//------------------------------// // An Unexpected Encounter // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 3 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 2 An Unexpected Encounter Later that day, Sunset Shimmer and her friends had decided to grab their musical instruments and perform a few songs for their special guests. Thanks to further practice over the last few months, they had definitely improved and were now able to perform almost on par with professional rock bands. However, due to other obligations — especially as members of the LEGO Team — all six of them had agreed that they would not seek to become a full-time rock band, and instead save their musical performances for special occasions. And, of course, just as they did when they had defeated the sirens, they still ponied up whenever they performed. As soon as the girls reached the end of their final song, their pony ears, tails, and wings or horns vanished. Their audience, Kjeld, Celestia, and Luna, all clapped in approval. As everyone set down their instruments, Rarity fondly remarked, “I still can’t believe that happens when we get creative with both music and building. I’ve got to look into some new accessories, something that looks good in a longer ponytail.” “I just wish I could understand more about it,” said Sunset. “I mean, we already know that when we pony up we gain ears and tails and some of us also get either the wings of a pegasus or the horn of a unicorn. But what I can’t seem to figure out is why it happens, and why it does so only when we’re building something or playing music.” Pinkie Pie then offhandedly remarked, “Actually, those aren’t the only ways I’ve been able to pony up lately.” Sunset stood completely still, blinked once, then turned to Pinkie and asked, “What do you mean by that?” Pinkie Pie quickly replied, “Just last Tuesday, I decided to go to Minuette’s little get-together at her place, because you all know how much I love a good party. But when I got there, there was hardly any activity going on. Some of the guests had even fallen asleep! So I quickly went to work making the party much better by setting out lots of sweet snacks, starting up some funky music, and of course firing off a couple of party cannons. Once everyone was smiling and having tons of fun, I suddenly ponied up and started floating around with pink magic glowy stuff all over me!” Sunset carefully asked, “Wait, are you sure you didn’t put any Lego parts together or play your drum set before you ponied up?” “None of the above!” replied Pinkie with a smile and a shrug. “That’s strange,” muttered Sunset to herself. “Why would your Equestrian magic suddenly show up like that?” “You think that’s weird, get this!” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. “I was at the stadium last week watching the Wondercolts play against the Bricksburg Sports Team. The home team wasn’t doing so hot early on, so at halftime, I decided to go down to the Wondercolts’ locker room and gave them a little motivational speech. As soon as I finished the speech and everyone was ready to bring their A-game, I suddenly ponied up.” Rainbow shrugged as she added, “I guess that gave them even more motivation, because they went on to win by a landslide.” “And that’s it?” asked Sunset in confusion. “You just talked to them, their morale improved, and then you suddenly just ponied up like that?” “Yup, that’s it,” replied Rainbow. “No building. No guitar playing. Just a motivation speech.” She couldn’t help but flash a cocky grin and add, “Must be because I’m so awesome.” Sunset just stared blankly at her athletic friend for a moment, then turned to the others and slowly asked, “Did anyone else experience a random pony up for no obvious reason?” The other girls silently glanced at one another. Eventually, Fluttershy stepped forward and quietly answered, “Well, just a few days ago, I was bringing a stray cat I had just found back to my place when I saw a poor little girl crying on the side of the road. She wouldn’t tell me what was wrong, but I knew she needed something to make her feel better, so I offered to let her have the kitty I was carrying. Once she was holding that cute little feline, she smiled, thanked me, and promised to take good care of that kitty. And that was when I ponied up.” Sunset asked, “So all you did to pony up was simply give that girl a pet cat?” With a shy smile, Fluttershy silently nodded. Sunset sighed and rubbed her eyes. “Just when I thought Equestrian magic in this world couldn’t get any more confusing,” she mumbled. “Then perhaps it would be wise to start investigating this strange phenomenon,” suggested Kjeld. Sunset lightly flinched as she and her friends turned around to the three special guests they had briefly forgotten about. “An unknown variable is a dangerous variable,” continued Kjeld. “If we don’t know what the advantages or the disadvantages are, then the high level of uncertainty means that there should be cause for concern. Whether by accident on our part or by deliberate actions by a villain, the consequences could be catastrophic if we cannot assess the true risk of what we are dealing with.” “Believe me, Kjeld,” said Sunset, “I’ve already tried what I could to understand how Equestrian magic works in this world, and it all blew up in my face. Literally.” “But clearly, this was before you found out about this new information your friends have just shared with you,” Luna pointed out. “Perhaps this means there are other factors you had not yet considered that would be worth looking into.” “You girls are such wonderfully talented Master Builders,” Celestia calmly stated. “With this Equestrian magic you all possess, you are special in ways unlike anyone else in the Lego World. I do not wish to see anything unfortunate happen to any of you, especially if such an incident could’ve been easily avoided or prevented.” “Sunset Shimmer,” began Kjeld as he stepped forward. “As the only resident of this world to have originally lived in Equestria, I cannot think of anyone else who would be better qualified for solving this magical mystery. Can I count on you to make your best efforts to help us understand the true nature of Equestrian magic here in the Lego World?” Sunset thought about it for a moment. Despite her earlier failure, she wasn’t the type of person to give up so easily. Plus, there was the fact that some of her friends had ponied up for reasons that had previously not been seen before, which only added more to the unsolved mystery. Perhaps Luna was right in that she should try some other methods. But what really helped her make up her mind was the realization that there was one valuable resource she had not yet tried. Sunset smiled and replied, “Of course, Kjeld. I think I’ll start by sending a message to Princess Twilight and see if she could provide any useful insight.” Kjeld smiled and nodded once as he said, “That sounds like an excellent place to start. And for a girl as brilliant and ambitious as you, I am confident that you will get to the bottom of this in no time.” He glanced down at the watch on his wrist and added, “Speaking of time, I’d better get going. My plane ride back to Lego City leaves in a few minutes.” He glanced around at everyone in the room and spoke up, “This has most certainly been a rather pleasant day, and I’ll be looking forward to any opportunity to have another one like it. Farewell, everyone.” He waved goodbye as he headed for the door and left the building. Once everyone had finished waving goodbye to Kjeld, Celestia turned to Luna and said, “Seeing as I shall now be resuming my duties here in Canterlot City, I suppose this means you will also be soon departing.” “Indeed,” responded Luna with a hint of sadness. Her smile widened as she added, “But that won’t be until tomorrow. My presence at the Lunar Headquarters is not immediately requested, so I’ve decided to let us enjoy some extra time together.” “That sounds wonderful,” said Celestia with a smile of her own. She turned to the six Master Builders and said, “My sister and I shall now return to this city’s LEGO Headquarters, so thank you for letting us have this opportunity to chat and get to know each other a little more. Have a nice day, girls.” After Celestia and Luna had departed, Sunset Shimmer turned to her friends and said, “You girls go ahead and enjoy the rest of the day. I need to get back to my apartment so I can send that message to Princess Twilight. See ya later!” She then headed for the door and also left the building. “Seems like she’s got everything under control,” Pinkie Pie pleasantly remarked. “Nothing to worry about.” Meanwhile, in a small facility with no doors or windows to the outside, a young boy was asleep on a small bed. This boy had purple skin, blue short legs, a green torso and arms, and had a red baseball cap that was currently covering his face. For a while, all he did was snore quietly as he napped, but then at one point he rolled over and ended up tumbling out of his bed. The boy grunted and was jolted awake as he hit the floor. “Why does this keep happening to me?” he faintly grumbled as he slowly got up to his feet. The boy rubbed his eyes and as soon as he could see clearly again, he saw an image suddenly appear on a small display screen on the other side of the tiny room. He walked up to it and saw that it showed the message “Incoming Call” under a portrait. The minifig in this portrait was a woman of relatively advanced age with cyan skin, light violet eyes, a mole on her cheek, red lips, wore a pair of small red-rimmed glasses, and had a fuchsia hair piece that that was tied back in a bun with the exception of a large curl on the front. The boy sighed and muttered, “I’d better let Twilight know about this.” He picked up his red cap and placed it back on his head before exiting the room. The short hallway, like every other room in this base, was dimly lit with only a few lights along the ceiling, just bright enough to make it easy to see where he was going. When he reached the door at the end of the hallway, he carefully opened it and quietly entered the room. Sure enough, he found a certain lavender girl in a white lab coat tinkering with one of the many pieces of machinery stored inside this room. The boy wasted no time as he spoke up, “Hey, Twilight?” “Just a second, Spike,” Twilight quickly responded. “I just need to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow right here, and…” Once she made that final adjustment, the machine in front of her suddenly hummed to life and lit up like a holiday display. “Perfect!” she stated with satisfaction as she shut the cover panel on the machine she had been working on. “Now that all of my equipment has been properly calibrated, I can finally start focusing all of my attention on gathering the data.” Twilight walked over to a large desk, opened up a drawer, and pulled out a small round object — the new device that she had spent much of the previous night assembling. As she pressed the central button to activate it, she explained, “With this device, I can track and contain the bizarre forms of energy that I’ve been detecting across the Lego World over the last few months, with especially high concentrations in Canterlot City.” “You’re still obsessed with that stuff?” asked Spike in confusion. “And for very good reason, Spike,” answered Twilight as she readjusted the glasses printed on her head piece. She eyed many of the photographs she had posted on the board on the wall as she excitedly explained, “If I can collect enough data on all these forms of mysterious energies, I should be able to reverse engineer their signatures to determine their fundamental building blocks. From there, I can then be able to synthetically replicate this energy so that it can be utilized to serve all kinds of useful purposes throughout the universe. That would make this the biggest scientific breakthrough of my entire life!” She then took a slow, calming breath before she stated, “Of course, in order to actually collect this data, I’ll need to suit up and head out again.” Twilight made her way over to the door, but Spike quickly blocked her and said, “Whoa there, Twilight. I just came here to tell you that you’ve got a call coming in.” “Can’t it wait?” asked Twilight impatiently. Spike folded his arms and gave Twilight a serious look as he stated, “It’s from Miss Cinch. Need I say any more?” Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes before she grumbled, “Fine, let’s just get this over with.” Spike stepped aside to allow Twilight to leave the room. Twilight headed halfway down the hall, entered the small central room to her left, and sat down in a chair in front of a computer monitor — which was already displaying the same message Spike had seen in his room. Twilight hit the green “Accept” button, and the monitor immediately switched to a live video feed of Abacus Cinch herself seated at her desk. “Greetings, Twilight Sparkle,” greeted Cinch in a formal tone. “I take it your late response is due to you being preoccupied with yet another one of your personal projects?” “Yes, Miss Chinch,” acknowledged Twilight with a nod. “I am completely convinced that I am now on the threshold of making a truly significant breakthrough, and I’ll need all the available time I can get to achieve it.” Cinch removed her glasses and wiped them clean as she responded, “I figured you might be up to something once again that would drive you to request as much free time as possible, up to the point where you would even ask to not be sent on any missions for the foreseeable future.” Cinch placed her glasses back on her face. “Before you ask, I shall inform you that I must decline any such request.” “But Miss Cinch,” argued Twilight, “this is very important research I’m working on.” “Need I remind you of your priorities as a Shadowbolt agent?” asked Cinch. Without waiting for a reply, she leaned back in her seat and tapped her hands together as she continued, “I’ll be honest with you, Twilight. You have proven yourself without a doubt that you are by far the most brilliant agent I have ever recruited. But one thing I simply can’t understand is why you consistently refuse to work with other agents whenever I send you out on any missions.” Twilight furrowed her brow and simply stated, “I’ve been saying this since the day we met, and I’m going to keep saying it: I work alone.” “Clutch Powers used to say that all the time,” Cinch pointed out. “Well I’m not Clutch Powers, now am I?” Twilight shot back. Cinch remained unfazed by Twilight’s tone and stated, “Listen, Twilight. The reason I usually assign missions to teams is because every individual has a unique set of strengths and weaknesses. The weakness of one individual can be offset by the strength of another, and if I choose the right individuals for specific missions — which I always do — then these teams should theoretically have no weaknesses at all.” “I guess that would make sense,” said Twilight with uncertainty. “Now don’t assume I’m trying to criticize your talents,” continued Cinch. “If anything, I should be praising your best strengths. Our organization today would be nowhere nearly as prepared had it not been for many of the magnificent inventions you’ve created over the years. The last time we had a major opportunity to make our move was when the planet Chima was established a few years ago. Back then, our advantages and disadvantages were at the same level as those of the opposing forces, so I knew the risk was too great to make our move. When I had made a request to every agent, you were the one who stepped forward to not only identify what our problems were, but also put in the hard work and effort to ensure that all Shadowbolts would always have the upper hand against our foes. Admittedly, it has taken quite some time to implement all of these improvements, but now, with the world’s attention mostly occupied by the introduction of the Nexo Knights, out best opportunity ever shall soon be upon us.” “To tell you the truth,” admitted Twilight hesitantly, “I’m not so sure if all of this is really for the greater good.” Cinch raised an eyebrow quietly said, “Perhaps you do need a reminder.” She then spoke up as she explained, “The ultimate goal of this organization is to replace the LEGO Team as overseers of all aspects of the Lego World. And our philosophy is simple: only the professionals can earn the right to make all the important decisions.” Cinch leaned forward and gave Twilight a hard stare. “All Shadowbolt agents are expected to follow this philosophy of ours by any means necessary, and those who decide to turn their backs on it end up facing very severe consequences. It would be quite a shame if I had to deliver such consequences to someone as highly intelligent as you.” “I can assure you, Miss Cinch, I have no intentions of standing in your way,” said Twilight as she readjusted her glasses. “I’m just not sure if your hopes for the Shadowbolts can realistically be feasible.” “Don’t be ridiculous, Twilight,” rebuked Cinch as she leaned back in her seat. “Our agents are among the best of the best. I did not select people like you at random. I recruited you because I saw a lot of great potential in you, and I wanted to help you become the best you could be.” “And I highly appreciate that,” acknowledged Twilight with a nod. “And as long as you continue to provide all the time and resources I need to pursue my projects, I see no reason to have any complaints.” “I am sorry, Twilight, but you must realize that such demands are increasingly becoming a luxury that I can rarely afford to offer,” stated Cinch. “I must prepare to mobilize all of our agents before we lose this rare opportunity to overthrow the LEGO Team at a time when their security is relatively weak.” Twilight frowned and folded her arms as she simply said, “Then it seems we have nothing more to discuss.” Cinch nodded and responded, “So be it, then. Just remember, you are still a Shadowbolt agent, and therefore I shall expect you to continue following our philosophy. Farewell and have a nice day, Twilight Sparkle.” And with that, Cinch switched off the video link, leaving Twilight looking at a blank screen. Twilight let out a frustrated sigh as she shut off the monitor and got up out of the chair. “‘Follow the philosophy’,” she said mockingly as left the room. “‘You must always follow our philosophy because you’re a Shadobolt’.” She then abruptly scoffed and grumbled, “I don’t give two bricks about that silly Shadowbolt philosophy.” Spike, who had been waiting out in the hallway, followed after Twilight and nervously asked, “Uh, you didn’t say anything like that to Miss Cinch, right?” “Of course not, Spike,” replied Twilight as they entered the relatively large room at the other end of the hallway from the lab. “Cinch may be really trying my patience lately, but I’m still well aware that I can never confess my true feelings to anyone.” She glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Spike as she added, “Besides you, of course.” Twilight entered one of the changing rooms at the opposite side of the room and shut the door. As Spike waited outside in the main room, Twilight continued, “I’ve never really cared about the so-called ‘philosophy’ at all. The only reason I even joined the Shadowbolts was because they were the first ones who were willing and able to get me out of the Castle Region so I could expand my horizons and improve my talents.” Twilight paused for a moment. “You know what, Spike? Seeing as Cinch doesn’t yet know any details of my latest project, I think it might be better if I keep it that way and not share my results with anyone.” “Why not?” asked Spike. “You’ve always enjoyed sharing your research results with everyone. Why do you wanna make such a big exception this time?” “Like I said, earlier,” explained Twilight, “the results of this particular project could be the biggest breakthrough of my life, and if I choose not to share it with the Shadowbolts, then I might finally have the opportunity I’ve been so desperately waiting for. A chance to leave the Shadowbolts and strike out on my own.” Spike immediately gasped in shock and fearfully exclaimed, “Leave the Shadowbolts?! But Twilight, don’t you know that’s impossible? This is one of those things where you’re in it for life! Cinch is not kidding when she says there are consequences for anyone who tries to leave.” “Lucy was able to leave the Shadowbolts without suffering any retaliation,” Twilight pointed out. “Only because she quickly found refuge as the personal student of the late great wizard Vitruvius,” reminded Spike. “Plus, she kept changing her name a whole bunch of times. I think the one she’s got right now is Wild Style or some other DJ-sounding name like that.” Twilight stepped out of the changing room, now wearing her trusty astronaut suit. Tucked under her right arm was the suit’s helmet with its golden visor to fully protect her identity, and clasped in her left hand was her data-gathering device. As she carefully fitted the device onto the chest part of her suit, she confidently stated, “Relax, Spike. I’ve been seriously considering this for quite a while, and I’ve spent a lot of time and effort to ensure that nothing goes horribly wrong.” She jokingly added, “I mean, it’s not like I’m going to unleash the complete destruction of the entire Lego World as we know it.” “I don’t know, Twilight,” said Spike uneasily. “It sounds to me like you’re taking a really big risk.” “Trust me, I’ve got everything on my part under control,” assured Twilight with a confident smile. “As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to worry about.” Finally, she fitted the helmet over her head. With a faint hiss, the helmet was securely attached to the rest of the suit. Twilight Sparkle was now ready to go out and start collecting valuable data. As evening fell on Canterlot City, Sunset Shimmer drove her new car along the streets surrounding City Park. As she arrived at the main gate into the park, she carefully pulled into one of the empty parallel parking spots and shut off the car. She reached under the passenger seat and pulled out a book — her magic journal that she used to communicate with Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria. Under the light of a nearby streetlight, she read through the message she had just recently written to Princess Twilight. Dear Princess Twilight, Haven’t heard back from you yet. I guess you must be pretty busy with your role as a princess. But I could really use your advice right now. You see, I’ve been given the job of determining all of the effects and advantages (and possibly even disadvantages) of Equestrian magic here in the Lego World, even though I still haven’t quite wrapped my head around it. And now after hearing some peculiar stories from some of my friends about how they’ve been able to pony up in new ways, it makes me think our magic might be… changing. Everyone is looking to me to figure things out and I really don’t want to let them down. But I’m not sure I have enough experience with friendship magic to solve this. Hope to hear from you really soon. Your friend, Sunset Shimmer. Sunset flipped though the next few pages and saw to her disappointment that they were all completely blank. She sighed and muttered, “Still no reply.” She then glanced over at the park, reminding herself why she had come here. She was well aware that Twilight had promised that she would always be more than welcome to return to Equestria whenever she wanted to. Sunset had chosen to stay in the Lego World because it had now become more of a home to her than Equestria had ever been, though she secretly hadn’t completely ruled out the idea of making a quick visit to her former home world for certain occasions. With Princess Twilight still not responding to any of her messages, she was now considering possibly returning to Equestria so she could personally ask the Princess of Friendship for help. Sunset glanced back and forth between the park entrance to her left and the blank pages of the magic journal down in her lap, uncertain if she should really go through with such a radical idea. Eventually, she made up her mind. Well, I’m already out here, she thought as she closed the book and placed it back underneath the passenger seat. Might as well give it a shot. She got out of the car, locked the doors — making the car chirp twice and the headlights flash once — and made her way into City Park. Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle of the Lego World — fully disguised by her astronaut suit — had just arrived at a certain statue of a horse rearing on its hind legs. Thanks to all of her research, she knew that a few individuals from an alternate universe had been visiting this world by passing through some sort of interdimensional portal, and thanks to yesterday’s observations, she now had a hunch that she might have finally found out where that portal was located. However, that was still only a hypothesis, and she needed to gather some hard data before she could commit to any further research. So she walked up to the front side of the pedestal and reached her hand up. Clack, clack, clack, clack, clack, clack… Before she could touch the surface, the highly sensitive audio sensors on her suit detected the noise of someone’s footsteps coming down the nearby paved pathway. Despite her desire to learn more as soon as possible, Twilight knew very well that whenever she was anywhere outside of her secret hideout, her first priority was always to not be seen by anyone at all. Running for the bushes would make too much noise, so her only hope was to simply run around to the other side of the statue and wait for that person to pass by. However, that person did not simply pass right by along the path. Instead, as soon as that person reached the part of the pathway that was closest to the statue, those footsteps suddenly became much softer. Twilight didn’t dare to peer around the side to see where exactly that person was going, for that would put her at risk of being seen herself. She had no choice but to rely only on the noise of those footsteps. Despite the fact the grass made those footsteps much quieter, she could still barely hear them and, to her horror, realized they were coming directly towards the statue. Twilight quickly started thinking up some potential escape routes, but her thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a faint humming noise coming from the special device she had placed on the chest of her astronaut suit. That’s strange, she though curiously. I’m pretty sure I switched that thing off before I headed out. She noticed that a few lights on the device were glowing on and off at a steady rate, indicating that there was some energy anomaly straight ahead of her. Before she could even wonder what her device was detecting, she was in for one more surprise as the device suddenly opened up on its own. On the other side of the statue, Sunset Shimmer slowly walked up to the interdimensional portal to Equestria, then stopped only one step away from it. “I’m sure she wouldn’t mind if I came to visit for a little while,” she said quietly with a small smile as she reached her hand up. But as soon as her hand contacted the surface, a bright red and yellow glow suddenly surrounded the contact area. Startled, she immediately tried to pull her hand off, but was shocked to discover that it was stuck to the surface as if it was glued on there. She reflexively pressed her other hand against the surface to try pulling her first hand off, only to end up with both hands stuck in a similar way. As she then tried to use her foot in a vain attempt to pry herself off the portal’s surface, Sunset couldn’t help but feel a sense like some sort of energy was draining right out of her. On the other side of the statue, Twilight was stunned to see some kind of glowing red and yellow energy flow right out of the statue in front of her and collect inside her opened device. On one hand, she was pleased to see that she was already gathering a potentially valuable sample that she could extensively study back at her lab. On the other hand, she could tell from the other person’s straining noises that whatever was going on was likely harming this person in some way. Twilight struggled for a moment to figure out what she should do. Finally, she made up her mind and forcefully closed her device. As soon as the flow of magical energy was suddenly cut off, both girls on either side of the statue fell backwards. While Twilight looked curiously down at her device as strange sparks of energy danced across its surface, Sunset glanced up at the site of the portal and muttered, “What was that all about?” Sunset stood back up and carefully placed her hand against the statue’s pedestal again. She quickly paled as she noticed that she was feeing nothing more than a regular solid surface. “Where’s the portal?” she cried out in panic as she ran both hands all across the surface of where the interdimensional portal should be, but kept finding absolutely nothing. “Where’s the portal?!” Twilight perked up when she heard those words. Not only could she now confirm that she really had found the site of the interdimensional portal, but also realized that whoever was standing on the other side of the statue was among the few people in the Lego World who knew all about it. But those words also confirmed that, somehow — possibly due to her device — the portal was now completely shut. In the heat of the moment, both girls soon found themselves peering around the side of the statue, Twilight to the right in curiosity, and Sunset to the left in desperation, and both girls instantly froze as they suddenly found themselves staring at each other face to face. Twilight Sparkle was stunned that, of all the people she could have foolishly alerted her presence towards, it was none other than Sunset Shimmer, one of the most talented Master Builders on the LEGO Team. And Sunset Shimmer was shocked to see that mysterious person in an astronaut suit she had seen yesterday was now back, and very likely had just done something to completely remove the portal to Equestria. “YOU!” shouted Sunset, seething with rage as she immediately rushed for the astronaut. Twilight knew right away that it was time to flee, so she ran back around the statue. In a desperate effort to buy enough time to come up with a good escape plan, Twilight decided to keep running around the statue, hoping to keep it between herself and the enraged girl pursuing her. Sunset chased the astronaut clockwise around the statue three times before she realized what was going on, so in an attempt to outsmart this stranger, she quickly reversed direction and ran the other way around the statue. Twilight briefly panicked when she suddenly saw Sunset running towards her from the opposite direction, but since it happened just as they had both rounded different corners, Twilight barely had enough time to reverse direction and continue fleeing around the statue. Sunset chased the astronaut counterclockwise around the statue three times before she grumbled, “Okay, this is just getting silly.” Rather than reverse direction again, she instead decided to simply stop and wait for the stranger to come to her. The instant the mysterious astronaut rounded the corner, Sunset pounced. Twilight barely managed to stay on her feet as Sunset suddenly ambushed her. Although Twilight’s typical response to a confrontation was to flee, she knew when she was in a situation where she had no choice but to fight back, and it was in these kinds of moments that her training as a Shadowbolt agent really payed off. The two girls pushed against each other for a few tense moments, then Twilight twisted her body around and used her opponent’s momentum to throw Sunset over her shoulder and hit the ground hard on her back. With the enraged Sunset Shimmer now briefly subdued, Twilight quickly turned away and began to flee once more. Sunset wasn’t bothered much by that hard take-down, so she quickly got back to her feet and then jumped right onto the astronaut’s back. The stranger tried to shake her off, but she held on tight and eventually managed to pull her opponent back just far enough to get her feet back on the ground. With that additional leverage, Sunset was then able to swing the astronaut around and slam her opponent face-first against the side of the pedestal, right in the center of where the portal to Equestria had once been. The mysterious astronaut fell to their rear and slightly wobbled. The helmet’s golden visor was now covered in a spider web of cracks, but still kept the identity of this astronaut hidden. Sunset smirked in satisfaction and smugly declared, “Now let’s see who’s hiding under that helmet.” She gripped the helmet, detached it with a faint hiss, and quickly tossed it away. Once her eyes fell upon the face of the mysterious person in an astronaut suit, Sunset suddenly gasped as her smug and confident expression was instantly replaced by one of absolute shock and disbelief. Despite the glasses on her face and the different shape of her hair piece, there was no mistaking that lavender skin tone, those violet eyes, and that dark blue hair with a violet and magenta streak down the middle. At this very shocking discovery, Sunset could only manage to say just one word. “Twilight?!” Twilight slowly came out of her dazed state and glanced up at Sunset. She immediately noticed that she was no longer viewing the world through the golden tint of her visor, so she knew right away that her helmet was now gone. Even worse, Sunset Shimmer was staring right at her, completely still and silent with her mouth gaping wide open. It took Twilight a moment to realize that her worst nightmare had just come true: her identity had just been exposed! Once that terrible realization finally hit Twilight, she bolted up to her feet and ran away as fast as she could. She didn’t care where she went or who else might see her now exposed head. All that mattered to her was that she had to get out of there now! As Twilight started to flee the scene, Sunset shook her head. Despite such a shocking revelation, she quickly reminded herself that this Twilight had just done something terrible to the interdimensional portal to Equestria, and she had to find out what it was. “Hey! Wait! Stop!” she shouted as she immediately chased after Twilight. “Get back here!” Twilight never once glanced back as Sunset pursued her out of the park and onto the city streets. As soon as they passed through the main gateway into the park, Sunset smirked and smugly muttered, “You won’t get away from me, because now I can use this.” She ran across the street and quickly hopped right into her convertible car. Without any hesitation, she started up the car and zoomed out of the parking spot. Sunset may have lost some ground in the time it took to get into her car, but the vehicle’s high speed was able to more than make up for it in no time. She spotted Twilight running along a sidewalk next to the street she was currently driving down, then glanced ahead at the approaching intersection, where she saw a perfect opportunity to cut off her fleeing opponent. She easily zoomed ahead of Twilight and as she arrived at the intersection, she quickly prepared to turn left to block the sidewalk. SMASH! Without any warning, a grey armored van suddenly slammed right into Sunset’s convertible from the right, smashing both vehicles completely to pieces. Despite that completely unexpected crash, Sunset remained relatively unscathed and quickly managed to stand up amidst the wreckage of both vehicles. “Darn it, Mugsy! This is why I never let ya drive!” “Hey! Not my fault, Rocky! She cut me off!” Sunset glanced over at the source of those two voices and, sure enough, saw the all too familiar pair of incompetent crooks named Rocky and Mugsy. They both glanced at her, then quickly yelped and ran away without another word. Sunset simply shook her head. She would deal with those two brick-heads later, because right now, she had a much more valuable target to pursue. As Sunset glanced around at all the surrounding Lego pieces that used to be two different vehicles, she smirked and confidently remarked, “Just a minor setback.” She immediately picked up two random parts. “All I have to do is… is… uh…” Her confidence quickly faltered. As a Master Builder, she should be able to quickly come up with any creative ideas right on the spot. But for some reason, her mind was now drawing a complete blank. She knew she needed to quickly build something she could use to chase and probably even capture the fleeing Twilight Sparkle, but she just couldn’t seem to come up with any ideas. Sunset soon began to panic. “No! No! No!” she exclaimed as she scrambled around, desperately grabbing parts and struggling to figure out how to put them together. “This can’t be happening! This can not be happening!” She tried to fit two random pieces together, but they wouldn’t even connect. Her eyes shifted rapidly from one piece to another as she grew more and more horrified of what was happening to her. She hadn’t felt this helpless since before she had first unlocked her full potential as a Master Builder. What had happened to all of her creative talents? Crash! Sunset’s attention was immediately drawn toward a nearby sidewalk and saw that, in her attempt to continue escaping, Twilight had just crashed into none other than police officer Flash Sentry. Twilight had lost her left arm and right leg, while Flash had lost his right arm, both legs, and his hat. As soon as Flash realized who had just bumped into him, his eyes widened and he asked, “Twilight?” Realizing that she had just been seen by someone else — and a police officer at that — Twilight immediately panicked. She quickly reattached her arm and her leg, then resumed running for her life without even acknowledging the officer in pieces on the ground. Sunset glanced back down at the two Lego parts in her hands and quickly remembered what her true priority was at the moment. “Forget it,” she grumbled as she threw those pieces to the ground and resumed chasing after Twilight. As he noticed Sunset rush by, Flash asked, “Sunset, what’s going on?” “Not now!” snapped Sunset, refusing to slow down or take her eyes off her target. Twilight eventually came to a stop in front of a small alleyway between two buildings. With quick and fluid motion, she tapped a few buttons on her right forearm, then stuck that arm straight ahead towards the alleyway and tapped one final button. A large doorway suddenly materialized right in the middle of the alleyway, and its pair of doors soon parted to the left and right. On the other side of this doorway was the main room of Twilight’s hidden base. After a quick glance to see how close Sunset was — and she was getting dangerously close — Twilight rushed through the doorway. Once she was inside the room on the other side, she skidded to a stop and turned around. Although she lost her footing and slammed facedown against the floor, she quickly got back up and smacked a large red button on the control panel next to the doorway on her side. The doors quickly slammed shut, and the entire doorway completely vanished from the alleyway. Sunset was already running into the alleyway by the time Twilight had rushed through the strange doorway and fully intended to go in after her, but then the door suddenly slammed shut and somehow phased completely out of existence only an instant before she could reach it. With that mysterious doorway now gone, Sunset’s momentum carried her past the site of the doorway and into a large pile of empty cardboard boxes, startling a stray cat that screeched and quickly scurried away from the scene. Sunset quickly threw off all the surrounding boxes and turned back to the site of where Twilight Sparkle had somehow managed to escape. She just stood there, gawking for a few moments before she finally managed to say the only thought that was now going through her mind. “What the brick is going on around here?”