Chapter 6
The Backdoor to Equestria
After a short walk through the jungle and over the bridge that Twilight had built across a gorge, the Equestria Girls arrived at a small clearing with a pit full of sand. But just before any of them stepped forward into the clearing, Sunset held out her arm to block the path. “The first time we were here,” cautioned Sunset, “we barely survived being attacked by a giant plant monster before we stumbled across the portal to Equestria. We’d better deal with it for good so we don’t have to worry about it when we come back.”
Fluttershy immediately took a few steps back and whimpered fearfully.
“Did that plant monster attack when you came back as well?” asked Spike.
“Actually, we never really saw it on our return trip,” noted Twilight, “though that might’ve been because we were in such a rush to save all of you on the ship.”
“Either way,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “let’s spread out and search the area. If any of you find that plant monster, let us know so we can get rid of it.”
The girls all cautiously began searching in different directions, watching carefully for any suspicious activity in the surrounding vegetation. For a few minutes, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for a jungle environment.
“Hey!” Applejack suddenly spoke up. “Ah think Ah found your plant monster! Or at least, what’s left of it…”
Sunset quickly walked over to where Applejack was and pushed aside some foliage. There on the jungle ground was what appeared to be the shriveled up remains of a rather enormous flower-like plant with a bunch of dried vines spread out in all directions. As the rest of her friends began to gather around, Sunset noted, “Well, looks like we won’t have to worry about that plant monster, after all.”
Twilight stepped forward and inspected the remains herself for a moment, then glanced at the Staff of Sacanas in Sunset’s hand. “This is only a hypothesis,” explained Twilight, “but if that monstrous lifeform was fueled by the same dark magic that was behind the storm, then it’s possible that when this staff absorbed the entire storm, it might have also drained that magic from this plant, rendering it effectively powerless.”
“Whatever happened, I’m just glad we now won’t have that obstacle in our way,” remarked Rainbow Dash.
“So I guess now we just have to find that portal,” noted Spike. He glanced back at the small clearing, then turned to Sunset and asked, “Where is it?”
Sunset led her friends back out into the clearing and replied, “It’s inside that pit, hidden under all that sand.”
As everyone turned to stare at the pit of sand, Fluttershy asked, “Um… do we just dive right in, or…?”
Before Sunset had a chance to reply, Pinkie Pie suddenly leaped into the air and cheerfully screamed, “Cannonball!” She grabbed her legs and held them close to her body before she plummeted into the middle of the sandpit. As she plunged through the sand, not only did it send sand spraying all over the place, but also a bright golden light briefly flashed from within the pit. When the light faded and the sand settled — in some cases, landing atop the other girls in a big mess — Pinkie was nowhere to be found.
Rainbow chuckled as she quickly brushed off the sand from atop her head and arms and remarked, “I guess that’s one way to do it.” She more quietly added, “Totally much better than thinking you’re about to drown in quicksand.” As she then glanced around and saw the others just standing around and brushing sand off themselves, she excitedly spoke up, “What are you waiting for? Let’s go!” She then dove into the sandpit like it was a swimming hole and, just like Pinkie, vanished within a burst of golden light.
Applejack turned to Sunset and asked, “Is it really that easy?”
Sunset just smiled and gestured to proceed towards the hidden portal.
Applejack stared at the sandpit with uncertainty for a moment, then simply shrugged and jumped right in.
“All right, who’s next?” asked Spike.
Rarity and Fluttershy glanced at each other briefly, then Fluttershy hesitantly said, “Well… I did volunteer for this, so…” She took a deep breath, then ran towards the sandpit and jumped into the hidden portal.
Rarity turned to the others and asked, “Was it really too much trouble to sweep away all that sand in there?”
Sunset, Twilight, and Spike all gave Rarity incredulous glares.
Rarity sighed and reluctantly grumbled, “Fine, if you insist.” She stepped over to the edge of the pit, looked down at the sandy surface as she nervously gulped, and then finally jumped into the portal hidden within that sand.
“Well, see ya on the other side,” remarked Spike before he ran over to the pit and quickly jumped in as well.
“After you, Twilight,” offered Sunset with a smile.
Twilight smiled back and stated, “At least this time, we know what to expect.” She then walked over to the sandpit and, without any hesitation, jumped in through the hidden portal.
Sunset glanced down at the staff in her hands and — well aware of what would happen after passing through — decided to instead hold it against her chest with her forearms. She then ran toward the sandpit and jumped into the hidden interdimensional portal, which briefly gave off one final golden glow as the last of the group passed through it.
Inside a certain dark cave within the Everfree Forest of Equestria, the interdimensional portal on the cavern wall suddenly gave off a bright golden light as the first of the group of travelers arrived.
Pinkie Pie flew out of the portal and tumbled along the ground until she eventually came to rest down on her front. She groaned at the slight headache she had received and muttered, “Maybe I shouldn’t do that for anything that’s not water.”
Another bright flash of golden light signaled the next arrival. Rainbow Dash immediately tried flapping her wings to stay airborne, but without any visual references in this dark cave, she quickly lost balance and fell to the rocky ground. She grunted as she stood up on all four legs and grumbled, “I could’ve totally stuck that landing if I could actually see where I was going.”
Just seconds later, Applejack was flung out of the portal, who then tumbled a little along the ground and quickly came to rest on her front. A few more seconds later, Fluttershy was the next to arrive, who tumbled along the ground and came to rest on her back right beside Applejack.
Next through the portal was Rarity, who wailed as she was flung out, then tumbled along the ground and landed atop both Fluttershy and Applejack. “I sure hope there isn’t any sand in my hair,” muttered Rarity as she used her right hand to feel through her hair, only to quickly realize through touch that it was now a hoof instead of a hand.
Spike was the next one to come tumbling out of the portal. He was brought to a stop beside Fluttershy by accidentally head-butting Rarity’s rear end.
Rarity immediately yelped in pain as she reflexively leaped off of Fluttershy and Applejack. Once she hit the ground, she rubbed her rear end and complained, “Goodness! That felt like I just got struck in the posterior with a knife!”
Spike stood up and rubbed his head. This made him quickly discover the spines along his dragon cranium, to which he muttered in confusion, “Huh? Did I just suddenly get a razor-sharp mohawk?”
As Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity all struggled to stand up, the portal glowed brightly again as Twilight was flung out. She tumbled along the ground and ended up knocking over Spike, starting a domino reaction that also sent Fluttershy, then Applejack, then Rarity, then Rainbow Dash, and then finally Pinkie Pie all collapsing to the ground.
A bright golden light briefly flashed from the interdimensional portal one last time as Sunset was flung out and landed directly atop Twilight. She released her hold of the Staff of Sacanas so she could get off her friend. “Why do these portals always have to fling us out on the first few uses?” she grumbled as she stood up on her hooves and finally used her unicorn magic to illuminate the large cavern.
“Whoa. Talk about putting on the red light,” remarked Spike as he and the girls saw everything around them illuminated in the reddish-orange glow of Sunset’s magical aura. With the exception of Sunset, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash, they all looked at each other in astonishment at their new fully organic equine forms, then began to more closely examine themselves.
Pinkie looked back at her tail as she flailed it around. She then giggled and excitedly exclaimed, “Look at me! I’ve got a big poofy tail!” She then flipped around and started bouncing atop that tail like a coiled spring. “Boingy, boingy, boingy!”
As soon as Rarity got a good look at herself, she immediately shrieked and swiftly used her forelegs to cover her chest and the area between her rear legs. “The least you could’ve done was warn us about our sudden state of undress upon crossing over!” she shouted furiously at Sunset.
“Least Ah got to keep mah hat,” remarked Applejack with a smile. She then frowned as she quietly added, “Though Ah could’ve sworn Ah left it packed in mah bags…”
“Can we at least find a way out of this cave?” asked Fluttershy worriedly. “I-I don’t like dark places…”
“No problem!” assured Rainbow Dash. “Just follow me!” she began to run towards where she remembered the way out was located, but quickly tripped over herself. “Right, should probably take it a little more slowly for now,” she muttered under her breath as she got back up and proceeded at an easier to control walking pace.
While Sunset — levitating the staff along beside her — and Twilight were quick to keep up with Rainbow, the rest of the girls struggled in various ways to get up and walk around on all four legs.
Spike chuckled and smugly remarked, “Good thing I’m still able to use two legs on this side of the portal.”
“No need to rub it in,” grumbled Applejack before she tripped over herself and fell flat on her face.
After some more hobbling around on their hooves, the four novice girls-turned-mares gradually began to move around more smoothly. Pinkie Pie was very quick to figure out the four-legged walk, with Fluttershy also soon getting the hang of it after only a few tries. Applejack fell over the most before she finally got used to it, while Rarity was more distracted by other features — mostly the lack of clothes on everyone — that caused her to struggle for a while. By the time everyone in the group was walking together rather comfortably, they began to see daylight coming from the exit out of the cave.
Sunset shut off her illumination spell as she and her friends approached the cave entrance. Once they came around the final corner, they saw the thick forest landscape that surrounded the cave entrance, but what really caught everyone’s attention was that a certain someone — or rather, somepony — was standing right in front of the entrance, as if she had been expecting them to arrive.
“Welcome back, Sunset!” greeted Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. With an amused smile on her face, she glanced at the others in the group and added, “And if I’m not mistaken, it seems you decided to bring along all of your friends this time.”
“Yeah, well, they all got curious for an opportunity to see this world for themselves,” explained Sunset contently.
“How did you know we would even be here at this specific time?” asked Lego Twilight.
“I knew you would have to return the Staff of Sacanas,” explained Princess Twilight, “but I couldn’t be sure which portal you would ultimately use, so I decided to place an enchantment upon this cave so that if anything ever travels in or out of it, I would be immediately alerted so I could come over as quickly as possible.”
“Yeah, that’s one reason why we’re here,” acknowledged Sunset as she levitated the staff over to Princess Twilight, who then grasped it with her own magical aura. “The other reason requires using the other portal — the one we’ve already known about for years now.”
“And it’s a good thing you’re here,” added Rainbow Dash excitedly, “because now we don’t have to worry about sneaking through the middle of town all over again. You can just teleport us directly to the other portal!”
“I’d be more than happy to help,” agreed Princess Twilight with a smile and a nod.
“Wait, did she just say ‘teleport’?” asked Spike.
Before anyone had a chance to answer Spike’s question, Princess Twilight’s horn glowed and with sharp burst of magenta magic, she and the entire group from the Lego World suddenly vanished from the forest.
In the throne room of Princess Twilight’s castle, native Spike had finally finished setting up that large painting on the wall and was now climbing down from atop the ladder he had used to reach it. As soon as he reached the floor, the sudden pop and crackle of a teleportation spell startled him into accidentally knocking over the ladder, which in turn knocked the painting off the wall and sent it crashing to the floor.
Most of the group from the Lego World was astonished to find themselves suddenly transported to a completely different location in practically the blink of an eye. After shaking off the brief disorientation from the teleportation, many of them glanced around the room in awe — with the exception of Sunset, Rainbow, and both Twilights, who were previously all together in this room only hours ago.
“Really, Twilight?” grumbled native Spike as he frowned and crossed his arms. “You just had to do that right at that exact moment?”
Twilight glanced over to her world’s Spike and noticed the painting down on the floor. “Sorry about that,” she responded calmly. “In my defense, I had no way of knowing.”
“Whoa…” muttered Lego Spike as he stared at his interdimensional counterpart just a few feet away. “Is that what I really look like right now?”
“Whoa…” responded dragon Spike in just as much surprise and wonder as his virtually identical counterpart. “It’s like looking in the mirror… which, I guess would answer your question.”
“Wow,” remarked Lego Spike in astonishment. “When I was told you were a dragon, I expected something that wasn’t quite so… round.”
Dragon Spike glared at his counterpart and sharply responded, “Really? That’s the first thing you have to say about us?”
Before the two Spikes could potentially start an argument, Princess Twilight awkwardly smiled as she immediately spoke up, “So anyway, girls, you said you came here to access the other portal between our worlds, so how about I take you over to it right now?”
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Sunset.
Princess Twilight used her magic to open the doors out of the throne room towards the back part of the castle and began to walk towards it, but suddenly stopped after just a few steps and said, “Oh! But first…” With the Staff of Sacanas still within her magical grasp, she levitated it over towards the table in the middle of the room and wrapped it up in its cloth wrapping as she explained, “I’ll just set this down right here and put it back into its proper storage later.”
“Are you sure that’s safe?” asked Lego Twilight with concern.
“Very sure of it,” assured Princess Twilight as she set down the wrapped staff on the table. “While I acknowledge there’s an immense amount of power stored within that staff, only alicorn magic is capable of releasing that power, and in case you haven’t noticed, you happen to be looking at the only alicorn in all of Ponyville right now.”
As Princess Twilight led the group of ponies — and two identical dragons — down the hallway, Rarity spoke up, “Now that you mention it, Princess Twilight, while both you and our Twilight possessed wings whenever we ponied up in the Lego World, I couldn’t help but notice the absence of such wings on our Twilight on this side of the interdimensional portal.”
“As I already shared with Twilight, Sunset, and Rainbow,” explained Princess Twilight, “I was actually born as a unicorn and later was granted these wings after I completed an ancient magic spell, so it makes sense that the other Twilight would by default be a unicorn while visiting Equestria.” She frowned as she continued, “What does confuse me is why her so-called ‘ponied up’ form in the Lego World would even possess such wings. Is it possible that the residual magic from the Elements of Harmony brought to your world by me and Sunset would express the Element of Magic in exclusively the form of an alicorn?”
“I’m not sure if it’s related,” Lego Twilight spoke up, “but I’ve also noticed that we seem to lack our magical geodes on this side of the interdimensional portal. Does this mean we can’t access our special magical abilities while we’re in Equestria?”
“From what I’ve heard about Princess Twilight’s friends,” noted Sunset, “it’s possible at least some of those abilities are more of a natural part of them rather than some special superpower, so maybe it’s a little redundant to have such magic in a world that’s already full of magic.”
“So you’re saying the other me might find my super speed to be something she could easily do without anything to help her?” asked Rainbow Dash in disappointment.
“She’s capable of flying at supersonic speed, so I’d say yes,” replied Princess Twilight. She kept her gaze ahead as she thought aloud, “I’ll have to do some research on what this could mean.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” stated Sunset. “Remember, I mentioned months ago in our journal messages about how I seem to possess a seventh Element of Harmony.”
“The one you call Empathy,” noted Princess Twilight. “I still haven’t been able to figure out how it fits in with the Elements of Harmony as I know them here in Equestria.”
“Sunset once mentioned to me that Equestrian Magic doesn’t seem to obey the same laws as it does in Equestria,” Lego Twilight pointed out. “Perhaps you just need to look at things from a different point of view.”
“Perhaps…” acknowledged Princess Twilight. Before she could continue that thought, she realized they had now reached a certain point in a certain hallway, so she stopped and said, “Anyway, here’s where I keep the portal to your world.”
Most of the group looked around in confusion. “Uh, where?” asked Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow.
Sunset giggled and asked Princess Twilight, “May I? I know the secret knock.”
Princess Twilight slightly pushed in a certain block in the wall and smiled as she stepped aside and replied, “Go right ahead.”
Sunset walked over to that block and then tapped her hoof against the surrounding blocks in a specific order — top left, top middle, top right, a brief pause, bottom right, bottom middle, and bottom left. Once that secret knock was completed, the stone blocks that made up the wall began to magically move on their own, grinding against each other as they shifted around. It took only seconds for the wall to completely part aside like a curtain, exposing a hidden room on the other side that contained nothing more than a large mirror with all kinds of mystical machinery connected to it.
“This is the Crystal Mirror,” stated Princess Twilight proudly, “the original interdimensional portal between Equestria and the Lego World. I’m sure you’re already familiar with what the portal looks like on your side, but this is what we have on Equestria’s side of the portal.”
“Wow…” muttered Lego Twilight in awe as she approached the complex machinery surrounding the mirror. “I’ve never seen any technology quite like this.” She turned back to her Equestrian counterpart and asked, “Did you build this yourself?”
“I actually called in a mechanical expert to assemble that,” admitted Princess Twilight, “but the scientific and magical concepts that make it all function were entirely my idea.”
“How does it work?” asked Rarity.
“I understand most of you aren’t interested in all the technical operations behind this apparatus,” began Princess Twilight.
“Obviously,” grumbled Rainbow Dash as she rolled her eyes.
“So I’ll just briefly summarize the key aspect,” continued Princess Twilight, before she pointed at the top of the mirror. “See that book mounted on top of the mirror? That’s the other magic journal connected to Sunset’s first magic journal. Because those two journals are permanently linked regardless of how far apart they are, I’m able to use that magic link to force this portal open, permitting access between our worlds at any time rather than the natural restriction of only a single three-day period every thirty moons.”
“Could you turn it on?” asked Pinkie Pie as she hopped in place excitedly. “I wanna see what it looks like!”
Princess Twilight giggled and replied, “Sure thing. All I have to do is provide some magical energy to get it started.” She quickly charged up magical energy in her horn and released it onto the magic journal. Everyone watched in awe as that magenta magical energy was first absorbed by a pair of coils on either side of the journal, then flowed through a series of wires, forced into a box with a pair of pistons that pumped up and down alternatingly, flattened out and weaved through a loom, and built up in the pair of rods on either side of the mirror until it finally discharged directly into the mirror itself. A bright flash of light briefly erupted from the mirror, then faded to reveal the glass was now replaced with a swirling vortex.
Applejack let out a long whistle and remarked, “Now that there’s mighty impressive.”
“So if we step through that, we would end up in front of that statue pedestal in City Park in Canterlot City?” asked Fluttershy.
“And turn back into Lego minifigs, as well,” confirmed Sunset.
“Now, if you don’t mind me asking,” Princess Twilight spoke up, “is there any particular reason why you girls came to Equestria to access this portal?”
“Oh! Right, I guess we didn’t get a chance to explain everything,” responded Lego Twilight.
Sunset stepped forward and explained, “Long story short, although we cleared the magic storm with that staff, the ship got damaged and was sinking by the time we reached it, so we all worked together to rescue everyone on board and bring them to shore on the island where that other portal is located. Everyone is safe, but that island is completely isolated, and apparently very little-known, so we’re now essentially stranded there.”
“With no way to call in a rescue team,” continued Lego Twilight, “that left us with only two options on how to get everyone home. One is that we take advantage of the other portal on that island to bring them all here and send them all through there.” She gestured at the portal in the Crystal Mirror. “But let’s face it, getting over a hundred minifigs to go through a portal that turns them all into ponies, then bring them all discretely across town to this place so we can send them all home is practically too absurd to realistically pull off.”
“I have to agree with your assessment on that,” said Princess Twilight. “Even with my offer to teleport you to avoid wandering through Ponyville, casting all those teleportation spells for so many minifigs-turned-ponies would be too exhausting for me.” She then raised an eyebrow and asked, “And the other option?”
Lego Twilight held up her right foreleg — to which her Jump-Gate return device was still attached — and proudly answered, “Jump-Gate!” Then her expression fell as she continued, “Unfortunately, the Power Crystal that powers it needs to be replaced. I happen to have a few spares back at my apartment, but in order to reach it…”
“You have to resort to the first option, anyway,” concluded Princess Twilight.
“But as you can see, we didn’t bring anyone else with us,” Sunset pointed out. “The plan we’ve agreed upon is for just our group to retrieve the replacement Power Crystal, then go back to the island and proceed with the second option.”
“Aww, do we really have to leave already?” asked Pinkie sadly. “I really wanted to see more of what Equestria is like!”
“We don’t all have to leave right now,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “That portal leads to Canterlot City, our home town that we’re all familiar with. We could send just one of us to get that Power Crystal, while the rest of us can stay here and have more fun!”
Sunset smiled and replied, “That’s actually not a bad idea.”
“Though that does beg the question,” Rarity spoke up. “Which one of us shall make that journey?”
Everyone in the room considered that thought for a moment, but then the seven Equestria Girls all turned to the two Spikes standing next to each other.
“What?” asked dragon Spike in confusion.
Lego Spike, on the other hand, immediately understood the unspoken suggestion. “Oh, come on!” he complained. “Why do I have to be the errand boy?”
“Because it just wouldn’t be fair to ask any of my friends to miss out on whatever the rest of us would do while we wait,” explained Lego Twilight.
“But Twilight—!” protested Lego Spike.
“Just do it,” scolded Lego Twilight, “or I’m revoking your video game privileges for the next two weeks.”
“Aww, no fair!” whined Lego Spike as he stomped his foot, then marched towards the mirror portal as he grumbled furiously under his breath.
After Lego Spike passed through the portal to Canterlot City in the Lego World, dragon Spike scratched the side of his head in confusion and asked, “Video game?”
Lego Twilight turned to her Equestrian counterpart and remarked with a smile, “If that’s not a thing in this world, then consider yourself very lucky.”
Princess Twilight laughed awkwardly for a few seconds, then cleared her throat and spoke up, “So anyway, other me, I know you’re excited to learn more about teleportation as I know it, but I’m equally curious about this Jump-Gate device you claim to have invented.” She grasped Lego Twilight’s foreleg to more closely examine the device attached to it. “I don’t think anything quite like it even exists anywhere in Equestria.”
“Oh, this is just the return device,” explained Lego Twilight with enthusiasm. “The really interesting part is the gateway itself, which…” She glanced over at the Crystal Mirror and its surrounding mechanical apparatus. “Well, come to think of it, kinda works a lot like the mirror portal you’ve got set up here, except the destination on the other side is not a permanently fixed point. All you have to do is enter a set of coordinates into the control panel — or alternatively you could quickly select from a list of saved coordinates — and in only a matter of seconds, it’ll grant you instant access to practically any location in the universe.”
“How versatile!” remarked Princess Twilight. “Though considering you’ve specified ‘universe’, I take it locations in Equestria might be beyond its maximum reach?”
Lego Twilight nodded and acknowledged, “It’s a little unrealistic to expect something so dependent on a specific set of physical laws to somehow be capable of transcending dimensional boundaries.”
“Then perhaps I could try developing a version that would work for this universe,” suggested Princess Twilight excitedly. “I mean, we’re interdimensional counterparts, so if you could do it, then theoretically, so can I.”
Lego Twilight scoffed and playfully argued, “Good luck with that! Rocket science is child’s play compared to Jump-Gate technology. The user’s manual I wrote for it is over six hundred pages long.”
“Sounds like my kind of reading material,” retorted Princess Twilight in a tone that implied she was eager to accept the challenge.
Rainbow Dash loudly cleared her throat. Once she had the attention of both Twilights, she irritably said, “As much as I’m sure you two would love to spend all day talking science stuff, the rest of us would rather do something much more exciting than just listen to the two of you go on and on about it.”
The rest of the Equestria girls muttered in agreement, though they tried to be more tactful of how they spoke.
The two Twilights looked to each other, then simultaneously giggled in embarrassment.
Hoping to discuss something a little more interesting for everyone, Sunset spoke up, “By the way, Princess Twilight, when Rainbow, Twilight, and I first came here, I noticed there was some construction work going on practically right next door to your castle. Any idea what that’s all about?”
Princess Twilight smiled and replied, “That’s going to be the School of Friendship, which I’m planning to have open within a few months.”
“A school of friendship?” asked Rainbow Dash as she tilted her head in confusion.
“Never heard of somethin’ like that before,” muttered Applejack.
“Would you care to elaborate for us, darling?” asked Rarity.
“I know it sounds a little unorthodox at first glance,” acknowledged Princess Twilight, “but I can assure you there is a strong practical reason behind my decision to establish such an institute. You see, when Canterlot was invaded by the Storm King — he’s the one whose residual magic created that storm you girls were recently faced with, by the way — my friends and I were forced to seek help from beyond the borders of Equestria. Although we were eventually successful in making some new friends who helped us defeat the Storm King, the process was not easy by any means. That experience really opened my eyes to the fact that while friendship and harmony is plentiful here in Equestria, the creatures who inhabit the other realms of this world seem to significantly lack any understanding of such concepts. It is my hope that by teaching these values to students from all over Equestria and the lands beyond, it will be much easier to establish friendly relationships between these realms, which would not only reduce the number of potential adversaries, but also make us all more resilient against any would-be enemies who might still be out there.”
“Wow,” remarked Sunset with a smile. “That idea actually kinda reminds me of what we already do as members of the LEGO Team.”
“We do a lot more than just go out and fight as a team to defeat any major threats,” explained Lego Twilight. “We also work on establishing good relations, maintaining trust between the regions, and helping each other to realize the full potential of our various talents.”
“We build on each other!” declared Pinkie Pie excitedly. “That’s the team’s slogan!”
“Interesting…” muttered Princess Twilight with an intrigued look on her face. “I wonder if I could incorporate some aspects of the LEGO Team into my school’s curriculum…”
“Do you have any potential teachers in mind for your upcoming establishment?” asked Rarity.
“Absolutely!” confirmed Princess Twilight. “My friends and I will be teaching these students all the friendship lessons that we’ve learned on our own over the last few years.”
“Seriously?” asked Rainbow Dash skeptically. “If the other me is anywhere nearly as awesome as I am, there’s no way she would agree to take on a teaching job.”
“I’ll admit, some of my friends have been a little reluctant about that specific aspect of my idea,” acknowledged Princess Twilight, “but I’m confident there’s nopony else I would trust more to teach these lessons to the students who are eager to learn all they can about friendship.”
“If you’re so sure about that…” muttered Applejack doubtfully.
“By the way,” Sunset spoke up, “since you said this school of yours will be open to creatures from beyond Equestria, I have to ask: Would you accept any possible students from the Lego World?”
Princess Twilight looked up and away as she pondered that thought. After thinking it over for a moment, she turned back to Sunset and replied, “Probably not the very first year, due to the fact that there are still very few in this world who are aware that the Lego World even exists, but once I can think of a way to sensibly inform others about the presence of the Lego World, I think it would be worth considering the possibility of accepting students from there as well.”
“I suppose that’s a fair assessment,” noted Rarity.
“I’m not yet sure how exactly I should reveal the Lego World to all of Equestria,” continued Princess Twilight as she began to smile, “but I do have something related that you girls might be interested in taking a look at.”
The seven Equestria Girls all simultaneously said various words of agreement.
Princess Twilight giggled at that enthusiasm and said, “All right, then. Come with me and I’ll show you.”
Princess Twilight began to lead the minifigs-turned-ponies down the hallways when Spike — the dragon version who was still with the group — spoke up, “Hey! Wait!” Once everyone stopped and turned to him, he gestured at the still-open interdimensional portal to the Lego World and asked, “What about the mirror portal right here?”
“Oh! Right!” noted Princess Twilight as she turned back to look at the Crystal Mirror. “I forgot about that.” She paused as she reminded herself that the other Spike would eventually return through this portal, so shutting it off was not an option at this time. She turned to the Spike she was familiar with and asked, “Could you wait here until the other Spike returns, and then bring him over to us?”
“Aw, c’mon, Twilight,” whined Spike. “It’s bad enough the other you sent the other me to go fetch something, and now you’re asking me to miss out on stuff, too?”
“You’ve already seen what I’m about to show them,” Princess Twilight pointed out. “Trust me, you won’t be missing out on much.”
Spike sighed and reluctantly said, “Fine, I’ll wait here…”
Princess Twilight smiled and thanked Spike, then turned and began to lead the others down the hallway. As she began walking, she called back, “And don’t forget to shut off the portal and close the secret door after the other Spike arrives.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it,” grumbled Spike.
Princess Twilight smiled in satisfaction and led her friends from the Lego World through the hallways of her castle. After a few minutes, she arrived at what appeared to be just another of the many doors along the confusing hallways, but she knew this particular room was very special. As she opened the door, she proudly stated, “I call this the Gallery of Creativity.” She then walked inside and beckoned the seven Equestria Girls to follow her.
The visitors from the Lego World muttered words of awe and wonder as they entered the room and looked around. This room was filled with numerous large display cases, and contained within each of these glass cases with crystal bases were all kinds of landscapes built out of very small Lego bricks and pieces. Some cases contained small sections of a city skyline, while others were of places that were more out in the wilderness. But one thing that all of these Lego models had in common was the presence of minifigs in various poses to portray some kind of dynamic scene.
“What you see here are small-scale models depicting all kinds of moments you girls have had on your numerous adventures in the Lego World,” explained Princess Twilight. “I was inspired by the stained glass windows in Canterlot Castle that represent major events in Equestria, including some of the more notable heroic deeds my friends and I have accomplished. After playing a significant role in your first two major adventures, I was convinced that you girls also deserved some kind of display to represent the significant events you were involved in. Since everything in your world is built out of plastic parts that perfectly fit together, I felt that assembling these small-scale models would be the most appropriate way to depict all these events.”
“Wow…” said Sunset in awe. “Starlight once mentioned this project of yours to me, but to actually see it all completely assembled like this… I’m really impressed, Twilight.”
“I bet this must’ve taken you hundreds of hours over a few months to build all of this,” remarked Lego Twilight.
“Believe me, the hard part was creating all those little plastic pieces in the first place,” noted Princess Twilight. “Equestria doesn’t exactly have the industrial capability to manufacture so much plastic, but thanks to all those books I had brought home with me at the end of my second visit to the Lego World — along with a little help from Starlight — I was able to figure out a way to reliably mass-produce the thousands of Lego parts in all the shapes, sizes, and colors that I needed to pull this off. From there, it was simply a matter of getting creative with putting all the pieces together.”
“I must say, Princess Twilight, you did a remarkably outstanding job with these display models,” complimented Rarity as she looked over one display that resembled the Dark Forest encampment they had once spent a few days and nights at. “Especially impressive, considering you weren’t around to personally witness the vast majority of these depicted events.”
“You’ve said it!” agreed Pinkie cheerfully as she hopped over to another one of the displayed models. “Look at this one! It has Sunset, Trixie, and Wallflower during their epic car chase through the streets of Lego City!”
“And this one shows that time we fought against the Shadowbolts on Dinosaur Island,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I always loved that place.”
Applejack looked over another model as she chuckled and remarked, “You even did a good job of recreating that moment we stopped Vignette Valencia at that amusement park.”
“You should see the one with Starlight Glimmer in it,” Rainbow Dash spoke up as she pointed at the model she was looking at. “It even shows her flying away on that giant kite she built!”
Sunset browsed through some of the displays and eventually stopped at one that especially caught her attention. This model displayed Canterlot City under attack by Midnight Sparkle and all the citizens were fighting back with whatever crazy vehicles they had created. Seeing that particular event displayed in that particular way bought back certain memories to her. Certain troubling memories that she had been trying to suppress over the months and years since that event. After all… this wasn’t the first time she had seen this specific moment from this kind of perspective…
“Sunset?” asked Princess Twilight with concern as she walked over to stand beside her.
Sunset snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Princess Twilight. “Sorry, Twilight,” responded Sunset. “It’s just…” She turned her attention back to the cityscape with Midnight Sparkle in it. “This one in particular brought back certain memories. Not exactly bad memories, but… let’s just say it was an experience that I hope no one else from either of our worlds will ever witness.”
Lego Twilight overheard the conversation, so she walked over to join them and asked, “This is about what you saw on the other side of the Infinite Abyss of Nothingness, isn’t it?”
Sunset sighed and nodded in response.
“The Infinite Abyss of Nothingness?” asked Princess Twilight as she tilted her head in confusion.
“It’s a mysterious place I stumbled across not long after I invented the Jump-Gate,” explained Lego Twilight. “I speculated that it was some kind of portal to another realm of existence, but was never able to obtain any conclusive evidence. But during that, um… Midnight Sparkle incident, she was forced to jump through it to retrieve something very important. She recovered the object and safely returned, but what she experienced over there… well, all she ever told me is that it brought about a rather severe existential crisis.”
“Oh, Sunset,” said Princess Twilight softly as she hugged Sunset. “I had no idea you were suffering so much.”
“I never wanted any of you to worry,” insisted Sunset. “The only reason the other Twilight even knows that much is because we were once trapped in a cave and got into a rather heated argument.”
“But I’m your friend,” assured Princess Twilight. “If there’s ever anything bothering you, you can count on me to listen to everything.”
Sunset chuckled and dryly remarked, “Believe me, this is the kind of knowledge that, once you learn it, you’ll wish you never knew about it. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, it’s for the best that I never share that experience with anyone.” She then smiled and added, “Besides, I’m the one who can read minds. If anyone is capable of handling this kind of burden, it’s me.”
“If you’re sure about that,” said Princess Twilight uneasily. “Just remember, I’ll always be here for you if you ever need a friend to help you out.” She then gave Sunset another hug.
“Of that, I have no doubts at all,” assured Sunset as she returned the hug.
Once Sunset and Princess Twilight released their embrace, Lego Twilight glanced around and asked, “So which one of these displays would you consider to be your favorite?”
“Oh, that’s an easy one,” replied Princess Twilight as she walked over to another cityscape model, within which was a depiction of a large red and yellow mech stomping around through the streets. “I’m especially fond of this one, not because of what it is, but rather for the fact that it was Sunset’s very first custom creation, and therefore symbolizing just how much she had improved herself after everything she had previously been through.”
“Oh yeah, the Titan,” noted Sunset contently with a chuckle as she followed the two Twilights to the model of that giant mech she had built to help defeat the Dazzlings. “I remember that.”
Princess Twilight and her friends from the Lego World continued to browse the gallery for nearly an hour. After a while, they noticed the two Spikes arrive and enter the room, one of whom seemed to have some kind of red fanny pack around his waist, and the other was wearing a red cap on his head with the word “LEGO” in its familiar shape and color embroidered on the front.
“Whoa…” said the Spike with a fanny pack in awe. “So this is the Gallery of Creativity…”
“Pretty impressive, isn’t it?” remarked the Spike with a cap smugly. “Believe me, a lot of late nights went into putting all of this together, but you can’t deny how awesome the results are.”
Lego Twilight walked over to the two Spikes and, recognizing the fanny pack being worn by the one on the right, approached that Spike and said, “Glad to see you made it back, Spike. Do you have that Power Crystal?”
“Yup. Got it right here,” replied right Spike as he unzipped his fanny pack and pulled out the small glowing crystal.
Lego Twilight already understood there was no way her bulky hooves would be able to handle such a small object, so she reached out with her magic to levitate it out of Spike’s claw and towards herself, albeit not quite in a straight path.
“Here, let me,” offered Sunset as she took hold of the crystal with her own magic.
Lego Twilight silently accepted the assistance as she sat down and held out her right foreleg where her Jump-Gate return device was located. She briefly struggled to use her magic to open the cover of a small compartment, then said, “Just insert it in here.”
Sunset levitated the Power Crystal into the compartment and flipped the cover closed.
Carefully using the edge of the hoof on her left foreleg, Lego Twilight tapped the device a few times, then smiled and confirmed, “Everything seems to be fully functional. Now we can return to that island and bring everyone home.”
“I’ve never seen any crystals like that before,” noted Princess Twilight. “I wish I could have a chance to study it.”
Right Spike chuckled and remarked, “If I know one Twilight, I know the other, so I decided to bring a spare, just for you.” He pulled another small Power Crystal out of his fanny pack and tossed it to Princess Twilight.
As Princess Twilight caught the crystal in her magical grasp and then gently set it down off to the side, Lego Twilight stated, “I’ll see if I can make a special arrangement with the Power Miners about sending you a few more Power Crystals, if you’re interested.”
“Sweet!” remarked left Spike excitedly. “I can’t wait to try some!”
“Dragons in this world eat crystals?” asked right Spike in confusion.
“Well, mostly gemstones, but crystals are pretty much the same thing,” answered left Spike.
“I don’t know,” said right Spike skeptically. “We’ve got creatures in the Lego World called rock monsters, and they’ve been known to cause earthquakes whenever they eat these crystals.”
“C’mon,” said left Spike dismissively, “what could possibly go wrong?”
Lego Twilight furrowed her brow as she stared suspiciously at the two Spikes. She then simply stated, “The blue ninja controls water.”
Right Spike — the one wearing the fanny pack — raised an eyebrow in confusion and asked, “Huh?”
Left Spike — the one wearing the cap — immediately corrected, “That’s Nya who controls water! The blue ninja is Jay, who controls lightning!”
Lego Twilight smiled slyly at the two Spikes as they glanced at each other, then looked back at her with guilty looks on their faces. “Nice try, Spike,” she remarked teasingly, “but you’re not swapping places with your interdimensional counterpart that easily.”
Dragon Spike on the right sighed as he took his hat back from the other Spike and asked, “How did she figure it out?”
“I’m a huge fan of Ninjago,” confessed Lego Spike on the left as he unclipped and removed his fanny pack from the other Spike. “She knew I wouldn’t resist correcting her on something so simple that anyone familiar with them should know about.”
“I guess that explains the fanny pack,” noted dragon Spike as he looked closely at the unfamiliar white markings printed on the red fanny pack. “Is that supposed to be some kind of writing?”
“It’s the type of written language they use in the Ninjago Region,” confirmed Lego Spike as he strapped his fanny pack on his waist.
“Do you think you could teach it to me?” asked dragon Spike with a smile. “I could use it like a secret code.”
“Sorry to break this up,” Lego Twilight spoke up, “but we really need to get going. Now that I’ve got my return device working, there’s no reason for us to overstay our welcome.”
“Aww, do we really have to?” asked Pinkie Pie in disappointment. “There’s still so much of this world that I wanna see!”
“There’s over a hundred people waiting for us to provide them with a way home,” Lego Twilight shamefully reminded her friends. “It’s bad enough that Rainbow, Sunset, and I spent our previous visit just casually hanging out with the other me while the rest of you were suffering on a sinking ship in the middle of a violent storm.”
Rarity glanced away uneasily as she admitted, “Yes, I suppose we would have greatly appreciated if you had simply thought to return much sooner than you ultimately did.”
“Then let’s not repeat that mistake on the same day,” declared Sunset. She turned to Princess Twilight and requested, “Whenever you’re ready, Twilight, teleport us directly back to the second portal.”
Princess Twilight nodded in agreement, then turned to dragon Spike and said, “Meet me back in the throne room in a few minutes and I’ll help you rehang that painting.”
“Sure thing, Twilight,” acknowledged Spike with a smile and a tip of his hat before he turned away and walked out of the room.
Everyone else in the room gathered close together with Princess Twilight as her horn glowed. Only a split second later, she cast the spell and all of them suddenly vanished from the Gallery of Creativity room.
Back on the beach of that uncharted island in the Lego World, all the people and animals who had been rescued were doing whatever activities they could to pass the time. Although the Equestria Girls had promised to return soon with the ability to take them all back home, they had no way of knowing how long that would take. As they waited, the crew made the effort to distribute all of the collected luggage back to their respective owners, while the passengers either relaxed on the beach, played games with each other, or tended to the petting zoo animals.
A few hours had passed by the time the Equestria Girls made their way out of the jungle and arrived back on the beach. “We’re back!” declared Rarity in a sing-song tone.
As everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the girls, Twilight held up her right arm and announced, “Good news! My Jump-Gate return device is now functioning properly! Since the cruise was originally scheduled to return to Baltimare, I’ll open the gateway to the Jump-Gate in that city’s LEGO Team Headquarters. From there, you can all make your originally planned methods of returning home, albeit a few days earlier than anticipated. Now, I don’t want to leave the gateway open for too long and risk draining the Power Crystal, so I’ll wait until everyone has gathered their things and are ready to go, then I’ll open the gateway.”
“You heard her, everyone!” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Pack your stuff and get ready to head home!”
“Captain Bluffbeard!” Sunset called out. “Bring out that manifest again, so we can make sure we don’t leave anyone behind on this island.”
Bluffbeard nodded in acknowledgement and began searching through his paperwork for the manifest.
“Hey, wait a minute!” Applejack suddenly alerted everyone. “What happened to the stowaways?”
Everyone stopped and looked towards where the two robbers had been left on the beach, but all they saw was a loose coil of rope and two pairs of square footprints that trailed off into the jungle…
Back in Equestria, at the edge of the Everfree Forest, a pair of earth ponies pushed aside the foliage and looked out at the nearby town of Ponyville. Both of these earth ponies had a yellow coat, a short and messy black mane and tail, and wore black beanie hats on their heads. The one on left wore a grey jacket over a striped prison shirt and had a Cutie Mark of a red crowbar smashing open a glass case containing precious jewels, and the one on the right wore a striped prison shirt with the sleeves torn off and had a Cutie Mark of a red crowbar smashing open a safe with a pile of cash inside.
“Check it out, Mugsy,” whispered the left pony. “There’s a whole town over there.”
“Bet they never had to deal with guys like us, eh, Rocky?” the right pony quietly responded.
“Just think of what kind of riches we could find here,” remarked Rocky sinisterly. “It’s practically ours for the takin’.”
“This is gonna be so easy,” agreed Mugsy with a grin.
“I was wondering when you two might show up.”
Both robber ponies yelped and looked back to see a very displeased Princess Twilight Sparkle standing right behind them. Realizing they’ve been discovered, they immediately tried to flee, but quickly found themselves caught in a field of glowing magenta magic and hovering above the ground.
With both of the incompetent crooks from the Lego World now in her magical grasp, Princess Twilight teleported them with her back to her castle — specifically right in front of the secret door to the Crystal Mirror. She then slammed their faces against the opposite wall so they couldn’t watch her do the secret knock to open the door. Once the hidden room was exposed, she released a quick burst of magic to activate the machinery that soon managed to open the original interdimensional portal to the Lego World.
Now that the portal was open, Twilight levitated the two robbers so their faces were close to hers and she fiercely scolded, “Consider this your only warning. Stay out of Equestria.” She then flung the two minifigs-turned-ponies straight through the portal, back to the world where they belonged.
After waiting a few seconds to account to the amount of time she estimated it took to travel through the interdimensional portal, Twilight shut off the apparatus, then tapped her hoof twice against the thick black line on the floor that marked where the wall would normally be. As she stepped out into the hallway and walked off, the stone blocks that made up the secret door magically shifted around until they soon reformed the seemingly featureless wall that most visitors would never give even so much as a second glance.