A Vignette of Equestrialand 2.0

by Draxonos135

#WhereDidThatComeFrom?

The Rainbooms stood nearby as both Pinkie Pies entered the hot dog eating contest, and began eating hot dogs like there was no tomorrow, the audience cheering while barely reacting to two identical girls eating so much food.

"Ya know, it's kinda weird," Equestrian Applejack remarked. "Ah thought people'd, ya know, react t' seein' two 'xact same girls eatin' together."

"Yeah, come to think of it," Equestrian Rarity looked around. "We're here with our counterparts out in the open, and nobody seems to notice."

"To be fair, it wasn't that long ago that the Pony of Shadows madness happened," Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Maybe they just try to ignore the weird stuff to cope."

Princess Twilight scratched her chin and hummed, which her counterpart quickly noticed.

"Is something wrong, Your Highness?"

"I could swear I've seen that kind of magic before," Princess Twilight remarked. "Some kind of powerful magic caster used it before..."

And then, she got an idea...

"Oh no..."

---

Meanwhile, back with Rarity and Vignette, the duo managed to enter the "employees-only" door and walked through the hallways, hiding from the security cameras to the best of their ability.

"Vignette, what I'm gonna ask is a little bit... personal," Rarity sighed once the duo hid again. "But what were you thinking when it happened?"

"When what happened?"

"The whole "sent to the sky by a speeding rollercoaster" thing."

Vignette flinched, then shook her head. "W.T.H. Rarity!"

"I don't know what that means, but I assume you're angry-"

"Of course I'm angry!"

Once the cameras looked away, the duo went to the next hiding spot: Rarity quickly dashing there while Vignette rolled into a ball, and crashed on the wall.

"It's just that it was so sudden, and I'm honestly a little concerned at the fact you don't act like anything happened."

"Can we talk about this later?" Vignette groaned as she stood up. "Preferrably when we're not at risk of being found?"

"Alright."

And so, the duo kept following Flim and Flam, who eventually lead them into a door... that they walked past.

However, the glow coming from the door caught their attention, and exchanging looks and nods, they immediately went through it.

What they saw inside stunned them: a large room with several pedestals, and each pedestal was not only connected to a larger machine, but they had geodes floating on top of them, emitting colores glows.

"This is a treasure room of geodes!" Rarity exclaimed, taking a closer look at the collection of gems around her. "Who knows how many powers are residing inside these gems!"

"All that really matters is that we find out which one we should take," Vignette stated. "If what I think is correct, one of these geodes should be giving the bars the power to absorb attacks."

And so, the pair began looking at the geodes, some catching their attention more than others: one that allowed

And one that seemingly allowed the user to manipulate omnipresence.

Naturally, Vignette was quick to grab that one...

And as soon as it was out of its place, the alarms blared.

"Vignette, what did you do?!" Rarity exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think the alarms would go off!"

"You're stealing a magical artifact!" Rarity responded. "Of course the alarms are gonna go off! Help me find a way to turn them off-"

"That won't be necessary."

And with the snap of a finger, the alarms stopped blaring, and the source of the voice revealed themselves to be rather... familiar to Vignette.

"Raspberry Magenta?!" Vignette exclaimed in disbelief.

"You know this woman, Vignette?" Rarity asked.

"We used to work together back in the original Equestrialand," Vignette explained as she glanced at the fashionista. "In fact, she was the original designer before you applied for the job."

"And I stand by my statement that you're the worst boss ever," Magenta replied, before flashing a cocky smile. "But truth be told, I'm not really Raspberry Magenta. I am, in fact..."

The woman grabbed her face, and spun around for a moment before stopping, revealing her true self to be...

"Principal Cinch!"

Rarity gasped in shock and disbelief, while Vignette could only go "whaaa?" with a half-hearted tilt of her head, Rarity soon joining her confusion once the shock wore off.

"Yup, it was me all along!" Cinch folded her arms with a smug smirk. "I bet you were totally caught off-guard!"

"I mean, I was, but more because of how this came right out of nowhere," Vignette scratched her head. "I mean, are you the Principal Cinch of this world, or the one from Equestria?"

Cinch raised an eyebrow. "What's Equestria?"

"Well, there's one question cleared up," Vignette folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "Here's another one: what's the meaning of this!?"

"It's simple, really: after the Friendship Games-"

"The what now?"

Rarity put a hand on Vignette's shoulder. "Long story."

"I came to realize the catastrophic damage that magic could do: and of course, it only became more and more evident as I learned what could happen if it fell on the wrong hands," Cinch spoke as she walked down, arms folded behind her back. "A teenager who can erase memories, a pair of musicians who repeat time, a pair of energy-sucking interdimensional entities, and those were just three times. I haven't even mention what the Rainbooms are capable of!"

"Okay, but what does that have to do with Equestrialand?" Vignette asked bluntly. "If you got a beef with magic, why would that convince you to bring back Equestrialand? Assuming you're the one who brought it back-"

"I was, and indeed, the biggest issue with magic is that nobody takes it seriously. Even with the internet, nobody seems to realize how dangerous magic can be," Cinch smirked. "So, with all these geodes, I'll use magic to corrupt the park, and once everybody's attacked by magic, they won't be able to ignore it anymore! And when everybody fears magic-"

Vignette grabbed the geode she snatched and wrapped her arm around Rarity before it glowed, teleporting them both out of there.

Cinch looked stunned at what happened, but quickly regained her composure.

"I see... so that's the kind of game you want to play, Vignette Valencia..."

.
.
.

Back with the Rainbooms, the Pinkie Pies pouted at having a tie in the hot dog contest, holding a trophy with both hands with a sad expression.

"That's the saddest I've ever seen Pinkie Pie be," Equestrian Rarity remarked. "I don't think I like it."

"We haven't seen our Pinkie Pie this sad either," Sci-Twi remarked. "We should do something to cheer them up."

And suddenly, Rarity and Vignette appeared next to the Rainbooms, prompting both Pinkie Pies to hug them.

"Yay! Vignette and Rarity are back!" they chirped in unison.

"It's nice to see you too, but now's not the time for this!" Vignette exclaimed, gently pushing Pinkie Pie out of the way. "We gotta get out of here before things get weird!"

"Things get weird?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Weird how?"

Vignette got ready to explain, but as soon as she opened her mouth, a giant pillar of darkness emerged, morphing into a hand as it took Vignette to the skies, until it engulfed her.

Soon after, the ground cracked, and from it burst out a giant shadowy humanoid in the shape of a woman.

The Rainbooms' jaws dropped as the park visitors ran away in fear, and the humanoid's face opened, flashing a sadistic grin as she looked at the Twilights.

"We meet again... Twilight Sparkle..."

Sci-Twi raised an eyebrow, pondering how the woman knew her name, but a closer look led her to connect the dots...

"Principal Cinch?"

Author's Note:

I really, seriously need to get my act together, man XD

Story's almost over, I promise.