Chapter 8
Weapons, Spaceships, and Explosions
Twilight Sparkle quickly led her team through the hallway, hoping to get as far from the cafeteria as possible. They had no way of knowing if Lightning Dust knew of their escape and was already in pursuit, so they continued to run as fast as they could.
Eventually, Twilight led the team into an empty room with a missing door and just one dim light inside. They huddled together in a corner next to the doorway to avoid being seen from out in the hallway.
Once everyone had a moment to catch their breath, Rarity turned to Twilight and quietly asked, “Now that we are free, what do you propose should be out next course of action?”
“Well, Celestia said that our mission here was to subdue Lightning Dust and take her in for questioning,” explained Twilight, keeping her voice down to avoid revealing their location. “But we also need to consider that she hasn’t heard any response from Luna, who was inside this base when it was attacked. Chances are she might still be in here somewhere.”
“That’s a good point, but how will that help us?” asked Applejack quietly.
“Lightning Dust is working alone, but we can cover more ground if we split up,” continued Twilight softly. “Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike will search the base for Luna and any Wonderbolts who might also still be here. I’ll take Rainbow Dash and Applejack with me to go after Lightning Dust. With any luck, our simultaneous efforts should improve our chances of success.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Rainbow Dash, nodding in agreement. “Let’s go.”
With that, Twilight, Rainbow, and Applejack stepped out into the hallway and began heading back in the direction they had come from, while Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike went in the opposite direction down the hallway. The Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters was a big facility, which meant that both teams would have a lot of ground to cover.
Less than an hour later, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack carefully made their way through another hallway. There was no point in going straight back to the cafeteria, so they had agreed to change course halfway there. They knew very well how dangerous it would be to directly encounter Lightning Dust, so they moved as quietly as possible.
Rainbow Dash was up front as they were about to turn right to another hallway. Rainbow had barely peeked around the corner when she suddenly backed up and held out her arm, forcing the others to stop. She turned back to them as she tapped her hand over mouth and pointed around the corner, indicating that they had to be absolutely silent as they looked around the corner.
The three girls peered around the corner and saw the backside of Lightning Dust as she slowly walked down the hallway away from their position. She came to an intersection and paused to look around. She made her choice and turned left. The brief view from the side revealed that she was holding a long grey object in her hands. Attached to the end of that object was a translucent orange piece, which somehow made the object seem more terrifying.
As the clanking of Lightning’s footsteps against the metallic floor faded, the three girls ducked back into the further hallway.
“What was that thing in her hands?” asked Twilight, keeping her voice down to avoid the risk of catching Lightning’s attention.
“That’s a Plasma Blaster,” answered Rainbow Dash, grimly. “That thing won’t just blast you to pieces; it’ll melt your pieces.”
“Sounds like things just went from bad to worse,” said Applejack, worriedly. “How’d she get her hands on such a thing, anyway?”
“She must’ve taken it from the armory,” replied Rainbow Dash. “If we’re gonna stand a chance against her now,” she smiled a little, “then that’s where we’ve gotta go next.”
“You know this place better than any of us, so lead the way,” said Twilight.
Rainbow Dash nodded in acceptance. She checked down the hallway to the right to make sure Lightning Dust had not come back. Once she was sure the coast was clear, she turned left and began jogging down the hallway in that direction. Twilight and Applejack quickly followed, hoping their teammate would successfully take them to the armory.
Meanwhile, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike had walked into yet another storage room. They had no idea where to look to find the missing Luna Playwell, so they had decided to simply check every single room they came across. So far, that strategy seemed to be getting them nowhere.
“This is ridiculous!” said Spike in frustration. “There’s gotta be a better way than this!”
“Believe me, dear, I wish the same thing, myself,” said Rarity. “Unfortunately, none of us are familiar with this facility, so I’m afraid our options are limited.”
“If only we had a map to help us,” said Fluttershy quietly.
Rarity sighed. “Come along,” she said as she turned to leave the room. “We’d best continue our search.”
A rapid pounding noise made everyone suddenly stop. After standing in silence for a few seconds, they heard that noise again. It was four pounds against a metallic object in rapid succession. Once they heard it a third time, they realized it was coming from somewhere beneath the floor.
When the pounding noise was heard a fourth time, Pinkie Pie was able to figure out the exact source of the noise. “It’s coming from right there,” she said, pointing to a nearby handle in the floor. Pinkie ran over to the handle and grabbed it. She tried to pull up on it, but no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t even budge. She grunted as she pulled with all of her strength, straining to pull open the hatch in the floor.
Rarity calmly waked up to Pinkie Pie and cleared her throat. Once she had Pinkie’s attention, she simply waved her hand to tell Pinkie to back off.
Pinkie looked down and finally realized that she was actually standing on top of the hatch that she had been trying to open. With her face blushing in embarrassment, she let go of the handle and backed up until she was no longer standing on the hatch.
Rarity reached down to grab the handle as Spike and Fluttershy stood by her side. Rather than simply pull up on it, she instead tried twisting it first, which turned out to be the correct way of opening the hatch.
Now that the hatch was unlocked, it suddenly flew open as the minifig trapped underneath quickly sat up and made a loud gasp for breath.
Spike screamed in shock and leaped into Rarity’s arms. It took him little more than a second to realize what he just did, so he turned to face her with a nervous grin on his face.
Rarity gave an unamused expression as she dropped him to the floor.
“I thought you guys would never arrive,” said the formerly trapped minifig, once she finally got her breathing rate under control. She had yellow skin and orange eyes, which matched her spikey hair. She was wearing the blue and yellow flight suit that was typical of a Wonderbolt. Printed on both of her shoulders was a flame symbol. She looked around at the three girls and one little boy that were currently in the room. “Uh… you are the rescue team, aren’t you?” she asked in confusion.
“Well, half of us, at least,” admitted Rarity. “The other half is going after Lightning Dust, as we speak.”
“Who are you?” asked Fluttershy.
“Name’s Spitfire,” answered the now freed minifig. “Captain of the Wonderbolts Space Fleet.”
“Oh, is that why you’re still here?” asked Pinkie Pie. “I never really understood why a captain would wanna stay with their ship.”
“That’s pirate captains you’re thinking of,” said Spitfire as she pulled herself out of the small space in the floor. “My duty was to make sure that everyone got out safely before making my own escape. We were completely caught off-guard, and even I was surprised by how quickly that rogue recruit was able to strike this base. I decided to buy some time to allow everyone else to evacuate.”
“Buy some time?” asked Spike. “You mean you actually went after her?”
“I had no other choice,” continued Spitfire. “Besides, I wanted to see her for myself. She sure didn’t waste any time throwing one of those destructa-bricks at me. I was able to reach a safe distance from the blast, but I got struck in the head by a large part that was sent flying. Next thing I know, I’m trapped underneath this hatch in the floor with no way out.”
“Well, in any case, now that you are free, perhaps you can assist us,” suggested Rarity.
“I’d be more than happy to,” said Spitfire with a smile forming on her face. “Since you said the rest of your team is keeping Lightning Dust occupied, I say we take advantage of that distraction and cut off her means of escape.”
“How do we do that?” asked Spike.
“We locate and disable the spaceship she used to get here,” answered Spitfire. “And I have a good idea where we might find it. Follow me!” She immediately left the storage room and turned left down the hallway. The other four minifigs quickly followed.
“Speaking of pirate rules,” Pinkie Pie spoke up, “did you know you should never place your rear end on a pirate’s face?”
“I would never even consider doing something as uncouth as placing my rear end upon anyone’s face,” responded Rarity as she rolled her eyes.
It didn’t take long for Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight to find the armory. When they arrived, what they saw was enough to make Rainbow Dash laugh victoriously. “Check it out!” she exclaimed excitedly. “That dummy left the door open!”
“Bet she didn’t think we’d backtrack where she’s already been,” concluded Applejack as the three of them quickly entered the armory.
Inside the armory, just about all of the space on the walls were covered by racks, from which hung a wide variety of high-tech weaponry the likes of which Twilight had never seen before. She had to admit, it was quite an intimidating sight.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hand, could sum up her reaction with just one word. “Awesome,” she said with a huge grin on her face. “I’ve seen a lot of pictures, but I’ve never been able to see weapons like these in real life.”
Rainbow was acting like a kid in a candy store as she ran up to a nearby rack and grabbed a small object from it. “Check out this laser gun,” she said as she spun it around in her hand, then aimed it at the opposite wall and fired off a shot. The laser bolt shot across the armory almost instantly and struck one of the racks, causing it and the weapons it held to come crashing to the floor.
Applejack and Twilight, after briefly being startled by the laser bolt, glared at Rainbow for such a reckless act.
Rainbow Dash grinned nervously before tossing the laser gun aside. She turned back to the nearest rack and grabbed a larger weapon that required two hands to hold it up. She chuckled in excitement and said, “Wouldn’t wanna be on the business end of this thing.” She then carelessly dropped it to the floor and turned back to the racks for another weapon.
“Look, Ah know ya find all this fascinatin’ an’ all,” Applejack spoke up, “but Ah think we should try findin’ somethin’ that’ll actually help us the way we want it to.”
Rainbow Dash ignored her and picked up an even bigger weapon that had to be held up on her shoulder, but that didn’t diminish her enthusiasm. “Yeah, Bunker Buster!” she said. “This is a good way to wake up the neighbors.”
Applejack had had enough and smacked the oversized weapon out of Rainbow’s hands. “For cryin’ out loud!” shouted Applejack in Rainbow’s face. “We need to take her in for questionin’, not blow her to pieces!”
Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration and said, “Fine, I’ll find something more appropriate.” She turned back to the racks of weapons and began to carefully look over them for something that wouldn’t cause too much harm. It wasn’t long until she found just the thing they needed: a long two-handed weapon with three prongs on the end that were arranged equally around a translucent blue piece in the middle. “This should be our best bet.” Rainbow took it off the rack and tossed it over to Twilight. “Shock Stopper. One shot and she’ll be completely paralyzed for hours.”
Twilight awkwardly caught the weapon. It was so unlike anything she had ever seen before that she wasn’t even sure how to hold it properly, let alone actually fire it.
Applejack shrugged and said, “Fair enough. Now let’s go hunt down that renegade!”
Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement and began to leave the armory. As she passed Twilight, she suddenly stopped and pointed out, “Uh, you’re holding it backwards.”
Looking down at how she was currently holding the weapon in her hands, Twilight realized the prongs were actually supposed to be pointing forward. She quickly turned it around to the correct orientation before following Rainbow Dash and Applejack out of the armory.
Spitfire continued to run down the hallways, knowing exactly where to go. Behind her, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike struggled to keep up with her. They feared they would lose sight of her when she finally came to a stop in a large open room. On the left wall were a few sliding doors, with all but one of them currently shut, and labeled on the right wall was the name of this room: Docking Bay 3.
“This is one of the docking bays in this base,” explained Spitfire. “Our defenses were lowered at the time of the attack because we were scheduled to receive a cargo shipment just minutes later. Cargo ships are massive, so it’s common practice to clear an entire docking bay to make way for it, and this is the one that was cleared for the scheduled delivery. That makes this the ideal location for where Lightning Dust likely left her spaceship.”
“Why didn’t you just surround this place when you saw the incoming spaceship?” asked Spike.
“We never received any visual of it,” answered Spitfire as she began to walk by the doors on the left and the others followed her. “By the time we began to realize we were under attack, we had already lost all radar and video cameras outside. We were essentially left blind, and convinced there would be further damage from the outside. We certainly didn’t expect her to dock with this facility and start throwing destructa-bricks left and right from inside the base.”
“Sounds to me like she’s been planning this attack for a long time,” said Rarity.
“I’ve read Lightning Dust’s file many times since she was kicked out,” continued Spitfire. “She is a very capable fighter, can easily adapt to any situation, and never hesitates to push her limits. But she is also very reckless, and prone to making lots of mistakes.” She and the four following minifigs stopped as they arrived at the opened door. “And it looks like we’re about to exploit one of them right now.”
The docking bay provided an enclosed walkway that attached to any docked spaceship, allowing people to walk directly into the ships without having to put on a spacesuit and go outside. All it took was a short walk before the group was onboard the mystery spaceship.
“What kind of spaceship is this?” asked Pinkie Pie.
“I’m not sure,” replied Spitfire as she looked around the small interior space. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I recognize some parts here and there, but never in this kind of arrangement.”
Fluttershy opened a small storage compartment in the wall and quickly took a step back as a few Lego bricks tumbled out. She looked down at the bricks and noticed they were all in-line four-stud bricks that were grey in color and had some long number printed on the side. “I think I found something interesting,” she spoke up.
Spitfire walked up to the small pile of bricks and picked up one of them. When she noticed the number printed on the side, she said, “It’s an identification number. All spacecraft are required to have them clearly visible on the outside.” She read the number more carefully and suddenly realized something. “Wait… This is the exact same I.D. number as the small shuttle craft that Lightning Dust hijacked about seven months ago.” She placed that brick on the floor and picked another one. “This one is from the scout ship she got near Mars.” She set that brick down with the first and grabbed another. “And this one is from the cargo ship that was full of destructa-bricks.” She quickly rearranged all of the bricks so that the numbers were facing up. “I don’t believe it! It’s like a complete list of every ship she’s hijacked!”
“And you said these particular bricks are supposed to be incorporated on the outside of their respective ships,” Rarity pointed out. “If she’s removed these bricks, then perhaps it’s not out of the question to think she could have also removed some other bricks.”
Rarity was definitely on to something, and Spitfire needed only to take another looked around the interior of the spaceship to understand what this meant. “Of course! Why didn’t I see this at first?!” exclaimed Spitfire in realization. “It’s no wonder we’ve never been able to track down any of the ships she’s hijacked, because she’s been taking them apart and cannibalizing the parts to build her own personal spaceship.”
Spitfire walked up to the pilot’s seat and looked down at the console in front of it. “These flight controls are from the scout ship.” She turned to look out the window at some of the armaments on the wing. “This weaponry is from the medium assault ship, the first spaceship she hijacked.” She then opened a trap door in the floor right behind the pilot’s seat, partially revealing the engine underneath. “And this engine is just like the one from that small shuttle craft.”
“Holy cannoli!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, finally catching on. “She’s created a Frankenship!”
“If she used parts from those spaceships,” said Fluttershy, “then what about the—”
“Destructa-bricks!” exclaimed Spike, looking at what lay beyond a door in the back. “Hundreds of them!”
The four girls crowded around Spike and saw a large cargo space that was packed full of destructa-bricks. “No wonder she never seems to run out,” said Spitfire. “She’s been hauling all of them with her wherever she goes.”
“We simply must do something about this!” said Rarity with determination.
Spitfire immediately ran back to the console up front and quickly inspected it for a particular feature. “Good, this thing still has the Emergency Escape feature from the assault ship,” she said. “I can fly this thing out to a safe distance and use one of those destructa-bricks to destroy the entire supply onboard this ship. The time delay should give me enough time to eject and fly back here.”
“Weren’t those destructa-bricks supposed to be delivered to someone?” asked Fluttershy “You know, before Lightning Dust… stole them.”
“The recipient has already been compensated for the loss,” replied Spitfire. “As far as I’m concerned, this supply shouldn’t even exist anymore. However, the escape pod has enough room for only one minifig, so I’m gonna have to ask all of you to stay behind.”
“We understand,” said Rarity as she began to lead her teammates out of the spaceship. “You’re the expert here, so go on and do what must be done.”
Once the four teammates were back in the docking bay, Spitfire sat down in the pilot’s seat and began the undocking procedure. In the middle of the enclosed walkway, a red light began blinking to warn anyone who might be within that the ship was about to undock. A few seconds later, the inner door to the docking bay slid closed, followed by the door in the spaceship. With both sides now airtight, the spaceship was released from the docking bay.
Spitfire immediately fired up the engines and steered the spaceship away from the base. Once the ship was cleared from the base and was facing an empty area far above the surface, she activated the primary thrusters to make the ship fly away at high speed.
In only a matter of seconds, the patchwork spaceship was already over a dozen miles away from the lunar base. Spitfire was confident that she was now at a safe enough distance to destroy the ship and its dangerous cargo. She shut off the engines to let the ship drift forward under its own momentum. She quickly got out of the pilot’s seat and ran to the cargo hold in the back. She grabbed one of the many destructa-bricks and set it to high power with a time of one minute. The blast had to be big enough to, hopefully, set off a chain reaction that would detonate the rest of the destructa-bricks, and Spitfire’s past experience with an Emergency Escape feature told her that one minute would be more than enough time to get away.
With the settings entered, Spitfire tapped the detonate button, tossed the destructa-brick back into the pile of them, and then ran back to the front of the spaceship. She quickly got back into the pilot’s seat and fastened the seatbelt before pressing the big red button on the console that was labeled “Emergency Escape”. A large wall came down directly behind the pilot’s seat, cutting off the cockpit from the rest of the ship and allowing it to separate. The emergency onboard thrusters ignited, propelling what was now the escape pod away from the patchwork spaceship.
Spitfire turned the escape pod around, flew around the abandoned spaceship, and proceeded at full speed back to the lunar base. It was much slower than a typical spaceship, but it was still fast enough to get a few miles away by the time the ship full of destructa-bricks exploded. Spitfire never bothered to look back, but the incredibly bright flash of light from behind was enough to convince her that Lightning Dust’s patchwork spaceship was no more.
It wasn’t long before Spitfire returned to the docking bay. Thanks to years of experience, she knew how to dock an escape pod like this one. Once she reached an available walkway, she spun the escape pod around so the back end could attach, then slowly backed up until she felt the brief shaking that confirmed contact with the base.
Back inside the docking bay, the four teammates had been waiting anxiously for the last few minutes when they saw the light at the top of the doorway turn from red to green. The door slid open, revealing Spitfire as she climbed out of what remained of the spaceship.
“Now that I’ve successfully destroyed Lightning Dust’s only means of escape,” said Spitfire as she walked back into the docking bay, “it’s now only a matter of time before she is finally captured.”
“That’s good to hear,” Fluttershy said quietly.
“So, uh, what’s next?” asked Spike.
“Our original plan was to find Luna Playwell, who has not been heard from since the attack,” said Rarity. She turned to Spitfire and asked, “Do you suppose you could help us with such a task?”
Spitfire answered, “If she’s followed protocol — which I’m almost certain she has — she is currently barricaded inside a blast-proof bunker underneath her office. She can monitor every part of the base from there, but she can’t communicate with anyone outside. I can take you to her office and, hopefully, she will consider the threat to be minimal enough for her to come out.”
“Sounds fair to me,” said Spike with a shrug.
“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Pinkie Pie. “Let’s go!”
As Spitfire began to lead the four teammates to Luna’s office, Fluttershy thought aloud, “I sure hope the others are doing okay.”
Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Twilight Sparkle carefully made their way down yet another dim hallway. As they walked quietly, Twilight once again looked uneasily at the weapon in her hands. Rainbow Dash had already told her how to properly hold and fire it, so it was not the lack of knowledge that bothered her. It was the simple fact that she was the one holding it, which meant she would have to be the one to use it against Lightning Dust. Rainbow’s assurances that this “Shock Stopper” would only disable and not kill did little to ease Twilight’s worries.
Rainbow Dash was up front as they reached an intersecting hallway that was twice was wide and tall as the one they were about to leave. Various crates and pipes of different sizes were stacked along the edges of this massive hallway, indicating that it also served as a storage room of some sort. The occasional hissing noise of steam could be heard coming from some of the pipes along the ceiling, adding a sense of eeriness to the scene.
As soon as Rainbow Dash looked around a massive crate to the right, she immediately spun around and ran back into the smaller hallway. “Darn it!” she whispered harshly. “She’s heading right this way! We’ve gotta hide!”
The rapid clanking of footsteps against the metallic floor confirmed their worst fears: Lightning Dust had found them.
Applejack quickly looked to the left and saw a pile of grey Lego bricks that had spilled out of another large crate. The grey color perfectly matched all of the surrounding walls, which gave her an idea. “Ah got it!” whispered Applejack as she grabbed most of those bricks and began to quickly put them together.
It wasn’t long before Lightning Dust arrived at the large crate where she thought she had seen some movement. She held up the Plasma Blaster in her hands, ready to destroy anyone she found. She skidded to a stop as she came around the crate. She found nothing but a featureless grey wall.
Lightning was sure she had briefly seen something move in this area, and she was also sure that she had heard the rapid clicking noise of Lego bricks being put together. However, a closer look had revealed nothing but an empty space between two massive crates. Since there was nothing to see here, she decided to move on.
Just seconds after Lightning began walking away, a door-shaped part of the wall was quietly pulled back and to the side. The other side of this “wall” was the smaller hallway that the three teammates had been about to leave. Applejack had used the extra bricks to build a false wall to throw off Lightning Dust.
Now that they were behind Lightning, stealth would be the key to success. Simply taking apart the wall would have been too noisy, so Applejack had first built a section of wall big enough for a minifig to walk through, then built the rest of the wall around it. A few cap pieces on the floor and the top of the removable section allowed that section to silently slide out of its place in the wall. For an improvised solution, it was a work of genius.
As Applejack set down the wall section she had carefully removed, Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and quietly said, “Remember, that thing takes about a minute to recharge, and I seriously doubt she’s gonna wait that long, so you’d better make the first shot count.”
Twilight was still ill at ease at having to be the one to use the weapon, but she knew that it had to be done, so she nodded in understanding and carefully stepped out into the big hallway. She tried to step as lightly as possible, but walking around in a body she had been using for only one day now, and across a metallic floor, made this particularly tricky.
It didn’t take long for Lightning Dust to notice the noise of footsteps didn’t quite match her own movements. She decided to stop walking, just to be sure if she was the one making the noise or not.
As soon as Lightning had stopped, Twilight immediately stopped in her tracks. Clearly, her own footsteps were too noisy. Twilight did all she could to keep her breathing as quiet as possible, hoping to not draw any further suspicion.
Lightning Dust listened carefully for a moment, but heard nothing but the occasional hissing of steam from the ceiling pipes. Convinced that she was still alone, she continued walking forward.
Twilight wasn’t sure if she was close enough to Lightning for the weapon to be effective. To improve her chances of success, she would have to get as close as possible. To do that, she would have to somehow keep walking forward without drawing any attention. She decided to cover the noise of her footsteps by walking in perfect lock-step with Lightning Dust. After Lightning had taken a few steps, Twilight got the rhythm down and continued walking after her, perfectly matching her footsteps.
As Lightning Dust continued walking, the noise of her footsteps started getting suspicious again, so she came to an abrupt stop.
Twilight was barely able to stop herself at the exact moment Lightning did. Another moment like this made her nervous, which inevitably made her breaths quicken, though she did a good job of keeping them quiet.
Lightning looked left and right, but saw nothing suspicious, so she proceeded forward again.
Twilight barely held back a sigh of relief that Lightning had not looked back. Now that she was on the move again, Twilight continued after her in perfect lock-step.
Just a few steps later, Lightning Dust got suspicious again and came to an immediate halt.
Once again, Twilight barely stopped herself at the same time Lightning did.
Lightning Dust now knew something was definitely not right. Whatever that odd noise was, it could not be just her own footsteps, so she had to find some way to isolate the noise. She started by taking two quick steps forward.
Since those steps were made at a different pace, Twilight was able to make only one step forward.
Lightning took one step forward, then quickly made two backwards.
Twilight was able to match the last two steps, bringing her closer to her target.
Lightning made a few rapid steps back and forth, which Twilight desperately tried to match while moving forward. Before long, Lightning was moving her feet around like some sort of tap dancer. Twilight took advantage to the noise to move ever closer to her target.
Lightning Dust then suddenly stopped moving around and just stood straight.
Twilight was left standing on one foot, and her facial expression clearly showed how much she was straining to keep her balance, not to mention keeping her rapid breathing to near silence.
Lightning raised her right foot, which Twilight clearly saw. She then rapidly brought it down to the floor, and Twilight matched that stomp by bringing her suspended foot back down.
This time, it was Lightning Dust who had done the outsmarting. She had stopped her foot just an inch away from the floor, which meant she should not have heard any noise. But she had heard a very clear stomp, and with the suspicious noise now isolated, she realized it was directly behind her.
Lightning Dust quickly spun around and saw Twilight Sparkle, who was also carrying a weapon of her own. “HA!” shouted Lightning in triumph. She raised the Plasma Blaster in her hands and prepared to fire.
Twilight heard the Plasma Blaster begin to power up and saw the orange piece on it start to glow. This was her absolute last chance. If she was going to take down Lightning Dust, it was now or never.
Twilight raised the Shock Stopper in her hands and, as Rainbow Dash had instructed, quickly squeezed the rear handle. This triggered a long bolt of electricity to fly from the blue piece and strike Lightning Dust, sending her flying back a short distance and hitting the floor on her back. In the process of this, Lightning dropped the Plasma Blaster — which now powered down — as well as a few inactive destructa-bricks from her backpack.
“Yeah! We got her!” shouted Rainbow Dash excitedly as she and Applejack stepped out from behind the massive crate near the smaller hallway. They ran over to join Twilight and looked down at the fallen Lightning Dust.
The Shock Stopper had apparently done exactly what Rainbow Dash said it would do. Lightning Dust was still alive, but the only part of her body she could move around was her head. She tried in vain to get back up, but it was no use. After finally sighing in defeat, she glared at Twilight. “Nice shot, noob!” she spat.
Applejack put her hand on Twilight’s shoulder in assurance and said, “Don’t let her get to ya. She’s just bein’ a sore loser.”
Twilight turned to Applejack in confusion and asked, “That was an insult?”
Just over an hour later, all personnel of the Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters had returned to the base. Work was already underway to repair all of the damages that had been sustained during the attack. The paralyzed Lightning Dust was now strapped into a gurney and being wheeled over to the interrogation room.
Both halves of Twilight’s team had since gotten back together. They were now gathered in the briefing room, where Luna Playwell would explain the next part of their mission.
The minifig version of Luna had a skin color that was a slightly lighter shade of blue than the coat of Princess Luna. Her long hair consisted of two shades of blue and, unlike that of the Lunar Princess, did not move on its own. Luna also had the same eye color as her pony counterpart and — like Celestia — had visible lips. For clothing, her legs were a navy blue and her torso and shoulders were violet. She had a navy blue belt around her waist and a white collar around the neck of the torso. Printed on the front of the collar was a dark blue crescent moon, a symbol not too different from Princess Luna’s Cutie Mark. When asked by Rarity why she wore such typical clothes in a lunar base, she claimed that she rarely ever leaves the base, and thus sees no reason to always wear some space outfit.
“I congratulate you all on a job well done,” began Luna Playwell. “That attack had caught us completely by surprise, and the Wonderbolts will do everything in their power to ensure a similar incident will never happen again.”
“What about Lightning Dust?” asked Fluttershy.
“There is no need to worry about her,” replied Luna. “We’ll take it from here and inform you of any information we get out of her. In the meantime, my sister Celestia has asked me to tell you of your next mission.”
“Our next mission?” asked Twilight. “Does this me you’ve found Sunset Shimmer?”
“Unfortunately, no,” continued Luna as she began taping some keys on a console beneath a large display screen. “We still don’t know where she is. But it seems the Great and Powerful Trixie has made her presence very clear.” A few images came up on the display screen, the most prominent of which was of a dark castle that was under cloudy skies and surrounded by a moat of lava. “She has just finished building herself this castle, and is already beginning to raise an army of skeleton warriors, which she will no doubt use in her attempt to conquer the entire Castle Region.”
A few images flashed by on the screen, showing dozens skeletons that stood and moved as if they were living people. They also carried swords, shields, and other kinds of medieval weaponry.
“Spooky!” remarked Pinkie Pie excitedly.
“So you want use to capture Trixie next?” asked Rainbow Dash.
“That is correct,” replied Luna. “But, as her self-proclaimed title suggests, Trixie is very powerful indeed. There is only one magical item that is powerful enough to defeat Trixie for good: a golden sword that is currently in the possession of one of the rulers of the Castle Region, Prince Shining Armor.”
Twilight had to suppress a gasp as the image of her brother’s minifig counterpart came up on the display screen. He had white skin, blue eyes, and blue hair on his head. Every part of his body, except the head, was covered in golden armor. Attached to an actual belt was a silver scabbard, within which was the golden sword. Draped from his neck and over his back was a white cape, and printed in the middle of it was a blue shield with a magenta six-pointed star in the middle and three smaller stars above the shield. That symbol on his cape was just like his pony counterpart’s Cutie Mark.
“Let me get this straight,” said Applejack. “You want us to go after some super powerful witch, but the only thing that can get the job done is some magic sword that this Shining Armor fellow has? Why do we have to be involved in this? Can’t we just tell him to go after Trixie?”
“It will not be that easy, I’m afraid,” explained Luna. “A few years ago, his younger sister mysteriously vanished, and he has been desperately searching for her ever since. Lately, that desperation has turned to obsession, and he now refuses to prioritize anything over the search for his missing sister. His kingdom is already showing signs of his neglect, and my sister and I believe this is why Trixie has chosen this moment to make her strike.” Luna tapped a key on the console, returning the display screen to the default setting of showing various locations on the lunar base. “Your next mission is to go to the Castle Region, defeat Trixie, and have her taken in for questioning, which should improve our chances of locating Sunset Shimmer.”
Twilight took a moment to let all of this information sink in. She was pretty sure she knew who this “missing sister” was, and could understand why the prince would be so desperate to find her. However, that was not what Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria was here for, and her top priority here was to retrieve her stolen crown from Sunset Shimmer. With no idea where to look, her best hope at this time was to defeat the Great and Powerful Trixie, and to do that, she would need the help of Prince Shining Armor.”
Twilight turned to Spike and said, “I already know I can count on you to assist.” She turned to the rest of her team and asked, “What do you say, girls?”
“I’m in!” Pinkie Pie immediately exclaimed enthusiastically.
“Same here,” said Rainbow Dash “I’d never let you down.”
“Y’all can count me in, too,” said Applejack.
“I’ve always wanted to visit the Castle Region,” remarked Rarity. “Count me in.”
“I agree with Rarity,” added Fluttershy. “The Castle Region is a nice place, and I really don’t want any harm to come to the people and creatures who call it home. I’m in.”
“Then it’s settled,” declared Twilight. “Let’s get back to the spaceship and head for the Castle Region.”
A soon as this was said, the bright flash of an explosion suddenly appeared at one of the locations shown on the display screen. Everyone quickly turned to see many Lego pieces fly apart and fall into a scattered pile in the middle on a landing pad.
“Was that our spaceship?” asked Spike worriedly.
“I forgot to mention,” said Lightning Dust with a crazy grin on her face as the gurney she was strapped to was wheeled by on the way to the interrogation room, drawing everyone's attention. “I planted a few destructa-bricks underneath your spaceship. Win or lose, I didn’t want you to make a clean getaway.” She then cackled like a maniac as she was quickly wheeled into the neighboring room, the door slamming shut behind.
The seven teammates turned their attention back to the display screen. They could do nothing but stare in shock as they looked at the pile of scattered parts that used to be their spaceship.