> LEGO Equestria Girls: Short Stories > by Chronicler06 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Pick-Up Bricks > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Pick-Up Bricks It was the day after Sunset Shimmer was defeated and Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria had returned to her home world. Although not a single person throughout the entire city had been seriously harmed, there was still a lot of cleaning up to do. That was to be expected, considering how Sunset had briefly taken control of the entire population and gave Twilight’s team quite a struggle. However, there was one particular mess out in the orchards of Sweet Apple Acres that could have easily been avoided. It was the custom-built spaceship that Twilight’s team had crash-landed in upon their return to Canterlot City. Even though it had almost nothing to do with the battle that had taken place downtown the previous night, it still had to be removed. Naturally, the task was left to the one who had built the original model: the top engineer of the local branch of the LEGO Team, Rusty Wrench. The tan-skinned minifig with messy brown hair looked over the crash site in mild contempt. Even though he was very often a rather jittery person, there were still some things that could get on his nerves, and the sight in front of him was one of them. Rusty scoffed. “Ran out of fuel,” he muttered in disapproval. “What a rookie mistake. Don’t they know the importance of checking the gauges?” With his frustrations vented, he then sighed and simply said, “Well… better get to work.” Rusty turned back to the large truck he had driven over to the site. The flatbed trailer was large enough to carry large vehicles, like a spaceship, and attached to the back of the cab was a small crane with a three-pronged grappling claw on the end to pick up massive objects. If he was going to get that wrecked spaceship out of here quickly and intact, then this was the best vehicle for the job. Rusty climbed up into the crane side of the cab and started up the engine. He manipulated the controls to swing the arm out over the wreck and lower the grappling claw down onto it. Then he made the claw grip onto the wreck and slowly lift it up. However, the wrecked spaceship had barely budged when it slipped loose from the claw. Rusty stared at the wreck with an unamused expression for a brief moment. He then lowered the claw, made it grip the wreck, and tried to lift it again. Just seconds later, the claw slipped loose again. Rusty growled lightly in frustration before trying again. Lower, grip, and lift. Once again, the wrecked spaceship barely budged before the claw slipped loose. Rusty groaned in frustration and tried again. Lower, grip, and lift. The result remained the same. Rusty grunted at the apparent inability of this crane to do something so simple. Not wanting to let his frustrations get the better of him, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to calm his nerves. He was an expert engineer and mechanic, and if there was a problem with this crane, he was going to fix it. “Okay, let’s see what the problem is,” he said to himself before climbing out of the cab. Rusty walked around to the side of the crane and removed a large flat piece — which served as a covering panel — to take a look at the interior workings. It didn’t take him long to determine what was ailing the crane. “Hmm… Hydraulic pressure seems to be a little low.” He quickly pulled out a wrench and began twisting something with it as he stated, “A slight adjustment, and…” Unfortunately, that “slight adjustment” went a bit too far. One of the hoses suddenly ruptured, spraying hydraulic fluid directly in Rusty’s face. Rusty yelped in shock and was thrown backwards off the truck. After hitting the ground, he muttered, “Ouchy.” After cleaning up and repairing all of the unintended damages, Rusty Wrench climbed back into the cab of the small crane. He sighed and said to himself, “Okay… let’s try this again.” He swung the arm over the wreck and lowered the grappling claw onto it. He then made the claw grip onto the wreck and began lifting. He smiled as he saw the claw’s grip remain firmly on the wreck, but that smile soon faded as the wreck still did little more than budge. Rusty continued to hold the controls to lift the claw. He watched intently and nervously, knowing that eventually, something had to give. After a few tense moments, the chunk of the wrecked spaceship that the claw held onto tore completely off from the rest of the wreckage. Now freed from the huge mass holding it down, the chunk began swinging around uncontrollably, which quickly made it very dangerous. “Whoa!” shouted a very terrified Rusty as the chunk came very close to slamming right into the cab. With some quick thinking, he moved the arm back and forth a little to counteract the momentum of the swinging chunk and quickly brought it under control. Rusty let out a sigh of relief after averting that disaster. He then turned his attention back to the rest of the wrecked spaceship and quickly inspected the crash site to determine what the problem might be this time. From what he could see, he could draw only one conclusion. “Wow… that thing must’ve buried itself into the ground pretty good,” he stated. As he loaded the removed chunk onto the bed of the truck, he added, “Looks like I’ll need to do some excavating before going any further.” Once the claw had released the large chunk, Rusty climbed out of the cab, stumbling on his way out the door and falling to the ground. “Ouchy,” he quickly muttered before getting back up and walking away from the crash site. Just a few moments later, Rusty returned to the site, now operating a small backhoe. He drove the backhoe up to the wrecked spaceship and began scooping out large amounts of dirt from around the wreck. Once enough dirt — and uprooted apple trees — had been removed to completely unbury the crashed spaceship, Rusty Wrench moved the backhoe out of the way and hopped back into the small crane. He sighed and muttered, “Okay… let’s try this one more time.” Once again, he swung the arm out over the wreck and lowered the grappling claw onto it. He then made the claw grip onto the wreck and began lifting. This time, not only did the claw’s grip remain solid, but the entire wreck also began to slowly rise up out of the large pit. “Yeah, now we’re getting somewhere!” he said cheerfully at finally seeing real success. All he had to do now was swing the wreck over and gently lower it down onto the bed of the truck. However, just halfway over to the truck, the part of the wreck that was being held by the claw suddenly collapsed, causing the whole wreck to crash to the ground and completely fall apart into pieces. Rusty just sat still with his jaw wide open, staring silently at the pile of Lego pieces that used to be a spaceship. It took a few moments for his brain to fully process what had just happened before he could make his next reaction, and that was to punch the dashboard in frustration. That was immediately followed by a grunt of pain as he shook his hand around and muttered, “Ouchy.” After shaking off the pain, Rusty took another look at the scene in front of him to determine what his next step should be. There was no way a pile of loose pieces could be safely transported on a flatbed truck, so he sighed in disbelief and stated, “Well, looks like I’ll need to make a few modifications.” Rusty got out of the crane and quickly went to work. The solution was simple: using some bricks from the pile, build some simple walls along the edge of the flatbed part of the truck, basically turning it into a roofless container to properly store all of the remaining loose pieces. Once the crude walls had reached the height he desired, he climbed back into the crane and began using the claw to grab some pieces and start loading them into the back of the truck. “Oh well,” he muttered in disbelief as he continued working. “It’s not like I intended to keep this thing intact, anyway.” The original model that he had built had actually been destroyed by Lightning Dust while Twilight’s team was on the Moon, and they had used its pieces to create a new spaceship. Although he didn’t mind others putting their creativity to good use, he found it mildly annoying that none of the builders even knew how to fly it properly, which pretty much defeated the purpose of creating something as complex as a spaceship in the first place. “Good thing I kept the instructions to the original model,” added Rusty as he grappled onto the last bunch of pieces and dropped them into the back of the truck. “There!” said Rusty, smiling in satisfaction. “Now all I have to do it haul this back to headquarters.” Now that his work in the crane was done, he spun around in his seat so that he was now using the controls for the truck side of the cab. He shifted the truck into gear and carefully drove off, taking the remains of the wrecked spaceship with him. Not long after Rusty had left, Granny Smith decided to visit the crash site to see how well he had done with cleaning up the mess. What she saw was only a half-done job. Although the engineer had done well at removing all of that debris, there was still a big hole in the ground, with a few uprooted apple trees lying on the ground nearby. Knowing exactly who to blame for what was still a big mess in the middle of the apple orchard, she muttered, “Darn aliens.” > Mid-Air Repair > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mid-Air Repair Like most of the city regions in the Lego World, Canterlot City had an airport. It typically wasn’t quite as busy as those in most of the other cities, but it still saw enough air traffic to remain in use. And like any other airport, this one had a control tower, where air traffic controllers would help guide all kinds of aircraft in and out of the city. Today, there were two people on-duty atop this control tower. One was a guy with dark grey skin and snow white hair. The other was a girl with sky blue skin and hair that consisted of all six colors of the rainbow — Rainbow Dash. As much as Rainbow Dash enjoyed staying fit and doing all kinds of physical activity outdoors, her true passion was in aviation. Although her ultimate goal in life was to one day join the Wonderbolts Space Fleet, she understood that it would take some time for her to quality for a proper application. Until then, she decided to settle with the only local job that came even close to that, and that was to work the day shift in the control tower. Rainbow had to admit, there were days when this job could be pretty dull. Most of what she did consisted of monitoring the locations of each aircraft in the area around the city and making sure they followed safety regulations to avoid any disasters. But then there were other days that could get her really excited about this job, and today was about to become one of them. It started with a call over the radio on Rainbow Dash’s headset. “Mayday! Mayday!” came the urgent distress call. “This is flight 105 from Lego City! We’ve got a serious problem!” Rainbow Dash quickly responded, “Control here. What’s your status?” “We’ve just suffered a collision with some wildlife and lost a lot of pieces!” answered the pilot of the aircraft in danger. “An engine is shot, half the roof is gone, and one of the wings is barely hanging on! We’re managing to stay airborne, but we can’t land in this condition, and we’re already low on fuel! Send out some help right away!” As the pilot on the other end spoke, Rainbow Dash checked the radar screen to locate the current position of the damaged airplane. Once she knew exactly where to find them, she immediately responded, “Copy that! I’m on my way!” She quickly threw off her headset and told her coworker, “Thunderlane! Keep an eye on things, here! I gotta answer a distress call!” Thunderlane turned back just in time to see Rainbow Dash rush to and descend the fireman’s pole that she had personally built in the middle of the tower, which she used to quickly leave the building so she could answer that distress call. Once his coworker had left, he shook his head and sighed. “Why does she always have to be a hero?” he muttered as he turned his attention back to the console in front of him. At the bottom of the tower, Rainbow Dash slammed the door open and snatched a skateboard she had left beside it. She tossed the skateboard to the ground and hopped on, allowing her to quickly cross the tarmac towards a nearby group of small buildings — specifically aircraft hangers. As she arrived at one particular hanger, Rainbow hopped off the skateboard right in front of the door. She grasped the handle at the bottom and pulled up to open the door. The inside of this hanger, as she had personally requested, contained all kinds of various spare parts and pieces. Such an arrangement had proven quite useful for previous emergency repairs, though she had to admit that she had never done one while the plane was still flying. “Let’s see…” she mumbled to herself. “Damaged engine, missing roof, unsecured wing, and some way to get all of these things up there.” She quickly scanned the many piles of pieces inside the hanger for any ideas. She then smiled as she remembered something she had made not too long ago. “I think it’s time to bring back an old favorite.” Rainbow Dash leaped into building and quickly started gathering pieces. At the instant she began moving, unknown to her, her body quickly transformed into its half-pony form — pony ears, longer hair at the back, and feathered wings — from when she and her friends had stopped Sunset Shimmer from taking over the city. As a result of this sudden transformation, Rainbow zoomed around far more quickly than normal, appearing as little more than a rainbow-colored motion blur as she tossed all kinds of Lego pieces out of the hanger. Once she had all of the pieces she needed, she started putting it all together, with her movements now appearing as a miniature rainbow-colored tornado around the pile of pieces. It was only when Rainbow Dash was finished building, just seconds later, that her motion blur vanished, revealing Rainbow herself and her completed creation. She had built a close replica of that jetpack that she had built in a junkyard on the night of Sunset Shimmer’s defeat, but this one also had a pair of large storage containers built on either side of it, already filled with all of the spare parts she was going to need to fix the damage to that airplane. When Rainbow decided to take a brief moment to admire her work, she realized something was different — not with her creation, but with herself. It was only now that she noticed she was in her half-pony form for only the second time in her life. “Whoa! How did that happen?” she asked in confusion as she turned back to look at her wings. After looking at herself in confusion, Rainbow’s gaze fell on her recent creation. She had been so busy — and excited — building that thing that she hadn’t even noticed the transformation. Somehow, it seemed to have happened right at the moment she was inspired to build something. If this was true, then this could unlock many more possibilities. Rainbow decided to worry about all of that later. Right now, she had to get these spare parts up to the damaged airplane. After glancing back and forth between the jetpack and her wings, she shrugged and decided to go with the jetpack. Rainbow quickly strapped herself to the front of the jetpack, flipped the controls out to within easy reach, and ignited the overpowered engines. Since this jetpack was carrying some extra cargo, it couldn’t quite accelerate as quickly as the original model, but it was still good enough to get the job done. She manipulated the controls to turn towards the direction she would need to go to reach the distressed plane. Once she was satisfied that everything was ready, she leaned forward and hit the throttle. In only a matter of minutes, Rainbow Dash and her loaded jetpack arrived at the general area of where that damaged plane had been located. She quickly scanned the surrounding skies, but when she finally spotted the plane she was looking for, she gasped in shock. The damage was even worse than she had imagined. The engine on the right wing was almost completely gone, the roof of nearly the entire fuselage was missing — forcing the passengers to stay firmly in their seats to avoid being flung out — and the left wing, which was vibrating quite visibly, was literally hanging on by just one piece! Even though Rainbow had brought a lot of spare pieces with her, she didn’t quite have enough to fix all of this. She began to consider prioritizing which repairs would have to be made, but then she noticed her longer-than-normal hair flapping around in the wind. She realized that she was still in her half-pony form, and this gave her an idea. “Time to put these wings to good use,” stated Rainbow Dash before doing what, to anyone else, would be considered unthinkable: she switched her jetpack to auto-pilot, released the straps holding her to it, and then dropped away. She then spread her wings wide out and quickly started flapping them. Remarkably, she was able to keep up with the airplane in mid-flight. Now that she could move around more freely than she previously could have imagined, she immediately went to work. As Rainbow Dash once again zoomed around with the appearance of a rainbow motion blur, the first thing she did was re-secure the loose wing with some pieces out of the left container. She quickly followed that up by rebuilding much of the missing engine with some pieces out of the right container, and then used the remaining contents of both containers to seal up the tail half of the opened fuselage. Although the damaged aircraft was now flying much more safely, the repairs were still incomplete by the time the containers were quickly emptied. This was not a setback for Rainbow Dash, for she knew she still had a supply of Lego pieces. Still moving around within that rainbow motion blur, she began to disassemble the jetpack itself. She used the straps to finish securing the wing of the plane, finished building the engine with the controls and the power brick, and finally used the remaining pieces to patch up all of the remaining holes in the fuselage. She held the last piece over her head, flew over to the final hole, and dropped down through that hole, sealing it up with that last piece as she landed inside the plane. Now that she was safely inside the fully repaired airplane, Rainbow Dash excitedly bragged, “No plan? No problem! That’s how I improvise, Rainbow Dash style!” As soon as she finished saying that, all of the pony alterations to her body suddenly vanished, returning her to a regular minifig. Rainbow glanced back in shock at where her wings used to be and muttered, “Whoa! Good thing I decided to hitch a ride.” With those wings gone, she would have just dropped out of the sky upon completing those repairs, had she not decided to hop inside the plane. It was definitely something she would have to keep in mind, next time. Now that the danger had been resolved, Rainbow decided to head forward through the plane to speak with the pilot. Once she arrived in the cockpit, the pilot turned back to her and smiled. “Thank you so much for helping us!” he praised. “Just doing my job,” responded Rainbow Dash. She grinned and pointed proudly to herself as she added, “The awesome way!” As much as she enjoyed basking in the glory of being a hero, there was still a serious issue she had to deal with. She relaxed her stance and asked, “So, uh, what caused all of that damage?” The pilot paled noticeably at the inquiry. He grinned nervously as he looked up at Rainbow and weakly replied, “Uh… would you believe a flock of pterosaurs?” Rainbow glared at the pilot. She quietly asked, “You were flying over Dinosaur Island, weren’t you?” The pilot failed to relax his nervousness as he replied, “It, uh, seemed like a good way to save time and fuel.” Rainbow Dash sighed and facepalmed. At least he’s being honest, she thought. She then snatched the headset off of the pilot and put them on herself. “Canterlot, this is Rainbow Dash on flight 105 from Lego City,” she spoke into the radio. “I’ve successfully completed all repairs, and we should be due to land safely at any moment.” On the other side of the radio, she heard Thunderlane respond, “Copy that. That’s good to hear. Any word on what caused that damage?” Rainbow glared at the pilot again as she responded, “Let’s just say there’s a reason why Dinosaur Island is designated a no-fly zone.” The pilot could only give a guilty smile in response. Rainbow listened to Thunderlane’s response. Once he was finished, she nodded and replied, “Copy that.” She removed the headset as she turned her attention to the pilot and stated, “As soon as we land, you’re grounded until further notice.” “Am I going to lose my license over this?” asked the pilot with a slight whimper. Rainbow Dash always had a bit of a daredevil attitude. Although it had allowed her to make such a risky repair job in mid-flight, it was also the reason she worked in flight control instead of being a pilot, herself. In response to the pilot’s question, she scoffed and tossed the headset back to him before muttering, “Welcome to my world.” > Build That Barn > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Build That Barn Today was another day in the lives of the Creative Mark Crusaders — three little girls named Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle. These three kids were going to make yet another attempt to find their creative talents, which was identified by a symbol known as a creative mark. In the Lego World, these symbols were not physical marks, but rather images that would appear within one’s mind upon discovering one’s unique style of creativity. But contrary to the standard advice, these three friends didn’t want to just wait for their creative marks to eventually appear, and were willing to try just about anything they could think of to make it happen as quickly as possible. The fields of Sweet Apple Acres were an ideal place for these girls to try out all kinds of wacky ideas. The wide open spaces allowed them to try things that would otherwise cause a lot of disruption and mayhem within a crowded city. And today’s attempt was about to be a perfect demonstration of that reason. “Are you sure this is such a good idea?” asked Sweetie Belle uncertainly as she and Apple Bloom watched with worried looks on their faces. Scootaloo dismissively waved her hand and excitedly replied, “C’mon! I’m about to break a land speed record by attaching a couple of rockets to my scooter!” She gestured down at her scooter, to which she had just attached a pair of cylindrical pieces, which had translucent orange round pieces attached to their back ends. “What could possibly go wrong?” “Ah can think of a lot of possibilities,” replied Apple Bloom uneasily. “But if ya really wanna do this… Ah ain’t gonna stop ya.” Sweetie Belle glanced over at Apple Bloom in mild shock. Although they both agreed that this was probably a bad idea, Apple Bloom was choosing not to intervene. Sweetie could only look down sadly and think, Why am I always the only one who doesn’t want to do something dangerous? Now that the small rockets were attached, Scootaloo chuckled excitedly as she set down her scooter upright and hopped on. She grasped the handlebars with one hand while the other held the switch that would ignite the rockets. “Prepare for blast-off!” she shouted. Both Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom responded by covering their ears and taking many steps back. Their nervous expressions were in total contrast to Scootaloo’s huge grin of excitement. Scootaloo held up the switch as she shouted, “Firing in three! Two! One! GO!!!” She triggered the switch and then quickly tossed it away. She could already hear the rockets roaring to life as she griped the handlebars with both hands. The adrenaline was pumping through her body so much, she felt like she could explode. She was about to go incredibly fast, and she was going to love it! Finally, after a few seconds of warming up, the rockets fired at full force. The resulting acceleration to the scooter was so great, that it literally flew right out of Scootaloo’s hands and from under her feet, causing her to fall flat on her back as it flew off without her. She leaned forward to see her rocket-propelled scooter flying around uncontrollably. With her thrilled excitement now replaced with worried shock, she simply muttered, “Uh oh.” Although the small rockets were able to provide a huge amount of speed, the scooter they were attached to was not designed for aerodynamics. This caused the unpredictable flying object to quickly change direction and began to head straight for the three girls. “Look out!” screamed Sweetie Belle as she and Apple Bloom quickly threw themselves to the ground and put their arms over their heads. Within a split second, the scooter shot by just inches over their prone bodies. Apple Bloom dared to glance up to see where that flying scooter was going next. She felt her heart skip a beat as she realized what its likely target was about to be. “No! Not the barn!” she shouted. The girls could only watch helplessly as the rocket-propelled scooter plowed right into the side of the barn, smashing a big hole in the wall. Another similar-sized hole was smashed open just a split second later as the scooter came out the other side. Desperate to make the best of what was clearly a bad situation, Scootaloo smiled uneasily and said, “That doesn’t seem so bad. We can just patch up those holes and pretend nothing happened.” As if to taunt its owner, the scooter suddenly reversed course again and slammed into the barn again, punching two more large holes in its walls. The flying object then bounced off the ground and was launched back at the barn again. It continued to swerve and bounce around, always somehow managing to crash into the barn every time it changed direction, smashing more and more holes into the walls. Finally, after shooting straight up and smashing a hole through the roof of the barn, the rockets ran out of power. The scooter arced through the air and landed on the ground near Scootaloo. A quick glance revealed that it was remarkably undamaged after its wild ride, which briefly made her smile. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the barn. The damage was so extensive that there was very little left holding the structure together. Soon, after a few tense seconds of creaking noises, the remainder of the barn completely collapsed into a pile of pieces. The three kids stared in stunned silence at the pile that used to be a barn. For a moment, the only noise that could be heard was a light breeze. The silence was finally broken by Sweetie Belle. “That’s not good,” she nervously stated. Scootaloo quickly picked up her scooter and tore off the rockets. “Quick!” she exclaimed in slight panic. “Let’s get outta here before somebody finds out!” “Too late.” The Creative Mark Crusaders suddenly turned back to the source of that voice and were stunned to see Apple Bloom’s older sister, Applejack, standing there with a very displeased look on her face. Applejack narrowed her eyes and firmly asked, “What happened?” “It was an accident, I swear!” exclaimed Scootaloo fearfully as she tried to distance herself — and her scooter — from the discarded rockets as much as possible. This didn’t escape Applejack’s attention. She picked up one of the spent rockets and exclaimed, “Y’all were playin’ with rockets?!” Scootaloo said nothing in response. She just looked down at the ground in shame, as did her two friends. “I told you this wasn’t such a good idea,” mumbled Sweetie Belle, barely loud enough for anyone to hear. Applejack let out an exasperated sigh and tossed the used rocket away. She briefly glanced back at the pile of pieces on the site of the old barn, then turned her attention back to the little girls. She took a slow deep breath to relax herself and calmly said, “Why don’t you three run along an’ do some of your ‘crusading’ or whatever somewhere else? Ah gotta get to work on rebuildin’ that barn.” Knowing what her older sister had to do first, Apple Bloom figured that she could avoid getting in much trouble for this incident if she made herself useful, so she immediately said, “Don’t worry, sis. Ah’ll get the instructions.” “That ain’t gonna be necessary,” said Applejack in response as she turned away and began walking up to the pile. “Huh?” asked all three of the Creative Mark Crusaders simultaneously. Applejack’s sudden request left them very confused. If she wanted to rebuild that barn, then why would she not want the instructions needed to get it done right? Apple Bloom — soon followed by her two friends — quickly ran up to her sister. “What do ya mean by that?” she asked in confusion. “Ah’ve been thinkin’ of givin’ this ol’ barn a few upgrades, recently,” explained Applejack as she stopped right in front of the pile. She picked up a random piece and continued, “Seein’ as the whole thing’s now in pieces, Ah suppose now’s as good a time as any to get it done.” “Upgrades?” asked Sweetie Belle, raising an eyebrow in confusion. “Like what?” Applejack smiled and simply answered, “Oh, Ah’ve got a few ideas.” Without any further explanation, she jumped onto the pile and quickly went to work. She started by building the outer walls in large sections and, once those sections were complete, slamming them into place. Once the main doors were finished, she moved on to the hay loft and other interior areas. Finally, she finished with the roof, which she built entirely in one large chunk before slamming the whole thing on top of the newly rebuilt barn. The Creative Mark Crusaders just watched the entire quick assembly with eyes wide in astonishment. None of them had ever seen Applejack do any building like that before. Even more amazing was that, as she was building, her appearance seemed to have changed. She had suddenly gained pony-like ears and much longer hair at the back. The three girls were left speechless at what they were witnessing. Once she placed the final pieces atop the roof, Applejack jumped off and landed on the ground in front of the main doors. She briefly removed her hat and wiped her brow as she admired her creation. “Ah gotta admit, there sure ain’t no better way to build somethin’ right than to do it from scratch,” she remarked. “Whoa…” said Scootaloo as she and her friends continued to stare at the barn and Applejack in wonder. “That was awesome!” “Did you really just build all of that by yourself?” asked Sweetie Belle. “Sure did!” answered Applejack with pride. “See these doors?” She opened one of the big double doors and pointed at the hinge side of it. “Ah managed to reinforce the hinges, so no more worryin’ about accidentally yankin’ ‘em off.” She shut the door and then pointed up at a pulley hanging over the window to the hay loft. “An’ that pulley up there? The ol’ pull rope now leads to this here winch Ah just added.” That winch had a hand crank on the side, so it wasn’t exactly a major upgrade, but it was still enough to make an improvement. “All in all, Ah’d call it a job well done!” “That’s some mighty fine work there, sis,” praised Apple Bloom. Her smile faded as she raised an eyebrow in confusion and added, “Ah guess that just leaves one question. Why do ya suddenly look like some kinda half-pony?” Now it was Applejack’s turn to have a confused look on her face and ask, “Huh?” She looked down at herself, quickly moving her head around side to side, which allowed her to notice the longer hair. She then brought her hands up to her head and felt the pony ears. “How’d that happen? Ah haven’t had this look since Twilight of Equestria was here.” As soon as she finished that statement, the alterations vanished, returning her appearance to a normal minifig. “I don’t know what that was, but it happened as soon as you started building,” answered Sweetie Belle. Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully as she considered what that could mean. Ah wonder if the same kinda thing has been happenin’ to mah friends, lately, she thought. “So, uh… are we still gonna get in trouble for smashing that barn?” asked Scootaloo uneasily. Applejack glanced down at the girls, then back at the rebuilt barn. Although they had done something practically insane, she had to admit that the incident had allowed her to discover something new about herself. After some careful thinking, she answered, “Ah’ll let it slide by just this once. Just make sure it don’t happen again. Got it?” “We promise,” replied the Creative Mark Crusaders as one. Applejack nodded in acceptance before turning away and leaving to resume her daily chores. “Well that turned out better than Ah expected,” remarked Apple Bloom optimistically. “Yeah!” agreed Scootaloo with a smile on her face. “We should break stuff more often!” Applejack immediately turned back to the Creative Mark Crusaders and warned, “Don’t get any ideas!” The three girls simultaneously lowered their heads in shame and said, “Sorry.” > A Creative Party > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A Creative Party Today was another great day for Pinkie Pie as she added the final touches to a small cake with a single candle on it. The place she worked at, Sugarcube Corner, was one of many different shops throughout Canterlot City that sold all kinds of various treats and baked goods. Business was a little slow today, so she decided to take the opportunity to celebrate something special for the Cake family, who owned this shop. Pinkie was humming a happy tune as she headed out of the kitchen while carrying that cake in one hand. It was the last item she needed for the small party she had planned for today, and if there was one thing she was known to do better than anyone else, it was throwing great parties. Today’s party was going to be especially heartwarming for her, as it would be for people she considered to be like her second family. “Happy First Builtday, Pound and Pumpkin!” Pinkie cheerfully announced as she entered the dining room. The young twins, Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake, giggled happily as their parents, Carrot Cake and Cup Cake, smiled in response to Pinkie’s arrival. Being such young Lego people, Pound and Pumpkin’s bodies consisted of only two pieces; a head and a microfig body — which stood on a space of just one stud and a height of three bricks, with the head on. Unlike in a biological world like Equestria, people in the Lego World are not born, but rather built. When a happily married couple wish to have a child, they are granted the starting pieces — a customized head and a microfig body — and give it life by sacrificing a small part of both of their creative sparks. After a few years, the microfig body would be replaced with a minifig body with short legs. After a few more years of maturing enough — which included gaining a creative mark — the child would finally be granted their “adult legs”, and thus would be considered fully grown up. Pinkie Pie set the cake down on the table in front of the twins and cheerfully said, “Make a wish and blow out the candle!” Pound and Pumpkin quickly obliged. But since they were infants, their blows not only put out the candle, but also got a lot of drool all over the cake. The slightly disgusted looks on their parents’ faces did not escape Pinkie Pie’s attention. “That’s okay,” she assured them with a big smile. “I made that cake just for them, anyway. That’s why I also made another one for the rest of us!” As she happily skipped along back to the kitchen, she added, “Go ahead and cut that cake for them to share while I get the other one!” Pinkie had already left the room by the time Mr. and Mrs. Cake turned their attention back to their children. Their eyes widened as they saw the twins grabbing handfuls of that cake and shoving it in their mouths. “Uh, I don’t think that’ll be necessary,” commented Mr. Cake. While the little microfigs helped themselves to their builtday cake, their mother decided to take another look around at all of the party decorations that Pinkie Pie had set up. The party girl had really gone all out with balloons, streamers, and all kinds of party games. Perhaps what was most impressive of all was that Pinkie had built most of these decorations herself out of various Lego pieces she happened to have lying around. “I have to admit, Pinkie,” Mrs. Cake complimented, “your creative talents will never cease to amaze me.” “Thank you, Mrs. Cake!” replied Pinkie as she rushed back out of the kitchen with the other party cake in hand. “I always try my best— Whoa!” She suddenly stepped on one of the various toys that had been left on the floor, which rolled out under her foot, causing her to fling the cake into the air as she landed flat on her face. Within a split second, as Mr. and Mrs. Cake gasped in shock, Pinkie glanced up and saw the other party cake reach the apex of its flight and began to fall down. “Oh no!” she shouted in panic as she quickly leaped to her feet and jumped over to where it was about to land. Pinkie Pie failed to catch that cake, but she did manage to smack it away from some of the party decorations, which ended up destroyed by Pinkie herself slamming into them. She gasped as she saw that cake now heading for another bunch of party decorations. Another leap, and she smacked the cake away, only to smash those decorations herself. Again, she saw the cake flung away, and repeated her attempt to save it. Pinkie’s unintentionally destructive game of hot potato with the party cake by herself continued on until nearly all of the contents of the living room and the dining room had been completely smashed to pieces. After one final dive, Pinkie stood up and looked around, but saw no sign of the cake she so desperately tried to save. “Hey! Where’d it go?” she asked as she quickly looked around. Her answer came when the cake landed right on her head with a loud splat, getting frosting all over her hair. Pinkie wiped some of the frosting from her eyes and saw all four members of the Cake family staring at her with blank expressions. It was immediately clear to her that she had just ruined the very party that she had worked so hard on. The first ones to react were Pound and Pumpkin. The twin microfigs actually laughed and giggled, surprisingly quite amused by the big mess that Pinkie had made. But their joy suddenly vanished when a loose piece dropped from the ceiling and landed on both of their heads, immediately causing them both to start crying and whining loudly. “Oh dear,” said Mrs. Cake in concern. She picked up her babies and cradled them both in her arms in a futile attempt to calm them down. “Aw, I’m so sorry,” said Pinkie Pie shamefully. She quickly knew that she had to find a way to salvage this party, so she started looking around while desperately saying, “Don’t worry! I can fix this!” The first thing she did was remove her hair piece and whip it like a towel, instantly removing all of the cake and frosting that had ended up in it. Once she put her now-cleaned hair back on, Pinkie resumed glancing around the room at the big mess of pieces. She needed to somehow use these scattered pieces to build something that would make the two infants happy and forget about this disaster. When it came to Pinkie Pie, the first idea was almost always the one she decided to go with. It took only seconds for her to come up with that first idea and cheerfully shout, “I know!” She then started hopping around, appearing to be in many places at once as she gathered up most of the loose pieces and quickly put them all together. Mr. and Mrs. Cake watched with dumbfounded looks on their faces as Pinkie quickly went to work. Even the young twins stopped crying to watch her in awe. This wasn’t the first time this family had watched Pinkie Pie building with Lego pieces, but it was the first time they had seen her do it with pony-like ears and longer hair suddenly appearing on her as she built. It wasn’t long until Pinkie Pie finished her creation and happily exclaimed, “Ta-da!” She had taken all of the ruined party decorations and built them into a small carousel. Each of the four “horses” was just a bunch of regular bricks put together in a way that was roughly the same shape as a horse, and was just big enough to fit a microfig on the back. Pinkie quickly turned a crank to start the carousel spinning, which also started playing some slow polka music. She then ran over to Mrs. Cake and grabbed the twins from her. “C’mon! Who wants to ride the mini merry-go-round?” asked Pinkie. She didn’t bother waiting for an answer as she carefully placed them both on opposite sides of the miniature carousel. The “horses” didn’t just go around in a circle, but also slowly rocked back and forth as they went around. It was an excellent type of gentle ride one would expect to see in an amusement park, and Pound and Pumpkin quickly showed their approval by smiling and laughing as they went around and around. “Room for one more?” asked Pinkie right before she hopped onto one of the remaining “horses”, despite it being clearly too small for a full-sized minifig like herself. “Wheee! Best First Builtday Party ever!” she proudly declared. Meanwhile, both Mr. and Mrs. Cake also began to smile as they saw that the party would not be a total disaster, after all. Despite the relief, Mr. Cake was still a little confused by what he had just witnessed. “That was very impressive, Pinkie, but how did you know that would work?” he asked. “I have absolutely no idea!” replied Pinkie Pie excitedly with arms spread out wide. As soon as she said that, the pony-like changes to her body disappeared, though she showed no signs of even acknowledging that. Mr. Cake turned to his wife in confusion. Mrs. Cake understood why her husband was still confused, and she had to admit that she was also just as confused for the same reasons. She shrugged and told him, “Well, you know what she likes to say: ‘Don’t ask questions. Just have fun.’” The loving parents simply placed an arm behind each other’s backs as they happily watched their children and Pinkie Pie continue to enjoy the miniature ride. > An Improvised Rescue > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- An Improvised Rescue It was another beautiful day in the forest, just outside of Canterlot City. The sun was shining and there were very few clouds in the sky. In addition to a cooling breeze, there was also the peaceful chirping noise of birds in the trees. For Fluttershy, it was a perfect day for her to enjoy a nice peaceful stroll through such a calm wilderness. As she listened to the surrounding birdsongs, she would occasionally hum a little melody along with them. To a girl like her who appreciated all things in nature, there were very few places that could be better than this. Fluttershy briefly took out her phone to check the time. “Oh! I’d better get going,” she quietly said to herself with slight urgency. “I need to feed all of the animals in my pet shop soon.” She put away her phone and picked up her pace along the trail. It wasn’t long until she arrived at a small vehicle that was parked on a wider trail. It was a golf cart that she had repurposed for off-road use, allowing her to travel between the city and the nearby wilderness in less time than by simply walking. As Fluttershy climbed into her golf cart and began driving it down the trail, she was reminded of why this was her preferred mode of transportation. Unlike traditional all-terrain vehicles — which to her were always too loud and way too fast — this modified golf cart had an electric motor that was so quiet that it was almost silent. This also meant that the cart had a relatively low top speed, which suited her just fine. She preferred to take her time enjoying the scenery, rather than face the terrifying rush of zooming around on uneven ground. As she continued to make her way out of the forest, Fluttershy found herself driving along a large creek. The soothing noise of rushing water only added to the peaceful surroundings. It made her feel like nothing could possibly go wrong. Suddenly, an unusual noise interrupted Fluttershy’s state of relaxation. It sounded like the yipping noise of a small dog in distress. With eyes widened in shock, she quickly began looking around for the source of that noise. Once she saw what it was, she felt her heart skip a beat at the terrible sight. Not far upstream, a poor puppy had fallen into the creek, and was now being swept away by the current. The unfortunate puppy was just too weak to paddle against the rushing water, and could only continue yelping in distress. Fluttershy immediately gasped in shock and shouted, “Don’t worry! I’ll save you!” She quickly turned her attention back to the path ahead as she continued to drive her cart along the creek. She knew that puppy would continue to be swept further down the creek with each passing second, so the very least she could do right now was to keep moving ahead while she thought of a plan. Fluttershy quickly glanced over at the creek beside her to see just how fast the current was compared to her own speed. Just as she had feared, her cart could barely keep up with the rushing creek. This meant that if she stopped or even slowed down, it would only be a matter of seconds before that unfortunate puppy would rush by and she would have no way to catch up again. She literally would have only one chance. It wasn’t long until Fluttershy looked up ahead and saw a small pile of Lego pieces beside the creek. She had no idea how they got there, but in this emergency moment, it was exactly what she wanted. “Maybe I could build something to fish him out,” she said to herself, growing confident that such a plan just might actually work. All she had to do was work as quickly as possible. As soon as she brought the cart to a stop, Fluttershy knew there was no going back. She was now committed to somehow using these abandoned pieces to save that poor puppy from the rushing creek. As soon as she started quickly looking over the small pile, her hopeful expression fell as she realized just what little she actually had to work with. “Oh… I don’t think I have enough pieces,” she muttered worriedly. Fluttershy’s attention was quickly drawn back to puppy in danger, which she saw was now coming closer and closer as he continued calling desperately for help. She had to think of something fast! With a short glance to the side, her eyes fell on the cart she had been driving. Like all other vehicles in this world, it was made of Lego pieces, and it was just the thing to give her the inspiration she needed. “Or maybe I do,” she said as a smile quickly formed on her face. With no time to lose, Fluttershy immediately dove for the repurposed golf cart and quickly took it completely apart, adding all of the pieces to the small pile she had found. As she then began to quickly assemble all of those pieces, her body changed to include pony-like ears, longer hair, and feathered wings on her back. She didn’t bother to notice these sudden magical additions, as she was too focused on building her rescue rig before it was too late. In only a matter of seconds, Fluttershy had finished building her rescue rig. It consisted of a bucket on the end of an arm that swung vertically from the end of a larger arm that could be spun around on a small turret. There was no time to admire this creation, as the yelping puppy in the creek reminded her of the urgency of this particular build. Fluttershy immediately hopped into the seat in the turret. She had built the rig with the big arm already hanging out over the creek, so there was no need for her to spin it around. However, she did need to quickly turn a hand-crank to extend the length of that arm so that the bucket was at just the right distance across the creek to retrieve that puppy. Once she was sure the setting was just right, she then grabbed the lever that controlled the small swinging arm. She pulled the lever from the locked position and watched carefully for just the right moment. As that puppy was carried by the rushing creek towards the rig, it was literally now or never. Finally, with very precise timing, Fluttershy flipped the lever around, which swung the smaller arm down and made the bucket scoop the puppy right out of the water. She then quickly pushed that lever back into the locked position, ensuring that the puppy would not fall back into the creek. Next, she flipped a switch that made the motorized turret slowly spin around until the bucket was over dry land. Finally, she stopped the turret, unlocked the lever, and slowly lowered the bucket until the puppy fell out onto the soft grass nearby. Fluttershy jumped out of the seat and rushed over to the now rescued puppy. “Oh thank goodness!” she exclaimed in relief as she carefully picked up the puppy. “Are you okay, little pup?” The little brown Lego puppy yelped happily in response and began rubbing his face against hers affectionately. Fluttershy giggled and said, “I’ll take that as a yes.” Once the puppy pulled away to get another look at his savior, he cocked his head sideways in confusion. Bewildered by the sudden change in expression, Fluttershy asked, “What’s wrong?” The puppy responded with an excited yip as he wagged his tiny tail. Fluttershy was able to figure out that the puppy was trying to tell her something about herself. She looked around at her body and quickly realized that she now had those pony-like additions that she had previously had only once before. “Oh my!” she remarked in surprise. “How did that happen?” As soon as Fluttershy had asked that question, her body shifted back to a regular minifig. Confused, she began to look around for any clues to explain how that happened. What ultimately caught her attention was the rescue rig she had built, and it was only now that she finally had the time to really look at her recent creation. “Wow… Did I really just build that?” she quietly asked herself. It really was quite remarkable to think that she could quickly build something like that in an emergency situation. Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by a very faint buzzing noise. She quickly realized that it was coming from her phone, so she pulled it out to see what kind of notice she was being reminded of. She gasped when she saw the time and remembered just how late it was starting to get. “Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed as she quickly put her phone away. “I’d better get going! Angel always tends to get upset whenever I’m late for dinner.” With no idea where the puppy came from, Fluttershy decided to bring him home with her and wait until after dinner to figure out what to do with him. She picked up the puppy and began looking around to find where she had parked her cart. It took her a few seconds to remember that she had actually taken apart that cart and incorporated the pieces into that rescue rig. Fluttershy turned back to her rescue rig and, with her face blushed in mild embarrassment, quietly muttered, “Um… I guess I’ll need to take that thing apart and… rebuild my cart.” > Fabulous Architecture > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fabulous Architecture Throughout Canterlot City, most of the citizens were busy going about another typical day. For a certain few others, however, this was about to become a rather significant day. The final repairs to the damages caused by Sunset Shimmer’s attack over much of the city had just been completed, and a crowd had gathered around the front of Canterlot Museum — the final building to be repaired — to witness the unveiling of the new facade of the building. Standing near the front of that crowd was one of the six girls who had saved the city from that dreadful attack so many weeks ago. Rarity was always rather fond of attending public events — if only to embrace a good opportunity to show off one of her latest fashion designs. For today’s event, she chose to wear a simple red dress with long sleeves, along with a wide-brimmed hat with a simple yellow feather sticking out of it. On her minifig body, this dress took the form of that red color on her torso and the entirety of her arms, with her legs replaced with a steep-sloped piece. The detailing printed on the front and back of the torso, along with the front of the “legs”, consisted of various lines and curves to enhance her features. A podium had been set up in front of the currently-covered front of the building, and behind that podium stood the mayor of Canterlot City — a woman with tan skin, grey hair, and wore small glasses that rested just below her eyes. Now that the crowd had gathered, she lightly tapped the microphone a couple times to bring everyone’s attention to her before she began her speech. “Ladies and gentlemen,” she began. “As mayor of this wonderful city, I am pleased to announce that, after many weeks of hard work, all of the physical damages from Sunset Shimmer’s failed assault have finally been repaired!” The crowd applauded at this for a few seconds before the mayor continued. “To mark this accomplishment, we are now gathered here in front of Canterlot Museum, which suffered such extensive damage that the entire facade had to be completely rebuilt. With this unveiling, I sincerely hope that we can now put that terrible event behind us and move on with our peaceful lives.” The mayor gestured towards the covered building as she finished, “And now, I present to you: the new Canterlot Museum!” The crowd applauded and cheered loudly and enthusiastically as the massive shroud fell away. However, the cheering quickly died down once everyone actually saw the new building. Aside from a basic door and couple windows, the exterior consisted of nothing more than a featureless grey wall. It was arguably one of the dullest architectural designs imaginable. Rarity decided to speak up on behalf of the crowd. “This is the new facade for our beloved museum?” she asked in disbelief. “How could the architect come up with something so… bland?” “Architects, actually,” the mayor pointed out, now speaking with less enthusiasm. “Neither of them could agree on anything, so they were ultimately forced to settle on a purely functional design.” As if to prove this statement, the two architects in question — who were standing near the left corner of the building — immediately began bickering with each other. “I told we should’ve gone with a Gothic design,” argued the first architect, who wore a hardhat and had a short black beard on his face. “How many times do I have to say this? That would never fit in with this city!” argued the other architect, who also wore a hardhat but had a large auburn mustache on his face. “We should’ve gone with an Art Nouveau design.” “Are you nuts?! This isn’t the Steampunk Region!” “Well this isn’t the Castle Region, either!” As the two architects continued to argue, the mayor simply shook her head in disapproval and told the crowd, “This is why there were so many delays on this particular project.” Rarity rolled her eyes and let out a loud agitated sigh. If this kind of behavior between these two was the reason behind days and weeks of delays, then it was clear that somebody had to set them straight. She decided that enough was enough, and marched right up to the bickering architects. “You two should be ashamed of yourselves!” she scolded, immediately bringing a momentary end to their arguing. “Thanks to your bickering and squabbling, the upstanding citizens of Canterlot City no longer have a museum they can be proud of.” “Well he started it,” argued the bearded architect, pointing at the other guy. “Me?! You’re the one who submitted your dumb proposal, first!” shot back the other architect. “Stop this madness right this instant!” shouted Rarity, which immediately brought total silence to the area. After taking a slow deep breath to compose herself, she calmly said, “Honestly, if this is the best you two could do, I would go so far as to say that even I would’ve come up with a better design.” “Oh really?” asked the first architect skeptically as he crossed his arms. “You think you could do better than us?” “As a matter of fact…” began Rarity, before throwing off her fancy dress in one fluid motion, revealing that she was still wearing her typical wardrobe underneath. She then removed her hat/hair piece and quickly replaced it with her typical hair piece. “I do,” she finished, just before snatching her dress before it could hit the ground. She quickly folded it up and handed it and the hat/hair piece over to the mayor as she asked, “Could you be a dear and hold these for me? Thank you.” Now that she was ready to get creative, she turned her attention back to the two architects and asked, “Do you happen to have any spare parts with which I could use to make improvements to the museum’s facade?” “Yeah, the pile’s right over there,” replied the second architect, pointing at a rather large pile of various Lego pieces that had been left near the right corner of the building. Astonished by the huge size of that pile, Rarity could only narrow her eyes at the architects and mutter, “You two really did settle for a bare-minimum agreement, didn’t you?” Before either of the architects could speak up, she immediately held up her hand and said, “Nuh-uh-uh! I do not want to hear another word on the matter.” She then turned her back to them and walked off in a huff. Once Rarity’s dignified march brought her to the pile, she quickly began inspecting the pieces available for possible ideas. “Let’s see…” she mumbled to herself as she started lightly digging around. “Which pieces could I use to build with?” After a little digging, the pile shifted slightly, causing one round piece to tumble past Rarity and land on the ground nearby. She looked back at that piece and noticed that it was a four-stud cylinder — which basically took up the same space as a standard four-stud brick. What really caught her attention was that it was white and had vertical ridges all the way around its side. For someone with an eye for detail like Rarity, it was immediately obvious what kind of structure such a piece could be used for. A quick glance around the rest of the pile confirmed that there were many more of these particular pieces. “Idea!” exclaimed Rarity in a sing-song voice. As she jumped up towards the top of the pile, her body quickly changed into its half-pony form — which included pony ears, longer hair at the back, and a unicorn horn at the front of her hair piece. Although the crowd was awed by this sight, Rarity paid it no mind, as she was too focused on bringing her idea to reality. “Let’s start with some of these…” said Rarity as she began quickly tossing many pieces behind her back towards the front entrance of the museum. “Add on a few of these…” Remarkably, almost like magic, every single piece she tossed landed right in the exact locations to fit together perfectly, and not once did she even glance back to look at her progress. All of the pieces were literally falling right into place. “Let’s not forget these…” continued Rarity as she now added on the pieces that inspired her, which quickly came together to form a row of tall columns. Next, she discovered some white one-stud plates with a vertical round connection sticking out of one side. “Ooh! These would make spectacular Ionic columns!” she exclaimed with giddiness as she threw those pieces on top of the columns. “Just need to build an entablature to top it all off…” continued Rarity as she threw more pieces on top of the finished columns, essentially putting a roof over the entrance area. “A few final decorative parts around the frieze, and…” She threw on the last few pieces along the edge of that new roof, still managing to toss those pieces in exactly the right places. Once the entire assembly was complete — and the pile had been reduced to less than half of its original size — Rarity finally turned around to see her creation as she proudly proclaimed, “Complete!” The crowd immediately erupted into an excited round of applause at the newly-improved facade to Canterlot Museum. Rarity had built a Classical Greek structure around the main entrance. Although it didn’t extend further around the building, it was still spectacular in its own right. “Well done, Rarity! Well done, indeed!” exclaimed the mayor excitedly as she clapped like everyone in the crowd, holding the dress and hat under her arm as she did so. As the cheering began to calm down, she added, “And I must say, that was especially impressive, considering your new look!” Rarity’s feeling of accomplishment was quickly replaced with confusion when she heard that last statement. As someone who took her personal appearance very seriously, she quickly pulled out a hand mirror to look at herself. Although her face was unchanged — thank goodness — she was quick to notice the pony ears and the unicorn horn. “How in the world did that happen?” she quietly asked herself. As soon as she had asked that question, her body morphed back to her typical minifig form. Now that the pony-like changes to her body were gone, Rarity looked at herself in the mirror, glanced over at the structure she had just built in a matter of seconds, then back to her reflection. She began to get the feeling that there might be a connection between her magical form and her creative talents. Knowing that she wasn’t the only one to have such a magical pony form, she muttered to herself, “I may need to discuss this with my friends.” “Thank you again for you generous assistance, Rarity,” praised the mayor as she handed Rarity back her dress and hat. “Your talents in architecture are quite remarkable.” “Actually, much of my architectural knowledge comes from a single elective course I took in college,” admitted Rarity. “I tend to focus most of my creative talents on fashion.” “Nonetheless, you still did a lot better than those two,” remarked the mayor, gesturing back at the two architects. “I must admit, that’s some nice work you did there,” said the bearded architect. “Yeah, that’s a really nice design,” added the other architect. He then turned to the other guy and remarked, “Definitely a lot better that what you came up with.” The first architect quickly shot back, “Well at least it wasn’t as bad as yours!” “No, yours was the worst!” argued the second architect. As the two architects quickly started bickering again, the mayor simply sighed and facepalmed before muttering, “That is the last time I commission those two together on a project.” > Among Friends > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Among Friends Many weeks had passed since Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria returned home with her magic crown. For the most part, life in Canterlot City had long since returned to normal. Many people would say that the only significant change was that Sunset Shimmer was now in prison for her crimes, and while that may be true, a certain group of girls were beginning to realize there was more that had changed than that. These five girls — Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity — had decided to meet up at the local pizzeria. While Pinkie was busy ordering a pizza for them to share, the rest of the group decided to sit down at an empty table so they could begin talking about certain recent events. “Well… here we are,” began Applejack uncertainly, once they were all seated. “Yes, it’s nice that all five of us could get together like this,” added Rarity as she looked around at the others, including Pinkie Pie at the counter not far away. “So what’s been going on?” asked Rainbow Dash, hoping to break the awkward feelings. “I don’t think we’ve all been in the same place since we saw Twilight leave.” “She did bring us all together as a team,” stated Fluttershy. “I guess there just hasn’t been much going on since then to bring us all back together.” “Ah’m honestly surprised that she even saw how we could make a good team,” admitted Applejack. “Ah mean, there really ain’t much we have in common. This team’s got a farmer, an athlete, a fashionista, a nature girl, and a party animal.” “Speaking of whom…” remarked Rarity as she noticed Pinkie Pie arrive at the table with a pizza in her hand. “Pizza’s ready!” announced Pinkie cheerfully as she tossed the pizza onto the table and took her seat at the table. As everyone grabbed a slice of pizza, Rainbow Dash commented, “Anyway, I agree with Fluttershy. Ever since we kicked Sunset’s butt and sent her to jail, there’s just not been a whole lot to talk about.” “I would beg to differ, Rainbow,” said Rarity as she grabbed a fork and knife for her preferred way to eat pizza. “Do you recall that remarkable transformation we went through on the night we defeated Sunset Shimmer?” “The one where we turned into half-ponies? How could any of us forget that?” remarked Applejack before taking her first bite from her slice of pizza. As she quickly finished it, she looked down thoughtfully for a moment. She then brought her gaze back up and said, “Y’know, now that ya mention it, Ah suppose there has been somethin’ odd goin’ on lately.” “Do tell, darling,” said an intrigued Rarity. Applejack explained, “Well, there was this incident where mah sister and her friends accidentally destroyed that old barn. For some reason, Scootaloo thought it’d be a good idea to attach some rockets to her scooter.” Rainbow Dash immediately spat out her mouthful of pizza and sputtered, “Whoa, whoa, whoa. How did she get her hands on some rockets?!” “Beats me,” replied Applejack with a shrug. “Anyway, thanks to that incident, the old barn was reduced to nothin’ but a pile of pieces, which meant Ah had to rebuild the whole thing. Normally, Ah’d use the instruction sheet to rebuild the barn, but even though Apple Bloom offered to fetch it for me, Ah chose not to use it.” “Oh! Lemme guess,” Pinkie Pie spoke up. “You wanted to make some custom improvements that weren’t included with the instructions?” “Ya hit the nail right on the head,” confirmed Applejack. She leaned in towards the middle of the table as she continued, “Now here’s where things get strange. As Ah was puttin’ all the pieces together faster than a jackrabbit, Ah actually turned into that half-pony thing y’all saw that other night. Ah’m talkin’ the whole ears an' tail-like extension on mah hair piece.” That detail quickly caught everyone’s attention. “Whoa. Seriously?” asked Rainbow Dash. Applejack simply nodded in response “How long did it last?” asked Fluttershy with concern. Applejack shrugged before replying, “Went away just seconds after Ah finished buildin’ the whole thing. Kinda strange that it happened right then an’ there, if ya ask me.” “I somehow doubt the timing of that experience was a mere coincidence,” stated Rarity. “I, too, have had a similar experience of temporarily receiving my magic pony appearance while hastily working on a large construct. Though in my particular case, I had volunteered to contribute to the repairs to the museum.” “Didn’t that project get delayed for weeks ‘cause the architects couldn’t agree on anything?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Unfortunately, yes,” replied Rarity bitterly. “It was due to that indecisiveness that I was compelled to build a much more pleasing facade for the structure. Seriously, a featureless grey wall, an entryway does not make.” “Wow, that’s really impressive!” remarked Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “All I had to do to turn back into a half-pony was to pick up all the pieces after literally crashing my own party for the twins’ first builtday and build them into a mini merry-go-round. Best First Builtday Party ever!” “You think that’s impressive?” boasted Rainbow Dash. “You should’ve seen me rebuild that damaged airplane while it was still flying!” “Yeah right,” said Applejack in disbelief. “No, seriously!” continued Rainbow excitedly. “I built myself a jetpack to carry all the pieces up to the plane in trouble. When it turned out I didn’t bring enough pieces, I decided to put those wings I gained to good use by taking apart the jetpack and using those pieces to finish the job.” “Goodness!” said Fluttershy in shock. “How did you get down from all the way up there?” It was a question that was on everyone’s minds, considering what could have happened if Rainbow Dash had changed back to normal while she was still airborne. “I just hitched a ride on the plane before my wings went away,” replied Rainbow like it was no big deal. “My, that must have been quite the experience for you, Rainbow Dash,” said an impressed Rarity. She then turned her attention to Fluttershy and asked, “What about you, Fluttershy? Did you recently have an experience of obtaining your magic pony appearance while constructing something of significance?” Fluttershy hesitated momentarily upon suddenly receiving the attention of everyone. She eventually answered, “Well… I-I was on my way back from a little walk through the woods when I saw a poor puppy had fallen into a creek. Even though I quickly found some pieces nearby, it wasn’t enough to help me. But then I got the idea to take some pieces from my cart and build a… rescue rig, I guess you could call it. A-anyway, I used it to rescue that puppy, and it wasn’t until after that puppy was safe that I realized I had turned into that half-pony form.” “Wow… even I’m impressed,” remarked Rainbow Dash. “See? We all have awesome creative talents!” added Pinkie Pie. “There’s just one thing Ah don’t understand,” said Applejack in confusion. “Right after Ah’d finished rebuildin’ that barn, Apple Bloom mentioned that she had never seen me do any buildin’ like that before. If mah own family is tellin’ me that the way Ah build stuff has changed, then Ah know that somethin’ else has happened.” “You do bring up a good point, Applejack,” said Rarity thoughtfully. “Before the occurrence of my incident, I had never even considered attempting any kind of architectural work. It’s like my creative horizon has significantly expanded.” “I hear ya on that,” remarked Rainbow Dash. “Sure, I’ve done repairs on planes before, but never while one of them was still in flight. Even I know that takes a lot of talent to pull it off without any mistakes.” “It’s like those pony forms have turned us into better builders than ever before,” added Pinkie Pie after quickly finishing her second slice of pizza. “Does this mean we’re now… Master Builders?” asked Fluttershy. The five girls looked at one another uncertainly. It was definitely a legitimate question to ask themselves. There was a major difference between simply having creative talents and being a Master Builder. Every person in the Lego World had their own unique creative talents — symbolized by a mental image known as a creative mark — but not a lot of people were talented enough to earn the title of Master Builder. While most people tended to specialize in a certain range of building abilities, Master Builders could cover a much wider range of creativity. A popular description was that a true Master Builder knew how to take everything and turn it into anything. “Well, I must say…” began Rarity uncertainly. “The possibility certainly does put things in a whole new perspective.” “You got that right,” added Rainbow Dash. “Sure, I’ve heard of Master Builders and how awesome they are, but never in a million years did I think I could become one of them.” “Ah honestly didn’t think it was even possible for ordinary folk like us to just turn into Master Builders,” admitted Applejack. “There just ain’t a whole lotta them out there in the world.” “But that’s what makes the whole thing so special,” argued Pinkie Pie. “We’ve become special.” “Yeah, you’re right,” agreed Rainbow, getting more excited. “And I bet that when Celestia hears about this, we’ll suddenly become her go-to team for whatever trouble heads our way.” “Does that mean we will have to keep saving the world again?” asked a very nervous Fluttershy. “Hopefully not,” replied Rarity. “I am sure there are many more capable Master Builders out there who can do such a thing on a more frequent basis.” “Besides, we did bring all top three of Lego’s Most Wanted to justice,” added Applejack with a hint of pride. “Ah’m pretty sure any new bad guys will think twice about messin’ with us.” “If only Twilight Sparkle was here to see this,” added Pinkie Pie, slightly saddened. Rarity placed her hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and stated, “I am sure that she would be very proud of us, darling. I daresay that this recent development may even be a sign that she was right to bring us all together as a team.” “Not to mention that we all became such good friends because of it,” added Fluttershy. As soon as everyone had finished their share of the pizza, Rainbow Dash stood up and excitedly said, “C’mon! Let’s head over to LEGO Team Headquarters and tell Celestia about all of this!” “Yes, I’m sure Miss Playwell would be very interested to hear about our newfound creative abilities,” agreed Rarity as she and the others followed Rainbow out of the pizzeria. “Hoo-wee, what a day this has turned out to be,” remarked Applejack as they all stepped out the door. “This is the best team ever!” declared Pinkie Pie enthusiastically. As the five friends walked down the street, they were unaware that they were being watched. Not far away in a dark alleyway stood an individual who was dressed up in a standard astronaut suit. Such a suit was obviously not necessary for survival in a place like this, but it did hide this person’s identity — the golden visor on the helmet prevented anyone from seeing this person’s face. Whoever this strange individual was, he or she just stood there, watching and observing…