Welcome to Equestria Land
Chapter 2
Welcome to Equestria Land
Opening day for Equestria Land had finally arrived. There was so much excitement for it that some guests had arrived hours before the park officially opened. Once the main gates were finally opened, there was practically a mad rush among the guests in an effort to become the very first people to enjoy the various rides and attractions. The new theme park had everything imaginable, such as a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, bumper cars, a log flume ride, a haunted house, a wild west show, and all kinds of carnival games and food carts.
The parking lot out front continued to fill with vehicles as the early morning hours passed by, among which were a rusty red pickup truck driven by Applejack, a blue sleek motorcycle driven by Rainbow Dash, a small pink and white car driven by Fluttershy, and a red convertible with yellow flames driven by Sunset Shimmer, with Twilight Sparkle riding shotgun. Those five girls gathered together just in time to see Pinkie Pie arrive in a pink van with blue and yellow stripes. As soon as Pinkie swiftly swung the van into a parking space — remarkable stopping only an inch away from the bumper of the adjacent vehicle — the rear doors opened and out climbed her four passengers — Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Spike.
Spike slammed the doors shut and followed the three younger girls — commonly known as the Creative Mark Crusaders — across the parking lot as he furiously exclaimed, “I don’t care how expensive a taxi cab is! I am not riding home with Pinkie Pie!”
“Aw, c’mon, Spike,” assured Sweetie Belle. “It wasn’t that bad.”
“Yeah!” agreed Scootaloo excitedly. “It was awesome!”
“It was like the thrill ride before we even entered the park!” agreed Apple Bloom with just as much enthusiasm.
“After what I’ve been through,” grumbled Spike, “I think I’ll stick to lower intensity rides for the rest of the day.”
As the two groups met up, the three little girls quickly gathered around Applejack. “Applejack! Can we please go on ahead on our own?” begged Apple Bloom.
“I know we all promised to meet Rarity,” continued Sweetie Belle, “but we just can’t wait to see everything in Equestria Land!”
“There’s no telling how long the lines will get, so we need to be there as soon as possible!” finished Scootaloo.
Because Rarity had already used up all of her available V.I.P. passes on her closest friends, the younger girls would not be able to have the privilege of cutting the lines, so there was a legitimate reason behind their impatience. Applejack looked into the adorably huge eyes of the three little girls, then conceded with a sigh and answered, “Alright, but make sure ya stay near Spike so he can keep an eye on y’all.”
The Creative Mark Crusaders cheered as one and then rushed ahead towards the main entrance into the park.
“Why am I always stuck with caretaker duties?” grumbled Spike as he began to run after those highly energetic young girls.
“Y’all be careful, now!” Applejack called out to the little girls. “An’ don’t forget to stick around for the parade tonight!”
With those four kids rushing ahead, the remaining six girls walked after them at a much more relaxed pace. As they approached the main entrance, Rainbow Dash noticed a rather familiar minifig standing to the side. “Indigo Zap?” she asked aloud.
Indigo, much like her fellow former Shadowbolts agents, no longer wore any of their standardized uniforms and instead had black on her torso and arms, medium blue on her upper legs, bright red around her feet, and printed on the front of her torso detailing of an open jacket over a light grey shirt with a symbol — a purple cloud with a magenta star in the middle and a blue lightning bolt coming down from the bottom — in the middle, along with those round goggles she still had resting on her forehead. She glanced up from her phone, then smiled and greeted, “Oh! It’s you girls! I guess it’s no surprise you’d be here. This place is practically right in town for you.”
“True, but there’s more to it than that,” Applejack pointed out. “Our friend Rarity happens to be the lead costume designer for the parade they’ll have later tonight.”
“Nice!” remarked Indigo. “My friends will be here soon, so I’ll be sure to pass that along to them.” As she put away her phone, she chuckled and muttered, “Sour Sweet will be so jealous when she finds out.”
“So what brings you and the other Crystal Girls here?” asked Pinkie.
“Officially speaking,” Indigo slyly replied, “Princess Cadance wants us to inspect the park grounds to make sure Filthy Rich hasn’t done anything seriously wrong with building on this site. But I’d be lying if I said any of us had no interest in checking out what this new park has to offer.”
“I’m just glad to see you out here and completely okay,” Fluttershy spoke up. “The last time your friends were in town, they said that you… weren’t feeling so well.”
“Yeah, that sure was a horrible experience,” acknowledged Indigo in displeasure. “That’ll teach me to never believe in the five second rule ever again, especially when you’re out in the jungle.”
Twilight stared at Indigo and asked with mild disgust, “Uh, are you saying that you actually…?”
“Yup,” grumbled Indigo bitterly. “Definitely one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done in my entire life.”
“Regardless, it’s good to see you made a full recovery,” said Sunset. “And I’m glad we were able to help you out with some of the prize money we won in that contest.”
Indigo smirked and remarked, “Then I guess I should thank you for that. The physical recovery alone was bad enough. In all honesty, I don’t think I could’ve handled the financial stuff that came with it.”
“Just lookin’ out for each other like true friends,” stated Applejack. “Speakin’ of which, we’d better get goin’. Rarity’s been workin’ hard for the last two weeks, an’ Ah’d hate to leave her waitin’ on us.”
“Have a nice day, Indigo,” said Twilight as she and her friends resumed heading towards the main entrance.
“You, too!” called back Indigo as they left.
The six girls walked up to the main entrance, showed security the V.I.P. passes Rarity had provided them with, and stepped through the gateway.
As soon as they were all officially on the park grounds, Pinkie Pie cheered, “Equestria Land opening day!” She then practically jumped back and forth between her friends as she excitedly asked, “What should we do first? Appleloosa Wild West Stunt Show? Nightmare Moon’s Haunted Castle? Sugarcube Everything?!”
“Now, hang on,” spoke up Applejack. “When she called me a couple days ago, Ah got the sense Rarity was feelin’ overwhelmed, which is understandable. Ah mean, she’s all alone here without any of her friends.” She then muttered under her breath, “Which is why Ah wouldn’ta taken the job, but that’s just me.” She then spoke up again, “Uh, point is, we’re here to support Rarity.”
The rest of the girls smiled and nodded in agreement.
A group of screaming teenage girls with huge smiles on their faces suddenly ran past the Equestria Girls and gathered around a certain minifig with yellow skin, short purple hair, and wearing a brown cape. The teens quickly started taking selfies with her while pulling all kinds of goofy faces.
Applejack scratched the back of her head in confusion and asked, “Uh, which character is that?”
Pinkie Pie had her phone out and took a picture of the girl at the center of all that attention. Upon hearing Applejack’s question, she turned to her and excitedly explained, “Oh, that’s not just some random character, silly! That’s Vignette Valencia! She’s famous on Snapgab, which you’d know if you actually logged in once in a while. You’re missing my ‘Cupcake of the Day’ series! That reminds me…” She handed her phone over to Applejack and removed her hair piece, then reached inside and tossed out a small tire and a large wrench before eventually pulling out a cupcake with pink frosting on it. “Aha!” She put her hair piece back on, took back her phone, then took a selfie with that cupcake before taking a bite out of it. “Mmm, pomegranate.”
“I’m familiar with Vignette Valencia,” noted Fluttershy. “She posts a lot of pictures of her Welsh corgi named Yas Queen.”
“And she’s friends with, like, every awesome athlete in the world!” added Rainbow Dash.
When Applejack turned to Twilight, the intelligent girl just held up her hands and said, “Don’t look at me. I only follow bots that post interesting scientific facts. Personally, I just don’t see the appeal of celebrities who never accomplished anything tangible.”
Sunset handed her phone over to Applejack and said, “Here’s a few examples to get you up to speed.”
Applejack looked through the images displayed on Sunset’s phone and asked in confusion, “These are her pictures?”
One picture had Vignette taking a selfie while lying down on a beach with the caption, “Chillin sandy style. U kno how I do.” Another picture had Vignette taking a selfie while holding a tennis racket and surrounded by other tennis equipment with the caption, “I came I saw I vintaged.” The picture Applejack eventually stopped at was actually a short video of Vignette lying in bed with her hair piece slightly rotated to obscure her left eye as she simply said, “Hashtag… bangs…” As Applejack scrolled through all those images, most of her friends looked over her shoulders at the screen and smiled in approval.
“Okay, how the heck did this one end up with twenty thousand likes?” Applejack spoke up in confusion. “Ah… Ah just don’t get it. Spendin’ all that time just to look good in a picture ain’t mah idea of fun.”
“There you are!” called out Rarity pleasantly as she approached her friends gathered near the park entrance.
Applejack smiled as she handed the phone back to Sunset and greeted, “Here comes the lead parade costume designer!”
“Guilty as charged!” responded Rarity with a giggle as she shared a hug with Applejack.
Once they broke their hug, Applejack asked, “So? You’ve been here solo without your best friends all this time. How can we help?”
Rarity held up her hand and said, “Hold that thought.” She then turned around and called out, “Vignette! Over here!”
As Vignette dismissed the crowd of fans and began walking towards the Equestria Girls, Applejack asked, “You know Vignette Valencia?”
Rarity scoffed and playfully retorted, “Do I know her?” Once Vignette arrived, she and Rarity greeted each other by blowing a kiss on each cheek. “Why, she’s my best friend at the park!”
“Wait, what?!” asked Applejack in shock.
Before Rarity had a chance to respond, Vignette suddenly spoke up, “Selfie! Oh, but can we use your phone? Mine’s been acting super-weird lately.”
“It happens,” remarked Rarity with a smile as she pulled out her phone.
“Thanks, Rare. You’re the best,” said Vignette before they both pulled mildly silly faces and took the selfie.
Applejack couldn’t believe that Rarity, one of her closest friends, had completely blown off her questions and seemed more interested in nonsense friendly behavior with someone who was all but a total stranger to the apple farmer. This quickly frustrated her enough for her to cross her arms and let out a faint growl.
Rarity shared a giggle with Vignette over their selfie, then turned to her friends and said, “Everyone, this is Vignette Valencia. She runs P.R. for the park, and she’s my boss.”
“I told you not to use the ‘B’ word,” insisted Vignette politely. “I’m your friend who gets to boss you around.”
In an effort to sound polite to her new friend, Rarity immediately began to laugh awkwardly at what was, after all, a rather poor joke. As she continued her forced laughter, she glanced back at her friends.
The others understood Rarity’s subtle request to help avoid embarrassing herself, so they tried to laugh along as well, though their lack of enthusiasm was difficult to hide. Eventually, Pinkie simply confessed, “I don’t get it.”
Applejack had refused to join in the fake laughter and instead rolled her eyes.
Vignette glanced across the group of girls and contently said, “So you must be the world famous Equestria Girls, the special ops LEGO Team squad for slaying evil magic. Let’s see if I got your names right…” She went down the line from right to left, pointing at each minifig as she listed, “Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Twilight Sparkle, and Fluttershy.”
“An’ Applejack!” spoke up Applejack irritably, standing right beside Fluttershy. “Ah’m here too, ya know!”
Vignette quickly checked her phone for a few seconds, then glanced up at the girls again and responded, “Huh… so you are.” She turned her attention to Applejack and added, “F.Y.I., you really need to expand your social media footprint. No offense, but you’ve set yourself up to be the most easily forgettable member of your team.”
Applejack said nothing and just continued to glare fiercely at Vignette.
Vignette glanced around beyond the group of girls and began to frown. “Are you sure you girls are actually world famous?” she asked. “I’m not seeing any screaming fans demanding your autographs. If anything, all I see are park guests walking right by like you’re not even worth a selfie with.”
“We normally don’t get that kind of attention,” said Sunset. “And as far as I’m aware, we’re completely okay with that.”
Vignette groaned and grumbled, “First moments of opening day, and already I’ve got a disaster on my hands. Our ad team pulled an all-nighter to ready this park for a rush of fans eager to see the Equestria Girls, only to hear that such fans don’t even exist! Filthy Rich himself had even said that he designed Equestria Land — including its very name — to reflect that alternate universe that Twilight is from.”
“Sunset’s the one from Equestria,” Twilight clarified. “I’m the one from the Castle Region.”
“And if this park was supposed to be inspired by Equestria, then why was I never contacted for advice?” added Sunset. “I’m literally the only authority in the entire Lego World on anything that has to do with Equestria.”
“I heard he mostly relied on second-hand sources,” replied Vignette. “He’s not saying it, but it’s clear he doesn’t wanna deal with the girls who ruined his rep not long ago.”
“Wow, sore loser,” quipped Rainbow Dash quietly.
Vignette sighed and began texting on her phone as she muttered, “Lesson learned: heroes who save the world do not equal popular celebrities.”
Rarity knew her attempt to introduce Vignette to her friends was taking a very unfavorable turn, so in a desperate effort to salvage the situation, she spoke up, “Uh… fun fact! We, uh, also perform together in a band called the Rainbooms.”
Vignette was just about to start voicing her complaints online, but hearing that band name made her immediately stop. “Rainbooms?” she asked. “Why is that familiar?” She started quickly searching though the social media sites on her phone. “A hundred thousand followers… focused consumer-centric demographic, too…” She glanced up at the girls and began to smile as she asked, “Does your curated content consistently aggregate across multiple platforms?”
There was complete silence, as none of those girls had any idea what the brick Vignette was even talking about. After a few seconds, Pinkie blissfully remarked, “We sing songs together!”
Vignette gasped and excitedly said, “Of course! Your heroic identities may not be celebrities, but maybe your alter-egos as band performers can be! This is just what I need to salvage this ad campaign disaster! I am going to turn you into the centerpiece of tonight’s light parade!”
“Oh, what a splendid idea!” cheered Rarity in agreement.
“Uh, you want the Rainbooms to perform on tonight’s parade?” asked Rainbow Dash in confusion.
Vignette shushed Rainbow and confidently replied, “Are you ready? B.Y.B.B. Be yourself, but better!” She began marching around the girls as she continued, “That’s been my power phrase since I started my first company, a middle school girl selling artisanal handmade mascara, ‘But isn’t that just melted crayons?’ Hey, naysayers gonna neigh, but I say…” She struck a dramatic pose. “B.Y.B.B.”
Rarity was ginning widely in excitement, but the rest of her friends still expressed uncertainty, while Applejack continued to feel peeved at Vignette’s display.
“Um, how many people will be watching us?” asked Fluttershy worriedly.
“All of them!” Vignette proudly answered. “Official estimates are there will be fifty thousand people here tonight, and there’s no telling how many of them will be live streaming for other people who couldn’t make it to opening night. So what do you say?”
The group of girls glanced at one another. Sunset spoke up, “Well, if it’s gonna help Rarity…” One by one, the rest of them nodded and voiced their agreement. The sole exception was Applejack, who kept her arms crossed and continued to glare furiously at Vignette.
Vignette rapidly tapped away on her phone as she spoke, “Like, like, like… like, like, like. And since I already liked Rare, that should cover all of you.” When she noticed Applejack’s grumpy expression, she added, “Oh, don’t give me that look. Trust me, you’ll thank me for this.” She then turned her attention to the entire group and continued, “Upload and post it, ladies. This’ll trend for sure! I’ll ‘at’ you later with the exact deets. B.Y.B.B., Rare. V, out.” She then turned around and began walking off.
Rarity watched Vignette depart, then turned back to her friends and pleasantly remarked, “I know, she’s amazing, right?”
“She sure is… somethin’,” grumbled Applejack.
“Logistical question,” Twilight spoke up. “How are we supposed to get our instruments here on such short notice?”
Rarity scoffed and dismissively replied, “Vignette will handle everything. She’s got plenty of interns who can make the trip into town to retrieve our instruments.”
“Ah got a question, too,” Applejack spoke up irritably. “When ya said she’s your ‘best friend at the park’, did ya mean ‘best friends, comma, at the park’?”
“Did I say that?” muttered Rarity. She then gasped and spoke up excitedly, “Listen, tonight’s a huge opportunity, and not just for me now, but for all of us!”
“Tonight’s gonna be awesome!” agreed Rainbow Dash with enthusiasm. “But while we wait for them to get our stuff set up, let’s go see the park!” She quickly zoomed off in a rainbow motion blur, then just as quickly returned with a few park maps in her arms. “Maps for everyone!” She tossed those maps around to all of her friends, with the last one smacking Applejack in the face, to which she didn’t even flinch.
At this point, Rarity could no longer ignore the very obvious sour look on Applejack’s face. “Honestly, I don’t know why you’re giving me your frowny eyebrows,” she complained.
Applejack considered outright telling Rarity exactly what was bothering her, but there was a difference between honesty and bluntness. As much as she desired to be completely blunt, she still wished to remain on friendly terms with Rarity. Not to mention, with all the work Rarity still had ahead of her, she didn’t want to be responsible for piling on any additional unnecessary stress. With all that in mind, Applejack just sighed and grumbled, “It’s nothin’…”
That reaction left Rarity at a loss. As far as she was aware, she had done nothing wrong to deserve Applejack’s ire. As much as she wished she could stay and try to reconcile their issues, she was well aware that she was on a tight schedule, so she reluctantly said with a false smile, “Well, uh… in that case, enjoy the park.”
Rarity stepped away and turned her attention to all of her friends. She pulled out her phone checked her schedule as she explained, “I’m gonna be super-busy preparing for tonight, so let’s meet in the staging area for sound check and run-throughs. I have a three-minute break at four o’clock, and I can give you two of them.” She put away her phone and then made an attempt to imitate Vignette’s departure by saying, “B.Y.B.B.! Rare, out!” And with that, she ran off back to the hangar building where there was still plenty of work for her to do.
Applejack couldn’t help but let out a sigh of disappointment.
Rainbow Dash leaned close to Applejack and remarked, “Well, looks like Rarity doesn’t need us as much as you thought, so…”
“Should we practice for the parade?” asked Fluttershy worriedly. “It’s a little…” She let out a faint gasp as she was suddenly reminded of the immense size of the expected audience. “…daunting, isn’t it?”
“We know all of our songs by heart,” assured Rainbow Dash as she put an arm around Fluttershy’s shoulders. “Wouldn’t you rather go have some fun?”
“Well… I-I guess it would help keep my mind off tonight’s show,” Fluttershy hesitantly replied with a small smile.
“Awesome!” cheered Rainbow. “And I know exactly where to start. C’mon!” She pulled Fluttershy along as they both headed off into the park.
Twilight was studying her park map, then pointed at something on it as she turned to Sunset and suggested, “Let’s try this area, first. I’m curious to see what kind of things they have set up.”
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Sunset as she and Twilight began walking off into the park.
Pinkie Pie shoved her park map into her hair as she cheerfully remarked, “I dunno where I’m gonna go, but I know one thing’s for sure. I’m gonna have as much fun as possible, no matter what! WHEEEEEE!!” She then ran off into the park.
Applejack was now left standing alone at the park entrance. It just didn’t make any sense to her. Just a couple days ago, Rarity had called to invite her and the others to the park, presumably to provide some well-needed emotional support. But here, Rarity had displayed so much affection for this Vignette girl that she practically tried to make them appease her. Although she didn’t exactly have any issues of performing with her friends on the parade, she certainly didn’t appreciate how dismissive Vignette was of any of their concerns and seemed more interested in attracting the biggest audience possible. But what really stung the most was how Rarity seemed just as dismissive of her seemingly selfish behavior, but that could be excusable as a result of stress from the tight work schedule.
Regardless of all of that, Applejack still had an entire day ahead of her to spend at Equestria Land. With all of her friends already off doing their own things, she decided there was no point in moping around at the main entrance any longer. She picked up the map that had landed at her feet and opened it as she began to walk forward. Whatever was going to occur in the day that lay ahead, she would try her best to make the most of it.
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Before, Pinkie lifted her solid hair piece up to remove stuff from within, this time she pushed the map Into her hair? Not reusing the Lego piece mechanic, or Pinkie forgetting which reality she is supposed to be in again?
And you spend WAY too much of your time living through your phone instead of in your actual life.
9790344 Let's just say it works both ways for Lego Pinkie Pie, and she uses either method whenever she wants.
9791081 My thoughts exactly. I honestly don't understand those kind of people (which just makes it difficult for me to accurately portray this character). Hopefully, the way I plan on making her learn her lesson in the end will be at least a little better than the official version.
Actually indigo zap had two cameos n roller coaster of friendship.
The first time was wth Soursweet and herself running away from the haunted house with sugarcoat walking away behind them.
The parade scene. She's behind wallflower blush.