A sweet voice came from a short woman that was standing by the blank wall, a hardly taller man beside her. She was currently trying to usher a short, pink hair girl forward with her cart.

"Yeah, Fluttershy. Come on!" Another girl, who looked far more confident, was pushing her cart ahead of Fluttershy. Her hair was streaked with all the colors of the rainbow, like the stallion who stood nearby.

The two adults stopped near the group and Twilight peered around her trunk to see.

"W-What if I stumble, or-or bump into someone and knock their things over!?" Fluttershy squeaked, not seeming to notice the rainbow-haired one roll her eyes.

"C'mon Fluttershy, look, we're starting to hold up a line."

This remark caused the other to whip around, her extremely long hair spinning with her and her wide blue eyes looked terrified. "O-Oh no! I'm- I am so so sorry!"

"It's alright. We're not in any particular rush."

"Well, we will have to be if we don't get on that train soon!" The rainbow haired girl responded, turning and starting to push her cart at a running pace. Twilight, let out a small gasp as she approached the brick wall.

And then she fazed right through it.

"See Flutters? It's perfectly safe." Fluttershy's mother reassured, brushing back some of her large magenta curls and gently pushing her daughter towards the wall.

"H-How about those others go?" Fluttershy whispered hurriedly, glancing towards the newer arrivals to the group.

"All right." Fluttershy pulled her cart out of Twilight's way and she nodded her thanks to the shy girl before pushing forward, trying to push down her growing feeling of worry as the wall grew closer and closer, and she squeezed her eyes shut the moment before she reached the wall. When she didn't feel her body slamming into her cart as it smashed into the wall, hesitantly opened her eyes.

She immediately spotted a large scarlet steam engine, which was resting at a platform. Which was packed with many other ponies with carts and trunks, being kissed or hugged by friend and relatives before boarding the train. Twilight saw many different animals in this space as well. Cats striding around, somehow avoiding the mass of moving people that were currently ignoring the smoke that drifted over their heads from the engine.

A sign overhead read 'Hogwarts Express, Eleven o' Clock.'

Twilight's gaze however, was not kept to the sign, and rather, shifted to the rainbow haired girl from before, and now her father was approaching her.

Twilight looked around for her relatives, and began to push her cart towards the large train. She was stopped, by her parents who ran up from behind her, and wrapped her in hugs and began to remind her about things.

"Now, you better obey all the rules and don't cause any trouble, you hear me?" Her mother warned her and Twilight nodded.

"And don't forget to write, okay?" Her father asked, but before Twilight could respond, her mother had pulled out her watch,

"OH! You need to get on the train now, sweetheart."

Twilight did not object to escaping the rather loud environment and pushed her trunk into a compartment in a carriage near the back (it was very crowded in the front) with the help of her parents and she sat down in the empty booth near the window where she observed the last of the crowd that remained on the platform.

Twilight noticed that the train was beginning to move and that the crowd on the platform was entirely adults and some extremely small children. Some of them running as the train picked up speed until they could no longer keep going as the train had reached immense speeds.

Twilight was quiet, watching the houses blur past, her focus now on the new destination as her finger gently stroked the feathered ball in the cage that was sat on her lap, only to be jerked to awareness by the opening of the compartment door.

"Hey, mind if ah' sit here? I can't find a seat anywhere else."

"No, that's fine." Twilight replied, looking at the girl who had spoken. Her blonde hair was lazily tied towards the end with a red ribbon, and her face was covered in freckles.

She sat down across from Twilight, smiling as she adjusted her over sized stetson hat and then held out her hand in Twilight's direction, and Twilight politely shook it.

"Name's Apple Jack, but you can call me AJ. What's 'yers?"

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle."

"Nice ta' meet ya, Twilight. What'cha got there?"

Twilight looked down at the cage in her lap, the creature inside it was beginning to stir.

"Oh, this is Owlicious."

"Aw, he's a cute lil' guy. I have a cat, her name's Winona."

As if on cue, a cat crawled onto Apple Jack's lap, purring. The cat was mostly brown with a white chest and her paws and muzzle were also white.

"She's very cute." Twilight paused when she noticed the cat was wagging her tail like a dog. Apple Jack picked up on it.

"Can ya' keep a secret?"

"... Yes?"

"Winona ain't a cat. She's a dog. My Gran used a spell on 'er 'cause I could'n bare the thought of takin' a owl or a toad over Winona."

Twilight was quiet as she stared at the cat. This was so strange to her. She ran over all the rules that she had read over in her head, trying to figure out if turning a dog into a cat was against the rules, but she could only remember a rule about not being allowed to transfigure yourself or another person.

Not that any average first year would know how to properly use a transfigure spell.

"Aye! Winona!" Twilight was pulled out of her mind as Applejack started yelling, grabbing at her dog-turned-cat who was now sniffing at a very uneasy Owlicious, whose feathers were ruffled as he attempted to get as far away from the other animal as possible.

Twilight lifted Owlicious' cage over her head, causing Winona to stare at the cage, before her dark eyes turned to Twilight. Before a staring contest could break out, however, Apple Jack pulled her pet into her lap by the scruff of WInona's neck and began to scold her.

"Excuse me? Is this full?"

The two looked up as a girl peered through the compartment door, half of her face covered in long pink bangs. Only to duck away as a familiar girl swung the compartment door open and entered the room.

"The train's been goin' for a while now. Why are you just now findin' a seat?"

"We had a seat, but when I went to find a friend of mine but when I came back to our seats, some knucklehead kids had already taken our seats."

"I-I'm sorry Rainbow-"

"Fluttershy, stop apologizing. You tried, and that's fine." The rainbow haired girl's voice had shifted to a gentler tone but it vanished when she looked back to the others.

"Mind if we sit with you?" Fluttershy whispered and Applejack nodded to the two empty seats beside her and the two shuffled into the booth. Fluttershy was holding a large fluff ball in her hands. Due to Owlicious' sudden interest in the small creature, Twilight was sure it must be a rat.

Winona crept over to Fluttershy sniffing at the ball in her hands. Fluttershy's eyes turned to her. "No, No. You can't eat him." She whispered and Apple Jack snapped her fingers.

"Winona, come 'ere."

Fluttershy and Rainbow looked at Apple Jack as though she had just tried to summon a broomstick, but the cat didn't notice, and simply leaped over to Apple Jack's side and sat down.

"Isn't that how you call for a dog?"

Apple Jack looked up from her cat and stared at the two. However, before she could make up a reason (or tell the truth, Twilight wasn't sure which) a rather round woman appeared, pushing a cart, in the now open compartment door.

"Would you like something off the cart?"

Twilight fished around in her pockets, pulling out a small amount of coins, looking up and noticing that Rainbow had abandoned her seat to grab some of the food. Twilight got up and followed her into the corridor, and the two got as much of the food they could get.

Twilight dumped her candy into the empty space next to her seat. Rainbow was fishing around and eating some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans while Fluttershy was eating a Pumpkin Pasty, offering some to her rat who was more than happy to have some. Apple Jack was enjoying some Cauldron Cakes.

"Hey, do you have a Luna Celnis?" Rainbow Dash muttered, swallowing a mouthful of what Twilight assumed was a Chocolate Frog, due to the headless chocolate body that she was holding.

"Ya'. Do ya have a Celestia Celnis?" Apple Jack held up a card, and Rainbow Dash nodded.

"I had three, but then I gave one to Fluttershy. So I only have two now. I'll gladly give you one."

"Thanks." She said as the two swapped the cards.

"So.. Do you have any relatives in Hogwarts?" Rainbow asked, swallowing the last of her chocolate frogs.

"'Ah have plenty." Apple Jack replied, starting to gnaw on an apple tart that she had pulled out of her bag, Winona trying to lick the crumbs from her hands. "Cousins, nieces, nephews. It's in mah' family to go to Hogwarts. Mah' older brother, Macintosh, is here though, starting his fifth year."

"Wow.. My brother is here, he's starting his third year.." FlutterShy whispered, immediately finding her rat much more interesting when the others looked her way. Rainbow decided to pick up on the dropped off sentence. "His name is Zephyr Breeze... And he's a lazy-"

"Rainbow." Fluttershy hissed, not appreciating the insult to her brother.

"Well, my brother is actually here. He's starting his fifth year. He's a prefect too-"

"Your brother's a prefect?"

"Yup!"

"Wow. My dad hopes I make Captain of the Quidditch team. I honestly hope so too."

"You know you can't try out for Quidditch if you're a first year?" Twilight asked and Rainbow let out an annoyed groan.

"Yeah. It really sucks."

The compartment fell into silence as the others snacked on food and watched the countryside fly by.

"Excuse me? Has anyone seen a toad?"

Everyone turned to the door, and a pink haired girl was standing in the doorway.

"Pinkie, Dear. I doubt they would have found your toad. Gummy can't have possibly made it all the way back here."

Another girl stood behind Pinkie, her purple hair was so curled and well done, that it was unlikely to naturally look that way. She also wore blue eye shadow and crimson lipstick that made her look much older than an eleven year old would usually.

"Oh! We haven't met! Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie!" Twilight stared wide eyed as the girl seemed to apparate in front of her, shaking everyone's hand, much to Fluttershy's panic.

Winona seemed to be the only pet that wanted anything to do with the pink girl.

"Well, since we're here, my name's Rarity. Rarity Belle." Rarity walked in.

"Oh, are you... An Apple?"

"Yes. Mah' name's Apple Jack. How do you know who I am?"

"Well, I overheard someone talking about the Apples. Said something about them being everywhere an-"

"Slytherin." Rainbow hissed under her breath and Rarity looked at her.

"What?"

"I'll bet you five Knuts that those are Slytherins."

"Rainbow!" Fluttershy scolded, causing a small look of surprise from Twilight.

"Can I have some? I ate the last of my beans and frogs about twenty minutes ago." Twilight looked up at Pinkie and nodded, making room for Pinkie to sit by her.

"Sure." Honestly, Twilight felt like this girl didn't need any more sugar than what was already in her system but she didn't doubt that she wouldn't eat the rest of her candy.

"Me and my sister, Marble, are starting our first year! I hope that I get Hufflepuff like my sister Maud!" Pinkie began to speak in between mouthfuls, and Twilight took the time to play a small game with Owlicious with some of his treats.

Rarity sat down beside Pinkie, attempting to get her to use her manners and also talking to Twilight in between the lapses of silence that came from Pinkie stuffing her mouth full of sweets.

Through this, Twilight learned that Rarity was the first daughter of a pure blood witch and a (non-pure blood) wizard and that she had a younger sister (Apple Jack pointed out that she also had a younger sister, but that was the most she really said to Rarity.) As well as a cat named Opalescence, whom she had left in her other compartment.

Eventually Rarity had gone silent after she ran out of things to say about herself and her attempts to talk about fashion had failed to start a conversation. Only when Apple Jack extended a invitation to a conversation about pets did Rarity speak again, joined in by Rainbow who said her pet was a toad, although now Twilight was trying to make Pinkie's words sound coherent in her mind.

When Pinkie had exhausted her new source of sugar, she bid goodbye and vanished, shouting over her shoulder that she would talk to them as soon as possible. Rarity soon followed, inviting them to talk to her again soon. An offer that Rainbow Dash declined under her breath in a rather crude manner.

"So... What house do you guys think you'd be in?" Twilight eventually asked. The group had not encountered the subject, and now that Twilight could see the faint outline of the castle, she was starting to wonder.

"Well, most've my family is Hufflepuff. There've been a couple Gryffindor over the generations though." Apple Jack was stroking Winona, gazing out the window at the silhouette of the castle.

"I hope I'm a Gryffindor. My dad was a Gryffindor and he's says I'm a lot like him, so I bet I'll be parading about with the Captain badge for Gryffindor in a couple years."

"I don't know if I would fit in at Gryffindor.. Maybe Hufflepuff.."

"That does sound like it fits you, Fluttershy." Twilight murmured, pondering over her own future house.

"What house is your brother from?" Rainbow looked up from her book (She had pulled it out a little bit ago), which Twilight could not see the cover of.

"Gryffindor. Do you think I'd be a Gryffindor?" Rainbow shrugged.

"You could fool me."

Twilight was quiet, wondering if this was a compliment or not.

"I do know, for a fact, that I wouldn't wanna be a Slytherin." Rainbow was scowling at her book, as though a Slytherin had appeared on the page.

"Why not?" Apple Jack had raised her eyebrow.

"You know the saying. 'There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad that wasn't in Slytherin.'"

"Well that ain't a very nice saying."

"Well it's true!"

"Rainbow, that ain't true and we all know it. There've been bad wizards from every house and there must be at least one good Slytherin in that castle."

Rainbow snorted, "You just don't see it yet. You will... Just you wait." and abandoned the argument, which Twilight and Fluttershy were both grateful for.

The silence didn't last long, as Rarity had appeared once again, only this time, she was wearing dark robes, and her hair was slightly shinier.

"You lot should get your robes on. We'll be at Hogwarts soon."

Without much more than a polite wave, Rarity had vanished once again.

One by one, the group changed into their black robes and made sure they had their things all assorted when a voice echoed through the compartment.

"We will arrive at Hogwarts in about five minutes. Please leave your luggage on the train. It will be taken to the school separately."

Apple Jack's eyes widened as she looked at Winona, who was happily dozing on her lap.

"I can't jus' leave Winona 'ere. They'r-" Apple Jack was about to say more, but realized the other two were unaware of her pet's situation.

"I can't leave Angel! He'll be terrified!"

Twilight sighed, noticing the scenery outside had begun to slow down. She set Owlicious' cage down and pushed a small treat between the cage. "Be good, Owlicious. I'll see you soon."

She turned to look at the two girls who were arguing about their pets, Rainbow trying to squeeze past them.

Now to convince them to leave their pets on the train.

Twilight did her best to run, trying not to trip over her robes as she did. The other three were close behind her, Rainbow taking up the rear as though the other two would spin around and try to grab the pets they had left in the compartment.

They stopped near the back of a large crowd which had swarmed around the front door as the train stopped and the crowd made their way out to the platform.

Twilight's body shuddered as the temperature gave a dramatic drop, matching the dark and cold tones of the sky above them. Everyone gave a collective murmur of joy as a towering man walked over, holding a warm-looking lamp.

"First years? First years over here!" He began to wave around until the crowd had split in two. When it had, the man turned and began to lead the first years off the platform, continuing to repeatedly warn them to watch their step as they walked down what they could only assume was a very narrow pathway, which they could not see past due to how dark it was everywhere else.

Everyone was quiet during this time, some were complaining about the cold, but other than that, it was silent.

"A little further." The man called as they turned a bend, and the man stopped, lowering his lantern as the group of first years all gaped at the sight before them.

The path opened to the edge of a lake, which looked nothing more than a lake size pit full of shiny tar. Atop a mountain on the other side witch shining windows, perched a castle.

Everyone approached the boats at the edge of the boat, pushing and shoving to try and get there first.

"No pushing! I don't want to have to haul any of you out of the lake and I doubt you don't wanna get in trouble on your first night at Hogwarts for hurting somebody. AND ONLY FOUR PER BOAT!"

Twilight smiled, watching a large group of chattering kids who had rethought the idea of all piling into one boat and upsetting the man.

Twilight saw Apple Jack waving from a boat which was already mostly full with Rainbow and Fluttershy, and she jumped in before someone else took her place.

"Everybody ready? Alright, off we go!"

The boats began to move towards the castle, as if they all were attached to invisible strings that kept them going forward. The lake remained undisturbed beneath them, like a mirror of the night sky.

The only sound were the hushed whispers of some of the students and the crickets that likely surrounded the area, and Twilight was pleased with the silence, staring up and studying the large silhouette, some details showing up in the moonlight, and most drowned out by the shadows cast by it.

"Heads down!"

Twilight ducked as they approached the cliff, having momentarily been caught up in the sight. She felt Apple Jack shiver beside her as ivy, which was draped over a large gap in the cliff face, brushed the top of her head.

Their boats continued down a dark tunnel, until they eventually reached something resembling a harbor, or as close as it could get underground.

Twilight followed as Rainbow and Apple Jack climbed out, their feet shifting rocks and pebbles as they climbed up the shore.

"Yeah, he was hiding in my bag when I found him!" Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie, happily talking to some stallion she had never seen, but he definitely had a similar hair style.

"Gummy is a sly little toad, he is."

Twilight spun around as someone grabbed her arm - Apple Jack - and began to pull her in the direction that everyone was heading, which was a passageway that the man had revealed with his lamp.

They passed over some damp grass, still in a rather strange silence as they had been in during the boat ride, and made their way up a flight of stone stairs.

Twilight was spending this time studying the castle, which was slightly more detailed now that she was very close to it.

The group stopped in front of an enormous oak door, and the man took a quick look around, counting his followers, before turning, raising a fist, and knocking on the oak door.