//------------------------------// // Gone into Hiding // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 10 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 Gone into Hiding One week had passed since the Changelings invaded Canterlot City. The alien army had struck so swiftly and decisively against the defenseless city that there was practically no notable resistance left by the end of the very first day. With their first foothold on the planet virtually secured, they quickly initiated the next phase of the invasion, which involved using their transforming abilities to easily blend in with the locals of every region and subtly gather information that would prove useful for their main assaults on each region that would come later. Fortunately for the inhabitants of the Lego World, all of the former Shadowbolt agents who lived among them had anticipated this global covert operation, so they sent out warnings to everyone to be very careful of who they trust to limit the risk of unknowingly providing information to the alien forces. As a result of this, almost every region decided to take the most extreme security measures by initiating a full lockdown, where everyone was ordered to stay within their homes and not go anywhere else — except for essential tasks like shopping for food — to minimize the risk of encountering disguised Changelings. Some regions believed such measures went too far and chose not to implement such strict protocols, but the Changeling armies were quick to exploit the relaxed security of these particular regions and were swiftly confident enough to launch invasions to seize total control of those regions, which ultimately justified the lockdown measures utilized by the regions that had yet to be confronted by a Changeling assault. Although the Changeling forces in Canterlot City did eventually infiltrate the LEGO Team Headquarters building atop the mountain that overlooked the city, the people who worked there had been able to disable and dismantle the Jump-Gate that was located there, rendering it completely useless to the Changelings and thus depriving them of an opportunity to obtain one of the few advantages their opponents had against them. And although the Equestria Girls did manage to safely escape from Canterlot City, none of the general public had seen or heard any sign of them since that fateful day when the invasion began. Things were starting to get very desperate for the people of Earth, which was why Sunset Shimmer now found herself standing beside the Jump-Gate within the LEGO Team Headquarters of a different city while frequently checking the time on her phone. As she awaited the exact moment to make her move, she thought back to the message she had sent to Princess Twilight Sparkle in Equestria nearly a week ago, and the response she had just received earlier this morning… Dear Princess Twilight, Just when I got home from Ninjago City, a major crisis suddenly stuck the Lego World. Canterlot City was invaded by an army of armored space aliens who are apparently this universe’s version of the Changelings. Even worse, they seemed particularly interested in capturing me and my friends for some reason. We did our best to fight back, (believe me, that advanced ninja training I recently got really came in handy) but in the end, we had no choice but to escape the city. I can’t tell you where we’re hiding, but I can at least assure you that the seven of us are still together and relatively unharmed. Unfortunately, Canterlot City is now under Changeling occupation, and if the information the former Shadowbolts had gathered on them is true, then all the other regions on the planet will soon be faced with the threat of disguised infiltrators before those armies begin taking more territory. I don’t know how similar these Changelings are compared to ones you and your friends once fought against, but with how bad things have gotten for us so quickly, we’ll take any help we can get. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer. Dear Sunset Shimmer, That’s horrible! Equestria may have suffered quite a few serious threats as well, but I can definitely say that an alien invasion from outer space was never one of them (and let’s all hope it stays that way). In fact, the main reason I didn’t reply earlier is because we just went through yet another crisis here in Equestria, in which King Sombra returned and enslaved virtually everypony around us. Even though he destroyed the Elements of Harmony (I still have a hard time believing that actually happened), my friends and I were still able to vanquish him, thanks to the magic of friendship. Although our own crisis here in Equestria has now been resolved, I’m afraid I still won’t be able to offer much assistance. This may shock you, but Princesses Celestia and Luna have just recently announced their plans to soon retire, and they want me to succeed them as ruler over all of Equestria. As I’m sure you can imagine, there is a lot that I must be prepared for before I can reasonably accept such a huge responsibility. As much as I’d love to help all of you in the Lego World, risking my life by walking right into the middle of a sudden war zone is one of the last things I should be doing at a time like this. Thankfully, Starlight Glimmer happened to be in the room with me when I finally got a chance to read your message, and she has volunteered to return to the Lego World to personally assist you to the best of her ability. She actually played a key role in reforming the changelings of Equestria, so I have absolute confidence that you’ll have the best assistance Equestria can offer to hopefully resolve this crisis. I understand the interdimensional portal between our worlds is located in Canterlot City, which you’ve mentioned is currently under changeling occupation, so please let us know exactly what must be done to safely get Starlight over to where you’re hiding without putting Equestria at risk and she’ll prepare herself for the journey ahead. Your friend, Princess Twilight Sparkle. Sunset had swiftly responded by specifying that the portal should be opened only long enough for Starlight to pass through and that it should be opened at an exact moment — not even a single second early or late would be acceptable — and Sunset herself would take care of the rest of the travel arrangements. Of course, she was quite astonished by the news that the Royal Sisters would soon retire and had chosen Princess Twilight to take their place and rule over all of Equestria, but she decided to set aside her thoughts on that news until after the Changeling threat to the Lego World had been resolved. Sunset once again checked the time on her phone. The scheduled moment of arrival was now just one minute away, so she stepped over to the Jump-Gate's control panel and entered the coordinates. She held off on pressing the green “Open” button as she stared at her phone, counting down the final seconds. Once the moment finally arrived, she swiftly hit that button. The Jump-Gate made its typical low whooshing noise for a few seconds — precisely 6.7 seconds, according to Twilight — then the large doors parted open to reveal the side of a statue pedestal within City Park in Canterlot City. Only a couple seconds after the gateway was fully opened, the seemingly solid surface shimmered and a minifig suddenly flung out and stumbled through the gateway and into the room with Sunset. She spared only a second to confirm that the minifig who was now standing awkwardly beside her really was Starlight Glimmer before she immediately hit the red “Emergency Close” button on the console, causing the gateway doors to swiftly slam shut. Starlight staggered a little as she struggled to avoid falling over, but soon managed to find her balance and remained standing upright. As she glanced back and noticed Sunset Shimmer standing nearby, she smiled and remarked, “At least this time I made sure to come in vertically.” Sunset responded to her eager friend with only a grim expression. “I wish I could say it’s nice to see you again, but now’s not the time for any friendly activity,” she explained as she turned back to the console and began entering a different set of coordinates. “I had to open the Jump-Gate right in front of the interdimensional portal to make sure the Changeling forces were unlikely to notice your arrival.” Starlight glanced around at the surrounding empty room and muttered, “I was wondering why I didn’t end up in the park like I did last time.” Sunset held her hand over the green button as she turned her attention back to Starlight and asked, “Before we leave, are you absolutely sure that Princess Twilight will be keeping the portal shut while you’re here?” “Yes, she promised she would take care of that right after I went through,” replied Starlight in a slightly annoyed tone as she rolled her eyes. “Good,” stated Sunset with satisfaction. “The Changelings have already hit us hard with overwhelming force. I don’t even wanna imagine how unstoppable they could become if they somehow got their hands on Equestrian Magic. Not to mention how vulnerable Equestria itself could be to an invasion from an army with such advanced technology as what these Changelings have.” With that risk seemingly prevented, Sunset turned her attention back to the console and hit the green button. The Jump-Gate again made its distinctive low whooshing noise for a few seconds, then the doors parted open to reveal a narrow dirt trail in the middle of a dense tropical rainforest. Sunset didn’t spare a moment as she walked through the gateway. Starlight had seen certain magic spells produce a similar result, but to see a machine provide instant passage to practically any location was certainly a marvel of technology in her eyes. What especially fascinated her was when she stepped through the gateway and saw the structure on the other side, which appeared to be just sitting there in the middle of the trail as if it was actually built there. “You know, this world’s Twilight told me all about how she invented this thing,” she noted, “but this is actually the first time I’ve really seen it in action.” “Good, because you’ll be seeing a lot more demonstrations over the next few minutes,” muttered Sunset as she continued walking away from the gateway. Starlight looked back and watched in awe as the Jump-Gate doors slowly closed automatically, then the gateway itself faded from view, leaving behind the empty trail as if that gateway was never there. “Wait, what?” she asked in confusion as she suddenly turned her attention back to Sunset, then quickly resumed following after her. “Twilight insisted that we use the Jump-Gate multiple times before reaching the actual hideout,” explained Sunset as she continued ahead along the trail. “Despite the remote locations we’ll be passing through, the Changelings might detect where we’ve been, so by scattering our trail across several distant places in a short amount of time, our hope is that it will force them to spread their search efforts so widely that it’ll become more difficult for them to actually find our real hideout.” “How sure are you that it’s worth all that effort?” asked Starlight. “Seems like a lot of pointless hopping around to me.” Sunset began entering the return code onto her wrist-mounted Jump-Gate return device as she sighed and replied, “Not enough to take the risk of not going through with it.” She then stopped walking, held out her arm towards where the trail continued ahead, and tapped the green activate button on the device. Another Jump-Gate faded into view on the trail ahead, then those doors parted open to reveal a room that was notably different than the one the two girls had been in only a minute earlier. Sunset led Starlight through the gateway into the large room, then once both of them were within the room, Sunset walked over the to the Jump-Gate's console and hit the red button, which made the gateway doors quickly slam shut. Starlight was briefly startled by the sudden closing of the Jump-Gate, then relaxed as she watched Sunset enter a new set of coordinates into the console beside the gateway structure. Sunset then hit the green button to activate the Jump-Gate, and a few seconds later, the doors parted open to reveal the interior of a massive cave filled with glowing crystals of all shapes and sizes. Sunset and Starlight repeated the process several times for the remainder of their journey to the undisclosed hideout. The rooms that contained each Jump-Gate machine they used had slight variations, but Starlight was unable to notice anything to indicate where in the Lego World those rooms were located. The remote locations they passed through between each Jump-Gate were of a vastly wide variety, each more seemingly perilous than the last. After that glowing cave, they next walked along a craggy coastline with rough waves crashing against the surrounding rocks. Following that, they then passed through an arid desert with sand and dust blowing around though the air, followed by a frozen wasteland with snow being swept up in the bitterly frigid winds, and finally a scorching hot volcanic region full of sweltering rivers of lava flowing all around them. Once the two girls passed through the Jump-Gate to take them out of that volcanic area, Starlight wiped the sweat from her brow as she let out a sigh of exhaustion and grumbled, “I really hope that was the last one…” Sunset once again hit the red button on the console to quickly close the Jump-Gate, then smiled as she removed the return device from her arm and contently responded, “Then I have good news for you. We made it to the hideout.” Starlight let out a huge sigh of relief and muttered, “Thank goodness.” “This way,” stated Sunset as she gestured for Starlight to follow. “I’ll take you to where the others have been staying.” The room they started in with the Jump-Gate was built out a mix of dark grey and light grey bricks, some of which were specially shaped to resemble the work of masonry. There were also two small windows on either side of the Jump-Gate with their shutters currently closed. As the two girls walked through corridors and hallways built out of similar bricks, Starlight noticed they occasionally passed by either a banner hanging from the wall or a suit of medieval armor displayed to the side. They next climbed up a spiral stairway before walking down another hallway, though now the surrounding walls were built out of bricks that were bright blue and pink. In some ways, as far as Starlight could tell, the surrounding aesthetics began to resemble the royal castle in the Crystal Empire, back in her world. Finally, Sunset pushed open a pair of doors and led Starlight into a large room, within which were a few sofas and chairs around a couple of short tables in the middle, some bookshelves to the right side, a pool table and ping pong table at the far end, and even a television and video gaming system to the left side. More significant were the people who were currently within this room — Twilight was reading a book while seated on one of the sofas near the bookshelves, Rarity and Applejack were playing a round of billiards on the pool table while Fluttershy watched them from a nearby chair, Rainbow Dash and Spike sat together on a sofa as they played a video game while Pinkie Pie sat behind them in a nearby chair and watched that game as she ate from a bowl of popcorn. “Hey, everyone,” Sunset spoke up with a smile to everyone in the room. “I’m back, and look who I brought with me.” Everyone paused what they were doing and turned to Sunset and their new guest. “Starlight Glimmer!” they all cheerfully exclaimed before they all began to gather around her. “Hi, girls,” greeted Starlight as she exchanged friendly hugs with each and every one of them. “It’s nice to see all of you again.” “If only it didn’t have to be in the middle of yet another crisis,” remarked Twilight in a bittersweet tone. “You got that right,” agreed Rainbow Dash. Starlight glanced around at all of her Lego World friends and noted, “I see you’re all wearing different outfits than the last time I was here.” “Ah, yes, your previous visit was just prior to when I presented everyone with our new standard wardrobes,” acknowledged Rarity. “I must say, I am quite pleased with myself that everyone has been highly satisfied with the results. After all, those knee-high boots have so gone out of style.” Everyone giggled at that remark. “So this is where you’ve been hiding for the last few days?” asked Starlight as she glanced around at the room they were in, most notably that there were three moderately sized windows along the wall at the far side of the room. “When I heard you were all in a secret hideout, I kind of imagined something more like an underground bunker.” “Yeah, that’s where we all assumed Twilight was gonna take us,” explained Pinkie Pie. “I mean, she knows about so many different hideouts from her Shadowbolt days that the only question would’ve been which one we would like best. But instead, she thought we’d have a much better chance of staying hidden if we went to a place that most people would assume we’d stay away from. Nobody would ever expect us to take shelter anywhere within the Castle Region, because practically everyone knows by now how much Twilight hates going back that area.” “Right,” noted Starlight in acknowledgement. “Their restrictive policies that drove her to join the Shadowbolts and ultimately led to Midnight Sparkle.” “At least Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor are more than happy to let us take shelter here in their home fortress, the Crystal Castle,” stated Fluttershy. “And thanks to the local members of the LEGO Team frequently going out on patrols, we’ll have advanced warning to let us know if the Changelings show up and we need to evacuate,” assured Sunset. “So, Starlight…” Applejack spoke up with a smile. “What ideas have ya got on how we can fight off those Changeling alien invaders?” As everyone looked to her with eager anticipation, Starlight’s smile fell as she apprehensively glanced around at them. “Uh, well…” she began hesitantly. “I guess it really depends on how similar or different they are from the changelings I’m familiar with in Equestria. To start off, they’re not aliens from outer space like what you’re dealing with, but rather more like a hybrid of ponies with insect features.” “Those wingpacks they use to fly around sure look like insect wings, so that’s something,” noted Rainbow Dash. “And as their name suggests,” continued Starlight, “they have the ability to instantly transform themselves into practically anyone or anything.” “We’re already well aware of that,” stated Sunset. “Almost every region in the Lego World has gone into a full lockdown to minimize encounters with potential disguised Changelings. Those that were stubborn enough to not follow that advice have already been conquered by their armies, so at least that confirms that ability.” “Is there any way we can tell if someone is actually a disguised Changeling?” asked Rarity. “Not objectively,” answered Starlight. “Even the changelings themselves have occasionally been fooled by a disguised changeling. The best way to avoid being deceived is to use a secret message shared only with a small group of friends who you know you can trust.” “Already got that covered with the local LEGO Team,” noted Spike with a confident grin. “Okay, what else…?” Starlight quietly muttered to herself. After a few seconds of thought, she spoke up, “Before they were reformed, Equestria’s changelings fed on love, and it was when they decided to stop stealing it and start sharing it that they became reformed. Would that apply to these Changelings, too?” “Not to my knowledge,” replied Twilight as she shook her head. “Besides, how can one possibly quantify something as abstract as love as if it were a consumable source of sustenance?” “And here I thought the Lego World was full of stuff that made no sense…” grumbled Starlight under her breath. “Is there anything else we don’t already know about Changelings that’s also not totally useless?” asked Rainbow Dash with a tone of doubt in her voice. Starlight hesitated as she shifted her gaze around at everyone who had been so hopeful for advice from her. Starting to feel a little desperate, she eventually answered, “Uh… Well, a significant key to the defeat and reformation of Equestria’s changelings was thanks to Thorax, a special changeling who was not interested in participating in any conquest and instead only wanted to have a friend. He was the one who demonstrated to the other changelings that they didn’t have to steal love to survive, so they followed his example and ended up overthrowing Chrysalis. We may have to use different methods, but if we can find Thorax’s counterpart in this universe and convince him to defect to our side, that might give us the leverage we need to defeat this universe’s Queen Chrysalis and possibly even convince the rest of these Changelings that it would be in their best interest to reform their ways.” Starlight gave a friendly smile to everyone around her, but in the rather lengthy silence that followed, that smile became a nervous grin as she anxiously awaited the response from her Lego friends. Finally, Applejack scoffed and grumbled, “Yeah, like that’ll ever happen…” “No disrespect, darling,” assured Rarity politely, “but I’m afraid your suggestion might be a little… impractical.” “The statistics of the Changeling invasion forces leaves such hope to be almost impossible,” stated Twilight. “It’s estimated there were tens of thousands of Changeling soldiers in the initial assault of Canterlot City alone, and if they realistically believe they can seize total control over the rest of the planet in a short amount of time, then they most likely brought approximately that many more troopers for each and every different region, which quickly adds up to an immense military force that could probably count over a million individual soldiers among their ranks. What are the odds that we could possibly locate and encounter one very specific Changeling in an army as vast and numerous as that?” “And if Thorax really is as reluctant to fight as you say he is,” Fluttershy pointed out, “then chances are he might not even be among the invading forces at all.” “Yeah,” agreed Pinkie. “For all we know, he might be serving as guard duty on some other Changeling-occupied planet halfway across the universe in a galaxy far, far away.” “Not to mention,” added Sunset, “we’ve already mentioned how these Changelings, so far as we know, don’t really feed on love, so even if we hit the lottery and did manage to find Thorax, I doubt that he’ll be any more useful to us than any other Changeling.” With all of that overwhelming evidence presented against her last hope of confronting the Changeling invasion, Starlight felt absolutely crushed. “So that’s it, then,” she sadly conceded as she sat down on a nearby sofa. “Looks like what you’re dealing with here is beyond anything I’m familiar with.” She let out a sigh of disappointment. “I guess my experience with Equestria’s changelings won’t be of much help in this world, after all.” “I thought it was a good idea,” Spike spoke up with a smile. He then frowned and awkwardly acknowledged, “Well, until everyone pointed out all the reasons why it’ll never work.” Starlight responded by flopping over onto the sofa and burying her face into one of the throw pillows. The rest of the girls glanced at one another shamefully. Starlight had voluntarily taken the effort to return to the Lego World to help them in their struggle to defeat the invading Changeling forces, but all they had done thus far was completely disregard any of her ideas with a brutally blunt reality check. Needless to say, they owed it to her as a friend to at least try to be a little more optimistic about their chances. “Cheer up, sugarcube,” assured Applejack with a friendly smile. “Ah’m sure we can figure out some other way to get rid of those alien varmints.” “But what else can I do?!” Starlight exclaimed desperately as she sat up. “Normally, one of my most reliable advantages is my magical talents, but since I’m not a unicorn in this world, I don’t have access to that! The only time when I accomplished something without relying on my magic was that very same event when I helped Thorax reform the changelings, and that’s obviously something we can’t count on this time.” She sighed as she slumped in her seat. “Even worse, the Changeling occupation in Canterlot City means I can’t just simply go back home. Until we can figure out something else to try, I’m gonna be stuck in this world for a while.” Rainbow Dash placed a hand on Starlight’s shoulder and smiled as she noted, “At least you’ll get to hang out with us while you’re here.” “Yeah, I suppose it could’ve been worse,” admitted Starlight with a sad smile. “Don’t get me wrong, but as much as I love spending time with all of you again, I’ve got my own responsibilities in Equestria to take care of, so the sooner those Changelings are out of the way, the better.” “But that still leaves us with the question of why those Changelings are after us and what we can do to stop them,” Sunset pointed out. “Who else can we turn to for advice?” It was at that moment when everyone in the room began to hear a low humming noise that seemed to come from somewhere outside. They all quickly gathered near the windows and looked out to see a blue and grey spacecraft flying relatively low in the sky as it flew towards the castle and eventually out of sight directly above them. “Alright!” cheered Rainbow Dash. “They’re back!” “Who’s back?” asked Starlight. “The local LEGO Team members are returning from their latest patrol,” answered Sunset with a smile. “They call themselves the Crystal Girls,” explained Rarity contently. “They’re all former Shadowbolt agents who used to work alongside Twilight.” “They can be a little dysfunctional at times,” added Twilight, “but thanks to their Shadowbolt training, they’re disciplined enough to accomplish any tasks that have been assigned to them.” “Ooh! I got an idea!” Pinkie suddenly spoke up excitedly. “We should go meet up with them and introduce them to Starlight Glimmer!” “Not like we have anythin’ better to do right now,” agreed Applejack with a shrug. “Didn’t you girls say you were trying to stay hidden?” asked Starlight with concern. “Don’t worry,” assured Rainbow Dash. “We’re perfectly safe as long as we stay within the castle walls.” “The Crystal Girls typically do their debriefing with Cadance and Shining Armor inside the Royal Hall,” explained Twilight. “And thanks to my familiarity with this castle, I know which corridors to take to get there.” Starlight smiled and contently declared, “Well, in that case, lead the way.” The Equestria Girls left the castle lounge and followed Twilight through the corridors. After a couple minutes of walking through the crystalline passageways, they soon arrived at a massive pair of doors. Twilight gestured at those doors, and Applejack responded by stepping forward and pushing open those doors. The room beyond those tall doors was absolutely massive. The ceiling was at least three times higher than in a typical room, with an elaborate crystalline chandelier hanging from the middle of it. The higher part of all four walls included several stained-glass windows — many of which Starlight could’ve sworn displayed images of minifigs that bore a striking resemblance to Starswirl the Bearded and his fellow Pillars of Equestria — with more displays of tapestries and crystalline armor along the lower part. Much of the floor space was taken up by a few long tables and several chairs surrounding each of them. Finally, at the far side of the room were two large thrones, both of which currently had a minifig seated upon them — one was a princess with pink skin and wearing a lavender dress, and the other was a prince with white skin and wearing golden armor — with a group of five girls standing nearby. “Forgive us if we’re intruding,” Twilight spoke up politely as she led her friends across the Royal Hall, “but we were just curious if the Crystal Girls had brought any news from their recent patrol.” “Oh, no need to apologize,” assured the princess seated upon the throne to the right. “With how restricted you’ve been for your own safety, it’s understandable that you’re desperate for any new information.” She glanced past Twilight and smiled as she noted, “And I see you have someone new among your team.” “Ah, yes,” responded Sunset. “This is the, um, ‘assistance’ I had asked for from Equestria. Her name is Starlight Glimmer.” She turned to Starlight and added, “Starlight, this is—” “Princess Cadance and Shining Armor,” finished Starlight. “Yes, I’m familiar with their counterparts in Equestria.” “Twilight told us about your last visit to this world,” noted the prince seated upon the other throne to the left. “I trust Sunset Shimmer made sure you were not intercepted by any Changelings on your journey here, in which case, I’m eager to hear what advice you have to offer in hopefully defeating this alien menace.” Starlight sighed dejectedly and confessed, “Well, unfortunately, it turns out these Changelings are a little too different from the changelings I’m familiar with in Equestria, so I’m afraid my experience won’t be of much use.” “That’s a shame,” muttered Shining Armor in disappointment. One of the five girls — the one with pale yellow skin and rose hair — crossed her arms as she scoffed and grumbled, “So much for any help from Equestria.” Starlight turned to those five other girls and noted, “And you must be those Crystal Girls my friends here were talking about.” “Indeed we are,” confirmed the girl with turquoise skin and light violet hair. “We started going by that title when we decided to make this castle our new home after the Shadowbolts were disbanded.” “That organization may have brought us together in the first place,” the girl with pale violet skin and white hair stated flatly, “but there’s no question that we’ve all become much better off since it ceased to exist.” “Yeah, those Shadowbolt regulations were way too restrictive,” agreed the girl with pink skin and green and yellow hair. “Not to mention, as fun as it was being the bad guys,” added the girl with light nougat skin and blue hair, “fighting for the good guys makes life a whole lot easier for all of us.” “Anyway, to properly introduce ourselves, my name is Sunny Flare,” greeted the turquoise girl. She then gestured to the violet girl, the nougat girl, the pink girl, and the yellow girl as she respectively introduced, “And this is Sugarcoat, Indigo Zap, Lemon Zest, and Sour Sweet.” Sour Sweet’s head suddenly spun around, causing her rather grumpy face to be immediately replaced by an identical face with a pleasant smile as she sweetly greeted, “Nice to meet you, Starlight Glimmer!” Starlight just stared at Sour Sweet with a startled look on her face. Sunset leaned close to Starlight and quietly explained, “Two-Face Syndrome. It’s a rare preexisting condition among minifigs.” Sour Sweet’s head spun around to expose her sour face before she furiously snapped, “I heard that!” “Anyway,” Twilight spoke up as she stepped forward, “we were wondering if you girls had any news regarding recent events worth sharing with us.” “I’m afraid the Steampunk Region has been the latest territory to be conquered by the Changeling forces,” reported Sunny Flare. “Word on the grapevine claims some Changeling infiltrators were able to seize control over Flim and Flam’s Pick-A-Brick warehouse by making a business deal with the brothers, only to then capture them and completely disregard the deal once an army of thousands had arrived, and from there the rest of Industrial City and the surrounding region were easy to fall.” “No surprise there,” grumbled Sour Sweet as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Those greedy con artists really should’ve known better than to try playing both sides against each other. The bad guys always try to exploit people like that.” “Any word on how things have been in Canterlot City?” asked Applejack. “Still as overwhelmed with Changelings as it’s been for the past week,” answered Indigo Zap as she shook her head. “The reserve LEGO Team and the Redeemables have been trying their best to hold things together,” added Sugarcoat, “but there’s not much they can really accomplish in the face of such an overwhelming occupation.” Starlight raised an eyebrow and asked, “The Redeemables?” “They’re a team of former adversaries who have since agreed to do what they can to assist the LEGO Team,” explained Rarity. “I know you’re familiar with at least one of them by the name of Juniper Montage.” “Oh yeah, I remember her,” noted Starlight with a smile. She turned to the Crystal Girls and asked, “Any idea how she’s been lately?” “If what we’ve heard is true,” replied Sunny Flare, “she actually managed to do something really impressive just yesterday. Long story short, reserve team member Derpy was injured by a few Changelings, and it was Juniper Montage who somehow managed to not only fend off those armored aliens, but also rushed Derpy across town to the hospital so her injuries could be treated.” “I still can’t believe she was able to drive a garbage truck like that,” remarked Lemon Zest with a smile. “That does seem impressive,” noted Starlight in astonishment. “When this is all over, I’d like to meet up with her to hear the full story.” “Is that all for today?” asked Rainbow Dash. “There is one more piece of information we received,” replied Sugarcoat, “but the messenger insisted that we share it privately only with Twilight.” Everyone turned to stare at Twilight, who had a bewildered expression on her face. She glanced around at her friends, then shrugged and said with uncertainty, “I guess I’ll just speak with them outside this room and find out what the secret message is about.” She then began walking toward the main doors out of the Royal Hall, with the Crystal Girls following right behind her. “You go ahead an’ do that,” assured Applejack. “We’ll wait in here for ya.” “In the meantime, I’d better write a message to Princess Twilight,” stated Sunset. “She deserves to know the full truth of where we stand at this time.” “I’ll go fetch your journal,” offered Rainbow Dash before she zoomed of in a rainbow motion blur, then returned only a couple seconds later and tossed the magic journal over to Sunset. Sunset thanked Rainbow Dash, then set the journal down on the nearest table and opened it to the first blank page. As Twilight and the Crystal Girls stepped outside and closed the main doors, Sunset pulled out a pen and began writing her message. Dear Princess Twilight, Starlight Glimmer is now safely among us, though I’m sorry to say the effort has been practically worthless. As much as we appreciated her insight to how Equestria’s Changelings were dealt with, I’m afraid the Changelings we’re dealing with here are quite different in many ways. These Changelings wear virtually indestructible armor and fight using highly advanced weaponry — I’m talking things like laser blasters and missile launchers. Not to mention, so far as we can identify, these Changelings don’t seem to feed on love, which means the methods that worked in Equestria to reform the Changelings simply won’t work here. I’m very sorry that your effort to send help from Equestria has proven futile, and I especially regret the fact that we just can’t send Starlight back to Equestria anytime soon. Simply bringing her to our hideout was risky enough, and I’m not willing to take that risk again right away. Even though she might not be as useful as we had hoped for, I’m afraid it’s probably for the best that we wait until after the Changelings have been dealt with before it’s safe enough to let Starlight return home. As for how we’re going to do that, well… we’re still trying to figure that out… Sunset was in the middle of writing when the main doors opened again and Twilight and the Crystal Girls stepped back into the Royal Hall. “Great news, everyone!” declared Twilight with excitement. “We know the location of a secret Changeling base of operations in a region that has not yet been conquered! With the right plan of attack, this could be an opportunity for us to obtain some valuable information!” With that announcement, Sunset hastily finished her message in the journal. I’ll get back to you later. Something just came up that might actually help us against the Changelings. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer. Sunset closed her journal and carried it with her as she led the rest of her friends over to where Twilight stood. “Is it true, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, trying to stay hopeful. “Did they really find a secret Changeling base?” “Yeah!” agreed Rainbow Dash eagerly. “Does this mean we can finally go out and actually do something about those Changelings?” “That’s right!” confirmed Twilight. All of the Equestria Girls immediately jumped and let out a triumphant cheer. “We’ll need to use the Jump-Gate to quickly reach our destination,” added Twilight, “and with how promising this lead sounds, I think we can afford to take the direct approach rather than hopping around between Jump-Gates.” “Then what are we waiting for?!” declared Pinkie Pie excitedly. “Let’s go!” With everyone quickly in agreement, the large group consisting of the Equestria Girls and the Crystal Girls left the Royal Hall and began walking through the castle corridors. “So where are we going?” asked Starlight. “I’m afraid I can’t specify that right away,” replied Twilight. “That’s part of the secret. I’ll explain everything after we cross through the Jump-Gate, though I’m sure many of you will probably figure out where that place is as soon as we get there.” “But once we do get there,” asked Rarity, “the plan is for us to sneak inside the Changeling facility, obtain any useful information we can find, then sneak our way out, correct?” “Essentially, yes,” confirmed Twilight. “However, considering what we’ll be up against and how vital it is that we succeed with this mission, we simply can’t do this on our own. Fortunately, let’s just say there’s a team of local heroes who’s willing to join forces with us.” It wasn’t long before the group arrived at the lower chamber where the Jump-Gate was located. “What about the Crystal Girls?” asked Starlight as everyone began to gather around the closed gateway. “Are they gonna be coming along to help us?” “As much as we’d love to see some action,” replied Indigo Zap, “we need to stay here in our home region.” “If the Changelings were to see any of us suddenly show up somewhere outside the Castle Region, let alone in the same place as you girls,” explained Sunny Flare, “they’ll quickly figure out that we’re the ones who have been keeping you hidden this whole time.” Sour Sweet switched from her sweet face to her sour face before she grumbled, “And that’ll defeat the whole purpose of staying inside a secret hideout, now wouldn’t it?” Starlight rubbed the back of her head and awkwardly responded, “Well, when you put it like that, I guess it really does make a lot of sense.” Twilight turned to Spike with an apologetic look on her face as she calmly stated, “Spike, I think it would be best if you stayed here and not be involved in this operation. It’s just way too dangerous for a little boy like you to be in a place that will almost certainly become a serious battlefield.” “No need to explain,” assured Spike with a smile of understanding. “What I saw the day we escaped from Canterlot City was all I needed to know that those Changelings really mean business. I’ll leave the fighting to those who are actually capable of some serious effort.” Sunset handed her magic journal over to Spike and said, “Here. Hold this for me while we’re away.” Spike nodded in agreement as he took the journal from Sunset. As Twilight approached the Jump-Gate, she leaned close to Sugarcoat and whispered, “If Spike tries to follow after us, shut the gateway doors before he makes it through.” Sugarcoat said nothing and simply nodded in agreement. With that discreet order given, Twilight entered the coordinates into the console and then hit the green button. The Jump-Gate made its distinctive low whooshing noise for a few seconds, then the doors parted open to reveal a floor of wooden planks, a railing marking the edge of the floor not far ahead, and not much else due to the considerable darkness in that area. “Why is it so dark over there?” asked Starlight in confusion. “It's a different time zone,” Twilight pointed out. “It may be afternoon here in the Castle Region, but over there, it’s currently late in the evening.” “Are you sure it’s such a good idea for us to go there right now?” asked Sunset uneasily. “I can’t help but feel like we’re walking into a trap.” “The team that will be aiding us insisted that we travel to those specific coordinates,” replied Twilight. “Trust me, once we’re there and I’m free to explain more, you’ll be thrilled to see who we’re teaming up with.” The rest of the Equestria Girls glanced at one another with uneasy looks on their faces. They weren’t fully convinced by Twilight’s words, but with the promise for an opportunity to strike a major blow against the Changelings, they were willing to give their friend a chance to prove her source to be trustworthy, so they began to follow Twilight to their unknown destination. Meanwhile, as Spike watched his friends walk through the Jump-Gate, he glanced passed them and began to realize that the area on the other side looked rather similar to a place he had never been to before, yet was very familiar with. “No way…” he muttered in awe. “Could it be?” Against Twilight’s strict order, he began to approach the opened gateway. However, just as Spike was about to pass through the Jump-Gate, Sugarcoat suddenly hit the red button on the console, causing the gateway doors to slam shut, which he then promptly bumped into and fell down onto his back. “Sorry, Spike,” stated Sugarcoat in her typical monotone voice. “Twilight’s orders.” As he remained lying down on his back, Spike groaned loudly in frustration and screamed, “No fair!” Most of the Equestria Girls were startled when the Jump-Gate suddenly slammed shut, which not only cut off the connection back to the Crystal Castle, but also plunged this mysterious new area into almost total darkness. “Uh… did anyone remember to bring a flashlight?” asked Rainbow Dash nervously. “I did,” replied Twilight, “but it’s so dark that I’ll need some time to blindly reach for it.” “Honestly, dear,” complained Rarity, “is a little extra lighting simply too much to ask for?” Whoosh! “Uh, girls?” Pinkie Pie spoke up worriedly. “I think I heard a whoosh.” The team of eight girls listened closely and soon began to hear a few other faint whoosh noises all around them. The girls quickly began to huddle together with their backs to one another, ready to defend themselves from every possible angle. “Show yourselves!” Sunset spoke up defiantly. “We’re not afraid of you!” “I’m definitely afraid,” whimpered Fluttershy quietly as she cowered toward the center of the group. After a tense moment of silence, the area was suddenly illuminated by a series of lights, revealing the area to be some kind of ship’s main deck, and surrounding the team of girls were six ninjas, all of whom had been in fighting poses, but soon relaxed their stances. “You must be the Equestria Girls of Canterlot City,” noted the ninja wearing green. He and his five fellow ninjas removed their hoods to expose their faces, all with a friendly smile upon them. “We’re the Ninjas of Ninjago City, and we’re here to help.” An awkward silence fell as both groups stared at each other. Eventually, Rainbow Dash grinned and excitedly exclaimed, “Awesome! We’ve got ninjas on our side!” “Oh, so that’s why their message to had to be kept secret,” noted Pinkie with a cheerful smile as she and the rest of her friends also relaxed their stances. “They’re ninjas! Being sneaky and keeping secrets is what they do!” “Their message wasn’t actually a secret,” Twilight clarified. “That was just a cover story the Crystal Girls came up with to ensure Spike wouldn't know that we would be coming to the Ninjago Region. We all know how much of a huge fan he is of these Ninjas, but with the kind of operation that lies ahead of us tonight, it’s just way too dangerous to let a child like him follow along.” “Completely understandable, darling,” assured Rarity with a nod of agreement. “I just hope he’ll understand when we return and explain everything to him,” muttered Fluttershy worriedly. “That poor boy probably feels completely abandoned right now.” Sunset turned her skeptical gaze towards the surrounding ninjas and cautiously stated, “Forgive me if I still don’t fully trust you, but with all those Changelings trying to take over the world, you can’t be too careful.” “Perhaps if you were to utilize your magical ability to read one of our minds, it might set you at ease,” suggested the ninja wearing white as he stepped forward and held out his hand. “I volunteer myself for your inspection.” Sunset stared at the ninja standing in front of her for a moment, then glanced down at his extended hand and quietly muttered, “Well, I’ve always wondered if I could read the mind of an artificial intelligence…” She then reached forward and grasped the ninja’s hand. As was typical whenever Sunset used her magical power, her body stiffened and her eyes glowed white for a few seconds, then her body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal. She stared at the ninja’s face for a moment, then released her grip on his hand and gave him a friendly smile. “It’s okay, everyone,” assured Sunset as she glanced back at her friends. “These guys are the real deal.” She turned back to the ninja in white and quietly added, “Plus, it turns out that I can read robot minds.” “A fascinating discovery,” stated the robotic ninja as he also smiled. Applejack let out a sigh of relief and remarked, “Glad to have all that misunderstandin’ cleared up.” Starlight had a confused expression on her face as she turned to Sunset and asked, “Are you familiar with these ninjas?” “Of course I am,” confirmed Sunset proudly. “After all, they’re the ones who gave me that advanced training I received over the last few months. Here, allow me to introduce you to all of them.” She started by gesturing at the ninja wearing white who also had white hair that stuck upwards and ended in a flat top. “This is Zane, Element of Ice, who also happens to be a robot.” “Wow,” muttered Starlight in awe. “A real-life automaton.” “I prefer the term ‘Nindroid’,” specified Zane. Sunset next pointed at the ninja wearing black with short black hair and a dark brown headband. “That’s Cole,” she continued. “Element of Earth, by far the strongest of these ninjas, with an appetite that could rival Pinkie’s.” “That reminds me,” Cole spoke up as he turned his attention to the pink party girl among the newly arrived group. “I hope you brought along plenty of cake.” “Always do,” confirmed Pinkie cheerfully, “but let’s save it for after we beat the bad guys and are ready to celebrate.” “I’ll hold you to it,” noted Cole with a smile. “Over there is Jay,” continued Sunset as she next pointed at the ninja wearing blue with messy brown hair. “Element of Lightning, and tends to have quite a sense of humor, whenever he’s not complaining about things.” “Hey, I don’t complain that much!” argued Jay. “All I do is call attention to things that aren’t working out well.” “With how often that happens, I bet it’s practically all the time,” quipped Rainbow Dash. Sunset then gestured towards the ninja wearing red and with brown hair that stuck upwards quite prominently. “There’s Kai,” continued Sunset. “Element of Fire, and as you might guess, he can be quite a hothead at times.” Kai demonstrated a few ninja strikes and poses before finishing off by thrusting his fist forward and shooting forth a small fireball from seemingly out of nowhere. Starlight took a step back and muttered in shock, “Whoa… you guys really do have elemental powers.” “That’s Nya,” continued Sunset as she pointed at the ninja wearing dark grey and dark blue with black hair that was partially tied back. “Element of Water, Kai’s younger sister.” She leaned close to Starlight and whispered, “And also happens to be Jay’s love interest.” Starlight couldn’t resist a brief giggle at that last fact. “And finally, that’s Lloyd,” finished Sunset as she gestured at the ninja wearing green and with mostly neat blonde hair. “Element of Energy, de facto leader of the Ninjas, and also a fellow reformed villain.” “More like I used to be a bratty child,” acknowledged Lloyd, “but I couldn’t have asked for a better group of friends to make me the ninja master I am today.” “Well, it sure is nice to meet all of you,” remarked Starlight contently. “My name is Starlight Glimmer, and just like Princess Twilight Sparkle, I happened to be from the alternate universe known as Equestria.” “Pleased to meet you, too, Starlight,” responded Kai. “We heard a little bit about what happened the last time you visited, but that’s nothing compared to all the threats your friends here have been faced with over the last few years.” “Oh, like you’re one to talk,” Sunset playfully retorted. “You Ninjas have had your fair share of fighting evil over the last few years as well.” “The way I see it, your team has had it easy,” argued Cole. “Our enemies often threaten all of Ninjago and sometimes even the whole world, and each one always seems to get even worse than the last, while your most recent opponents have actually been getting less dangerous these days.” “Oh, but we don’t just beat our enemies,” countered Pinkie Pie. “We’ve also reformed many of them so that now they fight on our side.” “We managed to reform Garmadon, the original ultimate evil,” Jay pointed out. “That’s gotta count for something.” “Yeah, and how long did that last?” quipped Rainbow Dash. “Hey, that was beyond our control!” argued Lloyd. “It was his choice to sacrifice himself in order to save Ninjago, and he was brought back to life without any of the good that once resided in him.” “And yet, I heard you just recently managed to once more defeat a powerful evil thanks to some assistance from him,” noted Rarity. “We simply had no other option,” explained Zane. “He knew much more about the Oni than we did, and he was just as determined to stop them from destroying Ninjago. Sometimes, it takes a master of evil to defeat an even greater evil.” “But while you guys have mostly stayed within the same region for all of your adventures,” noted Twilight, “our team has had the opportunity to visit several different regions. We have well and truly been all over the world, and even beyond.” “We’ve been to other places, too,” insisted Nya. “We’ve even visited some of the other realms, and I’m pretty sure Lloyd even got to visit all sixteen of them, albeit very briefly for many of them.” “Well two of us happen to be originally ponies from the alternate world of Equestria,” Fluttershy pointed out. “With most of our threats coming from magic that originated in that alternate universe, you can’t ask for anything better than someone who practically grew up becoming familiar with the entire concept.” “Ah, but how many of you can say they actually lost their Creation Spark and later came back to life?” retorted Kai with a grin. “Zane was somehow able to completely rebuild himself after his sacrifice, and Cole spent some time as an actual ghost before being restored to normal.” Applejack shrugged and conceded, “They’ve sure got us on that one.” “Okay, I am getting so lost in all of this banter,” confessed Starlight. “I feel like I’ve missed out on reading an entire series of books just from all the references that are being thrown around left and right.” “Alright, enough playing around,” Lloyd spoke up. He turned to the Equestria Girls and asked, “You’re probably wondering why we invited you here, right?” “Well, first of all, Ah’d like to know where exactly ‘here’ is,” complained Applejack. “We’re aboard the Destiny’s Bounty,” answered Cole proudly. “Think of it as like our mobile base of operations.” “We used to have a spaceship that sort of worked like that,” remarked Rainbow Dash, “but we kinda stopped using it once Twilight came along and gave us access to those Jump-Gates.” “No regrets,” quipped Twilight with a smug smile. “Are you certain there are no Changelings in the area that might be eavesdropping in on this conversation?” asked Rarity with concern. “Don’t worry,” assured Jay. “We made sure to park this thing in a secluded place where those alien bugs are unlikely to search for us.” “Not to mention,” added Nya confidently, “we’ve got plenty of systems that allow us to keep an eye out for any trouble and to fight it off if it ever decides to show up.” Fluttershy glanced around at the surrounding darkness beyond the ship and nervously asked, “Um, just to be on the safe side, could we at least take this conversation indoors?” “Sure thing,” replied Kai. “There’s a few things up in the bridge we need to show you girls, anyway.” He and the other Ninjas then began walking towards the main doorway to the interior of the ship. The Equestria Girls followed them inside and then up a stairway. As everyone reached the room that served as both the ship’s bridge and a control room, the girls noticed someone else standing among the Ninjas. This minifig had skin that was white with purple circuit-board designs, green eyes, silvery hair that was partially tied back, and wore a uniform that was mostly dark blue with bits of white and gold armor. “And you must be P.I.X.A.L.,” noted Twilight, “which stands for ‘primary interactive external assistant life-form’.” “Indeed, you are correct,” confirmed the female android. “Alternatively also known as Samurai X 2.0,” Twilight playfully added. P.I.X.A.L. paused momentarily before she responded, “I never really thought of it that way, but your assumption is an accurate assessment.” Sunset leaned close to Starlight and quietly stated playfully, “She also happens to be Zane’s love interest.” Starlight had a completely bewildered look on her face as she glanced between P.I.X.A.L. and Zane. “Seriously?” she quietly asked in disbelief. “Robot love? How does that make any sense?” She then sighed and facepalmed. “Now I’m really starting to wish I’d stayed in Equestria.” “Anyway, to get us back on topic…” Lloyd spoke up as he tapped a button on one of the consoles to bring up on the display screen an image of what appeared to be a large warehouse, and displayed alongside it was a city map highlighting the building’s location. “Ninjago City’s surveillance systems have in recent days detected several Changelings entering this abandoned warehouse near the docks and very rarely venturing back out.” “This leads us to believe they may be establishing a base of operations within that facility in anticipation of launching an invasion of the Ninjago Region,” added Zane. “And your plan is to sneak inside and take them all down before they have a chance to prepare such an assault, correct?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Not only that,” continued Nya, “but if they really are trying to plan an invasion, then chances are they might possess some valuable information. If we can obtain that information, we might be able to find out what their motive for invading this planet really is.” “Which could also answer the question of why they are so interested in trying to capture us,” concluded Twilight. “Okay, so that explains why you’re at least letting us in on this operation,” noted Sunset. “But why go through the trouble to invite us here? Why don’t you just deal with them yourselves like you’ve done against so many other foes?” “The thing is, we just don’t know how many Changelings we’re gonna be faced with,” confessed Cole. “There’s no guarantee the surveillance systems were able to spot every single one of them that arrived, not to mention they all look practically the same.” “So to be on the safe side,” continued Jay, “we figured that doubling our numbers by letting your team join in on the fun would improve our chances of success.” “Of course, we can’t really expect you to just charge into the building alongside us,” acknowledged Kai. “If our combined forces are gonna stand a chance against the Changelings, we’ll need to arm ourselves with some special weapons.” “You mean like the Golden Weapons you Ninjas used against some of your previous foes?” asked Rarity. “Something like that,” replied Nya. “Though for the record, we can’t really use those particular weapons. After we used them to defeat the Oni, those Golden Weapons lost their special power, so now they’re no better than any other ordinary weapons.” “The Changeling forces are armed with laser-based projectile weapons,” noted Lloyd. “If we’re gonna stand a fighting chance against them and their space blasters, we’re gonna need something a little different.” “Which is why I forged these!” declared Kai as he threw open the doors of a nearby storage cabinet, revealing racks holding all kinds of combat weaponry, such as blades of various shapes and lengths, big and heavy items for blunt attacks, and even some bows and arrows for ranged attacks. “These weapons are made of silver, which means they can easily deflect any lasers fired at you.” “Isn’t silver vulnerable to explosive attacks?” Twilight pointed out as she adjusted her glasses. “Well, yes,” acknowledged Kai with a shrug. “But let’s face it. If an attack like that ever heads your way, losing your weapon would be the least of your problems.” Pinkie Pie turned to Kai and spoke up, “You know, I just realized your voice sounds remarkably similar to a certain police officer we know back in Canterlot City.” “Not important right now, Pinkie,” grumbled Rainbow Dash. “With the kind of space laser weapons we’re going up against,” noted Sunset, “we’ll take any advantage we can get.” “All right, ninjas,” proclaimed Kai as he grabbed a sword from the opened cabinet. “Choose your weapon.” The Ninjago Ninjas were first to pick their silver weapons. After Kai had taken the flame-shaped sword, Jay went for the nunchucks, Cole grabbed the scythe, Zane retrieved the pair of shurikens, Nya decided on a simple spear, and Lloyd settled with a single katana. Next, it was time for the Equestria Girls to select their silver weapons. Rainbow Dash immediately reached for the pair of katanas and grabbed them both, wielding one in each hand. She chuckled with confidence as she swung those swords around. Starlight raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why did you take two of those swords?” With a cocky smile on her face, Rainbow swung her dual katanas around a few more times, then struck a combat pose and simply replied, “Two hands.” Rarity was the next one to select her weapon of choice as she grabbed a pair of dagger-like blades with side prongs that curved away from the handle. “Ah, yes,” she noted contently. “This pair of Sai shall be most suitable for my technique.” Rainbow Dash immediately burst out laughing. “Seriously?!” she asked mockingly. “You’re gonna go with those puny things?!” She continued laughing a little more. “You are so not gonna last long going up against the Changelings.” “Oh, please, darling,” retorted Rarity dismissively. “It’s not the size of the weapon that matters.” With swift and fluid motions, she used her dual Sai to grab one of Rainbow’s katanas, yank it out of her grip, and fling it upwards, then immediately followed up by using one Sai to push aside the other katana as she pointed the tip of the other Sai directly at Rainbow’s neck. “It’s how you use it.” To say that Rainbow Dash was caught off-guard would have been an understatement. She then yelped in shock when her disarmed katana fell back down and suddenly impaled itself into the floor right beside where she stood. With an awkward chuckle, she reached over and yanked that sword out from the wooden deck. With a look of astonishment on her face, Sunset asked, “Where’d you learn how to do that?” As she stepped away from Rainbow Dash, Rarity simply smirked and playfully replied, “Let’s just say you’re not the only one among our team to have once attended lessons in a training dojo.” Meanwhile, Applejack selected a large battle hammer, one of the heaviest among the available weapons, yet felt as lightweight as any of the others within her mighty grasp. “Can’t go wrong with some good ol’ smashin’ an’ bashin’,” she remarked with a smile. Pinkie Pie made her choice next and quickly went for the weapon that consisted of a spiky ball connected by a chain to a short handle. As she began to swing around that mace-and-chain flail, she giggled and cheerfully stated, “This looks like a fun weapon to use.” Applejack leaned back to avoid a dangerously close swing of that flail and warned, “Just be careful not to swing that thing too close to any of us.” Fluttershy hesitated a little as she inspected the available weapons to choose from. She never liked the idea of utilizing any form of weaponry at all, as it just wasn’t in her nature to do so. However, she understood the kind of threat she and her friends were up against, so she reluctantly accepted the fact that she would need something that would at least reduce the risk of any harm coming to anyone around her. She eventually settled on a simple bow with a quiver full of arrows. “If I have to hurt someone, I’d rather do it from a distance,” she muttered quietly to herself. A few seconds later, Twilight made her selection as she grabbed a weapon that consisted of a long shaft with a short blade on one end of it. She took a few steps back and swung that weapon around to get a good feel for it. “A naginata,” she noted contently. “This’ll do nicely.” Sunset was next to make her choice, and after a quick inspection of what was available, she decided to go with a sword that was shaped similar to a katana, but was notably much longer. “Nice,” she remarked with a smile. “A little extra reach will go a long way.” “A nodachi,” noted Twilight. “Excellent choice, Sunset.” Finally, the last one to select their weapon was Starlight. Much of the remaining selection available consisted of some rather oddly shaped blades that she struggled to figure out how they were even supposed to be handled, let alone utilized against an opponent. “I think I’ll go with something a little familiar,” she stated as she reached for a large sword that was straight, long, and had a basic cross guard. She found it to be a little heavier than she had anticipated, but with both of her hands grasping onto the handle, she was able to hold it up without too much effort. “A longsword?” questioned Zane. “Wouldn’t that type of weapon be more suitable for the Castle Region?” “That has gotta be one of the most un-ninja weapons I’ve ever heard of,” complained Jay dismissively. Cole turned to Kai and asked, “Why did you even forge that thing, anyway?” “I was starting to run low on ideas”, admitted Kai with a shrug. That commentary from the true Ninjas left Starlight crestfallen as she sighed and lowered her sword. “It’s okay, Starlight,” assured Fluttershy as she placed a hand on Starlight’s shoulder. “You’re not the only one here who’s completely out of her element. I’d rather not use my weapon at all against the Changelings, not because I don’t want to stop their invasion, but because I personally really don’t like trying to hurt someone on purpose.” “Oh, I don’t think you’ll have to worry too much about severely harming these Changelings,” Twilight pointed out. “You’d be quite amazed by just how robust and durable their armor can be.” “Yeah!” agreed Pinkie. “I mean, Twilight and I saw a Changeling get run over by a big truck and brush it off like it was nothing more than a wimpy slap to the face.” “Not to mention,” added Rainbow Dash, “those guys still wanna capture us for some reason, and if they see us sneaking around with the Ninjas, they’ll stop at nothing to prevent us from getting away with any top-secret info.” “No doubt about it,” agreed Twilight. “If we’re gonna have a more feasible chance at accomplishing the goals of this operation, then we'll likely need some way to conceal our identities.” “I think I know just the thing we need for that,” stated Sunset. She turned to the Ninjago Ninjas and asked, “Do you still have them?” “We sure do!” confirmed Jay. “Have what?” asked Applejack in confusion. Sunset turned to Rarity and asked, “Do you remember sending all of those ninja robes you designed to Ninjago City?” “Yes, of course,” replied Rarity. “I wanted you to have yours, but I also wanted to keep the complete set together in the unlikely event that all of us would have had an opportunity to visit you while you were still undergoing your advanced training.” “Then it’s a good thing we were unable to ship them back to you before the Changelings invaded,” noted Nya as she threw open another set of large cabinet doors, revealing eight sets of ninja attire in a variety of pastel colors. “Awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly. “We’re actually gonna fight like real ninjas!” “This day just keeps getting better and better!” remarked Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Ah don’t know…” Applejack spoke up skeptically. “Ah mean, aren’t ninja clothes supposed to blend in with their surroundin’s? What we got here is not only gonna stick out like a polar bear in the desert, but also is gonna be such an obvious giveaway of who we are!” Starlight looked closely at the complete series of ninja outfits being provided and realized that all eight of them really did perfectly match the skin colors of herself and her friends. No doubt, anyone familiar with the Equestria Girls would have little difficulty determining who was wearing which outfit. “Well, yes,” confessed Cole. “Someone who knows how to be observant enough could probably figure it out pretty quickly.” “But the reason we think it’ll work in this case,” explained Lloyd, “is that the Changelings seem to utilize their built-in sensors to identify anything and everything around them.” Zane added, “P.I.X.A.L. and I fitted each of these outfits with a hidden electromagnetic system that should disrupt whatever kinds of sensors they use, rendering them unable to identify each of us as anything other than simply a generic ninja.” “We’re counting on the likelihood those Changelings are so reliant on their sensors,” stated Kai, “that they’ll overlook something obvious enough that anyone with regular eyes could easily figure out.” “Ah sure hope your hunch about that is right,” muttered Applejack uneasily. “Of course,” noted Sunset, “if we’re trying to keep our identities a secret, then we can’t refer to each other by name while were out on this mission. Instead, I suggest we refer to each other by the color of our ninja uniforms.” “For the record,” stated Zane, “I prefer to go by the designation of ‘Titanuim Ninja’, rather than my former title of ‘White Ninja’.” “Thank you, Zane,” responded Sunset contently. “That’ll help make one of the other selections a little easier.” She turned her attention to the rest of the group and continued, “Anyway, just so we’re all on the same page, Kai is the Red Ninja, Jay is the Blue Ninja, Cole is the Black Ninja, Lloyd is the Green Ninja, and Nya is…” She trailed off as she struggled to figure out which color on Nya’s outfit would be easier to remember. “Let’s just go with Aqua Ninja,” conceded Nya with a shrug. “Sure,” agreed Sunset. “That’ll work.” She then turned to her friends and continued, “For the rest of us, I’d like to keep things as simple as possible, so we’ll go with pink for Pinkie Pie, orange for Applejack, yellow for Fluttershy, white for Rarity, cyan for Rainbow Dash, lavender for Twilight, lilac for Starlight, and amber for me.” “Sounds good to me,” agreed Pinkie Pie. “Though I’m afraid we can’t call you amber,” Kai pointed out. “We already have an Amber Ninja. Her name is Skylor.” “Oh, right,” muttered Sunset. “I forgot about her.” “Are there any similar alternatives we can use?” asked Twilight. “Oh, there’s plenty of similar options to choose from,” assured Rarity as she pulled out her phone and tapped something on the screen. “According to the color encyclopedia that I often like to reference, among the shades that come close to amber include sunglow, jonquil, marigold, mustard—” Rainbow Dash snickered and quipped. “Mustard. We should totally go with that.” “No!” Sunset furiously snapped. “We are not gonna call me mustard! Okay?! The bacon jokes are bad enough!” That sudden outburst from Sunset caused everyone to stare at her in shock for a moment. After that moment of tense silence, Rarity cleared her throat and continued, “Very well… There’s also mango, citrine, xanthous, saffron—” “Saffron!” Sunset swiftly declared with a grin. “Perfect! I’ll go with that! Saffron it is!” With that decision made, Starlight eagerly stated, “Okay, so now we have our mission, our weapons, our outfits, our secret titles… What’s next?” “One last bit of advice,” noted Twilight. “If we’re going through this much effort to conceal our identities, then it’s essential that we go all the way and forbid ourselves from using any of our magical abilities.” “What?!” protested Rainbow Dash in shock. “No way! How do you expect us to fight without our magic?!” “Does this mean we can’t use our elemental powers, too?” asked Jay. “Not for you guys, no,” Twilight clarified. “Your team has been here for years, so the Changelings likely already know what to expect from you. It’s my team and I that must refrain from using our magic powers. Otherwise, they’ll easily figure out who we really are and thus render our concealment efforts to be worthless.” “Twilight’s right,” Fluttershy spoke up. “If we can’t do this without our magic, then we might as well forget about using the ninja clothes or the color codenames.” “Has it occurred to anyone that it might be more dangerous for us to fight the Changelings if they don’t know who we really are?” asked Applejack with concern. “Don’t forget, they want us captured alive.” “If part of their nefarious scheme involves our live capture,” proclaimed Rarity, “then perhaps our demise, dreadful and unknowingly as might be, may in fact be the preferred outcome of such an undesirable dilemma.” “She’s right,” agreed Twilight solemnly. “It’s a risk worth taking.” Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration, then reluctantly declared, “Fine… we’ll avoid using any magic during this mission.” “On the bright side, that gives us all the more reason to use these weapons we picked out!” remarked Pinkie with a smile as she swung her flail around. “You girls might want to get suited up right now,” suggested P.I.X.A.L. with her attention focused on one of the display screens in the room. “I have just received the signal that our prearranged diversion down on the surface is now underway, which will provide you with a limited window of opportunity to sneak into the facility without the risk of immediately raising any alarms.” “You heard her, everyone,” Sunset spoke up with determination. “Get ready to go ninja!” Pinkie Pie let out an excited cheer, then sang, “Jump up, kick back, whip around, and spiiiiiin!” She twirled around, then suddenly lost her balance and fell over down to the floor. She then giggled as she retrieved the weapon she had dropped and got back up on her feet. “Wait, before we get changed,” Starlight suddenly spoke up, “I just have one question. How are we gonna get there?” “Just watch…” replied Nya confidently as she began tapping buttons and flipping switches on the consoles. Within seconds, the entire ship began to shake a little as everyone began to hear a faint rumble. Sunset immediately looked outside one of the side windows and, with a smile on her face, gestured for Starlight to join her. Starlight walked over to the window and followed Sunset’s excited gaze downward. Starlight was astonished as she watched some kind of large engine attached to the side of the ship was now apparently ejecting a jet of flames downward. She assumed there was an identical engine doing the exact same thing on the other side, because soon the entire ship began to slowly rise up into the air. Finally, the roaring fiery engines slightly rotated and the airborne ship began to fly forward. “Bet you don’t have anything like this in Equestria!” quipped Jay smugly. “Well, we do have airships,” noted Starlight, “but those tend to be rather slow.” “One thing I’ve always been curious about is how you always seem to have enough fuel to keep such a massive ship airborne for long periods of time,” Twilight spoke up. “Jet fuel doesn’t exactly come cheap, you know.” “Oh, we have our sources,” replied Nya coyly. “Girls! We’re wasting time here!” Rainbow Dash urgently spoke up. “We need to be ready to swoop in and move out as soon as we get there!” The rest of the Equestria Girls all muttered various words of agreement before they all grabbed their respective ninja outfits and brought them downstairs so they could get changed in privacy. A few minutes later, the Destiny’s Bounty was flying across the ocean towards Ninjago City. Nearly all of the lights on that ship had been switched off to ensure its approach could be as stealthy as possible. It was now close to midnight in Ninjago City, and although there was still plenty of activity occurring like any other major city, practically everyone who was still out and about didn’t bother glancing upwards at the dark sky, through which the flying ship quietly sailed. It wasn’t long before the airborne ship slowed to a stop high above a large warehouse located along the docks at the outskirts of the city. “We have arrived at our destination,” stated P.I.X.A.L. With that announcement, the Ninjas quickly rushed to one side of the ship and began securing four ropes to the railing. As the Equestria Girls — now fully dressed in their ninja suits except with their hoods currently down — followed them down onto the main deck, Twilight turned to P.I.X.A.L. and asked, “Aren’t you gonna join us?” P.I.X.A.L. shook her head and replied, “Negative. Someone must stay aboard to navigate the Destiny’s Bounty away from here and back to a safe landing site. When this mission is over, I shall await your arrival at Borg Tower.” Once the ropes were firmly tied to the railings, the Ninjas tossed the coils over the side and watched as those ropes unwound until they just barely reached the warehouse rooftop down below. Sunset turned to her friends and firmly insisted, “Remember, girls. No magic.” The group of eight girls all nodded in agreement before they all flipped up their hoods to obscure the entirety of their heads except for their eyes. Lloyd and Kai were the first ones to slide down the ropes. As soon as they landed upon the rooftop, they drew their swords and cautiously glanced around. Once they were confident that no one had noticed their presence, they glanced up and signaled for everyone to follow. The four remaining Ninjago Ninjas — Nya, Jay, Cole, and Zane — were next to slide down the ropes. The Equestria Girls all leaned over the side and watched the Ninjas descend. Once the ropes were clear, the girls nodded to each other and climbed over the railing to begin their descent. The time to make their first strike against the Changelings was upon them.