//------------------------------// // The Rise of Gaia Everfree // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 4 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 11 The Rise of Gaia Everfree Back at the gala in the Rich Cultural Center in Lego City, Kjeld Playwell — accompanied by his son Thomas — was confronting Filthy Rich over the recent revelation of the latter’s expansionist ambitions. “Mister Rich,” Kjeld calmly stated, “it has come to my attention that you are intending to expand your business to well beyond the limits of the City Regions.” Filthy raised an eyebrow and asked, “And you consider this to be an issue of concern?” “I am the overseer of the entire Lego World,” stated Kjeld. “Anything that would negatively impact any group of people is most certainly an issue that would concern me.” “It’s not my fault certain people chose to stand in the way of my enterprise,” said Filthy indignantly. “I’m just being a good businessman.” “That is the same argument President Business once made to me,” Kjeld pointed out. “And at the time, I was foolish enough to believe him.” “I can assure you, Mister Playwell, I have no intentions of deliberately wiping out entire populations like Mister Business once did,” Filthy firmly stated. “My ultimate objective is to simply become the richest person in the entire universe.” “There are ways of achieving that without having to trample over innocent people,” argued Kjeld. “True,” admitted Filthy, “but many of them are much too time-consuming for my preferences. I may have a daughter, but I am not going to press my personal dreams onto her. Not while there are still ways I can achieve it for myself. And besides, I have done nothing illegal. My lawyers have made sure of that, and will continue to ensure it stays that way.” “Just because you have enough common sense to stay within the technical limits of the law doesn’t automatically make you immune to any controversy,” argued Kjeld. “Your actions thus far have already turned a lot of good people against you, and with good reason. You must understand that in many of the regions you’re looking to acquire, people actually live there, and for many of them, their home region’s way of life is the only life they have ever known. When you express interest in taking that away from them, they will start to see you as a bad guy. I doubt you will face a full-on rebellion like President Business did, but I guarantee that you will be facing a lot of resistance.” “So I’ll just brush them all aside with a bunch of lawsuits,” said Filthy dismissively. “And if you actually destroy enough livelihoods, I’ll have no choice but to put my foot down and do something about it,” warned Kjeld. “Do you honestly not care about the feelings of other people?” Filthy frowned and furrowed his brow as he asked, “What about my livelihood? What about the livelihoods of all the promising entrepreneurs you fired from the Board of Directors? The last I heard from many of them, their hopes of a successful career were completely destroyed by how you publicly humiliated them. Blackwell, Business, and Cinch were simply the ones who had the tenacity to take a stand and seek vengeance. Everyone else has since fallen onto hard times, many of whom have become so depressed that they have become convinced they will never be successful at anything for the rest of their miserable lives. You should have known better than to make such a rash decision.” Kjeld sighed and paused for a moment before he carefully replied, “I did not fire the old Board of Directors purely out of rage. The business-first decisions you and the others made were receiving some fearsome backlash from all over the universe, and I had to do something about it. I may not have been thinking clearly on the day I made the choice to fire you all, but I cannot deny that the Lego World has become a much better place in the aftermath of my decision.” “And yet, you continue to ignore the plight of many of my former partners from that board,” retorted Filthy. “No one ever bothered to bring it to my attention,” explained Kjeld. “I suppose that just shows how much the general public disapproved of your actions, at the time. Had I simply been informed that many of them had gotten worse off, I might have been able to do something about it, perhaps even prevented those big names you mentioned from becoming serious threats.” “So it seems you are certainly prone to making a lot of mistakes, Mister Playwell,” noted Filthy with a smug smile. “That may be true,” admitted Kjeld, “but as I had stated on the day Cinch was arrested, at least I am willing to admit that I’ve made mistakes, and I continue to do my best to make up for them.” He glanced over at Thomas for a moment, then turned his attention back to Filthy Rich and stated in a very serious tone, “I had failed to prevent the rise of Lord Business before it was too late. Do not force my hand against you to prevent a similar incident from happening again.” Before Filthy Rich could say any kind of comeback, one of the security guards came running up the stairs and rushed over to them. After taking a brief moment to catch his breath, he stated, “Mister Playwell, we’ve got situation.” Kjeld raised an eyebrow and asked, “Wouldn’t it have been more convenient to simply call your superior officer on your radio?” “Battery’s worn out,” explained the guard as he pulled out his radio and repeatedly pressed the talk button to show that it was definitely not working. “Of course,” muttered Kjeld as he shook his head. He turned his gaze back up to the guard and asked, “So what’s the problem?” “Just a minute ago, Sunset and Twilight were looking for two people and I told them all I knew — that I saw them having an argument and one of them said something about getting to the monorail station. Next thing I know, Sunset steals my laser rifle and runs off towards the monorail station, and I’m pretty sure I heard a few shots being fired. Not to mention, Twilight and some boy with them followed after Sunset.” “I always knew that Sunset couldn’t be trusted,” grumbled Filthy Rich. “Why would Sunset do something like that?” asked Thomas. “I trust Sunset’s judgement,” replied Kjeld as he took out his phone. “That kind of behavior may seem irrational, but I am sure she has a very good reason for such reckless urgency.” He checked something on his phone as he spoke, and just seconds later, he got the information he needed. “Just as I suspected. The train that left that station just minutes ago headed for LEGO Headquarters.” He put away his phone and turned to Thomas. “I want you to go back to headquarters immediately and assess the situation. Try to find Sunset and Twilight, ask them what they are doing, and then call me once you have some information on what’s going on.” “Yes, father,” acknowledged Thomas with a nod, then turned away and began to quickly head down the stairs and out of the building. Filthy Rich was momentarily speechless, then glared at Kjeld and protested, “You cannot ask him to leave! This gala is being held in his honor!” “If a situation is dire enough, personal plans need to be put on hold until the emergency has been resolved,” emphasized Kjeld. “I understand that this particular situation may not be that much of an emergency, but keep in mind that my son is still learning, and this happens to be a good opportunity for him to learn that lesson.” “Then why do you not go with him?” asked Filthy. “As much as I personally would like to be there to guide him at every step, he needs to be permitted to make his own decisions,” replied Kjeld. “He needs real world experience so that he will truly be ready for when the time comes that I will no longer be there for him.” Kjeld then walked over to the railing along the balcony overlooking the lower floor of the building “And besides, I can see that the rest of Sunset’s team is still here. Someone needs to remain here to keep an eye on them. If something terrible really is going on, then they deserve to be informed right away.” Filthy Rich simply shook his head and walked away. As Kjeld kept watching the five girls from Canterlot City, he couldn’t help but mutter to himself, “I sure hope this isn’t the beginning of yet another major incident…” Sunset, Twilight, and Spike remained bound by the vines. With the cave entrance sealed shut by some massive boulders, they could only listen helplessly as the Space Police spaceship parked outside powered up, lifted off the ground, and then flew away before vanishing into warp speed. Gloriosa Daisy — with her greatly enhanced magical powers — had now gotten away. Sunset grunted as she tried to break herself free of the vines. “There’s gotta be a way to get out of this,” she muttered as she, Twilight, and Spike all struggled to break free. After a few seconds of struggling, Spike slammed his back against the wall of the cavern behind him and rubbed his back against it. Within a few seconds, the vines around him snapped apart, and he was able to quickly brush off the now loosened vines. “Good thinking, Spike!” praised Twilight with a smile. “Actually, I just had an itch on my back,” admitted Spike. “Cutting those vines loose was just an unexpected bonus.” “Do you think you can get us free?” asked Sunset. “Yeah, no problem,” replied Spike as he walked over to the entrapped Sunset. As he stood behind Sunset, he pulled something out of his pocket and flipped a small blade from it, then used that blade to start cutting away at the vines. He needed to cut through only a few of them before Sunset was able to pull herself free and tossed the vines aside. Once Sunset was free, he walked over to Twilight and did the same thing for her. Twilight smiled as she freed herself from the now cut vines, but then she frowned as she turned to Spike and asked, “You were carrying a pocket knife?” Spike glanced at the pocket knife in his hand, then quickly hid it behind his back as he chuckled nervously. Twilight furrowed her brow and muttered to Spike, “We’ll talk about this later.” Her expression softened as she turned away and walked over to the shattered remains of her Jump-Gate return device, where Sunset also stood. “Do you think you can fix it?” asked Sunset. Twilight sighed and sadly replied, “I’m afraid it’s beyond repair. Even if I had access to my laboratory — which I obviously don’t — it would be more efficient to simply build a new one from scratch, and that would take many days — time that we certainly don’t have.” Sunset sighed and muttered, “Then we’ll just have to find another way out of this cave.” She walked over to the sealed entrance and tried to push against the boulders, but they certainly weren’t going to budge. She thought for a moment, then suddenly turned back to Twilight and asked, “Can you use your magic to move the boulders?” Twilight suddenly took a step back and looked away. “I-I’d rather not…” she replied hesitantly. “Twilight,” insisted Sunset, “we need to get out of here as soon as possible, and I don’t see any other way.” “Hey, look!” Spike suddenly called out from the middle of the cavern. “There’s a rope hanging from the ceiling!” Twilight immediately smiled and ran over to Spike. Sunset sighed and shook her head before she walked over to join them. In the middle of the cavern, Spike was pointing up at a rope that was dangling from the hole in the ceiling through which came the sunlight that illuminated this cavern. Although the rope seemed to extend out towards somewhere outside the cave, the end that they saw was rather high up, far beyond their reach. Sunset sighed and muttered, “There’s no way we can reach that.” Twilight thought for a moment, then smiled as she got an idea. “Not if we do this!” she said excitedly as she pushed Sunset towards the spot directly under the rope. Sunset yelped from the sudden shove, then grunted as Twilight next climbed up her back and stood on her shoulders. “C’mon up, Spike!” Twilight called down from atop Sunset. As Spike climbed up Sunset and Twilight, Sunset muttered, “I guess this could work.” Once Spike stood on Twilight’s shoulders, he reached up towards the dangling rope, but it was still too high up. “I can’t reach it!” he called down. “Well, so much for that,” grumbled Sunset. “There’s gotta be another way,” mumbled Twilight as she once again began to think. After a moment, she suddenly grinned and excitedly exclaimed, “I know! We’ll use our heads! Like this!” She reached down and removed Sunset’s hair piece, then placed her right foot onto the exposed stud on top of her head and stood up straight on it. “Ow!” grunted Sunset as she struggled to remained standing upright. “Is this really necessary?” Twilight ignored her as she removed her own hair piece. Spike placed his left foot onto the exposed stud on top of Twilight’s head and stood up straight. He reached up towards the dangling rope. His hand was able to just barely brush against the very end of that rope, but it was not quite close enough for him to get a firm grasp on it. “Oh come on!” he shouted in frustration. “If I had grown-up legs, I might be able to grab that rope!” All three of them certainly felt frustrated that they were so incredibly close to escaping and were literally just one inch short, but they weren’t about to give up just yet. As they all struggled to keep their balance, they tried to think of what else they could do to close that final minuscule distance. This time, it was Sunset who came up with a solution. “I think I’ve got an idea!” she called up to the others. “If we all crouch down, then jump up at the exact same time, it might give Spike enough of a boost to help him grab that rope.” “It’s worth a try,” remarked Twilight. “Let’s go for it!” declared Spike. Despite a bit of struggling to keep their balance, all three of then soon managed to crouch down directly under the rope. “Okay, everyone, on the count of three,” said Sunset. “One… two… three!” All three minifigs jumped up at the exact same time. Sunset, pushed herself off the ground, Twilight pushed herself off Sunset’s head, and Spike pushed himself off Twilight’s head. With the forces of all three jumps adding up together, Spike was hurled upwards high enough to grasp the rope not only with his hands but also between his legs. “Got it!” exclaimed Spike excitedly. Thud! Spike glanced down and saw Sunset sitting on the cavern floor while rubbing her bald head, while a similarly bald Twilight was lying face-down on the floor of the cavern. “Are you okay?!” Spike called down to them while still hanging onto the rope. Twilight slowly pushed herself off the ground and called back, “Don’t worry! We’re fine!” “Now go!” shouted Sunset up to Spike. “Get help!” “Right,” said Spike with a nod. He turned his gaze upwards and began to climb the rope. Sunset retrieved her hair piece and put it back on her head, then retrieved Twilight’s hair piece and handed it back to her as she stood back up. After Twilight put her hair piece back on her head, she looked up and watched as Spike slowly made his way up and out of the cavern. Now, there was nothing that Twilight and Sunset could do but wait and hope that Spike would come back with some help very soon. “Let go of me!” shouted Timber Spruce as two security guards tried haul him out of the Rich Cultural Center. “I need to talk to Twilight!” The commotion near the middle of the building was hard to ignore for most of the nearby people. Among the people on the main floor watching the struggle were the remaining members of the Canterlot City LEGO Team; Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. Kjeld was watching from the upper floor balcony of the north wing, and once he recognized who the guards were struggling with, he called out to them, “Hold him right there!” The guards maintained their firm grip on Timber, but now they kept him on the spot rather than trying to drag him out of the building. Kjeld walked down the stairway and over to where Timber stood. Once he stopped in front of Timber, Kjeld calmly asked, “Would you care to explain what’s going on?” Timber sighed and replied, “I’m worried that Gloriosa is about to make a bad choice. I need to talk to Twilight and see if she can do something about it.” “I’m afraid that won’t be possible at this time,” explained Kjeld. “I’ve been told that she and Sunset fled the area trying to chase after you and Gloriosa.” Kjeld paused and tapped his chin in thought. “Hmm… I’m not sure if they’re even aware that you’re still here.” “Then they followed after my sister,” concluded Timber with a resigned tone in his voice. He sighed and muttered, “I hope they can talk to her before she goes too far.” “I have already sent my son Thomas to LEGO Headquarters, where I presume they went,” added Kjeld. “I am sure that he, along with Twilight and Sunset, can help Gloriosa see reason.” He paused for a moment as he considered Timber’s words, then asked, “What is it about your sister that concerns you so much?” Timber hesitated for a moment, then sighed and reluctantly explained, “Something happened to her not long ago… Something that I’ve been trying my best to keep hidden away from everyone…” Before Timber could continue, Pinkie Pie suddenly cried out as her head spun around a few times towards the left. “Oh dear…” muttered Fluttershy worriedly. “The last time that happened, the sirens and their minions attacked Cloudsdale.” Rainbow Dash quickly began looking around for any sign of some sudden and unexpected threat. As everyone began to hear a low rumbling noise coming from above, she looked up towards the skylight above the center of the building and what she saw through that massive window made her jaw drop and her eyes widen. “INCOMING!!” hollered Rainbow Dash as she pointed up at the skylight. She then used her magical super speed to tackle into all four of her friends and shoved them all to one side. Barely more than a second after the warning was shouted, a large black and white spaceship suddenly crashed through the skylight. The party guests immediately panicked and ran away screaming as the large spaceship smashed into the main floor of the building. Kjeld and Timber had fallen to their backs from the impact, but they and the surrounding guards were relatively unscathed. As they stood back up, Kjeld saw the words “SPACE POLICE” on the side of the spaceship and immediately sighed and grumbled, “That’s the third time that thing’s been hijacked.” Two of the guards carefully approached the front of the wrecked spaceship and pushed some debris aside to get a good look inside the cockpit. After they pushed aside the damaged canopy, one of the guards called out, “It’s empty! There’s no pilot inside!” As most of the party guests began to mutter amongst themselves worriedly, Timber turned to Kjeld and asked, “Does that thing have an autopilot?” Kjeld shook his head and replied, “It does, but it only works for interstellar travel at warp speed. And besides, any autopilot would be smart enough to avoid crashing into a building. Whoever was flying this thing must’ve jumped out before it crashed.” He turned to the nearby guards and ordered, “We need to figure out what’s going on here, so go outside and try to find the pilot.” “That won’t be necessary.” Everyone froze as they heard that rather sinister voice, then turned their collective gaze towards the massive hole in the ceiling where they had heard it come from. They all watched in shock and horror as the magically corrupted Gloriosa Daisy slowly descended and stopped to hover in the middle of the building. “It’s Gaia Everfree!” shrieked Pinkie Pie. “That spooky campfire story was true!” As the party guests began to gasp and scream in panic, Timber just stared up in shock at Gloriosa and quietly muttered, “Gloriosa… what have you done?” As the shouts of panic began to rise, Gloriosa proudly declared, “Calm down, everyone! There is no reason to fear me! I come before you as your new savior! With all the forces of nature now under my control, I shall swear to protect the good people of the Lego World from greedy tyrants who would seek to take everything away!” She turned her gaze towards Filthy Rich, who was so still and silent from shock that he didn’t notice the glass slip out of his hand and shatter on the floor. Gloriosa grinned wickedly and added, “Starting with you!” It took a moment for Filthy Rich to realize that Gloriosa was pointing right at him, but once he did, he quickly turned around and began to run away without saying a word. However, he failed to see Gloriosa’s hands glow with green energy as she summoned a root through the floor to trip him, then unleashed a series of brambles that completely trapped him inside a small impenetrable enclosure. His scream of terror was heard for only a second before it was completely muffled by the brambles. Gloriosa next turned her gaze towards some of the party guests who happened to have been standing close to Filthy Rich. “And just to be safe, I’d better deal with his associates, too!” she declared, before unleashing more dark and twisted brambles to entrap everyone else on the upper floor of the north wing. “Gloriosa Daisy!” shouted Kjeld defiantly. “Stop this madness right now!” Gloriosa suddenly turned to Kjeld down on the main floor and immediately glowered at him. “I thought you were supposed to be protecting everyone in the world!” she growled accusingly. “Are you suddenly siding with that jerk?!” In spite of the danger he was in, Kjeld never dropped his face of bravery as he argued, “As deplorable as Filthy Rich might be, he has rights like any other citizen!” “Heartless monsters like Rich don’t deserve any rights!” Gloriosa furiously shot back. “If this is why you always fail to stop evil forces before they grow too powerful, then perhaps I should start taking away those rights! I’M TAKING OVER!!” And with that, she unleashed another series of dark and twisted brambles to quickly entrap Kjeld Playwell. With the leader of the entire Lego World now taken out of commission, the terrified crowd finally broke out into absolute pandemonium. Everyone screamed and cried as they all rushed for the exits. With everyone quickly vacating the building, Gloriosa decided to ascend back up through the massive hole in the ceiling. In all the chaos, the five girls from Canterlot City were left confused with no idea where to go or what to do. “Girls!” Rarity suddenly called out. The four others turned to Rarity and saw she was standing beside legendary police officer Chase McCain. “This way!” exclaimed Chase. “I know an emergency exit!” With no other option, the five girls followed after Chase as he led them towards a basic door at the far corner of the east wing of the building. However, as they ran, chunks of the ceiling began to break away and crash to the floor, and just before they could reach the door, one chunk of debris landed right in front of that door, blocking the way out and forcing the six minifigs to stop in their tracks. “Or at least it was an emergency exit,” noted Chase. “Don’t worry!” assured Pinkie Pie. “I can clear it away!” She rushed over to the nearest buffet table and managed to find a tray full of cupcakes frosted in many different colors. She grabbed a cupcake with green frosting, shoved the rest of the cupcakes into her hair, then rushed back to the others and proudly held up the cupcake in her hand. “With this!” “Uh, that’s a cupcake,” Chase pointed out in confusion. “Exactly!” responded Pinkie Pie cheerfully as she faced the chunk of debris and began to back away from it. Rarity held out her arm to gently push Chase away from the blocked door as she said, “I would suggest you stand back.” As everyone else backed away from the blocking chunk of debris, Pinkie stood halfway across the room, then with the stance and movement of a professional baseball pitcher, she chucked the cupcake directly at the debris. The cupcake glowed pink as soon as it left her hand and exploded the moment it impacted the debris, blasting it into smaller bits of rubble and clearing the path to the door. “Huh… I never knew cupcakes could be explosive,” remarked Chase in disbelief. Fluttershy walked over to the door and tried to open it, but it didn’t even budge. She grunted as she struggled to open the door, but gave up after a few seconds and worriedly said, “Oh dear. It’s locked.” “Move over,” said Applejack as she gently pushed Fluttershy away from the door. She grasped the handle and with one mighty yank, she ripped out not only the door but also the frame piece around that door. She then hurled the door and frame clear across the room and exclaimed, “C’mon, y’all, let’s move!” Applejack was the first one into the emergency escape tunnel, followed by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and finally a dumbfounded Chase McCain. As he followed after the girls into the tunnel, Chase couldn’t help but speak up, “Okay, I’m just gonna come out and say it. You girls are some of the weirdest people I’ve ever met.” As the six minifigs made their underground escape, more debris began to fall throughout the entire building. On the outside, the building was quickly overrun by countless vines that were prying apart the entire structure, all done through the magical powers of Gloriosa. “First Blackwell Tower, now this eyesore,” grumbled Gloriosa as she moved her glowing hands around, guiding the vines to bring down the building. “I think this square of evil would be better suited as a beautiful park.” As the last parts of the structure came crashing down and the entire building was completely demolished, Gloriosa began to hear the wailing of approaching police sirens. She turned around and saw a dozen police cars had quickly gathered at the scene. At the front of it all was Lego City’s Chief of Police, Marion Dunby, who wore a standard black police uniform and had a thick black mustache on his face. He rode up on his segway, pulled out a megaphone and angrily called up to Gloriosa, “Alright, I don’t know who the heck you are, but I’m placing you under arrest!” Gloriosa simply grinned and retorted, “You can’t arrest me! I’m above the law now!” Her hands glowed as she once again unleashed another tangle of brambles, this time entrapping Dunby along with his segway. With their chief taken out, the rest of the police officers began to panic as they either ran away or jumped into various hiding places such as inside a dumpster, behind a lamppost, and even inside the trunk of one of the police cruisers. “There’s a new sheriff in town!” declared an increasingly maddening Gloriosa Daisy to all the panicked and fearful civilians out on the streets. “I’m here to protect you all from anyone who would dare to oppress you! As long you remain under my care, you shall always be free forever! There is no reason for any of you to fear me! I’VE GOT THIS!!” With that announcement, Gloriosa rushed downwards and slammed her glowing hands directly into the ground, unleashing a wave of dark magical energy through the ground in all directions. The immense surge in magic extended for a radius of about a mile, where a massive wall of thick and twisted dark brambles began to rise up out of the ground. A huge swath of Lego City was now being completely cut off from the rest of the outside world. The wall of brambles extended all the way around the city, causing traffic to slam into it on both sides along many streets and even at the middle of a large bridge. The final point to be cut off between the city and the outer reaches was the peninsula that connected LEGO Team Headquarters to the city, leaving that building outside the entrapped zone, but with its only land route completely blocked. Further away from the epicenter but still within the wall of brambles, a hidden doorway leading to a secret passage was suddenly torn from its hinges and hurled away as Applejack kicked it open. She stepped outside, followed by Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and finally Chase McCain. “I’m pretty sure that door wasn’t even locked on our side,” muttered Chase. “We’re tryin’ to get away from danger,” argued Applejack. “Ah ain’t got time to check if it’s locked when we’re comin’ through anyway.” “Not to mention, breaking the door open is a much cooler way to make an entrance,” remarked Rainbow Dash with a smirk. Rarity cleared her throat and spoke up, “I believe we have a much bigger issue to deal with than the proper way to open a door.” She pointed upwards toward the right. Everyone turned towards what Rarity was pointing at and they all gasped as they saw, just a short distance away, was a massive wall of dark and twisted brambles. “Holy ravioli!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie in shock. As soon as Rainbow Dash got over the shock of what they saw, she immediately zoomed off as a rainbow motion blur along the wall to the left. Just seconds later, the rainbow motion blur returned to the group from the right end of the wall. As soon as she stopped, she worriedly exclaimed, “It goes all the way around a huge part of the city!” “Are you saying we’re trapped in here?!” asked Fluttershy fearfully. “Not quite, darling,” noted Rarity. “Anything with flight capabilities can still easily get over this wall.” She focused her gaze at the top of wall and after a few seconds of observation, she realized the brambles that made up this wall were still growing. “But it is continuously rising,” she added with concern. “If this keeps up, it could very well be only a matter of time before we well and truly become entrapped inside a complete dome of these brambles.” “We gotta find a way to get outta here!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “No!” Applejack shot back fiercely. “Not when there are thousands of innocent civilians trapped in here, too!” “She’s right, Pinkie,” stated Chase firmly. “We can’t run away! Not when the citizens of Lego City are in danger!” Fluttershy sighed and sadly muttered, “Why do these kinds of things always happen to us?” “So what are we going to do?” asked Rarity with concern as she looked around at the others. “What we always do! Save the day!” responded Rainbow Dash proudly as she stepped forward and held out her hand. Applejack glanced down at Rainbow’s outstretched hand, then smiled as she stepped forward and placed her own hand over it. Her action was repeated by Pinkie Pie, then by Rarity, and finally by Fluttershy. Once their outstretched hands were together, all five girls raised them up and let out a loud cheer. “Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she jumped around excitedly. “This is gonna be so much fun! I only wish we had superhero outfits to wear.” “That’s actually not a bad idea,” remarked Rarity. “When this is over, I may consider designing such uniforms for each of us.” She momentarily paused before she added, “Come to think of it, in retrospect, I’m actually relieved that Spike forgot to bring our formal attire for the gala. There is simply no way I would be willing to do any fighting in such a lovely dress.” “Enough about our wardrobe!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash in exasperation. “We’ve gotta stop Gloriosa from trapping everybody in here!” Applejack nodded and said, “Right, but first we need to actually find her. Odds are she’s probably still somewhere downtown, an’ seein’ as we’re this far out, we might as well borrow a vehicle to get us there fast.” “What about that truck over there?” asked Pinkie as she pointed at a blue pickup truck parked alongside a nearby street. “Would that work?” “Good enough for me,” replied Applejack as she quickly headed towards the truck. As Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy followed after Applejack, Rarity turned to Chase and asked, “Mister McCain, could you do us a favor and try to find Twilight and Sunset? We could really use their assistance.” Chase nodded with a smiled as he replied, “I’ll do the best I can.” “Thank you, dear,” acknowledged Rarity. “Much appreciated.” She then turned away and quickly went over to the truck. As Rarity hopped into the truck’s bed with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash, Applejack was in the driver’s seat and soon managed to get the vehicle started. Once everyone was in the truck, Applejack drove it onto the street and began heading towards the epicenter of the magical mayhem in downtown Lego City. As Chase watched that truck drive away, he suddenly heard a tone come from his police communicator, so he pulled it out and answered the call. “Chase? Do ya have any idea what’s goin’ on out there?” asked a female voice with a southern accent on the communicator. “I’m afraid we’ve got a Code Rainbow situation going on, Ellie,” responded Chase. “The Canterlot team is already on their way to deal with the threat, but since much of the city is now enclosed within a wall of brambles, you’ll need to tell every officer inside the barrier that they need to get everyone off the streets.” “Sounds to me like there’s about to be another big magical fight,” noted Ellie on the communicator. “Ah’ll be sure to spread the word as quickly as possible.” “Thanks, Ellie,” responded Chase. “Oh, and could you let me know if you get any leads on where to find Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle? Their friends asked me to find them so they can help out.” “Well, Ah don’t have anythin’ definite,” replied Ellie, “but Ah was just informed they were last seen headin’ towards LEGO Team Headquarters. Unfortunately this bramble barrier cuts right across the peninsula, an’ the buildin’ is on the outside of the barrier.” “In that case, I’d better head on over to that area, just in case they happen to be inside the barrier,” responded Chase. “If they turn out to be stuck on the outside of the barrier, could you let them know they need to get in here right away?” “Sure thing, Chase,” replied Ellie. “Good luck out there.” As the call ended, Chase put away his communicator tablet and began to look around as he muttered to himself, “Now I just need to find a police car I can use…” Downtown Lego City had now descended into complete chaos. The spread of Gloriosa’s dark magic had not only made a massive impenetrable barrier begin to rise up around much of the city, but also caused plant life within the barrier to start sprouting and growing like crazy all over the place. The streets, sidewalks, and even the sides of buildings were quickly becoming overgrown in only a matter of minutes. All traffic within the barrier had quickly ground to a complete halt, and many civilians were now running around aimlessly while screaming in absolute terror. While many of them tried to seek shelter wherever they could, a few others were brave or foolish enough to try to take down Gloriosa on their own, typically by simply throwing whatever random objects they had at her. Those attempts were largely ineffective and pathetic, and Gloriosa swiftly responded by entrapping them in yet more bramble cocoons. As all of this was going on, a certain pair of incompetent crooks were watching the madness from a hidden alleyway. “Hey, Rocky, look at this,” said Mugsy as he gestured out at the overgrown street with panicked civilians running around screaming. Rocky stepped out of the alleyway and glanced around. When he noticed the corrupted Gloriosa hovering not far away with a green magical glow around her hands, he groaned and grumbled, “Why do we always end up caught in the middle of these crazy magic events?” “Yeah, it does seem weird, doesn’t it?” muttered Mugsy in agreement. After a brief pause, Rocky suddenly grinned as he turned to his partner in crime and asked, “Wanna take advantage of the madness and do some looting?” “Do I ever!” responded Mugsy excitedly. The two crooks chuckled mischievously as they made their way out onto the street, but then suddenly yelped as they were forced to jump out of the way of a blue pickup truck that zoomed right by. As the truck swerved to avoid them, it quickly lost traction on the overgrown street and began to slide around uncontrollably until it eventually crashed into a traffic light post at the corner of an intersection. Applejack threw the door open as she jumped out of the truck’s driver’s seat and furiously exclaimed, “Dagnabbit! Why are those two brick-heads always gettin’ in the way?!” The four other girls carefully climbed out of the bed of the truck. Thankfully, all of them were completely unharmed from that crash. As Applejack walked over to the others, Rainbow Dash looked around and soon spotted Gloriosa just over one city block away. “Well, at least we found Gloriosa,” noted Rainbow Dash. She gestured for everyone to follow as she began running forward and urgently said, “C’mon, let’s go!” Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all followed after Rainbow Dash as they all ran the remaining short distance down the street to confront Gloriosa. Gloriosa kept her eyes peeled for any more ignorant fools who would dare to try and stop her, so it wasn’t long until she noticed the arrival of the five girls from Canterlot City. As they all stopped before her, she smiled wickedly and said with disdain, “I was wondering where you girls ran off to. Are you here to help me make the Lego World a much safer place?” “A safer place?” asked Rainbow Dash incredulously as she raised an eyebrow. “What you’re doing is the exact opposite of that!” “I concur,” agreed Rarity. “Now don’t get me wrong, Filthy Rich is hardly an example of a model citizen, but what you’re trying to accomplish is simply going too far.” “What are you talking about?!” retorted Gloriosa furiously. “I’m doing this for the common people! I’m giving them the protection that no one else has been brave and powerful enough to offer them!” “But you’re trappin’ ‘em in here against their will!” Applejack shot back. “Ah don’t know what makes ya think this is somehow a good thing, but these innocent people sure don’t think so!” “This is for their own good!” insisted Gloriosa. “I’m just doing what’s best for anyone who cares! You must be completely delusional to think that I don’t care about them!” “No, I’m pretty sure you’re the one who’s gone delusional here,” argued Pinkie Pie. “And believe me, I know a thing or two about crazy.” “Fine!” snapped Gloriosa. “If you insist on working against me, then I’ll just have to get rid of you!” “Oh yeah?!” taunted Rainbow Dash. “You and what army?!” Gloriosa smirked and simply responded, “This army!” She spread her arms out and her hands crackled with more glowing green energy. Next, about a dozen large plant stalks sprouted up out of the ground and after growing about six bricks high in only a matter of seconds, the exterior peeled away. Within each of these large stalks was something in the shape and size of a standard minifig, but every part of their bodies consisted of nothing but pure wood, and they lacked any surface features with the exception of the texture of wood grain that was never identical between any two of them. “Are those minifigs… made of wood?” asked Applejack as she and her friends stood together with their backs to each other as the wooden minifigs surrounded them. “They sure are!” replied Gloriosa proudly. “In case if you failed history class, let me remind you that back when Ole Playwell first established the Lego World, there was no such thing as plastic — everything was made of wood! So in a way, I’m bringing the world back to its roots, if you’ll pardon the pun.” “So you’re army’s made of walking sticks, huh?” quipped Rainbow Dash with a smirk. “No problem! We can totally take ‘em down!” “Um, I’m not sure we’re the only ones who have to worry about these woodfigs,” said Fluttershy as she pointed down the street. The five girls glanced in the direction Fluttershy was gesturing and they saw two of the woodfigs were chasing after a pair of civilians who were screaming for their lives as they ran away. “Not if I have any say in the matter,” declared Rarity as she used her magic to conjure a large diamond shield — which also caused her to suddenly “pony up” by magically gaining pony ears, a unicorn horn on her forehead, and a longer hair piece to give the impression of a tail. She paid no attention to her transformation as she immediately sent forth her diamond shield and, with remarkable timing, slammed it upright into the sidewalk right in the middle of the pursuit, allowing the civilians to continue fleeing while the woodfigs slammed into the shield and fell to pieces, their wooden parts clattering on the solid ground. As soon at that was taken care of, the five girls heard more screaming civilians coming from down the street in the other direction, so they turned around and saw a few more woodfigs were holding a trio of panicked civilians over their heads. Rainbow Dash didn’t hesitate and immediately used her magic to zoom right at the woodfigs, tackling right through them and sending their parts flying away. As the panicked civilians hit the ground relatively unscathed, Rainbow Dash also suddenly ponied up — magically gaining pony ears, feathered wings on her back, and longer hair. Without acknowledging her transformation, she quickly told the rescued civilians, “Get outta here! We’ll deal with these things!” She then zoomed off in a rainbow motion blur to deal with more of the woodfigs. Meanwhile, as some of the woodfigs closed in on the rest of the team, Rarity summoned a ring of diamond shields around the group and then flung them outwards, knocking the woodfigs back. Applejack took advantage of the opening and ran towards the nearest streetlight. As a dozen more woodfigs began to surround her, she grasped the base of the lamppost and as she also ponied up — magically gaining pony ears and longer hair — she effortlessly ripped the streetlight off its fixture to the ground. She turned around and held the lamppost sideways, then smirked and shouted, “Batter up!” She then swung the lamppost around in a huge arc, slamming across all those nearby woodfigs and sending their parts flying away. As Applejack and Rarity continued down the street in one direction to deal with more of the advancing woodfigs, Pinkie Pie looked down the street in the other direction, where Rainbow Dash was busy speed-slamming into any woodfig she came across. Pinkie was about to go join her speedy friend when a bunch more woodfigs suddenly stood in her way. Despite the initial surprise, Pinkie simply smiled in determination and tauntingly shouted, “Alright, stickfigs! I’m here to blow stuff up and serve muffins!” She then pulled a cupcake out of her hair and added, “But I don’t have any muffins with me, so you’ll have to settle for cupcakes instead! KABOOM!!” She then tossed the cupcake, instantly causing her to pony up — magically gaining pony ears and longer hair. The cupcake glowed pink as it flew towards the blocking woodfigs and then exploded on impact, blasting the woodfigs to pieces and sending their parts clattering all over the street. Pinkie pulled another cupcake out of her hair and giggled as she ran off towards Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy now found herself standing alone in the middle of the overgrown street. She glanced up toward Gloriosa, but saw the magically corrupted foe had flown off to personally witness the ongoing battle. Fluttershy sighed and mumbled to herself, “I wish there was something I could do to help.” Yipe! Yipe! Fluttershy immediately turned around and saw a little puppy was barking at her. However, thanks to her magic, she was able to clearly understand what he was trying to say to her. “What is it, little one?” she asked as she knelt down close to the little puppy. The puppy kept barking, and as Fluttershy continued to listen, she also ponied up — magically gaining pony ears, feathered wings on her back, and longer hair. “Uh-huh…” muttered Fluttershy as she kept listening. “Oh really? You think that’ll work?” The puppy barked a few more times in response. “Well, I guess it’s worth a try.” She stood back up and with renewed determination, she said, “Okay, lead the way.” The puppy quickly scurried away and Fluttershy followed right behind. Meanwhile, Rainbow continued speed-smashing through woodfigs while Pinkie kept tossing explosive cupcakes at the same attacking group. However, after taking out a few dozen of them, many more woodfigs charged out onto the street, many of them moving around to isolate the duo from the others. As soon as Pinkie noticed this, she gasped and exclaimed, “Dash! We’re being cut-off!” Rainbow stopped beside Pinkie, then smirked and remarked, “Then I’ll cut them off!” She then instantly tackled through the entire line of woodfigs blocking the way back to the others, then continued zooming around to the clear the rest of the way down the street. Pinkie followed after Rainbow as quickly as possible while tossing cupcakes at any of the surrounding woodfigs that tried to get in the way. “Here, have a cupcake,” she said at one point as she casually tossed a cupcake into the hands of a woodfig she ran by. The woodfig stood still, as if confused by the cupcake in its hands, but then after a delayed reaction, the cupcake detonated, sending pieces of that woodfig flying away in all directions. Further down the street, Applejack let loose a battle cry as she charged on ahead, swinging that lamppost around to effortlessly swat away any woodfigs that stood in her way. Rarity, on the other hand, chose to hold her ground and used her diamond shields to shove away any woodfigs that dared to get close. Suddenly, the familiar rainbow motion blur zoomed by and very quickly took out most of the woodfigs surrounding Rarity before continuing on towards Applejack. “Rarity! Heads up!” Rarity spun around and saw a glowing pink cupcake hurtling towards her. Acting purely on instinct, she quickly conjured a diamond shield right in front of her head just in time to block the projectile. The cupcake exploded on impact and the blast was deflected right at the last few woodfigs that were still standing nearby, taking them all out. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?” remarked Pinkie Pie. “Occasional mishaps aside, I find myself in agreement,” replied Rarity. It was at that moment when Gloriosa reminded them of her presence by lowering close to the ground as she let out a roar of fury and shouted, “Why must you be so difficult?!” Ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff-ruff! The noise of countless barking dogs interrupted Gloriosa’s thoughts, so she turned to the source of the rising commotion and was stunned to see over a dozen dogs suddenly come charging out of a nearby alleyway and then jumped all over her body. “Ah! Get them off! Get them off of me!” she shrieked as she tried desperately to brush off all the dogs as they tried to bite and claw at any part of her they could reach. Rarity and Pinkie Pie watched the mass dog attack in stunned disbelief. “Whoa,” remarked Pinkie. “Who let the dogs out?” “Um, that would be me.” Rarity and Pinkie turned to the alleyway the dogs had come from and they saw a smiling Fluttershy calmly walking over to them. After a few seconds of agony, Gloriosa managed to unleash a repulsive burst of magical energy around herself, throwing off all of the attacking dogs. Once the dogs hit the ground, they all slowly got back up and collectively whimpered as they all retreated back into the alleyway. As Rainbow Dash suddenly zoomed over to rejoin the three stunned girls, Gloriosa rose above them and furiously shouted, “You girls are really beginning to annoy me! I just want you to stay out of my way! I’ve got this!” “Says you!” Rainbow Dash shot back. “We’re here to put a stop to your madness, and we’re not going anywhere until we win!” She glanced down the street, then turned back to Gloriosa with a smile and casually added, “By the way, you’ve got a bus to catch.” Gloriosa stared at Rainbow and raised an eyebrow. But then, seemingly out of nowhere, an airborne bus suddenly slammed right into Gloriosa. The bus was flying sideways, so when it finally hit the ground, it tumbled around a few times before the remaining wreckage finally landed upside down on its roof. From the other direction of the street behind the four girls, Applejack walked over to them as she dusted her hands off and chuckled. “Good one, Rainbow,” she remarked before she and Rainbow gave each other a high five. Not long after the bus had rolled to a stop, a bunch of large vines suddenly sprouted beside the wrecked vehicle, reached over to grip onto the edge of it, and then tugged to roll the massive vehicle back onto it wheels. Once the bus was upright again, the main door opened and Gloriosa casually stepped outside, as if she was a common passenger getting off at her stop. Gloriosa calmly brushed off the dust from her outfit, then grinned wickedly at the Canterlot City team. “Now then…” she said as she began to rise up from the ground again and her body once again glowed with sickly green magical energy. “Let’s try this again, shall we?” As the five girls braced themselves for the next round of the battle, Fluttershy couldn’t help but mutter, “Oh, I wish Twilight and Sunset were here with us. We could really use their help right now.”