Chapter 6
Confrontation
Outside of Pappalardo’s ice cream parlor in the Fresco district of Lego City, there were two minifigs walking down the sidewalk. These two guys were both wearing black and white striped shirts and black beanie hats, one wore a grey jacket over his shirt and the other had the sleeves torn off of his. These two were none other than Rocky and Mugsy, two of the most incompetent crooks known in all of the City Regions.
“You sure this is the right place for us?” asked Mugsy, the one with the torn sleeves, who spoke in a deeper dim-witted voice.
“Sure I’m sure,” assured Rocky, the one with the jacket, who spoke with a gravelly gangster voice. “Everyone knows that the guy who runs this place is one of the biggest crime bosses in all of Lego City.”
“If everyone knows that, then why haven’t the cops taken him away?” asked Mugsy in confusion.
“‘Cuz the cops can’t get no evidence on him! He’s that good at coverin’ his tracks!” answered Rocky with a grin. He then pulled Mugsy close to him and continued, “Listen, we ain’t doin’ too well on our own lately. If we wanna get somethin’ that’ll really pay off big time, then this guy should be able to line us up with somethin’ sweet. As long as we do things right and pay him his royalty, we’re sure to make a big score!”
“Eh, I guess it’s worth a shot,” conceded Mugsy with a shrug. But just as he and his partner in crime turned onto the path towards the front door of the building, he spotted a certain type of vehicle slowing down along the street right next to them. He immediately pointed at it and worriedly spoke up, “Uh-oh. Cop car.”
Rocky glanced back and saw the police cruiser pull into a parallel parking space right across the street. “Run!” he immediately shouted in panic. Without even a second thought, the two crooks turned around and quickly fled back up the street to where they came from.
As the two brick-head crooks ran off, both doors opened on the police cruiser, and suddenly that blue and white sedan was replaced with a red roofless performance car, and the two people that were climbing out of this car were Sunset Shimmer and Trixie.
As Trixie spared a second to retrieve her magical staff from the hidden compartment behind the seat, she grinned and smugly remarked, “See, what did I say? Trixie’s illusion spell was truly a life-saver for us.”
“Celebrate later,” grumbled Sunset as she rushed towards the ice cream parlor. “We still have a lot to do, and now very little time to get it all done.”
Trixie followed Sunset inside the building. Sunset ignored everyone around her as she continued to rush across the room, up the staircase, and directly towards Vinnie’s office. Although Trixie managed to keep up, she couldn’t help but notice many of the surrounding patrons were looking at them as they rushed through the building.
As soon as Sunset reached the door to Vinnie’s office, she immediately knocked on it loudly a few times and called out, “Vinnie! It’s Sunset again, and this time it’s urgent!”
Sunset heard some shuffling papers from within the office before she heard Vinnie respond, “Alright, come on in.”
Sunset swiftly opened the door and stepped inside. Trixie followed and took the time to make sure to close the door behind her.
“This had better be important,” grumbled Vinnie as he closed one of the hidden safes in his office before walking over to his desk. “I got other things to do, ya know.”
“Trust me, this is very important,” insisted Sunset as she pulled her magic journal out of her satchel. “I asked Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria to search for any information about the Memory Stone that we might’ve missed.” She opened the journal and flipped to the page with the new information, then set the journal down on Vinnie’s desk. “This is the message she just sent me.”
Vinnie didn’t quite understand half of the things Sunset mentioned, but decided to read the message anyway. As he read the second part of it, he was unable to prevent a look of shock from appearing on his face. Once he finished reading, he looked up at Sunset and asked, “Is this for real?”
“You have no idea how much I wish it wasn’t,” responded Sunset, her desperation very clear in the tone of her voice.
Vinnie glanced down at the message again, then picked up the journal and carried it over to the photocopier as he said, “I’ll send copies of this to my guys, but don’t expect to see any results as soon as what you’re askin’ for.” He placed the journal into the photocopier and started printing copies of the important page. “I’m good at what I do, but I’m no miracle worker.”
“I understand, but we still need to at least try,” said Sunset. “At the very least, do you think you might have a lead on where we could find that rock formation?”
“I’m no geologist, I can tell you that much,” replied Vinnie. He paused in thought for a moment before he added, “Though I am familiar with someone who practically eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff. And lucky for you, I heard this rock expert happens to be visiting from out of town today. Chances are you’ll find her over at that mine in Bluebell National Park.”
“At this point, I’ll take anything that could get us even one step closer to finding the Memory Stone,” admitted Sunset.
Once he had finished printing enough copies, Vinnie removed the journal from the photocopier. As he handed the journal back to Sunset, he said, “In that case, let’s hope you find that miracle breakthrough in your search.”
“Thanks, Vinnie,” responded Sunset with a smile. “I’ll need all the luck I can get.” She put the magic journal back into her satchel, then turned around and quickly walked out of the office.
Trixie followed Sunset out of the office. Upon seeing the amber girl rushing her way through the building again, Trixie called out, “Sunset! Why the rush?”
“In case if you’ve already forgotten, we’re working under a time limit,” Sunset shot back irritably as she rushed down the stairs. “There’s a real possibility this might come down to the last few moments, so I’m trying to save as much time as possible everywhere we go.”
“Can’t we at least stop for lunch?” complained Trixie. “Trixie’s hungry.”
Already halfway to the exit, Sunset stopped as she rolled her eyes and growled in frustration. She swiftly turned around and ran over to the service counter. She loudly smacked the countertop twice to catch the waitress’s attention and quickly asked, “What have you got that we can take on the road?”
It wasn’t long before Sunset and Trixie were back on the road, now on their way to Bluebell National Park. As they drove past the airport and through the Uptown district of Lego City, Trixie had just finished her third ice cream sandwich as she moaned in delight and cheerfully exclaimed, “It has been years since Trixie has enjoyed something so delicious!”
Sunset furrowed her brow and kept her eyes on the road as she tried to ignore Trixie, driving with one hand on the steering wheel while the other held a half-eaten ice cream sandwich of her own.
“Though personally,” Trixie rambled on, “Trixie is more partial to peanut butter crackers. Still, that was some of the best ice cream Trixie has ever had. When this is all over, perhaps I could convince Vinnie to open up a second ice cream parlor in the Castle Region, preferably right next door to Trixie’s castle. I swear, these false rumors that the Great and Powerful Trixie eats nothing but pinecones really need to be quashed at once, and requesting the construction of an ice cream parlor right next to her castle would go a long way towards—”
As they came to a stop at a red light, Sunset suddenly shoved her half-eaten ice cream sandwich into Trixie’s mouth. Once she had effectively put a stop to the endless ramblings of the blue sorceress, she growled, “I would highly appreciate if you could just learn to SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE!!” She furiously shouted those last four words directly at Trixie. As she turned her attention back to the road, the traffic light turned green, so she resumed driving ahead.
Trixie removed the half-eaten ice cream sandwich from her mouth, glanced down at it, then shrugged and took a bite out of it.
Within a few minutes, they made it across Blackwell Bridge, which connected the Uptown district directly to Bluebell National Park on the mainland — a rather abrupt transition from urban to rural developments. Shortly after that, they turned right off the main route and onto a dirt road into the surrounding woodland, and soon after took another right onto another dirt road that followed a set of railroad tracks, which eventually led to a mine entrance in the side of a mountain.
Sunset decided to park the car right next to a large shack located right in front of the mine entrance. She and Trixie got out of the car and walked around to the front porch of the shack, where there were some tables and benches under the roof and some vending machines along the wall. As they walked onto the porch, they saw one minifig packing up her lunchbox. This minifig had grey skin, light purple hair, and was wearing a miner’s helmet on her head with dark blue on her torso and upper legs.
“I figured this would be our rock expert,” Sunset quietly remarked. As she walked over to the minifig in question, she called out, “Hey! Maud Pie! Could you help us out?”
Maud turned around to face the two girls as they walked over to her. Although she was incapable of expressing emotions, Sunset was sure that even this miner girl — as a result of the effects of the Memory Stone — had feelings of ridicule for her. As soon as they stopped in front of her, Maud — in her usual dull and flat tone— finally responded, “For your information, I have no intentions of seeking a criminal record.”
“I’m not asking for that kind of help,” Sunset clarified.
“Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait,” said Maud as she walked past them towards one of the vending machines. “I need to get back inside the mine soon.”
Trixie noticed the vending machine Maud was approaching had a decal covering the front surface that displayed a bundle of dynamite. “Does that vending machine dispense dynamite?” asked Trixie in confusion.
“It does,” replied Maud.
Now a little concerned, Trixie asked, “Doesn’t that seem a little, I don’t know… hazardous for public safety?”
“Relax,” assured Maud as she held up a coin. “These things will only accept miner tokens.” The coin in her hand was marked with two pickaxes crossed over each other. She inserted the token into the coin slot, causing the vending machine to rumble a little until a bundle of dynamite tumbled out from the bottom. Maud retrieved the dynamite, then turned around and began walking towards the mine entrance.
Sunset suddenly stepped right in front of Maud and insisted, “Whatever you’re doing in that mine, I’m sure it can wait a few minutes. But this can’t!” She reached into her satchel, pulled out the sketch of the Memory Stone, and handed it over to Maud. “This is the Memory Stone — a magical artifact from Equestria that has the power to erase memories. Someone recently used it to make everyone forget that I’m actually now with the good guys, and I need your help to figure out where it might be.”
Maud stared at the sketch for a few seconds, then turned her gaze up to Sunset and asked, “Why should I trust you?”
“If I was gonna do something evil with it, do you think I’d even tell you about it?” questioned Sunset.
“If this stone could do what you claim it’s capable of,” Maud pointed out, “you could just use it to erase my memory of this encounter.”
“Ooh, devious,” remarked Trixie with a smile. “Are you sure you’re not secretly a bad guy yourself?”
“Shut it, Trixie!” snapped Sunset.
Maud handed the sketch back to Sunset as she explained, “Even if I wanted to help you, there’s not much I can tell you from this drawing. Only that it’s felsic-intrusive igneous, granular in texture, most likely arranged in an—”
“I don’t have time for scientific lectures,” Sunset abruptly cut off as she pulled out her journal, set it down on one of the tables, and flipped to the page with Princess Twilight’s most recent message. She then grabbed Maud around the hip and pulled her towards the table as she said, “The only other clue I’ve got is that it was once buried under this rock formation.” She pointed at the sketch on the journal page. “You familiar with it?”
Maud stared at the sketch for a while, her only movement was an unnaturally slow blink.
Trixie leaned close to Sunset and quietly remarked, “Sure is a slow one, isn’t she?”
Sunset swiftly jabbed her elbow into Trixie’s torso, causing the blue sorceress to sharply cry out in pain.
Maud stared at that journal page for a few more seconds before she began to walk away as she simply said, “Follow me.”
Though a little confused by the vagueness, Sunset decided to place her journal and the sketch back into her satchel and followed Maud, with Trixie following right behind.
Maud walked over to a grey pickup truck, lowered the tailgate, set down the bundle of dynamite she was still carrying, and pulled a large box from the back of the truck’s bed. “One of my favorite hobbies to do between jobs is cartography, particularly topographical maps,” she explained as she opened the box and pulled out some 2x2 tiles, upon which were various maps that showed contour lines of certain levels of elevation. “I’m quite fascinated with trying to study every hill and valley on the terrain, as it can provide clues for what kind of geology might lie beneath the soil. I use some of the best surveying tools available to ensure I get the most accurate measurements I possibly can.” As she spoke, she opened another box and began flipping through some pictures of various natural features. Once she found one particular picture, she handed it over to Sunset. “I think you’ll be interested in this. I took this photograph approximately three years ago.”
Sunset looked at the picture, which showed a small clearing deep in the forest with three tall rocks that were equally spaced apart in a triangular arrangement with some overgrowth partially covering them and a large clump of bushes in the middle of that stone arrangement. She pulled her journal out again and flipped back to the latest message, then compared the sketch of the rock formation with the photograph. “It’s almost a perfect match,” she noted in astonishment. She turned to Maud and asked, “Where was this taken?”
Maud set down one of her maps, pulled out a pen, and marked the location on that map with a circle. She glanced back and said, “I noticed your car isn’t exactly suitable for off-road use. You won’t find any trails close to this location, but I can trace a path on this map for you to follow that should minimize the unavoidable abuse to your vehicle.” She then proceeded to draw a winding line between the location of interest and the nearest dirt road, taking great care to make it follow the contour lines.
“So, um, out of curiosity,” asked Trixie, “why have you suddenly agreed to help us?”
“I read the footnote on your second sketch that you have until tonight to recover these lost memories,” Maud pointed out. “I’ll give you that long to prove yourselves before I decide to report to the authorities that you were here.”
Sunset glanced down at her journal and realized how obvious it was that Maud would have noticed the message that went with that sketch. Although some might say Maud wasn’t offering them much, Sunset knew that if she failed to recover the lost memories in time, anything else that happened afterword simply wouldn’t matter anymore. “Fair enough,” she acknowledged with a nod as she closed her journal and placed it back inside her satchel.
Maud soon finished drawing her recommended path on the map. “You can keep this,” she said as she handed the map over to Sunset. “It’s one of many copies I’ve made.”
“Thanks, Maud,” said Sunset. “If I succeed, trust me, you’ll know it. Just keep thinking back to that day when you helped the LEGO Team try to stop a group of Shadowbolt agents from stealing some Power Crystals in the Mining Region.” Without waiting for a response, she turned around and rushed back to her car.
When Maud turned to her, Trixie simply shrugged before she followed after Sunset.
As soon as the two girls were back in their car, Trixie grabbed the map and said, “Since you’re the one who’s driving, allow Trixie to be your navigator.”
Without saying a word, Sunset took the map out of Trixie’s hands, turned it around, and placed it back in the sorceress’s hands.
Trixie looked at the map that was no longer upside down, then simply giggled in embarrassment.
Sunset shook her head before she started the engine. She then turned the car around and began driving back up the dirt road.
After leaving that official dirt road, Sunset carefully drove the car along the path that Maud had marked on the map for them. This turned out to be much easier than anticipated, as the entire length of this trail appeared to have been worn down by a pair of dusty ruts in the ground. It was still a somewhat bumpy ride, but it was nowhere nearly bad enough to risk any serious damage to the car, so long as they were careful not to drive too fast.
“You know,” Trixie spoke up, “considering we’re not supposed to be near any roads right now, this trail seems remarkably well-used.”
“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Sunset. “This could actually be an important clue. It means that whoever found the Memory Stone wasn’t some random hiker who was passing by. Someone’s been coming back and forth to this place numerous times. But why?”
“Maybe we’ll find our answers when we get to that rock formation,” suggested Trixie. “If someone’s been doing something there, that place is sure to look very different from that photo from three years ago.”
Although Sunset remained silent, she did find herself in agreement with Trixie.
After a few more minutes of slowly driving up the trail, the terrain leveled off and they began to approach a clearing in the forest. The first sign of anything unusual was the presence of a green and white van parked at the end of the trail. Sunset turned her car off the trail to the right and brought it to a stop close to the edge of the forest. This allowed the car to overlook the clearing, where the familiar formation of three tall rocks was now surrounded by flowerbeds and garden beds of many different varieties, with the largest such arrangement located right in the center. As she shifted her car into park, she glanced over at the van and saw the side paneling labeled with a rather basic graphic that read “Wallflower’s Landscaping” next to a symbol of potted yellow flower that appeared to be wilting.
“That must be our suspect’s vehicle,” concluded Trixie as she opened the door and stepped out of the car. She began to pull her seat forward to retrieve her staff, but Sunset suddenly shoved it back into place.
“No,” said Sunset sharply. “That stays here.”
Flabbergasted, Trixie frowned and firmly asked, “For what reason?”
“If my hunch is right,” replied Sunset as she adjusted something on the car’s dashboard, “then the person we’re dealing with here could be someone who’s easy to panic, and the sight of you carrying around such a dangerous object could make them react in a way that will not benefit us at all.”
“But Trixie never goes anywhere without her magical staff!” protested Trixie.
Sunset quickly tapped on her phone a few times before she responded, “You know where it’s hidden, and no one else but me knows about it. It’ll be safe, and within quick reach, if necessary. But for now, just leave it here.”
Trixie groaned loudly before she reluctantly grumbled, “Fine. If you insist…”
With that minor issue dealt with, Sunset finally shut off the car’s engine and climbed out. “And for once, please keep your mouth shut,” she grumbled at Trixie as they walked into the clearing.
Just seconds after the two girls stepped into the clearing, another minifig walked out from behind the tall stone on the opposite side of the clearing. This minifig had light green skin, dark green messy hair, and wore blue pants and a shirt with olive and medium green stripes. She was carrying a potted plant, but suddenly stopped and nearly dropped it as soon as she noticed the presence of those two girls.
That’s Wallflower Blush, thought Sunset. She was at the airport a few days ago, but I don’t know much else about her. If I’m right, then I’ll have to tread carefully with her.
Wallflower was speechless and stared at the unexpected visitors for a few seconds before she finally asked, “What are you doing here?”
“Oh, uh, we’re just doing a favor for a friend of mine,” bluffed Sunset with a smile. “She does a lot of surveying work, and actually looked through this area a few years ago. I heard someone built a new trail around here, so I offered to swing by for a quick look to let her know if there’s been any changes here recently.” She glanced around at the surrounding various plants as she continued, “I guess now I can tell her this place has definitely changed a lot. Did you do all of this yourself?”
“Y-yes, I did,” replied Wallflower with a shy smile. “This is my personal garden. I’ve never had much luck with gardening in the inner parts of the city, so when I stumbled across this place, I figured it would be an excellent place for me to try growing all kinds of plants.”
“I may not be a botanist, but I think what you’ve got here is very impressive,” Sunset complimented.
“It’s amazing to see how much they can thrive if you give them just the right amount of care,” noted Wallflower as she carried the potted plant in her hands over to her van. She opened the rear doors and set down the plant, then reached over to grab a trowel as she continued in a more disheartened tone, “It’s not like I’ve had many requests for my services, so I’ve been coming here to keep me occupied doing what I love most. Lately, business has been so slow that I seem to be spending more time on this garden than getting paid minimum wage to work on someone else’s garden.”
“But at least you’re still getting some paying work,” Sunset pointed out. “I saw you doing some landscaping over at the airport a few days ago.”
“Yes, where those taxis you and your friends called in shoved my van off the road and took off like it was no big deal,” grumbled Wallflower as she shut the van’s rear doors and walked back into the garden with the trowel and potted plant in her hands.
“Yeah, taxi drivers in Lego City tend to be a little careless when it comes to parking,” remarked Sunset. As Wallflower walked away, Sunset dropped her poker face as she turned back to Trixie and whispered, “That happened the day before those memories were erased, and she correctly identified that I was there with my friends, which means her memories have not been affected like everyone else.”
Trixie lightly gasped and whispered, “Are you suggesting that…”
“Only one way to be absolutely sure,” Sunset whispered back. She glanced down at and clutched her magical geode pendant. After a few seconds of thinking it over, she turned her gaze back up at Trixie and quietly requested, “Start a conversation with her. Keep her distracted so I can make my move.”
Trixie smiled and nodded, then walked past Sunset to follow after Wallflower.
Meanwhile, Wallflower knelt down beside one of the tall rocks and began using her trowel to dig a small hole in the soil.
Trixie walked over to Wallflower and spoke up, “So tell me, uh, whatever your name is, have you considered trying to expand your business beyond Lego City?”
“First of all, my name is Wallflower Blush,” replied Wallflower irritably. “And second, I tend to go back and forth between Lego City and Canterlot City, but that’s it.”
“But surely there must be other regions throughout the Lego World that would love to request your services,” insisted Trixie.
“That’s just not practical for me,” explained Wallflower dejectedly. “I need to purchase permits to be allowed to do business in other regions. Someone like Filthy Rich can easily afford that, but I can’t — especially not with the meager income I’ve got.”
“Is it really supposed to be that hard to make ends meet in landscaping?” asked Trixie.
“Not really,” admitted Wallflower with a little sadness. “All the other landscapers I know of are getting by just fine. The issue I’ve been struggling with is simply convincing potential clients to ask for my services.”
“Sounds to me like you’re having trouble with attracting public attention,” noted Trixie. She then smiled and smugly added, “Lucky for you, you’re talking to someone who thrives on public attention, and is willing to offer you plenty of pointers to help you drum up some major business, big time!”
As this conversation took place, Sunset stepped lightly as she carefully made her way closer to Wallflower from behind her back. Trixie certainly stood in such a direction that she could easily notice Sunset, but did a remarkable job of keeping her attention focused only on Wallflower.
“No thanks,” declined Wallflower. “I think I’d rather—”
Once she was finally close enough, Sunset lunged forward and swiftly grabbed Wallflower’s wrist.
“Hey!” Wallflower suddenly called out in shock and confusion. “What are you…?”
With that physical contact made, Sunset’s body stiffened and her eyes glowed completely white as she began to look into Wallflower’s memories.
The first thing Sunset observed was a rather unfortunate pattern of suffering for Wallflower. She was in Canterlot City during the very first magical incident caused by Sunset, and although she somehow avoided being hypnotized with the rest of the civilians, she spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Lego City when the Dazzlings tried to take over the world, and although she somehow avoided being brainwashed by their music, she again spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Canterlot City again when Midnight Sparkle recklessly nearly destroyed everything, but while the other civilians fought back, she still spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Lego City again when the magically corrupted Gloriosa Daisy unleashed plant-based devastation, where yet again she spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. And she was again back in Canterlot City when the magically corrupted Juniper Montage went on a rampage across Sunshine Plaza, where she once more spent the entire crisis cowering under her van.
After that montage, the next memory Sunset observed was Wallflower hiking through the forested hills at the outer limits of Bluebell National Park. Eventually, she stumbled across a small clearing in the woods, marked by three tall rocks equally spaced apart and slightly covered in some overgrowth — exactly identical to the photograph Maud Pie had taken three years ago. As Wallflower looked over the clearing, she smiled as she was struck with inspiration. For someone like her who frequently shied away from other people, this location was ideally secluded and isolated for a personal project she had desired to accomplish for a long time.
Not long after discovering the peculiar rock formation, Wallflower had sufficiently cleared a path to allow her van to reach the site, which made it much easier for her to bring in all the tools and materials she would need to start planting her dream garden. However, as she dug the large pit for the centerpiece garden bed, she was surprised when her shovel struck something. She extracted the mystery object, which appeared to be wrapped in some kind of parchment. She untied the parchment wrapping and discovered the object was some kind of stone with a peculiar design carved into its surface. In addition, there was writing on the inner surface of the parchment wrap, and although the words were a little archaic, she discovered that it was essentially an instruction page about the magical properties of this stone, what it could do, and how to use it.
Next, Sunset saw the moment when she and her group of friends had met Wallflower at the airport, particularly when they discovered one of Sunset’s old wanted posters. Now that she was observing from Wallflower’s perspective, she found out that after Twilight had crumpled up and tossed away that poster, it had bounced off Wallflower’s head, and then she was about to toss it into her trash bag when those taxi cabs rammed her van off the pavement. It was bad enough that no one seemed to even acknowledge that those taxis had done something so careless and then drove off like nothing at all had happened, but what made things even worse for Wallflower was that a nearby police officer had decided to write her a ticket for illegal parking, despite the circumstances.
Wallflower was understandably furious by such an obvious injustice, and when a thought crossed her mind about wishing she didn’t have to pay for that ticket, she got an idea. As the police officer began to drive away in his cruiser, she climbed into her van, grabbed a handbag she had in the passenger seat, and pulled out the Memory Stone. After quickly checking the instruction page, she held the stone close to her chest and closed her eyes as she concentrated on the individual and the specific memory she wished to remove. The stone’s etchings glowed a bright turquoise, and just seconds later, a glowing green ribbon quickly flew from where that police officer had gone off to and vanished into the stone. With the removal of that officer’s memory of the recent incident complete, Wallflower opened her eyes and smiled. She put away the Memory Stone, then stepped out of the van and pulled out the ticket. Now that the officer lacked any memory of writing it, she tore up that ticket in satisfaction and tossed the pieces into the trash bag. In her view, this action was nothing more than an injustice being undone.
With that problem dealt with, Wallflower picked up the crumpled up poster she had recently tossed at her van in frustration. She was again about to toss it into the trash bag, but what stopped her this time was another thought crossing her mind. She uncrumpled the poster and looked into the colorless photo of the evilly smirking face of Sunset Shimmer. As she stared at the image, she sighed and muttered, “Why should you care about me? After all, you’re Sunset Shimmer, the greatest hero the Lego World has ever known.” She then scoffed and grumbled, “You’re still just as mean and selfish as you’ve always been. You’ll never change. Why can’t everyone else see that?”
Although the vast majority of people in the Lego World had come to embrace Sunset as a great hero who had learned from her past mistakes, there were some who still believed she would never be worthy of redemption, and it seemed Wallflower Blush was one of them. And after having just used the Memory Stone to right a perceived wrong, she began to come up with a truly devious idea.
Later that night, Wallflower drove out to her garden in the woods. She had previously used the Memory Stone only on single individuals to remove only one specific memory, but now she was going to do something much bigger, and according to the instruction page, this could be done only from the site where she first found that stone. After reading the instruction page again, she sat down near the center of the rock formation, held the Memory Stone close to her chest, and closed her eyes. She concentrated on everyone except Sunset, and focused on removing any memory that perceived her as a good person. Finally, the Memory Stone began to glow.
Sunset watched each of her friends sleeping in their hotel rooms as a glowing red ribbon was suddenly pulled out from each of their heads. A closer look revealed these ribbons actually more resembled strips of film, with each frame displaying various images of Sunset. And this wasn’t limited to just her friends in the hotel. All across Lego City, dozens, then hundreds of these glowing red ribbons flew out of all the buildings and headed right towards Bluebell National Park, where thousands more of these ribbons from all over the Lego World gathered together. All these glowing ribbons of stolen memories swirled together into a vortex that funneled directly into the Memory Stone in Wallflower’s hands. The stone was now glowing bright red, and once the last of those stolen memories had finally been collected, the glow faded.
Once the process was completed, Wallflower opened her eyes. She glanced down at the Memory Stone and smiled in satisfaction. As far as she was concerned, ultimate justice had finally been served.
As the visions from Wallflower’s memories came to an end, Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal. As soon as she regained awareness of her surroundings, Sunset immediately shoved Wallflower away and accusingly shouted, “So you’re the one who erased everyone’s memories of me!”
Wallflower stuttered for a few seconds before she managed to stand back up and, as her expression turned from worried confusion to fierce determination, firmly said, “Yes… I did!”
Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “Seriously? You? A random nobody?”
“Exactly!” snapped Wallflower. “No one ever listens to me, no one ever notices me, no one ever cares about me! Because everyone always ignores me, I’ve personally experienced all kinds of unfair injustices in this world.” She turned her intense glare back to Sunset. “But no injustice could possibly be any worse than seeing number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted be allowed to go free and get away with every single crime she’s ever committed.”
“That’s ridiculous!” Sunset shot back. “I was pardoned because I had proved to everyone that I had changed!”
“But you haven’t changed!” argued Wallflower. “You may have fooled everyone in the Lego World, but now I’ve been able to expose the truth to all of them — that you’re still just as mean and ruthless as you’ve ever been!”
“And I’ve done everything I can to leave that part of me in the past!” argued Sunset. “I absolutely hate doing the awful things I used to do, but sometimes I’m left with no other alternatives!” Still furious and with her fists clenched, she lowered her voice as she slowly walked towards Wallflower. “And right now, because you’ve so recklessly decided to take away all the things that made me happy about my new life, you have made me very desperate.”
“Whoa! Okay! Timeout, everyone!” Trixie suddenly spoke up worriedly as she quickly stood between Sunset and Wallflower and held her arms out to keep them apart. As she glanced back and forth between the two opposing girls, she continued, “Even the Great and Powerful Trixie can identify when a situation is in need of a more diplomatic solution, and this right here definitely counts as such — especially considering that one side is in possession of an all-powerful magical artifact.”
Sunset tightly gripped Trixie’s wrist and furiously grumbled, “I’ve put up with enough of your pesky behavior! Heck, the only thing stopping me from punching you in the face right now is that there’s someone else here who I’d much rather wanna punch in the face!”
With Sunset’s attention on Trixie, Wallflower took advantage of the diversion to slip back to her van, open the passenger door, and pull out her handbag. “If that’s what you really wanna do to me,” she called back as she shut the door, “then you’ll have to catch me first!” She then took off running deep into the forest.
Sunset immediately shoved Trixie aside and ran after Wallflower. “GET BACK HERE!!” she roared furiously.
Trixie stumbled a little, but once she quickly regained her footing, she ran after the two girls and cried out, “Hey! Wait for Trixie!”
The three girls ran off deeper into the woods, Wallflower trying to make her escape, Sunset determined to stop her, and Trixie desperately trying to keep up with them. As they rushed through the dense foliage, Wallflower and Sunset ducked beneath low branches and jumped over logs or bushes on the ground, while Trixie smacked into or stumbled over nearly half of these obstacles.
As the girls began running uphill, another obstacle they came across was short slope of boulders and rocks. Wallflower scrambled her way over the boulders, quickly followed by Sunset, and then Trixie stumbled halfway up and dislodged a few of the large rocks, but managed to reach the top and continued after the others.
It wasn’t long before the uphill chase left the forest and continued up onto a rocky side of a mountain. Oddly enough, there was a series of stone steps carved into the mountainside, which the three girls followed without question. While Wallflower and Sunset continued running at full effort, Trixie began gasping for breath and her pace started to slow a little.
As Trixie followed the others up the mountain steps, she remarked between each deep gasp of air, “Perhaps Trixie… should consider getting… a gym membership…”
Eventually, they reached the top of the stone stairway, where there was an old door hanging crooked from its frame that led to some underground passage within the mountain. Wallflower rushed through the doorway and pulled the door closed behind her. Sunset reached that door and threw it open before rushing inside, the force of which snapped the door off its hinges and caused it to start sliding down the steps. Trixie was forced to jump over the falling door before she reached the mysterious entrance and, despite some hesitation, ran inside.
Wallflower was now leading the chase through the stone corridor, which soon gave way to straight hallways made of concrete and steel. This strange underground facility was illuminated by a series of lights, some of which were flickering or had completely burned out. There were also various bits of junk strewn across the floor in some places, which forced the girls to jump over some of them. Despite how seemingly extensive this hidden facility appeared to be, the only noise to be heard was their rapidly clacking footsteps echoing across the deserted hallways and chambers.
As they ran down yet another empty hallway, they passed by numerous doors. One door was left slightly ajar, so Wallflower threw it open in an effort to block her pursuers. Sunset dealt with that by swiftly kicking the door out of the way, causing it to slam shut with an almost deafening echo.
Finally, Wallflower threw open another door and rushed through the doorway. Sunset quickly followed her and immediately found herself inside a rather small room that consisted mostly of damaged shelves that held some paint cans and a few various tools, along with a small window to the outside on the opposite wall. Sunset quickly glanced around the room, but somehow had lost sight of the green girl she had been fiercely pursuing.
It wasn’t long before Trixie finally caught up, now panting heavily. As she hunched over to catch her breath, her gaze wandered to the near right corner of the room where she found a water cooler that was still mostly full of water. “Refreshment!” she wheezed as she collapsed to the floor in front of that water cooler, turned her face upward, and pushed the nozzle open to begin guzzling that water directly from the tap.
Meanwhile, Sunset continued scanning the room, but still found no sign of Wallflower Blush. “I know you’re in here!” she called out firmly. “Show yourself! You can’t hide from me!”
As Sunset continued glaring forward and Trixie wiped her mouth after finishing her drink, neither of them noticed a large sheet of plywood leaning against the wall slide from the near left corner toward the door. Once that plywood sheet was next to the doorway, Wallflower emerged from her cover behind it, slipped out the doorway, then swiftly shut the door and twisted the locking mechanism on it.
The moment that door was slammed closed, Sunset immediately turned around and tried to open it, but couldn’t get it to budge as it was already locked shut.
On the outside of that door, Wallflower set down her handbag and pulled out the Memory Stone. She then slid open the small viewing window in the door and simply said, “I don’t like confrontation, so let’s just… forget this ever happened.” She then held the Memory Stone in the middle of the viewing window as the etchings on that stone began to glow bright turquoise.
From within the room, both Sunset and Trixie could see the glowing magical artifact through the viewing window. Sunset’s furious expression quickly gave way to shock as she cried out, “No! Don’t erase—”
Sunset and Trixie glanced around at the strange room they now found themselves in. They saw a shut door in the middle of one wall, a water cooler to the left of it, and a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall to the right of it. The opposite wall had a small window to the outside that provided illumination for the room. And scattered across one side of the room were damaged shelves that held some paint cans and a few various tools.
As Trixie looked around, she subconsciously tried to grasp something, but immediately froze once she discovered there was nothing in either of her hands. She looked down at her empty hands in panic and cried out, “Where’s my magical staff?! Trixie never goes anywhere without it!”
While Sunset continued to slowly glance around in confusion, Trixie quickly tried to leave the room, but was again shocked to discover that it was locked shut. “Why won’t this door open?” she complained. As she turned her gaze back across the room, she asked, “What is this place, anyway? And what are we even doing in here?”
Sunset slowly turned to Trixie and hesitantly replied, “I… don’t remember…”