Applejack and the Princess Of Friendship arrive at Equestria Land. After finding a spot to park, the two girls left the truck. Twilight took in the size and scale of the amusement park. A roller coaster, ferris wheels and many different stands, but that isn’t the reason she wanted to see Equestria Land.
“Is there something wrong?” Applejack asked while putting her keys in her pocket. “Was taking you here a bad idea?”
“Not exactly.” The princess responded. “I don’t expect Equestria Land to be magical or anything, I’m just glad I finally found a place where the word Equestria exist in this world.” Twilight noticed there’s a poster by the ticket entrance. She saw the roller coaster being advertised, the amount of game stands available and a parade at the end of the day. “And for what this place has to offer, I want to spend the rest of the day here.”
This made Applejack excited. Not only does she get the chance to give Twilight a tour around the place, but also have fun with her. “Well I’ll be, you're lucky!” She wrapped her arm around Twilight’s shoulder. “I’m also the theme park manager, so I have to check on everything! And you can be my tester!”
“Really!?” Twilight shouted in happiness.
“Trust me, the rides are going to be the best!” Applejack grabs the princess’s wrist as they head to Equestria Land. It will be another day Twilight will never forget.
Meanwhile in the parade prep area, tons of people have just finished one of the sets for the latest parade. However Rarity, along with her boss, Vignette Valencia are dealing with a situation.
“This isn’t looking good right now!” Rarity looking at the sets. “I’ve tried to find four girls, but they’re not available!” Vignette didn’t even bother to listen since she’s too focused on the parade but unlike last time, she’s not making the same mistakes from before. “Vignette!”
“Sorry Rarity, but I can’t imagine how hard it is to make this parade perfect for our customers!” Vignette pasting by Rarity. “Perfect sets for a model parade with no models! We will be a laughing stock!”
Rarity placed her hand on Vignette’s shoulder. “We’re not going to be a laughing stock, we still have seven hours before the parade begins. I’ll try to contact four available girls.”
Vignette stopped herself and tried to trust Rarity as her friend. She took a deep breath while trying to think of the positives in her situation. “Then please go into the dressing room and do it. By the time they get here, tell them everything they need to do during the parade.”
“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered!” Rarity giving her boss a thumbs up as she heads to the dressers room. She walks past the finished dresses and sits in front of the mirror with make up on the counter. Even since Equestria Land reopened when the winter season ended, there’s always a different theme every year. For this year, Rarity and Vignette wanted to do a model parade with most of the dancers doing ballet first. While the final sets of the parade showcases the most beautiful girls as models.
Rarity took out her phone and saw her text from Applejack. She read that the Princess Of Friendship is here and is going to enjoy Equestria Land. While the fashionista is happy that Twilight has arrived, it only made her problem worse.
“<sigh> I really want Twilight to enjoy everything, but I’m afraid how she’s going to feel if the parade gets cancelled.” Rarity texted back that she’s thankful and told her to have fun with the princess. However once she put her phone away, she slammed her face on the counter. “This is going to be a long day for me.”
Back at the amusement park, before going on any of the rides, Applejack took Twilight to the security room. Monitors with feeds to four cameras are on each screen, making sure the whole theme park is fully checked and monitored for the security guards.
“Wow...if this world actually had dangerous creatures, they would be taken care of really quickly.” Twilight looking at the screens, only to soon realize the security guards gave her an awkward stare.
“She just watches so many cartoons, she is sometimes delusional.” Applejack filling in for her friend. The guards believed the manager as they continued to do their job. “You need to understand that grown people aren't interested in seeing a girl who looks similar to the other girl.” She whispered to Twilight.
“Yeah, if I mentioned changelings before they were reformed, I might scare some people.” Twilight whispered back.
The two left the room while they looked around in Equestria Land. With so many options, Twilight might consider coming back for a second visit. “So Twilight, what do you want to do first?” Applejack placed her hands on her hips.
“I was thinking about going on the rides first, but I think we should start with something small.” Twilight looked in her surroundings.
“If you wanna do something small, then let’s go to the Carnival Stands.” Applejack and Twilight made their way to where all the games are available, not to mention the food at the end of the line.
“I’ve been to carnival stands in Equestria, and these look more different because…”
“You need hands?” The manager guessed. “Even during my short time in your world, I know that your mouth is required to do most of the work.”
The princess looked at her hands again. While she just used her phone twenty minutes ago, she wondered how to play a game involving her hands. “This is going to be interesting.”
The two girls went to a stand involving a small bucket of baseballs and indestructible bottles set up. “You're gonna try the Baseball Throw game?”
“Yes. I’m sure things won’t turn into a disaster.” When the princess walks up to the stand, she notices that there’s no one in the stand. “Isn’t there supposed to be someone here?”
“Must be taking a bathroom break or something.”
It didn’t take long until the people working on the baseball stand came back from their absence. When Twilight saw them, she remembered meeting them last year on the cruise. Not only that, she took them to Equestria days after they headed back to shore.
When the two girls saw the Princess Of Friendship, they were thrilled to see her once again. “Twilight!” Orange Sunrise shouted.
“We didn’t expect you to come back at this time.” Desert Sage added.
“Wow, a lot can happen in Equestria Land.” Applejack commented.
“It’s great to see you two again.” Twilight lifted her hand up as Desert gives the princess a handshake.
“Why are you here?” Orange asked.
“I’m here just to have fun, especially since it's been three months.”
After Desert broke the handshake, she is excited to have one of her customers who’ll her friends to play her game. “Well, how about you give me two tickets so you can shoot these three stacked bottles?” She pointed at the targets.
Twilight saw the length she is from the bottles. While she can pick a different stand in the carnival, she didn’t want to disappoint her friends after she took them to Equestria. “I’ll give it a shot.” She smiled as she gave her two tickets to Orange.
“Then throw all the baseballs you have from your bucket.” Orange smiled.
Twilight took out one baseball from the bucket and looked at the targets. Even if she didn’t use her hands completely with all the differences in this world, the only way she’ll gain experience is doing it for the first time. She lifted the baseball in her hand, moved her arm back, and threw the ball at the targets. However the ball hit the wall and bounded back at Desert until she dodged it.
The ball came out of the stand with the theme park manager picking it up. “I think you should aim with your arm, not with your head.” Applejack replied as she gave the used ball to Orange.
The Princess remembered how easy she can aim with her horn as a pony, but without it, her mind can’t help her without preparation. She also realised that Rainbow Dash did sports when she faced her in a soccer game. Even if it was only her legs, it’s also a different lesson she learned upon meeting the others.
After taking Applejack’s advice, she grabs another baseball from the bucket as she does her second attempt. She threw the ball at the targets, but again it hit the wall and bounced back, only for Desert to catch the ball.
“You still have eight more tries. Just try to aim better.” Desert said while giving the ball to Orange.
“Don’t worry, this isn’t my first time.” Twilight picking out another baseball from the bucket.
Back at the prep arena, Rarity called everyone from her phone and all of them are either busy or not interested. She placed her phone on the counter as she looked up at the ceiling. Over the last thirty minutes, she has given up on finding the girls as models.
“This is going to be a travesty!” She moaned. “My boss is not going to like this.”
Vignette checked on all the sets of the parade. The last set is a purple diamond and pearl set with two platforms for the four models. Rarity after leaving the dressing room, walk up behind her boss while biting her bottom lip.
“Vignette, we have a tiny problem.”
Vignette placed her hand on her face upon hearing her employee. “We’re not getting any models…are we?”
“No…” Rarity lowered her head. Her boss didn’t even bother to argue, with the stress getting worse, she can only think how things can get much more complicated.
“Rarity, if you're taking my place as the boss of this parade, do you immediately get models before doing anything?” Vignette turned to Rarity.
“Well...even if I did that, a lot can happen before the parade.”
Before Rarity could continue her answer, her boss placed her finger on her lips. “If you're going to say they back out at the last minute because of something else, THAT actually happened to me once and I was so mad! I don’t want to relive that!”
After she moved her finger off of Rarity, Rarity became clueless. “I’m sorry, but what am I supposed to do? We can’t just get four girls out of the blue.”
This causes Vignette to get an idea. “Wait! There’s tons of girls in Equestria Land.” She cheered as she pointed at two guys on their lunch break. “After you're done with your break, go outside and find four girls!”
The two guys stopped eating as they gave their boss awkward looks. As for Rarity, she had no idea what her boss was thinking. Sure the parade needs models but she didn’t expect another last minute decision. And at the same time, she’s worried that most of the girls in the theme park are too young to do the job.
Twilight threw the final baseball and she successfully knocked over the bottles. “Yes! I finally knocked over the bottles!” She raised her arms in the air.
The stand however is damaged with the wall cracked with the decorations falling off so many times. Desert and Orange couldn’t believe that one out of ten baseballs have knocked over the bottles while the other two stacks haven’t even moved.
“May I remind you Twilight, you only knocked over the middle stack, you need to knock over all of them.” Applejack whispered as she and Twilight looked at the stand itself.
“You did your best, but you're still not getting a prize.” Orange trying to be nice to the princess.
“Maybe you really need to train before doing anything involving throwing.” Desert staring at her stand. “Now I’m worried if the security sees this, they might think we caused a fight here.”
The Princess Of Friendship felt embarrassed for the damage she caused at the Baseball Throw Stand. “Yeah...Maybe I might’ve ruined your chance at success.”
“Next time we meet, let’s not do this again until you're ready.”
“Not to mention talk about this.” Orange added.
“Yeah, we’re gonna go to the rides now. Sorry about your stand.” Applejack said while still looking at the stand.
Twilight and Applejack left the games stands and went to the bumper cars. “Applejack, sorry for what I did back there.” Twilight replied while looking at the ground.
“The next time you’re about to do something for the first time, we will teach you.” Applejack responded as she took out her small notebook. “Anyway, since I’m the manager, there’s three rides I haven’t checked off.” She then looked at the bumper cars section where tons of people are enjoying themselves.
“Is this one of them?” Twilight pointed. “Don’t you think it’s already checked off?”
“Well the thing is, the tester, which is you, not only needs to test the machines, but also test how fun it is.” The country girl gave her princess friend a smile with her eyes lidded. “You know I would never put you into some dangerous catastrophe right?”
“Oh thank Celestia!” Princess Twilight felt relieved. “At least I don’t have to worry about causing more damage, I would have been fired!”
“Hey, It’s your first day on the job.”
“And last.”
Before the princess could go inside of the building with the bumper cars, a young girl with green denim bib pants saw Twilight from a distance. She wasn’t in the Starswirl Festival last year, but she did hear some of her friends in middle school about the whole Princess Twilight news. To think it took her this long to see her in person for the first time.
“Princess Of Friendship!” She shouted which caused Twilight to stop. When she turned around, the girl hugged her around her body.
“Excuse me?” Twilight reacted in confusion.
“Well, looks like you found someone who heard about you.” Applejack placed her hands on her hips.
Twilight didn’t forget about her speech but she didn’t expect anyone to call her out, even if it wasn’t an outlaw. “Okay, can you please let me go?” She requested as the girl broke the hug.
“Sorry. I’m Megan Williams by the way.” Megan giggled. “So you're here just to enjoy Equestria Land?”
“Yes, but that's not the full answer.” Twilight smiled. “It’s because of the word Equestria.”
“Is it because you're an alicorn?”
The princess became speechless from Megan’s somewhat intelligence. “This girl must be ahead of her time.” Applejack commented.
“Yeah, you must be right.” Twilight blushed.
“Hey, are you going to be in the bumper cars?” Megan asked as the princess nodded. “Can I join?”
“If there’s enough available cars, then sure.”
“Then let’s go!” Twilight and Megan head to the entrance where the bumper cars are set for anyone to drive in.
“And there goes another girl to add to Twilight’s list of friends.” Applejack smiled as she fellows from behind.
Rarity is sitting with one of the construction employees. After the two workers left just to find four girls in Equestria Land, she knew it wasn’t a good idea. Vignette is still pacing after almost two hours of waiting.
“Vignette will you please sit down?” Rarity called. “I doubt they will come back with four girls.”
“Don’t judge my plans!” Vignette retorted. “I’m doing everything I can to prevent the parade from being cancelled.”
“Why can’t we just leave our last set for the parade here, so we don’t have to cancel it?”
“No!” Vignette getting into Rarity’s face. “That set over there is our finale. People are looking forward to the finale!”
Then a door was opened from the other side of the prep area which caused Vignette to turn around in an instant. It’s revealed to be the two workers, but there’s no girls behind them.
“So? Did you find four girls?” She smiled. All the two guys did was shake their heads with disappointment on their faces. Vignette then got on her knees, facepalming with both of her hands. She has no idea how to resolve this for the people having a great time in the amusement park.
Rarity is also disappointed after everything she went through since she arrived. And with the Princess Of Friendship here, along with her friends arriving later, there is no chance for the parade to happen without the finale. She took out her phone and texted Applejack on her situation.
After Twilight and Megan tested the bumper cars, along with the ferris wheel afterwards, they went on the one and only rollercoaster in Equestria Land, also being the biggest. With four constructed clouds when the ride takes the people high up and back down was one of the best parts of the rollercoaster.
Applejack is waiting outside with her small notebook in hand. Twilight and Megan came out with their hairs messy, with their eyes shot open in complete shock.
“That was the best rollercoaster I have ever ridden on!” Megen shouted.
“And you know what…” Twilight added. “I feel like an alicorn now.”
Applejack giggled from the princess’s reaction as she checked off the rollercoaster off her list. “Well, that's all the rides, I’m gonna go text Rarity about the good news.”
Twilight and Megan tried to fix their hair after the ride they had together. “It’s really great to see you in person.” Megan replied. “You have no idea how much my friends want to meet you.”
“Well, you need to understand this.” Princess Twilight pulling her back hair down. “As much as I want to know more about this world, I still have a life in Equestria. And as a princess, I have my own priorities and obligations, so don’t expect me to come back in a week or two.”
“It’s alright. My friends are mostly patient.”
“Oh no!” Applejack looking at her phone. “Rarity needs my help!”
Twilight immediately rushed up to Applejack after hearing her reaction. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“The parade might be cancelled tonight!”
“What!?” Megan cried. Both Applejack and Twilight rushed to the prep arena as soon as possible to find Rarity and her boss.
“The parade is cancelled?” Twilight said in anxiety.
“Sadly, yes. Rarity answered. Vignette along with the other works are sitting together which caught the princess’s attention.
“You mean to tell us, you couldn’t find four girls to be the models?” Applejack asked.
“I tried EVERYTHING to make that happen. Now I’m too exhausted to even work right now.” The fashionista sits on the ground, having officially given up on the parade itself. Applejack leaned down trying to help her best friend but even that, it won’t help Rarity’s problem.
As for Twilight she walked up to Vignette Valencia with her head on the table. Almost a year after meeting her, she tries to cheer her up. “Vignette.” She called which caused Vignette to lift her head up.
“Princess, Twilight?” She said in surprise.
Twilight, despite not being called a princess, got on her knees. “Was all of this your idea?”
“Well...Rarity told me to listen to the customers to make the parade memorable.”
“Why did you want the girls to be models?” The princess asked.
Vignette looked at Rarity for a second until returning to Twilight’s question. “Because...me and Rarity are models when it comes to our videos we made. My goal is to have people adore how fabulous models are. The finale...was supposed to be mesmerizing!”
After the boss finished her confession, Rarity also chimed in once she stood up and walked up to the princess. “And this parade was something for you and your friends to enjoy.” Rarity added.
When the Princess Of Friendship can finally see what is truly going on, she looked at the ceiling. After the many times she arrived back to the world from going on the beach, on a cruise, in a music festival and receiving gifts from the holidays, she isn’t surprised at all.
“Rarity, Vignette, you don’t need to do this every time I come back!” The princess retorted while trying to be nice. “Just because I’m a princess, doesn’t I deserve any worship from anyone!”
The girls along with the workers are taken aback by Twilight’s confession. “I only came here to see Equestria Land and to enjoy it. I may be disappointed if the parade is really cancelled, but I’ve seen so many parades back from my world. I would have forgiven you for that, if you didn’t try so hard to impress me!”
Twilight took several deep breaths after what she just witnessed from her friends. Rarity and Vignette became speechless from what they heard. After all the stress they’ve gone through today, they found the princess expected less than more.
“I think you gave all of us a lesson about friendship, don’t try too hard right?” Applejack guessed.
“Yes.” Twilight nodded.
“We’re really sorry Twilight.” Vignette replied with a depressed tone.
“The thing is, even if we understand your duties in Equestria,” Rarity said until Twilight cuts her off.
“You want me to feel grateful?” Twilight rolled her eyes. “I’ve been grateful so many times in Equestria.”
“Feels like a princess trying to do a princess life to get what’s coming to them.” One of the workers commented until everyone stared at him.
“Who also doesn’t deserve disrespect!” Vignette shouted.
“Well we now know why the workers didn’t get the information!” Rarity being sarcastic.
“But if there’s one thing I can agree with, it’s the fact the parade needs a pure ovation.” The Princess Of Friendship confessed with her friends taking notice. “Remember when I said I owe all three of you back at the Starswirl Festival?”
“Yes?” Rarity, Applejack and Vignette all asked.
Twilight looked at the sets in the prep arena. When she saw the purple diamond and pearl set, it gave her an idea. After what Applejack, Rarity, Vignette gave her a total makeover and a great outfit, she knows how to fix their whole parade.
After five long hours, the customers in Equestria Land are waiting for the parade to happen. While they didn’t know the parade was extremely close to being cancelled, they’re excited to see what it has to offer.
Sunset and her friends arrived an hour ago just to see the parade itself. They were hoping to meet Princess Twilight, but they didn’t see her.
“So...did Twilight leave before we came here?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, she’s supposed to be with us, watching this amazing parade!” Pinkie Pie added.
“Maybe she was too sick after riding so many rides in my view.” Rainbow Dash added.
“I don’t think that would be a reason why she would leave.” Human Twilight rolled her eyes.
Sunset Shimmer didn’t even bother to correct her friends on her opinions. While she hadn’t seen Princess Twilight after three months, she was happy when she got a text from Human Twilight back from the frozen yogurt bar about the phone she used today. She hopes she can still meet her before she actually leaves.
The parade itself begins with the first sets of dancing ballerinas entertaining the customers with pianos coming out from the speakers. While the people found the performance mediocre at best, what’s coming at the finale will blow their minds.
After all the sets come out, the final set has yet to be revealed. Then, silver and pink sparkling confetti shot out from the cannons. People didn’t know what was coming with all the confetti falling, with the music changing into a royal style piece, the final set came out from the prep building. When Sunset and her friends saw the diamond and pearl set upons it’s reveal, they couldn’t believe what they’re seeing. Three of the four girls who are models are Vignette Valencia, Applejack and Rarity.
Rarity is wearing her everfree dress she wore in the crystal cave in the Everfree Forest. Her outfit is too perfect to be qualified to make her model with it on, while it also makes her royalty in her own style.
Vignette is wearing a yellow dress that represents a beautiful woman who falls in love with a beast from a famous animated movie. Out of all the movies she watched involving princesses, she always wanted to be that lovely woman in her fantasies.
Applejack is wearing Rarity’s jewelry outfit. Unlike Fluttershy who only wore it for Rarity for Bulk Biceps costume party, she offered her friend to wear it just for tonight. It took her a lot of time to get used to it but she found herself like a princess in front of a mirror. Not only that, there was no one to take her place, in order to have four models, she steps in for her best friend.
The crowd found the models amazing, not to mention unique for a parade. Sunset’s friends are stunted in disbelief from the performance they’re seeing. They can understand Vignette being a model, but Applejack and Rarity never came to their minds. It’s really impressive to see them be part of a parade like this.
“Aww...If only Twilight was with us.” Pinkie smiled, while also sounding disappointed.
Just when the Rainbooms felt ashamed to not see their princess friend yet, in the middle of the final set, tons of pink diamonds moved out of the way to reveal the final model of the four. It’s revealed to be Princess Twilight in the outfit Rarity wore from her music video. She lays on her front, both of her legs lift in the air, wearing headphones with the hair layered perfectly after hours of help.
Sunset’s jaw has dropped until Human Twilight placed her hand under her chin, closing it for her.
“Well this was unexpected.” Rainbow Dash smiled.
“Not to mention gorgeous.” Fluttershy added.
After the princess revealed herself, so many people were cheering in amazement while taking pictures on their phones. Rarity and Vignette not only felt happy that the parade was a success, but also became more famous on social media, all thanks to Twilight’s help.
After the parade came to an end, everyone left Equestria Land. It’s almost ten thirty at night, while most of the dancers also left after getting paid for their performances. The Rainbooms and Vignette are waiting for Princess Twilight to change back into her normal outfit and makeup in the dressing room.
“That was amazing!” Pinkie popping in between Applejack and Rarity. “It was like all princesses coming together!”
“Yeah...you can say that again.” Applejack blushed.
“You know, it’s all true.” Fluttershy wrapping her fingers together.
“I knew my other self would be here, but not like this.” Human Twilight added.
“Hey, a lot can happen, even in parades.” Vignette giggled.
Just in time, Princess Twilight came out of the dressing room with all of her friends walking up to her. Sunset Shimmer is impressed after what she witnessed from the parade. All she can do is give the Princess Of Friendship a hug.
“It’s great to see you again.” She replied. “And thanks for finally using your phone.”
“I had to use it sooner or later, and today was later.” Princess Twilight smiled as she broke the hug. “I was going to meet all of you in Equestria Land, but I was trying to help my friends with the parade.”
“Let’s just say it was a looong story.” Applejack making an awkward smile.
“Not to mention, with a lot of explanation.” Rarity added.
“Who cares, the parade was great!” Rainbow cheered.
Princess Twilight would love to join in on her friends plans, but she’s too tired after the day she had. Going to an frozen yogurt bar and an amusement park became ludicrous, just like her times as a princess in Equestria.
“Girls, sorry to disappoint you all, but I really need to head back to Equestria. It’s getting late.” Twilight yawned.
“I’ll go take you home. After all, princesses like you deserve some rest.” Applejack replied.
The princess gave Vignette and Rarity a hug before leaving the building. While she didn’t do a lot when she returned, she’d at least returned the favor for one of her friends, not to mention she had their phone numbers. As Applejack and Princess Twilight leave Equestria Land, the princess just realized something. After saving Equestria so many times, she just saved Equestria Land, all because of a parade almost getting cancelled. It made her happy inside that she did something similar in a theme park where Equestria’s name is relevant, which is why Equestria Land is one her favorite places in the Mirror World.