• Published 1st Feb 2016
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LEGO Equestria Girls 3 - Chronicler06



In the Lego World, Sunset Shimmer and her team of friends find themselves battling against a group of Shadowbolt agents. A group that includes the Lego World's Twilight Sparkle.

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The Magic Unleashed

Chapter 12
The Magic Unleashed

“Hurry, everyone!” exclaimed Twilight Sparkle fearfully. “We’ve gotta keep moving!”

The scene inside her no-longer-secret base was chaotic. All seven minifigs who resided here were frantically packing up everything that wasn’t nailed down and moved it into the gateway room. Now that the LEGO Team knew the location of this base, the Shadowbolt agents knew they had to completely move out of the facility before their enemy could reach them.

On the opposite end of this huge room from the Jump-Gate was the only traditional entrance into the underground base, which was a massive retractable wall built into the side of the mountain. With only a single escape pod parked behind this door, this was intended only as an emergency escape. However, the situation was not yet that dire, so Twilight intended to once again use the Jump-Gate itself to make their escape.

Sunny Flare set down another box and wiped her brow. As Twilight passed by to check the contents, Sunny asked, “Any idea where we’re going?”

As she kept inspecting the cargo, Twilight quickly replied, “So far, I’ve narrowed it down to three options: Lego Island, Ninjago City, or Middle Zealand.”

As Lemon Zest passed by and stacked one box on top of another, she asked, “Why don’t we just go to some place out in the Space Region, like Mars? They’ll never find us way out there.”

“I’ve already been to Mars,” said Twilight dismissively. “I stayed there for only a month before some Martians stumbled across my base and I had to move out.” She then ran off to check on some other supplies.

Sugarcoat set down another box on the floor as Spike entered the room while carrying yet another heavy box. She turned to him and asked, “Is moving day with Twilight always this hectic?”

Spike huffed as he set his box on top of the one Sugarcoat had just set down, then mumbled, “Unfortunately, yes.”

Indigo Zap entered the room with a pair of boxes on a dolly. She pushed the dolly ahead with one hand, while the other held an icepack against her head. She set down the dolly and turned around, only to suddenly get smacked in the head by another box being carried by Sour Sweet. She grunted in pain as she now held both hands against her head and grumbled, “Why does this keep happening to me?”

Sour Sweet spun her head to her sour face and rolled her eyes as she grumbled, “Maybe if you weren’t always so reckless, you could avoid more than half of all the injuries you keep causing, both to others and to yourself.”

Meanwhile, Twilight closed another box and checked off another item on her checklist. She swiftly pulled out her phone to check the time, then sighed in exasperation. “We’re barely staying on schedule at this rate,” she mumbled as she put away her phone. She glanced over at the Jump-Gate and exclaimed, “Spike! I need you to set up the detonation charge!”

“I’m on it!” acknowledged Spike as he handed the next box in his hands over to the nearest person — who happened to be Sunny Flare — and ran off to the opposite side of the room.

Sunny Flare glanced over at Spike as he left, then turned to Twilight and asked, “Detonation charge? Are you planning to blow something up?”

Twilight continued checking through the packed boxes as she explained, “After we’ve moved everything through the Jump-Gate to the site of my new base of operations, I’ll need to trigger a time bomb so that, once this place is absolutely deserted, it’ll completely destroy the Jump-Gate. Keep in mind, this technology is exclusive to the Shadowbolts, and the last thing we want is for our enemies to find out about it.”

As Lemon Zest passed by with yet another box, she asked, “But how will we get around without a Jump-Gate?!”

“I can always build a new one,” replied Twilight. “I’ve done it before with all of my previous relocations. Besides, I am the one who invented it, so I should have the new Jump-Gate up and running in no time.”

As the six Shadowbolt agents continued to rapidly move all of their possessions into the room, Spike ran along the wall to the side until he reached a small door marked with a red warning sticker. He pulled out a key and prepared to unlock that door, but then the large steel doors of a Jump-Gate suddenly materialized over the wall, right in front of that door Spike was about to open, forcing him to yelp and jump back. Seconds later, the Jump-Gate doors parted open, and on the other side, inside another Shadowbolts base, stood Abacus Cinch herself, with a serious frown on her face and hands clasped behind her back.

Spike stood speechless for a moment, shocked to suddenly find himself standing face to face with the leader of the Shadowbolts. He then slowly turned his head to the right and called out, “Uh, Twilight! Girls! You’d better come over here!”

All six Shadowbolt agents quickly dropped what they were doing and ran over to Spike, and all of them were just as stunned to see the sudden arrival of their leader.

“Miss Cinch?” asked Sunny Flare in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

“I have much to discuss with all of you,” answered Cinch as she adjusted her glasses, “but mostly with Twilight.”

Twilight had no idea how to respond to that. Fearing what may be on Cinch’s mind, Twilight decided to use the one legitimate excuse she had to delay the inevitable. “But Miss Cinch,” she desperately pleaded, “the LEGO Team just discovered the location of this base! I need to get everything moved out to a new secret location before they arrive!”

“That can wait,” responded Cinch dismissively. “Right now, I must ask you and your teammates to step inside. This discussion could be vital to the future of our organization, as well as your own personal future.”

“Seriously?” asked Sugarcoat as she folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. “We’re in the middle of trying to escape from a location that our enemies are now fully aware of, and if we don’t move quickly enough, then the LEGO team will show up and there’s no telling what kind of setbacks we could suffer as a result.”

“Yeah,” agreed Lemon Zest. “They could steal our stuff, or they could steal top secret information, or worse, they could capture and interrogate us!”

“I honestly doubt your situation could be that dire,” rebuffed Cinch. “Every time Twilight had moved to a new location, I would always assign an agent to observe the old location for a few days following the move, and not once have I heard of any unwanted attention showing up.”

“I was only taking precautions,” argued Twilight. “This time is different! This time, it’s a real emergency!”

“I don’t have time to argue over this,” Cinch shot back. “I have given you all a direct order, and I expect you all to follow them.” She turned to the side and gestured back to the room she stood inside. “Into my facility. Now.”

Twilight really wanted to insist that her emergency move was the highest priority at this time, but she knew there were times when there was simply no point in arguing with Cinch. She lowered her head and let out a sigh of defeat. She turned back to Spike and said, “Spike, proceed without us. We’ll be back as soon as we can.” She then began to remove the device she still had hanging around her neck.

“Bring that with you, Twilight,” Cinch suddenly spoke up. As Twilight gazed at her in astonishment, she added, “I am well aware that it is much more than just an accessory.”

Once again, Twilight had no idea what to say. She had been very careful to keep her latest research project an absolute secret, and yet, Cinch had somehow found out about it. Clearly, the upcoming discussion was going to be very serious indeed. With a reluctant sigh, she left her device hanging from her neck and nodded. She then walked through Cinch’s Jump-Gate, followed by her teammates.

Once all six Shadowbolt agents had stepped through, Cinch’s Jump-Gate closed and then faded away from the room. Left alone in Twilight’s base, Spike sighed and turned away. So much for finally getting some extra help around here, he thought bitterly.


Halfway down the side of Canterlot Mountain, the six girls of the local LEGO Team were slowly walking through one of the train tunnels. They had ridden the train most of the way down and asked the conductor to stop and let them off just outside the tunnel before resuming the rest of the journey into town. Now the girls had only one hour to search the tunnel before the train would return, so with flashlights in hand, they all wasted no time searching every surface of the tunnel.

After many minutes of seeing nothing but bare rock, Sunset Shimmer eventually found a large ventilation grate in the middle of one of the walls of the tunnel. “Found it!” she called out. As all of her friends rushed over, she put away her flashlight, grabbed onto the grate, pulled it off its frame, and then set it down off to the side.

Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie shined their flashlights down the ventilation shaft, but were unable to see where it led. As everyone looked inside with varying levels of doubt, Fluttershy asked, “So, um… do we just slide down or… or what?”

Pinkie Pie smiled as she stuffed her flashlight into her hair and excitedly remarked, “Sounds good to me!” She dove head-first down the shaft and squealed with joy.

“Pinkie! Wait!” shouted Rainbow Dash, but it was already too late. As she put away her flashlight, she sighed in frustration and grumbled, “So much for a stealthy entrance.” She then dove head-first into the shaft and slid down after Pinkie.

Applejack simply shrugged and said, “Well, no turnin’ back now.” She then climbed into the shaft and began to slide down feet-first.

Rarity groaned before she turned to Sunset and asked, “Must we?”

“We all agreed to use this as our entrance,” replied Sunset, “and since time isn’t on our side, we really don’t have any choice.”

Rarity let out a sigh of disappointment before she reluctantly climbed into the shaft. As she began to slide down, she couldn’t hold back a scream of terror.

Fluttershy nervously glanced back at Sunset Shimmer, who simply smiled and calmly assured her, “Don’t worry, I’ll be right behind you.”

Fluttershy turned back to the dark and seemingly bottomless shaft and gulped. She cautiously climbed inside and soon began to slide down, though not without a scream of terror all the way down.

Finally, Sunset Shimmer picked up the grate, climbed into the shaft, and pulled the grate back into place before sliding the down the shaft after her friends. The slide down started off shallow, but then quickly turned steeply downward, causing her to slide down very rapidly. After only a matter of seconds, the shaft quickly leveled off and Sunset soon found herself shooting out into a small room, bouncing off a bed, and then colliding into the far wall and landing on top of where all of her friends had piled up.

As all six girls carefully untangled themselves from the pile, Rainbow Dash grumbled, “Well that could’ve gone better.”

“It also could’ve gone a whole lot worse,” Applejack pointed out. “We ain’t exactly bein’ attacked by the Shadowbolts right away.”

Everyone glanced around the room and noticed that, aside from five beds in various states of neat or messy, it was completely empty.

“Hmm, I suppose that’s a fair point,” noted Rarity.

“But just because this room’s empty doesn’t mean we should let our guard down,” argued Rainbow Dash.

“Rainbow Dash is right,” said Sunset. “We’re now inside Twilight’s secret base, so we need to stay on alert.” She reached for the only door out of the room, turned back to her friends and silently gestured for them to be quiet, then she slowly open the door. She peeked her head through the doorway and glanced around, only to see an empty hallway with seven other doors. She turned back to her friends and whispered, “Hallway’s clear. Let’s check every room.”

The six girls quietly made their way out of the room and each picked a door to check behind.

Sunset Shimmer took the door at the end of the hallway immediately to the right of the room they came from. The room inside was notably larger than the first one, and although it was mostly empty, there were also plenty of boxes full of what appeared to be lab equipment. If this is supposed to be the lab, she thought, then I guess this room would’ve been much more packed with equipment just hours ago.

Although Twilight had clearly done some work to pack up and prepare to move, it was also obvious that such efforts had not yet been completed, which gave Sunset hope that they were not too late to catch Twilight. As she continued to glance around the large room, Sunset soon noticed a large board on the wall that had various pictures and diagrams posted on it. Upon a closer look, she realized that all of these pictures showed her and all of her friends, and all of the supplemental material related to all the places they had visited, with the most prominent of them being a map of Canterlot City with a specific site in City Park circled in red. Wow, thought Sunset in astonishment. Twilight really has been watching us for a long time.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy took the door directly across the hall from the one they had come from and found a partially divided bedroom with two separate beds, but the room was otherwise completely empty. Rarity took the door to the left of that and found a bathroom with all of the fixtures still in place, but virtually all of the additional essentials had already been removed. Pinkie Pie took the door to the far left and found a kitchen with the table and chairs still in place, some empty coolers near the refrigerator, and some boxes only partially full of various tableware.

Along the side of the hallway of the room they came from, Applejack took the middle door and found a room full of various parts and pieces of damaged or destroyed electronic equipment, leaving her wondering why this particular room was left in such a terrible mess. Rainbow Dash took the door to the far right and found a room full of nothing but Lego bricks and pieces of all kinds imaginable.

It wasn’t long until all six girls had gathered in the middle of the hallway. “I think I found the laboratory,” reported Sunset, “but there was no sign of Twilight in there.”

“I didn’t see Twilight in the bedroom,” said Fluttershy.

“Nor was she in the washroom,” added Rarity.

“No Twilight in the kitchen and dining room,” added Pinkie Pie.

“All I found was a storage room for Lego bricks,” added Rainbow Dash.

“An’ Ah don’t know what Ah found, but Twilight sure ain’t in there,” added Applejack.

“Then I guess that leaves us with just one room left to check,” concluded Sunset. She and her friends immediately turned their attention to the last remaining door, at the opposite end of the hallway from the lab.

Sunset stepped up to the door first. She carefully opened the door, peeked her head through, and glanced around. The room beyond this door was far more massive than any other room in this facility, with a ceiling twice as high as the other rooms and a floor area roughly equal to all the other rooms put together. And most notably to her, there were dozens and dozens of boxes simply sitting in the middle of the room. The Informant had certainly been serious about how the Shadowbolt agents who lived here had been packing up everything and preparing to move. However, just like in all the other rooms, there was no sign of Twilight Sparkle — or anyone else for that matter.

Sunset cautiously stepped into the room and started checking behind every stack of boxes, fully expecting someone to jump out and ambush her. However, the more she looked, the more she realized this room appeared to be just as deserted as all the others.

It wasn’t long until the rest of the team followed Sunset into the room. Pinkie Pie glanced around and asked, “Where is everybody?”

“I’m not sure,” replied Sunset uneasily as she kept checking behind every possible hiding place.

“Maybe they already left,” suggested Fluttershy.

“Ah seriously doubt it,” argued Applejack. She gestured around the room as she continued, “Ah mean, just look at all this stuff they left behind. Ah really don’t think they’d go through all the trouble of packin’ up everythin’ only to just leave it all behind.”

“Perhaps they are out on some sort of scouting expedition,” suggested Rarity. “They may be searching for a suitable location for their new home base, and once they’ve found a proper site, then they will return to gather their belongings before departing for good.”

“So we can just wait for them to come back and ambush them again?” asked Rainbow Dash. She grinned and excitedly shouted, “Awesome!”

“There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” mumbled Sunset as she paced around the room in deep thought. “If the only ways in and out of this facility are some ventilation shafts and a very obvious doorway in the side of the mountain, how have Twilight and the other Shadowbolts been able to get around so quickly and remain undetectable?”

As the others pondered this question, Sunset glanced around the room again. She noticed the far end of the room had some sort of escape vehicle parked near a sloped wall, arguably indicating that this was the site of that mountainside exit. She then turned to the opposite side of the massive room and her gaze fell onto a rather odd structure. As she focused her attention on it, she realized that it appeared to be some kind of frame surrounding a rather familiar set of doors.

“Could it really be?” muttered Sunset as she slowly walked over to the structure.

The rest of the team soon noticed where Sunset was going. “What is it, Sunset?” asked Fluttershy.

Sunset stopped in front of the giant set of doors, then glanced over to her right and noticed some kind of large computer system attached to it. She walked over to it and, after a bit of hesitation, tapped the screen. The screen immediately turned on and displayed a list of some places, with “Pick-A-Brick” currently highlighted. She then glanced up and saw two large buttons: a green one labeled “Open”, and a red one labeled, “Emergency Close”.

“I think we just found that vanishing doorway,” Sunset finally answered. To test her hypothesis, she hit the green button. Everyone gasped as they heard a low whooshing noise come from the structure. It stopped after only a few seconds, and then the doors slowly parted open to the sides. Beyond these doors were the aisles of the Pick-A-Brick Distribution Warehouse.

Pinkie Pie walked up to the opened doorway, paused at the threshold, and then took a few steps forward. She was astonished to suddenly find herself in such a familiar yet very far away location. “Whoa…” she said slowly. “We were just here only a few hours ago.” As she glanced back, she was even more shocked to discover that, of all the sites inside that warehouse, the doorway had opened right in the exact same spot as where they had last seen Twilight and the other Shadowbolt agents make their escape.

Sunset gestured for Pinkie to come back though the gateway. Once the pink party girl was back inside the room with the others, Sunset decided to try the red button. The massive doors immediately slammed shut, startling everyone with just how sudden that had happened. After taking a few seconds to relax again, Sunset muttered, “I guess that explains how they made such quick escapes.”

Next, Sunset decided to scroll through the list of locations on the screen and as she searched through them, she couldn’t help but remark, “Wow… there sure are a lot of destinations on this list. Manehattan, Pharaoh’s Kingdom, Ashlar, Mars, Cloudsdale…”

“Cloudsdale?” asked Rainbow Dash in confusion. She turned to Sunset and said, “Try that one.”

Sunset selected Cloudsdale on the list, then hit the green button. Again, the mysterious doorway made a low whooshing noise for a few seconds, then the doors parted open. This time, the other side was revealed to be a narrow alleyway in a city of white structures with an open clear sky above.

Rainbow Dash stepped through the gateway and then ran down to the end of the alleyway. She took a moment to glance around at everything she could see, then returned to the gateway and stepped back into the room. “It really is Cloudsdale!” she said in astonishment. She then muttered under her breath, “So much for always being a top secret location.”

Sunset scrolled down the list further and soon found Canterlot City. She decided to select that one next and hit the green button. The doors closed slowly — possibly because she didn’t hit the red button this time — then the machine made its low whooshing noise again before the doors parted open again. This time, the destination on the other side was a particular alleyway Sunset was all too familiar with.

“Unbelievable…” muttered Sunset. “It’s the exact same alleyway that I chased Twilight into when I first encountered her.”

“Holy guacamole!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie. “It’s an instant doorway to any place in the universe!”

“Ah reckon this must be how the Shadowbolts have been able to appear an’ disappear so suddenly an’ without a trace,” Applejack speculated.

“If what we are seeing here is to be believed, then that is most certainly the most likely explanation,” agreed Rarity.

“It’s almost like that new feature we have on our spaceship that makes us go to places instantly,” noted Rainbow Dash. “Uh… what was it called again?”

“The Ion-Burst Relativity Jump Drive,” reminded Sunset.

“Yeah! That thing!” continued Rainbow Dash. “Except this one is built into a gateway instead of a spaceship.”

“They probably use this thing so often, they don’t even need a regular entrance into this base,” Fluttershy speculated.

“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Sunset. She then frowned as a rather odd thought occurred to her. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. This is definitely a key component of Shadowbolt activity, yet despite how obviously aware they were that we would be coming here, they have done nothing to hide this from us. How could they be so foolish to let us find out about this powerful gateway?”

It was definitely a very peculiar and rather unsettling question. None of the six girls could come up with a realistic answer, and if they were being honest with themselves, they doubted they even wanted to know about it.


Twilight Sparkle was seated at the end of the table in a conference room. Seated at the opposite end, at the head of the table, was Abacus Cinch, with the five other Shadowbolt agents seated along the sides of the table. To say that Twilight was nervous would have been a serious understatement.

Twilight subconsciously tugged at the device hanging from her neck — something that Cinch had just revealed she was well aware of — and nervously asked, “So, um… what is it that you wish to discuss?”

Cinch leaned back in her chair and touched her hands together. She remained silent at first and just stared coldly at Twilight before finally replying, “Let me be honest with you, Twilight. If you were simply any other agent, you would already have been terminated for not only a string of disappointing failures, but also for deliberately cutting off all forms of communication between us.”

“But that’s obviously not what you have done with Twilight,” Sunny Flare pointed out. “Why is that?”

“I am glad you asked, Sunny Flare,” responded Cinch, “because it is thanks your careful observations you noted in yesterday’s post-mission report.” She turned her attention back to Twilight. “I am not sure why you never informed me about the details of your latest research project, Twilight, but I must say, the results you have achieved thus far are quite… impressive.”

Twilight had been staring down at her lap in shame, but that final word from Cinch made her suddenly look up at her in shock. She hastily adjusted her glasses and asked, “Huh? W-w-what are you talking about?”

“You know very well what I mean,” replied Cinch. “You have been using that little device of yours to take away the magical powers that had made Sunset Shimmer and her team a force to be reckoned with. Thanks to your efforts, one of our greatest obstacles to ultimate domination has now been significantly softened. They are now no better than any other branch of the LEGO Team.”

“I-I’m afraid you misunderstand my intentions, Miss Cinch,” said Twilight uneasily. “You see, I designed this spectrometer type device to collect only minor samples of energy, not take away every trace of magic from these special girls.”

“Then I suppose this may simply be a case of a flawed design gone horribly wrong,” noted Cinch. She then smiled slyly. “Or rather in this case, horribly right. Either way, I am quite pleased with the results you have achieved, and that leaves me rather curious as to what you plan to do next.”

Twilight hesitated as she glanced down at her device. There was no way she could reveal her intentions to leave the Shadowbolts, so she had to word her responses carefully. She eventually turned her gaze back up to Cinch and replied, “Well, the next stage of my research project is to analyze the samples I’ve collected to better understand their properties. Unfortunately, my efforts up to this point have proven to be quite fruitless. Not even the most robust of scanners available could give me any conclusive data, and even my best theoretical work has only led to an unproven hypothesis that I might need all six samples in order to unlock the full potential of this magic.”

Cinch raised an eyebrow and asked, “And how many of these ‘samples’ do you have stored inside your device at this time?”

Twilight hesitated before she replied, “As of just a few hours ago… all six of them.”

Cinch smiled. “Then that means every member of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team is now without their magical powers. Well done indeed, Twilight.” She then got up out of her chair and began to slowly walk around the table. “But of course, why stop there? We all know that this is very strange magic that can do incredible things. Capturing and containing it is fine, Twilight, but have you ever considered… releasing it?”

Twilight glanced down at her device again and responded, “But I don’t even understand how it works.”

“But you’d like to,” stated Cinch as she now stood beside Twilight. “You have already tried to understand it through lab tests and theoretical work. It’s only logical that you should next attempt a field test.”

“I’m not so sure if that’s such a good idea,” said Twilight uneasily as she stared down at her device. “Part of me is actually concerned that all this magic might have turned this thing into some kind of giant bomb.”

“All the more reason to unleash it against our enemies,” argued Cinch. “After all, this magic is arguably one of the most powerful weapons the LEGO Team had at their disposal, and now that it is in our possession, we would be fools to not utilize it to our advantage.”

Twilight sighed and doubtfully muttered, “I don’t know…” Hoping for a second opinion, she turned to the other Shadowbolt agents seated at the table and asked, “What do you girls think?”

“I see no reason why you should have any doubts,” argued Sunny Flare. “If using this magic is what helps the LEGO Team be so successful, then why can’t we do the same?”

“Yeah, Twilight,” agreed Indigo Zap. “This is our enemies’ ultimate weapon! Let’s use it against them!”

“I dunno what it’ll do, but I bet it’ll be awesome!” added Lemon Zest. “Go for it!”

“As far as I’m concerned,” stated Sugarcoat, “the only thing that magic really does is give you enhanced Master Builder abilities in addition to pony ears and tails with the possible addition of wings or a horn, so I don’t see how releasing this magic could do anything worse than that.”

“I think it’s an excellent way to find out what that magic could do,” said Sour Sweet’s sweet face. She then switched to her sour face and added, “And if you do nothing, then you’ll never learn anything about it. Is that what you really want?”

As Twilight turned her attention back to Cinch, the leader of the Shadowbolts stated, “You see, Twilight, every Shadowbolt agent knows where our priorities lie. Whenever we obtain something that gives us the upper hand against the LEGO team, it is our obligation to immediately take full advantage of it. After all, you’ve done it before with many of your inventions. Why should this one be any different?”

Twilight glanced down at her device again, then gazed off to the side, unable to come up with anything to say in response.

“Let me put it this way,” continued Cinch. “If your use of this magic allows us to achieve our destiny, then once I have solidified my position as leader of the entire Lego World, I shall appoint you as my right-hand advisor, my second-in-command, the one person for whom everyone except me must bow down to and obey.”

Cinch placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder and smiled. “Think about it, Twilight. I am explicitly offering you a position of power that most Shadowbolt agents would tear each other to pieces to obtain. You would be free to pursue your every desire with practically unlimited resources. No curiosity of yours would be forever beyond your reach, because you would have all the funding and volunteers you would ever need to study anything in the universe. No longer would you be bound by instruction books, because you would be the one who is writing them. Under my authority, you would receive anything you could ever ask for without any questioning from our loyal subjects.”

Cinch removed her hand from Twilight’s shoulder and returned to a professional stance as she asked, “So tell me, Twilight… Will you use that magic to help us defeat the LEGO Team?”

Twilight took a moment to consider her options. Cinch had certainly given her a very tempting offer. Who wouldn’t want an opportunity to become the master of everything? She could already imagine how she would restructure societies across the Lego World to work more efficiently than ever before, and with the promise of virtually unlimited researching opportunities, the only limits to worldwide scientific progress and discovery would be her own imagination.

On the other hand, Twilight had to remind herself of the reality she was currently in. She was still a member of an underground group of secret agents, an organization that she had desired to abandon for years now. There was no guarantee that they would achieve their ultimate goal of overthrowing the LEGO Team, and there was even less certainty about whether the stolen magic would really help to accomplish that.

As she glanced down at her device yet again, Twilight saw its ring of lights turn on and appear to revolve around. Was this a sign that she should take the offer? As tempting as it was, it was little more than a mere fantasy at the moment, and she had some more serious priorities that needed to be taken care of as soon as possible.

Twilight sighed and finally replied, “I’ll need some time to consider this. For now, I really need to get back to moving to a new base of operations at once.”

Cinch nodded and said, “Very well, then. I’ll leave you and your team to resume your relocation efforts. But we cannot afford to waste much time, so I’ll expect a definitive answer by tomorrow morning. For now, you are all dismissed.”

Twilight nodded in acknowledgement and got up out of her seat, as did the rest of her team. As she entered her Jump-Gate code onto her wrist-mounted device, she was already brainstorming ideas on how she could leave the Shadowbolts under this new set of circumstances. She had to admit, Cinch’s suggestion of somehow utilizing the magic she had collected to her advantage did seem rather tempting, but since there was no telling what that could result in, she was not yet willing to take that kind of chance.

Twilight aimed her arm at a large empty wall in the conference room and tapped the final button. However, instead of opening her Jump-Gate, she heard a faint buzzer noise from her gadget, followed by nothing. Confused, she glanced down at her gadget and was shocked to discover which particular indicator was showing up. “‘Currently in use’?” she muttered to herself. “But that’s impossible! Unless… Oh no…” Her eyes widened in shock. She then spoke up to everyone, “My base has been infiltrated! They’ve already found us!”

Lemon Zest turned to Cinch and grumbled, “Told ya so.”

Sunny Flare spoke up, “Seeing as we’re unable to use our Jump-Gate, Miss Cinch, I’m afraid we’ll need to borrow yours.”

Cinch nodded and said, “In that case, I shall accompany you. I wish to take this opportunity to observe first-hand how you girls can deal with members of the LEGO Team, allowing me to objectively determine which of you are still excellent agents and which of you are in serious need of improvement.” As she spoke that final part, she casually took away Indigo Zap’s icepack and tossed it into a nearby trashcan.

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Sugarcoat. “If we really want to see what that stolen magic can do, then let’s have a demonstration against the intruders.”

“I-I’m not so sure about that,” said Twilight uneasily. “I mean, this is their magic that’s inside my device. Trying to release it in front of them could just… let it return to them and thus restore their lost abilities.”

“If that happens, then just steal it back,” Indigo Zap pointed out. “You’ve already done it once, so you could easily do it again.”

“I doubt it’ll be anywhere nearly as easy the second time around,” muttered Twilight under her breath.

“Regardless,” Cinch spoke up as she slowly walked past everyone, “I now find myself in agreement with your teammates, Twilight. After all, you did admit that you wish to understand how that magic works, and I believe a demonstration against our toughest opponents would be an excellent opportunity to see it in action.” She then opened the door, stepped aside, and gestured through the doorway. “Shall we?”

While the other Shadowbolt agents headed out of the conference room, Twilight hesitated for a moment. She still had some serious reservations against trying to weaponize the magical energy that she had almost no understanding of. But one hard look from Cinch was all it took to remind her that she really had no further say in the matter. With a reluctant sigh, she followed her teammates out of the conference room.


Inside the gateway room of Twilight’s base, the six girls of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team were still gathered around the Jump-Gate, which was currently opened to the Old West town of Appleloosa.

Sunset Shimmer continued to scroll further down the list of locations, but then suddenly stopped as one in particular caught her attention. “Whoa, whoa, wait… Is this one for real?” she asked incredulously as she selected the location in question.

“Only one way to find out,” replied Rainbow Dash. Without even glancing over to see which location had just been selected, she immediately hit the green “Open” button.

The doors slowly closed, the Jump-Gate made its low whooshing noise for a few seconds, and then the doors parted open again. The other side of the Jump-Gate was now a massive, dark, swirling vortex. The edges appeared to consist of storm clouds — evident when there was suddenly a boom of thunder and flash of lighting just moments after the gateway was opened. To the six girls now gawking at this sight, they simply couldn’t believe what they were seeing, yet there was no denying what it was.

“The Infinite Abyss of Nothingness,” whispered Pinkie Pie breathlessly.

“But that’s impossible!” argued Rarity. “It’s just a myth!” She paused and then uneasily asked, “Isn’t it?”

“Better start believin’ in it, ‘cause it’s right there in front of us,” remarked Applejack.

Rainbow Dash suddenly walked away, picked up the nearest Lego brick she could find, and then returned to the gateway with a white 1x4 plate in her hand. After only a brief moment of hesitation, she hurled the Lego brick through the gateway and into the seemingly endless vortex. The piece twirled around and appeared to shrink as it tumbled further and further down the abyss.

“I don’t think it ever ends,” noted Fluttershy worriedly.

“That’s… really freaky,” Rainbow slowly said.

Sunset glanced back over at the list of locations on the screen and asked, “Why would Twilight include something like this on her list of locations?”

“It was for one of my earlier research projects.”

The six girls were startled by that sudden voice and they all quickly turned around. Standing before them in the middle of the room was Twilight Sparkle and the other Shadowbolt agents. Off to the side, the doors of another Jump-Gate closed and vanished.

For a moment, there was nothing but a long and awkward silence between the two sides. Eventually, Pinkie Pie spread her arms wide and cheerfully shouted, “Surprise! We found your secret hideout!”

“We noticed,” Sugarcoat flatly stated.

As Sunset glanced across at the opposing side, she realized there was a seventh minifig standing behind them, and although she didn’t recognize the face, she had a good feeling she knew precisely who this was. She slowly stepped forward and said, “You must be Abacus Cinch, leader of the Shadowbolts. I gotta say, you must have a lot of guts to show your hideous face in our presence.”

“Petty insults,” Cinch coldly regarded as she removed her glasses and wiped them clean. “I should have expected no less from the likes of you, Miss Shimmer.” As she put her glasses back on, she added, “Quite a shame that you chose to side with the LEGO Team. You could have easily become one of my best agents.”

“In retrospect, I’m glad the old me chose to fly solo,” stated Sunset. “Ever since I changed my ways, my outlook on life has never been better, and I now know for a fact who are the good guys…” She smiled back to her friends. “…and who are the bad guys.” She glared ahead at Cinch.

“I believe you have made a rather poor decision,” rebuffed Cinch. “I and the rest of my Shadowbolt agents will soon triumph over all who oppose us, and there is nothing you can do to stop us.”

“You couldn’t be more wrong,” argued Sunset. “My friends and I have taken down supervillains before, and we can do it again.” She smugly continued, “Maybe I could even ask LEGO Maximum Security Prison to give you my old jail cell. I heard it’s right across the hall from where the Dazzlings are being held, and I’m sure they’ll provide some entertaining company.”

“Enough of this nonsense!” declared Cinch. “I have much that needs to get done in a minimal amount of time.” She smiled. “Thankfully, I now have just the right means to achieve my desired results.” She gestured over at Twilight. “Your own magical powers turned against you!”

All eyes in the room turned to Twilight Sparkle. The Shadowbolts behind her couldn’t see her face, but the LEGO Team in front of her did, and they could see that she was looking down at her feet, almost in sadness and defeat. To Sunset, it was now clear more than ever before that Twilight really was being forced into this situation against her will.

“Go ahead, Twilight,” Cinch egged on, making Twilight glace over to her. “Show them what this force of energy under our control can do.”

“Don’t listen to her, Twilight,” Sunset desperately argued, drawing Twilight’s attention to her. “Look, I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just had no idea what your intentions were, and now I see they’re actually not as bad as I feared. If you’re willing to forgive me, then you would be more than welcome to join me and my friends.”

“I think not!” Cinch shot back, regaining Twilight attention. “Twilight has been a loyal Shadowbolt agent for years, and therefore she knows exactly what she must do.” With fierce glares ahead at their enemies, the other Shadowbolt agents silently nodded in agreement.

“I know you’re better than this, Twilight,” pleaded Sunset, making Twilight turn back to her again. “We can help you. You don’t have to live in fear. Just come with us, and we’ll take care of you.” Behind Sunset, the rest of her friends smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Don’t let them get to you, Twilight,” insisted Cinch, once again getting Twilight’s attention. “Remember what I just promised you. They will never offer you anything that can even come close to that. Now do it, Twilight. Destroy them at once.”

Twilight shifted her gaze back and forth between the two sides a few more times, then grasped her still-glowing device and stared down at it. Both sides made convincing arguments, but she had no idea which one was worth taking. She had always wanted to leave the Shadowbolts, but the LEGO Team was all about working with others, something that Twilight still stubbornly refused to do. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she struggled to make her choice.

But then it occurred to Twilight that there was a possible third option she could take, and since neither of the other two options appealed to her, she felt that it was the only one worth taking. She took a deep breath, opened her eyes — which briefly flashed a bluish green glow in that instant — furrowed her brow, and firmly responded, “No.”

All twelve of the other minifigs in the room stared at Twilight in shock. “Excuse me, Twilight?” asked Cinch in complete disbelief. “I just gave you a direct order!”

“And why should I obey you?” Twilight fiercely stated. “You’re somehow convinced that you’re always in total control of everything around you. But whose hands are holding what you claim to be the ultimate power? My hands! Not yours, mine! That means I’m the one who gets to decide how to use this magic! You promised to make me the second most powerful person in the Lego World, but why settle for second when I hold enough power that I could just take it all for myself?! And guess what, Cinch? I never cared for your stupid philosophy! Not once! I only joined the Shadowbolts because you were the first ones who offered to get me out of the Castle Region and allow me to greatly expand my studies. I had always intended to one day leave the Shadowbolts, and with this powerful magic in my possession, I think that time has finally arrived. You were a fool to believe that you could somehow control me. You think you’ve been using me this whole time? News flash! I’m the one who’s been using you!”

Jaws dropped all around the room as both sides finally knew what Twilight’s true intentions among the Shadowbolts had been all along. The Shadowbolt side was shocked speechless, including their leader. Not once had any of them ever suspected that Twilight’s real thoughts of them could have been anything even close to that. And the LEGO Team side was shocked speechless to hear Twilight so vehemently denounce what was supposedly her own side. Remarkably, this actually provided them with a glimmer of hope, and some of the Canterlot City girls slowly began to smile.

Those smiles were instantly wiped away when Twilight snapped her attention towards the LEGO Team and continued ranting, “And don’t assume this automatically means I’ll be joining your side! Working together with others is practically a job requirement for the LEGO Team, and that’s something I will never embrace. It was never my intent to go out on missions with five other losers — I was forced into that situation! And let me tell you, it was one of the worst experiences of my entire life! Not since before I finally left the Castle Region had I ever felt so constantly frustrated! They kept getting in the way, making idiotic mistakes, and were just flat out crazy! All of that just reinforces the fact that I’m much better off on my own, so I don’t need to join forces with the likes of you.”

Twilight stood right between the two sides and glanced back and forth to each side as she firmly stated, “Now then, I’m only gonna say this one more time. I… work… alone.” She glared at the Showbolts. “Always have!” She glared at the LEGO Team. “Always will!” She carefully removed her special device from around her neck and grasped it in her hands. “And that is why I choose…” She swiftly turned the device around so that it would open up — and thus release all the contained magic — directly at herself. “…to forge my own path!”

“No! Don’t!” exclaimed Sunset fearfully as she immediately began to rush towards Twilight, but before she could take more than just one step, Twilight pulled her device open.

As soon as the device was fully opened, a blindingly bright flash engulfed the room and a powerful shockwave blasted outwards. Everyone but Twilight was thrown off their feet, all of the boxes were shoved up against the surrounding walls, and Twilight’s glasses were flung off her face and landed on the floor near the door to the changing rooms. And Twilight’s device, now completely empty of any magic, was flung away over the heads of the Canterlot girls and fell through the still-open Jump-Gate.

That bright flash of light quickly faded away, revealing that all of the magical energy had now taken the form of a gradually growing sphere that had already engulfed Twilight’s hands and was now lifting her up into the air. Everyone else in the room slowly stood up and looked on in horror. As the magical energy engulfed her arms and reached the rest of her body, Twilight let out a loud and painful scream, and then she was completely gone.

“What’s happening to her?” asked Rarity fearfully.

Sunset Shimmer gulped and muttered, “I fear it’s something I’m all too painfully familiar with.”

For the next few seconds, all anyone could do was watch the seemingly featureless sphere of glowing magical energy, not knowing what would happen next. Finally, the glowing sphere quickly faded away, revealing a now radically altered Twilight Sparkle. Her lavender skin had considerably darkened and her outfit had significantly changed. She now had magenta on her lower legs and lower arms, a bluish green glow around her feet, a magenta skirt around her upper legs with a long purple tail extending from the back, and purple on her torso with her shoulders left bare, and on the front of her torso near her neck was a magenta six-pointed star on some kind of necklace. She also now had a pair of long black feathered wings attached to her back. On her head, her violet and magenta hair piece now stood up as if it were a flame, a razor sharp horn made of bluish green energy had sprouted from her forehead, and some flickering bluish green energy surrounded her eyes in place of where her glasses used to be — all of this as part of one single piece on her head. Finally, she opened her eyes, revealing that they now glowed the same bluish green color as the energy surrounding them.

With her transformation complete, Twilight Sparkle — now known as Midnight Sparkle — began to speak. “Yes… I can see… I can see everything!” She cackled madly for a moment, then turned her gaze down towards Sunset Shimmer and said, “You were right! I didn’t understand magic before. But I do now!”

Her magical horn began to glow more brightly, and then she thrust her right arm forward, firing a large blast of magical energy at the wall over the Jump-Gate. After covering their eyes from the intense light, everyone looked at the impact site and saw that it had done more than just obliterate chunks of the wall. There was also now a tear in space, and through it they could see part of the town of Ponyville in the alternate world of Equestria.

“Equestria!” muttered Sunset in shock.

But Midnight Sparkle wasn’t stopping there. All around the walls and ceiling of the room, she fired off more blasts of magic, opening even more rifts to various places in Equestria. Some of these rifts even showed a few ponies on the other side — creatures unlike anything the minifigs of the Lego World could ever imagine.

As Midnight was busy opening dimensional rifts, everyone on both sides looked on in fear, many of them simply unable to comprehend just what was going on. Suddenly, the far wall of the emergency exit began to open. The five Shadowbolt agents glanced over and saw Cinch making her way over to the escape spacecraft without any hesitation.

“Hey!” Sunny Flare called out furiously. “Where are you going?!”

As Cinch climbed into the single seat of the only escape craft, she replied, “Anywhere to avoid that… monster! And I suggest you do the same!” She closed the craft’s canopy and started its engine, causing it to start hovering over the parking zone.

“COWARD!!” hollered Indigo Zap furiously as the escape craft then quickly took off out of the base and towards the skyline of Canterlot City.

Sugarcoat scoffed and grumbled, “Typical. The big bad villain always flees at the very first sign of their evil plans coming undone.”

“I don’t think so!” snapped Midnight Sparkle as she flew through the opened exit, stopping just immediately outside. “You wanted to see what this magic could do, so have a sample!” She fired another blast of magic, aiming her arm towards the fleeing leader of the Shadowbolts. The escape craft had a head start, but Midnight’s aim was spectacular. The powerful blast flew for quite a distance before it finally struck the craft, blowing it to pieces right over the city. With that pest taken care of, Midnight grinned.

“Twilight!” Sunset Shimmer suddenly called out. “Stop this madness!”

Midnight turned back to Sunset and the others and declared, “Twilight is no more! I am now Midnight Sparkle!”

Sunset briefly rolled her eyes before she exclaimed, “Whatever you’re calling yourself, you can’t do this!”

“Why not?!” Midnight shot back with a maniacal grin. “There’s a whole other world right there, and it’s just filled with magic!” She fired another magical blast onto the mountainside just over the exit, opening yet another rift to Equestria.

“But you’re destroying this world to get it!” argued Sunset.

“So what?!” exclaimed Midnight shamelessly with a smile. “There’s more magic there, and I want to understand it all!” She then more calmly added, “Besides, I can always rebuild this world. It is made out of Lego, after all!”

“You would be putting the lives of everyone in serious danger!” countered Sunset. “My friends and I can’t let you do that!”

Midnight simply smirked and responded, “I have a lot of important research to do, so I can’t allow you or anyone else to get in my way.” With only a fraction of her power, she then telekinetically pulled dozens of chunks off the side of the mountain, reshaped each stone fragment into Lego bricks, and then rapidly stacked them into a set of walls that completely enclosed all eleven minifigs in the room.

“Am I the only one who’s getting a sense of déjà vu right about now?” asked Pinkie Pie as the walls were quickly built higher and higher.

Finally, Midnight topped off the stone jail cell with a flat roof. Now the only way in and out was through a single door, which she quickly slammed shut and locked. Then she removed the key and melted it into slag. As far as she was concerned, there was now no way that any of these girls would ever get out.

Midnight Sparkle smiled in satisfaction, then turned away and muttered to herself, “Now then, where was I?” She glanced back into the room to take note of the progress she had made so far. “Not a bad start, but I’m gonna need a lot more space to work with if I want a decent amount of data.” She turned her attention out toward the skyline of Canterlot City off in the distance and grinned. “That city over there looks like a good place to proceed with my research. Not to mention, I could also use some practice with reshaping this world to my liking. But even with all this power, I’m gonna need some assistance.”

With her new magical powers, Midnight levitated a bunch of Lego parts out of her old storage closet and then assembled them into about half a dozen small robots. Each of these robots was a flying grey box with two mechanical arms, a single eye, and an antenna on top. “These self-replicating drones should give me plenty of reach over any region,” she proudly remarked. “And once I’ve gathered enough resources to create hundreds of them, their overwhelming numbers will ensure that nothing will stop me from getting what I want.”

As Midnight Sparkle flew towards Canterlot City with the first of her mechanical drones, she smugly declared, “Once I understand all there is to know about this otherworldly magic, then I can reshape both of these worlds to just the way I like them. Permanently!”

Author's Note:

I seem to be having some difficulty with writing new chapters these days, so it's a good thing I try my best to work ahead of schedule in case if I ever get stuck on something. Anyway, I'm sure you noticed this story gives Twilight a different reason for why she released the captured magic and turned into Midnight Sparkle than Friendship Games did. Keep in mind, this Twilight is not a meek schoolgirl, but rather an ambitious genius who always prefers to work alone. Oh, and for those of you wondering where Spike went, you'll find out soon enough.