A New Mission

Chapter 1
A New Mission

It was the start of another typical day in Canterlot City. Commuters were making their way to work, be it by car, by bus, by train, or simply by walking. Pedestrians walked calmly along the sidewalks while vehicles on the streets were careful to follow all traffic laws. Police officers gave friendly smiles to all citizens passing by, especially for children on their way to school. At a glance, there seemed to be very little that made this place different from any of the other City Regions of the Lego World.

On one seemingly random street, a certain fruit stand had just been set up for another day of selling apples of all kinds. As one minifig with red skin and orange hair finished unloading the last crate of apples, another with orange skin and blonde hair stood behind the stand with a content smile on her face. Applejack was looking forward to another good day in the city.

A faint buzzing noise and vibration alerted Applejack to the phone in her pocket, so she quickly took it out to see who was trying to contact her. The message consisted of nothing more that the LEGO logo — the word “LEGO” in white rounded letters, outlined in black within yellow, all within a red square. A normal person wouldn’t understand the message behind this symbol, but Applejack knew what this meant. She turned her phone around to show her message to her brother.

Big Macintosh was just about to climb into his pickup truck when he looked back and saw the message that his sister had just received. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then lowered it when he remembered what she had explained to him a while ago, regarding this message. With a smile and a nod of approval, he stepped back out of the truck and walked over to the fruit stand.

Applejack smiled in response as she put away her phone and then ran off. Now that she was a member of the LEGO Team, certain priorities had to come before all others. At the very least, she was glad to know that Big Mac was willing to run the stand while she was away on a mission.

In another part of the city, Pinkie Pie was busy handing out baked goods to the patrons of the bakery she worked at — known as Sugar Cube Corner — when she also got the message from the LEGO Team. With an excited grin on her face, she quickly hopped over the counter and rushed out the door. As much as she loved making every customer happy, she loved having the opportunity to spend time with her best friends in the universe even more.

Over at Canterlot Airport, Rainbow Dash had just gotten ready to start her shift at the control tower when she received her message from the LEGO Team. Without even saying a word to her coworker, she grinned as she put away her phone and slid down her emergency escape pole. Once she was on the ground, she hopped on her skateboard and headed downtown.

At the other side of the city, Rarity had just opened the doors to her boutique for another day of business when she also got the alert from the LEGO Team on her phone. She gave a sad smile as she flipped the sign on the door back to “Closed” and proceeded to meet up with the others. As much as she hated disappointing her clients, she knew they would understand the high priority of working for an organization as important as the LEGO Team.

Finally, Fluttershy had just finished feeding all of the animals in her pet shop when she got the alert from the LEGO Team. Knowing that she would eventually be faced with such a possibility now that she was part of the LEGO Team, she had already made preparations for such a call. She sent an automated message to a secondary caretaker who would look after these animals and critters while she was away.

With that taken care of, Fluttershy put away her phone and headed outside. She arrived at the nearby parking lot and looked around. She didn’t have many vehicles, and the few that she did have were rather small with nowhere near enough room to fit all of her friends. If she was going to help her friends get to the local LEGO Team Headquarters, she would need to get creative.

After a few seconds of thinking, Fluttershy smiled as a pair of pony ears, tail-like hair, and feathered wings suddenly appeared on her body. An idea had formed within the mind of a Master Builder! Fluttershy quickly disassembled three of her small vehicles, putting all of the Lego pieces into a single pile. Once that was done, she then rapidly put all of the pieces together into a single vehicle. The finished vehicle had small wheels, lacked a roof, and had three seats arranged single-file. She knew it wasn’t much, but at least a little help was better than no help. With her creation ready, she hopped into the driver’s seat up front and drove off into town.

After driving for just a few blocks, Fluttershy saw Pinkie Pie suddenly run across the street right front of her, forcing her to bring the small vehicle to a screeching halt. The noise made Pinkie stop in her tracks and turn to Fluttershy, who gave a small embarrassed smile. Pinkie responded with a simple shrug and a smile.

Pinkie took a quick look around at the vehicle and, almost a split-second later, pony ears and tail-like hair also suddenly appeared on her body. Another Master Builder had just gotten an idea! Using Lego pieces from a nearby parked car, she quickly made improvements to Fluttershy’s creation, appearing in many places at once as she worked. She removed the third seat in the back and put it and an additional seat right next to the other two so that the seating arrangement was now two-by-two. This made the vehicle wider, so she also made adjustments to the wheel base to account for that. Once the improvements were finished, she carelessly shoved Fluttershy aside to one of the new seats while she got into the driver’s seat and began driving towards their destination.

After zooming past some traffic, Pinkie noticed Applejack running along the sidewalk near a construction site, so she quickly brought the vehicle to a stop and waved to her. Applejack saw the arrival of two of her friends and waved back at them. As much as she liked the idea of getting the team together on their way to the LEGO Team Headquarters, she felt that their vehicle of choice was a little on the wimpy side.

It wasn’t long before a pair of pony ears and tail-like hair appeared on Applejack’s body. Master Builder Applejack had an idea! She ran over to a large construction vehicle nearby and quickly took it apart, along with some various objects along the sidewalk. She then assembled the Lego parts into four large chunks, which she then slammed onto the vehicle. First the left side doors went on, then the right side doors, followed by the rear end with bigger tires, and finally the front end with equally large tires and a more powerful engine. When that last chunk was slammed into place, the resulting bounce flung Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy into the backseats, leaving the driver’s seat free for Applejack to take.

As the now-larger vehicle roared down the streets, Rarity had a hard time not noticing its approach from a distance. The lack of a roof allowed her to see that it was three of her friends who were riding in that hodge-podge of a vehicle — a fact that made it obvious that this creation was the result of more than just one creative mind. With that note in mind, she decided to add her own contribution.

With a quick glance at her surroundings and some careful thought, Rarity soon gained her pony ears, tail-like hair, and unicorn horn. Rarity the Master Builder now had an idea of creativity! She made quick work of a small truckload of windows — including much of the truck itself — and began tossing pieces towards the oncoming vehicle. Each Lego piece soared though the air and landed exactly into its proper place, a feat that was even more remarkable considering that it was on a moving target. Once all was done on her part, there was now a sturdy roof over the four seats of the vehicle.

Applejack waited until the rain of pieces had stopped before she decided to stop the vehicle. Rarity, like the other members of this team, had a unique method of building, and Applejack knew that she had to be nearby. After seeing nothing to the front or to the left, she moved over to the empty passenger seat to look to the right. The sudden noise of a car door being shut made her turn back to the driver’s seat, where Rarity was now seated comfortably. Rarity simply gave a friendly shrug before grabbing the steering wheel and continuing the drive towards their destination.

Finally, Rainbow Dash arrived downtown just in time to see the collective creation of her friends and fellow teammates. She had to admit that it was a little impressive, but she knew that she could make it way better. She immediately began looking around for possible ideas, knowing that whenever she got creative, she could do things that most people could only dream of.

With a quick-thinking mind like hers, it wasn’t long until Rainbow Dash gained her pony ears, tail-like hair, and feathered wings. This Master Builder just got an awesome idea! She quickly took off to the air, appearing as a rainbow-colored motion blur as she zoomed across rooftops and gathered all of the Lego pieces she was going to need. As the vehicle carrying the rest of her friends arrived, she made quick work with her additions. She began with a fifth seat in front of all the others, surrounded that with a bunch of flight controls and a large canopy window, then added a large helicopter rotor on top of the roof, and finished with the necessary tail rotor on the rear. Once her work was done, she swooped around and landed in what was now the pilot’s seat. She then closed the canopy and started up the makeshift helicopter. The rotors began spinning rapidly, and after just a few seconds of powering up to full speed, the collective creation was airborne and on its way towards the LEGO Team Headquarters.

As the custom helicopter flew over the skyline, the five minifigs inside could see their destination. Just outside the city limits, at the top of a tall mountain, was a single large building with the LEGO logo covering a large area of one of the outside walls. As the five friends got closer, they could see more details to the building. There were countless large windows around the upper floors, a large hangar door at the ground floor on one side that led directly out to a small runway, and a helipad on a rooftop that was just a few floors lower than the highest level.

Rainbow Dash smiled as she brought the custom helicopter down to the helipad. Rather than just hover and slowly lower down, she couldn’t help but show off some of her awesomeness by making the helicopter slide sideways as it landed. However, since she had not removed the large wheels during her part of the build, that sliding landing left a pair of skid-marks right across the large “H” on the pad.

Rainbow paid no attention to that mess as she shut off the rotors, once the vehicle had come to a complete stop. She then opened the canopy and hopped out, while everyone else opened the doors next to their respective seats and climbed out. Now that the five Master Builders were done building and using their custom creation, the magical pony additions to their bodies vanished, returning all five of them to regular minifigs.

“Perfect landing!” declared Rainbow Dash proudly as she led the rest of the team towards the nearby double-doors into the building.

“If that’s what ya call leavin’ huge skid-marks across the helipad…” said Applejack doubtfully as she looked back over her shoulder to see the damage she was referring to.

“Wasn’t my idea to put wheels on that thing,” rebuked Rainbow.

As everyone stepped inside the building and began walking down a hallway, Fluttershy pointed out, “But it was your idea to convert the car into a helicopter.”

“Exactly!” responded Rainbow with a smug grin on her face. “That allowed us to take the direct route, without having to go through the winding mountain road.”

“But that road is so much fun!” countered Pinkie Pie with an even bigger smile on her face. “You should try it out sometime.”

“I’d rather not,” said Rarity. “Not when all the other alternative means of arrival are more efficient.” She then narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash and added, “Though that doesn’t mean I’ll accept just any of those alternatives.”

“Hey, I got us here quickly, didn’t I?” argued Rainbow. She quickly and boastfully added, “I’m the team pilot. It’s what I do!”

“Along with crashin’ into things,” muttered Applejack.

Before Rainbow could respond, Fluttershy spoke up. “Um, could we please stop arguing now?” she calmly asked the group. She gestured to the set of doors they had just arrived at and added, “We kind of need to find out why Celestia called us over… if you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, we’ll talk about my awesome pilot skills later,” said Rainbow Dash in agreement before opening the doors.

The team of five friends stepped into a massive room with a very high ceiling, platforms and walkways at various levels above the floor, and huge windows on one side that offered a spectacular view of the city. To the right, there was a platform up against the wall that was about six bricks above the floor. There was a large console with various controls, buttons, and switches on that platform, just below a massive display screen. But the real focus of everyone’s attention was the person currently standing on that platform: Celestia Playwell, leader of the Canterlot City branch of the LEGO Team.

“Welcome back, girls,” greeted Celestia. “Please forgive me for calling you in on such short notice, but I believe it would be best for you to have an early start for your next mission.”

The five minifigs smiled at one another. It had been about six months since they — along with Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria — joined the LEGO Team and were sent on their very first missions, ultimately leading to the defeat and arrest of Sunset Shimmer, number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted at that time. They had not been called on for any new missions since then, but after an accomplishment like that, they were looking forward to what else they could do to help the Lego World.

Seeing that the team was eager to listen, Celestia turned to the console and tapped a few keys as she explained, “For this mission, you will be going to the City Region of Bricklyn.” The display screen began to show various images of that city.

“Hey, Ah got a cousin who lives there!” remarked Applejack with a smile. That smile quickly fell as she then asked with concern, “Is everything okay, over there?”

“I’m afraid not,” answered Celestia solemnly as she brought up more images on the display screen. “Over the past few months, that city has steadily gone silent for reasons that no one has been able to figure out. First, we lost contact with their branch of the LEGO Team. Then entire neighborhoods started going quiet. By now, all forms of communication from the city have been completely cut off. Even stranger, many people have been sent into the city to investigate, but none of them have been heard from again.” She turned around to face the assembled team and finished, “Your mission will be to go into that city and report anything unusual that you find, as we currently have absolutely nothing to explain what’s been going on.”

The teammates looked at one another uneasily. Eventually, Rarity cleared her throat and asked, “Excuse me, Miss Playwell, but did we just hear you correctly? You want us to go into a place where no one has been heard from in a long time, and expect us to somehow solve a mystery where everyone else has gone silent?”

“I was hesitant to send you there as well,” admitted Celestia, “but my uncle, Kjeld, is convinced that you are the best team for the job.” She smiled as she added, “After all, it’s not every day that an entire team discovers that they have become Master Builders.”

The five friends smiled in approval. It had been a few weeks since they discovered that, likely thanks to some residual Equestrian magic from when Princess Twilight had visited, they had become Master Builders — people with an exceptionally wide range of creative talents. It was this that made the team of friends especially excited for whatever their next mission would be, as Master Builders on the LEGO Team were regarded as a force to be reckoned with, and they were more than eager to prove it. The fact that the leader of the entire Lego World was convinced that they were the best team to handle such a mission only enforced their sense of confidence.

“If Kjeld thinks we’ve got what it takes, then I say we go for it!” declared Rainbow Dash. She stuck her hand out and asked, “Who’s with me?”

One by one, the four remaining members of the team placed their hands on top of each other’s. Even Fluttershy, despite being the last to agree, showed little hesitation. With everyone in agreement, they raised their hands and let out a cheer. They were ready for their mission.

“I suppose that now just leaves the question of how we will make our way to the City Region of Bricklyn,” stated Rarity.

Celestia answered, “I have arranged for a charter flight — the plane and its pilot are waiting for you in the hangar — to take you to Manehattan, the other half of the so-called twin cities. You will then board a ferry to take you across the river to Bricklyn. From there, I’m afraid you will be left to your own devices. Should you attempt to leave the city, be aware that all of the bridges leading out have been mysteriously blocked off, and some demolition may be required.”

“Will that be all?” asked Rarity.

“As far as I am aware, yes,” replied Celestia with a nod. “After all, we know very little of what to expect once you arrive, but I am confident that you are capable of solving this mystery.”

“Then what are we waiting for?!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Let’s go save the day again!”

As one, the five friends let out a loud cheer and headed out of the room.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity all boarded the private jet that would take them to Manehattan to begin their new mission. Everyone took their seats and prepared for the fight ahead. Pinkie Pie and Applejack helped themselves to some lunch, while Rarity and Fluttershy shared some casual conversation, and Rainbow Dash simply decided to take a nap.

The interior of the jet had enough seats for up to six minifigs, arranged in three rows of two. The fact that this left one empty seat did not escape anyone’s attention. A brief moment of sadness fell across the team as they reflected on the one who had brought them all together, but could not join them. As much as they would have loved to have Twilight Sparkle of Equestria join them on their mission, they knew that the interdimensional portal between Equestria and the Lego World would remain closed for a very long time. For now, all they had of her were memories of their triumph over Sunset Shimmer, and that was good enough for the team.

Once the plane was ready for take-off, the hangar door opened. The pilot fired up the jet’s engines and slowly brought the plane outside. Once they were clear of the hangar doorway, the pilot increased the throttle, accelerating the plane down the runway until they were finally airborne.

As the small jet took off for Manehattan, no one was aware of the presence in the shadows of the hangar of a mysterious individual who was dressed up in a standard astronaut suit. There was no need for such a suit to provide survival, but it did hide this stranger’s identity, as this person’s face could not be seen through the golden visor on the helmet. Whoever this strange individual was, he or she just stood there, watching and observing…

Author's Notes:

Who is this mystery person in an astronaut suit? You'll just have to wait and see, because I won't reveal that secret anytime soon. Anyway, since this story is meant to be an alternate take on Rainbow Rocks, you'll probably be wondering whether I'll include any of the songs, or even come up with some new ones. Well, since I consider myself a terrible songwriter, I won't be including any lyrics of any kind, but I will imply (and state in the author's notes) times when a song would likely take place, and let the readers use their imagination. (In this chapter, for example, it's the opening scene when the five friends get together and demonstrate their Master Builder abilities.) On that subject, I decided to introduce the new Master Builder abilities of Twilight's Lego friends, for those who probably didn't even bother to read any of the side stories and just went straight to this one from the first. Also, just like with the first story, I will use only general descriptions (nothing too specific) of how the various Lego creations are built, and let readers use their imagination. Finally, unlike with the first story, I will not be rushing through the first few chapters, since this alternate world has already been firmly established (though you can expect to see the heroes visit other regions not seen in the first story). Expect to see a new chapter once every two weeks.

Construction Chaos

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Chapter 2
Construction Chaos

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity disembarked from the ferry that had just brought them to Bricklyn. The plane ride from Canterlot City had taken all morning, and after the trip across the city of Manehattan to the ferry to cross the river, it was now the middle of the afternoon. Although it was hard to deny any feelings of nervousness for entering the unknown, the team of five friends was still confident they could figure out what was going on in this city.

As soon as the entire team was on the dock, the captain of the ferry immediately turned the boat around and began heading back to Manehattan. Even though the top speed of a ferry wasn’t all that fast, the captain’s sense of urgency was still very hard to miss.

“Wow, he seems to be in a hurry,” remarked Rainbow Dash.

“Probably doesn’t wanna end up like everyone else that came over here, lately,” speculated Applejack.

“If that’s true, I don’t blame him,” muttered Fluttershy.

Rarity picked up the pair of handbags she had brought with her and slung one over each of her shoulders. “In any case, now that we’re here, I suppose we’d better get started with our little investigation,” she stated as she turned her attention to the city in front of them.

“Into the unknown we go!” declared Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

“I-I don’t think we should get too excited about that,” Fluttershy pointed out. “We don’t know what kind of… dangers might be waiting in there.”

“I agree,” said Rarity with a nod. “Stay close to each other,” she advised her friends, “and try not to draw too much attention to yourselves.”

A loud belch suddenly caught everyone’s attention. They turned to the source of the obnoxious noise and saw that it was Applejack.

“Pardon,” apologized Applejack. “Had the burrito platter for lunch. Extra garlic and onions.” She then let out another loud belch, after which she added, “Pardon, again.”

It didn’t take long for the stench to reach the rest of the team. Everyone reacted with exclaims of disgust and by waving a hand around or placing it over the middle of their face.

“Jeez!” shouted Pinkie Pie as she rapidly waved her hand in front of her face. “Who cut the cheese?!”

Rarity quickly pulled a can of air freshener out of one of her handbags and immediately began spraying it around in just about every direction. Once she was sure that she had effectively removed that foul odor, she put away that can and remarked, “It is a good thing I always carry air freshener.”

“Along with everything else,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, please, darling!” countered Rarity. “If it weren’t for my packing habits, you would all still be wallowing in the stench of garlic and onions.”

“Can we just get a move on, already!” exclaimed Applejack impatiently. “We ain’t got all day!”

“She’s right,” said Pinkie as she pointed at her wristwatch. “It’s already three in the afternoon.”

“So what do we do?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Just walk around town and look for anything weird?”

“I suppose that may be our best option,” replied Rarity. She then began to walk down the dock towards the nearest street. “Come along, everyone.”

Now that they had a plan, the rest of the team followed Rarity into the city of Bricklyn. It was time to get to the bottom of this mystery.

As the five friends walked along the streets of Bricklyn, they noticed that things didn’t really seem out of the ordinary. Vehicles on the road obeyed all traffic laws, people worked at their appropriate jobs, and just about every part of typical life in the city proceeded as normal. In fact, as the team observed their surroundings, everything seemed to be too ordinary.

The first odd sign was how none of the citizens spoke to each other, not even muttering a peep. It was quite eerie to see all the bustling in a city without any sort of liveliness on its citizens.

Pinkie Pie ran up to a random pedestrian and cheerfully exclaimed, “Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie! What’s your name?”

The pedestrian just continued to walk by, without even giving so much as a glance towards Pinkie.

Pinkie decided to try again on another passerby. “Hey! Can you help us? We’re looking for something weird. Have you noticed anything weird?” That person also completely ignored Pinkie and just kept walking. “Huh… that was weird.”

Pinkie then noticed another pedestrian standing on a street corner. She zoomed over to stand right in front of him and warned, “Don’t make me use the Face. Nobody can resist the Face.” She then got down on her knees in a begging pose and spun her head around a few times. When her head stopped spinning, her face now had huge watery eyes and a frown with a quivering lower lip.

The pedestrian made no reaction at all, and once the traffic signal at the intersection changed, he simply stepped around Pinkie and proceeded across the street.

Pinkie Pie quickly dropped the act, her irresistible begging face now replaced by one of shock. “Wow… nobody’s ever resisted the Face like that, before,” she said in confusion. “It’s like I didn’t even exist to him.” She suddenly gasped and shouted to her friends, “Do I even exist?!”

Rarity walked up to Pinkie and placed a hand on her shoulder. “Of course you do, darling,” she assured her friend. “We can all see you just fine.” She then looked up at the surrounding citizens and added, “It’s just that everyone around us seems to act like they don’t.”

Applejack placed her hands on her hips as she looked around and said with determination, “If we’re gonna get anywhere with this, we gotta get a reaction outta these guys.”

Pinkie immediately jumped to her feet and excitedly shouted, “Oh! Oh! I know how to do that!” She quickly jumped in front of another random pedestrian and tooted a party favor right in his face.

That person didn’t even slightly flinch at the noise and confetti right in front of him. What he did do was shove Pinkie aside and continued walking straight ahead like nothing had even happened.

Pinkie remained lying in the street on her back as she turned to her friends with a nervous smile and said, “Well, I got a reaction out of him. Not the kind I was hoping for, but at least it was a reaction.”

As Pinkie jumped to her feet and rejoined her friends, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to one random citizen who was standing at a nearby bus stop and reading a newspaper. She ran over to this person and asked, “Ya mind telling us what’s going on around here?”

This citizen ignored Rainbow and simply continued to read whatever was printed on the white 2x2 tile in his hands.

Rainbow Dash was not amused by the lack of reaction at all. Rapidly losing her patience, she snatched the newspaper out of his hands and tossed it away as she exclaimed, “Didn’t ya hear what I said?!”

Now that the focus of his attention was taken away, the citizen was forced to react. Without saying a word, he walked out into the middle of the road, straight towards the discarded newspaper.

“Hey!” shouted Rainbow as she chased after the citizen. “I’m talking to you, buster! You can’t just keep ignoring me like this!” As the citizen retrieved his newspaper and began walking back to the bus stop, Rainbow walked backwards to make sure she stayed in this guy’s face as she continued shouting furiously. “There’s no way that piece of paper can be more important than— Whoa!” She slipped on a puddle and hit the ground on her back.

The citizen was focused on nothing more than walking back to the bus stop and reading his newspaper. As a result, he didn’t even acknowledge the fact that he stepped right across Rainbow’s body along the way.

“Ow! Hey! Oof!” exclaimed Rainbow as he stepped on her leg, her chest, and her face.

After unknowingly trampling over Rainbow Dash, the random citizen finally returned to the exact same spot he had been standing at and resumed reading his newspaper. He had even returned to the exact same stance he had been in at the very start.

“And people call me a doormat,” muttered Fluttershy in disbelief.

Rainbow Dash growled furiously and jumped to her feet. “That’s it!” she shouted. “We gotta find the source of all this weirdness!”

Applejack tapped her chin thoughtfully as she said, “Celestia said that all the strange silence started happenin’ at this city’s LEGO Team Headquarters. Maybe we oughta start there.”

“Sounds like a plan,” agreed Rarity. She then pulled a map out from one of her handbags and unfolded it. As she studied the map, she said, “Now let’s see… We’ll need to head south on this street for three blocks, then take a left on Knudstorp Avenue. From there, it should be straight ahead of us. Of course, we’ll need to take a little detour around that construction zone.”

“If it’s straight ahead, why don’t we just cut right through the construction zone?” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“I’m not sure about that,” said Fluttershy uneasily.

“That’s not a bad idea at all!” responded Pinkie Pie to Rainbow’s suggestion. “If everyone in this city is acting like mindless robots, then that must make this, like, the safest construction zone in the whole Lego World!”

Nobody responded immediately. It sounded like a crazy idea, but after seeing how weird the whole city had become, it actually made a surprisingly good amount of sense. It was Applejack who finally shrugged and said, “Can’t argue with that.”

“Very well then,” said Rarity as she folded up the map and put it back in her handbag. “Let us proceed, shall we?”

With everyone in agreement, the team began their walk to Bricklyn’s LEGO Team Headquarters.

By the time the team of five friends arrived at the construction zone, it was already late in the afternoon. The sun was starting to set, turning the sky into brilliant shades of yellow and orange. Despite the late hour, the gates into the worksite were still open.

As everyone entered the construction zone, Fluttershy stopped near the gate and picked up a red hardhat that was just lying around. She quickly glanced over it and then carefully placed it on her head. Once she was satisfied that it was on comfortably, she smiled and continued walking, only to notice her friends staring at her with questioning looks. “What?” she asked in confusion. “Hardhats are required in this area.” She gestured toward a nearby sign that listed some of the safety rules.

“Good idea!” remarked Pinkie Pie before picking up another hardhat and tossing it onto her head. “Safety first!” She grabbed three more hardhats and plopped them on the heads of her remaining friends.

Rarity quickly removed her hardhat and smoothed out her hair before gently putting the hardhat back on. “Too bad I don’t have any outfits that come in official safety orange,” she said. “Perhaps I should add that to my list of personal projects.”

Applejack rolled her eyes and muttered, “Whatever. Let’s quit stallin’ an’ just keep goin’.” She and Rainbow Dash immediately continued walking straight ahead, followed by the rest of the team.

They didn’t get far through the construction zone before they saw some construction workers who were busy assembling the frame of a new building. Just like everyone else in the city, these minifigs never spoke a word and remained entirely focused on doing their jobs.

A loud whistle suddenly sounded throughout the construction zone, startling the five girls. Every construction worker immediately dropped what they were doing and began to walk away from the build-site.

As Rainbow Dash and her friends watched the workers leave, she remarked, “Well, if there’s one part of this city that can’t stay weird forever, it’s this place. I mean, eventually, they’re gonna finish building that thing. Then what?”

The answer came a moment later when the construction workers gathered in front of an equipment shed, where each of them hefted a jackhammer onto their backs. They then carried their pneumatic tools back to the incomplete structure and surrounded it. Once everyone was in position, they moved as one, flipping their jackhammers over their heads and pointing them right onto the frame. Finally, they started hammering away, causing the whole framework to shake and shutter, even sending a few pieces flying off. Eventually, the entire structure collapsed like a house of cards, raising a huge cloud of dust. When the dust settled, all that remained in front of the construction workers was a large pile of Lego pieces.

The team just stared at the demolished structure in stunned silence. As the construction workers returned to the equipment shed to put away the jackhammers, Applejack said, “If this is what they do at the end of every workday, then maybe they can do this forever.”

Pinkie Pie frowned as she announced, “Okay, it’s official. Everything in this city has become weird, and believe me, I know weird.”

“But that still begs the question,” stated Rarity. “Who or what could be behind all of this?”

It wasn’t long until a new sound could be faintly heard echoing throughout the construction zone. It was the vocalizing of a series of feminine voices, singing in a rather soothing tone.

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and said to her friends, “I’m pretty sure that’s not something you’d normally hear at a construction site.”

As a pair of voices continued the vocalizing, a third voice began singing. It was right at the start of the first lyric that the team began to see the source of the strange music. There was a vehicle slowly moving along one of many dusty paths through the construction zone, but it was not the kind one would expect to see in such an area. It was a convertible car, built out of smooth and curved Lego parts for a streamlined appearance. Most of these parts were yellow and orange, with a little bit of blue and purple in some places. The decal on the hood consisted of three symbols: a jagged blue musical symbol over a heart, a purple star over a different musical symbol, and an orange gem over another different musical symbol. In addition, there was a series of megaphones placed around the car, though which the singing was amplified.

As the harmonizing voices had indicated, there were three occupants in this car. In the back left seat was a girl with light blue skin and hair in a single ponytail that was blue with darker steaks. In the back right seat was a girl with light violet skin and hair in two ponytails that was purple with green streaks. And in the single front seat, driving the car, was a girl with yellow skin and massive curly hair that was orange with yellow streaks.

“Look at the construction workers!” Fluttershy suddenly pointed out.

The rest of the team turned their attention to the workers and saw that not only had they stopped their labor, but also were now devoting their complete attention to the song coming from the convertible. At the same time, the driver of this car sang about maintaining order without interruption, with the other two providing backup at certain points.

After listening to a few more of the lyrics, Rarity finally stated, “I believe we may have found the source of the problem.”

“Then let’s stop ‘em while we got the chance!” declared Rainbow Dash firmly as she held up a clenched fist.

Applejack began looking around for something that could stop the car without causing any serious damage. It didn’t take her long to notice a stack of pipes on a platform that was suspended high above the ground by a single cable. She followed the cable over a pulley and down to a winch atop some nearby scaffolding. She smiled and told her friends, “Ah got this.”

Applejack ran over to the scaffolding and quickly climbed a ladder up to the top. Atop the scaffolding, she was lucky enough to find a large wrench just lying around. She picked up the wrench and quickly stuck it onto the winch, then started watching the car. As it continued to drive slowly around, she was pleased to see that it was now on a path that would take it directly underneath the suspended platform. Without any hesitation, she pulled back on the wrench, twisting the winch loose and causing the platform to drop straight down.

The driver — Adagio — was now singing about an upcoming call to action, and that all who answer must obey. As she finished the final lyric, the platform of pipes suddenly crashed to the ground right in front of the car, forcing her to abruptly end the song and slam on the breaks. The convertible lurched to a stop just inches away from the clattering pipes, nearly throwing Aria and Sonata out of their seats.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Sonata as she readjusted her hair piece. “That thing almost hit us!”

“Stupid construction workers,” grumbled Aria. “Can’t keep this place from falling to pieces.”

Adagio carefully eyed the fallen pile of pipes. “I don’t think this was an accident,” she stated.

“Huh?” asked Sonata and Aria simultaneously as Adagio stood up and climbed out of the car. Without further question, they soon followed her out and around to the front.

These three minifigs now had a completely different wardrobe compared to the basic hoodie and pants they had started out with, months ago. Adagio’s torso, upper legs, and feet were dark violet; her lower legs, shoulders, and hands were lavender; and she had a band of gold around the waist on her hip joint. Aria’s torso was white under an open green jacket with torn sleeves; her legs were magenta; her feet and some bands around her lower arms were violet; and she had a star-shaped belt buckle over a violet band around the waist of her hip joint. Sonata’s torso and shoulders were violet; her feet and a band around her wrists were magenta; she had a pink skirt wrapped around her upper legs; and she had some blue buckles printed on the front of her torso. Despite their different appearances, there was one thing on these girls that remained the same: the ruby red gemstones on their pendants, which were separate pieces that fitted around the neck joint between the head and torso.

With Aria standing to her right and Sonata standing to her left, Adagio stood in front of the convertible and called out, “Who dares to stand in our way?!”

Within seconds, the team of five girls from Canterlot City climbed up onto the pile of pipes. “We dare!” declared Rainbow Dash proudly with a smug grin as she crossed her arms.

Adagio raised an eyebrow and asked, “And just who are you girls supposed to be?”

“We happen to be members of the LEGO Team,” explained Rarity, “sent over from Canterlot City to investigate why this city of Bricklyn has fallen silent to the rest of the world.”

“An’ based on all we’ve seen…” added Applejack. She pointed at the trio and finished, “You three are suspect number one!”

“The LEGO Team?” asked Sonata with a raised eyebrow. She turned to her companions and asked, “Didn’t we already stop them from getting in the way?”

“That was only the local members,” replied Aria as she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. She then glared at Adagio. “Clearly, the other branches aren’t happy about that.”

“True,” admitted Adagio, “but it’s nothing we can’t handle.”

“You’d better watch where you step,” warned Rainbow Dash. “You’re messing with Master Builders, now!”

“Yeah! Watch me build a party bus!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie with an excited grin on her face. As soon as she leapt from the pile of pipes, her magical pony ears and tail suddenly flashed into existence. Next, she appeared to literally be in many places at once as she zoomed around, gathering random Lego pieces and quickly putting them together.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Click. Clack. Whoosh! Click. Clack. Whoosh! Click. Clack. Click. Clack.

The three singers were initially stunned to see such an unusual transformation. However, it didn’t take long for Adagio to grin wickedly as she continued to watch.

Pinkie Pie wasn’t even halfway finished with her creation when Applejack ran over to her and shouted, “Whoa, there, Pinkie!”

Pinkie immediately screeched to a halt. With a yellow 1x4 brick in her hand, she turned to face her friend.

“We ain’t here to throw a party,” scolded Applejack. “We’re here to beat the bad guys.”

Pinkie stared silently at Applejack for a few seconds, not responding at all until after her magical pony parts suddenly vanished. “Oh, snickerdoodles!” she cried out in frustration as she tossed away the brick in her hand and gave one solid kick to the side of her incomplete creation. After a delayed reaction of about one second, the model fell completely apart, as if all of the pieces had suddenly lost their clutch power.

“Don’t worry, girls,” said Rainbow Dash with a smirk as her own magical pony ears, tail, and wings appeared. “I know how to deal with this.” She started flapping her wings and took to the air as she turned to the three singers and said, “Can’t do anything when you’re in pieces, and the best way to make that happen is with a cannon.” She then started quickly flying around — appearing as a rainbow-colored motion blur — to gather and assemble the pieces she would need.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Click. Whoosh! Clack. Whoosh! Click. Whoosh! Clack. Whoosh!

Before Rainbow had finished her creation, Rarity — her own magical pony parts now visible — began to take away some pieces from it. As a result, when Rainbow rushed back with another piece, she didn’t have something to attach it to, and ended up just shooting by before tumbling uncontrollably across the ground.

Once Rainbow finally came to a stop, she slowly rubbed her head in pain as her pony parts disappeared. She turned back to look at her incomplete creation, then glared when she saw that it was Rarity who was responsible for her crash. “Hey!” she shouted. “What was that for?!”

“My apologies, dear,” responded Rarity as she continued grabbing various Lego parts, “but I believe it’s best that we settle with simplicity, for this one. To be more precise, I shall create a few basic cages to imprison these villains, and that shall be the end of the matter.” By now, she was not only gathering the pieces she needed, but also quickly tossing them through the air. When these pieces came down, each of them landed precisely into their proper places to build Rarity’s creation.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Click. Clack. Click. Click. Clack. Clack. Click. Clack.

However, Rarity’s progress was halted by Applejack, who started punching away the pieces as they came down, preventing them from falling into place. It was very hard to ignore the noise of those impacts, so Rarity turned back to see the source of the commotion and was shocked by what she discovered. “Applejack!” she exclaimed in anger, while her pony ears, tail, and horn vanished. “What is the meaning of this?!”

“That fancy little build of yours ain’t gonna help us one bit,” answered Applejack, whose own pony ears and tail had now appeared. “We gotta take a direct approach, an’ Ah think a catapult should get the job done.” She then quickly started the assembling said catapult in three chunks: the left supports, the right supports, and the throw arm.

Whoosh! Click. Clack. Click. Slam! Whoosh! Click. Clack. Click. Slam! Whoosh! Click. Clack.

As Applejack was busy working on the final chunk, Rainbow Dash removed some of the parts holding together the other two chunks. When Applejack then tried to slam the final chunk into place, the lack of support caused the whole thing to just smash to pieces. She glanced down at the mess in disbelief, then up at Rainbow Dash, who smugly held up the pieces she had removed. “Hey!” shouted Applejack furiously. “That was uncalled for!”

“You want the direct approach?” responded Rainbow Dash as she carelessly tossed away the pieces in her hands. “Then I say we should build my cannon.”

“And potentially harm innocent bystanders?” scoffed Rarity as she crossed her arms. “I should say not! What we need is to isolate the problem, and my cages should suffice to do just that.”

“Yeah, an’ how are ya gonna get ‘em in the cages?” question Applejack in anger. “They’re not gonna be all friendly like an’ just walk right in. We gotta show ‘em we mean business, an’ mah catapult should get the job done.”

In the mist of all this building tension, Fluttershy was being completely ignored. “Um, I have an idea,” she quietly stated. She glanced down at her feet and shyly added, “If anyone is interested, that is.”

Alas, poor Fluttershy received no acknowledgement at all from her teammates.

“Cannon!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Cages!” shouted Rarity.

“Catapult!” shouted Applejack

“Party bus!” shouted Pinkie Pie excitedly as she suddenly jumped up in between the three arguing teammates.

“NO!!” shouted Pinkie’s friends — except Fluttershy — simultaneously.

As the team from Canterlot City continued arguing among themselves, the trio they were intending to capture had done nothing but just stand there and observe all of the unfolding chaos.

“This is the best they can do?” asked Aria in disbelief.

“But they didn’t even do anything,” responded Sonata. “They’re just fighting with each other.”

Aria rolled her eyes at hearing another of Sonata’s dim-witted remarks, but then her eyes widened as she suddenly realized something. She placed a hand under her pendant and stared at it for a few seconds. After watching nothing happen, she said, “Something’s not right. Why aren’t we absorbing their negative energy?”

The wicked grin had never left Adagio’s face since she witnessed the first demonstration of these Master Builders. “I think we may have found what we’re looking for,” stated Adagio. “Or rather, it found us.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Sonata with a shrug.

Adagio smacked herself in the face as she turned back to her companions and exclaimed, “Magic! Don’t you see?!” Without waiting for an answer, she turned to face the arguing Master Builders and smiled again as she calmly continued, “These girls aren’t your standard Master Builders. Their creative talents come with some… special powers. Plus, they didn’t fall under our spell when we were singing, just moments ago.”

“But that still doesn’t answer my question,” said Aria impatiently.

Adagio glanced down at her own pendant and replied, “It appears our powers are not yet strong enough to absorb Equestrian magic. We’ll first need to extend our reach beyond the limits of a single City Region.” She turned back to her two companions and announced, “Our practice run in Bricklyn is over. It’s time for Phase Two.”

Aria and Sonata turned to each other and grinned.

“Back in the Dazzlemobile,” Adagio swiftly ordered. “We’re outta here.” The three girls quickly returned to their respective seats in the convertible. Adagio then reversed the car, turned it around, and drove off down the same path they had arrived on.

Meanwhile, the Master Builders from Canterlot City continued to bicker without even noticing the departure of their opponents. All except for one, that is.

“Um, girls?” asked Fluttershy quietly. Once again, she received no acknowledgement from her friends. “Girls?” she asked again more loudly, though it was not by much. After getting no results at all for her efforts, she knew she had to try something different.

Fluttershy looked around until her eyes fell upon the whistle that had been used earlier to call the attention of the construction workers. With a sad sigh, she looked down and muttered, “Why me?” With her head hanging down, she slowly marched over to the whistle. She grabbed the string that hung from it, then turned back to face her friends in the futile hope that it was not too late to avoid taking such a drastic measure, but the scene of hostility had remained unchanged. Ashamed that she was left with no choice, she shut her eyes tightly and pulled the string.

The extremely loud toot of the whistle could be heard across the entire construction zone, but its close proximity to the four bickering minifigs made it so unbearable that they were forced to stop their pointless argument and cover the sides of their heads. It was only when her friends finally stopped fighting and reacted to the noise that Fluttershy finally released the string, shutting off the whistle.

Rainbow Dash rubbed the sides of her head in pain for a few seconds before turning to the whistle — and Fluttershy. “What was that for?!” she shouted irritably.

Fluttershy looked down and lightly kicked the ground as she shamefully replied, “I’m really really sorry that I had to do that, but, um…” She looked back up at her friends. “They just left.”

“Huh?” asked everyone else in confusion. They quickly turned to where their opponents stood, but saw nothing but a pair of tire marks leading away along the dirt path.

Rainbow Dash growled in frustration and threw her hardhat on the ground. “Great,” she grumbled. “That’s just great.”

“How could they just slip away from us like that?” asked Applejack as she scratched the back of her head in disbelief.

“Duh! We were too busy fighting each other to pay attention to anything else,” replied Pinkie Pie as she rolled her eyes.

Rarity sighed sadly as she carefully removed her hardhat and said, “I can’t imagine what Miss Playwell will think of us when she finds out about this.”

Everyone immediately looked up in shock at the mention of Celestia Playwell. The team had very high expectations for this mission, and they had just failed to stop the villains.

“Who says she has to know?” asked Rainbow Dash as a nervous smile formed on her face. Before anyone could question her, she continued, “I mean, our mission was to figure out why this city went silent to the rest of the Lego World, and we actually succeeded on that. Everything else — like capturing those weird girls — would’ve just been a bonus.”

“I suppose that’s true,” said Rarity uneasily as she tapped her chin. “Though I doubt she’ll simply leave the matter alone as soon as we mention the source of Bricklyn’s plight.”

“We’ll think about it on the ride home,” said Applejack. “For now, let’s just cut our losses an’ get outta this here city. Since all the bridges leadin’ out have been blocked off, we’ll need some way to smash through one of those barriers.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly as she hopped around, causing her hardhat to fall off her head. “I’ll grab some jackhammers from that equipment shed over there!” She then zoomed off towards the small building where the team had earlier seen the construction workers grab their jackhammers.

While they waited for Pinkie to return, an awkward silence hung over the rest of the team as they glanced uneasily at one another. It was a major embarrassment to let the bad guys get away due to a petty argument. No one was willing to accept responsibility for the failure, but they also knew better than to start openly accusing any of their fellow teammates. After all, that was what allowed the three singer girls to escape in the first place.

Pinkie Pie quickly returned, holding something behind her back. “Good news and bad news,” she announced. “The bad news is that I couldn’t find any jackhammers in there. Not even one!” She pulled her hands from behind her back, revealing each one to be holding a 1x2 tile with a rather familiar printing on their top surface. “The good news is that I found a couple of destructa-bricks in there.” She then casually tossed the pair of explosives over to Applejack.

Applejack caught the destructa-bricks and looked down at them for a moment. The printing on these 1x2 tiles consisted of a number pad and display for the timer, a slider for the blast intensity, and a red button to activate the explosive. With the only option presented to her, Applejack sighed and said, “Well, might as well make do with what we got.” As she began walking away, she tucked the pair of explosives under her arm as she removed her hardhat — which had been placed over her regular hat — and tossed it aside.

The rest of the team quickly followed after Applejack, except for Fluttershy. The shy yellow girl looked back at the equipment shed and slowly took off her hardhat as she thought, I wonder where all those jackhammers went. For that matter… She looked around and noticed that, aside from herself and her friends, the construction zone was now completely deserted. Where did all of the construction workers go?

“Fluttershy, let’s go!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy was startled and dropped her hardhat. She glanced over at her friends and saw they were already leaving, so she set aside her thoughts and quickly went after them.

A team of five Master Builders from Canterlot City had arrived with high hopes of completing their next mission. Now, after failing to even properly confront the trio who had enslaved the city of Bricklyn, the humbled group of friends was heading home with only a partial success.

Jailbreak!

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Chapter 3
Jailbreak!

For the most part, the Lego World was a peaceful and carefree place. But like many other worlds, it had its fair share of crooks and villains. Whenever such bad people were caught, they needed a place to be locked away so they could never again cause any harm. And in this world, that place was LEGO Maximum Security Prison.

Under the darkness of a cloudy night, lights were on all across the perimeter of the building to ensure that any would-be escapees would never get away undetected. Guards posted on watchtowers remained vigilant for any suspicious activity. No prisoner had ever escaped this place since the day it was built, and there seemed to be no sign that would change tonight.

Inside the prison, one inmate was being escorted down a hallway. Some prisoners wore a simple black and white striped prison shirt, while others — like this inmate — wore an orange jumpsuit that covered all but the head and hands. This prisoner’s wrists were bound by a pair of handcuffs, which the guard held onto as he led this person through the hallways.

The prisoner was eventually brought to the interrogation room and instructed to sit down in the chair on one side of the table in the middle of the room. The inmate obeyed without any resistance, and began waiting for the upcoming session of questioning.

Just moments later, a police officer carrying a file folder arrived at the door to the interrogation room. The guard posted at the door turned to him and said, “She’s all yours, Sentry.”

Flash Sentry nodded before he opened the door, stepped inside, and closed the door behind him. He showed no emotion as he saw the familiar face sitting patiently at the table. This inmate had pale orange skin, aqua eyes, and a large hair piece that consisted of red and yellow streaks.

“Sunset Shimmer,” stated Flash Sentry as he placed the vanilla folder on the table in front of the empty seat on the opposite side from the inmate.

Sunset barely acknowledged the police officer’s arrival. She did little more than quietly sit still and gaze sadly down at the table.

Flash grabbed a red mug and walked over to a water dispenser in the corner of the room. Once he had filled the mug, he brought it over to the table and slid it over to Sunset. “Here, how about a drink?” he calmly offered.

Sunset simply stared down at the mug of water for a moment, then silently glanced up at Flash.

In an effort to break the tension, Flash smiled and said, “Relax, Shimmer. It’s just water. I’m not like one of those bad cops who likes to kick chairs around.”

Sunset couldn’t help but show a slight smile as she snickered lightly and muttered, “What a stereotype.” She reached both hands up to grasp the mug and took a sip. After swallowing a mouthful of that cool refreshing drink, she finally spoke up. “By the way, congratulations on the promotion, chief.”

Flash responded with a smile. Chief Keystone had just recently retired, and due to Flash’s actions during Sunset’s failed attempt to take over Canterlot City, he was named as the city’s new Chief of Police. It was remarkable that he was able to go from rookie officer to chief so quickly, but he was willing to accept the responsibilities of his new title.

Flash sat down in the empty chair and opened the folder he had brought with him. After Sunset was arrested, he had insisted on handling all of the questioning himself. Not only was it a big deal that he was the one who had arrested such a high-profile criminal, but also he was simply curious about why she did what she did and how she was able to get away with it for five years.

“Okay,” began Flash as he looked through the contents of the folder. “Over our previous sessions, we discussed your intellectual skills, your reasoning behind the allies you chose, and even your past life as a magical unicorn in the alternate world of Equestria. Oh, and of course you once mentioned that all of your personal possessions are hidden in scatted locations throughout the Lego World. Are you sure you still wish to not share more information with me on that?”

“Absolutely,” replied Sunset. “The last thing I want is any vigilantes to destroy the few remaining connections I have to Equestria.”

“Understandable,” responded Flash with a nod. He then took out a blank sheet of paper from the folder and grabbed a pen from his pocket. “Alright,” he said. “For this session, we’re going to talk about your creative talents.”

Sunset glanced down sadly and gave no response.

Flash prepared to start writing as he asked, “Ever since the day you first set foot in the Lego World, how many custom creations have you built?”

Sunset didn’t immediately respond. She eventually managed to glance up at the police officer and ask, “You want the honest truth?”

“Yes, I do,” replied Flash with a firm stare at the inmate.

Sunset looked down at her feet and let out a sad sigh. After an uneasy silence, she finally answered, “Zero.”

Flash raised an eyebrow. “Zero?” he asked.

“Zero,” Sunset sadly confirmed.

Flash could only shake his head in disbelief as he wrote down the answer. “Well, in that case, you’re gonna have to explain how you obtained some of the vehicles you’ve been known to use.” He looked back up at Sunset and asked, “How about that high-performance racecar you’ve been seen in on many occasions?”

Sunset turned her gaze back up to Flash and answered, “I stole that thing the way it was, and made no modifications at all.”

“What about that pickup truck you often used for bank robberies?”

“Also stolen as it was, and also unmodified.”

“That airboat you used for getaways across rivers and swamps?”

“Also stolen and unmodified.”

“That small helicopter for your most daring escapes?”

“Same thing.”

“That armored van you gave to Rocky and Mugsy?”

“Ditto.”

“And what about that three-seat car you used to smash into the police station to steal Princess Twilight’s crown? That was not a registered vehicle, which means you had to have built it yourself.”

“Only because I once broke into a warehouse and stole some instructions.”

That final answer actually caused Flash to stare silently at Sunset in disbelief for a moment. “Instructions,” he simply stated. “You stole… instructions.”

Sunset looked down sadly and silently nodded.

Flash sighed as he turned his attention back to the paper and took notes on what was just spoken. Once he finished writing, he set down his pen and remarked, “Well, that’s certainly the first time I’ve ever heard of someone stealing instructions.” He looked back up at Sunset and asked, “So what about what happened right after you put on Twilight’s crown? You took apart Pinkie Pie’s car and turned it into a cage to imprison the whole team, all without any instructions.”

“That wasn’t me who built that,” answered Sunset shamefully. “It was the raging she-demon. Plus, I guess you could say she cheated a little bit. She changed those pieces to suit her needs, rather than just work with what she had.”

“Yeah, can’t argue with that,” said Flash as he began writing down another note. As he finished writing, he couldn’t help but sigh and mutter, “I’m honestly quite astonished that, as brilliant as you are, you seem to have no sense of creativity.”

Sunset could only look down sadly as she responded, “I-I don’t know why that is. It just… doesn’t occur to me at all. I mean, everyone here acts like creativity should be second-nature to them, kinda like what magic is like, back in Equestria.” She shrugged as she added, “Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up in this world.”

“I wouldn’t call that a valid excuse,” said Flash. “I personally witnessed Twilight build a very basic ATV that she used to break her teammates out of that cage. I heard that she then built a simple helicopter out of parts from a junkyard.” He rested his arms on the table and leaned forward. “Tell me, Shimmer. How is it that she took only three days to understand a concept that you still seem to struggle with after more than five years?”

Sunset had no definitive answer for that question, and could only speculate on the possible reasons. If what Flash was saying was true, then Twilight truly was much better than her in a lot of ways. At this belief, her old self would’ve felt raging jealousy. But now, she felt very humbled, and was willing to simply accept whatever tragic fate would await her.

Sunset slumped forward in her seat and sadly mumbled, “I guess it’s just like how I didn’t understand the magic of friendship.” She sighed. “Just another reason why she deserved to be an Alicorn Princess, and I didn’t.”

After a moment of silence, Flash turned his attention back to the paper and took more notes. He had not been expecting this session to reveal something so insecure about Sunset Shimmer. In fact, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit of sympathy for her — something he had never imagined would be possible. Perhaps there was hope for her, after all.

Once he had finished writing, he put his pen back in his pocket and said, “Well, I guess that covers everything for this session.”

Sunset looked up at Flash in confusion. None of the previous interrogation sessions had taken such a short amount of time as this one.

“No offense, but I had expected more from you on this subject,” explained Flash as he put all of the pages back inside the folder and closed it. He then got up out of his chair and, with a tip of the hat, said, “Goodnight, Shimmer.”

Flash Sentry walked out of the interrogation room and gave a simple nod to the guard posted at the door. The guard nodded back and went inside to retrieve the inmate and escort her back to her cell.

Sunset put up no resistance at all as the guard guided her through the hallways of this prison, the clacking of their footsteps echoing throughout the empty corridors. She knew very well that she had done some very terrible things — especially in Canterlot City — and that she now had to face the consequences for those actions. Although Princess Twilight had promised that she could join with her group of friends once she was free, she doubted the rest of the Lego World would forgive her so easily. Not even the possibility of being let out early for good behavior did much to improve her outlook for the future.

After walking through the dimly-lit prison hallways, Sunset was soon brought back to her cell. The guard gently pushed her inside and shut the barred door. The shuttering clang of that door echoed throughout the building.

As the guard walked away, Sunset sat down on the simple cot in her cell and stared down at the smooth floor. Aside from that and the surrounding stone-grey walls, there was not much at all to a Lego prison cell. Only the simplest of the absolute essentials — a bed, a sink, and a toilet — were provided. This was to prevent inmates from using their creativity to build something that could allow them to escape. High up on the wall that was opposite from the barred door was a tiny window — a single transparent brick — that covered an area that was just one brick high and two studs wide — a size that was regarded as being right on the limit for a hole that a determined minifig could fit through.

Sunset Shimmer struggled to find any positive thoughts inside such a miserable living space, but what really got to her was not the inside of this cell, but rather what was immediately outside of it.

“Hey, Mugsy! Look who just came back,” said one prisoner in the cell directly across the hall from Sunset’s cell, speaking with a gravelly gangster voice.

“Hey, it’s that sissy again, Rocky!” said his cellmate cheerfully, speaking with a deeper dim-witted voice.

“Yeah, she really is a sissy, ain’t she?” added the first inmate. “Thought she should take over the whole world, only to get crushed by a bunch of other sissies.” He then shouted across the hallway, “Ya hear that, sissy? You stink!”

Sunset didn’t even turn her gaze away from the floor. After her fall from grace as number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted, the other inmates had no shortage of insults directed at her for ultimately being such a miserable failure. But the most hurtful comments of all came from her neighbors and former minions, the incompetent crooks named Rocky and Mugsy. Not only had they personally known her longer than anyone else in the Lego World, but they also just didn’t know when to shut their mouths.

“Hey, uh, didn’t those same sissies put us in here, too?” asked Mugsy in confusion.

“Heck no, you dummy!” retorted Rocky. “We could’ve totally beaten ‘em to pieces if it hadn’t been for that officer sneakin’ up behind us!”

“Yeah, that guy always seems to be the one putting us back in jail, isn’t he?”

“And why didn’t this sissy stop him like everyone else in the city when she had the chance? It would’ve saved us all a bunch of headaches.”

“Yeah, my head was hurting for days after that head-bonk.”

“My head was hurtin’ from when you smacked me with your crowbar!”

“Hey, not my fault! That sissy just slipped away at the wrong time.”

“Whatever. I’m just sayin’ this sissy should’ve known better than to let even a single cop get away like that.”

“Yeah, she really is a sissy, isn’t she?”

As much as Sunset tried to ignore the pathetic taunting from those two brick-heads, she just couldn’t hold back the tears that started to form in her eyes. She had once been a very promising student of Princess Celestia in Equestria, and she had foolishly thrown all of that away to satisfy her craving for more power. And now, that selfishness had lead her on a path down to rock bottom, and she saw no way she could ever possibly rise up from such a miserably low point.

As Sunset wiped away her tears, she began to hear a faint rumbling. Her eyes widened in shock as the noise was quickly accompanied by subtle vibrations. The shaking and rumbling quickly grew in intensity. Before long, everyone inside the building began to notice the earthquake-like conditions, which was highly unusual since this place was not prone to earthquakes.

“Hey! What’s happenin’!” exclaimed Rocky and he and Mugsy struggled against the now-violent shaking to stay on their feet.

Of all the parts of the building, nothing was shaking and shuttering more intensely than the exterior walls. After what seemed like an eternity, but was really just a matter of seconds, the bricks that made up these exterior walls began to fall apart and crash to the ground around the building.

Although the earthquake conditions continued, the intensity quickly dropped off once the outer walls had completely collapsed. With these walls gone, just about every cell in the prison was now wide open to the outside world.

“Check it out, Rocky! We’re free!” exclaimed Mugsy cheerfully.

“Me first! Me first!” shouted Rocky as he shoved Mugsy back and jumped outside to freedom.

“Hey, wait for me!” shouted Mugsy as he quickly followed after his longtime partner in crime.

Scenes like this were repeated all around the prison as crooks, robbers, and other kinds of bad guys jumped out of their opened cells. All of them had huge grins on their faces as they took immediate advantage of this incredible chance to escape. The noise of the alarm bells and the bright search lights coming down from the watch towers did little to deter the inmates’ excitement. With so many prisoners breaking out at the same time, everyone knew that at least some of them were guaranteed to get away.

Inside the prison, guards and police officers were scrambling around in desperation. One officer, chief Flash Sentry, ran up to a couple of guards and exclaimed, “What’s going on?!”

“We don’t know!” shouted one of the guards over the deafening noise of the alarm bells. “All the outer walls just collapsed! Every cell is busted open!”

“Darn darn darn darny darn!” exclaimed Flash as he began charging down the hallway, quickly followed by the two guards. “If every cell is now wide open, then that means every single prisoner is escaping! Including—” He skidded to a stop in front of the barred door of one particular cell and gasped in shock.

What really surprised the new chief of police was not that a certain prisoner had escaped, but rather that this particular prisoner had not escaped. Although the exterior wall was completely gone, the inmate simply sat on the cot and stared down at the middle of the floor with a depressed look on her face.

“Sunset Shimmer?” asked a very baffled Flash Sentry. “You’re not trying to escape?”

Sunset glanced over at the missing wall, then turned back to the floor and sighed. “What’s the point?” she said sadly. “You guys will just catch me again and throw me back in jail. Might as well save you the effort and not even bother trying.”

Flash could only stare silently at Sunset in disbelief. She had just been presented with a perfect opportunity to escape, and yet she was just outright refusing to go for it. Whoever this girl was, she was not a criminal mastermind — at least, not anymore.

Regardless, Flash was not going to take any chances. He turned to one of the accompanying guards and ordered, “You. Stay here and keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn’t escape.” After that guard nodded in acknowledgement, he turned to the other guard and ordered, “And you. Get all the other guards together. We gotta figure out what the heck is going on out there.” He didn’t even wait for a nod of agreement before immediately running off.

Just moments later, Flash Sentry and about a dozen prison guards were running around the outside of the building. They could faintly hear the rumbling that had accompanied the initial collapse of the exterior walls. Flash realized that whatever had caused the walls to fall apart was still going on, and he was determined to find out what it was.

The stone-grey bricks that once made up these walls were now in piles around the building. Flash quickly climbed up onto one of these piles to get a better view. He could now see that the walls had not been completely destroyed instantaneously, as he had initially thought. Instead, the destruction was still ongoing further along the side of the building, with dozens of bricks rattling loose before finally coming apart and tumbling to the ground. In addition, he now noticed that the rumbling noise actually sounded like some kind of rapid hammering.

Flash stumbled down from atop the pile and ran around the other piles, with the guards following close behind. Once they finally came around the final pile to the current site of the ongoing demolition, they saw what was arguably one of the strangest sights they had ever seen. About half a dozen construction workers were using jackhammers to tear down the walls of LEGO Maximum Security Prison.

Without any hesitation, Flash sprinted towards the construction workers and furiously shouted, “HEY!! What do you think you’re doing?!”

As one, the construction workers stopped their jackhammers and turned their heads to face the approaching police officer. Still moving in perfect unison, the workers quickly pointed their jackhammers straight down at the ground and resumed the hammering, creating a miniature earthquake.

The artificial earthquake covered only a small area, but it was still powerful enough to throw Flash Sentry off his feet and onto his rear, causing his police hat to fall off. He attempted to stand back up, but only ended up falling flat on his face, then on his back, and then back and forth between those two positions.

With the jackhammers still pounding away at the ground, the construction workers then began to practically ride them like pogo sticks, carrying them away from the damaged prison and towards a nearby forest. Once they arrived at the edge of the woods, they stopped their jackhammers, flipped them over their heads to carry them on their backs, and then ran off into the night.

With the artificial earthquake over, Flash finally stopped bouncing around along the ground, leaving him only panting from exhaustion. Once he was certain that the worst was over, he groaned as he slowly sat up and rubbed his head. “What… the brick… just happened?” he muttered.

As the other guards gathered around with confused expressions, another guard ran over to the fallen officer from the other direction that he and the others had come from. “Excuse me, sir,” he said urgently. “I was posted up in that watchtower over there.” He pointed up at the now-empty watchtower that overlooked this part of the prison grounds. “Sorry I couldn’t contact you guys earlier. Radio’s busted.” A horrible screeching noise of audio feedback suddenly came from the radio he was holding, making everyone in the area cringe. He quickly shut it off and grumbled, “Oh, great, now it’s working.” He tossed the radio away as he turned back to Flash and continued his urgent report. “I saw those construction workers come out of the woods and just stroll right up to the building. They didn’t even react to the floodlights being pointed right at them! And then they started using those jackhammers to bring down the walls, as if it was just part of their job!”

Flash grabbed his fallen hat as he stood back up. “Why the heck would they think it’s okay to tear down an active prison?!” he exclaimed.

As Flash dusted off his hat before putting it back on, the watchtower guard stated, “The good news is that all of the escaped prisoners went in the same direction: right into those woods.” He gestured at the same forest that the strange construction workers had just escaped into.

Flash eyed the nearby dark woods for a moment, then quickly turned to the other guards and urgently ordered, “Grab any vehicle you can get your hands on and move out! We gotta cover a large search area as quickly as possible.”

The guards nodded and muttered in agreement as they quickly left to begin searching for all of those escaped prisoners.

It had taken little more than an hour for police and prison guards to spread out across much of the forest and begin searching for escaped convicts. In the air, helicopters hovered over the treetops as their searchlights scanned the covered ground in a futile attempt to find any fugitives. The vehicles on the ground weren’t faring much better. This forest covered a very large area, and offered plenty of places to hide — especially on such a dark night as this.

Despite the staggering odds, police chief Flash Sentry refused to give up. He was riding in a police ATV with the headlights on at the highest setting. He drove the off-road vehicle as quickly as he could through the rough terrain as he kept his eyes open for anything. If he couldn’t catch these crooks tonight, then he would at least let them know that he would stop at nothing to find them.

He suddenly saw someone in the distance rush past the headlights. That person moved so quickly that he could only identify a black and white striped prison shirt, but that was all he needed to know. “I’ve got you now, crook,” he muttered as he immediately switched on the red and blue police lights and took off down the trail after the fleeing prisoner.

The ATV’s motor buzzed loudly as it zoomed down the bumpy trail. The partially illuminated landscape quickly rushed by as Flash focused entirely on catching up with the fugitive. He would occasionally see the striped prison shirt briefly appear up ahead in the lights, telling him that he was still hot on the trail. “You won’t get away from me, crook!” he shouted.

Just one minute into the pursuit, the ATV came to an immediate halt as the front suddenly dropped down, flinging Flash out of his seat and sending him tumbling head-over-heels along the dirt trail. Wincing in pain, he quickly stood back up to determine what had just happened. The first thing he noticed was that the fleeing convict was now gone. He then turned to his ATV and saw that he had just drove it straight into a ditch.

“Gosh darn it to heck!” shouted Flash furiously as he stomped the ground with each near-curse he spoke. He snatched his hat and put it back on his head as he ran back to the ATV and tried desperately to push it out of the ditch. Despite the additional adrenaline from the recent chase and the frustration of losing the crook, he could barely even budge the heavy vehicle.

Flash growled in frustration and prepared to try again. However, a new noise suddenly caught his attention. He immediately stopped moving and quieted his rapid breathing so he could try to identify this new sound. It was definitely a series of voices. They sounded female, and it sounded like they were… vocalizing?

Flash Sentry shook his head before he quickly grabbed a flashlight and switched it on. As far as he was concerned, anyone in this forest was likely an escaped prisoner, and he was going to find and arrest them all. “You crooks are going down,” he muttered with determination as he marched his way through the woods towards the source of the strange but soothing vocalizing.

Some Unexpected Help

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Chapter 4
Some Unexpected Help

At the LEGO Team Headquarters in Canterlot City, Celestia Playwell was busy tapping away at the keyboard on the large console in the briefing room. She paid little attention to the images that came up on the massive display screen above, nor did she even bother to acknowledge the minifigs gathered behind her.

Standing in the middle of the massive room, on the floor in front of the elevated platform where Celestia stood, were the five Master Builders of Canterlot City: Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. After their recent mission in Bricklyn ended, they had crossed a bridge back into Manehattan and taken an overnight train ride back to Canterlot City. Needless to say, the results of that mission had given all of them a very restless night.

After a long and uneasy silence, Celestia finally stopped tapping the keyboard and sighed. “Three prison breaks last night,” she stated, keeping her back turned to the team. “All of them through unusual circumstances. The Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters was infiltrated by police officers, who somehow managed to free Lightning Dust. She has since quickly gone back to her old ways and already hijacked a cargo ship loaded with robots that had yet to be programed, which means she now has an army of her own to command. In the Castle Region, the fortress where Trixie was being held was attack by firefighters. The guards were no match for the high-pressure water cannons, and it didn’t take much more to set Trixie free, letting her resume her quest for domination. And finally, LEGO Maximum Security Prison was partially demolished by construction workers, allowing almost every prisoner to escape into the Everfree Forest. Some fugitives have been since been caught, but many still remain at large.”

Finally, Celestia turned to face the team and said, “But none of that is important right now.” She silently eyed each of the five Master Builders with a displeased look, then asked, “Tell me, girls: What happened in Bricklyn?”

The five girls looked at one another uneasily. None of them — not even Pinkie Pie — had a smile on their faces. Eventually, Rarity cleared her throat and answered, “Well… we did discover that the city’s mysterious silence was due to all of the citizens being, for lack of a better phrase, brainwashed into behaving as little more than automatons.”

“And did you discover the source of this activity?” asked Celestia.

“Sure we did,” answered Rainbow Dash. “It was these three weird girls who kept singing a lot. We decided to stop them, but…” She couldn’t bring herself to continue any further.

“But what?” asked Celestia, whose patience was starting to slip.

The five girls looked down shamefully. Pinkie eventually worked up the courage to look up at Celestia and, with a big but nervous grin on her face, answered, “They, kinda… got away?”

Celestia furrowed her brow and asked, “And how did they get away?”

Again, the five Master Builders just looked at the floor in silence. It was Applejack who finally glanced up as she sighed and answered, “They slipped away ‘cause we were too busy arguin’ on how to deal with ‘em.” She then turned her gaze back down to the floor and quickly muttered, “There, Ah said it.”

Celestia shut her eyes and sighed. When she reopened her eyes, the displeased look never left her face as she said, “I expected better out of you. I would not have been surprised if your failure was due to your opponents being too powerful to handle. But to fight amongst yourselves before your true opponents had a chance to even do anything?” She shook her head in disbelief. “All I can say is that your teamwork needs a lot of improvement before I can consider sending you on any more major missions.”

The team remained staring down at the floor in shame. They had been given an excellent opportunity to prove themselves as a team of Master Builders, and they completely blew it.

Celestia turned away and walked back to the console. “The good news is that your description of these girls is enough for me to know who they are.”

“You do?” asked Fluttershy as she and the others looked up at Celestia.

Celestia resumed typing at the keyboard as she continued, “Yes, for they have caused trouble before. Twice.” She finished typing as an image came up on the display screen. This image showed those three minifigure girls depicted on a medieval tapestry with their names written under their respective feet: Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk.

“At least now we know their names,” remarked Rarity.

“They call themselves the Dazzlings,” explained Celestia. “They first appeared in the Castle Region, not long after it was initially established. We still don’t know where their mysterious power comes from, but they were known to have enslaved entire armies and turned them against each other. Fortunately, the founder and first ruler of the Castle Region, the great wizard Starswirl the Bearded, was able to drive them out. They disappeared for a while before starting their second round of trouble, this time in the Pirate Region, not long after that region was first established. But as with their first attempt, they were soon driven out and never heard from again.” Celestia tapped a large button to shut off the display screen. “Until now.”

“Well, look on the bright side,” said Rainbow Dash. “At least now we know where they’ve been hiding all these years. All we gotta do is go back there and take ‘em down for good!”

“As much as I share that sentiment,” said Celestia as she walked up to the railing at the edge of the platform, “I’m afraid you girls will not be going back to Bricklyn.”

“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow in shock. “Why not?! We can totally whoop their sorry butts!”

“So long as we use the proper methods, of course,” Rarity pointed out.

“Yeah, like your fancy lil’ ideas would’ve gotten us anywhere,” grumbled Applejack as she rolled her eyes. “What we need are practical ideas that actually get stuff done!”

“Oh, please, darling,” argued Rarity as she crossed her arms. “Every creative idea has a proper time and place, and I refuse to believe that your suggestion would have worked for that scenario.”

“Yeah, so we should’ve just gone with my idea in the first place,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Says who?” questioned Applejack as she put her hands on her hips.

“Says me!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, pointing at herself. “I’m the team pilot, which means I’ll always have good ideas.”

“I had a good idea,” Fluttershy quietly said.

“What about my party bus?” suggested Pinkie Pie. “That sounded like a good idea.”

“As if!” Rainbow shot back. “I can think of plenty of better ideas!”

“Considerin’ how often ya break stuff, Ah seriously doubt that,” remarked Applejack bitterly.

“Oh yeah?!” exclaimed Rainbow, getting in Applejack’s face. “Then how about—”

“Enough!” shouted Celestia.

The five teammates immediately softened their expressions as they turned to face Celestia. A sudden reminder of who was in their presence was all they needed to stop yet another pointless argument.

Celestia sighed and rubbed her hand across her face. She turned away and walked back to the control panel as she stated, “I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to do this, but it seems you have left me with no choice.” She held down a button and spoke into the nearby microphone, “Send her in.” She then released the button and turned back to face the assembled team.

The five minifigs turned to the sound of a nearby door opening, where they saw two people enter the room. The first was a familiar police officer — police chief Flash Sentry. The other person, escorted by the officer, was a handcuffed prisoner in an orange jumpsuit, but it wasn’t just any prisoner.

“Sunset Shimmer?” asked all five girls simultaneously.

“Indeed,” replied Celestia with a nod. “Out of all the prisoners that were held at LEGO Maximum Security Prison, she was the only one who did not escape in last night’s prison break. Not because she couldn’t, but because she refused to escape.”

The five girls could only stare silently with their jaws hanging wide open. A prisoner refusing to join in on a massive jailbreak was practically unheard of.

“Therefore,” continued Celestia, “with my uncle Kjeld’s blessing, I have decided to give her the opportunity to prove that she deserves a second chance.”

“How so?” asked Rarity.

Celestia turned to Sunset Shimmer and silently gave a single nod.

Sunset, who had been staring down at the floor the entire time, finally raised her head to face the Canterlot City Master Builders. She momentarily remained silent before finally speaking. “I have something that might allow us to contact Princess Twilight of Equestria,” she calmly stated.

That statement immediately caught everyone’s attention. With the interdimensional portal still closed for a very long time, none of the five girls thought they would ever hear from their otherworldly friend ever again. The possibility that that might not necessarily be the case was astonishing.

Rainbow Dash turned to Celestia and asked, “You knew about this?”

“I was informed by officer Flash Sentry soon after one of his interrogation sessions with her, and I had decided to keep this knowledge a secret until it might be needed.” She glared down at the Master Builders and continued, “And I’m afraid that time has come.”

“So ya want us to ask Twilight to help us stop the Dazzlings?” asked Applejack as she raised an eyebrow.

Celestia nodded and replied, “It’s possible that she might be able to shed some light on their mysterious powers, and what their true intentions might be.”

Celestia chose not to state the other reason she had for requesting that the team contact Princess Twilight Sparkle. When Twilight first brought the team together, they had worked with each other very well and did a great job of completing their missions. But now, with her absence, their sense of teamwork had apparently begun to seriously falter. As far as Celestia was concerned, she would not feel confident enough to send these Master Builders on any missions against the Dazzlings until after they had consulted with Princess Twilight.

“Very well, then,” stated Rarity with a nod. She then asked, “What must we do to get a message to Princess Twilight?”

“First of all,” replied Flash Sentry, “Sunset refuses to tell us where any of her personal items are hidden, citing fears that some people might want to destroy them just to spite her. If you want to find the object that she says can help you, then you must take her with you as a guide.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. She turned to Celestia and raised an eyebrow as she asked, “You expect us to believe that she’ll actually help us?”

“As I had said,” replied Celestia, “she has earned the opportunity to prove that she is worthy of a second chance. She will be joining you on your next mission, and if she is successful with her part, then she will be rewarded by having her prison sentence cut in half.”

The team visibly relaxed, though still felt uneasy. An incentive like that was sure to encourage Sunset Shimmer to try her best to help them, but it didn’t ignore the fact that she was still a convicted criminal who would have to go back to prison once the mission was over.

“Your mission,” continued Celestia, “will be to send a message to Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, informing her of the threat of the Dazzlings and asking her what can be done to stop them. For this mission, you must take Sunset Shimmer with you, for she will have to show you where to go to find the necessary item to do this.”

“But isn’t Sunset still technically a prisoner?” asked Fluttershy. “Does this mean that Flash Sentry will have to come with us, too?”

“I have other duties to deal with at this time,” replied Flash, “so I’m placing Sunset Shimmer in your custody for the duration of the mission, and I trust that you girls will do well to keep an eye on her. My only demand is that the handcuffs must remain on at all times.”

“I believe we can agree to those terms,” said Rarity.

Flash turned to Sunset and gave her a silent nod before nudging her forward. She slowly walked across the room to join the team, where she promptly received a big friendly hug from Pinkie Pie.

“Just don’t expect her to be as useful as any of the rest of you,” said Flash, giving one final piece of advice. “From what she told me in the latest interrogation, she has absolutely no creative talents, and has never built anything without the help of an instruction page.”

The Master Builders turned to Sunset, who simply looked down at the floor in shame.

“Now that all is settled, good luck with your mission,” said Celestia. She narrowed her eyes as she added, “And this time, I expect better results.”

“Don’t worry, we can totally handle this,” assured Rainbow Dash confidently.

“And seeing as our mission has now officially started…” Rarity turned to Sunset and asked, “Care to elaborate on our destination?”

“At this point,” answered Sunset Shimmer, “all I’m willing say is that we’ll be going to the frontier town of Appleloosa in the Old West Region.”

“No foolin’?” asked Applejack with a smile. “That’s a mighty fine place for us to go. Ah got a cousin who lives there.”

“Do you have cousins in every region of the Lego World?” asked Rainbow Dash, raising an eyebrow.

“Not every region,” replied Applejack. “When we went on that trip to the Moon, that actually made me the first member of mah family to ever go into space.”

“Regardless, I agree that Appleloosa sounds like a rather pleasant destination to visit,” said Rarity. “If I’m not mistaken, I do believe that I may have some western attire that would allow us to fit in perfectly with the atmosphere of that region.”

“Don’t bother,” said Rainbow Dash with a dismissive wave of the hand. “We’re just gonna go there, grab what we need, and come back home. I don’t think we’re gonna be staying long enough for people to care about what we’re wearing.”

Rarity scoffed and crossed her arms as she said, “There’s never too little time for fashion.”

“Hey, uh, not to sound rude,” Sunset spoke up, “but, um, can we get going now?”

“You heard her, y’all,” said Applejack with a nod of agreement. “Let’s get a move on.”

“Onward to Appleloosa!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully as the team began heading out of the room.

As the team left the briefing room through the main double doors, chief Flash Sentry turned away and left the room through the secondary doorway through which he and Sunset had entered. He proceeded down a short hallway and down a small stairwell.

When Flash reached the bottom of that stairwell, he stopped in front of the door that led outside. He pulled out his phone, dialed a certain number, and held it up to the side of his head. As soon as he heard the voice of the person on the other side, he responded, “They are heading for Appleloosa.” As he finished that statement, a sickly green glow briefly flashed from his eyes.

Trouble in Appleloosa

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Chapter 5
Trouble in Appleloosa

The Old West Region of the Lego World was a sun-scorched land of cowboys, horse-drawn wagons, steam locomotives, and desert landscapes. There were many frontier towns to be found in this region, each with a different purpose. Some of these towns were home to prospectors and miners, seeking to strike it rich by searching for gold and silver. Other towns housed soldiers who were often in conflict with some of the native tribes.

What made the town of Appleloosa special was, as the name suggested, the extensive apple orchards just outside of town. These orchards were planted on fertile soil that allowed the apple trees to thrive like nowhere else in the entire region. Many of the recent harvests were so abundant that they were able to supply just about every other town in the region with fresh apples. With success like that, it was little wonder why the townsfolk of Appleloosa were among the most content people in the Old West Region.

As the middle of the day approached, a train whistle sounded from the town’s train station. Steam was still hissing from the engine, indicating that the train had just pulled into the station. Among the many passengers who were now starting to disembark were Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sunset Shimmer.

Unlike when she was handed over to the team in Canterlot City, Sunset was no longer wearing her orange prison jumpsuit. Instead, she was now back in her typical wardrobe — a black jacket over a magenta shirt with her red and yellow sun symbol on the front, a pair of black boots with some magenta on the front, and an orange skirt with a yellow and magenta diagonal stripe across the front. The last time she had worn these clothes was the day she was arrested, just minutes after she had been defeated by the same team that she was now here to help.

As Sunset Shimmer followed the team and stepped onto the platform of the train station, she said, “Thanks for helping me change back into my usual outfit, Rarity.”

“The pleasure is all mine, darling,” replied Rarity as she and the others continued walking forward. “Just because you have been placed under our watchful eyes doesn’t mean that it has to be an unpleasant experience.” She then lowered her voice as she added, “Besides, I didn’t want to give off the impression that we were harboring a fugitive.”

“I’m pretty sure the handcuffs are an obvious giveaway,” Sunset bitterly remarked as she held up her hands to show the cuffs that still bound her wrists.

“Trust me, dear,” stated Rarity as the six minifigs left the train station, “if keeping those things on were not mandatory, I would have removed them. Your willingness to assist us, along with your humbled attitude, is enough to convince me that you can be forgiven for your past transgressions.”

“Really?” asked Sunset in confusion. “You’re willing to just forgive me like that? After everything I’ve done to you?”

“Sure we are,” replied Applejack with a friendly smile.

“You seem a lot nicer now,” remarked Fluttershy.

“You’re nothing like the grumpy meanie-pants who once turned into a raging she-demon and tried to turn everyone in Canterlot City into a personal army of zombies,” added Pinkie Pie tactlessly.

“And while I don’t completely trust you just yet,” said Rainbow Dash bluntly, but still with a friendly smile, “I’m willing to give you the benefit of doubt.”

“Wow,” said Sunset as a friendly smile of her own formed on her face. “Thanks, girls. That actually means a lot to me.” That smile quickly faded as she uneasily added, “Although I’m so not sure if everyone else in the Lego World is willing to forgive me so easily.”

As the team walked through town, Sunset looked to her right to see a minifig in a cowboy hat polishing his rifle and snarling with bared teeth at her as she passed by. She looked to her left and saw a minifig with a short beard and a threatening look on his face as he spun a revolver in his hand, then spat into a nearby spittoon. She then glanced back to her right and saw a native from the Buffalo Tribe, who wore a feathered headdress and gripped tightly to a tomahawk in his hand as he growled threateningly at her.

Sunset turned her gaze down to the dusty ground and sighed. “Let’s just get this over with,” she muttered sadly. “I would much rather be back in jail than to be out in public like this.”

“You’re the one who knows where to find, uh, whatever it is we’re lookin’ for,” said Applejack. “So lead the way.”

“I was afraid someone would say that,” mumbled Sunset as she reluctantly began to lead the team through town.

Meanwhile, back at the train station, another disembarked passenger had been watching the departure of the Canterlot City Master Builders. Unlike those girls, this one was wearing a western outfit that served as an effective disguise, although not even the ten-gallon hat on her head could completely hide her large mass of orange curly hair. Adagio Dazzle smirked as she tipped back the hat on her head.

Behind Adagio, a few laborers grunted at they rolled a wheeled vehicle off the train. The dingy tan shroud that covered the vehicle prevented them from knowing what it was they were unloading.

“Hey! Easy with that thing!” shouted Aria at the laborers. “If I find even one piece missing, I’ll rip off more than just your heads.”

The laborers took the threat seriously as they very carefully moved the unknown vehicle into a nearby shed and then shut the doors.

Aria, who was also wearing a western disguise of her own, turned to Adagio and grumbled, “What are we even doing here, anyway?”

“Now that phase two is already underway, we need to keep an eye on those special Master Builders,” answered Adagio, never turning her gaze away from the direction in which those girls had walked off. “Keep in mind, they are the ones with Equestrian magic, and once we’re finally powerful enough to absorb it, we’ll need to know exactly where to find them.”

“So we’re just gonna secretly chase them all over the Lego World, if we have to?” asked Aria as she put her hands on her hips.

“We may not have to,” replied Adagio confidently. “If we can capture them, we can keep them in one place, allowing us to devote our attention to more important tasks.” A wicked grin slowly formed on her face as she continued, “As an added bonus, it seems that police officer spoke the truth when he said that Sunset Shimmer was with them. Once we get her under our spell, we can move on to phase three.” After a brief silence, her grin suddenly vanished as she looked around in confusion and asked, “Wait… Where’s Sonata?”

As Aria also began looking around, she began to faintly hear some music playing. As she listened carefully for a moment, she was able to identify it as music from a mariachi band. She responded to this by groaning as she facepalmed. “Not this again,” she grumbled as she began stomping over toward the source of the music.

Aria sneaked her way between buildings as she got closer to the site of the upbeat music. She peered around the corner of one final building and, much as she had wished to have been wrong, found exactly she had expected. Sonata, also wearing her own western disguise, was in the middle of some kind of fiesta and having a good time.

One guy with a bushy moustache and wearing a colorful poncho and red sombrero walked up to Sonata and held up a plate to her. “Taco Tuesday!” he said cheerfully.

“Ooh! My favorite!” said Sonata excitedly as she gladly took one of the tacos offered to her. “Thanks!”

The taco guy winked at her before moving on to the next person to offer his tacos. This turned out to be a very grumpy Aria Blaze. “Taco Tuesday!” he repeated happily, holding up the plateful of tacos.

Without even a glance at the taco guy, Aria flipped the plate up into his face, spilling tacos all over the ground and sending him onto his back, grunting in pain.

Sonata licked her lips in eager anticipation of enjoying her delicious taco. She closed her eyes, opened her mouth wide, and prepared to take a bite. Unfortunately, someone suddenly yanked on her arm and began to drag her away, causing her to drop her taco.

“Quit fooling around,” grumbled Aria as she dragged her companion away from the Taco Tuesday fiesta. “We got work to do.”

Sonata could only moan in disappointment as she stared back at her fallen taco on the dusty ground.

Elsewhere in Appleloosa, Sunset Shimmer continued to lead the team of Master Builders through town. A horse trotted by in front of them, hauling a wagon that rattled as it rolled along the dusty trail. After just a few more steps, Sunset stopped and looked up at the building that was straight ahead. “It’s in there,” she stated.

The team looked up at the large brown and faded-green building with a large sign on it that said “Salt-Lick Saloon”.

“Well, let’s mosey on in, then,” said Applejack as she and the rest of the team walked up to the front steps. She pushed open the shutter doors and stepped inside. One by one, everyone else followed her in, with Sunset Shimmer being the last in line.

The six minifigs took a moment to take in the change in atmosphere inside the saloon. Pinkie Pie happily nodded her head and tapped her foot to the beat of a tune that was being played on the piano. Rarity was nearly overwhelmed by the stench of alcohol and was force to press a hand against her mouth. Fluttershy glanced over at an arm-wrestling match between two burly guys, which ended with the loser’s arm actually coming right off. That sight and the grunt of pain from the loser made Fluttershy cringe. The winner then let go of the detached arm and chuckled as he tapped on the table. The loser grumbled as he placed a coin on the table.

Applejack smiled when she saw a familiar minifig sitting over at the bar on the other side of the room. She casually walked between the tables as she made her way over to the bar. “Howdy, Braeburn,” she greeted.

The yellow minifig with orange hair and wearing a brown vest, chaps, and cowboy hat spun around on his stool and smiled when he saw a familiar face. “Well howdy to you, too, cousin Applejack!” he greeted cheerfully with a tip of the hat. “This is a mighty fine surprise! What brings ya all the way out here?”

“Duty calls for the LEGO Team,” answered Applejack as she gestured behind her to her teammates.

Braeburn leaned over to look at the rest of the team, then leaned back onto his stool and said, “Oh yeah. Congrats on joinin’ up with ‘em, cousin. Oh, an’ on becomin’ a Master Builder, too! Ah always knew it would be a matter of time before we got one in the family.” He took a sip of his cider from the mug he held before continuing. “So what kinda mission brings y’all out here to Appleloosa?”

“Sunset Shimmer says she’s got somethin’ here that can help us,” replied Applejack, her smile never leaving her face.

“Sunset Shimmer?” asked the bartender, who now stopped cleaning the glassware as he quickly turned his attention to the city girls. Sure enough, he saw the girl in question standing among them. “Ah thought she was servin’ time in the big house for her heinous misdeeds.”

Sunset couldn’t help but look down shamefully after yet another reminder of her old self.

“She made parole for refusing to join in on a jailbreak,” explained Rainbow Dash.

The bartender raised an eyebrow and asked, “An’ y’all are willin’ to trust her?”

“We got bigger issues to deal with right now,” replied Applejack as she furrowed her brow at the bartender. “Ah think we can set aside some harsh feelings for a lil’ while.”

“Besides,” added Rainbow Dash as she held up Sunset’s handcuffs, “we’ll make sure she doesn’t try any funny business.”

“Yeah, ‘cause being funny is my business!” added Pinkie Pie with a cheerful grin, which earned the pink party girl some blank stares from everyone around her.

“Anyway,” said Applejack as she turned to Sunset Shimmer. “Where do we need to start searchin’?”

“It should be inside the office upstairs,” replied Sunset.

“Ah seriously doubt that,” said the bartender skeptically. “Ah’ve been usin’ that office for nearly fifteen years now, an’ Ah ain’t never found anythin’ unusual in there.”

“Then clearly you haven’t been looking hard enough,” remarked Sunset, almost tauntingly. She smiled slightly as she turned to the team and added, “Which is good for us, because that means it could still be there.”

Applejack turned to the bartender and asked, “Ya mind if we take a look around in there?”

The bartender sighed. He still had huge doubts about Sunset Shimmer, but she was supposedly now working with members of the LEGO Team, who were here on a mission of some importance. He reluctantly replied, “Go ahead. Just remember to put everythin’ back the way ya found it.”

“Can do,” assured Applejack with a tip of the hat. Without another word, she and the others walked around the bar and towards the stairway.

Up on the second floor, the music from the piano downstairs was much fainter, but still discernable. In addition, the stench of alcohol was nowhere nearly as intense as it was at the bar. After the six minifigs had climbed the stairs and walked down the short hallway, Rarity finally removed her hand from over her mouth and groaned in disgust. “I suppose there is one aspect of the Old West Region that I do not wish to encounter very often,” she grumbled.

Applejack rolled her eyes before she opened the door to the office. Once everyone had stepped inside the room, she said, “Well, here we are.” She turned to Sunset and asked, “So where is it?”

“First, we’ll need to move that desk out of the way,” replied Sunset, pointing at the desk at the other side of the room.

“No problemo,” said Pinkie Pie as she and Applejack walked over to either end of the desk, picked it up, and moved it over to the side.

Sunset walked over to where the desk had been and began to slowly step across the floor as she quietly muttered, “Now if I remember correctly, it should be right…” One of the floorboards creaked under her foot. “Here!” She stomped down on the floorboard, causing the other end of the 1x8 tile to break loose from the floor and fling upwards, nearly striking Rainbow Dash in the face.

“Whoa! Watch it!” shouted Rainbow as she jumped back a little.

“Sorry,” said Sunset sheepishly. She removed the loosened piece, then removed the two 1x6 tiles on either side of the gap. The removal of those three Lego pieces revealed a hidden space that could have been perfectly filled in with a 2x3 brick. Sunset reached down into that secret compartment and removed the item inside: a brown book with her Cutie/Creative Mark of a red and yellow sun printed on the front cover.

“When I was Princess Celestia’s student back in Equestria, she gave me this,” explained Sunset Shimmer as she brushed off the dust on the cover of the book and walked over to the desk to set it down. “Even after I abandoned my studies, I held onto it. Deep down, I guess I knew I was making a big mistake, and I wanted to still have a way to reach out to her.” She opened the book, which, unlike many other things in the Lego World, was not made of plastic, but had instead maintained the physical properties it had in Equestria. Sunset flipped through the paper pages until she found the first blank page. She rested a hand over the paper and smiled. “Maybe it still works.”

“That’s a book, darling,” Rarity pointed out. “What do you mean, ‘maybe it still works’?”

“It used to be that if I wrote something in here, it would appear in the pages of a book back in Princess Celestia’s library,” explained Sunset. “I get a message to her, then she can get a message to Princess Twilight.”

The five Master Builders looked at one another and smiled. Sunset Shimmer had sounded very sincere as she explained how her magic book worked, and if what she claimed was true, then there really was a way for them to contact Princess Twilight of Equestria without the need of the interdimensional portal.

“So what are you waiting for?” said Rainbow Dash excitedly as she pulled a ballpoint pen out of her jacket and held it out to Sunset. “Get to writing!”

Sunset looked over at the pen being offered to her. She glanced up at the smiling faces of Twilight’s Lego friends, then slowly took the pen from Rainbow’s hand. She looked down at the blank page and sighed. Her old self would have never considered doing something like this, but times had changed, and she was now willing to do anything to help the Lego World. “Been a long time since I’ve written these words,” she muttered. Due to the handcuffs, she had to keep both hands close together as she began writing. “‘Dear Princess Celestia…’”

Adagio tapped her foot impatiently as she waited outside the main entrance to the Salt-Lick Saloon. After Aria had stormed off, she had decided to follow after the Master Builders on her own. She saw them enter this building, but dared not to enter alone. She needed her companions by her side before she could proceed any further.

Adagio turned to the clacking noise of footsteps coming up the front steps to the saloon. She saw a grumpy Aria holding a sullen Sonata by the arm as they both walked up to her. “Let me guess. Taco Tuesday?” asked Adagio in a slightly bored tone.

Sonata kept her head down shamefully as she silently nodded.

Aria let go of Sonata and peered over the shutter doors to look inside the saloon. “Is this where they went?” she asked. “I don’t see them anywhere.”

“They’re probably in a different room, but I know they’re in there,” said Adagio. “We’ll just have to step inside and ‘politely’ ask for where they went.”

Aria turned to Adagio and asked, “So we’ll just sing a little song and demand these guys to rat ‘em out?”

“No, I’m afraid we can’t do that,” replied Adagio firmly. “If we start singing, they’ll be able to hear our presence inside this building, regardless of which room they’re in. Besides, our voices aren’t as powerful when the background music isn’t playing in our favor.”

Aria briefly listened to the upbeat piano music coming from inside the saloon, then shut her eyes and sighed in frustration. “So what are we gonna do?” she grumbled. “Just wait out here and ambush them when they eventually come out?”

“I’ve got a better idea,” said Adagio confidently as she stepped over to the shutter doors. “Just follow my lead.” She placed her hands on the doors, but paused and turned to an additional companion and said, “Wait here until I summon you inside.” She then pushed the doors open and strutted inside, followed closely by Aria and Sonata. The trio didn’t even bother to acknowledge their surroundings as they headed straight for the bar at the other side of the room.

As the bartender gave him a refill of apple cider, Braeburn asked, “Ah wonder why they call it ‘high noon’. Ain’t it still just noon?”

Before he could think of an answer, the bartender noticed the arrival of three girls in western clothes. “Howdy, ladies,” he greeted in a friendly manner. “What can Ah get ya?”

Sonata tapped her chin thoughtfully and replied, “I think I’ll have—”

Adagio swiftly placed her hand over Sonata’s mouth without even a sideways glance at her. “We’re not here for drinks,” she said softly to the bartender. She lowered her hand from Sonata’s mouth and continued, “We’re looking for a group of about six girls, all of them wearing city clothes, and one of them is in handcuffs. Could you tell us where to find them?”

The bartender raised an eyebrow in confusion. He glanced over at Braeburn, who furrowed his brow and shook his head. The bartender looked back at the trio and replied, “Sorry, ma’am, but Ah ain’t seen nobody like that ‘round here.”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” said Adagio, her tone getting more serious. “I saw them walk in here, and I’m very sure they haven’t left, which means they must be somewhere in here. Now tell us where they are.”

The bartender sighed uneasily. He had no idea why these three girls were seeking out those five girls from the LEGO Team and that convict, but the way they were immediately asking for information made him suspicious that they were up to no good. Not to mention, he noticed Braeburn repeat his silent request to not tell anything to this trio. “Ah’m afraid Ah can’t help you, ma’am,” he lied again. “Ah ain’t seen no city girls in town today, so y’all are just gonna have to look elsewhere.”

As the piano player reached the end of the tune he was playing, Adagio sighed and rolled her eyes. “Last chance,” she warned as she grabbed a revolver from her belt and slammed it down on the counter, aiming it point-blank right at the bartender. “Where are they?”

The bartender gulped audibly as he stared down at the revolver that was pointed straight at him. He was now suddenly forced to choose between taking a bullet or betraying the good guys. The lack of piano music in the background made it seem like a deathly silence had fallen across the saloon as he pondered this very tough decision. He glanced over at Braeburn, who was now giving the trio a hard stare as he slowly moved his hand toward his belt. Finally, the bartender made his choice and softly confessed, “They’re upstairs in mah office, ma’am.”

As the piano player started another upbeat tune, Adagio grinned and took the revolver off the counter. “Thank you for being so cooperative,” she said smugly.

Braeburn’s jaw was gaping in shock as he watched the trio walk by on their way to the stairs. He quickly turned to the bartender and whispered, “How could ya do that to mah cousin an’ her teammates?!”

“Ah saw ya reachin’ for yer revolver, Braeburn,” replied the bartender in a defeated tone, “an’ the last thing Ah want ‘round here is a gunfight breakin’ out.”

Meanwhile, as the Dazzlings reached the stairway, Aria turned to Adagio with a concerned look on her face and asked, “Is that thing real?”

“Heck no,” Adagio responded sharply as she tossed away the wooden fake, which clattered as it bounced across the counter of the bar. “We’re not here to take away Creation Sparks. We’re here to take control of them. Speaking of which…” She waved her arm through the air once, gesturing for someone to approach.

At the front of the saloon, the Dazzilings’ additional companion pushed open the shutter doors and marched across the room to join them.

Sunset Shimmer struggled to find the right words to use as she finished writing, “‘Your… faithful and humbled… former student, Sunset Shimmer.’” With the message now finished, Sunset gave the pen back to Rainbow Dash and closed the book. “Now all we have to do is wait for a reply,” she said.

“So I guess this means we won’t be putting that book back in its hiding place right away, huh?” said Rainbow Dash as she put away her pen.

“It’s not just that,” said Sunset as she shook her head. “As an extra precaution, now that I’ve removed it from that hidden compartment, I’ll need to find a new place to hide it.”

“You could leave it with us, dear,” suggested Rarity.

“I don’t know,” said Sunset reluctantly as she clutched the book protectively against her chest. “Are you sure you can take care of it?”

“If that thing’s the only way to talk to Twilight, then you can bet an arm an’ a leg that we’ll take very good care of it,” assured Applejack.

Sunset silently looked down at her book for a moment. She then smiled slightly and said, “I guess you’re right. For now, I’ll just hold onto it for safekeeping until we get back to Canterlot City.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Rainbow Dash, smiling in approval.

“Before we leave,” Fluttershy spoke up, “we should put everything in this room back where they belong, like we promised.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. First, Rarity and Fluttershy grabbed the floorboards and stuck them back into the gaps they had been removed from. After that was done, Applejack and Pinkie Pie picked up the desk and hauled it over to where it had originally been, covering the site of the hidden compartment.

The six minifigs smiled at one another. Their mission had been successfully completed, and there was nothing left to do now but return to Canterlot City and tell the good news to Celestia Playwell. However, their good feelings were interrupted by a knock at the door.

“Open up! We know you’re in there.”

Rarity gasped and quietly said, “That sounds like one of the Dazzlings! Adagio Dazzle, if I’m not mistaken.”

“How did they find us?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash in shock.

A much heavier pounding came from the door, followed by the voice of Aria Blaze. “Open this door right now!” The door rattled as she tried to open it from the outside, but it stayed firmly shut.

“Good thing I had the foresight to lock the door,” remarked Rarity. “You never know when a brute might try to barge in unannounced.”

“If you won’t open this door,” said Adagio smugly, “then perhaps you would like to meet an old… acquaintance of yours.”

There was a brief silence before a new voice came from the other side of the door. “Hey, noobs! Remember me?”

“Lightning Dust?!” asked Rainbow Dash in disbelief. “What’s she doing here?!”

“Vengeance, that’s what!” Lightning shouted back. “Now open the door, or I’ll blast it open!”

“We gotta get outta here!” exclaimed Applejack.

“But the only way out is through that door!” Sunset pointed out.

Pinkie Pie quickly looked around the room for any possible means of escape. Her eyes passed over it at least three times before she realized there was a window on one of the walls. “Quick! The window!” she shouted before launching herself straight at that window, only to slam face-first right into it. The glass squeaked as she slowly slid down to the floor.

“Um, maybe we should… open it, first,” Fluttershy quietly suggested.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Lightning Dust — wearing her favorite blue and yellow fight suit — had a bitter look on her face as she held up a bundle of dynamite. “Can’t believe I have to settle with dynamite,” she grumbled as she lit the fuse. She dropped the explosive right in front of the door and ran down the hallway to take cover in a nearby room with the Dazzlings. “I’d much rather use destructa-bricks. At least those things are adjustable and more stable.”

“You mean unlike a certain someone?” remarked Aria under her breath.

Lightning had heard that taunt, so she grabbed Aria by the neck and threateningly shouted, “I’ll show you unstable!”

Before a fight could break out, the dynamite exploded, shaking the entire building and throwing a cloud of dust all over the second floor. Adagio immediately ran down the hallway towards the office. She removed her large hat and waved it around to clear up the dusty air as quickly as possible.

Adagio smiled when she saw that the door was now completely gone, but then frowned when she found no one at all was inside the room. She raised an eyebrow, then lowered it when she saw an open window. She dropped her hat as she ran over to the window and looked outside. Sure enough, she saw six familiar minifigs running away from the building. She growled in frustration and shouted back, “You idiot! They escaped out the window!”

While Aria and Sonata remained standing just outside the destroyed doorway, Lightning Dust rushed into the room and stuck her head out the window. When she saw the fleeing minifigs, she shouted out to them, “Hey! Get back here!” She quickly jumped out the window, landed on the dusty ground, and began to chase after them.

Adagio threw off her western disguise, revealing the same city outfit that she had worn during her recent encounter with those Master Builders. Rather than go for the window, she decided to take the proper exit. “Get to the Dazzlemobile!” she shouted as she ran by her two companions.

Aria and Sonata followed their leader’s example and threw off their western disguises to reveal their respective city clothes, then ran after her down the stairs and out the front door. While Adagio easily charged outside through the shutter doors, Aria and Sonata had tried to leave at the exact same time, causing them to wedge themselves into the door frame. Both of them tried to push through, but with neither of them willing to give up even an inch, they were both stuck.

“Ugh! This wouldn’t have happened if you weren’t the worst!” shouted Aria.

“You are!” Sonata shouted back.

Adagio ran back to the saloon and shouted, “We don’t have time for this!” She shoulder-rammed her stuck companions back inside, which was enough to free them. Without another word, she spun around and rushed back outside.

Behind Adagio, Aria shoved Sonata aside so she could go through the front door on her own. Sonata stumbled for a moment, but quickly regained her balance and followed the others outside.

After narrowly escaping, the six girls wasted no time getting as far away from the saloon as possible. They didn’t care where they were actually going, as long as it was away from those four troublemakers. As they were running, Sunset Shimmer held her magic book against her chest, doing her best to keep it absolutely safe.

Rainbow Dash decided to look back and her eyes widened in shock as she saw that not only was Lightning Dust chasing after them, but had also pulled out a bundle of dynamite and was now lighting the fuse. “Look out! Dynamite!” she shouted.

Lightning didn’t hesitate to hurl the bundle of dynamite at the fleeing girls, but Rainbow Dash reacted quickly by shoving all of her friends aside between two buildings. The dynamite bounced along the ground where they had been running and eventually rolled to a stop right next to a support leg for the town’s water tower, where it exploded just one second later. The structure groaned as it slowly toppled over and spilled its contents directly towards Lightning Dust.

“Oh shoot,” muttered Lightning just before she was swept away by the sudden torrent of water.

Meanwhile, the six fleeing girls weaved their way between buildings before coming to a stop in a small open area to catch their breaths. “What are we gonna do?” asked Pinkie.

“We can’t stay in town, that’s for sure,” replied Applejack. “Fluttershy, go round up a couple of horses! Everyone else…” She picked up a spoked wheel that was resting against as nearby fence. “Help me build a wagon!”

As Fluttershy ran off to find some horses, the other Master Builders scattered around the area to begin collecting Lego pieces, leaving Sunset Shimmer to do little more than observe.

When Applejack noticed Sunset’s lack of contribution, she exclaimed, “Don’t just stand there! Help us out!”

“But I don’t have any creative talents, remember?” reminded Sunset. “As much as I’d love to help, I just don’t know how I can do anything useful.”

“There’s nothin’ to it, Sunset,” responded Applejack as she continued to gather more parts and throw them into a large pile. “Just build whatever comes to mind.”

“Absolutely, dear,” said Rarity in agreement as she walked up to the growing pile of Lego parts. “You must visualize your creation, Sunset. The first step to building anything is to see it with your mind.”

“Easy for you to say,” muttered Sunset. “All I can see is a pile of pieces.”

Oblivious to Sunset’s response, Rarity smiled as she turned around and saw some white curved parts. “Oh! Those look wonderful,” she remarked. “I could use these to build a large cover over the wagon.”

“We ain’t got time for fancy add-ons!” Applejack responded sharply as she dropped off even more brown parts onto the pile. “All we need is somethin’ with four wheels that can carry all of us.”

“Come on!” shouted Rainbow Dash desperately as she was busy searching around. “How hard can it be to find even a single power brick?!”

“It’s the Old West Region, ya dummy!” exclaimed Applejack irritably. “We’re buildin’ a wagon ‘cause we ain’t gonna find no power bricks ‘round here! Didn’t any of y’all even hear what Ah said?!”

Pinkie Pie began inspecting some of the parts in the pile as she asked, “How am I supposed to build a party bus out of nothing but shades of brown and grey?”

“That’s it!” snapped Applejack. “Ah’ll just build it mahself!” She immediately began assembling many of the pieces into chunks and slammed those chunks together. She started with the wheels and axles, then the floor of the wagon, and finished it off with some simple railings around the sides and back. “There!” she said with satisfaction. “That’s how ya build a wagon! All we need now are those horses.”

It was right at that moment that a pair of horses neighed loudly as they galloped by, dragging behind them a screaming Fluttershy along the dusty ground.

“Perfect!” said Applejack happily as she ran over to grab those horses by the harnesses attached to their torsos and dug in her heels. Her immense strength brought the horses to a stop, but left Fluttershy to tumble along the ground until she eventually stopped at Pinkie Pie’s feet.

Fluttershy’s body was covered in scratches and dirt stains, while her hair piece was askew in a way that it covered one of her eyes. “Remind me not to do that again,” she said in a very dazed voice.

“Absolutely!” replied Pinkie cheerfully as she lightly patted Fluttershy’s head. “Because I have no idea what you just did!”

Applejack quickly managed to attach the horses’ harnesses to the wagon. She then hopped up into the seat up front and grabbed the reins. “Hop in, y’all!” she shouted to her friends.

Now that their getaway ride was ready, the team didn’t hesitate to climb into the wagon.

Once everyone was seated inside the wagon, Applejack exclaimed, “Now let’s get outta here!” She whipped the reins and shouted, “Hyah!” The horses immediately galloped forward, their hooves thundering against the ground as they pulled the wagon with them as quickly as possible.

The wagon rushed between buildings and eventually arrived at the middle of town, just in time to see the arrival of a certain orange and yellow convertible car that was last seen in a Bricklyn construction zone. The sudden appearance of such a foreign object spooked the horses to a sudden stop, causing the wagon to slide sideways and stop with its left side facing the car.

In the driver’s seat of the car, Adagio smirked before she stomped on the accelerator. The engine roared loudly and the wheels kicked up some dust as the car began zooning ahead, right at the stopped wagon.

“They’re gonna ram us!” shouted Rarity in terror.

“Not if I do this!” remarked Pinkie Pie as she quickly removed much of the surrounding railings and reassembled the pieces into a large flat surface. She attached one side of the surface to the left side of the wagon and let the other side drop to the ground, creating a crude ramp.

Just a split second after that ramp was put into place, the car drove right up it, over the wagon, and soared through the air before crashing into a large building — identified by its sign as a bank. The car slammed into the upper floor of the bank, crashing through the wall and disappearing inside. The impact and damage then caused the entire structure to completely collapse into a massive pile of pieces.

As Pinkie Pie undid her work and rebuilt the railings on the wagon, Rainbow Dash said, “That’ll buy us maybe ten seconds.”

“Then let’s give ourselves a ten second head start,” responded Applejack. “Hyah!” she shouted as she whipped the reins again, causing the two horses to pull the wagon ahead as fast as they could. The six teammates rode their wagon into the nearby apple orchard and out of town.

Just seconds later, the convertible car pushed its way out from under the huge pile of parts that used to be a bank and drove off to the edge of town.

“Hey! Don’t go without me!” shouted Lightning Dust — who was still completely soaked from that incident with the water tower — as she ran alongside the car and hopped into the front passenger seat.

“Ugh!” exclaimed Aria with disgust from the backseat behind Adagio. “You got the seat all wet!”

“You’re worried about a seat?!” Lightning shouted back. “This flight suit is dry clean only!”

“Well, this place is very dry and dusty,” Sonata pointed out from the backseat behind Lightning. “Maybe it’ll dry out more quickly.”

“Stop talking so I can drive!” shouted Adagio, gripping the steering wheel tightly as she drove the car into the apple orchard and after the getaway wagon. The chase was on.

Trains, Planes, and Spaceships

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Chapter 6
Trains, Planes, and Spaceships

“Hyah! Hyah!” shouted Applejack as she whipped the reins again. “C’mon, ya little ponies! Hyah!”

The getaway wagon and its six passengers had just made it through one of Appleloosa’s apple orchards and was now rolling along a desolate desert landscape as fast as the pair of horses could pull it. Each rock and bump in the ground caused the wagon to shake and rattle audibly, but it was still sturdy enough to stay together. Despite the solid build, the rough terrain still gave the six girls a very bumpy ride, but they knew that comfort was the least of their troubles at this time.

Sunset Shimmer — who still held her magic journal close to her chest — was the first to faintly hear the revving noise of a high-performance engine. She looked back through the thin cloud of dust behind the wagon and saw a certain yellow and orange convertible car rapidly approaching. “Uh oh, here they come!” she exclaimed.

Everyone else in the wagon glanced back to see the Dazzlemobile was hot on their trail. They were now close enough that they could see all four occupants in that car — which included Lightning Dust, surprisingly enough. The rough terrain prevented the car from getting even close to its top speed, but it was still fast enough to easily catch up to the horse-drawn wagon. In the driver’s seat, Adagio had a wicked grin on her face as she closed the gap in only a matter of seconds and rammed into the back of the wagon.

The impact didn’t do any damage, but it was definitely enough to startle everyone in the wagon. “Whoa!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash, nearly falling over in her seat. She quickly regained her balance and irritably added, “Talk about road rage.”

Not content with a single bump, Adagio decided to ram the wagon again. As with the first impact, it did little more than shake the Master Builders around in their seats.

“We gotta shake ‘em off our tail!” shouted Applejack as she remained focused on keeping the galloping horses under her control.

“Any ideas?” Rarity asked desperately.

Among the six minifigs in the wagon and the four in the car, none of them had noticed a large rock on the trail until it was too late. Both the wagon and the car ran over that large rock with their right side wheels, causing both of them to violently tip over.

The car quickly landed back on its wheels, but had now lost so much traction that it began to slide around uncontrollably. Adagio desperately jerked the steering wheel back and forth, but it wasn’t long until the car completely spun out and disappeared inside a large cloud of dust. Meanwhile, the wagon barely managed to avoid flipping onto its side and eventually landed back on its wheels. However, it slammed back down so hard that the right front wheel came off and started rolling away.

“Oh no! Runaway wheel!” Pinkie Pie cried out as she quickly reached over the side of the wagon and barely managed to snatch that loose wheel before it got too far away. She immediately tried to reattach the wheel from where she stood, but after smacking it against the rapidly-moving ground a few times, she realized that the axle was now dragging against the ground, and the only way to reattach the wheel was to lift it back up.

Holding the wheel in her right hand, Pinkie hopped out of the wagon and ran alongside it as she tried to lift the axle with her left hand. Unfortunately, the wagon was too heavy to lift with one hand, so she tossed the wheel back into the wagon and used both hands to lift the axle. She smiled when this turned out to be successful, so she reached over to grab the wheel again. However, the weight was still too much for just one hand, so as soon as she let go, the axle quickly dropped back down. With that attempt a failure, she hopped back into the wagon and then rapidly tapped her chin and narrowed her eyes as she desperately tried to think of a better solution.

“Ah-ha!” beamed Pinkie Pie as she suddenly got an idea. She quickly threw off her hair piece and attached the wheel to the top of her head. Once again, she ran alongside the wagon and used both hands to lift the axle. This time, with the wheel on her head, all she had to do was tilt it over and stick it back onto the axle. “Got it!” she exclaimed triumphantly and dropped the axle back down. However, since her head was still attached to that wheel, her entire body began to rapidly spin around with it as it rolled along the ground. “Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoahwoawhoawhoawhoawhoa!” she shouted.

Rainbow Dash quickly reached over, grabbed Pinkie’s hand, and pulled her off the wheel and back into the wagon.

Pinkie’s eyes were spinning around from her dizzy ride as she rested on her back and had a goofy grin on her face. “Have you ever looked at the sky?” she asked in a very dazed tone.

As Rarity gently lifted Pinkie’s head and put her hair piece back on, Rainbow, Sunset, and Fluttershy looked back just in time to see the Dazzlemobile emerge from its cloud of dust and resume the chase, having finally regained traction. Once again, the car quickly closed the gap and rammed into the back of the wagon.

Rainbow Dash turned to Applejack and exclaimed, “We can’t keep doing this! That thing must have over three hundred horsepower, and we’ve only got two! I don’t need to be an egghead to know that doesn’t add up.”

“If you’ve got any ideas, Ah’d be more than happy to hear ‘em!” Applejack shot back as she continued to push the horses ahead a full speed.

Rainbow Dash stood up and began to quickly scan their surroundings. There wasn’t much to be found in this dry and dusty area aside from various rock formations and the occasional cactus. She then began searching out into the distance and soon grinned when she looked to the right. She leaned over to Applejack and pointed to the right as she asked, “See that canyon over there?”

Applejack nodded.

“Head right for it and don’t turn away until the last possible second,” explained Rainbow. “We’re gonna trick ‘em into driving off a cliff!”

“Are you crazy?!” exclaimed Applejack in disbelief. “That’s risky to the point of stupidity!” She then more calmly argued, “Besides, don’t ya think they’ll catch on before we get close enough for that to work?”

“Not anymore!” responded Rainbow as she began to quickly remove a few pieces from the wagon. She then assembled those parts into a simple but rigid frame that she attached to the back of the wagon and pushed over so that it was now dragging across the ground. This resulted in a huge cloud of thick dust being kicked up in the wake of the wagon. “Ha! Eat dust!” she taunted to the pursuers.

Back in the Dazzlemobile, all four minifigs were coughing and choking from all the dust that was now billowing into the convertible.

“Adagio!” shouted Aria. She coughed a couple more times before finishing, “Raise the roof!”

With the dust stinging her eyes, Adagio had to blindly reach for a certain switch. After a few misses, her hand finally found that switch and flipped it. This caused the roof to automatically unfold from the trunk and lock itself into place over the four seats, enclosing them from the elements.

All four girls continued to cough and hack loudly for a few more seconds until the dust inside the car finally settled. They rubbed their eyes and coughed a few more times as they finally had a chance to recover from that dust attack.

“I think I got some sand in my hair,” muttered Sonata before removing her hair piece. As soon as she did that, a bucketful of sand quickly poured out from under it and landed all over her body.

Adagio finished rubbing the dust from her eyes and turned her attention back to the wagon. She couldn’t see it through the thick cloud of dust, but she knew that the dust itself was a good sign that they were still right behind them. “Nice try, Master Builders,” she said smugly.

Up in the wagon, Applejack glanced back to see that the car was now lost in the cloud of dust, though she could still clearly hear the roar of its engine close behind. If the rest of Rainbow Dash’s plan was going to work, then it was up to Applejack to make it happen. “Ah still think this is nuts, but Ah’ll do it,” she said uneasily as she began to guide the horses into turning the wagon gently to the right.

Once the wagon was directed at the canyon, Applejack guided to horses to go straight ahead. Sure enough, the car behind them was still following from within the cloud of dust. In fact, Adagio had decided to take another opportunity to ram into the back of the wagon, which caused a lot of worry among the girls in the wagon.

“If they ram us at the wrong time, we’ll both go over the edge!” exclaimed Sunset fearfully.

“It’s up to you, AJ!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “Your call on when to make that move!”

Very few times in her life had Applejack felt as much pressure as she did now. The lives of everyone in this wagon were now in her hands, and she had to time her move just right. If she hesitated at all, they would just go right over. If she moved to quickly, the Dazzlings would be able to follow and leave everyone right back to where they started. And the chance of getting rammed at a bad time only made the decision even harder to make.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sunset began to scream in fear as the edge of the canyon loomed closer and closer. They were now only seconds away, and the car was moving in to ram the wagon again.

“Hang on, y’all!” shouted Applejack right before she tugged on the left rein and whipped the right one, making the horses turned sharply to the left. The wagon turned sharply with them, the right wheels teetering right on the edge of the cliff as the wagon tipped over, but then landed back on its base.

The Dazzlemobile finally emerged from that trailing cloud of dust, only to run straight off the cliff at high speed. As the car plunged into the canyon, the roar of the engine gradually grew fainter. Finally, the car hit the bottom of the canyon with an audible crash.

“Yeah!” shouted Rainbow Dash, raising a fist in triumph. She leaned over the side of the wagon and shouted into the canyon, “Rest in pieces!”

“Don’t celebrate just yet,” cautioned Sunset. “If they’re determined enough, they’ll find a way to get out of there and keep chasing us. Until then, we need to put as much distance between them and us as possible.”

“Already on it,” replied Applejack. Once again, she whipped the reins and shouted, “Hyah! Hyah!”

“This isn’t good enough!” argued Rainbow Dash. “We need something faster! We need something with a power brick!”

“Didn’t ya hear what Ah said, earlier?!” Applejack shot back. “We’re in the Old West Region! The only thing with a power brick you’ll find ‘round here would be a—”

Applejack was interrupted by the noise of a steam whistle. Everyone in the wagon immediately turned their heads to the left to see a steam locomotive emerge from a tunnel and cruise along the railroad tracks that were not far from where the wagon was going.

“…train,” finished Applejack in disbelief.

Rainbow Dash grinned. “Then let’s hop aboard that train!” she suggested.

“Good idea,” agreed Sunset with a smile. “We need to abandon this wagon if we wanna avoid getting followed again, so we might as well catch a faster ride.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged and said, “If ya say so.” Once again, she whipped the reins and pushed the pair of horses to pull the wagon ahead as quickly as possible.

After only a few minutes, the wagon was now rolling alongside the train at almost the exact same speed. “Get us up to the engine,” requested Rainbow.

“Ah can’t!” responded Applejack. “We’re already goin’ as fast as we can!”

Rarity looked over at the train thoughtfully as she considered a possible solution. “What if some of us got onto the train right away?” she suggested. “It might reduce the weight of the wagon enough to permit a higher velocity.”

“Worth a shot,” replied Rainbow Dash with a shrug. She then stood up in the wagon and, without a second thought, jumped over onto the side of the train car. She managed to grab onto a ladder that was built into the side of the car, which she quickly used to climb up onto the roof of the car. After taking a moment to steady her balance atop the train car, she turned around to face the wagon and asked, “Who’s next?”

Pinkie Pie didn’t hesitate to volunteer. “Alleyoop!” she said cheerfully as she jumped out of the wagon and grabbed onto that ladder. She quickly climbed up to join Rainbow Dash on the roof.

Now that there were two less people in the wagon, it slowly began to move forward along the train.

“Look at that,” remarked Rarity in astonishment. “This is working!”

“But there’s no telling when the train might speed up,” Sunset pointed out, “so we’d better keep moving.”

As the wagon moved forward to run alongside the next car in the train, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie jumped over the gap to get to the roof of that next car. “C’mon! Who’s next?!” Rainbow called over.

“I suppose I must,” muttered Rarity as she stood up. She steadied herself near the side of the wagon as she waited for another ladder to come closer. The wagon soon began to slowly pass by the ladder on that next car, and once she was sure that she was close enough, she took a deep breath and jumped. She screamed fearfully as she flew across the short distance before finally catching the ladder. At first, she just clutched tightly onto that ladder, but once she felt confident enough that she was now firmly on the train, she carefully climbed the ladder and pulled herself onto the roof.

“Next!” shouted Rainbow as she, Pinkie, and Rarity jumped the gap onto the next car.

Fluttershy nervously looked down at the rapidly-moving ground between the wagon and the train, then quickly looked away and whimpered. “I don’t know…” she quietly muttered.

“Don’t worry, Fluttershy,” assured Sunset. “I’ll be right behind you to help.”

Fluttershy looked up at the friendly smile on Sunset’s face. This girl may not exactly have been one of her friends, but she was certainly willing to act like a good one for her. She gulped nervously and nodded as she whispered, “Okay.”

As her friends jumped onto the next roof, Fluttershy turned to face the side of the train and prepared to jump. She felt very scared and uncertain as she waited for the next ladder to pass by. After many tense seconds, a ladder passed in front of her and she took a leap of faith. She slammed into the side of the train and managed to grab the ladder with one hand, but the other hand and both feet slipped from the rungs, leaving her dangling precariously at high speed. She instinctively tightened her sole grip on the ladder and screamed loudly.

Rainbow Dash immediately ran over and reached down to grab Fluttershy’s free wrist. “I got ya!” she assured as Pinkie Pie raced over and grabbed her other wrist. Both Rainbow and Pinkie then hauled their terrified friend up onto the roof of the train car.

Fluttershy took a moment to catch her breath before she finally stood up and shakingly mumbled, “Th-th-thank you.”

With Fluttershy now safely aboard the train, that left only Applejack and Sunset Shimmer. Since Applejack had to focus on keeping the wagon moving, that meant that Sunset would have to go next. “C’mon, Sunset!” Rainbow Dash called over as she and the others jumped the gap onto the next car. “Let’s go!”

Sunset looked up at the girls on the train, then down to her hands. Her handcuffs alone were going to make the jump very difficult, but the magic journal that she still held onto would make it practically impossible. “I can’t!” she called back. “My hands are full!” She held up the journal in her hands. “I’m gonna have to throw the book at ya!”

“Why would you do that?” asked Pinkie Pie as she and the others jumped the next gap. “We haven’t broken any laws! At least, I don’t think so.”

Sunset smacked herself in the face with that journal before she held it up again and shouted back, “I meant this book!”

“Ohhhh, why didn’t you just say so?” responded Pinkie with a smile.

“Just catch it!” shouted Sunset right before she hurled the magic journal at the Master Builders on the train.

Thanks to her lightning-fast reflexes, Rainbow Dash was able to snatch the journal in mid-air with just one hand. “Got it!” she called over.

“Great! I’m coming aboard!” Sunset quickly called back as she prepared to jump. By now, the wagon had moved so far forward along the train that they were now passing by the first car behind the engine. The many windows on this car indicated that it was a passenger car, so Sunset decided to not go for a ladder. Instead, she chose to jump onto the small balcony at the front of the car.

As soon as the wagon came close to that front balcony, Sunset made the jump. Although her handcuffs held her wrists close together, she was still able to grab onto a support pole to steady herself. Once she was sure that she was firmly aboard the train, she let go of the pole and stepped over to the middle of the small balcony.

Sunset turned around and quickly noticed Rainbow Dash’s light blue hand was dangling the magic journal over the edge of the roof right in front of her. “Oh, thanks,” said Sunset as she reached up to retrieve her journal. As she returned to holding it close to her chest, she noticed in the corner of her sight that Rarity had just climbed down from the roof and now stood beside her on the balcony.

“After you, darling,” offered Rarity as she gestured to the door into the car.

Sunset smiled at this generous offer, then opened the door and stepped inside.

“Sunset Shimmer!” one of the passengers suddenly shouted out in panic. Almost instantly, absolute pandemonium broke out as all of the panicked passengers rushed out the back door to get away from the convicted felon in their presence. After not even half a minute, the entire car had been completely vacated, leaving only Sunset to stare in shock at the now-empty passenger car.

“I suppose that’s one way to provide us with a private car,” remarked Rarity from behind Sunset.

Without a word, Sunset walked into the car, followed by Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. Outside, Rainbow Dash was still on the roof while Applejack was still riding in the wagon alongside the train.

“Good work, AJ,” Rainbow congratulated. “Now ditch that wagon and hop on.”

Applejack smiled at another job well done, but when she glanced back, that smile was quickly wiped away. “Uh oh, we got company,” she said as she pointed up at the sky.

Rainbow Dash looked up in the direction Applejack was pointing and her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “What the heck?!” she exclaimed.

Flying through the sky behind the train was an unusual flying vehicle. Details such as a hood on the front, a rear spoiler, and a retractable roof made it look like it had been converted from a street-legal car. The distinctive colors of yellow, orange, blue, and violet made it rather easy to guess which exact car it was built from.

“Told ya I could build a spaceship outta anything,” boasted Lightning Dust, who was now piloting the rebuilt Dazzlemobile.

“Whatever,” muttered Aria as she rolled her eyes.

In the backseat with Aria, Sonata was staring out the window with a smile on her face. Her simple mind found it very fascinating that she was now riding in a flying vehicle, which provided a perspective that she and the other Dazzlings rarely got to enjoy. Such a view also had practical advantages, as she realized when she noticed a nearby train with certain minifig on the roof. “Oh, look!” she spoke up, pointing out the window on her side. “I think that’s one of them on that train.”

Adagio, unlike Sonata, was sitting on the left side of the vehicle, so she had to lean forward and glance out the front windshield to get a good look at that train. Despite the billowing smoke from the engine obstructing her view intermittently, she quickly recognized the rainbow-haired girl and grinned. She relaxed back into her seat as she turned to Lightning Dust and said, “This is why I brought you here. Stop that train!”

“You got it!” acknowledged Lightning Dust as she started to bring the makeshift spaceship down to catch up to that train. The humming noise of the spacecraft’s hover engine became more audible as the flying vehicle accelerated.

Back on the train, Rainbow Dash needed only to see the flying Dazzlemobile to know that it was time to take immediate action. “New plan!” she called over to Applejack in the wagon. She jumped off the roof and landed on the coal car behind the engine. “I’m taking over this train!” Without any hesitation, she ran across the coal car and jumped down into the cab of the engine, where the engineer was busy operating the train. “Shift’s over, buddy!” she called out as she reached to grab the engineer. “Time to go home!”

“H-hey!” protested the engineer as he was suddenly lifted by the collar of his shirt and the seat of his pants. “Whoa!” he shouted as he was quickly thrown off the train and landed right into the getaway wagon. He groaned as he slowly sat up and struggled to make sense of what had just happened.

As the getaway wagon began to slow down, Applejack handed the reins over to the kicked-off engineer and simply said, “All yours, partner.” She then stood up and jumped over onto the front balcony of the now-vacated passenger car. The rush of air caused her hat to fly off her head, but she was able to quickly snatch it back before it blew away. She put her hat back on as she walked inside to join the others.

Meanwhile, up in the engine, Rainbow Dash rubbed her hands together and muttered, “Okay, time for some Rainbow Dash style improvising.” She quickly glanced over all of the various levers and gauges that were in front of her. She knew absolutely nothing about how to operate a steam locomotive, but that wasn’t going to stop the self-proclaimed team pilot. One particularly long lever that stuck up out of the floor caught her eye. “This looks important,” she said to herself before she grabbed that lever and pushed it all the way forward.

The chugging noise of the train engine quickly became louder and more rapid. Rainbow smiled at first, thinking that the train would soon hit its top speed. However, as she glanced over at the passing landscape, she realized that they were actually not accelerating all that much. She quickly looked around to try to figure out what might be slowing down the train. She eventually realized what the problem was when she looked back and noticed the dozen or so cars that the engine was currently hauling. She leaned around the coal car and shouted, “Hey, girls! Get rid of all those cars! We’ll go much faster without ‘em!”

The rest of her friends could barely hear her over the noise of the engine, but they heard enough to know what she had requested. “Ah’ll do it!” announced Applejack. “C’mon, Sunset. Ah’ll need your help,” she quickly added as she grabbed Sunset Shimmer and pushed her ahead.

“Uh, what are you doing?” asked Sunset in confusion as she was pushed unwillingly to the other end of the passenger car and out the back door. Applejack then pushed her over to the next passenger car and opened the front door into it.

“Sunset Shimmer!” shouted one of the passengers. Once again, chaos erupted as all of the passengers panicked and rushed out the door at the other end of the car.

“That’s right, y’all!” shouted Applejack tauntingly as she held a very uneasy Sunset Shimmer in front of her. “Ah got a convicted felon here an’ Ah ain’t afraid to use her!”

“Applejack, is this really necessary?” asked Sunset, feeling very uncomfortable with having to go through this kind of madness a second time.

As the last of the passengers rushed out of the car, Applejack confidently replied, “Sure it is! Ah wanna keep a second car for spare parts. Trust me, ya never know when ya might need ‘em.”

Once the car was completely empty, Applejack pushed Sunset aside and headed out the back door. She stopped at the joint between the two cars and removed the light grey connector peg that held it together. The train lurched forward a little as it was suddenly released from all of those heavy cars. As the freed cars began to slow down and the speeding train pulled away, Applejack waved the connector peg around and cheerfully shouted, “Y’all have a nice day, now!” She then stepped back inside the second car and tossed the connector peg aside. She and Sunset headed forward back into the first car to rejoin the others.

“Alright! Now we’re getting somewhere!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly as the train finally began to accelerate significantly. This train was one of the fastest things available in the Old West Region, and she was now pushing it as close to its top speed as possible. She felt very confident that nothing could stop their escape.

But a custom spaceship was much faster than a train from the Old West Region. The flying Dazzlemobile easily flew ahead of the train and followed the tracks that the train would be forced to travel along.

Not far up ahead, there was a bridge that spanned a large canyon. Lightning Dust chuckled mischievously as she aimed the laser cannons on the bottom of the flying car right at the middle of that bridge. “Bridge go boom!” she shouted as she fired those laser cannons a few times. Each laser bolt smashed apart large sections of the structure, and a few shots was all it took to create a very wide gap in the bridge.

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened in shock as she witnessed the destruction. She quickly leaned around the coal car and shouted back to her friends, “They just took out the bridge!”

The rest of the team gasped in shock. “What shall we do?!” asked Rarity desperately.

Applejack turned her head back to the second car that she had decided to keep on the train and smiled. It wasn’t long until her pony ears and tail-like hair magically appeared. For the first time since coming into the Old West Region, one of the Canterlot City Master Builders had a significant idea of creativity. “We get creative, that’s what!” she declared. She turned to Pinkie and said, “Pinkie Pie, let’s make this thing fly!” Without waiting for a response, she immediately rushed towards the second car and began taking it apart.

“Bricks away!” shouted Pinkie cheerfully as she also gained her magical pony ears and tail and then quickly joined Applejack. With very little time to lose, both of them made quick work of the second passenger car, disassembling it and attaching the Lego pieces in various ways around the engine. Pinkie was virtually in many places at once as she zoomed back and forth between the second car and the engine, while Applejack rearranged groups of pieces and slammed them into place on the engine.

Up in the flying Dazzlemobile, the four occupants of the custom spaceship could easily see the efforts of those two Master Builders.

“Look! They’re building something again!” Sonata pointed out.

“What are they up to?” asked Aria, raising an eyebrow.

“Whatever they’re doing, they’re definitely not slowing down that train,” said Lightning Dust in confusion. “Don’t they know I just took out the bridge?”

Adagio silently observed the Master Builders at work. As their efforts began to take shape, she couldn’t help but smile slightly in amusement.

By this point Rainbow Dash was praying for a miracle. If her friends didn’t do something fast, then they were all going to fly off the destroyed bridge and fall to their doom. It had never occurred to her that she could apply the brakes — or even try to find the lever for it — to slow down the train, and by the time she finally realized that, they were already too close to the end of the line for it to even matter.

With the train only seconds away from the canyon, Applejack and Pinkie Pie completed their customizations. Applejack’s final contribution was a control panel and steering mechanism that she slammed into place right in front of Rainbow Dash.

“What the—?” asked Rainbow in confusion, before Pinkie suddenly shoved a seat under her rear, throwing her back to sit down in it.

“Fly!” exclaimed Pinkie before she and Applejack quickly returned to the one remaining passenger car.

Rainbow glanced down at the control panel, which made her feel like she was now in a spaceship instead of a train, though the rapid chugging of the steam engine reminded her that she was still driving a locomotive. Knowing that she and her teammates were now only seconds away from certain doom, she decided to not question what she was given and just go for it. “Well, here goes nothing,” she muttered reluctantly as she grabbed the steering mechanism and quickly pulled back on it.

The first thing that happened was the whirring noise of a jet engine began to accompany the chugging of the steam engine. Once that new engine noise had fully powered up, the locomotive slowly began to lift off the tracks, just one second away from the destroyed bridge. Not only did the train avoid falling into the canyon, but it also continued to steadily rise up and up and up, taking with it the passenger car and everyone inside it.

“This is working?” asked Rarity in confusion as she felt the train car tilt upwards at the front. She looked out through one of the windows and, sure enough, saw that the landscape was now slowly dropping away as the train lifted into the sky. “This is working!” she exclaimed excitedly. “This is actually working!”

“I don’t believe it,” muttered Sunset Shimmer in a dull voice. “A flying steam locomotive.”

Out of everyone on the flying train, no one was more excited by the success than the pilot, Rainbow Dash. With a huge grin on her face, she shouted, “This! Is! Awesoooooomme!”

Once again, the four occupants of the flying Dazzlemobile witnessed a very strange turn of events.

“Whoa! Is that a flying train?” asked Sonata in confusion.

“Okay, now that’s just weird,” muttered Aria, her eyes wide in shock.

“I’d better call in the Cavalry for this one,” stated Lightning Dust as she picked up a radio. “Robot Space Cavalry, that is!” She pressed the large red button on that radio.

Throughout the desert landscape, large holes suddenly blasted open in various places along rocky cliffs and across the ground. Almost immediately after the blasts, a small space fighter flew out from each hole. And piloting each of these fighters was a single robot, programmed to take orders only from Lightning Dust.

Inside the flying train, the girls soon heard some strange screeching noises outside. Applejack looked out through one of the windows and her eyes widened in shock as she saw a swarm of about a dozen robot-piloted fighters quickly approaching. “Oh boy, now we’re in for it,” she said worriedly.

Up in the engine, Rainbow Dash glanced around out the windows and saw those fighters were now starting to swarm around the flying train. She furrowed her brown and tightened her grip on the steering mechanism. “This thing may handle like a brick, but I am not gonna go down quietly,” she said with determination.

Rainbow tugged on the steering mechanism and turned it to the side. Since this flying train had no means of fighting back, her only hope was to use evasive maneuvers. The best case scenario at this point would have been to simply slam into those fighters with this massive machine.

However the fighters had two things going for them. The first was that their small and light structures made them very maneuverable, and could easily avoid any obstacle that the train would only barely manage to get around. The second was the dual laser cannons mounted on the front of each of these fighters.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

The noise of those laser cannons being fired towards them absolutely terrified the five girls in the passenger car, but Rainbow Dash only felt more determined than ever before. Her friends were counting on her to get them out of this big mess, and she was not going to let them down. She maneuvered the lumbering airborne locomotive left and right around various rock formations, at one point even managing to pull off a barrel roll.

Unfortunately, that barrel roll caused all five passengers to tumble around inside the car. Once the train had leveled off again, Applejack stuck her head out the front door and shouted, “Don’t do that again! We ain’t got no seatbelts back here!”

Rainbow refused to acknowledge her upset friend, as she was too busy trying to avoid getting blown up by those fighters. The strange combined noise of a chugging steam engine and whirring jet engine never ceased as she continued ahead at full speed. As the train came around yet another rock formation, she saw a large mesa right in front, forcing her to pull back on the steering mechanism to lift the train up and over it.

As the flying train quickly climbed higher in altitude, one of the fighters took advantage of this and fired its laser cannons at the engine. The lasers scored a direct hit on the engine, causing it to explode into a fireball and send Lego pieces flying everywhere.

Screams of panic and terror could be heard from inside the undamaged passenger car. Rainbow Dash was thrown back from the explosion and slammed face-first right into the front of the passenger car. She was uninjured, but definitely in shock from such a sudden failure. As the ascent of the passenger car began to slow down, she slowly peeked her head through the front door and weakly stated, “They just took out the engine.”

A deathly silence fell over everyone in the passenger car, for they knew that they were no longer going anywhere. As the now-powerless passenger car reached the apex of its flight and leveled off, Fluttershy quietly asked, “W-w-what now?”

Another fighter fired its laser cannons at the defenseless passenger car, blasting it to pieces and exposing all six girls out into the open.

Rarity glanced down at the ground far below and defeatedly replied, “I suppose we fall to our doom, after all.”

All six girls screamed for their lives as they now plummeted straight down to the ground, far below.

In the flying Dazzlemobile, Adagio glared over at Lightning Dust and reminded her, “Remember the deal: We need them alive.”

Lightning rolled her eyes before she spoke into the radio, “Deploy the tractor beams! We got ‘em!”

Adagio smiled at that. With the Canterlot City Master Builders about to be captured, it would only be a matter of time before the Dazzlings could finally regain their former power. Victory for them was now all but assured.

“What’s that weird buzzing noise?” Sonata suddenly asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

The other girls in the custom spaceship were initially going to dismiss that question, but then they also started hearing that faint buzzing noise. They looked around and, at first, couldn’t see what might be causing it. Finally, they saw a propeller-driven airplane fly around from behind a rock formation. The plane was built out of brown and tan Lego parts and had four propeller engines — two on each wing. Labeled on its wings and tail was a symbol of a golden compass rose over an olive green circle. Its cargo bay doors were currently wide open, and it was moving in to intercept the falling minifigs.

“Oh you have got to be kidding me!” shouted Aria furiously as she pounded the window so hard that she actually managed to put a large crack in it.

As soon at the robot-piloted fighters had deployed their tractor beams and were in position to use them, the airplane swooped down under the falling girls and miraculously caught all six of them inside the cargo bay. Once the team of six was safely inside the airplane, the cargo bay doors closed up.

Inside the airplane, the six teammates were shaken and had landed in an uncomfortable pile, but were alive and unharmed.

“Yay! We’ve been rescued!” cheered Pinkie Pie from atop the pile.

“O-o-or kidnapped!” exclaimed Fluttershy nervously from the middle of the pile.

“Hey!” Applejack called out from the bottom of the pile. “Who’s flyin’ this thing?!”

The girls could see someone in the cockpit just ahead of where they had landed. The pilot of this plane turned back to smile at the girls and said, “Relax, everybody, I’m here for you.” This minifig had dark yellow skin, hair that was black with shades of grey in it, and wore an olive green vest, black pants, and a pith helmet on her head.

“Daring Do?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash in shock. She then practically threw off everyone in the pile as she jumped up and excitedly shouted, “AWESOME!!!”

Back in the Dazzlemobile spaceship, Adagio growled in frustration at this sudden turn of events. “I will not let that adventure girl get away with this,” she grumbled. She then furiously shouted, “Shoot down that plane!”

Lightning Dust picked up the radio again and spoke, “Keep those tractor beams at the ready! We’ve got ourselves a new target!”

It wasn’t long before the fighters began shooting their laser cannons again. This time, they were now aiming for Daring Do’s plane.

Daring Do knew right away that they were under attack, and began to swerve the plane around to effectively dodge all of those laser bolts. The only downside was that it provided a rather rough ride for the rescued passengers.

“I’m not so sure if I feel much safer in here,” said Rarity uneasily as she held onto a support pole for stability.

“Relax, girls,” assured Daring Do confidently. “This is hardly my first dogfight.” One of the fighters quickly came around to the front of the plane and began to fly right towards it while shooting its laser cannon. Daring managed to swerve the plane away, but the close encounter had allowed her to briefly see the robot that was piloting it. With slightly less confidence, she added, “Though I’ll admit it’s my first time going up against a bunch of robots.”

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

The six girls riding in the cargo bay wobbled back and forth as the plane continued to swerve around all of the fighters. The plane lurched to one side, sending Applejack slamming into the right side of the plane. She groaned in pain and rubbed her head. “There’s gotta be a way for us to fight back!” she shouted out with annoyance, before the plane lurched the other way and sent her slamming into the other side of the plane.

“All I got is a few flick-fire missiles,” Daring Do quickly stated, keeping her gaze straight ahead of the plane. “Turret’s in the back.”

“I’m on it!” Rainbow Dash immediately replied as she quickly ran towards the back of the plane.

Sunset Shimmer — still clutching that magic journal close to her chest — raised an eyebrow as she turned to Daring Do and asked, “Flick-fire missiles? Really?”

“I usually fly solo, so I’ve never bothered to put much thought into an on-board weapon system,” admitted Daring Do.

Outside, the dozen fighters continued to swarm around the propeller-driven airplane as they attempted to shoot it down. Following not too far behind that mess was the Dazzlemobile spaceship. Adagio and her companions could do nothing but watch impatiently. Daring Do may have been an excellent pilot, but without any means of fighting back, Adagio knew that it would only be a matter of time before the Master Builders were finally captured.

Adagio was quickly proven wrong as a turret of some kind suddenly popped up from within the back of the plane, and seated within that turret was Rainbow Dash.

With her hair whipping around in the wind, Rainbow Dash smiled with anticipation as she grabbed one of the flick-fire missiles and loaded it into the turret. “You’re going down, robots,” she muttered as she spun the turret around to take aim at one of the fighters. Once she had locked onto a target, she threw a lever forward, firing the missile. The missile whooshed through the air and struck the fighter, blasting it — and its robot pilot — to pieces.

“Yeah!” cheered Rainbow triumphantly. She quickly picked up the nearby radio and excitedly announced, “I got one!”

“Don’t get cocky, kid,” came Daring Do’s response on the other side of the radio.

Taking that response to heart, Rainbow decided to play it cool and keep firing those missiles. She quickly loaded another one, aimed it at another fighter, and fired. Her aim was true, and the missile blew up that fighter. “Alright!” she cheered again, raising a fist high up in victory. She then grabbed anther flick-fire missile and repeated the process.

In only a matter of seconds, the fighters were now being destroyed left and right. Regardless of how few of those missiles might have been on that plane, Rainbow was able to score a direct hit every single time. For the Dazzlings, the tables had swiftly turned against them.

Adagio had had enough, and decided to take matters into her own hands. She picked up a stud-shooter pistol and loaded a translucent red 1x1 round plate onto the end of it.

Aria curiously raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Failsafe,” was all Adagio said before she opened the side window and leaned her body outside. She raised the pistol in her hand, aimed it at Daring Do’s airplane, and fired. The tiny Lego piece shot through the air, struck the tail of the plane with an audible impact, and did… nothing.

“Wow, Adagio,” remarked Aria, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “That was so impressive.”

“But I didn’t see it do anything,” Sonata pointed out. “That didn’t seem impressive at all.”

Aria glared sideways at the girl sitting next to her and grumbled, “Go back to sleep, Sonata.”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was laughing with excitement after blowing up yet another fighter. “I haven’t had this much fun in ages!” she exclaimed as she grabbed another missile and loaded it into the turret. Once again, she aimed the turret at another fighter, locked on target, and fired. The missile whooshed through the air and struck the fighter, blasting it and the robot pilot to pieces. “Boom!” shouted Rainbow at the moment of impact. She resumed her enthusiastic laughter as she reached down to grab another missile.

Rainbow’s laughter immediately stopped when she felt nothing but air. She glanced down and gasped when she realized that there were no more flick-fire missiles left on the plane. She quickly grabbed the radio and exclaimed, “We’re outta missiles!”

“Retract the turret,” came Daring Do’s response on the other side. “I’ve got a plan.”

At this announcement, Rainbow Dash gasped and excitedly muttered, “Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Daring Do’s got a plan!” She quickly pulled back on the large lever that retracted the turret back into the plane.

With the turret out of commission, the only things left chasing after Daring Do’s airplane were two robot-piloted fighters and the Dazzlemobile spaceship. Adagio couldn’t help but feel relieved that Rainbow’s attacks were now over. Two fighters with laser cannons and tractor beams were still enough to get the job done. They just needed to finish them off.

Back inside the plane, Rainbow Dash ran back up front with the others and excitedly asked, “What’s the plan?”

“You girls better hang on to something solid,” replied Daring Do as she kept her eyes forward. “We’re going in.”

The six girls quickly complied and grabbed onto any part of the plane’s structure that they could wrap their arms around. Sunset was curious about what Daring Do was up to, so she glanced out the front window. She gasped and her eyes widened when she saw they were heading right for the mouth of a tall and narrow canyon in the side of a mesa. “I-I don’t think we’re gonna fit through there!” she exclaimed uneasily.

“We’ll fit! WE’LL FIT!!” shouted Daring Do with determination. As the plane flew dangerously close to the canyon, she suddenly jerked the flight controls to the left, flipping the plane over sideways and allowing it to pass cleanly through the narrow gap.

The two remaining fighters had been flanking the airplane on either side, and when it suddenly flipped over and flew into the canyon, they were left with nowhere to go but to slam right into the side of the mesa, smashing themselves to pieces. That left only one more vehicle in pursuit.

“Pull up! Pull up!” shouted Adagio, slightly panicked.

Lightning Dust quickly pulled back on the flight controls in an attempt to fly over the mesa. The Dazzlemobile spaceship turned upwards as it continued to rapidly approach the rocky side of the mesa. It was going to be a very close call.

It turned out to be just too close. Just as the flying machine was about to go over the top of the mesa, one corner of it managed to clip the ledge, causing the whole thing to cartwheel through the air uncontrollably and then slam into the ground atop the mesa. The Dazzlemobile spaceship rapidly tumbled around, sending Lego pieces flying everywhere. Once everything had finally stopped, there was nothing left but scattered parts and four beaten minifigs.

Sonata rubbed her head as she slowly sat up. “Well… at least that didn’t hurt as much as the other crash,” she said optimistically.

Aria stood up and grumbled, “But we still could have avoided this one if someone had reacted more quickly.”

Lightning Dust jumped to her feet and ran over to Aria as she argued, “At least I tried, noob!” She then swiftly received a hard kick to the chest from Aria, knocking the wind out of her and sending her down onto her back.

“No one calls me names,” growled Aria.

Meanwhile, Adagio was running around and overturning various Lego pieces. “Where is it?” she muttered desperately. She then flipped over what used to be the hood of the car and found exactly what she was looking for: a 1x2 tile with a display screen on its flat surface. She switched it on and checked to see if it was still working. When she saw exactly what she wanted to see, she smiled.

As Sonata stood up and walked over to Aria, Aria turned to Adagio and grumbled, “What are you smiling about?”

Adagio simply walked over to Aria and Sonata and turned the device around to show it to them. She replied, “Like I said: Failsafe.”

Aria and Sonata briefly observed the content of the tiny display screen, then turned to each other and smiled.

“There’s been a slight change of plans, girls,” announced Adagio as a wicked grin formed on her face. “We may not have those Master Builders, but thanks to my quick thinking, it seems we can proceed with phase three, after all.”

Daring Do was jerking the flight controls back and forth as she continued to fly her plane sideways through the canyon. She ignored the terrified screams of everyone riding right behind her. A long and complex maneuver like this required a lot of concentration, but she knew that an expert pilot like herself could pull it off.

Finally, the airplane flew out the other end of the canyon. Now that they were out in the open again, Daring Do quickly leveled off the plane. As the background screaming quickly died down and nothing but the droning noise of the plane's engines could be heard, Daring removed her pith helmet and opened the window on her left to look outside. She glanced toward the back of the plane and smiled when she saw that there was now nothing following them. She leaned back inside, shut the window, and put her pith helmet back on as she sat back down in the pilot’s seat. “Just another day,” she said smugly as she resumed flying the plane.

Once all six of the passengers had recovered from that wild ride, Rarity marched up to Daring Do and furiously exclaimed, “That was crazy! That was so crazy! Did I mention that was crazy? Because if I didn’t, then that was so totally crazy!”

“Hey, I got the bad guys off your tail, didn’t I?” argued Daring Do. “I do this kind of stuff for a living. You girls should be glad that I showed up.”

“What are ya even doin’ out here, anyway?” asked Applejack.

“I heard reports of some robots and spaceships coming down in this area,” replied Daring Do. “We all know that things like that don’t belong in a place like the Old West Region, so I decided to drop by and investigate. I’m sure you can guess how surprised I was to not only find them, but also see them attacking a flying train.”

“Yeah, we kinda had to make do with what we had,” admitted Applejack.

Daring Do smiled and said, “Glad I could help some fellow Master Builders.”

Rainbow Dash, holding a pen and paper in her hands, suddenly zoomed up to stand beside Daring Do and excitedly asked, “Can I get your autograph?”

Daring Do sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fangirls,” she muttered as she took the pen, signed her name on the paper, and then tossed the pen back at Rainbow.

Rainbow Dash, with a huge grin still on her face, didn’t even blink when that pen bounced off her forehead.

Now that the plane was cruising ahead at a steady speed, Daring Do took the opportunity to glance back at the other girls and see who exactly she had rescued. She did a double-take when she noticed Sunset Shimmer was among them. Raising an eyebrow, she asked, “What are you doing here?”

Sunset hesitated briefly before she answered, “I was sent to help these girls on their latest mission.”

“And what mission is that?” asked Daring.

“To send a message to Princess Twilight of Equestria with this,” replied Sunset, holding up the magic journal in her hands.

Daring Do eyed the journal curiously for a moment, then flatly said, “That’s a book.”

“It may look like some dull book,” explained Pinkie Pie, “but it’s actually a magical diary that shares a special connection with an identical one that was left back in Equestria. Anything that gets written down in one book will magically appear in the other one, allowing the owners of those to books to instantly communicate with each other, regardless of how far apart they are.”

Daring Do stared silently at Pinkie for a moment. It sounded very far-fetched, but an adventurer like herself had dealt with strange artifacts before, so she was willing to consider the possibility. She turned back to Sunset and asked, “Does it really work like that?”

“In theory, yes,” replied Sunset. “But it’s never really been tested across an interdimensional portal, so I’m actually not sure if it’ll even work in this case.”

Just then, the magic journal began to glow and vibrate intermittently, catching everyone’s attention.

“What’s happening to it?” asked Fluttershy.

“I just got a reply,” answered Sunset. She smiled slightly as she added, “Which means that it really did work.” She quickly opened the journal and began reading the latest entry. As she read through the entry, her smile slowly grew wider.

“What does it say?” asked Rarity.

Sunset finished reading the entry and closed the book. She turned to Daring Do and said, “Take us back to Canterlot City. It’s seems Princess Twilight has figured out a way to force open that interdimensional portal.”

“Force open the portal?” asked Rainbow Dash. “You mean…?”

Sunset Shimmer nodded and replied, “That’s right. Twilight Sparkle of Equestria is coming back to the Lego World to help us.”

The Message to Equestria

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Chapter 7
The Message to Equestria

On the other side of the interdimensional portal was the magical land of Equestria, home to ponies with all kinds of special abilities. Some were unicorns, capable of channeling magic spells through the horn on their heads. Others were pegasai, whose feathered wings allowed them to fly and even manipulate clouds. There were also earth ponies, who lacked wings or a horn, but did have greater strength and a close connection to the earth that allowed them to grow abundant crops. Finally, there were the alicorns, who possessed the abilities of all the other races and ruled benevolently over the kingdom. In addition, each individual pony had a unique special talent, identified by a symbol on their flanks known as a Cutie Mark. Despite their differences, practically all of these ponies were able to live together peacefully and in harmony.

To a person from the Lego World, it would seem like a very strange world, indeed.

Near the middle of Equestria was a little town known as Ponyville. At a glance, this town seemed like any other. There were farms on the outskirts of town, a few arched bridges over the small river that crossed through the middle of town, and most of the buildings were small wooden structures with thatched roofs. However, there was one structure just outside of town that really made this place stand out.

Little more than a week had passed since a shimmering blue and violet castle had magically appeared just outside of Ponyville. On the outside, it had a distinctive shape that made it resemble some kind of massive treehouse. On the inside, there were numerous long hallways and massive rooms. And in the middle of this spectacular structure was a throne room with six large thrones — plus a seventh smaller one — arranged in a circle, with each of them labeled with a particular Cutie Mark. Although this castle had yet to be given an official name, its new inhabitants were already happily making themselves at home.

Twilight Sparkle, a lavender alicorn and newly entitled Princess of Friendship, was sitting in the middle of the throne room as she read through various letters and documents. To her right, Rarity the white unicorn was contently polishing her throne. To her left, the pink earth pony Pinkie Pie was blowing up a balloon for reasons known only to herself. In front, Spike the baby dragon sat on his small throne as he read one of his comic books. Behind, Applejack the orange earth pony and Fluttershy the yellow pegasus were pushing a large crate into a nearby room. Above, the light blue pegasus Rainbow Dash had just flown back inside through an open window. As far as everypony was concerned, today was going to be relatively uneventful.

“Excuse me, Princess.”

Twilight glanced up to see that a delivery pony had just arrived, hauling a cart that carried a very tall stack of books.

“Where do you want all these books from Princess Celestia?” asked the delivery pony.

Twilight turned her gaze back down to her current reading material as she contently answered, “The library. Third door on your left.” She pointed her hoof to her left.

As Twilight spoke, the delivery pony suddenly began to hear a faint buzzing noise. He glanced back at the stack of books and noticed something very unusual with the one at the very top. “Even this one that’s glowin’ and vibratin’?” he asked in confusion.

At that strange question, Twilight looked up at the stack of books and quickly noticed the book that really was glowing and vibrating intermittently. Curious by what was causing this, she picked up the book with her magic and levitated it over to her. She quickly noticed that it was a brown book with Princess Celestia’s Cutie Mark on the front cover. As she opened the book and began flipping through the pages, all of her friends gathered around with curious looks on their faces.

“What is it, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight quickly determined that what she was looking at was some kind of journal, so she immediately flipped through to the latest entry and began to read it. She answered, “It looks like a message to Princess Celestia from…” She suddenly gasped in shock. “…my friends in the Lego World.”

“How is that even possible?” asked Rarity in confusion.

“I don’t know,” replied Twilight as she continued reading the entry. Once she quickly finished reading, she looked up in shock and said, “But it sounds like they need my help.”

Once all of her friends had gathered around the table in the castle’s library, Twilight levitated a book from one of the many bookshelves. “The way Sunset Shimmer described them,” said Twilight, “I think these three girls sound an awful lot like…” She slammed the book down onto the table. “The sirens.”

“Not the sirens!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie fearfully. She then leaned close to Fluttershy and not-so-quietly whispered, “I don’t actually know what that is!”

Twilight opened the book and explained, “The sirens were three beautiful but dangerous creatures who had the power to charm ponies with their music. But to maintain this power, they had to feed on the negativity and distrust of others. The more of this negative energy they consumed, the stronger their voices became, and the farther they could spread their dark magic.”

“I don’t think I like this story very much,” muttered Fluttershy worriedly.

“If the sirens had their way,” continued Twilight, “they would have divided and conquered all of Equestria. But a certain Star Swirl the Bearded wasn’t having it. Rumor has it he found a way to banish them to another world — one where he believed their magic power would be lost.” Twilight turned her gaze up to her friends. “That world must have been the one where my Lego friends live.”

“But Star Swirl must’ve sent them there ages ago,” Applejack pointed out. “How come they’re just surfacin’ now?”

“I don’t know,” replied Twilight as she glanced back down at the open book. “But if my hunch is right and it is the sirens who are causing trouble in the Lego World, those spells they’ve been casting on the city of Bricklyn is just the beginning.” She closed the book and turned away. “My friends need me. I have to get back to them.”

Twilight began to trot out of the library, but her exit was quickly blocked off by Rainbow Dash, who flew over her and landed right in front of her. “I hate to burst your bubble, Twilight,” Rainbow pointed out with concern, “but the connection between their world and Equestria will still be totally cut off for a super long time.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly zoomed over to stand between Twilight and Rainbow and quickly said, “Okay, first of all, if there was bubble-blowing going on, why wasn’t I told about it?! And secondly, if the connection is totally cut off, how was Sunset Shimmer able to get a message to Twilight?”

Twilight thought about Pinkie’s second — and more important — question, then suddenly gasped and smiled. “Pinkie, you’re a genius!” she said excitedly as she trotted past Rainbow Dash and out of the library.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” said Pinkie casually. She quickly turned to stick her face in Rainbow’s and threateningly added, “Now about those bubbles!”

Without saying a word, Rainbow pulled herself out of Pinkie’s grip and turned to follow after Twilight. Pinkie and the rest of Twilight’s friends soon followed her down the hallway.

“Where are you goin’?” asked Applejack.

“To the Crystal Mirror,” replied Twilight as she continued trotting down the hallway. “I think I’ve figured out a way to make it open.”

“Oh! Does this mean we’re going back to the Crystal Empire?” asked Rarity with an excited look in her eyes.

Twilight simply said, “Nope.”

Twilight’s friends momentarily paused with confused looks on their faces, then quickly caught back up to her. “I’m confused,” said Fluttershy. “Isn’t that where the Crystal Mirror is?”

“Not anymore,” replied Twilight, her pleasant attitude never faltering. “You see, the day after this castle appeared, Princess Cadance arranged to have the Crystal Mirror moved here. I guess she understood that I was far more likely to use it than she would.”

“Then where is it?” asked Rainbow Dash as she flew directly over Twilight. “I’ve been all over this castle by now, and I haven’t seen that mirror anywhere.”

“That’s because I decided to store it inside a hidden room, for safekeeping,” answered Twilight as she stopped in front of a seemingly blank wall. “The only way to access this room is through a secret door that I built, which can only be opened with a secret knock.”

As all of Twilight’s friends gathered around, Rainbow raised an eyebrow and asked, “You built a secret door in this castle?”

“Let me put it this way…” explained Twilight as she placed her hoof on a block in the wall and pushed it back a few inches. “Secret doors are cool.” She then tapped her hoof on the wall around the pushed block in a specific order: top left, top, top right, bottom right, bottom, and bottom left. Once the secret knock was completed, all of the blocks that made up this portion of the wall began to magically move around on their own, grinding against each other as they shifted. It took only a matter of seconds for the blocks to move aside and reveal the small room that was hidden behind that wall. And sitting in the middle of that room was the Crystal Mirror, the magical gateway to the Lego World.

While Twilight was still smiling pleasantly, her friends had done nothing but stare silently with jaws hanging wide open. “That is kinda cool,” admitted Rainbow Dash.

“Can I have one in my house?” asked Pinkie Pie.

Twilight simply rolled her eyes and smiled as she stepped into the room. “Before I try anything,” she explained, “I’ll need to make sure my theory is sound.” She telekinetically rolled a large chalkboard into the room, picked up a piece of chalk, and began quickly writing some complex equations.

As her friends stood back and watched silently, Twilight made quick work with her calculations. About halfway through, she began muttering her thoughts aloud. “…and the interval between the two points is defined as the square root of the sum of the squares of the separation between the points along three spatial dimensions…” As soon as she reached the final solution of her mathematics, she excitedly exclaimed, “By Celestia, it really is possible!” With a huge smile on her face, Twilight turned to her friends, all of whom were staring blankly at her.

“Say what now?” asked Spike in confusion.

“Duh!” Pinkie Pie suddenly spoke up. “She’s gonna take the magic in here…” She held up the magic journal from seemingly out of nowhere. “…And put it in there.” She pointed her hoof at the Crystal Mirror. “That’ll make the portal open up so that whenever she wants to, she can go from here to there.” She pointed back and forth between the journal and the mirror as she continued, “There to here! Here to there! Here there! Here there! Here—”

“We get the idea!” Applejack interrupted.

Pinkie simply stood up and grinned before totting over back to her friends out in the hallway.

Rainbow Dash picked up the magic journal and raised an eyebrow as she looked at it. “So how do we make that work?” she asked. “Just throw the book at it?” Without waiting for a response, she then tossed the book right at the mirror.

Twilight quickly caught the book with her magic before it could strike the mirror. She glared at Rainbow for a moment, then turned to the rest of her friends and explained, “No. I’ll need to build some special machinery that can focus the magical energy in this diary into the Crystal Mirror.”

Twilight glanced over at the mirror, then sighed in disappointment. “But who am I kidding? This isn’t the Lego World. I can’t just throw a bunch of parts together and expect the whole thing to just suddenly do what I want it to.” She rubbed her hoof under her chin. “If I’m gonna make this thing work, I’ll need some expertise in mechanics and engineering.” Her expression suddenly brightened as she got an idea. “And I think I know just the pony for the job.”

Nearly an hour had now passed since Twilight had sent a letter to Princess Celestia, explaining what was going on in the Lego World and who she needed to find to help her open the Crystal Mirror. Celestia had quickly sent a reply to inform Twilight and her friends that she knew where to find that certain pony and would immediately arrange to have him sent over to Twilight’s castle. Until this pony would arrive, there was nothing that Twilight and her friends could do but wait.

While most of her friends waited in the hallway near the mirror, Twilight was busy looking over that chalkboard full of equations and calculations she had made.

With a bored expression on her face, Rainbow Dash sighed and turned to Twilight and asked, “How much longer are you gonna keep staring at all that? You must’ve already gone over it like a hundred times now.”

“For a project of this importance, I can’t afford any room for error,” replied Twilight with concern. “If my calculations are off by even half a degree or a fraction of an inch, then the machine that will be built based on all of this will never be able to open the portal, or worse, it could take me to a completely different alternate world! Simply double-checking just isn’t enough. I need to be absolutely certain that no errors have been made on my part.” She finally turned her attention away from the chalkboard and had an innocent smile on her face as she added, “Besides, I need to do something useful while we wait for that expert to arrive.”

Rainbow Dash rolled over onto her back and let out a frustrated sigh. “How much longer do we have to wait?” she grumbled.

Spike suddenly came around a corner in the hallway and stopped as soon as he saw the six ponies. “He’s here! He’s here!” he shouted while jumping up and down.

With that announcement, all six ponies quickly stood up and followed Spike out to the front door. “‘Bout time!” exclaimed Applejack impatiently.

As everyone walked down the hallway, Rarity turned to Twilight and asked, “Now that your so-called ‘expert in mechanics and engineering’ has arrived, do you mind telling us how much you know about this pony?”

“Not a whole lot, to be honest,” admitted Twilight as she and her friends stepped outside. “I actually met his counterpart in the Lego World. Over there, he’s regarded as a top engineer, so I’m confident that his pony counterpart won’t be much different.”

As Twilight spoke, a golden chariot pulled by a pair of royal pegasus guards flew around the castle and landed on the ground just a few paces away front the front door. The unicorn who was riding in that royal chariot appeared to be the exact opposite of royal. He had a tan coat with various stains all over it, a messy brown mane that stuck upwards at the front, and a short brown tail. He had a pair of goggles that rested on his forehead, just above his brown eyes. Finally, the Cutie Mark on his flank was an adjustable wrench.

Once the chariot came to a stop, the unkempt unicorn grunted as he hefted a rather heavy set of saddlebags — in which all kinds of various tools were noticeably sticking out in many places — onto his back. He then proceeded to step off the chariot, but lost his footing and fell over. “Ouchy,” he mumbled.

Twilight rolled her eyes and muttered to her friends, “And so far, my hunch seems to be accurate.”

The disheveled unicorn scrambled back onto his hooves and galloped over to Twilight and her friends. “R-Rusty Wrench, at your service,” he said — speaking with a rather boyish voice — as he quickly bowed before the Princess of Friendship.

“Don’t bother with being so formal around me,” said Twilight dismissively. She turned back to the castle and continued, “I need your help with something very important, so if you’ll follow me, please.”

“Y-yes, yes, of course!” complied Rusty Wrench with a nervous chuckle as he quickly stood up and followed Twilight into the castle.

It was not lost on Twilight or her friends that this stallion seemed to be in a near-constant state of nervousness, due to the shaky grin on his face and slight stuttering in his speech. In Twilight’s mind, it was further confirmation that her hunch to call in this specific pony was the right choice.

As the ponies trotted through the castle hallways, Twilight turned to Rusty and suggested, “How about you introduce yourself to my friends?”

“R-right, y-yes!” stuttered Rusty. He cleared his throat and then more confidently spoke up, “The name’s Rusty Wrench. Mechanic. Engineer. Inventor. Junk collector. You name it, I can fix it!”

“So you’re sayin’ that you can build an’ fix just about anythin’?” asked Applejack as she looked back at the engineer pony.

“That’s right!” replied Rusty with a smile.

“Ah guess that explains why you’re carryin’ all them tools with ya,” added Applejack as she gestured to the saddlebags he was carrying.

“Yup! Never go anywhere without my tools,” said Rusty proudly.

Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie had decided to grab a hammer out of Rusty’s tool bag and began balancing it on the end of her muzzle.

Rusty turned to the side and as soon as he saw Pinkie’s antics, he immediately stopped and snatched the hammer away from her with his magic. He quickly put the hammer back in his tool bag, then stuck his face directly in front of Pinkie’s and firmly said, “Rule Number One: Never ever play with my tools. Ever.” He then turned away and continued following after Twilight.

“Rule Number One?” asked Rainbow Dash in confusion.

“I’ve created a bunch of safety rules for use in my workshop,” explained Rusty as he glanced up at the pegasus flying overhead. “All of them are to prevent any past accidents and mishaps from ever happening again. And believe me, I’ve got plenty of reasons behind Rule Number One.”

“I can only imagine,” muttered Fluttershy.

“Pardon me for asking, dear,” Rarity spoke up, “but did I correctly hear you state one of your self-proclaimed titles as ‘junk collector’?”

“Sure did,” replied Rusty happily. “One of my favorite hobbies is dumpster diving.”

“Dumpster diving?” asked Rarity, recoiling in disgust.

“Yup,” confirmed Rusty. “You never know what kind of treasures you might find while digging through the trash. Heck, more than half of all of my inventions contain parts and pieces that I found while dumpster diving. It’s amazing how innovative you can be when you’re presented with a limited range of materials to work with.”

As the ponies came around another corner in the hallways, Twilight said, “It’s right over here.”

Rusty and the others followed Twilight into the hidden room where the Crystal Mirror was located.

“Behold: the gateway to an alternate world,” said Twilight, gesturing to the Crystal Mirror. “Under normal circumstances, it is open for only three days, once every thirty moons, and the last time it was open was approximately six moons ago. However, I’ve been able to find a way to make it open at any time.”

As Twilight now gestured to the chalkboard with all of her calculations on it, Rusty’s eyes widened in shock.

Twilight continued, “As you can see, a connection exists between two magical items that happen to be on opposite sides of the gateway, and I need your help to construct a machine that can utilize and focus that energy directly into the mirror. Can you do it?”

Rustly glanced over all of the complex equations and let out a long whistle. “Wow…” he said. “That looks, uh… really complicated.” He turned to face Twilight, who simply gave him a very expectant smile. Rusty smiled nervously and added, “B-but I’m sure I can make it work.” He let out another nervous chuckle. “All I need is some time and a lot of materials to work with.”

“No problem,” said Twilight. “I managed to salvage a bunch of machinery and spare parts from the basement of my old home. Spike, could you show Rusty where I left them?”

Spike nodded and gestured for Rusty to follow.

Once Spike and Rusty began heading down the hallway, Twilight levitated the magic journal over to herself and said, “In the meantime, I’d better send a message to Sunset Shimmer and my Lego friends. Let them know that I’ll be on my way.” She then turned and headed back to the library for the quill and ink she would need to start writing.

After a couple of hours of hard work by Rusty Wrench, the special machinery that would force open the portal was nearing completion. From Rusty’s tool bag, a small wrench was enveloped by a tan magical aura as he levitated it behind the machine to where he was busy making some final adjustments. “Almost…” muttered Rusty. As he tightened the last bolt, the wrench slipped loose and struck him on the head, causing him to grunt in pain and mutter, “Ouchy.”

Finally, he stepped out from behind the mirror and returned his tools to his tool bag. “There…” he said in satisfaction. “That should do it.”

Twilight smiled as she levitated the magic journal over to the machine and said, “Now to see if it actually works.” She placed the magic journal into the perfectly-sized slot directly above the Crystal Mirror, then nodded at Rusty.

Rusty pulled a very large wrench out from his tool bag and, with an audible clang, stuck it onto a winch. He wrapped both of his forelegs around the big wrench and pulled. He grunted as he struggled for a second before the winch finally came loose, causing the machine to whir to life.

“Oooooooh…” said the others as they watched the machine start up.

First, magical energy surged from the book and was absorbed by a pair of electric coils on either side of it. That energy then flowed through a series of wires, into a box with a pair of pistons that pumped up and down alternatingly, flattened out and weaved through a loom, and finally built up in a second pair of electric coils on either side of the mirror. The magical energy took a few seconds to build up enough to finally unleash a powerful surge directly into the mirror. A blinding flash of light briefly erupted from the mirror, then faded to a steady glow.

Twilight, after shielding her eyes from the blinding flash, turned her gaze back to the Crystal Mirror and smiled. What was once smooth glass was now a swirling interdimensional vortex.

Ahhhhh…” said the others with smiles on their faces.

“Yes! It worked! It worked!” cheered Rusty Wrench as he jumped around enthusiastically. He quickly finished his celebration dance and added, “And right on the first try, too! That almost never happens!”

Twilight turned to the engineer pony and said, “Rusty, I now need you to stay here and keep an eye on this machinery while I’m gone. The last thing I need is for this thing to fail and leave me stranded on the other side.”

“No problem,” said Rusty, nodding in acknowledgement. “I’ll make sure this machine keeps running smoothly until you return.”

Twilight smiled and nodded in gratitude, then turned her attention back to her friends.

Applejack looked away sheepishly and asked, “Don’t suppose we could join you this time around?”

“Better not,” replied Twilight apologetically. “It could make things pretty confusing if the Lego World all of a sudden had two of all of you.”

All five of Twilight’s friends turned to one another, then turned back to Twilight and nodded in understanding.

“But I still get to go, right?” asked Spike enthusiastically. “There isn’t another of me in the Lego World. And you never know if you might need your trusty assistant.”

Twilight simply smiled and nodded.

“Yes!” exclaimed Spike excitedly.

Twilight walked over to her friends and assured them, “We won’t be gone long.”

Twilight’s friends gave her a big group hug and said various words of encouragement. After Twilight gently pulled herself out of that group hug, Pinkie couldn’t resist giving one more huge grin to her friend.

Twilight turned to the mirror and walked beside Spike. With a determined smile on her face, she said, “C’mon, Spike. Let’s Lego.” It didn’t take long for her to notice that everyone had quickly gone silent. Her smile fell when she glanced back and saw everypony staring blankly at her. She sighed in disappointment and admitted, “Okay, so I’m not good with puns.”

Twilight quickly resumed her determined stance and said, “Let’s try this again.” She glanced over at her trusty assistant and asked, “Ready, Spike?”

Spike cracked his knuckles, crouched down into a running stance, and replied, “Ready!”

With nothing more left to do, Twilight Sparkle and Spike charged straight into the magical gateway, with Spike going through just ahead of Twilight. Once again, the two of them were on their way to an alternate world where everything and everyone is made out of Lego.

Author's Notes:

I didn't want this chapter to just be a copy-and-paste of its respective scene from Rainbow Rocks, so I decided to add in a few changes here and there, mostly to make certain details seem more plausible. For example, I didn't have Twilight just throw together a working machine out of parts that just came out of nowhere. Instead, I had her call in an expert engineer (making this the first appearance of my OC, Rusty Wrench, in pony form) and had the portal machinery built out of parts that were salvaged out of the basement of the now-destroyed Golden Oak Library. I also provided a reason for why the Crystal Mirror was suddenly in Twilight's castle, and even decided to put it in a hidden room instead of out in the library, to prevent other ponies from stumbling across it. Though I'll admit that I wanted an excuse to include my favorite quote of all from the Lego Movie Videogame: "Secret doors are cool," spoken by Vitruvius. (Random fact: I like to think of Star Swirl the Bearded being voiced by Morgan Freeman, just like Vitruvius.)

Back in the Lego World

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Chapter 8
Back in the Lego World

Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Sunset Shimmer were walking through the streets of Canterlot City on their way to the site of the interdimensional portal in City Park, where they hoped to once again meet their friend from Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle.

Sunset Shimmer’s wrists were still bound by those handcuffs as she continued to hold her magic journal. Having already completed her part in the mission of sending a message to Twilight, she was technically supposed to be on her way back to jail by now. However, she had insisted on joining the five Master Builders in welcoming their friend back to the Lego World. None of the girls had any objections to such a request, so they agreed to bring her along.

“I still can’t believe we actually got to ride with Daring Do!” gushed Rainbow Dash as she and the others arrived at City Park. “She’s, like, one of the greatest adventurers ever! Did you know that she once teamed up with Johnny Thunder to recover a powerful ancient relic?”

“Of course we do,” grumbled Applejack as she rolled her eyes. “You’ve already told us about that a dozen times already.”

“Honestly, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity irritably, “I think we’ve already heard plenty of trivia regarding your personal idol.”

“I just can’t help myself,” replied Rainbow excitedly. “Heck, I bet that if we came face-to-face with someone you’ve always looked up to, you wouldn’t wanna stop talking about all the great things that person has done.”

Rarity glanced upwards as she thought about some of her own personal idols. She eventually sighed and confessed, “I suppose that’s a fair point.”

“Can we stop talking about all that nonsense?” Sunset spoke up. “We’re here.”

The six girls stopped walking and looked ahead to see that they were now only a few steps away from the light grey statue of a horse rearing on its hind legs, which stood atop a pedestal that was five bricks tall and six studs wide on all four sides. The front side of this pedestal in particular was special, because it was here — between two 1x6 plates arranged vertically and through three silvery 2x4 tiles arranged horizontally — that the interdimensional portal to Equestria was located.

However, Twilight Sparkle of Equestria was nowhere to be found. The gathered team of six minifigs were the only ones standing anywhere near the statue.

“Maybe she’s already here and is waiting for us somewhere else,” suggested Fluttershy.

Applejack turned to Sunset and asked, “How long has it been since ya got that reply?”

“I’m not sure. At least a couple of hours,” replied Sunset with a shrug. “Though she did say it might take a while for her to get the portal open, so maybe we’ll just have to wait a little longer.”

Rainbow Dash crossed her arms and muttered, “And I thought that crazy chase through the Old West Region would’ve left her waiting for us.”

“Actually,” Pinkie suddenly spoke up, “being chased by the bad guys made us go a lot faster that we would have if we were in no rush at all, so that crazy chase through the Old West Region actually made us get here faster than if we didn’t have to worry about the bad guys!” She then simply grinned.

“Regardless,” said Rarity, “this is the location of the interdimensional portal. Therefore, we simply have no choice but to stay here and await confirmation of Twilight’s arrival.”

No more than a second later, the side of the statue flashed brightly for an instant as two familiar minifigs suddenly flung out and landed face-down on the grassy ground.

“Twilight!” exclaimed all six girls at once.

Twilight Sparkle, an alicorn princess from Equestria, groaned as she rolled over onto her back and sat up. Even though this wasn’t her first trip to the Lego World, she still had difficulty adjusting to having the body of a minifig. Her blocky legs, her flat and boxy torso, her claw-shaped hands, her cylindrical head with a removable hair piece, all of it still felt just as strange as it did the first time.

Twilight focused her eyes on the surrounding minifigs — her Lego friends — and gave a weak smile as she muttered, “I’m back.”

Twilight quickly noticed that her five friends weren’t the only ones here. She glanced to her left and saw Sunset Shimmer with a friendly smile on her face. Sunset held onto her magic journal with one hand as she held out her other hand to Twilight, despite the handcuffs keeping her wrists close together.

Twilight was hesitant at first. After all, the last time she was here, Sunset Shimmer had been her primary threat. But now, here she was, kindly offering a helping hand in spite of her physical restriction. Twilight began to reach a hand up to her, but then paused and looked away uneasily. Her smile quickly returned as she glanced over at her Lego friends. They seem to have already forgiven her and even accepted her as one of their own, she thought. I’m sure they expect no less of me. Finally, she reached up and grasped Sunset’s hand.

As soon as Sunset helped pull her up to her feet, the other girls quickly embraced Twilight in a group hug and said various greetings to their returned friend.

Once her Lego friends backed off to give her some space, Twilight’s smile fell. “And I’ve got some bad news about those girls you’ve encountered,” she said solemnly.

The others moaned with worried expressions on their faces.

Nearby, the other newly-arrived minifig groaned as he sat up and rubbed his sore head. Spike suddenly stopped when he felt something on his head, so he removed it and turned it around to see that it was a red baseball cap with the word “LEGO” printed on the front. “Yes!” shouted Spike excitedly as he jumped to his feet. “I got my favorite hat back!” He grinned as he put the hat back on his head.

Rarity couldn’t help but giggle lightly at Spike’s excitement over that hat. She turned back to Twilight and suggested, “Perhaps we could have our discussion over some lunch.”

“Oh! Oh! Let’s go to that pizzeria we always go to!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.

“Sounds good to me,” agreed Applejack with a shrug. The team of now eight minifigs turned away from the statue and headed into town.

The team of friends was sitting at a window-side table inside the pizzeria. On the bench on one side, Sunset Shimmer sat next to the window, and sitting to her left was Twilight Sparkle in the middle and Rarity on the end. On the other side of the table sat Applejack by the window with Fluttershy in the middle and Spike on the end. Rainbow Dash had seated herself at the end of the table in one of two extra chairs she had grabbed for herself and Pinkie Pie, who was away getting everyone’s order.

While Twilight was busy explaining to the others about the true identities of the Dazzlings, Spike simply stared lovingly at Rarity as he sipped at a soft drink through a straw. It wasn’t long until Pinkie returned with a couple of pizzas for everyone to share. Once Twilight was done talking, everyone began helping themselves to a slice of pizza.

Sunset Shimmer sighed in frustration and muttered, “I can’t believe it never occurred to me that those girls were actually sirens from Equestria. I guess after more than five years, I’ve been getting a little rusty with my studies.” She then sadly took a large bite from her slice of pizza.

Twilight gently placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder and assured her, “But you still did the right thing. You knew my friends needed my help, and if it hadn’t been for you, I would never have known about this new threat to the Lego World. Not to mention, I wouldn’t have been able to figure out a way to come back here so soon.”

Rarity finished another bite of her slice of pizza and said, “Oh, I do hate that you had to return at a time of crisis. There’s so much catching up to do!” She took a light sip from her iced tea and continued, “Perhaps you would give us just the slightest bit of gossip from your world?”

Before Twilight could say anything, Spike quickly replied, “She’s got an official title now.” He used the straw from his drink to imitate a fanfare and then proudly stated, “The Princess of Friendship!”

“Wow, that’s really impressive,” said Sunset with a smile. She looked away sheepishly as she added, “Guess you really were Princess Celestia’s prized pupil.”

“She’s even got her own castle!” Spike smugly added.

“A castle?!” exclaimed Rarity excitedly as she suddenly grasped Twilight’s shoulders, which startled her enough to drop her slice of pizza onto her lap. “You have your own castle?!?” She then caught herself and glanced down at the mess she had just inadvertently caused. She took a deep breath and smiled apologetically as she grabbed a few napkins and helped to clean off Twilight’s shirt and skirt. She cleared her throat and more calmly added, “Ooh, uh, lovely.”

Once she was cleaned up, Twilight grabbed another slice of pizza and asked, “What’s new here? I mean, besides the rising threat of dangerous magical creatures from Equestria?”

All of Twilight’s Lego friends looked at one another with uncertain looks on their faces. Rainbow Dash decided to break the ice as she pulled out her phone and answered, “Yeah, so, that isn’t exactly the only strange thing that’s happened since you left. Check out this security video from the airport I work at.” She turned the blue 1x2 tile around to show Twilight the small display screen as a grainy colorless video started playing.

The video showed the interior of a small hangar that was filled with all kinds of Lego pieces. Sunlight quickly filled the building as a large door was lifted open, revealing Rainbow Dash standing at the entrance. At first she just stood there for a few seconds, but then something amazing happened. The poor quality of the video made it hard to see the smaller details, but the sudden appearance of feathered wings on Rainbow’s back was all that Twilight needed to see to know that she had transformed into her half-pony form — an appearance that she and her friends had all shared on the night they had defeated Sunset Shimmer. As soon as Rainbow in the video had changed, she immediately rushed around the room, appearing as a motion blur as she gathered a bunch of Lego parts and rapidly put them all together just outside the door. The motion blur vanished after only a few seconds, revealing the pony-like minifig Rainbow Dash as she stood proudly in front of her completed creation.

Twilight watched the stunning footage with her mouth gaping wide open in shock. Near the end of the video, she unknowingly dropped her slice of pizza onto her lap.

Rarity sighed and rolled her eyes as she grabbed some more napkins. “Oh, really, darling,” she muttered bitterly as she began cleaning off Twilight again. “Do you even know how to use your own hands?”

“Well, considering that she’s a pony princess from an alternate world who’s used to having hooves instead of hands, I’d say probably not,” replied Pinkie Pie offhandedly. She then took another big bite out of what was now her third slice of pizza.

Rainbow Dash turned off the video and put her phone away as she said to Twilight, “Anyway, pretty sweet, huh? It happens to all of us when get creative.”

“All except for me,” mumbled Sunset sadly. “I don’t even have any creative talents.”

Twilight had heard Sunset and wanted to help her in some way, but decided it would be best to deal with that later. Twilight pondered the implications of what she had just witnessed for a moment. “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “My crown was returned to Equestria, but some of its magic must have remained here in the Lego World.” She smiled as she continued, “Now that we’re all back together, we can use that magic on the sirens. Just like when we were able to use it on Sunset Shimmer when she turned into that horrifyingly awful winged monster.” Twilight quickly realized what she had just said, so she glanced back at Sunset and apologetically added, “No offense.”

“None taken,” muttered Sunset bitterly. She held up her handcuffs and added, “Believe me, I’ve had to put up with much worse.”

“Yeah!” cheered Rainbow Dash excitedly. “Now we get to really whoop their butts! They’ll never even know what hit ‘em!” She then started swinging her arms and legs around in various karate moves. Her carelessness soon caused her to accidentally kick the underside of the table, spilling everyone’s drinks and tossing pizza into the air, with one slice landing in Twilight’s lap. When everyone turned to glare at her, Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her head and chuckled nervously.

Rarity growled in frustration and grabbed some more napkins to clean off Twilight again.

Applejack quickly wiped off the mess on her portion of the table and said, “We’ve got nothin’ to worry about now that Twilight’s back.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure I could find something to worry about,” muttered Fluttershy worriedly as she watched the others finish cleaning off the table. She then happily added, “But it won’t be the sirens.”

As Spike picked up all the used napkins and took them over to the nearest trashcan, Twilight said, “The sooner we do this, the better. Any idea where the Dazzlings might be? Will we still find them in Bricklyn?”

Everyone else at the table glanced at one another uneasily. “I fear that may be rather unlikely, darling,” replied Rarity with disappointment.

“You see,” explained Sunset, “right after I finished writing you that message, the Dazzlings found us and started chasing us all over the Old West Region.”

“We eventually managed to lose ‘em,” added Applejack, “but there’s no tellin’ where they could’ve gone off to by now.”

“That’s strange,” muttered Twilight as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Why would the sirens want to go after you girls in particular? Unless…” Her eyes slowly widened in shock. She looked up at her friends again and asked, “Did any of you show off the magic within you while you were in the presence of the Dazzlings?”

“We did try to get creative when we tried to stop ‘em in Bricklyn,” admitted Applejack.

“And since this magic is apparently now interwoven with our creative talents,” added Rarity, “I’m afraid that such a display was practically unavoidable.”

“And how could we resist?” added Rainbow Dash boastfully. “That magic has turned us into Master Builders! Getting creative is what we do.”

Twilight turned her gaze down to the empty plate in front of her and sighed sadly. “This isn’t good,” she said. “Now that the Dazzlings already know about the magic you girls possess, it’s no wonder they tried to stop you. And now that I’m here, there’s no telling what they’ll do to ensure we don’t get a chance to defeat them.”

“Don’t worry, sugarcube,” assured Applejack. “The important thing right now is that we’re all here, an’ as long as we stick together, there’s no way them sirens can tear us apart.”

At that moment, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie both reached for the last slice of pizza. As soon as they saw their hands grab the slice, they glanced at each other for a moment, then quickly started tugging on the slice.

“Gimme it!” argued Rainbow.

“No way!” argued Pinkie.

“I touched it first!”

“I had my eyes on it first!”

“You already had half an entire pizza!”

“Not my fault I’m a fast eater!”

“I’ll show you fast!”

Eventually, the pizza slice slipped out of their hands, flew through the air, and landed right in Twilight’s lap.

Rarity growled in frustration as she grabbed even more napkins and began cleaning Twilight’s clothes, yet again. “For Ole’s sake, girls,” she scolded. “Please try to show a little bit more respect for Princess Twilight.”

“Well it’s not like we wanted to start a food fight,” Rainbow Dash shot back.

“Even though those kinds of fights are always super-duper fun,” added Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

Once Rarity was finished cleaning Twilight for a fourth time, she tossed the used napkins over to Spike, who gladly took them over to the trashcan. Almost immediately after that, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket, so she took it out to find out who was calling her. “Pardon me for a moment,” she said to her friends as she stood up and began to walk away.

Rarity placed her phone on the side of her head and, as soon as she heard the voice on the other side, she immediately stopped in her tracks. “It’s Miss Playwell,” she said as she returned to her seat. “I’ll put her on speaker.” She tapped a button on the screen and then set the white 1x2 tile down on the middle of the table.

Twilight leaned forward and saw that the screen on Rarity’s phone showed a portrait of the minifig Celestia over the words, “On Speaker: Celestia Playwell.”

“Greetings, Miss Playwell,” said Rarity. “We have all safely made it back to Canterlot City.”

“That is a relief,” said Celestia’s voice on the phone. “I heard about what happened in the Old West Region. All I can say is that I’m just as surprised as you might be that they even knew where to find you. This is only a hunch, but I’m fairly convinced that somebody had to have told them about where you would be.”

“If you’re gonna make a list of suspects, don’t include me,” said Sunset. “I’d much rather be back in jail than to help those troublemakers. Besides, I’ve already recovered my, uh… personal object and sent a message to Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, exactly as I had promised.” Even though she still had the magic journal with her, Sunset was not yet willing share with just anyone about what it really was.

“I suppose I can take that as good news,” replied Celestia. “Has she been able to respond?”

“Even better,” Twilight spoke up. “I figured out a way to open the interdimensional portal, so now I’m here to help my friends again.”

“Princess Twilight?” asked Celestia. “Well, this is certainly an unexpected surprise. I am pleased to hear that you are able to join us. Perhaps you could help shed some light on the true nature of the Dazzlings.”

“Indeed I can,” replied Twilight. “They were originally magical creatures from Equestria known as the sirens, and their powers involve the use of dark magic.”

“Then it seems my fears have been realized,” said Celestia. “Just as well, I suppose. Kjeld has just called for an emergency meeting in Cloudsdale. All regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders are to attend, including all of you. You can tell us more about these ‘sirens’ when we get there.”

“Fine by me,” replied Twilight. “Could you tell us how to get there?”

“I’m afraid it would be unwise for me to simply tell you that sort of information,” replied Celestia. “The precise location of that city is always kept secret. However, I have already arranged a flight to take you girls there. The plane is currently waiting for you at the airport.”

“Would it be okay if I also attend?” asked Sunset. “I’m sure these girls would appreciate having me around. Especially Twilight.” She turned to Twilight and smiled.

Twilight turned to Sunset and gave her own friendly smile in return.

Celestia was silent for a moment before she eventually replied, “I suppose I could accept that. There will be a few police officers there to maintain order, so as long as you promise to turn yourself in after the meeting is over, you shall receive that reduced prison sentence, as promised.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Twilight. “See you at the meeting.”

“Farewell, girls,” said Celestia. “I’ll see you in Cloudsdale.”

The rest of the team said various words of departure before Rarity picked up her phone, ended the call, and put it away.

“Seein’ as we’re now finished with lunch,” Applejack spoke up, “let’s head on over to the airport an’ get a move on.”

The others said various words of agreement as they stood up and headed out of the pizzeria.

Once everyone had stepped outside, Sunset Shimmer asked, “Before we go to the airport, where do you girls suggest I keep this?” She held up her magic journal. “I just wanna make sure it’s hidden in a safe place again before I turn myself in."

Pinkie Pie snatched the book out of Sunset’s hands and replied, “I can just put inside the safe at my house. The Cake family and I keep a lot secret recipes in there.”

“Are you sure they won’t mind?” asked Sunset.

“Not at all!” said Pinkie cheerfully. “Compared to other weird things I’ve stored in there, a dusty old book like this is practically nothing.”

“I’m not so sure if I wanna know what else you’ve got in there,” said Sunset uneasily, but then smiled and added, “but as long as you’re sure it’ll be safe, I’m okay with it.”

After that quick detour to Sugarcube Corner to drop off the magic journal, the eight minifigs arrived at Canterlot Airport. Since they were told that their ride to Cloudsdale was already waiting for them, they had decided to simply walk out onto the runway and search for any airplanes that might be sitting idle.

As the group came around a large hangar and got a good view of the entire runway, they saw that the airport was surprisingly empty. There was only one object currently parked on the runway, and it was a certain brown and tan propeller-driven airplane.

“No way,” Rainbow Dash said quietly as a wide grin appeared on her face. She then excitedly shouted, “Awesome! We get to ride with her again!”

“Ride with who?” asked Spike in confusion.

Twilight quickly recognized the symbol that was labeled on the plane, so she turned to Spike and slyly answered, “I have a feeling I might know who our pilot will be.”

As the group got close to the plane, the door on the side of it opened and a familiar adventurer stepped out. “Took you girls long enough,” muttered Daring Do. As she looked over the group, she smiled as she noticed their new addition. “Ah, and you must be Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria,” she greeted as she clasped Twilight’s hand and gave it a firm shake. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you. I’m—”

“Daring Do, I presume,” finished Twilight.

Daring finished the handshake and said, “I take it your friends have told you about me.”

Twilight looked away sheepishly as she admitted, “I’m actually quite familiar with your counterpart in my world.” She then turned to look up enviously at the airplane and added, “Though she doesn’t exactly have anything like this. I’ll admit that I’m not familiar with this type of vehicle, but I must say that it looks very impressive.”

“Glad you like it,” said Daring Do proudly. “Built the whole thing myself, brick-by-brick.”

“And considering how this world works, I’m not surprised,” said Twilight.

“There’ll be time for appreciatin' later,” Applejack cut in. “Right now, we gotta get to an emergency meetin’, an’ time’s a wastin’.” She walked past Daring Do and boarded the plane.

“Yeah, she’s right,” said Rainbow Dash. She turned to Twilight and excitedly added, “You think it’s awesome on the ground, just wait ‘til we’re airborne!” She then hopped through the doorway into the plane, soon followed by Pinkie Pie.

Spike tried to climb inside next, but his short legs made it difficult. Fortunately, Rarity and Fluttershy were willing to help him up before they also climbed aboard.

“After you, Twilight,” said Sunset politely as she gestured toward the plane.

Twilight responded with another friendly smile before she turned away and climbed into the plane.

After Sunset Shimmer, the last one aboard was Daring Do, who closed the door as she climbed inside. As everyone buckled themselves into the seats she had added in just minutes ago, Daring made her way up to the cockpit and sat down in the pilot’s seat. She flipped a few switches on the control panel, causing the plane’s four large propellers to start spinning. As the engines powered up, she grabbed onto the flight controls and announced, “Next stop: Cloudsdale!”

Twilight looked out the window next to her seat and watched with amazement as the plane slowly began to roll down the runway. It wasn’t long until the plane eventually built up enough speed to lift off the tarmac and rise into the air.

Now that they were airborne, Twilight relaxed back in her seat and contemplated what would happen next. The Dazzlings certainly posed a major threat to the Lego World, and it seemed that certain leaders had realized that it was serious enough to call for a meeting to presumably determine what must be done to stop them. With her Lego friends by her side, there was little doubt in Twilight’s mind that they would be able to stop those sirens. The only real problem right now was to figure out where to find them.

As Daring Do’s airplane flew off to Cloudsdale with its eight passengers, no one was ever aware of an ominous blinking red light on the tail of the plane.

Author's Notes:

I had originally planned to combine this chapter with the one that's coming up next, but I eventually decided that it would be better to split them into two chapters. Just as well, because not only am I not yet done writing the next chapter, but also it's already long enough that, had I combined it with this chapter, it would have made it the longest one I've ever written. As for the dimensions of that statue around the portal to Equestria, I actually (partially) built it using Lego Digital Designer (since I likely don't have the pieces needed to physically build it) so that I would know with certainty how big it would have to be for a standard minifig to walk through the gateway. It was just a test, so I didn't bother saving it, but maybe once I'm finally done writing I might decide to build it and share images. (But like I said very early on in my first story, I'm still encouraging readers to build their own interpretations of various Lego models that appear in this series and share images.)

The City in the Sky

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Chapter 9
The City in the Sky

It was late in the afternoon as the plane carrying Twilight Sparkle and her Lego friends continued flying towards the city of Cloudsdale. After flying over nothing but open ocean for nearly an hour, the plane entered a large mass of clouds that were so thick that it was a wonder the pilot even knew which way to go. They eventually reached a break in the cloud cover, allowing everyone to get their spectacular first glimpse of a large cloud-like city hovering high up in the sky.

As Daring Do brought the plane around to find a landing strip, Twilight was able to get a good view of the flying city. She had once visited the Cloudsdale of Equestria, so it didn’t take her long spot the similarities and differences with this one. The Lego World’s Cloudsdale had mostly the same architectural style as the one in Equestria, with structures that were mostly white. Unlike Equestria’s Cloudsdale, this one also had a few skyscrapers rising high up from the middle of the city, with various kinds of motorized vehicles moving about on the streets and in the air.

It wasn’t long until Daring Do was able to find the airport and began to bring the plane down for a landing. As the plane touched down, Twilight noticed there were all kinds of aircraft and even spaceships that were already parked throughout the airport. Her previous visit to the Lego World had given her the impression that regional boundaries were rarely crossed, so seeing such a wide variety of vehicles in one place seemed rather exceptional to her. Perhaps many of the Lego people who were going to attend this meeting had already arrived.

Once the plane came to a stop, Daring Do shut off the engines, then left the cockpit and opened the door on the right side. All eight passengers removed their seatbelts and followed Daring outside. As she began to place wedges around the wheels to prevent the plane from rolling away, Daring said, “The meeting will take place in the Cloudiseum. A shuttle bus should arrive soon to take us there.”

Twilight turned to look up at the city skyline. “Wow,” she said with awe. “This place is amazing.”

“I’ll say,” remarked Spike as he glanced around. “Just about everything in this city seems to be made out of Lego.” He glanced down at the white tiles of various sizes beneath his feet and added, “Even the ground we’re walking on.”

“Well yeah,” said Rainbow Dash in a tone that sounded like she was stating the obvious. “You can’t exactly build a city on a real cloud. It would just fall right through.”

I guess this means that pegasus magic is virtually nonexistent in this world, thought Twilight. But if that’s true, then how do the people of the Lego World control their weather? Twilight’s eyes widened as a troubling thought occurred to her. Is it possible that they simply can’t control the weather at all and they just… let it happen on its own? Although she was already well aware that this world lacked magic as it was known in Equestria, she still had a hard time wrapping her mind around the reality that the Lego World was getting by just fine without certain things that ponies in Equestria took for granted.

Twilight’s thoughts were interrupted when Daring Do spoke up, “Let’s go, everyone. Shuttle bus is here.”

Twilight turned to see the approaching vehicle that Daring was pointing out. It was a roofless white vehicle with a dozen seats behind the driver, arranged in six rows of two. As the shuttle bus came to a stop, everyone climbed in and took a seat. Once everyone was comfortably seated, the driver turned the bus around and began taking the group to their destination.

As the shuttle bus left the airport, Rainbow Dash had a big smile on her face as she glanced around at the surrounding cityscape. “Still just as awesome as I remember it,” she said fondly.

“You’ve been here before?” asked Sunset Shimmer.

“I practically spent my whole childhood here!” replied Rainbow Dash with pride. When she glanced over at one of her friends, she quickly added, “Oh, and, uh, so did Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy responded by hunching down with a sheepish smile on her face as she slowly waved her hand at the others.

“Ah always wondered where ya got your obsession with the Wonderbolts Space Fleet,” remarked Applejack.

“Yeah, a lot of them tend to come from Cloudsdale, so I figured I’d be no different,” explained Rainbow Dash. “Turns out it’s not as easy as signing a few papers and going into space. You gotta have some experience before they can accept any applications, so I decided to spend my high school years in Canterlot City, working at the airport.”

“But our high school graduation was years ago,” Rarity pointed out. “Why do you still reside in Canterlot City to this day?”

“It’s actually pretty hard to get back to Cloudsdale, once you leave,” admitted Rainbow Dash. “A flying city like this is able to move around, so its exact location at any time is always kept a secret from most people.”

“I guess that explains why the emergency meeting is being held here,” said Twilight. “If the Dazzlings really are trying to follow us, then it would definitely be a good idea to meet at a secret location they know little — if anything — about.”

“Exactly,” said Sunset with a nod. “This is actually my very first visit to Cloudsdale.” She spoke more shamefully as she continued, “The old me knew that simply finding this city is so difficult that it would’ve been impractical to even bother trying to get here, let alone cause trouble.”

Twilight smiled as she placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder and assured her, “And right now, that’s good for us. If even the old you — number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted — knew how hard it is to get here, then the sirens will definitely not be able to find us.”

Not for the first time, Sunset smiled at Twilight’s assurances.

Spike turned to Fluttershy and asked, “So what about you? Why did you move to Canterlot City?”

Fluttershy quietly answered, “Um, I just feel much safer on solid ground.”

Spike shrugged and said, “Can’t argue with that.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly pointed ahead and exclaimed, “Oh, look! We’re here!”

Everyone in the shuttle bus looked forward and saw they were now getting close to a large white stadium. From a distance, Twilight noticed that it looked practically identical to its counterpart in Equestria, but she knew the differences would be in the details.

The shuttle bus came to stop next to a few others, where all kinds of minifigs were already making their way into the Cloudiseum. As soon as the bus came to a stop, Daring Do immediately hopped out and made her way into the stadium, walking not far behind a group of what appeared to be ninjas.

As she and her friends also disembarked from the shuttle bus, Twilight gazed up at the Cloudiseum and looked closely at how the structure was put together with white Lego bricks of various shapes and sizes. She had to admit that even the small details here were remarkably similar to what she was familiar with back in Equestria.

“Hey, look!” Spike suddenly pointed out. “There’s Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor!”

Twilight and her friends turned to look in the direction Spike was pointing and, sure enough, they saw those two familiar minifigs arriving, along with various knights and other nobles from the Castle Region.

Right after Spike’s exclamation, Princess Cadance stopped and noticed the team from Canterlot City. She motioned for her husband to stop by her side, then pointed at the team and said, “Hey, look who’s here.”

Prince Shining Armor looked over at the team. It had been a while since he and his loving wife had seen them, but there was one minifig in particular that he was especially surprised to see. “Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria,” he greeted pleasantly as he walked over to the team, followed closely by Cadance. “It is a real honor to have you here with us.”

“It’s good to see you again, too,” greeted Twilight. She had to admit that it still felt rather awkward to encounter the alternate version of her older brother, but what really made her smile nervously was the fact behind her next statement. “I take it that someone has told you my real name.”

Shining Armor nodded and said, “Word of your exploits in Canterlot City and your true identity had spread pretty quickly throughout the Lego World. I wouldn’t even be surprised if just about everyone at this meeting could immediately recognize you.”

“Truthfully, we completely understand why you went by a fake name when we first met,” explained Cadance. “In fact, the messenger who informed us about what happened in Canterlot City had wisely told us about your interdimensional origins before revealing your true name.”

“That’s good,” said Twilight with a nod. “At least now I don’t have to worry about keeping my identity a secret from anyone. Speaking of my name, how’s the search going?”

Shining Armor’s expression saddened as he glanced down and answered, “Nothing new since you left.” He turned his attention back up to Twilight and smiled again as he added, “But I still remain optimistic that she’ll be found one day.”

“As awkward as it is to talk about another me,” admitted Twilight, “I’m glad that you haven’t given up on your sister.”

Cadance looked uneasy as she said, “Though I can’t help but feel concerned about the one thing that makes her different from you, Princess Twilight.”

“Ah, yes,” said Shining Armor with a nod of understanding. “Despite our efforts, she always wanted to work alone, right up until the day she vanished. I would even go so far as to say that may be why no one has ever heard from her after so many years.”

“I’m sure that whatever she’s been up to this whole time, it won’t cause any trouble for the Lego World,” assured Twilight.

Shining Armor smiled. He glanced over at some pirates that were now walking into the Cloudiseum, then turned his attention back to Twilight’s team and said, “In any case, it’s nice to see you again. All of you.” When his gaze fell on Sunset Shimmer, he furrowed his brow and scornfully added, “Except you.”

Sunset rolled her eyes as she sighed and muttered, “Figures.”

Shining Armor’s expression softened again as he addressed the rest of the group, “Perhaps we shall talk more after this meeting is over.” He turned away and began walking into the stadium, followed closely by Cadance.

“I still can’t believe that you came up with such a silly fake name,” remarked Rainbow Dash.

“To be honest, I don’t even remember what that name was,” admitted Twilight sheepishly with a shrug. “I’m sure it doesn’t even matter, anyway. Not like it’s coincidentally similar to someone or somepony that I’ll encounter anytime soon.”

“Howdy, ladies.”

The group of friends turned to face the minifig who had just spoken to them. He had light brown skin and wore a blue vest, dark brown chaps, a black cowboy hat, and a silver sheriff’s badge on his left chest. In addition, his thick black mustache was not simply printed on his head like the rest of his face, but rather was a separate piece that was attached around the neck.

“Sheriff Silverstar from Appleloosa,” he greeted them. “Mah apologies for not catchin’ those no-good varmints before they made ya high-tail it outta town, though Ah reckon that lil’ incident at the Taco Tuesday fiesta shoulda raised some red flags.”

“No need to worry,” assured Applejack with a wave of the hand. “Those three managed to catch all of us off-guard. We don’t know how they pulled it off, but Celestia suspects that somebody must’ve told ‘em we’d be in town.”

“Ah reckon it may be a possibility,” said Sheriff Silverstar. He then glanced over at Sunset Shimmer and narrowed his eyes. The handcuffs on her wrists did little to ease his tense feelings for her as he firmly told her, “Ah’ve still got mah eye on you.”

Sunset glanced down at the brick-built ground and let out a sad sigh.

Sheriff Silverstar took a step back and slightly relaxed as he said to the group, “Once all is said an’ done ‘round here, Ah hope it won’t be long ‘till those slippery rattlesnakes are finally brought to justice.” He turned away and headed into the Cloudiseum.

Twilight glanced up at the large stadium one more time before she turned to her friends and said, “Well, let’s get going.” She started forward and led the group through the large entrance into the Cloudiseum. They and many other just-arriving minifigs proceeded along a hallway under the stands that surrounded the stadium. At the end of this hallway stood a police officer who was directing people around to help them reach their seats. As the group walked, Twilight continued to look around in wonder at the surrounding structure, so she wasn’t paying attention to where she was going until she bumped into that police officer just as he turned to face her.

Twilight and the police officer both fell to their rears as a few of their parts came off from the impact. Twilight had lost her left leg, right arm, and her hair piece, while the officer had lost his left leg, left arm, and his police hat. With the absence of the officer’s hat, Twilight could see his messy blue hair and immediately recognized who she had just bumped into.

“Twilight?” asked officer Flash Sentry.

Twilight had definitely not expected to encounter this particular police officer in Cloudsdale, so she stuttered as she mumbled in response, “Eh, bumped, into, always, doing?”

Flash quickly reattached his leg and arm, then stood up as he put his hat back on and said, “I certainly wasn’t expecting to see you back so soon. No wonder Kjeld called for this meeting on such short notice.”

If there was one thing about the Lego World that Twilight felt she would never get used to, it was having a body that was made of detachable parts. With a little bit of hesitation, she grabbed her lost arm and attached it back where it belonged, then reached for her missing leg and reattached that as well.

“Here, let me get that for you,” said Flash as he picked up Twilight’s hair piece.

As Twilight stood back up, she noticed that Flash kept turning her hair piece around in his hands. She assumed that he was just having a little difficulty figuring out which way it was supposed to go.

It took him a few seconds, but Flash eventually managed to turn Twilight’s hair around to its proper orientation and placed it back on her head. With that little diversion taken care of, he returned to his proper stance and told the group, “Your seats are in Row 1 of Section E.”

“Thanks, officer,” Rainbow Dash spoke up. “I’ll show my friends which way to go.” She gestured to everyone as she began walking away.

The group had just barely turned to follow when Flash suddenly said firmly, “Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset immediately realized why she was being addressed by the police officer, so she turned to him and stated, “Don’t worry, sir. I plan on turning myself in after this meeting is over.”

Flash nodded in acceptance and simply said, “Very well.”

As everyone began to follow Rainbow Dash, Twilight couldn’t help but pause and glance back at Flash Sentry with a smile on her face.

Flash responded briefly with a smile of his own before turning his attention to some other newcomers and resuming his current duties.

Her pleasant smile never left her face as Twilight turned away and followed after her friends.

“You like him, don’t ya?” teased Applejack.

“W-what? No I don’t!” Twilight quickly replied as she scratched a minor itch on the top of her head. “I’m just… happy to see another familiar face.”

“Deny it all you want, darling,” said Rarity playfully, “but the signs are quite obvious to all of us.”

“You know,” added Sunset slyly, “I heard that he recently got promoted to Canterlot City’s Chief of Police.”

“Nice,” remarked Spike. He elbowed Twilight and smugly said, “Sounds like both of you have moved up since you last met.”

“Can we please move on to something else?!” exclaimed Twilight desperately as the group climbed up a flight of stairs and reached the stands of the stadium.

The rest of the group couldn’t help but chuckle at Twilight’s expense as they walked along the stands and soon sat down at their designated seats in the front row. Rainbow Dash sat at one end of the row and sitting to her left were Fluttershy, Rarity, Spike, Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Pinkie Pie, and finally Applejack at the other end of the row.

With nothing left to do until the meeting would officially begin, Twilight decided to pass the time by looking around at all of the other minifigs who were attending. She was completely astonished by the huge variety of Lego people she saw in the Cloudiseum. She saw firefighters, police officers, racecar drivers, clowns, scuba divers, chefs, and construction workers. And that was only the ones that would’ve been seen in a City Region! On one side of the stadium, she saw cowboys, and on the other side, she saw strange green creatures that could best be described as aliens. There were also ninjas, pirates, zombies, and robots. She also noticed medieval knights in full armor — along with Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadance — and members of the Wonderbolts Space Fleet. In short, Twilight’s mind was completely blown away by the huge range of Lego minifigs in a single location.

Twilight scratched her head again as she noticed a certain balcony that was directly across the stadium from where she and her friends were sitting. In the Cloudiseum of Equestria, this was the princess balcony, where Princess Celestia herself would observe the events that would take place in the stadium. In this Lego version, there was a podium set up in the middle, though there was currently no one standing behind it. But what really caught Twilight’s attention was the two familiar minifigs sitting on either side of that podium: Celestia on the left and Luna on the right. She had always looked up to their counterparts in Equestria, and it seemed that these minifigs were regarded just as highly in this world. Yet, she still found it hard to believe that there was one Lego person who was ranked even higher than Celestia and Luna.

Speaking of whom, a certain minifig finally reached the balcony and walked up to stand behind the podium. He wore a red necktie under a dark grey business suit with an ID tag on the left chest. He had grey hair around the back of his head and a grey beard, all printed directly on his head. His face had a mouth and pair of eyes — like any other minifig — plus the beard and a few lines along his forehead. Twilight had seen portraits of him before, but this was the very first time she personally saw Kjeld Playwell, leader of the entire Lego World.

Kjeld picked up a gavel and lightly tapped it against the podium a few times. The various murmurings of the audience quickly quieted down as everyone in the stadium turned their faithful attention to the man who had called for this emergency meeting.

“Greetings and welcome to all regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders,” greeted Kjeld as he set down the gavel. “Including, but not limited to: President Business, Clutch Powers, Chase McCain, the Infomaniac, Lord Vampyre, King Kahuka, Captain Redbeard, Johnny Thunder, Sensei Wu, Laval of the Lion Tribe, Cheese Sandwich, Prince Shining Armor with Princess Cadance, and, of course, my ever loyal nieces, Celestia and Luna.” He smiled and glanced at his two nieces as he spoke their respective names. He turned his attention back out to the stadium as he continued, “I have called for this meeting in light of recent events regarding what has been happing in the city of Bricklyn these last few months and was witnessed in Appleloosa just earlier today. It appears that a certain trio has begun what is now their third attempt to take over the Lego World, and I’m sure many of you know exactly who I’m talking about. The Dazzlings.”

With that announcement, the gathered audience immediately began voicing their displeasure.

“I knew it was only a matter of time!” exclaimed Prince Shining Armor.

A pirate stood up and shouted, “Yarr! Those scoundrels be worse than scurvy!”

“Why must those girls always cause trouble?!” exclaimed a mustachioed chef as he waved a frying pan around.

Kjeld tapped the gavel against the podium again until silence returned to the stadium. Once all was quiet again, he continued, “Yes, I am afraid it’s true. However, there is reason for hope this time. For you see, there is now someone among us who has knowledge of these mysterious girls, where they came from, and what strange magical powers they possess.” He focused his attention straight across the stadium towards the Canterlot City Master Builders. “Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, could you please stand and explain to us all that you know about the Dazzlings?”

Twilight was briefly startled to be called out so suddenly. She hesitated for a moment as the eyes of everyone in the stadium soon fell on her. It certainly wasn’t the first time she found herself in such a big spotlight — that was to be expected of a princess in Equestria. However, this was still a world that she was very unfamiliar with, and there was no telling how this audience of so many different minifigs would react.

Twilight scratched that certain itch on her head again as she stood up. She took a deep breath and began speaking. “Well… first of all, I can confirm that the Dazzlings are not native to the Lego World, but rather come from the alternate world of Equestria — that same world that I and Sunset Shimmer come from. But unlike the two of us, those three are not ponies. They are called ‘sirens’, and they have the power to charm and hypnotize ponies— er, people, with their singing voices, making the subjects do their bidding. But to fuel this dark magic, they need to feed on the negativity and distrust of others. Long ago, they almost succeeded in dividing and conquering all of Equestria, and I fear they’re now trying to do just that with the Lego World.”

“You said they almost succeeded,” spoke up Spitfire, captain of the Wonderbolts Space Fleet. “How did your world get rid of those pests?”

Twilight hesitated, as she feared the people of the Lego World might not like the answer. However, she knew they deserved to hear the full truth, so she answered, “A powerful unicorn wizard was able to banish them to an alternate world, and although he knew nothing of what kind of world existed on the other side of the magic mirror, he was convinced that it would lack the magic they needed to be strong.”

“No magic?!” exclaimed a magician in a tuxedo. “Preposterous!” He swiftly removed his top hat and tapped his magic wand against it, causing a small rabbit to fall out of the hat and then hop away.

Twilight scratched her head again as she nervously continued, “Uh, l-like I said, he had no idea what kind of world existed on this side of the interdimensional gateway. In fact, I’d like to apologize on behalf of all of Equestria for all the trouble the sirens may have caused since they first appeared in the Lego World, and I am more than willing to assist you in any way that I can to stop them.”

Despite her assurances, Twilight could see that a lot of harsh looks were now being directed at her. Not to mention a lot of these minifigs were muttering in displeasure.

At the other side of the Cloudiseum, Kjeld tapped his gavel a few more times and spoke up again. “Regardless of what happened in the past, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I think we can all appreciate the knowledge that you have shared with us.” He turned his attention to the rest of the stadium as he continued, “Now that we have a better idea of what we are truly up against, we can begin considering possible ideas on how to deal with this threat. It’s true that the last two times the Dazzlings attempted to take over, we had a powerful wizard of our own to banish them, albeit temporarily. Unfortunately, he no longer walks among us, so no matter how one looks at this, we must come up with a new plan. And this time, I think we can all agree that we are in need of a more permanent solution.”

“I got ye a permanent solution!” exclaimed one pirate as he stood up. He unsheathed his cutlass and held it up high as he shouted, “Off with their heads!!” The other pirates in that section of the stadium shouted out in agreement.

At the other side of the stadium, one of the ninjas stood up and argued, “No! We can’t just attack them head-on! If they have the power to enslave armies with just a song, then such an assault would be hopeless. If we’re going to strike them down, then we must not let them see it coming.”

“That’s not enough!” argued one of the Wonderbolts as he held up his laser pistol. “If anyone can be vulnerable to their power, then we need to be beyond the range of their voices. Striking them down from a distance is the only way to guarantee a success.”

As voices of discontent began rising throughout the stadium, Celestia turned to Kjeld and quietly said, “It appears that many of them are willing to go to extreme lengths to ensure a final end to this threat.”

On the other side of the podium, Luna also turned to Kjeld and quietly suggested, “We understand your stance on such a subject, uncle Kjeld, but perhaps you might be willing to consider an exception.”

“Never!” exclaimed Kjeld defiantly. “It would go against everything that my father and grandfather ever believed in, and I will not betray their legacy under any circumstances!”

It wasn’t long until the shouting of arguing people began echoing all over the Cloudiseum. The only ones not participating in the madness were the eight minifigs of Twilight’s team.

“What a revolting display of temperament,” grumbled Rarity as she crossed her arms and shook her head.

“I don’t understand,” muttered Twilight in confusion as she sat back down in her seat. “How can they just fight each other like this?”

“Look on the bright side, Twilight,” assured Sunset. “At least their anger is no longer directed at you.” She lowered her head and quietly added, “A feeling that I rarely get to enjoy.”

Twilight let out a sad sigh as she scratched her head again, which did not go unnoticed by many of her friends.

“Are you okay, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy. “You seem to be scratching your head a lot.”

“It’s just a little itch,” replied Twilight dismissively. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Maybe it’s something you’ve got inside your hair,” suggested Pinkie Pie. “I store things inside my hair all the time.” She removed her hair piece and shook it up and down until a cupcake with pink frosting fell out and landed on her outstretched hand. She then tossed the cupcake into her mouth and quickly ate the whole thing in one bite. “Mmm. Strawberry,” she commented as she put her hair back on.

After staring at yet another of Pinkie’s antics, Twilight flatly replied, “Yeeaaa— no. I’ve never used my mane— er, hair, for storage.”

“You won’t know until you take a look,” stated Pinkie as she hopped over to Twilight and swiftly removed her hair piece.

“Hey! Give that back!” protested Twilight as she tried to reach for her hair.

Spike glanced over at Twilight’s hairless head and noticed something odd on top of it. “Wait! Hold it, Twilight!” he exclaimed as he grabbed that weird object on Twilight’s head. “There was something under your hair.”

“Told ya so!” said Pinkie smugly in a sing-song voice.

With a look of frustration on her face, Twilight snatched her hair back from the pink party girl and put it back on her head.

Spike looked closely at the small silvery object and remarked, “It looks like some kind of key.”

Twilight looked over at the item in Spike’s hand and raised an eyebrow. “Huh? How did that get there?” she asked in confusion.

Sunset Shimmer leaned forward and when she looked closely at the item in Spike’s hand, her eyes suddenly widened in shock. “It’s not just any key,” she said in disbelief. “It’s the key to my handcuffs.”

Complete silence fell among the eight friends at this shocking revelation. None of them had a clue as to how a key — let alone the key to Sunset Shimmer’s handcuffs in particular — could have ended up under Twilight’s hair. Yet, they were the only ones aware of this, as everyone else in the stadium was still too busy bickering to notice.

“Maybe we should give this to the police,” suggested Spike.

Twilight gently took the key from Spike and stared at it. This particular key was so special that she needed to take a moment to consider her options. Spike was correct that this key should be given back to the proper authorities, but it was still the key for the one thing that clearly marked Sunset as a prisoner, despite being on parole. As she considered what she felt was most important of all, she eventually made her choice.

Twilight Sparkle reached over to grab Sunset Shimmer’s handcuffs and began using the key to unlock them. All around her, the eyes of all of her friends widened in shock, including Sunset.

“Twilight, what are you doing?” asked Sunset Shimmer in disbelief.

“You’ve done more than enough to earn your second chance,” explained Twilight as she removed the first half of the handcuffs. “It’s time for you to actually get that chance.” After a little fiddling with the second lock, she finished removing the handcuffs. She then carelessly tossed the handcuffs and its key to the floor. She smiled as she turned to the now completely free Sunset Shimmer and asked, “Feeling better?”

Sunset flexed her hands and arms around, getting used to the free range of movement she hadn’t felt in a long time. Yet, she never smiled. “Physically, yes,” she replied. “Emotionally… I’m not so sure.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the team continued to stare at Twilight with wide eyes and gaping jaws. “I can’t believe you just did that,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

“I sincerely hope you know what you’re doing, darling,” said Rarity with concern. “Such an action as that is sure to have repercussions.”

Twilight understood her friends’ concerns, but she remained convinced that she did the right thing. “Trust me, girls,” she assured them, “this is for the best.”

Hoping to take her mind off of the controversial action she had just witnessed, Applejack decided to glance around at everyone in the stadium and saw that they were all still bickering among themselves. She turned back to her friends and muttered, “Y’know, it’s kinda ironic that Twilight warned everyone the sirens feed on hatred, an’ yet here they all are, givin’ off exactly that.”

That statement made the eight minifigs suddenly pause in shock. As one, they immediately turned their attention to the rest of the stadium. Everyone was still arguing, but now something was different. A strange sickly green fog had now gathered around the feet of everyone who was involved in this massive stadium-wide argument.

“I’m no expert,” said Spike uneasily, “but I’m pretty sure that weird green mist is a bad sign.”

“It’s the physical manifestation of negative energy, just before it’s consumed by the sirens,” explained Twilight with a shocked look on her face.

“‘Just before’?” repeated Sunset. She quickly turned to Twilight and asked, “Are you suggesting that the Dazzlings are right here in Cloudsdale, right now?”

“I’m afraid so,” replied Twilight solemnly. “The evidence doesn’t lie.”

“But Cloudsdale’s location is always kept secret,” said Fluttershy. “How were they able to finds us this time?”

“I think a better question might be, how do we find them?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“It’s actually quite simple,” answered Twilight. “When that mist appears, it gets drawn towards the sirens so they can consume it. Follow the mist, and we’ll find the Dazzlings.”

Applejack crossed her arms as she let out a sigh of disappointment and muttered, “So much for tryin’ to break up this fight.”

The eight friends could do nothing but sit back and watch helplessly as the massive series of arguments raged on throughout the Cloudiseum. They watched carefully as the fog of negativity slowly flowed along the stands and began to pool on one side, close to a tall and narrow black structure that stood just outside the stadium. Soon, the fog began to climb the stands and, surprisingly, flowed right up toward the very top of the structure. The pinnacle of this structure began to give off a red glow as the fog touched it and continued to be drawn towards it.

“It’s going up into that broadcasting tower,” noted Sunset Shimmer in shock.

“That doesn’t make any sense,” thought Twilight aloud. “The Dazzlings can’t be all the way up there!”

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes in suspicion as she watched the fog continue to be attracted towards that tower. “Not unless they’re using it as a tool,” she muttered. She quickly stood up and began leaving as she called back to her friends, “C’mon, let’s go!”

“Where are you going?” asked Fluttershy as she and the others also got up out of their seats and quickly followed Rainbow Dash.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the stands of the Cloudiseum, only one minifig had noticed the sudden departure of Twilight’s team. The eyes of police officer Flash Sentry briefly flashed a sickly green glow before he pulled out his phone, sent a quick text message, and then put it away.

As soon as Twilight’s team exited the Cloudiseum, They suddenly stopped in their tracks as the enchanting vocalizing of three familiar female voices began to play out all over the entire stadium.

Rarity gasped in shock and exclaimed, “It’s them! It’s the sirens!”

Rainbow Dash took off running again as she shouted, “C’mon! We gotta stop ‘em now!”

The rest of the team followed Rainbow Dash around the stadium until they arrived at the base of the broadcasting tower. There were a few small buildings nearby, but no sign of the Dazzlings anywhere.

“Where’d they go?” asked Pinkie Pie as she quickly looked around all over the place.

“They’ve gotta be close by,” stated Twilight. “That tower is still drawing in energy.” She gazed up at the tower and watched as the green fog of negativity continued to be adsorbed by the glowing red light at the very top of the antenna. “I don’t know how they’ve done it, but they’re somehow using this tower to expand their reach and absorb more energy than they normally could on their own.”

“Then let’s tear it down!” declared Rainbow Dash. “No tower, no power!”

“And how do you propose we do that, dear?” asked Rarity.

Rainbow Dash’s solution was simply to improvise, as only she could. She quickly noticed a coil of rope near a few crates, so she ran over and decided to start ripping open those crates for anything useful. She managed to get lucky with just the first crate, where she found a grappling hook. She smirked at this incredible find before she grabbed the rope and carried both items over to where her friends were gathered. As she quickly began tying one end of the rope to the grappling hook, she ordered, “Pinkie Pie, go get a car! Something with a lot of torque!”

“Like this one?” asked Pinkie before honking the horn twice.

Rainbow turned around and saw Pinkie happily waving at her from the driver’s seat of a heavy-duty four-wheel drive vehicle with big wheels. Rainbow was momentarily shocked by just how quickly Pinkie was able to get a vehicle like that. “Sure, that’ll work,” she simply said before returning her attention to the grappling hook. Once the rope was tied to the grappling hook, she immediately handed it over to Applejack and said, “AJ, you’re good with a rope. Can you throw this grappling hook up to the top of the tower?”

Applejack glanced down at the grappling hook in her hand and replied, “It may not be a lasso, but Ah’ll do mah best.” As Rainbow quickly grabbed the other end of the rope and ran off, Applejack turned her attention up at the tower and exclaimed, “Stand back, y’all!” Everyone quickly backed away as she began swinging the grappling hook around over her head. It moved slowly at first, but then built up more speed as she put more muscle into it. In only a matter of seconds, the grappling hook was spinning fast enough to appear as a blur, whooshing though the air. Finally, she hurled the grappling hook up at the tower. The hook easily soared more than halfway up the tower, looped around one of the support struts, and with a satisfying clang, hooked onto it. “Got it!” Applejack called out triumphantly to the others.

Rainbow Dash finished tying the other end of the rope to the rear bumper of the vehicle that Pinkie Pie had borrowed. Rainbow turned back and was impressed to see just how high up on the tower they were hooked onto. “Awesome!” she said excitedly. She then beat her fist against the bumper two times and exclaimed, “Go for it, Pinkie!”

“Down with the tower!” declared Pinkie Pie excitedly as she stomped on the accelerator. With much of the rope already uncoiled by Applejack’s throw, the vehicle didn’t have to go far until the rope was pulled taut. However, the sudden tension on the rope simply yanked the bumper right off the vehicle as it continued speeding away. Pinkie had definitely felt that brief jolt, so she quickly brought the vehicle to a screeching halt, looked back out the side window and, with a smile on her face, asked, “Did I get it?”

The others simply stared in shock at what could best be described as an epic failure. “I think we’ll need to reinforce that bumper,” suggested Rarity.

“Ya think?!” shot back Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie backed up the vehicle far enough to allow the others to reattach the bumper. Then they started adding on all kinds of Lego parts to ensure the bumper would stay firmly on the vehicle.

While everyone else was focused on preparing for round two, Sunset Shimmer turned her attention back to the tower and the enchanting music coming from it. By now, the Dazzlings were no longer just vocalizing, but also singing a full song. Sunset tried to make sense of some of the lyrics, things like meaning no harm, asking for assistance, and spreading the message — that last one in particular was being repeated quite a lot. Spread the message? thought Sunset with worry. What message? What are they trying to tell us?

“There!” said Applejack with satisfaction as she tapped the ridiculously reinforced bumper on the vehicle. “That should hold it!”

Not wasting any time, Rainbow Dash exclaimed, “Hit it, Pinkie!”

“Take two!” exclaimed Pinkie cheerfully before stomping on the accelerator again. The rope quickly pulled taught again, and this time the bumper remained firmly on the vehicle. However, the tower didn’t even budge, and the heavy-duty vehicle simply jerked to a sudden stop. Undeterred, Pinkie Pie continued to floor it. “C’moooooooooooon!” Eventually, the tires lost their traction and started spinning, squealing loudly and producing a lot of thick white smoke. She continued spinning the wheels until she eventually lost sight of her friends through the cloud of smoke. Once the roaring engine and squealing tires finally silenced, the noise that now dominated was the coughing and hacking of the seven unfortunate minifigs who were caught inside the cloud of smoke.

Once the smoke eventually cleared, Twilight coughed a few more times and conceded, “I don’t think this is gonna work.”

“Then what else can we do?” asked Spike desperately.

Rainbow Dash quickly ran back over to the crates and started ripping open some of them. When she tore off the lid of her third crate and saw its contents, she chuckled mischievously. She picked up the crate and carried it over to her friends as she said, “If we can’t tear it down, let’s blow it up!” She then dropped the crate down on the ground in the middle of the group, allowing everyone to see that it was filled with destructa-bricks. Almost on reflex, everyone then turned their attention to Applejack.

“Whoa, why’s everyone starin’ at me all of a sudden?” asked Applejack in confusion.

Fluttershy turned her hair piece to partially cover her face as she quietly replied, “Um… you are the only one of us who knows how to safely use these.”

Applejack facepalmed and dragged her hand down her face as she growled in frustration. She quickly snatched up two destructa-bricks and stormed off towards the tower as she grumbled, “The downsides of bein’ a do-it-yourselfer.” As she approached the tower, she set the timer and blast intensity on the two explosives. She placed them on the two vertical support beams on the side that was away from the stadium, one on each corner. “Y’all got thirty seconds,” she flatly stated. She tapped the detonate button on one, ran over to the other and hit the detonate button on that one, and then ran over to join her friends, who had decided to take shelter behind one of the nearby small buildings.

As the timers counted down, the beeping noise from the two destructa-bricks steadily became faster and faster until finally, one after the other, they both detonated. The pair of massive explosions completely obliterated the two support beams, causing the very tall tower to lean away from the stadium. The structure groaned as it slowly toppled over like a tree, and when it crashed to the ground, the impact was strong enough to be felt over the entire city of Cloudsdale.

Twilight’s team carefully emerged from their shelter behind the small building. Despite the near-deafening noise of the explosions, they quickly realized that there was no more singing. Little more could be heard than the light breeze that slowly carried away the residual smoke from the explosions. As they looked upon the twisted remains of the broadcasting tower, they couldn’t help but smile. The Dazzlings’ latest weapon was now completely destroyed.

Suddenly, the front door to the nearby small building opened and someone stepped outside as she asked, “What the heck is going on out here?”

The team turned to see who had just come out of the building and gasped. Standing in front of the doorway was Aria Blaze, one of the three sirens. She was quickly pushed aside as Adagio Dazzle stepped outside, while Sonata Dusk simply walked around to stand by Adagio’s side.

“There they are!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she pointed at the Dazzlings.

“Everyone, now’s our chance!” Twilight quickly exclaimed as she ran over to stand in the middle of her group. With a determined smile on her face, she quickly grasped Rainbow Dash’s hand to her right and Applejack’s hand to her left. As everyone also gave a similar smile of determination, Applejack then grasped Fluttershy’s hand to her left, while Rainbow Dash grasped Rarity’s to her right, and Rarity grasped Pinkie Pie’s hand to her right. Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer and Spike stood back and smiled with excitement.

Finally, the six friends closed their eyes as Twilight proudly shouted, “Friendship is magic!”

Everyone waited for something to happen… and waited… and waited… and waited. The smile on Sunset’s face fell as the Dazzlings looked on with bored expressions.

Rainbow Dash was the first to open her eyes and see that nothing had happened. Confused, she turned to Twilight and quietly asked, “Uh, weren’t there rainbows and lasers and stuff last time?”

As the rest of the girls opened their eyes and lost their smiles, Twilight glanced around at her friends and uneasily replied, “I don’t understand. We’re all together again. Why isn’t this working?”

As another uneasy silence fell across the group, the Dazzlings couldn’t help but smile smugly at the lack of action they were witnessing.

Spike quickly walked up to stand behind Twilight and whispered, “You uh… really need to go ahead and do that whole ‘magic of friendship’ thing now.”

“I’m trying, Spike,” Twilight whispered back. “I thought the six of us standing together against the sirens would bring out the magic we needed to defeat them. That’s what happened before.”

After a few more seconds of silence, the awkward standoff was finally ended by some laughter from Adagio. “This is the best you can do?” she asked mockingly. “How pathetic. When we heard that the Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria was going to join you, we were expecting more of a challenge. But if that’s all you got, then maybe you’re nothing more than a mere nuisance, after all.” As she turned her gaze over to Sunset Shimmer, she grinned and added, “And what do we have here? Looks like somebody has finally broken her bonds.”

Sunset subconsciously glanced down at her now-free wrists before turning her worried gaze back up to the Dazzlings.

“We’ve heard about your past, Sunset Shimmer,” continued Adagio. “Everyone knows who you are. Quite a shame that you fell so spectacularly and ended up in prison. But now that you’re free, perhaps you would like to reclaim what you’ve lost.” With a sinister grin on her face, Adagio held out her hand to Sunset and offered, “We can help you succeed where you failed on your own. Join us, Sunset Shimmer, and you can have all the power you ever wanted.”

Twilight and her friends turned to Sunset and waited anxiously to see how she would react.

Sunset took a moment to comprehend what the Dazzlings had just told her. It was a tempting offer… for the old Sunset Shimmer. Her old self would have gladly taken such an offer to gain more power. However, the new Sunset Shimmer saw things in a different light and followed a better set of values. With all of that in mind, it didn’t take long for her to make up her mind. She furrowed her brow and firmly answered, “Forget it, sirens! I would much rather be back in jail! I would much rather lose my Creation Spark! I fight for the good guys now, and if you wanna stop these girls beside me, then you’ll have to do it over my lifeless pieces!”

The seven minifigs beside Sunset were pleasantly astonished by such a bold statement. This was definitely not the old Sunset Shimmer they had defeated six months ago. She was willing to give everything she had to assist them and their rightful cause. Any lingering doubts that any of them still had about her were now completely gone.

Adagio’s smug expression briefly fell before she shrugged and said, “Fine. Your loss.” She quickly regained her confidence as she turned to Twilight’s team and suggested, “You girls better get out of here, for your own good. A big demolition project like this is sure to raise a few questions.”

The team glanced back at the destroyed broadcasting tower that Adagio was gesturing at. Twilight suddenly grew very worried as she realized that Adagio was right. “We gotta get back to the meeting,” she quickly said with a hint of panic in her voice. “Even if everyone’s still fighting, they at least deserve to know what just happened.”

“But the bad guys are right here!” protested Rainbow Dash. “We gotta stop ‘em!”

“We already tried,” replied Twilight. She let out a sigh of defeat before adding, “And failed.”

“Then let’s try something else!” argued Rainbow. “We can’t just run away!”

Rarity leaned close to Rainbow and whispered, “Have you forgotten why this emergency meeting was called for in the first place? If we tell them the Dazzlings are right here right now, they will surely act without any hesitation to speak of.”

Rainbow briefly considered Rarity’s insight, then let out a defeated sigh and muttered, “Let’s go.”

After giving one last worried glance back at the Dazzlings, the team turned away and quickly headed back to the entrance into the Cloudiseum.

Once Twilight’s team was out of sight, a confused Sonata turned to Adagio and asked, “I don’t get it. Why did Sunset not fall under our spell? She doesn’t have Equestrian magic like the others do. Right?”

“I certainly hadn’t anticipated her to be so… defiant,” admitted Adagio. With a dismissive wave of a hand, she confidently continued, “Fortunately, she was never crucial to the plan. It just means that she’ll be an obstacle, rather than an asset. What’s important is that phase three is now complete, and once the meeting is over and everyone returns to their home regions, we can begin with phase four.”

“I got a better idea,” said Aria as she grinned and pulled out a radio. “Why wait for everyone to leave when we can just kick them out?”

Adagio glanced down at the radio in Aria’s hand, then grinned wickedly as she took the radio and said, “I like your thinking, Aria.”

With no time to lose, Twilight’s team didn’t bother trying to return to their seats and instead ran straight ahead onto the central field. As soon as they ran out onto the field, Twilight exclaimed, “Everyone! Listen up! The Dazzlings are right here in Cloudsdale!”

“And just what do you think you’re doing?”

The team turned back and saw a very displeased Flash Sentry standing over by their seats, but what really made their jaws fall in shock was the pair of handcuffs he held up.

“Sunset Shimmer has violated her parole!” announced Flash Sentry to everyone in the stadium. He then furiously threw the handcuffs, which landed at Sunset’s feet. “And I personally witnessed that she didn’t do it alone! She got assistance from Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria!”

With that accusation, virtually everyone in the stands started jeering at Twilight and her team.

“Outrageous!” shouted one person.

“How could you do such a thing?!” shouted another.

“No! Wait!” pleaded Twilight desperately. “We just saw the Dazzlings right outside the stadium! Now’s our chance to stop them!”

“And why should we trust you?!” shouted Flash scornfully. “Not only have you freed the most wanted criminal in history, but you’ve also let her join your team without any authorization!”

“We should brand all of them as crooks!” shouted one person in the stands.

“You’re a huge disappointment!” exclaimed another as the crowd started throwing objects at Twilight’s team. “Get out of our sight!”

Twilight was rapidly losing hope as she begged, “Look, I’m sorry if I upset all of you, but we’ve got a bigger priority to worry about!” She yelped and ducked as a mug was suddenly thrown at her.

“This is stupid!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she dodged a book. She desperately shouted out, “The Dazzlings are the bad guys, not us! We just tore down a broadcasting tower they were trying to use!”

“Now they’re admitting to destruction of property,” remarked Clutch Powers to the people sitting next to him. “Can’t say that about the Dazzlings.”

“See, what’d I tell ya?” stated President Business to everyone around him. “Nobody from an alternate world can be trusted. Nobody!” He quickly finished the last of his coffee before throwing his mug at Twilight’s team.

“I think we can call this meeting adjourned,” said the Infomaniac as he walked along the stands and then sat down in a chair behind a desk — the front of which was marked by a large white circle with a red lowercase “i” inside it. “If anyone needs me, I’ll be in my office.” He pressed a button on his desk, activating the set of rockets underneath that sent him and his desk flying up and away from the Cloudiseum.

“Wait!” Twilight cried out desperately. “You can’t just leave!” She couldn’t get another word out before she was forced to dodge yet another mug. All around her, her friends were also forced to duck and dodge various objects the angry crowd was throwing at them. Pinkie Pie jumped to avoid getting hit by a rubber chicken, while poor Fluttershy was brought to tears by all the ridicule directed at them.

“Nice goin’, Twilight,” grumbled Applejack.

“I warned you about the repercussions of such drastic actions,” added Rarity before narrowly dodging a shovel.

“I… I don’t understand,” Twilight faintly muttered as she stared in shock up at the podium, where even Celestia, Luna, and Kjeld were glowering at them. “I just wanted to do what was right.”

“Sometimes, doing the right thing might be considered wrong by everyone else,” explained Sunset as she stared sadly down at the ground. “I was just fine with turning myself in, but now… I’ll likely be spending the rest of my life in prison.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly cried out as her head spun around a few times.

“What was that all about?” asked Spike in confusion.

“It’s my Pinkie Sense,” replied Pinkie Pie.

Sunset raised an eyebrow and asked, “Pinkie Sense?”

“It’s best not to question it,” replied Twilight. She leaned in close to Sunset and quietly added, “Trust me, I’ve learned that lesson the hard way.” She backed off as she turned to Pinkie Pie and asked, “What’s your Pinkie Sense trying to tell you?”

“A spinny head means we’re about to get a big surprise,” explained Pinkie. “If it spins to the right, it’ll be a good surprise, but if it spins to the left, it’ll be a bad surprise.” She then cried out as her head suddenly spun around more rapidly than before, stopping after about a dozen revolutions. “Whoa! That was a real doozy!” she remarked.

“And that was spinning to the left!” noted Fluttershy, her eyes already widened in shock.

“You mean things are about to get even worse?!” exclaimed Twilight. She gestured toward the hateful audience and furiously added, “How can things possibly get any worse than this?!”

BOOM!!

A very loud clap of thunder instantly silenced everyone in the Cloudiseum. Everyone turned their attention towards a very big and dark thundercloud that was now floating just outside the stadium. As a strong breeze began to kick up, a lone minifig could be seen standing atop that cloud. She had light blue skin, wore a violet pointed hat and cape over her dark blue dress — complete with a 2x2x2 sloped brick in place of her legs — and held a staff with a large five-pointed star on the end of it.

The Great and Powerful Trixie grinned as she arrived on the scene.

“Sorry I asked,” whimpered Twilight.

Author's Notes:

This is definitely one of the longest chapters I've ever written, and this story is only halfway over, so it's possible that some future chapters might be even longer. Now that Kjeld Playwell has made an actual appearance in this story, I'd like to state that his portrayal in this fanfiction series is exactly that same as what you see in the Adventures of Clutch Powers movie. I suppose the only difference would be that I've expanded on his role in the Lego World and his family history. (fun fact: Among all of the names Kjeld mentioned at the start of the meeting, none of them are made up. Everyone before Cheese Sandwich (yes, he's a Master Builder in this world) are Lego characters who actually exist, some of whom are from as far back as the late 90s. I wonder how many of them you can recognize, because I have a feeling you'd have to be a serious Lego fan to know all of them.)

Attack on Cloudsdale

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Chapter 10
Attack on Cloudsdale

As the setting sun cast various shades of orange across the flying city of Cloudsdale, all the regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders within the Cloudiseum looked on fearfully at the dark storm cloud carrying the Great and Powerful Trixie, floating just outside the stadium.

Prince Shining Armor unsheathed his sword and, with determination, called out, “I was wondering where you went!”

Beside him, Princess Cadance called out to Trixie, “How did you know where to find Cloudsdale?”

“Oh, that’s not important right now,” responded Trixie with a dismissive wave of a hand. “What is important is that the Great and Powerful Trixie is here for revenge, and she will have it!” She aimed her staff down at the ground just outside the stadium and unleashed her powers. Magical energy crackled and surrounded the stadium as, with a puff of dark smoke, hundreds of skeleton warriors quickly appeared. Each of them held weapons and shields, and some even stood near a few siege engines. Once her army was completely summoned, Trixie raised her staff and triumphantly shouted, “Skeleton army, attack!”

The skeletons let out a loud battle cry as they began to advance toward the Cloudiseum. Inside the stadium, many of the people muttered worriedly among each other as they quickly tried to figure out what to do. The debate was quickly silenced as what appeared to be a laser beam suddenly shot upwards from one side of the stadium.

“No need to panic, everyone!”

Everyone inside the Cloudiseum turned their attention towards a team of six minifigs that stood heroically at the top of the stands. Each of them had their own unique costumes, as well as different hair and skin colors.

The leader of this team continued, “You just worry about making your escape. We’ll deal with the bad guys.” She glanced back at the rest of her team and ordered, “Power People, move out!” And with that, the six superheroes immediately leaped into action.

Down in the central field of the stadium, Twilight and her friends simply stared at where the Power People had just been standing. “The Power Ponies of this world are real?!” asked Spike, his mouth gaping in shock. After a brief moment of silence, he suddenly jumped and excitedly shouted, “Awesome!”

On the grounds outside the Cloudiseum, the Power People quickly made their stand against the advancing skeleton army. In one location stood Radiance, who had yellow skin, blue hair, wore a blue mask and costume with pink and light blue diamonds printed all over it, and had pink bracelets that were separate pieces that attached to her wrists.

As a dozen skeletons with their swords raised high charged right at Radiance, she raised her right arm as the bracelet on her wrist began to glow. “I do not appreciate you brutish skeletons,” she stated firmly as various translucent pink Lego bricks materialized over her hand and began to assemble on their own. “And I shall hammer that point home!” Within seconds, she completed her energy construct — a giant mallet. She then telekinetically swung the mallet down, slamming it onto the skeletons and smashing them to pieces. As she dissipated her construct, she smugly said, “Just because I’m a proper lady doesn’t mean I’ll go easy on you.”

On the opposite side of the stadium grounds, another dozen skeletons charged ahead, but then stopped and grunted in confusion. Standing calmly before them was Saddle Rager, who had grey skin, brown hair, and wore a turquoise mask and costume.

“Don’t make me angry,” Saddle Rager calmly stated. “You won’t like me when I’m angry.”

The skeletons glanced at one another, then burst out laughing before resuming their ruthless charge.

Saddle Rager simply shrugged and quietly said, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Within a few seconds, the skeletons stopped their charge again, but this time it was not due to confusion, but rather terror. The seemingly frail minifig in front of them had quickly transformed into a big hulking rage monster, who immediately roared and swung her massive fists around, quickly smashing the skeletons apart.

Elsewhere, one skeleton warrior began to lead another charge, but something white and violet suddenly flashed right by and the next thing he knew, his sword and shield were gone. Grunting in confusion, he turned back to his comrades and saw the same white and violet flash rush past each of them, robbing all of them of their weapons. They all glanced around in confusion until a voice called out.

“Looking for these?”

The group of skeletons turned to see their weapons were now in the arms of Fili-Second, who had green skin, orange hair, and wore a white costume with violet arrows.

Fili-Second zipped over to the nearby edge of the solid brick-built ground, where she then dumped the weapons over the edge and playfully said, “Oopsie!”

The skeletons warriors growled furiously and began to charge at Fili-Second, intending to tear her apart with their bare hands.

However, Fili-Second was much faster than the skeletons. Once again, she zoomed around them, appearing as nothing more than that white and violet flash as she rapidly disassembled them, piece by piece. In the time it took for a regular person to blink, she had reduced the dozen skeletons to little more than a pile of bones. Once her work was done, she simply giggled and remarked, “That was way too easy!”

Fili-Second’s victory was short lived as a flash of flame suddenly caught her attention. Not far away, she saw a couple of skeletons near a catapult that was loaded with a boulder they had just set on fire. She watched as the skeletons then fired the catapult, flinging the burning boulder high into the air. It didn’t take long for her to realize the boulder was heading right for the Cloudiseum, so she zoomed off towards the target.

Closer to the stadium, Mistress Mare-velous — who had white skin, blue hair, and wore a black mask and red costume — flung her hoofarangs at an advancing pair of skeletons and knocked their heads off. As soon as the hoofarangs returned to her, Fili-Second suddenly appeared right next to her and exclaimed, “Flaming boulder at three o’clock!”

Mistress Mare-velous glanced to her right and saw the incoming projectile. She simply smirked as she pulled out her psychically-linked lasso and remarked, “You know what they say. What goes around…” She swung the lasso onto the boulder and then gave it a good whip, flinging the burning projectile in the exact opposite direction it had been going. “…comes around.”

Back at the catapult, the skeletons operating it quickly ran for safety as the flaming boulder suddenly came right back and slammed into the catapult, completely shattering it.

Meanwhile, flying over the Cloudiseum was Zapp, who had pale blue skin, violet hair, and wore a dark blue costume. She was taking advantage of her flying abilities — without the need of wings or rockets — to determine which portion of Trixie’s army she should strike. Once she found the weakest area, she grinned as she held up her lightning bolt and exclaimed, “These skeleton warriors are fierce, but thy strength is no match for the forces of nature!”

Dark clouds quickly appeared over Zapp and began to swirl around. It didn’t take long for the vortex to lengthen and touch down just in front of the Cloudiseum’s main entrance. Zapp then swing her lightning bolt forward, sending forth her summoned tornado to clear a wide path through the skeleton army. Any skeleton warriors that were not blown away were sucked up into the roaring twister. The tornado continued forward until it eventually went right off the edge of the city, where Zapp decided to cut off her power. Once the twister dissipated, all of the skeletons that had been trapped inside cried out as they fell through the air and then plunged into the ocean far below.

Now that there was a clear path out of the Cloudiseum, Zapp turned back to the people inside the stadium and shouted, “Make haste, everyone! Flee at once!” The panicked crowd didn’t need to be told twice as they immediately got out of their seats and rushed for the exit. Meanwhile, Zapp decided to keep the exit clear by unleashing lightning strikes on any skeleton that dared to close the gap.

As everyone immediately evacuated the Cloudiseum, one minifig quickly climbed up onto the top of the stands, getting as close as she could to Trixie. Facing off against the powerful evil magician was the leader of the Power People, the Masked Matter-Horn, who had pink skin, lavender hair, wore a magenta costume, a pair of goggles, and a metallic artificial magic horn — which was part of her hair piece — on her head. “Looks like it’s just me and you, Trixie,” she said.

“That’s the Great and Powerful Trixie to you, Splatter-Horn!” raged Trixie before she pointed her staff down at the opposing superhero and fired a blast of dark magic.

Masked Matter-Horn swiftly leaped away from the blast, which blew a hole in the roof at the spot she had been standing. “Why must you villains always resort to petty name-calling?” she responded tauntingly. “Don’t you know it’ll never get you any closer to taking over the world?” Without waiting for a response, she immediately aimed her horn at Trixie and fired a laser beam.

Trixie quickly summoned a magical shield, which easily blocked the laser attack. “Laser beams?” she asked incredulously. “Is that the best you can do?”

Masked Matter-Horn simply smirked and replied, “Oh, I’m just getting started.”

Not far from the Cloudiseum, another group of skeleton warriors let loose a savage battle cry as they charged forward. But then they suddenly stopped, stared ahead for a second, and then turned away and fled as they now cried out in terror.

“Outta my way, boneheads!” shouted President Business furiously from atop his giant mechanical legs as he charged forward towards the fleeing skeletons. Those big legs gave him a huge stride with each step, allowing him to quickly catch up to and then trample over the skeletons, sending skulls and bones flying everywhere.

After stomping his way through the opposing army, President Business soon found what he was looking for: a red and black helicopter with the Octan logo on the side of it. The helicopter had just taken off and was now hovering about a dozen bricks above the ground, but that was fine for him. As the helicopter lifted higher, he simply grabbed onto the side of it, retracted his giant legs, and then casually opened the door and stepped inside.

“Take me back to the tower,” ordered President Business to the pilot. “I’ve got important business to deal with.” As he sat down in his special seat, a green glow briefly flashed from his eyes. “Very important business.”

Meanwhile, a few security agents were escorting Kjeld Playwell hurriedly through the airport. After running past a spaceship that Luna was quickly boarding, they soon began to approach a white jet with the LEGO logo labeled on its tail and wings. Before they could get any closer, one of the agents suddenly held his arm out in front of Kjeld and called out, “Hold it!”

Just a split second later, an incoming flaming boulder slammed into the middle of the jet, splitting it in two. Thankfully, nobody was hurt from the impact, but the damage to Kjeld’s private jet had rendered it inoperable. “We don’t have time to fix this!” stated another of the agents.

“Uncle Kjeld!”

Kjeld turned away from the wreckage and saw Celestia standing at the door into her private jet and motioning for him to come to her.

“In here!” exclaimed Celestia.

Kjeld nodded to his security agents, who quickly nodded back and escorted him to the nearby jet. Celestia helped him climb aboard as the pilot quickly fired up the engines. Once the last of Kjeld’s agents was inside and had closed the door, the jet rolled down the runway and soon took off into the sky.

Kjeld turned to one of the agents and requested, “Tell the pilot to drop me off in Lego City before taking Celestia back to Canterlot City.”

“Yes, sir,” responded the agent with a nod before he turned away and left for the cockpit.

As the two leaders sat down in a nearby pair of seats, Kjeld sighed and muttered, “Well, that could’ve gone worse.”

“Yes,” added Celestia with a nod, “but there is still much work ahead for all of us.”

“Indeed there is, my niece,” responded Kjeld.

A sickly green glow briefly flashed from the eyes of both major leaders.

As the Power People continued to battle with Trixie and her skeleton army, all of the regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders quickly fled the city of Cloudsale. Pirates and vikings rushed for their boats and ships, and once everyone was aboard, they cut the dock free, allowing it and all those ships to slowly descend to the water below. Cheese Sandwich rolled his party tank up to the edge of the city, climbed into the barrel of it, and then fired it, shooting himself clear across the ocean towards a destination beyond the horizon. At the airport, Wonderbolts, aliens, and other space people boarded their spaceships and took off for their otherworldly homelands, while virtually everyone else boarded planes and helicopters of all shapes and sizes.

The last people to make it out of the Cloudiseum were the eight minifigs of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s team. They eventually spotted Daring Do’s airplane just as she climbed inside and shut the door.

Rainbow Dash rushed over to the door and tried to open it, but it wouldn’t even budge. She desperately pounded on the door and exclaimed, “Let us in! You gotta take us with you!”

Up in the cockpit, Daring Do opened the side window and stuck her head out. In addition, she also stuck one arm out, holding a translucent red 1x1 round plate, from which a red light blinked intermittently. With a look of fury on her face, she growled, “The one time I let you girls ride with me was the only time I found a tracking device on my plane!” She then chucked the tracking device at Rainbow Dash, who winced as it bounced off her head. “You’re on your own. I’m outta here.” She then shut the window, started up the engines, and prepared to take off.

As the airplane began to roll down the runway, Rainbow Dash clung onto the door and desperately exclaimed, “Wait! Don’t go!” It wasn’t long until she lost her grip, sending her tumbling along the runway as the plane quickly took off.

Everyone on the team simply stared in shock as they watched Daring Do flee the city without them. Rainbow Dash soon noticed the tracking device on the ground nearby. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment.

“I suppose that explains how the Dazzlings were able to find us,” stated Rarity.

Rainbow tightened her grip on the device as she growled and furiously shouted, “Stupid tracking device!” She then hurled the device over the edge of the runway.

Twilight knew that, as horrible as it was to find out they had unwittingly led the Dazzlings right to this secret location, there was nothing they could do about it at this point. She turned to her friends and exclaimed, “We gotta find another way out of here!”

“Ah think a bigger priority would be to get those guys off our backs!” exclaimed Applejack as she pointed over her shoulder at a small group of skeleton warriors heading right for them.

Spike screamed in terror as he suddenly jumped into Rarity’s arms. He shivered nervously for a moment, but once he realized what he just did, he turned his attention to Rarity and blushed as he let out a nervous chuckle.

With an unamused look on her face, Rarity muttered, “Really, Spike, this gag is so last year.” She then let go of Spike and simply dropped him to the ground.

Rainbow Dash stood up and clenched her fists. “C’mon, everyone!” she shouted with determination. “We’ve dealt with guys before! Let’s take ‘em out!” She let loose a battle cry as she charged right for the skeletons.

The skeleton warriors easily managed to grab the unarmed Rainbow Dash, lift her over their heads, and then toss her aside.

After hitting the ground, Rainbow groaned and rubbed her head. Once she was aware of her surroundings, she realized that her situation had just gone from bad to worse, as she was now sitting in the bucket of a catapult.

The skeleton operating the catapult simply chuckled sadistically at Rainbow before he pulled the lever, launching her clear across the airport and towards a tall building.

Rainbow screamed as she hurled through the air and flew right through the highest window of that tower. Her troubles didn’t stop there, as she now found herself tumbling down through the inside of the tower. As she fell, various animal noises could be heard from inside that tower. First, it was the meowing of a few cats, then the clucking of some chickens, the barking of a few dogs, the mooing of a cow, the bleating of a goat, and finally the trumpeting of an elephant before she finally crashed to the bottom of the tower.

After watching and hearing all of that, Fluttershy quietly muttered, “I always wondered why they called it the ‘Zoo Tower’.”

Everyone’s confusion was short-lived as the advancing skeleton warriors arrived. Since everyone on the team was unarmed, there was nothing they could do but duck and dodge every swing of a sword and jab of a spear.

“Dagnabbit!” exclaimed Applejack as she narrowly ducked under a sword that almost took her head off. “Can’t we ever catch a break?!”

As Twilight dodged another jab of a spear, she lost her footing and fell over onto her back. She looked up and gasped as the skeleton holding that spear raised it high and prepared to finish her off.

Suddenly, that skeleton received a swift kick to the side of the head and fell apart upon hitting the ground. Twilight sat up and was both shocked and astonished to see that it was Sunset Shimmer who had just kicked that skeleton, and she definitely wasn’t stopping there.

As one skeleton swung a sword at her, Sunset jumped over it and kicked that skeleton in the face before she came back down. She dodged a battle ax as it came down, then grabbed it and used the momentum of its swing to fling away the skeleton that had been holding it. Another skeleton with a spear charged at her from behind, but she jumped, back-flipped in midair, and landed right behind that skeleton. She then grabbed that skeleton by the arm and hurled him at a couple more skeletons, shattering all of them. One of those skeletons dropped a round shield, which she caught before it could even hit the ground. She then threw that shield like a frisbee at another advancing group of skeletons, knocking them over like a set of bowling pins — complete with the proper sound effect. Next, she kicked upwards a spear on the ground and swiftly grasped it in midair. She then threw the spear like a javelin at a few more skeletons, piercing through their ribcage torsos and knocking them all back far enough to fall off the edge of the city.

Sunset suddenly heard a loud whoosh and narrowly dodged a large club that almost smashed her against the ground. She spun around and saw a big troll chuckle menacingly at her before swinging his club at her again. Almost effortlessly, she jumped and front-flipped over that club. The troll swung his club again, but she jumped and back-flipped over it. A third swing of the club also resulted in another clear miss, but then the troll grunted in confusion when he didn’t see Sunset come back down. He quickly got his answer when he saw her smiling face upside-down from the top of his vision. Sunset Shimmer was now standing on his head! He let out a frustrated growl as he grasped his club with both hands and swiftly brought it down on her, but she nimbly leaped away, resulting in the troll clubbing himself on the head. The big troll let out a delirious groan as he blacked out and collapsed to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Boy, trolls sure are stupid,” remarked Sunset.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team simply stared at Sunset with wide eyes and gaping mouths. “Whoa,” said a very shocked Spike. “Where did you learn to fight like that?”

“I spent five years of my life running from the authorities,” explained Sunset as she jumped up just before two skeletons charged at her from opposite directions. With her no longer in the way, the two skeletons simply crashed into each other and fell completely apart. “I’ve taught myself a few techniques here and there.” She then threw a fist back over her shoulder, punching another skeleton in the face. At this, she smirked as she turned to Twilight and remarked, “I guess it’s a good thing you decided to get rid of those handcuffs, after all.”

“Then you’d better make the most of those techniques,” said Applejack apprehensively as she pointed up at the sky, “‘cause it looks like things are about to get even worse.”

Everyone quickly followed Applejack’s gaze and saw a large swarm of space fighters rapidly closing in on the city.

Pinkie Pie pulled out a pair of binoculars from inside her hair and took a close look at the lead fighter. As soon as she saw who was piloting it, she dropped her binoculars as she gasped and exclaimed, “That’s Lightning Dust!”

“Then I’m sure the rest of those fighters are being piloted by evil robots,” Rarity grimly deduced.

As many of the robot-piloted fighters broke away and began to surround the city, Lightning Dust grinned smugly from inside the cockpit of her fighter. “Don’t leave me out on all the fun,” she remarked as she flew directly towards the Cloudiseum. When she saw some of the Power People fighting off the skeleton army, she quickly acquired her first target and began firing the dual laser blasters.

The target, Fili-Second, saw the incoming fighter and swiftly outran each and every laser blast.

Not far away, Zapp saw some of the other fighters as they began to swarm around the stadium. “Be gone with thou, flying automatons!” she shouted as she raised her lightning bolt and called forth a lightning strike, which blasted one of the fighters to pieces.

As Lightning Dust came around again, she deployed the built-in missile launcher and fired a missile at a new target.

As soon as Mistress Mare-velous spotted the missile, she grabbed a nearby skeleton warrior with her lasso and then flung him right at the incoming missile. The skeleton could do nothing but scream helplessly before he hit the missile, both of them exploding in midair.

At the other side of the stadium grounds, Saddle Rager continued to decimate any skeleton forces that tried to take her down. Just about any attempt to land a blow on her always resulted in that skeleton getting smashed to pieces.

As soon as Saddle Rager cleared the latest wave of attacks, a series of rapid-fire laser bolts struck the ground around her, blasting apart many of the white bricks that it consisted of. Once the lasers ceased, she glanced down at the damaged ground and grunted in confusion. The ground under her feet creaked for second before it suddenly gave way. She roared loudly as she began plummeting from the flying city.

“Fear not, team!” Zapp called out as she flew over towards the hole in the ground. “I shall retrieve her!” She then flew straight down through the hole.

Back inside her space fighter, Lightning Dust chuckled at her recent accomplishment. “Too easy,” she smugly said, before noticing something strange in the corner of her sight. Raising an eyebrow, she glanced back and saw another space fighter, but unlike the others that were made out of mostly blue and light grey pieces, this one was built entirely out of translucent pink pieces.

Inside this special fighter, Radiance smirked as she pursued after Lightning Dust. “You’re not the only one who knows how to build a spaceship,” she remarked. With her bracelets glowing, she didn’t even need flight controls to maneuver the fighter and use its weaponry. She started off with a few laser bolts.

Lightning Dust avoided those lasers by making a sudden sharp turn. “Oh, you want a dogfight, huh?” she said with a grin as she and Radiance began to circle around each other. She tightened her grip on the flight controls as she confidently declared, “Fine. I’ll give you one.”

As the spaceship battle between Lightning Dust and Radiance began, the confrontation between Trixie and Masked Matter-Horn continued under the same stalemate. After dodging yet another magic blast, Masked Matter-Horn glanced around at all of the madness that surrounded the stadium. “I have to say,” she remarked, “this battle has reached epic proportions. Wouldn’t you agree?”

“Not as epic as the Great and Powerful Trrrrixie!” boasted Trixie before firing another blast of magic from her staff.

Masked Matter-Horn leaped away from the blast and landed on one of the few remaining solid spots on a roof that was already full of holes. “You sure do like the sound of your name a lot,” she taunted. “I wonder if that’s even your real name at all.”

Trixie growled furiously before firing yet another blast of dark magic at the superhero.

Masked Matter-Horn leaped away as the blast tore another hole in the roof. She landed atop the podium where Kjeld had been speaking, not too long ago. She aimed her horn at the dark thundercloud beneath Trixie’s feet and fired a heat ray. The intense heat quickly evaporated the moisture in the cloud, making it vanish.

However, the sudden absence of that cloud did not cause Trixie to fall. Instead, that thundercloud had simply been masking the faint pink glow of magic under her feet.

Masked Matter-Horn furrowed her brow and simply stated, “It appears we are evenly matched.”

“One-on-one against the Great and Powerful Trixie, perhaps,” responded Trixie with a shrug. She grinned wickedly as she levitated closer and added, “So let’s throw in Trixie’s main army!” She aimed her staff at the stadium’s central field and unleashed her summoning magic. With a loud crackle and huge puff of the dark smoke, a massive army of skeleton warriors appeared on the field.

Masked Matter-Horn glanced back and was unable to hide her astonishment at the size of Trixie’s main army. There were so many of them that they were practically crowded shoulder-to-shoulder inside the central field. She was unable to hide her worried expression as turned back to Trixie.

“So tell me, Shatter-Horn,” sneered Trixie, “do you think you can take on all those skeleton warriors?”

When Masked Matter-Horn glanced up somewhere above Trixie, her concerned expression was quickly replaced by a smug smile. “I don’t have to,” she said confidently.

“Huh?” asked Trixie as she raised an eyebrow.

“Special delivery!” announced Zapp in a sing-song voice.

Trixie turned her gaze back just in time to see Zapp drop Saddle Rager from the sky.

The incredibly strong superhero roared loudly as she raised her fists and plummeted towards the central field. As Saddle Rager landed right in the exact center of the stadium, she slammed both fists down on the ground. The combined impact of her fast landing and super strong punch was so intense that the resulting shockwave made the ground ripple violently like the surface of a pond, throwing all of the skeletons up into the air and then smash to pieces as they hit the ground.

As Trixie was left gaping, Masked Matter-Horn simply crossed her arms and grinned as she said, “And that is how you annihilate an entire army with just one punch.”

Trixie gritted her teeth and growled furiously before she aimed her staff at her primary opponent and fired another blast of dark magic.

Masked Matter-Horn quickly jumped away to safety as the podium was blasted to pieces.

Not far from Cloudsdale’s airport, Twilight’s team struggled to stay together as they avoided not only the skeleton warriors on the ground but also the space fighters in the air. Although Sunset Shimmer was holding her own against the skeletons, she knew there was only so much she could do on her own.

After kicking yet another skeleton in the face, Sunset was panting as she stood her ground between her friends and the next wave of skeleton warriors. “I can’t keep this up,” she told her friends as she clenched her fists. “We need a different approach.”

As Sunset prepared for yet another round, the door of a nearby building was suddenly kicked open from the inside. The door flew right off its hinges and landed on the ground between the team and the skeletons. This caught the attention of everyone — including the skeletons, making them halt their advance.

Everyone turned their gaze over to the opened doorway and saw Rainbow Dash, standing as if she was ready to pounce. With a wicked grin on her face, she boasted, “You know what’s great about Cloudsdale? It has no designated theme! That means I’m free to do stuff like this.” She swiftly reached behind her back and whipped out a pair of laser pistols. She proudly held them up for a second for all to see, then aimed them at the skeletons and started shooting.

Pew! Pew-Pew! Pew-Pew! Pew! Pew-Pew-Pew! Pew!

The skeleton warriors never stood a chance against the rapid rate of laser bolts, which blasted all of them to pieces in a matter of seconds. Once the skeletons had been completely decimated, Rainbow laughed excitedly and remarked, “Shooting skeletons with lasers! How awesome is that?!”

As Rainbow casually blew at the muzzle of each of her laser pistols, Rarity stated, “As impressive as that was, I fear our situation will only continue to deteriorate. We must escape from Cloudsdale at once!”

“But how?” asked Fluttershy. “Everyone else has already left.”

“We’ll need to come up our own way to escape,” answered Applejack.

“Already on it!” responded Pinkie Pie cheerfully — already with her pony ears and tail visible — as she carried a pink 2x4 plate over to a half-finished vehicle.

Applejack raised an eyebrow and asked, “Uh, Pinkie? What are you doin’?”

Pinkie grinned as she excitedly replied, “I’m building a party bus with enough room for all of us!”

Rarity gently placed a hand on Pinkie’s shoulder and politely said, “We appreciate the gesture, darling, but I’m afraid this is hardly the time and place for such a creation. Perhaps next time, when we are not so busy running for our lives.”

Unable to proceed with her creativity, Pinkie Pie’s pony ears and tail quickly vanished. She dropped the Lego piece in her hands as she moaned and sadly complained, “Awwwww! Why do you have to be such a party pooper?” She then beat her fist against the side of her unfinished party bus. After a one second delay, all of the pieces of that vehicle quickly fell apart and collapsed into a pile.

Twilight rubbed her chin as she glanced around. “Let’s see… With all those fighters flying around, we can’t go by air, and going by land is obviously out of the question, so that just leaves going by sea.” She let out a sad sigh. “But I doubt that method will be anywhere near fast enough to help us escape.”

“Not if they can’t see us,” suggested Sunset. “What if we went underwater? We would be able to go in any direction at any speed and remain practically undetectable.”

“Hey, that’s a great idea!” remarked Rainbow Dash excitedly as she holstered her laser pistols.

“You really think so?” asked a surprised Sunset.

“But of course, darling,” replied Rarity. “Such a stealthy escape as what you have suggested is quite ingenious, indeed.”

A smile quickly formed on Sunset’s face as she said, “Wow. Thanks.” She then began glancing around as she asked, “So where can we find a submarine?”

Everyone on the team stared silently at Sunset Shimmer. The silence was eventually broken by Rainbow Dash, who raised an eyebrow and flatly asked, “You’re kidding, right?”

“What?” asked Sunset in confusion with a shrug. “We’ll need one if we’re going to escape underwater, aren’t we?”

“But you’re going about it all wrong!” emphasized Rainbow. “Why bother looking for something when you can just build it yourself?” She turned to the rest of the team and excitedly declared, “Come on, everyone! Let’s build ourselves a submarine!”

“Let’s do it, y’all!” added Applejack as all five of the Canterlot City Master Builders transformed into their magical half-pony forms.

Once the Master Builders were ready to get creative, they all let out a cheer of excitement and ran off to begin building.

Applejack began by rebuilding Pinkie Pie’s incomplete party bus into a temporary rolling chassis for the submarine to rest on. “We’re gonna need a lotta pieces to build this thing,” she said as she and Pinkie began pushing the chassis forward, “so this should help us get around to wherever there’s lots of ‘em!”

Rainbow Dash quickly threw a few large plates onto the chassis, setting down the bottom of the submarine. “Hop aboard, non-builders!” she called out to Twilight, Spike, and Sunset. “You’re about go for an awesome ride!”

Not wanting to get left behind, the three natives of Equestria quickly complied and climbed up onto the base of what would become their escape submarine. Spike immediately ran forward and took control of the chassis steering wheel up front.

Meanwhile, Rarity turned to Fluttershy and asked, “Fluttershy. Do you think you could fly me up onto that rooftop over there?”

Fluttershy glanced over at the building Rarity was pointing at, then smiled and nodded as she replied, “Sure.” As she began flapping her wings, she grabbed Rarity by her arms and carried her up and away.

Also flapping her feathered wings was Rainbow Dash, who looked ahead at where the submarine was heading. “That’s it, girls!” she called down to Applejack and Pinkie as they pushed the chassis ahead as quickly as they could. “Push it over this hill and the whole thing should move on its own!” As the barely-started submarine neared the top of the hill, Rainbow noticed a bunch of skeleton warriors suddenly arrive to stand in their way. “Oh no you don’t,” she muttered with a determined look on her face as she whipped out her laser pistols and started shooting at those skeletons.

Once the chassis crested the hill, gravity took over. As the submarine slowly accelerated forward on its own, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were now free to start adding parts to the massive creation.

“That’s it, y’all! We got this!” exclaimed Applejack excitedly as she began putting together a large engine system.

Pinkie Pie was rapidly collecting Lego pieces and putting them together as she cheerfully called out, “If anyone has pink parts, give ‘em all to me! I work only with pink!” She then briefly paused and off-handedly added, “Except maybe for sky blue, sunny yellow, and really really light red.”

Meanwhile, Rarity and Fluttershy arrived on top of a tall building. Rarity immediately went to work and started taking apart all of the rooftop structures, tossing all of the pieces over towards the submarine rolling down the street below. Every single piece flew through the air and landed precisely in their proper places on the incomplete collective creation. After throwing the last of the parts on the rooftop, Rarity glanced back to admire her contribution to the submarine. “Marvelous, if I do say so myself,” she remarked.

“It looks really nice,” complimented Fluttershy.

“Indeed, darling,” acknowledged Rarity with a nod, “but my work is far from complete.” She pointed at another building and requested, “Take me over to that rooftop, next.”

“And then I can add something to the submarine?” asked Fluttershy hopefully.

Rarity waved her hand dismissively and replied, “Yes, yes, we’ll get to that later. For now, onwards!” She raised her arms in preparation of being flown over.

Fluttershy let out a sad sigh as she grabbed Rarity and took to the air again.

As the walls of the submarine slowly began to rise, Spike glanced back and asked, “Hey, Twilight? Can you take over? I wanna add a few things to this build.” He didn’t even bother waiting for an answer as he let go of the steering wheel and ran off.

Twilight immediately rushed over and grabbed the steering wheel. By now, the submarine was rolling down the hill faster than a minifig could run. At such a speed, she found herself struggling to keep control of the massive vehicle. “Whoa! Ah!” she cried out fearfully as she kept turning the wheel left and right to avoid any potential obstacles. “I don’t know what I’m doing!”

After nearly losing her balance on the now-wobbly ride, Sunset Shimmer glanced around at the surrounding half-finished submarine. As she watched Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie quickly add a few more Lego parts, she smiled and commented, “Looking good, everyone.”

Applejack slammed the completed engine system into the back of the submarine. When she then noticed Sunset doing nothing but just stand there and watch, she glared at her and bitterly remarked, “Y’know, you could at least try to do somethin’ useful.”

“I told you, I don’t have any creative talents,” reminded Sunset helplessly. “I have no idea which pieces should go where.”

“C’mon, Sunny!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie supportively. “It’s a piece of cake! Just grab a bunch of parts and throw ‘em all together!” She then tossed a bunch of light grey Lego bricks at Sunset’s feet and then ran off to continue her own contribution to the build.

Sunset hesitantly picked up a pair of 1x2 bricks and nervously shifted her gaze back and forth between the two pieces. She turned the bricks around and carefully attached one directly on top of the other. Smiling at this accomplishment, she turned back to Applejack and proudly held up her progress and said, “Look! See? I managed to put two bricks together.”

Applejack didn’t even bother to turn away from her work as she quickly responded, “That’s great, now how ‘bout a hundred more?”

Sunset was left frozen in place, feeling absolutely devastated at the sheer lack of appreciation for what little she was able to build. Finally, she let out a sad sigh and tossed the connected bricks away, which broke apart when they hit the floor.

Applejack finally finished securing the mighty engine system into the submarine, and was now ready to begin building a roof over the compartment. However, she only managed to pick up a 1x6 plate when a whole bunch of Lego pieces began quickly raining down and landing perfectly into place, rapidly completing the portion she was about to work on. Applejack growled in frustration, gripping tightly to both ends of the long Lego piece until it finally snapped in half under her immense strength. Knowing exactly who was responsible for this, she rushed over to a portion of the incomplete submarine that was still open to the elements and furiously shouted, “Rarity! I was workin’ here!”

Up on another rooftop, Rarity— seemingly oblivious to Applejack’s rage — pleasantly replied, “My apologies, dear, but I am in the zone, as it were.” She then pointed towards another building and proudly declared, “On to the next rooftop!”

As she and Rarity took to the air again, Fluttershy sighed and muttered, “I don’t know why I even bother.”

Once the two of them landed on the next rooftop, Rarity picked up a red 1x1 brick and elegantly stated, “And now the pièce de résistance…” Before she could even pick up any more bricks, a rainbow motion blur suddenly flashed around the front of the submarine for a few seconds. When the motion blur then moved on, the front compartment and navigational controls were all completed. Rarity gasped in shock, then growled and furiously shouted, “Rainbow Dash!”

“You snooze, you lose!” taunted Rainbow Dash as she flew overhead. She then swooped down to hover in front of Rarity and firmly added, “Besides, I’m the team pilot, so I get to build that section.” She then quickly flew off, disappearing in another rainbow motion blur.

Rarity clenched her fists as she huffed and then grumbled, “The nerve of that—” She shook her head and waved her hand around dismissively before stating, “Never mind that. There is still much work to be done.” She pointed at another nearby building and, once again, proudly declared, “On to the next rooftop!”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Fluttershy quietly said.

Rarity gasped in shock, then snapped her attention to Fluttershy and demanded, “What do you mean by that?!”

Hanging her head in shame, Fluttershy turned around to show off her back, which now lacked her feathered wings. “I’ve lost my inspiration,” she shamefully admitted.

Rarity let out a disgusted sigh and rolled her eyes as she turned away. “Well isn’t that just fabulous?!” she bitterly remarked.

Fluttershy glanced around and quietly asked, “So, um… how are we going to get down from here?”

Meanwhile, Applejack was busy assembling the submarine’s tower from the rooftop of another building. She made sure there would be no gaps on the exterior, while also not forgetting to include important features like the hatch and a periscope. She managed to finish building the tower just as the incomplete submarine began to approach. Using her incredibly enhanced strength from her magical half-pony form, she pushed the short tower off of the building and slammed it into place atop the submarine.

When the tower was suddenly added, the heavy impact caused the massive submarine and its rolling chassis to actually bounce off the ground. When it all hit the ground, the chassis completely shattered, leaving the thankfully intact submarine to slide forward under the momentum it had been building up.

Everyone aboard the submarine — Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Spike, and Pinkie Pie — had been thrown off their feet from the violent bounce and landing. As soon as Twilight stood back up, her eyes widened as she realized the steering wheel in her hands was no longer attached to anything. “I’ve lost all steering!” she exclaimed fearfully.

“And we’re about to go right over the edge!” added Sunset, pointing forward at the window in front of the navigational controls. Everyone glanced forward and, sure enough, they could see they were rapidly approaching the edge of the flying city.

The rest of the team outside could also see the impending destination of their custom-built submarine. As Applejack barely managed to catch up to the sliding submarine and climb aboard, Rainbow Dash flew overhead and shouted, “Everyone inside! I’ll handle the last few parts!” As soon as Applejack was inside with the others, Rainbow Dash zoomed around, gathering large plates and other various Lego pieces to close off all of the remaining compartments.

Just as Rainbow finished throwing on the last few pieces and prepared to enter through the hatch, Pinkie Pie suddenly pushed open the roof of the middle compartment just behind the tower and exclaimed, “Wait! We’re missing Rarity and Fluttershy!”

Rainbow Dash quickly glanced around for any sign of their missing friends. It didn’t take her long to sight a certain pair of minifigs on a rooftop, waving their arms around desperately. She let out a frustrated sigh and immediately took off for that building. “Quit fooling around, you two,” she quickly muttered, grabbing both of them by an arm as she flew right over them. She then turned around and began carrying them back to the now completed submarine.

Unfortunately, the three Master Builders were suddenly spotted by the robot pilots of a nearby pair of space fighters. “Target sighted,” reported one of the robot pilots.

“Take them down,” responded the other robot pilot. The two fighters immediately began pursuing the fleeing Master Builders and started shooting their dual laser blasters at them.

Rainbow Dash yelped as she was suddenly forced to rely on her acrobatic skills to avoid getting hit by any of those lasers. Rarity and Fluttershy screamed in terror as they were now being wildly tossed around by Rainbow’s flying maneuvers.

Rarity gripped tightly to her hair piece with her free arm and exclaimed, “This better not mess up my hair!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and dryly remarked, “Oh yeah, suuurrre. Like that’s more life-threatening than those robot-piloted space fighters that are SHOOTING LASERS AT US!!”

As the three airborne Master Builders came closer to the submarine, Pinkie Pie opened up that compartment roof again and shouted, “Dashie! In here!”

Rainbow Dash knew that she had to get Rarity and Fluttershy safely inside the submarine, but she also didn’t want those fighters to target the submarine and potentially damage it with their weapons. So she decided to let go of her two friends at just the right time, dropping them right into the submarine, while she flew away and continued to be pursued by the two space fighters.

Inside the submarine, Rarity and Fluttershy had been tossed inside through the opened roof and, despite coming in at high speed, made a remarkably soft landing. As Pinkie Pie quickly sealed up the compartment roof, Rarity slowly rubbed her head and tried to figure out exactly where she and her friend had ended up. It didn’t take her long to notice that she was now resting on a brick-built blue sofa that was remarkable high off the floor. She glanced down and saw Fluttershy was lying on an identical sofa directly beneath the one she was on. “Did we just land on a double-decker couch?” she asked.

“Pretty neat, huh?” said Spike proudly.

“Seriously?” asked Applejack incredulously, raising an eyebrow. “You actually built this weird thing?”

“Okay, even I know this seems like a dumb thing to build,” admitted Sunset Shimmer.

“What?” asked Spike defensively with a shrug. “It cushioned their fall, didn’t it?”

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash had successfully led the two fighters away from the submarine, which she noticed was getting closer and closer to the edge with every second. With very little time to lose, she immediately whipped out her laser pistols and started firing them at the two fighters. After only a few shots, she quickly managed to take out the engine of one fighter and the pilot of the other. As both fighters began to descend uncontrollably, she quickly holstered her laser pistols and zoomed back over to the submarine.

Rainbow returned to the submarine just as it reached the edge. She threw open the hatch, hopped inside, and then sealed the hatch shut right at the moment the entire vessel tipped forward and began to plummet straight down towards the ocean below. As everyone inside screamed in terror and clung desperately onto anything solid, Rainbow fell forward and landed squarely in the seat behind the navigational controls. “Dive! Dive!” she shouted as she grasped the controls.

After a seemingly long and terrifying fall, the custom-built submarine plunged into the water with a mighty splash and disappeared beneath the waves. Hidden under the surface, the submarine slowly leveled off back into its upright, horizontal position. Once it was in the proper orientation, the engine powered up, causing the main propeller at the rear to start spinning. The successfully completed submarine began to slowly carry the team of eight minifigs away from the flying city of Cloudsdale.

Back at the Cloudiseum, Masked Matter-Horn fired a beam of ice at Trixie, who easily countered it with yet another magic blast of her own. Trixie smirked triumphantly and asked, “Do you ever know when to give up?”

“I’m a superhero,” countered Masked Matter-Horn. “The phrase ‘give up’ isn’t part of my vocabulary.”

Trixie prepared to charge up her magic staff again, but the sudden noise of static audio caught her attention. She quickly conjured up a protective magical shield around her and then summoned a radio to the side of her head. She listened to the incoming message for a moment, a sinister smile slowly forming on her face. Finally, once the message was complete, she made the radio vanish as she turned her attention back to Masked Matter-Horn and smugly announced, “This has been a wonderful show, but now it is time for the grand finale. Watch and be amazed as the Great and Powerful Trixie shall now exploit the weaknesses of all her enemies!” With a wave of her staff, she teleported away.

Trixie suddenly appeared on the ground outside the stadium, not far from where Mistress Mare-velous was still busy fighting off skeleton warriors. As soon as Mistress Mare-velous sighted the evil sorceress, she struck down the nearest skeleton and turned to take her on. However, Trixie struck first by firing a magic blast at the side of the stadium and sending Lego bricks flying everywhere, with one brick striking Mistress Mare-velous in the back of the head. Trixie didn’t waste her opportunity as she summoned a magic treasure chest and then levitated Mistress Mare-velous’ lasso and hoofarangs away from the downed superhero and into the chest.

“Feel my wrath, witch!” shouted Zapp from above as she raised her lightning bolt and summoned a lightning strike down on Trixie.

Trixie raised her magical staff and simply absorbed the lightning strike, then directed it right back at Zapp. As Zapp was left immobilized by the electric shock, Trixie levitated the lightning bolt out of her hand and into the chest.

Also overhead, Trixie saw the ongoing dogfight between Lightning Dust and Radiance. Using some leftover energy from Zapp’s attack, she fired a powerful bolt of lightning at Radiance’s translucent pink spaceship, shattering it apart. Trixie then placed the exposed superhero in a stasis field and tossed her over to the other downed heroes, but not before removing her bracelets and levitating them into the chest.

Next, Trixie spotted Fili-Second zooming around and beating up more skeletons. Rather than risk drawing attention to herself, Trixie instead simply summoned a giant sheet of flypaper and set it down on the ground near the super-speedy superhero.

Fili-Second zoomed over to take down yet another group of skeleton warriors, but only made it halfway before her feet landed on the flypaper. Her immense momentum caused her to tumble forward and end up completely stuck to the flypaper in a contorted position. As she struggled unsuccessfully to free herself, she helplessly cried out, “Gah! Sticky stuff! My number one weakness!”

After disabling yet another superhero, Trixie was briefly startled by Saddle Rager as she smashed her way through the wall of the stadium. With her next target sighted, Trixie simply smirked before aiming her magical staff at the big rage monster and unleashed a cloud of gas.

Saddle Rager roared as she began to advance towards Trixie, but the strange gas quickly took its effect on her, making her feel sleepy… very sleepy. Before she could even comprehend what was happening, her eyes drooped and she let out a low groan before she blacked out and collapsed to the ground. With her heart rate now falling rapidly, she quickly reverted back down to the size of a regular minifig.

Masked Matter-Horn leaped from ledge to ledge as she descended down the outside of the Cloudiseum. She eventually reached the ground, but when she ran around to meet up with her teammates, she came to a sudden halt and gasped in shock. Right in front of her, all five of her teammates were now being placed inside a large stasis field by the Great and Powerful Trixie, with each of them uniquely subdued to hinder their respective powers.

After placing the last of the defeated Power People into the stasis field, Trixie turned to Masked Matter-Horn and grinned. She pointed her staff at the last standing superhero and unleashed a bolt of magical energy, which zapped and crackled as it wrapped around Masked Matter-Horn’s arms and bound them tightly to her sides.

“The unmasking hour has arrived,” smirked Trixie.

Masked Matter-Horn strained against her binds and cried out in pain as she felt her headwear piece — which included her hair, her goggles, and her magic horn — being levitated off of her head. She could do nothing but watch helplessly as that piece of her was then levitated over into the magic chest, which Trixie then shut and locked.

As she continued to struggle against her binds, the now unmasked and powerless — and bald — Masked Matter-Horn desperately asked, “How were able to defeat all of us so easily on your own?”

“Because I told her how to do it.”

Masked Matter-Horn glanced over to the source of that voice and when she realized who it was, she felt her heart sink very low. Standing next to her was a young boy — a minifig with short legs — who had olive green skin, messy brown hair, and wore a blue superhero costume with a red cape and black eye mask. “Hum Drum?!” she asked, more shocked than she had ever been before in her entire life. “How could you?”

At that moment, a certain trio of girls walked over and stood behind the Power People’s bumbling sidekick. “Because he is a slave to our power,” answered Adagio Dazzle as she placed a hand on Hum Drum’s shoulder.

Masked Matter-Horn was left practically speechless at what she was witnessing. She couldn’t believe that Hum Drum would betray the Power People like this, but if the Dazzlings were responsible for it, then it suddenly made a lot of sense. She quickly remembered the warnings of Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, who had stated that they were sirens who could charm anyone into doing their bidding with a simple song… and there had been a strange song playing throughout the Cloudiseum during the meeting.

As the complete reality of everything came crashing down on her like a ton of Lego bricks, Masked Matter-Horn muttered, “They were right. The Dazzlings really were right here in Cloudsdale… and none of us were willing to believe them… all because we couldn’t accept Sunset Shimmer like they did.” Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized something. “But if Hum Drum fell under your spell, then why did that not happen to me or the rest of my team?”

As Lightning Dust landed her space fighter nearby and hopped out, Adagio shrugged and replied, “Must be your superpowers. If I’m not mistaken, your little sidekick here doesn’t have any, leaving him just as vulnerable as everyone else.”

“Everyone else?” echoed Masked Matter-Horn breathlessly as a very horrifying realization dawned on her. “By Ole’s name…”

“We really do appreciate you telling everyone at that meeting to leave,” continued Adagio smugly, “because they are now carrying the seeds to our total control of the entire Lego World. And now that you’ve been defeated, there is nothing that you — or anyone — can do to stop us now.”

“Except maybe for those special Master Builders,” Sonata suddenly pointed out.

“Yeah, where did they go anyway?” asked Aria.

“Trixie saw them leave the stadium with everyone else,” replied Trixie, “but she was too busy fighting off these vigilantes to see where they went after that.”

Lightning Dust stepped forward and added, “One of my robots reported that they got away inside a submarine. I just sent out a few scouts to find those noobs, but I doubt they’ll have any luck.”

“Then there is nothing left for us to do here,” stated Adagio. She turned to Trixie and Lightning Dust and ordered, “Call off all attacks on this city at once. You will both receive your promised territory once the Lego World is under our control, but until then, we must ask that you keep your forces close to us and ready for anything.”

Lightning Dust nodded in acknowledgement before hopping back into her space fighter and flying away.

Trixie levitated Masked Matter-Horn over into the stasis field with the other Power People. She then conjured up a key and handed it to Hum Drum as she said, “This is the key to the chest that’s keeping the Powerless People away from their powers. Don’t lose it, because Trixie won’t make another one.”

While Trixie walked away to regroup her skeleton army, Hum Drum tightened his grip on the silvery key as he turned to the Dazzlings and said, “Go ahead and do what you gotta do. I’ll stay here and make sure the Power People don’t go anywhere.”

Adagio smiled and nodded before she turned and began walking away. She then stopped near the edge of the city and stared out at the darkening evening horizon. As Aria and Sonata joined her, she told them, “Those special Master Builders may be the key to restoring our power, but they are also the only ones left who stand any chance of stopping us. We don’t know where they are going now, so we’ll have to move quickly with the next phase of the plan. For all we know, they could already be plotting their next move against us as we speak.”

“We all live in a Lego submarine!” sang Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Lego submarine! Lego submarine!”

Inside the custom-built submarine, feelings were rather low. Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting on the top bunk of Spike’s double-decker couch, while Twilight and Sunset were sitting on the bottom bunk, but all of them remained silent with depressed looks on their faces. Applejack and Spike were silently playing a card game to pass the time, while Rainbow Dash continued to operate the navigational controls up front, and Pinkie Pie — oblivious to the depressed feelings all around her — was peering through the periscope as she kept happily singing.

“We all live in a Lego submarine! Lego submarine! Lego submarine!” Pinkie paused her upbeat singing for a brief moment and quickly realized just how silent everyone was being. She turned her gaze away from the periscope and glanced around at all of her friends. “Why’s everyone so mopey-dopey?” she asked innocently.

Sunset Shimmer sighed and grumbled, “Do I really need to explain? Sure, we barely escaped from Cloudsdale, but we still failed to stop the Dazzlings. Not to mention my parole has been violated, meaning that no one will ever trust me again, and the longer I stay with you girls, the less that anyone will trust the rest of you, as well.” She let out a sad sigh and slumped in her seat.

Pinkie Pie stared silently at all the sad faces around her. As much as she wanted to lift everyone’s spirits, even she realized that it would simply be too much at a time like this, so she silently returned her gaze to the periscope.

Rainbow Dash kept the submarine going at full speed ahead. After today’s major series of losses, nobody on the team had any idea what they were going to do next. Their future now looked bleak and uncertain.

Stranded

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Chapter 11
Stranded

Many hours had passed since the custom-built submarine escaped from Cloudsdale. Inside, all eight members of Twilight’s team were sound asleep. Three sets of bunk beds had been built into one of the walls, where Twilight and most of her friends were currently sleeping. Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash occupied the top bunks, while Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had the respective bottom bunks. The remainder of the team — Spike and Sunset Shimmer — slept on Spike’s double-decker couch, with Spike on the top bunk and Sunset on the bottom one. Aside from everyone’s collective snoring, the only noise to be heard was the steady humming of the engine and the quiet rippling of the ocean around them.

Crash!

The entire submarine suddenly jerked forward, violently throwing everyone out of bed. At the same time, the entire vessel groaned with a horrible loud grinding noise and shook like it was in an earthquake. As everyone stumbled around on the floor and let out cries of panicked confusion, the modest light that was coming in through the windows gradually brightened. Eventually, after nearly a minute of terror, the grinding noise and shaking finally ceased. With that horrible sound gone, everyone could now hear a loud and rhythmic splashing coming from the rear of the submarine.

“What the heck just happened?!” exclaimed Applejack.

Rarity quickly stood up and looked out through the nearest window. “Oh dear,” she said sadly. “It seems that this submarine has just beached itself.”

Everyone else quickly scrambled over to the other windows. Sure enough, they all saw that the submarine was now resting on a beach with ocean waves lapping against the shore right beside the stranded vessel.

“How did that happen?” asked Pinkie, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

Rainbow Dash ran forward to the navigational controls. It didn’t take her long to spot a significant problem. “Whoops,” she said sheepishly. “I, uh, kinda left the engine running overnight.” She then flipped a few switches, shutting off the engine. As the humming of the engine died down, so did the splashing behind the submarine. Once everything was shut down, Rainbow let out a frustrated sigh, then repeatedly banged her head against the wall and shouted, “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Twilight walked up to Rainbow and placed a hand on her shoulder as she assured, “Calm down, Rainbow Dash. Despite that little mistake, we’re all still unharmed.” She then turned to the rest of the team and suggested, “Let’s go outside and try to figure out what to do next.”

Everyone silently agreed as Twilight climbed up the ladder and opened the hatch atop the submarine’s tower. After pulling herself up, she then helped the rest of her friends out as they climbed through the hatch, one at a time.

Once everyone was outside and atop the beached submarine, they began to glance around at their surroundings. In addition to the beach and ocean, there was also a tropical jungle inland from the shore. It was a bright and sunny day with a cooling breeze coming from the ocean. The sun’s position in the cloudless sky indicated that it was currently sometime early in the morning, just after sunrise.

“Any idea where we are?” asked Applejack as she rubbed the back of her head.

Sunset rubbed her chin as she thought aloud, “If that engine was left running overnight, we could’ve easily traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles. And since our starting point at Cloudsdale is a secret location, there’s no way we can even get a rough estimate of where we went.”

“So you mean we’re completely lost?!” asked Spike with a hint of panic in his voice.

“We have absolutely no idea where we’ve ended up?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“How will we ever get home?!” asked Rarity, dramatically placing a hand over her forehead.

“Relax, everyone,” Twilight spoke up. “We can figure this out. We’ll just have to do a little searching around.”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” asked Fluttershy worriedly. “We don’t know how dangerous this place might be.”

“We’ll never know for sure if we just stay here,” replied Twilight. “I suggest we split up to cover as much ground as possible. Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie, you’ll go along the beach that way.” She pointed down the beach on the port side of the submarine. “Rainbow Dash and Applejack, you’ll go down the beach the other way and around that rocky outcrop over there.” She pointed down the beach on the starboard side of the submarine towards a tall cliff along the beach. “I’ll stay here with Sunset Shimmer and Spike, in case if any help comes to us. Is everyone okay with that?”

“Sounds fair to me,” replied Applejack with a shrug.

“Yes, I suppose that may be our best course of action, considering our circumstances,” agreed Rarity with a nod.

“And once we know where we are,” added Rainbow Dash, “we can then worry about how to find a way outta here. Then we can get back to focusing on how to stop the Dazzlings.”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!” declared Pinkie Pie enthusiastically.

After making a few final preparations, the three groups parted ways. After suffering from the latest of a huge series of setbacks, the team was certainly looking forward to getting back on track.

Rarity, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie had been walking along the tropical beach for nearly an hour. Pinkie was leading the group, followed by Rarity, with Fluttershy quietly bringing up the rear. As they walked, Pinkie was humming a cheerful tune to herself as she carried a shovel over her shoulder.

“I’m curious, darling. Why did you decide to bring that shovel?” asked Rarity.

“You’ll never know when you might find something valuable in the ground,” replied Pinkie. “That’s what my sister Maud always tells me.”

“Oh! I didn’t know you had a sister,” said Fluttershy. “What’s she like?”

“She’s the bestest older sister I could ever ask for,” answered Pinkie contently. “She’s, like, one of the greatest rock experts in all of the Lego World. She was such a huge fan of the Rock Raiders when we were growing up, and would always take advantage of every opportunity to do some digging around. She always feels most comfortable whenever she’s somewhere underground, whether it’s in a cave, or a tunnel, or a mine, or even a sewer system.”

Pinkie Pie suddenly stopped in her tracks as her whole body began to shudder. Then, as her legs stood perfectly still, the rest of her body pivoted all the way forward, then all the way back, and then back upright.

“Another one of your ‘Pinkie Sense’ episodes?” asked Rarity with a raised eyebrow.

“Yup!” confirmed Pinkie cheerfully. “That one means there’s something valuable buried right under my feet!” With a big smile on her face, she grasped her shovel with both hands and began to quickly dig a big hole in the sand.

As she kept digging, Pinkie continued, “Anyway, the last I heard from Maud, she joined up with a team called the Power Miners. They’re digging deep underground to search for power crystals.”

“Power crystals?” asked Fluttershy.

“You mean those glowing crystals that possess enough raw energy for a single one to power an entire City Region for up to a month?” added Rarity.

“Absolutely!” confirmed Pinkie Pie as she kept digging like crazy. “Isn’t it great? My own sister is helping to power the future of the Lego World.”

Clunk!

Pinkie paused her speedy shoveling when she suddenly hit something solid. She looked down at her shovel for a moment, then a huge grin formed on her face as she glanced up at her friends and exclaimed, “Hey, I found something!” She then rapidly dug around the solid object, which she quickly revealed to be some kind of brown chest. Once she removed all of the surrounding sand, she tossed the shovel out of the hole and grabbed the handle on one side of the chest, and immediately felt its weight. “Wow, this thing is heavy,” she remarked. She grunted as she hefted the heavy chest out from its resting place in the sand and then managed to toss it up onto the beach right in front of her two friends.

Rarity stepped forward and opened the lid of the chest, and both her and Fluttershy’s faces were immediately illuminated by the contents. “Oh my!” exclaimed Rarity as she started getting starry eyed.

“Goodness,” said Fluttershy quietly but still very amazed.

The inside of that chest was packed full of treasure that consisted of shiny gold coins and translucent gems of many different colors.

“It’s absolutely gorgeous!” exclaimed Rarity excitedly.

“I wonder who left it here,” Fluttershy asked quietly.

Pinkie Pie jumped out of the hole and cheerfully replied, “Who cares? Finders keepers!” She quickly shut the lid of the chest and grasped one of the handles. “C’mon! Let’s take this back to the submarine!”

“Oh absolutely, darling!” responded Rarity just as excitedly as she grabbed the other handle. Once she and Pinkie lifted the heavy treasure chest and began walking, she called back to Fluttershy, “Come along, now. Let’s not waste another moment on this empty beach.”

Fluttershy picked up the discarded shovel and was about to follow, but she couldn’t help but look back at the big hole on the beach that Pinkie Pie had dug up. As beautiful as the contents of that treasure chest were, she couldn’t help but get the feeling that such a discovery could be a bad sign. She especially felt worried that her friends were simply taking it without any second thoughts. Still, she quickly realized that she couldn’t stay here alone to dwell on these thoughts, so she quietly followed after her two friends as they carried their find back to the beached submarine.

“Ugh, why do we have to go through this jungle?” grumbled Rainbow Dash as she pushed aside some dense vegetation and continued forward.

“‘Cause it was your idea,” Applejack rebuked irritably as she pushed a low branch out of her way. “Right after we made it ‘round that big cliff, ya wanted to be all adventurer like and go into the jungle.” She shoved aside some low hanging vines. “Ah said we should’ve stuck to the beach like Twilight insisted, but ya wouldn’t take no for an answer.”

Rainbow Dash jumped up onto a log that was resting on the ground. “C’mon, AJ, where’s your sense of adventure?” she asked, before jumping off and landing on the ground on the other side of the log.

“Ah don’t need one,” Applejack simply replied as she climbed over that log. “A good day’s work down at the farm is all Ah need to feel satisfied.”

“There’s much more to the Lego World than your family’s apple orchard,” Rainbow pointed out as she pushed aside some tall ferns. “How are you supposed to discover something awesome if you never go anywhere?”

“Ah’d just rather not take any stupid risks,” admitted Applejack as she followed Rainbow through the ferns.

“And miss out on what might turn out to be the most awesome thing in the universe?” Rainbow jumped and grabbed onto a vine, which she used to swing herself across a small brook. Once she landed on the other side, she turned back to Applejack and grinned as she finished, “No way!”

Applejack simply jumped across the brook before continuing to follow after her brash friend. “Ah think a big reason why we don’t see eye-to-eye is ‘cause you don’t got nearly as many responsibilities as Ah do.”

Rainbow stopped and snapped her attention back to Applejack as she argued, “Hey, I’ve got responsibilities!” Rainbow turned forward and continued walking. “Flight control is an important job.”

“There’s more to responsibility than just a payin’ job,” Applejack stated. “Ah’ve got family who depend on me every day.”

“Except on days when the LEGO Team calls us away on a mission,” Rainbow smugly pointed out.

“That’s somethin’ we’re still workin’ on,” admitted Applejack. “Big Mac insists he can handle things on his own for a few days, but Ah just can’t help but feel worried ‘bout ‘em every time Ah head outta town.”

Rainbow Dash chuckled and remarked, “Considering all we’ve been through lately, I’d say they’re the ones who should be worried about you.”

Applejack let out a sad sigh. “Ah guess ya got a good point there. Sure, mah family might struggle to get by without me, but it’s nothin’ compared to what we’ve been goin’ up against.”

After finishing their conversation, the two minifigs made it only a few more steps through the jungle before Rainbow suddenly stopped and held up her hand. Once Applejack came to a stop, Rainbow glanced back at her and whispered, “Ya hear that?”

Applejack shut her mouth and listened carefully for a moment. At first, all she could hear was the ambient noise of this steamy humid jungle — the countless buzzing bugs, the chirping of tropical birds, and the occasional grunt of a monkey up in the treetops. But as she listened closely, she began to very faintly hear some indistinct chattering of voices. “Sounds like people,” she whispered back, her eyes already widened in surprise.

“Over there,” whispered Rainbow Dash as she pointed ahead. She and Applejack then carefully and quietly snuck their way through the jungle, making sure not to make too much noise as they pushed their way through the dense foliage.

Soon, the two minifigs peeked through some thick underbrush and found themselves near the edge of a steep drop-off to a river valley not far below. On the clear ground between them and the broad river was an encampment, where they saw dozens of pirates and buccaneers chatting amongst themselves, cooking food over open fires, and generally just relaxing.

“Pirates,” whispered Rainbow Dash.

“We must’ve ended up in the Pirate Region,” Applejack quietly concluded.

Rainbow Dash reached behind her back, but quickly noticed something was missing. Slightly panicked, she quickly felt all over her body. “Darn it,” she muttered. “I forgot to bring my lasers.”

“Then Ah guess fightin’ our way out ain’t an option,” whispered Applejack. “Let’s just quietly slip away before any of ‘em see us.”

“Yeah, good idea,” whispered Rainbow Dash in agreement as she and Applejack turned and began to slowly leave.

Unfortunately, Rainbow slipped on some damp vegetation. As she fell face-down and began to fall over the edge, she instinctively grabbed Applejack’s leg, unintentionally pulling her down and over the edge with her. Both of them shouted and grunted as they tumbled down the steep muddy slope into the open river valley. Once they finally hit solid and level ground, they both remained face-down as they groaned in pain. Just seconds later, the unsheathing noise of multiple swords immediately made them turn their gaze up, and just as quickly wished they hadn’t. They were already completely surrounded by these pirates, many of whom had their cutlasses and flintlock pistols pointed right at them.

“Oh boy,” muttered Applejack.

“Not good,” added Rainbow Dash.

Twilight Sparkle sat alone on the stern of the beached submarine, looking out towards the ocean. As she gazed out at the distant horizon, she could hear the rolling and crashing of the waves on the surrounding beach, along with the cawing of a few sea birds. She felt the cooling breeze blowing against her face and leaving her hair flapping around behind her. It was certainly a relaxing atmosphere on the outside, but on the inside, it was a very different story for Twilight.

It had now been less than a day since the Princess of Friendship had returned to the Lego World to help her Lego friends stop a new threat to their world. She had been expecting a quick and easy victory — perhaps even fast enough to return home on the same day she had left. Instead, the magic of friendship had not worked the way she thought it would, and that was only the start of her problems. In an attempt to prove that Sunset Shimmer was worthy of a second chance, she had foolishly removed her handcuffs, thus violating her parole. Not only did this erase any tenuous trust she may have once had from anyone outside of this team, but also everyone on the team was now hated by much of the Lego World for trusting Sunset — at least, that was the impression she got from the hostile reactions of everyone who had attended that emergency meeting in Cloudsdale. And to add insult to injury, the team of friends was now stranded on a tropical beach and had absolutely no idea where they might be at all. Although most of her friends were now searching to find out where they were and how they could leave, she simply didn’t have a clue on where to go from here.

Squeak.

Twilight suddenly glanced back, but relaxed when she saw that it was just the submarine’s hatch opening, and that it was Sunset Shimmer who was climbing out.

“Hey, Twilight,” said Sunset calmly as she walked over to Twilight. “Thought I’d join you outside and get some fresh air.” She sighed as she sat down beside Twilight and began to gaze out at the vast ocean in front of them.

Twilight glanced over at Sunset and noticed something in her hands. “Where’d you get that book?” she asked.

Sunset glanced down at the book in her hands and replied, “Oh, there’s a full bookshelf inside the sub. I guess one of your friends thought it might’ve been a good idea to include it while they were busy building this thing.” She returned her gaze forward to the ocean. After a moment of silence, she turned to Twilight and asked, “So… you said the sirens were banished from Equestria by a powerful unicorn wizard, right?”

Twilight nodded and replied, “Yes. Star Swirl the Bearded, to be exact.”

“Funny you should say that,” remarked Sunset as she opened the book and began flipping through the pages. “Let’s just say that wasn’t the last time they faced off against someone named ‘Star Swirl the Bearded’.”

“Huh?” asked Twilight, raising an eyebrow as she turned to Sunset.

“You saw how many people were at that meeting in Cloudsdale, yesterday,” continued Sunset as she kept flipping through the pages. “All those regional leaders and high-ranking Master Builders, easily numbering over a few hundred.” Once she finally found the desired page, she turned to show the book to Twilight. “But thirty-six years ago, this was all there was.”

Twilight looked down at the book and saw a picture on the page that showed only three minifigs. Although they all had the standard yellow skin, each of them had very different appearances. The one in the middle had black hair with a receding hairline and wore glasses and a simple dark grey business suit — similar to a portrait she had seen before on her first visit to the Lego World. The one on the right — with a big smile on his face — wore a basic blue spacesuit and helmet, with the only detailing being some symbol on the front of his torso that consisted of a golden planet with a red spaceship flying around it and leaving a trail that resembled a planetary ring. The one on the left wore some kind of blue robe and pointed magician’s hat, held a staff with a glowing crystal on the end of it, and had a long white beard piece that attached around the neck and covered his mouth and much of his torso.

Sunset pointed at the minifig in the middle and said, “This is Godtfred Playwell, Kjeld’s father and was the leader of all the Town Regions — which were later renamed City Regions after Kjeld took over.” She pointed at the space guy on the right. “That one is Benny Blue, founder and first leader of the Space Region.” Finally, she pointed at the wizard on the left. “And that’s—”

“Star Swirl the Bearded,” deduced Twilight.

“Founder and first leader of the Castle Region,” finished Sunset. She returned the book to her lap as she continued, “When I found this book, I figured it might tell us more about how the Star Swirl of the Lego World tried to defeat the sirens.” She flipped to the next page. “It says here that the Dazzlings first appeared in the Castle Region about thirty-six years ago, where they immediately tried to regain their lost strength by turning entire armies against each other. As leader of this region, it was Star Swirl’s duty to put a stop to them. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t figure out a way to permanently remove the dark powers that made them so dangerous, so he had to settle for a temporary solution. He placed a ten-year banishment on them, or to be more accurate, he cast a spell that sent them ten years into the future, along with dropping them in a random location. He had hoped that those ten years would provide him with enough time to figure out a more permanent solution that he could use, once they returned.”

Sunset flipped ahead a few pages until she arrived at the section on pirates. “But when those ten years were up, and the Dazzlings reappeared in the then-newly established Pirate Region, he had been unable to make much progress. He wanted to keep working towards that permanent solution, but pirates aren’t known for patience, and they wanted to get rid of the Dazzlings right away. It was only when those pirates threatened to start raiding the Castle Region that Star Swirl relented and placed another banishment on the Dazzilings, this time for twenty-five years. Again, he had hoped this would provide him with enough time to figure out how they could be stopped for good.”

Sunset flipped back to the section on the Castle Region. “Sadly, he failed to complete his work by the time his Creation Spark faded away. To make matters even worse, none of the knights and nobles could agree on who should take his place as leader, and the Castle Region soon fractured into the many sub-regions that still exist to this day, such as Knight’s Kingdom, Ashlar, and Middle Zealand, just to name a few.” Sunset closed the book and turned to Twilight. “As a result, Star Swirl’s efforts to stop the Dazzlings have remained incomplete to this day.”

Twilight sighed and turned her gaze back out to the ocean. “It’s kind of ironic, really,” she sadly said. “I became an alicorn Princess after I successfully finished an incomplete spell written by Equestria’s Star Swirl. Now it seems like I’ll need to finish the work of the Lego Star Swirl, too.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that you’re here to help us,” remarked Sunset with a smile.

Twilight closed her eyes and muttered, “That’s what my friends keep telling me.”

Sunset turned her gaze out to the ocean again. After a moment of silence, she sighed and said, “Must be nice to have everyone always looking to you for answers to their problems… instead of waiting for you to cause a problem.”

“Just because everyone expects something from you doesn’t mean it’s guaranteed to happen,” stated Twilight.

“Well, that doesn’t stop them from expecting it,” replied Sunset.

Twilight added, “Which only makes things harder because the last thing you want to do is…”

“…let everybody down,” finished Twilight and Sunset simultaneously. As soon as they realized what they both just said, they blinked and turned to each other. At first, they both had a surprised look on their faces, but then they both smiled.

Screeeeeech!

Twilight and Sunset immediately glanced back at the open hatch, where that awful noise had suddenly come from.

“Sorry! My bad!” came Spike’s voice from inside the submarine. A few seconds later, he climbed up to the hatch, poking his head out while holding up something in his hand. “I was just testing out these walkie-talkies I found. Here, I’ll show you how it works.” He tossed the walkie-talkie over to Twilight and Sunset, then quickly dropped back inside the submarine. A few seconds later, a brief buzz of static came from the walkie-talkie, followed by Spike’s voice. “Testing, testing, one, two, three, testing. Can you hear me?”

Sunset smiled in amusement as she picked up the walkie-talkie and held it close to her mouth as she responded, “Copy that. Coming through loud and clear. Over and out.” She then handed the walkie-talkie over to Twilight.

Twilight carefully inspected the dark grey uniquely-shaped Lego piece as she turned it around in her hands. “I wonder why we don’t have something like this in Equestria,” she muttered.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” replied Sunset with a shrug.

Twilight hummed thoughtfully, then smiled and said, “These might actually be quite useful.” She held the device close to her mouth and asked, “Hey, Spike. How many of these things do we have?”

“Let’s see, uh…” came Spike’s response on the walkie-talkie, followed by some indistinct muttering. Finally, Spike answered, “Looks like there’s enough for all of our friends.”

“Good,” responded Twilight contently. “If we distribute these walkie-talkie things among all of us, then we can all stay in contact at all times, regardless of how far away any of us might be.”

Sunset couldn’t help but chuckle and remark, “Welcome to a world of advanced technology, Princess Twilight.”

Twilight responded with a chuckle of her own before she sheepishly admitted, “Of course, we’ll need to wait for the others to come back before we can give these to them.”

“Speaking of which,” said Sunset and she glanced over at something past Twilight, “it looks like Rarity’s group is already back.”

Twilight spun her head around and saw Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy walking towards them along the beach, not far from the submarine. As she looked closely, she noticed that Pinkie and Rarity were also carrying some kind of chest. “And it looks like they found something,” remarked Twilight.

A few minutes passed before the three minifigs with the chest arrived at the beached submarine. As Spike climbed outside and closed the hatch, Rarity and Pinkie set the chest down on the ground.

“Any luck figuring out where we are?” asked Twilight.

Fluttershy nervously shuffled her hands along the shovel she had been carrying as she quietly replied, “Um, well… n-not really.”

“But who cares?” added Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Wait ‘till you see what we found!”

“Behold!” Rarity proudly said as she opened the lid on the chest, revealing all of the shiny valuable riches inside.

“Whoa!” exclaimed Spike as his eyes widened substantially.

Twilight, after taking a moment to get over the shock of seeing such an extraordinary find, asked, “Where did you get this?”

“Oh, we just found it buried somewhere along the beach,” Pinkie Pie casually replied.

“Buried treasure on a beach?” mumbled Sunset Shimmer as she rubbed her chin. She then spoke up, “That might be enough of a clue to tell us where we might be. I think we’ve ended up somewhere in the Pirate Region.”

“P-p-p-pirates?!” exclaimed Fluttershy fearfully as she tightly gripped the shovel like it was some kind of security blanket.

For the first time since the discovery of the treasure chest, Rarity lost her excitement. Now, she felt concerned as she asked, “Do you suppose we should feel safe right here?”

“I’m afraid I can’t say that for sure,” admitted Sunset with a shrug. “The Pirate Region consists of hundreds of islands, and we could’ve easily landed on any one of them.”

“At least it’s a start,” said Twilight optimistically. “Now that we have at least a rough idea of where we are, we can begin considering possible options on where we can go from here. But first, we’d better wait for Applejack and Rainbow Dash to return.”

“Oh look!” Pinkie Pie spoke up as she pointed along the beach. “There they are right now!”

Everyone quickly turned their gaze down the beach towards that tall cliff. Sure enough, they saw their two friends had just come around from behind that cliff and were approaching them. Interestingly, the two of them seemed to be in quite a rush.

“Huh. I wonder why they’re running like that,” muttered Sunset Shimmer in confusion.

Just seconds later, something else appeared from around the other side of the cliff. It was a large group of pirates and buccaneers — dozens of them — all letting loose a loud battle cry with cutlasses raised high as they charged after the two fleeing girls.

Sunset flinched as she flatly remarked, “Oh. Yeah, that’s a good reason to run.”

“Pirates!” Rarity cried out in terror.

“Quick!” exclaimed Twilight as she rushed over to the hatch and quickly opened it. “Get back in the submarine! We should be safe in here.” She then faintly added, “Hopefully.”

Spike was the first one inside, quickly followed by Rarity, and then Fluttershy — still clinging tightly to that shovel.

Sunset was about to climb inside when she glanced over at Pinkie Pie, who was struggling to haul the now-closed treasure chest up onto the submarine. She ran over to the pink party girl and exclaimed, “Pinkie, forget the loot! What are you, a crook?!”

Pinkie instantly paused at the accusation. She glanced over at Sunset, down at the treasure chest, then back to Sunset. Finally, without a word, she dropped the chest and scrambled onto the submarine and into the hatch.

“Good thinking, Sunset,” commented Twilight.

“Takes one to know one,” remarked Sunset as she climbed through the hatch and into the submarine.

Finally, Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash and Applejack were now only seconds away from the submarine, so she shouted over to them, “Hurry! Get inside!”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash quickly scrambled up the side of the beached submarine and rushed over to the hatch. However, they both arrived at the exact same time, and the hatch was only big enough for one minifig at a time. As a result, Rainbow had no choice but to carelessly shove Applejack aside before climbing into the hatch.

Applejack stumbled a little and almost fell off the submarine, but she quickly regained her balance and turned back to the hatch. “Darn you, Rainbow,” she grumbled as she jumped into the hatch. Without even bothering to climb down the ladder, she fell straight down and landed right on top of Rainbow Dash.

“Ow! My back,” grunted Rainbow.

“Serves ya right for tryin’ to shove me out!” Applejack shot back.

At the same time, Twilight quickly climbed down the ladder, pulled the hatch closed, and then turned the wheel to lock it shut. “There,” she said with relief. “We should be safe now.”

Almost immediately, the pirates descended onto the submarine and began pounding all over it as they continued shouting. It didn’t take long before their mob mentality made them start pushing on the side of the submarine, causing it to slightly rock back and forth.

“They’re rocking the sub!” exclaimed Spike in panic. Everyone inside wobbled around unsteadily on their feet — except for Twilight, who clung desperately onto the top of the ladder — as the submarine continued to rock side to side.

After almost a full minute of terror, the submarine suddenly stopped rocking, while all the pounding and shouting outside also suddenly ceased.

“They’ve stopped,” noted Rarity breathlessly.

Fluttershy nervously glanced through one of the windows. She saw the buccaneer just outside snarl threateningly at her, causing her to whimper and shiver at she tightened her grip on that shovel.

“But they’re still out there,” said Sunset as she raised an eyebrow. “Why have they stopped?”

Their answer soon came with a faint and steady thudding along the top of the submarine. Everyone listened closely as the source moved along the top of the vessel, slowly getting closer to the hatch. The light thudding stopped once it reached the hatch, but then it was quickly followed by a metallic banging against the hatch itself. “Come on outta there, ye scurvy dogs!”

Everyone inside had certainly heard that shout. Sunset ran over to the periscope and peeked through it. After a brief glance outside, she turned to the others and worriedly said, “I’m pretty sure that’s their captain.”

There was another series of metallic banging against the hatch, immediately followed by that voice shouting, “Open up, or we’ll tear this vessel apart!”

Everyone inside the submarine looked expectantly up to Twilight, who still remained at the top of the ladder just under the closed hatch. Twilight wasn’t sure if it was because she was the team leader or just simply happened to be the one who was closest to the hatch, but she knew that her friends wanted her to be the one to resolve this conflict. After an audible gulp, she hesitantly reached her hands up and slowly turned the wheel.

Once the hatch was unlocked, Twilight slowly opened it just a slight amount. She soon found herself staring at the tip of a cutlass, just inches away from her face. She slowly shifted her gaze up the cutlass and towards the pirate who was holding it. He had a wooden peg in place of his right leg, a hooked hand on his left arm, and an eyepatch over his left eye. He wore black trousers, a red coat over a white shirt, and a black captain’s hat with an orange feather sticking out the top of it and a Lego skull and crossbones printed on the front. He had a skin tone that was a pale blue like a shallow sea and had a short beard piece that was a dark green like seaweed. But what really made Twilight scared for her life was the hard look of displeasure on this pirate captain’s face.

Twilight gave a shaky smile as she chuckled nervously and uneasily said, “S-sorry for any trouble we might’ve caused. You see, we’re kind of a little lost and just wanna find a way out of here so we can get back to saving the Lego World from the Dazzlings.”

That last word made the captain raise an eyebrow. “The Dazzlings, ye say?” he asked softly.

“Y-yes,” Twilight nervously replied. “You’ve heard of them?”

The captain nodded slightly and replied, “Aye. Darn near every pirate in the Pirate Region has heard many a tragic tale of woe from the last time they tried to take over.” His gaze slowly turned away and his voice grew steadily louder as he continued, “They came from out of nowhere one day, and once they saw how easily us pirates are to anger, they took immediate advantage of that to further their personal gains. All with little more than an enchanting song, they inspired mutinies, turned close allies into bitter enemies, and drove their victims to commit heinous acts too unspeakable to mention, sending many a pirate to a watery doom!” He lowered his voice back down and returned his gaze to Twilight as he pointed his cutlass closer to her face. “If ye lassies be here to put a stop to them, once and for all…”

Twilight whimpered as she stared at the tip of the cutlass that was now almost touching her face, right between her eyes.

The captain then swiftly pulled back his cutlass and sheathed it as he suddenly grinned and proudly exclaimed, “Then consider us your allies!”

Twilight was rendered completely speechless by that sudden reversal of the captain’s attitude. She glanced back at her friends inside and saw they were all just as shocked as she was.

The complete silence and stillness was finally broken by Rainbow Dash, who quickly smiled and excitedly exclaimed, “Awesome! We got pirates on our side!”

Now that the tension between her team and the pirates had apparently been broken, Twilight open the hatch all the way and climbed out. As she stood before the pirate captain, she let out a relieved sigh and smiled as she said, “Well, in that case, I’m glad that we’ve been able to reach an understanding, Captain…” She trailed off as she realized she didn’t know that name of this pirate.

“The name be Storm Wave!” answered the pirate captain proudly. “And thar be no seas too rough for me and me hearty crew to handle!” With this statement, all of the surrounding pirates and buccaneers — Captain Storm Wave’s crew — let out an enthusiastic cheer.

“That’s funny,” remarked Pinkie Pie as she climbed out of the hatch. “I thought you were gonna say your name was Greenbeard or something like that.”

“Nay. That be me brother’s name,” said Storm Wave with a dismissive wave of his hooked hand.

After Pinkie, Rainbow Dash also climbed out through the hatch, followed by Sunset Shimmer, Applejack, and Rarity. When Rarity glanced over and saw some buccaneers pick up the loaded treasure chest, she pointed over at it and exclaimed, “Hey! We found that first! You can’t just take it from us!”

“Pirate treasure always be free for the taking!” rebuffed Storm Wave firmly.

Rarity huffed and crossed her arms as she bitterly muttered, “I suppose I should’ve expected that from a group of pirates.”

Applejack turned her gaze out to the open ocean and asked, “So, uh, ya wouldn’t happen to have a ship nearby, would ya?”

“Aye,” replied Storm Wave with a nod. “It be an hour’s walk just up the coast.” He pointed along the beach towards the nearby tall cliff.

“Sweet!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly. She waved her arm forward and called out, “C’mon, everyone! Let’s go sailing with pirates!”

“No, wait!” Sunset suddenly exclaimed.

Everyone immediately turned to Sunset with confused looks on their faces.

Sunset glanced down at the ground around the beached submarine, then smiled as she returned her gaze towards everyone and said, “I’ve got a better idea.”

A few hours later, the team of friends was hard at work around the beached submarine, along with a little help from some of Captain Storm Wave’s crew. Most of those buccaneers were helping Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike dig out the sand around the hull. Meanwhile, some others were helping Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, and Rarity tie a bunch of large ropes to the stern of the vessel.

As Sunset finished securing her rope, her gaze followed it out to sea and towards the nearby pirate ship, where the crew had just finished tying the other end of these ropes and were now climbing up the rigging and onto the closed sails.

Down on the beach, Spike removed his hat and wiped his brow, then put his hat back on and resumed digging. It was hard work, but if Sunset’s plan worked, then it would all be worth it. At least he was glad to have that cooling breeze coming in from the ocean.

About a moment later, everyone felt the ocean breeze slowly die down. Sunset and Twilight silently turned to each other and waited. Another moment later, the breeze picked up again, but this time it was different. Sunset looked closely at the way Twilight’s hair was flapping in the wind, and she realized that the breeze was no longer coming onto shore, but was now going away from shore.

“The winds have shifted,” noted Sunset quietly. She then raised her voice and shouted, “Okay, everyone! Now’s our chance!”

With that announcement, all of the buccaneers dropped what they were doing, crowded around the bow of the submarine, and placed their hands on the hull. Sunset, Twilight, and Rarity were now the only ones left atop the submarine, while Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike stayed on the beach to help the gathered crew of pirates.

Sunset leaned over the open hatch and shouted, “Ready, Rainbow?!”

“Firing up the engine!” Rainbow Dash hollered back from inside the submarine. As the massive engine system began to hum again, she shouted, “Full speed reverse!” Finally, the rear propeller began to spin.

As Rarity made a last-minute inspection of the ropes, Twilight gazed down at the half-submerged spinning propeller for a moment, then glanced back at Sunset and nodded with a smile on her face.

Over on the pirate ship, Captain Storm Wave gazed through a small telescope towards the beached submarine. As he saw the large splashing of water from the spinning propeller, he lowered his telescope and exclaimed, “That be the signal!” He turned away from the railing and glanced up at the rigging above as he barked out his order. “Unfurl the sails! All of them! Full sail ahead!”

The crew up in the rigging quickly complied, untying the ropes that held up the sails. In only a matter of seconds, all of the ship’s sails dropped and quickly began to catch the offshore gust.

Back on the beach, the buccaneers saw the ship bring itself to full sail, and prepared for their part. “Get ready, y’all!” Applejack called out. As the ship caught the wind and began to sail away from the shore, the ropes between the ship and the beached submarine slowly rose up out of the water. Applejack glanced around the sub and as soon as she saw the ropes rise completely out of the water, she shouted, “Heave!” Everyone on the beach grunted and groaned as they pushed on the hull with all the strength they could muster.

Just seconds later, the ropes finally pulled taut. The sudden combination of the ropes pulling and the crew pushing provided just enough force to jerk the submarine backwards off the beach. It was only by a very small distance, but as the forces continued to be applied from both sides, the large vessel slowly began to slide off the beach and into the water, the large structure creaking and groaning as it scraped along the ground.

It wasn’t long until the submarine had been pushed and pulled back far enough that the propeller completely submerged. The end of its loud splashing signaled that it was time for Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike to stop pushing with the pirates and climb aboard. Now that the submarine was able to push itself through the water, it wasn’t much longer until the surrounding water became too deep for the buccaneers to continue pushing. By that point, the propeller and the tugging ropes were enough to finally pull the submarine off the shallow bottom and become a free-floating vessel once again.

The crewmembers on both the beach and the ship let out a cheer of triumph as the freed submarine continued to move out to sea in reverse, while the team of friends onboard the sub also cheered out victoriously. As the buccaneers on the beach then climbed into a pair of rowboats and began rowing back to the ship, the team removed the ropes from the sub and then climbed inside.

With the submarine now completely free and all eight members of the team inside with the hatch sealed shut, Rainbow Dash was now able to submerge the vessel as it continued to reverse closer to the ship.

A few minutes later, both the ship and the submarine had reached deep enough water to pull off perhaps the most ambitious part of the operation. Rainbow Dash turned the submarine around so that it was now going in the same direction as the ship, and then dove directly under that ship. After some careful maneuvers, with some guidance from Sunset Shimmer at the periscope, the submarine soon made contact with a special modification to the bottom of the ship. The submarine shuddered lightly as contact was made between the two vessels, joining them together.

“Perfect!” stated Sunset with satisfaction as she retracted the periscope.

“I gotta admit,” remarked Rainbow Dash as she shut off the engine, “this was an awesome idea. Not only did we manage to salvage the submarine, but now we get to keep it available and completely out of sight while sailing with pirates!”

“It’s always good to keep as many doors open as possible,” said Sunset. “You never know when certain things might come in handy.” As she walked over to the ladder and began to climb up to the hatch, she added, “Now let’s board that pirate ship, shall we?” She opened the hatch and climbed out, pleased to now find herself inside the large, brown, sailing ship. As the rest of the team climbed out, she quickly inspected the modification the crew had done to the bottom hull of the ship and was very pleased to not find any leaks around the joint.

Up on the ship’s decks, some crewmembers were reeling in the ropes that had pulled the sub off the beach, while others were helping those who had come from the beach to climb back aboard the ship.

Finally, the door to an upper deck opened and out stepped the eight members of Twilight’s team. “Complete success,” Twilight announced, beaming with pride. “We’re ready to sail with you.”

“You heard her, lads!” called out Captain Storm Wave. “Let’s set sail!”

The entire crew let out an excited cheer before returning to their posts to prepare for the voyage ahead.

As Captain Storm Wave’s ship — the “Hurricane” — sailed ahead, everyone on Twilight’s team leaned forward against the railing on the starboard side and smiled as they gazed back at the beach that they were glad to leave behind. After so many setbacks and disappointments, it felt great to finally achieve a success. Not only were they now back on their way to saving the Lego World, but now they had an entire ship full of pirates willing to help them. There was still much left the do, but for now, they were just happy to finally be going somewhere.

Pirates and a Plan

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Chapter 12
Pirates and a Plan

Twilight Sparkle and her team of friends stood on the ship’s main deck and watched the surrounding calm sea. They had been sailing with Captain Storm Wave and his crew on the Hurricane for over an hour now. The pirate captain had explained that he would take them to Brickbeard’s Cove, the site of the only LEGO Team Headquarters in the Pirate Region. Once they were in port, the team would disembark and then get some help returning to Canterlot City. Everyone had agreed to this — even Sunset Shimmer, despite being well aware that she would almost certainly be immediately arrested and sent back to prison. The rest of the team had wanted to help Sunset in some way, but she had already resigned herself to her inevitable fate and simply shrugged off any attempt at comforting her.

As the ship began to approach the island where Brickbeard’s Cove was located, Twilight was resting her arms on the starboard railing and leaning forward with a defeated look on her face. As she watched the water splash alongside the ship as it pushed across the sea, she was thinking back to her team’s latest encounter with the Dazzlings in Cloudsdale, wondering about what had gone wrong. She let out a sad sigh and pondered, “It doesn’t make any sense. I should have been able to create the spark that would help us break their spell. That’s how it worked before.”

Sunset Shimmer walked up to the railing beside Twilight and rested her hands on it. She knew that she wouldn’t have much time left to be with this team, so she wanted to make the most of it with any helpful advice she could give. As she stared down at the same patch of water that Twilight was staring at, she speculated, “But to defeat me, you drew magic from the crown I was wearing. The sirens’ magic comes from their music, so maybe you have to use the same kind of magic to defeat them.” She smiled and turned to Twilight, but when she didn’t see an immediate response from her, she turned her gaze back down to the water and sadly added, “Or… maybe not.”

It took a little bit of time for Twilight to figure out what Sunset was trying to say, but once the pieces started to fit together, her eyes widened. She smiled and turned to Sunset as she said, “No, I think you’re on to something.”

“Really?” asked Sunset, quickly turning to Twilight with a smile of her own.

Twilight stepped away from the railing and turned to the rest of the team as she explained, “This might be one of those cases where we need to fight fire with fire. If we can somehow harness the magic of friendship within us into performing a musical counter-spell, it just might be what we need to defeat the sirens.”

“You mean, like a song?” asked a hopeful Fluttershy.

“Sweet!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash excitedly. “We haven’t played any songs since our old rock band back in high school!”

“You girls actually formed a rock band while you were in high school?” asked a mildly surprised Twilight.

“Sure did!” replied Rainbow Dash proudly. “And we were totally awesome!”

“For a lil’ while, at least,” added Applejack with disappointment.

“So what happened?” asked Twilight. “I mean, you did say you haven’t played any songs for a while.”

“I’m afraid our band broke up a long time ago,” replied Rarity sadly, “before we had even graduated from high school. We were simply unable to see past all the differences between us.”

“Ah ain’t gonna name names here,” added Applejack, “but Ah will say that some people were always hoggin’ the spotlight, while others were too busy fussin’ over unimportant things.”

Rarity crossed her arms and quietly muttered, “I would beg to differ.”

“I’m just surprised that the five of you actually once got together for something before I picked all of you to help me,” admitted Twilight. “Now that we all seem to be working together on the LEGO Team, is there any chance you might consider getting your band back together?”

“I don’t think that’ll be possible,” admitted Fluttershy sadly, “even if we really wanted to. After we broke up the band, we all sold our instruments and moved on to other things.”

“Yeah, selling my drum set was one of the saddest days of my life,” admitted Pinkie Pie. “At least it was fun while it lasted.”

Twilight sighed as she returned to leaning over the railing. “That’s too bad,” she said sadly. “I was kind of hoping that we might’ve actually had a good chance at stopping the sirens, but I guess it was just too much to ask for. Not that it would’ve mattered, anyway. Even if we did have a counter-spell ready to go, we would still need to perform it in front of everyone who was affected, and there’s no telling how far the sirens have already spread their dark magic.”

“Avast!” hollered a buccaneer from atop the tallest mast of the ship, catching the sudden attention of everyone aboard. He pointed at the island ahead and shouted, “A mysterious structure rises from Brickbeard’s Cove!”

The team gazed up at the lookout, then turned to each other with confused looks on their faces. “I’d better take a look at this,” muttered Rainbow Dash as she ran over to the nearest rope ladder and began to climb up the rigging.

Rainbow Dash quickly scampered her way up along the ropes. Thanks to her athletic abilities, it didn’t take long before she made it most of the way up the mast. She stopped on the small platform between the highest and second-highest sails and then carefully stepped around so that the sails wouldn’t block her view. She held her hand up over her brow and stared ahead. As the ship slowly sailed passed a small peninsula, she gradually saw more and more of the settlement of Brickbeard’s Cove, which consisted of small brown and grey buildings, sailing ships docked in the harbor, and a small fortress atop a short outcrop of land in the middle of the cove.

After almost a minute of careful observing, Rainbow finally saw it. It was far unlike anything else in the settlement. It was black, narrow, and very tall. She immediately recognized what kind of structure this was, and when she did, she lightly gasped and muttered, “No.”

Rainbow immediately scrambled her way back down the rigging. Since she was in much more of a hurry to get back down than she had been to go up, she was only halfway down when she decided to simply grab a nearby free rope and slid down it all the way back to the deck. Once she got close enough to the deck her friends were on, she let go of the rope, tumbled forward once upon landing, and then quickly stood back up. “It’s a broadcasting tower,” she reported grimly. “Just like the one we tore down in Cloudsdale.”

That statement immediately raised a lot of eyebrows from the team. “A broadcasting tower?” asked Rarity incredulously. “In the Pirate Region?”

“Somethin’ ain’t right about that,” muttered Applejack suspiciously.

Sunset closed her eyes as she thought hard over this very strange discovery. It certainly didn’t make any sense why a pirate settlement would need a broadcasting tower. What would anyone have to gain from erecting such a structure in such a place? But when she considered Rainbow’s comment that it was just like the one in Cloudsdale, her eyes snapped open as all of the pieces of the puzzle started falling into place. She immediately turned to Storm Wave and asked, “Captain! Who’s the leader of the Pirate Region?”

Storm Wave, who stood at his post behind the ship’s wheel, answered, “That be Captain Redbeard.”

Sunset suddenly turned back to the team and quickly stated, “He was at the meeting in Cloudsdale, along with all the other regional leaders!” She glanced over in the direction of Brickbeard’s Cove, then let out a defeated sigh and muttered, “So this is what they meant by ‘spreading the message’.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Spike in confusion.

Sunset smacked herself in the face and grunted in frustration. “Am I the only who payed attention to the lyrics of that song the sirens were playing?!” she asked impatiently.

“Hey, cut us some slack!” Rainbow Dash shot back. “We were kinda busy trying to tear down that tower!”

Sunset slowly took a deep breath as she realized that Rainbow was right. Once she was calmed down again — or at least as calm as she could be after a very shocking revelation — she finally replied, “That song they were singing at the meeting in Cloudsdale… I don’t remember the exact lyrics, but… they wanted to convince everyone that they were harmless, that they had no intentions of causing any trouble — which we all know is a total bluff — and that they needed help to spread that message. Those three words, ‘spread the message,’ were repeated quite a lot throughout the song.” By now, the ship had sailed past the peninsula far enough that everyone aboard could now see that ominous black tower. Sunset turned her attention over to that tower as she added, “And it looks like they intend to spread that message to every region with those broadcasting towers.”

Sunset paused for a moment, then continued, “We can’t stop here. All the regional leaders — who have control over every form of authority — are now helping the sirens, but we’re trying to stop them, which means that as far as the whole Lego World is concerned…” She let out a sad sigh, then turned back to the team with a defeated look on her face. “We’re the bad guys.”

With that statement, complete silence had fallen on everyone aboard the ship. It was very disheartening to find out that not only had the sirens already made significant progress towards taking over the world, but also the people in charge of every region were actually helping them. It was tragically ironic that the entire world they were trying to save could now be trying to stop them from doing so.

“What should we do?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

Twilight stared ahead at Brickbeard’s Cove for a moment, unsure of what to say. But when she glanced back at Captain Storm Wave, she realized that, even though the authorities of the Lego World were now working against them, they still had a group of pirates willing to help them. It was at that moment that Twilight realized that her team still had one significant advantage. “Captain!” she called out to Storm Wave. “Take us out to sea. We need to avoid Brickbeard’s Cove at all costs. Right now, the biggest advantage we have is that the Dazzlings have no idea where we are, and I intend to keep it that way.”

“Aye,” complied Storm Wave before quickly spinning the ship’s wheel to the left. It wasn’t long until the Hurricane turned hard to port and sailed out to sea again.

“I suppose you are correct, darling,” commented Rarity. “As long as the sirens remain clueless as to our current whereabouts, then we still have reason to remain hopeful.”

“But that doesn’t help us figure out how to stop ‘em,” Applejack pointed out. “If those towers are goin’ up all over the Lego World, then we sure can’t do what we did to the one in Cloudsdale. There’s just gonna be too gosh darn many of ‘em!”

Applejack’s comment gave Twilight a sudden epiphany. “That’s it!” she exclaimed excitedly. With a smile on her face, she turned to her team and explained, “We can’t be all over the place to deal with these towers, but neither can the sirens!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you see?” continued Twilight excitedly. “The sirens can’t be everywhere at once. They can only be in one place, and it’s those towers that will allow them to take over the entire Lego World as quickly as possible from just one place. If we can figure out where they are basing their operation, then we can go there and shut it all down, saving the whole world in one sweeping move!”

“By Ole’s name, you are absolutely right!” said a pleasantly surprised Rarity.

“Of course!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly. “It all makes so much sense!”

“Awesome!” added Rainbow Dash with enthusiasm. “Now we’re getting somewhere!”

“But that still leaves the question of where that ‘one place’ might be,” Applejack pointed out.

“Oh, I’m sure we can figure it out,” answered Twilight contently. “In fact, I know which one of us in particular can figure it out.” She then turned her attention towards Sunset Shimmer, with the rest of the team quickly following her gaze towards their unofficial member.

Sunset Shimmer raised both eyebrows. She quickly glanced around, but saw no one else was close to where she stood. “Me?!” she asked in shock.

Twilight walked up to Sunset and placed an assuring hand on her shoulder as she calmly said, “No offense, Sunset, but, well…” Twilight briefly turned her gaze upwards, then turned back to Sunset and continued, “You’re the only one of us who has real experience in being a bad guy.”

“Don’t remind me,” muttered Sunset sadly as she glanced down and away.

Twilight placed her hand under Sunset’s chin and made sure they were both looking each other in the eye before she calmly continued, “And this time, it’s actually gonna help us.” Twilight took her hands off of Sunset and took a step back. “I understand that this will be hard for you, but I need to you imagine what the old you would’ve done if you were where the sirens are right now. Think, Sunset. If the old you had all the abilities and resources that the Dazzlings now possess, where would you most likely be?”

Sunset Shimmer stared silently at Twilight for a moment. Ever since the moment she had been defeated that night in Canterlot City, she wanted nothing more than to forget about her old self and move on to a better life. What Twilight was asking of her was so counterintuitive: saving the world by going back to her old ways. It gave her a very uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach, to say the least. But as she glanced around at all the hopeful looks on the faces of everyone on the team, she realized just how high the stakes really were. She had to commit a lesser evil in order to achieve a greater good.

Sunset let out a sad sigh and turned away. She rested her arms against the starboard railing and stared out across the calm ocean. “If… if the old me had what the sirens now have…” she softly began. “I would have just about any location available to use in any way that I’d want. But I can’t just pick any place. It needs to be a secure facility, to make sure that my enemies would be unable to try and stop me. But since I’d also be trying to convince everyone that I’m not out to cause trouble, I’d also want a place that’s very open to the public, a place that everyone is very familiar with, a place where I could keep a close eye on Kjeld Playwell himself, just to be sure that I’ve still got everyone on my side. With all of that in mind, I can think of only one location in the entire Lego World.” With a depressed look on her face, she turned her head back to the others. “The LEGO Team Headquarters Building in Lego City.”

Twilight smiled. “Then that is where we need to go,” she simply stated.

Twilight’s Lego friends, however, didn’t share in that contentment. Instead, all five of them started to look very apprehensive.

“Uh, you’re kiddin’ right?” asked Applejack skeptically.

“What? I’m serious,” replied Twilight with slight confusion. “If that’s where the Dazzlings will most likely be, then we’ll need to go there to stop them.”

“But this isn’t just any building we’re talking about here,” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “This is the LEGO Team Headquarters.”

“I must agree,” added Rarity. “Asking us to infiltrate that particular facility is a very tall order indeed. I may not exactly be familiar with your world, Princess Twilight, but I’m very positive that what you are suggesting can’t be much different from trying to do the same to the capitol building of Equestria.”

That would be Canterlot Castle, thought Twilight, and I guess that analogy would make sense. “I understand, girls,” she spoke up with concern, “but we really don’t have much choice.” She sighed and glanced down at the wooden deck. “Though I certainly won’t deny that it’ll be really hard.”

“Really hard?!” shouted Captain Storm Wave, immediately catching the attention of everyone on the team. As he kept holding the ship’s wheel with his regular hand, he held up his hooked hand and continued, “Wiping ye bum with a hook for a hand is really hard. This be impossible! No one has ever dared to break into that building and live to tell the tale.”

The team was then quickly startled when they heard some light chuckling nearby. They turned to see that it came from a rather smug-looking Sunset Shimmer, much to everyone’s surprise.

“Well, the exception…” said Sunset as she leaned her back against the railing and crossed her arms and one leg over the other. With a smug smile on her face and relaxed eyes, she finished, “…happens to be standing right here.”

The rest of the team stared at Sunset in stunned silence. Twilight eventually managed to ask, “You actually once broke into that building?”

“Remember that fake crown I left behind in Equestria?” explained Sunset as her smile slowly fell from her face. “That didn’t come from just anywhere. That was a custom Lego part that I made myself, once I found out that you had become a princess. Of course, a custom part requires a custom mold, and the only mold making machine in the entire Lego World is located inside LEGO Headquarters in Lego City. Just two days before the interdimensional portal between our worlds opened, I snuck inside the facility, created the mold I needed, quickly cast that custom crown piece, and then destroyed the mold and slipped away.” She smiled again as she finished, “I made such a clean getaway, you girls are actually the first ones to even find out about all of this.”

“But it’s such a big facility,” Rarity pointed out. “How did you know which way to go?”

“I got lucky a few months earlier and managed to find a complete floor plan of the entire building,” answered Sunset. “I had a feeling it would come in handy someday, so I studied that blueprint extensively, over and over.”

“Then I guess your luck is now our luck,” remarked Twilight with a smile. “Do you still have that floor plan?”

Sunset shook her head and sadly replied, “No, not right now at least. I’ve kept it hidden away in some far-off region, and I doubt we’ll have enough time to go all the way out there just to retrieve it.”

Twilight’s smile of optimism quickly turned to a frown of disappointment.

Sunset tapped her chin and glanced away before she turned back to Twilight and added, “Though considering how hard and frequently I had studied it, I just might be able to redraw the whole thing entirely from memory.”

“Really?” asked Twilight with hope as she glanced back up at Sunset.

“Sure,” replied Sunset with a shrug. Her eyes suddenly widened as she finally realized the full implications of what Twilight was asking of her. She sighed sadly and muttered, “Though I’m not sure if I really should do that. That sounds like something the old me would do.”

Twilight once again placed an assuring hand on Sunset’s shoulder and explained, “But it’s like you said, we’re all now seen as the bad guys. As much as I hate that it has to be this way, this situation has been forced upon us. Like it or not, our best chance right now to succeed as the good guys… may be to act like the bad guys.”

Sunset silently considered Twilight’s words. She agreed with Twilight in that she hated being forced into a position like this, but still wasn’t sure if it was worth going back to her old ways. She glanced around at the rest of the team and saw that they were looking to her expectantly. As she glanced back at Twilight, she realized that, for the first time ever in her life, she had true friends who had been willing to help her, and were now expecting the same from her.

Finally, Sunset smiled lightly and said, “Okay. I’ll do it.” She took a moment to appreciate all the friendly smiles she received from the team, then she turned to the captain and stated, “I’m gonna need some parchment and some ink.”

“Aye. Thar be plenty in me quarters,” responded Storm Wave as he gestured toward the wooden door just under the ship’s wheel.

Sunset nodded and walked up the stairway onto the secondary deck. She approached the door and placed her hand on it, but before she opened it, she turned up to Storm Wave and asked, “Do you know the way to Lego City?”

The pirate captain nodded and replied, “Aye, but it be a long voyage. We shall be needing some fresh cargo before we can set sail, and since Brickbeard’s Cove be forbidden, we shall instead dock at Puerto Pieceo.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Puerto Pieceo?” she asked.

“It’s kinda like Cloudsdale, except nautical,” explained Sunset. “It has no designated theme, so they’re always open to any and all kinds of ships and boats. Everything from homemade canoes to five-star cruise ships are free to dock at Puerto Pieceo.”

“Yes, I suppose that may be our best option,” said Rarity, “if we must stop somewhere along the way.”

“We’ll just need to hide below deck while we’re there,” cautioned Applejack. “We don’t know what kind of authority figures might be there, so if we wanna keep our best advantage, then we can’t let anyone know we’re aboard this ship.”

Twilight nodded and said, “Fair enough.” She then turned to Sunset and stated, “As soon as you’re done drawing that floor plan, we’ll get together and try to come up with some ideas on how we can stop the sirens.”

Sunset smiled and nodded, then she opened the door and stepped inside the captain’s quarters. She couldn’t help but find it quite remarkable that her new friends were now counting on her to help them. Despite her personal discomfort at the specific task, she wasn’t going to let them down. She quickly found a large sheet of parchment and brought it over to the table in the middle of the room, then grabbed an inkwell and a few quills. It was time to get to work.

By the middle of the day, the Hurricane had just arrived at the docks of Puerto Pieceo. As the crew of buccaneers loaded larges crates and barrels into the ship’s hold as quickly as they could, the team of Master Builders from Canterlot City waited silently inside an isolated room below deck. The seven city minifigs knew that every minute they remained in port was putting their best advantage at risk, so all of them — even Pinkie Pie — remained as quiet as possible. The only significant noise there was to be heard was the faint squeaking of pulleys outside as the crew continued to load cargo into the ship.

The opening of the only door into this room suddenly caught everyone’s attention, but they were quickly relieved to see that it was just Sunset Shimmer, holding a rolled up sheet of parchment in her hand. She quietly shut the door and then sat down on one of the benches with the rest of the team and whispered, “I expected you girls would be hiding inside the submarine.”

“That’s our emergency escape option,” Twilight whispered back. “We’re not gonna use it unless we absolutely have to.”

“Then let’s hope we won’t need it,” whispered Sunset. She then quickly glanced around at the small room they were all hiding in. Aside from a grate between the ceiling and the deck above, the only window to the outside was a tiny round hole in the wall, just big enough that it could fit a narrow shaft or some part with a pin connection. With virtually nothing else to do, she decided to quietly walk up to the wall and peek through that tiny hole.

Sunset stared through the hole for a few seconds, but then she quietly gasped and whispered, “Redcoats on the dock.”

“What?” asked Spike quietly.

“Imperial guards in red uniforms,” explained Sunset quietly as she turned back to the others. “They serve as the law enforcement for the Pirate Region.”

“There’s law enforcement in the Pirate Region?” Applejack quietly asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I know it sounds like an oxymoron,” responded Sunset quietly, “but that’s just the way things are.” She turned her attention back to the tiny hole and continued to observe the pair of imperial guards. Both of them were each carrying a musket over their shoulders as they slowly walked around on the dock, so she had a bad feeling they weren’t here for just a relaxing stroll.

The two guards carefully eyed each and every ship and boat at the dock. Puerto Pieceo may have been open to anything that can float on water, but that didn’t mean that it was free of any troubles. Most often, they would find illegal cargo being transferred from one ship to another in an attempt to get it across regional boundaries. After many years on the job, they had learned to expect just about anything, no matter how wacky — from spaceship parts on a pirate ship to even an elephant on a yacht. Today had been rather uneventful so far, but they knew that could always change.

As the two guards began to pass by the Hurricane, one of them suddenly tapped his partner on the shoulder and gestured toward the pirate ship. The other guard nodded in agreement and they both began to walk across the plank between the dock and the ship.

Inside the hidden room below deck, Sunset Shimmer suddenly stepped back as her eyes widened and she quickly whispered, “Uh oh, they’re coming aboard.”

As the rest of the team began to glance around with worried expressions, Twilight quickly held up her hands and whispered, “Quiet. Quiet.” All eight minifigs silently looked up towards the deck above, where the two guards set foot on board the ship.

“Excuse me, sir,” requested one of the imperial guards, possibly to a random crewmember. “Could you tell us who is the captain of this ship?”

“That be I!” came the voice of Captain Storm Wave from one of the upper decks at the stern. By the sound of his rather loud voice, he seemed to be rather displeased. “And what reason have ye scoundrels for boarding me ship?!”

“Just a routine inspection, sir,” replied the second guard. “We only wish to search the ship to ensure you are not hauling any contraband. If we find nothing suspicious, then we shall let you be on your way without any further trouble.”

Storm Wave growled in frustration, but gave no further protest. Of all days, they just had to make their “routine inspection” today. He knew how important it was that the team should not be found, but he couldn’t just simply kick the guards off his ship, for that would immediately make them suspicious that he was hiding something. There was little more he could do than watch silently as the pair of imperial guards began inspecting the fresh cargo as it was loaded aboard.

Below deck, the team sat very still and remained absolutely silent. There was little the captain could do about these guards, and there nothing they could do at all. Their chance of successfully saving the Lego World now hinged on how thorough these two guards would be with their inspection. While it was true that the team could still get away in the submarine if the guards found them, it didn’t change the likely possibility that word of their discovery would go up the chain of command and the Dazzlings would eventually find out that they had been here, which would eliminate their best advantage. It was certainly a type of moment where the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife.

After a few minutes, the pair of imperial guards began searching through the captain’s quarters. One of the guards noticed that an inkwell and a quill had been left on the table. He picked up the quill and noticed that the ink on it was still damp. There wasn’t any paper or parchment set out at the moment, so he began to wonder what someone must have been writing recently.

“Oy!” his partner suddenly called out. “Come take a look at this.”

The first guard set down the quill and walked over to the other guard, who was standing in front of a brown chest. Once he had his partner’s attention, the second guard opened the lid of the chest, revealing the large pile of shiny riches inside.

“I don’t see any markings anywhere on this chest,” noted the second guard. “I believe you know what that means.”

“Indeed I do,” acknowledged the first guard as he closed the lid and grabbed the handle on one side of the chest, while his partner grabbed the other handle. The two imperial guards then lifted the heavy treasure chest and carried it outside.

The pair of guards carried the treasure chest down the set of stairs to the main deck. Standing there was Captain Storm Wave, who quickly furrowed his brow as soon as he saw that chest in their possession.

The guards set down the chest and turned to the pirate captain. “Mind telling us where you got this?” asked the first guard.

“Tis be none of yer business, lads!” spat Storm Wave.

“Ill-gotten pirate treasure, I presume,” stated the second guard.

The first guard opened the lid to take another peek at the treasure inside, then closed it again. He glanced upward as a thought occurred to him, then turned to the pirate captain and said, “For your information, sir, Governor Broadside claims that you still owe him a lot of taxes, and I believe these riches should be enough to cover all of your debts.”

“Indeed, I believe you are quite right,” said the second guard as he nodded at his partner. He turned back to Storm Wave and continued, “Therefore, on behalf of Governor Broadside, we shall now take possession of the contents of this chest and call it even.”

“What?!” shouted Storm Wave furiously. “Tis be unjust! Ye can’t be permitted to do that!”

“We can and we will,” rebuked the first guard as he and his partner picked up the chest again. “After all, we are figures of authority, and we have the right to do whatever we want within the boundaries of the laws.”

“Thank you for your cooperation and have a nice day,” stated the second guard as he and his partner carried the chest along the plank that led them off the ship and onto the dock.

Captain Storm Wave walked up to the railing — standing right on the grate over the room where the team was hiding — and angrily waved his hooked hand around as he threateningly shouted, “Ye shan’t be gettin’ away with this! Tis be highway robbery!”

“Oh, like you would know anything about robbery,” shot back the first guard tauntingly as he and his partner continued to carry the treasure chest away. “You’re a pirate, for goodness sake!”

By now, Storm Wave could do nothing but growl furiously as he watched the two imperial guards walk away with the loot.

Meanwhile, hidden below deck, the team of Master Builders could hardly believe what had just happened. Even though they couldn’t see what was going on outside, the verbal exchange between the pirate captain and the pair of imperial guards had been enough for them to figure it out.

“How ‘bout that,” Applejack quietly remarked. She lightly tapped her hand against Pinkie Pie’s arm and smiled. “Looks like that lil’ treasure hunt of yours just saved our butts.”

“Then let’s not waste this opportunity,” Twilight quietly stated as she stood up and glanced upwards through the grate towards Storm Wave. She quickly tapped her hand against the metallic grate a few times and whispered, “Captain!”

Storm Wave heard the hushed call and turned around to glance down through the grate at the team hiding below deck.

“Let’s get outta here before they come back,” whispered Twilight.

Captain Storm Wave turned his gaze back towards the direction those guards had left. He considered Twilight’s request for a few seconds before finally replying, “Aye.” He then marched across the deck as he barked out his orders to the crew. “Alright, lads! Batten down the hatches! Cast off the lines! Full sail ahead! I want us out of port before I even finish this here bottle of cider!” He quickly snatched up a nearby glass bottle, bit off the cork, spat it out, and then took a big swig from the bottle.

The crew of buccaneers quickly followed their captain’s orders as they finished hauling the last of the cargo aboard. In little more than a minute, with all the rope removed from the dock and all the sails completely unfurled, the Hurricane quickly began to sail out of port.

Inside the room below deck, the team waited quietly and patiently for the ship to sail far enough out to sea before it would be safe for them to go outside. Remarkably, little more than ten minutes had passed before Storm Wave returned to the grate and called down to them, “Alright, lassies. It be safe now.”

“Thank you, Captain,” said Twilight with relief as she stood up and opened the door.

“Whew,” said Spike with a huge sigh of relief as the team walked out of the room. “That was way too close.”

Rarity pointed at the rolled-up parchment in Sunset’s hand and asked, “I take it you have successfully completed sketching the entire floor plan of LEGO Headquarters?”

Sunset nodded and smiled as she replied, “To the best of my ability, yes.”

“Great work, Sunset,” said Twilight with a smile.

“Awesome!” added Rainbow Dash. “Now let’s get to work on that plan.” She then turned to Twilight and asked, “What’s first?”

Twilight kept smiling as she replied, “I think we should leave most of our strategizing to Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset blinked in disbelief. “Wait, are you… asking me to come up with the plan?” she asked.

“Like I said earlier, you’re the only one of us who has real experience in being a bad guy,” replied Twilight. “If any one of us can figure out the best way to use underhanded tactics to achieve our goals, it’s you. Even though what we’re about to do will save the world, it will still be considered wrong, and we’ll need someone like you to pull it off. Can you do it?”

Sunset turned her gaze down at the roll of parchment in her hands as she considered Twilight’s request. Ever since she had refused to join that jailbreak, she had been trying desperately to prove to everyone that she had changed her ways and wanted to help the good guys, only to be met with mixed results, leaving her in no better a position than before. But Twilight’s request made her begin to realize something important. The talents she had accumulated after five years in the Lego World were best suited for criminal activities, always intended for a selfish purpose. But now — quite ironically — she was being asked to use those same talents for an ultimately good and selfless purpose.

Finally, Sunset smiled in determination, then turned her attention back up to the team and said, “If that’s the way it has to be, then you girls can count on me. Meet me in the captain’s quarters in ten seconds.”

Ten seconds later…

Once all eight members of the team had gathered around the table in the captain’s quarters, Sunset Shimmer placed the parchment on the table and quickly unrolled it, revealing about a dozen drawings and dozens of labels sketched around each of them.

“Everyone,” began Sunset, “this is LEGO Headquarters. Each of these sketches are for each floor of the building, from the balcony atop the front tower, all the way down into the sub-basement. I’ve got everything on here: doors, windows, hallways, offices, conference rooms, bathrooms, air ducts, wiring, plumbing, everything. Assuming there haven’t been any updates in the past year, this schematic should still be valid enough to get us anywhere inside.”

“But how will we even get inside in the first place?” asked Applejack. “Ah doubt they’ll just open the front door for us.”

“Yes, we obviously can’t take most of the possible entrances,” answered Sunset. “In total, there’s the main entrance at the front lobby, a monorail station directly above it, some helipads and landing strips on the roof, the retractable roof for spaceships, and finally the docks along the sides of the building for boats. But there’s also an additional dock within the building, which can only be accessed by an underwater vehicle. Since we’re already on a ship with a submarine available, I believe that our best chance of getting inside is through that hidden dock.”

“Okay, so that answers where we’ll enter, but that still leaves the question of how?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Remember when I said that I liked to keep as many doors open as possible?” continued Sunset. “It allows opportunities like this one. You see, there are underwater motion sensors built into the entrance to the harbor of Lego City to keep track of ships going in and out, but it also serves as a warning system that will alert security personnel when an unauthorized vessel crosses into the harbor. What this means is that even if we take the submarine, we will still be detected before we can even reach the building.”

“And I presume you have an idea on how to get around this issue?” asked Rarity.

Sunset smiled and replied, “Oh, you girls are gonna love this. It’s actually quite ingenious. What we’re gonna do is keep the submarine attached to the pirate ship as we enter the harbor. Alarms will go off and a patrol boat will be sent out to investigate. Those sensors can only detect movement, but not shape, so as far as security will be aware, the only thing they’ll see will be a regular pirate ship. But right after we have entered the harbor, we will climb into the sub, separate from the ship, and then move in. So while these pirates keep that patrol boat occupied, we will be able to slip into the interior dock practically undetected.”

“Wow, that is ingenious,” Fluttershy quietly remarked.

“Okay, so now we know how we’ll get inside,” stated Twilight. “But what’s next? How do we stop the sirens?”

“Well, considering that you want me to use my ‘bad guy experience’ to figure out where the sirens might be, I’ve decided to go a step further and try to determine what their full plan might be,” explained Sunset. “Here’s how I think the sirens are planning to take control of the Lego World. There’s a recording studio right here.” She pointed at one particular room on the sketch of one of the upper floors. “I can’t say for sure if they plan to perform their song live or simply make a recording and have it play on repeat, but either way, they will almost certainly broadcast their song from that room. Therefore, our primary objective will be to get into that room.”

“What kind of security systems are we talking about?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“I’ve outlined the range of the audio sensors in red and the motion sensors in blue,” answered Sunset. “There is a way through this invisible maze, but as you can see, it’ll be very tricky to navigate. Not to mention, there’s the risk that we might bump into the sirens themselves before we even get to the recording studio, and I’m sure we all know they’re the last people we’d want to encounter during this operation.”

“Eeyup,” agreed Applejack. “No doubt about that.”

“Is there any way at all that we can overcome all of these obstacles?” asked Rarity.

“The good news is, yes, it’s possible to avoid all of these hazards and reach the recording studio with minimal risk,” replied Sunset with a smile. She then frowned as she added, “The bad news is that we can’t do all of this in one big group. We’ll need to split up and have each of us tackle a specific task.”

“But we need to stay together!” Twilight protested. “We’re trying to stop the sirens with the magic of friendship, but we can’t use that if we’re all separated!”

“You think I’d be stupid enough to not realize that?!” snapped Sunset. She paused and took a deep breath before she calmly but firmly continued, “I’m sorry, Twilight, but it’s a delicate balance between risk and reward. The old me may have been selfish and overconfident, but even she knew when certain chances were not worth taking. And for this operation, I’m afraid it’ll be just way too risky if we stay together.”

Twilight glanced down at the parchment and let out a sad sigh. After a moment of tense silence, she finally looked back up at Sunset and said, “I completely trust you, Sunset, and if you really think that our best chance at success is to split up, then so be it.”

Sunset smiled and nodded. “I knew you would understand.”

“Okay, criminal mastermind,” remarked Rainbow Dash with a smile, “how are we gonna pull off this heist?”

Sunset ignored Rainbow’s playful taunt and answered, “First of all, I think we can all agree that this whole thing would be a heck of a lot easier without those security systems. Applejack. Pinkie Pie.” She turned to those two. “Your task will be to get into the master control room and hack into the primary computer to shut off all of the security systems throughout the building.” As she explained, she pointed at the mentioned room on the sketch of the upper basement.

Applejack raised an eyebrow. “Uh, you sure that’s such a good idea?” she asked uncertainly. “Ah ain’t exactly the best when it comes to computers.”

“I kinda figured that would be the case,” replied Sunset with a shrug. “I think it might be best if you just stand guard at the door while Pinkie Pie does all the hacking.”

“I can do that!” stated Pinkie cheerfully. “I once brought down an entire website after I accidentally posted the wrong link. Who knew a simple typo was all it took to unleash a trojan horse across an entire server system?”

Everyone stared blankly at Pinkie Pie for a moment. “Yeah, I’m not gonna ask how that happened,” said Rainbow Dash uneasily.

“Excuse me, Sunset,” Rarity spoke up, “but according to your schematics, it would appear that the door to the master control room is protected by some kind of security lock for ‘Authorized Personnel Only’.” She pointed at that specific label on the sketch she had just quoted. “How are Pinkie Pie and Applejack supposed to shut off the security systems if they must first get past this one?”

Sunset suddenly slammed a 1x2 tile onto the table. “Fake ID!” she proudly stated as she removed her hand from the tile, revealing the detailing that was printed on its flat surface: various identification information on the right half, and a portrait of Sunset Shimmer on the left half. “It’s how I was able to break into the building the previous time. I can make more for the rest of us, and if we’re lucky, they should be enough to fool the system.”

“My goodness,” remarked Fluttershy in astonishment. “That’s really clever.”

“Glad you think so, because you and Rarity may need them, too,” responded Sunset as she turned to Rarity and Fluttershy. “Your task will be to put on some convincing disguises, find the sirens, and keep them distracted for as long as possible. That should help to eliminate the risk of them discovering any of the rest of us while we perform our respective tasks.”

“Oh my!” exclaimed Fluttershy nervously as eyes widened in shock. She immediately picked up a nearby shovel and held it close to her as she began to shiver. “Y-y-you want us to go right into the lion’s den?!”

As Rarity place a hand of reassurance on Fluttershy’s shoulder, she turned to Sunset and said, “I suppose I can handle the disguises without much trouble, but how are we to distract the sirens for an indefinite length of time?”

Sunset smacked herself on the forehead. “Come on, do I really need to say this to your face?” she asked rhetorically as she stared firmly at Rarity. “You’re Rarity! The fashion designer!”

Rarity’s eyes shifted back and forth as it took her a few seconds to realize what Sunset was trying to imply. “Oh— oh! Oh, yes! Yes! But of course!” She exclaimed, stuttering at first but quickly regaining her composure. “Why, I can already picture the possibilities! There are simply so many options to choose from, and I can easily imagine most — if not all — of them to look so fabulous!” She turned her attention back to Sunset and confidently declared, “You can be rest assured, darling, that without a doubt, I shall be fully capable of keeping the Dazzlings occupied for a very long time, perhaps even an entire day, if necessary.”

“And that is exactly what the rest of us are counting on,” said Sunset, smiling in approval. “Okay, back to the plan!” She turned to Spike and stated, “Spike, you’ll provide lookout to make sure none of us are being followed by any unwanted attention.”

“Scout’s honor,” acknowledged Spike as he gave a quick salute.

Finally, Sunset turned to the last two members of the team who had yet to be given an assignment. “Twilight. Rainbow Dash. You two will have the most important task of all: getting into the recording studio and unleashing that musical counter-spell, using the Dazzlings’ worldwide system of broadcasting towers to free everyone from their power.”

“So we’re gonna use their ultimate weapon against them?” asked Rainbow Dash. She suddenly grinned and exclaimed, “Nice! Now that is an awesome plan!”

“However,” added Sunset, “since we’re all gonna leave the sub at the same time, that means the two of you will have to navigate your way around the security systems until Pinkie Pie can bring them down.”

“How will we know when that happens?” asked Twilight.

Sunset turned to Spike and slyly asked, “Got those walkie-talkies?”

Spike simply grinned as he reached under the table and pulled out a pair of walkie-talkies, one in each hand.

“Perfect!” As Spike began to hand out walkie-talkies to everyone, Sunset continued, “These will be for emergency purposes only. Keep in mind that we don’t want to accidentally give away any of our positions, so use these only if you absolutely have to. You will notice that Spike decided to add a dial to these so that you can specify who you are communicating with.”

As soon as she received her walkie-talkie, Twilight looked closely at that dial and noticed that each setting on it was marked by a picture of the head of each of her teammates. She decided to think ahead and set the dial to Applejack for the upcoming mission, since she didn’t want to risk interrupting Pinkie Pie if she would be busy hacking the computer.

“What about you, Sunset?” asked Applejack as she put away her walkie-talkie. “What’ll you be doing?”

Sunset Shimmer suddenly looked downcast as everyone turned to her. She sighed sadly as she stared down at the parchment and replied, “There’s no denying that, right from the moment we cross into the harbor, there will be a constant risk that we might get caught. If the unthinkable were to happen, then the absolute last thing I’d want is for me to be seen alongside with any of you, considering my reputation. So, for everyone’s own good, I’ll be alone on a seemingly unrelated task.” She pointed at the largest room in the sub-basement. “I’ll return to familiar territory and do an inventory check of the storage room, just to make sure the sirens aren’t plotting any surprises.”

“But what if they are planning a surprise?” asked Pinkie Pie in confusion. “Wouldn’t that mean you would spoil the surprise?”

Sunset simply glared at Pinkie for a moment before she flatly asked, “Pinkie, they’re bad guys. What kind of surprises do you think they might have for us?”

“Um… the painful kind?” asked Pinkie uneasily.

“The painful kind,” Sunset flatly repeated.

Pinkie Pie had nothing else to say.

“So Ah guess that’s a wrap, then,” said Applejack with satisfaction. “We’ve got ourselves a destination an’ a plan. Nothin’ left to do now but to put it into action an’ see how it all turns out.”

“Not quite,” Sunset pointed out. “We still need to be certain of one very crucial detail.” She turned to Twilight and asked, “You said that we need a musical counter-spell to defeat the sirens. Do you know of any?”

That question immediately caught Twilight off guard and made her suddenly realize a serious flaw with what was, after all, her idea. “Uh… actually, no,” she admitted.

The rest of the team stared blankly at Twilight for a moment.

“But I’m sure I could figure out how to write one,” Twilight quickly added.

“Totally!” praised Spike. “Twilight can write a spell like it’s nobody’s business. That’s pretty much how she got to become a princess in Equestria.”

“Technically, I helped finish a spell,” Twilight sheepishly corrected. She then glared at Spike and added, “And there was a little more to it than that, Spike.”

“Yeah, whatever,” muttered Spike dismissively.

“Either way,” Sunset spoke up, “I guess this means we’re all counting on you, Twilight. Without that counter-spell, we might as well not even bother trying to attempt this operation in the first place.” She picked up the parchment with her sketches of LEGO Headquarters and rolled it up. “You’ll find parchment over there, and the ink and quills are right here,” she said as she pointed at opposite sides of the room. As she headed for the door, she added, “Good luck with the counter-spell. Not that you’ll need it. This must be nothing compared with the stuff you’re expected to deal with as a princess in Equestria.”

Twilight smiled uneasily as she watched the rest of the team follow Sunset out the door. Once the door closed and she was alone in the captain’s quarters, she let out a sigh of disappointment. Somewhat reluctantly, she grabbed a sheet of parchment, the inkwell, and a quill. As she set the writing supplies down on the table, she firmly told herself, “Okay, I can do this. I have to be able to do this. I have to.” With that, she picked up the quill — as best as she could, due to her limited experience with hands — and began writing.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team followed Sunset Shimmer as she walked up to Captain Storm Wave at the ship’s wheel. “Captain,” began Sunset, catching the pirate’s attention. “We need you and your crew to play a vital role in our attempt to stop the Dazzlings. Your duty will be to sail this ship into the harbor of Lego City, which will trigger an alarm and result in a patrol boat coming out to investigate. You must then keep that patrol boat occupied so that we can climb into the submarine, separate from the ship, and then sneak into LEGO Headquarters through the interior dock. We should be able to handle the rest on our own, but for that first part, we’ll need you and your ship to serve as a diversion. Can we count on you to do that?”

Storm Wave took a moment to contemplate Sunset’s request before he solemnly answered, “I shan’t lie to ye, if thar be one thing that every pirate in the Pirate Region shares in common, it be eternal hatred of the Dazzlings. If what ye be saying be the best chance we’ve got to stop them forever… then it shall be done.”

Sunset smiled and said, “Thank you, Captain. I’m glad you’re here to help us.”

“And for a former villain as talented as ye, ha harr!” added Storm Wave excitedly. “It be good to have ye on our side!” He slapped Sunset hard on the back.

Sunset stumbled from the rough impact, but quickly regained her balance and stood back upright. “Thank you, Captain,” she responded with a content smile and a slightly strained voice. She turned and began walking away, then winced as she rubbed the sore spot on her back and mumbled, “And thank you for not using your hooked hand.”

With that exchange over, Rainbow Dash turned to the pirate captain and asked, “So, uh, how long is it gonna take for us to get to Lego City?”

“Oh, it be quite the long voyage, I’m afraid,” replied Storm Wave solemnly. “Many days, at the very least.”

“What?!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash in shock. “I don’t think we have anywhere close to that much time to lose! There’s gotta be a way for us to go faster!” Fortunately for Rainbow, it didn’t take more than a second for her to gasp in excitement. “The submarine! Of course! That thing was able to get us across an entire ocean in just one night!” She quickly turned back to Storm Wave and asked, “What if I used the submarine’s engine to help us get to Lego City?”

“It might work,” replied Storm Wave doubtfully, “but methinks it be a rather suspicious sight to see a ship as this to be sailing faster than the wind itself.”

Rainbow Dash quickly sulked as she realized that she hadn’t thought of that. The one thing the team could absolutely not afford to lose right now was their location, and if that was given away, then the entire plan would be pointless. But still, there just had to be some way they could go much faster without revealing anything out of the ordinary.

Rainbow’s expression brightened as she quickly came up with the perfect compromise. “What if I switched on the engine only at night?” she suggested. “We could still go much faster, but the cover of darkness would prevent anyone from seeing us when it happens. And as long as we switch it off before sunrise, no one will ever notice anything weird. Would that be enough to get us there much sooner?”

Storm Wave stroked his green beard as he considered Rainbow Dash’s proposal. Finally, he answered, “Aye, that could work. And if me calculations be correct, we should arrive there by this time tomorrow.”

“Awesome!” shouted Rainbow excitedly as she jumped and pumped a fist in the air. Once she came back down, she leaned forward towards the door to the captain’s quarters and shouted, “Ya hear that, Twilight! We’ll be able to make it there by tomorrow! So keep working on that counter-spell!”

Inside the captain’s quarters, Twilight paled when she heard how little time she now had to work on the musical counter-spell. She then shook her head a few times and chuckled nervously. “No problem,” she desperately told herself. “I can get this done on time.” As she glanced down at the still-blank sheet of parchment, she weakly and unconvincingly added, “I hope.”

At the LEGO Team Headquarters Building in Lego City, it seemed to be just another ordinary afternoon, for most part. The personnel who worked in this world-famous facility proceeded with their various jobs, ensuring that order was kept and systems continued to run smoothly. The only notable thing that had changed recently was Kjeld becoming more reserved since returning from yesterday’s emergency meeting, though most people blamed it on nerves after narrowly escaping from that attack on Cloudsdale.

The LEGO Team Headquarters Building in Lego City — commonly referred to as simply LEGO Headquarters — was built on the end of a large L-shaped peninsula in the middle of the city’s harbor. The peninsula was flat, covered with short green grass, and had a few Lego trees scattered around. Along the middle of this peninsula, there was a two-lane road that led between the city and the building, with an elevated monorail track built directly above it.

The most recognizable feature of LEGO Headquarters was the very tall front tower, the front of which was emblazoned with the LEGO logo — a red square with the word “LEGO” in large rounded letters that were white and outlined in black within yellow. The otherwise featureless light grey tower had a rather short length — no more than 5% of the entire facility — covered the total width of the building at the base and tapered to about half of that at the top, and was easily more than twice as tall as even the highest floor on the rest of the facility — which was only seven stories above ground level. Against the back side of the tower was what appeared to be a huge ramp that almost reached the top, but was actually a massive set of retractable doors that could allow spaceships to access the spacious room underneath. Past those hangar doors towards the rear half of the facility, there were a few short landing strips and helipads on the flat roof, and a series of docks along the sides and back of the building.

A modest helicopter flew towards the building and crossed in front of the massive LEGO logo on the front of the tower before circling around to the back of the building and carefully touching down on the largest helipad. As the main rotor powered down, the large door on the side slid open and the three passengers inside casually stepped out. This facility was practically a symbol of all things good in the Lego World, and this certain trio… was the exact opposite of that. In fact, they weren’t even fazed at all to be here. Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze, and Sonata Dusk were here for a purpose of their own.

Adagio looked up at the surrounding facility and grinned. “I can’t believe we are now so close to total victory,” she stated smugly.

“I can’t believe we actually got a pilot to take us here without us having to sing to him,” remarked Aria.

Sonata excitedly added, “And I can’t believe that we actually get to meet… um…” She struggled for a moment to say the next word. “… kuh-jell-duh?”

“It’s pronounced ‘kel’.”

The three sirens turned to see Kjeld Playwell walking up to them.

“The j and the d are silent,” finished Kjeld.

“Right! What he said!” said Sonata innocently.

Kjeld reached a hand forward and greeted, “Anyway, it is a pleasure to finally have you all here.”

Adagio shook Kjeld’s hand and smugly responded, “Oh, the pleasure is all ours.”

Kjeld then broke off the handshake and stated, “I am sure that you three are more than ready to get down to business, so if you’ll follow me, please.” He turned away and headed for the nearest door into the building.

The three girls silently smirked to one another before following him inside.

As Kjeld led the Dazzlings through the hallways of LEGO Headquarters, everyone that they happened to pass by couldn’t help but silently gawk at them. These people were well aware that the Dazzlings were regarded as a dangerous threat, so to see them walking freely with the leader of the Lego World was a very strange sight indeed. One minifig — after walking past the Dazzlings — wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and ended up bumping into a water dispenser, tipping it over and spilling water all over the floor.

For a while, the only noise to be heard from this group was the plastic clacking of everyone’s footsteps. Eventually, Adagio asked, “So tell me, Mr. Playwell, how goes progress on the system of broadcasting towers?”

“Some regions are understandably slower than others,” replied Kjeld, “but at the rate things are moving along, I would estimate that they should all be up and ready by this time tomorrow.”

“Good,” said Adagio confidently. “The sooner we get this done, the better. And I’m sure you understand why.”

“Agreed,” acknowledged Kjeld with a nod. “I have yet to receive any word on where Twilight’s team might be, and with Sunset Shimmer on their side, it’s only a matter of time before they try to put a stop to our efforts.” He paused before quietly adding, “Quite a shame, too. Those girls had so much potential.”

“I just have one question,” Sonata suddenly spoke up. “Why are we gonna record our next song? Can’t we just sing it live once all the towers are done?”

“It’s because we simply can’t afford to devote our attention to singing, when the time comes,” answered Adagio. “Those Canterlot City Master Builders could strike at any moment, and we can’t afford to be caught off-guard when that happens.”

“Here we are,” announced Kjeld as he and the trio arrived at the door to the recording studio. They all stepped inside and encountered a minifig with white skin, messy light blue hair, and wore sunglasses, dark blue pants, and a grey shirt with a black musical note on the front and the LEGO logo on the back. “Ladies, this is DJ L3G0, and he will assist you in recording your song.”

DJ L3G0 stared silently at the Dazzlings for a moment and raised an eyebrow. He turned to Kjeld and quietly asked, “Uh, are you sure this is such a good idea? I mean, aren’t they…?”

“I can assure you that it was all just a misunderstanding,” replied Kjeld. “The Dazzlings mean us no harm at all, and wish only to share their music with every region of the Lego World.”

“If you say so,” said DJ L3G0 uneasily.

Kjeld turned to the sirens and said, “Well, ladies, I have a lot of work that needs to get done, so I’ll leave you to it.” He then exited the room, closing the door on his way out.

DJ L3G0 sighed before he turned to the Dazzlings and reluctantly said, “Well, head on into the studio and I’ll set things up for ya.”

The three girls smiled as they entered the studio half of the room, which was completely empty except for three microphones that were already set up for them.

As DJ L3G0 began adjusting various equipment in the recording half of the room, he remarked, “I gotta warn you girls, it’ll take a lot to impress me. I’ve heard just about every form of music there is: classical, country, rock, and even that new dubstep that my cousin over in Canterlot City listens to all the time.”

Meanwhile, the three sirens took their places at the row of microphones. Adagio stood in the middle, Aria to her right, and Sonata to her left.

A few seconds later, everything was ready to go. DJ L3G0 stuck his head through the doorway between the two halves of the room and said, “You may begin when the countdown reaches zero.” He then shut the door, took his seat at the DJ booth, and put on a set of headphones.

The Dazzlings looked through the large window that separated the two halves of the room and watched as a small screen displayed the countdown.

5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0

The Dazzlings began their song with some brief vocalizing before moving on to the lyrics. Lead singer Adagio made it no secret what the message behind this song would be: everyone would fall under their spell.

As the sirens recorded their song, work was underway throughout the Lego World to build the system of broadcasting towers. Every single regional leader had been enchanted by the song that was played in Cloudsdale, so every region saw the same series of events unfold. The regional leader presented a group of workers with plans to assemble and erect a broadcasting tower and connect it to the worldwide system. Many workers were skeptical of the idea, but nevertheless trusted their leaders. In some regions — such as City and Space — the towers went together rather quickly. In other regions — such as Castle and the Old West — it took a bit more effort, but they were still able to complete them.

As all of this was happening, the Hurricane continued on its voyage towards Lego City. Onboard that pirate ship, each member of the team felt very anxious for what they were about to do, despite the fact that they already had a carefully thought-out plan. But by far the most concerned member of all was Twilight Sparkle, who continued to struggle to write that musical counter-spell. Even at night, when she was forced to work under the light of a candle, she still got nowhere closer to figuring out the proper counter-spell to use.

The following morning, black broadcasting towers began going up all over the Lego World: from Pharaoh’s Kingdom to Dinosaur Island, from Ninjago City to the planet of Chima, from the Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters Base to Prince Shining Armor’s castle, and from Canterlot City to Lego City. No region in the entire Lego World was spared from this massive effort, all to ensure that the spell of the sirens would reach every corner of this universe.

Back at the recording studio in LEGO Headquarters, the Dazzlings finished their song. DJ L3G0, whose eyes briefly flashed a sickly green glow from behind his sunglasses, ended the recording process and, with a dull voice, simply said, “Best song ever.”

The three sirens couldn’t help but show a wicked smile. Total victory was now within their grasp.

Infiltrating LEGO Headquarters

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Chapter 13
Infiltrating LEGO Headquarters

After an overnight voyage across the vast ocean, the Hurricane had finally come within sight of Lego City by late morning. Aside from Twilight — who was apparently still working on that musical counter-spell in the captain’s quarters — the rest of the team was out on the main deck, watching as the ship slowly approached the city’s harbor. Their destination, LEGO Headquarters, stood out very clearly against the flat landscape and cloudless sky. Just beyond it, they could see the rest of Lego City.

Sunset Shimmer gazed through a pair of binoculars at the cityscape. When she turned her view towards the tallest skyscraper, she immediately spotted the ominous black broadcasting tower on the very top of it. She lowered her binoculars and sighed. “There’s just one thing I still don’t understand,” she thought aloud. “We were at that meeting in Cloudsdale, but the sirens’ spell didn’t affect any of us. Why is that? What is it that we have that no one else in the Lego World has?”

“It’s because we’re magically-enhanced Master Builders,” replied Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “Duh!”

“Except for me,” Sunset pointed out sadly. “I’m not a Master Builder at all, let alone a magically-enhanced one, so why am I in the same boat as the rest of you?” She glanced around at the ship and quietly added, “Uh, no pun intended.”

“I dunno,” answered Spike with a shrug. “Maybe it’s because you took that rainbow friendship blast back on that night in Canterlot City.”

“Regardless of how it is possible,” stated Rarity, “I think we can all agree that we should not take our immunity for granted. After all, if the sirens succeed in expanding the reach of their spell across all regions, they we shall well and truly remain their sole opposition.”

“Fine by me!” boasted Rainbow Dash. “We’ll show ‘em what happens when they mess with special Master Builders, like us!”

Sunset let out a sad sigh as she leaned forward against the railing and muttered, “Except I’ll never be anywhere nearly as talented at the rest of you.”

“Don’t feel so bad,” Fluttershy reassured. “You did come up with a very good plan. I’m sure you would make a great Master Builder.”

“If that ain’t a sign of creativity, Ah don’t know what is,” added Applejack as she placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

Sunset turned her gaze forward towards the approaching entrance to the harbor and LEGO Headquarters just beyond it. “I’m gonna go check on Twilight,” she muttered as she turned and walked away, leaving the rest of the team with expressions of uncertainty as they watched her depart.

Sunset climbed up the outside stairs and reached the captain’s quarters. She opened the door and found Twilight snoozing with her head resting on the table, upon which were many countless sheets of parchment scattered about. Sunset raised an eyebrow as she asked, “Uh, Twilight?”

Twilight suddenly bolted upright and glanced around wildly as she exclaimed, “Huh— Wha— I’m paper— I-I mean, awake!” She glanced over at Sunset sheepishly as she removed a sheet of parchment that had been on top of her head and set it down on the table with the others.

Sunset walked over to the table and glanced with wide eyes at the big mess on it. “Have you been up all night working on the counter-spell?” she asked.

Twilight hastily gathered up all of the scattered sheets into a messy pile as she nervously replied, “Oh, uh, j-just taking notes on all the possibilities I could come up with. We only get one shot at this, so it has to be perfect.”

“Anything that’s complete?” asked Sunset.

“Well… not really,” admitted Twilight. As she picked up the messy pile of parchment sheets in her arms, she quickly added, “Though I’m sure I can patch together something good with what I’ve got. It’ll be like working with Lego bricks.”

Sunset glanced down sadly and opened her mouth to speak.

“I know, you don’t have any creative talents,” Twilight quickly spoke up. “No need to remind me.”

Sunset sighed. “Why does it all come so easy to you, Twilight?” she asked. “You’ve been exposed to this world for only a few days, and yet you’re able to build things just as well as anyone else. Why is it that I still struggle to understand creativity?”

Twilight had no immediate answer. She gazed downward and considered what she could say. It wasn’t long until she smiled and turned her attention back to Sunset. “It’s actually not as hard as you make it out to be,” she said calmly. “I mean, sure I got a little helpful advice from Celestia Playwell when I first came to this world, but once I realized just how endless the possibilities really are, I didn’t find it to be intimidating at all. In fact, I actually found it quite liberating. You might see it as so many options that it would be too overwhelming to even think of any ideas, but for a Master Builder, they see endless potential to create anything to their heart’s desire.”

Sunset glanced up at Twilight, astonished by the insightful advice she was hearing.

“They say the only limit is the imagination,” added Twilight, “and if you could just open your mind to all the possibilities, then even you can create just about anything.”

Once Twilight had finished her inspiring advice, Sunset Shimmer couldn’t help but smile. Although the former criminal still had serious doubts about her abilities, she was finally starting to realize that even someone as seemingly talentless as herself could have potential.

The pleasant moment was cut short by the familiar sound of a certain series of vocalizing. Sunset and Twilight turned to the door, gave a worried glance to each other, and then rushed out the door. A few sheets of parchment came loose from Twilight’s grip and fluttered away as she quickly followed Sunset over to the rest of the team.

“It be them!” shouted a very panicked Captain Storm Wave. “It be the Dazzlings!” He immediately threw his hands up to the sides of his head and started singing a random sea shanty as loudly as possible.

Meanwhile, the team stared ahead towards Lego City, where they and everyone else on the ship could clearly hear the latest song of the sirens. “I guess this means they’ve finished building all those broadcasting towers,” remarked Spike as the first lyric of the song played out.

“Then it’s go time!” declared Rainbow Dash. “Get to the submarine!”

“No! Not yet!” exclaimed Sunset as she immediately stood in Rainbow’s way. “We can’t detach the sub until after we’ve entered the harbor.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen without them,” said Fluttershy worriedly as she gestured up at the rigging, where the crew of pirates and buccaneers remained perfectly still as they stared ahead and listened to the Dazzlings’ song.

“Then what can we do?” asked Twilight desperately. “If we can’t even enter the harbor, then we might lose our only chance to stop them!”

One particularly loud lyric from Storm Wave’s sea shanty caught everyone’s attention. As they watched him pace around near the ship’s wheel with his ears covered, Rarity couldn’t help but remark, “I may not be familiar with pirate music, but I’m fairly sure that’s a rather poor example.”

“No, I think he’s got the right idea,” said Sunset as a smile appeared on her face. “We need to prevent the crew from hearing the sirens’ song, and I’m sure that pretty much anything could work.”

“But if we’re gonna cover everyone on this ship, then we’ll need somethin’ loud,” Applejack pointed out.

“I got just the thing!” said Rainbow Dash excitedly as she suddenly pulled out a vinyl record. “All I need is a super-sized surround-sound speaker system.”

“Coming right up!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully before she started rushing around the ship, rapidly reassembling random Lego pieces into dozens of subwoofers. Once the final part of the extensive sound system was completed, she rushed back to the team and happily shouted, “Ta-da!”

“Wow, Pinkie,” remarked Twilight quietly as she glanced around at all the speakers and subwoofers that were now installed in just about every nook and cranny of the pirate ship. “Your talents will never cease to amaze me.”

Rainbow Dash didn’t waste any time as she placed her record on the turntable, cranked up the volume to the max, and moved her hand over the play button. “Hey, pirates!” she shouted up to the rigging. “Get ready to ROCK!” And with that, she slammed her fist on the play button.

The initial blast of music from the speakers was so intense that it almost felt like an explosion. At maximum volume, the rapid banging of drums and screeching of an electric guitar was almost deafening. Each booming beat of the bass shook the entire ship, causing each member of the team to not only have their feet bounce off the deck but also their hair pieces to bounce off their heads. The high-intensity heavy metal rock music had certainly been enough to shake the crew back to reality, although much of the team was unsure if such an absurdly excessive effort was even worth it.

“Goodness, Rainbow!” shouted Rarity over the insanely loud music as she desperately tried to cover her ears and hold her hair piece on her head. “Where in the world did you get such barbaric music?!”

Unlike the rest of the team, Rainbow Dash was thrilled to listen to her heavy metal rock music, even going so far as to play an imaginary guitar. “I made it myself!” answered Rainbow excitedly before she lip-synched the first lyric. “It’s about how awesome I am!” she added, then lip-synched the next lyric.

“We’ll appreciate you taste in music later!” shouted Sunset. “Right now, we need to get into the harbor!”

“What?!” shouted Pinkie Pie, despite being right next to Sunset.

Sunset ignored the pink party girl and turned her attention up to the rigging. Knowing very well that the crew would never be able to hear her, she simply waved her arms around and mouthed the word “go” over and over.

It took the crew a moment to understand what was going on, but once they saw Sunset’s request, they all nodded to each other and returned to their posts. They were able to continue their tasks up in the rigging, despite the booming music shaking everything with each beat. After all, they were the crew of Captain Storm Wave on the Hurricane. Their particular claim to fame as pirates was that they could sail through even the roughest of conditions. They had successfully sailed this ship more than once through the heart of a category five tropical storm, so loud rock music was practically nothing to them.

Inside LEGO Headquarters, the three sirens had gathered in the briefing area within the massive spaceship hangar — for which the front wall was the backside of the front tower, the retractable roof sloped down until it reached the floor at the back, and the side walls were built entirely out of transparent Lego bricks. They stood beside Kjeld Playwell on the elevated platform in front of the massive display screen. Currently on that screen was a complete map of the entire Lego World, with the locations of each broadcasting tower marked and surrounded by a circular zone. Those zones were red at first, but in rapid succession within only a minute, all of them turned green.

“As you can see, ladies,” stated Kjeld, “the complete worldwide system is fully functional and operating exactly as intended. As we speak, everyone who is capable of hearing the outside world is now listening to your latest song.”

“Excellent,” said Adagio with a nod of approval. “I believe we should celebrate with a live concert tonight, right in front of this building. Send out invitations to everyone in Lego City. I have a feeling that we can expect a massive audience.”

Kjeld nodded and began tapping on one of the keyboards on the large console under the massive screen.

Adagio turned away from the leader of the Lego World and spoke quietly to her two companions. “This is it, girls. With phase four completed, tonight’s concert will be the fifth and final phase of the plan: making our established hold on this world permanent.”

Two beeps in rapid succession suddenly caught everyone’s attention. Kjeld glanced down at which alarm had just been triggered and raised an eyebrow. “That’s odd,” he muttered. “We seem to have an unauthorized vessel in the harbor.”

Adagio rolled her eyes, frustrated at being interrupted from relishing her latest victory. “On-screen,” she requested impatiently.

Kjeld tapped a button on the console, which instantly switched the displayed image to show the harbor of Lego City. There were a few regular boats and ships on the water, but there was one particular ship that stood out very conspicuously.

“A pirate ship?” asked Aria incredulously. “What are they doing here?”

“Maybe they got lost and wanna ask for directions,” Sonata speculated with a shrug.

Adagio narrowed her eyes as she looked more intently at the pirate ship on the display screen. The fact that such a thing was in a city harbor at all was weird enough, but she quickly noticed some rather odd details. The sails seem to be rippling quite noticeably, along with the water immediately surrounding the ship itself. After a little more careful observing, she noticed these two subtle movements were not due to natural forces, but rather were rippling at a certain rate. In fact, they seemed to be shifting at the exact same frequency. She had a hunch, and needed confirmation. “Could you increase the audio sensitivity?” she requested.

Kjeld slowly turned a dial on the console. As the volume on the live video increased, a rhythmic booming beat could now be heard. Each ripple of the sails and water was timed perfectly with this beat.

Arai raised an eyebrow as she immediately recognized what this frequent beating really was. “Is that… heavy metal rock music they’re playing?”

“But pirates don’t listen to that kind of music,” Sonata pointed out. She quickly turned to Aria and asked, “Do they?”

Before Aria could respond, Adagio quickly replied, “For once, you’re right, Sonata.” She narrowed her eyes again and rubbed her chin as she continued watching the screen. “Something fishy is going on…”

As Rainbow Dash’s song of awesomeness continued blasting out all over the Hurricane, the team headed below deck and climbed into their submarine. Everyone gathered up all of the supplies they would need for the upcoming mission and loaded them into the sub. After Twilight carried her messy pile of parchment down the ladder, the last minifig to board the submarine was Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset closed the hatch and quickly climbed down the ladder. As everyone took a seat, she announced, “Okay, now that we’re within the harbor, let’s separate from the ship and move in.”

Meanwhile, the heavy metal rock song continued to blare out across the entire pirate ship at maximum volume. After the last few minutes, the ridiculously loud music was starting to take its toll. If one could look closely at the structure of the ship, one would be able to see gaps starting to form between each of the Lego pieces. Eventually, with one more beat of the bass at the end of the second verse, the structure finally gave in. The entire ship completely shattered, resulting in all of its pieces falling apart into little more than a large mass of floating debris.

The submarine had been able to remain intact, thankfully, though everyone inside has definitely heard the music suddenly stop and felt the light shutter as the sub broke free.

Sunset quickly glanced out through one of the windows and saw all the floating debris up at the surface. “Or that could work,” she weakly said with an uneasy smile.

Rainbow Dash simply shrugged before she switched on the engine and began to pilot the submarine straight ahead towards LEGO Headquarters.

Meanwhile, up on the surface, the crew of pirates and buccaneers was forced to grab on to any piece of floating debris they could get their hands on. Captain Storm Wave gasped for air once he finally breached the surface. As he looked around at the remains of his ship while treading water, he grumbled, “This be the reason why us pirates never attend a rock concert.”

Back at the briefing area of LEGO Headquarters, the Dazzlings and Kjeld had just witnessed the catastrophic collapse of that pirate ship on the giant display screen.

Aria crossed her arms as she scoffed and muttered, “So much for that.”

“So I guess that’s problem solved, right?” asked Sonata.

“Not quite,” replied Adagio. She turned to Kjeld. “Send out a patrol boat. Have them search the debris for anything unusual.”

Kjeld nodded and tapped a few buttons on the console.

Inside the submarine, Sunset continued to carefully watch outside through the window. It wasn’t long until she noticed the bottom of a small boat speed across the surface right above them and leave behind a noticeable wake. “That must be the patrol boat,” she noted. “Let’s move in.”

As they arrived at the LEGO Headquarters building, Rainbow Dash carefully maneuvered the submarine through the underwater entrance. She slowed down the sub as she noticed a solid end to the passage and a yellowish orange light coming from above. She briefly reversed the propeller, then stopped it completely once the sub came to a halt.

Sunset pulled out the periscope and slowly spun it all the way around as she looked through it. After a few seconds of silent observation, she finally said, “All clear. Bring us up.”

Rainbow flipped a few switches, causing the submarine to rise up and emerge into the dimly-lit room of the hidden dock.

Sunset quickly climbed up the ladder, opened the hatch, and stepped out onto the top of the submarine. Next, Applejack picked up a few long and narrow plate pieces and passed them up to Sunset, who then laid them out to form a makeshift bridge between the sub and the dock. Once the crude bridge was ready, Rarity and Pinkie Pie grabbed some of the supplies and carried them up the ladder and over onto the dock.

“Great work, team!” Rainbow Dash called back to the others. She leaned back in her seat and moved to rest her feet on the navigational controls as she smugly added, “Those sirens will never even know what hit ‘em.” But as she placed her feet on the console, she accidentally kicked one of the switches, which made the engine suddenly activate at full speed ahead.

Everyone on the submarine stumbled from the sudden unexpected motion. Sunset immediately reached down and grabbed onto the bridge pieces to prevent them from sliding off. The sub didn’t go far before it slammed into the end of the underwater passage. The impact shattered the front window and allowed water to quickly start gushing inside.

“Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot!” shouted a soaked and very panicked Rainbow Dash as she quickly backed away from the flood. “Everybody out! We’re sinking!” She immediately rushed up the ladder and over onto the dock.

As Fluttershy quickly climbed up the ladder, Twilight gathered up all of her parchment into a messy pile in her arms, while Applejack immediately grabbed the rest of the supplies. Once Fluttershy was out of the hatch, Applejack then tossed those supplies up and out of the sub, where Sunset caught them and quickly passed them over to the dock. Once everything was out, Applejack rushed up the ladder.

The water flooding into the sub was already above her knees by the time Twilight finally approached the ladder. She quickly shoved all of her papers under her right arm so that her left hand was free to help her climb the ladder. She made it up a few rungs, but then slipped on her next step. She yelped as she instinctively reached both hands up to grab onto the ladder. She had managed to avoid falling off the ladder, but when she glanced down, she realized that it came at a terrible price. “Oh no!” she exclaimed as she saw all of her sheets of parchment floating in the water.

“Twilight! Get outta there!” shouted Applejack.

Twilight hesitated as she glanced back and forth between the hatch above and her ruined counter-spell efforts below. She eventually realized that preserving her own life was always a top priority, so she resumed climbing up the ladder. She quickly climbed out of the hatch and made her way across the crude bridge to the dock, where the rest of the team had already made it to safety. Rarity had already taken out a towel and was helping Rainbow Dash dry herself off.

Twilight turned back and watched with the others as their custom-built submarine slowly sank beneath the waves for the last time. When the opened hatch passed below the waterline, all of the parchment that she had dropped floated out and began to spread apart.

“Uh, is that what I think it is?” asked Spike, voicing everyone’s biggest concern right at that moment.

Twilight sighed and sadly answered, “Unfortunately, yes.” As one of the sheets of parchment floated closer, she decided to reach down and fish it out of the water. Her worst fears were confirmed when she saw that the ink on the soaked parchment was now smeared beyond recognition. She let out a defeated sigh. “I can’t salvage any of this.” She then tossed the ruined parchment back into the water.

“Then let’s just hope ya memorized most of it, ‘cause there sure ain’t no goin’ back now,” stated Applejack as she gestured at the site of the now-sunken submarine.

“At least we were able to salvage the rest of our operation,” Rarity pointed out, patting one of the luggage cases resting by her feet.

“But that counter-spell was the most crucial piece of all,” stressed Twilight. “Without it, there’s no way we can complete this mission.”

“I’m sorry, Twilight, but you’d better follow Applejack’s advice,” said Sunset Shimmer. “As much as I hate it, I’m afraid she’s right. There’s definitely no way we can turn back now. We need to move forward and keep going.”

“State your business.”

Everyone on the team immediately snapped their attention backwards to the source of that mechanical voice and saw a single robotic guard standing right behind them.

Twilight smiled nervously as she quickly answered, “Oh, uh, d-don’t mind us. We’re just, um… Visiting! Yeah, we, uh, have an appointment with someone.”

“Who are you here to see?” asked the robot.

Twilight shifted her eyes back and forth rapidly as she nervously replied, “W-we’re here to see, um…”

“Your butt!” shouted Rainbow Dash as she suddenly rushed up to the robot and gave him a swift roundhouse kick to the head.

The robot immediately began jerking around uncontrollably as sparks started flying from his joints. “Error. Error. Errorrrrrrr…” spoke the robot before he finally shut down, his torso leaning all the way forward. Since he happened to be facing away from the team at the moment this happened, this resulted in the disabled robot apparently aiming his read end at them.

“Uh… I didn’t mean that literally,” muttered Rainbow Dash.

Applejack rolled her eyes before she stepped up to the disabled robot and gave a hard kick to his rear end, sending him flying across the room and then smashing to pieces as he hit the floor. “We’d best get a move on before more show up,” she grumbled.

“She’s right,” said Sunset with a nod of agreement. She turned to the rest of the team as she continued, “You all know what you need to do, so let’s move out and save the Lego World from the sirens.”

Most of the others said various words of agreement before they split up into their respective groups and made their way over to different doorways out of the room.

All except for Spike, who remained standing in the same place as he glanced around in confusion. “H-hey! Wait! Wait!” he cried out desperately, but none of the others noticed him as they all left the room. “What was I supposed to do again?”

Spike continued to glance around with uncertainty until his eyes eventually fell on a dark grey small grate covering an air vent that seemed to be just barely big enough to fit a small minifig like himself. He simply shrugged and said to himself, “Oh well. If ever there was a moment to be in a spy movie…” He ran up to the grate and swiftly removed it with surprising ease. He turned around, backed up into the air duct, and pulled the grate back into place. He couldn’t help but chuckle mischievously as he began to crawl through the air ducts.

With the room now completely vacated, relative silence finally returned to the hidden dock. The only visible evidence of anything having happened in here was dozens of parchment pages floating on the water and the pile of robot parts in the corner. After a quiet moment, something unusual suddenly shot up out of the water and began bobbing on the surface: Spike’s double-decker couch.

Never thought I’d find myself doing this again, thought Sunset Shimmer solemnly as she crept her way through the hallways of the sub-basement. It was a strange feeling, seeing herself retracing the same footsteps she had made just over six months ago, except now her intentions were much more pure. It was also ironic to think that it had been her first run through these same hallways that would start off the series of unlikely events that ultimately led to her ongoing efforts at reformation. She decided to set aside these reflections for now. After all, she was in the middle of infiltrating this facility, and she had to stay focused on her task.

Sunset stopped at a corner as she heard some whistling coming from a nearby hallway to the right. She slowly peeked her head around the corner and saw a security guard patrolling the hallway. Fortunately, the whistling guard happened to be walking away, and she only needed to wait for him to turn left down another hallway before she proceeded down this one.

Halfway down the hallway, Sunset arrived at her destination: the doorway into the storage room, protected by a lock for “Authorized Personnel Only”. She pulled out her fake ID card and glanced down at it for a moment. The portrait that was on it was definitely her old self: furrowed brow and a wicked smile, as if boasting that she was unstoppable. Her real face gazing down at the card showed something much different: sadness and uncertainty.

Sunset shook her head, silently snapping herself back to reality. I hope this thing still works, she thought as she turned the 1x2 tile around in her hand and then inserted it into the security lock. The panel lightly beeped once as a green light came on. Sunset smiled as she put away her card and opened the door.

After quietly shutting the door behind her, Sunset glanced around at the storage room. She noticed that a few things had been moved around since the last time she was here, but for the most part, this huge room had been left largely untouched.

Sunset walked over to a nearby stack of large crates and reached into a gap between two of them on the bottom. She smiled as she felt something and then pulled it out. “I can’t believe it’s still here,” she remarked quietly as she looked at the scroll in her hands with a ballpoint pen attached to it. She removed the pen and unrolled the scroll, which turned out to be so long that the end of it fell to the floor and continued forward over a distance of about half a dozen studs.

“Well, better get started,” said Sunset as she glanced down at the first item on her inventory list.

Just one floor above, in the upper basement, Applejack and Pinkie Pie carefully made their way through the hallways on their way to the master control room. Despite remembering well what they had to do, simply getting through this maze of hallways proved to be quite challenging.

“Ya sure this is the right way to go?” asked Applejack.

“Absolutely!” replied Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “I studied Sunset’s sketches enough that I’m able to remember the whole thing like it’s the back of my hand.” She glanced down at her right hand, but then her grin fell as she turned her hand around a few times. “Uh, which side is the back side? It’s kinda hard to tell when it’s this perfectly symmetrical claw shape.”

Applejack simply frowned and rolled her eyes as she continued walking ahead.

They were about to make a left turn at the next hallway, but Applejack decided to play it safe by silently peeking around the corner, with Pinkie Pie following close behind. Their cautiousness turned out to be a wise decision, as they discovered two robotic guards standing in that next hallway.

“Darn it,” muttered Applejack. “More robots.”

Pinkie Pie raised an eyebrow and whispered, “You know, isn’t it kinda weird to see robots in a City Region? I always thought that you’d only see them in the Space Region.”

“Good point,” whispered Applejack in response. “Ah reckon the sirens had somethin’ to do with all this.”

“Does their magic work on robots?” asked Pinkie quietly. “Or do they just tell engineers that are already under their spell to program the robots to act like they’re under their spell?”

Before Applejack could think of a response, she saw the pair of robot guards turn and begin walking towards the corner they were hiding behind. “Uh oh, here they come,” she quietly alerted her teammate.

“Quick! Hide!” whispered Pinkie Pie quickly as she turned away and dove headfirst into a nearby trashcan, somehow managing to instantly squeeze her entire body inside it and flip it upside down.

Applejack glanced around nervously, desperate to find any suitable hiding place. She eventually noticed the photocopier next to the now upside down trashcan. She simply shrugged before she yanked off the top of the photocopier, climbed into the empty space inside, and then pulled the top back into place over her head.

Just seconds later, the pair of robot guards arrived in the hallway. They walked past the upside down trashcan, but then stopped in front of the photocopier. Faint mechanical whirring could be heard as the two robots glanced back and forth between the photocopier and each other.

Eventually, one of the robots asked, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The second robot laughed mischievously in response.

“Do it,” egged on the first robot as he open the lid.

The second robot jumped up and sat down atop the opened photocopier and pressed the start button. Both robots laughed as they watched the first few sheets of paper come out, displaying the second robot’s rear end.

Suddenly, the photocopier practically exploded, stunning both robots as a very furious Applejack ripped apart her hiding place. She quickly spun around, placed both hands on the floor, and kicked back with both legs against the first robot, sending him slamming into the opposite wall.

“Errorrrr…” spoke the first robot before shutting off.

Applejack pinned down the second robot with her foot on his chest, then gripped his head with both hands and yanked on it.

“Error. Error! ERROR!” spoke the second robot, his voice getting progressively higher until his head finally came off, releasing a big shower of sparks from his neck joint.

Applejack then chucked the robot head all the way down to the other end of the hallway. With her fists and teeth clenched, she panted audibly for a few seconds, her chest and shoulders visibly rising and falling with each breath. “If Ah gotta stare at another robot butt, it’ll be too soon!” she grumbled.

“Wow, Applejack, that sounded awesome!” remarked Pinkie Pie, her voice echoing from within the upside down trashcan. “Too bad I missed seeing it. Oh well!” She then quickly stood up, pushing the trashcan up from over her body, leaving only her head still covered by it. She gripped the handles of the trashcan and tried to push it the rest of the way off, but was surprised to find that it didn’t even budge. She kept pushing as much as she could, but no matter how hard she tried, the trashcan remained firmly over her head. “Oh boy. I’m stuck,” she muttered.

Applejack rolled her eyes as she walked over to Pinkie and grabbed onto that trashcan. She was able to tug much harder, but even she was struggling to remove that trashcan.

“Owie owie owie owie!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, flailing her arms around wildly.

Not wanting to rip off Pinkie’s head, Applejack relented and let go of the trashcan. “Dagnabbit, Pinkie!” she exclaimed in frustration. “We ain’t got time for this! Let’s just get to the master control room before we draw any attention to ourselves.” She then began to quickly head down the hallway.

“Right behind you, AJ!” replied Pinkie cheerfully before running forward, only to slam right into a wall. “Whoops. Wrong way.” She turned around and ran forward, only to slam into the opposite wall. “Whoopsie. Wrong way, again.” She turned and prepared to run again.

“Oh for cryin’ out loud,” grumbled Applejack as she grabbed Pinkie by the arm and practically dragged her away in the correct direction.

After a quick run down the hall, they arrived at a corner in the hallway that went to the left. Applejack held back Pinkie and peeked her head around the corner, just in time to watch two security guards leave the master control room and walk down the hallway in the opposite direction from where she was.

“I dunno about you, but I could really go for one of those burrito platters,” remarked one of the guards.

“Extra garlic and onions?” asked the second guard.

“Oh yeah,” the first guard practically drooled.

Once the two guards had turned down another hallway and out of sight, Applejack quickly moved in while still guiding Pinkie Pie by her arm. They soon stopped in front of the door to the room, where Applejack noticed a yellow sticky note with the message “out to lunch” written on it. Applejack couldn’t help but smirk at this stroke of good fortune as she removed the note and crumpled it up. She pulled out her fake ID card and briefly glanced at her portrait printed on the 1x2 tile before she inserted it into the security lock. The panel next to the door beeped once and a green light came on, followed by the automatic door sliding open. Applejack practically shoved Pinkie Pie into to room, and once they were both inside, the door automatically closed right behind them.

Now that they were both safely inside the master control room, Applejack told Pinkie, “You just worry about gettin’ rid of that trashcan. ‘Till then, Ah’ll just try mah best with this here computer.”

As Pinkie resumed tugging on the trashcan over her head, Applejack ran over to the middle of the room and jumped over a guardrail. As soon as she walked up to the central console, an image of a digital Lego head and face suddenly appeared on all three of the large display screens and spoke, “I am the computer.”

Applejack stopped and raised an eyebrow. “Huh. Talkin’ computer. That’s a new one,” she flatly remarked. “Let’s see, uh…” she glanced over the central console as she considered what she should attempt first. She decided to just go straight for the talking computer and requested, “Disable all security systems.”

“Of course,” responded the computer.

Applejack grinned. Well, that was easy, she thought.

A few seconds later, the computer stated, “There are no movies in your area with that title.”

Applejack’s smile quickly fell. “Uh… this might take a while,” she said uncertainly to Pinkie Pie, who soon lost her balance and fell over on her back, the trashcan clanging against the metallic floor.

Rarity took a good look at herself in the bathroom mirror, as her disguise was now almost complete. She wore a grey skirt over a pair of legs that were now completely black, except for a ruby red around the feet. Her torso was a crimson red with detailing on the front and back that gave off the impression of a snug fit over a feminine body. Her arms and hands were completely bare, except for a faux diamond watch on her right wrist. On her face, she had applied red lipstick and eye shadow that was a darker shade of blue than she normally wore. She had removed her standard hair piece and was now ready to add on the final touch to her disguise.

Rarity picked up an auburn hair piece that was tied up in a large bun and carefully fitted it on her head. Once the false hair was sitting comfortably on her head, she smiled. “Perfect,” she remarked contently. “Why, I can hardly even recognize myself.”

“A-are you sure this is going to work?” asked Fluttershy nervously. She didn’t have a skirt over her legs, which were now a solid navy blue. She had white arms and an olive green torso with detailing on the front with four pockets — two on each side of a vest over a white shirt. The hair piece on her head was dark brown and was straight and short, not quite reaching her shoulders. She also had pink eye shadow on her face — applied with help from Rarity, of course.

“Absolutely, dear,” replied Rarity confidently. “You know how much I have an eye for detail, and if these disguises aren’t effective enough, then simply I don’t know what else could possibly work.”

“I-if you say so,” muttered Fluttershy uncertainly as she glanced down at her feet.

“And for Ole’s sake, darling, please get rid of that shovel!” scolded Rarity as she snatched the shovel out of Fluttershy’s hands and tossed it into the nearby trashcan. “You’re going to raise a lot of eyebrows if you keep carrying that silly thing around.”

“I-I just can’t help it,” admitted Fluttershy quietly as she nervously tapped her hands together. “We’re about to do something really scary, and I need something to hold onto.”

“Well then, if you must hold something, then you can at least carry our luggage,” suggested Rarity as she gestured at the two big luggage cases on the floor.

Fluttershy gazed down at the luggage cases for a moment before she sighed and grabbed the handles. As Rarity walked over to the door out of the bathroom, Fluttershy turned her attention back to her and asked, “But won’t they recognize our voices?”

“Already considered, dear,” replied Rarity. “I happen to have the perfect accent in mind for moi.”

“What about me?” asked Fluttershy.

“Just remain perfectly silent,” replied Rarity with a dismissive wave of a hand. “I am certain that you, of all people, should be fully capable of that.”

“Okay,” whispered Fluttershy reluctantly before she picked up the luggage cases, which she found to be surprisingly heavy.

Rarity walked up to the door and placed her hand on the handle. “Put on your best poker face, darling,” she stated. “It’s showtime.” She then smiled contently as she pulled open the door and walked out of the ladies restroom, followed closely by Fluttershy.

The two disguised minifigs proceeded through the hallways of one of the upper floors as they searched for any clues on where the Dazzlings might be. After a few minutes, Rarity was eventually fortunate enough to catch a brief glimpse of two of them entering a room. She silently gestured for Fluttershy to follow and they both casually walked up to the now-closed door. Rarity leaned close to the door and listened carefully to the faint voices inside that room.

“I am pleased that you girls appreciate these accommodations,” said a masculine voice.

“Don’t mention it, Mr. Playwell,” responded a feminine voice. “We’re just glad that you are willing to help us keep an eye on things.”

“On that note, I’d better get back to my office,” said Mr. Playwell. “I’ll see you at tonight’s concert.”

The door opened and out stepped Kjeld. As he shut the door, he noticed the disguised Rarity and Fluttershy standing nearby, to whom he gave a smile and a single nod before he turned away and headed down the hallway.

Both disguised girls smiled on the outside, but on the inside, they felt very uneasy to have witnessed the leader of the entire Lego World being played like a puppet by the sirens. With that little reminder of how much was at stake, they were finally determined to play out their part of the infiltration.

Once Kjeld had left the hallway, the two girls stepped over to stand in front of the doorway. Rarity grasped the door handle, cleared her throat, and then threw the door open. The door slammed against the wall, catching the immediate attention of all three sirens inside the room.

“Ah! Bonjour!” greeted Rarity, speaking with the thickest French accent she could manage as she proudly marched into the room. “I am Madame Elegance! Fashion designer extraordinaire!” She struck a few dramatic poses as she spoke, while Fluttershy stepped into the room and stopped right behind her.

Aria furrowed her brow and placed her hands on her hips as she rudely asked, “Who invited you?”

“I am ‘ere to offer you my talented services,” answered Rarity, doing her best to keep that faux grin plastered on her face. “After all, you are very wonderful singers, is zat correct?”

“You could say that,” replied Adagio casually as she glanced down at one of her hands.

“We’re gonna be preforming a live concert tonight,” said Sonata excitedly. “The entire city has been invited!”

That little piece of news made Rarity feel quite concerned, but she was careful to not let that show on her face. Instead, she maintained her act and said, “Ah, but if you are to be performing in front of an audience tonight, zen you must look as beautiful as you sound, oui oui?”

“Hey, you’re right!” beamed Sonata. “A special occasion deserves a special outfit!” She turned to her fellow sirens and asked, “What do ya say?”

Adagio glanced up and away for a moment, then shrugged and replied, “I don’t see why not. We’ve got plenty of time to spare.”

“I don’t know,” muttered Aria as she crossed her arms. “I’d rather do something better with my time.”

Rarity was starting to get very worried by a possible denial of her offer, though she continued to maintain her façade. Fluttershy, on the other hand, had her eyes closed and her teeth clenched, not out of fear, but rather by how much she was struggling to keep holding up those heavy luggage cases.

“Aw, come on, Aria,” pleaded Sonata. “It could be fun. Please?” She clasped her hands together made her eyes as big as possible.

Aria was unable to resist Sonata’s sad-puppy face for more than a few seconds before she sighed and grumbled, “Fine, whatever.”

“Wonderful!” exclaimed Rarity excitedly. “Let us get started, shall we? Assistant!” She quickly clapped her hands twice. “You may begin unpacking.”

It was right at that moment that Fluttershy’s arms finally gave out. Her arms popped out from her shoulder joints, allowing the luggage cases to crash to the floor and fall over away from her. When she suddenly no longer felt her arms straining, her eyes snapped open and her mouth gaped as she glanced down to find that her arms had come off and were still grasping the handles on those cases. She glanced up and saw the others were now staring at her in confusion. Unable to say anything, she responded with a nervous grin as she blushed.

On another floor of LEGO Headquarters, Twilight Sparkle silently gazed around a corner to the right in the hallways. She knew which way to go, but noticed that there was an employee currently walking through the next hallway, so she had no choice but to wait for him to move along.

“Hey, uh, remind me again why we’ve got sponges tied to the bottom of our feet,” Rainbow Dash suddenly asked while gesturing toward her feet.

Twilight snapped her attention back to her teammate and immediately shushed her, then quickly glanced around and listened carefully for a few seconds. When the relative silence confirmed that no one had heard her friend’s outburst, she quietly answered, “It’s to minimize the noise of our footsteps. Maybe it’s because I’m not used to being made out of plastic, but I’ve noticed that these feet against a hard surface can be pretty noisy.”

Twilight glanced around the corner again just in time to see the employee walk around the corner at the other end of the hallway. With this hallway now clear, she silently waved her arm forward, and she and Rainbow Dash quickly crept through the hall. Just as Twilight had expected, the only noise they made as they moved was the faint hissing of air as the sponges compressed with each step they took. It wasn’t total silence, but it was definitely a lot quieter than the clacking of plastic. Once they arrived at the end of the hallway, they both crouched down behind the corner of their next turn.

“Wow, that worked out pretty nicely,” Rainbow Dash quietly remarked with a grin. “It’s almost like we’re ninjas.”

Twilight shushed her friend again before peeking around the next corner to the left. A few seconds later, she gave the all-clear signal to Rainbow and they both moved through the next hallway. They repeated this process at each corner; another left, a right, then another right.

As they stopped at the next corner, Rainbow quietly asked, “Am I the only one noticing that we’re not going in a straight line?”

“These sponges can get us past the audio sensors,” Twilight quietly answered, “but to get past the motion sensors, we would have to move extremely slowly, and I’m pretty sure that’s something you’d rather not do.”

“Point taken.”

They made a left at the next corner. Then they went right at the following corner, but made it only halfway through the hall when they suddenly heard a metallic banging and some sloshing water. Rainbow Dash glanced down and realized that she had just stepped into a bucket of water.

“Darn it,” muttered Rainbow as she quickly shook the bucket off her foot and continued after her teammate. However, the sponge on her right foot had now absorbed so much water that it squished rather loudly with each step she took, as well as leave a small puddle on the floor. Twilight almost cringed with each step Rainbow took with her right leg, fearing each time that it would alert security to their presence.

Thankfully, they arrived at the next hallway intersection without triggering any of the audio sensors. Twilight very briefly glanced around and once she was sure that all the surrounding halls were clear, she turned left and immediately rushed into a small alcove in the wall to the right. Rainbow quickly followed her into the alcove and quietly sat down on the floor.

Rainbow Dash sighed in frustration and grumbled, “So much for stealth.” Reluctantly, she began untying the damp sponge on her right foot.

As soon as Twilight sat down on the floor next to her teammate, her eyes suddenly widened as she began to hear two pairs of clacking footsteps out in the hall.

“Did you hear something?” asked one guy.

“I think it came from over here,” replied a female voice.

Twilight and Rainbow sat perfectly still, waiting tensely to see if they might be discovered. The clacking footsteps steadily came closer and closer until they eventually stopped at the intersection.

The guy let out a frustrated sigh and grumbled, “Darn janitor forgot to put away that bucket again.”

“Seriously? Ugh!” complained the girl. “Somebody oughta fire that guy. He’s a workplace hazard.”

Those footsteps were now growing steadily fainter. Eventually, Twilight let out a quiet sigh of relief as relative silence finally returned to the hallways. She glanced over at Rainbow and raised an eyebrow as she watched her remove the dry sponge on her other foot. “What are you doing?” she quietly asked.

“Well I can’t exactly run around on just one foot,” replied Rainbow Dash. Once she had removed both sponges from her feet, she turned to Twilight. “Better call AJ about those security systems.”

Twilight nodded and pulled out her walkie-talkie. She switched it on and quietly spoke, “Applejack. What’s our status with the security systems?”

“It ain’t lookin’ good right now,” responded Applejack, holding her walkie-talkie in her right hand while pounding various buttons on the central console with her other hand. “Ah’m tryin’ just about everythin’ on this here control panel an’ nothin’ seems to be workin’.”

“Downloading latest episode of Where are my Pants?,” stated the computer.

“Where the heck are ya gettin’ ‘pants’ from?!” exclaimed Applejack in frustration. “Ah never said anythin’ close to that!”

Over the walkie-talkie, Twilight asked, “Well, why don’t you follow Sunset’s advice and let Pinkie give it a try?”

“That’s a no-go, Ah’m afraid,” replied Applejack. She rolled her eyes as she begrudgingly explained, “She got her head stuck inside a trashcan.”

Behind Applejack, Pinkie Pie continued to push and pull on the trashcan in numerous ways, but just kept failing to even budge it. Her voice echoed from within the trashcan as she remarked, “By the way, this isn’t my first time inside a trashcan. Funny story. You see, I was—”

“Not now, Pinkie,” Applejack cut off her friend as she resumed hitting random buttons on the console.

Twilight lowered the walkie-talkie and rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Rainbow and saw her give a similar response to the ridiculous news.

Twilight brought the walkie-talkie back up to her face and responded, “Well, just keep trying, then. Rainbow and I have hit a bit of a snag ourselves, and we could really use your help disabling those security systems.”

“Ah wouldn’t count on it if Ah were you,” responded Applejack. “At the rate things are goin’ ‘round here, Ah’m more likely to hit a panic alarm or somthin’ like that.”

“Do you wish to engage Panic Alarm?” spoke the computer voice.

“No no no!” shouted a very panicked Applejack. “No Panic Alarm! Disengage Panic Alarm!”

“Disengaging Panic Alarm,” stated the computer.

“Whew! That was a mighty close call,” spoke Applejack. “Y’all better figure things out on your own, ‘cause Ah sure can’t help y’all right now.”

Twilight hesitantly put away her walkie-talkie and sighed. “Now how are we supposed to advance?” she quietly asked herself. She glanced over at Rainbow Dash and saw that she was now attaching a shaft onto the end of one of her laser pistols. Twilight raised an eyebrow and asked, “What are you doing?”

“You heard what she said,” replied Rainbow as she looked over the laser pistol briefly before putting it away. “We can’t rely on her to bail us outta this one, so it looks like we’ll just have to improvise.” She pulled out her other laser pistol and flashed Twilight a cocky grin. “Rainbow Dash style.”

“Rainbow Dash style?” asked Twilight as she watched her brash teammate attach a second shaft onto the end of that other laser pistol. “What makes that different from just regular improvising?”

“Four words, princess,” Rainbow confidently answered as she put away her second laser pistol and stood up. “No plan?” She swiftly removed a ventilation grate in the wall right behind where she had been sitting. “No problem!” She tossed the grate over to Twilight and quickly crawled through the opening in the wall.

Twilight briefly fumbled with the grate, then carefully crawled over to the opening, backed up through it, and then pulled the grate back into place. She stood up and glanced around at the dimly-lit hallway that had all kinds of pipes and vents along the walls. She and Rainbow happened to be standing on a metallic walkway, through which she could see a few more on the floors below. A glance upwards confirmed that there were also more of these walkways on the floors above as well. “Wow,” remarked Twilight with wonder. “We must be in some kind of service corridor.”

“Awesome!” said Rainbow excitedly. “We can just bypass all the security systems!”

“I wouldn’t necessarily say all of them,” Twilight cautiously pointed out as she removed the sponges that were still tied to her feet, “but hopefully enough to buy Applejack some time.”

“C’mon! Let’s go!” Rainbow called back as she began running off.

Twilight quickly followed and asked, “Are you sure this is the right way to go?”

“Didn’t ya hear what I said?” asked Rainbow Dash rhetorically as she began climbing a ladder. “Who needs a plan when you can do some Rainbow Dash style improvising?”

Twilight began to follow Rainbow up the ladder as she mumbled, “Why do I get the feeling that’ll just lead to more trouble?”

The two minifigs quickly reached the top of the ladder and ran down the walkway. The metallic structure clanged lightly with each step they took. With the background noise of gently humming machinery and the occasional hissing from a pipe, there was less imperative for silence than there had been out in the public hallways, though both girls knew that they still had to be careful to not give away their position.

After a few minutes of running around along walkways, stairs, and ladders, Twilight softly but impatiently said, “Rainbow Dash, this is pointless. I’m pretty sure we’re just going in circles.”

As they both stopped next to a large ventilation grate, Rainbow furrowed her brow as she turned to her teammate and said, “Hey, if you’ve got any ideas, I’d be more than happy to hear ‘em!”

Twilight let out a frustrated sigh. She decided to start by checking in with Applejack, so she pulled out her walkie-talkie and spoke, “How’s progress on those security systems?”

“No better than it was the last time ya called in!” Applejack sharply responded as she practically pounded all over the central console. “Ah’ve hit just about every darn button on this thing an’ it ain’t doin’ anythin’ Ah what it to!”

In the background, Pinkie Pie was desperately trying every possible method she could think of to remove that trashcan. She tried pushing it off while walking backwards, tried banging it against the wall, tried dragging it across the floor while running forward, tried rolling along the floor while trying to pull it off, and even tried scooting around on her butt like a dog for reasons known only to Pinkie. But no matter how much she tried, that trashcan remained stubbornly stuck over her head.

“Searching for Albanian restaurants,” stated the computer.

“Dagnabbit!” exclaimed Applejack in frustration. “You ain’t makin’ a lick o’ sense, ya stubborn mule!”

“I do not understand your accent,” stated the computer.

“Ah ain’t got no accent!” shouted Applejack. She then stomped and flailed her arms around as she hollered, “JUST DISABLE THE GOSH DARN SECURITY SYSTEMS!!”

“Wow!” remarked Pinkie Pie in shock. “Take a chill pill.”

“NOT HELPIN’!!” snapped Applejack.

Twilight sighed as she put away her walkie-talkie.

Rainbow Dash scoffed and sourly remarked, “Y’know, considering how much trouble both our groups seem to be having, I bet Rarity and Fluttershy have it easy.”

“Now zis one would be more your style, oui?” asked Rarity as she held up a dark purple skirt to Adagio.

Adagio rubbed her chin and replied, “Hmm… It’s getting there, but it still seems too… modest for me. I need something that’s much more extravagant. After all, I am the lead singer of this group.”

“Ah, but of course,” said Rarity with a nod as she put away the skirt and dug around through the racks of clothes for something else. Although she appeared on the outside to be enjoying this occasion, she had actually been feeling very tense and uneasy. After all, she and Fluttershy were in the exact same room as the Dazzlings, and she and her timid teammate had to absolutely ensure that those three would not catch on to anything suspicious going on. Therefore, she maintained her excellent poker face and resumed working on Adagio’s performance dress.

Meanwhile, Fluttershy was working on Aria’s performance dress, but hadn’t really made much progress. Although she did well to stay silent and hide her true feelings, there was little doubt that of all three of the sirens, it was Aria who scared her the most. The scowl on the violet girl’s face seemed to be as permanent as a stone carving, while the occasional sighs of displeasure showed that playing dress-up was one of the last things she wanted to be doing right now.

As she was comparing certain fabrics against Aria’s standard wardrobe, Fluttershy’s eyes eventually fell on that strange ruby gemstone attached to that separate pendant piece. She had noticed that all three of the sirens seem to constantly wear them at all times, so she wondered what could be so significant about them. She couldn’t stop her curiosity as she reached a hand up to gently cup the mysterious object.

Fluttershy’s hand was immediately slapped away by the grumpy siren. “Hands off!” snapped Aria.

The disguised yellow girl couldn’t help but flinch and faintly whimper at this violent reaction.

Rarity noticed what had just happened, so she walked over to Fluttershy and calmly suggested, “Uh, assistant? Why don’t you ‘elp Sonata wiz ‘er ensemble? I shall take care of zis one.”

Fluttershy glanced over at the blue siren — who seemed to be having trouble figuring out which end of a skirt was supposed to go up — then turned to Rarity and nodded before walking over to Sonata.

Rarity turned to Aria and calmly said, “My apologies for zat little mis‘ap. I take it zose pendants are very special to you, oui?”

“Absolutely,” confirmed Adagio. “We would just hate to have anything bad happen to them.”

Rarity nodded at the lead siren and said, “Understandable.” She turned her attention back to Aria and continued, “I should ‘ave no problem deciding ‘ow to incorporate zem as part of your performance dresses.”

“Has anyone ever mentioned that you have a horrible accent?” Aria harshly remarked.

Despite it being the first hint that the sirens might be on to her, Rarity maintained her composure and bluffed, “I cannot ‘elp it, madame, for it is ‘oo I am.”

“Whatever,” grumbled Aria as she rolled her eyes.

The disguised white girl reached into a nearby box of fabric and smiled as she pulled out a lime green piece of silk. “Per‘aps zis would be your color.”

Twilight glanced over to the large ventilation grate on her left and as she looked between the gaps, she saw something that made her eyes widen. “Hey, look,” she whispered over to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow turned to her right to face the grate and glanced through it. The large room on the other side had about a dozen tables set out with approximately four chairs at each table. There were also a few minifigs seated at some of these tables, eating various kinds of food and chatting with their coworkers.

“That must be the cafeteria,” noted Twilight quietly. She turned to Rainbow and smiled as she added, “I think I know which way to go from here.”

“Then lead on, princess,” said Rainbow Dash with a smile.

Twilight quickly led the way along the service corridors, pausing at ladders and intersections before determining the correct path to take. After a few minutes of careful navigation, the two girls arrived at a sudden end in the walkway. There was another walkway ahead, but the gap in between was too wide to jump across, and it was too dark to see how far down it was to the bottom. There was also some kind of platform suspended from a track that appeared to run across the gap, but this platform was currently on the other side.

“It shouldn’t be much further,” said Twilight. “We just need to find a way to get across this gap.”

“Got it covered,” replied Rainbow Dash smugly as she whipped out her laser pistols.

Twilight gasped in shock and quietly exclaimed, “No, you can’t! That’s too noisy!”

“Relax,” reassured Rainbow. “I put silencers on these things for a reason.” She flashed Twilight a cocky grin as she raised the laser pistol in her right hand and said, “Watch me hit that switch on the first shot.”

Twilight glanced over at the suspended platform and noticed a lever on the railing on one side. At the moment, that lever was pointed towards them, so if a shot from a laser bolt could knock it over to the other setting, then it just might activate the platform to move to their side.

Rainbow Dash aimed the laser pistol, fired it — the Pew! noise was notably much fainter than before — and… missed. She fired a second shot, but missed again. Then another shot, and another miss. She fired a few more shots, but they all missed. Finally, she raised her second laser pistol and began firing them both as rapidly as possible. Dozens of laser bolts shot across gap in rapid succession, but all of them completely missed, either hitting the far wall or parts of the nearby railings and walkways. Eventually, one lucky shot finally struck the lever, flipping it over to the other setting and triggering the platform to start moving to their side.

“Ha! See? First shot!” boasted Rainbow Dash.

As soon as Rainbow looked away and holstered her laser pistols, Twilight couldn’t help but smile and roll her eyes.

Once the platform arrived, Twilight and Rainbow stepped onto it. Twilight flipped the lever back over, and the platform carried them safely across the gap. As soon at the platform reached the other side, they stepped off and onto the next walkway.

As they arrived at a three-way intersection, Twilight led Rainbow down the walkway to the left. “The recording studio should be somewhere over there,” said Twilight as she pointed up at the wall on their left side about two floors above. Remarkably, there was a single door up there, reachable by a stairway that happened to lead right down towards the walkway they were on. The two girls glanced at each other, smiled, and proceeded up the stairway.

Once they arrived at the door, Twilight immediately noticed the control panel next to it with the label “Authorized Personnel Only” printed on it. “Security lock,” she noted. She turned to Rainbow and asked, “Got your fake ID?”

Rainbow let out a frustrated sigh and begrudgingly replied, “Left it back in the sub.” She turned to Twilight and asked, “Got yours?”

Twilight chuckled nervously and uneasily answered, “I, uh, asked Sunset Shimmer to hold onto mine for safekeeping, and, uh… I kinda forgot to ask her to give it back.”

Rainbow Dash let out another frustrated sigh. “Well that’s just great,” she grumbled. “We’re just a few steps away from saving the whole Lego World, and the only thing standing in our way is a locked door!” She backed up a few steps and then shoulder-rammed the door, but it did nothing at all. “Eeyup. That’s not gonna give,” she grimly noted.

Twilight sighed and muttered, “She’s not gonna like this, but…” She pulled out her walkie-talkie and spoke, “Applejack, I’m afraid we’ve hit a dead-end. We can’t advance any further. We need those security systems down now.”

Applejack furiously kicked the side of the central console and shouted at her walkie-talkie, “Then y’all are up a creek, ‘cause I’m ‘bout ready to trash this whole gosh brickin’ darn place!”

“Oh, wait!” Pinkie Pie suddenly exclaimed. “I think I got it this time!” She grasped the handles of the trashcan and began twisting it around her head, creating a faint squeak with each revolution. After a few turns, she let go of the handles, grasped her long hair hanging from the back of her head, and yanked down on it. With a metallic burst, the trashcan suddenly shot off her head like a cork from a bottle.

“Freedom!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie, jumping with excitement with a huge grin on her face.

“Finally!” shouted a very exasperated Applejack. She rushed over to Pinkie, grabbed her by the arm, and literally hurled her over to the central console. “You deal with this useless hunk o’ junk!”

Pinkie Pie landed in a heap, but quickly picked herself back up and stared up at the digital Lego head on the display screens. “Um, hi there, Mrs. Computer,” she greeted with a friendly wave. “Could you disable all the security systems pleeeeeeaaa—” She paused to take another breath. “—eeeeeeaaase?”

Applejack furrowed her brow as she looked on with pessimism. That sure ain’t gonna work, she thought.

“Disabling all security systems,” stated the computer.

“WHAT?!” shouted Applejack in absolute disbelief.

“Woohoo! First try!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she jumped with excitement.

Applejack simply groaned and flopped forward, smacking her face against a secondary console.

Pinkie Pie’s grin suddenly fell as she placed a hand on her chin and muttered, “Huh. I wonder where that trashcan went.”

Crash!

The discarded trashcan came down right on Applejack’s head, smashing her face against the console before it bounced off and clattered to the floor beside her.

“Oh, there it is!” said Pinkie happily.

Applejack kept her face against the console as she muttered and grumbled all kinds of foul language under her breath.

Twilight grabbed the door handle and turned it. Amazingly, the door opened without any trouble at all.

“Huh. Looks like the hacking team finally came through for us,” remarked Rainbow Dash before stepping into the recording studio.

Twilight put away her walkie-talkie before following her teammate inside. In another stroke of good fortune, the two minifigs discovered that the recording studio was completely deserted at the moment. Despite the current lack of personnel, a few systems within the room seemed to be functioning automatically — including a record player that kept playing a certain song over and over.

Twilight shut the door behind her and listened to a few lyrics from the Dazzlings’ latest song before she said, “So I guess it all comes down to this…” She slowly walked over to the record player, switched it off, and carefully removed the record and set it aside.

“Whoa, whoa, what are you doing?” Rainbow Dash suddenly asked.

Twilight turned to Rainbow and raised an eyebrow. “I’m just removing the sirens’ song,” replied Twilight. “Isn’t that what we’re here to do?”

“But you can’t just set it aside,” argued Rainbow as she swiftly snatched up the vinyl record. “This is their most powerful weapon. You gotta destroy it. Like this!” She threw the record to the floor as hard as she could, shattering it and sending fragments flying across the room.

Twilight flinched at the sudden destruction, then relaxed and uneasily said, “I suppose that’s a more effective measure to take.”

“C’mon,” said Rainbow as she grabbed Twilight by the wrist and dragged her over to the studio half of the room. “I’ve already set up a microphone for ya. There’s no telling how much time we have until somebody realizes the music has stopped, so get in there and start singing that musical counter-spell.”

Twilight stumbled over to the lone microphone that was hanging from the ceiling. She stared at it for a moment, then glanced through the large window to see Rainbow fiddling around with some of the equipment. “Are you improvising ‘Rainbow Dash style’ again?” she asked uncertainly. “I’m not so sure if that’ll help us.”

“Not like we have much of a choice,” retorted Rainbow Dash as she twisted a few random knobs. “Besides, we all saw what happened to that counter-spell you wrote when you left the sub, so just start singing whatever you can remember while I try to figure things out over here.”

Twilight sighed as she hopelessly watched Rainbow continue to mess around in the recording half of the room. Regardless, this was likely their only opportunity, so they were forced to do the best they could with what little they had. With nothing else left to do, Twilight stepped up to the microphone, took a deep breath, and…

The door to the public hallway suddenly opened, and in stepped a certain police officer with a very displeased look on his face.

Twilight gawked for a moment before she quietly asked, “Flash Sentry? What are you doing here?”

Flash glared at Twilight and sharply responded, “I should be asking you that question.” He then lifted open a small glass panel on the wall, underneath which was a large red button.

Twilight’s eyes quickly widened in shock as she suddenly shouted, “No! Don’t!”

Flash Sentry slammed his fist against the red button. Flashing red lights and incredibly loud ringing and buzzing immediately started going off all over the facility. The alarm had been triggered. The team of Master Builders had just been caught.

“Darn it!” shouted Rainbow in panic. “We gotta get outta here!” She immediately rushed for the door to the service corridor, but as soon as she opened it, she found herself in front of a few security guards with their weapons aimed right at her. She yelped and quickly raised her hands. “Double darn it!”

Twilight’s attention was taken away from her teammate when she suddenly felt a pair of handcuffs slapped onto her wrists. She glanced over and saw that it was Flash Sentry who had just placed her under arrest.

“Game over, crook,” Flash stated harshly.

As Twilight glanced down at the handcuffs on her wrists, she was unable to hold back her tears and started to sob.

“Next time, you do all the hackin’,” grumbled Applejack as she and Pinkie Pie walked down the hallway away from the master control room.

Suddenly, flashing red lights and incredibly loud ringing and buzzing started going off all over the facility. The two girls quickly glanced around in panic, then various clicking noises made them spin around to find a dozen security guards aiming their weapons right at them.

“Uh, did Ah say hackin’?” asked Applejack nervously as she and Pinkie quickly raised their hands. “Ah meant, uh…”

“Packing!” continued Pinkie in a surprisingly cheerful tone. “She wants me to do all the packing! Because we’re going on a long and epic road trip! Wanna join us?” She held up a bag of potato chips from seemingly out of nowhere. “I brought snacks!”

One of the security guards responded by firing his laser rifle at the potato chips, vaporizing all but the corner of the bag that Pinkie was holding.

The two caught minifigs stared silently at the sizzling remains of the potato chip bag. “Ah’m thinkin’ that’s a no,” muttered Applejack.

All three sirens were very satisfied with the performance dresses that had been so generously made for them. Adagio had violet on her shoulders, much of her torso, her detailed skirt, and a band around her wrists; lavender around her feet and printed on most of the front of her torso; and a violet hair tie with longer spikes than her regular one. Aria had violet around her feet, white and magenta stripes around her legs, a lime green skirt that was long in the back, aqua green around her lower arms, and dark purple on most of her torso except for around the shoulders on the front and the upper half of the back. Sonata had magenta around her lower legs and most of her torso except for around the shoulders, dark purple on her skirt and lower arms, and a black necktie printed on the front of her torso. But most importantly for all three of them, they all still wore their red gemstone pendants, just as “Madame Elegance” had promised.

“You three are magnifique!” said Rarity with pride.

Suddenly, flashing red lights and incredibly loud ringing and buzzing started going off all over the facility.

“Ahh! Fire! Fire!” shrieked Sonata as she flailed her arms around and hopped from one foot to the other.

“That’s not the Fire Alarm!” shouted Adagio. “That’s the Master Alarm!” She narrowed her eyes as she firmly added, “Which means someone has broken into this building.” Almost right away, she and her two companions turned to the only other occupants in the room.

Rarity and Fluttershy quickly glanced at each other, then back to the sirens. “Ah, I believe it is time for us to depart,” said Rarity with a slight hint of nervousness. The two disguised girls quickly shoved all of the discarded pieces of clothing into their large luggage cases, crammed them shut, and then picked them up. Before they rushed for the door, Rarity spared just enough time to give one wave of a hand and say, “Au revoir!”

The door was quickly thrown open and a few security guards outside swiftly aimed their weapons at the fleeing pair. The two disguised girls were immediately forced the drop their luggage and raise their hands. “Oh drat!” muttered Rarity, dropping her faux accent.

“I knew it!” shouted Aria. “That accent was fake!” When she noticed her companions giver her confused looks, she added, “Seriously, though. That was the worst accent I’ve ever heard.”

“Did you really just say that?” asked Sonata with a sudden smile on her face. “Did you really just call someone else the worst?”

“Shut it, Sonata,” grumbled Aria as she glared sideways at her dim-witted companion. “You’re still the worst in a lot of other ways.”

“And finally, Ole’s very first creation, the wooden duck,” noted Sunset Shimmer. She glanced up from her checklist to see said wooden duck, which was easily more than twice her height. The paint on the giant wooden object was slightly faded and chipped along the edges, but otherwise seemed to be in rather good condition. “Check,” stated Sunset as she checked off the final item on the list.

“Well, that covers everything,” said Sunset contently as she rolled up her inventory list. She stuck the pen back onto the roll of parchment and placed the whole thing back where she had found it. “Once the others are ready, I can tell them the good news: no unexpected surprises down here.”

Suddenly, flashing red lights and incredibly loud ringing and buzzing started going off all over the facility. Sunset’s eyes widened in shock as she began glancing around in confusion. Just seconds later, the door to the storage room burst open and a few security guards rushed in and aimed their weapons right at her.

Sunset slowly turned around and stood frozen, not even bothering to raise her hands. As she gawked at the guards who had just caught her, she eventually managed to weakly mutter, “Uh… I stand corrected.”

A Terrifying Escape

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Chapter 14
A Terrifying Escape

“Sneaking around the corner,” Spike quietly sang as he slowly crept his way through the air ducts with his back against one side. He was approaching a four-way intersection and was preparing to take the path on the left.

Unfortunately, Spike failed to take the third dimension into account, and when he set his foot out into the intersection, he quickly plunged straight down the vertical air duct. He screamed loudly as he fell, and after a few seconds, he crashed through a vent cover and slammed into the floor of the room beyond it.

Spike groaned as he slowly sat up, then winced and rubbed his sore back. “Ow,” he muttered with a strained voice. “That hurt.”

Once the pain had dulled enough for him to think straight, Spike glanced around at the room he had ended up in. He quickly noticed a table to his left with all kinds of papers — both small pages and large rolled-up sheets — scattered around on it. “Hello,” he muttered curiously. “What do we have here?”

Spike slowly stood up — wincing again from his back pain — and carefully walked up to the table. As he eyed the rolled-up sheets, he quietly noted, “Looks kinda like… blueprints.” He quickly glanced over his right shoulder, then his left shoulder, and once he confirmed that he was the only person in this room, he reached for the nearest blueprint and unrolled it.

Spike suddenly gasped and whispered, “The broadcasting towers.” Drawn on that blueprint was a design for those certain tall and narrow structures that had supposedly gone up all over the Lego World. He carefully set the blueprint aside and glanced around at the rest of the papers on the table. Each of them displayed a different set of details, but overall seemed to describe how the entire worldwide system really worked. Whatever this room was, Spike knew he had just stumbled upon a goldmine of knowledge.

“Hey, uh, what do you wanna do after work today?”

That faint voice made Spike lightly gasp and snap his attention back towards the only door out of this room.

“Eh, I dunno. What do you wanna do?” asked a second guy.

As the two guys continued their casual conversation, Spike realized that they were approaching the door. Although he was completely unaware of how the rest of the team was doing, he knew very well that the last thing he wanted to happen was to be discovered snooping around inside LEGO Headquarters. With quick thinking, he immediately ran over to the door and turned the lock.

Just one second later, the door shuddered as someone on the other side tried to open it, but the lock kept it firmly shut. “Oh great,” grumbled the first guy. “You got the key?”

“I thought you had the key,” replied the second guy in confusion.

“Don’t tell me you lost the key.”

“I just told ya, I thought you had it.”

“Well that’s just great! Now we’re gonna have to go all the way to the other side of the building just to get the spare!”

“So much for gettin’ outta work early,” grumbled the second guy as Spike listened to their clacking footsteps move away from the door.

Once the coast was clear again, Spike removed his cap and wiped his brow as he let out a sigh of relief. He put his cap back on as he glanced over at all the papers on the table in the middle of the room. “I’d better get all this stuff outta here and bring it to a safe place,” he quietly told himself.

With little time to lose, he grabbed a pair of empty crates and quickly started shoving all of the papers into them. Once he had packed up everything of value, he removed an air vent grate at the bottom of a wall, pushed the stuffed crates into the large air duct, and then crawled into the duct and pulled the grate back into place. Now that he was safely out of the room with the loot, he began pushing the two crates through the air ducts. He had a lot of material to study, and he wanted to be sure he was in a safe location with no risk of being found.

Police officer Flash Sentry locked in the sixth and final set of restraints for the captured Master Builders, binding them by their wrists and ankles against the wall of the interrogation chamber down in the sub-basement of LEGO Headquarters. Restrained against the wall from left to right were Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. To Fluttershy’s left was one of the two main doors into this room. To Twilight’s right was the other doorway, but between that and her and just past her line of sight in an alcove was a table surrounded by various kinds of machinery. On the opposite wall was a workbench that stretched the entire length of the room and had all kinds of tools and weapons resting on it.

Rarity and Fluttershy had been stripped of their disguises and were now back in their standard wardrobes. Pinkie Pie had a rather blank expression on her face, while Applejack’s had kept a stoic grimace since the moment she was brought into this room. And while Twilight was hanging her head in sadness, Rainbow Dash was desperately tugging at her restraints in a futile hope of freeing herself.

“Don’t bother trying to escape,” warned Flash Sentry firmly. “These restraints have electrical locks, so as long as the lights stay on, you crooks aren’t going anywhere.”

Rainbow stopped tugging at her restraints and defiantly shouted, “Don’t count on it! We’ll find a way outta here! Us good guys never stay down!”

“Wrong!” Flash shot back furiously. “By committing the felony of breaking and entering at LEGO Headquarters of all places, you have proven yourselves to be nothing more than a bunch of no good dirty crooks! And as soon as LEGO Maximum Security Prison has been rebuilt, not only will you all be sent there, but each of you will be separately placed in solitary confinement for the rest of your miserable lives.”

As the disgruntled police officer began to storm off, Twilight raised her head and weakly asked, “How can you be so heartless? I thought we were friends.”

Flash immediately stopped and took a deep breath. He then swiftly kicked a nearby chair with a loud grunt, sending it flying across the room.

All six prisoners flinched at this sudden and violent reaction.

Flash turned to Twilight and scolded, “You had your chance. But not only did you assist with this massive incident, but also supported Sunset Shimmer in violating her parole. You of all people don’t deserve any second chances!” He turned away. “I don’t know whose idea it was to make you a princess in your world, but if you ask me… they made a terrible mistake.” He then began marching across the room to the door at the other end.

As she watch Flash storm off, Twilight felt tears in her eyes again. There were very few moments in her life when her feelings had been hurt so badly. She had worked so hard to reach the point of becoming the Princess of Friendship, and to have it all so viciously attacked by Flash Sentry in particular just broke her heart.

Flash Sentry opened the far door, stepped out of the room, and slammed the door shut. Just two seconds later, he suddenly rushed back into the room and ran over to the chair he had kicked. He kicked it against the nearest wall once, twice, three times, then turned around and punted it clear across the room. Finally, he stormed out of the interrogation room for real and slammed the door shut on his way out.

The six Master Builders stared silently to their left over at the far door. The silence was soon broken by some light chuckling and a smug voice remarking, “Now that was quite a performance.”

In the alcove to Twilight’s right, all three of the Dazzlings were gathered around the table. They had changed out of their custom-designed performance dresses and were now back in their standard wardrobes.

Adagio stepped out of the alcove and slowly marched in front of the captured Master Builders with a smug smile as she continued, “I have to admit, you girls made a very bold attempt to stop us. I’m honestly surprised by just how far you were able to go, in spite of a few setbacks. But in the end, what matters is not how close you were to success, but rather the simple fact that you failed.” Aria and Sonata stepped out of the alcove as Adagio returned to that side of the room. “I knew your little operation was doomed right from the start, especially after that patrol boat came back with this.” She held up a vinyl record with the words “My Awesome Song — Rainbow Dash” printed on it.

“Rainbow Dash!” scolded Rarity.

“What?!” Rainbow shot back. “I made that thing years ago! How was I supposed to know it would ever end up in the hands of some bad guy?!”

Aria snatched the record out of Adagio’s hand and raised an eyebrow as she asked, “Let me guess, you made this in freshman year?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow in confusion. “How did you know?” she asked.

“It wasn’t hard to figure out,” replied Aria bitterly, “considering that this is the worst song I’ve ever heard.”

“Yay!” cheered Sonata with an excited jump. “Another thing I’m not the worst at!”

Aria responded by smashing the record against the top of Sonata’s head.

Sonata yelped as the record shattered over her head. Once all the fragments fell to the floor, she rubbed the sore spot on her head and whined, “That really hurt.”

Aria walked back to the table and picked up a pair of objects that were resting on it. “Though I gotta admit, you have a nice choice of weaponry,” she said as she walked back into view of the captured Master Builders, revealing that she was now holding the pair of laser pistols — now without those silencers — that Rainbow Dash had been using. She then stuck a combative pose, aiming one laser pistol forward and the other upwards, and smirked at the prisoners. “What do ya think?”

None of the six Master Builders said anything, though Rainbow Dash did glare at the thief of one of her favorite weapons.

“Are you trying to look like one of those space aliens?” asked Sonata.

Aria slumped and grumbled, “Ugh. You’re just the worst.” She then carelessly tossed the laser pistols back onto the table.

The near door suddenly opened and in walked three minifigs. Two of them were a certain pair of crooks, each of them wearing black and white striped prison shirts, black beanie hats, and armed with a red crowbar. The third person was their captive, who walked reluctantly between the two crooks with her hands bound behind her back by a pair of handcuffs and her head hanging in shame.

“We found this one down in the storage room,” reported Rocky as he and Mugsy kept a firm grip on the seventh prisoner’s arms and guided her over to the Dazzlings.

“Ah, Sunset Shimmer,” greeted Adagio. “The ring leader of this operation, I presume?”

Sunset simply sulked, refusing to say anything or even turn her gaze up to the sirens.

“I’m sure you recognize those two robbers by your side,” Adagio continued. “Ironic, isn’t it? A pair of worthless crooks arresting a mastermind, and unless I’m mistaken, these two also happened to have once been your favorite minions.”

Sunset continued to give her captors the silent treatment.

Adagio relished in seeing the Sunset Shimmer in such a humbled state. She walked up to stand right in front of her captive and smugly continued, “If it’s any consolation, I will concede that you trained these girls well in the art of breaking and entering. Two of them even made it all the way to the recording studio. Too bad that’s where Flash Sentry caught them in the act.”

Sunset finally turned her gaze up at the mention of that familiar police officer.

Adagio grinned as she finally got Sunset’s attention. She opened her mouth to continue her monologue, but was suddenly interrupted by a certain loudmouth.

“Yeah, can you believe that?” said Pinkie Pie quickly. “I mean, Twilight was just about to start the counter-spell when all of a sudden, BOOM! Flash Sentry barges into the room and sets off the alarms all over the place! At least, that’s what Rainbow Dash told me what happened. Anyway, next thing we know, we’re all locked up against this torture wall with no hope of escape! Twilight tried reasoning with Flash, but he was all like ‘Grrrrg!’ and kicking chairs across the room before storming off to do whatever it is that bad cops do all day. Can you believe that he actually made poor Twilight cry? The nerve of that—” Pinkie’s rambling was cut off when an electric jolt suddenly started coursing through her body, making her twitch and stutter uncontrollably. The shocking lasted for only a few seconds before it stopped just as suddenly. Pinkie hung limply from her restraints and, with a silly smile on her face, mumbled, “Tingly.”

Adagio removed her hand from one of the six levers on one of the machines around the table. “And next time, I’ll deliver far more than just minimum power,” she growled threateningly as she walked away from the machine and stood beside her fellow sirens.

“It’s not like it would’ve mattered, anyway,” muttered Twilight sadly. “I doubt any of my ideas would’ve made an effective counter-spell.”

“Oh, I’m sure it would have worked out just fine, darling,” assured Rarity. She then glared as she added, “Assuming a certain someone hadn’t ruined your efforts by sinking the submarine.”

“Hey! That was a total accident and you know it!” Rainbow Dash shot back. “And while you were busy playing dress-up with the bad guys, Twilight and I were getting the real action done!”

Fluttershy quietly mumbled, “I just wish I could’ve done more than just stand around and do nothing.”

“Y’all think you’ve got it rough?!” argued Applejack. “Ah’m practically havin’ the worst day of mah life right here! First robot butts, then stubborn computers, an’ now this! An’ y’know what? Ah reckon we all could’ve avoided a whole heap of trouble if somebody hadn’t gotten her head stuck inside a trashcan!”

“How was I supposed to know that would happen?” argued Pinkie Pie. “It did seem like a good hiding place at the time. And besides, you’re the one who insisted on taking over the hacking job when all I had to do was say the right words, which I was totally capable of doing from inside that trashcan!”

Meanwhile, Sunset started to get worried as she listened to the series of arguments beginning to break out among the Master Builders. She glanced to her right over at the sirens and saw wicked grins on all of their faces. She then glanced to her left and saw a nearby tool rack with a few basic tools hanging from it. With all of these factors in mind, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she formulated a new plan.

“Stop it!” shouted Sunset desperately as she suddenly started thrashing around. “Stop! Stop it, girls! STOP!” Rocky and Mugsy barely managed to hold her back, but one final thrash made her bump into the tool rack, causing all of the tools fall off and clatter to the floor.

But behind Sunset’s back, one tool landed right in her hands. She quickly felt over it and was delighted to find that it was a skinny screwdriver. Right away, she turned the screwdriver around and started using it to pick one of the locks on her handcuffs. Of course, she didn’t want anyone noticing what she was up to, so she maintained a facial expression of fear and worry.

Sunset’s sudden outburst had made the six Master Builders immediately stop their arguing and turn their attention towards her. Likewise, the three sirens also turned to her. Their smiles fell due to their confusion, but then Adagio smirked. “I didn’t know you cared so much about them,” she mockingly said. “Didn’t you always used to work alone?”

“I’ve changed my ways,” rebuffed Sunset as she continued lock picking inconspicuously behind her back. “I’ve done everything I could to prove that I’m a much better person now. I even refused to participate in a massive jailbreak.”

“I was wondering why we couldn’t find her that night,” Sonata spoke up.

Although Aria glared at her companion, Adagio didn’t bother to glance back or even drop her smug expression. “That’s right, Shimmer,” gloated Adagio, enjoying the look of shock on Sunset’s face. “We were the ones behind those three prison breaks. We already had control over all of Bricklyn for quite a while, so ‘volunteers’ were easy to come by. And since we obviously couldn’t be at all three places at once, we decided to take it as an opportunity to see if our magic could work through a recording. As you may have already figured out, that little experiment turned out to be a complete success. We were able to place Lightning Dust, the Great and Powerful Trixie, these two robbers, and even police officer Flash Sentry under our spell.”

Sunset glanced to Rocky on her left and Mugsy on her right and saw both pairs of eyes briefly flash a sickly green glow. She then suddenly heard a faint click behind her back. Realizing that she had successfully opened the lock on half of her handcuffs, she quickly shuffled her feet around, hoping that the clacking noise of her footsteps would hide the true source of the first sound. She paused for a few seconds, watching carefully for any signs of suspiciousness from the Dazzlings. When she saw no apparent change in their expressions, she carefully passed the skinny screwdriver to her other hand and started picking the other lock.

“Quite a shame that you refused my offer for you to join us,” continued Adagio. “You could’ve had all the power you ever wanted. You could’ve been unstoppable. Instead, you decided to side with the losers, and look at where that’s taken you: right back to jail. And while you get to spend the rest of your miserable life rotting away in solitary confinement, the three of us shall enjoy an eternity at the top while being adored by every living thing beneath us.”

“I’d be careful if I were you,” warned Sunset. “Arrogance is always the first stage of one’s downfall.” She glanced downward and muttered, “Believe me, I know.”

“And why should that concern us?” rebuked Adagio. “We’ve already won. The entire Lego World is already under our spell. And the only people who can stop us have been captured and are now locked up with no chance of escape.”

Sunset heard another faint click behind her back, and quickly shuffled her feet around again.

Adagio raised an eyebrow. “Though that doesn’t seem to stop you from trying,” she added.

Sunset furrowed her brow and frowned as she said, “You’re forgetting who you’re talking to. I’m Sunset Shimmer, and there’s a reason the old me was able to remain number one of LEGO’s Most Wanted for five years straight. It’s not just because I did a lot of illegal actions, but also because I always knew how to make a clean getaway. I’ve taught myself practically every exit strategy in the book, and even though I’m no longer a bad guy, I haven’t forgotten any of those techniques.”

Adagio relaxed her eyes and gloated, “I doubt that’ll do you any good in this case. It’s one thing to think of a strategy, but putting it into practice takes a lot of proper talent.”

Now it was Sunset Shimmer’s turn to smile. “Then how about a demonstration?”

Adagio frowned and raised an eyebrow.

Sunset dropped the screwdriver and threw her arms apart, causing the unlocked handcuffs to simply drop to the floor. Before anyone could react, she grabbed Rocky and Mugsy by their heads, jumped backwards, and slammed them together, knocking both robbers out cold.

Adagio immediately snapped her attention to her fellow sirens and shouted, “Call security!”

Sonata quickly ran over to one of the machines around the table, lifted open a glass panel, and slammed the big red button underneath. An alarm bell started ringing as a buzzer and a blinking red light went off three times. Immediately after the brief alarm stopped, the near door burst open and four security guards rushed in and aimed their weapons at the escaped prisoner.

“Oh boy, just like old times,” grumbled Sunset with a bored expression as she picked up one of the red crowbars the incompetent robbers had dropped. She lightly tossed it up in the air and caught it by the straight end of it. “Here we go again.”

Sunset spun around and threw the crowbar at an overhanging walkway over the door. The tool struck one of the support struts, causing the walkway to completely collapse and send all of its Lego pieces landing right on top of the guards.

“Ow, my head,” groaned one of the guards before he joined the others in unconsciousness.

Right after that, the far door opened and four robotic guards rushed into the room.

“Robots!” alerted Rarity.

Sunset glanced back and her eyes widened.

“Target acquired,” said one robot as they all raised their laser rifles.

“Commence firing,” said another robot before they all started shooting at the escaped prisoner.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

Sunset swiftly grabbed the biggest piece of the destroyed walkway — a 4x8 plate — and held it up in front of her. The large Lego piece was able to block every laser bolt that came at her, so she slowly advanced towards them while also moving closer to the workbench. As soon as she reached the workbench, she quickly grabbed a large box that was resting on it and pulled it down to the floor near her feet. Inside that box were a lot of horseshoe magnets, which she immediately started tossing at the robots.

One by one, each magnet managed to hit and stick onto a robot’s head, causing each of the robots to twitch and jerk uncontrollably while repeatedly stuttering, “Error,” as their circuitry was being messed up. After a few seconds, all four magnetized robots suddenly froze and after a two-second delayed reaction, all of their pieces suddenly came apart, collapsing into nothing more than a pile of body parts.

The near door opened again, only this time, four skeleton warriors armed with curved swords charged into the room with a loud battle cry.

“Skeletons!” alerted Rainbow Dash.

Sunset turned back, spun around her oversized shield so that it now covered a large width, and charged right at the skeletons with an equally loud battle cry. When the two sides collided, the skeletons were no match for the big Lego part and quickly shattered to pieces.

Right after that, three figures suddenly dropped down from the gantry above and landed right in the middle of the room. They were shaped like skeletons, but had the silvery metallic color of robots.

“Robot skeletons!” alerted Pinkie Pie.

Sunset dropped the 4x8 plate as she spun around and saw the three skeletrons turn their heads towards her as their red eyes began to glow brighter. But before they could fire their laser eyebeams at her, she swiftly retrieved the crowbar from the wreckage of the walkway and tossed it right at them. The crowbar struck one skeletron in the head, deflected towards another skeletron’s head, and deflected again towards the third and final skeletron head. All three heads flew off with each impact, and once the crowbar clattered to the floor, the decapitated skeletrons collapsed into a heap.

Frustrated at the latest failure of the guards, Aria decided to take matters into her own hands. She immediately picked up the pair of laser pistols on the table and aimed them at Sunset. “Hasta la vista, loser!” she shouted before rapidly firing those laser pistols.

Pew! Pew-Pew! Pew Pew Pew! Pew! Pew-Pew!

Sunset quickly started to run, duck, leap, and roll around to avoid every laser bolt. At times, she even picked up a random Lego part and tossed it into the air to block a laser bolt.

After dozens of shots and misses, Aria growled in frustration and shouted, “Stand still so I can hit ya!”

Sunset dodged a few more shots before she dove behind the pile of debris that used to be a walkway. Aria didn’t hesitate to blast away all of the Lego pieces in that pile with those lasers as quickly as possible. But shockingly, once the pile was eventually gone, Sunset Shimmer was nowhere to be found.

Aria lowered the laser pistols and raised an eyebrow. “Huh? Where’d she go?” she asked.

Suddenly, one of the machines began to move forward on its wheeled base, heading directly for Sonata. “Look out!” she shouted as she immediately began to run away from it.

“No! Wait! Don’t!” Aria shouted desperately as she quickly dropped the laser pistols and waved her hands around in front of herself.

Sonata had been looking back over her shoulder at the pursuing machine as she ran, so she had no idea she was running towards Aria until she crashed right into her. Before they could even fall over, the moving machine slammed into them and carried them ahead with it. Once the rolling machine and its unwilling passengers passed the middle of the room, Sunset Shimmer stopped pushing the machine and skidded to a halt. The machine continued ahead under its own momentum until it finally slammed into the opposite wall, smashing itself, parts of the workbench, and Aria and Sonata completely to pieces.

Aria’s head had landed in its side. When she found Sonata’s head on the floor not far away, Aria furrowed her brow, growled furiously, and grumbled, “Of all the worst moments you’ve had, this is BY FAR THE WORST!!” After shouting that last part, Aria’s head rolled over until her face was against the floor, causing her to let out a muffled grunt.

All six of the imprisoned Master Builders began cheering excitedly for their friend. Sunset turned around and was pleasantly surprised by how proud they were of her. All of the skills she had just utilized for this fight had once helped her to pull off all kinds of evil misdeeds, and made her believe that she shouldn’t be proud of any of that. But now that she was seeing and hearing the excitement from her friends, she realized that they didn’t care about that little detail. What really mattered was that she was now using these skills to help a greater good.

Everyone’s excitement was quenched by some solitary clapping from Adagio Dazzle. Sunset glanced back at the lone standing siren, who had a rather unamused expression on her face.

Adagio finished her mock applause and flatly said, “Not bad, Shimmer, but that was just Round One.” She lifted open another glass panel on the wall and pounded the big red button underneath. Once again, an alarm bell started ringing as a buzzer and a blinking red light went off three times. Right away, four more security guards burst through the near door and rushed into the room and aimed their weapons at Sunset.

Sunset Shimmer quickly glanced around, and when she saw a few plate pieces placed vertically along the walls, she smirked. She turned to Adagio and boasted, “If you thought all of that was impressive, then watch this!” She quickly ran toward the opposite wall, stepped onto one of those plates on the wall, and then started running along the studs right up that wall!

“Whoa!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash as the eyes of all six Master Builders widened in shock. “She can run up walls?!”

When Sunset reached the top of the wall, she jumped off, grabbed onto a shaft on the bottom of the gantry structure, swung from it once before letting go, flipped around through the air, and landed right on her feet on the gantry.

The guards responded by stepping onto an elevator platform. One guard flipped the lever on it, which made a small gear start turning against a toothed rack along the wall, causing the elevator to start rising.

Sunset ran around along the gantry until she was fortunate enough to find a wrench lying around. She swiftly picked up that wrench and threw it at the elevator. With remarkable aim, the wrench jammed right between the gear and the rack, making the elevator grind to a sudden halt.

“Get that thing outta there!” ordered one of the guards.

Another guard grabbed the wrench and tried to yank it out, but it was stuck between the teeth of the gear and rack. “I can’t,” he said. “It’s jammed in there real good.”

“Then let’s try backing it out,” suggested a third guard as he flipped the lever to make the elevator go down. However, the elevator merely shuddered around in place as the noise of grinding gears could be heard.

Meanwhile, Sunset ran along the gantry and onto the ledge atop the walls. She quickly glanced around for anything useful and smiled when she found a giant bag of sand. She pushed the sandbag along the ledge until it was right above the elevator. She then glanced down over the ledge and taunted, “Say goodnight!” She pushed the sandbag over the ledge, which then slammed into the stuck elevator and smashed it to pieces. The guards were thrown off and knocked out as they hit the floor below.

With those guards taken out, four more robotic guards charged in through the far door, aimed their laser rifles up at Sunset, and started firing.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew!

Sunset barely managed to dodge every laser bolt as she ran along the ledge. She quickly grabbed a round mirror that was attached to a corner of the room and held it up in front of herself. One by one, she was able to reflect a laser bolt right back at the robot guards. Each shot made each of the robots burst into pieces and say, “Ow.”

Then came four more skeleton warriors from the near door. This time, they also had grappling hooks, which they hurled up onto the railing along the gantry and then started climbing up the ropes.

Sunset rolled her eyes before she casually walked along the gantry. When the skeletons were halfway up, she simply kicked over the railing pieces that the grappling hooks were on, sending the skeletons plummeting to the floor below, where they smashed to pieces upon impact.

Finally, three more skeletrons entered the room. This time, Sunset was up on the gantry and was able to see them enter through a hidden compartment behind a wall atop the ledge. The three skeletrons stepped forward onto the ledge, turned their heads toward Sunset, and began firing their laser eyebeams at her.

It took a few seconds for the eyebeams to power up, so Sunset used that opportunity to hold up the circular mirror again. This time, she reflected the lasers not at the robot skeletons, but rather at the ceiling right above them. She carefully tilted the mirror around, making the continuous lasers cut a hole in the ceiling. As soon as the hole was finished, the section of ceiling, the floor above it, and even a vending machine on that floor crashed down on top of the skeletrons. All the debris and the skeletron pieces tumbled off the ledge and crashed to the floor below.

Meanwhile, Aria and Sonata were almost done putting themselves back together. Sonata smiled as she completed the final step and helped Aria’s head and torso onto her legs.

Aria frowned as she glanced down at her legs and saw the backside of them were facing forward. She glanced back up at Sonata and growled. “You idiot! You put my legs on backwards!” she shouted before smacking Sonata across the face. As Sonata cried out while her head spun around rapidly, Aria pushed her torso off her legs, twisted around in midair, and landed back on her legs in the correct direction.

Sunset glanced around at all the carnage in the room and couldn’t help but smirk and boastfully remark, “Go ahead and bring on Round Three, ‘cause I can do this all day!”

“I don’t think so!” countered Adagio.

Sunset turned around and her eyes widened when she saw the lead siren with her hand on a rather large lever.

“One more move and I’ll zap your friends!” threatened Adagio.

Sunset glanced over at her teammates locked up against the wall and noticed they were all whimpering. They knew there was nothing they could do to save themselves, and that Sunset was their only hope of survival right now.

A shameful expression slowly fell on Sunset as she realized that in the heat of battle, she had completely forgotten about them. Even worse, this kind of combat was stuff that her old self used to do a lot, and made her worry that she might have been having a relapse. Even though she certainly had the skills and talents to fight off any opposition against herself, she didn’t want to do anything to put her new friends at risk. She glanced around the room for anything that could get her out of this situation, but found very few options.

Finally, after a tense moment of silence, Sunset Shimmer dropped the mirror and muttered, “Fine. You win.”

All nine conscious minifigs in the room watched silently as Sunset walked along the gantry towards the hole in the ceiling, where she grabbed a loose cable and slid down it all the way back to the floor. While the Dazzlings smiled as this little victory, Twilight Sparkle and her Lego friends were crestfallen to see their confident and highly skilled friend simply give up for their sake.

Once again, the near door opened and a few more security guards entered the room. This time, however, there was no need for them to rush, for they knew that the escaped prisoner had now surrendered. As the guards walked over to Sunset, one of them pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

“I’ve got a special place on the wall for you, Shimmer,” Adagio smugly remarked.

As soon as the guards were just two steps away, Sunset suddenly dove forward, tumbled along the floor, and then stood up as she quickly snatched up the other red crowbar by the unconscious forms of Rocky and Mugsy.

The guards quickly raised their weapons, while Adagio rushed back to the machines and placed her hand back on the big lever. “Don’t push your luck any further!” she shouted threateningly. “You’re already on very thin ice!” She then lowered her voice. “All I have to do is pull this lever.”

“And all I have to do is say two words,” retorted Sunset. “Just two words.”

A very tense and silent stand-off fell across the room. No one dared to move a muscle or utter a peep. It was as if time itself had stopped for everyone in the room.

After a full minute of nothing happening, Sonata suddenly asked, “Well, what are those two words?”

Sunset glanced back at to other two sirens and grinned. “Lights out!” she shouted as she suddenly threw the crowbar across the room towards the electrical box next to the far door. Everyone watched the crowbar rapidly twirl through the air until its hooked end smashed right into the electrical box, sending sparks flying everywhere as it zapped loudly. All of the lights flickered a few times before they eventually shut off, plunging the room into complete darkness. The sudden loss of power also caused all of the gently humming machinery to fall silent.

“What the?!”

“How’d she do that?!”

“Um, lights, please!”

“What the heck is going on?!”

“I can’t see a thing!”

“Can somebody get the lights?”

“Shut it, Sonata! We can all see that the lights are out!”

“Both of you, shut it! I got this.”

After a few softly pounding noises, Adagio eventually managed to flip a switch, turning on the emergency lights. The room was now much dimmer than it had been before, but at least it was just barely bright enough for everyone to see where everything was. Right away, the first thing that everyone noticed was that Sunset Shimmer had completely vanished.

Adagio gasped in shock. She immediately ran around to face the wall of prisoners, and saw that all six of them had also completely vanished. The fact that all of the restraints were now wide open proved that the loss of power had allowed them to escape. But to where?

Adagio heard a faint squeak to her right and snapped her attention to the far door just in time to see it slowly close. She clenched her teeth and fists as she growled furiously. “After them!” she shouted as she immediately pointed at the far door.

The security guards didn’t hesitate to rush for the far door and begin pursuing the escaped team.

Sunset Shimmer led her six friends through the hallways of the sub-basement of LEGO Headquarters. Alarms were already ringing out across the entire facility, so they knew they had to keep running as fast as possible. However, at almost every other turn, a few security guards would show up and stand in their way, forcing them to quickly backtrack and take another direction.

“We gotta get outta here!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie fearfully as everyone kept running.

“But the guards are blockin’ off every darn exit we can find!” Applejack pointed out.

“What about the service corridors?” suggested Rainbow Dash. “We could use those to go just about anywhere for a quick escape!”

“It’s worth a shot,” replied Sunset. Almost immediately after that, she quickly pointed at a door up ahead and shouted, “Look! There’s our exit!” She skidded to a stop right in front of the “Authorized Personnel Only” security lock next to that door. Since the always incompetent Rocky and Mugsy had not considered checking her for suspicious objects, she still had her fake ID card, which she quickly pulled out and inserted into the security lock. As soon as the panel beeped once and a green light came on, Sunset immediately put away her fake ID, threw the door open, and rushed into the dimly-lit corridors.

The rest of the team didn’t hesitate to follow right after Sunset. The last one through the doorway was Fluttershy, who glanced back and saw one security guard quickly advancing right behind them, so she promptly shut the door and ran after her friends.

The security guard didn’t have time to stop as the door was practically slammed right in his face. He stumbled around a bit, then shook his head and grumbled, “Darn it.” He set down his weapon, pulled out his ID card, and inserted it into the security lock. Once the door was unlocked, he put away his ID card, picked up his weapon, and charged inside. “They’re in the service corridors!” he reported on his radio as he kept running. “Cut off every exit!”

As the team ran along the metallic walkway, Twilight asked, “Which way should we go?”

“We won’t find any exits in that basement, that’s for sure,” Sunset quickly replied. “So our only option is to go up.” She soon led the team to a ladder, which she immediately grabbed onto and started scaling up it, with the rest of the team following close behind.

After that ladder, the team continued to run along more walkways and climbing up any sets of stairs they came across. They began to grow worried as they started seeing a few security guards within the service corridors, forcing them to pick up the pace. Eventually, they reached a point where they were mostly climbing up a single stairwell instead of along a level walkway.

“How much higher up do we have to go?” asked Fluttershy as everyone continued running up the stairs.

“As long as it takes for us to find an exit,” replied Sunset.

“But Sunset, dear,” Rarity pointed out, “based on how long we’ve ascending this particular stairwell, I have a feeling that we must be inside the front tower, which means we may not find an exit until we reach all the way up to the roof!”

“Who says we have to go to the roof?” responded Sunset with a smile as she pointed up at a doorway that was now just one more floor above them.

But when the team reached the final set of stairs in front of that door, it suddenly opened and a guard rushed inside. He promptly shut the door and raised his weapon at the approaching team. “Freeze!” he shouted.

“Nope!” rebuffed Sunset as she ran up to the guard and delivered a swift sucker punch to his face. The guard was immediately knocked out and collapsed to the walkway.

“Was that really necessary?” asked Twilight in shock as she and the rest of the team gathered around the door.

“The old me would’ve said yes without any second thoughts,” replied Sunset as she immediately pulled out her fake ID card and inserted it into the security lock. “But the new me…” The panel beeped and a green light came on. “Well, beggars can’t be choosers.” She put away her fake ID and swiftly kicked the door open before charging outside.

The team of friends followed Sunset out the doorway and found themselves on another metallic walkway, except this one was out in a large open space, high up inside the spaceship hangar. A quick glance at the transparent walls on either side of the massive room revealed an orange sky, indicating that the sun outside was already setting. But what really caught everyone’s attention was the large spaceship that was parked right at the end of the walkway, built out of black and white Lego bricks and had the words “SPACE POLICE” labeled on its side.

“Are we gonna highjack that spaceship?” asked Applejack uneasily.

“Of course we are!” snapped Sunset as she pounded a red button on a panel along the railing. This caused the retractable roof to start opening as a gap opened across the middle and the two separated ends slowly moved further apart. As she ran up to the parked spaceship and used her fake ID to open the side hatch, she continued, “We don’t have any other options, so either get in or get left behind!”

The six Master Builders glanced uneasily at each other before they quickly followed Sunset into the spaceship. Rainbow Dash immediately jumped into the pilot’s seat and said, “I got this.”

With only four seats available, half of the group was forced to remain standing. As Sunset sat down next to Rainbow, and Twilight and Rarity took the remaining seats, Rainbow quickly flipped a few switches and tapped a few buttons. As the spaceship’s engines powered up, the walkway automatically detached and pulled away.

By the time the security guards burst through the door into the hangar, the police spaceship was already hovering over the landing pad and was now turning towards the opened roof. “They’re getting away!” shouted one of the guards.

Without a moment to lose, Rainbow Dash pushed forward on the flight controls, and the spaceship blasted out of the hangar and away from LEGO Headquarters.

Right at that moment, police officer Flash Sentry suddenly charged out onto the walkway and furiously shouted, “Darn, darn, darn, darny, darn!” He shoved one of the security guards out of his way as he ran over to the nearest chair and gave it a hard kick. The chair soared across the massive room and fell all the way down to the floor below, slamming into the head of an unfortunate scientist with a white lab coat and messy light blue hair.

Down on the floor of that spaceship hangar, a doorway slid open and the three Dazzlings walked into the room. When they glanced up at the opened roof and the absence of that Space Police spaceship, they knew right away where the Master Builders had gone.

Aria groaned and facepalmed. “If there’s one thing that never seems to ever go right for us, it’s capturing those Master Builders,” she grumbled.

Sonata turned to Adagio and asked, “Hey, Adagio. Didn’t you say we needed those girls for something, like, really important?”

“Indeed,” replied Adagio with a grin. “But it seems that capturing them may no longer be necessary.”

Aria raised an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips and impatiently asked, “What are you talking about? I thought that was supposed to be part of our plan since phase two.”

“Didn’t you see how much they were fighting each other in the interrogation room?” Adagio pointed out. “They may be special Master Builders, but they are still just as capable of falling apart like anyone else. And with how high tensions seem to be between them right now, all they need is a slight push and their little friendship will just fall to pieces. And when that happens, their Equestrian magic will be ours.” Once she finished her explanation, her wicked grin slowly grew wider.

The highjacked Space Police spaceship soared over downtown Lego City, carrying the team of seven minifigs away from LEGO Headquarters. Although they had just barely managed to get away, they had still failed to free everyone in the Lego World from the spell of the sirens, and as far as they were aware, there was no backup plan at all.

The team of friends had been airborne for no more than one minute when Twilight suddenly gasped and exclaimed, “Oh no! We forgot Spike!”

“Then I’m afraid he’s on his own,” Sunset responded sharply, “‘cause there’s no way we can go back in there.”

Rarity moaned and worriedly said, “I do hope the poor dear is alright. Who knows what kinds of horrid things he might encounter in there?”

“Ah’m sure he’s doin’ just fine,” assured Applejack. “If he’d been captured, he would’ve been stuck up on that wall with the rest of us. Whatever’s goin’ on, Ah have a feelin’ the lil’ feller knows what he’s doin’.”

“I just hope we live long enough to find out,” said Fluttershy worriedly as she watched outside through a side window. “Look!”

Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer glanced left and right and saw they were being flanked by a pair of robot-piloted space fighters — just like the ones they had encountered in Cloudsdale. Rainbow groaned and grumbled, “Not those things again.”

“And there’s more right behind us,” said Fluttershy as she kept looking out the window with a terrified expression on her face, watching as the fighters began firing their laser cannons.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Boom!

Everyone was startled when one of the shots struck their spaceship and shook the entire structure. Rainbow quickly leveled out the spaceship and tightened her grip on the flight controls. “Hang on, everyone!” she exclaimed as she began turning the controls left and right to evade the attacking fighters.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Boom! Pew! Pew! Boom!

Despite Rainbow’s best efforts, the spaceship soon took two more hits, violently rocking from each impact and nearly throwing Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie off their feet.

“If this keeps up, we might very well be shot down!” exclaimed Rarity as she gripped tightly to her seat.

“Then we gotta fight back!” declared Rainbow. She quickly started glancing around over the console as she muttered, “Let’s see, what kind of weapons does this thing have?”

Boom!

Another hit from a laser blast shook the spaceship again. This time, the impact managed to blast a large hole in the side of the ship.

“I don’t think we have much longer until they blow us up!” shouted Twilight in panic.

Boom!

Another laser blast shook the spaceship so violently that Pinkie Pie was thrown across the room and slammed head-first into the cover of a storage compartment. She sat up and rubbed her sore head, then suddenly smiled when she saw that the cover was gone and the contents of that compartment had spilled out. “Look! Parachutes!” she exclaimed excitedly. “We can use these to get away before they can blast us completely to pieces!”

Pinkie and Applejack didn’t hesitate to grab a parachute for themselves and toss two more over to Rarity and Twilight. Fluttershy also picked up one for herself, but gasped when she saw there was now only one left on the floor. “Oh no!” she exclaimed worriedly. “We only have six of them! One of us isn’t going to make it!”

As the rest of the team glanced around worriedly, Sunset Shimmer just stared ahead silently. All the sights and sounds around her became muted as a rather troubling thought occurred to her. Could she really do what she was actually thinking of doing? Her old self had been very selfish and never would’ve even considered doing something so crazy. But her new self knew the true value of friendship, and had already proven more than once that she was willing to do anything to help and protect her friends.

Even if it meant giving up her Creation Spark.

With a hardened resolve, Sunset firmly stated, “I volunteer.” She then promptly shoved Rainbow Dash out of the pilot’s seat and took control of the spaceship.

“Sunset, what are you doing?” asked Twilight.

“One of us won’t have a parachute,” Sunset explained solemnly. “That person will have to stay on this ship and draw the fighters away so the rest of us can safely escape.” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “And I’m choosing to stay.”

All six of the other girls gasped in shock. “Are you nuts?!” argued Rainbow Dash. “You can’t just sacrifice yourself like that!” As Fluttershy walked over to hand her the last remaining parachute, Rainbow immediately snatched it and handed it out to Sunset.

Sunset merely pushed the parachute back to Rainbow and said, “No, Rainbow. The team needs you. The team needs all of you girls. You all have people back home who would miss you, but I’m just a nobody who’s seen as worthless to everyone else in the world.”

“We would seriously beg to disagree, darling,” argued Rarity as she and the others hesitantly put on their parachute packs. “You have been of tremendous value to us throughout this whole endeavor.”

“That may be true, but you’re missing the key factor here,” said Sunset. “You’re all Master Builders with the magic of friendship. I have neither of those! If this team can afford to lose any one of us… it’s me.”

Boom!

Another laser blast from the space fighters managed to significantly widen the large hole on the left side and completely tore off the entire roof of the spaceship. With time quickly running out, Sunset waved her arm back at the others and shouted, “Go! Get outta here! Now’s your chance!”

Most of the team glanced at one another and, with grim resolve, nodded in acceptance. With their hair flapping in the wind and their parachute packs firmly secured to their backs, the Master Builders ran over to the massive hole. Rainbow Dash was the first to jump out, followed by Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Fluttershy. All of them tumbled out of the ailing Space Police spaceship and waited until they were halfway to the ground before they all safely deployed their parachutes. By that time, the fighters had already passed over them, allowing them to slowly and safely descend the rest of the way down to the city below.

Twilight had hesitated to follow the rest of the team. She turned back to Sunset and desperately said, “Sunset, you don’t have to do this!”

“It’s too late for that,” stated Sunset.

“Why can’t we just share this parachute?!” argued Twilight. “You could just hold onto me while I—”

“No!” exclaimed Sunset. “That’s too dangerous! I need to keep those fighters away so you can escape in one piece!”

“Sunset, I will not let you make such a needless sacrifice!”

“You’re missing the big picture, princess! You have a lot more to lose than I do, and you need to save yourself while you have the chance!”

Boom!

The fighters scored another hit on the spaceship, which made it suddenly lurch to the right. One of the engines on that side had been disabled and was now leaving a trail of thick black smoke in its wake.

After glancing over at the severe damage, Twilight sighed and reluctantly said, “I guess you’re right.” She turned around and began to slowly walk towards that hole on the left side.

“Before you go, I should tell you something,” Sunset suddenly spoke up.

Twilight stopped and turned her head back to Sunset.

“Ever since the moment I teamed up with your friends,” continued Sunset, “I’ve been noticing that they don’t seem to get along very often. They all have different ideas on how to get things done, and many times seem to disregard the ideas of others. There’s a lot of disagreement going on within the team… and I fear the Dazzlings may try to take advantage of that.” She paused, then firmly added, “No matter what happens, Twilight… keep the team together at all costs. Can you do that for me?”

Twilight silently thought about everything that Sunset had just told her. It had never really occurred to her that she should even question the strength of the friendships between her Lego friends. Regardless, Sunset Shimmer was requesting a promise from her, and she was determined to not let her down.

Twilight smiled and replied, “I will.”

Sunset responded with a friendly smile.

Twilight’s smile turned bittersweet as she turned her body towards the giant hole in the wall while keeping her head turned to Sunset. “Goodbye, Sunset Shimmer,” she said.

“Goodbye, Twilight Sparkle,” said Sunset.

With those parting words spoken, Twilight finally turned away, took a deep breath, and leaped away from the damaged spaceship. She screamed as she rapidly fell, but once the space fighters passed by with seemingly no signs of them noticing her, she pulled the cord on her pack to deploy the parachute. The parachute fully opened within a few seconds and quickly slowed her decent to the city below.

With the last of her friends now out of harm’s way, there was nothing else left for Sunset but to turn her attention back to the flight controls. “Come and get me!” she shouted as she piloted the failing spaceship towards the setting sun on the horizon.

Pew! Pew! Pew! Boom!

The spaceship shook violently as the fighters took out another engine, leaving two trails of thick black smoke in its wake. Sunset knew her time was limited, but she pressed on. She never cared about what terrible fate would soon await her. All that mattered to her was that the few friends she had were now relatively safe, all thanks to her actions. She had no regrets.

Pew! Pew! Boom! BOOM!!

One final laser blast struck the ship’s power core, triggering a massive explosion that tore apart half of the entire spaceship. Sunset had managed to survive the blast, but all that was left of the highjacked Space Police spaceship was the roofless cockpit and less than half of the fuselage.

An eerie silence fell as the powerless remnant of the spaceship slowly began to drop out of the sky. Sunset stared ahead and her eyes widened as she saw that she was heading directly towards three incomplete skyscrapers at a construction site.

“This is gonna hurt,” mumbled Sunset.

The spaceship remnant crashed through the top on the first tower, smashed through the middle of the second tower, and finally slammed into the bottom of the third tower. With its base compromised, the third tower then slowly toppled over right into the second tower, which then slowly toppled over towards where the third tower had been. Some debris from the second tower’s collapse also compromised the base of the first tower, causing it to topple over onto the massive pile of Lego pieces that used to be the second and third towers, raising a huge cloud of dust.

When the dust eventually settled across the demolished construction site, all was still and silent.

Against the World

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Chapter 15
Against the World

Twilight Sparkle struggled against the straps on her parachute pack. When she had descended from the sky, she had the misfortune of her parachute getting caught on some rooftop structure, leaving her dangling helplessly in the middle of a dark alleyway. As she kept tugging at one of the straps while her legs flailed around, she couldn’t help but grumble, “If only I had my wings, I may not have ended up in this predicament.”

Eventually, Twilight successfully managed to loosen one of the straps, but that caused her to suddenly fall free from the dangling parachute pack. She screamed as she fell three floors and landed right into an open dumpster.

Although Twilight had made a soft landing, it was not exactly a pleasant place to be. After sitting up, she let out a disgusted groan as she removed a banana peel from atop her head. “Glad nobody’s around to see this,” she grumbled as she glanced around outside the dumpster. Thankfully, the alleyway seemed to be completely deserted, as was the street at the end of it, so there truly was no one around to witness her embarrassing situation. Just thinking about phrase “Princess Twilight Sparkle in a dumpster” was mortifying enough. When she would get back to Equestria and tell her pony friends about her latest adventures in the Lego World, this was one part that she would definitely omit.

“Twilight? Are you there?”

Twilight suddenly froze in shock at the slightly distorted but very familiar voice. “Spike?” she asked in confusion. She felt over her body and quickly discovered that she still had her walkie-talkie with her. Once she had it out, she turned the dial to communicate with Spike and quickly spoke into it. “Spike? Is that you? Where are you? Are you okay?”

“Don’t worry, Twilight,” responded Spike. “I’m fine. I’ve been crawling through the air vents, and I don’t think anyone has noticed me by now. What about Sunset’s plan? Did it work?”

Twilight sighed sadly and responded, “Unfortunately, no. We all got caught right at the last minute, but Sunset was able to help us escape. The rest of my friends and I are now scattered across the city, but Sunset…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish explaining what had happened. She decided to move on from that sad subject and asked, “Are you saying that you’re still inside LEGO Headquarters?”

“Yeah, and I’ve got some great news!” responded Spike. “I managed to stumble across all kinds of top-secret documents, including complete blueprints of those broadcasting towers!”

Twilight’s eyes suddenly widened. If Spike had really managed to discover such valuable information, then perhaps they might actually have another chance to stop the Dazzlings.

“Now here’s the really good part,” continued Spike. “It says that each and every broadcasting tower is interconnected to all the others. That means we don’t have to get into the recording studio, after all. If we can somehow build a link to just one tower, we’ll be instantly connected to all of them, and can still save the world in one sweeping move!”

Twilight smiled and excitedly responded, “That is excellent news! Great work, Spike! Any ideas on how we should proceed with this?”

“Oh, I’m working on an awesome idea right now,” responded Spike. “Just give me some time and I should have everything taken care of on this side. And don’t worry, I found a rather safe place for me to work on it, so I doubt any of the guards will find me.”

“Well, if you’re sure about that,” responded Twilight uneasily. “What should I do in the meantime?”

“All you gotta do is get all of your friends back together,” responded Spike. “Trust me, we’ll need all six of you in one place for this to work.”

Twilight was mildly surprised that Spike mentioned there would be only six of them, but she dismissed it as Spike acknowledging the unfortunate loss of Sunset Shimmer. “Sure thing, Spike,” she responded. “I’ll find my friends and we will save the Lego World. Good luck with your part.”

“Copy that,” responded Spike. “Over and out.”

Twilight put away her walkie-talkie and began taking note of her surroundings. If she was going to find all of her friends in this big city as quickly as possible, then she was going to need some sort of vehicle. However, there didn’t seem to be any such useful vehicles in this alleyway, so she decided to finally climb out of this dumpster and expand her search.

As soon as she was out of the dumpster, she suddenly had an epiphany. That dumpster was built entirely out of Lego parts. In fact, just about every object and minor structure in this alleyway was built out of Lego parts, such as lampposts, fire escapes, awnings, pipes, satellite dishes, heavy machinery, and even some of the refuse inside that dumpster.

“Of course!” exclaimed Twilight excitedly as a huge grin appeared on her face. “This is a world where everything is made out of Lego! And if I can’t find something useful, I can just build it myself!” As soon as she said that, her body began to change. Her hair grew much longer at the back, a pair of pony-like ears appeared on either side of her hair piece, a unicorn horn appeared on her forehead, and a pair of broad feathered wings appeared on her back — attached by an additional piece that was connected to her neck joint. Princess Twilight Sparkle had transformed into her half-pony half-minifig magical Master Builder form.

With a flap of her wings, Twilight took to the air and hovered next to the fire escape stairway. “And a true Master Builder…” She quickly took apart that fire escape and tossed all of the pieces into a pile in the middle of the alleyway, then flew over to a nearby lamppost. “…knows how to take everything…” She swiftly disassembled that lamppost and tossed the pieces into the pile, then flew over to an awning and some satellite dishes. “…and turn it into anything!” After swiftly taking apart those objects, she then moved on to the pipes and machinery and quickly disassembled those items as well.

Once she had gathered up all of the pieces she would need, Twilight landed beside the pile and began putting all the parts together. Even though she was a magically enhanced Master Builder, her rate of assembly was still just as slow as it was during her first trip to the Lego World. She did not turn into a motion blur, appear in multiple places at once, or even resemble a video in fast-forward. Instead, she just put each and every piece together one at a time like any regular person would do. But what she lacked in speed, she more than made up for with pure creative talent.

As time passed, Twilight’s creation slowly began to take shape. The fire escape parts were reshaped into a sturdy frame. A giant gear and some treads turned into a big wheel. The satellite dishes became a smaller wheel. The pipes were attached to a powerful engine system. The awnings and dumpster parts were rebuilt into a rider’s compartment. By the time it was all completed, the sky had already darkened and streetlights turned on all across the city.

Twilight smiled and stood proudly as she looked at her finished creation. “I guess I can officially add ‘Master Builder’ to my list of titles,” she remarked. “Who else can say that they’re an Equestrian princess who has also built a super awesome motorcycle?!” As her body morphed back into a regular minifig, she quickly mumbled, “I just hope this thing works good enough.”

Twilight jumped into the driver’s seat and started up her super-cycle. The engine roared to life and began purring loudly. After a quick last-minute check of everything on the vehicle, she placed her hands on the handlebars, took a deep breath, and stomped down on the accelerator.

The mighty engine of the super-cycle roared far louder and long flames shot out through the pipes. The large rear wheel squealed loudly as it spun very rapidly, pulling the motorcycle into a wheelie as it zoomed out of the alleyway. A suddenly very panicked Twilight screamed as she barely managed to bring the front wheel back down just in time for her to steer right to avoid slamming into a building. As she quickly reached an intersection, she tried to straighten out the motorcycle, but overcorrected and ended up turning left.

As the super-cycle weaved back and forth along the empty road, Twilight shrieked, “I think I built it too well!”

Inside one of many storage closets in LEGO Headquarters, a large ventilation grate suddenly burst off its frame as a large empty container was pushed into the room by Spike. He stopped pushing the container and let it rest on one side of the room as he turned his attention to the contents of this large closet.

Spike grinned as he began running around and tossing various Lego pieces into the container. “I’ll take some of these!” he said excitedly. “Ooh, and all of those! And a bunch of these!”

“Intruder detected.”

Spike yelped and turned to the other side of the big closet, where he saw a robotic guard.

“Intruder detected,” repeated the robot as he raised his weapon and advanced toward Spike. “Intruder detected.”

With quick thinking, Spike picked up the nearest object — a large blue wrench — and threw it at the robot.

The wrench struck the robot in the head, sending him down onto his rear and leaving his head spinning around as he repeatedly said, “Error, error, error…”

Satisfied, Spike returned his attention to gathering more Lego pieces. Once the container was full, he ran over to the other side of it and prepared to push. But then he glanced back at the mostly disabled robot. He stared at it for a few seconds, then shrugged and muttered, “Oh, what the heck. It’s just a robot.”

Spike walked over to the robot, picked up that wrench again, and smacked the robot’s head with it. Once that robot was completely deactivated, he dragged it over to the container and threw it atop the pile of pieces.

Now that he had everything he needed out of this room, Spike pushed the container back into the air vent. He picked up the discarded grate and pulled it back into place, then continued pushing the full container through the air ducts.

In another dark alleyway, Rarity and Fluttershy swung a chain-link fence around so that it blocked off the passage between the surrounding buildings. Once that was in place, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash quickly piled up anything they could find against that fence. With the alleyway now effectively blocked off, the five teammates stepped back and watched fearfully through the fence.

“Man, when Sunset told us the whole world would think we’re the bad guys, she really meant it,” remarked Rainbow Dash.

On the other side of the hastily erected fence, an angry mob of citizens had crowded up against it. They were shouting furiously, waving various tools around threateningly, and sometimes actually throwing those tools over the fence and at the five Master Builders.

Applejack narrowly dodged a large pipe wrench and grumbled, “Never thought Ah’d see the day when ordinary city folk could turn into a bunch of savages.”

As the angry mob began shaking the fence to try and push it over, the team didn’t need to say another word as they backed away and headed out onto the street. But as soon as they got there, another angry mob showed up from an alleyway across the street. At the same time, the first mob started climbing over the fence in their way.

As the team watched the two angry mobs close in from both sides, Rarity worriedly said, “I fear it may take a miracle to get us out of this dilemma.”

It was right at that moment that everyone began to hear a very loud engine running through the streets. Just seconds later, with a loud screech of the wheels, a large, fire-spitting, motorcycle-like vehicle came around the corner and began speeding right towards the troubled Master Builders.

“Oh look!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully as she pointed at the oncoming vehicle. “Here comes Twilight to save us!”

In the driver’s seat, however, Twilight’s panicked expression and screams of terror showed that she was not exactly a noble hero riding to the rescue.

“Um, I’m not so sure about the ‘save us’ part,” Fluttershy pointed out worriedly as the extreme vehicle came closer with no signs of slowing down.

Twilight remained so terrified of her overpowered super-cycle that she failed to realize she was heading towards her friends until she slammed right into them, sending all five of them flying through the air and — quite remarkably — landing right into the dumpster-shaped rider’s compartment.

The five girls quickly rearranged themselves so that they were no longer in an uncomfortable pile. Once she was standing upright, Applejack glanced around at the rather awesome super-cycle and let out an impressed whistle. “Sweet ride,” she remarked. “Did ya build it yourself?”

“Unfortunately, yes!” Twilight cried out as she turned the super-cycle left down another empty street. As she struggled to keep that beast of a motorcycle under control, she added, “And I think I’m starting to see why motorized vehicles don’t exist in Equestria!”

As the super-cycle turned right onto another street, Pinkie Pie glanced around and remarked, “Y’know, for a major city, these streets are surprisingly deserted.”

“Maybe it’s because everyone’s at that live concert,” suggested Fluttershy. “One of the Dazzlings did say they invited the entire city.”

After yet another scary turn, Twilight almost drove the super-cycle head-on into one of the few vehicles on the road. As she narrowly swerved out of the way, she let out another terrified scream and cried out, “Why am I doing this?!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and shouted over the roaring engine, “If you’re so scared of driving, then let me take over!” She quickly crammed herself into the driver’s seat right next to Twilight and grabbed onto the handlebars.

However, Twilight wasn’t going to give up her seat so easily, and quickly started fighting with Rainbow for control over the vehicle. They both shouted at each other as they wrestled over the handlebars, with Twilight arguing things like, “It’s my creation!” and Rainbow similarly arguing, “I’m the team pilot!”

As the two girls in the driver’s seat kept bickering, the four passengers held on desperately as the super-cycle weaved back and forth uncontrollably. When the mighty motorcycle made one unfortunate turn, Rarity suddenly pointed ahead and shrieked, “Watch out! Road work!”

Twilight and Rainbow paused their infighting and glanced ahead just in time to watch as the vehicle crashed through a yellow road barrier and ran right up a large dirt mound. The super-cycle flipped through the air, tossing all of its passengers out, and then smashed to pieces as it slammed into the torn-up roadway.

“Six-one-four,” mumbled Spike as he quickly walked through a room with large storage lockers in it while pushing an empty wheeled luggage carriage in front of him. “Six-one-four, six-one-four…” As he walked, he kept glancing back and forth between the numbers on the doors of those lockers and the manifest page in his hand. “…six-one-four, six-one-four… six-one-four.” Finally, he arrived at locker number 614. “Ah, here it is!” he said with satisfaction as he quickly pulled out a key that he had “found”, stuck it into the lock, turned the key, and then opened the unlocked door.

The manifest page had been updated only a week ago, so as Spike stepped into the massive locker, he felt very confident that he would find what he was looking for. The first thing he spotted was a rack of clothes to the left, each of them protected within clear plastic bags. He inspected each set of clothing and smiled. “These’ll do,” he said.

Next, he opened up a huge trunk in the back of the locker, and what he saw inside also made him smile. “So far, so good,” he noted. “All I need now is…” He opened up a slightly smaller trunk on the right side of the locker. When he looked inside, he grinned and excitedly shouted, “Jackpot!”

Now that he was certain that he had found what he needed, he closed the two trunks and hauled them both out of the locker and onto the luggage carriage. “With luck like this, I should start playing the lottery!” he quipped as he next carried the rack of clothes onto the carriage.

With all of his findings now on the luggage carriage, Spike shut the locker door and locked it up again, then began pushing the carriage to the large vent through which he had entered this room. These containers held the most important pieces of all, and he was very excited to have them.

Back at the road work site, all six of the Canterlot City Master Builders groaned as they slowly got up. Despite the rough landing, they were all mostly okay. Twilight’s super-cycle, on the other hand, had been completely destroyed, and its pieces now lay scattered along the torn-up road.

Once the soreness no longer bothered her, Applejack growled in frustration and marched right up to Rainbow Dash. “Now see what ya just caused?!” she exclaimed.

“Hey, not my fault Twilight refused to give up control!” Rainbow shot back. “There’s a reason I’m the team pilot!”

“Only because you gave that title to yourself!” rebuked Rarity. “No one else on this team agreed to your self-imposed status, and for very good reason!”

“And I’ve got a good reason for taking it!” argued Rainbow. “No one else is daring enough to improvise like I do!”

“Only ‘cause it always leads to trouble!” Applejack shot back. “Ya crashed that spaceship, ya failed to keep that train away from the bad guys, an’ ya couldn’t even park that submarine without sinkin’ it!”

“I told you, that was a freak accident!” shouted Rainbow as she stuck her face against Applejack’s. She then pulled back and boastfully added, “Besides, how can I refuse to pilot anything when I build some of the most awesome stuff?”

Rarity scoffed and grumbled, “Oh please, Rainbow Dash. Just because something was built by you doesn’t automatically make it the greatest thing the world.”

“Like you’re one to talk,” argued Applejack. “Every time we get creative, ya always try to hog the spotlight for yourself!”

“I have legitimate reasons, Applejack,” rebuffed Rarity. “My fabulous creative ideas are more than worthy of the attention they deserve.”

“An’ for what? Just to look good?” shot back Applejack. “We need ideas that actually work, an’ Ah don’t see anyone ‘round here comin’ up with any practical ideas.”

“I’ve come up with lots of ideas!” argued Fluttershy as she stepped into the fight. “You girls just never give me a chance to build any of them!”

Pinkie Pie suddenly butted in and shouted, “And what about my party bus idea?! Every time I try to start building it, you all keep telling me it’s never a good time for it!” She flailed her arms around wildly and shrieked, “HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO HAVE FUN IF I CAN NEVER BUILD THE ONE THING THAT I WANT!?!”

As the rest of the team continued to violently bicker, Twilight was left clutching the sides of her head, desperate to not listen to any of it. Despite her best efforts, she was simply unable to ignore all the fighting going on between her Lego friends. Eventually, she just couldn’t take it anymore.

Twilight rushed over to the angry team and furiously shouted, “Stop! Cut it out! This is madness!” Although she had successfully stopped all the fighting and got everyone’s attention, she was unable to hold back her own anger and frustration as she continued, “We’re supposed to be a team! We’re supposed to be working together! But all I’m seeing is a bunch of people wanting to go their own way without showing any respect for the ideas of others! And if this madness keeps up, WE’LL NEVER GET ANYTHING DONE!!”

With her rant finished, Twilight kept her teeth and fists clenched as she audibly panted, her chest and shoulders visibly rising and falling with each breath. But then a sickly greenish glow made her turn her attention upwards. Above the team of Master Builders was a large thick cloud of green mist floating above them. The fierce scowl on her face quickly fell into guilt and sadness as she realized what this meant. “Oh no,” she quietly muttered.

The rest of the team also turned their gaze upwards and saw the thick cloud of green mist just as it began to drift away.

“Did that come from us?” asked Fluttershy.

“‘Fraid so,” replied Applejack solemnly as she removed her hat.

As everyone silently watched the mist slowly drift away, Twilight turned her gaze down and mumbled, “So this is what Sunset warned me about.”

“Beg pardon?” asked Rarity as she and the others turned to Twilight.

“Before I jumped from the spaceship,” Twilight sadly explained, “Sunset asked me to keep the team together at all costs. She had seen how susceptible you all seemed to be to falling apart, and was afraid the Dazzlings may try to take advantage of that.” She glanced back up at the mist as it drifted around a building… on its way to LEGO Headquarters. “And it looks like she was right.”

After a few seconds of silence, Rainbow eventually said, “I guess this is why they kept trying to capture us.”

“Exactly,” Twilight sadly acknowledged. “They’ve been after our Equestrian magic — the magic of friendship — but they needed it in a form they could absorb. Perhaps they were expecting us to argue over who was to blame for our failures until we reached a point where we could no longer trust each other.”

“And it worked,” noted Rarity solemnly. “We have just given them exactly what they wanted from us.”

All six girls turned their gazes down in sadness. After all they had been through, after all the effort they had put into stopping the sirens, they had not only failed spectacularly, but also played right into the hands of the Dazzlings. Never before had any of them felt quite so humbled.

After a moment of silence, Applejack eventually furrowed her brow and put her hat back on. “Well, no use cryin’ over spilled milk,” she said with determination. “Now that we know what them sirens have been after all along, Ah say we cut off their supply an’ get serious about workin’ together.”

“You’re right,” said Twilight with an equally determined smile. “It may too late for us to prevent the damage we’ve already unleashed, but at least now we can stop it from getting any worse. It’s time we start acting like a real team. From now on, we will all listen to everyone’s ideas and decide together which ones will give us the best results.” She then stepped forward and held her right arm out. “It’s time to get creative.”

One by one, the rest of the team followed Twilight’s example. Applejack stepped forward and placed her hand over Twilight’s, followed by Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity. With everyone now in agreement, the circle of friends raised their hands and let out an excited cheer.

“Now that that’s settled, what shall be our next course of action?” asked Rarity.

“First of all, I have some good news,” replied Twilight. “Right after I had landed, Spike called me over the walkie-talkie and said that he had discovered a substantial amount of information regarding those broadcasting towers. To put it simply, they are all connected to all the others, so if we can somehow build a link to just the one in this city, we will also be connected to all the others in the entire Lego World. He also says he’s busy working on something that should help us, so I think we need to get back to LEGO Headquarters and meet up with him. Whatever he’s working on, it may be our final chance to stop the sirens.”

“Then we’ll need to get there fast,” said Rainbow Dash with determination, “and with that super-cycle destroyed, we’re gonna need a new set of wheels.”

As the rest of the team started thinking of possible ideas, Pinkie Pie slowly turned around to face the nearby intersection. What she saw there slowly made her mouth gape and her eyes widen. “I…” There was a party store, a candy shop, a bakery, a clown car, and all the other props to fit her favorite theme. “I could…” Seeing this large collection of all of her favorite things in the world made her suddenly remember a certain creation she had always wanted. “I could build…” She could already see her idea coming together, and she had all of the correct pieces right in front of her. “I could build a…” It was the one thing she wanted to build more than anything else, and she just couldn’t resist this perfect opportunity. She immediately turned back to her friends and excitedly exclaimed, “I could build a party bus!”

Pinkie Pie kept a huge grin plastered on her face as she glanced around at all of her friends, who silently smiled back at her. After a few seconds, her grin suddenly fell. “Wait… Nobody’s gonna say no?” she asked in confusion.

The rest of the team glanced at one another and then turned back to Pinkie with friendly smiles still on their faces. “Build away, Pinkie,” said Applejack.

Pinkie let out a very long gasp, then smiled nervously and asked, “R-really?”

Twilight responded with a simple nod.

That giant grin returned to Pinkie’s face as her body started vibrating, as if she was a time bomb waiting to explode. Now that she was free to get creative, her pony ears and tail quickly appeared. Once she finished transforming into her magical pony form, she suddenly jumped and excitedly shouted, “Party bus!”

She immediately started zooming around, appearing in many places at once as she took apart everything in and around the nearby intersection. “Party bus, party bus, PARTY BUS!” she shouted cheerfully as she quickly put all of the pieces together.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Click! Clack! Whoosh! Click! Click! Clack! Clack! Whoosh! Click! Clack! Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

In almost no time at all, the custom vehicle was completed. It was a roofless bus built out of pink, yellow, and light blue Lego pieces. It had six seats arranged in three rows of two, along with all kinds of silly party decorations and even a pair of party cannons on its sides. Pinkie Pie hopped into the driver’s seat as she attached the final piece — the steering wheel from the clown car — and honked the silly horn twice. “Party bus!”

The rest of the team took a brief moment to admire their new ride, then quickly rushed toward it. “Ah call shotgun!” exclaimed Applejack as she jumped over the side and landed in the front passenger seat. Twilight took the middle seat behind her, while Rarity and Fluttershy climbed into the back seats with Rarity behind Twilight.

Rainbow Dash smiled uneasily as she stood next to Pinkie in the driver’s seat and asked, “Hey, uh, can I drive? If not, I would be totally cool with that.”

Pinkie continued grinning as she jumped up, back-flipped through the air, and landed squarely in the empty passenger seat next to Twilight.

“Seriously?” asked Rainbow in disbelief. “Just like that?”

“You are the team pilot, are you not?” responded Rarity with a pleasant smile.

Twilight also had a friendly smile on her face as she added, “And with the kind of opposition we might face along the way, we could use somebody who knows how to improvise.” She grinned and smugly added, “Rainbow Dash style.”

“Awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow excitedly as she jumped over the side of the party bus and landed in the driver’s seat. Even though she had frequently boasted about her piloting/driving skills, it still felt incredible to finally hear some real praise from her friends and teammates. She grinned as she grabbed onto the steering wheel and declared, “Let’s ride!”

“Party bus!” shouted Pinkie Pie cheerfully.

Rainbow stomped on the accelerator and the party bus — with a license plate that read “PARTY BUS” — zoomed off down the street after a brief squeal of the tires.

“Party bus!”

The party bus and it six passengers zoomed past an empty café.

“Party bus!”

The party bus zoomed through the park and around the central fountain.

“Party bus!”

The party bus smashed through a yellow road barrier and zoomed up an on-ramp onto the highway.

“Party bus!”

The party bus jumped over a wide gap in the freeway and landed safely on the other side.

“Party bus!”

The party bus zoomed down the off-ramp and headed downtown.

“Party bus!”

“I don’t know how you do it, Pinkie,” remarked Rainbow Dash, “but this thing handles like a dream.”

“Party bus!” cheered Pinkie Pie for the umpteenth time.

Suddenly, the loud wailing of a police siren could be heard from behind the party bus. Applejack quickly noticed the flashing red and blue lights in the side mirror and worriedly exclaimed, “Oh boy, Smokey’s on our tail!”

Inside the pursuing police car, the police officer with medium nougat skin called on his radio, “All units, stop that party bus!”

Right away, about half a dozen more police cars joined the pursuit with their lights and sirens all going off.

“Party bus!” shouted Pinkie, this time with a panicked look on her face.

“I got ‘em!” responded Rainbow Dash before she suddenly steered the party bus to the right through a hidden alleyway.

That bus had moved so swiftly that the police cars just continued straight ahead. “Hey! Where’d they go?” asked the confused officer in the lead squad car.

With a loud squeal of the tires, the party bus skidded sideways down the next road and slammed right into all of the police cars — except for the lead squad car — smashing all of them to pieces and sending the drivers tumbling down the street.

“Party bus!” cheered Pinkie Pie as she aimed the twin party cannons at the remaining police car that was now right in front of them and fired, blasting it completely to pieces.

As with all the other police cars, the driver was left tumbling along the street. Once he came to a stop, he sat up and watched the party bus quickly flee the scene. “Well, at least it’s not the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me,” he remarked quietly.

Just seconds later, a police helicopter with bright searchlights started following after the party bus.

Twilight raised a hand to shield her eyes from the intense glare and exclaimed, “We need to get rid of that thing!”

“I have an idea,” said Fluttershy. She then glanced down and uncertainly added, “If that’s okay with you, that is.”

“Then by all means, proceed, darling,” responded Rarity with a friendly smile. “Never let any of us stand in the way of your creativity.”

Fluttershy momentarily paused in shock, but then she gave a huge smile and let out a faint squee, feeling very excited to finally be given a chance to make a creative contribution. Right away, her pony ears, tail, and feathered wings appeared on her body. Now that she was ready to get creative, she flapped her wings and took to the air.

Fluttershy flew ahead of the speeding party bus and scanned the mostly empty streets for anything she could use. The first thing she found was a tow truck parked on the side of the road. “I’ll need this for a building platform,” she quietly said to herself as she swiftly grabbed the hook from the tow truck and hooked it onto the back of the party bus as it zoomed by. The tow truck was quickly yanked from its parking spot and started trailing backwards behind the party bus.

Next, Fluttershy began collecting any useful Lego pieces she could find. “I could use some of these,” she said quietly as she took apart a newspaper stand and a mailbox and tossed all of those pieces into a pile on the back of the tow truck. “These could be useful.” She swiftly disassembled a traffic light and a phone booth and added those pieces to the moving pile. She then noticed a large truck hauling an open trailer that was coming down the street on the opposite lane. “I’ll also need some of these.” She landed behind the cab of that truck and quickly removed some pieces from it, starting with the roof.

“Hey!” the truck driver suddenly shouted. “This isn’t meant to be a convertible!”

“Sorry,” said Fluttershy. “Oh! And I hope to don’t mind if I take some of these, too,” she quickly added as she began grabbing many of the barrels from the trailer and tossing them over to her pile.

Now that there was a significant pile of parts on the back of that tow truck, Fluttershy flew back to the party bus and landed on the rear bumper. “And now to put it all together.” She immediately went to work, building an addition onto the back of the party bus. As she built her structure, one piece at a time, she moved so swiftly that it was like watching a video in fast-forward.

Click! Clack! Click! Click! Clack! Clack! Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

It wasn’t long until her creation was complete. The rear addition to the party bus consisted of a rotating turret in the middle and a pair of large storage racks on either side that held all of those barrels.

Now that her work was finished, Fluttershy kicked off the hook, leaving the empty tow truck behind to eventually coast to a stop. The police helicopter aimed its searchlight at her as she hopped into the turret she had just built. With little time to waste, she slowly spun the turret around, aimed it up at the helicopter, and pulled a lever.

A giant boomerang suddenly flung from the turret, spinning rapidly through the air as it flew towards the helicopter and then sheared off the tail rotor. Fluttershy smiled when she saw that boomerang make a perfect strike on her intended target. An alarm could be heard coming from the helicopter as it slowly began to spin out of control and descend. Within seconds, the disabled helicopter came down onto the street, landing softly enough to remain perfectly intact.

Right after that, another half-dozen police cars — all of them wailing their sirens and flashing their red and blue lights — came onto the scene from opposite directions, three from each side. “Sorry, police, but you’re not helping the good guys right now,” said Fluttershy firmly as she reached for another lever on her creation. “That’s us, by the way,” she quickly added before flipping that lever.

The storage racks opened, and all of the barrels on the back of the party bus tumbled out and crashed into all of the pursuing police cars, smashing them to pieces.

“Nicely done, Fluttershy,” praised Rarity.

“Wow, Fluttershy,” remarked Twilight with a smile. “I had no idea you were capable of building something like this.”

“Great work, Fluttershy!” added Rainbow Dash as she briefly glanced back at her friend with a smile. But when she turned her attention back to the road ahead, her eyes suddenly widened. “Uh oh.” She immediately stomped on the brakes and the party bus screeched to a sudden halt in the middle of an intersection.

Ahead of the stopped party bus, all the way up to the next intersection, the entire road was completely blocked off by lots and lots of police cars. They didn’t have their sirens going, but the flashing red and blue lights made it clear that this was a deliberate roadblock.

After a moment of uneasy silence, Rainbow Dash shifted the party bus into reverse and hit the accelerator, making the bus and it six passengers quickly back away from the roadblock.

“Whoa, there. You backin’ off?” asked Applejack as she raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not backing off. I’m backing up,” explained Rainbow. “Gotta have more roadway if I’m gonna build up a lotta speed.”

Once she realized what Rainbow Dash was up to, Applejack’s confused expression turned into a smug smile. “You thinkin’ what Ah’m thinkin’?”

“Oh yeah,” confirmed Rainbow just as smugly. When she soon brought the party bus to a stop, she flashed a cocky grin at the passenger riding shotgun and simply said, “Put a plow on this thing.”

“Can do!” responded Applejack excitedly before she hopped out of her seat and quickly began grabbing various parts and pieces from a nearby alleyway.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Click! Clack! Whoosh! Click! Clack! Click! Clack! Click! Clack!

Once the wedge-shaped plow was complete, she slammed the whole thing into place on the front of the party bus, then hopped back into her seat.

Twilight shifted her gaze back and forth between plow addition and the roadblock up ahead. When she soon realized what was about to happen, her eyes widened and she mumbled, “Oh no, she’s not gonna—?”

Vroom! Vroom!

Rainbow had an almost maniacal grin on her face as she loudly revved the engine twice.

“She is,” Rarity weakly replied.

“DEMOLITION DERBY!!” shouted Rainbow Dash. She shifted the party bus into drive and stomped down on the accelerator. The massive vehicle with a plow zoomed forward at full speed, heading directly for the police roadblock.

At the roadblock, all of the police officers gawked as the party bus with its new addition approached. When it finally occurred to them that this beast of a vehicle was heading right for them, they immediately panicked and fled the scene.

All six minifigs riding in the party bus screamed loudly — some in fear, some in excitement — as the final seconds ticked by before initial impact. Finally, the party bus/plow smashed into the roadblock, sending police cars — and pieces of police cars — flying away. The resulting carnage was like a speedboat plowing through the water, with so many constant impacts that it sounded like some sort of rapid-fire weapon. By the time the massive vehicle made it completely through the roadblock, it hadn’t even lost much speed at all.

As the party bus sped away from the scene of unprecedented devastation to traffic, Rainbow Dash was laughing uncontrollably. “That… was awesome!” she exclaimed excitedly. After some more laughter, she added, “We have so gotta do that again sometime!”

Rarity glanced back at the massive piles of black and while Lego pieces that used to be over a dozen police cars, then turned forward and remarked, “My goodness! We seem to have been able to overcome every single obstacle that has stood in our way, thus far.” She then smiled. “I daresay we might actually stand a chance of success!”

Twilight smiled along with the rest of her Lego friends. It truly was very remarkable just how much more successful their efforts had become, now that they were all working together and allowing everyone to make their own special contributions.

But then Twilight frowned as she suddenly remembered who it was that had inspired this amazing improvement of the team dynamics. She couldn’t help but sigh and sadly mutter, “If only Sunset Shimmer could see this.”

Battle of the Bands

View Online

Chapter 16
Battle of the Bands

At a certain construction site in Lego City, very little had changed within the few hours that had passed since all three of the tall buildings were completely demolished by a spaceship crash. Since the incident had occurred after working hours, there was nobody around who was even aware of what had happened here. Numerous construction vehicles were parked on one side of the worksite, not far from the massive pile of debris that now covered much of the site. There were also some firefighting vehicles parked on the other side of the worksite, though there were no signs of any fires or firefighters nearby. Aside from the faint whistling of a light breeze, this site seemed to be completely devoid of life.

Suddenly, a few Lego bricks in the pile began to shift, lightly clacking against each other. Eventually, some of those bricks were quickly pushed away from below. From the small cavity underneath emerged a pair of amber-colored hands, followed by the black sleeves of a jacket, and then a head with a fiery red and yellow hair piece.

Sunset Shimmer could hardly believe that she was still alive after such a horrific crash. Despite crash-landing at a very high speed and having three buildings come down on top of her, she had remarkably ended up inside a rather spacious cavity that prevented her from being crushed. Unfortunately, the site of her survival had been at the bottom of the pile, so she had to spend the last few hours carefully digging her way through all of those Lego pieces. Despite a few cave-ins here and there, she had been able to keep going until she finally reached the surface.

Sunset coughed a few times before she pulled herself the rest of the way out of the pile. As she slowly stood up, she glanced up at the dark nighttime sky, then down at her body. The background city lights allowed her to see that, despite a few scratches and bruises, she had survived the crash amazingly unscathed. But despite how incredibly lucky she was, she didn’t feel like celebrating at all.

“What a mess,” muttered Sunset as she glanced around at the massive pile of Lego parts. She then sat down on a nearby brick and lowered her head as she let out a sad sigh. As far as she was aware, her incredible survival had done little to improve the situation for herself or her friends. The Dazzlings still had total control over the entire Lego world, her friends were now scattered across the city, and she had absolutely no ideas on where to go from here.

As much as Sunset wanted to go out and actually do something, she just couldn’t figure out what she should do next. As she slowly turned her attention back to the massive pile she sat upon, she began to recall some of the things her new friends had told her over the last few days.

“There’s nothin’ to it. Just build whatever comes to mind.”

“You must visualize your creation. The first step to building anything is to see it with your mind.”

“Why bother looking for something when you can just build it yourself?”

“It’s a piece of cake! Just grab a bunch of parts and throw ‘em all together!”

“You did come up with a very good plan. I’m sure you would make a great Master Builder.”

“They say the only limit is the imagination, and if you could just open your mind to all the possibilities, then even you can create just about anything.”

Sunset let out another sad sigh. She had lost count of how many times she reminded her friends that, unlike them, she had no creative talents at all. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. She really did want to help out just as much as the rest of the team could, but for some reason, she just couldn’t seem to grasp the concept of creativity. In fact, now that she realized it, creativity seemed to elude her just as much as the concept of friendship once did.

Sunset thought about the advice that Twilight had given her and slowly began to realize that perhaps both creativity and friendship had the same simple requirement: She just needed to open her mind to the possibilities.

For friendship, Sunset felt she was already on the right track. When Twilight’s team wanted her help, she was willing to provide it, despite her limitations. It had all started out by simply sending that message to Princess Twilight in Equestria, but as events continued to unfold and she found herself stuck with the team far longer than she had anticipated, she was still happy to lend them a hand. Even when things took a turn for the worst and she was forced to rely on her old underhanded tactics, she was willing to set aside her personal misgivings and still got it done, all for the sake of helping her friends. If she could already come this far with understanding friendship, would creativity really be any more difficult?

Sunset slowly stood up and looked around at the massive pile. At first, she could only see it for what it currently was: just a big pile of Lego bricks. But this time, she tried to go further. As she glanced around at which particular parts were available, she tried to let her mind wander and consider which pieces she could put together. She felt that thinking about a final product would be too overwhelming, so instead she focused only on where she could start.

It wasn’t long until something extraordinary happened. Within her imagination, she saw two bricks — a pair of 2x4 bricks, one red and one yellow — float up from the pile and move close to each other. Her eyes widened as she saw the two bricks turn around in the air until they were perfectly parallel with each other. The red brick was now directly over the yellow one, but then she made them stop. Instead of a direct alignment, she decided to offset the two bricks, moving the red brick over two studs so that it was now over only half of the yellow brick. Finally, with an imaginary click, the two bricks came together.

Sunset gasped. “The possibilities…” she quietly said in wonder. “I can see them!”

She began to visualize many more Lego pieces, and imagined how she could fit them together. It was more than just pairs of bricks! She also saw how plates — with a height of one third of regular bricks — provided an even wider range of creativity, and how tiles would provide smooth surfaces wherever she didn’t want studs sticking out. She saw pegs fitting perfectly into the holes on technic bricks and beams, and plus-shaped axles fitting through not only those same holes but also through gears and wheels. She even saw some special bricks that involved a ball-and-socket connection, providing a huge range of movement between such parts. All of it was so incredible that a big smile slowly began to form on her face.

Sunset was so entranced by what she was seeing that she didn’t even realize that she began to slowly levitate up from the pile as a magical glow started surrounding her body. As her imagination continued to run wild, an incredible transformation took place. First, pony-like ears appeared on the top of her hair piece. Then her hair grew much longer in the back so that it resembled a tail. And finally, a unicorn horn materialized on the very front of her hair piece, right over her forehead.

Sunset Shimmer had finally earned her magical half-pony half-minifig form. She was now a Master Builder, enhanced by the magic of friendship.

When her feet touched down on the large pile again, Sunset finally realized what had just happened. She dropped her smile as she curiously felt her new pony ears and tail, while also noticing that all of the scrapes and bruises all over her body had suddenly vanished. When she then felt the horn on her forehead, her smile immediately returned. “I wonder…” she mumbled.

She immediately thought back to her days as a unicorn in Equestria, remembering all of the lessons she had taken on the use of basic magic. She focused her mind on a few pieces in the pile in front of her. Amazingly, a magical aura that was the same aqua color of her eyes surrounded not only her horn, but also appeared around the bunch of Lego pieces she was focusing on. As she then levitated those pieces within her magic, she barely contained her excitement as she chuckled and muttered, “This is gonna be so much fun.”

Sunset Shimmer immediately went to work. “Let’s start with some of these…” she said to herself as she rapidly assembled most of the floating pieces. “Add a bit of this…” She levitated a few move pieces up from the pile and added them to those she had already put together. “And a few of those…” She levitated even more pieces up from the pile and moved them around her progress. “Put it all together, and…”

Once all of her gathered pieces were together, Sunset continued levitating her creation. “Not bad…” she remarked. Although she had easily used up a few hundred pieces, there was still a massive pile under her feet. She quickly realized this and said, “But why stop there when I can go bigger?” She glanced around at her surroundings and her grin grew even wider. “Much bigger.”

Her magic took hold of a huge amount of the pile and, as she thrust both arms up, all of those pieces were quickly hurled from the pile and began to swirl around the unfinished creation. With a yank of her right arm, she magically tore apart all of the construction vehicles and added those pieces to the floating mass. With a yank of her left arm, she magically tore apart all of the firefighting vehicles and also added those pieces to her collection. Then, with her hands quickly moving around in every direction, she began to very rapidly assemble her very first work of creativity.

As she magically put all the pieces together, she excitedly said, “Let’s throw on some of this! And this! Can’t go without these! Oh, gotta have these, too! Can’t forget about those! That looks good, but these would make it even better! Oh, I know where to put these! Ah, now there’s something I could use! And this would be awesome! Now let’s throw on even more of these!”

As Sunset Shimmer’s creation quickly took shape, she laughed and excitedly shouted, “I LOVE LEGO!!”

In front of LEGO Headquarters, a massive crowd had gathered. Thousands of minifigs — men, women, and children — from all over Lego City were standing close together on the flat grassy peninsula. Some people had decided to sit up in the few scattered trees, and a few others had even gone so far as to sit in some homemade rafts so they could watch from the water. People were so desperate for a better view that police officers had to keep watch around the supports of the elevated monorail to ensure no one would be stupid enough to actually climb up there.

The focus of everyone’s attention was the massive LEGO logo on the front tower of the building. According to the invitations that were distributed to everyone in the city, that logo would be the site of tonight’s special performance, where an elevated stage would automatically deploy just before the start of the show. For now, all they could see was what the front tower normally looked like at night: brightly illuminated by a pair of floodlights on the ground — around which police officers also had to keep watch to ensure no one would obstruct those lights.

As everyone in the crowd muttered amongst themselves, three pairs of eyes were looking outside through a set of tiny windows near the bottom of the giant logo on the tower. Inside the tower, the three sirens — who had just recently changed into those special performance dresses that were made for them earlier — smiled at the massive crowd that had gathered to watch their ultimate performance. Even though these citizens would have the special privilege of watching, the Dazzlings’ newest song would also be broadcasted live to every region in the Lego World so that no one would miss out on their enchanting voices. All they had to do now was wait for just the right moment.

“Hey, look over there,” Sonata suddenly said, pointing to the right and slightly up.

Adagio and Aria turned their gazes to the right and saw a thick cloud of sickly green mist floating over the city and slowly heading right towards them. “Is that what I think it is?” asked Aria.

“Pure Equestrian magic,” confirmed Adagio as she grinned. “I told you it was only a matter of time before those Master Builders would be pushed too far, and now we have everything we need for the final phase of the plan. All we have to do is wait for that magic to arrive, and then… it’s showtime.”

As Adagio finished speaking, the Dazzlings heard the whirring noise of the elevator platform behind them, along with some indistinct chatter on a radio. They glanced back and saw Kjeld Playwell on that elevator.

When the elevator platform reached the level the Dazzlings were on, he flipped a lever to stop the elevator. He turned to the Dazzlings and said, “I’d hate to interrupt you girls, but I’m receiving reports of a party bus zooming through the streets of the city, and I’m sure you can guess who is responsible.”

“Indeed,” acknowledged Adagio with a nod. “But we no longer care what those Master Builders do. As far as we’re concerned, they are already too late to stop us.”

More indistinct chatter suddenly came from the radio in Kjeld’s right hand, so he held it up to the side of his head and listened carefully. Once the chatter was finished, Kjeld turned to the Dazzlings and reported, “The party bus has just been destroyed.”

The three sirens silently smiled to each other before turning their attention back outside. Behind them, Kjeld started up the elevator again and continued on his way up.

The party bus plowed its way through yet another roadblock. Even though the team of friends had yet to encounter anything that could stop them, they were not getting much closer to reaching LEGO Headquarters. Rainbow Dash did her best to navigate through the unfamiliar streets, but since no one on the team had ever been to Lego City, it was all guesswork at best.

As the party bus zoomed down yet another empty street, a large boulder suddenly flung up through the air from behind an overturned truck and began hurtling right towards the team.

“Look out! Incoming!” shouted Twilight, pointing up at the massive projectile.

Rainbow glanced up at the boulder and saw it begin to fall right at where the party bus was going, so she immediately jerked the wheel to one side and slammed on the brakes. The party bus quickly skidded sideways along the road as the tires squealed loudly. Unfortunately, Rainbow’s daring move had caused the bus to lose traction and was unable to control it any further. Finally, as the party bus slid into an intersection, the boulder crashed down right on the big vehicle and smashed it completely to pieces.

All six minifigs were flung out from the destruction and tumbled to a stop right in the middle of that intersection. They quickly stood up and saw that overturned truck being pushed aside, revealing a group of skeleton warriors around a catapult. The team quickly glanced around in shock as they saw dozens of skeleton warriors slowly advance on their position from all four surrounding streets.

As the six girls gathered close together in the middle of the intersection and stood back-to-back with each other, Twilight spoke up, “Well, girls, I think I speak for all of us when I say… we’re doomed.”

All of the skeletons raised their weapons and laughed viciously as they slowly closed in on their opponents. With the Master Builders completely surrounded, there seemed to be no chance of escape.

Suddenly, the ground shook a little, causing the skeletons to halt their advance. Just one second later, the ground shook a bit again, making the skeletons glance around in confusion. Another second later, and the ground shook again.

“Oh, what now?” groaned Rainbow Dash.

Each time the ground shook, a heavy thud could be heard somewhere off in the distance. Everyone glanced around, but with so many tall buildings around, it was difficult to see anything that wasn’t along the surrounding four streets. As the thuds steadily grew louder, they also began to hear some kind of whirring mechanical system. The ground continued to shake intermittently as the pair of strange noises slowly amplified.

Whirr-clang. Whirr-clang. Whirr-clang! Whirr-clang!

Finally, something appeared around the corner of a distant intersection. Something really big. The best way one could describe it was an enormous mech which walked on two legs, had two arms, and even a head at the very top. This machine was so humongous that it towered nearly as high as many of the surrounding buildings. With each step this monstrous object took, the ground shook with the force of a small earthquake.

“Holy macaroni!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie in shock as she and everyone else gawked up at the giant mech, which was now slowly heading right for them.

Whirr-clang! Whirr-CLANG! Whirr-CLANG! Whirr-CLANG!!

The giant mech finally stopped when it was just one massive stride away from the team and surrounding skeleton army. It then raised both of its arms and quickly deployed a weapon system on each arm, aiming right at the intersection. Finally, a loud voice boomed from the mech’s head. “STEP AWAY FROM MY FRIENDS!!”

Although Twilight and her team were absolutely terrified of this giant mechanical beast that just came out of nowhere, it was the skeleton army that panicked first. All of the skeleton warriors immediately dropped their weapons and fled down the three other streets.

The six Master Builders now stood alone in the intersection. They glanced around in confusion at the retreating skeleton army, then turned their gaze up at the giant mech. Was this thing an opponent… or an ally?

Once the skeletons were gone, the huge mech retracted its weapons and lowered its arms. Finally, the front of the mech’s head flipped open like the visor of a helmet, revealing the pilot who simply smiled and waved at them and greeted, “Hi, girls.”

“Sunset Shimmer!” exclaimed Twilight with sudden excitement. “You’re alive!”

Like Twilight, the rest of her friends were very excited to see that Sunset had survived through incredible odds and had now rejoined the team. But they were also in absolute shock and disbelief at what she had brought along with her.

“What is that thing?” asked Fluttershy.

“It’s my very first custom creation!” Sunset proudly answered. She manipulated the controls surrounding her, moving the humongous mech into a fighting pose. “I call it ‘The Titan’!” She kept grinning as she then lowered her voice. “You like?”

Rainbow Dash continued gawking up at Sunset Shimmer’s Titan as she slowly replied, “That… is… AWESOME!” A huge grin suddenly appeared on her face as she shouted that final word.

“I must say, for a very first build, you did an extraordinary job,” remarked Rarity contently. “I especially like how you managed to incorporate all of those construction and firefighting vehicles into your build. The reds and yellows express a rather suitable complement to your person.”

Applejack let out a long whistle as she moved her gaze up and down the huge mech. “You sayin’ ya actually built this whole thing all by yourself?” she asked.

“I had some time to think about all the advice you girls gave me over the last few days,” replied Sunset. “It turned out to be quite helpful, once I was finally able to open my imagination. And as you can see,” she pointed at the pony ears and unicorn horn on her head, “I’m now a magically-enhanced Master Builder, just like the rest of you.”

“Way to go, Sunset!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie cheerfully. “We should throw a party to celebrate!”

“I think we’d better save that party for after we’ve saved the Lego World from the sirens,” reminded Twilight. She turned up to Sunset and explained, “Spike contacted me through the walkie-talkie and said that he’s working on something that could help us. Do you think you can give us a ride to LEGO Headquarters?”

“Way ahead of ya,” replied Sunset as she moved her Titan to kneel down and lower a giant hand down on the road in front of the team. A pair of big doors then swung open from the mech’s chest area, revealing a passenger space with six empty seats. “Hop in, girls.”

The six minifigs on the ground hesitated at first, but as they looked over Sunset’s creation and realized just how much effort she really put into building that thing, they decided to climb onto the mech’s hand. Once everyone was on the palm of that giant mechanical hand, Sunset raised it up to the passenger space. She waited until all of her friends had climbed inside before she pulled the hand away and closed the doors.

Sunset switched on a radio system and called down to the passenger space, “Ready, girls?”

Twilight sat down in one of the seats, then glanced around at everyone else. Once she was sure that everyone was comfortably seated, she turned to the overhead speaker and replied, “Ready, Sunset.”

“Then let’s go,” responded Sunset as she brought her giant mech up to full height, then made it begin to walk forward at the same steady pace at which she had first arrived.

Twilight and the rest of her friends watched through the forward windows of those doors as Sunset Shimmer’s Titan advanced. Twilight couldn’t help but smile at the thought that Sunset Shimmer had been able to build this incredible creation all by herself. It seemed that the formerly disgraced student of Princess Celestia was now well on her way on the path towards redemption.

The Titan had made it across only one street before some opposition came onto the scene. From around a corner, a bunch of skeletons rolled three catapults out onto the street and aimed them right at the giant mech. As if that wasn’t enough, another squad of robot-piloted space fighters flew over the city and began to turn around towards the site of the mech.

Sunset tightly gripped the controls in her hands and muttered, “So this is how it’s going to be, huh?” She grinned. “Fine, then! BRING IT ON!” And with that, she unleashed everything at the enemy.

Sunset started by deploying the weapon on the right arm, an air cannon that fired three bundles of dynamite in rapid succession, quickly blowing up all three of those catapults. She retracted that weapon and deployed the one on the left arm, a high-pressure water cannon. As one of the space fighters came close, she fired a jet of water at it with so much force that its pieces were blown apart. She retracted that weapon and quickly noticed more skeletons advancing, this time with a battering ram. She responded by raising the mech’s right foot and stomping it down on the siege engine, crushing the object and even shaking the ground with a brief earthquake. When she turned her attention back up and saw three more space fighters quickly approaching, she knew exactly what to do. She made her Titan reach behind its back and grab a chain with a large wrecking ball on the end of it. She quickly spun the wrecking ball around like a sling and released the chain. The wrecking ball soared through the air and smashed right through all three fighters. As that wrecking ball came down somewhere off in the distance, she glanced around and prepared for any more opposition.

Sunset Shimmer smirked, for she was just getting started.

Kjeld opened the door and stepped onto the roof of the front tower of LEGO Headquarters as he tried to listen to the voice over the radio in his right hand. “You need to speak up,” he spoke irritably into the radio. “I can’t understand a word you’re saying.”

“There’s something big out here!” responded the voice urgently on the radio. “Really big!”

Kjeld pulled out a pair of binoculars as he walked over to the railing that marked the edge of the flat roof. Once he stopped, he gazed through the binoculars towards the downtown area of Lego City. Between a few buildings, he could see a giant red and yellow mech as it stomped around, fired a water cannon and bundles of dynamite, and at one point even punched a space fighter right out of the sky.

Kjeld lowered his binoculars and furrowed his brow as he muttered, “Hmm… Those girls sure are persistent, I’ll give them that.”

His attention was then drawn downwards when he heard a mechanical noise. He knew right away that it was coming from the elevated stage as it extended outwards from along the bottom of the giant LEGO logo on the tower. However, he was barely able to see its silhouette through a thick green fog that was now floating in front of the logo.

At the same time, a set of stage lights deployed along the top of the logo, allowing the stage to be brightly illuminated from above. In addition, a massive video screen came on — which was located on the front surface of the tower between the logo and the monorail entrance — to provide the audience with a large close-up view of the stage. Once the stage reached its full extension, silence fell across the gathered crowd as they eagerly waited for the show to begin.

Finally, the background music began to play, and three minifigs slowly strutted their way forward as they started vocalizing. At first, they could only be seen as silhouettes through the dense green fog, but then their details began to emerge as they approached the front of the stage. Once they stopped strutting, they began to sway their arms around to the rhythm of the music. All the while, their red gemstone pendants began absorbing the surrounding Equestrian magic.

Sunset Shimmer’s Titan shot down a few more space fighters with the dynamite cannon and obliterated yet another skeleton army with the water cannon. As it then backhand-punched another fighter out of the sky, Sunset suddenly noticed what was going on at LEGO Headquarters. As her eyes widened in shock, she flipped a switch and spoke through the radio, “You girls better take a look at this.”

Down in the passenger space, a set of monitors deployed and turned on, displaying what was visible from the Titan’s head. It was hard to tell what exactly was going on from such a great distance, but then Sunset zoomed in the video, revealing Dazzlings on the elevated stage surrounded by a certain dense cloud of green mist. The six friends could only watch in horror as the sirens began to sing while absorbing that mist of magic.

“That didn’t take long,” mumbled Rainbow Dash.

Applejack sighed in defeat and admitted, “Ah’d hate to tell ya this, Sunset, but Ah’m afraid that came from us.”

“Yes, we unfortunately had a bit of a falling out moments ago,” added Rarity uneasily. “It wasn’t long until we finally realized the full implications of what had happened, so we quickly reconciled our differences and began working together like a proper team.”

“But as you can see,” finished Twilight solemnly, “the damage has already been done.”

“Then we don’t have any time to lose!” exclaimed Sunset with determination as she tightened her grip on the mech’s controls. “Hang on, girls! We’re gonna crash their party!” She immediately began moving a pair of levers back and forth rapidly, making the giant mech actually run down the street, stomping loudly with each long stride.

Whirr-CLANG-Whirr-CLANG-Whirr-CLANG-Whirr-CLANG!

As the humongous mech and its seven passengers quickly approached LEGO Headquarters, Twilight pulled out her walkie-talkie and urgently spoke, “Spike! We’re running out of time! Please tell me you’re done with whatever it is you’re working on!”

Inside the front tower of LEGO Headquarters, Spike could hear the sirens sing the first lyric of their song just outside. “Almost…” he grunted as he continued turning a large crank on his creation, lifting it along the toothed rack of where an elevator would normally go. The gears slowly clanked against each other as Spike’s mystery creation slowly lifted up through the interior of the tower.

Once he finally reached the desired height, Spike pushed in the shaft of the crank, locking it into place. Spike swiftly picked up his walkie-talkie and responded, “There! All set to go!” He continued speaking through the walkie-talkie as he rushed over to another part of his creation and proudly announced, “Citizens of Lego City, get ready for the greatest show ever! Tonight, we’re gonna start things off with a bang!”

Spike then dropped the walkie-talkie and chuckled mischievously as he picked up a bundle of dynamite and muttered, “I’ve always wanted to use one of these.” He swiftly struck a match, lit the fuse, and blew out the match. With the live explosive in his hand, he then ran over to the edge of his creation and let out a loud grunt as he threw it as hard as he could towards his intended target.

Outside the tower, the Dazzling had just finished absorbing the last of the cloud of Equestrian magic as they continued their ultimate song. The lyrics they sang indicated very clearly their evil intent for everyone who was listening.

With Equestrian magic now under their control, the first thing they unleashed was a massive red soundwave over the gathered crowd. When the wave of dark magic propagated over the thousands of minifigs, their eyes shrank to tiny pinpricks as they were left completely entranced by the sirens. And thanks to the interconnected system of broadcasting towers, similar waves of dark magic quickly spread from every tower across the entire Lego World, leaving no minifig unaffected.

As the Dazzlings continued singing, they began to levitate over the stage as the Equestrian magic began to alter their bodies. Their hair pieces gained a pair of pony ears near the top and grew a longer tail-like extension on the back. The final part of their dark transformation was the creation of an additional piece, attached via the neck joint, over their backs: a pair of gossamer wings.

As the sirens continued singing, a red magical glow surrounded their levitating forms. Their former powers were now fully restored, and everyone in the entire Lego World was now deeply under their spell. As far they knew, they had just achieved total victory. With the final lyric of the verse, they proudly claimed that nothing could possibly stop them now.

BOOM!!

A massive explosion suddenly rocked the tower, blowing a huge hole in the front side just left of the LEGO logo. The force of the violent blast threw the Dazzilings down to the stage and instantly knocked them unconscious. But since the gathered audience had fallen so entranced by the sirens, they showed no reaction at all to the sudden interruption.

The sole exception to the crowd was Kjeld Playwell, who glanced down at the smoking damage to the building and grumbled, “What in my grandfather’s name was that?”

It was right at this moment that Sunset Shimmer’s Titan charged out of the city. The giant mech skidded to a stop — digging a big trench in the ground with its heel — at the corner of the L-shaped peninsula just beyond the edge of the huge crowd and turned left to face LEGO Headquarters.

Inside the passenger space, Twilight held up her walkie-talkie and worriedly exclaimed, “Spike! Are you okay?! We just saw an explosion!” She and her friends silently stared at the damage to the building as she waited for a response. When she got none, she desperately shouted, “SPIKE!!”

At first, there was still no response, and no sign of anything happening aside from the smoke billowing from the giant hole in the building. After a very long and tense moment of silence, a response finally came through on the walkie-talkie.

“That would be me!” announced Spike with pride as a rather peculiar contraption emerged from the smoke. It was a large platform of some kind with four rapidly-spinning rotors on tall shafts — one on each corner — that kept it airborne. As the hovering platform flew closer to the Titan, the seven Master Builders could also see a wall on the back edge with easily over a hundred levers on it, and operating all of those countless levers was a familiar short minifig wearing a red baseball cap.

Honk-honk!

Spike was rapidly flipping levers all across the wall as he laughed and triumphantly remarked, “Never underestimate the power of imagination and creativity!”

Honk-honk!

After the weird contraption made that odd noise again, Spike paused and turned back to the giant mech as he smugly stated, “And yes, this thing is exactly as complicated as it looks.”

Sunset opened the doors to the passenger space, allowing Spike and the rest of the team to see each other without any obstructions.

As the wacky contraption slowed to a stop and hovered close to the opened passenger space, Twilight stared at it and slowly asked, “Is this what you’ve been working on? What did you build?”

“It’s a flying performance stage!” replied Spike excitedly. “You’ll need it if you’re gonna save the world with that musical counter-spell.” He swiftly flipped a few more levers and the funky contraption hovered closer until the gap between it and passenger area of the Titan was shorter than a single pace. “Hop on! I’ll give ya a ride to the nearest broadcasting tower!”

Sunset opened the visor-like front of her mech’s head and said, “You girls go on ahead with Spike. I’ll catch up to you after I make some modifications.”

The six girls in the passenger area glanced at one another with uncertainty. It wasn’t long until Twilight simply smiled and shrugged before she jumped across the gap and stepped onto the flying stage. The others quickly followed.

Spike quickly flipped a few levers and cheerfully announced, “Onwards! To victory!”

Honk-honk!

The flying stage hovered away from the mech, then turned right and began heading towards Lego City.

Sunset watched for a few seconds as the flying stage departed, then turned her attention back to LEGO Headquarters, where she could see the three sirens were just starting to recover from that explosion. As they slowly stood up and turned their attention towards her, she decided to simply smile and wave.

The three sirens briefly gawked at the giant mech that stood at the edge of the gathered crowd — which remained blissfully unaware of it right behind them. But when Adagio suddenly recognized the operator of that mech, her confusion instantly turned to a fierce glare as she clenched her teeth and growled, “Shimmer.”

“Hi, sirens!” Sunset called out cheerfully. “Remember me? Of course you do! But you may have noticed things are a little different now, so allow me to reintroduce myself.” She kept her excited grin as she furrowed her brow. “I am Sunset Shimmer the Master Builder!”

Sunset’s unicorn horn glowed as her aqua-colored magic aura surrounded the seat she was sitting in. She removed that seat from her Titan and levitated it out into the open, taking herself with it. As she held herself hovering in front of her massive creation, she now had a smug expression on her face as she turned to the sirens and said, “Ever wanted to see a Master Builder at work? Well here’s your opportunity!”

Sunset turned back to her enormous mech and reached her hands forward. A magical glow quickly surrounded the entire structure, which then began to rumble as she reached her energy deep inside it. Finally, she thrust her hands apart, instantly tearing apart her Titan down to all of its separate pieces.

“Look at that!” Sunset proudly stated as she made those Lego pieces swirl around in a slowly rotating vortex. “Thousands and thousands of pieces! And yet…” Her smug grin widened. “I can see exactly where each and every one of them is gonna go.” And with that, she immediately went to work. Her hands moved around swiftly in every direction as all of the Lego parts inside her magical aura rapidly came together.

Click-clack-click-clack-click-click-clack-clack-click-clack-click-click-clack-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack—

“I just have one question,” said Fluttershy as Spike’s flying stage carried the team of friends over Lego City. “What kind of musical counter-spell are you going to use, Twilight?”

“I think that what I got wrong the first time was that I tried to do it myself,” replied Twilight. “This time, I think we should all sing together, as friends. So I guess it really doesn’t matter which particular song we play.”

“Oh! I know which song we can play!” exclaimed Pinkie Pie excitedly. She then said the name of a song that she and her friends had played backing during their high school band and claimed, “It was one of my favorites!”

“As well as one of mine,” said Rarity in agreement. “Why, I can even still memorize the lyrics after all these years.”

“Same here,” added Applejack with a nod.

“Yeah, we can sing that song, but I’d rather we had our old instruments to play along with it,” said a slightly crestfallen Rainbow Dash. “Those things are half of what made it so awesome.”

“In that case, you’re gonna love this,” remarked Spike before swiftly flipping a few more levers.

Cha-ching!

With that cash register sound, a large compartment suddenly slid open in the middle of the stage. The six girls gathered around the large box and were astonished by what they saw. Inside that container were a blue electric guitar, a reddish-orange bass guitar, a white keytar, a tambourine, and a complete drum set.

Rarity gasped and exclaimed, “It’s our old instruments!” She picked up the keytar and smiled as she glanced at the blue diamonds that were printed on the back. “I remember applying these decals, myself.”

Applejack grabbed the bass guitar and also smiled as she remarked, “How ‘bout that! This thing’s even still got mah initials on it!”

“Awesome!” shouted Rainbow Dash excitedly as she held up her electric guitar. “Never thought I’d see this bad boy ever again!”

As Pinkie Pie quickly gathered up her drum set and arranged it near the rear of the stage, Fluttershy grabbed her tambourine and asked, “Where did you get all of these?”

“I found them in a storage locker somewhere inside the building,” replied Spike smugly. “Even I couldn’t believe my luck!”

“Wow,” remarked an almost speechless Twilight. “Great work, Spike!”

“And that’s not all!” added Spike excitedly. “Go stand on the spots I marked out for all of you and I’ll show ya what else I found!”

The six friends glanced around at the floor of the stage and were surprised to find each of their names written on specific tile pieces. They were definitely curious to see what else Spike had for them, so they walked over to stand on the tiles with their respective names on them. Once they were all in place, Spike quickly flipped a few more levers.

Rrrring!

With that ringing telephone noise, the six tiles suddenly descended under the stage, taking the girls with them as they screamed in shock. They now found themselves inside isolated rooms with only one item for each of them: a set of special clothing.

“Oh! I remember making these!” exclaimed Rarity with excitement. “These outfits are from the days of our high school band. I had always intended for us to wear them at our every performance.” Her voice grew bitter as she added, “Although some people kept rejecting my offer every time.”

“Okay, guilty as charged,” confessed Applejack. “Ah personally never saw any reason why we needed anythin’ fancy. But seein’ as we’re now in this together, Ah guess Ah’ll admit that practicality ain’t always the only thing worth considerin’.” As she reached for the dress that was in her section, she added, “Since we’re about to save the world here, we might as well do it in style.”

“Not even gonna bother arguing with that,” said Rainbow Dash as she quickly began putting on the special outfit for her.

“You even made one for me?” asked Twilight in confusion as she carefully looked over the dress that was left for her. “I thought you just said you made these years ago, long before you could’ve known that I even existed.”

“I had thought ahead and made a few extras,” admitted Rarity as she started putting on the dress in her section.

Twilight began to reach for her outfit when a thought suddenly occurred to her. “Wait! I just realized something!” she exclaimed worriedly. “I don’t know the lyrics to your song!”

“That’s okay,” assured Pinkie Pie as she swiftly threw on her dress. “This song tends to use the same words over and over. You’ll figure it out in no time!”

“I guess that’ll do,” muttered Twilight as she grabbed her dress.

—click-clack-click-clack-click-click-clack-clack-click-clack-click-clack-clack-click-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack-click-clack!

After a few minutes of very rapid assembly, Sunset Shimmer quickly finished rebuilding her massive creation into something completely different. This time, its structure was not humanoid, but rather shaped like a pony. The giant mechanical pony stood on four legs, had a short solid tail, a pair of structures shaped like pony ears on the head section, a pair of folded wings on its sides, and a long horn atop its head.

With her latest creation complete, Sunset opened the eye visor on the pony mech and levitated her seat into place within the control area inside the head. She grabbed the controls as she smirked at the Dazzlings and said, “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go help my friends save the world.”

The visor closed as the giant mech’s wings unfurled. The humongous pony crouched down as the noise of jet engines powering up came from the wings. Finally, the enormous pony mech jumped and spread its wings straight outwards, quickly taking to the air like a jet airplane.

The three sirens were momentarily left speechless as they watched Sunset Shimmer and her new mech fly off towards downtown Lego City. The awkward silence was eventually broken when a dumbfounded Sonata asked, “Did she really just build that big thing all by herself?”

“I thought everyone said that she had no creative talents at all,” said Aria in confusion.

“Then it seems there’s been a big change,” stated Adagio. She glanced over at the giant hole in the building just to her right, then turned her attention toward the flying stage off in the distance. She raised an eyebrow and muttered, “What are those Master Builders up to this time?”

“Okay, Spike!” Twilight called out. “We’re ready!”

“You got it!” responded Spike as he swiftly flipped a few levers.

Rrrring!

The lowered tiles rose back up onto the stage, carrying with them the six members of the newly-reformed rock band. Now that they were no longer inside those isolated rooms, they could all now see each other’s special outfits. Pinkie Pie had violet on her left leg, magenta on her right leg, a pale blue skirt with balloons of various colors all over it, and a magenta torso with a large blue heart printed on the front. Fluttershy had pink on her left leg, violet on her right leg, a green and black striped skirt with violet butterflies all over it, and a magenta torso with a large green butterfly printed on the front. Rarity had magenta on her left leg, blue on her right leg, a magenta skirt with blue diamonds and black musical notes all over it, and a magenta torso with a blue diamond printed near her right shoulder. Applejack had red on her left leg, green on her right leg, a yellow skirt with red apples all over it, a green torso, and wore a red cowboy hat. Rainbow Dash had yellow on her left leg, green on her right leg, a skirt with broad and jagged vertical stripes of all the colors of the rainbow, and a blue torso with a big yellow lightning bolt printed near her left shoulder. And finally, Twilight Sparkle had blue on her left leg, yellow on her right leg, a magenta skirt with yellow stars all over it, and a blue torso with a yellow eight-pointed star printed on the front.

After taking a moment to admire Rarity’s creative work on their outfits, everyone picked up their instruments and briefly tested their tuning. Although the band’s playing abilities were likely a little rusty after a few years, they felt comfortable enough to simply go for it.

Twilight held up the microphone that had been conveniently provided for her inside her changing room as she smiled at her friends and asked, “Ready, girls?”

“I believe so, darling,” replied Rarity.

“Ready to rock!” shouted Pinkie Pie excitedly.

“Then let’s give everyone a really awesome show!” declared Rainbow Dash with a grin.

“Ah just have one question, first,” Applejack spoke up before suddenly pointing to everyone’s left. “What the heck is that?”

Everyone glanced over and were very surprised to see what appeared to be a giant mechanical pony flying towards them. As they noticed that it was made mostly out of red and yellow Lego parts, they had a feeling they knew who was operating it.

The flying mech’s visor flipped open, revealing Sunset Shimmer still in her magical Master Builder pony form. “Nice costumes, girls,” she commented over the noise of the massive mechanical wings. She turned to Spike and suggested, “What do ya say we join forces?”

“Sounds good to me,” responded Spike as he turned back to the wall and flipped a few more levers.

Honk-honk!

As Sunset’s titan pony approached, Spike hovered the flying stage over the enormous mech’s back and carefully lowered it down until the whole thing clicked perfectly into place.

Ding-dong!

With that doorbell noise, the four rotors stopped spinning, leaving Sunset’s giant pony mech in complete control of where they were going. Sunset turned the mech’s head around to face the stage that was now connected to the mech’s back and smiled at all of her friends.

Twilight raised an eyebrow as she realized that in addition to the wings, this enormous mech also had a horn on its head. “You built yourself a giant alicorn pony?” she asked.

Sunset shrugged as she replied, “Well, seeing as I’ve already forfeited any chance of becoming an alicorn princess myself, I figured I might as well settle for the next best thing.”

Twilight briefly glanced around at the massive creation, then smiled and simply said, “Considering how far you’ve come, I actually don’t blame you at all.”

With that friendly exchange over, Sunset turned her titan pony’s head forward again and steered the giant flying mech towards the tallest building in the city, atop which stood this region’s dark broadcasting tower.

Ding-ding!

As Spike flipped a few levers, a large speaker system suddenly rose up out of the floor just in front of the wall of levers. The speaker system consisted mostly of four big subwoofers arranged horizontally with two on each side of the stage.

“Get ready to start playing, girls, because your song is about to go global!” Spike called out as he quickly scaled the wall of levers and grabbed onto a grapple gun he had placed at the top. Sunset noticed this and steadily brought their combined creations closer to the broadcasting tower. When they flew close enough, Spike fired the grappling hook, which then struck the tower with a clang and hooked onto the structure. Once they were sure the hook was firmly attached to the tower, Sunset slowed her mech until it was simply hovering near the building, while Spike climbed back down the wall and flipped a few more levers. “A few adjustments…”

Woooooo!

With that steam whistle noise, Spike shouted, “And we’re live!”

The band of Master Builders picked up their instruments and began playing. It was their first performance in years, and they were playing surprisingly well. Through a combination of nostalgia and renewed friendships, the band was very enthusiastic to be playing one of their best songs ever.

At first, Twilight simply listened to the others sing, but she quickly figured out the lyrics — about not seeking attention and simply playing music because they liked it — and it wasn’t long until she was practically leading the whole band.

As the band played on, they also began to transform into their magical half-pony forms, but since music was a different form of creativity than putting bricks together, their transformations were slightly altered. In addition to the ears, tails, and wings and/or horn, a streak of rainbow color also appeared on their hair pieces, running from the front and top all the way down through the tail.

And as the band played their song, the crowd that had gathered in front of LEGO Headquarters slowly broke free of their trance and turned their attention towards the stage on the back of that giant flying pony off in the distance. They had no idea who was performing way over there, but the music that band played sounded incredible, and practically everyone began to smile.

Even Kjeld Playwell was broken free from the spell of the sirens, but he wasn’t smiling. Now that he was completely freed for the first time since that meeting in Cloudsdale two days earlier, he suddenly remembered who the real threat was. As he glanced over the edge of the front tower and saw the Dazzlings standing in front of everyone in plain sight, he felt furious. He immediately held up his radio and spoke, “Calling all law enforcement officials! Send everyone you can directly to LEGO Headquarters at once! That’s an order!”

Out on the elevated stage on the front tower, the Dazzlings were momentarily shocked to see how the team of Master Builders from Canterlot City had been able turn the tables against them so swiftly. But the sirens weren’t going to give up so easily. “So these girls want a battle of the bands, do they?” said Adagio with a wicked grin. “Fine! We’ll give them a battle!”

The Dazzlings immediately resumed their enchanting song, claiming that they would be adored and no one would ever ignore them. Right away, the crowd turned their attention back to the sirens and blank expression returned to their faces.

Not even Kjeld could resist. As a blank expression fell over him, he slowly held up his radio and spoke in a monotone voice, “Disregard that order.”

The sirens didn’t stop there. They wanted to eliminate the Canterlot City Master Builders, once and for all, so as they finished the final lyric, they unleashed their ultimate weapon. As their eyes glowed bright red, magical projections quickly shot out from their pendants and emerged into a trio of truly horrific shapes. The projections had the head and front legs of a horse-like creature and the tail of a fish and tall fins along their backs. Perhaps what was most startling of all was that, unlike virtually every other creature in the Lego World, these magical projections did not seem to be made out of Lego parts. Instead, they appeared to be completely organic creatures, unlike anything this world was familiar with.

The Canterlot City girls immediately stopped their song and stared in absolute shock at what they were seeing. “Is that what I think it is?” asked Spike worriedly.

“The Equestrian form of those sirens,” confirmed Twilight breathlessly.

Right away, the magical sirens flew over the city and began to swarm around the tall building. The purple, yellow, and blue sirens lined up beside the giant mech pony — which was actually nearly twice as big as they were — and unleashed a sonic vocal attack. The sonic blast was so intense that the flying mech shook and began to come apart.

Spike’s eyes widened in shock as he saw the legs of the pony mech begin to fall to pieces. “Oh no no no no!” he shouted as he rushed back to the wall of levers and very swiftly flipped some of them.

Bzzzz! Bzzzz!

As that buzzer sounded, the stage’s four rotors immediately started spinning again. Right at the moment those rotors were back up to speed, the body of the pony mech underneath collapsed, leaving the stage flying on its own again.

Meanwhile, Sunset pulled down a pair of armrests around her seat and then beat her fists on them. As the mech’s head collapsed around her, she was able to remain airborne. Once those shattered pieces fell away, she was revealed to be sitting a large white chair with rockets on the bottom, firing at a constant rate to keep it aloft. She maneuvered the rocket chair around so that it was behind the flying stage and facing the magic projections of the sirens. “Nice try, sirens,” she taunted, “but this house will not be divided against itself!” She pointed down at the stage and shouted, “Hit it, Spike!”

“Time to bring out the big dogs!” declared Spike as he swiftly turned his red cap backwards and quickly flipped some levers. He chuckled mischievously and smugly added, “Wait ‘till you hear these things bark.” He flipped some more levers and the pair of large double subwoofers suddenly flipped over so that they now stood upright near the middle of the backstage. Then a pair of even bigger double subwoofers emerged from the sides of the flying stage. The structure actually shook as the massive speakers flipped upright onto opposite sides of the smaller pair. “A few more adjustments, and…”

Ding-ding!

With the ringing of a boxing bell, Spike finally stopped flipping levers and shouted, “Give ‘em all ya got!”

Pinkie banged on her drums and Fluttershy shook her tambourine, pushing back the blue siren of Sonata Dusk with a wave of balloons and butterflies. Rarity swiftly played a lot of notes on her keytar and Applejack strummed her bass, pushing back the purple siren of Aria Blaze with a wave of diamonds and apples. Rainbow Dash unleashed a loud riff on her electric guitar and Twilight Sparkle vocalized a few notes, pushing back the yellow siren of Adagio Dazzle with a wave of rainbow bolts and stars.

Back at LEGO Headquarters, the pushback against the Dazzlings was just enough to free Kjeld from their spell again. He immediately became furious again as he held up his radio and shouted, “Disregard that disregard! Get everyone here now!” Realizing that the battle would very likely keep going back and forth, he quickly shut off his radio and threw it off the tower.

When Adagio saw that radio fall in front of her, she decided to stop fooling around and unleash her full power. At the broadcasting tower, the yellow siren unleashed another sonic vocal attack on the stage. The attack was intense enough to not only make the Canterlot City girls stop playing again, but also instantly gave Kjeld a headache so fierce that he passed out and collapsed.

Aria and Sonata were right behind their leader, and the three magical sirens unleashed the mightiest vocal blast they could.

The six members of the band of Master Builders were quickly thrown off their feet. Although most of them managed to hold onto their instruments, Twilight lost her grip on her microphone, which went flying through the air until it remarkably landed right in Sunset’s lap.

“No, no, no!” shouted Spike in panic as he rushed over to Rarity to help her up. “You girls can’t give up! We’re so close!”

Twilight glanced back and was relieved to see that her microphone had just been picked up by Sunset. She sat up and reached her hand out to her as she desperately called out, “Sunset Shimmer! We need your help!”

Sunset stared at the microphone in her hand with uncertainty. She had never really tried singing before in her entire life, but her friends really needed her help. As she reminded herself of her newfound creative talents, she thought to herself, I’ve already come this far. If my friends need me to go another step further… then so be it.

Sunset furrowed her brow and placed her arms on the rocket chair’s armrests. She maneuvered her rocket chair under the flying stage and up between it and the siren projections. She glared firmly at the sirens for a few seconds before she guided the chair backwards until the pegs sticking out the back of it clicked into place in the holes of some technic bricks on the front edge of the stage.

It was right at this moment that Pinkie Pie finished setting her drum set back up again. Without a second of hesitation, she immediately twirled the drumsticks in her hands and started playing again, providing a background beat for Sunset to sing along to.

With no knowledge of any particular song, Sunset decided to simply sing from her heart, firmly declaring that she would not be defeated, especially not with such good friends by her side. With each lyric, she took a step backwards, first onto the chair’s seat, then onto the armrest, then atop the back of the chair, and finally up onto the stage. By the time she reached the end of her verse, she stood next to Twilight and helped her up to her feet.

At the same time, Spike had finished helping the rest of the band back up and they all immediately started playing again. The five of them simultaneously sang the next verse of their song, and after listening to the first few lyrics, Twilight and Sunset also joined in. The entire band sang defiantly about how their friendship would never be broken, and were about to use it to put a stop to their enemies.

As all seven Master Builders embraced the magic of friendship through their song, the effects of their musical counter-spell quickly reached into the nearby broadcasting tower. From the very top of that tower, a sonic boom echoed across the city as a rainbow-colored shockwave was suddenly unleashed, quickly spreading across the entire region of Lego City and freeing every single minifig from the dark spell of the sirens. At the same time, the bright red glow vanished from the eyes of the Dazzlings.

And thanks to the interconnected worldwide system of broadcasting towers, it was a scene that was instantly repeated across every other region of the Lego World. From the Pirate Region to the Old West Region, from the Castle Region to the Space Region, from Ninjago City to Canterlot City, every region witnessed the same rainbow shockwave burst from their broadcasting tower and set everyone free. In Cloudsdale — where the destroyed broadcasting tower had been recently rebuilt — Hum Drum quickly realized the Power People were trapped on his watch, so he immediately unlocked the magic trunk which not only gave them back their superpowers but also freed them from that stasis field. And in the city of Bricklyn, which had been trapped under the dark magic of the sirens for months, the rainbow shockwave was a welcomed relief for everyone as they were finally set free after so long.

Atop the front tower of LEGO Headquarters, Kjeld gasped as he suddenly regained consciousness. As he grabbed onto the railing to pull himself up, he was surprised to hear the Canterlot City Master Builders playing so strongly against the sirens. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, he turned his attention towards the distant flying stage as he pulled out his binoculars. As he gazed through those binoculars, he was astonished to see Sunset Shimmer was not only performing right alongside the other girls but also had the same magical pony additions as them. In fact, he had started watching just in time to see a rainbow streak appear on her hair piece, matching the same result as on all the other girls. Kjeld slowly lowered his binoculars and smiled.

The song of defiant friendship continued playing across every region of the Lego World, and in celebration on their freedom, everyone danced along to the music, from Cloudsdale to Brickbeard’s Cove, from Appleloosa to the Wonderbolts Lunar Headquarters, from Prince Shining Armor’s castle to City Park in the middle of Canterlot City, and even across the massive crowd gathered in front of LEGO Headquarters in Lego City.

The sirens — and their magical projections — could do nothing but stare in shock as the band of seven Master Builders began to glow and levitate up from the stage. Once the seven girls were a few bricks over the flying stage, a wide column of rainbow light shot straight up into the sky and stopped at a certain point. At that particular spot, the rainbow quickly reshaped itself into a ball, from which a massive pair of glowing feathered wings emerged.

The sirens were left gaping as a magical projection of a giant alicorn — more than twice as big as Sunset’s Lego creation had been; over four times bigger than their siren projections combined — slowly emerged from the rainbow ball of magical energy. The bright blue glowing alicorn— a non-Lego organic-looking projection — stood tall atop a large cloud as it turned its head down and pointed its horn directly at the sirens’ projections and the sirens themselves further away.

When the band of Master Builders finished the final lyric of their song, the giant alicorn unleashed a blindingly bright ray of light directly at the siren projections, instantly disintegrating them. When that ray hit the Dazzlings themselves, they felt intense pain as the magical pony additions to their bodies were suddenly taken away from them. And to finish it all off, their red gemstone pendants began to slowly fracture until they finally shattered into many fragments.

The dark magic of the sirens was no more.

The New Master Builder

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Chapter 17
The New Master Builder

Up on the high stage in front of the big LEGO logo on the front tower of LEGO Headquarters, the Dazzlings were down on their hands and knees as they regained their senses. When her vision cleared and the ringing in her ears stopped, Adagio was devastated to discover the pendant piece that held her dark magic was now in over a dozen fragments on the stage floor. In a desperate effort to salvage the situation, she gathered up those fragments and held them close to her chest as she stood up. Aria and Sonata didn’t even bother grabbing their shattered pendants as they also stood up beside Adagio and the three of them attempted to resume their song.

The song of the now former sirens was a very pathetic attempt. Their voices were horribly out of tune and failed to harmonize with each other. Even a group of five-year-olds could have done a much better performance. It wasn’t quite a painful as nails on a chalkboard, but it did come pretty close. The gathered crowd was now frowning and grumbling among themselves in disapproval. But even though the Dazzlings quickly noticed their ruined voices, they still pressed on, desperate to regain their lost power.

That terrible excuse of a song was soon interrupted by numerous police sirens and bright searchlights coming down from a pair of police helicopters that were suddenly flying near the stage. Almost immediately, the door to the tower’s interior burst open and nearly a dozen security guards swiftly surrounded the Dazzlings and raised their weapons at them.

“Freeze!” shouted one of the guards.

“Put your hands up!” shouted another guard.

Realizing that they were now completely out of options, the Dazzlings had no choice but to comply with the demands of the police and raise their hands over their heads, although Adagio kept her pendant fragments tightly clenched within her hands. The three former sirens turned around to face the guards, then turned their defeated gazes upwards at a very furious Kjeld Playwell at the top of the tower.

“By my personal order, you three are under arrest!” Kjeld firmly declared. Right away, the guards slapped a pair of handcuffs onto each of the three powerless girls. With that deed done, Kjeld told the guards, “Get them out of here. I don’t want to see these monsters ever again.” The guards acknowledged Kjeld’s request and began to escort the Dazzlings off the stage.

One of the guards soon noticed that Adagio had something in her hands, so he immediately shouted, “Hey! Drop it!” He didn’t hesitate to smack his weapon against Adagio’s wrists, forcing her to drop those fragments. She wasn’t given a chance to pick them up again as another guard grabbed her handcuffs and yanked her away towards the door.

Kjeld sighed as he watched the arrested Dazzlings being escorted through the door into the tower. Although those girls had finally been brought to justice, they had still come dangerously close to successfully taking over the entire Lego World. It was a humbling experience unlike anything before in his entire life, and he had lived through quite a lot.

The crowd continued to grumble among themselves as they slowly dispersed and began to head back into the city. However, their spirits were soon lifted and they began to cheer as they saw a certain flying performance stage hover overhead as it slowly headed towards LEGO Headquarters.

Kjeld smiled and waved at the approaching flying contraption. He waited close to the railing as the flying stage hovered over to the tower and slowly descended down onto the roof.

Ding-dong!

Spike flipped a few levers and turned his red LEGO cap forward again as the four rotors slowed to a stop. Meanwhile, the six girls — now without their magical pony parts — set aside their musical instruments as they carefully stepped off the stage and gathered near the leader of the entire LEGO Team and the Lego World.

“Congratulations on another spectacular success, girls,” greeted Kjeld with a proud smile. “Celestia told me all about your first major victory a few months ago in Canterlot City, and I am sure that she will be very pleased to hear about this one as well.”

Twilight smiled as she nodded and said, “Just doing what we can to put a stop to dark magic and preserve friendship and harmony.”

“I also noticed that you had received some additional assistance to achieve this latest victory,” added Kjeld as he glanced across the group of friends. When the noticed the individual he was referring to was missing, he raised an eyebrow and asked, “Where is Sunset Shimmer?”

Kjeld quickly got his answer when everyone saw Sunset flying by on her rocket chair. She circled around the front tower once before gracefully landing it on the roof not far from her friends.

Kjeld smiled and complimented, “Nice rocket chair. Personally, I’ve always wanted one for myself.”

As Sunset got up out of that white rocket chair, her pony ears, tail, and unicorn horn finally vanished, returning her to the form of a regular minifig. The new Master Builder smiled as she walked up to Kjeld and replied, “In that case, it’s all yours. Consider it a gift from the new me.”

Kjeld nodded and remarked, “You’ve certainly come a long way, Sunset Shimmer.”

“Mister Playwell!”

Kjeld and the eight team members glanced over the railing and saw one security guard holding up a red fragment while a few others were inspecting the rest of those fragments on the stage floor.

“What should we do with these?” asked the guard.

“Those fragments appear to be from those ruby pendants the Dazzlings wore,” noted Rarity. “I was wondering why they were so possessive of them.”

“Without those pendants and the magic we brought here from Equestria,” explained Twilight, “they’re now just three harmless minifig girls.”

Kjeld turned back to the guard and ordered, “In that case, gather up those fragments and have them buried beneath the foundation of a new building. I want every single one of those shards to become inaccessible for the rest of time.”

“Yes, sir,” acknowledged the guard as he and the others began to pick up the fragments and place them in bags.

Kjeld turned to Twilight and explained, “In this world, that’s how we typically dispose of any unwanted artifacts.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Twilight as she watched the guards collect those shattered fragments. She turned to Kjeld and asked, “But do you really need to send the Dazzlings to jail? Like I just said, they’re now completely harmless.”

“One does not need magic to be considered a threat,” explained Kjeld. “In case you failed to notice, those three were still trying to take control over all of us, even after they had lost their powers. I’ve been told that when you girls defeated Sunset Shimmer, she was immediately very sorry for all the trouble she had cause, and was willing to accept any punishment we would give her. These girls, on the other hand, have continued to show no remorse at all. That leads me to believe that if they were to find an alternative means of seizing power, they would not hesitate to take it.” He turned away and sighed as he tightly gripped the railing. “And besides,” he quietly added bitterly, “they humiliated me and my family like no one had ever done before.” He raised his voice back to normal as he firmly finished, “It’s for the best that they remain in prison for life.”

“Speaking of jail time…” said Sunset uneasily as she lowered her gaze with resignation. “I guess I’ll be expecting a similar fate as them, after everything I’ve done these last few days.”

Kjeld turned to Sunset and replied, “Actually, in light of recent events, I think it would be better to not send you back to prison.”

Sunset suddenly snapped her gaze up at Kjeld and asked in shock, “Wait, what?”

Kjeld smiled as he explained, “Based upon my observations, Twilight Sparkle and her team could not have been successful without your assistance. Not just with that final act, but also in guiding them towards this city to confront the Dazzlings. And although you and the others did commit the crime of breaking and entering this facility, I am willing to forgo any charges on account of the rest of us being brainwashed.”

“But my parole was violated!” Sunset pointed out.

“Through no fault of your own,” continued Kjeld. “The blame for that incident lies entirely on the shoulders of Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.” As he noticed Twilight smile nervously, he smugly added, “And since she is a ruler of a distant realm in a different universe entirely, I am unable to give her any form of punishment. Therefore, I have no choice but to simply ignore the violation of your parole.”

Everyone on the team slowly began to smile. “So does this mean I’m now completely free of all charges?” asked Sunset with a hopeful smile.

“Not quite,” replied Kjeld.

Everyone’s smiles suddenly fell.

“I would just like to be certain that you truly have turned a new leaf,” continued Kjeld. “Therefore, I will be placing you on probation for a full year. So as long as you try not to break any laws, if it can be avoided…” Kjeld smiled. “I doubt there will be any further trouble in your foreseeable future.”

Smiles quickly returned to everyone’s faces. “I can live with that,” agreed Sunset.

“Good,” acknowledged Kjeld with a nod. He glanced over at the rocket chair, then turned back to Sunset. “Unless I’m mistaken, I do believe that you have also vastly improved your creative talents quite recently.”

“That’s right,” replied Sunset. “I’m sure you saw my Titan help my friends out of trouble in the city, earlier tonight.” She then rubbed the back of her head and sheepishly admitted, “It’s kinda weird to think that when I woke up this morning, I never would’ve imagined that I could ever build anything like that.”

“Then perhaps I could ask Celestia to consider letting you join the LEGO Team as a full member of Twilight’s team, Master Builder,” said Kjeld with a proud smile.

Sunset smiled as she was very pleased to hear such a recommendation from Kjeld Playwell himself, and was sure her new friends were thinking the same thing. There was no doubt at all that her future was now looking brighter than ever.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me…” Kjeld suddenly told the team as he walked over to the large white chair and climbed up to sit in it. “I would like to take my new rocket chair out for a test ride.” As the rockets under the chair ignited and propelled him upwards, he whooped loudly with excitement.

The team of friends gawked silently as they watched the leader of the Lego World fly away on what was now considered his new rocket chair. Twilight had a feeling that what she and her Lego friends had just witnessed was just as awkward as seeing Princess Celestia indulge herself with cake.

After a moment of awkward silence, Sunset simply shrugged and remarked, “What can I say? Everyone’s a kid at heart.”

Honk-honk!

Everyone suddenly turned to Spike’s stage, where they saw Pinkie Pie standing in front of and facing the wall of levers. “Hey, wait a minute!” she exclaimed. “Most of these levers just make funny noises!” She then proceeded to quickly flip a few more random levers.

Ding-ding! Cha-ching! Ding-dong! Woooooo!

When everyone quickly turned their attention to Spike, he chuckled nervously and confessed, “Yeah, I, uh… might have lied a little bit about how complicated it actually was.”

Applejack raised an eyebrow and asked, “So why did ya put so many useless levers on that thing?”

Spike placed his hands on his hips and puffed out his chest as he grinned and shamelessly admitted, “I thought it would make me look cool.”

Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes as she shook her head and muttered, “Oh, Spike.”

As the team of Master Builders giggled at Spike’s remark, Kjeld continued to fly around the building on his rocket chair while still hollering excitedly like a child on an amusement park ride. He flew across the front of the big LEGO logo on the building and then headed towards the city.

Meanwhile, down on the ground, many police officers had gathered near the main entrance of LEGO Headquarters as the security guards opened the lobby doors and escorted the Dazzlings outside.

The arrested girls had taken only a few steps outside when someone in the crowd suddenly shouted, “Food fight!” Right away, many disgruntled minifigs in the crowd — mostly young guys — started pelting the Dazzlings with all kinds of food items, forcing them to duck and run.

Some police officers quickly seized the three former sirens and began dragging them over to one of the police cars. At the same time, another officer blew his loud whistle at the surrounding crowd a few times and then shouted, “All right! That’s enough! Throw away your rotten food, or I’ll start handing out tickets for littering!”

The angry people in the crowd groaned and grumbled in frustration and disappointment.

The Dazzlings were now covered in all kinds of splatters and scraps of food as they were soon pushed into the backseat of the car, with Adagio in the middle, Aria on the left, and Sonata on the right. When the officers shut the doors, Aria grumbled, “Well, it’s official. We have just hit rock bottom.”

Sonata glanced over at Adagio and her expression suddenly brightened. “Ooh, a taco!” she exclaimed cheerfully as she snatched that taco out of Adagio’s hair and began to happily munch down on it.

Adagio simply glared straight forward as she clenched her fists and growled through clenched teeth, “I hate everybody.”

Another police officer then climbed into the driver’s seat and started up the car. Once he also switched on the police lights and siren, he began to drive down the road away from the building.

Back atop the tower of LEGO Headquarters, Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle were leaning against the railing as they watched that police car take the Dazzlings away. Twilight sighed and muttered, “If only there was a way we could help them see the error of their ways.”

“I agree.”

Startled, Twilight and Sunset quickly turned around and saw Canterlot City’s Chief of Police, Flash Sentry, standing not far behind them. He held a red mug in his hand, and his face expressed great sorrow and regret.

Flash walked up to Twilight and held out the mug to her. “Here, I brought you a glass of water,” he offered calmly. “I figured you might appreciate it after that incredible performance.”

“Uh, thanks,” Twilight responded as she grabbed the mug by its sides with both of her hands and took a sip from it. Although she appreciated the drink, she couldn’t help but feel awkward in the presence of officer Flash Sentry.

Flash cleared his throat and glanced down at his feet as he uneasily said, “I, uh… would like to apologize for my behavior over the last few days.” Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but Flash cut her off and continued, “I know, it’s understandable, considering that I was practically hypnotized by that dark magic. But still, much of what I said and did to all of you was very inexcusable behavior. It was more than just what happen today inside this building.” Flash took a deep breath and sighed sadly before he continued, “I told the Dazzlings that your team was going to Appleloosa to send you that message. And when we bumped into each other in Cloudsdale…” Flash hesitated. “I planted that key under your hair piece. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist such a perfect opportunity to free Sunset Shimmer, and that such an action at the time would inevitably turn everyone against you and your team.

Flash Sentry’s confessions of having helped the sirens over the past few days like that left Twilight and her friends gaping in shock.

Flash glanced down and lightly kicked the floor as he shamefully finished, “I am very sorry to have caused you all so much pain, both physically and emotionally.”

Twilight smiled and replied, “I guess I can accept that apology. Although…” she handed the mug over to Sunset and whispered something to her. She then turned back to Flash as her smile grew a little more sinister. “I’d do this myself, but since I’m not quite used to these hand things…” She gave a single nod to Sunset.

Sunset couldn’t hide a wicked grin of her own as she flicked the mug towards Flash, splashing the water all over his face, which also knocked his hat off.

“That’s for calling me and my friends ‘dirty crooks’,” Twilight finished teasingly.

Flash was momentarily stunned, but then he smiled and simply replied, “Punishment accepted.” He reached down and picked up his hat, then smoothed down his damp hair and put his hat back on. “Regardless,” he continued, “you and your team did a very good job. I’m glad the Lego World can still count on someone like you.”

Twilight smiled in approval as she and Flash began to stare at each other. While there was no denying that their friendship had hit a very rough patch recently, what really mattered was that they were able to accept what had gone wrong and move past that incident. As the Equestrian princess and the Canterlot City police officer continued to smile and stare each other in the eye, they slowly brought their hands close to each other.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, forcing Flash and Twilight to suddenly back away from each other in shock. Rainbow pointed at Flash’s back and asked, “Are those my lasers?!”

Flash glanced back at one of the laser pistols sticking out of the backpack he was wearing. With a serious look on his face, he turned to Rainbow and explained, “Sorry, but I have to confiscate them. Laser pistols are not permitted within a City Region.”

“But I got ‘em in Cloudsdale!” shouted Rainbow desperately. “That’s totally legal!”

Flash simply responded, “In Cloudsdale, yes. In Lego City, no. Same applies for Canterlot City, too. And unless you want me to write you an expensive ticket, you’d better end the argument right there.”

Rainbow Dash huffed and crossed her arms as she glared downwards and grumbled under her breath, “So unfair.”

“Speaking of confiscation…” said Sunset humbly as she pulled out something and handed it to Flash.

Flash raised an eyebrow as he glanced down at the 1x2 tile in his hand. The printing on its surface resembled that of a standard LEGO Headquarters ID card, but the fact that it had Sunset Shimmer’s portrait on it was a clear sign of its illegitimacy.

“It’s what I used to help me get around this building so easily,” admitted Sunset. Her eyes briefly widened as she suddenly remembered something and pulled out another ID card. “Oh, and I was supposed to give this one back to Twilight.” She glanced over to Twilight and quickly added, “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” responded Twilight. “I should’ve remembered to ask for it back before we had split up.” She then turned back to Flash and smiled awkwardly as she asked, “So, uh, I guess this means you’ll be improving the building’s security, right?”

“Not me, personally,” replied Flash as he tossed the fake IDs into the backpack with the laser pistols. “My authority covers Canterlot City, not Lego City. But yes, once I inform the security guards about how you girls managed to break into the building, I am almost certain that they will be making some upgrades around here.”

“That reminds me of somethin’ Ah wanted to ask earlier,” Applejack spoke up. She turned to Sunset and asked, “How the heck did ya managed to run straight up a wall?!”

“It’s called SNOT walking,” Sunset confidently replied.

“Snot walking?” asked Rainbow Dash with a look of disgust that was mirrored across much of the team.

“Studs not on top,” Sunset clarified.

“Oh, that kind of SNOT,” responded Rainbow with relief. “Got it!”

“So that explains why you ran up that particular portion of the wall,” noted Rarity. “You mean to say that as long as there are studs along a wall, you are capable of walking right along that wall?”

“Ceilings, too,” replied Sunset, “though that takes even more practice. In fact, it was only about a year ago that I was finally able to master that form of SNOT walking.”

Fluttershy asked, “Are you saying that’s yet another special move you taught yourself back when you were, um… a not-so-nice person?”

Before Sunset could reply, Rainbow suddenly asked excitedly, “Could ya teach me how to do that?”

Sunset shrugged with a smile and replied, “Sure, but take it from me: expect to do a lot of falling early on.”

“I doubt it,” Rainbow smugly responded.

Flash Sentry smiled at Sunset and remarked, “With all those special talents you’ve taught yourself, I’m glad you’re now on our side.” He then turned to Twilight and asked, “By the way, is it true that you were able to come here by forcing open that interdimensional portal?”

“Correct,” replied Twilight with a nod. “Sunset Shimmer has a magic diary in her possession, which is magically linked to a similar book that was once own by Princess Celestia, but was recently gifted to me. By utilizing that magical connection with the aid of a specially constructed apparatus, I am now capable of opening the portal at any moment for any length of time.”

“Then I suppose you’re not in any rush to return home,” said Flash. “The last time you were here, Celestia Playwell had requested a debriefing with you and your team the day after you had defeated Sunset Shimmer, but we all knew and understood why you couldn’t attend. This time, I’m sure she would highly appreciate seeing you joining your team for the debriefing.” He turned to Sunset and added, “And with your invaluable assistance to this team, I would expect her to invite you, as well.”

“Gladly,” agreed Sunset with a nod.

Flash Sentry glanced over at the wacky stage that Spike had built and remarked, “I have to admit, you girls really rocked out there.”

“You know it!” boasted Rainbow Dash as she smugly crossed her arms.

“I think the real highlight of tonight’s performance was the moment we liberated everyone from the sirens’ spell,” commented Rarity. “That combination of a rainbow and a sonic boom bursting forth from the broadcasting tower was most spectacular indeed.”

Rainbow Dash’s eyes widened as she suddenly grinned and said, “Hey, that just gave me an awesome idea for a name for our band! The ‘Sonic Rainbooms’!”

“And if what we saw here was seen around all the other broadcasting towers,” remarked Twilight, “then I can’t possibly think of a more fitting title than that.”

Pinkie Pie turned to Flash and suddenly asked, “Hey, didn’t you used to play guitar back in high school?”

“Yeah, it’s true,” replied Flash. “A few buddies and I had plans of forming a rock bank of our own, kinda like you girls did back then. But that changed after I had a run-in with a certain interdimensional troublemaker.” He glanced over at Sunset, who nodded sadly with acceptance. “I decided to dedicate my life to police work, while my buddies also moved on to other passions. I actually still have my guitar, though it serves more as a memento these days.”

“And I’m still very sorry for all the trouble I once caused,” said Sunset. “But that’s all in the past now, and I’ve got a better future to look forward to. Kjeld just told me that I won’t be going back to jail and will instead be placed on a one-year probation.”

“In that case, it sounds like you’ll need an officer to keep an eye on you for that duration,” stated Flash. He smiled as he admitted, “Even though I’m technically the city’s Chief of Police, I wouldn’t mind volunteering for the job.”

Sunset also smiled and responded, “I actually wouldn’t mind that at all, as long as you can promise me one thing.”

Flashed frowned and raised an eyebrow as he asked, “What would that be?”

Sunset smiled as she playfully scolded, “Please don’t kick anymore chairs around.”

Flash smiled again and replied, “Now that’s a promise I’d be more than happy to keep. No more bad cop attitude from this officer.”

That remark quickly brought everyone to laughter. It was definitely a good feeling for everyone that both Sunset Shimmer and Flash Sentry could be forgiven for the unfavorable things they had done.

But then Flash abruptly stopped laughing and suddenly shouted, “HEY!” He rushed over to the back edge of the tower and shined his flashlight down at one of the lower rooftops of the facility, illuminating a certain pair of crooks trying to walk away while carrying a large safe. “DROP IT!!”

The two incompetent robbers, Rocky and Mugsy, immediately stopped in their tracks and snapped their gazes up at the police officer on the tower. Mugsy’s eyes widened in shock as he mumbled, “Uh oh.”

“Run!” shouted Rocky as he quickly dropped his side of the safe and ran along the roof.

Mugsy also quickly dropped his side of the safe and ran after his partner in crime. Although the light from the flashlight followed them, he failed to react quickly enough when Rocky suddenly stopped in front of a railing. Mugsy bumped into him and they both tumbled over the railing and into the water below.

Rocky quickly resurfaced and gasped for breath. When he saw his partner in crime do the same, he shouted, “Swim for it, Mugsy!”

“Okay, Rocky!” responded Mugsy as he and Rocky quickly started swimming through the harbor away from LEGO Headquarters. Just one second later, he asked, “Hey, uh, where are we going?”

“Don’t know, don’t care!” Rocky sharply replied. “As long as we don’t end up back in jail.”

“Yeah, good idea,” agreed Mugsy as they kept swimming.

Back atop the tower, Flash Sentry sighed and shook his head as he switched off his flashlight and muttered, “Those two will never learn.”

As everyone else stared at where the two brick-heads were escaping, Rarity quickly scanned the rest of the harbor. Although it was too dark to see much at this time, she couldn’t help but suddenly remember something. “Is anyone else curious as to what happened to Captain Storm Wave and his crew?” she asked. “The last we saw of them was their ship falling apart on our way into this facility.”

“We obviously saw them in the harbor, earlier this afternoon,” answered Flash. “We had quickly arranged for a few patrol boats to ship them and their dismantled ship back to the Pirate Region.”

“Can you send a message to them?” asked Twilight. “We would like to thank them greatly for the assistance they provided us in stopping the Dazzlings. And considering how much everyone in the Pirate Region seems to hate those girls, I have a feeling Storm Wave will be thrilled to hear that.”

Flash nodded and replied, “I’ll be sure to do that, first thing in the morning.” He briefly glanced up at the night sky and added, “For now, I think we’d better turn in for the night.” He gestured for everyone to follow. “I’m sure Kjeld won’t mind us using some of the guest rooms in this building.”

Once Spike gave Twilight and her Lego friends back their regular change of clothes, the team followed Flash through the door into the tower and began to walk down the stairway.

As everyone walked, Fluttershy quietly said, “You know… I can’t help but get the feeling that we’re forgetting one more thing.”

“Eh, I’m sure it’s nothing important,” said Rainbow Dash dismissively.

Down in the submarine entrance to LEGO Headquarters, four security guards were gawking at a double-decker couch that was slowly bobbing in the water.

After a long silence, one of the guards eventually asked, “So, uh… any idea where that came from?”

The three other guards just shrugged and gave various responses of uncertainty.

“Eh…”

“I dunno.”

“Beats me.”

The next morning, Twilight Sparkle and her team, along with police officer Flash Sentry, were riding in a small jet airplane on their way back to Canterlot City. As the plane began to approach the city, Twilight was looking out the window as she sighed and asked, “Are you sure there’s nothing more we can do to help the Dazzlings?”

“You heard what Kjeld witnessed,” replied Flash from the seat next to Twilight’s. “Those three had remained defiant beyond the end. When Sunset Shimmer was arrested, we all saw there was hope that she would change her ways.”

“And I’m glad I was given the chance to prove it,” remarked Sunset from the seat behind Twilight’s, “even if it took extraordinary circumstances.”

Flash nodded at Sunset, then turned back to Twilight and continued, “But in this case, I have to side with Mister Playwell. Those three are a lost cause.”

“Quite a shame,” muttered Twilight. “I guess some people just can’t be saved, not even with the magic of friendship.”

“By the way,” Rainbow Dash spoke up, “I noticed there were no robots or skeletons lurking around today. Did the police or some other LEGO Team already catch Trixie and Lightning Dust?”

“No, not as far as I know,” replied Flash. “Those two and their respective armies still remain at large, but I’m confident they’ll be recaptured someday. And who knows? Depending on how they behave,” he smiled at Twilight and Sunset, “then perhaps there might be a chance they could also be reformed as well.”

Sunset and Twilight both responded with a smile of understanding. The magic of friendship was very powerful indeed, and if it could work on someone like Sunset Shimmer, then there could always be hope for other former villains.

“Hey, everyone!” Applejack suddenly called out. “Looks like they’re ‘bout to tear down that broadcastin’ tower!”

Everyone quickly crowded around the windows on the left side of the plane as they approached Canterlot City’s LEGO Team Headquarters building, atop which was one of the Dazzlings’ black broadcasting towers. Everyone watched impatiently as workers gathered behind some safety barriers on the roof far away from the dark tower.

BOOM!

The explosives placed at the base of that broadcasting tower detonated, obliterating the structure’s supports and causing it to slowly topple over the edge of the building and down the side of the mountain. The demolished structure made it halfway down the mountain before it completely shattered, and all of those Lego pieces continued tumbling down the rest of the way.

“Good riddance,” Sunset firmly stated.

“Indeed, darling,” agreed Rarity. “I am very pleased to have heard that the rest of those horrid structures throughout the Lego World shall also be similarly dismantled before this day is out.”

A few minutes later, the jet landed on the runway leading into the building. Once the hangar doors were open, the jet slowly coasted inside and soon parked in the middle of the hangar. Various personnel quickly approached the parked jet and set up a step ladder next to the door for the passengers.

As Flash Sentry opened the door, he turned back to Twilight’s team and said, “Our debriefing with Celestia Playwell starts in ten minutes, so we’d better get going.”

As everyone carefully stepped off the plane, Twilight couldn’t help but smile and remark, “This has definitely been quite an adventure.”

Later that afternoon, Twilight Sparkle and her Lego friends had gathered near that horse statue in City Park, which housed the interdimensional portal to Equestria. Now that the debriefing with Celestia Playwell was over, there was nothing left for the Equestrian princess to do but return to her home world.

Twilight did a quick double-check of all the books on the mobile cart. “It sure was nice of Celestia to give me all these books about the Lego World,” she commented with a pleasant smile. “After my last visit, I had taken some notes on how this world apparently works, but unfortunately they were all recently destroyed. I’m actually quite thrilled that I’m being allowed to have all this reading material to study.”

“One of the perks of being a princess from another world, I suppose,” remarked Rarity contently.

Not far away, Sunset Shimmer was speaking quietly with police officer Flash Sentry. Eventually, Flash smiled as he tipped his hat and began to walk away. Sunset walked back to her friends and told them, “I just promised Flash Sentry that if you ever decide to open the portal again, I’ll let him know as soon as possible so he can make sure no one on this side tries to go through.”

“That’s good,” replied Twilight with a nod. “I’ll be sure to inform you of such a moment through that magic journal. And by the way, my offer to let you return to Equestria with me still stands.”

“Thank you, Twilight, but I think I’ll stay here for a while,” said Sunset. “This is my home now. And since I’m now a Master Builder, I’d rather use my new talents to help out in a place I understand very well.”

“If that’s what you wish,” accepted Twilight. “At the very least, I’ll be sure to tell Princess Celestia all about what you’ve accomplished in the Lego World. I’m sure she will be very pleased to hear just how far you’ve come.”

“Sure wish you could stay longer,” said Applejack with a hint of sadness.

“Me too,” replied Twilight. “But I have responsibilities in Equestria that I have to get back to. Its citizens need me. And besides, I promised my pony friends that Spike and I wouldn’t be gone for long. After waiting a few days, they must be worried sick by now.”

“Totally understandable,” said Rainbow Dash.

While Twilight had been speaking, Pinkie Pie just couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to observe the interdimensional portal. She placed her hand against the front surface of the statue’s pedestal and grinned when she saw it pass right through with a shimmer of light. Without any hesitation, she then excitedly stuck her face through the portal.

As soon as Rainbow Dash finished her remark, she glanced over at Pinkie. She rolled her eyes as she grabbed Pinkie’s shoulder and pulled her back away from the portal.

Everyone saw Pinkie suddenly had a very shocked look on her face as she slowly wobbled around. “Kinda looks like the Infinite Abyss of Nothingness,” she quietly said.

Sunset giggled and assured, “Relax, Pinkie. Everyone knows that’s just a myth.”

With that little distraction taken care of, Twilight continued, “Anyway, you girls don’t have to worry about not seeing me again. Now that I can go through the portal whenever I need to, this isn’t goodbye. It’s just goodbye ‘til next time.”

Twilight’s Lego friends quickly gathered around and gave her a farewell group hug. After that heartwarming moment, the girls reluctantly let go of their friend from another world.

Twilight grabbed the handle on her book cart as she turned to Spike and asked, “Ready?”

“Almost,” replied Spike with a smile. He took off his red LEGO cap and then tossed it through the portal, quickly vanishing through a shimmer of light. “Maybe this time I’ll be able to keep that nice hat,” he quipped.

Twilight simply smiled and rolled her eyes. She turned back to her friends and silently waved at them. Then she turned her attention towards the portal and pushed the book cart ahead as she and Spike stepped through.

The remaining six minifigs of Twilight’s team stared silently at the interdimensional portal for a moment. Eventually, without a single word spoken, they all turned away and headed back into Canterlot City.

Author's Notes:

It is a good thing that I always reread each chapter twice before I publish them, because there were some details that I had almost forgotten to include until quite literally the last run-through. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that I've been able to tie up any remaining lose ends in this story (with the exception of a few that I'm saving for the epilogue, which you can expect to see in one week instead of two). The method Kjeld uses to get rid of the sirens' pendants is based on a rumor I once heard that the LEGO Company disposes of retired molds by burying them within the foundation of one of their buildings. Also, the acronym SNOT (Studs Not On Top) is frequently used by Lego fans to describe certain bricks and pieces, so if you ever hear anyone talking about "SNOT pieces", now you'll know what they're actually referring to.

Epilogue

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Epilogue

Back in Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle’s pony friends — Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity — waited patiently near the Crystal Mirror within its secret room in her castle. When she and Spike had left for the Lego World, the five friends had agreed to take turns watching the portal to ensure that Twilight would have at least one of her friends there to greet her whenever she would return. However, now that they were approaching three days since her departure, all five ponies had decided to start waiting together. Twilight had promised that she and Spike wouldn’t be gone for long, so it was understandable that they would start getting concerned after a few days.

In addition to the five mares, the engineer stallion Rusty Wrench also waited beside the Crystal Mirror. Twilight had instructed him to constantly watch the machinery he had constructed to open the portal and make sure that it would stay open until she returned. For him, it had definitely been a long three days. Fortunately, Fluttershy and Rarity had been kind and generous enough to keep him comfortable and well fed. And with Applejack and Pinkie Pie keeping watch overnight, he was able to get some rest with the assurance that if anything went wrong, he would be immediately woken to deal with the problem right away.

By the middle of the afternoon, the six gathered ponies were steadily growing anxious when something suddenly flew out of the mirror. Everypony immediately snapped their attention towards the object, but then some of them raised an eyebrow when they saw that it was nothing more than a simple red baseball cap. Interestingly, the front of it appeared to be customized with the word “LEGO” embroidered on it.

As everyone stared at the mysterious hat, Fluttershy asked uncertainly, “Should we send it back?”

It was right at that moment that a fully loaded book cart came through the portal, immediately followed by a certain lavender alicorn and purple baby dragon. The instant they came through, the book cart went over the steps in front of the Crystal Mirror and toppled over, causing Twilight to lose her grip on the handle and fall over onto all four hooves.

“Twilight!” exclaimed the five mares excitedly as they quickly rushed over to their friend and embraced her in a group hug.

Twilight smiled warmly as she returned the hug to all of her friends. Once they broke off the hug, she calmly explained, “Sorry for being away for a few days. Things turned out to be a lot more difficult than I had anticipated, but my Lego friends and I were able to defeat the sirens and save the Lego World.”

“That’s a relief,” said Rarity. “I simply can’t imagine how horrible things might have turned out for the Lego World had you not assisted them.”

“Believe me, the sirens came extremely close to succeeding,” said Twilight. “In fact, I don’t think we could’ve had any chance of stopping them if we didn’t have Sunset Shimmer around to help us.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Rainbow Dash suddenly spoke up. “You’re saying that Sunset Shimmer actually helped you beat the bad guys?”

“In more ways than one,” replied Twilight with a proud smile and a nod. “And the best part is that, thanks to her efforts, she will not be going back to prison. Instead, she’ll only be on probation for a year.”

“Well Ah’ll be,” remarked Applejack in astonishment with a smile. “That girl really has turned her life around, hasn’t she?”

“Alright! It worked!” Spike shouted excitedly as he picked up the hat that had come through the portal a moment earlier. He quickly put the red cap on his head and was pleasantly surprised to find that not only did it still fit his drake cranium, but also felt like it was now made out of soft fabric instead of solid plastic. When everypony gave him confused looks, he simply shrugged and said, “What can I say? I really like this hat!”

Twilight just smiled and rolled her eyes.

Behind the Princess of Friendship, Rusty Wrench asked uncertainly, “So, uh, now that you’re back, should I shut this thing off?”

Twilight glanced back at Rusty, then smiled and replied, “Don’t worry, I got this.” She levitated the magic journal out of its slot on the apparatus. With the power source gone, all of the complex machinery quickly shut down, sealing off the portal between the two alternate universes. As she picked up the book cart and levitated all of the dumped books back onto it, she asked, “Did this apparatus remain functional the entire time I was away?”

“Well, it did shut down twice due to some minor breakdowns,” admitted Rusty, “but I was able to get it all fixed and back up and running within an hour for both incidents.”

“Thank you very much,” said Twilight with a nod of approval. “I’ll be sure to call you over the next time I need to open the portal. For now, you’re free to return home.”

“Thanks,” said Rusty contently as he hefted his saddlebags full of tools onto his back. “And feel free to drop by my workshop if you ever happen to visit Las Pegasus. Bye, girls!” He gave one final smile at the group of friends, then turned away and began heading out of the castle.

Once she had properly put all of the books back on the book cart, Twilight placed her magic journal on top of it and pushed the cart ahead with her magic.

“What’s all this for?” asked Rainbow Dash as she raised an eyebrow.

“Study material on everything about the Lego World,” answered Twilight. “Now that I wasn’t in a serious rush to get home, I decided to take the time to collect all of the really important texts to help me better understand how the Lego World works, and compare the differences and similarities it shares with Equestria.”

“Are you sure they won’t mind you taking all these books?” asked Fluttershy.

“Of course it’s okay with them,” replied Twilight. “After all, it was their Celestia who gave these to me.”

Applejack chucked and quipped, “Ah guess some things never change, do they?”

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at Applejack’s remark as she led her friends out into the hallway. Once the room containing the Crystal Mirror was empty, Twilight turned back to the doorway and repeated the secret knock on the floor. Once that knock was completed, the blocks of the surrounding walls began to shift around, grinding against each other as they automatically formed themselves into a solid wall between the room and the hallway. Within a few seconds, the final block slid back into place — the one she had initially pushed in to open the door. As she walked back to the book cart, she remarked, “Always remember to close the door on your way out. Especially if it’s a secret door.”

As Twilight pushed her book cart over to the library, Pinkie Pie pranced beside her and excitedly asked, “Are you gonna tell us everything about what you and our Lego-selves did to save to world from the sirens? I bet you guys did all kinds of fun things! Like teaming up with pirates, or Spike building a double-decker couch, or Lego-me getting her head stuck inside a trashcan, or even—”

“Whoa, there, Pinkie,” Twilight suddenly said. “I’ll get around to all of that. For now, I’d just like to relax and enjoy being back in Equestria with all of you.”

As Twilight’s pony friends followed her towards the castle’s library, they all said various words of agreement. Although they were certainly very eager to hear all about Twilight’s latest adventure in the Lego World, there was no denying how glad they were to have their friend back home, safe and sound.

Click.

Adagio Dazzle had a bitter look on her face as she picked up yet another medium grey 2x4 brick and placed it on the unfinished wall.

Clack.

She and her two companions, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, were slowly rebuilding the walls of LEGO Maximum Security Prison under the close watch of a few security guards.

Click.

The three of them were wearing orange prison jumpsuits and had their wrists bound by handcuffs. At least they were able to keep their hair pieces in their usual style.

Clack.

Adagio paused as she picked up another grey Lego brick and stared at it. “All in all, you’re just another brick in the wall,” she grumbled before placing that brick on the wall.

Click.

“We were so close,” continued Adagio in frustration. “We were so close! We could’ve had every single person in the world catering to our every demand. Instead, those insolent Master Builders just had to keep standing in our way!”

Clack.

While Sonata continued adding bricks to the wall, Aria paused as she faced away from Adagio. The violet former siren frowned and furrowed her brow as she heard the group’s self-proclaimed leader continue her rant.

“And that’s not even the worst part,” continued Adagio. “We had the power to stop them, even at the last minute. But who is it that took us down with great power that suddenly came out of nowhere?”

Click.

“Shimmer,” spat Adagio. “How did she of all people suddenly become a Master Builder just like that?! She was supposed to be a hated felon with no creative talents whatsoever! It makes no sense!”

Clack.

“And now she’s granted freedom with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, while we’re the ones who get to rot in jail for the rest of our lives. I swear, if we ever get out of this miserable dump, I’ll—”

Finally fed up, Aria growled loudly and shouted, “Stop complaining already!” With the grey 2x2 brick in her hands, she smacked Adagio’s head right off her body. She then shoved that brick onto Adagio’s neck joint and grumbled, “Brick-head.”

Adagio screamed as her head came back down and landed on the ground a few paces behind her still-standing body.

Sonata suddenly started laughing out loud as she clutched her sides. “That is so funny!” she exclaimed between giggles. “Because you took off her head, and replaced it with a brick!” Her laughter now became so uncontrollable that she collapsed to the ground and started rolling around while still clutching her sides.

Aria frowned down at Sonata with displeasure, but when she glanced back at Adagio’s body with a brick for a head, she couldn’t help but crack a smile and let out a light chuckle. “Hey. That is kinda funny,” she quipped. She then joined with her own laughter, though unlike the blue former siren, she remained composed enough to stay standing.

While the two girls continued laughing at Adagio’s expense, her body crossed her arms while her head glared at them and grumbled, “You two are just the worst.”

Sunset Shimmer was enjoying another bright sunny day in City Park of Canterlot City as she sat down on a bench that offered a clear view of the horse statue not far away. She looked down at her magic journal resting on her lap and smiled as she read the latest entry from Princess Twilight. She turned the page over to a blank page and, with a pen in her hand, she began writing.

Dear Princess Twilight,
Missing you already, and I hope you’ll be back soon. Things are definitely looking up for me here in the Lego World. But I know I still have a lot to learn about friendship. Hope you don’t mind if I write to you for advice when I need it.
Your friend, Sunset Shimmer.

With her message complete, Sunset glanced up and saw Rainbow Dash walking up the path towards her.

“Hey, Sunset!” greeted Rainbow excitedly. “Word’s getting out about how much our band rocked that night, and people wanna hear more from us! Our first gig is right at the other side of the park tomorrow afternoon, and we could use someone like you as lead singer. What do ya say?”

Sunset glanced back down at the message she had just written, then closed the book and smiled at Rainbow. “Count me in,” she answered as she got up from the bench and followed Rainbow down the path.

After everything that had happened over the past week — rising from a hated felon to an admired Master Builder — Sunset couldn’t be more pleased with her new lease on life.

Inside a dimly-lit room in an unknown location, a mysterious stranger in a standard astronaut suit stared at a board on the wall. Posted on this board were various notes; pictures of a spaceship over a castle, a flying train, a submarine stranded on a beach, and a pirate ship in a city harbor; a blueprint of the dark broadcasting towers; and a map of Canterlot City with City Park circled in red. As the stranger continued staring at the board, the only noise to be heard was the faint hissing of the suit’s breathing system.

Crash!

“My bad!” called out the voice of a boy, followed by the clacking of Lego pieces being put back together. After a few seconds, the voice spoke up again. “Y’know, you don’t have to keep wearing that thing. You’re not exactly out in public right now.”

As the boy resumed fixing whatever he had accidentally destroyed, the stranger waited a few seconds before finally disconnecting the helmet with a light hiss and lifting it off.

Once he was done building, the purple-skinned boy with a red cap on his head walked over to the stranger and asked, “So, uh, anything new lately?”

The stranger had lavender skin, a hair piece that was tied up in a bun and colored dark blue with a violet and magenta streak down the middle, and wore a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses.

“No doubt about it, Spike,” said Twilight Sparkle of the Lego World. “There’s definitely some strange things going on…”

Author's Notes:

After eight months of writing, this story is now complete. As you might have figured out by now, there will be another sequel, and just like last time, you can expect to see it sometime early next year. I've already got some ideas, but none of them will be firmly established until after I see Friendship Games. (Good thing it'll premier on TV instead of in the movie theater, which means I'll be able to see it much sooner than I did with the previous movies.) My previous stories also drew inspiration from "the Adventures of Clutch Powers" and "the LEGO Movie", but since there are no other Lego movies at this time, I'll need to get really creative with the third story. I am also considering writing some more short stories like I did last year, though I'm still undecided on that at this time.

I would also like to take this opportunity to mention something else. Earlier this year, a long-time friend of mine started writing his first MLP fanfiction, which you can find over here. It's an interesting story, but grammar and formatting need some work (understandable, since English is not his native language). I've been offering helpful advice wherever I can, but it always seems like I'm the only one commenting on that story, and there's only so much I can do on my own. Perhaps if some of you who have been nice enough to comment on my stories could do the same for my friend's story, I'm sure he would really appreciate it (as well as me).

LEGO Equestria Girls 2

by Chronicler06

Prologue

A New Mission

Construction Chaos

Jailbreak!

Some Unexpected Help

Trouble in Appleloosa

Trains, Planes, and Spaceships

The Message to Equestria

Back in the Lego World

The City in the Sky

Attack on Cloudsdale

Stranded

Pirates and a Plan

Infiltrating LEGO Headquarters

A Terrifying Escape

Against the World

Battle of the Bands

The New Master Builder

Epilogue