//------------------------------// // Some Unexpected Help // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 2 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Some Unexpected Help At the LEGO Team Headquarters in Canterlot City, Celestia Playwell was busy tapping away at the keyboard on the large console in the briefing room. She paid little attention to the images that came up on the massive display screen above, nor did she even bother to acknowledge the minifigs gathered behind her. Standing in the middle of the massive room, on the floor in front of the elevated platform where Celestia stood, were the five Master Builders of Canterlot City: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. After their recent mission in Bricklyn ended, they had crossed a bridge back into Manehattan and taken an overnight train ride back to Canterlot City. Needless to say, the results of that mission had given all of them a very restless night. After a long and uneasy silence, Celestia finally stopped tapping the keyboard and sighed. “Three prison breaks last night,” she stated, keeping her back turned to the team. “All of them through unusual circumstances. The Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters was infiltrated by police officers, who somehow managed to free Lightning Dust. She has since quickly gone back to her old ways and already hijacked a cargo ship loaded with robots that had yet to be programed, which means she now has an army of her own to command. In the Castle Region, the fortress where Trixie was being held was attack by firefighters. The guards were no match for the high-pressure water cannons, and it didn’t take much more to set Trixie free, letting her resume her quest for domination. And finally, LEGO Maximum Security Prison was partially demolished by construction workers, allowing almost every prisoner to escape into the Everfree Forest. Some fugitives have been since been caught, but many still remain at large.” Finally, Celestia turned to face the team and said, “But none of that is important right now.” She silently eyed each of the five Master Builders with a displeased look, then asked, “Tell me, girls: What happened in Bricklyn?” The five girls looked at one another uneasily. None of them — not even Pinkie Pie — had a smile on their faces. Eventually, Rarity cleared her throat and answered, “Well… we did discover that the city’s mysterious silence was due to all of the citizens being, for lack of a better phrase, brainwashed into behaving as little more than automatons.” “And did you discover the source of this activity?” asked Celestia. “Sure we did,” answered Rainbow Dash. “It was these three weird girls who kept singing a lot. We decided to stop them, but…” She couldn’t bring herself to continue any further. “But what?” asked Celestia, whose patience was starting to slip. The five girls looked down shamefully. Pinkie eventually worked up the courage to look up at Celestia and, with a big but nervous grin on her face, answered, “They, kinda… got away?” Celestia furrowed her brow and asked, “And how did they get away?” Again, the five Master Builders just looked at the floor in silence. It was Applejack who finally glanced up as she sighed and answered, “They slipped away ‘cause we were too busy arguin’ on how to deal with ‘em.” She then turned her gaze back down to the floor and quickly muttered, “There, Ah said it.” Celestia shut her eyes and sighed. When she reopened her eyes, the displeased look never left her face as she said, “I expected better out of you. I would not have been surprised if your failure was due to your opponents being too powerful to handle. But to fight amongst yourselves before your true opponents had a chance to even do anything?” She shook her head in disbelief. “All I can say is that your teamwork needs a lot of improvement before I can consider sending you on any more major missions.” The team remained staring down at the floor in shame. They had been given an excellent opportunity to prove themselves as a team of Master Builders, and they completely blew it. Celestia turned away and walked back to the console. “The good news is that your description of these girls is enough for me to know who they are.” “You do?” asked Fluttershy as she and the others looked up at Celestia. Celestia resumed typing at the keyboard as she continued, “Yes, for they have caused trouble before. Twice.” She finished typing as an image came up on the display screen. This image showed those three minifigure girls depicted on a medieval tapestry with their names written under their respective feet: Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk. “At least now we know their names,” remarked Rarity. “They call themselves the Dazzlings,” explained Celestia. “They first appeared in the Castle Region, not long after it was initially established. We still don’t know where their mysterious power comes from, but they were known to have enslaved entire armies and turned them against each other. Fortunately, the founder and first ruler of the Castle Region, the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded, was able to drive them out. They disappeared for a while before starting their second round of trouble, this time in the Pirate Region, not long after that region was first established. But as with their first attempt, they were soon driven out and never heard from again.” Celestia tapped a large button to shut off the display screen. “Until now.” “Well, look on the bright side,” said Rainbow Dash. “At least now we know where they’ve been hiding all these years. All we gotta do is go back there and take ‘em down for good!” “As much as I share that sentiment,” said Celestia as she walked up to the railing at the edge of the platform, “I’m afraid you girls will not be going back to Bricklyn.” “What?!” exclaimed Rainbow in shock. “Why not?! We can totally whoop their sorry butts!” “So long as we use the proper methods, of course,” Rarity pointed out. “Yeah, like your fancy lil’ ideas would’ve gotten us anywhere,” grumbled Applejack as she rolled her eyes. “What we need are practical ideas that actually get stuff done!” “Oh, please, darling,” argued Rarity as she crossed her arms. “Every creative idea has a proper time and place, and I refuse to believe that your suggestion would have worked for that scenario.” “Yeah, so we should’ve just gone with my idea in the first place,” said Rainbow Dash. “Says who?” questioned Applejack as she put her hands on her hips. “Says me!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, pointing at herself. “I’m the team pilot, which means I’ll always have good ideas.” “I had a good idea,” Fluttershy quietly said. “What about my party bus?” suggested Pinkie Pie. “That sounded like a good idea.” “As if!” Rainbow shot back. “I can think of plenty of better ideas!” “Considerin’ how often ya break stuff, Ah seriously doubt that,” remarked Applejack bitterly. “Oh yeah?!” exclaimed Rainbow, getting in Applejack’s face. “Then how about—” “Enough!” shouted Celestia. The five teammates immediately softened their expressions as they turned to face Celestia. A sudden reminder of who was in their presence was all they needed to stop yet another pointless argument. Celestia sighed and rubbed her hand across her face. She turned away and walked back to the control panel as she stated, “I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to do this, but it seems you have left me with no choice.” She held down a button and spoke into the nearby microphone, “Send her in.” She then released the button and turned back to face the assembled team. The five minifigs turned to the sound of a nearby door opening, where they saw two people enter the room. The first was a familiar police officer — police chief Flash Sentry. The other person, escorted by the officer, was a handcuffed prisoner in an orange jumpsuit, but it wasn’t just any prisoner. “Sunset Shimmer?” asked all five girls simultaneously. “Indeed,” replied Celestia with a nod. “Out of all the prisoners that were held at LEGO Maximum Security Prison, she was the only one who did not escape in last night’s prison break. Not because she couldn’t, but because she refused to escape.” The five girls could only stare silently with their jaws hanging wide open. A prisoner refusing to join in on a massive jailbreak was practically unheard of. “Therefore,” continued Celestia, “with my uncle Kjeld’s blessing, I have decided to give her the opportunity to prove that she deserves a second chance.” “How so?” asked Rarity. Celestia turned to Sunset Shimmer and silently gave a single nod. Sunset, who had been staring down at the floor the entire time, finally raised her head to face the Canterlot City Master Builders. She momentarily remained silent before finally speaking. “I have something that might allow us to contact Princess Twilight of Equestria,” she calmly stated. That statement immediately caught everyone’s attention. With the interdimensional portal still closed for a very long time, none of the five girls thought they would ever hear from their otherworldly friend ever again. The possibility that that might not necessarily be the case was astonishing. Rainbow Dash turned to Celestia and asked, “You knew about this?” “I was informed by officer Flash Sentry soon after one of his interrogation sessions with her, and I had decided to keep this knowledge a secret until it might be needed.” She glared down at the Master Builders and continued, “And I’m afraid that time has come.” “So ya want us to ask Twilight to help us stop the Dazzlings?” asked Applejack as she raised an eyebrow. Celestia nodded and replied, “It’s possible that she might be able to shed some light on their mysterious powers, and what their true intentions might be.” Celestia chose not to state the other reason she had for requesting that the team contact Princess Twilight Sparkle. When Twilight first brought the team together, they had worked with each other very well and did a great job of completing their missions. But now, with her absence, their sense of teamwork had apparently begun to seriously falter. As far as Celestia was concerned, she would not feel confident enough to send these Master Builders on any missions against the Dazzlings until after they had consulted with Princess Twilight. “Very well, then,” stated Rarity with a nod. She then asked, “What must we do to get a message to Princess Twilight?” “First of all,” replied Flash Sentry, “Sunset refuses to tell us where any of her personal items are hidden, citing fears that some people might want to destroy them just to spite her. If you want to find the object that she says can help you, then you must take her with you as a guide.” “Whoa, whoa, wait,” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. She turned to Celestia and raised an eyebrow as she asked, “You expect us to believe that she’ll actually help us?” “As I had said,” replied Celestia, “she has earned the opportunity to prove that she is worthy of a second chance. She will be joining you on your next mission, and if she is successful with her part, then she will be rewarded by having her prison sentence cut in half.” The team visibly relaxed, though still felt uneasy. An incentive like that was sure to encourage Sunset Shimmer to try her best to help them, but it didn’t ignore the fact that she was still a convicted criminal who would have to go back to prison once the mission was over. “Your mission,” continued Celestia, “will be to send a message to Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, informing her of the threat of the Dazzlings and asking her what can be done to stop them. For this mission, you must take Sunset Shimmer with you, for she will have to show you where to go to find the necessary item to do this.” “But isn’t Sunset still technically a prisoner?” asked Fluttershy. “Does this mean that Flash Sentry will have to come with us, too?” “I have other duties to deal with at this time,” replied Flash, “so I’m placing Sunset Shimmer in your custody for the duration of the mission, and I trust that you girls will do well to keep an eye on her. My only demand is that the handcuffs must remain on at all times.” “I believe we can agree to those terms,” said Rarity. Flash turned to Sunset and gave her a silent nod before nudging her forward. She slowly walked across the room to join the team, where she promptly received a big friendly hug from Pinkie Pie. “Just don’t expect her to be as useful as any of the rest of you,” said Flash, giving one final piece of advice. “From what she told me in the latest interrogation, she has absolutely no creative talents, and has never built anything without the help of an instruction page.” The Master Builders turned to Sunset, who simply looked down at the floor in shame. “Now that all is settled, good luck with your mission,” said Celestia. She narrowed her eyes as she added, “And this time, I expect better results.” “Don’t worry, we can totally handle this,” assured Rainbow Dash confidently. “And seeing as our mission has now officially started…” Rarity turned to Sunset and asked, “Care to elaborate on our destination?” “At this point,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “all I’m willing say is that we’ll be going to the frontier town of Appleloosa in the Old West Region.” “No foolin’?” asked Applejack with a smile. “That’s a mighty fine place for us to go. Ah got a cousin who lives there.” “Do you have cousins in every region of the Lego World?” asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow. “Not every region,” replied Applejack. “When we went on that trip to the Moon, that actually made me the first member of mah family to ever go into space.” “Regardless, I agree that Appleloosa sounds like a rather pleasant destination to visit,” said Rarity. “If I’m not mistaken, I do believe that I may have some western attire that would allow us to fit in perfectly with the atmosphere of that region.” “Don’t bother,” said Rainbow Dash with a dismissive wave of the hand. “We’re just gonna go there, grab what we need, and come back home. I don’t think we’re gonna be staying long enough for people to care about what we’re wearing.” Rarity scoffed and crossed her arms as she said, “There’s never too little time for fashion.” “Hey, uh, not to sound rude,” Sunset spoke up, “but, um, can we get going now?” “You heard her, y’all,” said Applejack with a nod of agreement. “Let’s get a move on.” “Onward to Appleloosa!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully as the team began heading out of the room. As the team left the briefing room through the main double doors, chief Flash Sentry turned away and left the room through the secondary doorway through which he and Sunset had entered. He proceeded down a short hallway and down a small stairwell. When Flash reached the bottom of that stairwell, he stopped in front of the door that led outside. He pulled out his phone, dialed a certain number, and held it up to the side of his head. As soon as he heard the voice of the person on the other side, he responded, “They are heading for Appleloosa.” As he finished that statement, a sickly green glow briefly flashed from his eyes.