Juniper’s Heroic Act
It was a typical day in Canterlot City. Well, as typical as can be for a city under occupation by an alien army. A few days had passed since the Changelings had invaded the city, and despite debris from the attack still scattered around and Changeling soldiers patrolling the streets, many of the civilians tried their best to get by with their daily lives. One such civilian was Juniper Montage, a teenage girl who worked at the Flixiplex Cinema on Sunshine Plaza. On most days, she worked at the front counter, handing out tickets and bags of popcorn to anyone who was interested in watching a movie. While she certainly saw some usual business today, what made things atypical for her were some of the other customers who had arrived with interest in watching a movie.
“We should watch this one!” eagerly insisted a Changeling trooper as he pointed at a movie poster that advertised “Where Are My Pants? The Movie”. “I’ve heard that it’s the best comedy of the year, and I wanna see if it lives up to the hype.”
A second Changeling trooper scoffed and grumbled, “I didn’t travel across the galaxy just to watch some doofus fail to fully dress himself.” He turned his attention to another movie poster that advertised “Siege of Stalliongrad”. “Now there’s a movie that seems more right up our ally.”
“Aw, c’mon,” complained a third Changeling trooper. “We already make a living off of perpetual combat. That last thing I want is to see warfare covering my time off as well.” He then turned his attention to another movie poster that advertised “Hinny of the Hills”. “If I’m gonna kick back and relax, this is the kind of movie I’d like to watch.”
“A romantic musical?” Asked the first Changeling in disbelief. “Get real! We don’t need to submit ourselves to such sappy nonsense! It’s not like we feed on love or anything silly like that.”
As the three Changeling troopers debated, Juniper waited patiently behind the counter. The instructions from her employer regarding the presence of Changelings were simple: if they ever ask for anything, just give it to them without question; otherwise, just ignore them and try to stick to business as usual. Of course, the latter was difficult to follow without any common civilians around to distract her, not that she blamed them for refusing to show up at a time like this. After all, if she was a customer in this cinema and she saw those Changelings show up in the lobby, she would probably walk away and come back another time to watch a movie.
It wasn’t long before Juniper noticed another fully armored Changeling walk in through the main doorway at the front of the lobby, though what really caught her attention was that, for some strange reason, he seemed to have a cooking pot impaled on the horn-like protrusion on the forehead of his helmet.
The three other Changelings also noticed the new visitor, and the first of them jokingly asked, “Hey, what’s with pot-head over there?”
The recently arrived Changeling stopped and stared at his three comrades for a moment, then flatly asked, “Really? Did you really have to call me that?”
“Eh, don’t let him get to ya,” assured the second of the three Changeling troopers. “We all know he’s just teasing for laughs.”
“Not that I would’ve noticed,” grumbled the other Changeling. “My sensors have been malfunctioning ever since this… thing got stuck on my main sensor.”
“How did you even end up with that cooking pot stuck on your helmet anyway?” asked the third of the three Changeling troopers.
“I had a run-in with one of the Targets during the invasion,” explained the other Changeling. “I know it wasn’t the one with super strength, so I still don’t understand how she was able to get it stuck on there so tightly that I’ve been unable to yank it off.”
“Why don’t you just ask someone to use a saw to cut it loose?” suggested the first of the three Changeling troopers.
“I-I don’t like having sharp things near my face,” the other Changeling shamefully confessed.
“Maybe I could help?” offered Juniper, but as soon as all four Changelings turned their attention towards her, she immediately regretted speaking up.
“Don’t waste your time,” responded the other Changeling dismissively. “I’ve already tried everything I could think of on my own. It’s not coming off.”
Juniper knew the smart thing for her to do right now was to keep her mouth shut and not involve herself in the affairs of the occupying alien forces, but some instinct within her argued that if she performed a good deed like removing that impaled pot, then perhaps these Changeling troopers would see no reason to harm her. After a brief mental debate, she decided to ignore common sense as she stepped out from behind the counter and began walking towards the other Changeling. “Maybe it's because you need the kind of leverage that only someone else can provide, instead of doing it yourself,” she suggested.
As the teen girl approached him, the other Changeling struggled to think of a response to discourage her, but with practically nothing coming to mind, he slumped as he let out a sigh of resignation and muttered, “Not like I have any better ideas…” He then leaned his head forward to provide easier access to the cooking pot stuck on his helmet.
Juniper reached forward to grab the handle of that pot with one hand. She tugged on that handle a few times, but the pot didn’t budge at all. She reached her other hand out to grab that handle and tugged some more, only to get the same result. “Wow, that’s on there really tight,” she muttered before she started yanking harder on that pot.
“I told you, it’s not coming off,” stated the other Changeling as he struggled to stand his ground against the persistent yanking on his head.
“Oh, yes it will,” insisted Juniper with determination as she reached one hand out to grab the opposite side of the pot from its handle. “Hold down your helmet,” she instructed as she also placed a foot on the Changeling’s chest.
The other Changeling did as he was told and reached his hands up to grasp tightly to his helmet.
Now with the additional leverage of grabbing the pot from opposite sides of the puncture site and with her foot pushing against his chest, Juniper began tugging on that cooking pot with all of the strength she had. Grunting from the strain of every attempt, she tugged hard on that pot three more times with no apparent success. But on the fourth attempt, the pot suddenly slipped loose from the Changeling’s helmet, causing both Juniper and the alien trooper to be flung away from each other and hit the floor on their backs, while the cooking pot flew out of her grasp and clattered to the floor just in front of the counter.
Juniper sat up and rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head. As soon as she noticed the other Changeling’s helmet was now lacking the impaled object, she glanced back to see the punctured cooking pot resting on the floor, then muttered in astonishment, “Huh… It actually worked.”
“Thank the Queen,” grumbled the other Changeling as he sat up and staggered up onto his feet.
As that Changeling watched Juniper also stand back up, the distorted information displayed on the inside of his visor began to come back into focus, now that the obstruction had finally been removed from his main sensor. He kept his gaze on Juniper to ensure his sensors were functioning properly once more, but while much of the information flashing across his visor matched what was to be expected of a typical native to this planet, there was one particular reading that appeared to be highly unusual. Like all Changeling soldiers who had been sent out to conquer this planet, he had been instructed to be on the lookout for seven specific individuals who would give off a special energy signature unlike any other life form on this planet. But what left this Changeling baffled at this moment was that while he was certain that the girl standing in front of him was not one of the seven Targets, his sensors were indicating that she rather faintly gave off a remarkably similar energy reading.
“Hey, Sargent?” the Changeling trooper asked cautiously as he turned his attention to the three other troopers who were still standing nearby. “Does her energy signature seem familiar?”
The second of the three Changeling troopers — the Sargent — stepped forward and focused his gaze on the teenage girl, who was now starting to express concern from the increased attention the armored alien soldiers now had on her.
The Sargent took his time carefully studying the readings and data flashing across his visor and made sure to double check that what he was seeing was accurate. After running through the analysis more than twice, he was left just as astonished as the other Changeling. “You’re right, Soldier,” responded the Sargent with a tone of suspicion in his voice. “Her energy readings indicate something within her is strikingly similar to the energy readings identified with the Targets.”
“I thought we were after only seven Targets,” the third of the original group of Changelings stated in confusion.
“That’s what we were all informed, Corporal,” replied the Sargent, “but new factors can always force a change of plans, and we might have just encountered one of them.”
“Her energy signature seems to be weaker than those of the other Targets,” noted the first of the original group of Changelings. “Maybe she only just recently started developing special powers similar to what they have.”
“You might be on to something there, Ensign,” acknowledged the Sargent. “We’d better take her in for questioning, just to be on the safe side.”
As the four Changeling troopers started slowly closing in on her, Juniper began to panic. She had no idea what they were talking about, but it was clear they had no intentions of letting her walk away, and she had no interest in finding out what they planned to do with her. As she began backing away from the Changelings, she desperately glanced around for anything she could use to her advantage.
With the Changelings standing between her and the main entrance, Juniper had three options on where to go; behind the counter with the popcorn machine, the nearby arcade room, or the hallway that led to the theater rooms. She knew there was an emergency exit door at the end of the hallway, but it was such a long hallway that she feared she would not be able to outrun the armored alien soldiers. The nearby open doorway was the only way in or out of the arcade room, but if she could hide among the various game machines and time her escape just right, she could give herself enough of a head start to make it out of the building. Deciding that was her best option, she quickly turned away from the Changelings and fled into the arcade room.
The four Changeling soldiers did not hesitate to pursue Juniper into the arcade, and once they were inside that room, they stopped in the middle and then slowly spread out to begin searching for her.
Juniper had taken cover behind the video game machine that happened to be closest to the doorway. She tried her best to quiet her heavy breathing and carefully peered around the side to see if the alien troopers were distracted enough that she could slip away unnoticed. Unfortunately, she was forced to quickly duck back when one of the Changelings turned towards her location.
That Changeling — the Corporal — made use of his sensors to quickly identify the subject of interest was hiding behind that video game machine. As he extended his wrist-mounted blade and slowly approached, he chuckled and quipped, “Nice try, kid, but you won’t hide from us that easily.”
Juniper knew right away that she had been discovered, and began desperately thinking of anything she could do to immediately make her escape. One of her fleeting thoughts questioned why these Changelings even wanted to take her away in the first place, and when that thought made her consider anything she might have in common with the Equestria Girls who were definitely wanted by the Changeling forces, she realized that there actually had been something unusual about herself recently… and she could use that to her advantage.
“Looks like it’s game over for you,” taunted the Corporal as he reached only a few steps away from capturing the teen girl.
Juniper suddenly stood up and shoved the video game machine towards the approaching Changeling soldier. With astonishing force, the machine slammed into the Corporal, knocking him off his feet and sending the machine itself toppling over to partially block the doorway out of the arcade.
The three other Changelings immediately turned to the source of that noise and saw their comrade down on the floor with their subject of interest standing nearby. “There she is!” the Sargent pointed out before they began to quickly close in on the teen girl.
Now forced to react on the fly, Juniper quickly grabbed another nearby video game machine and shoved it in front of her as she rammed into the oncoming Sargent, sending him sprawling to the floor. The Ensign came at her next, but she stepped aside and grabbed his outstretched arms, then flung him across the room towards the basketball game, where he slammed into the backboard and fell head first through the hoop, only to end up stuck upside down as his shoulders got wedged into the hoop.
Juniper shoved that second video game machine towards the doorway with the first one and soon noticed the fourth Changeling — the same one who she had helped only minutes earlier — glaring at her from the other side of the air hockey table. That Changeling charged at her by going around the table, but she responded by running towards the table and around the other side, so they both ended up on opposite sides from where they started. Not one for fooling around, the Changeling extended his blade and swung it down towards the air hockey table in an attempt to split it in half, but at the last second, Juniper yanked the table away so that his momentum caused him to collapse to the floor. Before that Changeling had a chance to recover, Juniper flipped the air hockey table over so that it landed upside down atop the armored alien trooper.
Now that all four Changelings were momentarily subdued, Juniper rushed back to the doorway and flipped the second video game machine over to land sideways atop the first one. Finally, she grabbed a third video game machine, climbed atop the two that were stacked against the doorway, and pulled that third machine up atop the stack as she climbed through the narrowed opening and then pulled that machine back to effectively block the doorway.
Inside the arcade, the Corporal and the Sargent had recovered and soon managed to assist their fallen comrades, with the Sargent shoving the air hockey table off the fourth Changeling trooper and the Corporal using his blade to hack away the basketball hoop that the Ensign had gotten stuck in.
Once all four Changeling soldiers were back on their feet, they turned to the stack of video game machines that blocked their exit. “How did she do that?” asked the Ensign.
“Forget it!” declared the Sargent. “Just clear the obstruction!” The four Changeling soldiers quickly approached the blockade and attempted to remove the first of the video game machines from atop that stack, but it turned out to be heavy enough that the four of them working together could barely move it.
Meanwhile, Juniper was satisfied to see that she had successfully trapped those Changelings, but now that the heat of battle had passed for the moment, it finally began to sink in just how exactly she had accomplished that. She had been aware of her abnormally enhanced strength ever since she had been invited to join the Redeemables — a group of reformed villains affiliated with the LEGO Team — but had kept it a secret to herself because she couldn’t understand how she had obtained such an ability, and it actually scared her to think the previous time she had such an ability was when that magic hand mirror had turned her into a freakishly tall monster. Now that the Changelings knew she had such an ability and with the revelation that it was somehow similar to the magical powers possessed by the Equestria Girls, Juniper was suddenly being forced to confront the reality of who she was and what she was capable of, and deep down, it terrified her.
“Juniper, what’s going on?”
Juniper turned around and saw her manager standing in front of the door to his office as it slowly closed behind him.
“I don’t know!” confessed Juniper fearfully. “All I did was remove something that was stuck on one of their helmets, and now all of a sudden they wanna lock me away for some reason!”
The manager crossed his arms and glared at Juniper as he scolded, “Didn’t I tell you to not interfere with the occupying forces? Just give them what they want and nothing more.”
Juniper rubbed her arm as she shamefully looked away and sadly muttered, “I-I-I was just trying to be helpful…”
“Get her!”
Juniper and her manager glanced over at the arcade and saw the entrapped Changelings were now using their blades to hack through the video game machines that blocked their exit, causing the Lego parts they were made of to scatter all around them.
With the escape of those Changelings imminent, Juniper swiftly removed her work uniform and shoved it into her manager’s hands as she hastily stated, “Sorry, but I have to leave early today! I’m sure you understand!”
Now down to only her regular clothes, Juniper began to run for the main entrance, only to suddenly stop and yelp in shock when she noticed four more Changeling soldiers approaching the building from outside those glass doors. She then groaned and whined, “Why do they always have to call in reinforcements?”
Behind Juniper and with her work uniform still in his hands, the manager opened the door to his office and nervously noted, “Yeah… I think I’ll just mark you off as out sick indefinitely.” He then swiftly stepped into his office and shut the door.
After watching her manager back away like a complete coward, Juniper scoffed and grumbled, “Thanks for nothing…”
SMASH!
Juniper glanced over at the arcade room, where the entrapped Changelings had just destroyed the last of the video game machines that had blocked the doorway and were now beginning to approach her once more.
CRASH!
Juniper turned back to the main entrance, where the other four Changelings had just shattered the glass doors and were continuing to slowly close in on her.
Once again, Juniper Montage found herself surrounded by Changeling soldiers as they prepared to apprehend her, leaving her desperately looking around for any hope of escape. This time, she noticed the entrance to the storage room, which was on the opposite side of the lobby from the hallway that led to the theaters. Not only did that storage room have plenty of heavy things she could use to defend herself, but it also led to another emergency exit door.
Juniper mentally slapped herself and thought, Duh! Why didn’t I think of that in the first place? With no time to lose, she turned and rushed towards the storage room.
“She’s getting away!” alerted one of the Changelings before all eight of them began to charge after Juniper.
As soon as she entered the storage room, the first thing Juniper noticed were several huge bags of popcorn kernels piled up nearby, and she knew right away how she could utilize them against the oncoming alien forces.
“Hey, you like popcorn?” taunted Juniper as she grabbed one of the huge bags. “Then have some on the house!” She then chucked that massive bag of popcorn kernels at the oncoming Changelings, three of whom were swiftly knocked down to the floor by the immense weight of that bag. She then quickly grabbed another huge bag of popcorn kernels and tossed that one to bring down three more Changelings, then repeated the process to take out the two remaining Changelings.
All three giant bags of popcorn kernels had burst open upon impact, and as those Changelings attempted to stand up, they quickly found themselves slipping and sliding around upon the thousands of small round kernels. Some Changelings eventually attempted to fly above the hazardous floor, but the confined space caused them to either bump into each other and fall or get unintentionally yanked back down by the other Changelings who continued flailing around helplessly along the floor.
“Get it together, soldiers!” barked the Sargent furiously. “What are we, a professional army, or a slapstick comedy act?!” He then promptly slipped on the popcorn kernels and hit the floor on his back.
Meanwhile, Juniper had shut the door between the lobby and the storage room, then tossed the massive bags of popcorn kernels one by one into a pile against that door. “There, that should hold them back,” she quietly declared after a dozen of those huge bags had been piled up against the door. She then turned to the emergency exit door at the opposite side of the storage room and rushed outside.
Juniper had made it out of the cinema and now found herself out in a dirty alleyway filled with crates, trashcans, various litter, and a dumpster. Desperate to be extra sure those Changelings would be unable to follow her, she ran over to the nearby dumpster and began to shove it over to block the door she had just come through. Although her strength was much greater than that of most Minifigs, it still had its limits, as she discovered as she struggled to move that dumpster. The dumpster creaked and Juniper grunted as she ever so slowly managed to push that blockade into place.
It took her over a minute, but Juniper eventually managed to push that dumpster close enough to the door that she felt confident no one would be able to get through from the inside. With that heavy work completed, she slumped against the side of the dumpster and gasped for breath. As she continued panting, she muttered between breaths, “Okay… so I guess… I’m not as strong… as Applejack.”
After taking a couple minutes to catch her breath, Juniper stood up and began to make her way through the alleyway. She hadn’t heard any noise within the cinema to suggest those Changelings were still after her, but she wasn’t going to take any chances. If anything, the fact that some reinforcements had already been called in left her concerned that perhaps the rest of the Changeling forces all over the city were already informed of her wanted status. It certainly terrified her to think she was now suddenly a fugitive fleeing from the occupying forces, and unlike the Equestria Girls, she couldn’t think of anywhere she could go that would make her feel safe.
Juniper had made her way around two turns in the alleyway before she slowed to a stop, not from exhaustion, but from the overwhelming emotion over the situation she now found herself in. Why did I have to help that Changeling? thought Juniper as she struggled to hold back her tears. I should’ve just obeyed my boss’s advice and just left him alone. She sniffed and rubbed the tears from her eyes. She knew she was still on the run and had to keep going, but right now, it was just too much for her to comprehend as she struggled to even consider what her next steps should be.
“Hold it right there!”
Juniper immediately gasped in panic. With wide eyes, she frantically glanced around for the source of that voice. She couldn’t see anyone, but she did hear some stomping from around the corner not far ahead of her. Suspecting that the shout may not have been directed at her, she quietly approached that corner and carefully peered around. At the end of that alleyway where it met the street, she saw two Changeling troopers approaching a Minifig who had grey skin and blonde hair and was wearing a green skirt and a light blue shirt with a yellow necktie.
“Don’t play dumb with me!” one of the Changelings shouted furiously as he pointed threateningly at the blonde civilian. “You’re the only one who was in the area where that muffin wrapper could’ve been tossed from! It obstructed my view and caused me to lose control and flip my vehicle!”
The blonde girl gestured at her misaligned eyes, then shrugged as she gave an apologetic grin.
“I don’t care if you can’t see straight!” snapped the Changeling as he now stood directly in front of the unfortunate civilian. “Being reckless with your rubbish is no excuse for you to wreck my ride!” He then clenched his fist and swiftly punched that girl in the abdomen hard enough to send her slamming into the brick wall behind her, where she then slumped to the ground.
Juniper suppressed her gasp of shock. Practically everyone in Canterlot City was familiar with that girl, whose name was Derpy. Although Derpy was notorious for being highly prone to causing numerous mishaps, everyone understood that she never intended any harm, so people would generally just accept her silent apologies and continue on with their lives. Although Juniper had no idea what kind of incident had infuriated that Changeling, she knew that girl certainly didn’t deserve such brutal abuse.
“I say we finish what nature started and make her completely blind,” suggested the other Changeling standing beside that first one. “That’ll teach her to never mess with Changelings.”
As she watched the angry Changeling grab Derpy by the throat and lift her up off the ground, Juniper knew someone had to intervene right away. She had little reason to believe anyone else would suddenly appear to help Derpy, so without a second thought, she stepped out into the open and firmly shouted, “Hey! You leave her alone! Just because she’s disabled doesn’t mean it’s okay for you to torture her!”
The two Changelings turned to Juniper and stared at her for a moment. “Oh yeah?” asked the first Changeling skeptically as he carelessly dropped Derpy, who fell into a seated position at the base of the wall. “And just what are you gonna do about it?”
Juniper immediately hesitated. While she knew standing up for Derpy was absolutely the right thing to do, she hadn’t even considered just how exactly she was going to confront those two Changeling troopers. With no choice but to improvise, she reached for the nearest large object — an empty trashcan — and chucked it at the Changelings.
The two Changeling troopers easily stepped aside to avoid that trashcan as it flew past them and tumbled out onto the street. “Oh, so you want a fight, huh?” quipped the second Changeling. “Okay…” He and his comrade reached behind their backs and pulled out their laser blasters. “We’ll give you a fight.”
Juniper’s eyes widened in shock before she immediately dove for cover behind a nearby large crate.
Pew! Pew! Pew-pew! Pew! Pew-pew! Pew! Pew!
Juniper whimpered fearfully as the Changelings opened fire on her location, each shot blasting away splinters from the crate she hid behind. She knew her cover wasn’t going to last long, so she searched around and saw another large crate just across the alleyway. It wouldn’t help much, but perhaps it could buy her a few more seconds to think of something else. With no other option in mind, she shifted her crouched stance and prepared to dash across the narrow open ground.
Juniper took a deep breath and pushed her feet against the ground, but rather than giving herself a boost to start running, she instead managed to somehow fling herself into the air. Not expecting such a launch, she yelped as she uncontrollably flipped over forward and landed atop a filled sack on her back. Thankfully, that sack was behind the crate she had been aiming for, so all she had to do to regain cover was roll off from the sack.
As the Changelings opened fired on her new hiding position, Juniper readjusted her glasses and took a moment to try to make sense of what had just happened to her. Her escape attempt had gone awry the moment she had pushed herself against the ground, as if she had severely underestimated her own strength… and once that thought had crossed her mind, everything suddenly made sense to her.
Of course! thought Juniper in both astonishment and excitement. Super strength doesn’t just mean I can throw heavy things. I can also jump really good!
Now aware of an additional ability she could use to her advantage, Juniper turned her attention upwards. The surrounding alleyway was somewhat narrow with a few things sticking out from the surrounding buildings, most notably the fire escape stairway that was almost directly above her. With her current cover also being gradually obliterated, she decided it was time to take this fight into a new direction those Changelings were probably not expecting.
Juniper crouched down and then pushed against the ground with as much strength as she could, flinging herself straight upwards. At the apex of her leap, she reached out and grasped onto the railing of the lowest platform on the fire escape, leaving her dangling on the outer side opposite from where the Changelings stood.
Pew! Pew! Pew-pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew-pew!
Although the framework of the fire escape provided Juniper with some cover, she knew it was hardly an ideal place to stay. After taking another quick look at her surroundings, she pulled herself up to place her feet upon the framework, then leaped across the alleyway to land on a narrow ledge on the side of the opposite building. She nearly lost her balance, but managed to steady herself by grasping onto a flagpole that stuck out beside a window.
“That’s pretty impressive, missy, but it won’t save you,” taunted the second Changeling.
Pew! Pew-pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew-pew!
That makeshift perch certainly didn’t provide much cover at all, so Juniper quickly leaped back across the alleyway to grab onto the railing of a higher platform on the fire escape. Again, the fire escape provided a little cover, so she glanced back at the opposite building and saw a small satellite dish mounted beside a window higher up that she believed she could reach with one more leap.
Juniper jumped from the fire escape and flung herself across the alleyway to reach that higher window. However, as soon as she had grasped onto the satellite dish, it bent downward and creaked as if it was about to break. “No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no!” she exclaimed fearfully before she desperately reached her right hand up to grasp the mounting bracket behind the dish. As soon as her right hand had secured a tight grip onto the mounting bracket, the dish in her left hand snapped off from the bracket. Although she managed to avoid falling, she did suddenly find herself facing down towards the Changeling troopers who continued shooting at her, so she made use of the dish in her hand as a shield to block some of the laser bolts.
Pew! Pew! Pe-ding! Pew! Pew-pew! Pe-ding! Pew! Pe-ding!
By this point, Juniper was starting to get tired of being constantly fired upon, so she decided it was time to strike back. She briefly let go of the satellite dish to flip it over in her hand, then pulled back her arm and swiftly flung the dish as hard as she could down at the two Changelings on the ground.
The disconnected satellite dish spun rapidly as it flew down and quickly struck the second Changeling directly in the visor, fracturing that visor and impacting with enough force to knock him flat onto his back. The first Changeling — the one who had punched Derpy — stopped firing his laser blaster and turned to his fallen comrade, who appeared to be no longer responsive.
Realizing that she had just taken out one of the two Changeling troopers, Juniper smiled and playfully remarked, “I guess you’re not very good at playing frisbee, are ya?”
The window beside Juniper suddenly opened and a rather sloppy guy stuck his head outside, turned to Juniper, and furiously exclaimed, “Hey! What happened to my satellite dish?!”
Juniper briefly hesitated before she simply stated, “Uh, you could blame the Changeling who’s shooting at me right now.”
Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!
As the one Changeling still standing resumed firing his laser blaster up at Juniper, the sloppy guy ducked back in through his window, while Juniper quickly leaped across the alleyway back onto the fire escape. Unfortunately, the part of the fire escape she had managed to grab onto this time was a ladder that was not properly secured, so she screamed in terror as she and the ladder slid vertically down the side of the fire escape, then jerked to a sudden stop at the lowest platform. She had barely managed to hang on, but then the ladder swung out and down, her weakened grip finally coming loose as she was flung across the ground and tumbled to land right at the feet of the remaining Changeling.
Dazed from that rapid and wild descent, Juniper could do little more than roll over to stare helplessly up at the Changeling soldier who kept his laser blaster aimed at her.
The armored alien soldier stared down at the teenage girl. She had managed to evade their attacks with astonishing acrobatics, so he took a moment to inspect some of the data and information that flashed across the inside of his visor. After a few seconds of silence, he then smugly noted, “Ah, so you’re the new Target who just escaped from the cinema. In that case, I’d better report you in.” He lowered his laser blaster and used his free hand to grasp Juniper by the collar of her shirt and lift her up off the ground. “Looks like I’m about to earn a big bonus today.”
Clang!
A sudden impact to the head caused that Changeling to release his hold on Juniper and collapse to the ground. Juniper stumbled around to stay upright on her feet, then noticed a bowling ball bounce a few times before it came to rest beside the fallen Changeling. She stared in confusion at the bowling ball for a moment, then turned her gaze upwards to see that sloppy guy was leaning out of his open window again.
“That’s what you get for cutting off my satellite TV!” the sloppy guy declared furiously before he retreated back into his apartment and shut the window.
“Boy, I’d sure hate to be neighbors with that guy,” remarked Juniper to herself. She turned her gaze back down and glanced over both of the fallen Changeling soldiers with a sense of satisfaction. She had dared to pick a fight with those two armored aliens, and despite some poor planning and some luck, she had made use of her magical power to emerge victorious. In all honesty, she hadn’t felt so proud of herself since before she had been banned from her uncle’s film lot.
Juniper’s happiness didn’t last long, as her gaze soon fell upon the original reason for why she had picked a fight with those two Changelings in the first place. She rushed over to Derpy — who had remained seated at the base of the wall and was now clutching her abdomen — and knelt down as she asked with concern, “Are you okay?”
Grimacing in so much pain that she couldn’t even turn her gaze up to Juniper, Derpy responded by slowly shaking her head.
“I’d better get you to the hospital right away,” acknowledged Juniper worriedly. She then smiled and confidently added, “Lucky for you, I happen to be magically stronger than most Minifigs, so carrying you there should be no problem for me.” She then carefully helped Derpy up onto her feet, then turned around and brought Derpy’s arms over her shoulders before grabbing onto Derpy’s legs, allowing her to carry the injured girl on her back.
“There… now let’s get going,” declared Juniper before she turned to the street outside the alleyway and began running down the sidewalk.
Juniper quickly reached the nearest intersection, but was crestfallen when she looked at the street signs and realized where in the city they were in relation to the hospital. “Oh, who am I kidding?” she spoke up defeatedly. “The hospital’s too far away to get there on foot. If I’m gonna have any chance of helping you, I’ll need to borrow a vehicle.”
Juniper glanced around along the streets near the intersection, and while there were a few small cars parked along the sides of these streets, fallen debris from the city-wide battle earlier that week had damaged practically all of them enough that there was no chance she could quickly drive away in any of them. It wasn’t long before she heard the subtle rumbling of a diesel engine, so she looked down the street to her right and saw a garbage truck coming up the road until it slowed to a stop beside another alleyway. She then watched the driver of that truck climb out of the cab and whistle a tune to himself as he walked around the back of the truck towards the alleyway.
“Oh well,” muttered Juniper with a shrug. “Beggars can’t be choosers.” She then ran across the street towards the parked garbage truck. Once she arrived at the passenger side of that truck, she opened the door, carefully helped Derpy climb off her back and into the passenger seat, and then shut the door. She then noticed the truck driver walk out of the alleyway while dragging two full trashcans, so she quickly ran around to the front of the truck to stay out of his sight. A few seconds later, she heard the whirring noise of the truck’s trash compactor, so she figured it would be enough of a diversion to allow her to sneak around to the driver’s side of the truck, open the door, and then climb into the driver’s seat.
Once Juniper was seated behind the steering wheel, she first helped Derpy fasten her seatbelt, then fastened her own seatbelt, and then placed her hands upon the wheel and muttered uncertainly to herself, “Okay… now I just need to figure out how to drive this thing…” While she certainly knew how to drive a typical car, it was quickly obvious that this garbage truck was quite a different kind of vehicle with some levers and dials that she was completely unfamiliar with. However, she knew the driver would be back very soon, so with her best educated guess, she placed her feet upon the pedals and shifted the truck out of park.
Meanwhile, having finished dumping that load of refuse into the garbage truck, the driver continued whistling that tune to himself as he carried the now empty trashcans back into the alleyway and set them down back where they had originally been.
Pffffff…
“Huh?” muttered the garbage truck driver in confusion. He recognized that as the sound of the truck’s parking brake being released, which could only be done from the driver’s seat, where he currently wasn’t. He walked out of the alleyway just in time to watch his truck pull away from the side of the road and begin driving off down the street.
Vrrroooooom.
“Hey!” shouted the truck driver furiously as he began chasing after his truck on foot. “Get back here!”
Further down the road, two Changeling troopers were on a routine patrol along the city streets. They noticed the garbage truck drive past them, but what really caught their attention was a sanitation worker running in pursuit of that truck.
“Stop!” cried the truck driver desperately. “I have a half-eaten cheese danish in there!” It wasn’t long before he slowed to a stop and hunched over while gasping for breath.
The two Changeling troopers briefly glanced at each other, then marched towards the sanitation worker. “Explain yourself, citizen,” demanded one of the Changelings.
“Someone just stole my truck!” exclaimed the garbage truck driver as he gestured at the massive vehicle driving off ahead without him. As he continued gasping for breath, he then sat down upon the curb along the nearby sidewalk and muttered, “Ohh, I really need to lay off the pastries…”
The two Changeling troopers turned their attention towards the fleeing garbage truck. According to the data flashing across their visors, not only was that truck driving right by waste collection sites it was supposed to stop at, but also it was beginning to exceed the designated speed limit on these streets.
“Looks like we’ve got ourselves a getaway driver,” concluded the second Changeling trooper. “Move out!” The two armored alien troopers then opened their wingpacks and took off into the air in pursuit of that garbage truck.
Meanwhile, Juniper remained visibly tense as she continued to accelerate that garbage truck down the road. “Okay, I think I’ve got the hang of this,” she spoke up to inform her injured passenger. “Maybe not totally, but hopefully enough for us to reach the hospital as soon as possible. As long as I can do that, then that’s all we need.”
In the passenger’s seat, Derpy continued to clutch her abdomen in pain as she remained silent. When her gaze drifted over to the side mirror, she noticed two flying Changelings quickly approaching them, so she reached over to nudge Juniper.
“What? What is it?” asked Juniper with concern as she turned to face Derpy.
Clunk!
Juniper gasped in shock and felt her heart skip a beat when she heard that sudden impact from the roof of the truck directly above her.
“This is your only warning, getaway driver!” declared an authoritative voice from atop the garbage truck. “Pull over, now!”
Juniper turned to Derpy and sheepishly remarked, “Is this a bad time to mention that I only have a learner’s permit and not an actual driver’s license?”
Something suddenly grabbed Juniper’s left wrist and yanked her hand off the steering wheel, causing her to shriek in terror before turning to see that a Changeling soldier had reached down from the roof to grab her.
“By the authority of the Changeling Empire, you are under arrest!” the Changeling soldier firmly declared.
Now that she was aware she was dealing with yet more Changeling forces, Juniper glared at the alien soldier as she twisted her hand to grab his wrist and fiercely retorted, “Says you!” She then swiftly pulled downward, her magically enhanced strength allowing her to yank that Changeling off the truck’s roof and down onto the street.
The Changeling soldier tumbled along the street until he eventually landed on his back. He sat up and watched the garbage truck continue speeding ahead down the street, then pressed his hand against the side of his helmet and urgently reported, “We have a getaway driver in a garbage truck who refuses to go quietly! Send out reinforcements!”
Meanwhile, the other Changeling soldier standing atop the garbage truck struggled to keep his balance as he threatened, “You’re asking for trouble now, getaway driver!”
“I beg to differ!” taunted Juniper before she gently turned the wheel to the right, and then suddenly jerked it to the left. This resulted in the Changeling losing his balance and wobbling to the left before he was suddenly flung over the right side of the truck.
The Changeling managed to grab onto the passenger door and pulled himself up. He snarled at Derpy in the passenger seat before Juniper jerked the wheel again, swerving the garbage truck to pass so closely to a streetlight that the post slammed into the Changeling and caused him to lose his grip on the door.
That Changeling refused to give in and managed to then grab onto the rear wheel well of the truck. Juniper suspected the Changeling was still hanging on, so she jerked the wheel again, swerving the truck back alongside the sidewalk. This time, the Changeling slammed head first into a blue mailbox, and the impact not only tore the mailbox off from its attachment to the sidewalk, but also caused the alien soldier to lose his grip on the truck again, except now there were no more lower parts of the truck left for him to grab onto.
The Changeling and the mailbox tumbled together along the sidewalk until they eventually came to a stop with the mailbox atop the Changeling. The alien trooper began to push the mailbox off of himself, only for the hatch on that mailbox to suddenly come loose and dump a large pile of envelopes on top of him. “Agh! Bills!” he cried out in disgust. “Why did it have to be bills?!”
Back inside the garbage truck, Juniper let out a sigh of relief and stated, “Hopefully, those alien invaders won’t give us any more trouble than that.”
Unfortunately, just seconds later, a small four-wheel all-terrain vehicle arrived down a side street and began driving alongside the left of the garbage truck. Riding upon that small ATV were two Changelings, one driving the vehicle with his hands on a pair of handlebars, and the other seated right behind him.
“Ugh! More reinforcements?” grumbled Juniper as she tightened her grip in the steering wheel. “Gimme a break!”
As the driver of that ATV moved closer to the garbage truck, the passenger pulled out his laser blaster and prepared to aim at the truck. Before he had a chance to fire his weapon, Juniper swerved the truck against the ATV, easily deflecting the lightweight vehicle away. The passenger’s aim was thrown off, but the driver was able to quickly regain control and straighten out the ride. The passenger made another attempt to fire upon the garbage truck, only for Juniper to again slam them aside. The driver regained control again and the passenger made yet another attempt to aim his laser blaster at the garbage truck. Juniper yet again swerved the truck towards the pursuing Changeling ATV, but the driver decided to outsmart her by swerving away to avoid another impact. However, with the driver’s attention on the garbage truck, he failed to see how close he was driving towards the curb on the left, and when he ran over it, it tipped the lightweight vehicle over onto its right side and its momentum caused it to then tumble around uncontrollably, flinging the two Changelings off and sending them slamming into the pavement.
Juniper watched the destruction of that small vehicle in the truck’s side mirror, then smirked and remarked, “I guess that’ll teach them to never bring a little ATV to a monster truck rally.”
Not long after that, another Changeling vehicle turned from a side street to begin pursuing the garbage truck, but this vehicle was much bigger. It was so enormous that it took up the entire width of the two-lane road, and it rumbled along the pavement on eight massive wheels.
“Me and my big mouth…” muttered Juniper shamefully.
The massive pursuing vehicle also had two large turrets on opposite sides, which soon swiveled to aim at the fleeing garbage truck and began firing. However, every shot from those turrets managed to miss the truck, most of them by quite a wide margin. Even so, the blasts from each shot of those turrets sent debris from the surrounding buildings scattering across the street, forcing Juniper to swerve the truck around to avoid colliding into any significant chunks of debris.
Juniper had no idea how long those turrets would continue firing upon her, so she knew she had to figure out some way to lose that massive pursuing vehicle. As she continued to dodge falling debris all around the truck, she frequently glanced briefly down at the dashboard for anything that might be helpful in any way. She eventually noticed one particular switch that was marked with a symbol that looked like a large truck dumping its load. It didn’t take her long to figure out what this switch probably did — and how she could use it to her advantage.
“If you’re gonna conquer a city, the least you should do is clean up after yourselves!” taunted Juniper before she flipped that switch. With a whirring noise, the container in the back of the truck tilted up and the rear cover opened, allowing tons of trash and garbage to spill out all over the road.
The massive Changeling ground vehicle ran right over all of that scattered litter, some of which was soaked in various fluids that ended up getting smeared along the huge wheels and causing a loss of traction. As those wheels started slipping and sliding along the trail of rubbish, the massive ground transport slowly began to uncontrollably drift sideways. As the pursuit passed through an intersection, the front end of the Changeling ground transport vehicle drifted a little too far to the left and ultimately plowed directly into the building on the corner ahead.
CRASH!!!
As that massive vehicle slammed into that building, the front half was blown to pieces along with much of the façade of lower floors of that building, while the rear half of the vehicle flipped over, spun around, and then tumbled until it also fell apart into many pieces.
“Yeah!” Juniper cried out triumphantly. “Now that’s what I call taking out the trash!” She flipped the switch again to bring the garbage truck’s emptied container back down before she smirked and quipped, “I’m getting pretty good at these one-liners.”
Once again, Juniper was convinced she was finally in the clear, only for some more Changeling forces to make an effort to put a stop to her. This time, a squad further up ahead had blocked the road by laying out a row of large spikes that could likely tear right through a large vehicle.
“Oh, no…” muttered Juniper fearfully as she stared at the wicked spike trap directly ahead.
In a desperate effort to avoid running into that blockade, Juniper took the only alternate route still available by that point by making a sharp left turn into an alleyway. The large truck plowed through boxes and crates and knocked over trashcans. At the end of the alleyway, a solid framework of scaffolding supported a plywood ramp that led from the ground all the way up to the rooftop of the building ahead, and with Juniper too terrified to slow down, that garbage truck drove right up that ramp.
“Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!” exclaimed Juniper in terror as the garbage truck continued climbing up the ramp until it finally reached the top and continued ahead across the flat rooftop. She was now absolutely panicked as she screamed, “Ahhhhhh! How do I get down from here?!”
Juniper swerved the truck to the right to avoid slamming into a large vent sticking out of the roof, but this caused the truck to crash through a ledge and plummet off the edge of the roof, only to land atop a slightly lower rooftop. She continued driving the garbage truck straight across that rooftop, sent it over the edge, and down onto another slightly lower rooftop. She continued across that rooftop and down onto another slightly lower rooftop, then across that one and down onto another one. By this point, the speeding garbage truck was now only one floor above street level, and there was a taller building up ahead, so Juniper swerved the truck to the left to send it crashing through one more ledge and plummet a short distance back down onto the street. The large vehicle rocked around a bit from the uneven landing, but soon settled on all four wheels and continued accelerating ahead.
Now that the garbage truck was finally safely back down on the road, Juniper let out a huge sigh of relief, then readjusted her glasses and muttered, “Okay… Let’s not try that again.”
In the passenger seat, Derpy winced as she attempted to get comfortable again after that extremely rough ride. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that a half-eaten danish pastry with cheese filling had landed in her lap. She picked up the partially eaten pastry, stared at it for a few seconds in confusion, then shrugged and took a bite out of it.
Once Juniper had finally relaxed again, she glanced around to figure out where in the city they had landed. She then smiled as she recognized the building at the end of the road straight ahead. “Look! There’s the hospital!” she cried out excitedly as she pointed up ahead. “We’re almost there!”
Both girls riding inside the borrowed garbage truck smiled at the thought that they were actually going to make it there. However, it seemed the Changeling army was not quite finished with them just yet, as one Changeling soldier flew over and followed above the truck while carrying a large blue mailbox.
“Payback time!” declared the flying Changeling furiously before he chucked the mailbox down onto the garbage truck below.
The mailbox harmlessly bounced off the windshield of the speeding garbage truck, and of all the directions it could have been deflected, it ended up striking the Changeling who had just thrown it. The impact sent that Changeling tumbling uncontrollably through the air until he hit the pavement behind the fleeing truck, then he tumbled along that street until he finally came to rest face-down. He then growled in frustration and beat his fist against the pavement.
Juniper stared at the fallen Changeling in the truck’s side mirror before she flatly remarked, “Talk about return to sender. If that’s not an epic fail, I don’t know what is.”
With that final surprise obstacle overcome, Juniper continued driving the garbage truck towards the hospital as quickly as possible. After only a few more seconds, they finally reached the hospital, and Juniper drove the garbage truck up the driveway and brought it to a screeching halt directly in front of the main entrance to the building.
A doctor and a few nurses stepped outside through the main entrance and stared in confusion at one of the last kinds of vehicles they would ever expect to see parked in such a location. “What the?” the doctor quietly asked with a raised eyebrow.
Juniper immediately climbed out of the garbage truck and ran around the front of it to the passenger side. As she opened the door and began to help Derpy climb out, she desperately cried out. “Get a stretcher out here! She’s hurt really badly!”
Never one to question the circumstances of a medical emergency, the doctor turned to the nurses and swiftly ordered, “You heard her! Move! Move!”
Two of the nurses immediately rushed back into the building, while the one remaining nurse rushed forward to help Juniper carry the injured Derpy out of the truck.
As the injured girl was gently laid down on the pavement, the doctor stood to the side and asked, “How bad is she?”
“She took a hard punch to the torso from one of those Changelings,” explained Juniper.
The doctor sighed and shook his head as he quietly muttered, “Hardly the first one we’ve had to deal with, this week…”
The two nurses quickly returned with a stretcher and set it down on the ground beside Derpy, then they gently carried her over onto the stretcher. Once their patient was now safely on the stretcher, the nurses grabbed the handles on each end of the stretcher and gently lifted it up off the ground.
Before the nurses carried her away, Derpy reached out to grab Juniper’s hand, then smiled and softly muttered, “Thank you…”
Juniper smiled back at her before they released their grasp, allowing the doctor and the three nurses to rush Derpy into the hospital.
With her task completed, Juniper took a moment to reflect on everything she had just been through. Not long ago, she had been forced to flee the cinema where she worked because the Changelings suspected she possessed the same kind of magical power they were after, leading her to actually use that special ability to not only escape but also save an innocent civilian from serious harm, all leading up to a crazy getaway ride in one of the most unlikely vehicles possible. It was quite amazing how she was able to go through so much struggle and success in such a short period of time.
“You did good today, Juniper Montage.”
Juniper quickly turned to the source of that voice and saw standing behind her was a girl with light nougat skin, blue and pink curly hair, and wearing a white short dress. “Who are you?” she asked.
“The name’s Bon Bon, a reserve member of the local branch of the LEGO Team,” replied the girl as she stepped forward. “My friend and teammate, Lyra Heartstrings, witnessed everything you did in that alleyway and informed me, so I decided to meet you here to provide you with a safe escape route upon completing your mission.”
“Mission?” asked Juniper in confusion. “What mission?”
“You took it upon yourself to rescue an injured civilian and rush her to the hospital,” explained Bon Bon. “Your methods were unorthodox, but you overcame every obstacle thrown at you and accomplished your goal, so I regard that as mission accomplished.”
Juniper rubbed the back of her head as she giggled and sheepishly acknowledged, “Yeah, it’s amazing how everything managed to work out just fine in the end.”
“I’m sure you still have a lot of questions — and believe me, so do I — but first, we should get you to safety before any more Changeling reinforcements arrive,” added Bon Bon before she turned away and gestured for Juniper to follow.
Juniper rolled her eyes and grumbled, “Tell me about it. If I bump into one more of those alien bugs in creepy armor, it’ll be too soon.” With her desire to stay away from the Changelings for good and understanding she would soon receive some answers, she decided to follow Bon Bon without any hesitation.
Bon Bon led Juniper around to a small parking lot behind the hospital, then grabbed a nearby green recycling bin and slammed it onto the pavement to break it into pieces. She then quickly reassembled all of those loose Lego parts to build a modest post with a large lever sticking out the side of it. She then pulled that lever down, which made a nearby square section of pavement flip up to expose the entrance to a hidden passageway underground.
“After you,” stated Bon Bon as she gestured at the opened secret trap door.
There had been times when Juniper Montage would’ve been apprehensive about following someone she barely knew into a hidden underground chamber, but in light of recent events, she felt like it was one of the safest things she had done all day. She walked towards the opening in the ground and began climbing down the ladder.
Once Juniper had climbed down, Bon Bon followed after her. Before she completely descended below the opening, she pulled out a blaster weapon and shot a 1x1 round plate at the lever and post she had built, blasting it to pieces. She then continued down the ladder just before the trap door in the pavement automatically lowered down to close shut, leaving behind only a scattered pile of green Lego bricks.