//------------------------------// // Escape to the Next Destination // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 3 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 8 Escape to the Next Destination It was midday in the Arctic Region, and the harsh blizzard that had been blowing through the area remained as fierce as ever. With such heavy whiteout conditions, it was almost impossible to search for any signs of life in this desolate wasteland. Not far from the abandoned outpost, a makeshift snow crawler slowly made its way across the frozen land, following a rapidly vanishing trail in the snow. Even though the trail quickly disappeared under a fresh blanket of snow, the occupants had been fortunate enough to start following it before that happened. All they had to do now was keep going in a straight line — easier said than done, not only due to the weather, but also the assumption that the trail had even continued in a straight line. Eventually, the snow crawler began to approach a large hole in the icy ground. The slow-moving vehicle came to a stop just a short distance from the edge of the hole and all four occupants climbed out and walked the rest of the way to the edge. Applejack was the first one to peer into the abyss. After a few seconds, she turned back to the rest of her friends and hollered over the roaring winds, “Ah can’t see a thing! Anybody got a light?!” While Fluttershy and Rarity remained huddled together to protect against the cold, Pinkie Pie quickly dug through the pockets of her parka until she managed to pull out a flashlight. She then simply tossed it over to Applejack. Applejack reached over to grab the flashlight, but it slipped out of her hand and fell into the abyss. She glared at Pinkie for a moment, then asked, “Anybody else got a light?” Rarity and Fluttershy glanced at each other, then turned back to Applejack and shook their heads. “I’ll check the snow crawler,” replied Rarity before she began to walk back to their vehicle. “Do you guys hear something?” Pinkie Pie suddenly asked. Everyone paused and listened closely, though it was next to impossible to hear something over the roaring blizzard winds. But soon, they began to faintly notice a low buzzing noise. More surprisingly, it seemed to be coming from inside the hole in the ice. Applejack peered into the abyss again, only to suddenly get a blast of cold air to the face as some kind of hovering vehicle rose up out of the hole. The strange object wobbled a bit in the strong winds, but managed to stay upright and made a careful landing not far from the edge of the abyss. And riding atop that hovering vehicle were two familiar minifigs. After shutting off the odd vehicle — rebuilt from the pieces of that snowmobile she had used earlier— Rainbow Dash held up an object and asked, “Did somebody drop a flashlight?” Applejack smiled as she quickly walked over to Rainbow and gave her a big hug. “We thought we’d lost the two of ya!” she exclaimed in relief. “It’s like I always say — it takes a lot more than a crash to hurt this minifig!” boasted Rainbow Dash excitedly as she broke the hug. “And we all know how tough Sunset Shimmer can be, so never think that either of us would fall that easily!” “But you did fall!” Pinkie Pie pointed out. “Down a ginormous hole in the ice!” “And what about Twilight?” asked Rarity. “Do either of you know what happened to her?” Sunset sighed and replied, “She got away through that vanishing door again. I’d certainly like to know how she does that.” “What about you guys?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Did you really come all this way just to make sure we were okay?” “Sure did!” Applejack proudly replied. “We’re all in this together, so we always gotta look out for each other.” “Though I’m afraid we have some bad news to share with you,” added Rarity with concern. “Just prior to our departure, I contacted the nearest LEGO Team with that radio and they’ve reported that the weather has taken a turn for the worst. This storm will not be letting up any time soon, and rescue may not arrive until tomorrow at the very earliest.” “We can’t afford to wait that long!” exclaimed Sunset. “There’s no telling what kind of trouble Twilight and those other Shadowbolt agents could cause while we’re just sitting around waiting to be rescued!” She sighed in defeat. “I guess our only choice now is to find our own way back home.” “Good thing we found something awesome under that ice!” remarked Rainbow Dash. “What did you find?” asked Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash sat back down in the pilot’s seat of the hovering vehicle and simply answered, “You gotta see it for yourselves! Hop in, everyone!” The others were curious about what Rainbow and Sunset had found, so they all climbed onto the hovering vehicle and held on tight as Rainbow started it up. Once again, it wobbled a bit in the high winds, but once they began to descend down into the giant hole in the ice, the lack of blistering winds made the ride a lot smoother. It didn’t take long for them to reach to bottom of what turned out to be a massive ice cavern. Rainbow landed the vehicle and shut it off. Once everyone was ready, she and Sunset led their friends up a nearby small ridge. At the top, they were able to gaze down at a large Lego structure partially trapped within the ice. “It’s an old Viking ship,” noted Rarity in astonishment. “I wonder how it ended up in here,” Fluttershy quietly said. Applejack let out a long whistle and remarked, “That sure is a mighty fine discovery y’all made right there. Just one question, though. How exactly is this thing gonna help us?” “Simple,” answered Sunset. “You and Rainbow Dash just have to rebuild it into something that can get us across the ice as quickly as possible.” Applejack did a double-take and suddenly asked, “Whoa, whoa, wait… Did you say just me an’ Rainbow Dash? Why us in particular?” Sunset rolled her eyes and replied, “Because, in case if you haven’t noticed, Twilight has taken away the Equestrian magic of me, Fluttershy, Rarity, and now Pinkie Pie, so that leaves just you and Rainbow as the only ones who can get creative. We’re all counting on the two of you to make this work.” “I can totally handle this,” Rainbow responded smugly. “What about you, AJ?” Applejack looked over the wrecked Viking ship for a moment, then glanced back at the giant hole in the ice they had entered through. She considered all the options and eventually replied, “It sounds plum crazy to me, but if there were a way to get that darn thing outta this here cave… then Ah reckon we just might have a chance.” “We’ll carry it out brick by brick if we have to,” remarked Rainbow Dash. “Not like it’ll matter, since we’ll probably have to completely rebuild the whole thing anyway.” Applejack raised an eyebrow and asked, “An’ just what kind of crazy idea have ya got in mind?” Rainbow Dash smirked and replied, “I think you girls are gonna love this one.” On most days, much of the Arctic Region was a rather lifeless place. Aside from the wind and snow of fearsome blizzards, not much ever really happened out in such a wasteland. But today, there was something big that really stood out, and it was moving very rapidly across the empty landscape. That old Viking ship had been successfully brought up out of that ice cave. Not only was it completely rebuilt, but it also had a special addition to its structure in the form of two parallel giant ice skates attached to the bottom of its hull. With the ship’s sail fully opened, the howling blizzard winds were pushing the repurposed ship across the icy terrain at an incredibly high speed. And riding aboard this ice-skating Viking ship were the six members of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team. “Hoo-wee! Look at us go!” hollered Applejack with enthusiasm. “It’s the world’s biggest ice skate!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly. “Wheeeeee!” Rainbow Dash laughed and excitedly remarked, “I think we just invented a new kind of sport! Wind-skating!” Needless to say, the team’s morale was at a new high thanks to such a remarkable success of creativity. The ice-skating ship shook lightly with every minor bump on the ground, forcing each of the six girls to keep at least one hand firmly onto the structure, but it never stopped any of them from smiling. Sunset Shimmer held onto the ship’s rudder and made sure they sailed in an ideal direction with the winds as they zoomed across the frozen wasteland. Within a few moments, Rarity checked the GPS on her phone and soon spoke up, “Brace yourselves, everyone! We’re about to reach the ocean!” Just seconds later, the whiteout conditions began to clear away. Everyone on the ship held on tight as they saw the edge of the ice shelf rapidly approaching. At the speed they were going, it wasn’t long until the ship flew off the ice shelf and dropped a short distance to the surface of the ocean. The skates sliced through the water, then the hull bounced off the surface a few times like a skipping stone, shaking everyone aboard with each rough impact. Finally, the water slowed down the ship enough that it stopped skipping and began to sail across the surface like a real ship. “That worked out pretty nicely,” remarked Sunset Shimmer contently. “Now all we gotta do is sail this thing to the nearest port and we’re home free.” The other girls cheered with various words of agreement. It seemed that after so many setbacks, things were finally starting to look up for them. But then Fluttershy suddenly frowned and asked, “Does anyone else hear that?” Everyone quickly fell silent and listened closely. At first, all they could hear was the wind on their backs and the crashing of ocean waves around them. But then they also began to hear a trickling noise beneath their feet. Applejack removed one of the plate pieces that made up the deck and looked below. She was shocked to discover that the hull was quickly filling up with water, with much of it leaking in through the joints to the ice skates. “Dagnabbit, Rainbow!” she exclaimed. “Ya put too many holes in this thing! We’re sinkin’ like a stone!” “Hey, nobody told me to make it watertight!” Rainbow Dash shot back. “I just offered to slap on some giant ice skates and everyone was cool with it! No questions or concerns were ever brought up!” “Save your argument for later!” Sunset interjected as the Viking ship gradually began to sink lower into the water. “We gotta find a solution, and fast! At these temperatures, we won’t last more than a few minutes if we end up in the water!” “Don’t worry, girls! I got just the thing!” assured Pinkie Pie as she took off her hair piece and began to shake it. As she shook it, a red apple fell out, followed by a party horn and then a pink cupcake. She glanced at the underside of her hair piece, then shook it much more rapidly. “C’mon! Where is it?! Where is it?!” As she shook it, more odd items fell out, such as a party hat, a balloon animal, a roll of giftwrap, and even a rubber chicken. Finally, a large yellow block fell out of Pinkie’s hair and hit the deck with a dull thud. “Aha! Found it!” exclaimed Pinkie cheerfully as she put her hair back on her head. She then pulled a cord sticking out of one corner of the block, which then hissed with air as it rapidly unfurled into a large raft. Pinkie immediately hopped into the middle of the raft and called to her friends, “Hop in, everyone! There’s enough room for all of us!” Without any hesitation, all five of the other girls quickly hopped into the raft. It was only then, once they were all safe from falling into the freezing water, that they began to ask questions. “You packed an inflatable raft?” asked Sunset. “Of course I did!” replied Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “I always pack anything that’s inflatable!” She then pulled a deflated blue balloon from her hair, blew it up, and tied it to a string and held onto it. Just seconds later, the Viking ship had by that point sunken so low that the water began to wash over the top of the deck, lifting the inflatable raft off it and away from the doomed ship. All six girls in the raft looked back and watched helplessly as the old Viking ship slowly slipped beneath the waves. The team was now left all alone in the middle of the frigid ocean under a light snowfall. “Good thing we decided to leave the Atlantis treasure back at the outpost for that rescue team to collect,” noted Rarity. “I would hate to imagine having to retrieve it again, especially at these latitudes.” “So, um… What now?” asked Fluttershy. “What can we do?!” responded Rainbow Dash irritably. “We’re now stuck in the middle of the ocean with no way out, even worse than when we were in that sub yesterday! I mean it’s not like a big gigantic ship is just gonna come out of nowhere and save us.” Applejack turned around and saw something behind Rainbow that made her smile. “Actually,” she quipped with a chuckle, “that’s exactly what’s gonna happen!” Rainbow Dash glanced back and what she saw made her jaw drop faster than gravity. “MY GOSH!” she shouted in disbelief. Sailing right up to the inflatable raft was a large pirate ship, carefully weaving its way between the icebergs that dotted this frigid sea. “Avast, mateys!” hollered the captain of the ship. As the ship began to sail beside the raft, he called out to his crew, “Haul them aboard!” The crew quickly rushed over to the starboard side of the ship and tossed some ropes over to the raft. At each end of the raft, Sunset Shimmer and Rarity each caught a rope and tied them to their respective ends. Once the raft was secured, the crew then began to pull on those two ropes, hauling the raft out of the water and up onto the deck of the pirate ship. As soon as the inflatable raft was safely on the deck, the six girls climbed out and turned toward the stern of the ship, where the pirate captain was already making his way down the stairs towards them. When he reached the same deck they were on, they immediately recognized him for his light blue skin and short green beard. “Storm Wave!” they all exclaimed in pleasant surprise. “Aye, lassies!” greeted Storm Wave with a tip of his hat. “Tis been a long time since we stopped the sirens, has it not?” “It sure is good to see you again,” admitted Sunset with a smile. “What’re you guys doin’ this far north?” asked Applejack. “I be not bluffing when I say that me hearty crew and I can handle any of the roughest conditions the sea can deliver,” explained Storm Wave. “This voyage be a training session to see if me crew can handle the grinding icy seas and bone-chilling air of the Arctic Region.” The six girls glanced around at the crew members at various places all over the ship doing all kinds of tasks — or not so, in some cases. One crewmember was chipping away ice that had built up along the railing, another was sweeping snow off the deck, only to suddenly get a lot of it dumped on top of him by another crewmember carelessly shoveling away on an upper deck, another one up in the rigging didn’t move as he was apparently shivering, and there was even one laying down in a reclined chair on the deck while sipping a tropical drink. “Now what brings ye lassies to such a forsaken region as this?” asked Storm Wave. “It’s kind of a long story,” explained Sunset. “Basically, we’ve been out on a series of missions these last few days to stop a group of secret agents who call themselves the Shadowbolts. Have you heard of them?” “Can’t say that I have,” admitted Storm Wave. “Though they sound like the type who would cause nothing but trouble wherever they may be.” “Absolutely,” confirmed Sunset with a nod. “They oppose everything the LEGO Team stands for, so there’s no question that they need to be stopped.” “Well then shiver me timbers, lassies! It seems we shall be working together, once more!” declared Storm Wave with pride. “How may I be of assistance to ye, this time?” Rarity stepped forward and replied, “After being stranded at sea twice over the last two days, I think we can all agree that we wish to finally return home, or at least resume contact with the Playwell sisters to discuss our next course of action.” “We left our spaceship back in Baltimare,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “How fast do you think you can get us there?” Storm Wave laughed heartily and proudly replied, “Much faster than ye might expect! For ye see, upon me return to the Pirate Region after the defeat of the sirens — and me ship rendered a pile of wreckage — I was offered assistance from none other than MetalBeard himself! He offered to not only help me crew and I rebuild our ship, but also added in a few… upgrades.” His smile widened as he spoke that final word. He then turned away and hollered, “Full steam ahead!” The crew immediately scrambled into action. As they opened up secret compartments and flipped a few hidden levers, the entire ship began to undergo an incredible transformation. On both sides of the hull, a pair of structures shifted outwards and unfolded themselves into giant paddlewheels before being lowered down to have them only partially submerged in the water. At the stern, a large propeller shifted out the back, unfolded itself, and dipped completely under the surface. And in the middle of the main deck, a cargo hatch slid away to allow a large boiler to rise up, followed by a tall funnel that came up in four telescopic sections. The pirate ship — the Hurricane II — was no longer a standard sailing ship, but was now a steam-powered beast ready to conquer the seas faster than any old pirate ship. “Ye lassies wish to be in Baltimare?” boasted Storm Wave. “We shall arrive by the crack of dawn tomorrow!” The entire crew let out a loud cheer at that statement. The six Canterlot girls simply glanced around at the transformed pirate ship around them, staring at all the steampunk additions almost in disbelief. “This… is… awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly. “Well Ah’ll be! Now there’s somethin’ ya don’t see every day,” remarked a very impressed Applejack. “Yay! We finally got a ride home!” cheered Pinkie Pie. “Goodness! This is really… something special,” muttered Fluttershy. “It’s a little gaudy as far as pirate ships go, but I suppose if it works, it works,” commented Rarity. “Now that is impressive,” said Sunset in approval. She turned to Storm Wave and said, “Thanks for helping us out, Captain.” “It be no trouble,” assured Storm Wave. “After yer success against the sirens, me crew and I shall always be more than happy to lend a helping hand.” He then pointed ahead and shouted, “Now onwards! We make haste for Baltimare!” As Captain Storm Wave returned to his post at the ship’s wheel, the six girls of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team gathered together and headed below deck to finally get out of the cold weather. If all went as Storm Wave promised, then it wouldn’t be long before they could finally begin to plan their next move against the Shadowbolts. Back at her secret base later that night, Twilight was once again alone in her research lab trying to find out more about the strange energies she had been collecting from the Canterlot girls. She now had four samples in her device, and she was going to pull out all the stops to study it. This time, she had gone all the way to the absolute most robust scanner she could get her hands on. The manufacturer had claimed that it could be submerged into molten lava for over an hour and still remain perfectly functional. Even with that kind of claim, she was not taking any chances, so she attached it to the end of a long pole to keep a good distance between herself and her device. “This is it,” noted Twilight. “If I can’t get any data out of this attempt, then I honestly don’t know where to go from here.” She lowered the pole so that the scanner was now just inches over her device. “Well, here goes nothing…” She remotely activated the scanner. For the first few seconds, everything seemed to be working just as she was hoping. No smoke, no flames, no shorting out, the scanner just warbled lightly while emitting a soft blue light over the device. She smiled, hopeful that she would now finally get the answers she had been desperately seeking. BANG! Twilight jumped and shrieked loudly as the scanner suddenly exploded quite violently. Her gaze quickly shifted around the room, but found a surprising lack of debris. That scanner didn’t burn or even blast into tiny pieces, it had been vaporized! She was very thankful she had taken the precaution to keep a safe distance away, but that had done nothing to prevent the absolute shock she felt from such a sudden and very unexpected detonation. Despite all of that, her device still remained perfectly intact. It seemed the strange energies it contained would continue to remain a mystery, for now. Spike suddenly barged into the lab and fearfully exclaimed, “You okay, Twilight?! I heard something blow up!” Twilight keep her focus straight ahead towards her device on the desk as she weakly replied, “I’m fine, Spike… though I think I’m gonna need some fresh underwear.” It was right at that moment that the “Incoming Call” message from Cinch appeared on the display screen next to the door. Spike glanced over at that screen, then turned back to Twilight and awkwardly said, “Uh, in that case, you’d better change before you answer that.” Twilight slowly set down the pole and quietly said uneasily, “Yeah… that’s probably a good idea.” Twilight spent the next few minutes in her bedroom before she left and headed to the communications room. She shut the door, activated the noise-cancellation walls, then sat down in the chair and hit the green “Accept” button. “Greetings, Twilight Sparkle,” greeted Cinch on the live video feed of her seated at her desk. “I trust you understand why I am contacting you tonight.” Twilight tensed up as she realized what was going on. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she nervously replied. “Don’t play dumb with me, Miss Sparkle,” scolded Cinch. “All of your teammates informed me that you left on a so-called ‘scouting expedition’ without any of them because you had insisted on it.” “I can assure you, Miss Cinch, I had very good reasons for doing so,” said Twilight. “I do not wish to hear any excuses, Twilight,” Cinch said firmly. “My orders were for you to stay with the team under all circumstances, with no exceptions.” “But I had to go alone for this one!” insisted Twilight. “The Canterlot girls somehow ended up in my old Arctic base! I don’t know how they found it, but I had to make sure they didn’t uncover any Shadowbolt secrets!” “A self-imposed mission you could have just as easily done with the team by your side,” countered Cinch. “I will concede that the LEGO Team most likely found out from the traitor on your team. We keep records of all sites where each agent once resided, mostly for the sake of keeping track of where we’ve been, so it would only take a quick search through those archives for the traitor to know precisely which sites to point out.” “Miss Cinch, I had to make this a quick and simple operation,” argued Twilight. “It’s an isolated site, I’m the only one familiar with it, I wanted to avoid contact as much as possible—” “Did you not hear what I just said?” Cinch shot back. “I don’t want any excuses! I don’t care if by some miracle you managed to take down all six members of that LEGO Team single-handedly, the fact remains that you disobeyed my primary orders. And if you place any value on your own Creation Spark, then you would be wise to not let that happen again, understood?” Twilight lowered her head and sighed before she reluctantly responded, “Yes, Miss Cinch.” “Good,” acknowledged Cinch with a frown. “Now then, you should consider yourself fortunate that you had the foresight to plant a tracking device on the Canterlot LEGO Team’s spaceship, because your next mission will be to intercept them at whatever their next destination might be. Those six girls have proven themselves to be quite the nuisance, so for the sake of future successes, we must get rid of them once and for all. And from now on, I insist that you stay with all five of your teammates under all circumstances. If you disobey this order again, then there will be severe consequences. That is all.” Cinch then ended the call. Twilight stared at the blank screen for a moment. She then removed her glasses and rubbed her hands over her face as she growled in frustration. She lowered her hands and grumbled, “I hate you so much right now.” As Captain Storm Wave had promised, the six girls of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team finally returned to the city of Baltimare in the early morning the following day. They had already removed their parkas and winter pants, leaving them back in their standard outfits. They disembarked from the Hurricane II and began their journey back to their spaceship, while the pirate ship and its crew soon left on its next voyage across the high seas. The team stopped in town only once to grab some breakfast before they resumed walking. By around mid-morning, they arrived at the airport and finally returned to their spaceship. “Ah, it sure is good to be back,” remarked Rainbow Dash as they climbed inside the spaceship. “Indeed it is,” agreed Rarity. “As much as I’m sure we all love a good adventure, it is definitely pleasant to be back in familiar surroundings.” “Ah don’t know ‘bout y’all, but Ah’m more than ready to head on home right now,” said Applejack as the six girls reached the control room on the spaceship’s upper deck. “But first thing’s first,” said Sunset Shimmer as she took the messaging tablet out of her jacket and set it aside on the dashboard. “We’ll need to contact Celestia and Luna and inform them of what’s been going on these last few days.” The others said various words of agreement as Sunset stepped forward and switched on the main display screen. As soon as they made contact with headquarters back in Canterlot City, the first thing they saw on the screen was Celestia looking over at something else while sipping a mug of coffee. She suddenly paused when her gaze fell towards them — or at least the display screen they appeared on at her side. She then immediately turned away and shouted, “Sister! Come quickly! The team has just made contact with us!” As Celestia turned back to them with a shocked but relieved expression, Sunset Shimmer rubbed the back of her head and apologetically said, “Yeah, sorry for worrying you so much. The Shadowbolts hijacked the ship and left us stranded at sea. We just barely got back and we’re all very glad to talk to you again.” The rest of her friends nodded in agreement. “The feeling is mutual, Sunset Shimmer,” replied Celestia. “You have no idea how relieved I am to discover you are all okay.” “As am I,” said Luna as she suddenly came into view on the screen. “I came over as quickly as I could!” Celestia turned to her sister and her eyes widened. “Um, perhaps a little too quickly,” she said hesitantly as she held up a hand mirror. Luna glanced into the mirror and realized that, instead of her usual hair piece, she had a bright red plunger on her head. She blushed and hastily said, “Be right back.” She then left just as rapidly as she had arrived. Celestia giggled as she set down the mirror and then turned to the display screen and quipped, “Believe me, girls, that is not the most embarrassing thing she had the misfortune of having end up on her head.” The six girls in the spaceship couldn’t help but giggle along with her. Celestia then relaxed and asked, “So anyway, what have you girls been up to since we last spoke?” The six friends took turns explaining everything they had been through since they first arrived in Baltimare less than two days ago. By the time they were done, Celestia spoke up, “I have to say, that is quite the journey you have been on. Though I do have a few questions that I feel may be worth asking. To start off, what was Twilight doing in that supposedly abandoned outpost, and why was she completely alone, unlike during the previous encounters?” “We honestly don’t know,” replied Sunset with a shrug. “The Informant simply told us to just go there and call for a rescue. I can’t think of any reason why Twilight would want to go after us by herself.” A thought suddenly crossed her mind and she narrowed her eyes. “Unless if you count that magic-stealing she’s somehow been doing to us on every encounter.” “Eeyup,” agreed Applejack with a solemn nod. “Darn shame that me an’ Rainbow are now the only Master Builders left on the team.” “Any ideas how this can be prevented on any future encounters?” asked Celestia. “I’m not sure,” replied Sunset. “The only connection I can see is that it always seems to happen while one of us is ponied up, but since I still can’t figure out how that’s been happening lately, that’ll leave us very vulnerable.” She slumped down in the nearest seat and sighed. Fluttershy turned to Celestia on the display screen and asked, “Has there been any word from Princess Twilight of Equestria over the last few days?” Celestia shook her head and sadly replied, “I’m afraid not, though I will continue to keep an eye on that journal.” “Oh, if only we knew more about what the Shadowbolts intend to achieve,” muttered Rarity. “Hey, I got an idea!” Pinkie Pie suddenly spoke up. “If we knew where their secret hideout is, we could just go there and take the fight directly to them, or at least swipe any intel we could find there.” “Easier said than done, I’m afraid,” responded Celeatia. “Not even the best secret agents on our side have been able to uncover the secret location of any Shadowbolt base.” “But we have seen Twilight escape through that weird vanishing doorway,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “If we could somehow figure out where that door leads, then we’ll know where to find at least one Shadowbolt base.” “Ah doubt they’ll just open it up for us,” said Applejack skeptically. “We’re gonna have to be pretty darn lucky if we wanna take advantage of that.” As everyone continued discussing plans, Sunset Shimmer silently contemplated what her team’s next course of action should be. Her eyes soon fell on the messaging tablet she had left on the dashboard and began to consider asking the Informant for advice. She stood up and reached over to grab it, and as soon as she picked it up, a notification for a new message suddenly came up on the screen. Meanwhile, Luna — now with her proper hair piece back on her head — quickly joined Celestia and asked, “Did I miss anything important?” Sunset glanced over at the two Playwell sisters and remarked, “Good timing, Luna. I just received a message from the Informant.” “In that case, please read it for us right away,” responded Luna. Sunset cleared her throat as she opened up the message and began to read it. To the Canterlot City LEGO Team. Twilight has just informed us of our latest orders from Miss Cinch. Thanks to the fact that we had planted a tracking device on your spaceship, our next mission is to intercept you at your next destination, wherever it might be, and take you all out for good. Wherever you’re going next, prepare to expect an ambush. Good luck to all of you. From, The Informant. As soon as Sunset had finished reading the message, most of the others quickly got the same idea. “I believe it is crystal clear what our very next task shall be,” noted Rarity. “Eeyup,” agreed Applejack. “We gotta find that trackin’ device an’ get rid of it.” The others began to move when Sunset suddenly spoke up, “Wait! I’ve got a better idea!” The rest of the team paused and turned back to Sunset. “What is it, Sunset?” asked Fluttershy. A plan had quickly formed within Sunset’s mind, and once she took a moment to think it through, she smiled as she realized that it could actually work. “I know this is gonna sound totally crazy, but… leave the tracking device on. Let them follow us.” “You’re right, that does sound totally crazy,” remarked Pinkie Pie. “And how is that gonna help us?” asked Rainbow Dash doubtfully. “Look, the Shadowbolts want to attack us at whatever our next destination will be,” explained Sunset. “But here’s the thing: they don’t care where our next confrontation will be, because that decision will be entirely up to us. They’re gonna be following us, so we need to lead them to any site, and that will give us a huge advantage! To use a sports analogy, the ball is now in our possession, and it’s up to us to decide which part of the field we play it on.” Sunset grinned. “They want to ambush us, but when you consider the position we’re really in, we can ambush them!” “That’s… that’s quite ingenious!” praised an almost speechless Rarity. “I’ll say!” added Applejack contently. “Who would’ve thought that we’d ever find ourselves in such a powerful position?” “If that’s what their leader wants them to do, then let’s show ‘em that she just made a terrible mistake!” boasted Rainbow Dash. “So I guess that just leaves us with only one question: What will be our next destination?” asked Fluttershy. “That’s a very good question,” acknowledged Sunset with a smile. She turned to Celestia and Luna and said to them, “The girls and I will need some time to discuss where we’ll be going. We’ll call you back once we’ve made our choice.” “Understood,” replied Celestia. “We’ll be waiting patiently in the meantime. See you in a few minutes.” She then ended the contact, leaving the display screen in the spaceship as blank static. Sunset quickly rummaged through the supplies they had left on the spaceship and soon pulled out a large rolled-up map of the entire Lego World and unfurled it on the floor for everyone to see all of it. “Okay, girls,” she spoke up, “pick a region, any region. Where do you wanna go?” “Why limit ourselves to this planet?” argued Rainbow Dash. “I say we go for the Space Region! We are in a spaceship after all.” “Seems a lil’ too risky to me,” countered Applejack. “There’s always the chance we could lose the spaceship, an’ Ah’d rather we be somewhere on this planet if that were to happen. Sure, we’d have to take the long way home if it came to that, but at least it’s way better than bein’ completely stranded in space.” “Okay, so we’re staying on this planet,” noted Sunset. “Anyone want something more specific?” “Let’s discount all the City Regions,” stated Rarity. “We’re about to have a major confrontation with the Shadowbolts, so it would be prudent to not let any innocent bystanders get caught up.” “Agreed,” noted Sunset with a nod. “We need a place that’s thinly populated.” “But that still leaves us with a whole lotta choices,” said Pinkie Pie. “Castle Region, Pirate Region, Old West Region, Pharaoh’s Kingdom, I just don’t know which one to pick!” “What about you, Fluttershy?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Where do you think we should go?” Fluttershy looked over the map and carefully considered the available options. Eventually, she quietly answered, “Well… I’ve always wanted to see Dinosaur Island.” Everyone silently considered Fluttershy’s suggestion for a moment. Applejack was the first to speak up. “Y’know… that might not be such a bad idea.” “A region full of prehistoric beasts could be rather dangerous,” noted Rarity, “but if we enter that region with the proper kind of plan, we could turn those threats around so that the Shadowbolts would end up with more to fear.” “There’s also a few active outposts throughout the region,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “If we land our spaceship at one of them, we would have instant access to all kinds of tools and supplies to not only set up a good ambush, but also help us get through the jungle in case if something goes wrong.” “If everyone else is okay with it, then I say we go for it!” added Pinkie Pie enthusiastically. “Then it’s agreed,” declared Sunset Shimmer as she rolled up the map. “Next stop: Dinosaur Island!”