//------------------------------// // Lego City under Siege // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 4 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 13 Lego City under Siege Pinkie Pie giggled as she tossed another cupcake at yet another oncoming group of woodfigs. The cupcake exploded on impact and blasted the woodfigs to pieces. Nearby, Fluttershy fearfully crouched down behind Rarity, who kept on conjuring diamond shields and repelling them, shoving away any woodfigs that tried to get close to them. “These faceless brutes just keep coming!” exclaimed Rarity in exasperation and she shoved another half dozen woodfigs away with yet another diamond shield. Pinkie Pie reached into her hair, but after a few seconds of feeling around, she froze and her eyes widened. “Oh no!” she exclaimed. “I just ran out of cupcakes!” On one side of the group, Rainbow Dash zoomed around and smashed through over a dozen woodfigs, but the street didn’t remain clear for long before even more woodfigs charged onto the scene. On the other side, Applejack picked up the nearest woodfig and chucked it right at the rest of the charging group, knocking them all over and making them fall to pieces. But just as those wooden minifig parts settled on the street, more woodfigs arrived onto the street. “This ain’t workin’!” exclaimed Applejack. “Gloriosa’s magic is too strong!” Rainbow Dash stopped beside Applejack and responded, “Then we’ll just have to try our other special magic: Master Building!” She glanced back at the rest of her friends and called out, “Everyone, start breaking stuff! If we’re gonna get creative, then we’ll need all the parts we can get!” The five girls all nodded in agreement and quickly went to work on complete destruction. Rainbow Dash made sure to keep rapidly destroying all of the oncoming woodfigs, but not without intentionally breaking a few other things along the way. Rarity hurled her diamond shields along the sides of all the surrounding buildings to knock down various awnings, signs, and billboards. Fluttershy encountered some stray dogs and asked them to fetch and retrieve anything they could carry out of the nearby alleyways. Pinkie Pie looked around desperately as she ran around aimlessly. She felt that, without any explosive ammunition, there was no way she could help her friends with their wanton destruction of city property, so her first task was to find a new supply of sugary substances for her to toss around. She rarely even bothered to watch where she was going, so when she suddenly bumped into a random woodfig, she suddenly shrieked and jumped backwards, flailing her limbs around as she smashed through a large window into a building. She quickly got up from the floor and glanced around to see that she had landed inside a shop that had nothing but all kinds of donuts available inside the display cases and behind the counter. It didn’t take long for her to realize what this meant for her, and a very huge grin quickly formed on her face. Meanwhile, as more woodfigs began to close in, Applejack ran over to a nearby small blue car and almost effortlessly picked up the vehicle by its front bumper. “Blue punch buggy!” she shouted tauntingly before she started swinging the car around, smacking away any woodfigs that got close to her. Once the nearby opponents had been cleared away, she turned to yet another approaching group of woodfigs. “No punch back!” she taunted again as she then hurled the car at those woodfigs, smashing them to pieces and also completely destroying that car in the process. As Rarity knocked down yet another large sign from the side of a building, her eyes fell on the pile of parts from that destroyed car. She quickly glanced around at some of the other loose Lego parts she and her friends had scattered around, and finally glanced up at Gloriosa still hovering in the air above. She turned her attention back to the largest pile where that car was and smiled. “Idea!” she announced in that sing-song tone she always used for that remark. She ran over to Fluttershy and asked, “Do you think you could provide a diversion around Gloriosa?” Before Fluttershy could respond, she heard a seagull squawk as it flew towards her, so she held out her arm to let it perch there. Once the seagull had landed, it squawked a few more times. Fluttershy listened and nodded, then turned to Rarity and replied, “That can be arranged.” “Excellent!” responded Rarity excitedly. “I’ll need it done as soon as possible for my brilliant idea to work.” She then immediately ran over to the largest pile of scattered Lego parts on the street. Fluttershy turned to the seagull on her arm and said, “You heard her. Get to it.” The seagull nodded and then flew off. Rarity quickly went to work and started tossing Lego parts through the air. As was typical for when she got creative as a Master Builder, her magic allowed every single piece she tossed to land precisely where they needed to fit, so for her it was only a matter of tossing the right parts in the right order. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Click! Clack! Click! Clack! Click! Click! Clack! Clack! Click! Clack! In only a matter seconds, Rarity’s creation was fully assembled. It was a large slingshot type of launching machine that some might identify as a ballista, and it was built on a rotating base with a series of spinning levers to adjust the machine’s aim. As Rarity began winding up the launching mechanism, she called out, “Applejack! Could you please provide me with some ammunition?” Right at that moment, Applejack had just thrown a dumpster at another group of charging woodfigs. She had managed to knock down all but one of them. Once she heard the request, she glance back at Rarity, then turned back to the one remaining woodfig. She simply shrugged, grabbed the woodfig as it tried to tackle her, and held it over her head as she ran over to the launcher. As she arrived, she unceremoniously shoved the woodfig headfirst into the launching basket. After she finished winding up the launcher, Rarity momentarily stared at the loaded woodfig as it helplessly wiggled its legs around, then muttered, “I suppose that should suffice.” She then turned her gaze upwards towards Gloriosa. Just as Fluttershy had promised, a diversion had been successfully provided in the form of a flock of seagulls that squawked and pecked relentlessly at Gloriosa. “Beat it you flying rats! SHOO!!” shouted Gloriosa furiously as she tried to swat away the seagulls that surrounded her up in the air. With little time to lose, Rarity quickly spun the series of levers around on her launcher. Once it was properly aimed, she pulled the large lever, firing the machine and flinging the woodfig directly at Gloriosa. The seagulls scattered right before the moment of impact. The woodfig was smashed to pieces as it slammed into Gloriosa and sent her tumbling downward. However, Gloriosa regained control of her flight before she even came close to the ground. She then immediately unleashed her power on the launcher by making dozens of vines quickly sprout all around it and began prying it apart, forcing Rarity to flee before she could get caught in those vines. “You’ll have to do better than that!” taunted Gloriosa. As the vines retreated from the now destroyed launcher, Rainbow Dash zoomed over to stand beside Rarity and retorted to Gloriosa, “Challenge accepted!” “In that case, Ah’ll buy ya some time,” remarked Applejack as she ran by while carrying a white limousine over her head. She continued ahead and once she got close to Gloriosa, she started swinging the long vehicle around in a futile attempt to swat her opponent out of the air. “C’mon! Let’s have at it!” she called out in determination. With that diversion under way, Rarity turned to Rainbow Dash and asked, “Do you have a creative idea worth attempting?” Rainbow Dash smirked and responded, “Simple. What’s the quickest way to get rid of all this plant material?” Rarity glanced around at all the overgrowth that covered much of the city within the bramble barrier, then silently shrugged and shook her head. Rainbow Dash grinned and added, “Burn it all away!” She then immediately started zooming around as a rainbow motion blur as she quickly assembled the parts from the destroyed launcher and a few other loose parts lying around. Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-click-whoosh-clack-whoosh-click-whoosh-clack-whoosh-click-clack-whoosh-click-clack-click-clack-whoosh-click-click-clack-clack-whoosh-click-clack-click-clack! In only a matter of seconds, Rainbow Dash was finished with her creation. She had built what appeared to be a treadmill with a few gears linking it to some wooden parts from defeated woodfigs, some of which were on a wheel of some kind with the others on a fixed rig in contact with that wheel. “Step one: start the fire,” stated Rainbow Dash as she hopped onto the treadmill. She then started running on the treadmill, which turned the gears to make the mounted wheel start spinning, causing the two sets of wooden parts to start rubbing against each other. Thanks to her super speed, she was quickly able to get the treadmill running at a ridiculously high speed, generating a lot of friction between the two wooden components. It didn’t take long for some smoke to start forming, and after just a few more seconds, the wooden components suddenly burst into flames. Once she saw the flames, Rainbow Dash stopped running and hopped off the treadmill. She grinned at the flames and remarked, “If we can spread this fire far enough, not even an overpowered Gloriosa can stop it!” However, as Rainbow spoke, she was unaware of a vine wrapping itself around a nearby fire hydrant. The vine tightened around the valve that was pointed directly at the flaming contraption until it eventually burst open, unleashing a huge jet of water. Rainbow didn’t even have enough time to look back before she was suddenly and completely drenched, the contraption was blasted to pieces from the pressurized torrent, and the fire she had started was swiftly extinguished. Rarity and Fluttershy — who had just returned to the scene — looked up to Gloriosa and, sure enough, she had her arm extended towards the burst fire hydrant. “Nice try,” she taunted. Applejack — having lost that limo after failing to distract Gloriosa — ran over to the burst fire hydrant and, thanks to her super strength, grasped it and began to twist it around until its gushing torrent was now aimed directly at Gloriosa. Gloriosa certainly heard the creaking and groaning of the fire hydrant being twisted around, but she was so stunned by that display of super strength that she failed to react in time. The ceaseless torrent of highly pressurized water pushed her backwards into the building behind her, smashing through a third-story window. Applejack chuckled and quipped, “Looks like you’re all washed up now!” As a completely soaked Rainbow Dash stood up and walked away from the wrecked contraption, Fluttershy asked, “Should I get you a towel?” “Don’t bother,” replied Rainbow. She then ran around in a circle fast enough to again appear as a rainbow motion blur. She stopped after a few seconds, revealing that she was now back to being as dry as she was prior to the bursting of that fire hydrant. “See?” she remarked confidently. “No problem!” Immediately after that, Gloriosa suddenly burst upwards through the roof of the building. She glared down at the four girls and furiously shouted, “You ignorant brats! Let’s see how you deal with this!” All across both ends of the street around the girls, dozens of giant stalks quickly sprouted and released yet more woodfigs to attack. As the countless woodfigs began their charge, the four girls stayed close together as they prepared to defend themselves. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! A series of explosion from seemingly out of nowhere suddenly destroyed half of the oncoming charge from one side, sending woodfig parts flying through the air. Immediately after the last of those explosions, Pinkie Pie rushed out onto the street with a large sack on her back that was stuffed full of donuts. Pinkie giggled and excitedly remarked, “Exploding donuts! That’s sure to go viral across the internet!” She rushed past her gathered friends and swiftly tossed some more donuts at the oncoming charge from the other direction, unleashing just as much destruction as she did to the first group. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! With renewed determination, Rainbow Dash shouted, “C’mon, girls! Let’s take ‘em all down!” She then zoomed off once again to smash some more woodfigs. Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Sunset fired her laser blaster at the woodfigs up ahead. Once the laser bolts had cleared them away, she continued moving onwards. Not far away by her side, Twilight swung her plasma blade around to slash through any woodfigs that tried to attack from the sides. Despite their relentless attempts, those woodfigs never stood a chance against such an incredibly powerful pair of weapons. Right behind the two girls, Spike guarded the rear. As one woodfig tried to sneak up behind the trio, Spike let loose a battle cry as he raised his ax and swung it down right onto the woodfig’s head. He tried to remove the ax, but it remained firmly embedded within the woodfig’s head. He gave it a strong yank, but that only resulted in the head being removed from the body, which collapsed and fell apart. He next tried wildly swinging the ax around, but the wooden head still remained stuck on the blade. Finally, he simply slammed the wooden head onto the ground, splitting it half and freeing the ax. He paused as he stared at the split wooden head and then mumbled, “If that guy wasn’t made of wood, that could’ve been a gruesome sight.” Twilight sliced through another woodfig with her plasma blade before she responded, “And that is precisely why you’re not allowed to watch any R-rated movies.” She slashed through yet another woodfig that tried to attack. “Or play any M-rated video games.” Pew! Pew! Pew! “Less talking, more clearing these things away!” shouted Sunset as she continued firing at the relentless waves of woodfigs up ahead. “I can barely keep up on my own!” Pew! Pew! Pew! As Twilight slashed yet another woodfig, she failed to notice some vines wriggling near her feet. As soon as she got too close to them, the vines suddenly wrapped around her ankles and swiftly grew much taller, flipping her upside down and lifting her off the ground. Twilight yelped as she was suddenly trapped and left suspended, dropping her plasma blade in the process. The glowing part of the blade retracted the moment it left her hand, so it was reduced to just the solid handle as it hit the ground. “Twilight!” Spike cried out, only to have another bunch of vines suddenly wrap around his torso and lift him off the ground. Thankfully, he was able to remain holding onto that ax in his hand. As he and Twilight struggled to pull themselves free, he cried out, “Sunset! Help us!” Sunset glanced back to see the predicament her two friends and teammates had suddenly ended up in, but was forced to return her attention back to the seemingly endless waves of oncoming woodfigs. “I’m a little busy right now, so you’ll have to cut yourselves loose!” she called back before she resumed firing her laser blaster. Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Spike rolled his eyes and sourly responded, “Oh yeah, sure, like I’m gonna swing a razor sharp ax right at my own stomach! I do have common sense, y’know!” Meanwhile, Twilight stretched her arms out as far as she could, but her plasma blade on the ground was beyond her reach. “I can’t reach my plasma blade!” she exclaimed desperately. Pew! Pew! Pew! Sunset spared another brief moment to glance over at Twilight to better understand her friend’s predicament. Once she noticed Twilight straining to reach for the dropped plasma blade handle, she didn’t hesitate to respond, “Use your magic to pick it up!” She didn’t bother waiting for a response before she resumed firing at the countless woodfigs. Pew! Pew! Pew! Twilight wanted to argue, but she could clearly see that Sunset was too busy keeping the woodfigs away. She let out a sigh of resignation, then focused her attention on the plasma blade handle and reached out with her magical power. Her right hand began to glow with purple energy, and that same magical glow soon enveloped the plasma blade handle before it started it shift around a little bit on its own. Nothing much else happened for a few seconds before the handle suddenly lifted off the ground and flew up into Twilight’s hand. Once her plasma blade handle was back in her grasp, she cut off her magic and smiled. VWISH! As soon as she had reactivated her plasma blade, she swiftly sliced through the vines that held her up and tumbled to the ground. She quickly stood up and slashed through the vines that held Spike. Now that they were both free, they rushed over to join Sunset. “Hopefully, I won’t have to use that kind of force ever again,” muttered Twilight. Pew! Pew! Pew! “Considering what we’re up against,” responded Sunset as she kept firing at the oncoming woodfigs, “I seriously doubt that.” Pew! Pew! Pew! “Where are all these things coming from, anyway?” asked Spike. As Sunset finished clearing the closest wave of woodfigs, she exclaimed in exasperation, “If this keeps up, it’ll be dark before we get even close to reaching our friends!” As the next dozen woodfigs came charging down the street from across the intersection up ahead, she raised her laser blaster and took aim. Before Sunset was able to fire even a single shot, a vehicle suddenly slammed into the woodfigs as it skidded to a stop in the intersection. The entire group of woodfigs was swiftly knocked over like a set of bowling pins, with the noise of the wooden clattering of their parts simply adding to the effect. The vehicle that had suddenly arrived had large wheels on a high base and was white with blue stripes and labeled with the word “POLICE”. A familiar face stuck his head out of the driver side window and remarked, “Now that’s what I call a strike.” “Whoa!” exclaimed Spike in astonishment. “Is that Chase McCain?!” Chase didn’t bother acknowledging Spike’s question as he faced the trio and exclaimed, “Where have you been?! Your friends need your help! Get in!” Twilight and Sunset looked to each other and silently nodded before they ran over to the police vehicle, with Spike following right behind. Twilight retracted her plasma blade and pocketed the handle before she opened the right rear door and hopped into the backseat, while Spike opened the left rear door and hopped into the backseat beside her. At the same time, Sunset opened the right front door, tossed her laser blaster into the empty space between to two front seats, and then hopped into the front passenger seat. Once everyone was inside the vehicle, Chase hit the accelerator and began driving rapidly down the overgrown street. “Good thing I decided to take the off-road model,” he remarked. “With all this crazy plant overgrowth all over the place, I’ll need all the traction I can get.” “So where are we going?” asked Spike. “I don’t know exactly where your friends are,” replied Chase as he made a hard right turn, “but I’m very sure they’re trying their best to stop Gloriosa, who will probably still be somewhere downtown.” “What about Timber Spruce?” asked Twilight. “Last I saw, he was back at the cultural center with the other party guests,” replied Chase. “We need to go get him before we can find our friends!” Twilight firmly stated. “And why is that?” asked Chase as he made a hard left turn. “Is it because you really care about him a whole lot?” teased Spike. “No!” Twilight swiftly responded. She then quickly added, “Well, yes, but that’s only a secondary reason. I believe he might be our best chance of stopping Gloriosa.” “What makes you say that?” asked Sunset as the car made another sharp left turn. Twilight sighed and reluctantly replied, “During the Midnight Sparkle incident, I was on the verge of destroying you when Spike suddenly caught my attention, reminding me that I wasn’t being myself in that moment. It wasn’t much, but it was just enough to help you free me from that dark magic. I’m hoping that Timber can help us do the same for Gloriosa.” “Can’t argue with that logic,” stated Sunset. “I do know that Gloriosa and Timber see each other as the only family they have left, so if anyone can get through to Gloriosa the same way Spike got through to you, then it’s definitely Timber.” “In that case, I’d better take you back to the cultural center right away,” said Chase as he made yet another sharp left turn, so that now he was driving the other way on the same street he had been on when he had reached the three friends and teammates. “With any luck, we’ll find Timber hiding out somewhere nearby among the other terrified citizens.” Sunset looked out the window and stared at the top of the surrounding bramble barrier. It was only now that she realized it was continuing to slowly rise. “Whatever happens, we need to move fast,” she warned. “Not only are we running out of daylight, but it’s likely we’ll soon end up completely cut off from the outside world with possibly no hope of escape.” Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Pinkie tossed some more donuts from the sack on her back, swiftly destroying some more incoming woodfigs. At the same time, Rarity continued shoving away woodfigs with her diamond shields, Rainbow Dash continued slamming into woodfigs with her super speed, and Applejack had torn loose another streetlight and began swinging it around like a giant club to smack away any woodfigs that got close. It wasn’t long before Gloriosa decided to start unleashing her other magical abilities once more. Just as Pinkie prepared to toss some more donuts, a bunch of vines suddenly sprouted from the ground, wrapped around her body, and lifted her up into the air. Rainbow heard Pinkie let out a scream and turned to see what had just happened to her. “Hang on, Pinkie! I’ll get ya outta there!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash before she zoomed towards Pinkie… only to get tripped by another vine along the way, allowing some more vines to wrap around her and lift her into the air as well. It wasn’t long before Rarity suddenly found herself trapped in a similar manner, though she did manage to keep her arms away from her torso as the vines wrapped around her. Applejack glanced back at her trapped friends, then turned her attention forward again towards the ceaselessly oncoming waves of woodfigs. “Sorry, y’all, but we got more incommin’!” she called back before she charged ahead down the street and continued swinging that lamppost around. “Oh great,” grumbled Rainbow Dash. “How are we gonna get ourselves outta this?” Pinkie continued struggling for a few seconds, then froze and her eyes widened as a realization suddenly occurred to her. “Rarity!” she called out. “Remember what Maud said about using diamond-tipped saws on her mining equipment?” Rarity glanced down at the vines holding her in place, then summoned one of her diamond shields. She took a moment to note the diamond’s perfect hexagonal shape, and with a gentle flick of a wrist, she sent it rapidly spinning like a disc. With a few movements of her hands, she sent the spinning diamond to slice right through the vines holding them up. Due to the shape of the diamond and the way it was rapidly spinning, it behaved like a circular saw as it cleanly cut right through those vines. Bzzzzzz! As Rainbow, Pinkie, and Rarity landed back on the street, Rainbow Dash smiled and remarked, “Good thinking!” “Oh my!” said Rarity in astonishment. “That was remarkably effective!” She grinned and added, “I may never again have to hire a gardener for any pruning.” While Applejack was holding her own against the woodfigs at one end of the street, the other end was left unguarded and thus dozens of woodfigs were quickly advancing. It didn’t take Rainbow Dash more than a second to come up with the perfect solution. “Hey, Rarity!” she called out. “Try using that on the woodfigs!” Rarity resummoned the diamond shield and set it spinning again. She gazed out at the incoming ranks of woodfigs and then sent the spinning diamond out at them. With just a few passes, she had swiftly cut down all those woodfigs, sending sawdust flying everywhere. Bzzzzzz! Bzzzzzz! Bzzzzzz! With that end of the street completely cleared of all adversaries, Rarity decided to assist Applejack and repeated the process to the woodfigs at the other end of the street. Bzzzzzz! Bzzzzzz! Applejack was momentarily stunned to see all those woodfigs getting literally cut down so swiftly, but once she saw the large spinning diamond responsible for it, she smiled. She rested the lamppost over her shoulder as she turned back to Rarity and quipped, “Not bad. You should consider takin’ up woodworkin’.” Before Rarity could make some kind of comeback, Rainbow Dash suddenly glanced around in concern and asked, “Wait… where’d Fluttershy run off to?” Applejack rubbed the back of her head and replied, “Knowin’ her, Ah reckon she’s searchin’ for reinforcements, if ya know what Ah mean.” “I can only hope she is successful,” said Rarity. “We’ve thrown everything we’ve got at Gloriosa, and she still remains as unbelievably powerful as ever.” “Oh, I wouldn’t say we’ve thrown everything just yet,” stated Pinkie Pie as she clenched her fists and a look of grim determination formed on her face. “It’s time for me to overdo it.” She turned to Rarity and ordered, “Try to push Gloriosa to the street in front of that really tall building over there. When I give the signal from the top of that building, shield yourself and the others.” Before any of her friends could question her plan, she quickly ran off to begin preparing. Rarity was momentarily speechless before she sighed and muttered, “Why am I getting a foreboding sense that something truly cataclysmic is about to unfold?” Chase McCain brought the police vehicle to a stop on the street in front of the Rich Cultural Center… or at least the site of where it should be. Now, all that was left of the building was a pile of rubble covered in a lot of overgrowth. As Chase, Spike, Twilight, and Sunset all climbed out of the vehicle, Spike asked, “What happened to the building?” “Looks like Gloriosa decided to demolish the place,” concluded Chase. He quietly added, “I hope everyone inside is still okay…” The streets around the site were in just as much devastation as the building. In addition to all the overgrowth, there were also numerous vehicles stopped in scattered locations, many of which happened to be police cruisers. But perhaps most startling of all were the dozens of small dome structures made of dark and twisted brambles, similar to the ones that made up the barrier surrounding the city. Sunset approached one of the bramble domes and asked, “What are these things?” “They’re like cocoons,” replied Chase grimly. “Inside each and every one you see around us, there’s a helpless civilian trapped inside.” Spike gasped and exclaimed, “There are people trapped inside these things?! We gotta help them!” “We don’t have for that!” argued Sunset. “We can come back and help them after we’ve defeated Gloriosa. Right now, we just need to find Timber so we can take him with us while we resume finding our friends.” “But what if he’s trapped inside one of these cocoons?” asked Spike. “How will we know where he is?!” “Don’t worry,” assured Chase as he pulled out his police communicator tablet. “I’ve got a scanner on this thing that’ll help me identify anyone in the area, regardless of any barriers in the way.” Chase held up his tablet and began slowly moving it around in front of him. On the screen, he could see the shapes of every person within the field-of-view of the scanner, and when the center point of the screen panned over someone, that person’s name came up. He continued searching, despite how distressing it was to see the names of every innocent civilian trapped inside these bramble cocoons — many of whom turned out to be fellow police officers he knew, including Chief Dunby. Eventually, as he scanned over some cocoons at the street corner on the left side of the demolished cultural center, he saw the name “Timber Spruce” come up, so he zoomed in the scanner’s lens to accurately identify which specific bramble cocoon that Timber was trapped inside. “Found him!” announced both Chase and Twilight at the exact same time. Chase and Twilight glanced at each other in confusion. “How did you…?” asked Chase. Twilight removed her glasses — which had grey tinted lenses rather than the usual clear ones — and simply replied, “X-ray specs!” As she put away that pair of special specs and put her regular glasses back on, she firmly added, “And no, they do not provide me with that kind of X-ray vision.” As Twilight ran off towards where Timber was trapped, Chase stared at her for a moment, then just shrugged and muttered, “Fair enough, I suppose.” Twilight soon reached the bramble cocoon that she had seen Timber inside. She pounded on the exterior a few times and shouted, “Timber! Are you in there?!” “Twilight?!” came a muffled response inside. “Is that you?!” “Yes, Timber!” responded Twilight. “Now stay away from this side! I’m gonna get you outta there!” Without waiting for a response, she quickly pulled out her plasma blade and activated it. FWISH! Twilight swung the plasma blade around horizontally back and forth, slashing through those brambles and scorching them enough to inhibit regrowth. Once a large enough hole had been torn into the cocoon, she swiftly reached inside and yanked Timber out. Just a split second later, the brambles began to regrow into place, but by then the prisoner had already escaped. As Twilight helped him up to his feet, Timber said gratefully, “Thanks for getting me outta that thing.” When he noticed the glowing purple blade in Twilight’s hand, he smiled and remarked, “That’s pretty cool.” Twilight giggled and smugly responded, “You like my new toy?” She twirled the blade around her hand to demonstrate the humming sound it made while passing through the air. Vrrr. “Save the small talk for later!” shouted Sunset to both Twilight and Timber. “Right now, we’ve got an entire city to save!” Twilight and Timber glanced back at each other and silently nodded in agreement. Twilight retracted her plasma blade and pocketed the handle, then she and Timber ran over to the police vehicle where Sunset, Spike, and Chase were waiting for them. Applejack lifted a yellow SUV over her head, turned to face Gloriosa, and threw it at her. However, Gloriosa easily saw the large vehicle getting hurled at her, so she effortlessly dodged it by simply hovering over to one side. The vehicle sailed right by her and then crashed to street below, setting off its car alarm. “This ain’t workin’!” exclaimed Applejack desperately. “She’s dodgin’ everythin’ Ah can throw at her!” “I doubt utilizing my diamond shields in a similar manner would yield a different result,” stated Rarity not far behind as she focused her efforts on keeping away the endless waves of woodfigs. The familiar rainbow motion blur took out a few more woodfigs in the other direction beneath Gloriosa, then zoomed back towards the two girls. As Rainbow Dash came to a stop beside them, she added, “I don’t think she’s falling for any of my distractions anymore. We need a new plan!” “Well Ah’m fresh outta ideas,” replied Applejack with a shrug. “We must come up with something soon,” stated Rarity as she sent forth another diamond shield to shove away yet another wave of woodfigs. “Pinkie Pie is counting on us fulfilling our part for her plan to succeed, and I am almost certain that she would rather not wait on us once she’s ready.” “C’mon, girls! There’s gotta be something we can do to push back Gloriosa!” demanded Rainbow Dash desperately. “Just give up already!” taunted Gloriosa. “You know you can’t stop me! I’ll always be one step ahead of you!” Before Gloriosa could gloat any further, she was suddenly smacked in the back of her head by a large bird as it dived down at her. She recovered quickly, but that completely unexpected attack caused her to immediately start looking around. Just seconds later, she started hearing some aggressive hooting and hollering from a nearby building, so she glanced over to it and saw a group of angry monkeys jumping around on the rooftop as they began to toss various food scraps at her. She backed away from the sudden bombardment, only to suddenly get pounced on by a tiger as it jumped from another nearby rooftop. As they both hit the street below, Gloriosa quickly threw the tiger off and got back up, but the tiger landed on its feet and growled fiercely at her. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity were watching the animal attacks in stunned disbelief when they suddenly felt ground beneath their feet start to rumble. They turned around and saw an elephant charging down the street — thankfully not directly at them — and riding on its back high above was their friend Fluttershy with a smile on her face. “Sorry to keep you waiting!” Fluttershy called down to her friends. “Took me a while to find the zoo!” As the elephant charged right past them, the three girls down on the street began to smile. “Awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly. “We got zoo animals on our side!” She turned and pointed at Gloriosa and taunted, “How’s that for using the forces of nature?!” At this point, Gloriosa stood atop a tower of brambles to escape the tiger, but that tiger was already climbing its way up, forcing her to take to the air to get away from all the animal attacks. Meanwhile, Rarity turned to Applejack and said, “I should probably inform Fluttershy of Pinkie’s plan.” She grinned slyly as she asked, “Applejack, if you don’t mind?” Applejack responded with a smile and placed her hands close together near her waist as she slightly crouched down. Rarity placed one foot on Applejack’s hands and, with a mighty heave, the apple farmer flung the fashionista high into the air. Rarity gracefully did a backwards somersault and made a perfect landing right on the elephant’s back behind Fluttershy. After taking a moment to readjust her hair piece, Rarity turned to the shy yellow girl and said, “Fluttershy, dear, I believe you should be aware that, as we speak, Pinkie Pie is preparing some sort of plan to hopefully put a stop to Gloriosa. Please inform our animal allies that we must push Gloriosa to the street in front of the tallest building in the district, just up ahead, then when Pinkie gives the signal from atop that building, all of these beasts and critters must flee the area at once.” “Consider it done,” responded Fluttershy with a nod and a smile. She let loose a sharp whistle and some small birds quickly flocked towards her. As Fluttershy gave the message to those birds so they could spread word of it to the other zoo animals, Applejack turned Rainbow Dash and asked, “So what can we do to help out?” Rainbow heard the clattering footsteps of yet more woodfigs advancing behind them, so with a smile of determination, she turned around to face them and replied, “We’ll just keep these stick figures from getting in the way.” “Fine by me,” remarked Applejack with a grin as she beat her fist into her palm. “Let’s make some splinters fly!” With the Canterlot City girls putting their plan into action, Gloriosa found herself on the defensive as the angry monkeys on the rooftops continued trying to pelt her with various food scraps. When she got splattered in the face by an over-ripened banana, she growled in frustration and shouted, “That does it! No more monkey business!” She unleashed her magical power along the buildings around her and made the overgrowth spread up towards the rooftops, forcing the hooting and howling monkeys to scatter. With Gloriosa’s attention on those monkeys, she failed to notice a giraffe had walked up behind her and, thanks to its high reach due to its long neck, grasped her out of the air with its mouth and swiftly flung her down the street towards the tall building. Gloriosa landed in an intersection and quickly got back on her feet, only to have a rhinoceros charge right at her and, once she was caught around its horn, flung further down that street. She was quick to get back up, but was again tackled from behind, this time by a roaring gorilla that suddenly grasped her by her ankles and started savagely beating her repeatedly against the pavement like a ragdoll. After about half a dozen violent impacts, the gorilla then threw her even further down the street. Gloriosa once again got back up, but the constant abuse she had been given was starting to take its toll on her as she struggled to stand still and focus her attention on anything. She was partially broken out of her dazed state when she noticed the elephant charging right at her with Fluttershy and Rarity riding on its back. With a growl of frustration, Gloriosa swiftly raised a wall of thick brambles to block the stampeding elephant, but the massive animal simply smashed right through the wall like it was nothing. Before she could react, the elephant grasped her with its trunk and then flung her further more down the street. Now in front of the tallest building in the district, Gloriosa stood back up one more. She glanced around and saw all kinds of zoo animals slowly closing in around her from all sides. As the elephant slowly approached, Fluttershy desperately called out, “You can’t win, Gloriosa! Please stop this before someone gets seriously hurt!” “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” grumbled Gloriosa before she cracked her neck and shrugged off the pain she had just been subjected to. “Please forgive us for taking such drastic actions, darling, but you are leaving us with little choice!” Rarity called out, “If you stop this madness right away, I can promise you there will be no more fighting between us!” “Then why are you even fighting me in the first place?!” shouted Gloriosa furiously. “I’ve told you all before, I’m doing this to keep everyone safe!” “Holding an entire city hostage against their will is hardly a righteous thing to do,” Rarity pointed out. While the confrontation was going on down on the street below, Pinkie Pie had finally reached the roof of the tall building above. She opened the door and exited the stairwell slowly as she dragged behind her a street-side concession cart that served slush drinks. The elevator didn’t quite reach the roof, so she had been forced to haul the wheeled cart up the last couple of floors via the stairs. Once she finally made it up the final step, she quickly wheeled the cart over to the front side of the building. She peered over the edge and, sure enough, she saw Gloriosa cornered on the street directly below. It was time to put her plan into action. She turned back to the slush drink cart and removed the syrup tank, handling it carefully to not spill any of its contents. As far as she knew, this tank contained one of the most densely concentrated sugary substances that existed, and it was in such a massive quantity that she could barely lift it onto her shoulder. With those two factors in mind, she was convinced that she was about to unleash the absolute peak of her magical power. Pinkie hefted the heavy tank onto her right shoulder and carefully carried it over to the edge of the building. As she stepped onto the ledge, she held the tank in place with her right arm as she stretched her left arm out as far as possible and waved it widely around a few times. She then cupped her left hand around her mouth and hollered down, “BOMBS AWAY!!” Then, with both arms, she hurled the heavy tank over the edge. As soon as she saw the descending tank start to glow pink, she immediately rushed back inside the building to take cover. Down on the street below, with some of the animals keeping a constant watch on the roof of the tall building, they immediately alerted all the other gathered creatures that Pinkie had just given the signal. With no time to lose, every single animal instantly turned around and fled the scene as quickly as possible. The elephant was fleeing in the direction where Applejack and Rainbow Dash were still busy fighting woodfigs, so Rarity and Fluttershy simply had to hop off the elephant’s back as it passed by them. Once all four girls were together again, Rarity wasted no time in quickly summoning a series of diamond constructs in the form of a solid dome around all four of them. Gloriosa watched in confusion as every single animal suddenly ran away in a massive stampede. Even more confusing to her was when her adversaries suddenly huddled together under a dome of diamonds. She then began to hear a long whistling sound from above, so she glanced up and saw some strange glowing object was rapidly falling right onto the area where she stood. “What the brick?” she muttered. Sunset, Twilight, Spike, Chase, and Timber all climbed into the off-road police cruiser. Chase sat in the driver’s seat, Sunset was in the front passenger seat with her laser blaster resting between the two seats, Twilight sat on the right side of the backseat behind Sunset, Timber sat on the left side of the backseat behind Chase, and Spike sat in the middle of the backseat. “Okay, now that we’ve got Timber with us, where to next?” asked Spike. “Now we just need to find our friends so we can put a stop to this madness,” answered Sunset. She turned to Chase and asked, “So where are they?” “That’s what I’m about to find out,” replied Chase as he pulled out his police communicator tablet and began searching through its features. Only a few seconds later, everyone noticed a very bright flash come from the left side of the vehicle. By the time they all turned their heads to see what it was, a massive shockwave suddenly slammed into the side of the vehicle, instantly sending it rolling around a few times until it eventually came to rest on its roof. As the loud rumbling of the shockwave continued to echo around, the five minifigs inside the cruiser slowly crawled out of the upside down vehicle. Once Twilight had pulled herself free and stood up, she asked, “Is everyone okay?” Spike grunted as Timber helped him out. “A little shaken up,” replied Spike, “but I think we’re fine.” By this point, both Sunset and Chase had also pulled themselves out of the overturned vehicle seemingly unscathed. Now that they knew everyone was alright, Timber asked the next question on everyone’s minds. “What the heck was that?” Sunset stared off in the direction the flash and shockwave had come from and replied, “If I had to guess, I’d say Pinkie Pie decided to overdo it.” The others followed Sunset’s gaze and they were all left completely speechless by what they saw. A massive pink mushroom cloud was slowly rising over downtown Lego City, marking the epicenter of the immense blast that had almost certainly been unleashed by their friend with explosive powers. Everyone continued to stare in stunned silence at the mushroom cloud for a few moments before Chase finally spoke up. “Well, good news is we now know where to find your friends. Bad news is the off-road cruiser’s destroyed, so we’ll have to get there on foot.” Twilight glanced back at the overturned vehicle, then turned her attention back towards the blast site. She sighed and stated, “Then we’d better get going.” As she started walking, she pulled out her plasma blade and activated it. FWISH! Sunset reached down and pulled her laser blaster out of the wrecked vehicle, then turned around and followed after Twilight. Chase was the next to follow after them, followed by Spike after he had retrieved his ax from the cruiser, and finally Timber followed right behind them all. None of them had any idea what they might find once they arrived, but at least now they had a very good idea of where they had to go.