//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Equestria Girls and the Magical Kingdom // by The saiyan brony //------------------------------// What if I told you the most magical place on earth got even more magical? What’s that?...Who am I, you ask? Oh. How rude of me for not introducing myself. My name is Oswald. Oswald Disney. It’s very nice to meet you. Now, um, where was I?...Oh, that’s right. I was going to tell you about the most magical place on earth. Well, if you can guess by my last name, then you know exactly what place I’m talking about…Yes, there is no place more magical than an all you can eat buffet.  Haha, I’m just kidding. Yes, I know that wasn’t a great joke, but can you blame me for trying to put a smile on your face?...Ahem. Okay, for real now. Of course, I’m talking about Disneyland. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Disneyland? Isn’t that place a bit, you know, not so magical anymore? And only thinks about making money?” And I don’t blame you for asking. I’d be lying if I said that it’s not all about making money and corporations looking to make more of it. But you know, when my great grandfather, Walt Disney, first thought about this place, he had a vision to create a world full of wonder and magic, where families can get together and have fun while making memories. But sometimes, those wishes and wants don’t come free, and you sometimes have to tune back into reality and leave your dreams in your heart. You’re probably wondering when I’ll get to the point of the question I asked at the start. Well, how about I tell you. Not too long ago, a horrible virus had plagued the world, claiming many lives and causing businesses all over to suffer. But it was because of this virus that my family was able to take back control of both Disneyland and California Adventure. When we had gotten the park, I was put in charge of fulfilling a very special promise: that I would try everything in my power to make my great grandfather’s dream come true and make the parks a magical place once more. I wasn’t sure if I could really keep that promise, but I gave my word, and that I will do everything I can to make it happen. Little did I know that I was going to be able to keep that promise, and sooner than I would have imagined. But I wouldn’t be the only one keeping this promise as I had seven helpers to give me a hand with it. (3RD Pov  Downtown Disney Friday 11:30pm) It was thirty minutes till midnight in downtown Disney. All the shops were closed and all the guests had already driven home with fresh memories of the magical day they had just enjoyed. All the employees had wished each other goodnight and headed home to rest for the next day to come. Not a single soul was seen for miles around, everyone except for seven girls walking down the path that led to the front gates to the theme park. “Man, how long do we have to wait out here for?!” A raspy voice called out. “Now darling, please be patient. Remember, we were told that we wouldn’t start until precisely midnight.” A more posh and proper voice answered in response to the first. “Although I will admit that this is a bit of an ungodly hour to work. How ever will I get my beauty sleep now?” “Well, Ah new this wouldn’t be no walk in the park. Let’s all just be thankful we snagged this job.” A southern voice added in on the conversation. “Just think of it this way, girls. First, we start out as the night crew, then we can try and transfer to the jobs we wanted...Oh. Well, I mean, that isn’t a good way of putting it, not that I don’t care about how you girls feel.” A slightly shy and gentle voice spoke up. At the gates to the park were seven girls: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity, all of which had applied to work at the very theme park they were waiting to go into. “You know, I’m curious to see what makes this place tick. Shortly after the pandemic had ended, this place opened back up, and from what I heard, things have drastically changed.” A girl with indigo hair with a hot pink streak commented as she pulled out her phone. “The reviews for this place went through the roof. They’re even expanding the land to build new attractions. It’s incredible how crazy things turned out without anyone knowing. According to some of these reviews, the charters and rides feel more alive, like they came straight out of the screen.” She scrolled through her phone, looking at a few graphs. “Guest satisfaction: high. Entertainment: high. Customer service: High. Bathroom cleanliness-“ Before she could finish that line of thought, a light orange hand gently cupped her mouth, then closed the tab on her screen. “We get it, Twilight; everything is at an all time high.” Sunset playfully added, getting a sheepish giggle from the light purple-skinned girl. “But yeah, this place sure has come a long way from what it was before the pandemic. I wonder if it has anything to do with the change in ownership.” “Come to think of it, has any one of y’all come here since it reopened?” A girl with long blond hair with a stetson hat asked. “I’ve been too busy helpin’ mah family with the farm to visit.” Applejack rubbed the back of her head with a nervous laugh. “I guess some things don’t change, huh?” “No, not really.” Fluttershy, a girl with light yellow skin and long pink hair admitted. “But I’ve been meaning to come here when I heard that they started to have real live animals in their attractions. I was worried that those poor little animals were being exploited, but then I saw this video of someone playing with them, and they all seem very happy and well taken care of.” She said with a happy sigh. “Annnd I hear that all their treats and snacks have gotten way better. And get this: their prices have gotten better and easy to afford.” A bubbly girl with pink frizzy hair jumped up and down. “I can’t wait to try them all!!” She giggled as she wiped off some drool that had seeped out of her mouth. “Agh! Who cares about the food!? I’m still ticked off that none of us got the jobs we applied for!” Dash, who had prismatic hair, groaned out loud as she kicked a rock into a bush. “I mean seriously, did anyone here actually apply for the night crew?” She looked to her friends and saw that none of them had raised their hands. “Yeah, that’s what I thought! I applied to be in one of the stunt shows that they have here to show off my awesomeness.” She raised her foot onto a bench, taking up a heroic pose. “I applied for wardrobe.” Rarity admitted as she too seemed disappointed with her current position. “I had really wanted to work my magic on the dresses the princesses would wear during the parades.” She took a seat on the bench, slightly disappointed that she won’t be able to do so until who knows when. “And I was hoping to help with caring for the animals to make sure they weren’t working too hard.” Fluttershy took the seat next to Rarity and had a saddened expression on her face. “Me and Pinkie were lookin’ into joining the food caterin’ positions.” Applejack mentioned as she and the pink party girl sat on the edge of the nearby planter. “I’m not sure why we bothered filling out that questionnaire asking us what we were hoping to do if they weren’t going to let us work in the positions that we applied for.” Sunset sighed, as well as her friends. She could see how gloomy they all were and thought it’d be best to try and cheer them up before they had to start their shift. “But hey, look on the bright side. At least now that we work here, we can get in for free.” This managed to get a few smiles on her friends’ faces. “Oh, and don’t forget the twenty-five percent discounts on all merchandise, the thirty percent discounts on hotel rooms at any of the parks, and the thirty-five percent discount on any place that sells food and water.” An eighth voice added. “Oh yeah, I almost forgot those!” Sunset smiled as some of the girls’ moods started to brighten up a bit. “And we also provide health care and dental. Plus, every three months, you get five tickets to bring in your families and/or friends.” The eighth voice added in. “Well, so long as you don’t miss a shift or arrive late for work without notice. And let’s not forget the sick pay and holiday pay, too” “Wait, really? Wow, that sounds rather generous, actually.” Sunset asked, sounding slightly surprised by this. “Yeah, well, I thought that my employees should have some incentive to work really hard while also making sure they know that they will be taken care of and are valued members of the team.” The eighth voice said in a chipper tone. Both Sunset and her friends actually seemed to be content with things after hearing the great benefits that came with the job. “Wow, that’s actually really generous of yo-” Sunset cut herself off as she and the rest of the group turned to face the owner of the eighth voice. Sitting across from them on a bench was a man. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt with a black vest, blue dress pants, a blue work tie, and a pair of white gloves. He had pale white skin and short black hair, and his eyes were a light grey color. He smiled and politely waved to the group before pulling out a pocket watch to check the time. “It seems you girls got here earlier than I had expected. I like seeing that in my employees.” Standing up, he pocketed the watch and strolled past the girls, whistling a happy tune. “Um, beggin’ your pardon there, bud, but who are ya?” Applejack asked while the rest of the girls looked to this mysterious individual. “Hm?” The man stopped dead in his tracks and turned on his heels to face the group. “Oh, how rude of me. I have forgotten to introduce myself.” He raised his right hand and lowered his sleeve down to his forearm. He held out his hand, turning it in front of the girls, showing he had nothing up his sleeve, but with a quick flick of his wrist, a card appeared and surprised them. “My card.” He held out the card to Twilight. Taking the card while still in awe by his little magic trick, Twilight read the card out loud for her friends to hear. “‘Oswald R. Disney, proud owner of Disneyland & California Adventure.’” It took a moment before what she had just read aloud for the rest of the girls to register who this mysterious individual was. “HUH!?” They all said in unison as they stared at the man. “YOU’RE OSWALD DISNEY!?” The man also known as Oswald smiled before placing his right hand over his chest and gave the girls a polite bow. “At your service. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” As he rose back up, he gave another flick of his wrist, making a blue wizard hat with white stars and crescent moons pop up. He reached into the hat, sticking almost his entire arm inside. “Hmm, now where did I put those things?” He continued to slide his arm deeper in, which surprised the girls, considering the hat was only half the length on his arm. “I-Is that it?” He asked aloud as he slowly pulled out his arm, as well as a long wooden hat rack. The girls stared in wonder with their mouths hung wide open, all except Sunset, who stared in simple awe. “Hmm. No, that’s not it.” He set the hat stand down next to him and dove his hand back into the hat. What he pulled out next made the girls’ look even more shocked. Letting out a heavy grunt, Oswald pulled out a large grandfather clock. He had a hard time setting it down next to him and wiped some sweat off his forehead. “Phew. I swear Mary makes this stuff look so much easier than it is.” He took one more glance inside the hat and smiled. “Ah ha! There you are, you little rascals!” He quickly shoved his hand into the hat and pulled out seven badges. “Here we are. These are for you ladies.” He held them out to the seven girls. The girls took the badges and saw that they were blank. Twilight raised her hand up. “Um, excuse me, Mr. Disney, sir?” “Please, just call me Oswald.” He added with a happy smile. “Oh. Well, um…Oswald, there doesn’t seem to be anything on these badges? Which kind of makes sense since we are new here and all.” Twilight pointed out, getting a few of the others to look at their badges. Oswald looked at them inquisitively as he hummed to himself. “Are you sure about that, girls? Because they seem to have your names written all over them.” Rainbow Dash, who seemed the most fed up with the current event of things, marched up to the man, holding up her blank slate to him. “Dude, are you blind or something? Look. There is nothing written on these things.” “Um, Rainbow darling, need I remind you that he is our employer?” Rarity pointed out as she and the rest of the girls looked at her with a nervous look. Finally dawning on her to what she had done, Dash nervously looked to Oswald, who had a neutral expression on his face. “I-I am so s-sorry, dude- I mean, sir!” She stood straight up, trying her best to act more respectful. Oswald continued to stare at the girl for a few minutes before extending his hand out, palm facing upward. “Your badge, please.” The girls all gasped as Dash sunk her head, looking defeated as she slowly handed her badge back, knowing that she had just been fired. She turned and was about to leave when she heard him clear his throat. “Your name is Rainbow Dash, right?” He asked, getting her to look back at him and nod slowly. He glanced back at the card and held it out to her, causing a glint of hope to spark in her eyes. “If you would take the time to rub off the dust on the tag, you’d see your name. Now, I will admit it’s my fault for letting them get that dusty, so I’m sorry for that.” Seeming confused, but still full of hope that she hadn’t just lost her job, Dash gently took the card back in her hand to examine it. But despite what Oswald had said, the card didn’t seem to look dusty at all; in fact, it looked brand new, like it came hot off the press. She looked back to Oswald, who gestured for her to wipe the tag. Giving in with a sigh, she gently gilded her thumb over the clean white piece of plastic, only to suddenly stop. She barely rubbed an inch of the badge when she saw the letter “R” show up, even though she knew it wasn’t there before. Looking up to the man, she saw him smiling and gesturing for her to continue to rub the rest of her badge “clean”. Still confused, Dash continued to glide her thumb over the badge and marveled as she watched more letters suddenly appear. As her thumb reached from one end of the tag to the other, she saw that her name was indeed written on the badge. Not just that, but the thunder cloud with the red, yellow and blue lightning bolt logo was next to it as well. “B-But, h-how?” She asked, completely baffled. The rest of the girls soon did the same thing with their own badges, gasping in surprise as their names also popped up along with their logos next to their names. “Well, now that we all have been acquainted with each other, I believe it’s about time we get a move on.” Oswald said as he stuffed the grandfather clock and hat rack back into the little sorcerer’s hat. “We have but a few minutes before things start to pick up.” With everything put away, he led the girls into Disney Park after opening the gates. The park itself was almost completely dark, with only a few street lights on for lighting. Once inside the park, Sunset picked up the pace to walk alongside Oswald. “Um, Oswald?” He turned his attention to her as they kept walking down Main Street. “I’ve just got to ask, but why are we all working on the night crew? Not that I’m not grateful for the job, but this wasn’t a position that any of us had applied for. And I find it weird how all seven of us, who happen to be friends, all got the same job.” This question piqued the other’s interest as they were listening intently for his response. Soon, they all found themselves in front of the statue of Walt Disney holding Mickey Mouse’s hand while in view of Disney Castle, which surprisingly looked much larger than before. Oswald pulled out his pocket watch to look at the time to see it was only five till midnight. “Well, now is as good a time as any.” He turned to face the girls. “The reason I chose you seven girls to work here as the night crew is fairly simple.” Reaching inside his vest, he pulled out a piece of paper clipped from a newspaper article. Turning it around, he showed a photo taken of the girls while they were ponied up. “You girls seem to have dealt with your fair cases of magical adventures.” Most of the girls looked at each other rather nervous as he slipped the picture back in his vest. “Which is why I can trust you girls with my own little secret. You see, this park itself has a bit of magic as well. And no, I don’t mean like the kind we advertise in commercials. I’m talking about the real deal. And you are about to see it for yourselves.” Glancing at his watch, he checked the time. “In five…four…three…two…one.” *DING DONG* As if on cue, the sound of a clock tower ringing could be heard echoing throughout the empty park. “To all who come to this place, this happy place, welcome.” Those words echoed through the air before night suddenly turned to day and music began to play. Sunset and her friends all had their mouths gaping open as they looked around to see how the time of day had drastically changed. “Oh boy, visitors!” A voice called out, getting the girls to turn their heads to face the voice, only to find themselves flabbergasted at what they saw. Wearing a pair of red shorts with two white buttons and big, bright yellow shoes, was none other than Mickey Mouse himself, however, he wasn’t in the form of a human sized costume: he stood at around two feet and three inches, and looked like he came straight out of a cartoon. He hopped onto one of the planters closest to Oswald and smiled up at him before looking back to the girls. “Are they going to be helping us around the park?” Oswald smiled as he moved his hand down to pet the animated mouse’s head, getting a chuckle out of him. “Yes, Mickey, these are the ones I was telling you and the others about.” He looked to the girls, seeing their still shocked faces and chuckled. “But next time, could you wait until after I come and get you before popping up?” Oswald gave him a playful wink as he tilted his head to the side. He turned to look at the seven girls, all of which were wide-eyed with mouths gaping open like a bass. Mickey blushed a bit and chuckled nervously. “Oops. Ah heh, sorry, pal.” Oswald smiled as he shrugged it off. “Ah, don’t sweat it, bud; they were going to find out eventually.” Oswald turned to face the teens and waved his hand to get their attention, snapping them out of their daze. “Girls, I am proud to introduce you to one of the many characters you will see here today. Say hello to Mickey Mouse.” Mickey smiled as he waved to everyone. “Hiya, ladies, it’s nice to meet ya.” The teens didn’t respond beyond barely waving their hands in stunned silence. Mickey's eyes widened as he turned to Oswald. “Oh, that’s right! I came here to see if you’ve seen my pal, Pluto.” Oswald cupped his chin as he tried to think where he saw Pluto. “You know, the last time I saw him, he was hanging out with Pongo and Perdi before closing. He might still be there as we speak.” Oswald pointed beyond the castle. “If you hurry, you might be able to catch him before he goes someplace else.” Mickey gave a salute as he took off in the direction Oswald pointed to. “Thanks, pal! If you see him, can you let him know I’m looking for him!?” He called out as he waved goodbye. Oswald waved back and cupped his hands over his mouth. “Will do, Mick!” Once the animated mouse was out of sight, Oswald looked to his new employees. “So…who wants to talk over a spot of tea?” After a bombardment of multiple questions by the girls, Oswald managed to convince them to hold off until they had found someplace comfortable. They decided to head over to Carnation Café to both have a drink and to speak to one another. Sitting at a fairly large table, Oswald sat on one side while the others sat on the opposite of their employer, eyeing him with both confusion and suspicion. However, their attention broke away from him as the sound of something clanking could be heard approaching. Soon, a set of teacups marched across the table and lined up in front of the guests, one for each girl and Oswald. “Would you girls care for some tea? I promise, it’s really good.” Soon, a tea kettle came bouncing onto the table and stood in front of the girls, leaving all but one slacked jaw. “Just hold out your cups if you want some.” Only Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight didn’t reach for their cups while the rest did so. The tea kettle walked over to each cup, bowing down to pour out the hot liquid into their cups, and hopped away when the last cup was served. “Would you girls like some sugar to go with that?” Oswald asked as he was served his tea, gesturing to a sugar bowl that hopped in front of the girls. Pinkie smiled and reached her hand out to remove the lid, only to have one of the handles smack her hand away, making her pull her hand away. “Hey now, be nice, you. They’re our guests.” Oswald scolded the sugar bow’ while wagging his finger before looking to Pinkie. “Sorry about him. He’s very independent and likes to do his own work.” He gently nudged the sugar bowl, which removed its lid and pulled out a small spoon. “Just say ‘when’ for him to stop.” Spoonful after spoonful, the little sugar bowl served the girls, stopping as they had each two or three scoops of sugar. “Now I’m sure that you girls are wondering how this all happened?” All seven girls nodded their heads in unison. Meanwhile, the sugar bowl had hopped his way over to Oswald’s cup and began to scoop spoonfuls of sugar into his cup. Oswald looked to the cup after getting a fourth spoonful of sugar. “When.” He spoke out to the sugar bowl, only for it to continue scooping sugar into his cup. “I said when.” He said, sounding a bit annoyed as he watched the little ceramic bowl putting more sugar into his cup to the point it was building up to a mountain of sugar. “When! When! Blast it all, WHEN!” He called out, only for it to be too late and the bowl of sugar to scurry away. The girls couldn’t help but giggle as they watched Oswald try to stir his cup, only for all his tea to be soaked up by the sugar. “Uh, ya want some tea to go with that sugar there, partner?” Applejack teased, getting more giggles from her friends and a deadpanned expression from the park owner. Setting his cup down in disgust,, he sighed and walked over to a nearby trashcan to dump out the sugar, then took back his seat. “Back to what I was saying. In order for you to understand what you are seeing, I’ll first have to take you back to when it all started.” He leaned back into his chair as he stared up to the cloudless sky. “I had just been named the owner of both parks and decided to have a look around. This was unfortunately during the pandemic, so the park was empty. Because of this, all the employees who were trying to keep it running had quit to try and find other jobs. It was around the same time you girls came to the park when I roamed the empty streets of this park.” Oswald turned his attention to the statue of Walt Disney as he continued his story. “I had stopped over by that statue and felt a sense of despair as I looked at the dark, empty park. With no employees or guests, I had a feeling that the park was going to be doomed, and it was one minute before midnight that I made a simple wish.” He looked back to the teens. “To make my great grandfather’s wish come true.” His look of sadness soon melted away into that of a pure smile. “And that’s when it all started: attractions came to life; costumes became the characters they were modeled after, and they started talking. I was absolutely baffled, and a bit terrified.” He admitted, getting his audience to chuckle a bit. “I honestly had no idea what happened, but I believed that my wish had come true. I started getting to know all the characters, which was another surprise on its own. But I’ll go over more of that stuff a little later when we take a tour of the park. But, of course, that’s if you girls are interested in checking this place out.” They looked to one another before Sunset spoke up. “Could you give us a second?” Taking the hint, Oswald gave a polite bow and stood up to excuse himself from the table to allow the girls to speak in private as they huddled up. “Okay girls, you can probably already guess what’s happening here.” “Equestrian magic.” They all said in unison. “Yep. Now the question is what do we do?” Sunset questioned her friends. “Well, um, do we really need to do anything?” Fluttershy asked first. “I mean, it has been a few months since this place opened up. And so far, no one has been hurt yet, or at least I hope not.” “And that Oswald feller didn’t seem to be evil or nothin’. He seems kinda nice if ya ask me.” Applejack added in. “Yeah, but who knows how long that will last.” Dash cut in, sounding rather hostile. “Who’s to say he hasn’t been plotting something evil while using this park as a front? Don’t forget anytime we deal with Equestrian magic, it usually leads to disaster, like what happened with Twilight and Sunset?” Dash had quickly realized what she said and looked to the two girls she named. “Eh heh. No offense?” “None taken.” Both girls deadpanned. “Well, I believe we should give him the benefit of the doubt before we are quick to judge. He was kind enough to give us all jobs here.” Rarity added as she turned her attention to the man, who was currently looking over some paperwork on a clipboard. “Besides, he’s quite the charmer, and rather pleasant on the eyes.” Both Applejack and Rainbow Dash groaned and shook their heads. For a while, the girls weren’t sure what they should do. Their options were to either nip this problem in the bud before it can bloom into a disaster, or take a risk and see where things go and hope things go well. But a small part of Sunset believed that this was nothing more than a harmless case, and it would make more people happy if it was to stick around than to have it disappear. Her mind was made up, and she and the rest of the girls walked over to Oswald, who had been patiently waiting for their answer. “Well?” He asked with a hopeful smile. “What do you girls say?” He held his hand out to Sunset, who was in the front of the girls. Sunset stared at his hand for a few moments before looking up to Oswald. “After talking with the girls, we will give you our answer after we take that tour you mentioned before. If that works for you?” She asked in a calm tone as she held out her own hand. Oswald sighed, but smiled all the same as he took her hand in his own and gently shook it. “If that’s what it will take, then I’d be happy to give you the grand tour. And by the end, you’ll see that this place is going to be a place full of wonder and magic that you’ll happily work here.” As they broke the handshake, a ball of yellow light suddenly zoomed by. “Whoa!” Oswald exclaimed as he and the girls looked to see the little ball of light zooming around them all. The little spark of light spiraled around Oswald until it was right in front of his face, making what sounded like ringing bells. “Okay, easy there, Tink. I need you to calm down. You know I can’t understand a word you’re saying when you talk that fast.” The little ball of light slowly dimmed down until the girls could see that it wasn’t just a ball of light, but a little person; or rather, a fairy. “Everyone, I’d like you all to meet my friend, Tinker Bell. Tinker Bell, meet our guests.” The little fairy looked to the girls, who stared in awe at her and waved a bit. The little fairy turned her head away with her nose held high, leaving Oswald to chuckle nervously. “Eh heh. Don’t mind her, girls. She tends to be cold to new girls at first, but don’t worry. She’ll come around.” He looked back to the fairy, who was still pouting. “Now, Tink, you had something to tell me?” The little fairy let out a few tinkling sounds that the girls couldn’t understand, but they watched as Oswald listened intently while nodding his head. His eyes widened as a look of shock ran across his face. “What?! Are you sure?” He asked, to which the little fairy nodded her head. “But who…? I mean, how in the…? Ughh, crud!” He turned his attention to the girls with a worried expression. “Listen girls, I’m gonna need you to stay here. Something came up over in Fantasyland that I need to take care of.” He began to jog away as he followed behind Tinker Bell. “I’ll give you the tour once I’ve taken care of this little mishap!” He called out as he ran at full speed toward the castle, leaving the girls to wonder what had happened.