> LEGO Equestria Girls: Starlight Glimmer's Misadventures
>  by Chronicler06
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Kung Fools Fighting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Kung Fools Fighting


Starlight Glimmer was very excited that Princess Twilight had given her permission to stay in the Lego World for a few more days to learn more about both friendship and some things that made this alternate universe so special. Sunset Shimmer and her friends — who just so happened to be alternate versions of Starlight’s friends in Equestria — had enthusiastically agreed to each spend some time with Starlight and share with her some of their favorite things about living in the Lego World.

Starlight had already formed a strong bond with Sunset, so it was only natural that she would start with the fellow native from Equestria. It didn’t take long for Sunset to decide what they would do together, so after a plane ride to Lego City and a taxi cab ride to the edge of that city, they now found themselves walking across a bridge towards a large dojo on a hilltop.

“So why have you brought me here?” asked Starlight.

“Like I said on the way over,” explained Sunset, “my friends and I are part of an organization known as the LEGO Team. Sometimes, we’re called in to go out on a mission somewhere to deal with some sort of problem.

“Kind of like how my friends are sometimes called away by the Cutie Map to solve friendship problems?” asked Starlight.

“I suppose you could say that,” noted Sunset with a shrug. As they began climbing up the stairs towards the dojo atop the hill, she continued, “I don’t know about what your friends have to deal with, but for our missions from the LEGO Team, we often find ourselves needing to fight off a bunch of bad guys, so if you ever happen to come back to this world someday and find yourself joining us on one of our missions, then you’ll need to learn the basics of hand-to-hand combat. It’s like hoof-to-hoof combat, except, well…” She smiled as she held up her hands. “…obvious difference.”

Starlight nodded in understanding, then asked, “So how good are your combat skills?”

Sunset chuckled and remarked, “You should ask Princess Twilight about how impressed she was when she first saw my combat abilities in action. Even though I was mostly self-taught, I still needed a little help learning some of the basics. Take it from me, Starlight, learning how to fight with these…” She held up her fists. “…is a whole lot different than using your unicorn magic.”

“So I’m guessing this is where you learned to do just that, right?” asked Starlight.

“Exactly,” confirmed Sunset. Her smile fell as she then confessed, “Though considering that it didn’t take long for the old me to become one of the most wanted criminals in the Lego World, I just hope that we don’t get kicked out as soon as they see me walk through the door.”

By this point, they had reached the top of the stairs and now walked through the open gateway into the dojo’s front courtyard. Starlight looked around and saw some people wearing white robes, presumably some of the students who trained here. Some of them were making slow and steady poses, while others were swiftly smacking their arms and legs against some training dummies.

“The guy who runs this place is Barry Smith,” explained Sunset. “Plumber by day, kung fu master by night.” She then glanced up at the partly cloudy midday sky and added, “Though I guess that old analogy shouldn’t be taken literally in this case.”

Sunset and Starlight reached the other side of the courtyard and walked up a few steps to reach the front doors of the main building. Sunset stopped in front of the door, sighed, and then pushed it open and stepped inside. Starlight followed her inside and they soon found themselves in a large room with a series of mats covering much of the floor, some short tables along the sides of the room near the windows, paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling to provide illumination, and a large gong at the far end of the room. Within this room were a few more students who were doing many of the same things as the ones who were outside.

As they began walking across the room, Starlight glanced around and asked, “So, uh… how do we get started?”

Sunset walked up to the gong and replied, “We’ll need to call in Barry for that.” She picked up the mallet that was resting on a nearby rack, then used it to bang the gong once.

As the deep ringing of that gong went out, all of the students in the room suddenly stopped what they were doing, cleared away everything on the mats, then sat down on the floor along the sides of the room. Starlight looked back at them in confusion, then turned forward again just in time to see someone step out through a doorway behind the gong. This minifig wore black pants, a purple vest over a black shirt and with a wrench in his pocket, no hair on his head, and sunglasses on his face.

Sunset placed the mallet back on its rack, then turned to the guy who had just entered and gave an uneasy smile as she greeted, “Hey there, Mr. Smith. I, uh, came here with Starlight Glimmer, who wishes to learn the basics of kung fu, much like I did when we last met a few years ago.”

Starlight smiled awkwardly and waved at the guy who she now knew was the owner of this dojo.

Barry Smith stared at Starlight for a moment. He neither smiled nor frowned, and his sunglasses obscured the rest of his facial expression. After a moment of silence, he finally nodded and — speaking with a British accent — replied, “Very well.”

Starlight and Sunset turned to each other and smiled.

Barry walked up to Starlight and said, “Before we start, you must first listen… to this.” He suddenly held up a CD.

Starlight raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?”

Sunset rolled her eyes as she sighed and grumbled, “Right, that silly initiation.” She turned back to Starlight and said, “Just roll with it so we can move on to the good stuff.”

Starlight was still confused, but took Sunset’s advice and nodded in agreement.

“Please, have a seat here,” instructed Barry as he inserted the CD into a player device and picked up a set of headphones connected to it. “Sit down as if you are preparing to meditate.”

Starlight sat down on the floor, rested her hands in her lap, then took a deep breath and slowly exhaled as she closed her eyes. She felt the headphones slip into place on her head, and soon began to hear a calming female voice.

“Welcome to ‘Learn Kung Fu While You Sleep’,” began the audio content of the CD. “Relax… You are now completely relaxed…” The audio then suddenly switched to a wild mess of rapid smacking and grunting noises, as if a huge brawl had just broken out. Starlight was so startled by the sudden and unexpected change of tone that she fell onto her back. “The end,” finished the audio voice.

Starlight stared up at the ceiling with wide eyes and was breathing heavily from the unexpected adrenaline. She threw off the headphones and asked, “What… the heck… was that?”

Sunset stood beside Starlight and looked down at her with a smile as she remarked, “Yeah, I still don’t understand it either.” She reached down and grabbed Starlight’s arm, then pulled her up to her feet. “But now that that’s over with…” She turned to Barry and asked, “Shall we?”

Without saying a word, Barry smiled and extended his arm out toward the floor of the dojo’s main room.

Sunset guided Starlight out onto the mats.

“So what are we doing next?” asked Starlight as she followed Sunset.

Sunset smiled and replied, “Now, these students are gonna try to take us down onto the floor, and we need to do that to them before they get that chance. They’ll start by attacking one at a time, then they’ll go up to two, then three, and will continue to get more difficult the longer we keep going.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” asked Starlight as they stopped in the center of the room.

Sunset grinned and remarked, “For now… just watch and learn.”

One of the seated students stood up and began rushing towards Sunset. Sunset stood her ground, and once that student reached her, she simply stepped to the side and stuck her leg out, tripping him into the air and sending him to faceplant against the mat.

“Seriously?” asked Starlight with a raised eyebrow and a tone of disappointment in her voice.

“Not every fighting move has to be super awesome,” Sunset pointed out. “Sometimes, even the simplest of moves can provide the best results.”

Another student came charging towards Sunset, but once he got close, Sunset crouched down, grabbed both of his legs, and flung him over her shoulder, causing him to flip through the air and slam onto the mat on his back.

“Look deep within yourself to find your hidden potential, Starlight, and you will triumph over your enemies,” advised Barry from the sidelines. “What also helps is throwing them around.”

“Like this,” quipped Sunset as she suddenly grasped the arm of an incoming punch, then spun around and flung that student directly towards another incoming student, sending them both collapsing to the mat.

“Wow, Sunset,” remarked Starlight with a smile. “You make this look so easy.”

“Try not to get too cocky,” responded Sunset. “It’s your turn.”

Starlight frowned and raised an eyebrow, then turned around and suddenly noticed another one of the students was now charging directly at her. Gasping in shock, her first instinct was to hold her arms out in front of herself, which resulted in them grasping each other’s hands and shoving against each other. Starlight stumbled a couple steps back, but quickly found her footing and was able to hold her ground. However, she lacked the raw strength necessary to directly shove him back, so they both stood in place, struggling against each other. The student eventually broke the stalemate by swinging a leg out to knock one of Starlight’s legs out from under her, sending her flopping down onto the mat on her back.

“Empty your mind,” advised Barry, “as you would a radiator before replacing it.”

“What?” asked Starlight in confusion.

“Ignore him,” argued Sunset as she grabbed another student and flung him back towards the sidelines he came from. “He’s trying to distract you, and that’s part of the lesson. You need to learn to ignore random background events, or at least the ones that will never provide you with anything useful.”

Starlight carefully got up, then turned around and saw one of the students charging towards her. In an attempt to follow one of Sunset’s examples, she stepped aside and grabbed onto the student’s arm, but when she tried to throw him down, she instead found her strength overwhelmed. The student yanked her backwards a few steps until she finally lost her balance and she collapsed to the mat.

“Your movements must flow like water through the copper pipes of your intent,” advised Barry.

Starlight groaned as she sat up, then slowly got up on her feet. She glanced over at Sunset and watched as she did a low roundhouse kick, tripping another student and sending him spinning through the air before he hit the mat. Starlight sighed in frustration, then noticed one of the students currently standing was facing away from her, so she decided to charge at him with the hope of using the element of surprise to her advantage. She attempted to shoulder ram him, but he heard her coming and reacted quickly by stepping aside, grasping her arm, and using her own momentum to toss her halfway across the room and hit the mat face-down.

“Your body must be in peak physical condition,” advised Barry, “like a boiler which is regularly serviced.”

Starlight rolled over and shouted, “Your plumbing analogies aren’t helping!”

“What did I just say about ignoring background events?!” Sunset called back as she swung her arm out, smacking another student across the neck and sending him down to the mat flat on his back.

Starlight groaned in frustration as she stood up again. “Well if you’ve got any better advice, I’m all ears!” she sharply responded. Before she could get a reply, she heard a cry of attack behind her and turned around to see one of the students about to strike her. She barely dodged the swinging arm, but then the other arm swiftly swung at her and she was forced to dodge that one as well. He continued to wildly swing at her, and as she kept dodging swipe after swipe, she gradually began stepping backwards.

“Dodging’s not good enough!” Sunset finally responded. “Figure out how to block and counter their attacks!” Another student jumped into the air with his foot aimed right at Sunset, but before that foot could strike her chest, she swiftly grabbed it in midair, then flung him backwards, sending him flipping through the air before he hit the mat on his face.

After dodging a few more wild swipes at her, Starlight decided to try Sunset’s advice by using her left forearm to block yet another strike, then grasped her opponent’s fist with her right hand and tried to force him back. However, he had greater strength, so he rather easily used the tangled lock between their arms to fling her aside and send her spinning around a few times before she hit the mat once again.

“Remember,” spoke Barry, “a journey of ten thousand miles starts with a single, erm, phone call to a travel agent.”

Starlight ignored the pointless advice as she stood back up again. She glanced around and eyed another one of the standing students, so she immediately rushed him. He saw her coming but didn’t move quickly enough to avoid getting knocked down to the mat on his back. However, he then curled in his legs and quickly thrust them outward, not only allowing him to jump back onto his feet, but also causing him to kick Starlight halfway across the room and send her tumbling along the mats.

“If a tree falls in a forest and lands on you, does it hurt?” spoke Barry. “Yes… a lot. It really, really hurts a lot, actually.”

Starlight was face-down on the mat. She groaned as she slowly pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Just as she was about to push herself upright, one of the students suddenly kicked her in the rear, sending her back down onto her face. She quickly rolled over and furiously shouted, “Hey, no fair! I was still getting up!”

“Then learn to get up faster!” Sunset shot back as she held another student in a firm grip with her right arm wrapped around his neck and rubbing her left fist across his scalp — essentially giving him a noogie. “In a real fight, the bad guys won’t hesitate to kick you while you’re still down!” She then swiftly unwrapped her arm from around his neck, sending him spinning around and leaving him disoriented, giving her the chance to raise her leg and give him a strong kick to the chest that sent him flying across the room.

Not wanting to rusk further humiliation, Starlight quickly got back up on her feet. Once she targeted one of the students, she once again tried to make the first move by charging right at him. As she was about to land the first blow, the student simply knelt down and made her uncontrollably roll over his back to once again land face-down on the mat.

“When fighting, your mind must be relaxed,” spoke Barry. “Relaxed… Did you leave the oven on?! It doesn’t matter, it’s electric. Relax…”

Starlight groaned as she rolled over onto her back, but didn’t even bother trying to get back up as she grumbled, “Am I really this helpless without my magic?”

Sunset glanced over at Starlight and stated, “From one Equestrian to another, I think your main problem is that you haven’t quite broken through a certain psychological barrier.”

Starlight sat up and raised an eyebrow as she turned to Sunset and asked, “And what’s that?”

“This is the Lego World, Starlight,” Sunset pointed out. “Here, they say that the only limit is the imagination.” She turned her attention towards one of the students and prepared to make her next move. “Never assume anything is impossible.” She and the student then charged directly at each other, but once they came together, she leaped into the air, flipped forward as she flew over him and grasped his shoulders, then continued flipping forward to swiftly fling him across room. As she landed perfectly on her feet, the flung student slammed directly into two other students and they all collapsed onto the mats.

Starlight stood up again and glanced around, eventually finding yet another student looking firmly at her. Once he began to charge, she decided it was time to go all out with a rather crazy move and began to charge directly at him. Just when they were about to come within striking distance, Starlight suddenly leaped into the air, somersaulted right over his head, then once she began to fall behind him, she swiftly thrust both of her legs out against the student’s back, kicking him clear across the room. Starlight landed on her hands and pushed off the floor to flip forward one more time to finally land on her feet, while the student slammed into one of the tables on the sidelines and smashed it to pieces upon impact.

“Nice one, Starlight!” praised Sunset excitedly after watching that incredible move. “Now you’re getting it!”

For the first time since she began the training session, Starlight smiled. “Hey, I guess I am,” she remarked, somewhat surprised that her crazy move had actually worked. I guess crazy things really are possible in this world, she thought to herself.

Starlight turned around to see what had happened to the student she had struck down, and the carnage she saw made her smile fall, especially since that student wasn’t getting back up. She turned to Barry and worriedly asked, “Uh… is he gonna be okay?”

“Not to worry,” assured Barry. “Hardly a week ever goes by at this dojo without someone getting sent to the emergency room.”

“That’s not exactly reassuring,” muttered Starlight uneasily.

While some of the other students tended to their fallen classmate, Sunset walked over to Starlight and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t take it too personally,” assured Sunset. “Everyone knows that joining a dojo always comes with the risk of getting seriously hurt. All you can really do here is just keep going and hope that the next time you seriously hurt someone like that… it’ll be one of the bad guys who deserves it.”

Starlight couldn’t help but chuckle at that remark. “I suppose I can live with that,” she admitted.

“Good,” acknowledged Sunset with a smile and a nod.

As they were speaking, two of the students dragged their fallen classmate out of the room, while the rest of the students returned to their starting places on the sidelines of the room.

Seeing the students were ready to continue with training, Sunset turned to Starlight and asked, “Do you wanna keep going, or…?”

Starlight smirked and remarked, “After I just pulled off my very first awesome fight move? Why stop there?!” She turned to the surrounding students and raised her fists. “I say bring it on!”

Sunset grinned as she also turned to the surrounding students and raised her fists. “And I’ll be right beside you the whole way,” she added confidently.

As Starlight and Sunset resumed their combat training, they both knew that whatever future adventures they might have in the Lego World, one thing they were sure of was that they could always depend on each other to help win the day.
> Flight Simulator Extreme
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Flight Simulator Extreme


In Equestria, Rainbow Dash had always wanted to be one of the greatest flyers ever, so it didn’t come as much of a surprise to Starlight Glimmer that the Lego World’s Rainbow Dash would also be just as enthusiastic for flight. Of course, unlike the pegasus Starlight knew in Equestria, this world’s Rainbow Dash didn’t have wings — at least, not usually, or so Rainbow claimed — so she often expressed her greatest desire by piloting all kinds of aircraft and spacecraft. So naturally, Starlight knew her time with this Rainbow Dash would involve some form of piloting lessons, but she had to admit that what exactly that turned out to be was not quite what she had expected.

“So, uh… what exactly is this?” asked Starlight. She and Rainbow Dash were in a very large room and were currently looking at some kind of large pod that was held up above the floor by a series of hydraulic pistons and hoses. They were standing at the base of a stairway that led up to an open door on the side of the strange white pod.

“It’s a flight simulator!” answered Rainbow Dash proudly. “This will allow you to learn how to fly something without having to worry about getting hurt if you make any mistakes.” She turned to Starlight and smirked. “What, you actually thought we were gonna practice with the real deal?”

Starlight nervously rubbed the back of her head and confessed, “Uh… kinda?”

Rainbow burst out laughing, then playfully remarked, “I may be reckless, but I’m not stupid!” She patted Starlight on the back as she continued, “Trust me, all amateurs like you will need some practice here before you’re ready for the real deal, but don’t expect that to happen anytime soon. I’ve honestly lost count of how many times my run on this thing ended by crashing and burning.”

“And there goes any confidence I had about flying…” muttered Starlight.

“Hey, relax,” assured Rainbow. “This is exactly why we’re using the simulator. You’ll never have to worry about getting hurt if you make any mistakes. Even if you do crash and burn, all you have to do is hit the reset button and you’re good to go again. It’s kinda like playing a video game.”

Starlight raised an eyebrow and asked, “A what game?”

“Seriously?” asked Rainbow incredulously. “Is Equestria really that primitive? Have you ever even seen a spaceship?”

“Just once,” replied Starlight. “It was actually the very first night I spent in Princess Twilight’s castle after she made me her personal student. I heard this weird loud noise outside like a dragon’s roar, so I looked out the window and I saw this big blue and grey thing fly right by and shooting fire out the rear of it. I had no idea what it was at the time, but after Princess Twilight made a visit to this world soon after, I found out that it was actually you flying a spaceship through one of those dimensional tears that Midnight Sparkle had ripped open.”

Rainbow Dash blinked once before she slowly mumbled, “Huh… interesting…” She then shook her head a little and said, “Alright, enough talk. Let’s climb inside this thing and get right to it.” She then stepped forward and began climbing up the stairway.

“Now that, I can agree with,” remarked Starlight as she followed Rainbow up the stairs.

Once they reached the top of the stairs, Rainbow walked up to a display panel next to the door and tapped a few buttons. “I’m setting you up with a small propeller-driven airplane,” she explained. “It’s one of the simplest aircraft there is, so you won’t have to worry about any extra stuff like how to raise the landing gear or when to use the autopilot.”

“Sounds good to me,” agreed Starlight.

“Awesome! Let’s get started!” declared Rainbow as she stepped through the doorway into the simulator. Once Starlight followed her inside, she then shut the door.

As soon as the door was closed, the simulator automatically set itself up to begin the simulation. As the stairway retracted away, the pod was slowly lifted upwards on its series of pistons.

Inside the pod, Rainbow gestured for Starlight to sit down in the pilot’s seat, while she sat down in the copilot’s seat right next to it. Once they were both seated behind the flight controls, Rainbow gestured up at where the windows would be in a real aircraft and explained, “These display screens will show us everything we would see out the windows of a real plane, so the simulation will begin as soon as they come on.”

Within a few seconds, the display screens turned on to show the middle of an airport runway with part of the simulated airplane’s propeller visible in the middle of the front. The simulation even displayed the weather conditions, which in this case was a heavy rainfall, strong winds, and dense fog that made it difficult to see very far. A sudden flash of lightning followed by a boom of thunder startled the two girls in the simulator.

“Huh… not what I was expecting…” muttered Rainbow Dash. She then shrugged and said, “Eh, whatever. We’ll just roll with it.”

“So what should I do first?” asked Starlight.

“Before we switch on the engine, let me quickly show you how to control the plane,” explained Rainbow. “Go ahead and grab those flight controls right in front of you.”

Starlight glanced down and saw what looked like half of a steering wheel, so she grabbed onto it.

“Okay,” continued Rainbow, “there are three types of directions for controlling an airplane: pitch, roll, and yaw. Pitch is how you move up or down while you’re going forward. Pulling that steering control back will make the plane go up, and pushing it forward will make the plane go down.”

Starlight carefully pulled and pushed the flight controls in her hands to show she understood what she was told.

“Roll,” continued Rainbow, “is the side to side direction along the length of the plane. Turning the steering control left will roll the plane to the left, and turning it to the right will roll the plane to the right.”

Starlight slowly turned the steering portion of the flight controls left and right to confirm she understood that part.

“Yaw,” continued Rainbow, “is the left and right direction, kinda like steering a car on the ground, except the controls for it on an airplane are very different. You may have noticed two pedals on the floor near your feet. Stepping on the left pedal will turn the plane left, and stepping on the right pedal will turn the plane right.”

Starlight demonstrated her understanding by stepping on the two pedals one after the other. She then turned to Rainbow and asked, “If the pedals are used for steering, then how do I make the airplane go forward or slow down?”

“See this lever between our seats?” said Rainbow with a grin as she gestured at the control in question. “That’s what I consider to be my favorite flight control of all: thrust. Just push that lever forward for more thrust, and pull it back for less thrust. You’ll notice that it’s currently pulled back, which means that once we start the engine, the propeller won’t be spinning fast enough to even move the plane at all.”

“Okay, I know how to steer in three dimensions and how to accelerate,” muttered Starlight to herself confidently. “I think I’m ready to give it a try.” Another flash of lightning and boom of thunder from the simulation’s thunderstorm startled her again, and also brought her confidence right back down. She turned to Rainbow and asked, “Should we even be doing this in this kind of weather?”

“Realistically, no,” acknowledged Rainbow Dash. She then shrugged and added, “But this is a simulation, so it’s not like we have to actually worry for our lives. Go ahead and fire up the engine. You’ll find the starter switch on the front of the console.”

Starlight glanced over the various switches and buttons on the console and soon found a large switch. She turned it and in the simulation, she began to hear the noise of an engine while the propeller up ahead began to rapidly spin. Once the engine and propeller were operating at a steady rate, she turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Go ahead, Starlight,” encouraged Rainbow. “It’s all you now.”

Starlight nodded in acknowledgement, then turned her attention forward. She reached over towards the trust lever and began to gradually push it forward. As the simulated propeller spun faster, the plane began to roll forward along the simulated runway.

“Give it some more thrust,” advised Rainbow. “We need enough speed to get up in the air before we reach the end of the runway.”

Starlight pushed the thrust lever further forward. She was a little hesitant about going too fast due to the fog conditions in the simulation, but with those conditions making it impossible to see the end of the runway, she realized that she should’ve been more concerned with going too slow.

A few seconds later, Rainbow spoke up, “Okay, this looks good. Start bringing the plane up.”

Remembering which control movement was needed to turn the airplane upwards, Starlight carefully pulled back on the controls in her hands. On the display screens, the runway began to drop away below. At the same time, they also felt the simulator begin the tilt backwards. “Whoa…” muttered Starlight as she was briefly caught off guard by the slight shift in gravity.

“Remember seeing all those pistons underneath the simulator?” explained Rainbow. “Right now, they’re moving this thing around to make it feel like we’re flying the real deal.”

Starlight let out a sigh of relief and remarked, “That’s good to know. For second there, I was worried something wasn’t right with this— Whoa!”

In the simulation, a sudden gust of wind pushed the airplane sideways to the left.

“Uh oh, turbulence!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash worriedly. She turned to Starlight and quickly instructed, “Go right! Go right! Roll and turn!”

Starlight immediately turned the steering control to the right and stepped on the right pedal, causing the simulated airplane to turn right until it was facing directly against the wind.

“Okay, straighten it out now!” Rainbow quickly instructed.

Starlight let up on the pedal and straightened out the flight controls. Although they could still feel some shaking around from the strong winds of the simulated thunderstorm, at least the airplane was no longer tumbling out of control.

Starlight let out a sigh of relief and muttered, “I’m glad that’s over with.” She turned to Rainbow and spoke up, “Thanks for helping me out there.”

“To be honest, it took me a while to figure out how to fight turbulence like that,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “You’re doing pretty awesome already.”

“Yeah, well, I just hope that’s the worst thing I’ll have to deal with here,” remarked Starlight.

The smiles on their faces didn’t last long, because just a few seconds later, the fog cleared up to reveal a massive tornado heading directly towards them.

“Really?” grumbled Rainbow in disbelief.

“Uh, Rainbow?” asked Starlight nervously. “What should I do?”

After staring in shock at the tornado for a moment, Rainbow glanced down at the navigational readings on the console, then replied, “I don’t know if we can safely turn away from it without getting tossed around, so I think the best thing to do… is to fly straight through the center of it.”

Starlight turned to Rainbow and exclaimed, “Are you nuts?!”

“Just do it!” argued Rainbow Dash. “Trust me, it’ll work!”

Starlight shook her head and grumbled, “If you’re so sure about it…” She gently manipulated the flight controls to steer the simulated airplane directly at the center of the tornado.

Within a few seconds, the airplane flew right into the heart of the massive tornado. As the airplane passed through, it was buffeted by strong wind and bits of debris — such as bikes, cars, cows, and even whole houses — from the left, then the same thing from the right before finally emerging from the fearsome funnel. Despite the intense thunderstorm still raging all around, the airplane continued to fly straight ahead.

Starlight and Rainbow Dash both let out a sigh of relief. “I think we’ve just seen the worst,” muttered Starlight.

But again, their relief was short lived, because the next thing they saw in the simulation was an alien flying saucer suddenly hover into view in front of the airplane. The odd spacecraft just hovered in place for a few seconds, then it suddenly began to fire laser bolts in the general direction of the airplane.

Starlight yelped and immediately began wildly moving the flight controls around in a desperate effort to avoid getting hit by any of those lasers.

“Okay, this is just getting ridiculous!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Something’s definitely not right!”

After flying past the alien flying saucer, Starlight continued to wildly move the airplane around until she was sure there were no more laser bolts flying past them. As she leveled out the airplane as best as she could through the fog and thunderstorm, she grumbled, “Do I even wanna know what’s next?”

Just a few seconds later, Starlight got her answer anyway. This time, emerging though the fog directly ahead was the jagged rocky surface of a massive cliff, and they were heading straight towards it.

“Pull up! Pull up!” Rainbow suddenly shouted.

Starlight immediately yanked back on the flight controls as hard as she could. The engine roared loudly as the airplane began to sharply turn upwards, but it wasn’t enough and the airplane was doomed to slam into that cliff.

However, right at the very instant when the airplane was about to hit the rocky cliff, the simulation suddenly froze. All noise suddenly fell silent, and the display screens began flashing back and forth between the simulation’s final instant and a bright red background with the word “FAIL” in big black letters.

Starlight had her eyes closed when she braced for impact, and it took a few seconds of the unexpected stillness and silence before she finally opened her eyes to see what was now being shown on the display screens. “What just happened?” asked Starlight, still in shock.

Rainbow Dash sighed and slumped in her seat. “We just crashed and burned,” she grumbled.

After a few more seconds, the display screens switched off and a faint mechanical noise was heard outside as the simulator was gradually leveled out and brought back down. Once the simulator pod was back to its idle position, the door automatically opened.

With the simulation now over, Rainbow Dash got up out of her seat and said, “I’m gonna go check the settings again. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t how it was supposed to go.” She then walked out the door and began to inspect the settings panel just outside.

Meanwhile, Starlight just sat completely still in her seat. There was no question in her mind that what she had just went though was arguably one of the most intense experiences she ever had. Sure, it was only a simulation and thus nowhere near as life-threatening as, say, messing around with time travel, but that didn’t take away from just how terrifying it was. As much as she liked the fact she was a unicorn, this was the first time she found herself thankful that she wasn’t born as a pegasus.

“Ah ha! There’s your problem!” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up outside. “Whoever last used this thing had left the difficulty setting on ‘Absurdly Extreme’.”

Starlight glanced back at the door, then turned forward again with a blank expression on her face. She then slowly remarked, “Huh… suddenly, it all makes sense.”

“You got that right,” quipped Rainbow Dash. A few seconds later, she returned into the simulator and shut the door. As she sat back down in the empty seat, she explained, “I just reset the difficulty to ‘Basic Beginner’. Clear skies, no wind, flat terrain, literally the only thing you’ll have to worry about this time is how close you are to the ground.”

Starlight smiled and remarked, “I think I can handle that.”

The simulation started up again. This time, the display screens showed a clear and sunny day with an almost featureless terrain all around. Conditions this time were so excellent that it was very easy to see the end of the runway far off in the distance.

“Okay, let’s try this again,” stated Rainbow Dash with a smile. She turned to Starlight and instructed, “Go ahead and start up the engine.”

Starlight continued to smile as she reached over the console and turned the switch to start the engine in the simulation. She certainly had no intentions of becoming a professional pilot, but with renewed confidence, she figured she wouldn’t mind learning a few basics about operating a flying vehicle.
> Gunslinger Shenanigans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Gunslinger Shenanigans


Starlight Glimmer had to admit, if there were any places in the Lego World that she would have expected to be the most similar to its counterpart in Equestria, then it was definitely the farm known as Sweet Apple Acres. While the wagons and carts were replaced with trucks and tractors, and obviously all of the major structures were made of Lego bricks, much of this property had a striking resemblance to the version she was more familiar with. The main house and barn, although not identical to the one in Equestria, certainly shared the same color and basic design. There were also numerous pens for all of the various farm animals — all of which were plastic figures that moved around and behaved much like their counterparts in Equestria. And of course, there was the sprawling orchard of countless apple trees.

If there was one part of this Sweet Apple Acres that Starlight found rather odd, it was definitely the apple trees. The trees themselves were among the few things on the property that were not made of Lego parts — they were real trees just like the ones in Equestria. However, the apples that these trees bore had the appearance of being Lego pieces, much like just about any other food item she had seen in this world.

Even so, Starlight had already seen Applejack eat one of those apples as if it was a totally normal apple, so she figured it was only fair that she try one for herself. As she was chewing through her first couple of bites from one of these Lego apples, she watched Applejack carry an armful of empty cans along a length of wooden fence segments.

“So how are the apples, Starlight?” asked Applejack as she placed one of the cans atop a fencepost. “Are they just as good as what y’all have in Equestia?”

Starlight took a moment to consider her thoughts before she replied, “To be honest, it’s a very weird sensation. When I close my eyes, it feels and tastes exactly like any other apple I’ve had back in Equestria. But as soon as I open my eyes and look at this thing, I just can’t help but immediately think to myself, ‘This is a piece of plastic. It should not be edible.’”

As she placed another can atop another fencepost, Applejack chuckled and remarked, “Well, Ah ain’t been to Equestria mahself, so it’s not like Ah can tell ya if that’s really the case or not.”

“True,” admitted Starlight as she took another bite from the apple. The only thing stranger to her than eating what was seemingly a piece of plastic was actually seeing her bite marks on it, and yet chewing on something that definitely did not feel like plastic. Once she finished that bite, she then asked, “What’s with the cans?”

“Target practice,” Applejack stated simply as she placed the final can atop another fencepost. As she turned away from the fence and began walking towards Starlight, she continued, “Rainbow said she wanted to show ya how to use one of them fancy space laser guns, but for me personally, Ah prefer to use something a lil’ more down-to-earth that fires a solid projectile.”

“Like what?” asked Starlight as Applejack walked right past her.

Applejack picked up a large box and carried it over towards Starlight as she replied, “Such as what’s inside this here box — a gift from mah cousin Braeburn, who lives in Appleloosa over in the Old West Region.” She set the box down next to Starlight, unlocked both locks on the lids, then opened the box and pulled out a small grey firearm.

“What is it?” asked Starlight.

“It’s a type of gun called a revolver,” answered Applejack as she proudly held up that pistol. “It can fire up to half a dozen shots before you have to reload, it’s fairly accurate up to about five hundred studs away, an’ considered one of the best handguns you can get in the Old West Region.”

Starlight looked inside the opened box and saw a second revolver inside, so she reached in and picked it up. As she turned it around in her hands to look at it from all angles, she asked, “So how do these things work?”

Without saying a word, Applejack gently took the revolver out of Starlight’s hands, turned it around, and placed it back in Starlight’s hands so that it was being properly held by the handle. She then turned towards the wooden fence and pointed at one of the empty cans she had placed atop the fenceposts. “Watch that can over there,” she stated.

Figuring there was a reason Applejack readjusted the revolver in her hands for her, Starlight made sure to hold hers steady in that position as she watch Applejack take aim with her revolver, then glanced back and forth between Applejack and the can she had pointed out.

Pow! Clang!

The revolver in Applejack’s hand suddenly released a loud and sharp bang, instantly followed by the can suddenly jumping off the fencepost and falling to the ground. It all happened so fast that Starlight suddenly jumped back in shock and actually dropped her revolver on the ground.

Applejack chuckled and remarked, “First shot!” She turned to Starlight and her smile fell when she noticed her revolver was on the ground. As Applejack reached down to pick it up, she cautioned, “Try to be a lil’ more careful. These things could go off when ya least expect if ya mishandle them.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Starlight carefully responded as she watched Applejack set down both of their revolvers atop the storage box.

Applejack then walked over to the fallen can, picked it up, and carried it back and held it out to Starlight.

Starlight took the can from Applejack and soon noticed that it now had a small clean hole that went through both sides of its round surface. With eyes wide in shock, she turned to Applejack and asked, “Did that thing… really just do this?”

“Sure did!” replied Applejack proudly. She didn’t immediately notice the uneasy look on Starlight’s face, but once she did, she asked, “Y’all don’t have anythin’ like it in Equestria, do ya?”

“Definitely not,” confirmed Starlight. “And now that I’ve seen what they can do, I really hope we never will have anything like it. I mean…” She held up the can with a bullet hole through it. “Those things could seriously hurt someone!” She then tossed the can away. “No offense, Applejack, but I’m not too sure about trying it out myself.”

Applejack sighed and, with an understanding smile on her face, said, “Ah get where you’re comin’ from. Believe me, there sure was no shortage of controversy back when these things were first introduced to certain regions of the Lego World, an’ in some cases the debate continues even to this day. Ah guess it’s just one of those things that, once it’s out there for everyone, there’s no way to take it all back. An’ hey, truth be told, Ah wasn’t expecting ya to be much of a gun enthusiast anyway. But remember when Sunset mentioned that ya had to learn a few skills before you could be ready to join us on one of our missions?”

Starlight nodded.

“Well in mah book, knowin’ how to use a firearm is a must-have skill,” continued Applejack. “Ya just never know when ya might find yourself in a situation where the only thing ya have on hand to keep the bad guys back is either a pistol, a rifle, or even one of them laser blasters. Even if you’d rather not do it, it’s better to know how to use one anyway, just in case if ya run outta options.”

Starlight took a moment to consider Applejack’s argument. Eventually, she shrugged and said, “Eh, I guess there’s nothing wrong with a little practice.” The then reached over to the box and picked up one of the revolvers.

Applejack smiled and grabbed the other revolver.

Starlight turned to face the row of cans on the fence, but rather then immediately try to take aim, she asked, “Is there anything important I should know about aiming these things?”

Applejack turned to Starlight and replied, “Since you’re still new at this, Ah’d recommend holdin’ it with both hands to steady your aim.”

Starlight followed that advice and grasped her revolver’s handle with both hands.

“Ya see that lil’ tab on the end of the gun barrel?” continued Applejack. “That’s to help with aiming. If you can line that up with your target, then chances are you’re gonna actually hit that target. It especially helps if ya keep one eye closed while aimin’.”

Starlight acknowledged the advice with a nod. She held out the revolver, closed her left eye, and took aim at one of cans on the fence.

“Once you’re sure your aim is on target,” added Applejack, “take a deep breath an’ just give that handle a good squeeze to fire the shot.”

Starlight took her time to make sure she was on target. After a few seconds, once she was confident with her aim, she slowly took a deep breath, exhaled, and finally squeezed the handle.

Pow! Clang!

The can briefly twirled in the air before it fell off the fencepost. At the same time, Starlight wobbled a little from the strong kickback of firing that revolver, but managed to stay standing.

“Good shot!” praised Applejack. “Try another one.”

Starlight turned slightly to the right to aim towards the next can along the fence. She took a moment to be sure of her aim, took a deep breath, and squeezed the handle.

Pow! Clang!

The can was thrown sideways off the fencepost. Although Starlight still struggled with her balance from the kickback, she smiled and remarked, “Hey, I’m getting pretty good at this.”

“That’s the spirit, Starlight!” encouraged Applejack. “Onto the next one!”

Starlight moved her aim to the left down the other end of the fence and focused on one of the two remaining cans. Again, she took a moment to calm herself as she took aim and soon fired the revolver.

Pow! Clang!

That shot partially struck the fencepost, but still managed to hit the can and knock it onto the ground. In addition, Starlight lost her footing from the kickback, but stepping one foot backwards was all she needed to regain her balance.

“Nice!” cheered Applejack. “Just one more left!”

Seeing nothing wrong with her changed stance, Starlight went ahead with aiming for the next target. Once again, she took her time to get her aim just right, took a calming breath, and squeezed the handle.

Pow! Clang!

That can was thrown straight up a little and bounced off the fencepost before tumbling to the ground. However, the kickback from that shot caused her front foot to be pushed back against her back foot, causing her to trip over herself and lose her balance. She cried out as she wobbled a bit before ultimately falling over onto her back. As she hit the ground, she accidentally squeezed the handle too hard, firing off another shot from the revolver.

Pow! Ping-clang-ping-ding-ding-clang-ping-ping-clang-crash! BOOM!

The bullet ricocheted back and forth against various solid objects all over the property before finally smashing through a window into the house and setting off a minor explosion somewhere inside. Applejack and Starlight remained completely still, absolutely stunned by the terrifying accident that had just occurred.

A few seconds after the explosion, one of the windows was opened, releasing some thick black smoke, along with exposing the outside to the loud and rapid beeping of the smoke alarm within the house. Granny Smith stuck her head out the window and coughed a few times, then shook her fist up at the sky and furiously shouted, “Darn aliens!” As the thick black smoke continued to billow out of the opened window, Granny Smith turned back inside and hollered out, “Big Mac! Where’s that fire extinguisher at?!”

Applejack let out a sigh of relief, then hesitantly stated, “Well, at least it sounds like nobody got seriously hurt.”

Starlight sat up on the ground, glanced down at the revolver still in her hands, then handed it over to Applejack and grumbled, “I think I’ve had enough of using deadly weapons for a while.”

“Understandable,” said Applejack as she took back the revolver and packed it back into the box. As she then helped Starlight up to her feet, she added, “Though word of advice, try not to use that D-word ever again. Ah don’t know what Equestria’s standards are on profanity, but here in this world, that word an’ variations of it are very forbidden.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind,” noted Starlight.

Fsssshhhh!

Applejack and Starlight turned their attention back to the house and saw the black smoke was now starting to turn white. “That’s a relief,” noted Applejack. “Whatever blew up in there, at least they were able to put the fire out.”

Starlight sighed in discouragement and muttered, “I’m really sorry about that.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” assured Applejack. “Accidents happen, an’ there ain’t much we can do about ‘em.”

“I should at least apologize to Granny Smith for whatever mess I caused in there,” insisted Starlight.

“If it makes ya feel better ‘bout it, then go right ahead, but don’t expect her to believe ya,” said Applejack. When Starlight gave her a questioning look, she explained, “This place used to have a real space alien problem back in the day. It eventually got to a point where Granny Smith now blames ‘em for just about anythin’ that goes wrong ‘round here.”

Starlight blinked once, turned her attention back to the house, and finally said, “I’ve learned from experience that taking the easy way out usually doesn’t work out very well in the end, so I think I’ll apologize to Granny Smith rather than just let her blame it all on aliens.”

As Applejack locked up the box containing the revolvers, she remarked, “Now that’s the kind of honesty Ah can appreciate.”

As they began walking towards the house, Starlight just couldn’t keep her mind off the accident and how it could’ve been avoided had she simply refused the lessons on using that revolver. As a powerful unicorn, she was used to using spells rather than weapons to deal with any serious foes. There was now no doubt in her mind that the firearms type of weapons she had seen in the Lego World should definitely never be introduced to Equestria. There were some aspects of each of the two worlds that just should never be shared between both of them, and she was confident that everyone was completely okay with that.
> Mistress of Disguise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Mistress of Disguise


When Starlight Glimmer had first arrived in the Lego World, it hadn’t taken her long to notice that literally everyone always wore some kind of clothing. Granted, she at first didn’t recognize it as clothing since on a Lego minifig, most forms of clothing appeared to be just directly printed onto their bodies. She had quite a few questions on the subject of fashion in the Lego World, so it was quite fortunate that she had a friend like Rarity to help her make sense of it all.

As she followed Rarity into her boutique, Starlight had to admit that the way everything was displayed seemed rather odd to her. Not only on the mannequins, but also on the clothing racks, every piece of clothing was shaped as if it was already being worn by someone. As strange as it was to imagine, it seemed to her like she was looking at a series of incomplete bodies.

As she and Rarity walked between the display racks on their way to the fitting rooms at the back of the shop, Starlight spoke up, “I have to say, Rarity, I’ve seen what fashion is like in Equestria, but this right here is nothing like that.”

Rarity turned to Starlight and asked, “How so, darling?”

“Well, to start off,” explained Starlight, “most ponies in Equestria don’t usually wear clothes, so my world’s Rarity gets most of her business from wealthy clients who want dresses for special occasions.”

“Then I suppose I should consider myself lucky to live in a society where public nudity is considered a criminal offense,” remarked Rarity. “I imagine the other Rarity must get very creative out of necessity in order to make ends meet.”

“She recently opened a third shop in Manehattan,” Starlight pointed out.

Rarity immediately stopped walking and turned to Starlight. “With that little market share?!” she asked in astonishment. She then turned away and mumbled, “She must practically have a monopoly…”

Starlight was pretty sure that wasn’t actually true, but she decided to let it go for now and move on to another question she had. She continued, “Another thing I don’t understand is how just about everything here looks, I don’t know… more like body parts. I mean, clothes are supposed to fold up neatly for easy storage, not be stiff to point that it’s like no one had ever taken them off.”

Rarity glanced around at everything she had on display, then turned back to Starlight and stated, “I fail to see anything wrong with my inventory.”

Starlight rolled her eyes and said, “Yes, because I’m sure this is what’s considered totally normal here in the Lego World. But for a pony from Equestria like me, it just makes no sense. How do you even change outfits? Do you just peel it off like a snake shedding its skin?”

Rarity burst out laughing for a few seconds, then relaxed and replied, “Oh, don’t be so preposterous, darling. It’s actually quite simple.” She removed a sparkling blue dress from a nearby rack and began walking towards the fitting rooms. “Allow me to demonstrate.”

Starlight watched as Rarity stepped behind the wall in front of the fitting rooms. As Rarity hummed a little tune to herself, Starlight saw what appeared to be Rarity’s skirt piece and torso piece with arm pieces still attached tossed aside, and then Rarity stepped out to reveal she was now wearing that blue dress she had picked out.

“Voilà!” declared Rarity proudly as she did a slow twirl to show off her dress from all angles.

Starlight stared at Rarity in confusion for a moment before she eventually said, “I still don’t get it.”

Rarity huffed, then retrieved her discarded standard outfit and returned behind the wall of the fitting rooms as she muttered, “Then perhaps a more personal demonstration may be necessary.” She suddenly gasped in delight and remarked, “Of course! This could be the perfect opportunity to show you some of the outfits I’ve already made for you!”

Starlight took a step back and hesitantly said, “Uh, I-I don’t think that’s really necessary.”

“Nonsense, darling!” argued Rarity excitedly as she stepped out from behind the wall, now back to wearing her standard outfit. “Come along, now!” She then grabbed Starlight’s wrist and pulled her towards the fitting rooms.

Despite her protests, Starlight suddenly found herself dragged into one of the fitting rooms, then felt Rarity swiftly remove her standard outfit and replace it with something else. “Whoa! Hey! Watch it!” shouted Starlight throughout the remarkably brief fitting procedure. It wasn’t long before the two girls emerged from the fitting room and Rarity practically flung Starlight to stand in front of a series of display mirrors.

“Behold!” declared Rarity proudly. “Formal Attire!”

Once Starlight got her bearings, she looked at herself in the mirrors and saw she no longer had that hat atop her hair, her arms were bare, her torso was black and sparkled in the light, and in place of her legs was a 2x2x2 sloped brick that was the same sparkly black as her torso. She moved around a little to look at herself from different angles, then smiled and remarked, “Not bad.”

“I’m glad you approve, darling,” said Rarity. “I was a little concerned I might have gone a tad overboard on the sequins.”

Starlight chuckled and quipped, “Let’s just say my world’s Rarity has no sense of moderation when it comes to sequins.”

“Cultural differences, I presume,” noted Rarity. “On that subject, while I am sure the Rarity you know is a specialist for outfits like these, I prefer to see myself as more of a generalist. Observe!”

Rarity grabbed Starlight by the arm and swiftly dragged her back into the fitting room. After less than a minute of fussing around, Rarity then shoved Starlight back in front of the mirrors and declared, “I call this one the Utilitarian! Ideal for passing through construction zones and mining tunnels.”

Starlight looked at herself in the mirror and saw she now had a bright red hardhat on her head with just a little of her hair past the edges of it, bright orange on her torso with highly reflective strips across the front and back, and dark blue on her arms and legs with a brown belt around her waist. She closely examined each part of the uniform and noted, “I don’t see any fashionable extras on this one anywhere. Are you sure you’re the one who made this?”

Rarity giggled and replied, “Yes, it’s true I wasn’t always fond of outfits that were strictly utilitarian, but thanks to my time spent on the LEGO Team with my friends, I’ve learned that there will be many situations in which the appropriate attire demands that I place functionality before fabulousity.”

“And in this case, it totally works,” acknowledged Starlight with a smile. She then turned to Rarity and asked, “What else have you got?”

This time, Starlight did not resist as Rarity pulled her back into the fitting room. After another minute of quickly changing outfits, Starlight was back in front of the mirrors.

“This one was inspired by the uniforms my friends and I once wore back when we attended Camp Everfree in our youth,” explained Rarity. “I call it the Woodland Explorer!”

Starlight looked at herself in the mirrors and saw she had her standard hat atop her hair, white on her torso, aqua on her upper arms, dark grey on her upper legs and feet, white on her lower legs, and a belt piece between her torso and hip joint with a belt buckle on the front that resembled her Cutie Mark — albeit oriented sideways. Starlight smiled and remarked, “Yeah, I can totally see myself hiking through the woods wearing something like this. Uh, not that I’m much for the great outdoors, if I’m being honest here.”

“As I always like to say, one never knows, darling,” remarked Rarity. As she pulled Starlight back into the fitting room, she said, “Now this next one, I believe you will find quite exciting.” After another minute of swiftly swapping outfits, she shoved Starlight back to the mirrors and proudly exclaimed, “Ninja Robes!”

Starlight saw in the mirrors that she was now completely covered in the same lilac color as her skin, though minor details such as some wrinkles, some markings printed on the front of her torso in a language she was completely unfamiliar with, and the black belt around her waist showed that she really was wearing some kind of outfit. In addition, she had a mask over her head that covered everything except for her blue eyes. “Nice!” remarked Starlight. She turned to Rarity and asked, “Does it come with a weapon?”

“I am a seamstress, not a bladesmith,” Rarity pointed out. “You’ll have to supply your own weapon, I’m afraid.”

Starlight slumped and moaned, “Awww…”

“Not to worry, darling,” assured Rarity as she pulled Starlight back into the fitting room again. “This next one will prove essential in certain situations, and I think you’ll find it to be quite ideal for its category.” Changing into the next outfit took a little longer, but once it was finally on, she shoved Starlight back to the mirrors and proudly exclaimed, “Behold… the Spacesuit!”

Starlight looked in the mirrors and saw she now wore a kind of suit that completely covered her entire body, complete with a solid helmet, though its visor was currently flipped open to expose her face. In addition to some technical detailing on the front of her torso, she also had a pair of oxygen tanks on her back, which were attached around her neck joint. As for the color of this suit, it was mostly the same lilac color as her skin with the addition of a thick aqua stripe around her knees, elbows, waist, and across the top of the helmet from front to back. Finally, printed on both of her shoulders was the design of her Cutie Mark.

While Starlight was looking over her spacesuit, Rarity had run off and quickly returned with a space helmet that was white with a purple stripe — the helmet from her own spacesuit. “Go ahead, flip the visor down,” instructed Rarity.

Starlight was momentarily confused, but did as she was told and flipped down the transparent visor piece on her helmet. She heard a faint hissing of air as the visor fitted into place.

Meanwhile, Rarity fitted her own helmet over her head, and once she saw Starlight’s visor flipped closed, she tapped a switch on the side of her helmet and spoke, “Coms check! Can you hear me now?”

Starlight was quite surprised to suddenly hear Rarity’s voice within her sealed helmet, albeit slightly distorted with minor static. She quickly realized that this was probably how communication between people wearing airtight pressurized suits would be possible, so she responded, “Uh, yes… yes, I can.”

“Good,” responded Rarity’s voice through the helmet’s radio. “You may now flip open your visor.”

Starlight heard another faint hissing of air as she lifted the visor up. “Impressive,” she remarked, “though I find it hard to imagine I’ll ever end up using it.”

“Don’t be so sure of that, darling,” stated Rarity as she removed and set aside her space helmet. “In fact, back when our team was first formed by none other than the very same Princess Twilight you know, our very first mission took us to a major outpost on the lunar surface.”

Starlight’s eyes widened as she asked, “You’ve actually been to the Moon?”

“Twice, actually,” Rarity pointed out, “along with Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack. Sunset and our Twilight were not yet part of the team on our first visit.”

“I’m starting to think you girls have a lot more fun places to visit than what Equestria can offer,” muttered Starlight.

“I suppose I can’t blame you for feeling a little jealous,” remarked Rarity. As she then guided Starlight back into the fitting room, she stated, “Now, I’m afraid this is all I had available on such short notice. I’m still working on plenty of other outfits for you, such as the parka for frigid environments, the jungle explorer for tropical climate, and even scuba gear for underwater excursions.”

Once again, it took a minute for Rarity to help Starlight change clothes again. With all of the available alternate styles already tried, Starlight was now changed back to her standard outfit. As they walked out of the fitting room, Rarity remarked, “I must say, I find your standard attire to be rather fascinating. What decisions compelled you to select such a wardrobe?”

“Oh, I didn’t choose any of this,” explained Starlight. “All of what you see here was just automatically given to me as soon as I stepped through the interdimensional portal into this world.”

“Remarkable…” muttered Rarity. “I suppose that might explain why your world’s Spike made an attempt to ensure he could keep that hat of his at the end of his last visit to the Lego World. Speaking of which, do you happen to know if he was successful in keeping that red cap?”

“Well, yes and no,” replied Starlight. “I’ve been told that he did get to keep the hat, but it wouldn’t fit his non-Lego dragon head, so our Rarity made him an identical hat that would actually fit. She even custom embroidered that bit of detailing on the front. I’ve seen him wear it on a few occasions, and in fact one of them was the very first time I had ever even heard of the word ‘Lego’.”

“I’m afraid I am unfamiliar with the term ‘embroidery’, though I have a feeling it’s probably a method of detailing on clothing,” noted Rarity. “Then again, I suppose your world’s Rarity may be unfamiliar with the method of designing and printing decals that I handle on a daily basis.”

“That’s definitely something I’ve never heard of before,” remarked Starlight. “Could you show me how it works?”

“Absolutely!” agreed Rarity. As she led Starlight away from the fitting rooms, she added, “But before we get to that, as a token of my appreciation for your cooperation, I would like to let you in on a little secret project of mine.”

“And what is this secret project of yours?” asked Starlight with interest.

“As you may already be well aware,” explained Rarity, “everyone always has that standard outfit they wear just about every typical day. However, in many places, it is not uncommon for some big name people to adopt a new standard outfit approximately once every year or so, and so I believe my friends and I should follow a similar example. Now, Twilight adopted her current attire after she left the Shadowbolts, and Sunset changed hers after she had firmly established herself as a member of the team, but for the rest us, we’re still wearing the same standard outfits as we did when our team was first formed a couple years ago. Needless to say, I am convinced that we are long overdue for a new style.”

“So how’s it coming along?” asked Starlight.

“I’m still working on some of the finer details,” replied Rarity, “but the general concepts behind each of them have already reached what I believe to be satisfactory.”

“Do you think you could show it to me?” asked Starlight.

“Sorry, darling, but I’m not offering any sneak-peaks,” replied Rarity. “They are meant to be unveiled only to those they will be intended for, and I will be making no exceptions — not even for a new friend. We don’t want any spoilers leaking out, now would we?”

“Understandable,” acknowledged Starlight with a nod. “So, about that detailing thing…”

“Yes, of course,” agreed Rarity. “The detailing machines and decal printers are right this way.”

As she followed Rarity to the opposite side of the shop where the detailing machines were located, Starlight couldn’t help but think about just how different the Lego World was from Equestria, where even the simple act of changing outfits seemed to defy all logic as she knew it. Regardless, she was able to see the fascinating aspects, and rather than try to figure out how it all worked, she was willing to just roll with things and see what other wonderful things there were to experience.
> Pet Shop of Wonders
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Pet Shop of Wonders


If there was one thing about Fluttershy that would never change, it was her love of animals. While Starlight Glimmer fully expected that from the Lego World’s Fluttershy, what did surprise her was the kind of animals that were cared for in this world. In hindsight, it probably shouldn’t have been so surprising that, like the people, the animals were also made of Lego parts, but it was still rather weird to see creatures she was familiar with look so different from what she was used to.

For Starlight, the strange sights started practically right at the moment she stepped into the pet shop where Fluttershy worked. While Fluttershy walked ahead and tended to the various animals in the separate but open pens, Starlight just stood still and stared all around. At first, all she could really identify about any of these Lego animals was that they were various lumps of plastic with faces printed on them. It took a little time for her to eventually be able to notice the slight differences between cats and dogs, rats and rabbits, birds and bats.

“Aren’t they just adorable?” asked Fluttershy sweetly as she knelt down and gently picked up a white rabbit.

“Uh, sure…” replied Starlight, struggling to not sound awkward. “…for someone who’s lived their whole life in this world, I guess.”

With the rabbit still in her arms, Fluttershy stood up as she turned to Starlight and asked, “Are the animals in your world different from what we have in this world?”

“Uh, yeah, you could definitely say that,” remarked Starlight. “Many pet animals in Equestria are soft, furry, feathery, and cuddly in all kinds of ways. As far as I can see, these animals are just… plastic pieces in various shapes and colors.”

Fluttershy glanced down at the rabbit in her arms and said, “I’m afraid I don’t understand. These critters sure seem cuddly to me.” Rather adorably, she rubbed her cheek against the rabbit in her arms.

“They’re plastic,” Starlight pointed out. “How could anything made of plastic be considered cuddly?”

Confused, Fluttershy stood still and blinked once. But then she smiled and remarked, “Oh, I think I see what you’re struggling to understand. Well, if what Sunset said was true, that didn’t stop you from enjoying some ice cream.” She then walked over to Starlight and handed over the rabbit.

Starlight was initially confused as she held the rabbit, but as that critter began rubbing affectionately against her, she noticed something quite unexpected. She gently petted the rabbit’s back and realized it didn’t feel like she was just rubbing against a plastic surface. Instead, it was as if she was touching a real rabbit as she was familiar with in Equestria.

Starlight smiled, then chuckled and quipped, “I guess my sense of sight has deceived me yet again in the Lego World.”

Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle in response.

Starlight carried the rabbit back to the pen Fluttershy had retrieved it from and gently set it back down. She then looked around and said, “I can see you’ve got some of the usual pets here. Cats, dogs, birds, rodents… they may look a little weird, but I can still recognize them.” She turned to Fluttershy and asked, “What else have you got?”

“The aquariums are over here,” said Fluttershy as she led Starlight to another side of the building. “It’s remarkable just how many kinds of beautiful sea creatures there are.”

As they soon reached the aquariums, Starlight gazed into some of the many glass tanks filled with water and was amazed by all the different sizes, shapes, and colors of all those fish. There were schools of fish smaller than her hand and brilliantly colorful, there were large grey fish almost the length of her arm, and there were even some starfish in some of the tanks. Even with all of that wide variety, there was always one similarity that she just couldn’t ignore.

Starlight smirked and remarked, “As amazing as this is, I still find it a little weird that these things are made of plastic instead of some other organic material I’m familiar with.”

“It’s been widely said in this world that plastic is the stuff of life,” acknowledged Fluttershy.

As Starlight kept glancing around, her eyes eventually fell on a much more massive glass tank filled with water that stretched from floor to ceiling and was twice as wide. “Uh, what’s with that giant fish tank?” she asked.

“That’s where I keep Bruce,” answered Fluttershy. “He’s been here ever since I found him washed up on the shore as a pup.”

Starlight walked over to the tank and looked closely through the glass. It wasn’t long before she managed to see a single much larger fish swimming slowly around the tank. This much larger fish was dark grey and had a separate head piece that was attached to the body by a hinge that, when opened, revealed a jagged mouth as if it had rows of sharp teeth. Starlight immediately stepped back in shock and asked, “Is that a shark?!”

“Yes,” confirmed Fluttershy with a nod. “The only reason he’s been here a while is because I could never find a good enough home for him.”

“Haven’t you ever considered, I don’t know, releasing him into the wild?” asked Starlight as if the answer should’ve been very obvious.

“I probably should have back when he was smaller,” admitted Fluttershy, “but I just got too attached to him. Even if I wanted to today, it’s just too difficult to send him hundreds of miles to the nearest coast.” She then smiled. “And besides, after spending much of his life with me, I’m sure he’s now become too tame to last long in the wild anyway.”

Starlight smiled and shook her head as she sighed and remarked, “If there’s anyone in the world for such a creature to get too attached to, it might as well be you, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy giggled shamelessly. She then turned away and began walking as she said, “Let me show you some more creatures I keep here.”

Starlight followed Fluttershy around some more sections of the building. One area was home to spiders and scorpions, while another area held snakes and lizards. The final part of the shop they arrived at was what appeared to be a very large cage, which had dirt on the floor with a water trough and a currently empty food tray at one side, but also appeared to be completely empty.

“What’s this for?” asked Starlight as she gestured at the massive cage. “I don’t see anything here.”

Fluttershy was about to answer when she suddenly heard a faint ping come from her pocket. She pulled out her phone, read the new message on it, then smiled. She put away her phone as she turned to Starlight and replied, “Lucky for you, it looks like you’re about to meet him. I just got a confirmation text, so he’s waiting in the back lot right now.”

Starlight was a little confused, but chose to not ask any questions until after she had seen what this new arrival might be. She followed Fluttershy outside to the lot behind the building, where a delivery truck had just finished unloading some kind of large caged creature.

As soon as the two girls approached, the truck driver immediately walked over to Fluttershy and held out a pen and a clipboard as he stated, “Sign here, please.”

Fluttershy took the pen and signed her name on the clipboard, then handed the pen back to the driver.

The truck driver let out a sigh of relief as he put away the two items and remarked, “Whatever this thing does next, it’s entirely on your shoulders, because now I’m officially no longer responsible for any harm it might cause.” He then quickly hopped into the truck’s cab and drove off with so much urgency that he actually spun the tires a little as it pulled away.

As soon as the delivery truck left the lot, the large cage suddenly rattled as the creature inside snarled and roared aggressively. Starlight immediately gasped and took a few steps back before she hesitantly asked, “W-what the heck is that?”

Fluttershy seemed astonishingly unfazed as she calmly stepped towards the cage and answered, “It’s a velociraptor from Dinosaur Island.” The creature inside the cage snarled aggressively again, but Fluttershy held her hands out as she shushed the raptor and quietly said, “Easy there, Beta. You remember me, don’t you?”

The raptor inside the cage growled threateningly, but made no other aggressive moves. Now that Fluttershy had calmed it down a little, Starlight was able to get a better look at this strange creature. The best Starlight could describe it would be something that resembled a teenage dragon, except with no wings or fins, and its arms were much smaller. She was definitely unfamiliar with such a creature, so she made sure to keep her distance from it, while Fluttershy continued with her attempts to calm it down.

In fact, Starlight had to admit it was quite surprising to see Fluttershy behaving so bravely around such a seemingly vicious creature. “You’re familiar with that thing?” asked Starlight.

“I actually befriended his pack when my friends and I once visited Dinosaur Island,” replied Fluttershy. “I made an arrangement with the rangers who work there to let me borrow him for a few months.”

The raptor rattled the cage again and roared, prompting Fluttershy to immediately turn her attention back to the aggressive dinosaur and try to calm him down again. She shushed the raptor and quietly spoke, “Calm down, Beta. I’ll let you out soon enough. Just please be patient so I can take you to your new home, okay?”

The raptor growled lowly, but made no other aggressive moves.

Fluttershy kept her eyes on the caged raptor as she walked over to a small forklift nearby. As she climbed into the forklift, she spoke up, “Starlight, could you please do me a favor? I would like you to go into the kitchen and grab some sausages from the fridge. Raptors really like sausages.”

“Sure, no problem,” responded Starlight with a smile before she turned away and walked back inside the building.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy started up the forklift and began slowly driving it towards the caged raptor.

Just a few seconds later, Starlight suddenly came back outside and asked, “By the way, I just have one question. What are sausages?”

Fluttershy stopped the forklift and stared at Starlight. Fluttershy was briefly confused, but it wasn’t long before she realized the likely reason behind such a question. “Oh, right, pony from Equestria,” she muttered under her breath. She then spoke up, “What you’re looking for should be food items that are long, red, and slightly curved.” She gestured with her hands to give a rough idea of the shape and size of the item she had requested.

“Got it,” acknowledged Starlight with a smile before she ran back inside the building.

Fluttershy resumed driving the forklift towards the caged raptor. She had just gotten the prongs underneath the cage when Starlight suddenly rushed back outside again.

“Uh, I got another question,” said Starlight hesitantly. “What is this ‘fridge’ that’s supposed to have the sausages I’m looking for?”

Fluttershy turned to Starlight and asked in astonishment, “You don’t have any refrigerators in Equestria? How do you preserve perishable foods if you can’t keep them cold?”

“Well, some kitchens do have an icebox that can do that,” Starlight pointed out.

Fluttershy was unable to hold back a sigh before she explained, “Then what you’re looking for should resemble an icebox. The lower door is the fridge and the upper door is the freezer, and you’ll find the sausages in the fridge portion.”

“Okay, I think I’ve got it all down this time,” said Starlight before she turned away and quickly headed back inside the building again.

The raptor roared and rattled the cage again, prompting Fluttershy to calm him down and softly respond, “I’m sorry about that. She’s still getting used to a lot of things around here. Don’t worry, you’ll get your lunch soon enough.”

Finally, Fluttershy used the forklift to lift the cage off the ground, then turned the small vehicle around and drove through the garage door she had left opened. After some careful maneuvering between some storage crates, she soon reached the empty large enclosure that would hold the raptor. There was a gap in the surrounding bars of the enclosure that was just barely wide enough for the cage to slip through, so she set the caged raptor down right there. She then pulled the forklift away and flipped a couple of locks to ensure the cage stayed firmly in that gap.

By the time Fluttershy was ready to enter the enclosure, Starlight finally returned, now carrying a plate with a large pile of sausages on it. “I wasn’t sure how many you wanted, so I just took them all,” explained Starlight.

“That’s okay,” assured Fluttershy as she took the plate of sausages from Starlight. “I can just put any leftovers back in the fridge.” Carrying the plate in one hand, she unlocked the door into the enclosure, stepped inside, and then closed and relocked the door behind her. She set down the plate on the empty tray beside the water trough, then walked over to the cage and unlocked the door on it.

As soon as the cage was opened, the raptor rushed out and ran almost all the way to the other side of the enclosure, then stopped and turned around to face Fluttershy. She made sure to maintain eye contact with the raptor at all times as she reached over towards the plate, picked up one of the sausages, and held it out towards the raptor. The raptor took slow and steady steps forward as it curiously eyed the food item in her hand. Once the raptor got close enough, Fluttershy tossed the sausage towards him. The raptor swiftly caught the sausage in his mouth and quickly gulped in down in one bite.

“You just keep on surprising me,” remarked Starlight as she watched Fluttershy prepare to feed another sausage to the raptor. “I honestly can’t see my world’s Fluttershy doing something this crazy and dangerous. She’s scared stiff of dragons.”

“Sunset once told me that Equestria doesn’t have any dinosaurs,” noted Fluttershy as she tossed another sausage at the raptor. “I have always found these types of creatures to be so fascinating, so I guess that might explain why I had an easier time getting over my fear of large carnivores.”

“Are you sure this guy is gonna be okay in here?” asked Starlight. “It looks a little… restrictive.”

As Fluttershy grabbed another sausage, she sighed and replied, “It was the best I was allowed to have, as part of the agreement to bring Beta here.”

“So why did you think it would be such a good idea to bring one of these dinosaurs into your shop in the middle of a city?” asked Starlight skeptically as she watched Fluttershy toss another sausage towards the raptor.

“I wanted to raise awareness,” explained Fluttershy. “Dinosaur Island and other Adventure Regions inhabited by dinosaurs haven’t been getting as much official funding as they once did, so my hope here is that by showing people that these majestic creatures really do exist and are in need of help, I might be able to encourage people to donate to preserve their habitats.”

“Can’t argue with a noble cause like that,” remarked Starlight with a smile. She then frowned and added, “Though I’d still like to know if you’re sure this guy’s gonna be okay staying here for a while.”

Fluttershy tossed another sausage at the raptor before she explained, “Right from the moment I got official approval, I knew these were going to be some rough conditions, and I definitely didn’t want to force this on any creature against their will, so I traveled to Dinosaur Island a couple weeks ago to see if I could find one who would be okay with enduring this effort. Beta was the only raptor who was willing to volunteer.”

“Why was he so eager to help out?” asked Starlight.

“He says it’s because he believes he owes me a favor,” explained Fluttershy. “The last time we had met was when my friends and I first visited that region. It was a little more difficult for me to communicate with animals back then, but I was able to befriend his pack and even convinced them to fight on our side against the Shadowbolts we were chasing after on that day. To help us out, I even taught them how to ride motorcycles.”

That final fact left Starlight momentarily speechless. After silently staring at Fluttershy, she eventually shook her head and mumbled, “Is there no one in this world who hasn’t done something impossible?”

Fluttershy simply shrugged and remarked, “Just doing what I do best.” She then tossed another sausage towards the raptor.

As she watched Fluttershy continue feeding that raptor, Starlight thought about how she had seemingly encountered yet more examples of just how bizarrely different the Lego World was from Equestria. Despite just about everything from people to animals to even food being made of plastic, all aspects of this world seemed to function almost exactly like the lifeforms she was more familiar with back home. Not only that, it seemed that not even the most ridiculous or outlandish of ideas could be considered impossible in this world. As much as she was fascinated with the Lego World, she just couldn’t see herself staying here for an extended period of time, and she was completely okay with that.
> Highs and Lows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Highs and Lows


Much like her counterpart in Equestria, the Lego World’s Pinkie Pie lived in an apartment on the floor above Sugarcube Corner, where she worked. Starlight Glimmer was not surprised that the outside of this building looked very different from the version she was familiar with, since this version was in the middle of a large city rather than a small town. Although she also expected the interior of the building to be different due to its urban setting, she was still quite surprised to see a few additional items that weren’t exactly common in Equestria, such as a slush drink dispenser, vending machines filled with various snacks and beverages, and even a jukebox with a wide range of music available to play.

But of course, the real reason Starlight was here was to visit Pinkie Pie, so the two girls soon found themselves upstairs in Pinkie’s apartment. Despite a few additional items — such as a large television, a laptop computer, and even a mini fridge beside the bed — Pinkie’s bedroom actually had a close resemblance to the one occupied by her pony counterpart, except of course that this version was built out of Lego parts.

“Well, here we are, Starlight!” declared Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “So what would you like to do today? Crazy dancing? Baking cupcakes? Crazy dancing while baking cupcakes?”

“Actually, I had something a little different in mind,” replied Starlight with a smile. “I haven’t seen it myself, but I’ve heard that my world’s Pinkie Pie has this secret party planning cave. I don’t suppose…?”

Still smiling, Pinkie leaned close to Starlight and asked, “You wanna take a look around in my super secret party planning cave?”

Starlight nodded.

“Consider it done!” declared Pinkie cheerfully. She immediately grabbed Starlight and swiftly placed her on a small round rug near the middle of the room. “Just stand right there…” She then ran over to a stack of round bricks at one side of the room and removed the top portion, exposing a small lever underneath. “…and prepare to say ‘Geronimo!’”

“What?” asked Starlight in confusion.

Rather than say anything in response, Pinkie simply flipped the lever, causing the small rug to drop away like a trap door. With the floor under her feet suddenly gone, Starlight screamed as she fell through the small tunnel. Pinkie immediately jumped into the tunnel after her and excitedly shouted, “Geronimo!”

Starlight continued screaming as she fell through the tunnel, which soon ended in a slide that curved upward. She was flung off the end of the slide and landed softly in a small pile of pillows. As she sat up and glanced at the pillows she had landed on, she remarked, “Huh, that’s pretty convenient.”

Pinkie squealed excitedly as she came down the slide and landed on the pile of pillows, though her landing ended up knocking Starlight off the pillows and down onto the concrete floor.

“Though apparently it’s only meant to be used one at a time,” grumbled Starlight as she stood up.

Pinkie quickly jumped off the pillows and turned to Starlight. “So what do ya think?” she asked cheerfully. “Pretty cool, huh?”

Starlight looked around at the room they were now in. It appeared to be some kind of basement filled with all kinds of party related clutter. She also noticed one of the longer walls of the room was completely covered in large filing cabinets, presumably the repository of information necessary for planning the right kind of parties for the right people at the right occasions. “It’s certainly impressive, I’ll give you that,” said Starlight.

“Yeah, you wouldn’t believe what I had to go through to make all of this possible,” said Pinkie. “I had to work with permits and other legal stuff to get this room built, then I had to move all this stuff in here, many of which were just too big or heavy to go down the slide, so I had to use the secondary emergency entrance that leads into the sewer system, though I hardly ever use that door for obvious reasons, and finally, to gather up all of these files, I had to ask for some special permission from the library, the police station, pretty much any place in town that keeps official records of everyone who lives here.”

As Pinkie was talking, Starlight slowly wandered around to get a better look at all of the crazy stuff that was lying around the room. At one point, she accidentally backed into a tall air cylinder and almost knocked it over, but she reacted quickly and managed to catch it before it could fall. “It’s okay! I got it!” she quickly assured Pinkie.

As she set the air cylinder back upright, Starlight noticed the label on the side of it and raised an eyebrow. “Anti-helium?” she asked. “What’s that?”

“Oh, that’s something I use for one of my party tricks,” answered Pinkie as she quickly crossed the room and grabbed another tall air cylinder. “Its actual name is some big science-y word that I could never seem to remember, so I just call it anti-helium because it has the opposite effect of helium.”

“And what effect would that be?” asked Starlight.

As Pinkie began rolling the other air cylinder towards Starlight beside the anti-helium cylinder, she replied, “Well, let me put it this way. You’re familiar with what happens when you inhale helium, right?”

“Actually, no,” admitted Starlight. “I’ve never really tried it myself.”

“In that case, allow me to demonstrate,” replied Pinkie as she set down the other air cylinder, which had the label of “helium” on the side of it. She reached for a nearby pack of party balloons and stuck one of them onto the cylinder’s valve. She briefly opened the valve to partially inflate the balloon, then took the balloon off the valve and held it closed to prevent any of the gas from escaping. She then brought the balloon up to her mouth and released some of the gas as she breathed in. Then, with her voice sounding much higher than normal, she spoke, “It makes my voice sound really really high because it’s much lighter than normal air which means sound moves through it more quickly.”

Starlight couldn’t help but giggle before she remarked, “Okay, I sure wasn’t expecting that.”

“And don’t worry, the effect isn’t permanent,” assured Pinkie with her voice still very high. “All I have to do is breathe it all out like this.” She then rapidly breathed in and out a few times. “And now my voice is back to normal,” she added with her voice now back to its normal pitch.

Starlight chuckled and remarked, “I have to admit, that is a rather neat party trick.” She then glanced over at the other air cylinder and added, “So I’m guessing that anti-helium’s opposite effect…”

“Yup! Anti-helium is much heavier than normal air, which means sound moves through it more slowly,” confirmed Pinkie as she grabbed another balloon, stuck onto the valve of the anti-helium cylinder, and briefly opened the valve to partially inflate the balloon. “Which means that when I inhale this stuff…” She removed the balloon and placed it on her mouth, then released some of the gas as she breathed in. With her voice now sounding much lower than normal, she finished, “It makes my voice sound reeeeeealy low.”

Again, Starlight giggled and remarked, “Yeah, I can see why that would be amusing. It’s like I’m listening to you in slow motion.”

“Noooooooo!” exclaimed Pinkie playfully in mock terror, an act made more believable thanks to her voice still being very low.

Starlight finally burst out laughing.

Pinkie smiled at that accomplishment, then rapidly breathed in and out a few times to return her voice back to its normal pitch and excitedly asked, “So what do ya think? You wanna give it a try?”

Starlight took a moment to calm down before she replied, “Oh, what the heck. Might as well go for it.” She glanced back and forth between the two air cylinders before she added, “I think I’ll start with the anti-helium. I actually found that to be the funnier of the two.”

“No problem!” acknowledged Pinkie cheerfully. She took two more balloons from the pack, stuck each of them onto the valve of both air cylinders, and briefly inflated them both. She quickly took the balloon from the helium cylinder, then turned to Starlight and said, “Well, go ahead. You saw my demonstration, so you should know what to do.”

Starlight grabbed the inflated balloon from the anti-helium cylinder, making sure to hold the neck of that balloon closed to prevent the air from escaping. She then brought that balloon over to her mouth and released the gas as she inhaled. Once the balloon was empty, she lowered it and spoke, “How do I sound?” Even though she had tried speaking as she normally did, the voice that came out of her mouth was now much lower than usual.

Pinkie inhaled the helium from her balloon and, with her voice now very high, playfully exclaimed, “Oh no! My best friend’s been possessed by a demon monster! What do I do, what do I do?!”

Starlight smiled and played along by raising her fists and shouting, “I am the master of all evil! Mwahahahahahaha!”

Still playing along, Pinkie with her much higher voice exclaimed in mock terror, “Oh no! We’re doomed! We’re doomed, we’re doomed, we’re doomed!”

With that little playful exchange over, both Starlight and Pinkie laughed, despite the fact that Pinkie still had a higher voice and Starlight had a lower voice.

After a few seconds of laughter, Pinkie quickly breathed in and out a few times. With her voice now back to normal, she advised Starlight, “Don’t forget the breathing technique. You don’t want that gas sitting in your lungs for too long.”

Starlight responded with a nod, then breathed in and out a few times. “Well that sure was amusing,” remarked Starlight, her voice now back to normal. She glanced over that the helium cylinder, then smirked and asked, “Time to trade?”

“Time to trade!” agreed Pinkie as she quickly retrieved the two balloons, stuck them back onto the valve of the two air cylinders, and briefly inflated them both. This time, Pinkie took the balloon from the anti-helium tank, while Starlight took the one from the helium tank.

Starlight went first and inhaled as she released the gas from her balloon. Once that balloon was emptied, she playfully remarked with a now much higher voice, “Wow, what a rush! I can talk so fast that I’m unable to make any sense of anything! What are we talking about again?”

Pinkie inhaled the anti-helium from her balloon, and with her voice now much lower, she started a new act by mockingly threatening, “Starlight, I am your master! You will obey me!”

“No, no, never!” Starlight playfully exclaimed defiantly. “I will never submit to the dark side! Never!”

Starlight and Pinkie then laughed again, despite their altered voices. After a few seconds, Pinkie once again quickly breathed in and out a few times to return her voice to normal.

Starlight was having so much fun that she couldn’t stop laughing. It wasn’t long before she started to wobble around with a loss of balance. With her voice still very high, she said, “Okay, maybe we should take a little break. Starting to feel a little light-headed. Hoooooooooo…” As she exhaled, her voice gradually dropped back to its normal pitch. At the same time, she made no reaction as she fell over backwards and collapsed onto a small table, completely destroying it in the process.

Crash!

Pinkie immediately rushed over to where Starlight fell and worriedly asked “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” assured Starlight as she sat up. “I think I might’ve passed out for a moment, but I’m fine now.”

Pinkie grabbed Starlight’s hand and helped her back up onto her feet.

Starlight glanced back at where she fell and added, “Sorry about your, uh—”

“Oh, that’s okay,” assured Pinkie Pie. “I can always rebuild that thing. It is made out of Lego, after all.”

“Yeah, I guess the true,” noted Starlight. “Anyway, as much as I enjoyed that party trick, I guess this incident shows why it’s probably best kept in moderation.”

“Absolutely!” agreed Pinkie. “I’ve had to learn the lesson of moderation the hard way in a few other things, but I’ve never let that stop me from always having fun.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Starlight with a smile. “No matter which universe I’m in, it’s nice that I can always expect Pinkie Pie to know how to have fun.”

“You know it!” confirmed Pinkie cheerfully. She and Starlight both shared a giggle.

“Even so,” Starlight spoke up, “that was a pretty neat party trick anyway. Certainly not something I’ve ever heard of in Equestria. I wonder if you’ve got any others I’m unfamiliar with.”

“Then let’s find out!” declared Pinkie Pie excitedly before she rushed off to another corner of the room and began digging through all of the various clutter on the floor.

Starlight smiled as she walked over towards Pinkie Pie. Even though she was sure she would already be familiar with many of the things she was about to see, there was still a possibility that some of them would be completely new to her. For Starlight, that was one of the great things about exploring another universe; even with so many similarities, there were sure to be some new things, some of which could prove to be quite entertaining.
> Twilight’s Laboratory
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Twilight’s Laboratory


Out of all the friends Starlight Glimmer had made in Equestria, few were as close to her as Princess Twilight Sparkle. After all, it was Princess Twilight who had showed her there was a better way, gave her that second chance, and offered to personally teach her the ways of true friendship. Princess Twilight had so far done such a great job of guiding her down the right path, and she would always be grateful to the Princess of Friendship for giving her that chance to make herself a better pony.

When Starlight came to the Lego World, the Twilight Sparkle she met here was quite unlike the pony princess she knew. In a world that was mostly without magic, this Twilight had focused most of her studies on numerous scientific fields. And since she was introduced to her current friends much more recently than her pony counterpart, she was nowhere near the expert on friendship that the pony princess was. Not to mention, she had such a dark past that even Starlight was surprised by just how far she went. In a way, Starlight felt that this Twilight could be a bit more relatable to her, so she was looking forward to what kind of activities Twilight had in mind.

Twilight decided to start the day by bringing Starlight to the apartment she shared with Spike. “Feel free to make yourself comfortable,” said Twilight as she opened the door and led Starlight inside the apartment.

Starlight looked around at the contents of the apartment. While she certainly didn’t expect it to be anywhere near as elaborate as the crystalline tree-shaped castle that Princess Twilight lived it, she was still a little surprised by just how simple and basic everything seemed to be. The kitchen area to the left had a little counter space and some cabinets, along with all of the typical appliances. In the other half of the main room, there was a small table and four chairs near the window, and not far from that was a single sofa facing a large television screen on the wall.

After closing the main door behind her, Twilight pointed at the hallway to the right and explained, “Down the hallway, the first door on the left is the bathroom, the second door is Spike’s room, and the third and final door is my room.”

“You sure have a rather simple way of living,” noted Starlight as she continued glancing around the apartment.

Twilight rubbed the back of her head and admitted, “Well, after spending my years as a Shadowbolt agent frequently moving from one hideout to another, I’ve pretty much gotten used to living with the most basic of essentials.”

As Starlight continued looking around, she smirked and remarked, “Though if there’s one thing that any Twilight Sparkle would consider a ‘basic essential’, it’s tons of books.”

In addition to all of the basic home fixtures, one thing in this apartment that really stood out were the many bookshelves that covered almost every available wall space, and nearly all of those shelves were completely full of countless books.

Twilight giggled awkwardly and noted, “Okay, you’ve got me there.” She then leaned close to Starlight and whispered, “Just between us, some of these books were obtained by some… not quite legal means. Back when I lived in the Castle Region, I was so desperate for more knowledge of the world beyond that region that I ended up depending on a group of smugglers to provide me with any books that I couldn’t obtain by any other means. I’ve actually still got many of those smuggled books, as part of my personal collection that I’ve got on the bookshelves in my room.”

“Wow, smuggling books,” said Starlight. “I never would’ve expected someone like you to do such a thing.” She then grinned and added, “I actually kinda like it.”

“Well, what can I say?” remarked Twilight with a smile and a shrug. “Us former villains can appreciate each other in ways that those who have always been good are unable to understand.”

Knock-knock-knock!

“Package delivery!” called out a voice on the other side of the door into the apartment.

Twilight glanced back at the door, then turned back to Starlight and said, “I’d better take care of this.”

“Sure, go ahead,” acknowledged Starlight. “By the way, is Spike around? Maybe I could see what he’s up to while I wait.”

“Yeah, Spike’s here,” confirmed Twilight. “He’s in his room, most likely either reading a comic book or playing a video game.”

As Twilight opened the door and began speaking with the postal worker outside, Starlight headed down the hallway and stopped at the second door. Feeling curious, she carefully opened the door and peered inside.

In complete contrast to the rest of the apartment, Spike’s room was a complete mess. On the walls were posters of ninjas and aliens and superheroes, many of which weren’t even aligned straight. Various articles of clothing were scattered all over the floor. To the left was a computer on a desk, next to which was a trashcan overflowing with empty soda cans and potato chip bags. Next to the window on the far side of the room was a simple bed with its sheets carelessly tossed aside. To the right was a television screen that was currently displaying something, and sitting in a small chair in front of it was Spike with a video game controller in his hands.

“Uh, hey, Spike,” Starlight spoke up as she slowly stepped into the room. “Am I bothering you?”

Spike kept his eyes straight at the screen as he shrugged and replied, “Eh, depends on what you’re here for. I don’t recognize your voice, so I know you’re not Twilight or one of our friends.”

“I’m actually a new friend,” explained Starlight with a smile. “Starlight Glimmer from Equestria. I’m Princess Twilight’s student, and she’s allowed me to spend a few days here in the Lego World. You know, I was actually with Sunset Shimmer when you called her about Twilight and the others going missing.”

With his focus still on the screen, Spike chuckled and muttered, “I guess that answers that question.”

Realizing that Spike wasn’t even bothering to glance at her, Starlight decided to focus on what had his attention. Displayed on the television screen was a city street setting, and in the middle was some kind of ninja who, with every manipulation of the controller in Spike’s hands, was busy fighting off a swarm of opponents that appeared to be dressed in shark costumes. With every punch and strike that was displayed, various impact sound effects were heard coming from the television’s speakers.

“What’s that you’re looking at?” asked Starlight.

“Just playing the latest Ninjago video game,” answered Spike as he kept his gaze on the screen and continued mashing buttons on the controller. “I’ve been making some good progress today. Oh yeah, check out this combo!” On the screen, Spike’s ninja character began rapidly smacking one of the opponents over and over, with each successive strike causing the ninja and the opponent to rise higher and higher up into the air. After dozens of these rapid-fire strikes, the ninja finished the attack by slamming the opponent straight down, smashing to pieces upon impact with the ground far below. With the attack moves complete, the ninja dropped back down to the ground, and despite the equally long fall, the ninja just landed softly without taking any damage.

Starlight took a step back after watching such excessive content. “Seems a little absurd to me…” she muttered.

“It’s a video game about ninjas!” Spike pointed out as his character continued to fight off the swarm of shark ninjas. “Of course the physics are gonna be ridiculous!”

Starlight wasn’t exactly feeling eager to find out more about Spike’s video game, so she decided to head out and see if Twilight was available. She stepped out into the hallway just in time to see Twilight close the main door while holding a small brown box.

Now with a huge smile on her face, Twilight held up the box as she excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! It’s here! It’s finally here! The final component I need to complete one of my latest inventions!”

Back in his room, Spike immediately paused his video game, then sighed and grumbled, “Here we go…”

“To the secret laboratory!” declared Twilight dramatically, before she rushed down the hallway all the way to the very end of it.

On the wall segment at the end of the hallway, Twilight pulled open a secret panel on the right side to expose a keypad, on which she quickly entered a code. Another panel at the top automatically slid away to expose a row of three red lights, with the left light soon turning green. At the same time, the keypad retracted and a scanner panel was shifted into its place. Twilight placed her hand on the panel, which scanned her hand with a horizontal line of green light that moved up and then down, and the middle light above turned green. The scanner then retracted and a small microphone was shifted into its place. Twilight leaned close to the microphone and spoke into it, “For science!” The final light above turned green as the microphone retracted, then both the top and side cover panels slid back into place. Finally, the secret doorway in this wall segment quickly slid open to the side, exposing a space about the size of a closet and with nothing inside except for a round glowing white pad on the floor.

Starlight and Spike had watched the entire sequence as they walked over to Twilight. Starlight stared at the interior of that secret room, then turned to Twilight and asked, “What’s that?”

“It’s a teleportation pad that leads directly to my secret laboratory!” Twilight proudly replied. She then quickly stepped into the room and stood on the pad as she explained, “To use it, all you have to do is stand in the middle of it and do this.” She stomped down on the pad with her left foot. A bright haze of white light quickly swirled around Twilight with a whoosh noise, and when it faded a few seconds later, Twilight had completely vanished.

“After you,” said Spike as he gestured at the now empty teleportation pad. “And make sure you step off the pad as soon as you arrive. I don’t want us accidentally getting fused together.”

Starlight glanced back and forth between Spike and where Twilight has recently stood, then hesitantly walked towards the teleportation pad. Take it easy, Starlight, she thought to herself in an effort to calm her nerves. You’ve teleported countless times before, only this one is based on science rather than magic. Starlight stepped onto the pad inside the tiny room. After glancing down to make sure she was standing in the center of the pad, she then stomped down with her left foot. The teleportation pad activated and, with a quick whoosh and swirling haze of light, Starlight completely vanished from the apartment.





In an entirely different room elsewhere, another teleportation pad suddenly activated and, with a quick whoosh and swirling haze of light, Starlight Glimmer suddenly appeared standing on that pad. She quickly felt over herself to confirm that she had successfully teleported with nothing missing on her body. Remembering Spike’s advice, she immediately stepped off the pad, then she began to look around at where she had ended up.

The other teleportation pad was in an alcove of a room that was much larger than the entire apartment. There appeared to be no doors or windows leading out of the room, with the only illumination provided by a series of lights along the ceiling. But it was the contents of this room that really caught Starlight’s attention — a huge variety of all kinds of strange machines and computers and other technological devices were spread out all over the massive room, none of which she had any idea of what they could possibly be used for. With a few lights of various colors blinking regularly and the occasional sound of various chirps and beeps, Starlight was well and truly in a place unlike anything she could have possibly imagined.

Starlight was briefly startled by the whoosh and bright flash behind her that signaled Spike’s arrival via the teleportation pad. As Spike walked over to her, she turned her attention back to the room ahead and asked, “Where are we?”

“Welcome to my secret laboratory!” declared Twilight enthusiastically as she suddenly jumped in front of Starlight. She was now wearing a white lab coat over her torso, arms, and skirt, wore blue gloves over her hands, and had a pair of safety goggles over her eyes and glasses. “Well, to answer your question more accurately, we’re still in the same building, except now we’re in one of the lower sub-basements. I made an arrangement with the landlord to allow me full access to this space, and now, just like I did back when I was a Shadowbolt agent, I can use this facility to conduct all kinds of scientific experiments and develop a wide range of useful inventions.”

“Wow…” remarked Starlight breathlessly. “This is… I don’t know how to describe all of this. I’ve never seen anything like this anywhere in Equestria.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow and asked, “Does the other Twilight not even have a laboratory of her own?”

“Well, I’ve occasionally seen one or two machines in storage, but definitely nothing on a scale like this,” replied Starlight. “I guess being an alicorn who can directly channel magic so easily means that all she really needs is a reference of spells in her library to help her do just about anything of interest.”

“I suppose I could see myself being like that in a realm of pure magic,” acknowledged Twilight. “But in this world, magic exists only in a few certain regions, so to expand my range of capabilities, I’ve taken more interest in advanced sciences.”

“In that case, would you be interested in showing me some of the things you’ve got in here?” asked Starlight.

“Sure, but on two conditions,” replied Twilight. “First, don’t touch anything without my permission — the last person who ignored that advice ended up getting blown to pieces. And second, you’ll need to wear the safety attire at all times.”

“And don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of spares,” added Spike as he put on one of the white lab coats hanging on a nearby rack, then grabbed a pair of gloves and safety goggles.

Starlight took a moment to look at the items of clothing she was expected to wear, then shrugged and playfully remarked, “Sure, I’ll dress up like a mad scientist.”

As Spike and Starlight put on their lab coats, gloves, and safety goggles, Twilight turned away and said, “Spike will start you off on the tour. I’m afraid I’ll be a little busy right now with integrating this final component I just received into this invention I’ve been working on for months.” By the time Spike and Starlight were all set, Twilight was already hard at work on her project on one of the workbenches.

Starlight turned to Spike and asked, “So, uh… know of anything particularly interesting in here?”

Spike shrugged and replied, “Eh, not much. Most of what you see around us are computers, scanners, analyzers, processors, and other kinds of techno stuff that I’m sure you’d never be able to understand even half as much as I do.” He then smiled and added, “But I do know of one thing you’d probably not expect to see in a laboratory. It’s right over here.”

Starlight followed Spike and they soon arrived at what appeared to be a large tall box with a display screen on part of the front surface with a few buttons just below it. Starlight noticed that the front and sides of this box displayed vintage graphics of a space theme such as astronauts and spaceships. And at the top of each side was some kind of name. “Hack-Man?” she read aloud in confusion.

“It’s an old school video game,” explained Spike, “said to be from as far back as the early days of the Space Region.”

“Why does Twilight have an old video game in her laboratory?” asked Starlight.

Spike smirked and replied, “You’d be surprised by how many facilities use a version of this old game as part of their security systems. All you have to do in those cases is play through a level and as soon as you beat the game, you’ll suddenly gain access to whatever files they got.”

“Seriously?” asked Starlight skeptically. “It’s that easy?”

“Well, to be fair,” added Spike, “the more secure places use the harder levels, and the more important files can’t be accessed unless you get a high enough score. Just don’t even bother trying to beat Twilight’s high score on this machine. She once pulled an all-nighter to achieve it.”

“No regrets,” Twilight spoke up as she was now tapping some buttons on the side of some kind of small desktop chamber. “With extensive practice on that game, in addition to my advanced experience in information technology, I believe I’m fully capable of hacking into just about any computer system anywhere in the world. Of course, now that I’m one of the good guys, I’m unlikely to ever use such skills for nefarious purposes.” She paused her work and turned to Starlight. “Believe me, in places that are so reliant on advanced technology, a skilled hacker can be a very dangerous threat.”

“Good thing we don’t have to worry about that in Equestria,” quipped Starlight. She glanced over at whatever Twilight was working on and asked, “You done working on that thing already?”

“I’m just waiting for the software to install,” replied Twilight, “but that should give me some time to show you a few other things.” She gestured for Starlight to follow as she walked over to another workbench.

As soon as Starlight and Spike joined her at that workbench, Twilight rolled out a series of cases, then opened one of them and pulled out a pair of glasses. “I call these my special spectacles,” explained Twilight. “Each one of these provides me with a different range of optical observation, such as night vision, infrared vision, x-ray vision, and many others.” She then suddenly glanced away and muttered, “That reminds me, I should resume work on Special Spectacles 2.0 sometime soon.”

“I have been a little curious why you always seem to wear glasses while Princess Twilight doesn’t,” admitted Starlight. “I just didn’t ask earlier because I thought that maybe it was a sensitive subject.”

“You’re right, it is rather sensitive to me,” acknowledged Twilight as she put away her special spectacles. “All I’m willing to share is that my eyesight was permanently damaged in an incident involving a laser beam.”

“Either way, I think it’s great that you were able to create something that could enhance a part of you that was once a limitation,” noted Starlight. She glanced around some of the other workbenches and the various gadgets scattered across them, then turned back to Twilight and asked, “Is there anything here that you would consider a particularly favorite invention of yours?”

“Oh that’s easy!” replied Twilight excitedly before she quickly moved over to a set of shelves on the wall and grabbed what appeared to be a small silver cylinder. “It’s this thing!”

FWISH!

Starlight yelped and flinched as a lavender beam of pure plasma suddenly extended from the silver object to a specific length.

“I call it the plasma blade,” explained Twilight. “Virtually weightless, can easily slice through just about anything, and makes a very cool noise when you wave it around.” Twilight demonstrated the last detail by swinging the blade back and forth, producing a low humming noise with each pass.

Vrrr. Vrrr. Vrrr.

Starlight was speechless for a moment before she responded, “That has got to be… the coolest thing ever!” She grinned excitedly as she spoke that last part. “Do you think you could make one for me?”

“I’m afraid Sunset has already called dibs on the next one I can create,” stated Twilight as she retracted her plasma blade and placed it back up on the shelf. “But I’ll be sure to add you to the waiting list.”

“Fair enough,” said Starlight with a nod.

Beep!

Twilight suddenly turned back to the chamber she had been working on and smiled as she said, “Oh! The installation is complete!” She quickly rushed over to the chamber and began looking over a few things. As Starlight and Spike walked over to join her, she mumbled, “No issues installing the software, compatibility looks promising, all systems appear to be integrating quite well, only one thing left to do… power it up.”

With an excited grin on her face, Twilight rushed over to one of the nearby machines and flipped down a large lever. The machine whirred to life as power began flowing through a series of cables on the floor leading up to the small chamber. Power flowing into the chamber was signified by an arc of electricity between two prongs atop the chamber that consistently kept rising in a series of arcs. After a few seconds, the current of electricity stopped, and Twilight peered through the small window into the chamber.

A few seconds later, Twilight suddenly jumped in the air and turned around as she shouted, “Yes!” Raising her fist up and with an almost maniacal grin on her face, she exclaimed, “It’s alive!”

“Okay, be honest,” grumbled Spike as he folded his arms, “how long have you been waiting for an opportunity to say that?”

Twilight giggled in embarrassment and rubbed the back of her head. “A, uh, very long time,” she confessed. “But trust me, Spike, you’re gonna love this.” She flipped a small switch, causing the chamber’s door to open with a hiss as steam began to billow out of it. “I’m sure you’re well aware by now why I’ve always refused to give you that puppy you keep asking me for, so…” She reached into the chamber and pulled out her latest invention. “I decided to give you the next best thing.”

The creation that Twilight proudly held out in her hands was a white mechanical object that was roughly the shape of a small dog. Among its details were purple ears, glowing blue eyes, a glass dome on its head, and a glowing pink heart on the chest area. In addition, its tail part was waving back and forth while its head kept glancing in various directions.

“You built a robot puppy?” asked Spike in disbelief.

“Isn’t it great?” said Twilight enthusiastically as she handed the small robot over to Spike. “There’s no need to feed it or clean up any various messes — the only maintenance it really needs is to be recharged every night. Plus, thanks to the advanced software algorithms I’ve installed, it should be capable of behaving just like a real puppy.”

Spike looked down at the robot puppy skeptically, but when it suddenly started rubbing its head affectionately under his chin, he smiled and said, “Okay, I guess I could give it a chance. I might be able to get used to this.”

Starlight chuckled in amusement and asked, “Do you often do crazy things like this?”

“That depends on your definition of crazy,” quipped Twilight. “Pushing the boundaries of science just wouldn’t be exciting if I chose not to pursue any silly idea that ever pops into my head.”

Starlight folded her arms as she smirked and remarked, “If this is what Princess Twilight was like before she became a princess… then I really missed out on some fun moments.”

“In that case, I’m proud that I could offer you something that the other Twilight can’t,” responded Twilight. “If you’re ever interested, then please feel free to come back to the Lego World sometime and I’d be more than happy to share with you anything new I’ve created.”

“You know what? I think I’ll take you up on that offer,” said Starlight with a smile. She glanced down at her wristwatch and added, “Eh, I’ve still got plenty of time today. I’d like to see what else you’ve got while I’m still here.”

“Gladly,” replied Twilight. “Believe me, we’ve only scratched the surface in terms of my accomplishments in the laboratory.”

As Twilight began to give her a personal tour of the secluded laboratory, Starlight took a moment to reflect on all she had learned of the Lego World during her stay. There was no doubt in her mind that there was still a whole lot more to learn and experience, and she was certainly looking forward to the next time she would get an opportunity to visit. But even with all the wonders of a world made of Lego, Equestria would always be home for Starlight Glimmer.