//------------------------------// // Desperate Times // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 3 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 11 Desperate Times At a hidden corner of the Pick-A-Brick Distribution Warehouse, Twilight Sparkle waited patiently. She had remotely given the order to her teammates that it was time to return to their home base, and once everyone arrived, she would then open the Jump-Gate and they would leave right away. Of course, considering that many of the other Shadowbolt agents were probably still battling against members of the LEGO Team, she had a feeling that she would have to wait a while. It wasn’t long until the first of these Shadowbolt agents arrived. It was Sugarcoat, with Indigo Zap slumped against her right side as they both walked slowly with an arm over each other’s shoulders. Both curious and concerned, Twilight asked, “What happened?” “She took a pipe wrench to the head,” replied Sugarcoat. “Aw, come on,” argued Indigo. “It didn’t hurt that much.” Sugarcoat responded by flicking Indigo right on the part of her head that had been struck. Indigo Zap immediately let out a long and very loud cry of pain. She then hissed as she inhaled before shouting, “Don’t do that again!” “My thoughts exactly,” stated Sugarcoat. “You need an icepack on that head right away.” Twilight sighed and muttered, “I guess I’d better open the Jump-Gate right now.” She entered the code onto her portable Jump-Gate activator, aimed it at the wall of her “special entrance” to the warehouse, and hit the “Open” button. The doorway of her Jump-Gate soon materialized and the doors parted open. Sugarcoat and Indigo Zap slowly made their way through, while Twilight stayed outside it as she waited for the rest of her teammates to arrive. Meanwhile, atop the nearest rack, Applejack had successfully been careful enough to not draw any attention to herself as she followed Sugarcoat from retrieving the fallen Indigo Zap to stepping through Twilight’s “special entrance”. Now she had a clear view of Twilight’s strange doorway, and Twilight had no idea she was even there. Applejack pulled out a walkie-talkie and quietly spoke into it, “Sunset, Ah found Twilight, an’ she’s got that weird doorway open in the corner over by the ball-an’-socket bricks. Now’s our chance, so ya better get a move on before the other Shadowbolts get here.” The voice of Sunset Shimmer immediately responded, “Copy that. I’m on my way.” Applejack held onto her walkie-talkie as she crouched down and continued to observe Twilight. There was no doubt that Sunset would get here as quickly as possible, so the real question was whether the three remaining Shadowbolt agents would all get here first. Elsewhere in the warehouse, Rarity and Sunny Flare continued dueling atop the racks with their rapiers. Sunny had certainly heard Twilight’s call to return to base, but first she needed to disable her opponent — at least long enough to provide her with a chance to escape. “You are certainly a worthy opponent,” remarked Rarity as their swords continued to clash. “We appear to be evenly matched.” “Not so,” argued Sunny smugly. “Unlike you righteous LEGO Team types, us Shadowbolt agents are never afraid to fight dirty.” She then leaped into the air and kicked Rarity in the chest. Rarity was kicked back off the edge of the tub she stood on, smacked into the side of the other tub next to it, and then rebounded back and forth between the two stacks of tubs all the way down to the floor. By the time she hit the floor, she had fallen completely to pieces. Up on the top shelf, Sunny smugly looked down at Rarity’s scattered pieces and said, “As much as I would love to relish in my triumph over you, I’m afraid I’m needed back at base at once. Adieu to you.” She waved her free hand and then ran off along the top shelf. Down on the floor, Rarity could do little more than glance around at the aisle her pieces hand landed in. Thankfully, it wasn’t long until she noticed Fluttershy carefully climbing down a ladder from the rack on the opposite side of the aisle from the one she had fallen from. “Oh Fluttershy!” she called out. “Could you be a dear and assist me in reassembling myself?” Fluttershy had just reached the bottom of that ladder when she heard Rarity call out to her. When she glanced back and saw the terrible shape her friend was in, she did not hesitate to approach her and reply, “Of course.” Meanwhile, Lemon Zest had finally started to recover after her failed jetpack ride. She lightly groaned as she slowly pulled herself out of the tub full of corrugated tubes up on a middle shelf. “There you are!” Lemon glanced down at the floor and saw Sour Sweet in the driver’s seat of what appeared to be some kind of golf cart. “I was wondering what happened to you,” said Sour Sweet’s sweet face. She then spun her head around to her sour face and growled, “Now hop in! Twilight just called us all back to base.” “Aw man!” moaned Lemon Zest in disappointment as she began to climb down along the frame of the rack around the tubs. “The fight barely even got started!” Sour Sweet grumbled, “I think Twilight decided to cut our losses because today went even worse than yesterday. And this isn’t even a real mission!” Lemon Zest leaped off from the shelf above the bottom one and intended to land inside the cart, but overshot by a short distance and ended up smashing to pieces on the floor. Sour Sweet rolled her eyes and growled in frustration. She quickly gathered up all of Lemon’s pieces and carelessly tossed them into the cart, then got back into the driver’s seat and began driving down the aisle towards their exit. As they crossed from that aisle to the next one, they were spotted by Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash as they slowly made their way down a perpendicular aisle. Rainbow suddenly pointed ahead at them and shouted, “Hey! They’re getting away! Stop ‘em!” She and Pinkie immediately started running after that cart. Of course, Rainbow’s shout had alerted the two Shadowbolt agents, so Sour Sweet hit full throttle. Unfortunately, since she was driving a golf cart, its top speed was barely faster than the two minifigs running after them. Sunny Flare casually twirled her rapier around as she arrived at the Jump-Gate with a smile on her face. “You sure seem to be in a good mood,” noted Twilight. “As well I should be,” Sunny remarked confidently as she strutted through the gateway. “Rarity never stood a chance against me. If only the rest of my teammates could be even half as competent as myself.” Sugarcoat stood alone in the gateway room in her usual stoic posture with her arms folded. “You do realize you just insulted all of us right in our faces, do you?” she asked. “And why should I care?” said Sunny shamelessly as she tossed aside the rapier. “The success rate of this team has done nothing but decline all week, and I seriously doubt that I am in any way part of the problem.” “But an attitude like that certainly would be,” Sugarcoat quickly shot back. Sunny rolled her eyes and responded, “And I would argue that for you.” The argument between them would have continued had it not been for a sudden shout from an aisle near the gateway. “Come on, you stupid cart!” shouted Sour Sweet furiously as she struggled to stay ahead of the two Canterlot City girls chasing after her. Noticing their enemies closing in, Twilight immediately rushed through the gateway and held her hand over the “Emergency Close” button on the control panel. In the back of that cart, Lemon Zest finished reattaching the last of her body parts. She smiled, but that lasted for only a second when she saw Sunset Shimmer suddenly step out from behind one of the tubs on the floor and aim a small projectile weapon at them. “Look out!” she shouted as she swiftly turned around and tackled Sour Sweet down. Sunset fired a translucent red 1x1 round plate from that small launcher. The small projectile flew over the ducked heads of the two Shadowbolts in the cart, through the open gateway, and clattered against the far wall of the gateway room. As the cart passed through the gateway, Sour Sweet shoved Lemon Zest off and furiously exclaimed, “What was that for?!” “Sunset shot something at us!” responded Lemon. It was right at that moment, when the cart completely cleared the gateway and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were only a few steps behind, that Twilight shut the Jump-Gate. The doors quickly slammed shut and vanished from the warehouse, exposing only a blank wall of grey Lego bricks. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were forced to stop right in front of the solid wall. They both stared at it in disbelief for a moment. Rainbow growled in frustration and kicked the wall, then winced in pain from that kick. Fluttershy and a fully reassembled Rarity soon arrived at the site, followed by Sunset Shimmer and then Applejack after climbing down the ladder from the top shelf. Rainbow turned to her friends and grumbled, “They got away again. How do they keep doing this?!” “I’m afraid your guess is as good as mine,” replied Rarity with a shrug. Meanwhile, Sunset pulled out a gadget that was in the form of a 1x2 tile with a screen and some buttons printed on its surface. Fluttershy glanced over at her and asked, “Um… what is that?” Sunset smirked as she turned her gaze up to her friends and replied, “Let’s just say the Shadowbolts didn’t quite escape this time.” “What do you mean by that?” asked Pinkie in confusion. “We saw them all go through before they slammed the door shut in our faces.” “Didn’t you see me shoot something at them?” responded Sunset. “That wasn’t just a random little piece. That was a tracking device, and since I shot it through that doorway before it disappeared, we should now know where their hidden base is located.” The five other girls were speechless for a moment. It wasn’t long until Rainbow Dash suddenly jumped and excitedly shouted, “YES!! Finally we’re getting somewhere! Take that, Shadowbolts!” “Well, where are they?” asked Applejack. “Let’s find out,” replied Sunset as she held out the gadget for all to see. All six girls saw a set of coordinates on the screen, but that lasted for only a split second before the whole screen was suddenly replaced with a message in red letters that said, “SIGNAL LOST”. Once again, everyone was left speechless for a moment. “Uh… What just happened?” asked Applejack. Sunset lowered the gadget and replied, “They must’ve already realized that I shot a tracking device into their hidden base. This is probably telling us that the tracking device has just been destroyed.” Rainbow Dash roared out in anger — loud enough to be heard across every aisle in the warehouse — and furiously shouted, “Why are they always one step ahead of us?!” “Yeah, I figured this would happen,” added Sunset. She then smiled as she continued, “Which is why I decided to go a few more steps ahead. You see, this particular tracking device also had a built-in recording system. That means that even though it’s now destroyed, I still have a recorded history of where it’s been on this gadget in my hands. So even though the tracking device lasted for only a few seconds inside that Shadowbolts base, that’s all I need to find out exactly where they are.” “Okay, seriously, can we stop swinging back and forth between bad news and good news?” asked Pinkie Pie. “It’s starting to give me a headache.” Sunset giggled and replied, “Relax, Pinkie. I’m completely confident that we’ll finally get our answer this time.” She tapped a few buttons on the device. “Okay, I’ve got the coordinates,” she muttered contently. “Now to find out where in the Lego World that location is…” She tapped a few more buttons and soon got the definitive answer she and her friends had been so desperately seeking. Sunset smiled at first, but once she saw the final result, she gasped in shock and her eyes widened. “No… way…” “What is it, darling?” asked Rarity. Sunset quickly pocketed her gadget and replied, “We gotta get back to the spaceship and return to headquarters in Canterlot City right away. You are not gonna believe where they’ve been hiding.” Before anyone could say anything in response, she immediately turned away and began running towards the front doors to the warehouse. Her friends had no choice but to follow her. Soon, the Pick-A-Brick Distribution Warehouse was void of any Shadowbolt agents or LEGO Team members, but it was hardly left in pristine condition. There were crude walkways on top of the racks, various parts and pieces scattered all over the floor of numerous aisles, and there was still that pile of burning tires. Needless to say, Flim and Flam were both crestfallen to see their business in such disarray. After both brothers sighed sadly, Flim said, “I suppose we’ll just have to close early so we can clean up this big mess.” “And people wonder why we always insist on staying neutral in all conflicts,” added Flam. Later that afternoon, the six LEGO Team girls had returned to their home region of Canterlot City and were now gathered at the briefing area of the headquarters building. The team stood on the floor in the middle of the room, while Celestia and Luna stood up on the elevated platform in front of the massive display screen. Currently being displayed on that screen was a rotating 3D rendering of Canterlot Mountain, not only with the LEGO Team headquarters building on top, but also with a small rectangular cavity far below inside the base of the mountain. “Our subterranean scans confirmed it,” stated Celestia. “There is definitely an unidentified underground facility deep within the base of this mountain.” “Unbelievable,” muttered Applejack as she shook her head. “All this time, Twilight’s been hidin’ right under our feet.” “But of all the regions in the Lego World, why would Twilight choose to establish her base of operations right here in Canterlot City?” asked Rarity. Sunset Shimmer sighed sadly and replied, “I think it might be my fault.” Everyone in the room turned to Sunset with confused looks. Luna raised an eyebrow and asked, “Why would you think you are to blame for our world’s Twilight’s secret residence here in Canterlot City?” “Twilight never intended to cause us any harm, despite being a Shadowbolt agent,” explained Sunset. “She only wanted to learn more about the Equestrian magic we possessed — magic that I brought into this world when I stole Princess Twilight’s crown. And since this city is where we live and where the interdimensional portal to Equestria is located, it’s no wonder Twilight would see this as the most promising region to study.” “But Twilight has been stealing your magic,” Luna pointed out. “How can she not intend any harm with actions like that?” “She claimed to have no idea how that device she built could steal all of our Equestrian magic,” replied Sunset, “so she probably only wanted it to collect small samples. She told us all of this just hours ago in that warehouse, right after that device took the last of our magic… right after I yelled at her for everything that happened this week.” Sunset buried her face in her hands and sighed. “I still can’t believe I said such awful things to her.” “It’s not your fault,” assured Fluttershy as she place a hand on Sunset’s shoulder. “None of us had any idea what her true intentions were.” Sunset shrugged off her friend and said, “But I’m the one who overreacted and jumped to conclusions. Of course it’s my fault.” “There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “Twilight told us that she was hoping that studying our magic would somehow help her leave the Shadowbolts. Why would she go to such great lengths? I mean, couldn’t she just walk away from them?” “I’m afraid it’s not that easy,” replied Celestia. “Just yesterday — with word of your activity against the Shadowbolts getting around — our branch in Bricksburg told us that they were approached by and spoke with a former Shadowbolt agent. She told us everything she knew about the Shadowbolts, despite the fact that it had been many years since she was last associated with them. Most importantly, former agents like herself are extremely rare because it is standard procedure for loyal agents to be given orders to eliminate those who would dare to turn away. This former agent claims the only reason she still hasn’t been caught is because she has been frequently changing her name — she refused to tell us her true name and asked only to be called Wyldstyle.” “Eliminate?” asked Applejack. “Ya mean Twilight might be puttin’ her Creation Spark on the line just by even thinkin’ of leavin’ the Shadowbolts?” “My word, no wonder Twilight has gone ahead with such drastic measures,” said Rarity. “I would never wish for anyone to endure what she must be going through right now. I suppose desperate times really do call for desperate measures.” “I’d say we’ve all hit desperate times right now,” remarked Pinkie Pie sadly. “Not only is Twilight trying to find a way to leave the Shadowbolts without losing her Creation Spark, but now her efforts have left all of us without our magic, which means none of us are Master Builders anymore.” “Yeah,” agreed Rainbow Dash bitterly. “That puts us all at a huge disadvantage.” “So where do we go from here?” asked Fluttershy. Sunset took a moment to think about the problems that everyone seemed to be facing at this time. As she considered the possibility for a single solution to all those issues, she realized that there might actually be such a solution, though it was hardly a sure bet. She sighed and spoke up, “I think I might have an idea.” As everyone turned to Sunset, Rarity asked, “What are you proposing?” “This is gonna sound totally crazy,” replied Sunset, “but I think Twilight’s best hope of leaving the Shadowbolts… is for us to kidnap her.” Everyone stared silently at Sunset for a moment. “You’re right, that does sound totally crazy,” remarked Rainbow Dash. “Ah agree,” added Applejack. “What makes ya so sure that we should go through with this?” “As insane as this idea seems, I think it’ll work for all of us,” replied Sunset. “Think about it. If Twilight comes with us, she won’t have to worry about leaving the Shadowbolts on her own, and if she can bring her device with her, then maybe we could all figure out a way to give us back our magic. And if we can make this all look like a kidnapping, then she won’t have to worry about other Shadowbolt agents trying to get rid of her.” “But the Shadowbolts would still be after her,” Fluttershy pointed out. “True,” admitted Sunset, “but at least under this scenario, they would try to ‘rescue’ her instead of taking her out. In which case, we’ll need to keep her hidden in a safe location. She may not be able to go anywhere, but at least we won’t force her to do things she doesn’t like, as the Shadowbolts have done.” “Oh!” Pinkie Pie suddenly spoke up. “And the best part of this plan is that we now know exactly where to find her!” She gestured up at the image on the big display screen. “Exactly!” said Sunset with a smile. She turned her gaze over to Celestia and Luna and asked, “Would you be willing to let us go through with this?” The two Playwell sisters turned to each other for a moment. Neither of them smiled, but they did silently nod before turning back to Sunset. Celestia replied, “In light of how high the stakes have become, my sister and I agree that this plan of yours could be your best chance of success. Therefore, your next mission shall be exactly that: enter the secret Shadowbolt base under Canterlot Mountain, kidnap Twilight Sparkle, and bring her back here as unharmed as possible.” Sunset smiled and nodded back. “Thank you, Celestia and Luna,” she said. She then pulled the messaging tablet out of her jacket and added, “I should also probably tell the Informant about this. She’ll need to know in advance that we’ll be entering their base. Maybe she could even somehow help us.” As Sunset typed and sent a message on that tablet, Rainbow Dash remarked, “Good thing we’ve still got inside help.” “I just wish we knew which of Twilight’s teammates is the Informant,” mumbled Fluttershy. “I sure would like to thank her for helping us out so much.” “Ah doubt we’ll ever know for sure,” said Applejack. “As long as the other Shadowbolts are around, then she sure ain’t gonna expose herself to us.” Sunset put away the tablet and said, “Regardless, we should get going as soon as possible.” She turned back to Celestia and asked, “Does that scan reveal any entrances we could use?” As Celestia tapped a few keys on the console to make the display screen zoom in on the underground structure, she answered, “There appears to be only one entrance, but it seems to have a very thick door that blends in with the surrounding mountainside. You may have better luck getting in through one of the ventilation shafts, and one of them happens to lead right into one of the train tunnels.” “In that case,” stated Sunset, “we’ll just ride the train, ask the conductor to drop us off at that tunnel, then find that vent and sneak in. Once we’re inside, I’m sure we can figure out how to open that entrance so we can escape with Twilight.” “Sounds good to me,” said Applejack contently. “Now let’s get a move on, y’all.” As the team turned away and began to leave, Rainbow Dash groaned in frustration and grumbled, “I hate tunnels.” The team hadn’t even reached the door out of the room when Sunset heard that familiar tone from the messaging tablet. She quickly pulled out that tablet, opened the new message, and read it aloud to everyone in the room. To the LEGO Team of Canterlot City. If that’s what you plan to do, then you’d better hurry. Twilight quickly figured out that the tracking device you shot into our base also had a recording system, so we all know that you know where we are. As a result, she now has us all frantically packing up everything and preparing to move to a new location. We could be out of here in a matter of hours, so you’d better not waste another minute. From, The Informant. Sunset and her friends were momentarily speechless. Thankfully, it wasn’t long before Sunset immediately put away the tablet and hastily said, “If Twilight gets away like this, we’ll be sent right back to square one, and without our Equestrian magic and Master Builder talents, I don’t know if we could ever recover from a setback like that. There’s no time to lose, girls! Come on!” She quickly opened the door and rushed out into the hallway, soon followed by the rest of her friends. After the team had rushed off to begin their next mission, Celestia silently turned back to the console and tapped another button, shutting off the display screen. Luna turned to Celestia and noted, “You seem troubled, sister.” Celestia let out a sigh and sadly replied, “I cannot help but get an ominous feeling that something very terrible will soon happen. I’m actually starting to get flashbacks to when the old Sunset Shimmer was corrupted into a demon and devastated this city, and I’m sure we both know that can’t be a good sign.” “Indeed,” agreed Luna with a nod. She paused for a moment before she added, “Perhaps now might be a good time to call in that favor from President Business.” Celestia hesitated for a moment before she finally replied, “I suppose you may be right.” She reached over to the far right end of the console and picked up a telephone. To even consider a call like this, she knew something big was about to occur.