//------------------------------// // Familiar Faces // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Familiar Faces Twilight Sparkle and Spike were walking down yet another busy street in the strange-looking city, but still hadn’t gotten any closer to finding Twilight’s missing crown. Instead, they were simply discovering more and more details that continued to show how unusual this place was. At one point, they had overheard someone refer to the crescent-shaped appendages on the end of the arms as “hands”. If that’s what the natives called them, then Twilight decided that would be the term that she and Spike would use. Despite the differences, they also began to notice a few similarities, too. So far, the best example they saw was when three of the natives ran by. They had passed by too quickly to give away specific details, but what Twilight could identify was that they were all as short as Spike and had a striking resemblance to the Cutie Mark Crusaders — three little fillies who lived in her hometown of Ponyville. Right now, Twilight and Spike were starting to feel a little lost. The city streets were laid out in a grid pattern, which was a struggle for them to navigate through. They couldn’t even see the park anymore, and they certainly couldn’t remember which way to go to get back there. They walked down yet another street, not knowing what they would find next. This one was relatively quiet, meaning there was hardly anyone on the sidewalks and virtually none of the odd carriages moving by. Spike was just as fascinated as Twilight was by their surroundings. He was so busy looking up at the tall buildings that he failed to notice that he had stepped out onto the street itself. He also happened to be facing a certain direction that prevented him from seeing one of the “carriages” heading right toward him. Looking back up the street, Twilight gasped as she realized the danger Spike had just unwittingly placed himself in. “Spike! Watch out!” she screamed. Spike looked back in confusion. A noise that sounded like a honking horn came from the oncoming “carriage”, catching Spike’s attention and causing him to scream in panic. Instead of running, he huddled down and braced himself. The wheels screeched as the “carriage” turned sharply to the left to avoid hitting Spike. It missed him, but then slammed into a wall, the impact causing it to literally fly apart into pieces. Twilight ran over to Spike and asked, “Are you okay?!” Spike got back to his feet. He was shaken, but unharmed. “I’m fine,” he replied. “But what was that thing?” Twilight and Spike turned to look at the remains of the “carriage”. As soon as they had turned their attention to it, they saw someone stand up from amidst the wreckage. They assumed it was a she due to her long hair, but the way that hair was on indicated something very wrong. Her head seemed to be on backwards! “Whoa! Why does everything feel so weird?” she asked as she stumbled around with her arms flailing. She then stopped and said, “Oh, wait…” She brought her hands up to her head and felt around until they had a firm grip on opposite sides. Then, with a noise that was no more than a faint squeak, she quickly twisted her head around so that it was now facing forward again. “There, that’s better!” she beamed. Despite the awkward display, this stranger appeared to be completely okay. She had a skin color of pink on her head, hands, upper legs, most of her arms, and around the neck on her torso. She had light blue eyes and on her head was a lot of magenta curly hair. On the lower half of her legs was light blue, except for a pink bow close to the knees. That same blue was seen in a stripe around the wrist end on the arms, around the shoulders, and over all but the front of her torso. On the front was white with a large pink heart in the middle, and a lavender border across the top and bottom. Wrapped around her upper legs was a pink skirt with a lavender strip around the top edge. On the right side was a bow in the same lavender — perhaps to give the perception that it was some piece of cloth tied around her waist. Printed on the left side were three balloons; the middle was blue with a yellow string, and the other two were yellow with blue strings — just like the Cutie Mark on one of Twilight’s friends, Pinkie Pie. In fact, aside from the obvious stature and clothing, this stranger looked strikingly similar to Pinkie Pie. The pink stranger turned to Twilight and happily said, “Oh! Hi there! Are you new here? Or have you been here a while and I just never noticed? I’d like to try to get to know everyone here, but with this being a big city, that’s, like, almost impossible, but I try my best. I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?” Twilight shook her head. Either Pinkie Pie hadn’t noticed she and Spike had been staring at her, or she simply didn’t care — probably both. Twilight cleared her throat and said nervously, “Uh, yes! I’m new here! Just, um, just visiting for a few days, actually. My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this is Spike.” Spike finally stopped staring and said, “Uh, yeah! Nice to meet you, Pinkie.” He looked over at the wreckage that Pinkie had climbed out of and felt guilty. “Sorry about your, uh…” He still wasn’t quite sure what that thing was — or rather, once was. “Oh, that’s okay,” assured Pinkie with a wave of the hand. “I was planning to take it apart and build a new car, anyway.” “Build a new what?” asked Twilight in confusion. Pinkie turned to the wreckage and brought a hand to her chin as she had a thoughtful look on her face. “Hmm, but what kind of a car do I wanna build?” she muttered to herself. Twilight took another look at the wreckage of Pinkie’s “car” and finally noticed something quite peculiar. It wasn’t actually wreckage as she knew it, but rather appeared to be a whole bunch of parts that had simply fallen apart. The parts came in all shapes and sizes, but the vast majority of them had a very similar design. They were rectangular boxes; on top were short, round protrusions evenly spaced from each other in a grid-like pattern; the bottom was hollowed out, except for tubes that extended over the entire depth of the part and were spaced apart just as evenly as the protrusions on top. All of the parts were apparently made of the same plastic that made up her new body. The only exception was the outer wheels, which seemed to be made of rubber. Spike turned to Twilight and whispered uneasily, “I don’t know about this.” “What do you mean?” Twilight whispered back. “How can we be sure that’s Pinkie Pie?” “Well, Princess Celestia didn’t want my friends to come with me. Maybe the reason for that is because they’re already here, albeit in a different form. If she’s just like the Pinkie we know, maybe we can ask her for help.” “I doubt it. I mean, this Pinkie said she wanted to build a new, uh… something, and the Pinkie Pie we know isn’t exactly known for her building skills.” “I know!” exclaimed Pinkie excitedly, completely unaware of the conversation that had just taken place behind her back. She rushed over to the pile of parts and quickly went to work. She literally appeared to be in many places at once as she began zooming around and putting the parts together in the middle of the road. Whoosh! Whoosh! Click. Clack. Whoosh! Click. Click. Clack. Clack. Whoosh! Click. Clack. Click. Clack. In only a matter of seconds, Pinkie Pie had put together all of the parts and stood atop her newly assembled car. As a finale, she threw the last part into place —which made one last clicking noise — then held her arms out and shouted, “Ta-da!” Twilight and Spike simply stared at Pinkie with their mouths hanging wide open. Pinkie jumped off the roof of her new car and happily exclaimed, “C’mon! Let’s take it for a test drive!” Twilight shook her head to snap herself out of her shock. “Um, well, I guess a little ride wouldn’t hurt,” she said. “Besides, I don’t exactly know my way around this city, so—” “I can give you a tour!” beamed Pinkie. “This is gonna be great! What are you waiting for? Hop in!” She then opened the door on the left side of the car and hopped into the driver’s seat. Twilight and Spike walked around the front of the car to the door on the other side. Twilight opened the door and saw one seat next to Pinkie Pie, who was apparently sitting behind some kind of steering wheel. “There’s only two seats,” Spike pointed out. “Where am I supposed to sit?” “I put in a third seat right behind the others,” answered Pinkie. “You’ll have to use the back door.” Spike walked to the back of the car and saw the door Pinkie was referring to. He opened the door and, sure enough, there was a third seat in the back. At least it was placed between the other two so he could see ahead. He climbed inside and crawled up to the seat. At the same time, Twilight hopped into the other front seat next to Pinkie Pie and shut the door “Comfy?” asked Pinkie. Twilight shifted around a bit in her seat. Comfort wasn’t exactly something that came to mind, considering both the seat and her own body were both made of plastic. It was a snug fit at least, so she replied, “I guess so.” “Okay, let’s go!” exclaimed Pinkie with a huge grin on her face. She then stomped her foot on the floor in front of her. The wheels screeched as the car suddenly sped off down the street. Twilight and Spike were thrown back into their seats from the sudden acceleration, resulting in screams of panic from them. Pinkie Pie was completely oblivious of her terrified passengers as she began to talk while driving. “You’re gonna love it here in Canterlot City! It’s got everything you can expect to see in a city. There’s the city hall, the stadium, the police station, the race track, the pizzeria, the theme park, the library, the—” “There’s a library here?” asked Twilight. Despite the circumstances she was currently in, she actually smiled at this information. Pinkie didn’t even acknowledge Twilight as she suddenly pointed to the left and said, “Oh, look, a fruit stand!” She stomped on the floor again and the car came to a screeching halt. The sudden stop caused Twilight to fly out of her seat and face-plant against the windshield. While Pinkie Pie happily got out and ran over to the fruit stand across the street, a very dazed Twilight slowly pushed herself off from the windshield and back into her seat. In the back of the car, Spike staggered around and groaned. “I think I broke something,” he muttered as he slowly reached for the door. As soon as he grabbed the door, it came off its hinge and fell to the street below, taking him with it. “Uh, it was already like that!” Spike quickly defended himself before getting back up to his feet. Twilight opened the door and slowly climbed out of the car, thankful that the wild ride was over. “I’ll take four apples, please,” said Pinkie Pie. “Two for me and two for my new friends.” “Sure thing. That’ll be two dollars.” Twilight stood still for a moment. She recognized that second voice. She walked around the car and saw another familiar face by the fruit stand with Pinkie Pie. The vendor of the fruit stand had orange skin color on her head, hands, upper legs, and most of her arms. She had green eyes and on her head was blonde hair that was long in the back and apparently tied together near the end. Resting on top of that hair was a western style hat. The shoulders of her arms and lower half of her torso was white, while the upper half was green. Wrapped around her upper legs was a blue skirt with a brown stripe around the top edge, except at the very front where there was a red apple — perhaps some kind of belt buckle. Her lower legs were brown, and printed on the front of each leg were three bright red apples — the Cutie Mark on another of Twilight’s pony friends, Applejack. Was this girl also named Applejack? From seemingly out of nowhere, Pinkie pulled out two small rectangular parts that were green and had the number “1” printed in white in the middle of the top. She gave them to the Applejack lookalike, who then grabbed what looked like four large apples from the fruit stand and gave them to her. As Twilight and Spike walked up to the fruit stand, Pinkie tossed an apple to each of them, then grabbed one of the other apples and began chowing down on it. Twilight looked uneasily at the “apple” in her hands. It was shaped like an apple, red like a good apple, but seemed like it was yet another plastic part that made up just about everything around them. She looked over at Spike, who simply shrugged and took a bite out of his apple. Against Twilight’s predictions, a bite mark suddenly appeared on the apple and Spike seemed to be chewing something that seemed delicious, based on his facial reaction. So it was possible to eat food in this world! Still holding her apple in both hands, Twilight looked over at Pinkie Pie, who was already almost finished with her first apple and reached over to grab the final one she had bought. Twilight noticed how Pinkie was apparently holding the apples by the stem, which was relatively much larger on these big apples than the ones she was used to. It looked like a rather awkward way of holding apples, but if that’s how it was done here, then she would have to do the same. Twilight hesitantly grabbed her apple by the stem — a perfect fit within her hand’s crescent shape — and attempted to take a bite. Keeping her eyes closed as she did so helped a lot, because it felt — and tasted — exactly like she was eating a real apple back home. After swallowing her mouthful, she commented, “Mmm, delicious.” “Y’all got that right!” replied Applejack. “You won’t find apples as good as these anywhere else in all of the Lego World.” Twilight stopped just as she was about to take another bite. “Lego?” she asked. Before Twilight could get an answer, another car pulled up to the side of the road right next to the fruit stand. It was different than Pinkie Pie’s car, mostly because the rear half looked like an open cart while the front half looked like any other car. Loaded in the back were what appeared to be crates full of apples. “‘Bout time ya got here!” said Applejack, slightly frustrated. “What took ya so long? Traffic?” “Eeyup,” replied the driver as he stepped out and walked to the back of his truck. Red skin, short orange hair, and a large green apple printed on the corner of his torso — this guy resembled Big Macintosh! Twilight and Spike looked at each other in confusion. Spike simply shrugged and took another bite from his apple. “Well, can’t blame ya for that,” said Applejack in response to the truck driver, who had now lowered the tailgate and began unloading the apples into the nearly empty fruit stand. She turned to Twilight and asked, “Are you new here? Ah haven’t seen you ‘round here before.” Before Twilight could reply, Pinkie pulled her and Spike into a tight hug and said, “Yes! Twilight Sparkle and Spike here said they’re visiting for a few days, so I offered to give them a tour of the city. We only just started, but that’s okay. I can already tell they love this place!” Twilight pulled herself out of the hug and added, “Yes, this is a, uh… nice place you’ve got here, Applejack.” “This is just where I’ve set up the stand for today,” Applejack pointed out. “Mah home is actually over at the apple orchard outside of town.” Applejack suddenly had a look of confusion on her face as she realized something. “Hey, how’d ya know mah name’s Applejack?” Twilight stuttered as she tried to think of a response. She wasn’t exactly willing to explain how she was from another world that was very unlike this one. She was still struggling to understand them; how would they be able to understand her? “Uh… didn’t you say?” she finally tried. “Nope,” said Big Mac as he tossed the now empty crates into the back of his truck and closed the tailgate. “Uh, Pinkie told us!” said Spike, trying to help Twilight. “It was her idea to stop here.” Pinkie said, “Actually, I—” Twilight cut her off by shoving Pinkie’s uneaten apple in her mouth. She didn’t even turn her attention away from Applejack as she kept a nervous grin on her face. “Mmm, juicy!” said Pinkie, her voice muffled by the apple stuffed in her mouth. Applejack stared at the trio for a moment before saying uneasily, “If you say so.” She decided to drop the issue for now and return to her fruit stand. She turned to Spiked and commented, “Nice hat, by the way.” “I’m wearing a hat?” asked Spike as he reached for the red cap on his head. Unlike Twilight, he had yet to see his own reflection, so he had no idea he was even wearing a hat. Spike removed his cap and took a quick look at it. “Huh? What do ya know…” he quietly muttered to himself. Pinkie finished the last bite of her apple and tossed the core away. “Well, what are we waiting for? We’ve only just started the tour!” she said excitedly as she ran back to her car. Spike put his cap back on as he looked at Twilight uncertainly and asked, “Do we have to go through this again?” Twilight took a moment to consider her options. She replied, “We probably shouldn’t, but she is offering that tour, and we can’t exactly go back to where we started. Too late for us to back out now.” She shrugged as she made that final statement and walked back to Pinkie Pie’s car. With no better alternative, Spike also returned to the car. He noticed the door was still on the ground, so he picked it up and tried to figure out how to put it back on the car. “Here, let me,” said Pinkie as she quickly snatched the door from his hands and put it back into place with a click. Spike grinned innocently before climbing into the car and closing the door behind him. Pinkie hopped back into the driver’s seat and, after making sure her passengers were comfortably seated, stomped on the accelerator. Once again, the car zoomed off down the street while Twilight and Spike hung on for dear life, screaming with each high-speed turn they made. “Look! There’s the City Park, right over there!” said Pinkie, pointing to the right. Twilight looked over and saw that they really were passing by the park she and Spike had started in. She could even see the horse statue that held the gateway back to Equestria. “Keep the park in mind, Pinkie,” said Twilight. “We will need to get back there at some point.” Pinkie turned to look at Twilight and asked, “Why’s that?” Before Twilight could think of a believable answer, she saw someone on a bicycle crossing the street. At the speeds they were going, she knew they were going to collide, so she pointed ahead and shouted, “Look out!” Pinkie finally looked forward and gasped before stomping on the brake. They were already too close, and the bicycle rider had only one second to scream before the car slammed into her. Once the car came to stop, Twilight gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. She was horrified by the scene in the road right in front of the car. The individual they had just crashed into was now literally in pieces! Remarkably, she still appeared to be alive and well, despite her condition. Pinkie hopped out of the car and ran over to the girl in pieces. She giggled nervously and said, “Sorry about that.” “Yeah? Well, next time, maybe you should actually watch the road,” said the bicycle rider with annoyance. Her head was apparently the only part of herself that she could currently move, as she tried to hop it around a little. She stopped and turned to look at Pinkie. “Well? Don’t just stand there! Help me put myself back together.” “Okie dokie!” replied Pinkie. She then quickly gathered up all of the girl’s parts and threw them together just as quickly. “Ta-da!” Put simply, Pinkie Pie’s attempt was a disaster. An arm was where a leg should be, a leg was where the head should be, the torso was on upside-down, and the skirt was partially draped over the head. The now scrambled-up girl’s expression turned from annoyance to anger. “This is not funny!” she shouted. “Put me back together the right way!” Pinkie Pie giggled nervously again and said, “Sorry.” She quickly rearranged the parts back into their proper order. “There you go!” Now fully reassembled correctly, the bicycle rider adjusted the hair on her head and said, “Much better.” It was another voice Twilight Sparkle recognized. This girl had a skin color of sky blue on her head, hands, most of her arms, and around the middle of her legs. She had magenta eyes and the messy hair on her head consisted of all six colors of the rainbow. Her upper legs were dark grey and her lower legs were a medium blue with a red and yellow stripe around the top and what appeared to be white laces crisscrossing over the front. Wrapped around her upper legs was a skirt that was white on the sides and magenta on the front and back. Around her wrists was a stripe of red, yellow, and blue. Medium blue also covered her shoulders and most of her torso. In the middle of the front — under what was apparently an open jacket — was white with a dark grey stripe around the neck. Printed in the middle of that white area was a cloud with a rainbow colored lightning bolt — just like the Cutie Mark on Rainbow Dash. Twilight was still in shock, not just from seeing yet another familiar face, but also because this Rainbow Dash lookalike had actually been in pieces just seconds ago. Twilight slowly climbed out of the car and asked, “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine,” said Rainbow Dash, slightly annoyed, as she reached down to pick up her bicycle. “Are you sure about that?” asked Twilight, still completely baffled by what she had witnessed. “Please, that was hardly the first time I’d fallen to pieces,” answered Rainbow Dash. “Takes a lot more than a car crash to hurt this minifig!” She smiled and pointed to herself, as if to say how awesome she was. This was definitely Rainbow Dash. A minifig? thought Twilight. Well, I guess that answers the question of what I am. “I’m confused,” said Spike as he walked up to the scene. “I mean, shouldn’t it hurt a lot to just… lose body parts like that?” Now it was Rainbow Dash who was confused. “Why would you think that?” she asked. Twilight scratched the back of her head nervously. She had to word her response carefully. “Well… it’s just that, where he and I are from, we’re not exactly used to seeing someone just… fall apart like that,” she answered. “It just didn’t happen.” “Wow, sounds like you come from a pretty boring place,” commented Pinkie Pie. “Being made of detachable parts is great! It means you can do stuff like this!” She then took off her left arm and began using it to scratch her back. “Ahhh, that feels so good,” she said in relief. The others simply stared at her strange behavior. Even in this world, Pinkie still had moments where she was just being Pinkie. “Yeah, well, I’m sure it has its downsides, too,” said Spike. “I mean, look over there.” Twilight and Rainbow looked in the direction Spike was pointing and they saw a grey-skinned blonde minifig whose head was on the ground. She kept trying to pick it up, but every time her headless body walked up to it, she would accidentally kick it away. She didn’t stop and try something different, but simply kept going with the same result, over and over. Rainbow Dash sighed and said, “I’d better go help her. She’s been known to do that for hours on end.” She hopped back onto her bicycle and rode over to the struggling minifig. Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie finished scratching her back and reattached her left arm. She looked over at her car and apparently noticed something. “Hmm, my new car looks like it’s missing something,” she said to herself thoughtfully. A smile quickly returned to her face as she got an idea. “Oh! I know what it needs!” she beamed. “A sticker!” “A sticker?” asked a very confused Twilight. “Yeah!” answered Pinkie cheerfully as she hopped back into the driver’s seat. “And I know the perfect place to get one! C’mon, let’s go!” “Here we go again,” sighed Spike before he and Twilight also climbed back into Pinkie’s car. Once again, they zoomed off down the city streets, not even slowing down as they made turns. From within the car, the outside world was a blur as it flew by. Screams of panic from Twilight and Spike and squeals of joy from Pinkie did not diminish throughout the ride. Before long, they had arrived at their destination, the car screeching to a halt again. Pinkie didn’t even bother waiting for the others as she hopped out and ran into the building they had just parked in front of. Twilight was still panting heavily from the crazy ride. She eventually managed to relax and breathe a sigh of relief. “At least I managed to stay in my seat this time,” she quietly told herself as she and Spike slowly got out of the car and walked up to the building Pinkie had just run into. It was a modest rectangular building with two floors. While the building lacked in size, it more than made up for in style. Rather than just simple large bricks like many other buildings in the city, this building also had all kinds of smaller elements placed together in elegant ways. But what really caught their attention was the sign over the door that read “Carousel Boutique & Decal Shop”. Twilight and Spike glanced at each other in confusion. They recognized the first part and assumed that meant another familiar face would be waiting inside, but the second part made almost no sense. Why would Rarity also work on decals? Hoping to get answers, Twilight and Spike silently agreed to go inside. Once they were inside, the first thing they noticed was the many faceless minifigs, which they quickly realized were just mannequins to display the various outfits and dresses being sold here. Twilight still didn’t understand how clothing worked in this world, seeing as she couldn’t figure out where she got what she was currently wearing or even how to take it off. They could faintly hear some classical music playing in the background, which was quickly drowned out by some machinery activating in the back. Twilight and Spike looked toward the back of the shop and saw Pinkie standing in front of the store counter, behind which was the owner who was now busy operating one of the strange machines. Stuck on the walls in the back were dozens and dozens of decals that came in all shapes, styles, and colors; it was a large display of what one could get at this shop. The active machine continued to buzz as it slowly spit out a large sheet with some kind of design on it. Twilight realized that this was how the decals were made in this world, and it was where Pinkie Pie was now getting that sticker she wanted for her car. Once the machine finished, the store owner removed the sheet, which came out to be twice the size of a minifig. She rolled it up and handed it over to Pinkie and said, “Here you go, darling. Have a nice day.” “Thank you!” replied Pinkie, before running past Twilight and Spike and out the door. Twilight and Spike turned their attention back to the owner of this shop. She had white skin color on her head, hands, upper legs, lower arms, and around the neck of her torso. She had blue eyes and the violet hair on her head was curled in a very stylish way. Her lower legs were a similar violet with a lavender stripe around the top and a blue diamond close to the knees. Her upper arms and most of her torso was a very light blue, and she had a gold band around her wrists. Wrapped around her upper legs was a lavender skirt with a violet stripe across the top that had a blue square on the front — apparently another kind of belt. Printed on the left side were three blue diamonds — just like Rarity’s Cutie Mark. The Rarity lookalike saw Twilight and Spike and said, “Ah, welcome! How may I be of service to you?” Twilight figured Rarity may already be well-known in this city for owning a place like this, but she didn’t want to take any chances. So she walked up to the counter and said, “Oh, I’m just looking around to see what you have here. You run this place?” “Indeed I do,” she replied. “I am Rarity, and I design some of the most fabulous dresses and outfits available here in Canterlot City. If you are instead looking to spruce up a vehicle or building, I also offer a wide range of decals in many different sizes.” Twilight was still a little confused, so she said, “I, uh, heard you were into fashion, but I didn’t think you would be working with decals, too.” “I’ll admit it wasn’t initially part of my passion,” explained Rarity. “You see, some time ago, one of my clients was so impressed by the dress designs I came up with that, when she sadly had to close down her own decal shop, she offered to let me have all of these printers that she could no longer use. I was unsure of entering such a business at first, but once I started realizing the full potential of this alternate means of making custom designs, I knew it was worth embracing.” Spike gave a love-struck sigh as he rested his head and arms on the counter. Even as one of these “minifigs”, Rarity was still the most beautiful sight in the world to him. Rarity noticed the short boy and asked, “And who might you be?” Spike was too lost in Rarity’s eyes to say anything, so Twilight replied for him, “That’s Spike. A, uh, friend of mine.” Rarity turned back to Spike and said, “I must say, Spike, that is a rather fine hat you are wearing.” To hear a complement from Rarity was one of the best things Spike could have hoped for. He slowly took off his red cap and asked, “Y-you really think so?” “But of course!” answered Rarity. “Though it looks rather… bland. You wouldn’t mind if I added a custom design to it, would you?” Spike practically shoved his cap into Rarity’s hands as he said, “N-no, not at all! In fact, you can put anything you want on it. Surprise me!” “Gladly,” said Rarity as she brought the cap over to a different machine and placed it within that machine. She then flipped though many sheets with different designs on them. “Perfect,” she said as she selected one and inserted it into another part of the machine. She pressed a few buttons and the machine began to make a light buzzing noise. “You will notice that I am using a different process in this case than what I just gave to Pinkie Pie,” explained Rarity. “Stickers are preferable for large pieces and can be placed wherever you want. Removal is rather tricky, but it can be done, although it practically destroys the sticker in the process. However, smaller pieces — like a hat — are simply too small for one to place a sticker on, so the design has to be printed directly on it. The downside is that it’s permanent, so I really appreciate that you are willing to let me decide on the particular design.” Twilight was pleased to hear such an explanation from Rarity. It helped to explain why only certain parts appeared to have some kind of artwork on them. It also possibly explained how “clothing” was made in this world — simply have it printed directly on the body parts. A soon as Rarity had finished explaining the different ways of applying decals, the machine finished. She removed the red cap and gave it back to Spike and said, “Here you are, darling. Have a nice day.” “Thank you,” said Spike as he continued his love-struck stare with a goofy grin on his face. Once Rarity had walked away to attend to other business, Spike looked down at his hat that now had a custom design printed on the front. He wasn’t sure what it meant, but all he cared about was that he got it from Rarity. He put his cap back on as he turned to Twilight and asked “What do you think?” Twilight looked at the custom design on Spike’s red cap. It was simple, yet confusing. Printed in large rounded white letters, outlined in black then yellow, was a four-letter word: LEGO. This was the second time today they had encountered that word, and it still made absolutely no sense to Twilight. She didn’t know what to think of it, so she decided to just complement Spike by saying, “Uh, it’s nice. Not bad at all.” Knowing there was nothing left to do here, Twilight began walking back to the door out of the building. “You really think so?” asked Spike as he followed Twilight. “You know, I think I’m starting to like this hat.” Twilight smiled as she rolled her eyes. Spike would swoon at anything related to Rarity. They stepped outside just in time to see Pinkie Pie finish applying that large sticker to the front of her car. She stepped back to admire her work and said, “There. Now you can tell who built this car.” The sticker was transparent except for the graphic printed in the middle, which was the same trio of balloons that appeared on her skirt. As Pinkie jumped back into the driver’s seat of her car, she said with a smile, “Hop in! I still have to give you that tour.” Twilight and Spike looked at each other and shrugged. Crazy as it was to ride with Pinkie, they still knew very little about this strange city. Once everyone was back in their seats, the car sped off down the streets again. It was still a terrifying ride, but at least now they weren’t screaming in panic. “So many places to see, so little time,” thought Pinkie aloud. “Where should I begin?” Before she could make any suggestions, the right side of the car suddenly dropped down and the whole thing began to slow down. Twilight and Spike yelped, not anticipating such a thing would happen at all. Pinkie looked out the windshield and quickly saw the problem. “Oh no! Runaway wheel!” she shouted. She pulled the car over to the side of the road as it came to a stop. She immediately got out and began chasing after the wheel that continued to roll away. “Wait! Come back!” Twilight carefully got out of the tilted car and noticed that the right front wheel had indeed come off. Spike walked over to Twilight and said, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait for her to get it back.” Twilight took a moment to look at where they had stopped. Although each building had subtle differences, she still couldn’t figure out where she was within the city. However, she did notice the small building they had stopped right in front of. The label on the door read “Canterlot City Animal Shelter”. Much like with Rarity’s shop, Twilight had a feeling she knew who she would find in there. She walked up to the door and stepped inside. Spike was confused, but, having nothing better to do, decided to follow her anyway. If the “minifigs” who inhabited this world looked strange, then the animals were simply bizarre. Their shapes were familiar — dogs, cats, birds, mice, and other critters — but unlike minifigs, they each apparently consisted of only one part. Even more strange was that many of them, especially the smaller critters, consisted of only one color. Their shapes still showed where their faces were, but lacked any details beyond that, such as eyes and a mouth. Despite this, they all behaved pretty much the same as their counterpart versions back in Equestria. “Oh. Hello, there.” Twilight and Spike turned to see who had just spoken. She had a skin color of pale yellow on her head, hands, arms, upper legs, and around the neck and shoulders of her torso. She had teal eyes and long pink hair on her head. Most of her torso was plain white. Her lower legs were light green with a pink stripe across the top and white around the feet. Wrapped around her upper legs was a light green skirt. Printed on the right side were three pink butterflies — Fluttershy’s Cutie Mark. “Is there anything I can help you with?” asked Fluttershy. “If you really want any help, that is.” “No, not really,” replied Twilight. “I’m just looking around while I’m waiting for my, uh, friend to fix her… car.” She was getting familiar with this world, but knew she still had much to learn. Besides, she knew she still had to be careful about using familiar names without prior confirmation, so she added, “I’m Twilight Sparkle. What’s your name?” “Oh, um, I’m Fluttershy,” she quietly replied. “Fluttershy?” Twilight repeated, hoping to give the impression that she was simply making sure she heard right, even though she already knew for sure. She glanced out the window and saw that Pinkie Pie had yet to return with the missing wheel, so she decided a little small talk would help pass the time. “So… you own this place?” she asked. “Yes,” answered Fluttershy. “I’ve always loved working with animals. Of course, in a big city like this, there are often a lot of strays wandering around on the cold streets. So I decided to build this shelter to give them a nice cozy place to stay and get better until I can find an even better home for them.” It didn’t escape Twilight’s attention how Fluttershy mentioned that she had built this animal shelter. Like Pinkie Pie, the Fluttershy she knew back in Equestria wasn’t known for her building skills, either. In fact, it was starting to seem like this world regarded the building of just about anything to be as common as the use of magic was in Equestria. While Twilight and Fluttershy were busy talking, Spike decided to take a look around the shelter. He soon came across a few small aquariums that held what appeared to be fish. He chuckled at how funny looking everything seemed to be in this world. He turned around and saw a much larger fish tank; one that almost reached the ceiling and was more than twice as wide. Within the tank was a much larger fish that was grey in color. Unlike the others, this one consisted of two pieces: a body and a head. The head was attached like a hinge, allowing the big fish to open its mouth and reveal a jagged edge along its jaws, resembling rows of sharp teeth. Realizing what he was now face to face with, Spike yelped and jumped back in shock. “Spike?” asked Twilight, worriedly. Within seconds, she and Fluttershy had rushed over to see what had frightened him. “Oh. I see you’ve met Bruce,” said Fluttershy. “You keep a shark in here?!” exclaimed Spike. “He’s not as bad as you think,” assured Fluttershy. “He’s actually quite friendly.” “But I do have to agree with Spike. Why do you keep a shark, of all things, in a place like this?” asked Twilight, completely baffled by what she was seeing. “Well, he was only a little pup when I found him washed up on the beach,” replied Fluttershy. “I couldn’t just let him suffer, so I brought him here and built a tank big enough for him to feel comfortable in.” “So you just decided to keep him?” asked Twilight in confusion. “Not really. Like every other critter in this shelter, I’ve always intended to give him a better home. So far, I haven’t gotten many offers, and the ones who have couldn’t promise they would be kind to him. I’m sure I’ll find him a good home someday.” Still creeped out by the presence of a shark, Twilight and Spike decided to head back to the front of the shelter. As they headed for the door, Twilight thought aloud, “At this rate, I may never find my missing crown.” “Did you lose something?” asked Fluttershy, who had quietly followed them. As they turned to her, she lowered her head in embarrassment and said, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” “I don’t mind,” assured Twilight. “In fact, I actually welcome any help I can get.” “Maybe you should tell the police,” suggested Fluttershy. “I don’t know. I mean, Sunset Shimmer went through a lot of trouble to—” “Sunset Shimmer was involved?” Fluttershy suddenly asked. She blushed once she realized she had interrupted. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. It’s just that, if she really was involved, you should talk to Celestia Playwell. She’ll want to know everything about what happened.” Hearing Celestia’s name caught Twilight completely by surprise. “Celestia?” she asked. “Is she the ruler here?” “Not exactly,” replied Fluttershy, slightly confused by Twilight’s reaction. “She’s actually the head of the local branch of the Lego Team.” Twilight sighed and quietly said to herself, “There’s that word again. Lego. What does that even mean?” “You don’t know what Lego is?” asked Fluttershy, now even more confused. Twilight immediately held her mouth shut. She had clearly made a big mistake. Whatever this “Lego” was, this world was apparently as familiar with it as Equestria was with magic. Thinking on the fly, she quickly said, “I mean, I, uh… didn’t know that the, uh… Lego Team had a branch here in, um… Canterlot City.” She had a huge nervous grin on her face as she waited to see if Fluttershy would buy her cover-up. After a few tense seconds, Fluttershy finally said, “Their locations are usually pretty obvious. You’ll find ours located at the top of the mountain that looks over the city.” “Thanks for the directions,” Twilight quickly said. “I’ll just ask my friend to give us a ride there. Bye!” She then grabbed Spike and practically dragged him out the door. Fluttershy simply stared in confusion at Twilight’s abrupt departure. Outside, Spike got back to his feet and asked, “What was that all about?” “Sorry, Spike, but I feel like I almost came too close to being called crazy,” replied Twilight. “I don’t know what this ‘Lego’ is, but I have a feeling it’s something that everyone in this world should know about. I don’t wanna come across as being like, say, a full-grown unicorn not knowing anything about the word ‘magic’. If I’m gonna get anywhere in this world, I’ll need to do some research on the subject. But first, I’ll need to talk to the Celestia of this world about getting my crown back.” “Found it!” For a moment, Twilight and Spike seriously thought that Pinkie Pie had just claimed to have found the missing crown. They turned to see her running atop a wheel as she rolled it back to the car. With nothing in her hands, it was clear that she was actually referring to the wheel that had come off the car. “I managed to catch that runaway wheel!” Pinkie happily proclaimed. She hopped off the wheel and tried to put it back on. It took her a few seconds to realize that the axle was now lying on the ground, making it difficult to put the wheel back on. She quickly solved the problem by removing a part from the top of the car and using it to prop up the base so she could get the wheel back on. She then put the other part back where it belonged. Before Pinkie could get back in the car, Twilight asked, “Do you know how to get to the local branch of the Lego Team? I heard it’s at the top of a mountain that looks over the city.” “Of course I do,” replied Pinkie. “I know how to get to any place in Canterlot City. It’s actually pretty far from here, but I can get you there in a jiffy. Hop in!” Once again, she hopped into the driver’s seat, ready to drive like a maniac. Spike turned to Twilight and asked, “Last time?” “Last time,” assured Twilight. They needed to reach Celestia as soon as possible, and Pinkie was clearly the fastest way they had, despite her wild driving style. After that, they would likely no longer be in any rush, so there would be no need to risk their lives with Pinkie’s ride anymore after that. Twilight climbed into the seat next to Pinkie, and Spike climbed in through the back door to his seat behind the others. Once they were ready, Pinkie stomped on the accelerator and they sped off down the street once again. It wasn’t long until they reached open land outside the city. The road ahead led directly toward a rather tall mountain. There were numerous tunnel openings over the mountain, showing that the road up there was likely twisty and treacherous. At the top was a large building, but it was currently too far away to identify any details. In fact, its location reminded Twilight a lot of Canterlot as she knew it back in Equestria. Twilight and Spike held on for dear life as Pinkie Pie made the car zoom up the mountain road. Many turns were so tight that it almost felt like they would tip over every time. Even more scary, Pinkie didn’t even slow down through the tunnels. One thing was very clear to Twilight: This was nothing like the peaceful train ride to Canterlot, back in Equestria. After what felt like forever, they finally arrived at the top of the mountain. Now that they were closer, they could see just how massive this building was. It was as tall as the tallest buildings in the city, and took up a lot of ground space too. There were a lot of windows close to the ground and along the top, but none in the massive middle area. In the middle of the side of the building was what appeared to be the logo for the organization that inhabited this building. It was a large red square containing the word “LEGO” in large white rounded letters that were outlined in black then yellow — just like the decal printed on Spike’s cap. They soon reached the end of the road right in front of the building. The car screeched to a stop and spun around so that it was now facing the other way, ready to go back down the road. “We’re here!” said Pinkie cheerfully. Twilight sighed and said, “Thank you, Pinkie.” She carefully stepped out of the car, as did Spike. After the insane ride they had just been on, they were glad they were done with that for good. Twilight walked around to Pinkie’s side of the car and explained, “I need to take care of some important business here, and I have a feeling that it might take some time.” “But what about that tour?” asked Pinkie. “Sorry, but I’m afraid that’ll have to wait until another time,” replied Twilight. Hoping to keep Pinkie happy, she added, “Well, don’t let me keep you waiting. I’m sure you have plenty of things to do back in the city. As soon as I’m done here, I promise to come back.” “Pinkie promise?” Almost on reflex, despite the different physiology, Twilight made the motions and said, “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” “Wow, you actually know how to make a Pinkie promise,” said Pinkie, slightly surprised. “Are you psychic?” Twilight stuttered, realizing she had slipped up again. She finally managed to say, “Not really.” After a moment of silence, Pinkie shrugged and said, “Oh well. Nice meeting you, Twilight. See ya later!” And with that, she immediately sped off in her car back down the road to Canterlot City. Twilight and Spike looked down that road until Pinkie Pie’s car was no longer in sight. They then turned back to the massive building in front of them. “Now what?” asked Spike. Twilight Sparkle looked up at the big “LEGO” logo on the side of the building and replied, “Now, we get some answers. And maybe even some help getting my crown back.” She began walking toward the glass doors directly in front of them, soon followed by Spike.