The Shimmering Sunset
Chapter 14
The Shimmering Sunset
Twilight Sparkle and her team had been travelling by foot the entire way into downtown Canterlot City. They ran by the base of a clock tower just as the large clock on top struck noon. The team briefly stopped and looked up worriedly as they saw that they now had only five hours left.
Once the twelfth and final tone rang, Twilight looked back to her team and exclaimed in panic, “We’re running outta time!”
“Where are we even going?” asked Rainbow Dash as the team resumed running down the sidewalk.
“I’m not sure,” replied Twilight as she struggled to think of a plan. “The local police have been searching the city, so I guess we could ask them for any updates since we last spoke with Celestia.”
“So which way should we go?” asked Spike.
Twilight was leading the group as they arrived at an intersection. She decided to not cross either street and just continue on the same block. But just as she went around the corner, she crashed into someone, sending both of them flying apart into pieces. The rest of the group came around the corner to see the result of that accident.
Twilight — whose head had come off and landed upright — quickly looked around to see parts all over the sidewalk that belonged to both herself and someone rather familiar. Out of all the people in Canterlot City, she had crashed into none other than rookie police officer Flash Sentry.
Flash — whose body had just lost both legs — pushed himself upright and looked over to Twilight’s head. Once he realized who he had just crashed into, he simply smiled and said, “We have got to stop bumping into each other like this.”
Twilight laughed nervously in response. She then somehow managed to will her body to stand up — or at least try to. Aside from her head, her body had also lost the left leg, left arm, and right hand. First, she bent down on her only attached leg so she could reach her arm down to put her right hand back into place. Then she hopped over to her detached leg and put that back into place. Now that her body regained its balance, she quickly picked up and reattached her left arm. Finally, she reached down to pick up her head and fit it back into place, giving it a few slight twists to make sure it was a snug fit.
Meanwhile, Flash reattached his own right hand, then hopped his legless body over to his left arm and reattached that too. He then hopped over to his legs — both of which were still attached to his hip. He picked up his legs and turned them around so they stood upright, then pulled his body up and onto the hip connection. Finally, he picked up his police hat and put it back on his head.
As Flash lowered his right hand after putting his hat back on, he quickly realized something wasn’t quite right. His hand, which was supposed to be the light orange tone of his skin, was actually lavender in color. He immediately realized what the problem was. “Oh! Uh… I-I-I believe this one’s yours,” Flash said nervously as he removed the wrong hand and held it out to Twilight.
Twilight looked down at her right hand and, sure enough, it was light orange instead of lavender. She and Flash Sentry had accidentally swapped hands! “L-l-likewise,” said Twilight just as nervously as she also removed the mismatched hand and held it out to Flash.
Both Twilight and Flash raised their handless arms and simultaneously reattached their proper hands. Now their bodies were properly reassembled, but this final correction had led to something else that was quite noticeable: they were both holding hands. With slightly shocked expressions on their faces, they looked down at their clasped hands, then up at each other’s faces. After a brief moment of stunned silence, the two minfigs finally pulled their hands away from each other and laughed nervously — all of which was done by the two simultaneously.
Applejack cleared her throat and said with mild annoyance, “If y’all are quite done, we still gotta track down Sunset Shimmer before we run outta time.”
Flash Sentry quickly straightened himself out and said, “Right! Seeing as you girls have returned, I take it you are already aware that she has been hiding in this city all along.”
“Y-yes! Yes!” responded Twilight with a quick nod. “Any word recently on where she might be?”
“Not that I’m aware of, I’m afraid,” replied Flash solemnly.
Rarity sighed and muttered, “So much for going to the police for help.”
“But perhaps you girls can assist,” continued Flash with a smile forming on his face.
“What do you mean?” asked Fluttershy in confusion. “We’re just as clueless as everyone else.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that.” Flash turned to face Twilight as he added, “At least, not for Twilight Sparkle, in particular.”
“Why me?” asked a very baffled Twilight.
“You are far more familiar with that magical artifact than anyone else in Canterlot City, maybe even the entire Lego World,” answered Flash. “If anyone can figure out why Sunset Shimmer wants that magic crown of yours, it’s you. That knowledge might also help us figure out why she decided to hide in this particular city, of all places.”
Twilight placed a hand over her face as she struggled to think of any clues she might have missed. Sunset Shimmer wanted the crown, and had chosen to stay in Canterlot City while waiting for it to regain its powers. Could there really be a connection between those two key details? Twilight suddenly gasped as she realized there was something important about this city. Something that Sunset had mentioned during their latest encounter just less than two days ago.
“I can afford to wait forty-eight hours. The portal will still be open by then.”
“It’s because the gateway to Equestria is located in this city!” exclaimed Twilight in realization.
“Oh, is that the name of the alternate world you’re from?” asked Pinkie Pie. “I knew it would have something to do with ponies.”
“I was wondering how you managed to get here from another world,” Rarity spoke up. A thought crossed her mind before she added, “Though I suppose that could also explain why it was in this city that Sunset Shimmer made her first appearance.”
Applejack pointed out, “Twilight did mention on the way here that Sunset also came from that alternate world, so Ah guess that would make sense.”
“Whoa whoa whoa, wait,” Flash quickly said as he held up his hands to draw everyone’s attention. Baffled by this new information, he turned to Twilight and asked, “Are you saying there’s an interdimensional portal right here in Canterlot City?”
“It’s located in City Park,” explained Twilight. “I don’t know what Sunset wants, but it must somehow involve that portal while it’s still open.”
“Then we have no time to lose!” declared Flash Sentry, getting into the role of a police officer as he should. “Follow me! I know the quickest route to take!”
As officer Flash Sentry immediately took off running down the sidewalk, Twilight and the rest of her team quickly followed him. They soon began to cross a street at another intersection. Flash kept running and didn’t even slow down. To deal with the oncoming traffic, he simply blew a whistle he had and held up his hand. In both directions, all traffic came to a screeching halt to avoid hitting the police officer and his escorts, inevitably causing some cars to collide.
Flash couldn’t help but look back at the following minifigs with a grin on his face and state, “One of the great privileges of being a police officer is that you’re free to ignore the rules of the road, so long as the emergency is serious enough.” He repeated his traffic-halting gestures as he led the team across another street on their way to City Park.
Once the group of minifigs arrived at City Park, it didn’t take long for Twilight to recognize some of the landmarks from the start of her journey. She was quickly able to lead everyone over to the horse statue that was the site of the gateway to Equestria.
“Well, here it is,” stated Twilight.
Flash Sentry looked at the statue suspiciously. “I don’t see anything unusual about it,” he said.
Twilight had already figured that she would need to prove that this really was the gateway back to Equestria, so she walked up to the front of the statue and stuck her right arm towards the pedestal. Just like last time, her arm passed through the smooth surface and morphed back into the foreleg of a pony — not a Lego horse, but an organic pony. Twilight looked back and, just as she had expected, everyone was absolutely stunned by what they saw. Satisfied with the result, she pulled her arm back out, letting it morph back into a Lego arm.
Everyone — except Spike for obvious reasons — simply remained staring at Twilight in stunned silence.
Applejack finally broke the silence by simply saying, “There’s somethin’ ya don’t see every day.”
Flash shook his head before saying in shock, “Wow, uh… I’ve passed by that statue dozens of times before, and I had no idea it could do that.”
“I’m not surprised,” stated Twilight. She explained, “I’ve been told that it stays open for only three days. After that, it’ll remain closed for thirty moons before it reopens again.”
“Thirty moons?” asked Fluttershy in confusion. “Is that the same as thirty months?”
Flash muttered to himself, “That does approximately equal thirty months, which also equals two and a half years. Assuming that one cycle has been missed or ignored, doubling that would give us—” He gasped in realization and spoke up, “Five years! That’s the same amount of time that Sunset Shimmer has been known to exist here in the Lego World!”
“And now that it’s open again, she’s planning to somehow use it for her own selfish gains,” concluded Rarity.
“But for what?” asked Spike.
“I don’t know, but at least now we know where she’s probably heading. I’d better send word of this back to the station,” said Flash Sentry as he pulled out a radio from behind his back.
“Wasn’t the police station destroyed just two days ago?” asked Twilight in confusion.
“We managed to recover all of the pieces and rebuild the station within an afternoon,” answered Flash. He switched on the radio in his hand and spoke, “Hey, chief. This is officer Flash Sentry. Do you copy?”
After a brief crackle of static, a voice on the other side replied, “I copy. What is it, officer?”
Flash Sentry explained, “I just met up with Twilight Sparkle’s team, who have just returned from their earlier missions. We are currently standing in front of that horse statue in City Park. Apparently, it houses some kind of interdimensional portal to another world. The team and I have strong reason to believe that Sunset Shimmer wishes to somehow use this thing for her own benefit, though we do not yet know why. Since we still don’t know where she is, I suggest we set up a defensive perimeter around this site and wait for her to come to us.”
After a brief pause, the voice on the radio replied, “That may be our best option at this time. I’ll send over a few officers and have them get to work right away.”
“Copy that. Over and out,” responded Flash before shutting off the radio and putting it away.
“I appreciate the help, Flash Sentry. I really do,” said Twilight. She sighed sadly before continuing, “I just can’t help but get the feeling that Sunset won’t arrive until after my crown regains its magical powers. By then, it could be too late to stop her.”
Flash nodded in acknowledgement. It was not an ideal plan, but it was the only one they had for now. If Sunset needed this portal to remain open, then there was one more piece of information he needed to know. He turned to Twilight and asked, “You said the portal closes after three days. Since this is clearly your third day here, do you know what specific time it is expected to close?”
“I was told it would happen when the moon reaches its highest point in the sky,” replied Twilight.
“Then that would be midnight, which gives us about seven hours after that artifact regains its powers,” concluded Flash. He sighed sadly. “I don’t know if we can hold her off that long, but at least we can be assured that it won’t be forever.”
“Still, prevention would be a much better plan,” stated Twilight. “We won’t need to worry about all of that if I could just get my crown back before it regains its magic. If only we knew where to find her.”
“Hey, officer!” Rainbow Dash called over from the back side of the statue. “Is this thing supposed to be here?”
Everyone walked around to the back side of the statue to see what Rainbow had spotted. All four sides of the statue’s pedestal were six studs wide with one column of studs on either side, which meant that a width of four studs in the middle — just wide enough for a minifig — was made of smooth cap pieces. The back side, however, was covered up by a single plate piece with studs at all points of the imaginary grid.
“No, it isn’t,” responded Flash Sentry as he walked up to the additional piece. He gripped one side of it and tried to pull it off, but it didn’t come loose. He walked over to the other side and tried doing the same thing, but got a similar result. “That’s odd. This piece seems to be stuck.” He quickly pulled out his radio again and spoke, “Hey, chief. I’m also gonna need a brick separator. We found something unusual here.”
“Copy that,” responded the voice on the radio. “I’ll try to locate one and have it sent your way.”
“A brick separator?” asked Spike in confusion.
“The most utilitarian tool of all,” replied Flash Sentry as he put away his radio. “The only problem is that they’re in rather short supply these days, so it may take a while for one to get here.”
“I can attest to that,” said Rarity with a nod. “I once tried to obtain one for use in my shop, but the cost of purchasing it was simply outrageous!”
Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she glanced over to the front side of the statue, where Pinkie Pie stood with a goofy grin on her face as she reached an arm forward. “PINKIE! NO!” she shouted as she tackled the pink minifig before she could touch the gateway to Equestria.
Seeing Pinkie down on the ground underneath her, Twilight stood back up. She was about to scold her, but instead yelped when she noticed that Pinkie’s legs were missing. She quickly turned back to see those legs — with the skirt still covering the upper half — standing in front of the portal. Apparently, Twilight’s tackle had knocked Pinkie’s torso off of her legs.
Things got even weirder when the detached legs started moving on their own, as if they were trying to look around. The pair of legs then turned right and ran off.
“Aww,” moaned Pinkie sadly. “You made my legs run away.”
“Ah’ll get ‘em,” said Applejack as she pulled out a coiled rope from behind her back and began spinning it around as a lasso as she ran after the runaway pair of legs.
Rainbow Dash turned to Twilight and asked, “What was that for?”
“Pinkie looked like she wanted to step through the portal,” explained Twilight. “I’m afraid I can’t let any of you do that.”
“Why not?” asked Fluttershy in confusion.
“It’s because that’s an alternate world,” answered Twilight. “It’s not like some alien planet filled with strangers. Many of the ponies who live there are actually quite similar to many of the Lego people I’ve met here. Similar appearances, similar behaviors, and even the same exact names.”
“Whoa, nelly!” shouted Applejack as she staggered around on her way back to the group while firmly holding Pinkie Pie’s legs in her arms. Those legs kept squirming around as they tried to escape, but Applejack was more than strong enough to keep them in place. “What is with these things?!” she exclaimed, before turning those legs around and shoving them back into place on the bottom of Pinkie’s torso.
Pinkie Pie briefly yelped in pain from the rather forceful reattachment. With her legs now back under her control she stood up as she giggled nervously and said, “Sorry. They tend to have a mind of their own.”
With that issue take care of, Applejack looked up at the others and asked, “So what’re y’all talkin’ about now?”
“Twilight’s explaining why she can’t let us step through that interdimensional gateway,” answered Rainbow Dash while gesturing at said gateway.
“It’s because in that world, there are alternate versions of everyone in this world,” explained Twilight. “The major difference is that they’re all ponies instead of Lego people.”
“If the residents of that world aren’t Lego-based, then how much of that world is made of Lego?” asked Rarity.
“Absolutely none of it,” answered Twilight. “I know, it must be hard for you to understand, but it’s true. Before I came here, I had never even heard of the word ‘LEGO’.”
“That does explain why you were so confused when we first met,” Fluttershy said softly.
Pinkie Pie quickly walked up to the portal. She turned to Twilight and pleaded, “Can I just take a quick peek? Pleeeeeease?” She then made a pouty face with adorably huge eyes.
“I’m very sorry, but I just can’t allow that,” replied Twilight with a sigh. “The first reason is that, as you can see, I’m currently not the pony that I actually am. Stepping through there will alter your body into a form I don’t think you can handle. Believe me, I know.”
“Yeah,” agreed Spike, looking down at himself. “I still can’t get used to the idea of being made of detachable parts. I can’t imagine what it must be like to go the other way.”
“The second reason,” continued Twilight, “is that the alternate forms of all of you are literally right on the other side, waiting for me to return. There’s no telling how they’ll react on seeing another of them suddenly stepping through the mirror.”
“Why’re they waitin’ for you?” asked Applejack. She then got a little confused and muttered, “Or is it the ‘other we’ who are waitin’, or…” She quickly just gave up and exclaimed, “Oh, ya know what Ah mean!”
“They’re my friends,” answered Twilight. “We’ve been friends for a long time. In fact, they actually wanted to come with me to help me retrieve my stolen crown. I would’ve been happy with that, too, but we were told that I had to go alone. It didn’t take me long to find out why.”
“Is that why you wanted us to help you?” asked Fluttershy softly.
That question immediately drew everyone’s attention. The reason behind it was easy to understand, which made it a legitimate concern for the team.
“Uh…” was all Twilight could manage to say. The implication that she had picked this team solely because they reminded her of her pony friends had left her speechless. It had never occurred to her that doing such a thing could be seen in a bad light.
“Celestia Playwell did mention that you were the one who chose us for this team,” Rarity pointed out, “despite her better wishes. Is it true you rejected her offer for what she thought would have been a better team?”
As the five girls looked at her with concerned and suspicious looks on their faces, Twilight finally sighed in defeat and sadly replied, “It’s all true.”
The five girls gasped in shock at this confirmation.
“I-I didn’t think it would be such a big deal,” explained Twilight. “It’s just… this is such an unfamiliar world to me, and I needed to trust someone other than a bunch of strangers. You all reminded me so much of my friends that I figured this would be no different than if they had actually been allowed to come with me.”
“But we’re not your friends, Twi,” stated Applejack. “Heck, we’re not even friends with each other. Sure, we may be able to trust one another like most Lego people, but Ah just don’t see us bein’ close enough to be called ‘friends’.”
“Face it, Twilight, we’re all just too different,” added Rainbow Dash pessimistically. “We always seem to find some way to fight each other instead of working together like a good team. Even if we do somehow take back your magic… thingy, I’m willing to bet that everything’s just gonna go back to the way they were before you came here.”
Twilight was at a loss on how to respond to this mess she suddenly found herself in. “Do you all feel this way?” she asked her team.
The five girls looked around uneasily. It was all Twilight needed to confirm her worst fears.
Officer Flash Sentry, who had overheard the entire discussion, finally decided to add his own input. “Regardless of your feelings for each other,” he spoke up, “you’re already on a team with an assigned mission from Miss Playwell. She expects you girls to set aside your differences and work together to succeed.”
“I work well with others,” Pinkie Pie suddenly spoke up excitedly. “I like being friends with everyone!” She quickly added, “Except for big meanies like Sunset Shimmer, of course.”
That did little to improve Twilight’s mood. She knew Pinkie Pie was like that around others. It was the uneasy reactions of the rest of her team that made her concerned. She quickly noticed how she still referred to these Lego minifigs as her “team” instead of “friends”. These thoughts were starting to make her feel quite depressed.
Flash Sentry unwittingly made things even worse by looking at the watch on his wrist to see how much time was left before the effects of the deactivation chamber on Twilight’s crown wore off. He sighed before announcing, “Four hours.”
The afternoon passed by slowly. The police had taken a while to arrive because they first had to clean up all of the traffic incidents that Flash Sentry had caused in his rush to get to City Park. But once they got here, they had quickly gone to work setting up that defensive perimeter around much of the park. A fence with just one gate was built around a large area surrounding the statue. A few simple watch towers had also been quickly built at opposite sides of the perimeter.
Twilight and her team — except for an absent Pinkie Pie — were completely bored as they continued to wait silently by the statue. Twilight glanced back at the gateway to her home world. Flash Sentry had placed a few long pieces over the side containing the portal. Those smooth pieces had the words “Police Line — Do Not Cross” printed on them in black on a yellow background. It was simply to discourage anyone from trying to step through, and Flash had told her that she was free to take them down once she was ready to return home.
The boredom was interrupted by Pinkie Pie as she drove her car into the park. The police opened the gate just in time to allow her into the protected zone. As her car screeched to a halt, she threw the door open and hopped out of the driver’s seat while carrying a stack of pizzas in her arms. “Pizza time!” she cheerfully announced.
Very few words were exchanged as each team member grabbed a pizza and started chowing down in their own way. Some ate slowly and carefully, while others rushed with big bites. It was simply another demonstration of their vast differences. Differences that were now threatening to tear the team apart.
Not long after everyone had finished eating, officer Flash Sentry walked back to the team. He sighed and shook his head before announcing, “Only one hour left, and still no sign of that brick separator.”
Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration and impatiently asked, “Do we really even need that thing?”
“If you think you can remove that piece yourself, go right ahead,” retorted Flash. “Just be aware that I’ve already had my arms come off at least three times while trying to pry that thing off by hand.”
“Ya sure that thing ain’t glued on there?” asked Applejack irritably.
Flash stared at the farm girl with an unamused expression and replied, “Applejack, everyone knows how hard it is for anyone to get their hands on such a substance. It’s even harder to come by than a brick separator. And in any case, possession of glue is highly illegal in every region of the Lego World.”
“I don’t think number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted would let that stop her,” muttered Rainbow Dash bitterly.
Spike suddenly spoke up and asked, “Do you hear something?”
Everyone stood still and listened carefully. It was faint, but they could tell that it was a rapidly thumping noise. Twilight was confused by what it was. Such an unfamiliar noise was making her feel a little uncomfortable.
“Over there!” said Applejack, pointing up at the sky.
Everyone turned to where she was pointing and saw something flying just over the city skyline. What seemed to allow it to fly was a massive and rapidly-spinning propeller on top of it.
“It’s just a police helicopter,” assured Rarity. “No need to be alarmed.”
Twilight quietly breathed a sigh of relief. Although she had done plenty of research at the local library back on her first day here, there were still plenty of details about the Lego World that she was not quite familiar with.
Before long, the helicopter was over City Park, where it began to descend to the ground. “It looks like they’re going to land here,” observed Fluttershy.
“That better be good news,” said Flash Sentry with determination as he began to approach the site where the large blue and white police helicopter was coming down. Once it was on the ground, the blast of air from the main rotor cause his hat to fly off — revealing his spiky blue hair underneath — but he ignored that. The door on the side of the helicopter slid open as he arrived, revealing two other police officers inside who were handling a large orange object.
“We had to go all the way to Bricksburg to get this thing,” explained one of the officers — who had to shout over the noise of the rotor — as he and the other officer carefully pulled the orange object out of the helicopter.
“Doesn’t matter,” responded Flash Sentry — also forced to shout over the noise — as he took the large object from them. “The important thing is that it’s here.” With the unusual object now in his hands, he stepped back and gestured to the pilot.
The pilot understood the signal and made the helicopter begin to take off. The two officers in the back closed the door as the helicopter lifted off and began to fly away.
With the helicopter now leaving, Flash Sentry turned around and began to head back to the horse statue. Along the way, he picked up his hat and put it back on his head.
“Is that the brick separator?” asked Spike.
“Yes, it is,” replied Flash Sentry as he continued walking.
The brick separator was bright orange, presumably to make it more visible against other Lego parts. At one end — with a thickness equal to the height of two thirds of a brick or two plates — there were two studs on top and a hollow space on the bottom to fit over two studs. Right behind that, the thickness was doubled, which meant that a plate on top or on the bottom of the front connection would be flush with the rest of the object. In the exact middle of a flat surface on top that covered a square of four studs, a plus-shaped axle rod stuck up to a length that was the same as the width of a one stud brick. Beyond that, the object had a long handle that stretched for a distance that was equal to the height of a regular minifig. The bottom of the handle was hollow, while the top had half a dozen ridges across its width and the LEGO logo engraved at the end. The very end of that handle tapered to a wedge.
“Okay,” said Flash as he carried the brick separator around to the back of the statue. “Let’s crack this thing open and see what we got.”
The seven team members watched as Flash stuck the bottom of the stud connection to a pair of studs along the side of the statue’s additional piece, and then pulled the handle towards the back side of the statue. After a few seconds, the brick separator came loose, with seemingly little accomplished. Undeterred, Flash stuck the brick separator onto another pair of studs along the same side and pulled again. He ended up with a similar result and tried again at another set of studs. Although the brick separator still came loose a third time, he noticed that a narrow gap had now opened between the additional piece and the rest of the statue. This was all he needed, as he now turned the brick separator around and inserted the wedge into the gap. He shoved on the free end of the brick separator a few times to make sure the wedge was firmly within the gap. Finally, with just one mighty shove to the side, the additional piece popped off and fell over to the ground.
Satisfied to have finally succeeded in removing that unusually added piece, Flash Sentry tossed the brick separator aside and took a look at what that piece had been covering up. He eyes widened in shock as he saw what had been hidden underneath. “It’s a message,” he stated.
Twilight Sparkle and the others crowded around to see the message for themselves. Scribbled in black on the smooth tiles were the words: “Big Rock. Pleasant Trail. Sunny Drive. Southern Woods.”
“I know where that is,” Fluttershy spoke up. “It’s along of one of the hiking trails in the Everfree Forest, south of the city.”
Applejack turned to Rainbow Dash with a smug look on her face as she said, “And you thought we weren’t gonna go on some nature hike.”
Rainbow Dash ignored her and impatiently exclaimed, “Can we just get going now?!”
“Yes, now that we know where to go, we must make haste,” agreed Rarity.
“It’ll take a while to get there by foot,” explained Fluttershy. “A car can take us most of the way there, but at a certain point we will need to get out and run for it.”
“All taken care of!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie happily while pointing at her car parked nearby.
“But there’s no way we’ll all fit in there,” Spike pointed out, remembering that there were only three seats inside.
Pinkie responded by quickly disassembling and reassembling her car in her typical super-quick all-over-the-place building style. Once she threw the last piece into place, she joyfully shouted, “Ta-da! Seven seater!”
“I’ll drive!” Rainbow Dash immediately claimed as she ran over to the driver’s seat of the new car. The rest of the team quickly followed and hopped inside. With less than an hour left, they all knew there was no time to waste.
Once everyone was in their seats, Rainbow Dash started up the car and hit the accelerator. The rear tires kicked up a lot of dirt before gaining enough traction to send the car speeding forward. The police officers keeping watch along the defensive perimeter didn’t even have time to respond before the car smashed through the gate, sending Lego pieces flying everywhere as the large car zoomed off.
Meanwhile, officer Flash Sentry had unexpectedly been left behind. He figured he could just grab a police motorcycle and follow them, but first he needed permission from higher authority. He pulled out his radio again and spoke, “Hey, chief. This is officer Flash Sentry. We just learned of a probable location where Sunset Shimmer might be. Twilight and her team are already on their way there. Permission to follow?”
After a brief crackle of static, the voice on the other side responded, “Negative. You’ve already caused enough trouble today, rookie. Just stay right where you are until I say otherwise.”
Flash Sentry gripped his radio tighter in frustration, then grunted as he angrily threw it on the ground. Apparently, the police chief was still disappointed in him due to all of the traffic incidents he had caused in his rush to get to City Park earlier that afternoon. Flash believed that it simply wasn’t fair — not to mention, possibly dangerous to not have a police officer with Twilight’s team — but he also knew that as a rookie officer, there was little he could do about it. He had no choice but to obey the chief’s orders.
Deep within the Everfree Forest, Pinkie Pie’s seven seater car zoomed up a dirt road — which Fluttershy had identified as being called Sunny Drive — at high speed, leaving a large cloud of dust in its wake. It sped around many bends and over many hills. Finally, after going around a bend to the right and reaching the top of a ridge, the vehicle quickly screeched to a stop next to a narrow trail in the woods — which, according to Fluttershy, was known as Pleasant Trail. The seven minifigs riding inside the car quickly climbed out and gathered together at the start of the trail.
Fluttershy pointed up the trail and explained, “There should be a big rock in the middle of a small clearing, not far up the trail from here.”
“Then let’s go!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash in determination.
The team quickly ran up the trail and around a pair of alternating bends. It didn’t take long for them to arrive at the described clearing in the woods. As soon as everyone looked up at the rock that dominated the clearing, they all immediately stopped and gasped in shock.
Standing atop that big rock was Sunset Shimmer herself. In her left hand, she held the greyed-out crown that held the Element of Magic. “Ah, so glad to see you could make it,” began Sunset tauntingly. “And with good timing, too. If I’m not mistaken, there are now only five minutes left to go before this crown regains it magical powers. And when that happens, you will be here to witness as I finally achieve all of the power that I have ever wanted!”
“Not if we have anythin’ to say about it!” declared Applejack as she and the rest of the team got ready to make a move.
Sunset simply chuckled in amusement and responded, “Oh, I beg to differ.” She then spoke up, “Come on out, boys!”
From around either side of the big rock, two minifigs stepped forward and stood in front of the rock. Their similarities were more than just the yellow skin color of a typical minifig. They both wore black and white striped prison shirts, grey pants, and black beanie hats. Both of them were also scruffy, with stubble visible on their faces. In addition, they were both armed with red crowbars, which clearly showed they were not to be messed with. The key difference between these two was that the one on the right wore a grey jacket — which was open to show that he was still wearing that black and white striped prison shirt underneath — while the one on the left had the sleeves of his prison shirt ripped off — leaving his arms completely bare.
“Ladies, allow me to introduce you to Rocky and Mugsy,” said Sunset, gesturing to the jacketed crook, then the sleeveless crook.
Rocky? Mugsy? thought Twilight as those names sounded rather familiar to her. It took a little bit of time, but she soon gasped as she realized what these two crooks had done two days ago. “They’re the ones who found my crown when it fell into this world!” she exclaimed in shock. She turned to her team and explained, “Before Sunset attacked the police station, Flash Sentry told me that he had taken my crown from them while arresting them yet again.”
“Consider it dumb luck,” explained Sunset. “I could’ve demanded that they hand that crown over to me, but by the time I found out they had gotten it, they were already back in jail. So not only did I have to call in some extra help to take back what should be mine, I also had to break these two out for the umpteenth time!”
“So you’re the one who keeps breaking them out of jail!” exclaimed Spike. Despite the shocking revelation, there was still one thing about it that confused him, so he asked, “But why go with a couple of brick-heads like them?”
“Because nobody would suspect that I would wanna work with such incompetent crooks,” explained Sunset, “and I can easily manipulate them to do anything I say.” She shrugged as she added, “Mostly because I promised to give them all of the spoils of my past crimes. Five years’ worth of robbing banks sure does provide a nice profit.” She then turned her attention to the two crooks below and said, “You know your orders, boys.”
“Yeah!” said Rocky, the jacketed crook who spoke with a gravelly gangster voice. “We ain’t gonna let these sissies pass! Right, Mugsy?”
“You said it, Rocky!” responded Mugsy, the sleeveless crook who spoke with a deeper dim-witted voice. He chuckled for a few seconds, but then stopped and mumbled in confusion before asking, “Which sissies are we stopping?”
“All the ones right in front of us, you dummy!” answered Rocky irritably, pointing his crowbar at Twilight’s team.
“Hey, I was just asking!” responded Mugsy.
“Well it was a dumb question!” retorted Rocky. “Even a brainless monkey could’ve figured it out!”
“Hey, are you calling me stupid?” asked Mugsy, getting agitated.
“How can anyone not call ya that!” answered Rocky. “You’re practically the definition of stupid!”
“Well maybe that should change!” retorted Mugsy as he threateningly held up his crowbar.
Their pointless argument was immediately stopped by Sunset Shimmer, who pulled out a megaphone from behind her back and activated the air-horn feature. The loud honk startled everyone — except Sunset, of course. “That’s enough!” exclaimed Sunset in frustration. “Focus on your job!”
Rocky and Mugsy grumbled to themselves and turned back to face the assembled team in front of them.
Twilight turned away from the rock to face her team and to make sure that Sunset and the two crooks wouldn’t see her making a plan. She whispered to her team, “We’re running out of time! We gotta get my crown out of her hands before it’s too late!”
“What ‘we’?” retorted Applejack, also whispering. “That’s your crown. You get it!”
Twilight was upset that her team was still bitter about finding out why she had originally chosen them to help her, but there was no time to argue, so she sighed and quietly responded, “Fine, I’ll get it myself. But I’m gonna need a diversion.”
“Say no more,” whispered Rainbow Dash in response. She quickly turned away from the group to face Sunset and the two crooks. “Come and get me you goons!” she shouted tauntingly. She then charged forward while shouting out a loud battle cry.
The result was almost predictable. When Rainbow Dash reached the crooks, Rocky dropped his crowbar and caught the charging minifig. After spinning around once from the momentum of her charge, Rocky held Rainbow by her arms, holding them behind her back and leaving her facing the other crook. “Have at her, Mugsy!” said Rocky menacingly as he grinned wickedly.
“Okay, Rocky!” responded Mugsy happily before laughing in excitement. He raised his crowbar over his head and swung it forward.
Rainbow Dash reacted quickly by ducking her head down just enough so that the crowbar struck Rocky on the head instead of her.
“Ow!” shouted Rocky as he held the top of his head in pain. This caused him to lose his hold on Rainbow Dash, who then stumbled away to rejoin the team. “You moron!” shouted Rocky furiously as he picked up his crowbar and struck Mugsy across the face, causing his head to rapidly spin around.
“Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoawhoa—” said Mugsy as his head spun around. He finally made it stop by bringing his free hand up to the side of his head. His eyes spun around from the dizziness. He then shook he head to clear himself from his dazed state before glaring at Rocky and exclaiming, “Hey, that wasn’t very nice!”
“There’s plenty more where that came from!” shouted Rocky as he threateningly gripped his crowbar with both hands.
“Bring it on!” shouted Mugsy in response as he did likewise.
“Cut it out, you brick-heads!” exclaimed Sunset Shimmer in frustration. She then threateningly waved the megaphone in her right hand as she added, “Don’t make me have to use this thing again!”
Rocky and Mugsy grumbled to themselves and turned back to face the assembled team in front of them again.
Mugsy then got another confused look on his face. He turned to Rocky and asked, “Hey, uh, how many sissies were we supposed to hold off?”
“We were told there’d be seven,” answered Rocky as he rolled his eyes.
Mugsy pointed his crowbar forward as he counted the team members that stood before them. Once he finished counting, he said, “I count only five.”
“Wait, what!?” exclaimed Rocky as he did a double-take at the team. Sure enough, there were only five minifigs standing there. The other two — Twilight Sparkle and Spike — were nowhere to be found.
“Hey! Where’d they go!?” exclaimed Rocky as he started looking around the area in panic.
“What happened to them!?” exclaimed Mugsy as he also did the same.
“How’d they slip away from us!?”
“Helloooo!?”
“How could we let this happen!?”
“Come out come out wherever you are!”
Sunset Shimmer tucked her megaphone under her left arm to free up a hand so she could facepalm. “Why do I even bother with those two?” she muttered in frustration. As she lowered her hand from her face, she glanced down to the crown in her hand and saw another hand trying to reach up to grab it. She responded quickly by grabbing her megaphone and shouting through it, “DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!”
The one who had tried to grab the crown was Spike. The noise from the megaphone was so intense that he was actually sent flipping backwards though the air — screaming the whole way back — before hitting the ground.
Sunset turned to the bumbling crooks and ordered, “Throw him back!”
“We’re on it!” Rocky quickly responded while running.
“Okay!” Mugsy quickly responded simultaneously while also running.
The two crooks ran over to Spike, but collided face-to-face. They stumbled around for a few seconds, then shook off the impact before they each gabbed Spike by his arms.
“Watch him fly!” said Rocky excitedly as they swung Spike once.
“Like a birdie!” added Mugsy excitedly as they swung Spike a second time.
At the third swing, they let go of Spike, sending him flying back towards the team and crashing into them, sending them all sprawling across the ground.
Sunset was satisfied that one of the missing team members was found and thrown back, but she was also concerned about the other missing minifig. Especially considering that, out of anyone, it had to be Twilight Sparkle. I wonder where she went, pondered Sunset.
Meanwhile, Twilight carefully climbed up the back side of the big rock. With possibly less than a minute left, this was almost certainly going to be her only chance to take back her crown. All she had to do was sneak up behind Sunset, snatch the crown out of her hand, and then run like mad. She would figure out the rest later, but right now, she had to get that crown back. Moving as quietly as she could, she reached the top of the rock. Neither Sunset nor the crooks noticed her, so she immediately reached up for her crown.
A blinding light suddenly flashed from the magic crown. This startled Twilight enough to make her yelp, which gave away her position.
Sunset Shimmer also noticed the flash of light. She glanced back to see Twilight had been trying to sneak up behind her, but more important was the crown itself. It was no longer greyed-out, but now had regained its brilliant gold color, along with the magenta color of the Element of Magic embedded in it. Sunset smirked as she realized what this meant.
“Oh, look. Time’s up,” said Sunset mockingly to Twilight. She then threw her megaphone at Twilight, which struck her on the head and made her fall backwards off the rock and to the ground below.
Sunset turned back to face the rest of Twilight’s team and declared, “Now, ladies, allow me to show you what real power is like!” With nothing left to stop her, Sunset Shimmer placed the crown on top of her head.
At first, nothing happened. But then, rings of cyan light quickly began to completely surround Sunset Shimmer before suddenly exploding into a brilliant and endlessly high column. As a strong wind began to rush away from the epicenter, Twilight, her teammates, and even the two crooks were forced the shield their eyes from the blindingly bright pillar of light.
Barely visible within the pillar of black and cyan light was the silhouette of Sunset Shimmer slowly rising up from where she had stood. It was very difficult for anyone to see what was going on inside, but the changing shape of her shadow showed that the magic crown was altering her body.
Finally, the pillar of light vanished, revealing the new Sunset Shimmer for all to see. Her skin was now bright red, as seen on her head, arms, and most of her legs. The lower half of her legs was black. Her hair piece still had the same red and yellow colors, but was now shaped like some kind of flame. Her torso and skirt now matched the same colors as her hair, except the skirt seemed to have some kind of tail-like extension on the back. Perhaps the most startling change of all was an additional piece — attached around the neck and extended over her back — that gave her bat-like wings, which were already flapping to keep her hovering up in the air. In short, she was still a Lego minifig, but she had just been transformed from a regular person into some kind of horrible demon.
Sunset Shimmer took a moment to note her new appearance, then cackled like a real psycho.
Twilight’s team gasped in shock at seeing Sunset’s terrifying new form. Spike was so shocked that he yelped and leaped into Rarity’s arms. When he quickly realized he had done this, he turned to Rarity and grinned as he chuckled nervously.
Rarity had an unamused expression on her face as she flatly said, “Really, Spike, this is starting to get very old.” She then carelessly dropped Spike on the ground.
Sunset flexed her hands, ready to see what her newly acquired powers could do. She started by firing a cyan-colored beam of energy off into the distance, blasting Pinkie Pie’s car to pieces. The forest was not quite thick enough to hide this demonstration of power from her audience, which suited her just fine.
“Aww,” moaned Pinkie Pie sadly. “I just built that car.”
As a cyan glow of magic enveloped her hands, Sunset levitated all of the Lego pieces up and brought them directly over the cowering team. With only a little force of will, she then morphed many of the pieces into entirely different kinds of pieces.
“How’s that even possible!?” exclaimed Applejack in disbelief.
Using only a few slight and quick hand movements, Sunset quickly began assembling all of the pieces together. In only a matter of seconds, the levitating mass of pieces had now become a large cage with an open bottom. With the creation complete, she then slammed it down onto the ground, effectively trapping the six minifigs inside.
Rainbow Dash gripped the bars of the cage as she glared up at Sunset Shimmer and grumbled, “So this is how you plan to take over the Lego World, isn’t it?”
Sunset simply cackled before responding, “Please! I don’t want the pathetic little world of plastic building blocks. I want Equestria!” She gestured in the direction of Canterlot City as she continued, “And with an entire city at my mercy, I’ll soon have all of the recruits I need to make it happen! Once every citizen has been enslaved under my total control, I shall march them through the portal. Against my army of thousands, Equestria will never stand a chance!”
“No!” said Twilight defiantly as she stood up with determination. “I will not let that happen!”
After turning around to face Twilight, Sunset simply laughed before retorting, “Are you really that mistaken? I now hold the Element of Magic. I have all of its powers, and you have none!” Her right hand glowed as she used her powers to telekinetically lift Twilight off the ground and over the treetops.
Sunset showed no mercy as she tightened her magic grip around Twilight, causing her to grunt in pain. Once she was satisfied that the message had been made clear, Sunset shouted, “Away with you!” She thrust her arm forward, releasing Twilight from her magical grip and sending her flying away over the trees and far out of sight.
“Twilight!” shouted Spike as he and the rest of the team could do nothing but watch helplessly as she was flung away screaming.
With that pest taken care of, Sunset Shimmer now turned her attention to the only other minifigs left in the area: Rocky and Mugsy. “You two!” she shouted, pointing down at them.
Rocky and Mugsy whimpered and shivered as they each fearfully held their crowbars close to their bodies like they were some kind of security blankets.
“Stay here for the entire night and make sure they don’t escape!” ordered Sunset, gesturing to the cage containing Twilight’s team. “After that, well… feel free to do whatever you want, because by then, it’ll be far too late for anyone to stop me.”
The two crooks responded by standing at attention and saluting like soldiers.
“Good,” said Sunset Shimmer contently. She turned towards the horizon in the direction of the city and smugly said, “And now, to begin my conquest!”
Sunset prepared to fly away, but before she could leave, Rocky shouted, “Hey! Ain’t you forgetting something!?”
Sunset turned back to the two crooks and quickly figured out what Rocky was mentioning. She sighed in frustration and muttered, “Fine.” With more arm and hand movements, she telekinetically overturned the big rock, then lifted up large sacks that had been buried underneath it. “Here. Take your stupid loot!” She then threw the sacks to the ground in front of the crooks. The contents that spilled out consisted of green dollar bills, gold coins, and gemstones of various colors.
As the two crooks excitedly ran over to the piles of loot, Mugsy laughed and exclaimed, “Check it out, Rocky!”
“Yeah! Money money money money money money!” shouted Rocky excitedly as he waved around a pair of one hundred dollar bills in his hands. He and Mugsy continued to laugh as they looked over the incredible loot that was now all theirs.
“Just remember what you are supposed to do!” shouted Sunset Shimmer impatiently at the two crooks.
“Yeah, yeah, we got it!” responded Rocky.
“Okay, boss!” responded Mugsy.
“Good!” said Sunset in satisfaction. She then calmly stated, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go build myself an army.” She turned away and quickly flew off towards Canterlot City.
Rocky and Mugsy both watched Sunset Shimmer fly away on her quest for total domination of Equestria. Once she was out of sight, they turned to each other and grinned before quickly turning their attention back to the piles of loot. They were both giggling and running their hands through the loot like kids with candy.
As the two incompetent crooks continued to celebrate, the prisoners within the cage could do nothing but silently sit down in defeat. This cage was pretty solid, and it was highly unlikely that Sunset would have left any weak spots to exploit.
Spike gripped the bars again as he helplessly looked back in the direction that Twilight had been flung away.
Twilight continued to scream as she flew backwards through the air at high speed. Eventually, gravity brought her back down to the tree line, and it was only a matter of time before she finally struck one of the trees. The impact completely shattered her body, sending all of her pieces flying apart.
Once all of the pieces of Twilight Sparkle finished raining down, her head — which had landed on its side — slowly looked around. Remarkably, the impact had not extinguished her Creation Spark — Lego terms which meant that she was still alive. However, in her current condition, there was absolutely no way she could reassemble all of her pieces on her own. No two pieces of her body had remained together.
Twilight sighed as she sadly closed her eyes. Her chances of success now seemed completely hopeless! Sunset Shimmer had become incredibly powerful and was on her way to attacking Canterlot City, the team was locked up inside a very strong cage that was being guarded by a pair of crooks, and Twilight herself had fallen completely to pieces and couldn’t even move at all.
Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria had failed.
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That was certainly not the direction I expected it to go, but it's pretty damn awesome. Can't wait for next chapter.
All that stands between Sunset Shimmer and world domination is Flash Sentry at the park. But somehow I know Twilight and the girls are gonna find a way out of their predicament in time to save the day.
i'm getting a ninjago vibe from this which is cool
4633419 Oh Ninjago, a Lego Brand popular enough to get its own t.v. series. I remember how badly I wanted a third season, only to find out that things changed for the worse in said third season. I certainly learned the lesson of "Be Careful What You Wish For" the hard way.
Calling it right now: Flash Sentry makes a surprise appearance next chapter and saves the day. Since obviously Twilight can't do it.
Also, I love how you snuck in the Lego Movie again. I need to buy that DVD.
Rocky and Mugsy are two boneheads just like their Clutch Powers counterparts. Get it?
<Insert cricket chirp here> I hate my own puns sometimes… 
4634572 As much as I'd love to watch that series, I have unfortunately been yet unable to find the time to try to watch it. So far, I've only managed to see two and a half episodes, only because they just happened to be on TV at certain times. I feel like that watching the Ninjago series can give me a few good ideas, so I'll have to see if I can ever get the opportunity to watch that whole series.
4635903 I will not confirm nor deny Flash Sentry's role in the next chapter. You'll just have to wait and see.
And yes, I'm still throwing in Lego Movie references wherever I can.
4638992 Don't feel bad. Like I said in my previous comment, puns are a very common part of Lego humor, so it's no big deal. But yes, Skelly and Bones were the original inspiration. I just decided to come up with entirely different characters who would fit more easily into the city theme, and crooks/robbers were the perfect choice for the role of two incompetent minions.
4642083 I never read your previous comment, and when you mentioned how they would literally offer a hand, I looked at Takua in your profile pic and thought to myself, 'That sentence sounds like a certain profile pic.' I can't be the only one who thought that.
I've only recently watched Cluch Powers and as I did I recognized quite a few elements of your story (that I had read so far) and thought it was really sweet!