Chapter 9
Shimmer and Glimmer in the City
At Canterlot City Park, Sunset Shimmer was the first one to come through the interdimensional portal back into the Lego World. She stumbled a little as she was flung out, but managed to stay on her feet as she slowed down to a stop. With a smile on her face, she smirked and quipped, “I think I’m starting to get the hang of this interdimensional travel.” She then heard a quick whoosh from behind, so she turned around just in time to see the bright flash from the portal fade. Lying face-down on the grassy ground in front of the statue base was a minifig she had never seen before, yet knew exactly who it was.
Starlight Glimmer was left highly disoriented from her very first trip through the interdimensional portal. When it finally occurred to her that everything had stopped spinning and she was down on solid ground, she moved her forelimbs to push her face off the ground. She groaned and mumbled, “What hap—” She suddenly gasped when she got her first look at one of the alterations to her body. Her forelimbs ended in some strange kind of appendage that she would best describe as crab claws. She kept the left one down on the ground to hold herself up while she raised the right one and observed how she was able to rotate and open and close the strange new appendage.
After a few seconds of staring at part of her new anatomy, Starlight saw something walk up to her, so she turned her gaze upwards. The strange creature standing before her stood on boxy hind legs, had rounded forelimbs that simply rested on the sides of its boxy torso, and had a cylindrical head on top. Whatever this strange creature was, as soon as she saw the face and hair, it occurred to her that she at least knew who this creature was. “Sunset Shimmer?” she asked in confusion.
Sunset smiled as she knelt down in front of Starlight and calmly said, “It’s all pretty weird at first, but try to roll with it.” She then grasped Starlight’s wrist and helped her up.
Starlight was surprised when Sunset pulled her all the way up onto her hind limbs. She wobbled around a bit, but as she held onto Sunset for support and eventually found her new center of gravity, her upright stance was remarkably stable. Her wide eyes and gaping mouth very clearly expressed her astonishment.
“Now do you see why I’ve got that habit of standing on two legs?” quipped Sunset.
“I guess…” mumbled Starlight as she carefully released her grip on Sunset. She wobbled a bit again, but held her arms out and managed to stay upright.
Now that Starlight was standing up, Sunset was able to get her first good look at her new appearance. She had light grey on her legs with a few horizontal bands on the front that exposed her lilac skin; black around her feet; dark grey on her torso, with the front showing under an open vest a teal V-neck shirt that exposed the collar of a magenta shirt around a little bit of exposed skin; her arms we mostly bare except for some more teal on her shoulders and a band of magenta closer to her elbows; a black watch piece was attached to her left wrist; her face consisted of her mouth and medium blue eyes; and on top of her head was a hair piece that was long at the back, brushed over to one side at the front, was colored violet with aqua streaks, and resting on top of it was a magenta beanie hat with some white stars all over it.
Starlight stared at the strange appendages at the end of her arms and asked, “What are these?”
“Those are hands,” Sunset calmly replied.
“Are you sure?” asked Starlight in confusion as she flexed them around. “They look more like claws to me.”
Sunset chuckled and remarked, “Well, some jokes have been made based on that resemblance, but in this world, everyone calls them hands.”
Starlight’s gaze went past her hands and down to her legs as she asked, “So, uh… what happened to the rest of my hooves?”
“Those are feet,” replied Sunset.
Starlight lifted one of her legs, but then quickly lost her balance and waved her arms wildly around before Sunset caught her. With someone to lean against, she was able to get a good look at the bottom of one of her feet. She raised an eyebrow and quietly asked, “Why are they shaped like squares?”
Sunset ignored the latest question as she held Starlight upright again and explained, “Remember the whole thing where I said you need to lay low? Well, we’re kinda out in a public space, so now would be a good time to play it cool.”
“Oh, right,” said Starlight with a nervous giggle. She then flicked her hair and playfully remarked, “Play it cool.” She took a deep breath… then immediately got down on all four limbs and tried to walk forward. She quickly discovered what an awkward posture it was in her new body, as not only was she unable to tilt her head up high enough to watch where she was going, but it also didn’t take long for her to trip over herself and collapse to the ground.
Sunset walked over to Starlight. “What did I just say about the proper way of standing in this world?” remarked Sunset with a smile as she grasped Starlight’s hand and helped her back up on her feet. “If you hadn’t tripped over yourself, you would’ve slammed head-first into that tree.”
Starlight looked ahead and saw the green plastic object that was only a little taller than her and consisted of a central vertical shaft surrounded by a series of horizontal disks that was largest near the base and got progressively smaller towards the top, as if to give the impression of being a conical object. Starlight raised an eyebrow and asked, “That’s a tree?”
Sunset rolled her eyes and replied, “We’re in the middle of a big city, so of course there’s gonna be a lot of Lego parts all around us, including ones made to resemble natural objects.”
“Are there any real trees in this world?” asked Starlight.
“Yes, but only in certain regions,” replied Sunset. Before Starlight could ask any more questions, Sunset turned forward and said, “C’mon, let’s get onto that path so we can get to my car.” She then began walking forward towards the paved pathway that went through the middle of the park.
Starlight glanced back towards the Lego tree, then shrugged and followed Sunset.
Once they stepped onto the path, they began to hear the clacking of their footsteps against the solid surface, though Sunset paid it no mind. That is, until she realized that the sound behind her didn’t seem to be following her, so she stopped and turned back as she asked, “Starlight?”
Starlight was looking down at her feet as she slowly walked around in a circle on the path, taking one deliberate step after another and listening to the noise of each step.
Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.
Sunset raised an eyebrow and asked, “Um… what are you doing?”
Slightly startled, Starlight suddenly stopped and turned her attention towards Sunset. “Oh! Uh, sorry. I just wasn’t expecting my hoofsteps to sound so different in this world.”
“Footsteps,” corrected Sunset. “And for the record, that’s the kind of sound you’d typically hear from plastic.”
“Plastic?” asked Starlight in astonishment. Curious, she clenched a fist and tapped it against her arm, creating a sound almost identical to the one her feet had made against the path. With her eyes wide in shock, she turned back to Sunset and asked, “Are you saying that… we are now made of plastic?”
“It’s not just buildings and objects that are made of Lego parts in this world,” explained Sunset. “All the people and creatures of this world are also made of Lego parts.”
Starlight began walking towards Sunset and asked, “So, uh… since we’re obviously not ponies anymore… what exactly are we?”
“The official terminology for the people of this world is Lego minifigure,” answered Sunset as she turned around and continued walking down the path ahead of Starlight, “though many of us prefer to shorten it to just minifig.”
“Minifig…” mumbled Starlight to herself. As she thought it over, she glanced down at her body and it wasn’t long before she had a different question on her mind. “Why is my coat at its natural color in some places, but so many other colors in other places?”
“First of all,” explained Sunset, “we don’t exactly have fur, so what you call your ‘natural color’ would be called skin. And second, all those other colors you’re seeing is actually clothes.”
“Clothes?” asked Starlight in shock before she started feeling all over herself. “Then why does it feel like they’re actually part of my body?”
“My best guess is that it’s just much easier for most clothes to simply be a series of layers that you can just slip over your body like a bunch of stickers, rather than trying to attach separate and sometimes bulky pieces at certain joints,” replied Sunset. “Though I’d strongly advise against trying to take them off out in public, as exposing certain areas of your body is considered highly inappropriate in most regions.”
“Okay, I am completely confused right now,” confessed Starlight in exasperation.
Sunset sighed and stated, “You’ve got a lot to learn about the Lego World, Starlight.”
“Well, you did say I’d make a good distraction,” remarked Starlight with a smile.
“True,” admitted Sunset as she also smiled. By this point, they were approaching a fountain near the edge of the park, so she turned back to Starlight and gestured at the fountain as she said, “If you’re curious about what you look like, here’s your first opportunity.”
Starlight stepped over to the edge of the fountain and looked down at her reflection in the water. The face she saw was definitely one that she recognized as herself, yet at the same time, it seemed completely unrecognizable. “What happened to my muzzle?” she quietly asked as she felt her hand over her mouth and felt nothing but the smooth cylindrical surface of her head. “And where are my ears?” she felt both of her hands over the top and sides of her head, but found no noticeable signs of any kind of ears. “I know I’ve still got a sense of hearing,” she spoke up as she turned to Sunset, “but how can I hear things if I don’t have any ears?”
“Beats me,” replied Sunset with a shrug. “All I know for sure is that our sense of hearing is somewhere on the middle of the sides of our heads.” She then smiled and added, “Nice hat, by the way.”
Starlight turned her gaze back down to her reflection in the water, then turned her head to the side so she could see the magenta beanie hat that was now resting on top of her hair. She smiled and remarked, “Not bad.” She turned back to Sunset and added, “This world sure does have its perks.”
“Oh, we’re barely scratching the surface,” said Sunset as she began walking around the fountain on the path leading out of the park. “C’mon, my car’s not far from here.”
“Car?” asked Starlight as she followed after Sunset. “What’s a car?”
“Think of it as a kind of carriage that can move around under its own power,” replied Sunset as they walked out of the park limits and stepped onto the sidewalk of one of the city streets. “Just look up and down any street and you’ll see plenty of these vehicles.”
Starlight watched the street they were now walking along and saw quite a few vehicles running up or down the street. Some were so small that only a single individual could fit inside, while others were so big that she had to wonder what kind of heavy cargo they might have been hauling. Despite the wide variety, she did notice two major similarities; they all moved on four or more wheels that seemed to be made of rubber, and they all moved all by themselves — many of which produced a steady humming noise as they moved, and would sometimes grow much louder as they moved faster.
“What kind of magic is making this possible?” asked Starlight in wonder.
Sunset chuckled and replied, “There’s no magic involved. It’s just engine power, all made possible thanks to the Power Brick. In order to keep engines and other machines running in this world, you need to keep recharging those Power Bricks through methods like burning fuel or discharging electrical energy.”
“Is there any magic in this world?” asked Starlight.
“Aside from what my friends and I have had to deal with?” questioned Sunset jokingly.
Sunset and Starlight both giggled. “Yeah, obviously,” replied Starlight as she rolled her eyes.
“Well, some certain regions have their own form of magic,” answered Sunset. “But in most places, such as cities like this one, everyone gets by just fine without any magic at all.”
Starlight had to admit, it was very strange trying to imagine a world that didn’t rely on magic the way Equestria did. Still, it was her decision to come visit the Lego World, so she was going to do her best to keep an open mind on anything she would encounter during her visit.
“Well, here it is,” said Sunset as she stopped and gestured towards a vehicle parked right in front of her and Starlight on the side of the road. The car was a convertible with the roof down, exposing the two black seats of its interior. Its shape was very streamlined with gentle curves on the front and an adjustable spoiler on the rear. Its color was bright red, with decals on the hood and doors that displayed some flickering yellow flames, as if to show that it was quite literally a hot ride.
Not being familiar with any vehicle designs, Starlight didn’t have much to compare it to, but she had to admit, this car she was looking at was quite an impressive sight. “This is yours?” she asked Sunset.
“Yup,” replied Sunset proudly. “Customized it myself.” She then walked around to the left side of the car and opened the door. “C’mon, let’s go for a ride!” she added enthusiastically as she hopped into the driver’s seat and closed the door.
Starlight walked over to the other door on the side facing the sidewalk and pulled it open, then carefully climbed into the passenger seat beside Sunset and pulled the door closed.
Once Starlight was in the car, Sunset pulled out her key, inserted it into the ignition, and started the car.
Vroom!
Starlight gasped and tightly gripped the door on her side when she heard the engine suddenly roar to life.
“Relax,” assured Sunset. “That’s just the engine starting up.”
“Oh! Right!” mumbled Starlight with a nervous chuckle and a huge uneasy grin.
Sunset reached over her shoulder and grabbed her seatbelt. “Don’t forget your seatbelt,” she pointed out as she buckled herself in.
“Okay…” muttered Starlight in slight confusion. She looked over her shoulder, grabbed the seatbelt for her side, and mimicked Sunset’s actions to buckle herself in.
As the car’s engine continued to rumble lightly, Sunset took a moment to check the mirrors.
Starlight looked over at Sunset and slowly asked, “So, uh… how fast does this thing go?”
Sunset’s smile widened as she glanced over at Starlight and slyly asked, “You really wanna find out?”
Starlight took a brief moment to consider her answer. She was undeniably hesitant, but there was a part of her that was also eager to find out for herself. After all, she was here to truly experience what this world was like, and Sunset’s offer to really take her for a ride seemed too good to pass up. “Uh… yes,” she finally answered with a hint of determination.
Sunset smirked and muttered, “Thought so.” She turned her attention forward, tightly gripped the steering wheel, shifted the car into gear, and finally stomped on the accelerator.
SCREEEEEECH!! VRRROOOOOOM!!
“WAAAAAAHHH!!” screamed Starlight in terror over the squealing of the tires and the roar of the engine as she was thrown back in her seat from the sudden acceleration.
As the car began speeding down the road, Sunset laughed and remarked, “Sorry about that. I just couldn’t resist seeing the look on your face!”
“Do you do this a lot?” asked Starlight fearfully as she tightened her grip on her seat with her left hand and on the car door with her right hand.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Sunset casually replied.
“A-and everyone here’s okay with that?” asked Starlight hesitantly.
“Well, let’s face it,” replied Sunset with a shrug as she kept her eyes on the road, “there’s a series of traffic laws that I have to obey like everyone else.” Her smile widened. “Though sometimes, I like to bend a few rules. For example, why wait for traffic when I can just make a right turn on red?”
Up ahead was an intersection, and due to the traffic light displaying the red light, some vehicles were stopped just outside the intersection in both lanes of this street, while other vehicles could be seen freely moving back and forth on the other street that went through this intersection. Without any hesitation, Sunset turned into the empty opposing lane, then made a hard right turn through the intersection, quickly getting onto the other street just ahead of another vehicle.
SCREEEEEECH!!
Honk-Honk!
Starlight glanced back at the car right behind them that had just honked its horn, then turned to Sunset and asked, “What was that?”
Sunset shrugged and casually replied, “Eh, just some guy who’s upset that I cut him off.”
Starlight glanced around and the only thing she could think of was just how fast they were going. It was definitely much faster than any cart or carriage she had ever seen, and she doubted that even the trains she was familiar with could move so quickly. As far as she knew, only a flying pegasus could possibly go any faster than what Sunset’s car seemed to be capable of. It didn’t take long for her to realize that rushing through dense city streets at such high speeds was hardly being subtle. “What happened to that whole thing about me laying low?” she asked as she continued to desperately hold on to her seat and the nearby door.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that,” assured Sunset, who seemed quite relaxed as she continued to drive through the city streets at high speed. “Most of the citizens here are already familiar that this thing is my ride, and they also know that I love to have fun with it when I’m on my own. Even if some of them notice you riding with me, the only thing they’ll really care about is that I’m out on yet another one of my barely legal joyrides. And besides, many of them probably won’t even give us a second glance to even notice you at all, because as far they’re concerned, I always fly solo in this bad boy.”
By this point, after speeding down a few more streets, they were coming up to a road worksite with simple road barriers set up in front of a series of dirt piles in the middle of the road.
“Speaking of which…” added Sunset as she turned to Starlight and grinned. “Wanna see something really cool?” Without waiting for an answer, she turned her attention straight ahead at the worksite and stomped down on the accelerator.
VRRROOOOOOM!
It didn’t take Starlight long to realize that Sunset was not only speeding up the car, but also steering directly at the road barriers up ahead and the dirt piles behind them. “Uh, Sunset?” she asked worriedly as she pointed ahead. “I’m pretty sure those road barriers are there for a reason.”
Sunset continued smiling as she completely ignored Starlight and remained absolutely focused on reaching those dirt piles with as much velocity as possible.
“Sunset? Sunset?! SUNSET!” Starlight screamed and held her arms out to cover her face as the car effortlessly smashed through one of the road barriers and drove up the dirt pile just beyond, launching the vehicle high into the air.
With the car now airborne, Sunset immediately yanked the large lever between the two seats. This caused many of the Lego parts this car was made of to quickly shift around into an alternate configuration. The transformation took only a couple seconds, and when it was complete, the car that was now in flying mode began to rise even higher into the air as it gave off a gentle humming noise.
Sunset glanced over at Starlight and saw that her passenger was still shaking in her seat as she kept her arms in front of her face. “You can open your eyes now,” Sunset casually remarked.
Starlight slowly moved her arms aside and the first thing she saw was the clear blue sky above and some nearby skyscrapers passing by. As she noticed the way the buildings were moving, she realized the car they were in wasn’t falling down, but rather was going even higher up. “What the…” she muttered in shock. She looked over the side of the car, and not only did she see they really were rising impossibly further from the ground, but also the car’s wheels had apparently vanished. “Is this thing… flying?!”
“Yup!” replied Sunset proudly.
Starlight was completely speechless as she turned back to Sunset.
“Like I said, I customized it myself,” reminded Sunset smugly.
Starlight glanced over the side of the now flying car again and muttered, “I’m guessing this isn’t exactly a common form of customizing a car, is it?”
“In a way, yes, you’re right,” replied Sunset. “To custom-build a car that can easily convert between street mode and flying mode just by pulling a lever takes some seriously creative talents.” She turned to Starlight and smiled. “Fortunately for me, I happen to be a Master Builder.”
“A Master Builder?” asked Starlight. “I think I remember hearing Twilight mention that on the few occasions she talked about the Lego World.”
“How much do you know?” asked Sunset.
“Uh… I guess they’re really good at building stuff?” guessed Starlight.
Sunset giggled and replied, “It’s not quite that simple. In this world, a Master Builder is someone who can look at any assortment of Lego parts and quickly figure out how to put all those pieces together to build something useful.”
Starlight smiled and said, “Well, I did read some of the books Twilight brought over from her visit to this world, so I actually happen to know a few things about the different types of Lego parts and how they can be put together. For example, a stack of three plates is equal to the height of a single brick, and a stack of two plates is equal to the width of one module, a square unit of measurement that is equal to the width of a stud, peg, axle, or hole through which any of those can fit through.”
“Well, at least you got some experience,” acknowledged Sunset. “But just because you know how to stack some bricks to build a wall doesn’t mean you’re a Master Builder.”
“So what would it take for someone like me to be a Master Builder?” asked Starlight.
Sunset turned to Starlight and raised an eyebrow. “You really wanna be a Master Builder?” asked Sunset, slightly surprised.
Starlight glanced away and slyly responded, “Well, you said you’re a Master Builder, and you also happen to originally be a unicorn from Equestria, so really, who says I can’t be a Master Builder?”
“Fair enough,” said Sunset with a playful smile. She turned her attention ahead and continued piloting the flying car between the buildings of the city as she explained, “One thing that really separates Master Builders from those with just standard creative talents is that they can work with just about anything they can get their hands on. Many times, you won’t have all the exact parts you need to build whatever you want, and you’ll find yourself forced to work with whatever random pile you’ve got sitting in front of you. If you can improvise an excellent solution in any tough situation, then you’re probably worthy of being called a Master Builder.”
“So to be a Master Builder,” asked Starlight, “I need to be capable of quickly devising solutions from limited resources, right?”
“There’s more to it than just that,” explained Sunset. “To be capable of such remarkable creative talents, you need to be able to envision all the possible ways you can assemble all those parts, then figure out which of those ideas stands the best chance of helping you out in whatever situation you’re in at that moment. If there’s one thing to keep in mind, it’s this popular saying we have in this world: The only limit is the imagination.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” said Starlight with a nod as she gazed out in front of their flying ride. She turned back to Sunset and asked, “But what if there just aren’t enough parts to build anything useful? Even if one’s imagination has no limits, then I’ll definitely be limited by whatever parts I have to work with.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s a realistic concern,” admitted Sunset with a shrug. She then smiled as she explained, “So here’s a bit of advice that I’m personally quite fond of. If you’re in a tight spot and you don’t have many options… don’t be afraid to break stuff. Tearing apart certain objects in your area into the separate pieces they’re made of can provide you with plenty more parts to work with.”
“In other words,” asked Starlight, “if it’s made of Lego parts, then it’s pretty much fair game to destroy for the sake of building something else?”
“Yup, that’s pretty much it,” confirmed Sunset.
After a brief pause, Starlight smiled and remarked, “I think I’m starting to like this world.”
Sunset chuckled in amusement as she continued piloting her flying car over the streets of Canterlot City.
Meanwhile, over at the Flixiplex Cinema, the manager had gone out on a coffee break, leaving Juniper Montage with an opportunity to further test the powers of her magical mirror. So far, she knew for sure it could do only two things: show her an idealized image of how she envisioned herself, and instantly clean up a pile of popcorn on the floor. She fully embraced the first ability without any question, but the second ability was one that she wished to further understand. She decided that the first step to understanding that second ability was to simply try to replicate the first use of it. To do that, she first needed to set up the initial circumstances, which required a pile of popcorn on the floor. It was for this reason why, behind the counter, she was scooping popcorn out of the popcorn machine and then simply dumping it onto the floor. To Juniper, it was obvious why she had to do this, but to the two patrons waiting on the other side of the counter, that baffling kind of odd behavior made absolutely no sense at all.
Eventually, Juniper had dumped a pile of popcorn onto the floor that was just about the same size as the original pile, so she set aside the scooper, held her magic mirror down at the pile on the floor, and firmly spoke, “Mirror, pick up this popcorn!”
The two patrons, a teen boy and a teen girl, glanced at each other in confusion.
When a few seconds passed and absolutely nothing happened, Juniper glanced at the mirror, then turned it back down at the floor and spoke, “Mirror, I command thee, pick upeth this poppage of corn!”
A few more seconds passed, and the pile of popcorn on the floor remained completely undisturbed.
Juniper groaned in frustration and grumbled, “Why won’t this thing work anymore?” Convinced that perhaps the pile just wasn’t as big as the original, she grabbed another scoop of popcorn from the machine.
“Hey, uh…” spoke up the teen boy. “We kinda wanted to eat some of that, dude.”
The girl standing beside him nodded in agreement.
Getting a little desperate, Juniper held her mirror up to the two patrons and spoke, “Mirror, make these annoying people go away!”
The two teens glanced at each other again, then turned around and walked away. The girl scoffed and grumbled, “What a freak.”
Juniper watched those potential customers walk away, then looked down at her mirror again and remarked uncertainly, “Well, that kinda worked…”
“Juniper Montage?!”
That sudden shout caused Juniper to yelp and drop the popcorn scoop onto the floor, right on top of the pile of popcorn. She looked across the counter and saw standing right in front of her were six of the seven girls that she despised with a passion: Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle.
“What in the blazes are ya doin’ here?” asked Applejack.
Pinkie leaned over the counter and rapidly spoke, “Were you invited to the Daring Do premiere? Ooh, that’s exciting! No, crazy! No, concerning! No! Just no!” She stepped back to her friends and smiled as she sheepishly added, “No offense.”
“I wasn’t invited to the premiere,” grumbled Juniper bitterly. “My uncle Canter Zoom felt bad for firing me, so he pulled some strings and got me this job.”
“You work here?” asked Fluttershy.
“As little as possible,” admitted Juniper under her breath as the folded her arms and kicked the pile of popcorn on the floor, spreading the mess over a larger area.
The six Equestria Girls glanced at one another with uneasy looks on their faces. After a bit of awkward silence, Rainbow Dash eventually turned to Juniper and explained, “Y’know, if you hadn’t tried to sabotage the movie, you could’ve been celebrating with us. It’s like your uncle said, you placed yourself in a lose-lose situation, and there’s nobody to blame for it but yourself.”
As Rainbow spoke, Juniper’s frustration rapidly climbed until it soon reached a boiling point. She growled furiously as she walked over to the counter’s gate and stepped out to stand before the six girls with no obstructions between them. “This should’ve been my night!” she shouted in rage. “I would’ve found a way to be in the film if you all had stayed out of it! I would’ve been Daring Do! Everyone would’ve loved me! See?!” At the end of her rant, she held up her mirror to the six girls.
The Equestria Girls looked at the mirror, but all they saw was their ordinary reflections. They all glanced at one another and muttered various words of confusion.
Rarity turned to Juniper and apologetically said, “Darling, whatever it is you are trying to convey to us, I’m afraid we simply don’t understand. All we can see is our reflections in that mirror.” After quickly taking a second look at that crystalized mirror, she then smiled and remarked, “Though I must confess, that is a rather fabulously designed hand mirror. Do you mind telling me how you managed to acquire such a stylish trinket?”
“Can’t you see what’s right in front of your faces?!” exclaimed Juniper furiously.
“I’m sorry, Juniper,” responded Twilight apologetically, “but whatever message it is that you’re trying to tell us, we’re just not seeing it in any way, shape, or form that we can possibly understand.”
Pinkie leaned close to Twilight and rather loudly whispered, “I think she’s gone loco in the coco.”
Juniper roared furiously and snapped, “I wish you’d all just go away and LEAVE ME ALONE!!”
With that magic mirror aimed at the six girls at the moment that command was given, its powerful magic was activated. A bright blue ray of magical energy suddenly shot out from the glass, spread out to completely cover all six girls, and pulled them all in towards and through the glass. The six girls all screamed in terror as they were suddenly pulled into the mirror, unable to resist in any way. When the bright ray of energy faded after only a matter of seconds, the six girls were completely gone. The only trace of their existence that remained was the butterfly-shaped hairclip that Fluttershy happened to be wearing in her hair that day.
Juniper was initially shocked by what she had just witnessed, but whatever remorse she might have felt in that moment, it was quickly wiped away as a small trail of glowing blue magic emerged from the mirror, crawled up her arm, and passed through her eyes, causing them to briefly glow green. Once the last of the magical energies had finally faded from view, Juniper Montage stood alone in the cinema’s lobby with a smug smile on her face.
Juniper looked down and saw the hairclip on the floor, so she casually picked it up and stuck it onto the front of her torso, as if she was claiming it as a trophy of conquest. As she once again looked at herself in the mirror, she smirked and smugly remarked, “Looks like I might be finally getting the hang of this…”
Once again, Juniper saw her reflection shift into her idealized image, which then giggled, waved a hand at her, and actually spoke, “Hi, me.”
After a little while of flying around over the city, Sunset brought her car down and converted it back to street mode, then parked it on the side of the road next to a small park. They happened to park close to an ice cream truck — the side of which was labeled with the name “Pappalardo’s” — so while Sunset sat down on a nearby bench to call her friends, Starlight decided to buy herself some ice cream, though not before Sunset gave her some proper currency to purchase it. Though it took her a moment to figure out how to properly hold the cone, Starlight soon walked away from the truck and back to Sunset, carrying in her hand and happily eating an ice cream cone with a stack of three different scoops — strawberry on top of mint on top of blueberry.
Sunset tapped a button on her phone and sighed. “Six cellphones, all straight to voicemail,” she grumbled.
“I’m sure they’re around,” assured Starlight as she stood next to the bench Sunset was seated on. “What’s the worst that could’ve happened?” She then began slurping on the strawberry scoop of ice cream. She had to admit, it was a little strange to see food items like ice cream shaped like certain Lego parts, but as she messily licked away at her treat, she knew without a doubt that she was definitely eating real ice cream.
“Equestrian magic is on the loose in the Lego World,” explained Sunset in exasperation, “and it does not work the same way it does back in Equestria. Any number of terrible things could’ve happened!” She then leaned forward and hung her head down as she sighed in frustration and muttered, “And lately, I spend eighty percent of my time thinking about them.”
Starlight silently stared at Sunset’s outburst and failed to notice that she had tilted her ice cream cone a little too far to one side, causing the strawberry scoop to fall off and splatter on the sidewalk.
That faint splatter made Sunset realize Starlight was staring at her, so she grinned in embarrassment as she leaned back in her seat and remarked, “My friends are probably fine. I’m overreacting.” Her smile quickly fell. “But maybe not? I can’t tell anymore…” She sighed as she again leaned forward and sadly hung her head down.
“This is the problem you wanted to talk to Princess Twilight about, right?” asked Starlight as she sat down next to Sunset on the bench and smiled. “Because you can still talk it over with me if you want.”
Sunset didn’t respond and instead pulled out her new magic journal, opened up to the first blank page, and took out a pen.
Starlight’s smile fell and she added, “Or you could just journal with Princess Twilight about it. Whatever works.” She turned away and resumed licking and slurping her ice cream, now onto the mint scoop.
Sunset sighed, then closed her journal and put it and her pen back into her shoulder bag. She then leaned back in her seat and confessed, “It’s just… I know my friends and I have been given special powers for a reason, and I wanna be ready for whatever is gonna be thrown at us. I guess knowing that is making me feel like I can never really relax and let my guard down, so I end up obsessing about it and can’t get it out of my own head.” She once again slumped forward and stared down at her feet.
Starlight had stopped slurping her ice cream halfway through Sunset’s confession. Once Sunset was finished talking, Starlight leaned back in her seat and responded, “Hmm, that is a toughie…” She turned to Sunset and smiled. “Guess my advice would be to just trust things will work themselves out in the end. If you spend too much time worrying about the bad things that might happen, you’ll miss out on all the good things that are happening.” She brought her ice cream close to resume eating, only to discover the mint scoop had also suddenly vanished. She looked around in confusion, not realizing that as she had spoken, she had once again tipped her cone too far to one side and caused the mint scoop to fall off and splatter on the sidewalk.
Sunset chuckled at Starlight’s reaction and playfully asked, “Like how Princess Twilight’s student is teaching me a lesson right now?”
Starlight smiled again and smugly remarked, “Yup. Like that.” She then held up her ice cream cone and the one scoop that was still left on it. “Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish what little is left of this ice cream before it suddenly vanishes.” She then began rapidly licking and slurping the blueberry scoop, adding to the mess around her mouth.
“Careful!” cautioned Sunset. “Don’t eat it too quickly or you’ll get a—”
“AAAAHH!!” Starlight suddenly screamed as she dropped what was left of her ice cream and grasped onto her head. She fell out of her seat on the bench and collapsed to the ground, grunting in pain as she continued to tightly grasp her head.
“…brain-freeze,” finished Sunset. She then rolled her eyes and sighed as she shook her head and smiled.
As Starlight’s brain-freeze began to subside, a standard ringtone began playing from within Sunset’s shoulder bag. Sunset pulled out her phone and looked at the screen. “It’s Spike,” she said, seemingly surprised and confused. She glanced down at Starlight, who was now no longer clutching her head and was looking up at her. “I’ll put him on speaker so you can listen in.” She tapped a few buttons on the phone, then held it somewhat close to her mouth as she spoke, “Hello?”
“Hey, Sunset!” responded a voice coming from that phone. “There’s something going on, and I think you should know about it.”
As Starlight rolled over into a seated position on the sidewalk, she listened to the conversation between Sunset and the device in her hand. Although the voice coming from it was a little distorted, she immediately recognized that it was unmistakably the voice of Spike — even though she knew that it was actually this world’s Spike and not the young dragon she knew in Equestria.
“What is it?” asked Sunset with a bit of concern in her voice.
“Well, I gotta explain a few things first so that what I need to tell you will make sense,” responded Spike. “Did Twilight say anything about why I couldn’t join you girls today?”
“Yeah, she said she needed you to test out one of her new inventions while she was out with us,” replied Sunset. “I’m actually kinda surprised that she’d leave someone of your age home alone, especially with all that high-tech machinery that I’m sure she has.”
“Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I’m irresponsible,” responded Spike. “Back when we were Shadowbolt agents, she would always leave me behind alone at our base whenever she went out on missions, so I’ve got plenty of experience of looking after her things. Though I still don’t understand why she insists on putting up that parental block. I mean, what could possibly be out there on the internet that she doesn’t want me to see?”
Sunset rolled her eyes and replied, “More than you could imagine, believe me. So anyway, you were saying something about Twilight wanting you to test something?”
“Oh, right!” responded Spike. “Well, uh, don’t tell Twilight I told you about this, but she secretly installed a tracking system into each of your phones.”
“Are you saying she’s stalking us?!” asked Sunset in shock.
“No! No, not stalking!” Spike nervously responded. “More like, uh… keeping track of where you guys are so she can be sure that everyone is safe.”
“In other words, stalking us,” Sunset flatly stated.
Spike sighed and responded, “Look, if you’ve got a problem with it, talk to Twilight. I’m just following orders here.”
“What orders?” asked Sunset skeptically.
“She just wants me to make sure the tracking system is working properly,” responded Spike. “For example, over an hour ago, your signal was saying that you were in City Park, then it suddenly disappeared for about twenty minutes, then suddenly reappeared in the exact same spot where it had vanished. Now, I already know that exact location happens to be the site of the interdimensional portal to Equestria, so my guess is that you went through it and then came back, right?”
As Spike was talking, Sunset noticed the mess of melted ice cream around Starlight’s mouth, so she pulled out a napkin from her pocket, and held it out to Starlight. When Starlight simply stared back in confusion, Sunset quickly moved the napkin around over her own mouth and then held it out to her again. Once she understood what Sunset meant, Starlight smiled and silently accepted the napkin. She wiped the mess off her face, then handed the now messy napkin back to Sunset.
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” replied Sunset to Spike’s question as she carefully took back the used napkin with a disgusted look on her face, then quickly tossed it into the nearby trashcan. “I just used up all the pages in my magic journal, so Princess Twilight asked me to come over and get a new blank journal so we can still be in touch with her.”
“That’s good to know,” responded Spike. “Well, now that I know that you’re okay, I need to tell you about the other weird thing I’ve seen on the tracking system.”
Sunset briefly hesitated before she asked, “And that would be…?”
“All the other signals from the rest of our friends were last appearing at the Flixiplex Cinema in Sunshine Plaza,” responded Spike.
“That’s where we’re planning to see the new Daring Do movie,” noted Sunset.
“Right,” responded Spike. “Anyway, just a few minutes ago, all those signals just suddenly vanished.”
Sunset’s eyes widened in shock. “What happened?” she asked.
“I don’t know, and that’s the problem!” responded Spike desperately. “I’m not seeing any breaking news about something going on over there, but something weird definitely happened. I mean, sure, you could argue that maybe something happened to just their phones to make those signals disappear, but the fact that it happened to all six of them at the exact same time is still very strange. Do you think you can head on over there and find out what’s up?”
Sunset knew immediately what her answer would be. “Got it,” she replied with determination. “We’re on our way.”
“Thank you, Sunset,” responded Spike with relief. He then suddenly asked, “Wait, we? Who’s with you?”
Suddenly realizing her slip-up, Sunset rapidly responded, “Uh, I’ll explain later, bye!” She then immediately ended the call before Spike had a chance to respond. She put away her phone, stood up, and began walking back to her car. “C’mon, Starlight, let’s go!” she called out without even glancing back.
“Hey! Wait up!” exclaimed Starlight as she quickly got up onto her feet and tried to run after Sunset, only to suddenly slip on one of the fallen ice cream scoops on the ground. “Whoa!” She ended up getting flung up into the air and then was literally smashed to pieces as she slammed down onto the sidewalk.
Sunset stopped when she heard the clattering of plastic pieces on the ground. She turned back and saw that all of Starlight’s separate parts were now scattered all over the sidewalk.
Once her head rolled to a stop, Starlight glanced over at the pieces of herself scattered all around, then after a moment of silence, she eventually said, “Well… this is inconvenient…”
Sunset sighed and muttered, “Hang on, I’ll help you out.” As she walked over to the scattered parts, the first thing she did was grab Starlight’s head and set it down in such a way that she would be able to watch the whole process. Sunset started by grabbing the hip joint, then grabbed and reattached the left leg, then the same for the right leg, then set the pair of legs on the ground up on their feet. She then picked up the torso and reattached it atop the hip joint. She then grabbed the right arm and a hand, reattached them together, then reattached the arm onto the torso’s right side. She then grabbed the left arm and the other hand, reattached them together, reattached the watch piece onto its wrist, then reattached the arm onto the torso’s left side. Finally, she picked up the combined hair and hat piece, grabbed Starlight’s head and reattached the two pieces, and finally reattached the head onto the neck joint atop the torso. “There!” declared Sunset. “Good as new!”
Starlight looked down at herself and carefully flexed every part of her body, confirming that every single part of her was still working just fine, despite the recent accident. Once she was sure that she was well and truly back to normal — or at least, as normal as she could feel in such a strange body — she turned to Sunset and flatly stated, “That was officially the weirdest experience I’ve ever had in my entire life.”
“Well, now that that’s been taken care of, let’s get going,” said Sunset. Without waiting for a response, she turned around and resumed quickly walking towards her car.
Starlight would have continued to dwell on the very strange sensation of being made of detachable parts that could very easily be reattached without any issues, but seeing that Sunset was in a bit of a rush, Starlight shook her head clear and followed Sunset into the car.
Once both minifigs were seated in the car, Sunset started up the engine and drove off down the street towards Sunshine Plaza.
Meanwhile, the six missing girls had absolutely no idea where they had ended up or even how they got there. All around them, there was nothing but a featureless pure white background that seemed to go on forever. There was no sign of any walls, floor, ceiling, or anything distinctive on their surroundings. There was also nothing but absolute silence all around, leaving the girls with quite an eerie feeling.
“Uh… any clue yet where we are or what just happened?” asked Rarity in a highly unnerved tone. “Anyone?”
“Pinkie Pie’s on the case!” declared Pinkie cheerfully. She then began running forward as she called out, “Come out, come out, walls, wherever you are!” It took only a matter of seconds for Pinkie run far enough away from her friends that they lost sight of her among the glare of the pure white surroundings.
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash cried out.
“Hi, girls!” called out Pinkie cheerfully as she ran towards them from the opposite side of the area she had been running towards. Naturally, such a strange discrepancy left the other girls very confused.
“Pinkie?” asked Rainbow Dash as she scratched her head and watched Pinkie again run off and vanish among the glaring white background.
“Hi, again, girls!” called out Pinkie as she ran towards them from the back right and headed towards the front left. “Okay, this is getting a little weird,” said Pinkie, starting to lose her cheerful tone as she arrived from the back left and continued on to the front right. “I don’t get this place,” she said as she arrived from the front left and continued to the back right. “I can’t find any walls anywhere!” she added as she arrived from the front right and continued to the back left. As she arrived from the very direction she had initially run off towards, she stopped and took a moment to catch her breath, then remarked worriedly, “This place is super freaky-deaky! It just keeps on repeating itself, no matter which way I go!”
It was at this moment when the six girls suddenly heard a gentle whoosh, so they turned around and saw a new feature had just appeared in the strange place. Floating above the floor just beyond their reach was a large round surface that was completely smooth and featureless. The only way they were able to identify this new feature was due to the surrounding faint magenta glow that slowly faded outwards, yet stopped abruptly at the edge of the large round anomaly. In fact, despite not seeing any of their reflections in it, some of the girls couldn’t help but notice how the shape of the new anomaly bore a striking resemblance to the glass surface of the magical mirror Juniper Montage had been holding.
As Applejack began to figuratively connect the pieces, she spoke up, “Somehow, some way, that dang Juniper sucked us all inside of that mirror of hers.”
“Or into some kind of limbo behind it,” noted Twilight worriedly. “Judging by the complete absence of, well, anything, I’d say this must be some kind of newly-created pocket universe, and most likely the only portal in or out is through that mirror.”
“I think I might be freaking out a little bit,” Fluttershy quietly mumbled as she held her arms close to her torso.
Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and asked, “You call that a freak-out?”
As her hair piece slid over to cover one of her eyes, Fluttershy quietly responded, “It’s sort of a deep-down-inside freak-out.”
“On the upside, there’s popcorn in here!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully remarked as she suddenly held a pile of popcorn in her arms. She then tossed the popcorn up into the air and caught a few pieces in her mouth, leaving the rest to scatter on the floor around her. As she finished eating the pieces of popcorn she caught, she casually remarked, “Mmm, sticky…”
“I think I’d rather starve than eat something that’s been on the floor,” muttered Twilight.
Rarity let out a dramatic sigh and spoke up, “How could this happen on the evening of my very first movie premiere? Of all the nights! Curse you, cruel fate!”
“Not our number one problem right now, Rarity,” grumbled Rainbow Dash.
“True,” admitted Rarity, “but perhaps we can agree it’s in the top five?”
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes at Rarity’s skewed priorities.
Applejack turned to Twilight and gestured at the giant portal above as she asked, “Is there any way to get through that portal from this side?”
Before Twilight could answer, a series of small projectiles suddenly came flying out of the portal and began pelting the six girls in the area. The strange projectiles weren’t going fast enough to do any damage, but each impact was certainly painful, with each of the girls letting out various exclamations as the hits just kept coming.
Rarity eventually managed to use her magical geode power to summon a large flat diamond to shield herself from the projectiles. “Oh my heavens!” she exclaimed. “What is all of this?!”
Rainbow Dash used her magical geode power to swiftly deflect each of the projectiles that came her way. When she heard Rarity’s question, she decided to catch one of the projectiles. When she opened her clenched fist to identify the projectile, she raised an eyebrow and said, “Chocolate-covered almonds?”
With the raining almonds still relentless, Twilight finally decided to use her magical geode power to reach her magical grasp onto each and every one of those almonds, leaving them levitating in place and thus ending the bombardment.
“Dibs!” exclaimed Pinkie excitedly, before she started chomping onto each of the hovering almonds all around her.
Meanwhile, Sunset and Starlight arrived at the south end of Sunshine Plaza, close to the cinema. Sunset found an open parking space on the side of the road, but didn’t want to waste time trying to parallel park the traditional way, so as the car approached the empty space at high speed, she stomped on the brake and jerked the steering wheel to the left. This caused the car to power slide across the street, turn around, and slide to a complete stop perfectly within the empty spot without even touching either vehicle in the adjacent spots.
As Sunset shut off the engine, Starlight shakily opened the door on her side and stumbled out of the car. “Was that really necessary?” she asked incredulously as she struggled to stay on her feet while walking away from the parked car.
“Well, there are more reasonable methods of parallel parking,” admitted Sunset. She then grinned and added, “But it wouldn’t be nearly as cool as what I just did.”
Starlight sighed and grumbled, “I’ll never get used to the crazy ways of this world.”
As Sunset walked around her car and stood beside Starlight, she shrugged and remarked, “Eh, give it time.” Sunset then glanced back at her car and tapped something on her set of keys, causing the car to make two brief chirps.
“What was that?” asked Starlight.
“Just setting the alarm so nobody tries to steal it,” replied Sunset and she pocketed her keys and began walking ahead down the red tile street of Sunshine Plaza.
“Does it work?” asked Starlight as she caught up to Sunset and began walking beside her.
Sunset chuckled and remarked with amusement, “Trust me, there are very few things in the universe that are more annoying than the sound of a car alarm.”
Starlight considered the answer for a moment, then just shrugged and muttered, “I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
“The cinema’s right over there,” Sunset noted as she pointed at a large building on the left side, not far ahead. “Let’s find out what’s going on…” She then picked up the pace and began jogging towards the cinema, prompting Starlight to follow at a similar pace.
Inside the cinema, Juniper had just finished using her magic mirror to take away a boxful of chocolate-covered almonds that she had deliberately dumped onto the floor. Once the mess was cleaned up, she chuckled mischievously as she tossed the empty box into the trash and remarked, “A little bombardment will teach those girls to mess with me.” She then walked around back behind the counter to once again admire her desired reflection.
It was at this moment that Sunset and Starlight walked into the theater lobby. As soon as they stepped inside, Sunset immediately recognized the minifig standing behind the counter. Since Juniper currently had her back turned towards them, Sunset quickly grabbed Starlight’s wrist and brought them both to hide behind a prize-grabbing claw machine in the arcade section.
After waiting a moment to be sure they weren’t spotted, Sunset peered around the side of the machine. “It’s Juniper Montage!” she quietly noted in shock.
“No!” Starlight quietly responded with a gasp. She then smiled innocently and asked, “Who’s that?”
“She’s trouble…” muttered Sunset as she kept her attention on Juniper. Sunset watched as Juniper seemed notably fixated on that rather fancy hand mirror. It was only when Juniper turned around that Sunset noticed a familiar butterfly shape stuck on the front of her torso. “That’s Fluttershy’s barrette…” she whispered. With the knowledge that her friends had mysteriously vanished inside this building and seeing one of their possessions with the one minifig who had once caused trouble for them, Sunset knew exactly what she had to do to get answers. “Hold this for me and wait here,” she said firmly as she removed her shoulder bag and handed it over to Starlight. “I’m gonna have a little chat with her.”
Starlight may have been a little lost on just what was going on, but she couldn’t help but feel very worried as she watched Sunset step out into the open and marched right over to Juniper.
As Juniper continued staring into her mirror, she was momentarily confused why she wasn’t currently seeing her dream reflection, but her expression quickly turned to shock when she noticed in the reflection that Sunset Shimmer was approaching. That reflexive shocked expression was only brief before she smiled smugly and leaned back against the counter, all while keeping her eyes on the reflection. “Sunset Shimmer…” she noted with contempt. She then turned her head back to face Sunset directly. “I was wondering if you’d show up.”
Sunset put on a neutral facial expression as she touched her magical geode and spoke, “I’m, uh, looking for my friends. I don’t suppose you’ve seen them?”
Juniper responded with a mischievous giggle as she stood up straight and turned the rest of her body around to face Sunset.
No words were needed for Sunset to know that her worst fears were true. Knowing exactly what she had to do next, she furrowed her brow and firmly asked, “Where are they?”
Juniper kept that smug smile on her face as she replied, “I’ll never tell.”
Now it was Sunset’s turn to smile. “You don’t have to,” was all she said before she suddenly reached forward and grasped Juniper’s wrist. As soon as that contact was made, Sunset’s body stiffened and her eyes glowed completely white as she began to look into Juniper’s memories.
The first thing Sunset observed was Juniper being informed by her uncle Canter Zoom that he had gotten her a new job working at the Flixiplex Cinema. Not surprisingly, Canter Zoom was still upset with his niece’s horrible actions at the film lot, but he also made it clear to her that he still cared enough about her to go through a lot of trouble to ensure that she could have a job that was closely related to the movie industry. Juniper reluctantly accepted the job, but she once again emphasized that she wanted to play the role of Daring Do in the movie, though this time she sadly admitted that it was because she was so desperate for attention that she was convinced it was the only way to ensure that everyone would like her.
Next, Sunset saw her friends being confronted by Juniper in the theater lobby. Juniper had tried to explain her twisted belief that her one and only chance of getting everyone to love her was completely ruined by those girls, but they were only confused by her words and behavior. Finally, in a fit of rage, Juniper wished for those girls to go away forever, and that was when the magic activated, sucking all six girls into the mirror.
Once the series of visions were over, Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal. Her first reaction was a loud gasp, now that she knew what kind of horrible fate had really occurred to her friends. When Juniper yanked her wrist out of her grasp, Sunset glared furiously at her.
“What?” asked Juniper with contempt.
“I know you want people to like you,” Sunset spoke firmly, “but trust me, the magic in that mirror is only gonna make things worse for you.”
“You’re just saying that because you want the mirror for yourself!” accused Juniper as she held the mirror close to her chest.
“That’s ridiculous!” Sunset shot back. “I have no interest in possessing that kind of magic! It’s way too dangerous! What I really want is to just have my friends back.” Sunset tried to soften her tone as she continued, “Please, Juniper. You wished them into that mirror. Maybe there’s a way you can wish them out.”
Juniper glanced at her mirror and smiled menacingly. “Or maybe… I wish you’d join them!” she declared as she held the magic mirror out at Sunset. As Juniper’s eyes glowed green, a bright blue swirling vortex of magical energy once again shot out from the mirror’s glass and quickly pulled Sunset inside before vanishing just as suddenly.
Starlight Glimmer had been watching and listening the entire time from her hiding place, and as she witnessed Sunset getting pulled into the mirror, she couldn’t help but gasp in shock. She just as quickly realized the sound she made could’ve been heard, so she immediately covered her mouth and ducked back behind the prize-grabbing claw machine.
Juniper, with her eyes still glowing a sickly green, had definitely heard something, but as she gazed around the theater lobby, she saw no sign that anyone was in the room with her. After a few seconds of relative silence, she was convinced that she was well and truly alone, and her eyes soon returned to normal. Smug with seemingly eliminating the last of those girls she so passionately despised, she turned away and went back to admiring her reflection in the mirror.
Meanwhile, Starlight remained completely still with a look of absolute panic on her face. With Sunset taken away by some strange magic, she was now completely alone in an unfamiliar world, and she was at a total loss on what to do.