To Crash a Party
Chapter 9
To Crash a Party
It was late afternoon in Lego City. While most of the citizens went about their typical lives on this clear day, a significant number of the more wealthy residents began to gather at the recently completed Rich Cultural Center near downtown. The owner of the new building, Filthy Rich, was hosting a gala in honor of Thomas Playwell for officially being chosen by his father Kjeld as his successor to one day become leader of the entire Lego World. In addition to Kjeld and Thomas, plenty of high class civilians were also invited. It was well and truly an exclusive gathering for the elite.
Understandably, there was also security posted around the building to ensure that only the invited guests would be permitted to enter. This included a guard shack beside the gate behind the building that was intended to allow trucks to deliver or pick up all kinds of cargo. Since there was a large event going on today, it was not unexpected when a large white truck slowly came up the street and gently came to a stop right in front of the gate.
The security guard inside the shack leaned out of the window, gave a hard look towards the truck driver, and firmly requested, “State your business.”
“Delivery!” responded the truck driver cheerfully with a nasally voice. He had medium nougat skin, wore a red shirt and a red baseball cap, and had glasses and a black mustache on his face.
“I’ll need to see some ID and paperwork,” stated the security guard.
The truck driver nodded, then turned away and gathered up the requested documents. He handed the paperwork over to the guard, then waited patiently as the guard carefully inspected every page of documentation.
After a few minutes, the guard finally handed the paperwork back to the driver and stated, “Everything looks good to me. You’re clear to enter.”
After retrieving and putting away the paperwork, the truck driver tipped his hat to the guard and contently said, “Thank you. Have a good evening.”
With the gate now opened, the driver pulled the truck into the backlot, turned it around, then backed it up towards one of the openings for the indoor loading dock. Once the truck was parked perfectly up against the loading dock, he shut off the engine, climbed out of the truck, and entered the building.
As the driver walked over to the part of the loading dock where his truck was parked, an employee was already standing in front of the truck’s rear door. “So what are ya haulin’ today?” asked the employee as he stared at the door.
“Nothing you need to worry about,” responded the truck driver, suddenly no longer speaking in such a nasally voice.
The employee raised an eyebrow in confusion and turned towards the driver, only to suddenly have a breathing mask pressed against his face. As soon as he took a single breath of the gases released by the attached canister, he instantly passed out and collapsed to the floor.
“Goodnight, buddy,” remarked the driver before he grasped the fallen employee and dragged him over to the nearest wall and left him sitting upright against that wall. With the only potential witness taken care of, the driver returned to his truck and opened the rear door.
Inside the truck were a random assortment of boxes and crates, and sitting amongst them were nine minifigs — Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, and Gloriosa Daisy. As the members of the group stood up and walked out of the truck, the driver took off his hat to expose his messy green hair and removed the glasses and false mustache, revealing himself to be the missing member of this group — Timber Spruce.
As Spike retrieved his red baseball cap and put it back on his bald head, Timber held up the false glasses and mustache as he said, “I must admit, I didn’t think the guard would actually fall for such a paper-thin disguise.”
“You’d be surprised by how foolish some guards can be,” remarked Sunset with a sly grin.
Timber glanced over at the fallen employee, then turned to Twilight with a concerned frown and asked, “Are you sure that guy’s gonna be alright?”
“He may have a headache when he wakes up in a few hours, but other than that, he’ll be okay,” assured Twilight. “Believe me, I’ve used this method more than once during my time as a Shadowbolt agent.”
“Personally, I’m more impressed by the skills Sunset was able to provide,” remarked Gloriosa. “I mean, that forged paperwork even had me fooled when I first saw it.”
“What can I say? I’ve still got it,” said Sunset smugly as she smiled and folded her arms. “Although it probably helped that this truck was already due to make a delivery to this building anyway, so it was really only a matter of replacing the real driver with one of us.”
“Who’d’ve thought that some guys would do anythin’ ya told ‘em to if ya just gave ‘em a box of donuts?” quipped Applejack with a shrug.
“Yeah, that was pretty easy, wasn’t it?” agreed Pinkie Pie. She suddenly turned towards the truck and muttered, “I wonder what’s in those boxes, anyway.”
Rainbow Dash pulled Pinkie away from the truck and grumbled, “Focus, Pinkie! We’ve got more important things to worry about.”
“Indeed,” agreed Rarity. “Now that we are no longer cooped up inside that stuffy delivery truck, we can now get changed into some proper attire in order to more effectively blend in with the patrons of this gala.” She turned to Spike and politely asked, “Spike, if you please?”
Spike just stared at Rarity with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds before he eventually responded, “Uh… what?”
“Must I emphasize myself?” asked Rarity. “I am politely asking you to retrieve all the sets of formal attire I had packed.” She paused briefly, then asked with concern, “You did remember to bring them into the truck with us, did you not?”
Spike facepalmed as he grumbled, “Ugh, really? This again?” Spike furrowed his brow and folded his arms as he glared at Rarity and continued, “Just because my name is Spike, you just assume that I’m going to obey your every command as if I was your personal slave?”
Rarity nervously glanced around as she awkwardly replied, “Well, now, I, uh, certainly never intended to imply that—”
“Well guess what?!” snapped Spike. “Twilight’s not the only one here who’s different from her Equestrian counterpart! I dunno what the other Spike sees in you, but I’m sure not seeing it! And if you seriously thought that I would ever treat you the same way he does, then you just blew all your chances of that ever happening! At this point, you’d be lucky if I even had anything nice to say to you at all!” He then turned away and huffed in frustration as he walked a few steps away.
Rarity was practically frozen in shock by Spike’s words. It had simply never occurred to her that her behavior could have come across so negatively, especially for someone she had blindly placed so much trust in. She eventually turned her gaze downward shamefully and let out a sad sigh.
Meanwhile, everyone else was at a complete loss of words for what had just occurred between the two people they had thought were at least good friends. After a moment of awkward silence, Pinkie Pie finally spoke up and simply said, “Wow… I did not see that one coming.”
Sunset sighed in frustration and rubbed her eyes before she grumbled, “Yeah, I figured something was gonna go wrong.” She removed her hand from her face and spoke up, “Well, at least the lack of proper outfits isn’t gonna ruin the whole plan. It just means that we’ll need to rethink what we’re gonna do next.”
“So what do you suggest?” asked Gloriosa.
“We’ll first need to talk this over with the reserve team member sent here by Celestia, who should be here any minute now,” replied Sunset.
“As in right this very minute.”
Everyone quickly turned around and saw that standing nearby was Flash Sentry, Canterlot City’s chief of police and a member of the reserve team of the LEGO Team’s Canterlot City branch, who was currently wearing his police uniform.
“Flash Sentry?” asked Sunset in mild surprise. “You’re the one Celestia asked to take her place at this event?”
“Of course she chose me,” replied Flash. “She sure wasn’t gonna go with someone with less experience, like that new guy Bulk Biceps.”
“Ah still can’t believe he even made it onto the reserve team,” said Applejack. “Ya’d think a guy like that would be better at breakin’ stuff than buildin’ ‘em.”
Flash chuckled and remarked, “You’d be surprised by some of his hobbies.” He turned to Sunset and asked, “So what do you need my help for?”
“Well, I’m not gonna name names since some feelings have already been hurt, but since we failed to bring formal outfits with us, our original plan of blending in with the crowd will have to be abandoned. We need a new plan on how to get into the party and find out what Filthy Rich is up to without him getting suspicious.”
Flash nodded and said, “Understandable.” He glanced across the group for a moment before he continued, “Okay, here’s the first thing I would recommend. Gloriosa? Timber?”
The sister and brother duo focused their attention on Flash.
“You two must not be seen in public at any costs,” explained the police officer.
Gloriosa and Timber glanced at each other in shock and quickly returned their attention to Flash. “What? Why?” asked Gloriosa in confusion. “We’re here for a very personal reason!”
“I agree,” added Timber, though not quite as agitated as his sister. “What’s the point of us being here with the Canterlot City team if we can’t do anything to help out?”
“I’m not saying you have to stay entirely out of this,” clarified Flash. “What I’m trying to emphasize is that we simply can’t afford to let Filthy Rich ever be aware that either of you are here. If he does, he’ll know for sure that you and the other party crashers here are up to something. The rest of this group is already famous for saving the Lego World more than once, so knowledge of their presence here might come across as weird or unusual, but probably not anything to get too suspicious about.”
Timber nodded and said, “I see your point.” He turned to his sister and asked, “What do you think?”
Gloriosa sigh in frustration, then after a brief pause turned to Flash and asked, “Is there a way we can listen in on Filthy Rich without being seen?”
“It won’t be easy, but I think I can make it possible,” answered Flash.
Gloriosa folded her arms and mumbled, “Then I suppose that’ll have to do.”
Flash nodded in acknowledgement, then turned to the rest of the group and said, “My second recommendation would be to find Kjeld and let him know as soon as possible that you girls are here. That way, if anything goes wrong, he’ll be able to use his influence to help you avoid getting into too much trouble. I’m not saying this will give you the right to go crazy and do whatever you want, but at least you won’t have to worry about security dragging you out of here just for showing up uninvited.”
Sunset nodded, then turned to her friends and said, “Okay, so the first thing we should do is find Kjeld, then once he gives us the okay to stay, we’ll just relax, mingle with the other guests, and gather any important information we can.”
“Works for me,” agreed Applejack with a shrug.
“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Rainbow Dash with a smile.
“I suppose that would be the best course of action under the given circumstances,” stated Rarity in agreement.
“Let’s party!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she jumped in excitement.
“Please try to control yourself, Pinkie,” warned Flash. “First of all, this gathering is nothing like the kind of parties you’re familiar with. And second, it could be very risky if you draw too much attention to yourself, at least before I can get Kjeld’s approval of you girls being here.”
“So as soon as we enter,” muttered Twilight, “we try to stay hidden at first, then once we receive confirmation of Kjeld permitting our presence here, then we can begin to discreetly gather information wherever we can.” She smiled and spoke up, “I think we can work with that.”
“Looks like we’re all in agreement, then,” stated Sunset.
Flash nodded before he turned to Gloriosa and Timber and said, “You two will need to wait here for a little while. Once I’ve made sure the rest of the group is settled into the crowd, I’ll come back and we can begin covertly observing Mister Rich.”
“Works for me,” agreed Timber with a shrug.
“Very well,” said Gloriosa with a sigh.
Flash turned to the rest of the group and said, “Everyone else, follow me and I’ll take you right to Kjeld.”
As Flash turned away and began walking, everyone except for Gloriosa and Timber followed after him.
The gathering inside the cultural center was high class in practically every way imaginable. There were a number of people wearing all kinds of fancy suits and dresses, slowly walking around and conversing calmly while they sipped expensive drinks from small glasses or sampled some of the hors d’oeuvres set out on some tables, complete with large ice sculptures. Throughout the building, all kinds of priceless works of art were on display, and atop a short platform in the middle of it all, a small band was playing some classical music.
In an isolated corner of one lower wing of the building, the Canterlot City LEGO Team waited not far from the backroom door they had just entered through. While it was good that they were in an area that most of the party guests were unlikely to notice much, it also meant that Flash had to leave them so he could find Kjeld and let him know they were there. Needless to say, some of them were handling the boredom not quite as well as others.
“This stinks,” grumbled Rainbow Dash as she idly kicked the wall.
“Quit complain’, Rainbow,” responded Applejack as she rested her back against the other wall in the corner. “We all agreed on this new plan.”
“But we’re just standing here doing nothing!” argued Rainbow. “I’d rather see some action right away.”
“Then I’m afraid you’ll have to show some patience, darling,” stated Rarity as she kept an eye out for any of the party guests who might notice them. “We must await word from Mister Sentry before we can be permitted to mingle.”
“Well I certainly can’t wait until we get the a-okay,” remarked Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “I’ve always wondered what these parties for rich people were really like.”
“Can we all please just keep quiet?” insisted Twilight.
“Try to relax, everyone,” requested Sunset calmly. “It shouldn’t take long for Flash to do his part.”
“How can I relax?” asked Twilight nervously. “Most us aren’t doing a good job of remaining inconspicuous, and there’s no telling what the consequences of crashing a high society gala could mean for us. What if we get very bad publicity for this? What if we get kicked off the LEGO Team for this? What if this means we have to leave the city and find some new region to live?”
“Twilight, get a hold of yourself!” Spike quietly exclaimed as he suddenly grasped Twilight by both arms. “You’re getting yourself worked up over small things again.”
Twilight took a deep breath and slowly exhaled before she replied, “Thanks, Spike. I’m glad I can count on you to help me cease my pointless rambling.”
Fluttershy smiled and remarked, “Wow, Spike, you sure calmed her down pretty quickly.”
“What can I say? I’ve got lots of experience,” Spike smugly said as he leaned his back against a nearby statue. But as soon as he began to lean on it, the brick-built white statue — which depicted a large figure sitting down on a rock in a thinking pose — toppled over, smashing to pieces as it crashed to the floor.
That loud noise and obvious destruction certainly ended up quickly drawing a lot of attention from everyone in the area. The guests in the area looked to the destroyed statue, then to the group partially hiding in the corner and looking quite out of place in such a gathering.
The group remained completely still and silent once they realized that everyone was now looking towards them. To say that this was a really awkward moment would have been a huge understatement.
Spike nervously chuckled and mumbled, “Uh… my bad.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll have it fixed up in a jiffy!” assured Pinkie Pie before she rushed towards the pile of white Lego parts and began quickly reassembling them. In only a matter of seconds, all of the parts had been rapidly rebuilt into a statue. “Ta-da! Better than new!” Pinkie presented cheerfully.
“Young lady, that is not what that statue is supposed to look like,” a female guest pointed out irritably.
Pinkie glanced at the rebuilt statue — which now depicted a large figure standing on a rock and flexing his muscles — then turned back to all the guests staring at her and said, “Well it didn’t come with any instructions, so I decided to get creative.”
Before anyone could say anything in response, two familiar minifigs arrived on the scene. The first was Flash Sentry, and the second was Kjeld Playwell. As Kjeld discovered the source of the commotion, he sighed and muttered, “You girls just can’t seem to avoid trouble for very long, can you?”
Rarity giggled nervously and said apologetically, “Terribly sorry for the faux pas we have committed in a number of ways. We had no intentions of causing any mischief, I can assure you. We were simply curious about this event that Celestia and Luna had apparently been invited to and wished to see it for ourselves.”
“We couldn’t exactly share Luna’s single invitation among all of us,” explained Sunset, “so that pretty much left us with the only option of… crashing the party.”
“A-are we gonna get in trouble for this?” asked Twilight hesitantly.
“There are far worse offenses to commit than simply crashing a party,” Kjeld pointed out. He leaned close to the team and quietly added, “Especially a party I’m not particularly fond of at this point.”
“See?” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. “I’m not the only one here who thinks this party—”
Applejack immediately slapped her hand over Rainbow’s mouth and scolded, “What your language, Dash.”
“Party time! Woohoo!” Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed as she quickly ran off.
Applejack facepalmed and grumbled, “Dagnabbit, Pinkie.” She sighed in frustration and spoke up, “Ah’d better go keep an eye on her.” She then followed after the pink party girl.
“Yeah, me too,” Rainbow Dash quickly added as she soon followed after Applejack.
Rarity turned to Fluttershy and Spike and simply asked, “Shall we?” She then turned away and began walking off in the same direction as the others.
Spike had an eyebrow raised as he glanced at Fluttershy. The shy yellow girl just shrugged and followed after Rarity. Spike shook his head, but decided to follow after them.
With all but Sunset and Twilight already wandering off, Flash turned to the two remaining party crashers and stated, “Well, I guess that settles everything here, so I’ll just leave you to it.” He tipped his hat to Kjeld and then walked away, but not before sparing a quick glance back at Twilight.
As most of the party guests returned to their previous activities, Twilight looked to Kjeld as she rubbed the back of her head and uneasily asked, “So, um… are you sure you don’t mind us showing up unannounced like this?”
Kjeld gave the two girls a knowing smirk and quietly replied, “Just between us, I actually welcome the chance to prove to these elites that the universe does not revolve around them.”
“Like it does for you?” quipped Sunset.
“I am a special exception,” Kjeld retaliated with a smile. “I know better than to let that kind of power go to my head. Above all else, I never let any petty desires interfere with caring for the people of the world.”
Twilight smiled and stated, “It’s good to have someone like you in charge.”
“Indeed,” said Kjeld with a nod of agreement. “Now then, if you wish to take your mind off things, Miss Sparkle, I would suggest that perhaps you might wish to speak with Professor Henrik Kowalski.”
Twilight’s eyes began to show giddiness as she asked, “Did you just say the Professor Henrik Kowalski is here?”
Kjeld nodded and replied, “I last saw him over in the west wing of the building. I imagine the two of you would love to share information regarding the inventions you have developed.”
“Absolutely!” acknowledged Twilight with an excited smile on her face. “Thank you, Mister Playwell.” She quickly turned away and began to walk, only to suddenly bump into someone and accidentally spilled his drink. “Sorry!” she quickly said before running off.
The offended guest simply turned away with an indignant huff.
Kjeld chuckled in amusement before he turned to Sunset and said, “If you don’t mind, Miss Shimmer, there is someone I would like you to meet.”
Sunset shrugged and said, “Eh, might as well.”
Kjeld nodded and began to walk away, with Sunset following right behind him.
Back at the loading dock, Gloriosa and Timber each sat on one of the random crates on the floor as they waited for their chance to contribute to the investigation. As frustrating as it was, they understood the sensitivity of their self-imposed mission. As they heard the nearby door open and then close, they both stood up and soon saw Flash Sentry arrive.
“So how did it go?” asked Gloriosa.
“Not quite as smoothly as I had hoped,” replied Flash, “but we should still be good to go.”
“Okay, then,” said Timber. “So how are we gonna get close to Filthy Rich?”
Flash began to walk beside the wall as he explained, “Since we can’t take any chances with letting him see you two, there’s really only one method available.” As he reached an opening into the air vents, he grabbed the grate and yanked it off. He glanced back at the duo and said, “I hope you don’t mind crawling through the vents. Just follow me and I’ll take you right to him.” He then crouched down and crawled into the opened air duct.
Timber turned to his sister as he raised an eyebrow and uneasily asked, “Are you sure this is worth it?”
Gloriosa replied, “If this is what it takes to put an end to Filthy Rich’s schemes, then so be it.” She then smiled and added, “Besides, if we really want to stay hidden, I can’t think of any better way. I’ve got this!” She then crouched down and crawled into the air duct right behind Flash.
Timber sighed and shook his head before he reluctantly followed his sister. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this,” he mumbled to himself.
After a short walk, Kjeld stopped and gestured for someone to come over to him.
As Sunset came to a stop, she looked past Kjeld and saw another minifig was approaching them. He had standard yellow skin, wore a dark grey business suit similar to what Kjeld wore, a short auburn hair piece on his head, and a rather typical face with no distinctive features.
As the new minifig stopped beside them, Kjeld turned to Sunset and said, “Sunset Shimmer, I would like to introduce you to my son — Thomas Playwell.”
“Oh! Well, nice to meet you, Thomas,” greeted Sunset, initially startled, but quickly relaxed and held out her hand.
Thomas also reached his hand out and shook hands with Sunset. “A pleasure to meet you as well, Sunset Shimmer,” he greeted, speaking in a baritone voice with a Scandinavian accent.
As the handshake ended, Kjeld stated, “With the apparently increasing influence of Equestrian magic on this world, I figured it would be wise to have you two get acquainted as soon as possible.”
Sunset turned to Thomas and remarked, “Then I guess this means we might be seeing each other quite a bit.”
“Hopefully not too often under emergency circumstances,” stated Thomas. “I share your sentiment, Sunset, though I would not mind a friendly visit every now and then.”
Sunset smiled and remarked, “Neither would I.”
Not far away, Twilight had managed to find Professor Kowalski — a minifig with standard yellow skin, a messy grey hair piece, a grey mustache on his face, and wore a white lab coat — and the two brilliant minds were already in the middle of a conversation involving advanced scientific concepts.
“I have to say, Professor, your phased polarity exclusion field was a very brilliant invention,” Twilight complimented.
“Oh, most certainly, indeed,” agreed Kowalski, who spoke with a distinct accent. “It pleases me that I can finally talk to someone about it without having to refer to is as a ‘magic bubble’. Though it is quite a shame that it was initially developed to aid someone with villainous intent.”
“I could say the same for my Jump-Gate,” said Twilight. “I was given the resources to develop it, but only on the condition that it be used exclusively by Shadowbolt agents. But, thankfully, now that that underground organization has been completely disbanded, people all over the Lego World and the universe can now utilize such a highly efficient means of getting from place to place.”
“I am rather curious, though. How did you come up with the idea of inventing the Jump-Gate in the first place?” asked Kowalski.
“It’s a pretty interesting story, really,” explained Twilight. “Years ago, when one of my earlier missions as a Shadowbolt agent brought me to Lego City for the first time in my life, I came across some of these astronaut teleportation pads — where someone in an astronaut suit could step onto one pad and be teleported to another pad. I found that piece of technology to be very impressive, but I also quickly identified a major limitation. Each of these teleportation pads are linked exclusively with just one other particular pad, so you can only go back and forth between two fixed points. I thought it would be much better if I had a means of instant transportation where the destination point could be literally any location you could imagine.”
“I’ve read that manual you wrote for assembling and operating a Jump-Gate,” noted Kowalski. “You certainly used some highly advanced physics in order to make such technology feasible.”
Twilight continued, “I’m still trying to calculate the equations needed for an even more advanced version of this technology — specifically to determine what it would take to make both ends of the instant journey be any location. In essence, I want to be able to go from anywhere, to anywhere.”
“Most impressive!” said Kowalski in astonishment.
“Sunset tells me that unicorns in Equestria who are highly skilled in magic are actually capable of such limitless teleportation,” noted Twilight, “so I guess you could say that I’d like to get our world’s technology to one day match what Equestrian magic can do.”
Meanwhile, Applejack, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had gathered near one of the buffet tables. As Applejack sampled a few things and Pinkie simply piled anything she could grab onto her plate, Rarity was facing away from the table. The white fashionista’s attention was focused on Fluttershy and Spike, who were admiring some of the works of art not far away while sharing some friendly remarks with each other. Seeing the two of them getting along so well, Rarity couldn’t help but let out a sigh of sadness.
Applejack finished her last bite of a cucumber sandwich before she walked over to Rarity and asked, “You okay, sugarcube?”
“I have been fooling myself all along,” Rarity confessed. “It was no secret that the Spike from Equestria had expressed a lot of affection towards me, and I was naïve enough to believe that our world’s Spike would be no different. But as you can see, that is clearly not the case.” She gestured towards Spike and Fluttershy. “It appears that this Spike’s affection is directed at Fluttershy instead.”
“What?! No way!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she suddenly jumped in between Rarity and Applejack while holding a plate with an absurdly tall pile of various food items on it.
Rarity sighed again before she continued, “I just wish I had realized that before Spike was compelled to call me out for my admittedly poor manners.”
As Pinkie began shoveling handfuls of her food into her mouth, Applejack noted, “Yeah, that outburst of his sure sounded like he’d been pushed too far.” She paused to think before she turned to Rarity and asked, “So what are ya gonna do about it?”
“For now, it’s probably best that I keep my distance,” replied Rarity with a bit of remorse in her voice. “I’m sure I’ll find some way to make it up to him some day, but for the time being, I believe he would most appreciate that I simply avoid any involvement with him at all.”
“Fair enough,” stated Applejack.
Hoping to take her mind off the unfortunate situation, Rarity decided to glance around aimlessly. She suddenly froze when she noticed one particular face in the crowd on his way toward another one of the buffet tables. She smiled as she tapped Applejack’s shoulder and said, “Pardon me, dear, but I believe I have just spotted a certain VIP worthy of a friendly conversation.” Without waiting for a response, Rarity walked right past Applejack on her way towards the individual she was interested in.
As she watched Rarity walk away, Applejack chuckled and shook her head as she muttered, “Typical Rarity.”
Crash!
Applejack and Pinkie Pie quickly turned to the source of the sudden noise and saw one party guest covered in food from his plate as he was lying on the floor beside a table and in front of a chair… that had just been pulled back by Rainbow Dash.
With a naughty grin on her face, Rainbow snickered and tauntingly shouted, “Gotcha!” She then immediately ran off while laughing to herself.
“Rainbow!” shouted Applejack in frustration.
“Ooh, are we pulling pranks now?” asked Pinkie Pie excitedly. She carelessly tossed her plate full of food up into the air before she ran after her rainbow-haired friend. “Wait for me!”
Applejack moved quickly and barely managed to catch the overloaded plate before it could hit the floor and make a big mess. “Pinkie!” she shouted in frustration. She sighed as she carefully set the plate down on the nearest table, then chased after the naughty duo as she grumbled, “Ah’m surrounded by brick-heads.”
While those antics were taking place, Rarity made her way over to the individual she was interested in speaking with. This minifig had standard yellow skin, had a short beige hair piece on his head, wore a light blue shirt, dark blue pants, and a beige vest with a radio and a police badge on the front.
“Chase McCain, I presume?” asked Rarity as she stopped beside the minifig in question.
Chase was momentarily startled, but once he glanced to his right and saw who was speaking to him, he smiled and remarked, “Yeah, that’s me. I take it you’ve heard of me?”
“I may not be a resident of Lego City, but I have most certainly heard of your exploits,” replied Rarity.
“And I’ve heard just as much about those of you and your friends from Canterlot City, Rarity,” added Chase.
Rarity giggled and remarked, “I suppose we are both rather famous for our heroic deeds.” She cleared her throat and asked, “So, Mister McCain, what brings you to this gala?”
“Well, I got invited like everyone else here,” replied Chase, “but just between us, I’m also here to do a little investigative work.”
“Is that so?” asked Rarity in mild surprise. “May I ask what it is you are investigating?”
“It’s mostly just a hunch,” admitted Chase, “but I suspect that Filthy Rich might be up to no good.”
“Well isn’t that quite the coincidence,” remarked Rarity. “That happens to be the exact same reason why my friends and I decided to show up to this event.”
“Wait, are you saying you weren’t invited?” asked Chase.
Rarity giggled nervously and replied, “Well, we couldn’t exactly share Luna Playwell’s single invitation between all of us. Thankfully, Sunset Shimmer was able to use her expertise to help us get in here without causing too much of a ruckus.”
Chase chuckled and remarked, “Yeah, I remember what Sunset Shimmer was like back when she was a villain. She caused a bit of trouble here in Lego City a few times. Out of all the criminals I’ve ever gone after, she is still the only one who always managed to get away from me.” He smiled at Rarity and added, “Good thing she’s on our side now.”
“Oh absolutely, darling,” agreed Rarity with a nod. “Now then, back to the subject of Filthy Rich, may I ask what it is that got you suspicious of him?”
“It partially has to do with the very existence of this building around us,” replied Chase.
“The Rich Cultural Center?” asked Rarity as she glanced around. “Yes, I heard that this structure was completed and opened just a few weeks ago.”
“What’s also notable is that this building was built on the site of Blackwell Tower,” stated Chase.
Rarity lightly gasped and asked, “The skyscraper that turned out to be a giant rocket ship?”
“Exactly,” said Chase. “After Forest Blackwell fled the city following his failed vengeance against it for a certain scandal, nobody showed any interest in acquiring any of his property.”
“Yes, I suppose property with such a notorious previous owner would carry quite the stigma,” noted Rarity. “Let me guess — Filthy Rich is the one who finally agreed to acquire the property?”
“He bought out all of Blackwell’s former property in the city,” replied Chase. “Blackwell Mansion, the site of Blackwell Tower, and even that bridge that came to symbolize Blackwell’s scandal. And as soon as Rich got this piece of property, he quickly hired a construction crew to tear down what remained of the tower and build this cultural center in its place.”
Rarity took another glance at the surrounding building, this time with a more concerned expression on her face. “Hmm… I’m beginning to suspect that this may be just the start of Mister Rich’s ambitions,” she muttered.
“And what makes you so sure of that?” asked Chase.
“Just yesterday,” explained Rarity, “while my friends and I were on a mission, Sunset and Twilight said they had a run-in with Filthy Rich himself. It’s probably worth noting that we were in the Dark Forest portion of the Castle Region.”
“He wants to purchase the Dark Forest Subregion?” asked Chase in both shock and confusion.
“He’s been eyeing a lot of property for potential acquisition,” replied Rarity. “Once specific example he had mentioned was that he wanted to clear away the abandoned region of Fabuland and construct in its place what he claims would be the world’s largest amusement park. Some people aware of all of this have taken to calling him the so-called ‘next Lord Business’.”
“So it seems the rumors might be true,” noted Chase. “Kinda interesting that most of the greatest villains over the last few years have been former members of the old Board of Directors — Forest Blackwell, President Business, Abacus Cinch, and now possibly Filthy Rich.”
“Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves,” cautioned Rarity. “After all, despite his rather… heartless behavior, I don’t think he has technically committed any criminal acts.”
“And that’s the real problem in dealing with Filthy Rich,” Chase pointed out. “He’s said to have practically an army of lawyers who are constantly advising him on what he can and can’t do. No matter what he does, he always stays within the limits of the law, but he’s always pushing that limit as much as possible.”
“And with such resources at his disposal, he might very well be convinced that he could get away with just about anything he desires,” concluded Rarity.
“Hey, you’re pretty good at this,” remarked Chase. “You should consider a career as a detective.”
“I’ve toyed with the idea from time to time,” admitted Rarity, “but I know where my passions lie, and my day job shall always be at my fashion boutique back in Canterlot City.”
After a few minutes of carefully crawling through the air ducts without making too much noise, Gloriosa and Timber had finally arrived at a grate through which they looked down from the ceiling and saw Filthy Rich himself. The wealthy businessman was on the upper floor of the north wing of the building, talking with some of the elite guests. While Flash Sentry left so his absence would not become suspicious, Gloriosa and Timber leaned close to the grate and listened carefully to the conversation going on right below them.
“So tell me, Mister Rich,” asked a male guest, “how far are you planning to expand your enterprise?”
“As far as physically possible,” replied Filthy with confidence. “The City Regions cover only a rather minor portion of the world. By thinking outside the box and looking for potential in all the other regions, I can expand my horizons in ways very few can ever dream of. President Business has already demonstrated that, for the right price, any region in the Lego World can be purchased. It is simply a matter of raising enough money to fund such acquisitions.”
“Purchasing even one region entirely must cost a fortune,” pointed out a female guest. “How could you possibly obtain enough wealth to cover such massive payments?”
“Just a matter of shrewd business, my dear,” answered Filthy. “To improve profits, one must consider both raising revenues and cutting costs. Revenue is improved by simply raising the prices on the goods and services provided, but also being careful not to jack them up so high that the customers simply refuse to pay up for them, so it’s a delicate balancing act of hitting that desirable sweet spot. Expenses, on the other hand, can be reduced in a number of ways, such as the cost of raw materials and wages for employees, so to minimize my costs as much as possible, I purchase the cheapest materials available and pay minimum wages with minimal benefits. With more money flowing into my pockets, I will be able to afford purchasing more territory more quickly, allowing me to expand my business ever more rapidly.”
“Are you certain that what you’re doing is even legal?” asked another male guest with concern.
Filthy smirked and replied, “That’s what my trusty lawyers are for. When I set an objective, I run it by them and let them do all the painstaking legal research, and once the homework is done, they give me a simple yes or no on whether I can proceed without any unmanageable risks. I pay them well for what they do, for I could never have made it this far without their advice. As long as I can keep pushing the limits without breaking them, it’s only a matter of time before I’ll have built a successful corporate empire that would rival even that of President Business himself.”
As Gloriosa and Timber listened to the increasingly distressing conversation, Timber ended up leaning more of his weight against the grate. Eventually, the grate broke loose and crashed to the floor behind Filthy Rich, and once that was gone, Timber lost his balance and slipped out of the duct and hit the floor on his head before coming to rest on his back.
With a worried expression on her face, Gloriosa stuck her head down through the opening and asked, “Are you okay?”
“Just a little bump on the head,” replied Timber dismissively with a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
“Well, well, look who decided to drop in unannounced.”
Gloriosa and Timber both turned back to see Filthy Rich was now staring at them with a smug smile on his face. Behind him, the elite guests he had been speaking with stared at them with mixed expressions of surprise, confusion, and disgust.
Gloriosa glared at Filthy for a moment before she pulled herself out of the duct, tumbled to the floor, and quickly stood up right in front of him. “I thought you were a bad man before,” grumbled Gloriosa sourly, “but after what I just heard, I find it hard to believe you care for anyone besides yourself.”
Filthy Rich chuckled and smugly said, “So you think you and your so-call righteousness will somehow triumph over a ridiculously wealthy businessman like myself? Well I’ve got news for you, missy — that isn’t how the real world works. It’s survival of the fittest, and if you want to come out on top, then that means taking down anyone who stands in your way. Compassion is a weakness, my dear. If you want to get anywhere in this world, it takes ambition — and tons of money — to do it. And let’s face it, I have it all, and you have none of it.”
Gloriosa gritted her teeth and clenched her fists as she held her fiery stare on the antagonizing businessman.
“Easy, Gloriosa,” cautioned Timber as he slowly stood up. “Don’t let him get to ya.”
Filthy ignored Timber and continued, “If you think you stand any chance of knocking me off my very tall pedestal, then you are sorely mistaken. I have hundreds of highly educated lawyers who can inform me of every possible means I could use to destroy you without suffering any consequences. And what have you got? Just your pathetic words and a few low-class associates. Face it, Daisy, you’re at the bottom of the totem pole and I’m all the way at the very top, far beyond your reach.” He grinned and narrowed his eyes as he emphasized, “You can’t touch me.”
Smack!
Almost instantly after Gloriosa slapped Filthy Rich in the face, practically everyone inside the building suddenly fell silent and quickly turned their attention towards the site of the incident. For many of the elite citizens attending, it was unthinkable that a commoner would commit such an offense and not immediately face severe consequences. And among the few who could even sympathize with Gloriosa, they thought she was absolutely crazy to do such a thing.
As Filthy Rich rubbed the sore spot on his cheek, he frowned and gave Gloriosa a piercing glare as he growled, “You are going to regret that.”
Gloriosa responded with a scoff and grumbled, “By the time I’m through with you, you’re gonna wish that was the worst I could’ve done to you.” She then turned towards the nearest stairway and began to walk away.
Timber glanced back at Filthy Rich and didn’t say a word before he shook his head and followed after his sister.
As Filthy continued to rub his sore cheek, he glanced to the side and saw Flash Sentry arrive on the scene. He glared at the police officer and grumbled, “You’ve failed your duties, officer.”
“Hey, I’m just a guest here,” argued Flash. “This city doesn’t even fall within my jurisdiction. If you have security issues, then you can bring them up with Marion Dunby. He’s the Chief of Police here in Lego City.”
As Gloriosa and Timber descended the stairway, Sunset, Kjeld, and Thomas silently watched them in astonishment and confusion.
Kjeld turned to Sunset and frowned as he asked, “You brought Gloriosa Daisy with you?”
Sunset uneasily replied, “She and Timber happened to be in the room with us when we decided to crash this party, and they insisted on joining us.”
Kjeld watched Gloriosa and Timber reach the bottom of the stairs and head towards the nearest exit out of the building.
“You have to understand,” explained Sunset, “they’ve been particularly frustrated by Filthy Rich because—”
“Because he won’t stop harassing them into selling their family’s summer camp to him,” finished Kjeld. “Yes, I am well aware of that. Celestia informed me that it’s a reason why she sends them on so many goodwill missions, hoping that it would help them relax and take their minds off things.”
Sunset sighed and muttered, “Well, I guess that effort totally backfired this time. We encountered him yesterday morning while we were in the Dark Forest.”
Kjeld turned to Sunset and raised an eyebrow. “What was he doing in the Dark Forest?” he asked, completely baffled.
Sunset shrugged and replied, “Said he was surveying the area to determine a fair price for the region.”
Kjeld clenched his jaw as he turned his gaze up towards Filthy Rich on the upper floor of the north wing of the building. “I think it’s time I had a little chat with him,” he muttered before he began to walk towards the stairway.
Thomas turned to Sunset and suggested, “I would recommend you do the same for Gloriosa.” He then followed after his father up the stairs.
Sunset glanced over at the exit she had seen Gloriosa and Timber leave through. She figured that Thomas had provided some good advice, but felt that it wouldn’t be such a good idea to go alone. I’d better bring a friend, she thought to herself as she began looking around. When her gaze turned towards the west wing, she saw Twilight was still very deep into a conversation with Professor Kowalski.
Sunset was concerned that she wouldn’t have time to gather all of her friends together, so she decided that bringing just Twilight along would be good enough. She quickly walked over to Twilight and tapped her on the shoulder. As soon as Twilight turned to her, Sunset quickly said, “Sorry to interrupt, but we’ve got some big trouble.”
“What’s going on?” asked Twilight in confusion.
“I’ll explain on the way,” replied Sunset. “C’mon!” She immediately turned and headed towards the exit door.
Twilight glanced back at Professor Kowalski — who simply shrugged without saying a word — then sighed and followed after Sunset.
Not far away, Spike and Fluttershy were still looking at some of the various works of art on display. They were currently staring in confusion at a sculpture of what appeared to be a pile of red bricks melted together into a single mass.
“Is this art… or a mess?” asked Spike.
“Um… I’m not sure…” replied Fluttershy.
Spike glanced around, hoping to find something better to look at. His eyes widened when he suddenly noticed Sunset and Twilight were rushing towards the exit. He quickly turned to Fluttershy and said, “Keep an eye on the others. I’d better go see what Twilight and Sunset are up to.” With seemingly little time to lose, he didn’t bother waiting for a response and immediately began running after the two fleeing girls.
Fluttershy watched Spike run away after their friends. She wanted to go after them, but ultimately decided to follow Spike’s advice and stay behind to watch the rest of their friends. As she watched Sunset, Twilight, and Spike leave through the exit, she couldn’t help but sigh and mumbled, “I have a really bad feeling about this…”
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Not really suprised that EG and similar Spike goes with Fluttershy. After all, she is the one that treats him as an equal as best she can, where Rarity treats him equally as below her as everyone else?
Timber forgot the rules of ducts. Dont sneeze, Dont lean against the grate. Dont stop in a suspended trunking.
Thats gonna be a slap heard around the world.
Watch yourself, Filthy Rich. You can only push the limits so much before you break them. If you keep trying to test your luck, one of these days you'll go too far.
will we possibly see Natalia as well? She could be an informant ;)
Not really much to say about this chapter. All it did was pretty much set of a ticking bomb.
8197481 And since he is currently completely unaware of the existence of Equestrian magic, he has no idea how much trouble he's getting himself into.
8197780 No, I have no plans to include her at all. Like I said, I had originally intended for Chase McCain to appear only in this chapter, before I ever saw any content from the game Lego City Undercover. Once I finally got around to seeing him in action, I decided to give him a few more scenes, but I also didn't want to throw in too much to distract from the main story. (After all, I had considered including Spoiled Rich somewhere in this chapter, but I just couldn't find a way to do so without making her nothing more than a silent background character, so I decided to just scrap that idea.)
8198736 Yes, these chapters where not much happens are often the ones that I struggle to write, but they are still necessary for setting up the sequence of events that will lead to the more exciting chapters later on.