//------------------------------// // Winter Blast // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls: Holiday Short Stories // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Winter Blast Winter had arrived for many regions of the Lego World, with lower temperatures and snow accumulation signaling this annual change of seasons. Minifigs in these regions dressed up in warmer outfits whenever they traveled outside, and there was no shortage of children who were more than happy to play around in the snow. The beginning of winter also signaled the arrival of the holidays, a cheerful time of the year for everyone, regardless of what they believed in or how they celebrated. This time of the year was also special because a very special region — the Winter Village — was now open to visitors. It was said that the highly secluded region of the Winter Village was always in the holiday spirit all year round, but the only way to reach it was by riding a train known as the Holiday Express, which was in service for only one month of the year around the holidays. Anyone who was capable of acquiring tickets for such a privileged journey knew they would be in for a holiday experience like nowhere else in the Lego World. At the train station in Canterlot City, several groups of minifigs eagerly awaited the arrival of the fabled Holiday Express. Among these people was a group of seven girls who were not only the best of friends but also happened to be a team of heroes who had defeated a number of magical threats to the Lego World over the last few years. For their successful efforts, the LEGO Team had gifted them with tickets for the Holiday Express, and they were all very excited for this special experience. “Oh, I can’t believe this is actually happening!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully as she practically hopped in place from one foot to the other. “We’re gonna ride the Holiday Express to the Winter Village! Do you girls have any idea how special that is?!” Applejack chuckled and playfully remarked, “Of course we do. It’s only the once-a-year opportunity to visit the one region that’s all about the holidays.” “I’ll say!” agreed Rainbow Dash eagerly. “This is gonna be the best holiday ever!” “So long as we’re absolutely certain we’ve packed everything we need,” noted Rarity as she gestured to the small pile of luggage beside her. “After all, this is the one and only scheduled ride, and it would be quite a shame to depart without even one of our essentials.” “Relax, Rarity,” assured Sunset Shimmer with a smirk. “The only true essential we really need is the key to the cabin we’re renting, and I’ve got it right here in my pocket.” She then patted the pocket on her vest that held that key. Fluttershy glanced around and her smile slowly fell. She turned to Twilight and asked, “Where’s Spike? He’s gonna miss the train if he doesn’t get here soon.” “I’m afraid Spike won’t be joining us this time,” answered Twilight Sparkle in a tone of disappointment. “He was caught hacking into the school’s computer system in an attempt to alter his report card.” As everyone suddenly turned to Twilight with shocked expressions on their faces, Fluttershy gasped and asked, “Why would he do that?” “An’ how could a lil’ boy like him even know how to do such a thing?” asked Applejack skeptically. “It’s a little complicated,” explained Twilight. “Working alongside me when we were Shadowbolt agents, he had to learn a lot about computers at a young age, and with how selfishly rebellious he can be at times, I’m not really surprised by how he made that attempt. It’s the why that really ticked me off. I’m not sure if it was from the old Shadowbolt culture of victory at all costs or if he was just envious of my near-perfect academic record, but despite having relatively decent grades, he somehow believed that anything less than straight A’s was simply unacceptable.” “That’s ridiculous,” argued Rainbow Dash. “Why would he wanna prove himself to be an egghead when he’s already an awesome guy for his age?” “Well, whatever his reasons,” continued Twilight, “not only has he been given three months of detention, but as his legal guardian, I’ve been told to also provide some punishment of my own. I figured missing out on our next group vacation should be significant enough for him to learn his lesson.” “I should certainly hope so,” stated Rarity. “After all, my sister Sweetie Belle and her two friends, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, had to be severely disciplined for some atrocious behavior they once perpetrated during the holidays a few years back.” “You’re referring to that ‘Anon-A-Miss’ incident, aren’t you?” asked Twilight. “When those three younger girls framed Sunset for spreading sensitive personal information about all of you in an ill-conceived attempt to spend more time with you for the holidays?” “How did you know anything about that?” asked Rainbow Dash in confusion. “You weren’t part of the team back then.” “Don’t forget, she was a Shadowbolt agent who was stalkin’ our every move back then,” Applejack pointed out. “It’s true,” Twilight regretfully acknowledged. “Yes, Twilight, that’s exactly what happened at the time,” grumbled Sunset irritably. She then turned to the others and firmly stated, “And we all agreed never to speak of it ever again.” The five other girls all shamefully nodded in agreement. Sunset turned back to Twilight and quietly added, “Trust me, it’s best that we all pretend that it never happened. Too many hurtful words that we’ve all come to regret…” “I’ll be sure to make a note of that,” muttered Twilight as she pulled out her phone and began texting a note to herself. “Speaking of those three girls,” Fluttershy spoke up, “I heard they’ll be spending the holidays this year together at Applejack’s place. If Spike’s not going to be with us, do you think he could spend the holidays with them instead?” “Those three have Big Mac an’ Granny Smith lookin’ after ‘em,” noted Applejack. “If it’s okay with Spike, Ah can call Big Mac to go pick him up an’ bring him over to Sweet Apple Acres.” Twilight considered the idea for a moment before she responded, “Well, I’m sure he’d rather do anything to avoid being grounded for the holidays, so he might be open to such an offer. I’ll inform him and let you know whether or not he agrees.” She then began entering a text message on her phone. “It’s here! It’s here!” Pinkie suddenly cried out cheerfully as she leaped with joy. “Here comes the Holiday Express!” Woooooo! The sound of that steam whistle caught everyone’s attention, causing them all to look towards a steam locomotive as it slowly rolled along the railroad tracks and pulled into the station. The engine that passed by was black on the front end and roof of the cab, green on the middle portion and the sides of the cab, and red on the wheels and a stripe along the bottom. Trailing behind the engine were several passenger cars that were black on the roof, green on the sides with decorative white branches attached below the windows, and red on a stripe along the bottom. And at the very end of the train was a caboose that was black on the roof and red on the sides with green decorative branches attached below the window. Once the train finally came to a complete stop with a hiss of steam from the engine, the doors on all the passenger cars opened up. The train conductor stepped out from one of these cars and cheerfully called out, “All aboard! Next stop, the Winter Village!” Pinkie squealed in delight and excitedly exclaimed, “I can’t believe this is really happening! I’ve been dreaming of this magical moment my whole life!” “Then let’s make it come true by actually boarding the train,” quipped Rainbow Dash as she began walking towards the nearest passenger car. Pinkie immediately followed right behind Rainbow as they both boarded the train. Next to board the train was Sunset, followed by Twilight, then Fluttershy, then Applejack, and last in line was Rarity. They had already turned in their tickets to access the platform, so there was no need for them to stop for anything before they took their seats within the passenger car. The train waited in the station for a few more minutes before the doors to all the passenger cars were closed. With a loud toot of the whistle, the engine began chugging and the train slowly started rolling out of the station. The Holiday Express was now on its way to the Winter Village. After many hours of traveling along the railway through spectacular winter landscapes such as conifer forests, frozen lakes, and snow-covered rocky mountain ranges, the Holiday Express was getting close to its destination. It had been a long ride, but all of the passengers riding along knew it would soon be worth the wait. In one of the passenger cars, most of the Equestria Girls were looking out the windows and smiling as they admired the scenery passing by, made even more beautiful with the persistent snowfall everywhere they gazed. The only person not currently staring out the window at the surrounding winter wonderland was Twilight, who instead had her attention down at her phone in her hand and with a frown on her face. “Oh, boy…” she muttered worriedly. “What is it, Twilight?” asked Sunset as she turned her attention to her friend. “The weather forecast is not looking good,” Twilight spoke up. “It says here there’s a severe blizzard warning for the Winter Village Region, which means meteorologists have strongly recommended that we stay indoors and avoid any travel outside under any circumstances.” “Don’t think that’s gonna be an option for us,” stated Applejack reluctantly. “This is the Holiday Express to the Winter Village we’re talkin’ about here. If we don’t get off this train when we get there, we’re headin’ straight back home an’ that’s that for our holiday plans.” “Besides, how bad could it be?” remarked Rainbow Dash dismissively. It was at that moment that the train entered a tunnel through a tall mountain. After a couple of minutes, the train emerged through the other end of the tunnel, where it encountered complete whiteout conditions with heavy snowfall blowing practically sideways. The fierce howling winds were so strong that the passengers could slightly feel the cars rock side to side and hear the subtle creaking of the structure. There was no doubt this was a very severe blizzard indeed. “You were saying?” grumbled Sunset as she glared at Rainbow. Rainbow chuckled awkwardly and responded, “Okay, so maybe it is that bad, but we can still make this work. All we gotta do is throw on our winder clothes, make a run for the cabin we’ll be staying in, then we can just wait it out until it clears up and we can start enjoying the place.” “Great idea, Dash!” agreed Pinkie eagerly as she stood up from her seat. “As long as it means we get to stay in the Winter Village for the rest of the month, I’m totally on board with it!” “Sounds like a plan to me,” agreed Applejack with a smile as she also stood up. “Let’s get our winter gear on right away so we’ll be ready to go for it as soon as we arrive.” She began to look around the car they were in, then her smile fell as she asked, “Uh… any idea where our luggage is at?” Rainbow Dash scratched the back of her head, Fluttershy shrugged, and Pinkie Pie mumbled incoherently as if to say that she had no idea. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Rarity glanced around and was stunned to see all of her friends turn their attention toward her. “Why is everyone staring at me?” she asked in confusion. “You’re the one who always packs tons of useless stuff,” Rainbow Dash pointed out as she stood up from her seat. “If any of us oughtta keep track of our things, it’s you.” “First of all, they are not ‘useless stuff’. They are all essentials,” responded Rarity irritably. “And secondly, I assumed Spike would handle our luggage.” “Didn’t you hear what Twilight said earlier?” Fluttershy spoke up in a slightly annoyed tone. “Spike’s not with us this time. And even if he was, we all know by now that he would never do any favors for you, no matter how much you ask.” “Yeah, even I know that, and I’ve practically got the attention span of a goldfish,” added Pinkie. She then grinned as she suddenly noticed something on the floor and cheerfully remarked, “Ooh, a candy wrapper!” She then reached down and picked up the discarded wrapper. “Please don’t tell me we left all of our luggage behind at the station in Canterlot City,” muttered Twilight worriedly. “Sure seems that way, Ah’m afraid,” replied Applejack shamefully as she continued glancing around at all the empty racks and shelves in the car. “Ah’ve looked all over this place an’ Ah can’t seem to find any of our bags.” Rainbow Dash facepalmed as she groaned in frustration and grumbled, “Why did we even take off our winter gear in the first place?” “Because we were waiting inside the station for a while and it was way too hot in there,” Sunset pointed out. She then crossed her arms and grumbled, “I swear, whoever thought it was a good idea to crank up the thermostat that high doesn’t seem to care about practically burning away their money.” “So what do we do now?” asked Fluttershy. “We’ll be arriving at the Winter Village at any minute now.” Sunset sighed in resignation and declared, “We’ll still make a run for it. It’ll be brutal, but I think we can make it. At least I still have the key to make it worth the risk.” “Are you sure there isn’t a better alternative?” asked Twilight uneasily. Screeeeeech! The girls who were standing up stumbled as they felt the train begin to slow down significantly. Sunset glanced out the window and, despite the blizzard making it impossible to see anything even a short distance away, noticed the end of a train station platform begin to slowly pass by. “No time left for second thoughts!” she urgently spoke up as she stood up from her seat. “If we really wanna spend the next month in the Winter Village, it’s now or never!” “I’m in!” declared Rainbow Dash. “Same here!” agreed Applejack. “I’ve been desperate to see this place ever since I was a little girl, and I’m not about to let a little blizzard ruin my lifelong dream!” declared Pinkie Pie. “I suppose if we must,” stated Rarity as she stood up. “Not like we have any other choice,” muttered Fluttershy reluctantly as she also stood up. “There has to be a better way than this,” grumbled Twilight under her breath as she remained seated. Finally, the train came to a complete stop in front of the platform beside the station. “Winter Village!” called out the train conductor from the far end of the car. “We have arrived at the Winter Village!” Had the weather conditions outside been more ideal, the girls would have been thrilled to hear that announcement, for it meant they had finally arrived at the very special region where most minifgs very rarely ever got the privilege to visit. But under the conditions the Equestria Girls currently found themselves in, they found little reason to be cheerful at the moment. Sunset quickly rushed over to the nearest door. “Brace yourselves!” she warned with determination as her friends gathered around behind her. After a few tense seconds, the door opened. Gale-force winds suddenly rushed into the train car and the girls felt the bitter cold and snowflakes slam against the front of their bodies. WHOOOOOOSH!!! “Go, go, go!” shouted Sunset over the noise of the howling winds as she led the charge out of the train and onto the platform. She held her bare arm up in front of her eyes as she struggled to look around and figure out which way to go. “Holy crud!” shouted Applejack as she quickly held her hat down against her head to avoid losing it to the fearsome winds. “This is pure madness!” exclaimed Rarity as she grasped her bare arms close to her body and already began to shiver. Sunset had to take an extra moment to remember the directions to their cabin from the train station before she glanced back at her friends and spoke up, “Come on! The cabin’s this way!” She gestured for everyone to follow and began walking towards the left. The girls struggled against the winter storm as they made their way past the train station and towards the village — or at least where they hoped the village was, since the whiteout conditions made it virtually impossible to see anything more than a few dozen feet away. As the group trudged off the train platform, Rainbow Dash walked ahead towards Sunset and desperately suggested, “G-G-Gimme the key! I’ll r-r-run ahead to the cabin and w-w-warm it up for all of you!” Sunset was hesitant about the idea, but she understood that since the cabin would be empty upon their arrival, it was going to take some time to warm it up, and in these intense blizzard conditions, they would desperately need that warmth right away. Somewhat reluctantly, she took the key out of her pocket and handed it over to Rainbow Dash. Rainbow grabbed the key and immediately used her magical super speed to rush ahead, only to suddenly slam face-first into a wall at some unknown distance. “Ow…” she muttered as she shrugged off the pain and sped off to the right, only to once again smack into a wall. She grunted in pain as she stood up again before zooming off to the left, only to quickly lose her footing and slide across the snow-covered ground, burying herself into a snowbank she had built up in the process of slowing to a stop. Although Rainbow Dash managed to cover only a little distance, it was enough for the rest of the group to completely lose sight of her in the storm. Thankfully, the trench she had carved through the knee-deep snow had left a trail that was easy for them to follow. By the time they finally caught up to her, she had just managed to pull herself out from the large pile of snow she had accidentally created. “R-R-Rainbow Dash!” Fluttershy cried out worriedly. “Are you ok-k-k-kay?” “It’s too icy!” responded Rainbow Dash as she knelt down and began brushing away the snow on the ground. “I can’t use my super speed to help out!” Sunset raised an eyebrow as she watched Rainbow sift through the large pile of snow. She then frowned and irritably spoke up, “Please don’t tell me you lost the key!” Rainbow Dash briefly paused her search, then continued frantically brushing away more snow without saying anything. Sunset growled in frustration as she dropped down to ground and began searching for that key. “This is the last thing I need right now,” she grumbled under her breath. The rest of the girls knew that key was essential for their desire to escape this brutal winter storm, so they all quickly dropped to the ground and began helping to search for it through the frigid snow, risking frostbite to their hands, arms, and exposed legs. After only a few seconds of frantic searching, Pinkie stood up and took a moment to think of a better way. She smiled as she suddenly got an idea, then reached into her hair and pulled out a small piece of candy. “Fire in the hole!” she cried out with enthusiasm as her magical power made that piece of candy glow pink before she threw it down at the large pile of snow. “No, Pinkie!” screamed the others simultaneously in panic. Boom! The blast threw everyone away from the snowbank and sprayed piles of snow all over the girls. Pinkie shook off the snow that had fallen on her as she sat up and glanced around at the scene of frigid devastation. She saw that the site of that pile of snow was now reduced to a crater of slush, while all of her friends were scattered all over the place and partially covered in snow. “Okay, maybe that wasn’t such a smart idea,” she shamefully muttered. “Found it!” Applejack suddenly cried out triumphantly as she held up her right hand, within which she held the key to the cabin. “Ah found the key!” Sunset immediately stood up and rushed over to Applejack, then quickly snatched the key out of her hand. “Let’s stop messing around and get to that cabin!” she firmly declared. “Wait!” Fluttershy suddenly cried out as she glanced around worriedly. “Where’s Twilight?!” Everyone else also looked around and grew concerned when they realized they couldn’t find any sign of their missing friend in the area. Come to think of it, none of them could even recall seeing Twilight at all since they stepped off the train. “We’ll search for Twilight later!” insisted Sunset. “Right now, we gotta save ourselves and get to that cabin!” She glanced around at her surroundings, but struggled to find anything to help her regain her bearings. She growled in frustration and furiously screamed, “And now I can’t figure out which way to go!” “I can help with that!” Pinkie spoke up cheerfully as she leaped out of the snow and landed on her feet. “I think you’ve helped out quite enough, darling,” grumbled Rarity as she stood up and brushed the snow off herself. “Let’s just hear her out,” argued Rainbow Dash as she and the rest of the group also stood up. “Not like any of us have any better ideas right now.” “I’ve been so excited to see all the sights of the Winter Village that I spent over a week studying the map on the official website,” explained Pinkie as she began walking forward in a random direction. “All we gotta do is find and identify any building and I’ll know exactly where we are!” With no other options, the rest of the girls followed after Pinkie. It wasn’t long before a large structure began to come into view directly ahead of them, though the whiteout conditions made it difficult to identify any features on it. It wasn’t until they were practically only a few steps away from the door that they finally saw the nearby sign that was shaped like a long hook and was painted with red and white diagonal stripes. “The candy cane shop!” Pinkie pointed out excitedly. “I know where to go from here!” She then turned left and continued walking. Her friends were hesitant and skeptical, but they followed after her anyway. After several minutes of trudging through knee-deep snow and shivering against the bitterly cold wind, the girls finally arrived at a large cabin. Sunset walked up to the side of it and looked at the address number beside the front door. “This is it!” she cheerfully stated. “We made it!” She pulled out the key and held it out to the lock on the door. Her hand was shaking uncontrollably so much that she missed the lock twice before she finally managed to insert the key and twist it, then quickly threw the door open. All six girls immediately rushed inside. After only a few steps, they were quickly blasted with soothing heat, causing them all to suddenly stop and let out a collective sigh of relief. Rainbow’s smile fell as she noted, “Wait… If this cabin was supposed to be empty when we got here, why is it so warm in here?” The rest of the girls also frowned and began looking around in confusion. Sure enough, all the lights were on and the fireplace was already alight. Their attention eventually fell on one of the comfortable chairs in the room, where they saw their friend Twilight Sparkle was seated and sipping from a mug she held in her right hand. Twilight let out a sigh of satisfaction as she finished her sip of hot cocoa. She then waved her left hand at her friends and cheerfully greeted, “Hi, girls! Took you long enough.” “Twilight?!” asked all six of the other girls in stunned confusion. “Do you mind closing the front door?” continued Twilight casually. “You’re letting all the heat escape. Oh, and if you’re wondering about your winter clothes, I took the liberty of dropping off all of our luggage upstairs in the bedroom we’re all gonna be sharing.” While Fluttershy turned back and shut the door, Applejack continued to stare at Twilight and asked, “How did you…?” Twilight sighed as she set down her mug of hot cocoa. She then held up her right arm and tapped her left hand against the Jump-Gate return device that was attached to her right wrist. The six girls briefly continued to stare dumbfounded at Twilight, but once they understood the message, they all simultaneously muttered, “Ohhhhh…” “Seriously, am I really the only one of us who even considered that option?” asked Twilight in disbelief. “Yeah, well, we’re not the ones who invented that thing,” retorted Rainbow Dash. “I think you can cut us some slack.” “Eh, true,” acknowledged Twilight with a shrug. She then pointed towards the kitchen area and stated, “By the way, I made plenty of hot cocoa for all of us, so feel free to help yourselves.” The six girls who had just spent the last few minutes struggling through the horrible blizzard in nothing more than their standard civilian clothes just to get here glanced at one another and then burst out laughing. “Yeah, after everything we’ve been through, we could really use some of that,” conceded Sunset. “Thanks, Twilight.” “That’s what friends are for,” remarked Twilight before taking another sip of her hot cocoa. While the others were busy warming themselves after the bitter cold they had just endured, Twilight had taken the opportunity to call Spike back home and offered him the suggestion that he could spend the holidays with the trio of girls known as the Creative Mark Crusaders. Spike tried to insist he would’ve been perfectly fine on his own, but the tone in his voice made it clear how excited he actually was to be able to spend the holidays with some familiar faces, since he happened to attend the same school as those girls. Once that was taken care of, Applejack made sure to call her brother to provide Spike with a ride to their place. The blizzard lasted for the rest of the day and throughout much of the following night. By the time the sun was up on the following day, the winds had finally calmed and the skies had cleared up, providing ideal weather conditions for everyone to start exploring the Winter Village. Thanks to the convenient recovery of their luggage, the Equestria Girls made sure to put on their winter outfits before any of them even set foot outside. Twilight had dark teal on her lower legs, navy blue on her upper legs, sky blue on her torso, arms, and the skirt around her upper legs, light purple on the front of her torso under an open jacket, medium purple on the bottom edge and front of her skirt under an open jacket, a dark teal scarf around her neck joint, and pink earmuffs over her head and hair piece. Rainbow Dash had dark purple on her legs, navy blue on her torso, arms, and feet, zigzag vertical stripes of red and yellow on the outer sides of her legs, zigzag horizontal stripes of red, yellow, and green across the front and back of her torso and her upper arms, and a sky blue beanie hat over her head and hair piece. Applejack had dark teal on her legs and torso, orange on her arms and the front of her torso around her neck, green on her hands and feet, and a light blue hat with earflaps over her head and hair piece. Rarity had sky blue on her torso, arms, feet, and the skirt around her upper legs, black on her legs and the front of her torso around her neck, navy blue on her hands, and a light grey tall furry hat over her head and hair piece. Fluttershy had turquoise on her torso and arms, medium purple on her upper legs, dark purple on her lower legs, navy blue on her feet, lavender on her hands and the beanie hat over her head and hair piece, and pink rabbit ears sticking up from the front of that hat. Pinkie Pie had lavender on her legs, light blue on her torso, arms, hands, and feet, and a beanie hat over her head and hair piece that had horizontal stripes of light blue, white, and lavender. And Sunset had navy blue on her legs, dark teal on her torso and arms, patches of lighter teal on the sides of her arms, burgundy on her feet and front of her torso around her neck, and magenta on her hands. Once everyone was properly dressed for the outdoors of winter, Sunset opened the front door and led her friends outside. She and her friends smiled as they glanced around at all the various sights and shops the Winter Village had to offer. “Well, girls,” declared Sunset proudly, “time to enjoy the holidays.” The Equestria Girls all cheered in excitement, then spread out to begin exploring the Winter Village.