Chapter 1
Invasion from Above
It was the middle of another ordinary day in Canterlot City. The citizens went about their usual routines, whether it was working in their office, attending classes in school, or just simply wandering around and enjoying the clear and sunny weather on this fine spring day. This city may have witnessed some terrible events in the past involving Equestrian Magic, but after how relatively mild the more recent magical incidents had been, there was a sense among these minifigs that the worst they could ever face had long since come and gone.
At the airport on the outskirts of the city, a large passenger jet airplane landed on the runway and slowed to a stop. It then slowly turned and rolled towards the terminal building, where an enclosed walkway extended out to connect with the doorway on the side of the jet. Now that the jet was properly parked, all of the passengers onboard began to disembark and made their way into the main terminal building.
Among the crowd of dozens of recently arrived passengers was Sunset Shimmer. Although she had enjoyed her stay in Ninjago City for the last few weeks, she was happy to finally be back in the city that she and her best friends called home. With one bag of luggage slung over her right shoulder, she made her way to the baggage conveyor and soon retrieved the two other large cases of luggage she had brought with her. With all of her luggage now in her possession, she turned around and looked out across the massive open room with enormous windows facing the runway and several rows of dozens of chairs throughout much of the floor space. She smiled when she saw her friends gathered together not far away, with Pinkie Pie holding up a large sheet of posterboard displaying Sunset’s red and yellow sun Creative Mark.
“There she is!” Rainbow Dash excitedly pointed out. All six girls almost immediately rushed over to Sunset and embraced her in a group hug as they all cheered.
Sunset giggled as she dropped her luggage and tried her best to return the hug. “Easy, girls!” she spoke up with amusement, “I just got here!”
Once the excited group of friends backed off from Sunset and calmed down, Applejack asked, “So how was Ninjago City?”
“It was a nice place,” replied Sunset, “especially since I was lucky enough to be visiting at a time when the city was not under attack by the latest supervillain and his army.”
The girls giggled at that before Rarity playfully remarked, “Don’t we know that sentimentality.”
As Spike walked over to pick up the dropped luggage, Sunset noticed that the red baseball cap on his head had the word “Ninjago” printed on the front in its iconic stylized version in white letters. “I see you finally decided to get that hat of yours customized,” Sunset pointed out.
“How could I not?” responded Spike eagerly. “One of my closest friends actually got to meet the ninjas of the Ninjago Region! How awesome is that?!” He then paused and asked, “Uh, you did actually meet them, right?”
“I sure did,” confirmed Sunset proudly. “They were impressed by what I had been able to learn on my own over the years, but there was a whole lot more they were willing to teach me about how to confront just about any kind of enemy imaginable. You’d be amazed by how many everyday objects can be used as improvised weaponry, but my personal favorite lesson was the Art of the Silent Fist, which involves lots of dodging to the point where your opponent becomes so exhausted that finishing them off becomes simple. All in all, I can now say without any doubt that I know how to fight like a real ninja.”
“Does this mean you know how to do Spinjitsu?” asked Spike.
Sunset laughed and responded, “I wish! But it turns out that you’d have to be an elemental master to have what it takes to pull off such an advanced move.” She touched her geode necklace and added, “Sure, we may have these magical geodes based on the Elements of Harmony in Equestria, but they’re not exactly the kind of ‘elements’ that would give us any special ninja abilities.”
Rainbow Dash scoffed and quipped, “Who needs Spinjitsu when these geodes already give us such awesome magical powers?”
“You said it,” agreed Fluttershy. “Personally, I’ll take communicating with animals over some flashy destructive superpower any day.”
“Sounds like you had a lot of fun with those Ninjago ninjas, Sunset,” remarked Pinkie Pie. “I’d love to hear more about all the amazing things they taught you!”
“What do you say we grab some pizza from our favorite pizzeria in town?” suggested Twilight.
“Sounds good to me,” agreed Sunset as she and her friends began walking towards the exit out of the airport terminal. “After eating nothing but sushi and noodles for the last few weeks, I’m craving something from a different cultural background.”
All seven girls giggled at that remark, while Spike loaded her luggage onto a small cart and followed after them.
The group of friends soon left the terminal building and made their way along the sidewalk over to the nearby bus stop, where a bus was already waiting for passengers. As Spike loaded Sunset’s luggage into the storage compartment within the side of the bus, the seven girls all got in line to board the bus.
“Just so you all know,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “my shift here at the airport starts in just over an hour, so I won’t be able to hang out with you girls after lunch.”
“That’s okay,” assured Applejack as she glanced back while climbing into the bus. “Some of us have our own responsibilities to take care of as well.”
“Indeed,” agreed Rarity as she stood in line behind Rainbow. “I have quite a few commissions that must be delivered by the end of this week, so the sooner I have that completed, the better.”
“There’s also a few things I need to check on in my pet shop, later today,” added Fluttershy from the back of the line. “It’s almost time for me to return Beta back to Dinosaur Island, so I have to make sure he’ll be ready for his ride back home.”
“I still can’t believe you were allowed to bring a raptor into Canterlot City,” muttered Sunset with a smile as she climbed into the bus.
Once the entire group of friends was aboard the bus, the driver closed the door and began accelerating forward. As the bus turned onto the street, Pinkie leaned across the aisle towards Sunset and eagerly asked, “What else did you learn in Ninjago City?”
Sunset relaxed back in her seat and smiled as she replied, “Well, I certainly trained to become a lot more athletic when it comes to free-running, which means I can now swing across poles, leap between walls, and run short distances across and up walls. In other words, my ability to quickly reach high places is no longer limited to SNOT walking.”
While Sunset was speaking, Rainbow Dash heard a faint ping from her phone, so she pulled it out to see what kind of text she had just received. She initially got thrilled when she saw who it was from, but as she read the message, her excitement quickly turned to dismay.
“What’s wrong, Rainbow Dash?” asked Fluttershy, noticing the look of concern on her friend’s face.
“I just got an alert from the Wonderbolts Space Fleet,” explained Rainbow Dash. “I have them in my contacts so I can know right away if they ever have a job opening I’d be interested in. But this alert I just got is saying that the lunar base they share with the LEGO Team was just attacked by some kind of alien invasion.”
Everyone on the bus gasped in shock. “What kind of aliens?” asked Pinkie worriedly.
“I don’t know,” replied Rainbow with concern as she put away her phone. “All I got from the alert is that the base and the people who work there are already recovering from the attack because those aliens pulled out after only a few minutes for some weird reason.”
“I’d better look into this,” noted Twilight as she pulled out her phone and began rapidly tapping away on it. All of her friends watched anxiously as she conducted her quick research over the internet. After about a minute, Twilight stated, “Reports are still coming in as we speak, but what we do know so far is that these invaders wear black armor with blue visors that obscure their faces, and they have the ability to fly using large insect-like wings on their back. That description is enough for me to know exactly who they are.” She looked up from her phone and turned her attention to her friends. “Changelings.”
“Changelings?” asked Sunset in astonishment. “You mean like those love-stealing creatures that Princess Twilight and her friends once fought against to defend Equestria?”
“I can’t say for sure,” acknowledged Twilight as she put away her phone. “But I do know that their specialized armor allows them to shapeshift into just about anything and anyone, making them masters of espionage. They also have specialized sensors built into their helmets that constantly provide them with a heightened awareness of their surroundings. Not to mention, their ruthless queen, Chrysalis, has made it no secret how much she desires to essentially conquer the entire universe.”
“How do you know so much about them?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“As a Shadowbolt agent,” explained Twilight, “I had to know as much as possible about any potential threats to our cause, and the Changelings were certainly among one of the greatest threats for us to be aware of. After all, what’s the point of trying to overthrow the current world order if an army of shapeshifting aliens were to suddenly show up and take everything by force?”
Applejack smirked and remarked with a smile, “Somehow, you’ve just given me the image that had those aliens invaded back when you Shadowbolts were still around, you guys probably would’ve taken advantage of the chaos to lead a resistance, an’ once those aliens were outta the way, y’all would’ve declared yourselves the new supreme rulers of the Lego World.”
“That was a contingency plan we had in place,” admitted Twilight. “Of course, it all depended on whether Queen Chrysalis ever decided to suddenly invade this planet, and we weren’t going to be reckless enough to try utilizing a rogue faction to achieve our ultimate goals.”
“Forgive me for being perceived as paranoid,” Rarity spoke up, “but in light of this recent news of those Changelings committing an assault on a lunar base — practically our cosmological backyard — I must ask what we could expect to witness should they decide to invade our world next.”
“I can’t tell you precisely how such a scenario would unfold,” replied Twilight as she adjusted her glasses. “If past reports from across the galaxy are anything to go by, they will arrive in a fleet of enormous space vessels that are mostly black with bits of green — their official colors. We won’t see them at first, because they will be cloaked upon arrival, but as soon as they drop that camouflage and become visible, that will be the very moment when they launch their initial assault to seize a strategic location with overwhelming force. Once they’ve established a foothold on the planet’s surface, they will then covertly send out infiltrators to blend in with the locals and commit acts of espionage and sabotage, allowing all of the remaining territories to become much easier to conquer by their main forces.”
While Twilight was speaking, Spike was looking out the window and turned his gaze upwards. At first, he saw nothing at all up in the clear blue sky of this beautiful sunny day. But then all of a sudden, over a dozen long black objects faded into view from seemingly out of nowhere, hovering high above the city skyline. Spike pointed out the window and nervously asked, “Uh, you mean giant black spacecraft like that?”
Everyone on the bus moved over to the left side and looked through the windows up into the sky. Sure enough, they all saw what appeared to be a small swarm of large dark shapes hovering over the middle of the city.
Twilight — who happened to be wearing her recently completed “Special Spectacles 2.0” glasses — tapped a button on the right side of her glasses to activate their telescopic view. She rubbed her hand along the right frame of her glasses to zoom in on the dark shapes above. It was difficult for her to study the details of those distant dark structures while riding in a moving bus, but she was able to pick out enough to confirm her worst fears, so she switched off her telescopic view and slumped back in her seat.
“It’s them,” muttered Twilight ominously. “The Changeling invasion has just begun…”
High above Canterlot City, the Changeling invasion fleet slowly moved into position, with the battle cruisers taking defensive positions along the perimeter of the city, while the heavy carriers hovered directly above certain sites within the city. All across the unsuspecting city, civilians gradually stopped whatever they were doing and stared up at the strange objects in the sky, curious and fearful for what such a strange sight would mean for them and their city.
Once all of the massive hovering vessels were in position, large panels opened up on the sides and bottom of the heavy carriers, from which emerged dozens of open-cockpit mini fighters and hundreds of troop transports, all of which began descending down to the defenseless city below. As the alien invaders descended down to the surface, panicked civilians all over the city suddenly began to scream in horror and run around aimlessly.
Among the hundreds of troop transport vessels, a smaller one slowed to a stop beside the roof of one of the tallest buildings in the city, and as the main hatch on the front opened, one Changeling soldier leaped out and landed upon the rooftop. Unlike most of the other Changelings who had bright blue visors over their eyes and a similarly colored wingpack on their backs, this Changeling had a dark purple visor and wingpack, in addition to a short red fin that went from the front protrusion on his forehead and back over the top of his helmet down to his neck. This wasn’t just any Changeling soldier. This Changeling was the General in command of the entire assault force.
“All right, troops!” commanded the General in a gruff voice through his helmet’s built-in communicator. “Cover as much ground as you can and start causing as much mayhem and destruction as possible! Let’s make it clear to the natives that we’re not here to fool around!”
As the troop transports landed and the Changeling soldiers disembarked, they quickly moved out to follow their commands. With panicked civilians screaming and running for their lives, the alien troops made sure to overturn tables and chairs, uproot and toss aside small street fixtures, smash several windows by either tossing various things into them or simply shooting them with their laser blasters, and spill the contents of trashcans out onto the streets, causing several motorists to skid out of control and collide into each other. One Changeling even confronted a helpless child by extending his wrist-mounted blade and using it to pop the balloon that child was holding, then he swiftly moved on, leaving that poor child to cry in sadness.
Amidst all the chaos and carnage, some Changelings stood on various high rooftops and looked out across various parts of the city below. The three protrusions on Changeling helmets — two on the sides and one on the forehead, all three aligned vertically upwards —functioned as highly sensitive sensors, which then transmitted data onto the visors. To a Changeling trooper viewing everything through their blue-tinted visors, their field of vision was constantly full of information, from standard background data off to the sides that listed things like atmospheric conditions and the status of their armor’s functions, to small boxes of information that would briefly pop up for anything that happened to pass by.
One of these rooftop scouts scanned the nearby streets and soon focused on a bus that was moving down the road. Information flashed across his visor that indicated eight passengers aboard that bus, seven of whom seemed to possess energy signatures unlike anything previously encountered. Further analysis of these energy signatures showed some similarities to what the mission objectives anticipated would indicate the presence of the codenamed “Targets” they were assigned to locate.
“I have visual on the Targets!” the Changeling scout urgently reported through his communicator. “They’re inside that bus!”
“Disable the bus, but don’t be too violent with it,” responded the General. “Remember, those Targets must be captured alive.”
“Yes, sir!” responded the Changeling scout as he swiftly pulled out his laser blaster, then opened the insect-style wings from his wingpack and took flight down to the street below. A few other Changeling troopers in the area were provided with an alert via their sensors, so they also dropped what they were doing and took flight in pursuit of that bus.
One of the Changeling troopers who joined the pursuit of that bus followed them for only a few seconds before he suddenly got distracted by the illuminated large sign atop an Octan fuel station. “Ooh… Pretty light…” muttered the mesmerized Changeling as he slowly flew towards that sign and started repeatedly bumping his face against it.
Meanwhile, aboard the bus, the Equestria Girls watched everything outside descend into chaos, but it was only when they saw some of the Changelings starting to fly very closely alongside the bus that they began to really fear for their lives.
Fluttershy immediately dropped to the floor as she screamed in terror and exclaimed, “They’re after us!”
“Take out the wheels!” ordered one of the Changelings flying in pursuit of the bus. Many of the other pursuing Changelings swiftly pulled out their laser blasters and fired upon the bus’s wheels, causing the rubber tires to quickly deflate and shred apart. With the wheels suddenly down to the rims, the driver lost control of the massive vehicle, causing it to swerve left, then sharply to the right so much that the bus toppled over onto its left side and skidded along the road until it eventually slowed to a stop.
One random motorist stopped his car in front of the overturned bus that now blocked the street, then honked his horn twice and impatiently shouted, “Get off the road!”
At the back end of the bus, someone inside tried to push open the emergency exit door. After two failed attempts, someone suddenly kicked the door clean off its hinges. “So much for gettin’ some pizza…” grumbled Applejack as she stepped out of the overturned bus, followed quickly by the rest of her friends.
“Seize the Targets!” ordered one of the Changeling troopers flying overhead before he swiftly dove down at the seven girls.
Rarity screamed in terror and quickly summoned a diamond shield between herself and the diving Changeling, who then immediately slammed face-first into that solid barrier and collapsed to the ground.
Applejack heard the buzzing of massive insect wings and turned back to see another Changeling trooper swooping down towards her. “Ah don’t think so!” she declared defiantly before she jumped aside, grabbed that changeling by the arm as he rushed by, then used his momentum to swing him around and fling him up towards and collide into another approaching Changeling trooper, sending both Changelings crashing to the ground on the other side of the overturned bus.
Three more Changeling troopers tried to grab Rainbow Dash in rapid succession, but she was able to use her super speed to easily dodge all three of them.
Two more Changeling troopers tried to swoop in and reach for Twilight, but she halted them in midair with her telekinesis power, levitated them around to slam their heads together, then dropped the unconscious aliens atop the overturned bus.
“There’s too many of them!” exclaimed Spike fearfully while taking shelter within the overturned bus “They just keep coming!”
“Then we gotta get outta here!” declared Rainbow Dash desperately.
“But how?” asked Pinkie Pie as she tossed a cupcake straight upwards, which then exploded in the face of an incoming Changeling trooper, obscuring his visor and causing him to crash uncontrollably to the street. “These guys are all over the place!”
“For some reason, they seem focused on capturing us in particular,” noted Sunset as she jumped aside to dodge another Changeling trooper as he swooped by. “Let’s try to force them to spread themselves thin. Everyone scatter!”
Desperate to evade those swarming alien invaders right away, the seven girls immediately followed Sunset’s advice and ran off in separate directions, leaving the invading forces with no choice but to follow after them in practically every direction.
“Hey! Don’t leave without me!” exclaimed Spike as he jumped out of the fallen bus and immediately ran after Twilight.
While everyone else quickly left the site, one Changeling trooper reached inside through the broken front window of the toppled bus and pulled out the unfortunate driver, who struggled futilely against his grip. “Aha!” he proudly declared. “I got one of them!”
“That’s not one of the Targets, you dummy!” scolded another Changeling trooper.
“But he was inside the bus,” argued the Changeling who was still holding up that poor bus driver.
“Because he’s the driver!” shot back the other Changeling before he smacked his laser blaster against the first Changeling’s head, causing him to yelp in shock and drop the bus driver, who then immediately fled the scene while flailing his arms wildly and screaming in terror.
Sunset Shimmer very quickly found herself on her own as she ran along the sidewalk. As she glanced back and saw practically a dozen Changeling soldiers running and flying after her, she silently admitted that telling her friends to split up was probably a mistake. But even so, there was no way she was going to let them take her without a fight. She knew it was time to put her recent ninja training to good use.
As she ran, Sunset glanced around for anything she could possibly use to defend herself. She decided to jump and kick over a stop sign as she reached an intersection, then she picked up that fallen sign and swung it around so that the sign end of it smacked the nearest Changeling in the head and sent him sprawling down onto the street.
Three more Changeling troopers landed nearby to surround Sunset, who tightened her grip on her improvised weapon and shifted her fierce glare between the three of them. As the three Changelings lunged at her, she fought back by swinging the stop sign around. She smacked the first attacker across the face with the sign, struck the second attacker in the head with the bottom end, and slammed the sign down onto the head of the third attacker. The three Changeling troops were quick to recover, but she swiftly followed that up by striking the first attacker across his legs with the sign, flipping him onto his back, then jabbed the sign into the second attacker’s chest, shoving him down onto his back. The third attacker extended the blade on his right wrist and swung it towards Sunset. She tried to block the blade, but it easily sliced the sign portion off the pole, so she twirled the pole around and jabbed it right into that attacker’s face.
“Ahh!” exclaimed that Changeling as he stumbled backwards while grasping the front of his helmet. “My visor’s compromised! I can’t see!”
Sunset shoved that Changeling trooper aside and rushed towards a narrow alleyway between two buildings, then leaped back and forth between the two walls to ascend up until she was then able to leap onto a balcony on the front of the left building. Almost immediately upon reaching that balcony, she was forced to duck as a flying Changeling charged at her, ultimately missing her and crashing through the window into the building.
Not wanting to stay out in the open, Sunset decided to follow that Changeling into what appeared to be the living room of someone’s apartment. This turned out to be a mistake, as the Changeling quickly got back up on his feet and pulled out his laser blaster. Sunset yelped and dove behind the nearby sofa just before the Changeling started firing his laser blaster.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
As the sofa blocked all of the laser bolts — with stuffing from that sofa flying all over the place — Sunset began searching her surroundings for anything useful when she noticed someone else was fearfully cowering right beside her behind the sofa. “Is this your apartment?” she asked the unfortunate minifig.
The nervous resident shakily turned to Sunset and nodded.
“Do you have renter’s insurance?” asked Sunset.
The resident nodded again.
“Good, ‘cause you’ll need it by the time I’m done here,” stated Sunset before she reached over to grab the tall lamp beside the sofa, then leaped over the sofa with a forward somersault and swung the lamp around to smack the laser blaster out of the Changeling’s hands.
The Changeling soldier responded by extending the blade on his right wrist and swinging it at Sunset, who tried to block it with the lamp. Although the lamp was easily sliced in half, the impact was able to slow the blade enough that it missed Sunset. She dropped the broken lamp and dove towards the kitchen area as the Changeling made another swing at her with his blade, then charged after her towards the kitchen.
As Sunset landed beside the refrigerator, she turned back to the incoming Changeling and quipped, “I’d better put you on ice.” She grabbed the freezer door on the upper half of the fridge and swung it open, smacking the Changeling in the face and knocking him down onto his back.
It was at this moment that a second Changeling trooper flew in through the broken window. Without any hesitation, Sunset grabbed a pot from atop the stove, charged forward, and swung the pot down onto that Changeling’s head. The pot did little to disrupt the Changeling soldier and ended up pierced by the front protrusion on his helmet. Sunset quickly improvised by yanking the handle on that pot downward, sending the Changeling down to the floor on his face.
As the first Changeling began to recover, Sunset rushed over to the window on the side of the apartment. She opened that window and climbed out into the narrow alleyway, then leaped between the two walls until she was up onto the roof of the building.
Now that she was back out in the open, Sunset looked around and saw some more Changeling soldiers flying in towards the building, so she turned away from them and began running along the rooftops.
A few blocks away, Fluttershy was fortunate enough to reach her pet shop, where she immediately ran inside. Not far behind her, two Changeling troopers in pursuit also quickly entered the building through the main doorway.
Almost as soon as those two intruders burst through the door, nearly all of the animals inside began running around wildly while crying out loudly in their various noises.
“Sheesh!” complained one of the Changeling soldiers. “This place is practically a zoo!”
A parrot suddenly started flying around the heads of the two Changelings as it loudly squawked, “Stranger danger! Stranger danger!”
The other Changeling swatted his arm around at the parrot and irritably exclaimed, “Shoo, bird! Shoo!”
“I’ll get him,” assured his comrade as he raised his laser blaster and fired a couple shots at the parrot, but missed. Suddenly, a rather playful dog leaped in front of him and snatched the laser blaster right out his hands and began running off with it. “Hey!” he shouted. “That’s not a fetching stick!”
The Changeling trooper chased that dog into an aisle between some stocked shelves. As they passed through the aquarium section of the shop, he dove at that pesky canine and tackled it to the floor. The dog dropped the laser blaster and whimpered as it ran off.
The Changeling trooper retrieved his laser blaster and checked his surroundings. He noticed that he was now standing next to a massive water tank that was practically the size of a whole room. As he looked closely into that water tank, he saw a shark quickly swim towards him, causing him to yelp and jump back in panic. As a result, he crashed backwards into a row of shelves and knocked them over, spilling their contents all over the floor.
Behind him, the other Changeling soldier witnessed his startled reaction and almost immediately began laughing at his misfortune.
The fallen Changeling responded by grabbing a can of tuna near his feet and chucked it at his comrade’s head.
“Ow!” exclaimed the other Changeling as he rubbed the part of his helmet that was struck.
The fallen Changeling got back up on his feet and began scanning his surroundings. As he soon noticed a door that seemed to lead to a backroom, some data flashed across his visor to indicate the door was not only locked, but had also just recently been opened. He turned back to his comrade and nodded in acknowledgement, then marched over to that door and promptly kicked it open.
The two Changeling soldiers entered the backroom and began searching around. At the far end of the room was a garage door that was currently closed. To the left was an indoor enclosure not unlike a prison cell — most notably with the surrounding row of bars close together and a gate with a lock on it — within which was apparently a raptor that bared his teeth and snarled aggressively at their presence. To the right were small stacks of various crates and boxes, and when the Changelings used their sensors to detect heat signatures, they quickly found someone hiding behind one of the large crates.
“Nice try, but you can’t hide from us that easily,” taunted one of the Changeling troopers.
Upon realizing she had just been exposed, Fluttershy suddenly flung a key across the room and shouted, “Now, Beta! Now!”
The two Changelings watched that key soar over their heads towards the other side of the backroom, where it was then caught within the claws of the enclosed raptor. The raptor reached between the bars and inserted the key into the gate’s lock, then twisted it to unlock the gate. The raptor then took a step back and used his head to gently push the gate open, then let out a fierce screech as he swiftly came charging out directly towards the two alien intruders.
“Whoa! Look out!” exclaimed one of the two Changelings just before the raptor rammed into both of them and sent them sprawling onto their backs. Before either of them had a chance to recover, the raptor then gripped his jaws around one of their legs and flung him against the wall. The other Changeling tried to get away, but stumbled in his effort to stand up, giving the raptor a chance to chomp onto his leg and hurl him against the wall to join his comrade.
While the Changeling troopers were preoccupied with the raptor, Fluttershy took advantage of the diversion to lift open the garage door, not quite all the way open, but just enough for a creature like a raptor to easily slip through. Once that garage door was partially opened just high enough, she glanced back and called out, “Let’s go, Beta!”
Beta the raptor immediately stopped trampling over the unfortunate Changelings and quickly rushed towards the opened garage door. As he ran by, Fluttershy grabbed onto him and swiftly flung herself up onto his back. Beta crouched low enough so he and his rider could slip under the opened garage door, then began sprinting down the street.
By this point, there were several Changeling scouts flying over the streets of Canterlot City, so it didn’t take long for one of them to identify the unusual sight of someone riding on the back of a dinosaur that was running along the streets. “I found one of the Targets!” reported the Changeling scout flying overhead. “She seems to be riding on the back of a raptor.”
“Dispatch the dinosaur,” ordered the General through his communicator. “We need only the Target alive.”
The airborne Changeling scout pulled out his laser blaster as he began pursuing the raptor. As he began to get closer, he began firing his laser blaster.
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
Fluttershy whimpered fearfully as she heard the laser bolts whiz right by, while Beta just kept on running at full speed.
“What are you doing?!” scolded another Changeling scout as he flew beside first scout. “We can’t risk striking the Target!”
“But how are we gonna catch her if we can’t stop that raptor?” argued the first Changeling scout.
The second scout considered the dilemma for a moment before he urgently requested through his communicator, “We need a mini fighter over here!”
“On my way,” came a response though the communicator. A few seconds later, one of the mini fighters flying overhead began to follow alongside the two scouts in pursuit of the raptor running down the street. The pilot riding aboard that mini fighter took a moment to carefully adjust his aim, then fired a small missile.
The missile struck the ground just behind the fleeing raptor. It wasn’t a direct hit, but the blast was enough to blow the dinosaur off his feet and send him and his rider down onto the pavement.
Fluttershy groaned from the soreness of tumbling along the pavement as she sat up. She then yelped in terror as a Changeling trooper suddenly landed on his feet not far away, extended his wrist-mounted blade, and began slowly walking towards her.
Splat!
The Changeling was startled by what was apparently some piece of fruit suddenly splattering against the right side of his helmet. He turned to his right and saw an elderly lady with green skin standing on the sidewalk next to a small crate full of apples.
“Darn aliens!” shouted Granny Smith furiously as she grabbed another apple from the crate and chucked it at the Changeling.
The Changeling skewered the apple in midair with his blade, then flicked his blade aside to remove that apple as he began marching towards his new adversary. As he closed in on the defiant elder, he raised his blade and prepared to strike.
Just as the Changeling was about to bring his blade down onto the elderly minifig, Applejack suddenly jumped in between the two of them and held up a streetlight that she had effortlessly ripped out of the sidewalk. The lamppost easily blocked and held back the blade as she glanced back at her grandmother and casually remarked, “Ah’ll take it from here, Granny.”
With her opponent struggling to push her back, Applejack raised a leg and kicked that Changeling in the chest, her super strength causing him to go flying back a short distance. Just seconds later, two more Changeling soldiers landed beside their fallen comrade and extended their wrist-mounted blades. Wielding the streetlight like a giant baseball bat, Applejack swung it left against the right Changeling and then right against the left Changeling, striking both of them in the head and sending them down onto the pavement. The first Changeling began to get back up, but Applejack swung the streetlight down onto his head, slamming him down onto the street and leaving him just as dazed as the other two.
Fluttershy stood up as she watched her friend gather the three fallen Changelings so that they all sat on the ground with their backs to each other. Applejack then used her magically enhanced strength to bend that streetlight until it was wrapped tightly around those alien soldiers.
The entrapped Changelings soon recovered from the impacts and struggled to free themselves, but the bent lamppost was wrapped so tightly that they were unable to even slightly budge themselves around, nor could they try to reach their blades up to attempt cutting through it. “Two of the Targets are at our location!” one of them urgently shouted while apparently looking downward. “We need reinforcements!”
Applejack cursed under her breath, then turned to her friend and stated, “You take care of that raptor, Fluttershy. Ah’ll worry about throwin’ all the punches.”
Fluttershy nodded in agreement before she rushed over to kneel down beside the fallen raptor.
At the same time, Applejack turned away and saw three more Changeling troopers land not far away. She grinned as she rolled up her nonexistent sleeves and declared, “Y’all better have gotten a good workout, ‘cause Ah’m just warmin’ up here!”
Further along the street, Rainbow Dash was zooming back and forth as a rainbow motion blur as she evaded the Changeling forces that were swarming after her. She had already found out the hard way that she couldn’t simply punch any of these Changelings because their armor was just too tough for that to have any effect. Instead, she had to rely on her magically enhanced super speed to avoid being captured while she thought of another way she could fight back.
At one of the alleyways along this street, one Changeling rolled out a barrel of oil, then used his wrist-mounted blade to slice off the end that was facing the street, spilling the black fluid all over the road surface.
Rainbow Dash had failed to see that dastardly action, so when she unknowingly sped across that oil slick, she immediately began sliding uncontrollably down the road. “Woah-woah-woah-woah-woah!” she cried out before she tripped over the curb along a sidewalk and was flung into a store’s display window, smashing through the glass and toppling a bunch of the merchandise stored inside.
“Surround the building!” ordered one Changeling as he and several others quickly gathered around that store. “We’ve got her now!”
The squad of Changeling troopers was so focused on taking their positions to hopefully capture their Target that they paid little attention to the sign above this particular shop: “Arnold’s Arms & Armor”
Once everyone in the squad was in position around the building, one of the changelings prepared to move in through the shattered display window. But just as he was about to step into the shop, the main door just left of that window was suddenly blown outward and collided into another Changeling, knocking him off his feet.
With a cocky grin on her face, Rainbow Dash stepped outside through that doorway and smirked. “Thanks for sending me crashing into that shop!” she quipped. “They were nice enough to let me borrow these!” She held up her hands, revealing that she now had what appeared to be a pair of giant metallic fists fitted over her hands.
The surrounding Changelings extended their wrist-mounted blades, but before any of them could make a move, Rainbow swiftly zoomed around as a rainbow motion blur, throwing punches at every Changeling she happened to speed by.
Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang!
“Rainbow smash!” shouted Rainbow Dash excitedly as she paused for a moment, then resumed throwing swift metallic punches against the armored alien soldiers.
Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang!
While the heavy punches may have knocked down the armored troopers, it was enough to only stun them for a moment before they quickly got back up on their feet. The Changelings soon adapted to the new circumstances by extending their insect wings and taking flight.
Rainbow Dash continued to zip around and throw heavy punches against those Changelings, but after a few seconds, she quickly found herself confronted with no more Changelings on the ground. She continued zooming around while jumping up — her motion blur producing shallow arcs of rainbow in the process — but the airborne Changelings were just out of reach from her fists.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
“Aww, no fair!” complained Rainbow as she finally came to a stop. Although her “ponied up” magical form came with wings, she and her friends were still unable to figure out how to summon those magical forms at practically any time, which just infuriated Rainbow Dash even more under her current circumstances.
“Set your weapons to stun,” ordered one of the hovering Changelings troopers. “Looks like we’ll have to subdue this Target before we can take her in.”
The Changeling soldiers pulled out their laser blasters, made the proper adjustment, then aimed their weapons down at their Target. Even if she attempted to swiftly run away, their airborne state would allow them to quickly catch up to her.
However, right at the last second, a large shimmering barrier suddenly materialized directly between Rainbow Dash and the squad of Changeling troopers. The Changelings immediately opened fire, but due to the angle of that transparent barrier, all of those laser bolts were deflected down towards the pavement in front of that barrier.
Rainbow Dash glanced back and saw her friend Rarity approaching while holding her hands out. Realizing the fashionista had summon that diamond shield with her magical power, Rainbow smiled and said, “Thanks, Rarity.”
“The pleasure is all mine, darling,” assured Rarity with a smile to her friend. She turned her attention back to the squad of hovering Changelings still shooting at them as she scolded, “Now then, perhaps you ruffians should receive a taste of your own treatment.” Rarity summoned two more large diamond barriers above the hovering squad of Changelings — one in front of them and one behind them. She carefully adjusted the angles of those two higher barriers, and once she was confident they were just right, she quickly tilted the angle of the first barrier upwards.
Faster than any of the Changelings could react, their laser bolts were suddenly deflected up, back, and down directly onto their own backs. Those deflected laser bolts blasted the translucent blue wings off their backs and sent the armored troopers plummeting down onto the pavement.
“Darn it! My wingpack is disabled!” exclaimed one Changeling in frustration as he stood up.
“Mine, too!” confirmed another Changeling worriedly as he also got up.
“Looks like we’re grounded for the rest of this operation,” noted another Changeling in a resigned tone as he and the rest of the squad stood together.
“Aw, man!” whined another Changeling. “And I thought I could get away with skipping leg day at the gym.”
“Then you thought wrong,” retorted Rainbow Dash with a smirk. She then slammed her giant metallic fists together — producing a loud clang — and declared, “It’s bashing time!”
Once again, Rainbow swiftly zoom around while punching the Changeling soldiers with her metallic giant fists. This time, with those alien troopers incapable of taking to the air, they were practically defenseless against all of those speedy heavy hits.
Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang! Whoosh-clang!
In less than a full minute, every Changeling in the entire squad had taken enough beatings to end up collapsed onto the pavement. With every opponent down and out, Rainbow zipped back to stand beside her friend and chuckled triumphantly.
Unfortunately, the victory celebration didn’t last long, as the buzzing noise of large insect wings signaled the arrival of another squad of Changelings flying in from behind where the two girls stood.
The two unlikely friends turned around to face their newly arrived adversaries. Rainbow Dash smirked as she turned to Rarity and asked, “Wanna give ‘em more?”
Rarity smiled back and contently replied, “With a friend like you by my side, you can count on it.”
Rainbow posed into a running stance as she raised her big metal fists, while Rarity held up her hands and prepared to summon more diamond shields and barriers. Despite the overwhelming odds, those two girls were not afraid to confront them.
Elsewhere in the city, Twilight Sparkle and Spike ran as fast as they could down a street, but they glanced back and saw a flying squad of Changeling soldiers rapidly closing in on them. Twilight tried telekinetically flinging a trashcan, a bicycle, a manhole cover, and a jackhammer up at the pursuing troopers, but they easily dodged all of those objects without any difficulty.
“We can’t outrun them!” exclaimed Spike in terror. “We need something faster!”
Twilight desperately searched her surroundings as she and the young boy continued running for their lives. Although there were a few vehicles parked along the sides of the road, she doubted she could figure out how to get any of them running urgently enough to avoid being completely swarmed by their pursuers. As much as she typically would rather not break any laws, she knew their best chance of a quick escape was to steal a vehicle from someone who was already driving it.
It wasn’t long before Twilight saw someone driving a convertible car in the opposite direction she was running, so she jumped out in front of the moving vehicle and waved her arms around as she desperately cried out, “Wait! Stop!”
SCREEEEEECH!
The driver of the convertible slammed on the brakes and brought that car to a stop a short distance away from where Twilight stood.
“I’m terribly sorry, but we need to borrow your car!” Twilight explained hastily as she levitated the driver out of his car and gently down onto the sidewalk. She then swiftly climbed into the driver’s seat, while Spike ran around the front of the car and climbed over the door to hop into the passenger seat. With the airborne squad of Changelings rapidly closing in from in front of that car, Twilight immediately stomped on the accelerator.
VRRROOOOOOM!
The convertible rapidly accelerated down the road, passing right under that squad of Changelings, forcing them to stop and turn around to continue following after their Target.
Spike was thrown back into his seat and fearfully shouted, “Woah! Hey! At least wait until I’ve got my seatbelt on!”
“No time for that!” Twilight shot back in a panicked state.
Spike fumbled with the seatbelt for a moment, but soon managed to secure it around himself.
Although the convertible was a rather fast street vehicle, there were quite a few various obstacles — such as abandoned vehicles, chunks of debris from the surrounding buildings, and sidewalk fixtures that had been broken loose — scattered haphazardly all over the road that Twilight had to swerve around, which obviously slowed their actual velocity. But even at that slower speed, the pursuing flying Changeling forces were just not quite fast enough to keep up with the speeding vehicle. Although they still managed to follow closely enough to see where that car was going, they were unable to close the gap to make an attempt to capture their Target.
Fortunately for the Changelings, two other troopers happened to be already flying above the street just up ahead. The information displayed on the inside of their visors quickly identified one of the Targets they were after was in that convertible, so as that speeding car approached their position, they turned away and flew in the same direction it was going to build up relative momentum. When the moment arrived that the vehicle began to pass right beneath them, they retracted their wings and dropped down right onto the back of that car, causing both Spike and Twilight to glance back at them and let out a startled yelp.
The two Changelings steadied their balance atop the moving vehicle and carefully stood up, but then a small explosion suddenly went off beside the Changeling on the left side of the car. It didn’t do any notable damage, but it did throw him off balance just enough for him to fall backwards off the car and tumble along the pavement.
Twilight, Spike, and the other Changeling still standing on the car glanced over to the left of the moving vehicle and saw Pinkie Pie riding a motor scooter alongside them. The party girl also happened to be wearing a backpack that seemed to be practically overflowing with all kinds of various desserts, baked goods, and candy items.
“Now that’s what I call a sugar rush!” remarked Pinkie with a giggle. She turned to Twilight and playfully asked, “Did you really think I was gonna keep all the fun to myself?”
The Changeling soldier still riding atop the convertible decided to go after the other Target, so he leaped off the car and landed upon the rear seat of the motor scooter.
Pinkie turned back to that Changeling standing right behind her atop that scooter and cheerfully remarked, “Oh, you wanna ride this thing? Sure! Go right ahead!” She then stood up from her seat and leaped over onto the convertible car.
With the motor scooter now suddenly driverless, it began to wobble uncontrollably until it finally toppled over, and the hapless Changeling riding atop it was sent tumbling along the pavement. Once that Changeling finally came to a stop, he sat up and rubbed his head as he groaned in pain.
Meanwhile, Pinkie made sure to seat herself comfortably on the convertible. That car didn’t have a backseat, and there wasn’t quite enough room for her to squeeze in between Twilight and Spike, so she simply sat atop the back of the vehicle with her feet resting in the space between the other two people riding in this car.
It wasn’t long before a pair of mini fighters quickly swooped in from opposite sides and joined the aerial pursuit of the convertible. “Disable that car!” ordered one of the Changeling troopers in the squad that was still following that convertible. After taking a few seconds to obtain proper accuracy, the two fighters each fired off a missile towards that speeding vehicle down on the road below.
One missile narrowly missed to the right of the car and instead struck a newspaper stand, sending shredded pieces of paper flying everywhere. The other missile managed to strike the pavement just under the left rear part of the car, and the resulting blast briefly lifted the rear of that car off the ground. When the rear of that convertible slammed back down onto the road, the left rear wheel broke loose from the axle.
“Oh-no! Runaway wheel!” exclaimed Pinkie while pointing at that wheel as it rolled away.
With the loss of that wheel, Twilight quickly lost control of the vehicle. Steering became practically impossible, and with the broken axle now dragging along the pavement, no amount of acceleration was going to overcome the force of drag that was already slowing down the car. Even with all that drag, the car’s momentum was still enough that when it veered right and slammed into a parked van, the sudden stop flung Twilight and Pinkie forward out of their seats. Twilight took the brunt of the impact with her torso against the steering wheel, while Pinkie flipped around and landed with her head against the dashboard and her feet sticking up and towards the back of the vehicle.
Spike, on the other hand, had remained perfectly within his seat, thanks to the seatbelt he was still wearing. He glanced over at Twilight, then smirked and gloated, “And you said we didn’t have time for seatbelts.”
Thunk!
The three passengers inside that wrecked convertible let out started yelps when a Changeling soldier suddenly landed upon the rear of their vehicle and looked down upon them.
“Buzz off!” shouted Pinkie furiously as she pulled in her legs and then thrust them out to kick that Changeling in the chest, which knocked him off the wrecked car and ended up on his back in the middle of the road.
HONK! HONK!
Pinkie, Spike, Twilight, and the fallen Changeling turned to the source of that loud noise and saw a big eighteen-wheeler truck coming down the road. With the speed and momentum behind that massive vehicle, it had no chance of avoiding that Changeling who was down on the pavement. The arrangement of the wheels on that truck meant that the helpless Changeling was quickly run over by a single wheel, then a pair of double wheels, and then another pair of double wheels before that lumbering truck had finally passed by.
Once that huge truck had moved on, the unlucky Changeling who had just been run over not only seemed to have suffered no visible damage, but also managed to get up and stand on his feet. He shook his head a little, smacked the left side of his helmet a few times, and adjusted the sensor on the right side of his helmet so that it was sticking upright once again. Aside from that, the Changeling trooper appeared as if he was just as fit for combat as any other Changeling soldier.
After witnessing that display of resiliency, Pinkie’s jaw dropped and she muttered, “Wow… That’s some pretty tough armor.”
“I shouldn’t be so surprised,” admitted Twilight as she pushed herself off the steering wheel and adjusted her glasses. “Their armor is supposedly robust enough to withstand the vacuum of outer space.”
As that quickly recovered Changeling began walking back to the wrecked convertible, another one suddenly landed where the first one had originally done so.
Pinkie stood up and faced the Changeling soldier who was standing right in front of her on the back of the car, then pulled a vanilla frosted cupcake out from her backpack full of sweets and held it out towards that Changeling as she politely offered, “Want a cupcake?”
The Changeling soldier stared at Pinkie for a moment, then casually replied, “Sure.”
Pinkie then tossed the cupcake over to the Changeling, who easily caught it in his hands. However, with the simple act of tossing the sugary treat, Pinkie had activated her magical power, and just a split second after that cupcake landed in the Changeling’s hands, it exploded.
Boom!
The unsuspecting Changeling was blown away from the wrecked convertible and hit the pavement on his back. He groaned in pain for a moment, then loudly cried out, “THE CUPCAKE WAS A LIE!!!”
“That’s what you get for attacking a city full of defenseless civilians!” Pinkie shot back aggressively.
Unfortunately, Pinkie’s efforts were proving to be rather futile as the entire squad of Changelings that had been chasing after them this whole time had finally arrived and began swarming around the wrecked convertible. But even against such long odds, Pinkie refused to give up, so she started unleashing sugary devastation by flinging items from her backpack full of sweets straight upwards, letting out a ballistic battle cry all the while. Many of the resulting explosions — going off like a fireworks display — didn’t do much against the squad, although a few good hits did manage to knock one or two of them out of the sky.
Spike whimpered fearfully as he hunched down in his seat and defensively held his arms over the back of his head. “Is there nowhere safe for us?!” he screamed in absolute terror.
Twilight also desperately wished for an answer to that question. It seemed that no matter where in the city they went, those Changeling forces would always rapidly close in on their location. As she swiftly glanced around in all directions for any possible ideas, it finally hit her when her gaze fell upon the Jump-Gate return device she had always made sure to constantly wear on her right wrist. She facepalmed and grumbled, “Why do I always seem to forget about this thing at such inconvenient times?” Not wasting another moment, she pulled out her phone and quickly wrote a text message to all of her friends.
We need to escape the city together. Meet me in the alleyway behind the pizzeria.
“There,” declared Twilight as she sent that text and then put away her phone. “Now that I’ve established a rendezvous point, let’s get there right away.” As she opened the car door and stepped out of the wrecked convertible, she turned to Pinkie and stated, “I’ll lead the way. You just focus on blasting more Changelings out of the air.”
“Sure thing, Twilight!” agreed Pinkie as she hopped out of the car and blindly pulled another item from her bag of sweets. “Ooh! Chocolate bar.” She took a bite out of that piece of chocolate, then chucked the rest of it at yet another Changeling soldier flying in towards them, blasting him out of the sky.
Spike removed his seatbelt and immediately climbed out of the wrecked car. Twilight began running towards the destination she had arranged for the rest of their friends to meet up with them, with Pinkie and Spike following close behind her. Although some stragglers from the Changeling squad tried to continue pursuing them, Pinkie swiftly took them out by tossing items from her bag of sweets up at where they flew, causing those sugary treats to explode in their faces and send them plummeting down onto the street.
A few blocks away, Applejack continued to fight off Changeling troopers with little more than her bare hands and magical super strength. She grabbed one Changeling that charged at her and then flung him upwards to collide into a flying Changeling soldier, sending both alien troopers crashing down to the pavement. Another Changeling lunged at her, but she effortlessly tossed him up and over her head so that he just sailed right by. That Changeling ended up slamming into a fire hydrant with enough force to break the hydrant loose, quickly unleashing a large column of water that propelled him up into the air uncontrollably.
While all of that was going on, Fluttershy continued tending to the raptor who was still down on the pavement. As far as she could tell, Beta had suffered only some minor bruises and soreness, so he would hopefully recover relatively soon.
Fluttershy suddenly heard a ping from her phone, so she pulled it out and checked the text she had received. After reading that text, she put her phone away as she turned back to the farmer girl and urgently spoke up, “Applejack! Twilight wants us to meet her behind the pizzeria so we can escape!”
“Ah’d be happy to do that, if only there weren’t so many of these gosh darn alien invaders swarmin’ around!” responded Applejack in frustration as she grabbed another Changeling, twisted one of his arms behind his back, lifted him up off the ground, and then shoved him away to crash into a postal box.
It was at this point that the fallen raptor finally shifted around and pushed himself to stand up on his feet once more, which caught Fluttershy’s attention and caused her to lightly gasp in shock.
Beta the raptor looked to the animal caretaker and spoke with a series of growls and snarls.
Fluttershy listened to what he said and asked with concern, “Are you sure you’re up to the task?”
Beta responded with a nod of his head and a brief growl.
“You’re right,” admitted Fluttershy. “We really don’t have much choice right now.” Without any hesitation, she quickly climbed up onto Beta’s back, then called over to her friend, “Applejack! Hop on so we can get out of here!”
Applejack had picked up another Changeling trooper, flipped him upside down, and slammed his head down onto the pavement when she heard the desperate request from her shy friend. Despite her stubborn confidence that she could keep beating back the Changeling army on her own, she knew it was only a matter of time before their overwhelming numbers would eventually wear her down. As much as she wanted to keep fighting the good fight, she realized the smart thing to do right now was to take that opportunity to escape and resume the fight another day. With a reluctant sigh, she rushed over to the raptor and hopped up onto his back.
“Let’s go, Beta!” declared Fluttershy as she pointed ahead along the street. “Our friends will be waiting for us over there!”
Beta the raptor turned his attention to where Fluttershy was pointing, then swiftly took off running in that direction.
As the dinosaur carried the two girls away to safety, Applejack waved her hat around and excitedly shouted, “Yeehaw! Cowgirl on a raptor! Who would’ve expected that?”
The few Changelings in the area who were still standing tried to follow after them, but by this point, three police cruisers had arrived on the scene and the police officers riding in them jumped out and began to confront the alien forces. They knew it was ultimately a futile effort, but at least it provided enough of a distraction for those two girls and their raptor companion to make their escape.
Not much further down the road, Rarity and Rainbow Dash continued working together to fight back against the seemingly endless onslaught of Changeling troopers. Rarity used her diamond barriers and shields to restrict the Changelings by either blocking their laser bolts or simply knocking them out of the sky, while Rainbow Dash swiftly finished them off on the ground by zooming around and punching them with those huge metallic fists she still wielded.
As soon as Rarity finished with her contribution to the fight for the moment, she heard a ping from her phone, so she pulled it out and read the text message she had just received.
Rainbow finished punching out the last of the current wave of attackers before she noticed the fashionista was looking down at her phone, so she rushed over to her and asked, “What’s up?”
“It seems Twilight intends to provide us with a means of escape,” replied Rarity as she put away her phone. “She has requested that we all meet her behind the pizzeria.”
Rainbow Dash stared out at the surrounding Changeling forces closing in on them. As much as she wanted to keep on fighting, she knew that sticking around for much longer would ultimately leave them with little hope of coming out on top. With a reluctant sigh, she removed her metallic fists and tossed them down onto the road. “C’mon, Rarity,” she declared. “We’re gonna take the quick way out.” Without any hesitation, she grabbed Rarity by the waist and lifted her up onto her shoulder.
Rarity let out a scream of shock and, quickly realizing what Rainbow Dash planned to do, indignantly insisted, “This had better not disrupt my coiffure!”
“No promises,” quipped Rainbow before she zoomed off down the road as a rainbow motion blur, with Rarity’s startled screams following along with her.
Meanwhile, up on the rooftops, Sunset Shimmer had managed to pin one Changeling soldier down onto his knees. As they both struggled to overpower the other, Sunset casually asked, “Do you mind taking off a piece of your armor so I can touch you?”
“As if!” the Changeling shot back. “We know that’s how you’re able to read minds!”
“Yeah, didn’t think it’d be that easy,” admitted Sunset before she made use of the brief distraction to leverage herself against her opponent and slammed his face down against the concrete floor. With that Changeling subdued for the moment, she ran off and leaped over the ledge onto the rooftop of the next building on the block.
It was at this moment when Sunset heard the ping from her phone, so she pulled out it, quickly read the text that Twilight had sent, then put it back in her pocket. With the Changeling forces overwhelming practically every part of the city, she was in desperate need of some way to reach her new destination as quickly as possible.
Sunset looked up at the sky and saw some of the mini fighters being flown around by Changeling pilots in those open cockpits, which gave her an idea. She walked over to the edge of the rooftop overlooking the street and watched for any approaching fighters. As one of them began to fly low along the nearby street, she had no hesitation as she stepped onto the ledge and jumped off the building.
With incredible timing, Sunset managed to land right onto the mini fighter as it flew by, starling the Changeling pilot. “My turn,” she playfully remarked before she kicked the pilot out of his seat and quickly climbed into that seat and grasped the flight controls. With a speedy vehicle now in her possession, Sunset changed course and began heading straight for the pizzeria.
The ejected Changeling pilot plummeted to the street below and crash-landed on his back atop a parked car, crushing the roof and setting off its alarm. He groaned in pain as he turned his head towards the sidewalk to his left, where he saw a police officer standing with a serious look on his face.
The police officer shook his head in disapproval, quickly wrote up a ticket, then stuck that ticket onto the fallen Changeling pilot’s visor.
Just in front of the pizzeria, another police officer found himself confronting one of the Changeling troopers. Using his police-issued beating baton, he tried to strike his opponent, but the Changeling’s wrist-mounted blade easily sliced it in half. With his only means of defense now rendered useless, the police officer screamed in panic and ran away.
The Changeling trooper tried to pursue the fleeing police officer, only for something to suddenly explode right in front of his chest, sending him down on his back onto the street.
“Donut even think about it!” warned Pinkie Pie as she held up a box full of glazed donuts.
Twilight then used her telekinesis to levitate the stunned Changeling off the street and tossed him over into the bed of a pickup truck parked further down the road. “We’re almost there!” she stated as she led Pinkie and Spike into the alleyway to the right of the pizzeria and around the back side of the building.
Practically as soon as those three arrived at the arranged meeting site, a rainbow motion blur followed their trail and stopped right beside them, revealing Rainbow Dash carrying Rarity over her shoulder.
“See?” bragged Rainbow Dash as she set Rarity down on her feet. “Told ya we’d get there without any trouble.”
Rarity readjusted her hair piece as she let out an indignant huff and grumbled, “While I’m sure you might think there’s no such thing as too fast, I personally would beg to differ!”
Only a few seconds later, the group of five were startled when they saw a raptor suddenly run into the alleyway, but quickly relaxed when he stopped and they saw Fluttershy and Applejack riding on his back.
Applejack dismounted from the dinosaur and remarked with a smile, “Hoo-wee! That was one of the wildest rides Ah’ve ever had on the back of a creature, Ah’ll tell ya that much!”
Fluttershy dismounted the raptor and gently patted him as she looked at him with an expression of sadness on her face. “I’m sorry I can’t take you home like I promised,” she admitted shamefully. “As much as I’d really rather not do this, I’m afraid you’ll just have to survive on your own until it’s safe for me to come back.”
Beta the raptor nodded in acceptance.
“You should go south to the Everfree Forest,” suggested Fluttershy. “That’ll be your best chance to stay hidden and find everything you’ll need to survive. As long as you’re careful to stay away from the summer camp in there, I’m sure you’ll be okay.”
Beta nodded again, then turned away and began running off on his own.
Not long after that, one of the Changeling mini fighters flew overhead and quickly landed on the rooftop of the pizzeria. Sunset climbed out of that small vehicle, leaped off the rooftop, then landed beside her friends with a tumble to soften her landing.
“Of course you had to make the most dramatic entrance,” muttered Spike as he rolled his eyes.
“This is not the time to complain about awesomeness,” scolded Sunset as she stood up from where she landed. She turned to Twilight and desperately asked, “How are we gonna escape? You’d better make it fast before the whole Changeling army closes in on us!”
“Shouldn’t it be obvious by now?” replied Twilight smugly as she held up her right arm to bring attention to her Jump-Gate return device. Without bothering to wait for everyone’s reactions, she immediately tapped the device to enter the return code for the LEGO Team Headquarters building not far outside the city, then aimed her arm at the featureless wall made of red bricks at the end of the alleyway and hit the green activate button. A pair of massive steel doors faded into view in front of that brick wall, then those doors parted open to reveal the briefing area of the huge multi-purpose room that was located on one of the highest floors of the LEGO Team Headquarters building — which was located on a mountaintop not far outside the city limits of Canterlot City.
“Good thinking, Twilight,” acknowledged Sunset with a smile. “Now let’s get outta here.”
Just as the Equestria Girls began to make their exit from the citywide chaos, one Changeling soldier landed atop the highest rooftop overlooking the alleyway. He searched the area below and quickly discovered the group of girls and the opened gateway. “I see the Targets!” he reported eagerly. “It looks like they’re escaping through some kind of doorway.”
“Then what are you waiting for, Private?!” responded the General fiercely through the communicator. “Stop them!”
“O-Oh, right! Of course!” muttered the Private as he opened his wingpack and leaped off the rooftop. His wingpack slowed his descent down to the alleyway below, but on his way down, his foot got caught on a clothesline, causing him to yelp as he was suddenly thrown off balance and quickly got tangled up amongst all that hanging laundry. He struggled to free himself, only for the clothesline to snap and send him plummeting down into a second clothesline, where he also quickly got tangled up in the hanging laundry. In his further struggle to free himself, he again caused the line to snap and fell into a third clothesline full of hanging laundry that just further tangled him up. When that third clothesline also snapped, the Private and his surrounding tangled mass of laundry and wires swung across the alleyway and smacked into the wall, the force of which snapped the other end of the remaining cables, sending the whole mess plummeting straight down into an open dumpster. As the Private landed within that dumpster, the force of the impact was enough to cause the dumpster’s lid to fall over and slam shut, leaving all remnants of that whole mess contained inside.
It was hard for the Equestria Girls to not notice that Changeling’s rather pathetic failure to follow after them, once they had safely made it through the opened gateway. Pinkie had even decided to snack on one of the donuts from that box she was still carrying while she watched.
“So much for that loser,” muttered Rainbow Dash dismissively.
Not wanting to risk any more Changelings possibly finding their means of escape, Twilight immediately hit the red “Emergency Close” button on the Jump-Gate's console to the side, causing the massive doors to quickly slam shut.
Not long after that, the huge display screen up on the wall nearby switched on to reveal the face of Celestia Playwell, leader of the Canterlot City branch of the LEGO Team. “Thank goodness you girls are okay,” she stated with relief. “As soon as I received the alert that the Jump-Gate was being used, I was almost certain that it had to be you.”
“Celestia!” Sunset spoke up worriedly. “Are you alright?”
“Don’t worry about me,” assured Celestia. “I safely made it into my personal security bunker. Unfortunately, it’s designed to protect only me and no one else, so I’m afraid you must seek shelter elsewhere.”
“But where can we go?” asked Spike desperately. “Those aliens are practically all over the city!”
“We can’t stay in Canterlot City, that much is certain,” concluded Applejack reluctantly.
“I’m afraid our only option for now is to find a place in another region to lie low until we can think of what to do next,” Twilight solemnly stated.
“So that’s it?!” protested Rainbow Dash. “We’re just gonna run away and hide from them?!”
“We don’t have much choice!” argued Sunset firmly. “Those Changelings wanna capture us for some reason, and until we can figure out what that reason is, we can’t risk giving them any opportunity to do that!”
“As much as I would prefer that we not completely abandon our home to these ruthless extraterrestrials, I suppose it would be most prudent for us to seek a place where we can recuperate from this unanticipated assault,” conceded Rarity.
“They caught us completely by surprise,” Fluttershy pointed out. “We’re really vulnerable right now. Until we have a better idea on how we can resist those Changelings, we can’t afford to take any chances trying to confront them.”
Rainbow Dash let out a sigh of frustration and grumbled, “Fine, but this will be only until we come up with a new plan on how to fight back.”
“But that still leaves the question of where we’re gonna hide,” noted Pinkie before she stuffed another donut into her mouth.
“I think we should let Twilight figure that out,” suggested Sunset. “After all, she had a reputation as a Shadowbolt agent for frequently moving to new hideouts without ever being discovered.”
Twilight hesitated as all of her friends turned to look at her for advice. She gulped nervously, took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and finally explained, “I do have something in mind, but to ensure our best chance of slipping away undetected, I’ll have to refrain from saying anything and just lead you all there myself.” She then used her magical powers to levitate the bag of sweets off Pinkie’s back and the half-full box of donuts out of her hands. “Sorry, Pinkie, but the less evidence we leave along the way to our hideout, the better.”
“Aww…” moaned Pinkie sadly.
“Good luck, girls,” stated Celestia on the big display screen. “Wherever you plan on hiding, please stay safe.” She then tapped a button on the console in front of her and the screen shut off.
Twilight turned to the console beside the Jump-Gate and entered a set of coordinates. “Shadowbolt policy was to destroy the Jump-Gate on our way out,” she explained, “but that won’t be an option for us since this system of travel is now much more widely known. Instead, we’ll head out to some place in the middle of nowhere, use my return device to go from there to another Jump-Gate, and repeat the process a few more times.”
Twilight hit the big green “Open” button on the console. The Jump-Gate made the familiar low whooshing noise for a few seconds, then the large doors parted open to the sides. Beyond the opened gateway was a conifer forest with a mostly cloudy sky above. No one bothered to speak up as the team of friends followed Twilight into this mystery region.
Once everyone had passed through the gateway, Fluttershy asked, “How many Jump-Gates do we have to jump through?”
“As many as it takes to ensure they can’t track us,” Twilight stated firmly.
The return device did not have an “Emergency Close” button, so the Equestria Girls had to wait for the Jump-Gate doors to automatically close at their standard speed. Once those doors faded away and the group was finally cut off from their home city, Twilight led them all away to a different site in this forest where she would open the next in their series of Jump-Gate escapes.
After a few hours, the invading alien forces of the Changeling army had managed to subdue the vast majority of Canterlot City. Much of the conflict had largely calmed down, with only a few remaining pockets of stubborn resistance to be dealt with. Now that the city was under Changeling occupation, it was time for them to assess their new territory and begin preparations for the next phase of their ultimate conquest of Earth.
Despite the overall success of the invasion, there was one primary objective that had not been accomplished. At one particular city block, the Changeling General and a squad of troopers marched into an alleyway behind a pizzeria.
“This is it, sir,” reported one of the Changeling troopers. “This is where we recorded our last sighting of the Targets.”
“Then how did they escape?” demanded the General as he looked around in the surrounding empty alleyway. With no combat occurring for the moment and no need to utilize communicators within such close proximity, he retracted the lower part of his helmet to expose his mouth, which was currently twisted into a fierce snarl. “Thorax!” he barked furiously. “Where are you?!”
The General heard to his right the creaking noise of the dumpster lid being opened, so he quickly turned to face it, where he saw the Private standing inside the dumpster while covered in bits of laundry and garbage — including a bra and a banana peel draped over his head.
The General let out a sigh of disappointment and grumbled, “Of all the Changelings under my command, why does the most pathetic of them all have to be my own brother?”
Thorax retracted the lower part of his helmet to expose his mouth before he shamefully replied, “Sorry, Pharynx. I just didn’t expect those clotheslines to be such a flying hazard.”
“We’ve all been trained to avoid flying into power lines,” Pharynx pointed out in frustration. “I’m very sure the same principle should apply.”
Thorax brushed the laundry and garbage off himself and attempted to climb out of the dumpster, only to topple over the edge and hit the pavement with a faceplant.
Pharynx began scanning his surroundings as he asked, “Now where’s this doorway you saw the Targets escape through?”
Thorax grunted in pain as he staggered up onto his feet. Once he was standing upright, he turned around to face the direction he had seen the Equestria Girls escape through that gateway, but all he saw now was a seemingly featureless brick wall. “Uh… That’s weird…” he muttered in confusion. “I’m pretty sure I saw it right over there.”
Pharynx scanned the wall his brother was staring at, but the readings that came up on his visor showed nothing of any significance. “My sensors are not detecting anything in that direction that could potentially be utilized as an emergency escape doorway,” he pointed out.
“But I swear it was right there!” insisted Thorax. “I don’t know what happened to it. It’s like it just… completely vanished.”
Pharynx was tempted to dismiss that apparently wild claim, but if what Private Thorax had witnessed was true, then that piece of evidence seemed to match up with something he had heard about regarding the probable level of infrastructure that was established on this particular planet. “Hmm… So the rumors are true…” he muttered to himself as he continued to stare at that featureless wall. “They do possess instant gateways to anywhere…”
General Pharynx knew that revelation was going to complicate the strategic plans for the absolute conquest of planet Earth, especially with their failure to capture those seven special girls in the initial assault. Both the magical girls and the instant gateways were factors the Changeling horde had never been faced with on any of their previous conquests, but he remained confident they would ultimately triumph. The Changelings already possessed a vast intergalactic empire, much of which they had successfully taken by force. After all the other planets that had long since come and gone, why would they expect the outcome to be any different for this one?