LEGO Equestria Girls 6

Chapters

Prologue
Friendship Erased
Return to Equestria
Standing Alone
Unlikely Assistance
Calling in Favors
Confrontation
An Unforgettable Escape
Final Pursuit
Epilogue

Prologue

Prologue

Summer had arrived for much of the Lego World. Kids were excited for an extended break from school, and families came together to enjoy picnics at the park, barbecues in their backyards, and swimming at public pools or the beach. But for inland regions like Canterlot City, the beach simply wasn’t an option, so those who wanted to experience the sand and surf would have to travel to one of the coastal cities.

It was for that reason that a certain group of best friends found themselves at Canterlot Airport, waiting for their flight to Lego City. The girls of Canterlot City’s LEGO Team — Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle — were definitely looking forward to their upcoming vacation to the beach, especially since it meant they got to travel somewhere just for fun and not have to deal with some terrible threat. Because of this, Twilight was even allowing Spike to join them on their trip, which he was especially excited to hear.

To celebrate the beginning of summer, Rarity had offered all of her friends a brand new range of standard outfits for them to wear — claiming that a change in their standard wardrobe was long overdue. Twilight Sparkle now had dark blue on her feet, a purple skirt piece around her upper legs with detailing of her symbol of a magenta six-pointed star on all sides, and narrow horizontal stripes of light blue and purple on her shoulders and torso with detailing on the front of her torso of a magenta bow with her magical geode in the middle of it. Rainbow Dash now had medium blue on her feet, dark blue on her legs with rainbow lightning bolts on the outer side of each leg, her old red-yellow-blue bands on her wrists, medium blue on her upper arms with a yellow stripe down the middle, and medium blue on her torso with detailing on the front of a white shirt with her symbol of a cloud and rainbow lightning bolt under an open jacket with a lowered hood on the back and her magical geode around her neck. Applejack now had brown on her lower legs with her symbol of three apples on the front of each leg, a blue skirt piece around her upper legs with detailing of two pockets on the front and a red belt around the waist, green on her shoulders, white on her torso with a single apple on the front and her magical geode around her neck, and her old hat atop her head. Rarity now had purple on her feet, a purple skirt piece around her upper legs with a light blue ruffled skirt piece on top of that, gold bands around her wrists, and light blue on her torso with detailing of a purple belt around her waist with a diamond buckle and a broad yellow collar around her neck with her magical geode as part of it. Fluttershy now had pink straps around her lower legs, a turquoise long skirt piece around her legs with her symbol of three butterflies on the right side, pale green on her upper arms but not her shoulders, and a turquoise torso with detailing of a pink belt around her waist with a butterfly-shaped buckle and pink straps over her bare shoulders and her magical geode around her neck. Pinkie Pie now had light blue on her feet, white on her legs, a pink ruffled skirt piece around her waist, white on her torso with detailing on the front of her symbol of three party balloons and her magical geode around her neck, and a light blue hair band in her hair with a bow on the left side. Sunset Shimmer now had black on her feet, a magenta skirt piece around her upper legs, orange on her upper arms but not her shoulders, and black on her torso with detailing on the front of an orange shirt with her symbol of a red and yellow sun under the open vest and her magical geode around her neck. In addition, Sunset had also slightly changed her hairstyle so that it was now smoother and slightly curled at the ends. Despite Rarity’s offer, Spike had chosen to stick with his old standard outfit — blue on his short legs, green on his arms and torso, and a plain red baseball cap on his hairless head.

As they waited, Rarity was showing pictures on her phone to Fluttershy and Applejack as they stood together, Pinkie Pie was buying snacks for the flight from a nearby vending machine, Rainbow Dash sat on one end of a bench with a bored expression on her face, Spike sat on the other end of the bench while listening to some music on his phone, Twilight sat next to him while looking at something on her phone, and Sunset sat in the middle of the bench while reading a newspaper — a 2x2 white tile with newsprint on the top surface.

Sunset sighed and muttered, “I still can’t believe the city of Brickburg could just mysteriously vanish like that.”

Rainbow glanced over at Sunset and rolled her eyes as she grumbled, “We’ve all known about that for months now. The whole region got covered in some weird haze that not even space satellites can see through, and everyone sent over to investigate have never come back.”

“And now it seems we may not be getting any answers anytime soon,” added Sunset. She tapped her newspaper and continued, “It says here that President Business has just called off his efforts in the investigation, claiming that he can no longer afford to throw away assets on what has essentially turned into a great big unknown.”

“I just hope everyone there is okay,” said Twilight as she set down her phone. “I know of a former Shadowbolt agent who happens to live there.”

“An old friend of yours?” asked Applejack as she, Rarity, and Fluttershy turned their attention towards their seated friends.

“Not really,” replied Twilight as she shook her head. “She’s actually someone we were all familiar with because, before the Shadowbolts were disbanded, she was the only one to successfully leave that underground organization and avoid termination — and when I say ‘termination’, I mean that in every aspect imaginable.”

Fluttershy gasped and worriedly asked, “Y-you mean…?”

Twilight nodded solemnly. “Cinch wanted to make sure no one would ever leak any secrets to anyone else, so she made it very clear that once we were in, none of us would ever leave alive.” She then began to smile slightly. “The fact that Lucy was able to prove it didn’t have to end that way actually inspired me to believe that I could also make a new life for myself away from the Shadowbolts. Of course, we all know that eventually turned out.”

There was a bittersweet silence among the girls as they were reminded of certain past events.

It wasn’t long before Applejack spoke up, “So what do ya know ‘bout this Lucy gal?”

Twilight replied, “Most of us believed one reason she was able to avoid detection for so long was because she kept changing her name a lot — I had even heard there was a running joke that she would change names more often than I would change locations, as I had a habit of never staying in the same place for more than a few months.” She chuckled lightly at that. “Last I heard, she went by the name of Wyldstyle.”

The mention of that name made Rarity’s eyes widen. “Wyldstyle?” she asked in astonishment. “The Wyldstyle? As in, the one who inspired all the lands under President Business’s control to rise up in resistance against his tyrannical plans? Are you telling us that she was once a Shadowbolt agent herself?”

Twilight smirked and quipped, “How else do you think she became so good at fighting against all those robots?”

Applejack chuckled and remarked, “Well, ya learn somethin’ new every day.” Her smile fell as she added, “Ah just wish we all knew for sure what really happened over in Bricksburg.”

As Pinkie Pie sat down on the bench with a huge pile of various snacks in her arms, she excitedly spoke up, “I think they were invaded by alien Duplo creatures from outer space!”

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and responded irritably, “Please, Pinkie, everyone knows there’s no such thing as Duplo. It’s just a silly myth that no one with even half a brain would ever believe in.”

“Though on the subject of space creatures,” Twilight pointed out, “I have heard that there’s been some unusual activity over in the Systar System.”

“What kind of activity?” asked Fluttershy.

Twilight shrugged and replied, “That’s literally all I know about it. Much like the Constraction Zone, the Systar System is kept completely isolated from the rest of the Space Region we’re familiar with. Aside from some occasional sightings in nearby areas, we really don’t know much of what’s really going on over there.”

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it probably has nothing to do with whatever happened to Brickburg,” assured Sunset.

Suddenly, a voice came on over the speakers throughout the airport. “Now boarding: Flight 83 to Lego City.”

“That’s us!” said Rainbow Dash with a smile as she stood up and grabbed her luggage. “Come on, girls, let’s go!”

As everyone else grabbed their luggage and followed Rainbow, Twilight nudged Spike before grabbing her things and following after them. Alerted by that nudge, Spike removed his earbuds and, as he watched the rest of the group begin to walk away, he asked, “Are we going now?”

“Yes, Spike, now hurry up before we forget to take you with us,” teased Sunset.

Spike quickly put away his phone and grabbed his luggage before finally following after the seven girls.

As the group of best friends made their way towards the plane that would take them to their destination, Sunset was confident that she and her friends were going to have a wonderful time over the next week, and make plenty of pleasant memories together.

Author's Note

As hinted at in one of the Starlight Glimmer short stories, the Equestria Girls now have those new standard outfits we've seen in the official series. Even though the Lego Movie 2 is not out yet (though I do plan to see it soon), since the events of the first movie occurred in this Lego World, I wanted to try to explain why that city had ended up so different while also attempting to be ambiguous enough that I hope I don't end up contradicting what could be in the movie. I also took this opportunity to mention again a certain detail I had included back in the third story, if only to show that the events in this Lego World are not quite exactly like what happened in the movies. As usual, please be sure to point out any issues or errors I might have missed so I can correct them immediately. And feel free to check my most recent blog post where, among other things, I'm now offering everyone a chance to write short stories based on the Lego World of this series.

Friendship Erased

Chapter 1
Friendship Erased

After a plane ride that had lasted a couple hours, the Equestria Girls had landed at Lego City Airport. Everyone got off the plane, retrieved their luggage, and walked out through the main entrance. As they walked across the parking lot, they all discussed how excited they were for their vacation that was about to begin.

“A whole week here in Lego City!” Pinkie Pie cheerfully declared. “This is gonna be the best vacation ever!”

“Ah hear ya there, Pinkie,” remarked Applejack with a chuckle. “It’ll sure be nice to enjoy this city without havin’ to worry ‘bout savin’ the world, for once.”

“Indeed,” agreed Rarity with a nod. “I certainly look forward to seeing the famous exhibits at the Uptown Art Museum.”

“I’m more interested in visiting the science museum in the Downtown district,” said Twilight with a smile. “Personally, I hope we can also be permitted access to see the space launch center on Apollo Island.”

“Boring!” argued Rainbow Dash playfully. “If you really want something exciting, then you’ve gotta ride the Orion’s Rockets rollercoaster at that amusement park on the pier! Who’s with me?!”

“I think I’ll pass,” Fluttershy quietly responded. “I would rather visit Bluebell National Park, just across the bridge to the mainland. I heard there’s a rare breed of red squirrel that lives there, and I think it would be so fascinating to meet one.”

“I’m not sure what exactly I’d like to do during our stay in this city,” admitted Sunset, “but as long as I’m with all of you, I’ll be happy no matter what we do.”

“But first thing’s first,” stated Rarity. “We will need to check into our hotel rooms that I booked for us. I also took the liberty to arrange for some taxi cabs to take us to the hotel we’ll be staying at.”

“Good thinking, Rarity,” remarked Spike as he shifted his shoulders around against the two heavy bags he was carrying. “I dunno about you, but I sure don’t wanna have to carry my bags over a long walk across town.”

“Speakin’ of which,” added Applejack as she turned to Rarity, “Ah’m surprised ya decided to pack nothin’ more than whatever fits in that fancy rollin’ luggage ya got there.”

“Actually, I didn’t,” replied Rarity with a smirk. “I simply arranged to have the rest of my essentials delivered to the hotel ahead of us.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” muttered Rainbow Dash as she rolled her eyes.

“Because I knew you would once again call me out for my travel habits,” responded Rarity, “so I chose to implement an alternative means of satisfying my needs. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say.”

“Except for all those guys who had to break their backs hauling your mountain of luggage around,” quipped Spike.

Most of the group of friends laughed at Spike’s joke. As a result of this laughter, Sunset’s attention was focused sideways towards her friends, so she had no idea that someone was standing in her way until she bumped into her, knocking both of them down onto the pavement.

“Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” Sunset quickly apologized as she got up and grabbed the luggage she had dropped.

“That’s okay… I’m used to it…” muttered the other person as she got back up on her own. She had pale green skin, brown eyes, a messy dark green long hair piece on her head, pale blue on her legs, and horizontal stripes of olive and medium green on her arms and torso.

As the green girl got back up, Applejack noticed a full trash bag on the ground next to her with various bits of litter spilled out. “Cleanin’ up some litter, are ya?” she asked with a proud smile.

“Not like anyone else ever bothers to,” the green girl muttered. “It needs to be taken care of before I can start my actual work.” She gestured to a parked van nearby, with detailing labeled on the side paneling that read “Wallflower’s Landscaping”.

“I take it your name must be Wallflower, then,” noted Rarity.

“Wallflower Blush,” confirmed the green girl with no enthusiasm as she picked up the trash bag and began tossing the scattered rubbish back into the bag.

Wallflower was about to grab a sheet of paper when Spike suddenly snatched it away. He took a quick look at what was printed on the paper, then let out a long whistle and remarked, “Yeah, wherever you found this thing, it must’ve been hanging around for a really long time. Check it out.” He then handed the paper over to Sunset.

Sunset took the paper and, as soon as her eyes fell on the content printed on it, her heart sank. “It’s one of my old wanted posters,” she muttered sadly.

“I remember those things used to be all over the place,” noted Rainbow Dash as she and the others looked over Sunset’s shoulders at the poster, which displayed a colorless image of Sunset’s face expressing an evil smirk.

“Yeah, she was a real meanie pants back then, wasn’t she?” remarked Pinkie Pie.

Twilight noticed that these comments only added to Sunset’s sadness, so she took away the poster and crumpled it up as she added, “But of course, we all know you’ve long since earned the right to not be remembered like that.”

Sunset smiled slightly and said, “Thanks, Twilight.”

Twilight tossed the crumpled poster away, unknowingly making it bounce off Wallflower’s head before it hit the ground. With a sigh of mild irritation, she picked up the crumpled poster. Before she had a chance to toss it back into the trash bag, a taxi cab suddenly rammed into her van and shoved it out of its parking space and over the curb, crushing part of the row of flowers she had planted just hours ago.

“Oh look! Our taxis are here!” Pinkie Pie called out cheerfully.

As the group of friends with smiles on their faces began to hop into the taxis, Wallflower muttered under her breath, “And that was my van, which was just shoved out of a legal parking space.”

No one else even bothered to acknowledge the van, and once everyone was inside the taxis, they all turned around and began heading down the street.

Wallflower continued to stare at the part of the street that those four taxis had driven off towards. This was hardly the first time she had been subjected to such careless actions, but she still held out hope that, someday, she might finally receive some sympathy from someone.

That day would not be today, as she suddenly noticed a police officer standing nearby, who looked at the van, shook his head in disapproval, and started writing a ticket.

“Hey!” exclaimed Wallflower as she dropped the trash bag and ran over to the police officer. “You can’t write me a ticket! My van was just illegally shoved out of its parking space! A hit-and-run!”

“Not my problem,” retorted the police officer as he finished the ticket and slapped it into Wallflower’s hand, then walked away.

Wallflower stuttered as she struggled to think of anything to say. Finally, she just growled in frustration and tossed the crumpled poster she was still holding at her van.

After a short taxi ride, the Equestria Girls had arrived at the hotel they would be staying at. Rarity, thanks to her wealth and generous nature, had booked a few rooms for them on the top floor of one of the best-rated beachfront hotels in the district of Paradise Sands. She had specifically made sure that the rooms they got were all on the east side of the building, granting everyone a view out towards the beach and the ocean.

As everyone walked into the hotel’s lobby, Rarity walked over to the front desk to confirm her reservation, Applejack grabbed everyone’s luggage and began loading it onto one of the available baggage carts, and everyone else simply shared some idle conversation as they waited. Rainbow Dash pointed out that, sure enough, the vast bulk of Rarity’s luggage was already there, barely fitting on another baggage cart.

The arrangements of who got which rooms had already been agreed upon by everyone prior to their departure. Twilight and Spike would have the room at the far end of the hallway, Fluttershy and Applejack would share the room next to that, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie would take the room next to that, and Rarity and Sunset would occupy the room next to that.

After confirming the reservation, the guy at the front desk retrieved some keycards and placed them on the desk. “Here you go, girls,” he stated, speaking with a relaxed voice like some surfer dude. “Five rooms on the east side of the top floor.”

Rarity glanced down and upon seeing there were in fact five keycards being given, she turned her attention back to the front desk guy and raised an eyebrow. “Five?” she asked in confusion. “I thought I booked four rooms to share between the eight of us.”

The front desk guy typed something on the keyboard and glanced at his computer screen. “Nope, says here you booked five rooms,” he said.

“But I could have sworn I specified only four rooms,” insisted Rarity.

“Maybe you made a typo when you made the reservation,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“Yes, I suppose that may very well be the case,” muttered Rarity with resignation. She turned back to the front desk guy and asked with an awkward smile, “Is it not too late to request a refund on that fifth room?”

“Sorry, man,” replied the front desk guy with a shrug. “Check’s already gone through.”

“It’s okay, Rarity,” assured Sunset as she place a hand on Rarity’s shoulder. “If we’re gonna be stuck with an extra room, I’ll take it for myself. That’ll at least give you your room all to yourself.”

“I suppose you’re right,” acknowledged Rarity with a small smile. “Unfortunate situations do occasionally come with a silver lining, after all.”

“Besides,” added Sunset with a light giggle, “I wasn’t exactly looking forward to sharing a room with that.” She gestured towards the baggage cart with Rarity’s luggage, which was now being handled by two bellhops. They were struggling to haul the cart into an elevator, but ended up accidentally tipping it over, spilling the mountain of luggage onto the floor and leaving one of them completely buried underneath.

Applejack chuckled and remarked, “Ah hear ya there, Sunset.”

Rarity crossed her arms as she huffed and grumbled, “Really, girls, must you always taunt me for my travel habits?”

“How could we resist?” retorted Rainbow Dash. “You just make it so easy.”

With the playful banter over, the girls grabbed their keycards and headed towards the elevators. It was already rather late in the afternoon, so the plan for today was for them to get settled into their rooms and make a plan for what they would do for each day of their stay in Lego City.

By the time the Equestria Girls had dinner and made a final agreement on their plans for the week, it was already late at night, so everyone wished each other goodnight and settled into their rooms.

In the fifth room, Sunset had changed into her pajamas and climbed into bed. But before she called it a night, she decided to write a message in her magic journal to Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.

Dear Princess Twilight,

The girls and I are now in Lego City, ready to enjoy the week-long vacation we’ve been looking forward to for months now. It sure is nice to finally go somewhere and not have to worry about any major threats. Pretty much the worst thing that’s happened so far was that Rarity accidentally booked an extra hotel room for us, which I now have to myself — not that I’m complaining, of course.

Along the way here, we came across an old relic of the days back when I used to be one of the most wanted criminals in all of the Lego World, but my friends assured me those days are long gone. After all, if you hadn’t forgiven me, I’d still be the arrogant brat I was when I first left Equestria, probably plotting my next strike for some petty gain. You gave me the second chance I didn’t deserve, and I’ll never forget it.

Your friend, Sunset Shimmer.

With her message finished, she closed her journal and set it down on the side table, then switched off the light and prepared to fall asleep.

Not much time later, while virtually everyone in Lego City was sleeping, something very strange happened. Countless glowing red ribbons quickly flew all over the city and beyond. Dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of them flew together, all gathering towards a single location, somewhere in the woods of Bluebell National Park, on the mainland just west of Lego City.

The next morning, vacationers and tourists all across Paradise Sands were ready to enjoy a beautiful warm day with not a single cloud in the sunny sky. Some stayed close to their hotels to enjoy the pools and the buffets, others decided to have fun at the amusement park on the pier, and many others chose to simply relax out on the beach. For today, the Equestria Girls had decided to start their week-long vacation by spending the whole day at the beach.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike were already out on the beach by the time Twilight Sparkle stepped out onto the sands, all of whom were wearing their swimsuits. Twilight had dark blue on her hip joint and lower half of her torso, light blue on the upper half of the front of her torso, and a magenta five-pointed star in the middle of the light blue portion. Applejack had medium blue on her hip joint, upper arms, and the upper half of her torso, a white stripe on the sides of her arms and torso, and a red apple on the front of the blue portion of her torso. Rainbow Dash had magenta on her upper legs, black on the upper half of her torso with yellow, green, and magenta diagonal stripes across the front, and a magenta baseball cap on her head with a sun and cloud printed on the front of it. Rarity had a light blue skirt piece around her upper legs, violet on the upper half of her torso with a blue diamond in the middle of the front, and a black sunhat on her head with a light blue stripe around the inner edge of the brim. Pinkie Pie had magenta on her hip joint and the upper half of her torso, white on the lower half of her torso, and a row of yellow bows down the front of her torso. Fluttershy had black on her torso and legs, turquoise on her arms and the sides of her torso and legs, and a magenta fish on the front of her torso. Spike had green on his upper legs, nothing on his torso, and his usual red cap on his head.

Twilight was carrying a large case under her arms as she walked over to join her friends. She set the case down on the sand and opened it, revealing an aerial drone she had assembled and customized herself. She switched the drone on, tapped a few more buttons, then stood back as the rotors revved up and the gadget lifted up into the air. Twilight smiled and proudly proclaimed, “Now commencing field test of one of my latest inventions, the A.I. Selfie-Sensing Drone!” She turned to her friends and explained, “The artificial intelligence I’ve programed into this drone is designed to detect excellent selfie opportunities, hover into position, and take the picture at the precise moment when the image is at its most ideal.”

Applejack stared at the drone as it hovered around just over her head, then turned to Twilight and asked, “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of takin’ a selfie if ya ain’t takin’ it yourself?”

Twilight paused with a blank stare, then rubbed her chin thoughtfully and muttered, “Huh… that never really occurred to me.”

Click!

Twilight suddenly turned to where that noise came from and discovered that her drone had its camera pointed at her. Just she had programed it to do, the drone then turned around to show her the picture it had just taken of her, where she had her hand on her chin with a thoughtful expression on her face. Twilight chuckled and remarked, “Looks like it’s already working quite well. I could practically make an emoji out of that one.”

Nearby, Rarity was kneeling on the sand in front of her beach chair while looking across a row of white sheets of cloth, each covering the area of a 4x6 tile, while Rainbow Dash stood behind her looking over her shoulder. As her eyes glanced over each of the six sheets, she muttered, “Hmm… which beach blanket would look best with my complexion for photographs?”

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow and spoke up, “Uh, you mean the white one, or… the white one?”

Rarity gasped in shock, then grasped two of the sheets as she scoffed and retorted, “This one is toasted oat, and this is linen lamb’s wool!” She placed those two sheets back down and pointed at the rest of them as she continued, “That’s eggshell, warm frost, pale nimbus, and, uh…” She hesitated on the last one before she sheepishly finished, “Well, that one is white, I suppose.”

“Uh, yeah,” responded Rainbow Dash with a friendly smile. “That’s the one I was talking about.”

A brief gust of wind suddenly whipped across the beach, forcing the two girls to hold onto their hats. The gust was strong enough to send one of the white sheets airborne and fluttering across the beach past Spike and Pinkie, who were both in the middle of building a sandcastle.

Spike was the first one to notice the white beach blanket flying by on the wind and heading towards the water. “Don’t worry, I’ll get it!” he called out as he quickly dropped his shovel and began chasing after the blanket.

Pinkie Pie, sensing another opportunity for some fun, immediately began chasing after the blanket as well, pausing very briefly to slap a pair of orange flippers onto her feet. “No, I got it! I got it!” she called out cheerfully.

“No way, Pinkie! I’ve got it!” retorted Spike playfully as he reached up towards the flying blanket.

Pinkie also tried to reach up and grab the airborne blanket, but soon learned the hard way why running in flippers was such a bad idea. She suddenly tripped over herself and fell flat on her face into the sand. As she fell, her outstretched arm ended up grabbing onto Spike’s leg, causing him to also trip over and fall flat on his face.

Both Pinkie and Spike glanced up just in time to watch the blanket fall out of the air and plunge into the water. “I don’t got it,” they both groaned in disappointment.

Just seconds after that blanket sank out of sight, a strange mass covered in seaweed quickly rose up out of the water in its place. Pinkie’s eyes widened as she gasped and exclaimed, “Ocean monster! Ocean monster!” She and Spike both immediately got back up and ran away while screaming in terror, ultimately taking cover behind their incomplete sandcastle.

The creature stepped out onto the shore, walking on two feet with pink flippers on them. The creature then removed the seaweed covering it, revealing that it was Fluttershy with a snorkel and goggles over her face, while the seaweed-covered object she held was actually the lost beach blanket.

Spike and Pinkie peeked out from behind the sandcastle, and once they saw who it actually was, Spike said with relief, “Oh, it was just Fluttershy.” He laughed a little, then elbowed Pinkie and remarked, “She really had us going there, didn’t she?”

Pinkie giggled in response and cheerfully said, “Silly me! How could I mistaken one of my best friends for some ocean monster?” She giggled some more as she and Spike walked out from behind the sandcastle.

At the same time, Fluttershy walked over to where the rest of her friends had gathered. Once she arrived, she removed the snorkel from her mouth, then removed her flippers as she spoke up, “Quincy the sea turtle says the tide’s coming in. We should consider moving higher up the beach or risk having damp ankles.” As she handed the seawater-drenched blanket over to Rarity, she contently muttered, “Oh, he’s so thoughtful.”

At Fluttershy’s suggestion, Rarity began to fold up the rest of her white blankets. However, when she noticed the drenched, seaweed-covered blanket that Fluttershy was offering back to her, she cringed in disgust and politely said, “Uh, Fluttershy, dear, perhaps you should just… dispose of that one.”

Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer finally stepped out onto the beach, carrying her satchel over her right shoulder and wearing a swimsuit that consisted of a red, orange, and yellow skirt piece around her upper legs, and black on her upper torso with half of her sun symbol in yellow and white on the front. She had slept in a little late and didn’t have a chance to see any of her friends earlier that morning, but now she was ready to enjoy the beginning of a week-long vacation among her best friends.

Sunset smiled once she found where her friends had gathered together. As she walked over to them, she noticed a small aerial drone hovering around them, with some of them posing as it flew near them. Twilight had told them ahead of the trip that she was planning to test a selfie-sensing A.I. she had recently programed, and as far as Sunset could see, it seemed to be working quite well.

Once Sunset reached her friends, the drone turned towards her and immediately stopped. “Hey, Twilight,” greeted Sunset pleasantly. “I see you got that selfie-sensor working.” She then posed for a photo, but rather than take a picture, the drone zoomed right back into the case it was carried within, landing with just enough force to make the lid flip down to close the case.

“Okay…” mumbled Sunset in confusion. Her smile quickly returned as she turned back to her friends and spoke up, “So, who’s ready to begin the best vacation ever?”

But the looks Sunset received from her friends were surprisingly not friendly at all. At first, they all stared silently at her in shock and confusion. Seconds later, those expressions changed to anger and contempt in Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity, while Fluttershy, Spike, and Pinkie became more fearful. Fluttershy in particular became so terrified that she hid behind Applejack.

Sunset rolled her eyes and smiled as she playfully quipped, “Alright, what did I do this time?”

Sunset’s friends still remained completely silent as they glanced at each other in confusion, with Pinkie Pie shrugging at Applejack.

“So, uh…” continued Sunset uneasily, her voice starting to reflect her own growing confusion. “Do you wanna build a sandcastle, or… go for a swim first?”

Again, there was another awkward pause between Sunset and her friends.

“How’s the water?” asked Sunset, nervously struggling to get any conversation going.

Finally, someone besides Sunset decided to speak up. “Sunset Shimmer?” asked Applejack with strong contempt in her voice. “Askin’ to be part of our best vacation ever?” She then scoffed and grumbled, “Now I’ve heard it all.”

Sunset glanced back and forth across her friends and asked in confusion, “Am I missing the joke here?”

“The only joke is whatever this is you’re playing on us,” responded Rarity with disgust, “acting all nice like you’re our friend.”

“And it’s not funny,” argued Fluttershy nervously.

“Because you aren’t nice!” added Rainbow Dash with anger.

“An’ we ain’t friends!” finished Applejack firmly.

“Wait, what?!” asked Sunset in shock.

“You got applesauce in your ears?” retorted Applejack. “Ah said we ain’t fr— Whoa!”

Sunset didn’t bother letting Applejack finish her scolding before she swiftly grabbed her arm. Something very strange was going on, and Sunset needed answers right away. As soon as she made contact, her body stiffened and her eyes glowed white as she began to look into Applejack’s memories.

The first memory Sunset saw was the moment when she and her friends had confronted the magically corrupted Gloriosa Daisy. The particular moment she was witnessing was when the seven of them stood together in a circle with their backs to each other, ready to face off against the army of wood-figs that Gloriosa had unleashed. Pinkie Pie had even expressed excitement that they were doing a “superhero pose”. However, while Sunset distinctly remembered being armed with a laser blaster as she stood alongside her friends, in this memory she was witnessing, she was nowhere to be found, and it was only the six others who stood together.

The next memory Sunset saw was soon after Abacus Cinch was arrested and the Shadowbolts were disbanded, when Twilight was permitted to officially reside in the region of Canterlot City and was even allowed to join the LEGO Team to stay with the new group of friends she had made. Sunset remembered being part of the group hug that firmly welcomed her as a friend, but in this memory she witnessed, she was again nowhere to be found, and it was only the five others who embraced Twilight.

The next memory Sunset saw was the moment immediately after Midnight Sparkle was defeated, and Twilight and Sunset both reverted back to their normal forms. But while Sunset remembered Twilight making her initial apology to her, this memory seemed to imply that Twilight made her tearful apology to everyone around as she stood completely alone, while Sunset was once again nowhere to be found.

The next memory Sunset saw was at the climax of the battle against the Dazzlings, where her friends — including Princess Twilight — stood with their musical instruments on the flying performance stage being operated by Equestria’s Spike. The sirens had just beaten them back, and the microphone had landed in Sunset’s hands while she was hovering in the air in her rocket chair. To give her friends the extra energy they needed to win, she attached her rocket chair to the stage, stepped up to join her friends, and began signing her own part of the song. But strangely, while this memory still included that rocket chair, Sunset herself was still nowhere to be found.

The final memory Sunset saw was the most distant one of all, when she and her friends had gathered at their favorite pizzeria in Canterlot City to talk with Princess Twilight about the threat the Dazzlings posed to the Lego World. But while many details of that lunch meeting — including how numerous slices of pizza somehow seemed to frequently end up splattering in Princess Twilight’s lap — were just like what she had remembered, the seat where Sunset had sat between Princess Twilight and the window was completely empty.

Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal as her glimpse of Applejack’s memories came to an end. But after everything she just saw, Sunset immediately tensed up and gasped in shock. As she stepped back from her friends — and they likewise took a step back from her — she exclaimed in panic, “It’s like I’ve been… erased!”

The rest of the Equestria Girls stared back at her in confusion, but still refused to let their guard down.

“This has to be a bad dream!” exclaimed Sunset in terror. She closed her eyes and pressed her hands to her forehead. “Wake up, Sunset! Wake up!”

Smack!

“Ow!” shouted Sunset as he head spun all the way around after suddenly getting slapped in the face. Once her head stopped moving, she saw Pinkie standing right in front of her with an innocent smile on her face.

“Nope! You’re awake!” noted Pinkie cheerfully. She then slapped herself in the face, also sending her head spinning completely around once.

Smack!

“Owie!” Once her head stopped moving, Pinkie giggled and added, “Yup! Me too!”

After briefly rubbing the sore spot on her cheek, Sunset suddenly asked, “What about you?” She reached over and grabbed Rainbow Dash’s arm before she had a chance to respond. Again, Sunset’s body stiffened and her eyes glowed white as she now looked into Rainbow’s memories.

The memory Sunset saw was during the middle of their team’s battle against Twilight’s team of Shadowbolt agents in the Pick-A-Brick warehouse. This was the moment where Sunset had somehow found herself hanging precariously over a pile of burning tires, and Rainbow had just finished building a small spacecraft and was flying over to save her. However, Sunset herself was yet again missing from this memory, and although Rainbow still flew directly over that flaming pile of tires as she actually did, she reacted as if she had no idea why she even did that in the first place.

Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal as her glimpse of Rainbow Dash’s memories came to an end. Sunset immediately protested, “No! Rainbow Dash, you saved me from falling into that pile of burning tires in the warehouse!”

Rainbow Dash yanked her arm out of Sunset’s grasp and asked, “What are you talking about?”

“I can see your memories!” explained Sunset worriedly. “I know exactly where I’m supposed to be in all of them, but I’m not there in any of them!”

Applejack folded her arms and asked, “An’ exactly how is it you can see our memories, if ya don’t mind me askin’?”

“With this!” answered Sunset as she pointed at her magical geode near the top of her torso.

Rarity scoffed and dismissively retorted, “It’s obviously a cheap knockoff of ours.”

“But we got them together!” argued Sunset desperately. “You were there, remember?”

“Why is she still talking to us?” whispered Fluttershy fearfully to Applejack.

Sunset rubbed her hand against her forehead as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Applejack didn’t remember her, neither did Rainbow Dash, nor Rarity, nor even Fluttershy. Realizing that she hadn’t quite asked everyone yet, she turned to Pinkie and asked, “Pinkie Pie, remember that first time we were aboard Captain Storm Wave’s pirate ship, where I came up with the plan for us to stop the sirens?”

“You think you can play me for a fool just because I’m the silly one?” accused Pinkie as she folded her arms. “Well you thought very wrong! I’ve memorized the builtdays of thousands of minifigs, every recipe of every cookbook I’ve ever heard of, and the usual orders of every single repeat customer at Sugar Cube Corner. I would totally remember all the little details of all the times I’ve spent with my friends. And guess what? The closest you’ve ever come to me was when you blew up my ride and rebuilt the pieces into a cage to trap me and my friends in the woods with only a pair of brick-head crooks to keep us company!”

“But that was a long time ago!” argued Sunset. “I’ve changed at lot since then!”

“Sure you did,” retorted Pinkie with a thick tone of sarcasm as she rolled her eyes.

Growing increasingly desperate, Sunset turned to Twilight and asked, “Twilight, you remember me, right? We’ve been through so much together. Please…” Tears began forming in Sunset’s eyes as she feared what she might hear next.

“I’ve only met you a few times,” admitted Twilight hesitantly, “all of them back when I was a Shadowbolt agent, and you kept coming after me like some kind of bounty hunter.”

“Because I was trying to protect my friends!” argued Sunset desperately. “The same girls who are now your friends, too!” After asking everyone else, her attention finally turned to Spike.

“Don’t bother asking me,” grumbled Spike dismissively as he held up a hand and glanced away. “The only thing I know about you is that you’re number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted, so unless you’re waiting for the cops to show up, you might as well just move along and get going.”

“Doesn’t anyone remember that I’ve changed for the better?!” exclaimed Sunset in a final burst of desperation.

All seven minifigs gathered in front of her shook their heads and turned away from her without saying a word.

Distressed beyond belief, Sunset began quickly glancing around all over the place. Soon, her eyes fell upon her satchel that she was still carrying, and she suddenly smiled a little. “Maybe not anyone…” she mumbled. She then turned away and began to run off as she called to her friends, “I’ll be right back!”

With a smug look on her face, Rarity waved back at her and taunted, “Don’t hurry back, darling!”

Sunset ignored that taunt as she ran over to the nearby lifeguard station and sat down beside one of its support posts. She quickly pulled her magic journal and a pen out of her satchel and opened the journal to the first blank page. She brought her pen to the page, hesitated for a moment, then sighed as she began to write.

Dear Princess Twilight,

This is going to sound crazy, but… are we friends? Am I… nice? Please answer immediately…

Unsure of what else she could say, Sunset decided to just leave the message at that and hope Princess Twilight was close by to her magic journal to provide an immediate response. If whatever happened to her friends had also affected Princess Twilight in Equestria, then she had no idea what she would do next. Just the thought of it was enough to depress her to the point of just giving up on everything.

Suddenly, the open page in the journal glowed as a response from the other side was written.

Of course we’re friends!

Sunset let out a huge sigh of relief. At least she still had one friend she could count on. She opened her eyes and saw a little more had been written.

Are you okay? What’s going on?

With renewed determination, Sunset immediately wrote back.

Kind of hard to explain. Might be easier in person. Well, not “person”, so to speak. Just open the interdimensional portal right away and I’ll come through as soon as possible. See you soon…

Sunset then closed her magic journal and put that and her pen back into her satchel. Now that she had a plan of some kind, she was ready to go through with it. First, she needed to get to the interdimensional portal in the main park of Canterlot City. She didn’t have quite enough money on hand to afford a plane ticket back to Canterlot City, and in any case, she was sure that if everyone now remembered only her criminal past and not her more recent heroic deeds, then the airport security would definitely detain her the moment she tried to get through. But there was another option.

Sunset glanced over to her friends and saw they were all now heading out into the water, leaving their bags and other beach supplies behind. Recognizing this perfect opportunity, she sneaked over to those bags, with her eyes particularly on Twilight’s bag. After a quick glance over to her right to confirm none of her friends were looking in her direction, she reached into Twilight’s bag, carefully dug around a little, and soon pulled out a small gadget meant to be fitted over one’s wrist. This was a Jump-Gate return device, which allowed the user to open access to any existing Jump-Gate for instant travel across vast distances. Twilight had insisted on always having one with her at all times in case of an emergency situation, and right now, Sunset was convinced that this was definitely such a situation.

“Please forgive me for this, Twilight,” muttered Sunset as she stuffed the device into her satchel and began to run off, “but this is a very serious emergency.”

Although Sunset now had a means of traveling immediately to where she needed to go, she couldn’t just use it right there right away. That would have been way too conspicuous. Instead, she decided to return to her hotel room and open a Jump-Gate from there, to minimize the chances that anyone would figure out where she was or where she went. Besides, she wanted to change out of her swimsuit and back into her standard outfit before making a trip back to Canterlot City and from there back to Equestria.

Something very strange was going on, and Sunset desperately hoped that her friend Princess Twilight Sparkle might have the answers she needed.

Author's Note

Even though I obviously can't use the yearbook theme from the official version, I wanted to at least keep the beach theme. Since I've already established that Canterlot City is an inland region, I decided to have the girls go on a vacation to the coastal region of Lego City. As you might have guessed, many of the people and places that will be mentioned throughout this story were inspired by the game Lego City Undercover (a game I still have not yet had a chance to play, but certainly hope to do so at some point).

Return to Equestria

Chapter 2
Return to Equestria

Sunset had quickly returned to her hotel room, changed back into her new standard outfit, and headed out into the hallway with her satchel slung over her right shoulder, making sure to leave her magic journal behind so the interdimensional portal to Equestria could remain open. Using the Jump-Gate return device she had “borrowed” from Twilight, she intended to make the long journey to that portal in only a matter of seconds. However, due to the limitations of the Jump-Gate system, she would first have to travel to a place that actually had a Jump-Gate set up, and then from there would she be able to access the interdimensional portal’s location.

Sunset decided to have the return device take her to the region of Ninjago City, since it was practically on the other side of the planet, meaning that it was currently the middle of night there and thus there would unlikely be anyone to notice her brief visit. She still wasn’t yet sure if what had affected the memories of her friends had also affected anyone else in the Lego World, but considering her past life as one of the most wanted criminals in the world, she didn’t want to take any chances.

Sunset opened a Jump-Gate doorway in the hallway and stepped through the large doorway into the Ninjago Region’s LEGO Team Headquarters. Just as she had hoped, the room where the Jump-Gate was located was currently dark with no one around. Not wasting any time, she entered the coordinates of City Park in Canterlot City into the console beside the gate and hit the green activation button. The gateway back to the hotel closed, the machine made its usual low whooshing noise, and the gate reopened to reveal the large park in the middle of Canterlot City. She quickly stepped through, and seconds later, the gateway closed and vanished behind her.

As Sunset walked over to the empty pedestal that held the interdimensional portal to Equestria, she glanced around and was relieved to see virtually no one around to witness her movement. Whatever hesitation she had about passing beyond this point, it was more than overcome with her determination to save her friends from whatever had happened to them. She pressed her hand against the mirror-like side of the pedestal, and once her hand passed through the now shimmering surface, she immediately stepped through the rest of the way. Once again, she saw nothing but a bright swirl of all the colors of the rainbow as she was pulled around the vortex, her body being stretched and twisted out of shape.

On the other side of the interdimensional portal, Princess Twilight Sparkle waited beside the Crystal Mirror inside her castle. As soon as she had received the latest response from Sunset, she had gone over to the hidden room where the portal to the Lego World was held, opened the secret door, and activated the contraption to force the portal open. Although Sunset had promised to arrive as soon as possible, there was no telling how long that could actually take, especially considering that she was currently in a completely different city than the one where the portal on her side was located.

Twilight was pleasantly surprised when, after waiting for only a few minutes, the mirror’s surface suddenly flashed brightly, which she knew signaled the arrival of someone through that portal. Sure enough, once the bright glare faded, she grinned when she saw standing in front of her was a unicorn with an amber coat, a wavy mane and tail of faded red and yellow, and a Cutie Mark of a half red and half yellow sun.

Sunset Shimmer had returned to Equestria.

Sunset, standing on only her hind legs, turned away from the mirror and smiled as she saw that, unlike last time, Princess Twilight was actually there to greet her. “Twilight!” greeted Sunset happily, only to suddenly start wobbling around as she attempted to take a step forward.

“Sunset?” asked Twilight with concern as Sunset lost her balance and soon fell forward. Fortunately, Twilight was there to catch her and prevent her from hitting the floor.

As Twilight helped her up into the proper four-legged stance, Sunset laughed nervously and said, “Sorry. I was trying to hug you. Kinda forgot how to do it as a pony.” After a light chuckle, she and Twilight hugged each other with a single foreleg.

After breaking the hug, Twilight’s smile fell as she asked, “So what’s been happening?”

Sunset sighed sadly and explained, “As far as I know, everything was perfectly fine when I went to bed last night. I kinda slept in this morning, so I didn’t really get a chance to see any of my friends until I got out onto the beach. But when I went over to meet them, they were just hostile to me, as if I was one of their greatest enemies! I used my magical geode powers to look into some of their memories, and the ones where I know for a fact that I’m there… I’m just completely missing… as if I was somehow erased from existence. Well, I guess I haven’t been completely erased, since they still recognized me, but it’s like they’ve completely forgotten everything about me over the past year, about how I’m now a much better person who happens to be best friends with all of them. Even Twilight can’t remember anything good about me, and seems to only know me from her final days as a Shadowbolt agent, when she and I were practically fighting on opposite sides.”

Once Sunset finished speaking, Twilight used her magic to shut off the contraption powering the portal through the Crystal Mirror. “Follow me, Sunset,” she said as she began to walk out of the room.

“You actually know what’s going on?” asked Sunset with hope as she followed Twilight out into the hallway.

“Not quite…” admitted Twilight. Once they were both out in the hallway, Twilight tapped her hoof twice on a thick black line on the floor, triggering the room’s secret door to close. They both watched as the stone blocks shifted around, grinding against each other as they reformed themselves into a seemingly plain wall with no indication there was a room hidden behind it.

Twilight turned left and began walking down the hallway, with Sunset following right behind. “This is bad, Sunset,” continued Twilight worriedly. “It’s way beyond anything I’ve ever heard of. Although…”

“Although, what?” asked Sunset.

“I’ve just had an idea,” replied Twilight hesitantly as she stopped and turned to face Sunset. “But you might not like it.”

Sunset stopped in front of Twilight and pleaded, “I’ll do anything to get my friends back, Twilight.”

Twilight hesitated for a moment before she said, “There is one pony who might be able to help, but I don’t know if you two wanna see each other…”

“Who?” asked Sunset desperately. She tried to think of any possible pony who could possess knowledge that even Twilight lacked, yet might also not be interested in seeing her, nor somepony she would want to see either. It didn’t take long for her to realize there was only one pony in all of Equestria who could fit such a description, and her expression immediately fell. “Oh… right…” she muttered sadly.

“Are you really sure you wanna talk to her?” asked Twilight with concern. “I could just go myself and speak on your behalf, if that would make you feel better.”

Sunset sighed and replied, “Well, I did say I’d do anything to get my friends back… Might as well put my money where my mouth is.” She began walking forward as she continued, “Besides, I’ve been putting this off for too long. I guess I’ll just get it over with while I have an excuse to do so.”

Twilight walked beside Sunset and said, “You don’t have to do this alone. I’ll go with you to Canterlot and support you the whole way.”

Sunset smiled and said, “Thanks, Twilight. It’s good to know that, even after a big mess like this, I can still count on you to be there for me.”

The two mares walked in silence for a few seconds before Twilight spoke up, “By the way, what’s that thing on your foreleg?”

Sunset glanced down and noticed that she was still wearing the Jump-Gate return device, albeit slightly differently shaped to fit on her foreleg. “Oh! That’s a return device used for the Jump-Gate system,” replied Sunset as she stopped walking and held up her foreleg. “It’s how I was able to reach the interdimensional portal so quickly after I wrote you that message.”

“Fascinating…” muttered Twilight in awe as she looked closely at the device. Thanks to the journal entries she had exchanged with Sunset, she was well aware about how her counterpart in the Lego World had created numerous inventions — the most prominent of which being the Jump-Gate, which essentially could open a doorway to virtually any location in the universe to provide instantaneous travel across vast distances. Even for an alicorn like herself who could easily teleport anywhere, the concept of such a machine really intrigued her.

“I doubt I could give you a demonstration, since there aren’t exactly any Jump-Gates on this side of the portal,” noted Sunset with a smirk as she used her unicorn magic to levitate the device off her leg and into her bag — formerly a satchel, but now a saddlebag. “Besides,” she added reluctantly, “I kinda had to borrow it from the other Twilight without her permission. Normally, I wouldn’t do such a thing to one of my best friends, but…”

“Emergency circumstances,” finished Twilight with a nod of understanding as she and Sunset resumed walking.

It wasn’t long until they reached the main entrance to Twilight’s castle and stepped outside. By the time Twilight reached the bottom of the front steps, she realized Sunset was no longer walking beside her, so she glanced back and saw her standing at the top of the steps, staring up at the sky. “Sunset?” asked Twilight.

Sunset shook her head and glanced down at Twilight. As she proceeded down the steps, she responded, “Sorry. It’s just that… the last time I ever saw that particular sun in the sky… I was still Princess Celestia’s personal student.”

“Is that really true?” asked Twilight as she and Sunset resumed walking side by side.

Sunset nodded and continued, “Both of my previous visits to Equestria were brief, and I never even set hoof outdoors. And prior to that, during my final days as Princess Celestia’s personal student, I had become so obsessed with the Crystal Mirror that the vast majority of my time was spent on studying restricted documents in an effort to understand everything I could about it.” She became increasingly saddened as she continued, “When she found out about my ambitions and had me expelled from her castle, some guards were supposed to escort me out, but… we never even got close to the main door before I resisted them and jumped through the mirror.” She sighed sadly. “I don’t think I can even recall the last time when I really did experience the light and warmth of Celestia’s sun.”

As a gesture of assurance, Twilight unfurled one of her wings and let it rest on Sunset’s back. Sunset looked up at Twilight and saw the smile on her face, so she smiled back. Nothing needed to be said between them in this moment, for they both knew they would always have each other’s support.

After a train ride from Ponyville to Canterlot, Sunset and Princess Twilight walked over to Canterlot Castle. For Sunset, entering that castle for the first time in years was a bittersweet moment. She had spent many years of her early life inside this castle, and when she had last been here, she was a very different pony from who she was now. In fact, the arrogant pony she when she left this castle was the same person that her friends back in the Lego World now believed she still was, and that little reminder was what she needed to summon the courage for what she was about to face next.

While Twilight spoke briefly with the guards to confirm that both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were available to speak with, Sunset noticed a sign posted on the throne room doors which stated that major renovations would begin sometime next week. As soon as Twilight finished speaking with the guards, Sunset pointed up at the sign as she turned to Twilight and asked, “Renovations?”

“It’s been a couple years since Princess Luna returned,” explained Twilight, “but as I’m sure you recall, the throne room has just the one throne for Celestia. Among other ways this room is due to be redecorated, the most significant change will be that there will be two thrones, side by side for both princesses. Needless to say, this project has been long overdue, but it’ll soon be finally underway. If all goes according to schedule, this remodeling effort should be completed in time for the first ever Friendship Festival.”

“Friendship Festival?” asked Sunset.

“It’s going to be a new national holiday that will be held in honor of me, the Princess of Friendship,” replied Twilight. “I’m still trying to plan out how we would celebrate it. The input I’ve received from my friends has helped, but it’s still a huge responsibility.”

“I’m sure everything will turn out fine,” assured Sunset. “I mean, it’s not like some new mighty force of evil is suddenly gonna show up on that particular day.”

Twilight and Sunset shared a brief giggle at that remark. They then turned their attention ahead towards the doors.

“Well… now or never,” mumbled Sunset.

Twilight used her magic to open the doors, then she and Sunset walked side by side into the throne room. Sunset glanced at Twilight with a worried expression, so Twilight glanced back with an uneasy smile.

At the other end of the room, Princess Celestia sat upon her throne, with Princess Luna standing to her left. Both of them stared down at their visitors with serious looks on their faces. Neither of them spoke a word as Celestia stood up and spread out her wings.

As the two smaller mares continued walking forward, Sunset couldn’t help but lower her head in shame. Finally, they stopped just before the ramp leading up to the throne. While Sunset kept her head down, Twilight grinned awkwardly as the Princesses of the Sun and Moon continued to silently stare down at them.

The uncomfortable silence lasted for almost a full minute before Twilight decided to break the ice. “Sooo, Princess Celestia…” she began awkwardly with a nervous laugh. “You’ll never guess who’s back! Actually, maybe you can guess, ‘cause she’s right here. But, um…”

Celestia’s stern expression remained completely unchanged.

After another awkward silence, Twilight leaned close to Sunset and whispered, “Am I helping?”

Sunset chose not to respond. This was her own past she was facing, so she knew she had to confront it herself. She took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then raised her head and stepped forward as she spoke up, “Princess Celestia, the last time we saw each other, I was your snide little pupil who betrayed and abandoned you.”

Twilight quickly leaned close to Sunset and nervously whispered, “I wouldn’t have said it that way.” She then cleared her throat and spoke up, “What Sunset means to say is—”

Sunset held out her foreleg to cut off Twilight, then continued, “I mean that I come before you as a changed pony, humbly asking for forgiveness, guidance, and knowledge.”

After another moment of tense silence, Celestia brought her wings back down to her sides and walked down to ramp to stand directly in front of Sunset, but not once did her facial expression change.

As she stared up at Princess Celestia, Sunset began to lose what little confidence she had. She slowly began to back off and lowered her head again as she muttered, “Or… I can just go, and… you never have to see me again.”

Princess Celestia placed her hoof under Sunset’s chin and gently lifted her head so they could look each other in the eye. Finally, Celestia smiled and calmly said, “I’ve missed you, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset was momentarily left speechless, astonished that after all the hurt feelings between them, Celestia had chosen to simply forgive her on the spot. It finally occurred to her that Celestia had been not only just as hurt and angered as she was, but also shared her willingness to put the past behind them and mend their old bond of friendship. That thought made Sunset smile in genuine happiness in front of Princess Celestia for the first time in years. With tears in her eyes and sadness in her voice, she quietly said, “I… I’m so sorry…”

Princess Celestia wrapped a foreleg around Sunset’s neck and pulled her into a hug, which Sunset gladly returned. Once they broke their hug, Sunset stepped back and wiped away her tears, keeping her smile up at Celestia.

Behind Sunset, Twilight was so excited to see Sunset and Princess Celestia finally reconcile after so many years that she couldn’t help but grin widely and let out a quiet squeal.

With the tender moment between mentor and former student seemingly over, Princess Luna decided to walk down the ramp to join with the other ponies.

Sunset glanced over at the dark blue alicorn and asked, “Princess Luna, I presume?”

“Indeed,” confirmed Luna with a nod. Because Sunset had left Equestria a few years before Luna had returned from her thousand-year exile, this was the very first time they had met each other. “Celestia has told me much about you, Sunset Shimmer. Truthfully, I feel a kinship with you, for we both know what it is like to betray Celestia and later come to regret our misguided actions.”

“Twilight told me all about Nightmare Moon a while ago,” said Sunset, referring to the evil alter-ego that once possessed Luna. She chuckled and remarked, “Now that you mention it, I guess we really do understand each other better than most ponies.”

“The road to redemption is never an easy one,” noted Luna wisely, “but with the right friends by your side along the way, you’ll realize that reaching the destination ahead of you is more than worth the effort.” As she spoke the last part, she looked to Celestia with a smile, who looked back at her with a smile of her own.

“Can’t argue with that,” remarked Sunset. “My friends sure played a huge part in helping me become a much better pony.” Her smile fell as she added, “Speaking of my friends… they’re kind of the reason why I came back to Equestria.”

“Has something happened to them?” asked Celestia as she and Luna turned to Sunset with their expressions growing slightly worried.

“I honestly don’t know,” replied Sunset with uncertainty.

“Walk with us,” said Celestia as she and Luna stepped past Sunset and Twilight towards the doors out of the throne room. “You can explain everything to us along the way.”

Sunset nodded in agreement before she and Twilight caught up to them and started walking alongside them.

By the time Sunset had finished explaining her situation to the princesses, the four ponies were walking through a corridor that was lined with lavender flowers hanging from the scones between each of the windows. Sunset didn’t recall ever seeing this corridor decorated in such a way, so she assumed this was probably the work of Princess Luna. As curious as she was to ask about that, she knew she currently had more important issues that needed to be resolved.

“I am not familiar with the exact spell that could have erased your friends’ memories,” said Celestia with concern, “but it sounds like Equestrian magic is at work in your world.”

“Hmm, indeed,” pondered Luna. “The toilings of this nefarious enchantment could portend unimaginable catastrophe if left unchecked.”

As Luna spoke, Sunset increasingly struggled to not burst out laughing. The noise of her stifled giggles didn’t go unnoticed by Twilight walking beside her, so she responded by slapping her wing against Sunset’s face, the noise of which caught the attention of both Luna and Celestia.

“Sorry,” apologized Sunset with a smile as she briefly rubbed the sore spot on her cheek. She then explained, “It’s just that I’m more familiar with your counterpart in the Lego World, and I never expected to hear your voice speaking in such an archaic way that I’d normally expect to hear in the Castle Region. The other Luna works mostly in the Space Region, talking more about things like aliens and laser and spaceships…”

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow, but maintained her frown and didn’t say anything.

“Of course you’re not familiar with any of that,” muttered Sunset as she rolled her eyes. She kept her smile as she continued, “Then again, I couldn’t believe just how excited she was when she was granted partial control over the Super Secret Police, especially when she got to ride around in one of those dropships they use.”

“This ‘Super Secret Police’ you speak of sounds like quite the formidable military force,” responded Luna with a tone of seriousness.

“Well, they are a bunch of robots, so it really depends on who’s in charge of them,” remarked Sunset dismissively. “Anyway, back on topic…” She turned to Princess Celestia and asked, “Do you know where we could find out what kind of Equestrian magic might’ve affected my friends?”

Celestia nodded and replied, “The answers you seek are in the Canterlot Library.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked Twilight excitedly. “Let’s go!”

Sunset chuckled and playfully asked, “You’re just excited to be visiting the library, aren’t you?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Twilight quickly defended. When Sunset kept her look of amusement focused on her, she conceded, “Okay, maybe a little.”

Sunset giggled and muttered, “Somehow, I feel like that will soon prove to be a huge understatement.”

Although she wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about libraries as Twilight was, Sunset remembered visiting Canterlot Library numerous times back when she was Princess Celestia’s personal student, so she couldn’t help but feel yet another sense of nostalgia as she followed Celestia, Luna, and Twilight up the steps towards the main doors into the library.

At the top of the steps, the four ponies passed by a royal guard who was posted at the front door. While the first three payed him almost no attention as they walked by, Sunset suddenly stopped and glanced over at him. Beneath his golden royal guard armor, this pegasus had a light orange coat and a medium blue mane and tail.

“Sunset?” asked Twilight as she stood in front of the opened door and looked back at Sunset.

Sunset shook her head and followed Twilight to the library doors as she replied, “Sorry. It’s just… that guard right there somehow looked very familiar…”

Twilight glanced back at the guard outside and quietly remarked, “Huh… looks like Flash Sentry got reassigned.”

Sunset did a double-take at the guard in question, then quickly turned back to Twilight and quietly asked, “That’s Flash Sentry?”

“Equestria’s Flash Sentry, yes,” confirmed Twilight as she turned away and walked into the library.

“Huh…” mumbled Sunset as she took one last glance at the guard — motionless and expressionless as ever — then followed Twilight inside and closed the door.

The four mares walked into the main room of the library, which was a massive circular room lined with bookshelves that were packed full of books on all three floors, topped off with a glass dome high above. There were a few ponies browsing the shelves or reading a book while seated at one of the tables on the main floor in the middle.

“There’s over a million books in here…” muttered Sunset, feeling overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the building.

“I wish!” remarked Twilight excitedly. She turned to Sunset and proudly added, “But don’t worry. You’re looking at somepony who knows this place like the back of her hoof.”

Sunset responded with only a smile as she rolled her eyes. It then suddenly occurred to her that she and Twilight were standing alone. She glanced around for any sign of Princesses Celestia and Luna and once she looked just past Twilight, she noticed them walking away.

Twilight followed Sunset’s gaze over her shoulder and asked, “Where are you going, Princess Celestia?”

“To the restricted section,” answered Celestia as she and Luna continued walking towards the back of the library.

Twilight was momentarily frozen in shock before shakily spoke, “There’s a… a re… a re… a re…” her panting became increasingly labored as she struggled to get the next syllable out.

“Breathe, Twilight,” remarked Sunset with a smile as she rubbed Twilight’s side.

Twilight finally took a deep breath and nodded before she and Sunset followed after Celestia and Luna. They soon arrived at a small alcove, where among various other books were two in particular right next to each other — one was yellow with Celestia’s Cutie Mark on the spine and the other was blue with Luna’s Cutie Mark on the spine. Celestia and Luna used their magic on their respective books to tip them off the shelf, triggering the entire bookshelf to slide upwards, revealing a secret passage.

While Sunset looked mildly impressed, Twilight had gone stiff and her jaw was practically on the floor. With an amused smiled on her face, Sunset placed her hoof under Twilight’s jaw and closed her gaping mouth. As Sunset walked ahead behind Celestia and Luna, Twilight was shaken out of her stupor and immediately followed after the others.

The four ponies walked down the secret passage, lit only by torches mounted on the walls. Uncertain about how far the passage went, Sunset decided to pass the time with a little idle conversation with Twilight. “So, Twilight…” began Sunset. “About that guard outside…”

“What about him?” asked Twilight.

“C’mon, Twilight,” continued Sunset slyly, “it was hard not to see how much you liked his counterpart in the Lego World. So tell me, have you considered having a better chance with the one here in Equestria?”

“Well…” began Twilight hesitantly. “I have given it some thought — mostly because Cadance wouldn’t stop pestering me about it.”

Sunset giggled and muttered, “No surprises there.”

“But yes,” continued Twilight, “we did eventually give it a try, but… I just never felt that spark I had felt for his Lego counterpart. Not to mention, he also didn’t quite have that spark for me either, so we both agreed to just go our separate ways.”

“Well, in any case, I’m glad both of you were okay with how things turned out,” said Sunset.

“Believe me, Cadance was quite upset when she found out,” remarked Twilight with a giggle, “but she got over it soon enough. At the very least, Flash and I are still on quite friendly terms, so every now and then, we might bump into each other and have a little friendly chat, but not much more than that.”

“That’s good to hear,” said Sunset. “Be sure to let me know if you ever meet a stallion named Timber Spruce.”

“Why?” asked Twilight in confusion.

Sunset just giggled and dismissively remarked, “Oh, no reason.”

It wasn’t much longer before the four ponies finally reached the end of the corridor, marked with a giant pair of double doors. Celestia and Luna used their magic to push the doors open, then walked through the doorway, followed closely by Sunset and Twilight.

Canterlot Library’s restricted section was built into a massive underground cavern. Much of the cavern’s floor was surrounded by a stone structure that provided a second level, with most of the bookshelves carved right into the cavern walls. There was a single large table in the middle of the room, and the cavern was illuminated by a large fire inside the hearth at the opposite side of the room from the entrance.

As Celestia and Luna walked off in opposite directions, Sunset and Twilight stopped just past the doorway, both of them looking around the room in awe.

Twilight let out a prolonged gasp before she excitedly squealed, “Oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh-oh-my-gosh! So many books, all unread! Ancient historical artifacts!” She magically grasped a few random books and levitated them towards her as she gasped and continued, “I just…! I thought…! I can’t…!” In her absurd excitement, she began to hyperventilate again, practically wheezing her next long breath.

Sunset smiled and playfully asked, “You sure you’re up for helping me go through all this stuff?”

“Don’t take this away from me!” Twilight desperately shouted as she suddenly grabbed Sunset and shook her around.

Sunset shoved Twilight away and took a step back as she chuckled and retorted, “Whoa, take it easy! I’d like to keep my head attached to my body!” She suddenly paused and her smile fell as a thought occurred to her, then she muttered under her breath, “That sounded less morbid when it was used in the Lego World.”

“I should warn you, however,” cautioned Princess Celestia, drawing the attention of both Sunset and Twilight. “The archives’ mechanical catalog has not been… well-maintained.” She was standing next to a contraption that consisted of levers, belts, gears, and cylinders with writing on them. However, the contraption was also covered in dust and a few cobwebs.

Figuring it was worth a shot, Sunset walked over to the catalog and pulled one of the levers. Almost immediately, the contraption spewed dust everywhere, forcing her and Celestia to cough as they also heard the noise of grinding gears. The catalog rattled loudly for a few seconds, then just as the dust had cleared enough for Sunset and Celestia to open their eyes again, they watched as the contraption fell apart.

As Sunset looked over the broken parts scattered on the floor in front of her, she grumbled, “Aw, shoot! If only it was made of Lego…”

Celestia raised an eyebrow and asked, “How so?”

“If this was the Lego World,” explained Sunset, “it would’ve been easy for me to just reassemble all the pieces to get it working again. I may be one of the best Master Builders in that world, but this right here is a little beyond me, I’m afraid.”

“Oh well!” Twilight cheerfully exclaimed with a huge smile as she suddenly ran up to stand right next to Sunset. “Guess we’ll just have to read everything! C’mon!” Without any hesitation, she flew up onto the upper level and levitated a few random books off the shelves. As she glanced at the title of one of those books, she looked back over the railing and excitedly exclaimed, “No way! Can you believe they have ‘Canterlot Cantabiles Volume Thirty-One’? You heard me! Thirty-One! Sunset, that’s when it gets goooooooood!” She started hugging the book in question as she said that last part.

“Wait, hold on,” Sunset spoke up in confusion. “Did you just say cannibals?”

“No! Cantabiles!” clarified Twilight forcefully. “It’s a form of creative writing, like poetry!”

“Oh, sorry, must’ve misheard you,” replied Sunset with a chuckle. She then jokingly added, “Or maybe you were just so overly excited that you mispronounced it and didn’t even realize it.”

Twilight immediately scoffed and retorted, “I’m not that overly excited!” Just a split second later, she suddenly gasped and flew to another bookshelf as she excitedly exclaimed, “Over here! An original ‘Windigo Weather Warning’ from the pre-Equestrian era! Oh, my goodness! I can’t! I just can’t!”

As Twilight spoke, Sunset turned to Celestia and shrugged, then the two of them shared a laugh. As Sunset turned and began walking away from the destroyed catalog, she remarked, “While Twilight has her fun searching everything at random, I think I’ll take a more practical approach, starting with trying to figure out which sections could be the most promising for the kind of answers I need.”

Celestia nodded in agreement and said, “A wise decision, Sunset. And with all of us working together, I am confident we will soon find what you are looking for.”

Despite Sunset’s best efforts to make the research more manageable, she and Twilight spent many hours looking through countless books, tomes, and scrolls. Celestia and Luna had helped out for a little while, but they eventually had to leave to attend to royal duties. Before leaving, Celestia had even offered to let Sunset spend the night in her old room in Canterlot Castle, if necessary.

As the afternoon passed by and night descended over Equestria, Sunset and Twilight were still busy with their research efforts. They had certainly covered a significant percentage of the restricted section — as evidenced by the numerous piles of books on the table and the floor all around it — but still hadn’t found anything relevant to solving the issue Sunset was faced with in the Lego World.

Sunset closed an enormous book, let out a yawn, and tiredly mumbled, “Did you know Chancellor Puddinghead tried to pass a law mandating earth ponies drink carrot juice at every meal? I do… know that… now…”

“Aww, sounds like you got to read all the fun books,” remarked Twilight contently. She let out a yawn before she added, “We should probably take a break from looking…”

Sunset sighed in disappointment and cleared the table, magically moving more books and scrolls to the growing piles on the floor.

“Because I found something!” Twilight suddenly declared excitedly as she levitated an old chest onto the table in front of Sunset.

Sunset stared briefly at the chest, then turned to Twilight and raised an eyebrow as she asked, “How long ago did you find this?”

Twilight rubbed the back of her head and glanced away as she replied, “Probably must’ve been about an hour or two ago.”

Sunset furrowed her brow and asked, “And you didn’t tell me right away because…?”

Twilight giggled nervously and replied, “I, uh, kinda got a little sidetracked by all the other things I’ve found interesting. I mean, I’ve just been given unprecedented access to a source of knowledge that few ponies know even exists! How can I resist?”

While Twilight grinned uneasily and Sunset glared at her, there was an awkward silence between the two mares for a few seconds. Eventually, Sunset flatly grumbled, “I’d smack you in the face right now, but that would accomplish nothing.” She turned her attention to the old chest on the table and asked, “So what did you find?”

Twilight cleared her throat and, as she opened the chest, responded, “Uh, you’re familiar with ‘The Seven Trials of Clover the Clever’?”

“Obviously,” replied Sunset. “Why?”

Twilight levitated an ancient scroll out of the chest and unrolled it as she explained, “Well, first of all, this dates back to before the founding of Equestria. Look at this.”

Sunset looked at the writing on the scroll and noticed an illustration of a rounded rock with what appeared to be a blue eye etched onto the face of it. She skimmed through the writing beside that image and noted, “The Memory Stone… That sounds promising.”

Twilight traced her hoof across the ancient writings and illustrations on the scroll as she explained, “It belonged to an evil sorceress who was practically invincible. With the Memory Stone, she could erase any memory from anypony, even fragments of memories.”

“Fragments like… memories of me being nice?” asked Sunset.

Twilight nodded in confirmation and continued, “Clover the Clever knew the sorceress had to be stopped and the stone destroyed, so he chased her across land and sea. But every time he got close, the sorceress would erase his memory and escape, but he kept finding her.”

“How?” asked Sunset.

“These scraps of parchment,” answered Twilight as she levitated out some of the scraps inside the chest. “He secretly wrote everything down so he’d know what had happened and where to go next, like a trail of breadcrumbs.”

“Clever,” remarked Sunset. Saying that aloud made her realize something, so she then muttered, “Ohhh, Clover the— Yeah, got it…” she returned her gaze back onto the scroll and saw the last revealed illustration seemed to depict Clover chasing the sorceress through some kind of swirling vortex. She pointed at the illustration and asked, “What happened on the other side of this portal?”

Twilight further unrolled the scroll, but it suddenly ended right after that illustration, marked with a roughly torn edge. “The last page is missing,” she noted in shock. “Clover must’ve hid it to keep anypony else from finding the Memory Stone.” Twilight carefully looked over that final illustration and, noting how Sunset had referred to it as a depiction of a portal, soon came to a startling conclusion. She slowly asked, “Sunset… what if the Memory Stone ended up in the Lego World?”

Sunset quickly reached the same conclusion and added in shock, “If that’s true, someone over there must’ve found it and is now using it to make everyone hate me again!”

With the information provided by that scroll, Sunset finally had some answers about what could very likely have happened to her friends in the Lego World. Despite being ancient history, it certainly fit most of the details she had been confused by earlier that day. But even if this magical artifact really was responsible for the partial memory loss of virtually everyone in the Lego World, that still left one big question in the minds of both Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight.

Who used the Memory Stone?

Author's Note

I didn't want this chapter to be mostly similar to the Equestria scenes of Forgotten Friendship, so I added in some new things that I felt would be appropriate at each part. For example, some of you may have noticed in Forgotten Friendship that Canterlot's throne room is the old design, implying that the events of that special took place before the MLP movie, so I decided to emphasize that with some additional content. (I'd also like to mention that I recently got to see the Lego Movie 2, and although I probably won't have any of my future stories inspired by it, it's possible I could throw in a few minor references to it at some points.)

Standing Alone

Chapter 3
Standing Alone

As Sunset Shimmer woke up the following morning, she couldn’t help but notice that something didn’t feel quite right. As comfortable as the bed was, it was a little strange that she could feel it all over her body, as if she wasn’t wearing anything. Her body also somehow felt rounder than usual, along with the strange feeling of something sticking out just above her rear end. As she tried to adjust the sheets covering her, she had virtually no grip at all and the sheets just fell off. As she finally decided to open her eyes, she realized that she had hooves in place of her hands, and it was then that her grogginess finally gave way and she remembered the truth.

Right, I’m back in Equestria… thought Sunset tiredly. She yawned and stretched herself out, then rolled over and carefully climbed out of bed. After spending years in the Lego World, she had to keep reminding herself that she was now back in the body of a pony and that she had to do everything the way she used to do things. Using her unicorn magic again had been relatively easy, which she now used to make her bed in only a couple of seconds, but other things like walking on four legs and having a tail took some getting used to. At least the fact that clothing wasn’t mandatory meant that she wouldn’t have to worry about that being part of her morning routine today.

Sunset glanced around at the room she had spent the night in. It was in fact the very same room she used to reside in back when she was Princess Celestia’s personal student. As Celestia had promised, everything in this room had been left exactly the way it was when she last used it before she fled across the mirror portal all those years ago. Just looking at the all the furniture and personal items that had been left virtually untouched bought on a sense of nostalgia that reminded her of all the good memories she once shared with Princess Celestia.

The thought of pleasant memories also reminded Sunset why she couldn’t stay long, so after giving a quick brush to her mane and tail, she put on her saddlebag and opened the door. She stopped in the doorway and took one last look back into her old room, then turned forward and closed the door on her way out.

Having spent the vast majority of her youth in Canterlot Castle, Sunset knew which way to go to reach the dining room. As she entered the room, she smiled as she saw Princess Celestia seated at one end of the table, who turned to her and smiled back. As she had expected, there was an open seat on one side of the table, and on the table in front of that seat was a plate of a small stack of pancakes with strawberries and blueberries arranged into a smiling pony face.

As she sat down in the available chair, Sunset chuckled and remarked, “Been a long time since I’ve had one of these.”

“Preparing a lovely breakfast for my student has always been one of my favorite morning activities,” stated Celestia. “It is an opportunity for me to express how much I care for them, prior to whatever daily activities I have planned for them.”

“Yeah, if only I hadn’t so carelessly dismissed such appreciation the last time we did this,” muttered Sunset as she levitated a knife and fork and began cutting her first bite of the pancakes.

“Sometimes, a terrible tragedy can ultimately lead to a better life for all involved,” assured Celestia. “Twilight has told me all about the accomplishments you have made in the alternate world, including ones I never could have imagined.”

Sunset finished her first bite of pancakes — mentally noting how odd it was to be eating actual food as opposed to some Lego part made to resemble food — and quipped, “Then again, I’m sure you never could’ve imagined a place quite like the Lego World.”

“True,” acknowledged Celestia. After eating another bite of her own stack of pancakes, she continued, “A world where everything is made out of interlocking plastic bricks… I can only imagine how much of a shock it must have been for Star Swirl the Bearded when he opened that portal for the first time.”

“I take it he was the one who created the Crystal Mirror in the first place?” asked Sunset before taking another bite of her pancakes.

“Indeed,” confirmed Celestia with a nod. Along with many other mirror portals, but we agreed to never share them with anypony else, she mentally added.

“I guess that would explain how Clover the Clever was aware of its existence, being one of his best students,” noted Sunset. She paused to eat another bite of her pancakes, then spoke up, “But there’s one thing that doesn’t make any sense to me. As far as I know, the entire history of the Lego World doesn’t reach more than a hundred years ago, but if Clover the Clever really did go through the Crystal Mirror a thousand years ago… what kind of alternate world did he encounter back then?”

“How strange…” pondered Celestia as she turned her gaze aside in deep thought. After a few seconds, she turned her attention back to Sunset and speculated, “Perhaps there is more to the Lego World than even its own inhabitants might be aware of.”

“You have no idea,” mumbled Sunset under her breath, thinking back to that one time she fell through the Infinite Abyss of Nothingness and briefly visited a realm of existence that no one could have ever imagined.

Celestia had heard that remark, but considering that it was seemingly not intended for her know about it, she decided to not ask for any further information. After finishing another bite of her pancakes, she spoke up, “In any case, Sunset Shimmer, I would like to assure you that, no matter what happens, you will always be welcome to return to Equestria at any time.”

“Thanks for the offer, Princess Celestia,” responded Sunset with a smile, “but if given the choice, I’d rather stay in the Lego World. It’s where I learned to be much better than who I used to be and built a better life for myself. Not to mention, with Equestrian magic seeping into that world quite a lot recently, they’ll need someone who has at least some experience with it.” She took another bite of her pancakes, then added, “Still, worst case scenario, I suppose it’s nice that I’ll always have the option to come back here, if I absolutely have to.”

“If that is what you desire most, then I will not stop you,” assured Celestia. As she cut another piece of her pancakes, she continued, “After we are finished with breakfast, we shall return to the restricted section of the library to provide you with everything you will need for your return to the Lego World. Twilight and Luna are already there doing further research on the matter at hoof.” She smiled as she added, “Though just between us, I believe Twilight is simply taking this opportunity to learn about anything else she can get her hooves on.”

Sunset chuckled and remarked, “Yup, that’s Twilight alright.”

As Sunset and Princess Celestia returned to the restricted section, they saw Twilight was once again reading through some ancient tomes. Princess Luna, having stayed up all night assisting Twilight, was relieved to finally have the chance to return to the castle and get some rest, so she left without saying a word.

Sunset walked over to Twilight and asked, “Find out anything new?” Twilight smiled and opened her mouth, but didn’t get a chance to say anything before Sunset suddenly added, “Anything that could actually help me recover my friends’ memories?”

Twilight giggled in embarrassment and confessed, “Uh, not really, unfortunately.” She then pointed at the table as she added, “But I did draw a sketch of the Memory Stone onto that sheet of paper for you to take with you back to the Lego World.”

Sunset levitated the sheet of paper up to in front of her face to look at the sketch on it. “That’ll work,” she stated as she then opened her saddlebag and placed the sketch inside, then closed the bag. “Now that I know what to look for, maybe I can convince my friends that I’m telling the truth.”

“In the meantime,” said Twilight in determination, “I’ll stay here and search the restricted section top to bottom until I find a way to get their memories back.”

“If that’s even possible…” muttered Sunset worriedly.

“Oh, it’s possible,” responded Twilight with confidence. “Even if I have to reorganize the whole library by subject! Or maybe chronologically! Oh, and fix the broken catalogue machine!”

Sunset glanced back at the destroyed catalogue machine, then turned back to Twilight and frowned and raised an eyebrow.

Twilight giggled again in embarrassment and finished, “Uh, anyway, I’ll figure it out.”

“That’s probably the best I could ask of you,” muttered Sunset. She sighed sadly and added, “If only you could instead come with me to the Lego World. My friends already know you, so they would definitely listen to you.” She suddenly perked up as a thought crossed her mind. “Oh! Starlight Glimmer! She’s been to the Lego World and met my friends! She could come with me and prove to them that their memories have been altered!”

Twilight smiled as Sunset mentioned Starlight, but her smile faltered as she pointed out, “As wonderful as that sounds, I’m afraid that won’t be an option.”

“What do you mean?” asked Sunset, her smile beginning to fall.

“What I mean is that Starlight is currently busy taking care of other things elsewhere,” explained Twilight. “Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a brilliant idea to consider bringing her along to vouch for you. But unfortunately, she has her own issues to deal with right now.”

Sunset let out a sigh of disappointment and said, “I understand. I was kinda hoping I could get help from a good guy, because, well… if everyone believes I’m who I used to be, then the only people who would ever listen to me are likely some criminal groups who still owe me some favors. I’d really hate to have to rely on people like that, but…” She lowered he head in resignation.

Celestia placed her hoof under Sunset’s chin and lifted her gaze up to her as she calmly stated, “If these criminals are the only ones who have the willingness and the capabilities to assist you in recovering everyone’s memories… then so be it. I can see how much you deeply care for the wellbeing of your friends, so do not be afraid to do what you must.”

Sunset smiled at Celestia’s words. If she really was determined to do whatever it took to save her friends, then she could not afford to fear the very real possibility that she may have to strike some shady deals along the way. With renewed encouragement, she glanced at both Twilight and Celestia as she said, “Thank you… both of you.”

“This is quite a contrast from the last time we parted ways,” noted Celestia. “But you are not that way anymore. With every choice you have made, despite the circumstances, you have proven yourself to possess a kind heart.”

“I guess I had a good teacher,” remarked Sunset as she turned her attention towards Twilight.

“And you were a good student,” said Twilight in response, to which both she and Sunset shared a brief laugh.

“Are you saying I wasn’t a good teacher?” Celestia suddenly asked furiously.

Twilight and Sunset immediately shared worried looks and quickly stammered apologies over each other.

Seconds later, Celestia cracked a smile, then started laughing. Upon realizing it was only a joke, Sunset and Twilight soon joined in the laughter.

“Princess Celestia has a sense of humor?” remarked Sunset. “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s changed.”

Celestia nodded and said, “Indeed, I sometimes like to think that you made me a better teacher.”

Sunset turned towards the door outside and said, “Well, if that’s everything, I should get back to the Lego World now.”

“Oh!” Twilight suddenly spoke up as she turned to Celestia. “Princess Celestia, could you send a quick message to Spike? Ask him to wait for Sunset Shimmer at the Ponyville train station, then escort her back to the Crystal Mirror. This is just to make sure she doesn’t get lost on her way back home.”

Celestia nodded in agreement, then levitated a quill and a blank sheet of parchment and began writing the message.

“Thanks, Twilight,” said Sunset. “I certainly don’t wanna waste any time wandering aimlessly through the halls of your castle.” She then chuckled at that remark.

Once Celestia finished the message and magically sent it off, she turned to Sunset and said, “Good luck, Sunset Shimmer.”

Sunset nodded in response, then turned away and walked out the doorway, beginning her long journey back to her friends in the Lego World.

Once the train rolled into Ponyville, Sunset stood up and disembarked out onto the train station’s platform. She almost immediately spotted the little purple dragon waiting there and waving to her, made even more obvious by the distinctive red cap on his head with the word “LEGO” embroidered in white rounded letters on the front of it.

“Why am I not surprised to see you wearing that thing?” asked Sunset with a playful smile as she walked over to Spike.

Spike chuckled and remarked, “Let’s face it, just the very mention of your name is enough to remind of where I got this cool hat from.” He turned away and walked over to the end of the train platform, with Sunset following right behind him. As he began leading Sunset through town, he added, “Actually, this isn’t the actual hat I got from the Lego World. This is just a replica that Rarity made for me, ‘cause the other one somehow doesn’t fit my head on this side of the portal.”

“Yeah, Starlight mentioned to me that during my previous visit,” noted Sunset.

“It sure was nice of Rarity to do that for me,” remarked Spike with a goofy smile. “I’ve always been more than happy to help her out whenever she needs assistance, which makes it all the more special when she does little things like this for me.” After a brief pause, he awkwardly asked, “Uh, speaking of Rarity, how’s the other Rarity doing in the Lego World? I heard she’s now friends with that world’s Twilight and Spike. Is the other Spike anything like me?”

Sunset gave Spike a smug look and slyly asked, “You’re just interested in the relationship between my world’s Spike and Rarity in hopes for ideas to impress your world’s Rarity, aren’t ya?”

“What?! No! That’s ridiculous!” Spike quickly denied with an awkward laugh.

Sunset simply rolled her eyes and smiled before she spoke, “Well, if you must know, once our world’s Twilight and Spike joined our team, Rarity assumed that Spike would behave very much like you did around her; always sticking close by, always happy to be with her, always willing to obey any request she made. So naturally, she quickly took advantage by asking Spike to do various favors for her; fetching items for her, carrying her luggage, even assuming he’d do things without even asking him to do it.”

“And was the other Spike happy to do all of that?” asked Spike with a smile.

Sunset immediately burst out laughing quite loudly. After a few seconds, she wiped her tears away and took a calming breath before she replied, “Oh Spike, you have no idea how badly mistaken she turned out to be. The reality was that our world’s Spike didn’t seem to develop that much interest in her, so when she had tried to take advantage of him, he was offended virtually every time, eventually reaching a breaking point where he furiously called her out for treating him like a slave.”

That revelation really stunned Spike, to the point where he almost tripped over himself as he walked. He could never imagine himself saying such an awful thing to the mare he adored so much.

“Needless to say,” continued Sunset, “their relationship has soured so much that he seems to tolerate her just because she’s friends with the rest of us. And besides, he seems to be more interested in Fluttershy.”

“Fluttershy?” repeated Spike in confusion. He hummed to himself in thought and muttered, “I guess I could see it being possible. I mean, she is very nice to everypony she meets, very caring of others, always happy to do the right thing, and I suppose she does have a natural beauty that some might find appealing, not to mention her lovely signing voice.” He glanced back at Sunset and asked, “So you’re saying that if the other Spike ever decides to visit Equestria, I should tell Fluttershy to not get too used to having a Spike around to do everything for her?”

“I seriously doubt that’s ever gonna happen, but you do whatever you feel comfortable with,” replied Sunset with an amused smile on her face.

It wasn’t much longer before they arrived at Princess Twilight’s castle. Once they stepped through the front doorway, Spike led Sunset through the hallways until they eventually reached the seemingly blank wall that concealed the hidden room containing the interdimensional portal back to the Lego World.

As Spike pushed in the loose block, Sunset asked, “Do you know the secret knock?”

Spike rolled his eyes and replied, “Of course I know the secret knock. I live here too, y’know.” He clenched his right claw and knocked on the surrounding blocks in a particular order — top left, top middle, top right, a brief pause, bottom right, bottom middle, and bottom left. Once the secret knock was completed, the stone blocks along the wall began shifting around on their own, grinding against each other as they moved aside to expose the hidden room and the Crystal Mirror stored inside, and settled to a stop in only a matter of seconds.

Sunset walked up to the currently deactivated mirror portal, then turned back to Spike and asked, “Does this thing need any particular spell to activate?”

“Not really,” replied Spike with a shrug. “Twilight told me that it just needs a boost of magical energy to get it going.”

“Sounds easy enough,” muttered Sunset as she charged up magical energy in her horn, then released it onto the magic journal mounted to the top of the mirror. She witnessed the sequence of her reddish-orange magical energy shifting through the various components of the surrounding contraption before finally being unleashed directly into the mirror itself with a bright flash. Once the flash quickly faded, the glass in the mirror was replaced with a swirling vortex.

“I’ll have to move quick as soon as I pass through, so I’d better put this back on,” said Sunset as she levitated the Jump-Gate return device out of her saddlebag and reattached it to her right foreleg. She stepped up to the portal and prepared to step through, but then suddenly paused before she turned back to Spike and asked, “Uh, is there some kind of off switch on this thing that doesn’t require unicorn magic?”

“Don’t worry,” assured Spike, “there’s an emergency lever on the back that’ll allow me to shut it off after you go through.”

“Good,” acknowledged Sunset with a nod. “Well, wish me luck.” She turned to face the portal and muttered under her breath, “I’m really gonna need it.” She took a deep breath, then reared up on her hind legs just before passing through the interdimensional portal.

Despite multiple trips through this portal, it was still a strange feeling to have her body stretched and twisted out of shape as it was pulled through the swirling vortex of rainbow colors. It was difficult to tell how long the process took, but eventually she found herself running out onto a field of cut grass. She immediately stopped herself and glanced around, confirming that she was now standing in Canterlot City’s City Park, back in the Lego World. A quick glance down at her own body also confirmed that she was no longer a quadrupedal organic pony, but rather a bipedal plastic minifig. Seeing that she had made it back to the Lego World made her smile, but then she quickly got down to business.

Sunset raised her right arm and prepared to enter a return code into the device, but paused as she considered how carefully she truly had to move. She couldn’t use the Jump-Gate in the Ninjago Region again, in case her recent brief visit had been detected and a guard was now on watch there. She had to use a different Jump-Gate that would usually see very little activity, and ultimately settled on the one in the Arctic Region. She entered the code into the device, then held her arm out forward as she hit the green open button.

The large steel doors of a Jump-Gate faded into existence right in front of her, then those doors parted open to reveal the empty interior of a research facility. Ignoring the freezing cold temperature, she quickly walked through the doorway, stepped over to the control panel on the machine beside it, then entered the coordinates that would take her right back to the floor of her hotel room in Lego City’s Paradise Sands district. The doors closed back together, then the gateway made the usual low whooshing noise for a few seconds before the doors parted open again, revealing a hallway with numbered doors on both sides.

Sunset quickly walked through the gateway and as it closed and vanished behind her, she stopped in front of one particular door and inserted her keycard into the slot beside it. With a faint beep, the door was unlocked and Sunset stepped inside. After a quick glance inside, she smiled at the confirmation that she was back at her hotel room. She then closed the door and headed down the hallway. It was now time to share her findings with her friends.

It was now the second day of the week-long vacation for the Equestria Girls. As a result of some minor disagreement, they had decided to go back to the beach and try to come up with some other activities they could do there. One idea, courtesy of Rainbow Dash, was to play a game of volleyball, so she and Applejack set up a volleyball net and prepared to play a game against some of their friends. Spike chose to join the fun by recording a video of the game on his phone.

As Spike aimed his phone at Rainbow Dash while standing close to her, she softly announced, “It’s been a grueling afternoon, but here we are: the final match! Next point wins! A hush falls over the crowd of ten thousand fans…”

Spike turned his phone towards the audience, which consisted of Rarity lying in a beach chair while holding a sun reflector in front of herself and Twilight sitting in another beach chair while reading a book. When the video turned to them, Rarity didn’t react at all and kept her eyes closed, while Twilight glanced up from her book and shouted, “Go, sports!” Twilight then just as quickly returned her attention back down to her book.

Spike turned the video back to the playing field, revealing the players for this game were Rainbow Dash and Applejack playing against Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. For this round, Rainbow Dash was holding the ball and ready to serve it.

“I’m not holding back this time!” declared Rainbow with determination.

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” whimpered Fluttershy.

“Bring it on, Rainbow Dash!” taunted Pinkie with a scowl. “You and Applejack just bought your team a one-way ticket on the express train to you’re going down!”

Rainbow Dash smirked and remarked, “Whoa. Nice game face, Pinkie Pie.”

“Thanks!” said Pinkie contently. “I’ve been practicing all day.” When she noticed Spike slowly walking close by with his phone in hand, she quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled it close so that her face was right in the phone’s camera as she aggressively shouted, “Isn’t that right, puny camera boy?! You’re in my house now!” She then roughly shoved Spike away.

Spike staggered backwards as he struggled to regain his balance, only to trip over the cooler and tip it over as he fell over backwards behind it. “I’m okay! I’m alright!” he called out as he stood up, reclosed the lid on the cooler, and tipped it back upright. He glanced down near his feet and saw that among some of the ice that had spilled out was one can of soda. “Ooh! Don’t mind if I do…” he mumbled contently to himself as he grabbed the soda can, popped open the top, and took a sip from the cold refreshment.

“Hey, camera boy!” Rainbow Dash called out.

“Oh! Right!” responded Spike as he quickly retrieved his phone from the sand and pointed it towards the volleyball field.

With the video now on the game, Rainbow served the ball with a hard smack over the net. Fluttershy saw the ball come directly at her, but panicked and stayed firmly on the spot while holding her arms over her head. Remarkably, the ball bounced right off of Fluttershy’s head and was deflected towards Pinkie Pie. Pinkie smacked the ball forward, but aimed too low and sent it into the net, flinging the ball back at her too quickly for her to react as it deflected right off her face and over the net. Rainbow ran backwards to catch up with the high-flying ball, but tripped over herself and fell onto her back as the ball hit the sand just behind her.

Applejack started walking over to retrieve the ball, but suddenly stopped when she noticed someone approaching the group of friends. “Well well, guess who’s back?” she grumbled in displeasure.

Sunset Shimmer ran across the beach towards her friends. While her friends were all in their swimsuits, Sunset had remained in her standard outfit, having run straight from the hotel to find them back on the beach. As soon as she stopped and saw all of her friends had their — mostly negative — attention on her, she spoke up, “Great news, girls! I figured it out! Someone’s erased your memory with Equestrian magic! You don’t remember, but we’re still friends!”

“A likely story,” muttered Rainbow Dash in disbelief.

Sunset ignored that jab as she pulled a sheet of paper out of her satchel and showed the sketch to her friends. “This is the Memory Stone,” she stated. “Do any of you recognize it?”

The Equestria Girls glanced at one another and said nothing while maintaining their looks of distrust.

“Right, of course you wouldn’t,” muttered Sunset in defeat. “Whoever has it would’ve just erased your memory of ever seeing it.” She put the sketch back into her satchel, but then smiled as her hand touched her phone. She quickly pulled out her phone and began showing some pictures on it to her friends as she pointed out, “Look! See! This is proof! We are friends!”

The Equestria Girls looked closely at the images being shown to them and shared looks of uncertainty. They had to admit that photographic evidence was rather difficult to deny, though they remained pretty convinced that they had taken those pictures without Sunset.

Suddenly, Spike scoffed and began tapping away on his phone as he spoke up, “Please… Photo editing software is pretty easy to come by, and remarkably easy to learn how to use. For example…” He turned his phone to show it to everyone. “I just made Fluttershy and Applejack swap places on the volleyball field.” Sure enough, it was a picture of the volleyball field the girls had been playing on just moments ago, except Applejack and Fluttershy were standing where each other should have been.

“Yeah, wait a minute…” said Pinkie Pie suspiciously as she approached Sunset and snatched her phone out of her hand. After swiping through a few more pictures, she stopped at one and accusingly said, “Is this supposed to be me making such a ridiculous face? Ha! I’d never make a face like that!” She showed the picture to everyone with an expression on her face that was identical to the image.

With an unamused expression, Sunset flatly stated, “You’re pulling that exact same face right now.”

“It proves nothing!” shouted Pinkie in Sunset’s face before tossing the phone back to her.

Sunset fumbled with the phone, but soon firmly caught it. As she put her phone back into her satchel, she desperately exclaimed, “Seriously, what do I have to do to prove I’m telling the truth?!”

“Wait…” Twilight suddenly spoke up as she furrowed her brow. She pointed at Sunset’s arm and accusingly asked, “Is that… my Jump-Gate return device?”

Sunset glanced down at her right wrist and realized that she was still wearing the device she had “borrowed” from Twilight. As careful as she had been to avoid being perceived as the criminal that seemingly everyone now believed her to be, she now realized too late that she had failed to account for how she had acquired this device that she had desperately needed, and especially for how her friends might react to it.

With everyone now glaring at her, Sunset knew she had to say something. Since she was trying to tell them the truth, she decided to just come clean right away. “S-sorry, Twilight,” she apologized as she removed the device and held it out towards Twilight. “It was the only way I could quickly go back to Equestria to find out what’s been going on here.”

Twilight swiftly snatched the device back as she sourly retorted, “Then maybe you should’ve stayed there.”

“Seriously, I’m just trying to help you girls!” pleaded Sunset. “I really care about you!”

“I think we’ve heard more than enough of your web of lies!” Rarity firmly declared. “Consider this your final warning, Miss Shimmer. Please leave us in peace this very moment, or we shall call in the authorities to have you taken away.”

Sunset tried to respond, but as she glanced from one face to another with looks of disdain on all of them in various forms, she was forced to reluctantly accept defeat. She had given her best effort possible, and it wasn’t enough. Her friends were no longer on her side.

Sunset sighed as she hung her head in defeat, then turned around and began trudging her way back to the hotel.

“Good riddance,” grumbled Rainbow Dash as she and the others turned and walked away.

“Eeyup,” agreed Applejack. “Ah tell ya, that dirty crook will never amount to anythin’.”

Those parting words of ridicule really stung at Sunset’s heart as she continued slowly walking away with her head down. As she steadily made her way across the street and back into the hotel, she paid no attention to her surroundings. As far as she was concerned, she was well and truly standing completely alone in the Lego World.

Once Sunset finally returned to her hotel room and closed the door behind her, she flopped face-down onto the bed and finally allowed her tears to rush out. The loss of any support from her friends had left her an emotional wreck, and the only thing she could do at this point was to just let it all out. She spent the rest of the day crying in bed until she eventually sobbed herself to sleep.

Author's Note

In Forgotten Friendship, we were told that there was a three-day time limit, but it seemed as if they skipped straight from day one to day three, so for this story I decided to at least acknowledge there was a second day, which also helped make things like the travel time between Ponyville and Canterlot and the time spent studying in the restricted section seem more believable. I also tried to come up with a reason for why Starlight Glimmer couldn't be available to help (which I personally thought was a missed opportunity), but couldn't think of anything in particular (The Parent Map was a Season 8 episode, taking place after the events of this story, so I couldn't use that as an explanation), so I'll leave it up to the readers. And of course I had to make a lot of adjustments for the scene at the beach, since Trixie's not around for that part.

Unlikely Assistance

Chapter 4
Unlikely Assistance

Sunset Shimmer was very glad that she was able to wake up early the next morning. That meant she could get herself ready for the day and grab a quick breakfast with a minimal chance of anyone seeing her. She was still very hurt that her friends refused to believe her, and didn’t want to risk running into them anymore, at least not until after the issue with the Memory Stone was taken care of.

In fact, she was now trying her best to avoid being seen much by anyone. At this point, she still had no idea who was in possession of the Memory Stone, and she knew it would’ve been foolish to assume that person had used it only on her friends. Although she had not yet encountered anyone else to confirm whether or not that was the case, she was not taking any chances.

True, things like newspapers and computer files could be an excellent form of proof that she really wasn’t a bad guy anymore and was now considered one of the greatest heroes in the Lego World. Now that it was the third day of the absence of these memories, reasonable people would definitely start to notice some odd discrepancies. Although she held out hope that these people would realize that such discrepancies were the result of a magical artifact partially erasing their memories, she reluctantly had to admit they would more likely believe in their memories and assume that someone had tampered with the physical evidence. In which case, they would probably even try to correct what they believed to be errors in all that content, unknowingly destroying the true official records. That thought greatly disturbed her, and convinced her that she absolutely had to solve this mystery as soon as possible.

Unfortunately for Sunset Shimmer, the situation had placed her friends, the authorities, and just about every good guy imaginable in a position where they would never agree to help her, and in fact would rather try to stop her from succeeding. This forced her to set out completely alone, with very little hope of expecting anyone to provide her with any kind of assistance.

Ironically, Sunset’s best chances of success would rely on her behaving just like the kind of person she was desperately trying to convince everyone she was not: a highly resourceful criminal mastermind who was capable of getting away with just about anything. It made her sick to her stomach that she had to resort to her old tactics, but with the whole world turned against her, she just didn’t have any other option.

Thankfully, there was still one aspect of Sunset’s old criminal life that she had not fully disclosed with anyone — not even her friends. With every successful robbery, she would stash away a small portion of the loot in various secret locations that only she knew about, intending to use those ill-gotten funds only in the event of an emergency. True, she was forced to reveal one of those secret locations to her friends back when the sirens attacked and she needed to recover her magic journal through which they were able to message Princess Twilight for help, but as far as she was aware, none of her friends had ever questioned her about any other secret stashes she had hidden around. With the unbearably lonely position she now found herself in, she desperately needed any advantage she could get, and the nearest of her old secret stashes would be just the thing.

After leaving the hotel through a side exit, Sunset carefully made her way across the district, keeping as low a profile as possible. Every street crossing she was forced to make made her heart race, knowing that at any moment someone might identify her and call in the authorities, or worse try to take her down themselves and make a scene that would definitely attract the authorities. With practically no resources on hand at the moment, she was especially vulnerable, and could only hope that she would reach her first destination of the day with no incident at all.

As Sunset walked into a small alleyway a few blocks inland, she quietly let out a sigh of relief. She had successfully reached the site of one of her numerous secret stashes, but now she had to recover it. After a quick glance out towards the street to make sure no one was watching, she moved aside some trashcans to expose a short and wide opening in the base of the wall of the building on the left. She reached into the opening and pulled out a carjack. She carried it over to the right side of the alleyway, stuck it under the dumpster, and pumped the lever a few times to lift it up. Once the dumpster was tipped up enough, she reached underneath and felt around until she felt a soft spot. She then reached into her satchel and took out a knife she had stolen from the hotel’s buffet, then started cutting through the patch of false pavement around that soft spot, and also cut away a small portion to expose a latch. After putting the knife away, she pulled the latch to open a small hatch, then reached inside and pulled out a briefcase. Finally, she closed the hatch, lowered the dumpster back down, put the carjack back inside the small opening, and moved the trashcans back to where they originally were.

Now that she was done with the recovery, Sunset grabbed the briefcase and sat down behind one of the crates to minimize the chances that someone would see her. She adjusted the locks on both sides of the briefcase to enter a three-digit combination, then opened the case. The inside of the briefcase was stuffed full of cash — green 1x2 tiles with the number “100” printed in white on the top surface of each and every one of them. She was confident that the contents of this briefcase would be just enough to acquire something she desperately needed if she was going to have any reasonable chance of finding the Memory Stone.

Sunset was just about to close the briefcase when she noticed something else was packed inside. She reached between two of the stacks of cash and pulled out a small blue sphere. She knew what this was, she knew what it could do, but should she even use it? Would using this item really be worth it? On one hand, she was completely on her own, and the possibility that she could actually have someone on her side to help out was very tempting. On the other hand, she knew this particular person was difficult to work with, and would no doubt add numerous unnecessary complications to her objectives. As she stared at the small round object in her hand, her mind was torn between which choice would offer her the better chance of finding the Memory Stone and recovering the memories it had stolen from her friends. After a moment of considering the benefits and drawbacks of each option, she let out a sigh of resignation as she finally made her decision.

Holding the sphere in her right hand, she closed the briefcase and locked it shut, then grabbed it by the handle with her left hand and stood up. “I am so gonna regret this…” she grumbled under her breath. Finally, she raised the sphere and tossed it onto the ground on the other side of the alleyway.

When the sphere struck the pavement, it instantly unleashed a large cloud of blue smoke. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared away to expose a certain blue-skinned minifig who wore a purple cape and pointed hat with stars printed all over them and held a staff with a blue five-pointed star on the end of it. With her back turned to Sunset, this certain individual raised her staff over her head and loudly proclaimed, “Who summons the Great and Powerful Trixie?!”

Sunset loudly cleared her throat.

Trixie turned around to face the one who had summoned her and smiled. “Ah, Sunset Shimmer,” she greeted smugly, posing proudly with her left hand on her hip and her right hand holding her staff upright at a slight angle away from her to the side. “The most wanted criminal in all of the City Regions. So tell me, what kind of nefarious scheme do you have in mind that requires the use of Trixie’s magical powers? Bank robbery? Grand theft auto? Stealing candy from a baby?”

“None of the above,” grumbled Sunset, her furrowed brow and frown making it clear she was not pleased to be speaking with Trixie at this particular moment. After letting out a sigh to calm herself, she explained, “I’m trying to find a magical artifact from Equestria that has the power to erase memories.”

“A magical item that can erase memories?” asked Trixie with a delighted expression on her face. “Now that sounds very enticing. With a power like that in our hands, we would be truly unstoppable!”

“I don’t wanna use it for evil purposes!” Sunset furiously snapped.

Trixie briefly recoiled, but quickly regained her composure and raised an eyebrow. “Seriously?” she asked skeptically. “You, the most villainous person in all of the City Regions, does not wish to do something evil?”

“Because I’m not evil,” insisted Sunset. “At least, not anymore. You just don’t know it because someone has already used the Memory Stone on everyone to make you all forget that I switched sides.”

“And what makes you so sure you’re the one whose memories haven’t been altered?” retorted Trixie.

Sunset squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her right hand over her forehead. It was bad enough that she couldn’t convince her friends she was telling the truth, so she really despised the thought of going through the whole routine again with someone she did not fully trust. Still, she had to at least try, so she thought back to any major past events that Trixie would know of. Her eyes suddenly snapped open as she realized there was one particular past event that could prove more effective than any of her previous attempts with anyone else.

Sunset pointed at Trixie and asked, “Your most recent encounter with the LEGO Team of Canterlot City was in the Dark Forest Subregion of the Castle Region, correct?”

“Uh, yes?” confirmed Trixie with a confused expression on her face.

“What were you doing there at the time?” asked Sunset.

Trixie smiled and replied, “Trixie had sensed the presence of a new form of magic in the area, so she set out with her army of skeleton warriors to claim it for herself.”

“But the Canterlot City LEGO Team was there to stop you,” continued Sunset.

“Indeed, they were,” confirmed Trixie bitterly. “Don’t remind Trixie how they fought back.”

“Too bad, ‘cause I’m gonna say it anyway,” continued Sunset. “Rarity used diamond shields to deflect your magical attacks, Applejack threw a big tree that leveled half of your army, Rainbow Dash very quickly beat up the other half as if she was in a pinball machine, and Pinkie Pie blew up your portable throne by throwing a cupcake at it. Did I get all of that correct?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” confirmed Trixie as she rolled her eyes. “What are you getting at?”

“I’m getting there!” argued Sunset. She then continued, “So once you failed to stop them yourself, you sent your whole army after them. They eventually reached a bridge across a river, but while the team went across, your army didn’t and waited for you to arrive. What happened next?”

Trixie smiled and answered, “That dumb little boy thought he could stop Trixie by breaking the bridge, but Trixie simply used her magical powers to rebuild that bridge.”

“And once you rebuilt that bridge, you began to walk across,” continued Sunset. Now came the part that she was sure would seal the deal. “What happened next?”

“Trixie walked out to the middle of the bridge, then…” Trixie’s confidence suddenly faltered. “Then, uh…” She turned her gaze downward as she struggled to recall the events of that moment on the bridge. “Then… something happened… and for some reason, Trixie decided to… give up and leave…” She frowned and furrowed her brow at she turned back to Sunset. “That doesn’t sound like something Trixie would ever do.”

“Yes, you’re absolutely right,” agreed Sunset. “That memory doesn’t make sense to you because it’s incomplete. There’s a missing portion to that memory, and that memory fragment was taken away from you because it involved me.”

Trixie gave Sunset a hard stare and asked, “Then what, supposedly, occurred in this so-called ‘missing memory’?”

“I was part of the Canterlot City LEGO Team,” explained Sunset. “When you started walking across that bridge, I decided to confront you myself, so we ended up standing face-to-face on the middle of that bridge. We chatted, traded insults, and eventually I decided to use my new magical ability on you.”

“And what sort of magical power would that be?” asked Trixie.

“By simply touching you, I can read your memories and understand your feelings,” replied Sunset. Suddenly realizing she was going to have to recite Trixie’s backstory all over again, she sighed before she continued in a flat tone, “You’re not originally from the Castle Region, you’re actually from Las Pegasus, where you used to be a stage magician, but shrinking audiences convinced you to go on a world tour, only to have everything stolen from you by highway robbers in the Castle Region, then you stumbled upon the deserted castle of an evil wizard, where you found his magical staff that, upon grabbing it, transferred all of his dark magical powers to you, and even transformed said staff into the very one that you now hold in your hand.”

Trixie sputtered for a few seconds before she finally hissed, “T-Trixie never shared any of this with you!”

Sunset pointed at Trixie and remarked, “And that is the exact same reaction you had when I told you all of this the first time.”

Trixie huffed indignantly, then grumbled, “If everyone around us that day had heard you say all of that, Trixie would’ve been so humiliated, perhaps even to the point where she’d just want to get away from everyone for a while.”

Sunset shrugged and confirmed, “Yup, that’s pretty much what actually happened back on that bridge in the Dark Forest.”

Trixie turned her gaze down and away as she pondered everything Sunset had just told her. Although she didn’t remember seeing Sunset there with the LEGO Team that day, she had described the events of that day with remarkable accuracy. More than that, Sunset had even listed off key aspects of Trixie’s past, which she was very certain had never been shared with anyone. In fact, it was only now that she realized that at least a small portion of her memories didn’t quite make sense, and Sunset’s story managed to perfectly fill in that strange gap. All things considered, Trixie had to conclude that perhaps Sunset really was telling the full truth. But even so, she still had a few questions on her mind.

Trixie turned her gaze back to Sunset and softly said, “You said you’re requesting assistance to find this Memory Stone and reverse its effects.” She narrowed her eyes and asked, “What’s in it for Trixie?”

“The assurance that what happened to me won’t happen to you, if we succeed,” replied Sunset. “When I looked inside your mind back on that bridge, I also learned what your greatest desire was, and it’s to ensure that everyone will always remember your name for all of eternity. Someone could use the Memory Stone to wipe away all of your life-long efforts in an instant.”

Trixie’s pupils shrank as she suddenly realized just how much of a threat the Memory Stone truly was.

Sunset altered her voice as she speculatively said, “Trixie? Who’s Trixie? Never heard of that name. Great and Powerful? What kind of a silly title is that?”

“Okay, you’ve made your point!” snapped Trixie. She sighed, then asked, “If Trixie were to assist you, and we successfully recover this Memory Stone, what do you intend to do with it?”

“After I’ve figured out how to restore everyone’s memories of me, I will destroy the Memory Stone,” answered Sunset, “It’s not enough to simply hide it, as someone else could steal it and use it against us. No, for the sake of everyone in the Lego World — both good and evil — the Memory Stone must be destroyed.”

Trixie remained silent as she turned her gaze to the side, once again pondering her options.

Realizing that Trixie was still not quite fully convinced, Sunset decided to try a different angle that she believed the blue sorceress might find more appealing. “Think about it, Trixie,” spoke Sunset. “I once told you that you don’t have to be evil to make everyone remember you. This could be your best chance to prove to the Lego World that you can be one of the good guys. If we succeed, I’ll be sure to put the word out that I couldn’t have done it without your help.” Deep down, Sunset seriously doubted Trixie would actually be capable of helping her in any way, but she was so desperate for some form of companionship that she was willing to accept even someone as irritating as Trixie.

“Tempting…” muttered Trixie under her breath. After a lengthy pause, she turned her attention back to Sunset and proudly declared, “Very well, then! Trixie has agreed to join you in your quest to seek and destroy the Memory Stone! With the accomplishment of such a good deed, the Great and Powerful Trixie shall obtain a new reputation! People all across the Lego World will no longer think of Trixie as a tyrannical conqueror, but instead as a benevolent magical force to purge their lands of evil in all its forms!”

And I’m already regretting this, thought Sunset bitterly as she rolled her eyes. She then spoke up, “First thing’s first, Trixie. We’re dealing with someone who has the power to wipe our memories at any time, so if we’re gonna have any hope of catching them, every move we make will have to be as subtle and inconspicuous as possible. I know, asking someone like you to be subtle is like asking a fish to stay out of the water, but we need to take this threat seriously. At the very least, I’d like you to lose the hat, the cape, and the staff. That way, you’ll at least look like some random civilian.”

“In other words, stealth will be essential to our mission,” noted Trixie. She glanced at her staff apprehensively, then said, “Trixie shall concede the hat and cape, but the staff must stay firmly in my hand, for it is the sole source of Trixie’s magical powers.” She tapped the end of her staff against the ground, causing her hat and cape to suddenly vanish off her in a puff of smoke. Her appearance now consisted of a violet skirt around her upper legs with light blue along the bottom edge with her Creative Mark printed on the left side; medium blue on her lower legs, arms, and torso; a medium blue lowered hood piece around her neck; and a long hair piece that was white and pale blue on her head; along with the magical staff she still held in her right hand.

Sunset sighed and reluctantly mumbled, “That’ll have to do.” She then spoke up, “Okay, if we’re gonna get anything else done today, we’ll need a way to get around this city relatively quickly. I remember selling one of my old rides to Chan Chuang, so I’m hoping I’ve got enough to buy it back from him.” She held up the briefcase full of cash she was still holding in her left hand. “If we can just make it to his salvage yard over in the Pagoda district — and if he’s willing to sell me back my old ride — we can focus on trying to track down the Memory Stone without having to waste time sneaking around every city block.”

“Consider it done!” Trixie proudly proclaimed as she raised her staff.

Sunset immediately cried out in panic, “No! Don’t—!”

Trixie slammed the end of her staff down on the ground, causing both herself and Sunset to suddenly vanish from the alleyway in a large puff of smoke.

Back at the hotel, the rest of the Equestria Girls were awake, had just gotten ready for the day, and were now grabbing some breakfast at the buffet. This was the third day of their vacation, and they had agreed to spend the majority of it at the amusement park on the pier, not far to the north from the hotel.

As the six girls — and Spike — sat down at a table and began eating, Twilight spoke up, “You know… I’ve been thinking about Sunset Shimmer.”

Everyone else at the table dropped their utensils and turned to Twilight with various looks of worry or disapproval. “Twilight, darling, we’ve been over this before,” argued Rarity. “Sunset Shimer is the most wanted criminal mastermind in all of the City Regions, and therefore is someone we must never trust under any circumstances.”

“And what makes you so sure of that?” asked Twilight.

“‘Cause that’s just who she is!” argued Applejack firmly. “She only cares about gettin’ whatever she wants, and it don’t matter to her who she tramples over to get it!”

“And besides,” added Pinkie Pie, “she once turned into a magical monster that tried to brainwash everyone in Canterlot City into her own personal army. A big meanie like that deserves to be locked away forever.” She picked up a donut from her plate, but stopped just before shoving it into her mouth as she muttered, “But didn’t we send her to jail after that incident? How did she manage to get out?”

Twilight glared at Pinkie across the table and stated, “For your information, I also once turned into a magical monster, who threatened to destroy both this world and the alternate world of Equestria. Are you implying that I should be imprisoned for the rest of my life for that incident without any question?”

Everyone else at the table immediately spoke and exclaimed various words of assurances and apologies that they would never dare insist on a fate like that for such a close friend of theirs.

“And there’s the point I’m trying to make,” noted Twilight as she folded her arms. “You’re all so biased that you refuse to acknowledge even the remote possibility that what you believe to be real may not in fact be the full truth.”

“Since when do you care so much about Sunset Shimmer?” grumbled Rainbow Dash.

“I care about getting the facts straight,” Twilight clarified, “which means I can’t allow myself to be biased on any front. Therefore, it’s quite reasonable for me to consider the possibility that Sunset Shimmer might in fact be telling the truth, or at the very least what she believes to be the truth. Either way, she sure seemed very insistent that what she said was true.”

“Eh, she was probably just faking it,” said Spike dismissively.

“There’s that bias again,” Twilight pointed out. She turned to the rest of the girls and grumbled, “Seriously, am I the only one at this table who’s even trying to think with any sense of logic?”

“Very well then, Twilight,” responded Rarity on behalf of her friends. “Let us assume for a moment that Sunset Shimmer was truthful and that our memories have in fact been partially erased. What sort of evidence do you believe we would require to convince ourselves that it is the truth?”

“Based on the general idea Sunset was trying to insist upon,” answered Twilight, “the type of memories that could’ve been taken from us involved her essentially being part of our group of friends. In fact, she seemed to suggest that she was friends with all of you long before Spike and I joined this team. When you consider the fact that we were practically fighting on opposite sides for a period of time, if she really was your friend back then, then I on the other hand would not have thought of her as someone quite so friendly. Therefore, the evidence we seek would be a discrepancy in my memories compared to the rest of you.”

“Like what?” asked Rainbow Dash.

Twilight took a moment to consider a possible example, then turned to Rainbow Dash and said, “Think back to when we were at that abandoned arctic base. Starting at the moment you discovered I was there, all the way up until the moment I escaped through the Jump-Gate, I want you to describe everything you remember happening between those two moments. Don’t leave out any details you can recall.”

“Okay,” responded Rainbow Dash with uncertainty as she set down her utensils. She leaned back in her chair and said, “Well, when Pinkie Pie suddenly had her magical power drained, we knew you had to be nearby. We immediately scattered, and I was the first one to find you, but with all these weird portals popping up all over the place, you decided to jump through one to escape, so naturally I followed after you. You went in feet-first and kept running, but I went in head-first and ended up banging my head against the floor of a walkway.” She paused to take a sip of orange juice. “I’m not sure what everyone else did next — I was busy trying to shake off that headache. But once I was ready to go again, I saw you try to escape through a portal that led outside. I tried going after you, but after you went through, you managed to close that weird magic-stealing device of yours, which closed all the portals, and I ended up slamming into a solid wall. I was mad that I wasn’t fast enough, but I sure wasn’t gonna let you escape, so after I told AJ to help the others, I quickly tore apart anything I could get my hands on and built the pieces into a snowmobile. I then drove that thing right through the first door outside I could find and chased after you across the snow and ice, but then you opened that Jump-Gate, slipped through, and shut the doors before I could reach you. After that, the ice beneath me broke, but I was able to rebuild my snowmobile into something that could just fly me out of that hole.”

“Do you not recall hearing Sunset’s voice at any time in there?” asked Twilight. “Are you sure you were the only one riding on that snowmobile you built?”

“I’m pretty sure that what I just said is what really happened,” insisted Rainbow Dash.

“Not according to what I can recall,” argued Twilight. She leaned forward in her seat and glanced around at each of her friends as she said, “I knew you girls had discovered I was there when I heard the voice of Sunset Shimmer furiously shout my name. Yes, Rainbow was the first one to see me, and yes, we jumped through that first portal in different orientations that allowed me to keep running and sent Rainbow slamming her head against the floor. I won’t bother explaining how I dealt with the rest of you, as I’m sure you each still remember those parts, but after all of you were down, the only one left standing in my way was Sunset Shimmer. I remember her saying that she wanted us to settle things ‘mono a mono,’ I tired correcting her with the fact that we’re girls instead of men, but she decided to just come at me. I dodged her first attack and saw an opening to escape through that portal outside. Yes, Rainbow saw my escape and failed to make it through before the portal closed, but Sunset was closer to me, so she was able to make it through before it closed. I ran away, she ran after me, but once I reached my snowmobile, I revved the engine to kick up a ton of snow, burying her under a large pile of it. And just before I made my escape through the Jump-Gate, yes, Rainbow did chase me on her own snowmobile, but I also remember seeing Sunset Shimmer riding along with her.”

Everyone else at the table were stunned silent as they glanced at each other. “That is a discrepancy,” noted Fluttershy.

“So which one is true?” asked Applejack.

“Duh! Both of them are right!” argued Pinkie Pie. “If either of them were lying, they never would’ve bothered with some of the little details, like Rainbow Dash telling Applejack to help the rest of us, or Twilight trying to correct Sunset for saying ‘mono a mono’ between them. The only reason the two memories don’t perfectly match is because there’s some pieces missing from each of them.”

“Exactly!” cheered Twilight. “Thank you, Pinkie! Finally, some logical observation from someone else at this table!”

“Yes, I suppose that may very well be a compelling argument at this point,” acknowledged Rarity with hesitation.

“Okay, so maybe this Memory Stone that Sunset talked about could be real and that maybe it did wipe out some of our memories,” noted Spike skeptically. “But who could’ve used that thing? How can we be sure that it wasn’t Sunset who used it and was just lying to us the whole time?”

“If Sunset wanted to use the Memory Stone on us, she would’ve tried to make us forget that she was ever a bad guy,” argued Fluttershy. “If she really is supposed to be our friend, there’s no way someone like her would’ve been reckless enough to make us forget the good things about her instead of the bad things.”

“Maybe that’s just what she tried to do, but it horribly backfired,” suggested Rainbow Dash.

“You’re being biased again,” scolded Twilight in a sing-song tone.

“Please forgive us, darling,” said Rarity calmly, “but we simply cannot think of any potential suspects besides Sunset Shimmer.”

“What if that’s exactly what the true suspect wants?” argued Twilight. “I mean, if I had the power to erase any memory from anyone, I’d simply make sure no one would remember that I even had such a power. And if the suspect also took away enough memories to make us think that Sunset was nothing but evil, we would easily jump to conclusions and accuse her of messing with us.”

“Which means the real guilty party would be relyin’ on our bias against Sunset to make a clean getaway,” finished Applejack in astonishment.

“Wow, we’re really going off the deep end of conspiracy theory stuff right now,” remarked Pinkie Pie before shoving another donut into her mouth.

Twilight let out a sigh and admitted, “Pinkie’s right. We know so little about what’s really going on that it’s easy for us to get carried away with wild speculation.”

“So what should we do?” asked Fluttershy with concern.

“I’m afraid there’s only one person we can ask for any potentially useful information,” replied Twilight reluctantly. “Sunset Shimmer.”

Rainbow Dash groaned and asked, “Do we really have to?”

“She did tell us about the Memory Stone in the first place,” Fluttershy pointed out. “If anyone would know more about it, it would definitely be Sunset.”

“An’ like ya said, Twilight, whoever’s got that magical stone would never tell us if it even existed,” noted Applejack. She folded her arms and added, “Ah don’t like the idea of bein’ anywhere near a crook like Sunset Shimmer, but if she’s got info on a dangerous magical artifact, then we should at least try to hear her out.”

“Yeah, we’re supposed to be defending the Lego World against magical threats from Equestria,” agreed Pinkie Pie. “I can put up with Sunset Shimmer if it means stopping an even bigger bad guy.”

“But how shall we arrange such a meeting between us and Sunset Shimmer?” asked Rarity.

“She’s already approached us twice over the past two days,” Twilight pointed out. “Chances are she’ll be back soon enough, and this time, rather than try to chase her off, we should allow her to just sit down and have a little chat with us.”

“But what if the cops catch her before we get that chance?” asked Spike.

“Ya do realize this is Sunset Shimmer we’re talkin’ ‘bout, don’t ya?” asked Applejack in disbelief. “If there’s one thing she infamous for, it’s bein’ the one an’ only crook to always evade the authorities, no matter where she goes.”

“And if she does end up arrested, we could just ask the police to let us talk with her,” added Rainbow Dash.

“Either way, our priority is to ask Sunset Shimmer for more information regarding recent events,” stated Twilight.

“Until such an opportunity arises, I propose that we should simply proceed with our vacation as intended,” suggested Rarity as she began to resume eating her breakfast. “No point in wasting our precious vacation time dwelling on these unknowns.”

“Yeah, talking with Sunset Shimmer can wait,” agreed Pinkie Pie. “I mean, it’s not like we’re up against some time limit we have no idea about.”

Meanwhile in Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle had searched through Canterlot Library’s restricted section with almost no breaks ever since Sunset had left to return to the Lego World. By now, she had studied almost the vast majority of the section’s collection, but still hadn’t come any closer to finding any additional information regarding the Memory Stone.

Princess Celestia returned once again to the restricted section and saw Twilight sitting at the table and surrounded by tall stacks of books. “Any success, Twilight?” she asked as she approached the table.

“I’ve looked everywhere!” Twilight cried out in dismay. “Why can’t I find the missing page? I’ve always been good to you, library!”

In a fit of frustration, Twilight slammed her face against the table. This impact caused the chest that had contained the scroll of the Memory Stone to topple off the top of a stack of books and crash onto the floor. She worriedly glanced over at the fallen chest. The lid had broken loose and the skull-shaped lock had shattered, but more significantly, she noticed a piece of parchment sticking out from one of the fragments of that lock.

Twilight gasped in excitement and muttered, “This is it! The missing page was in a secret compartment!” She levitated the parchment out of the lock fragment and unfolded it. As Celestia began to look over her shoulder, Twilight held it up to her and excitedly exclaimed, “Look! A depiction of a Lego Minifig! The Memory Stone really did end up in the Lego World!”

The parchment consisted of the last few lines of writings, divided into two sections with an outlined depiction in the shape of a Lego Minifig between the two, and finished off with an illustration of the Memory Stone at the center of a circular formation marked by three tall rocks.

Twilight quickly read through the writing, then gasped. “Clover the Clever buried the stone in the middle of this rock formation!” she exclaimed in shock. As she levitated the parchment over to where it was torn off from the rest of the scroll, she muttered, “It must be located somewhere in the Lego World, but it doesn’t say how to get your memories back.” She then let out another gasp as she suddenly remembered an earlier passage on the scroll. She rolled the scroll back until she found that passage, then read aloud, “‘Perhaps if I had destroyed the stone right away, some of my memories could have returned. But when the sun sets by the third day after a memory is taken, it is erased forever.’” The increasingly dismayed tone of her voice made it clear how crestfallen she had become from this new information.

“You must warn Sunset Shimmer at once,” Celestia spoke up with concern. “Inform her of the burial site and that she must destroy the Memory Stone before the end of today to have any hope of recovering her friends’ memories.”

Twilight nodded with determination, then dug through the various piles of books on the floor until she found her magic journal. Since the old journal had been completely filled, she could leave that one to power the Crystal Mirror, allowing her to bring this newer one anywhere with her at any time. She immediately opened the journal to the first blank page and began writing.

Sunset, we think the Memory Stone was buried under this rock formation.

Twilight drew a quick sketch of the illustration from the scroll’s missing page, then continued writing.

And if you don’t destroy the Memory Stone by the time the sun sets today, all those memories will be erased forever!

Twilight decided that was all she needed to write, so she set down her quill and closed the journal. She sighed, then turned to Celestia and said, “I guess that’s all we can do. It’s now up to Sunset to do whatever it takes to find and destroy the Memory Stone before it’s too late.”

Celestia solemnly nodded in agreement.

Meanwhile in the Lego World, Sunset’s magic journal was vibrating and glowing, signaling that a new message had just been received. However, this journal was not currently with Sunset Shimmer. Instead, it was lying on the bedside table in her hotel room. The journal continued to vibrate and glow, but no one was there to read the dire message that had just been sent…

Author's Note

Once again, I'm pleasantly surprised that the way I had arranged things in an earlier story would turn out to work very well for a much later story (in this case, leaving the possibility open for Trixie's redemption back in the fourth story). Since Trixie played a significant role in Forgotten Friendship, it was only natural that I would do something similar for this story. As for what importance she'll have (other than teleporting herself and Sunset across town at the end of this chapter), you'll just have to wait and see. I also decided to throw in a scene where the rest of the girls have a serious conversation about what might really be going on (as opposed to being mostly flat background figures as portrayed in Forgotten Friendship).

Calling in Favors

Chapter 5
Calling in Favors

In an alleyway, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie suddenly appeared in a puff of blue smoke. However, they immediately noticed they were not standing on solid ground, but were actually a short distance up in the air, so they screamed as they began to drop, soon landing inside an open dumpster. As the two girls sat up inside the dumpster, Trixie coughed a few times, while Sunset removed a banana peel from atop her head and flicked it right at Trixie’s face.

“This is exactly why I didn’t want you to teleport us,” grumbled Sunset. “You’ve had that oversized wand for years, and you still can’t achieve any reasonable accuracy with teleportation spells.”

“Trixie was overcompensating!” argued Trixie as she flung the banana peel over her shoulder. “If I didn’t put us just a little bit over the ground, there’s a chance we could’ve teleported right into the ground itself, and trust me, suddenly finding yourself embedded into a wall is not a pleasant experience.”

Sunset rolled her eyes as she stood up and climbed over the side of the dumpster, making sure to keep her grip on her briefcase full of cash. As Trixie followed with her magical staff in hand, Sunset walked out to the end of the alleyway to get a better look at which street they had ended up on. One of the first things she saw was a small restaurant across the street that was shaped like a giant take-out box, and that alone was enough for her to confirm they were now in the Pagoda district of Lego City.

“At least you got us pretty close,” acknowledged Sunset. “That noddle bar over there is just across the street from Chan’s salvage yard.”

“And since we’re across the street from that noddle bar, that means our destination must be right next to us,” stated Trixie smugly.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” grumbled Sunset under her breath as she turned right and walked over to the next building along the sidewalk. Followed by Trixie, she walked through an oriental gateway and approached the building’s entrance, which was guarded by a dark-haired man wearing a red jacket and black pants. “Hey, uh, is Chan around?” she called out to the guard. “I’d like to do some business with him.” She held up her briefcase to emphasize her request.

“Wait here,” said the guard before he opened the door and stepped inside.

As the two girls waited, Trixie glanced around and commented, “Quite a rough neighborhood, isn’t it? You sure this is the best place to get a car?”

“Like I said, because of that Memory Stone, everyone thinks I’m a wanted criminal,” Sunset pointed out. “I can’t just buy a car from a typical dealership, so I have to rely on someone who I know would care more about making money than obeying the law.”

“Why can’t you just steal a car instead?” asked Trixie.

“I’m trying to prove my innocence to everyone,” responded Sunset with annoyance, “and the last thing I’d want right now is to do anything illegal that would convince them otherwise.” She paused before she quickly added, “Besides, I’m technically still on probation.”

The door opened again and the guard stepped outside. Speaking with an Asian accent, he said, “Mister Chan in his office and ready to listen.”

Sunset thanked the guard and walked inside, followed closely by Trixie. They climbed up a stairway and headed down a short hallway before they arrived at a partially opened door. Sunset stopped and held Trixie back. “Wait here,” insisted Sunset. “I’ll handle this myself.”

Trixie pouted and grumbled, “If you insist…”

With that risk of unwanted distractions taken care of, Sunset knocked on the door.

“Please, come in,” responded the guy inside the room.

Sunset stepped into the office and saw the man she was looking for seated behind his desk. Chan Chuang had dark hair that was neatly combed to the side, a typical Asian style of mustache, and wore a black business suit with a red tie.

“Ah, welcome, Sunset Shimmer,” greeted Chan calmly. “It has been quite some time since I last heard of any of your… exploits.” But then almost immediately, his expression turned from content to furious as he raised his voice. “You’d better not be bringing any trouble with you! I’d like to keep my business running!”

“Relax, I’m just here for one quick thing,” assured Sunset as she stood in front of the desk. “A few years ago, I sold you one of my rides.” She set the briefcase down onto the desk. “If you still have it, I’d like to buy it back.” She then opened the briefcase and turned it around to show its contents to Chan.

Chan glanced at the cash stuffed inside the briefcase, turned his gaze up to Sunset, then returned his attention to the cash. He took out a few stacks of bills and flipped through them. Remaining silent, he opened a drawer in his desk, searched through it for a few seconds, then pulled out a key and handed it over to Sunset.

“Here you go,” said Chan calmly with a smile. “The car is yours again. You will find it downstairs in my personal garage.” Again, his expression suddenly turned furious as he shouted, “But if I see so much as a scratch on any of my other cars, I’m taking it back!” He slammed the briefcase closed. “NO REFUNDS!!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll be extra careful when I pull it out,” assured Sunset as she turned and began to leave the room.

Chan quickly calmed back down and said, “Good.” He then pressed the intercom button on his desk and spoke, “Fu, could you please open the garage door downstairs?”

“The one to your personal collection?” asked the voice on the other side.

“Yes, the one to my personal collection!” Chan hollered back furiously. “It’s the only garage door we have in this building!”

Meanwhile, Sunset stepped out of the office, walked past Trixie still waiting outside, and began to head back down the hallway.

“Sheesh, that guy has anger management issues,” Trixie quietly remarked as she followed right behind Sunset.

“You have no idea,” muttered Sunset in response. Thanks to previous visits — such as when she sold the car that she had now successfully bought back — she knew which way to go to reach the garage. She and Trixie walked back down the stairway and headed down another short hallway before they arrived at the garage, just as the main door outside was being opened.

Chan’s personal garage was full of all kinds of high-performance vehicles, from high-end luxury cars to the most outrageous of sports cars. While many of the cars were proudly displayed, some were hidden under protective covers. Sunset remembered exactly which car she was looking for, so after failing to identify it from just a quick glance around the room, she carefully checked the ones that were covered.

While Sunset was busy checking under the covers, Trixie looked around at the entire collection. She couldn’t help but feel a little envious. Having lived in the Castle Region for so long, she was getting her first reminder of life in the City Regions in years. She would never openly admit it, but she did find herself tempted with the idea of returning to city life, if only to enjoy some of the everyday conveniences she once took for granted.

Finally, at the far side of the garage, Sunset found what she was looking for. “Well, here it is,” she spoke up as she threw back the covering from the car she had purchased. This car was shaped with a gentle curve from a short front end to a large rear end, with a spoiler on the rear. It also had no roof, with only two seats side by side. It was mostly red, with a pair of black stripes along each side and a broad black stripe on top from behind the seats to the spoiler, which was completely black.

Sunset couldn’t help but feel a mild sense of pride as she stated, “Yes, what you see here really is a Spirit. Five hundred horsepower, zero-to-sixty in four-point-two seconds, surround-sound entertainment system, and this one comes with the special option of state-of-the-art GPS navigation.”

Trixie let out a long whistle and remarked, “Sweet ride.” She turned to Sunset and asked, “How’d you get your hands on a car like this?”

Sunset deflated a little as she admitted, “Well, to tell you the truth, it was originally part of Filthy Rich’s personal collection.”

“You stole it from him, didn’t you?” asked Trixie with a naughty smile.

“No! No, I didn’t steal it!” responded Sunset defensively. “I, um… borrowed it… indefinitely… without his permission…”

“In other words, you stole it,” retorted Trixie with that naughty smile still on her face.

Sunset let out a sigh of defeat, then firmly said, “Look, I really hate to have any additional reminders of what an awful person I used to be, so the only reason I’m taking this car is because I just can’t think of any other I could realistically get on such short notice. Let’s just get in and get going so we can focus on finding the Memory Stone.”

“Whatever you say,” responded Trixie, still smiling smugly as she walked around to the passenger side of the car.

Sunset opened the car’s left door, climbed into the driver’s seat, and closed the door, while Trixie did the same on the right side. As Trixie sat down in the passenger seat, she kept her grip on her magical staff, and with the bottom end resting on the car floor in the middle, that left the top end with its large blue five-pointed star sticking up quite noticeably above the windshield. Sunset immediately noticed this, so rather than start the car, she glared at Trixie.

Trixie kept her gaze forward, expecting Sunset to start driving right away. When nothing happened after a few seconds, she glanced over at Sunset and saw the displeased look she was giving her. “What?” asked Trixie in confusion.

“Are you really that oblivious?” said Sunset irritably. “It’s bad enough that my only option of discretely getting around town is a big flashy performance car. There is no way that I’m going anywhere with you keeping that thing sticking out like a damaged piece.” She pointed at Trixie’s staff.

Trixie glanced up at her staff, then glared back at Sunset and argued, “Did you not hear me earlier? The Great and Powerful Trixie never goes anywhere without her magical staff! Though if you insist on a lower profile, Trixie could just lay it down like this.” Trixie turned the staff over so that it was now lying across the laps of both girls in the car.

“Yeah, sure, like I’m gonna be totally comfortable with having a powerful magical artifact resting in my lap and which answers only to the most unstable girl I know of,” grumbled Sunset.

“Oh, stop your whining,” argued Trixie. “Trixie promises to not unleash any magical spells upon you. At least, not intentionally.”

Sunset suddenly yanked the staff out of Trixie’s grip and turned it around to look at it from various angles as she retorted, “Seriously, does this thing have an off switch?”

Trixie immediately snatched the staff out of Sunset’s hands and shot back, “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s a magical staff! Not some radio transceiver!”

“Look, all I’m asking for is that staff be kept out of sight while we’re on the road,” insisted Sunset. “Just throw it in the trunk so we can get moving.”

Trixie growled in frustration as she opened the car door and walked around to the back of the car. She opened the rear compartment, then pointed out, “Uh, slight problem. There’s an engine back here.”

Sunset thumped the back of her head against her seat and mumbled, “Right, I forgot that this was one of those rear-engine type of vehicles.” She then spoke up, “The storage compartment should be in the front.”

Trixie let out a sigh of frustration as she slammed the rear hood closed. She walked around to the front of the car and opened the compartment hatch. She tried placing her staff inside the storage compartment, but no matter which direction she laid it down, one end or the other would always end up sticking out far enough that the hatch couldn’t close. Eventually, she huffed and grumbled, “This isn’t going to work. The trunk’s too small.”

Sunset growled in frustration and irritably said, “I don’t have time for this. Either find a way to hide that thing, or I’ll just drive off without you.”

Trixie glanced over the car from front to back before her gaze settled on the passenger seat. “I wonder…” she mumbled to herself. She then grabbed the top of that seat and yanked it aside, tipping the seat forward and exposing a long and narrow empty space that stretched across the width of the car. “Aha! There is a secret compartment behind the seats!” she proudly noted. She then slipped her staff into the empty space — where it was able to fit perfectly — and pushed the seat back to its original position. “There! Out of sight and within quick and easy reach!”

“Whatever,” responded Sunset with almost no enthusiasm. “Just get in and buckle up.”

As Sunset buckled her seatbelt, Trixie sat back down in the passenger seat, closed the car door beside her, and buckled her seatbelt. With everything now as good as it could ever get under the current circumstances, Sunset inserted the key and started the car. The engine rumbled to life — relatively quiet, but certainly not hiding its remarkable power. After a quick check of the mirrors and other features, Sunset shifted the car into drive and carefully rolled it out of the garage and out onto the street.

“Okay,” Trixie spoke up, “now that we’re finally on the streets of Lego City in our own ride, where to next?”

As Sunset turned left onto the first street, she replied, “We need any information we can get to help us figure out who has the Memory Stone and where to find them. There’s one guy I know who not only has enough outreach to cover the entire city, but also stands in a position where he has less to lose by helping me rather than tip off the police that I’m around. Let’s just say it’s time to call in an old favor…”

After a few minutes of driving across town, Sunset and Trixie now found themselves entering the Fresco district of Lego City. It was a largely uneventful drive, and Sunset was completely fine with that — especially considering her desire to avoid attracting any attention. Trixie, on the other hand, was less than thrilled by just how dull the search of the Memory Stone had been so far.

“Are we there yet?” moaned Trixie, resting her head against her right hand with her elbow propped on the car door beside her.

“We’ll get there when we get there,” grumbled Sunset.

“Can’t you go any faster?” asked Trixie, practically whining. “I mean, we’re in a car that can easily go more than double what we’re doing now.”

“Because,” responded Sunset, struggling to keep her temper in check, “in case you forgot what I said earlier, we’re trying to keep a low profile to give ourselves the best chance of finding the Memory Stone, which means I have to obey all the traffic laws while we’re on the road.”

The two girls sat in silence for a few seconds before Trixie grumbled, “Trixie’s bored…”

Sunset didn’t say anything, but her grip on the steering wheel did tighten a little.

After a few more seconds of silence between the two girls, Trixie spoke up, “I wonder what’s on the radio.” She then reached over to the car’s stereo system and tapped what she assumed was the button to turn it on.

THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR HEEEEAAAAD!!

“Shut if off!” shouted Sunset over the loud volume of the music.

THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR HEEEEAAAAD!!

Trixie wildly hit random buttons on the stereo, but nothing she did was able to turn it off. “I-I-I don’t know how!” she hastily confessed. “Trixie hasn’t used one of these things in years!”

CUZ IT’S SO CAAAATCHY, CAAAATCHY, IT’S SUCH A CATCHY SONG!!
IT’LL MAKE YOU HAAAAPY, HAAAAPY, DON’T TRY TO FIGHT IT, SING ALOOOONG!!
THIS SONG’S GONNA GET STUCK INSIDE YOUR—

Frustrated by Trixie’s inability to operate such a simple device, Sunset decided to just grab the car’s stereo and yanked the printed 1x2 tile off the dashboard, which immediately shut off the loud music that had blared from the surrounding speakers. Without saying a word, she tossed the disconnected stereo onto the floor of the car, then resumed her tight two-handed grip on the steering wheel while keeping her intensely furious glare straight ahead on the road.

“Well… that works, too, I guess,” remarked Trixie.

Even with a grumpy expression plainly visible on her face, Sunset refused to say anything in response.

After another awkward silence, Trixie again spoke up, “That was a pretty catchy song, though. I wonder where it came from.”

“Don’t know, don’t care,” grumbled Sunset. “We have more important issues to deal with right now.”

Sunset made a right turn and pulled into a parallel parking space on the side of road, then shut off the car. The two girls unbuckled their seatbelts and climbed out of the car, with Trixie pulling her seat forward to retrieve her staff from the hidden compartment. After setting the alarm — making the car chirp twice — Sunset led Trixie across the street towards a two-floor grey stone building with red and white striped awnings over all of the windows. Atop the front of this building was a big sign that read “Pappalardo’s”, with the L topped with a swirl of white ice cream.

Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “You took us to an ice cream parlor?”

“Let’s just say the owner uses this legitimate business as a cover for his more… illegal work,” replied Sunset slyly.

“Ah, a fellow criminal mastermind,” remarked Trixie with a smile. “Trixie’s suddenly interested to meet this guy.”

The two girls walked through the main entrance into the building, and soon found themselves walking into the main room. On the main floor were some circular tables, each with a lit candle on the center and surrounded by a few chairs. To the right was a performance stage with a piano, on which someone was playing some slow music. At the far end was the service counter that offered many varieties of ice cream, and to the right of that was a stairway that led to the upper floor, which went around over the back and left sides of the room. Along all of the walls were all kinds of high-quality paintings. Today, there were enough patrons to fill more than half of the available seats.

As they headed towards the stairway, Sunset couldn’t help but smile as she remarked, “I have to say, this place brings back some memories. Whenever I happened to be in Lego City and wanted to lay low for a while, this was usually my preferred hideout. Although I never bothered seeing anyone here as even so much as an acquaintance, I do still recognize some familiar faces here.” She pointed to the left. “Over there is Tony One-Time.”

“Hey!” greeted the guy wearing a red shirt and black beret, seated at a table by himself.

Sunset pointed to the right and said, “Right here is Paulie Blindfolds.”

One of the two guys seated at that table had black hair, wore a red shirt, and had a blindfold over his eyes. “Eh, I don’t see what’s wrong with that,” he said to the other guy.

As she and Trixie began climbing the stairs, Sunset pointed to the left and said, “That guy is Lucky Pete.”

Seated at one of the stools in front of the service counter was a guy wearing a black baseball cap and a black jacket. He scratched a ticket in his hands, then suddenly exclaimed, “Aw, sweet! I just won the lottery! Third week in a row!”

The two girls walked along the upper floor and as they came around the corner, Sunset pointed to the right and said, “And of course, there’s Mikey Spoilers.”

Sunset walked past the guy with brown hair and wearing a black pinstripe suit. But as Trixie tried to follow, he suddenly grabbed her arm and pulled her close to him. “Hey, check it out,” he whispered softly to her. “If you wanna find somethin’ real quick, you can use that magic staff of yours on the car’s GPS.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “What?”

The guy quietly shushed her and whispered, “Ya didn’t hear this from me…” He then let go of her arm and gave her a slight nudge to continue following after Sunset.

Trixie stared back at that guy, then shook her head as she turned her attention ahead back to Sunset, who appeared to have been oblivious to the quiet interaction behind her.

The two girls finally arrived at a closed door within a stone archway. Once they stopped in front of the door, Sunset turned to Trixie and said, “This guy, Vinnie Pappalardo, should have the best resources of any crime boss in all of Lego City. But if we want him to be willing to help us, we’ll have to show him a lot of respect, so unless you’d rather wait outside, try not to be too obnoxious.”

“For this crucial meeting, Trixie shall try to restrain herself,” declared Trixie.

Sunset turned to the door, took a deep breath, and knocked on the door three times.

“Yeah, who is it?” asked someone on the other side of the door.

“Sunset Shimmer,” responded Sunset. “I need to talk to you.”

Sunset and Trixie waited for a response. As the seconds ticked by, they slowly grew more anxious and uncertain on whether or not this Vinnie would be willing to hear them out.

Eventually, the voice on the other side of the door responded, “Alright, come on in.”

Sunset let out a quiet sigh, then opened the door and stepped inside, with Trixie following right behind. Inside this room, there were green rugs on the floor, numerous portraits hanging on the brown walls, highly valuable paintings covering the ceiling, a long table in the middle surrounded by chairs, and a desk at the far end. Behind that desk and sitting in a big red chair was a guy with combed-back black hair that was greying on the sides and wore a dark grey pinstripe suit.

As the two girls walked across the room to the desk, the minifig behind the desk smiled and, speaking with an Italian accent, greeted, “Ah, Sunset Shimmer… Been a long time since I’ve seen you around.”

“Yeah, I suppose it really has, Vinnie,” remarked Sunset and she and Trixie stopped in front of the desk.

Trixie glanced up at the ceiling and remarked, “Nice collection. You have a fine taste for art, I’ll give you that. Perhaps Trixie should start her own collection and use it to decorate her castle.”

“Ignore her,” Sunset immediately said to Vinnie dismissively. “She’s just being a pest.”

Trixie huffed indigently, but chose not to speak up again and instead decided to continue admiring everything in the luxurious office.

“So what brings you and your new associate to Lego City?” asked Vinnie. “Got some new scheme you wanna let me in on?”

“Not exactly,” replied Sunset. Trying her best to choose her words carefully, she explained, “Lately, I’ve moved on to the kind of business that involves… saving the world — not that you would even recall, on account of the most recent crisis.”

Vinnie frowned and asked, “What are you gettin’ at?”

Sunset reached into her satchel and pulled out the sketch, which she placed on Vinnie’s desk. “This is the Memory Stone,” she explained, “a magical artifact from Equestria that has the power to erase any memories from anyone. And just a few days ago, someone used it to erase everyone’s memories of my recent exploits, making them believe that I’m still the notorious criminal I used to be.”

Vinnie glanced down at the sketch, then eyed Sunset suspiciously and asked, “And you’re sayin’ you’re not?”

“I can’t rely on my friends, since they’re convinced we’re on opposite sides of the law,” continued Sunset. “So I have to turn to some of my old connections for help, and you’re just the guy I need to put a stop to this.”

Vinnie maintained his incredulous look as he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. “And why should I trust yous?” he asked.

Realizing the conversation was not quite going the way she was hoping for, Sunset quickly decided to change tactics. “You owe me, Vinnine,” she sharply replied. “When that joint venture of ours went south, I offered to take all of the heat by myself, because I knew I could get away with it. And I did!”

Vinnie smiled and remarked, “Ha-ha, now there’s the Sunset Shimmer I know.” He leaned forward to take another look at the sketch on his desk. “So what’s the deal with this ‘Memory Stone’ you was goin’ on about?”

“That’s the thing,” explained Sunset. “You think you know the real me, but the reality is a little different, because those recent memories were taken away from everyone — including you.”

“So which is it?” asked Vinnie with growing impatience. “Are you a trustworthy felon or not? You tryin’ to be funny with me?!”

“That’s exactly what makes this such a serious threat to all of us!” argued Sunset. “As long as this artifact is out there, none of us can ever be sure that we really know everything!” Deciding to take advantage of a new angle, she leaned forward against the desk and looked Vinnie in the eye as she coldly continued, “Think about it, Vinnie. I know how much you care for your family — your parents, your wife, your kids, your siblings and cousins. Now imagine someone comes along and uses this stone to erase all of their memories of you. To them, you would now suddenly appear to be a total stranger who should be avoided at all costs. That, Vinnie Pappalardo, is the kind of situation I’m currently facing, and unless you’re willing to help, there’s no telling who could be next…”

Vinnie thought carefully for a moment before he said, “Normally, I’d find this kinda stuff hard to believe, but after seein’ weird things from brainwashin’ sirens to psychotic plant monsters, I’d be a fool not to take another magical threat seriously. So who’s the guilty party this time?”

“That’s what makes this an especially serious threat,” replied Sunset. “We have absolutely no idea who has this stone, and certainly no idea why they used it against me like this. If anyone ever discovers them, this person could just use the stone to erase their memory of the encounter and make a truly perfectly clean getaway.”

“Then how are we supposed to catch this guy?” asked Vinnie.

“Simple,” answered Sunset. “We use methods that don’t rely on personal memory. When you send out your guys to search for whoever has the Memory Stone, tell them to take notes, take pictures, anything that’ll make sure they’ll have intel on this person we’re going after, regardless of whether or not they remember anything.”

“Alright, yous got yourself a deal,” declared Vinnie with a nod. He picked up the sketch and carried it over to a nearby photocopier. “I’ll give my guys copies of this sketch and tell them to steal it from whoever’s got it. I’ll also be sure to pass on your advice: record everything.”

“Thanks, Vinnie,” said Sunset with a smile. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Well, it’s like you just told me,” said Vinnie as he started printing photocopies of the sketch, “this thing’s messin’ with people’s minds, and nobody deserves to be forever isolated because of it. At least, not without bein’ told why someone would do this to ‘em.” He paused before he asked, “By the way, what are you plannin’ to do with that magic stone once we got it?”

“Well, obviously, the very first thing I’m going to do with it is restore everyone’s true memories of me,” replied Sunset. “Once everything’s back to normal, I’ll destroy the stone. As I’m sure you know, any item can be stolen, and to have a powerful magical artifact like that stolen from you would be the ultimate nightmare scenario. Trust me, it’s best for everyone on all sides that the Memory Stone must be destroyed.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” acknowledged Vinnie. As the photocopier continued running, he walked over to the opposite side of the room. “Before you leave, I’d like to give you something that might come in handy.” He moved aside a painting to reveal a vault door. He dialed the combination and opened the vault, then reached inside and pulled out something that resembled a pistol of some kind that had a transparent chamber.

“Is that a color gun?” asked Sunset.

“It sure is,” confirmed Vinnie. “I illegally obtained a whole truckload of ‘em some years back, so I still got plenty to go around. I figured that since you’re goin’ on a near-impossible search and destroy, you could use all the help you can get.”

Trixie — finally starting to grow board with her surroundings — turned to Sunset and asked, “How is a color-changing pistol going to help us?”

“Let’s just say it has a way of bringing cartoon physics to life,” Sunset cryptically replied as she put the color gun in her satchel.

By this time, the photocopier finished, so Vinnie retrieved the original sketch and handed it back to Sunset. “If any of my guys finds any clues, I’ll be sure to call you right away,” assured Vinnie.

“That reminds me, I should probably give you my number,” noted Sunset as she quickly wrote down her phone number on a corner of the parchment that sketch was on, then tore off that corner piece and gave it to Vinnie. As she put the sketch back into her satchel, she added, “In the meantime, Trixie and I will try to search the city as well. Hopefully, it won’t be long before we finally get some answers.”

“In that case, I wish you good luck out there,” said Vinnie.

“You too, Vinnie,” responded Sunset as she waved goodbye and headed out of the room, with Trixie right behind her.

As the two girls walked along the upper floor back towards the stairway, Sunset remarked, “You were surprisingly well-behaved.”

“Trixie saw no reason to make a scene in there,” said Trixie dismissively. “Anyway, now that our search for the Memory Stone is well and truly underway, where shall we begin?”

“First thing I’d like to do is check my magic journal for any replies from Princess Twilight in Equestria,” replied Sunset as she reached into her satchel. “She’s been busy researching for any additional ancient knowledge about the Memory Stone, so any new information she can give us would really help…”

Sunset trailed off and stopped walking as she found herself unable to find the journal she was looking for. She looked closely into her satchel and dug through the contents, but was unable to find it anywhere. She desperately thought back to when she might have removed the journal, and soon determined that it was probably right before she made her trip back to Equestria, which meant…

Sunset suddenly let out a roar of frustration — easily catching the attention of everyone inside the large room — and exclaimed, “Shoot! I left it back in my hotel room!” She then rushed down the stairs and towards the main entrance outside. “I’m gonna have to run back there and grab it real quick!”

“Hey! Wait up!” Trixie called out as she rushed after Sunset.

The two girls quickly made it outside and ran across the street back to their car. As Sunset jumped into the driver’s seat, Trixie spared a few seconds to place her staff into the hidden compartment behind the seat before sitting down in the passenger seat. Once they were both seated and buckled up, Sunset immediately started the engine, then drove the car onto the street.

The districts of Fresco and Paradise Sands were rather close to each other, so it was only a short drive up the coast for Sunset and Trixie to reach the hotel where Sunset and her friends had been staying. In an effort to remain unseen, Sunset brought the car around to the parking garage behind the hotel and pulled it into the first available parking space she could find, which fortunately happened to be on the ground floor to ensure they could make a quick escape if necessary.

As soon as the car was parked, Sunset shut off the engine and unbuckled her seatbelt. Trixie removed her seatbelt and was about to open the door on her side when Sunset suddenly held her down by her left shoulder and firmly said, “No. You say here.”

“What?” asked Trixie in both astonishment and confusion. “Why?”

“I just wanna grab my journal as quickly as possible, and you’ll only slow me down,” Sunset bluntly replied.

Trixie furrowed her brow and folded her arms as she grumpily asked, “And what makes you so certain that Trixie’s presence would be a hindrance?”

“Because you’re an arrogant brat who has a crippling addiction to public attention!” snapped Sunset.

Trixie huffed and grumbled, “Trixie has never been so annoyed and insulted in her entire life.”

With her patience rapidly thinning, Sunset sighed and firmly said, “Look, just stay here in the car. I’ll be back before you know it.” Without waiting for any response, she immediately ran off towards the hotel.

Still in a sour mood, Trixie turned her head forward and slouched in her seat.

It didn’t take long for Sunset to reach the nearest side door into the hotel. These kinds of doors would normally be locked on the outside, but those who had a keycard to one of the rooms inside would be able to use it to briefly unlock the door, and since she happened to have one, that’s exactly what she did to get inside.

As she quickly walked down the hallway, Sunset realized she next had to make a choice between speed and stealth. Taking the stairs would be the preferred method of avoiding detection, since few people ever bothered to use them anyway, but because her room was on the top floor of such a tall building, taking the elevator would be the much faster option. As soon as she reminded herself that she was here just to grab one item as quickly as possible, she let out a reluctant sigh as she made her decision.

Sunset soon reached the lobby and arrived at the elevators. She hit the up button on the nearest elevator, then folded her arms and tapped her foot as she waited impatiently for the doors to open. As she waited for the elevator to arrive, her gaze wandered around the room, until she noticed the receptionist behind the desk had picked up the telephone and was about to dial a number, but then froze on the spot when he noticed she was staring right at him.

Sunset was in no mood for playing nice right now, so she immediately called out, “Are you about to call the cops on me?”

The receptionist — in his surfer dude voice — hesitantly replied, “Uh… maybe?”

“Don’t!” Sunset firmly responded. She sighed and facepalmed before she briefly explained, “Look, I don’t want any trouble here. I’m just gonna go up to my room, grab my stuff, and get outta here. All I’m asking for in return is that you don’t tell anyone that I’m here. Got it?”

The receptionist nervously replied, “O-okay…”

“Good,” stated Sunset, just as she heard the elevator door open. She stepped into the elevator, and as she turned back, she sternly added, “And if you break your promise, I’ll break you.” She then hit the button for the top floor, and the elevator doors closed.

As Sunset rode the elevator up, it quickly hit her just how aggressively she had reacted to that receptionist. “Did I really just say that?” she mumbled in disbelief. She let out a sigh of frustration. What she had just done was the kind of behavior she would’ve expected from her old self, something she had sworn to never allow happen again. Because of this incident, she was now starting to question if simply being with her friends as a welcomed member of their group was really the only thing that ever prevented her from relapsing back to her old ways.

As soon as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, Sunset immediately set aside her thoughts and focused on the task at hand. She walked quickly down the hallway until she reached her room. She inserted her keycard to unlock the door, then stepped inside and closed the door behind her.

As soon as Sunset was in her room, she noticed right away that her magic journal was on the bedside table, and that journal was vibrating and glowing. Unsure of how long it had been doing that, she immediately grabbed the journal and opened it to the most recent message. Sure enough, it was from Princess Twilight, regarding newfound information about the Memory Stone.

The message from Equestria was rather short, so it took Sunset only a few seconds to read it. The first half and the accompanying sketch offered a promising lead, even though she was completely unfamiliar with the depicted rock formation. But it was the second half of the brief message that practically made her heart stop. To learn that all the stolen memories of her could be permanently erased from existence after the end of this very day just devastated her beyond belief. She glanced over at the clock on the bedside table and saw it was almost noon, which meant she now had little more than just half a dozen hours to find and destroy the Memory Stone, or she would forever be falsely remembered as the wanted criminal she had tried so hard to leave behind.

As Sunset closed the journal and placed it in her satchel, she walked over to the window and looked left towards the amusement park on the pier. From this distance, she couldn’t identify anyone down there, but she knew her friends were hanging out somewhere in that area today. As she thought back to all the good memories she had shared with them, it saddened her to realize that it had all been so easily taken away from her, and that there was a very real possibility that she may never get to experience any of that ever again.

Sunset could very well have spent the entire afternoon just staring out that window in a sullen mood, if not for something else she suddenly noticed. Coming down the road beside the pier were three police cars. Just one alone would normally not be a big deal, but three of them together was a sign that they were on a mission. She glanced over to the right and saw three more police cars coming up the road in the opposite lane. She watched as the two groups of police cars slowed down as they came together in front of the hotel, then turned into the front lot. It quickly dawned on her that there was only one reason why so many police cars were suddenly stopping right at this very building. They knew she was here!

It also quickly occurred to her that there was likely only one way the cops could’ve been tipped off that she was inside this hotel, so her expression quickly turned into a scowl as she tightly clenched her fists. She let out a long growl, then suddenly pounded the window and furiously hollered, “THAT FILTHY RAT!!”

With that sudden burst of rage now out of her system, Sunset shifted her thoughts to how she was going to escape. The cops would certainly start by setting up a perimeter around the building, so she knew she would have to move fast. She glanced around her room and quickly decided to not bother with packing any of her stuff, so she immediately walked out of her room, bringing only the contents of her satchel with her.

Now out in the hallway, Sunset next had to figure out how to get out of the building without any police officers noticing her presence. Being on the top floor gave her more time to think, but it also allowed more time for all of her potential exit routes to be cut off. The elevators would take her to the lobby, where some officers were certainly already present, so that option was out. She couldn’t use the stairs either, as it would take her so long to reach the ground floor that the police would definitely have every single exit covered by the time she got there. If she wanted to get out of this situation without much trouble, she was going to need a quick and unconventional means of escape.

As Sunset glanced around the hallway, her eyes eventually fell on a hatch in the wall. She rushed over to that hatch, opened it, and peered inside. She quickly realized that this was a laundry chute, which almost certainly dropped all the way down to the ground floor or possibly one of the basement floors. The hatch also happened to be big enough that she could slip inside. It seemed like just the kind of escape she was looking for, but there was no telling what would await her down at the very bottom of the chute. This option offer the lowest chance of being caught by the police, but it was also very highly risky in a number of other ways.

With time running out, Sunset reluctantly made her choice. She sighed and muttered, “This has gotta be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done…” She then swiftly climbed head-first into the hatch and pulled herself through.

Sunset was now falling head-first through the narrow chute, and the steep angle of it caused her descent to accelerate very rapidly. She struggled not to scream on the way down, in an effort to not alert anyone that someone was inside the laundry chute. Her very fast slide down soon came to a sudden end as she landed inside a full laundry cart, the momentum of her landing causing that cart to roll across the room until it bumped into the wall on the opposite side. The thankfully soft landing had been made possible by the contents of that cart, which consisted of all kinds of white laundry, from bedsheets to various… unmentionables.

After a few seconds of stillness and silence, much of that laundry was suddenly flung all over the room as Sunset immediately stood up and shrieked, “AAHHHHHH!! DIRTY UNDERWEAR!!” In her mad scramble to get out of the cart, she ended up tipping it over and falling out onto the floor. She swiftly stood back up, brushed off every single bit of laundry from herself, and shuddered quite loudly in disgust. After she was certain she was out of that horrific mess, she quickly took a few deep breaths to ease her panicked nerves.

Once Sunset eventually calmed back down, she refocused her thoughts back on her escape plan. She glanced around the laundry room and soon found a door with a bright orange “EXIT” sign directly above it. “Thank goodness for emergency exits,” she remarked as she rushed towards that door. She then stopped right in front of that door before she carefully opened it. She glanced left and right across the hallway outside, and once she confirmed the coast was clear, she rushed out down the hallway.

After running up a flight of stairs, Sunset reached another door marked with a bright orange “EXIT” sign. Again, she stopped in front of that door and carefully opened it, revealing that this door lead directly outside the building. As she glanced all around, she smiled as she not only confirmed there were no police officers to be seen, but also found the parking garage was close by. Without wasting another moment, she rushed out the door, ran towards the parking garage, jumped over the concrete barrier, and rushed straight towards her car as soon as she spotted it.

Meanwhile, Trixie was struggling to fit the car’s stereo back onto the dashboard. Once she was sure it was fitted well enough — not realizing she had placed it on upside down — she let go of it, only for it to fall off back to the floor of the car. She groaned in frustration, then slumped back in her seat. A few seconds later, she heard the rapid clacking of approaching footsteps, so she turned back and saw Sunset Shimmer running back towards the car. “Took you long enough,” grumbled Trixie.

“Can it, Trixie!” snapped Sunset as she hopped over the car door and landed into the driver’s seat. After taking a few seconds to catch her breath, she turned to Trixie and hastily explained, “I’ve got nothing but bad news. It turns out we’ve been on a time limit all along. If we don’t find and destroy that Memory Stone before the sun sets today, then all of those stolen memories about me will be permanently lost!”

Astonished by this shocking new information, Trixie immediately said, “Well then what are we waiting for? Start the car and let’s go!”

“That’s the other bad news,” continued Sunset sullenly. “The cops just arrived and are surrounding the area as we speak. I was very lucky to make it this far, but I seriously doubt we’ll be able to drive outta here without catching their attention.”

Trixie laughed and remarked, “Don’t be so quick to give up.” She then stood up, pulled her seat forward, and retrieved her magical staff from the hidden compartment. “The Great and Powerful Trixie has a trick up her sleeve.” She twirled the staff around and pointed it straight down, then unleashed a burst of magical energy directly into the car. The vehicle bounced once from the sudden surge of power, small sparks of energy danced across its surface, but once the energy faded after a few seconds, nothing seemed to have changed at all.

“Wow…” grumbled Sunset. “That did absolutely nothing.”

Trixie laughed again and quipped, “Oh, ye of little faith… Just take a look at us in the mirror.” She pointed her staff at a nearby round mirror that was mounted on one of the support columns of the parking garage.

Sunset glanced over at that mirror and what she saw made her raise both of her eyebrows. In the exact parking space where she knew they were parked, rather than a convertible red performance car, she instead saw a blue and white sedan with the word “POLICE” labeled on the doors and hood, and even had the lights and siren on the roof.

“That’s right!” proclaimed Trixie with a huge smile on her face as she put her staff back into the hidden compartment and sat back down in her seat. “To the outside observer, we are now driving a police cruiser! This will allow us to simply pass right through any checkpoints the cops may have set up, and they will never give us even a second thought! And until either of us climbs out of this vehicle, this illusion will never be broken!”

Sunset was momentarily speechless, but then took out the key to the car as she hesitantly said, “I’m not sure if this’ll work… but it’s not like I have any better ideas.” She started the engine, backed the vehicle out of its parking space, then drove it out of the parking garage and down the access road towards the main street.

As Sunset had suspected, the police had set up a checkpoint on the access road, even going so far as to lay down a spike strip across the full width of the pavement. The police officer posted here immediately noticed them, so he held up his hand at them. Sunset slowed the car down to a stop, her mind already racing through possible scenarios on how she would react once the officer walked up to the side of the car and discovered her in the driver’s seat.

Astonishingly, rather than approach the car, the officer ran across the road and began to roll up the spike strip. Once he had cleared the spike strip off the road, he then waved at the car to pass through.

Not bothering to question what she had just witnessed, Sunset obeyed the gesture and continued down the access road. Once they had cleared the checkpoint, Sunset glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the officer unfurl the spike strip back across the pavement. “I can’t believe that actually worked,” she admitted quietly.

“Now are you pleased with your decision to bring Trixie along?” asked Trixie smugly.

Sunset sighed and reluctantly said, “Okay, I’ll let you have this one minor victory.”

“And there shall be plenty more where that came from,” declared Trixie.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” muttered Sunset.

As Sunset turned the car right onto the main street, Trixie asked, “So where to next?”

“Back to Pappalardo’s,” answered Sunset. “Princess Twilight was able to find some useful information on where the Memory Stone might’ve been, so I’ll need to pass this information on to Vinnie and his guys if we’re gonna have any hope of finding it within the next few hours.”

With no time to lose, the two girls in their performance car disguised as a police cruiser quickly headed south towards the Fresco district.

Author's Note

I have to say, I had quite some fun writing much of the interactions between Sunset and Trixie, which is sure to continue for the rest of the story. Many of the places and people featured in this chapter (such as the name and design of the car Sunset got, though I came up with the specs myself) come from the game Lego City Undercover (which I still haven't yet had the chance to play myself, though I have been able to watch videos of its content on YouTube). Also, I did say I had recently thought of throwing in some minor references to the Lego Movie 2, and I think the one I put in this chapter should be very obvious.

Confrontation

Chapter 6
Confrontation

Outside of Pappalardo’s ice cream parlor in the Fresco district of Lego City, there were two minifigs walking down the sidewalk. These two guys were both wearing black and white striped shirts and black beanie hats, one wore a grey jacket over his shirt and the other had the sleeves torn off of his. These two were none other than Rocky and Mugsy, two of the most incompetent crooks known in all of the City Regions.

“You sure this is the right place for us?” asked Mugsy, the one with the torn sleeves, who spoke in a deeper dim-witted voice.

“Sure I’m sure,” assured Rocky, the one with the jacket, who spoke with a gravelly gangster voice. “Everyone knows that the guy who runs this place is one of the biggest crime bosses in all of Lego City.”

“If everyone knows that, then why haven’t the cops taken him away?” asked Mugsy in confusion.

“‘Cuz the cops can’t get no evidence on him! He’s that good at coverin’ his tracks!” answered Rocky with a grin. He then pulled Mugsy close to him and continued, “Listen, we ain’t doin’ too well on our own lately. If we wanna get somethin’ that’ll really pay off big time, then this guy should be able to line us up with somethin’ sweet. As long as we do things right and pay him his royalty, we’re sure to make a big score!”

“Eh, I guess it’s worth a shot,” conceded Mugsy with a shrug. But just as he and his partner in crime turned onto the path towards the front door of the building, he spotted a certain type of vehicle slowing down along the street right next to them. He immediately pointed at it and worriedly spoke up, “Uh-oh. Cop car.”

Rocky glanced back and saw the police cruiser pull into a parallel parking space right across the street. “Run!” he immediately shouted in panic. Without even a second thought, the two crooks turned around and quickly fled back up the street to where they came from.

As the two brick-head crooks ran off, both doors opened on the police cruiser, and suddenly that blue and white sedan was replaced with a red roofless performance car, and the two people that were climbing out of this car were Sunset Shimmer and Trixie.

As Trixie spared a second to retrieve her magical staff from the hidden compartment behind the seat, she grinned and smugly remarked, “See, what did I say? Trixie’s illusion spell was truly a life-saver for us.”

“Celebrate later,” grumbled Sunset as she rushed towards the ice cream parlor. “We still have a lot to do, and now very little time to get it all done.”

Trixie followed Sunset inside the building. Sunset ignored everyone around her as she continued to rush across the room, up the staircase, and directly towards Vinnie’s office. Although Trixie managed to keep up, she couldn’t help but notice many of the surrounding patrons were looking at them as they rushed through the building.

As soon as Sunset reached the door to Vinnie’s office, she immediately knocked on it loudly a few times and called out, “Vinnie! It’s Sunset again, and this time it’s urgent!”

Sunset heard some shuffling papers from within the office before she heard Vinnie respond, “Alright, come on in.”

Sunset swiftly opened the door and stepped inside. Trixie followed and took the time to make sure to close the door behind her.

“This had better be important,” grumbled Vinnie as he closed one of the hidden safes in his office before walking over to his desk. “I got other things to do, ya know.”

“Trust me, this is very important,” insisted Sunset as she pulled her magic journal out of her satchel. “I asked Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria to search for any information about the Memory Stone that we might’ve missed.” She opened the journal and flipped to the page with the new information, then set the journal down on Vinnie’s desk. “This is the message she just sent me.”

Vinnie didn’t quite understand half of the things Sunset mentioned, but decided to read the message anyway. As he read the second part of it, he was unable to prevent a look of shock from appearing on his face. Once he finished reading, he looked up at Sunset and asked, “Is this for real?”

“You have no idea how much I wish it wasn’t,” responded Sunset, her desperation very clear in the tone of her voice.

Vinnie glanced down at the message again, then picked up the journal and carried it over to the photocopier as he said, “I’ll send copies of this to my guys, but don’t expect to see any results as soon as what you’re askin’ for.” He placed the journal into the photocopier and started printing copies of the important page. “I’m good at what I do, but I’m no miracle worker.”

“I understand, but we still need to at least try,” said Sunset. “At the very least, do you think you might have a lead on where we could find that rock formation?”

“I’m no geologist, I can tell you that much,” replied Vinnie. He paused in thought for a moment before he added, “Though I am familiar with someone who practically eats, sleeps, and breathes this stuff. And lucky for you, I heard this rock expert happens to be visiting from out of town today. Chances are you’ll find her over at that mine in Bluebell National Park.”

“At this point, I’ll take anything that could get us even one step closer to finding the Memory Stone,” admitted Sunset.

Once he had finished printing enough copies, Vinnie removed the journal from the photocopier. As he handed the journal back to Sunset, he said, “In that case, let’s hope you find that miracle breakthrough in your search.”

“Thanks, Vinnie,” responded Sunset with a smile. “I’ll need all the luck I can get.” She put the magic journal back into her satchel, then turned around and quickly walked out of the office.

Trixie followed Sunset out of the office. Upon seeing the amber girl rushing her way through the building again, Trixie called out, “Sunset! Why the rush?”

“In case if you’ve already forgotten, we’re working under a time limit,” Sunset shot back irritably as she rushed down the stairs. “There’s a real possibility this might come down to the last few moments, so I’m trying to save as much time as possible everywhere we go.”

“Can’t we at least stop for lunch?” complained Trixie. “Trixie’s hungry.”

Already halfway to the exit, Sunset stopped as she rolled her eyes and growled in frustration. She swiftly turned around and ran over to the service counter. She loudly smacked the countertop twice to catch the waitress’s attention and quickly asked, “What have you got that we can take on the road?”

It wasn’t long before Sunset and Trixie were back on the road, now on their way to Bluebell National Park. As they drove past the airport and through the Uptown district of Lego City, Trixie had just finished her third ice cream sandwich as she moaned in delight and cheerfully exclaimed, “It has been years since Trixie has enjoyed something so delicious!”

Sunset furrowed her brow and kept her eyes on the road as she tried to ignore Trixie, driving with one hand on the steering wheel while the other held a half-eaten ice cream sandwich of her own.

“Though personally,” Trixie rambled on, “Trixie is more partial to peanut butter crackers. Still, that was some of the best ice cream Trixie has ever had. When this is all over, perhaps I could convince Vinnie to open up a second ice cream parlor in the Castle Region, preferably right next door to Trixie’s castle. I swear, these false rumors that the Great and Powerful Trixie eats nothing but pinecones really need to be quashed at once, and requesting the construction of an ice cream parlor right next to her castle would go a long way towards—”

As they came to a stop at a red light, Sunset suddenly shoved her half-eaten ice cream sandwich into Trixie’s mouth. Once she had effectively put a stop to the endless ramblings of the blue sorceress, she growled, “I would highly appreciate if you could just learn to SHUT YOUR STUPID FACE!!” She furiously shouted those last four words directly at Trixie. As she turned her attention back to the road, the traffic light turned green, so she resumed driving ahead.

Trixie removed the half-eaten ice cream sandwich from her mouth, glanced down at it, then shrugged and took a bite out of it.

Within a few minutes, they made it across Blackwell Bridge, which connected the Uptown district directly to Bluebell National Park on the mainland — a rather abrupt transition from urban to rural developments. Shortly after that, they turned right off the main route and onto a dirt road into the surrounding woodland, and soon after took another right onto another dirt road that followed a set of railroad tracks, which eventually led to a mine entrance in the side of a mountain.

Sunset decided to park the car right next to a large shack located right in front of the mine entrance. She and Trixie got out of the car and walked around to the front porch of the shack, where there were some tables and benches under the roof and some vending machines along the wall. As they walked onto the porch, they saw one minifig packing up her lunchbox. This minifig had grey skin, light purple hair, and was wearing a miner’s helmet on her head with dark blue on her torso and upper legs.

“I figured this would be our rock expert,” Sunset quietly remarked. As she walked over to the minifig in question, she called out, “Hey! Maud Pie! Could you help us out?”

Maud turned around to face the two girls as they walked over to her. Although she was incapable of expressing emotions, Sunset was sure that even this miner girl — as a result of the effects of the Memory Stone — had feelings of ridicule for her. As soon as they stopped in front of her, Maud — in her usual dull and flat tone— finally responded, “For your information, I have no intentions of seeking a criminal record.”

“I’m not asking for that kind of help,” Sunset clarified.

“Whatever it is, I’m sure it can wait,” said Maud as she walked past them towards one of the vending machines. “I need to get back inside the mine soon.”

Trixie noticed the vending machine Maud was approaching had a decal covering the front surface that displayed a bundle of dynamite. “Does that vending machine dispense dynamite?” asked Trixie in confusion.

“It does,” replied Maud.

Now a little concerned, Trixie asked, “Doesn’t that seem a little, I don’t know… hazardous for public safety?”

“Relax,” assured Maud as she held up a coin. “These things will only accept miner tokens.” The coin in her hand was marked with two pickaxes crossed over each other. She inserted the token into the coin slot, causing the vending machine to rumble a little until a bundle of dynamite tumbled out from the bottom. Maud retrieved the dynamite, then turned around and began walking towards the mine entrance.

Sunset suddenly stepped right in front of Maud and insisted, “Whatever you’re doing in that mine, I’m sure it can wait a few minutes. But this can’t!” She reached into her satchel, pulled out the sketch of the Memory Stone, and handed it over to Maud. “This is the Memory Stone — a magical artifact from Equestria that has the power to erase memories. Someone recently used it to make everyone forget that I’m actually now with the good guys, and I need your help to figure out where it might be.”

Maud stared at the sketch for a few seconds, then turned her gaze up to Sunset and asked, “Why should I trust you?”

“If I was gonna do something evil with it, do you think I’d even tell you about it?” questioned Sunset.

“If this stone could do what you claim it’s capable of,” Maud pointed out, “you could just use it to erase my memory of this encounter.”

“Ooh, devious,” remarked Trixie with a smile. “Are you sure you’re not secretly a bad guy yourself?”

“Shut it, Trixie!” snapped Sunset.

Maud handed the sketch back to Sunset as she explained, “Even if I wanted to help you, there’s not much I can tell you from this drawing. Only that it’s felsic-intrusive igneous, granular in texture, most likely arranged in an—”

“I don’t have time for scientific lectures,” Sunset abruptly cut off as she pulled out her journal, set it down on one of the tables, and flipped to the page with Princess Twilight’s most recent message. She then grabbed Maud around the hip and pulled her towards the table as she said, “The only other clue I’ve got is that it was once buried under this rock formation.” She pointed at the sketch on the journal page. “You familiar with it?”

Maud stared at the sketch for a while, her only movement was an unnaturally slow blink.

Trixie leaned close to Sunset and quietly remarked, “Sure is a slow one, isn’t she?”

Sunset swiftly jabbed her elbow into Trixie’s torso, causing the blue sorceress to sharply cry out in pain.

Maud stared at that journal page for a few more seconds before she began to walk away as she simply said, “Follow me.”

Though a little confused by the vagueness, Sunset decided to place her journal and the sketch back into her satchel and followed Maud, with Trixie following right behind.

Maud walked over to a grey pickup truck, lowered the tailgate, set down the bundle of dynamite she was still carrying, and pulled a large box from the back of the truck’s bed. “One of my favorite hobbies to do between jobs is cartography, particularly topographical maps,” she explained as she opened the box and pulled out some 2x2 tiles, upon which were various maps that showed contour lines of certain levels of elevation. “I’m quite fascinated with trying to study every hill and valley on the terrain, as it can provide clues for what kind of geology might lie beneath the soil. I use some of the best surveying tools available to ensure I get the most accurate measurements I possibly can.” As she spoke, she opened another box and began flipping through some pictures of various natural features. Once she found one particular picture, she handed it over to Sunset. “I think you’ll be interested in this. I took this photograph approximately three years ago.”

Sunset looked at the picture, which showed a small clearing deep in the forest with three tall rocks that were equally spaced apart in a triangular arrangement with some overgrowth partially covering them and a large clump of bushes in the middle of that stone arrangement. She pulled her journal out again and flipped back to the latest message, then compared the sketch of the rock formation with the photograph. “It’s almost a perfect match,” she noted in astonishment. She turned to Maud and asked, “Where was this taken?”

Maud set down one of her maps, pulled out a pen, and marked the location on that map with a circle. She glanced back and said, “I noticed your car isn’t exactly suitable for off-road use. You won’t find any trails close to this location, but I can trace a path on this map for you to follow that should minimize the unavoidable abuse to your vehicle.” She then proceeded to draw a winding line between the location of interest and the nearest dirt road, taking great care to make it follow the contour lines.

“So, um, out of curiosity,” asked Trixie, “why have you suddenly agreed to help us?”

“I read the footnote on your second sketch that you have until tonight to recover these lost memories,” Maud pointed out. “I’ll give you that long to prove yourselves before I decide to report to the authorities that you were here.”

Sunset glanced down at her journal and realized how obvious it was that Maud would have noticed the message that went with that sketch. Although some might say Maud wasn’t offering them much, Sunset knew that if she failed to recover the lost memories in time, anything else that happened afterword simply wouldn’t matter anymore. “Fair enough,” she acknowledged with a nod as she closed her journal and placed it back inside her satchel.

Maud soon finished drawing her recommended path on the map. “You can keep this,” she said as she handed the map over to Sunset. “It’s one of many copies I’ve made.”

“Thanks, Maud,” said Sunset. “If I succeed, trust me, you’ll know it. Just keep thinking back to that day when you helped the LEGO Team try to stop a group of Shadowbolt agents from stealing some Power Crystals in the Mining Region.” Without waiting for a response, she turned around and rushed back to her car.

When Maud turned to her, Trixie simply shrugged before she followed after Sunset.

As soon as the two girls were back in their car, Trixie grabbed the map and said, “Since you’re the one who’s driving, allow Trixie to be your navigator.”

Without saying a word, Sunset took the map out of Trixie’s hands, turned it around, and placed it back in the sorceress’s hands.

Trixie looked at the map that was no longer upside down, then simply giggled in embarrassment.

Sunset shook her head before she started the engine. She then turned the car around and began driving back up the dirt road.

After leaving that official dirt road, Sunset carefully drove the car along the path that Maud had marked on the map for them. This turned out to be much easier than anticipated, as the entire length of this trail appeared to have been worn down by a pair of dusty ruts in the ground. It was still a somewhat bumpy ride, but it was nowhere nearly bad enough to risk any serious damage to the car, so long as they were careful not to drive too fast.

“You know,” Trixie spoke up, “considering we’re not supposed to be near any roads right now, this trail seems remarkably well-used.”

“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Sunset. “This could actually be an important clue. It means that whoever found the Memory Stone wasn’t some random hiker who was passing by. Someone’s been coming back and forth to this place numerous times. But why?”

“Maybe we’ll find our answers when we get to that rock formation,” suggested Trixie. “If someone’s been doing something there, that place is sure to look very different from that photo from three years ago.”

Although Sunset remained silent, she did find herself in agreement with Trixie.

After a few more minutes of slowly driving up the trail, the terrain leveled off and they began to approach a clearing in the forest. The first sign of anything unusual was the presence of a green and white van parked at the end of the trail. Sunset turned her car off the trail to the right and brought it to a stop close to the edge of the forest. This allowed the car to overlook the clearing, where the familiar formation of three tall rocks was now surrounded by flowerbeds and garden beds of many different varieties, with the largest such arrangement located right in the center. As she shifted her car into park, she glanced over at the van and saw the side paneling labeled with a rather basic graphic that read “Wallflower’s Landscaping” next to a symbol of potted yellow flower that appeared to be wilting.

“That must be our suspect’s vehicle,” concluded Trixie as she opened the door and stepped out of the car. She began to pull her seat forward to retrieve her staff, but Sunset suddenly shoved it back into place.

“No,” said Sunset sharply. “That stays here.”

Flabbergasted, Trixie frowned and firmly asked, “For what reason?”

“If my hunch is right,” replied Sunset as she adjusted something on the car’s dashboard, “then the person we’re dealing with here could be someone who’s easy to panic, and the sight of you carrying around such a dangerous object could make them react in a way that will not benefit us at all.”

“But Trixie never goes anywhere without her magical staff!” protested Trixie.

Sunset quickly tapped on her phone a few times before she responded, “You know where it’s hidden, and no one else but me knows about it. It’ll be safe, and within quick reach, if necessary. But for now, just leave it here.”

Trixie groaned loudly before she reluctantly grumbled, “Fine. If you insist…”

With that minor issue dealt with, Sunset finally shut off the car’s engine and climbed out. “And for once, please keep your mouth shut,” she grumbled at Trixie as they walked into the clearing.

Just seconds after the two girls stepped into the clearing, another minifig walked out from behind the tall stone on the opposite side of the clearing. This minifig had light green skin, dark green messy hair, and wore blue pants and a shirt with olive and medium green stripes. She was carrying a potted plant, but suddenly stopped and nearly dropped it as soon as she noticed the presence of those two girls.

That’s Wallflower Blush, thought Sunset. She was at the airport a few days ago, but I don’t know much else about her. If I’m right, then I’ll have to tread carefully with her.

Wallflower was speechless and stared at the unexpected visitors for a few seconds before she finally asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, uh, we’re just doing a favor for a friend of mine,” bluffed Sunset with a smile. “She does a lot of surveying work, and actually looked through this area a few years ago. I heard someone built a new trail around here, so I offered to swing by for a quick look to let her know if there’s been any changes here recently.” She glanced around at the surrounding various plants as she continued, “I guess now I can tell her this place has definitely changed a lot. Did you do all of this yourself?”

“Y-yes, I did,” replied Wallflower with a shy smile. “This is my personal garden. I’ve never had much luck with gardening in the inner parts of the city, so when I stumbled across this place, I figured it would be an excellent place for me to try growing all kinds of plants.”

“I may not be a botanist, but I think what you’ve got here is very impressive,” Sunset complimented.

“It’s amazing to see how much they can thrive if you give them just the right amount of care,” noted Wallflower as she carried the potted plant in her hands over to her van. She opened the rear doors and set down the plant, then reached over to grab a trowel as she continued in a more disheartened tone, “It’s not like I’ve had many requests for my services, so I’ve been coming here to keep me occupied doing what I love most. Lately, business has been so slow that I seem to be spending more time on this garden than getting paid minimum wage to work on someone else’s garden.”

“But at least you’re still getting some paying work,” Sunset pointed out. “I saw you doing some landscaping over at the airport a few days ago.”

“Yes, where those taxis you and your friends called in shoved my van off the road and took off like it was no big deal,” grumbled Wallflower as she shut the van’s rear doors and walked back into the garden with the trowel and potted plant in her hands.

“Yeah, taxi drivers in Lego City tend to be a little careless when it comes to parking,” remarked Sunset. As Wallflower walked away, Sunset dropped her poker face as she turned back to Trixie and whispered, “That happened the day before those memories were erased, and she correctly identified that I was there with my friends, which means her memories have not been affected like everyone else.”

Trixie lightly gasped and whispered, “Are you suggesting that…”

“Only one way to be absolutely sure,” Sunset whispered back. She glanced down at and clutched her magical geode pendant. After a few seconds of thinking it over, she turned her gaze back up at Trixie and quietly requested, “Start a conversation with her. Keep her distracted so I can make my move.”

Trixie smiled and nodded, then walked past Sunset to follow after Wallflower.

Meanwhile, Wallflower knelt down beside one of the tall rocks and began using her trowel to dig a small hole in the soil.

Trixie walked over to Wallflower and spoke up, “So tell me, uh, whatever your name is, have you considered trying to expand your business beyond Lego City?”

“First of all, my name is Wallflower Blush,” replied Wallflower irritably. “And second, I tend to go back and forth between Lego City and Canterlot City, but that’s it.”

“But surely there must be other regions throughout the Lego World that would love to request your services,” insisted Trixie.

“That’s just not practical for me,” explained Wallflower dejectedly. “I need to purchase permits to be allowed to do business in other regions. Someone like Filthy Rich can easily afford that, but I can’t — especially not with the meager income I’ve got.”

“Is it really supposed to be that hard to make ends meet in landscaping?” asked Trixie.

“Not really,” admitted Wallflower with a little sadness. “All the other landscapers I know of are getting by just fine. The issue I’ve been struggling with is simply convincing potential clients to ask for my services.”

“Sounds to me like you’re having trouble with attracting public attention,” noted Trixie. She then smiled and smugly added, “Lucky for you, you’re talking to someone who thrives on public attention, and is willing to offer you plenty of pointers to help you drum up some major business, big time!”

As this conversation took place, Sunset stepped lightly as she carefully made her way closer to Wallflower from behind her back. Trixie certainly stood in such a direction that she could easily notice Sunset, but did a remarkable job of keeping her attention focused only on Wallflower.

“No thanks,” declined Wallflower. “I think I’d rather—”

Once she was finally close enough, Sunset lunged forward and swiftly grabbed Wallflower’s wrist.

“Hey!” Wallflower suddenly called out in shock and confusion. “What are you…?”

With that physical contact made, Sunset’s body stiffened and her eyes glowed completely white as she began to look into Wallflower’s memories.

The first thing Sunset observed was a rather unfortunate pattern of suffering for Wallflower. She was in Canterlot City during the very first magical incident caused by Sunset, and although she somehow avoided being hypnotized with the rest of the civilians, she spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Lego City when the Dazzlings tried to take over the world, and although she somehow avoided being brainwashed by their music, she again spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Canterlot City again when Midnight Sparkle recklessly nearly destroyed everything, but while the other civilians fought back, she still spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. She was in Lego City again when the magically corrupted Gloriosa Daisy unleashed plant-based devastation, where yet again she spent the entire crisis cowering under her van. And she was again back in Canterlot City when the magically corrupted Juniper Montage went on a rampage across Sunshine Plaza, where she once more spent the entire crisis cowering under her van.

After that montage, the next memory Sunset observed was Wallflower hiking through the forested hills at the outer limits of Bluebell National Park. Eventually, she stumbled across a small clearing in the woods, marked by three tall rocks equally spaced apart and slightly covered in some overgrowth — exactly identical to the photograph Maud Pie had taken three years ago. As Wallflower looked over the clearing, she smiled as she was struck with inspiration. For someone like her who frequently shied away from other people, this location was ideally secluded and isolated for a personal project she had desired to accomplish for a long time.

Not long after discovering the peculiar rock formation, Wallflower had sufficiently cleared a path to allow her van to reach the site, which made it much easier for her to bring in all the tools and materials she would need to start planting her dream garden. However, as she dug the large pit for the centerpiece garden bed, she was surprised when her shovel struck something. She extracted the mystery object, which appeared to be wrapped in some kind of parchment. She untied the parchment wrapping and discovered the object was some kind of stone with a peculiar design carved into its surface. In addition, there was writing on the inner surface of the parchment wrap, and although the words were a little archaic, she discovered that it was essentially an instruction page about the magical properties of this stone, what it could do, and how to use it.

Next, Sunset saw the moment when she and her group of friends had met Wallflower at the airport, particularly when they discovered one of Sunset’s old wanted posters. Now that she was observing from Wallflower’s perspective, she found out that after Twilight had crumpled up and tossed away that poster, it had bounced off Wallflower’s head, and then she was about to toss it into her trash bag when those taxi cabs rammed her van off the pavement. It was bad enough that no one seemed to even acknowledge that those taxis had done something so careless and then drove off like nothing at all had happened, but what made things even worse for Wallflower was that a nearby police officer had decided to write her a ticket for illegal parking, despite the circumstances.

Wallflower was understandably furious by such an obvious injustice, and when a thought crossed her mind about wishing she didn’t have to pay for that ticket, she got an idea. As the police officer began to drive away in his cruiser, she climbed into her van, grabbed a handbag she had in the passenger seat, and pulled out the Memory Stone. After quickly checking the instruction page, she held the stone close to her chest and closed her eyes as she concentrated on the individual and the specific memory she wished to remove. The stone’s etchings glowed a bright turquoise, and just seconds later, a glowing green ribbon quickly flew from where that police officer had gone off to and vanished into the stone. With the removal of that officer’s memory of the recent incident complete, Wallflower opened her eyes and smiled. She put away the Memory Stone, then stepped out of the van and pulled out the ticket. Now that the officer lacked any memory of writing it, she tore up that ticket in satisfaction and tossed the pieces into the trash bag. In her view, this action was nothing more than an injustice being undone.

With that problem dealt with, Wallflower picked up the crumpled up poster she had recently tossed at her van in frustration. She was again about to toss it into the trash bag, but what stopped her this time was another thought crossing her mind. She uncrumpled the poster and looked into the colorless photo of the evilly smirking face of Sunset Shimmer. As she stared at the image, she sighed and muttered, “Why should you care about me? After all, you’re Sunset Shimmer, the greatest hero the Lego World has ever known.” She then scoffed and grumbled, “You’re still just as mean and selfish as you’ve always been. You’ll never change. Why can’t everyone else see that?”

Although the vast majority of people in the Lego World had come to embrace Sunset as a great hero who had learned from her past mistakes, there were some who still believed she would never be worthy of redemption, and it seemed Wallflower Blush was one of them. And after having just used the Memory Stone to right a perceived wrong, she began to come up with a truly devious idea.

Later that night, Wallflower drove out to her garden in the woods. She had previously used the Memory Stone only on single individuals to remove only one specific memory, but now she was going to do something much bigger, and according to the instruction page, this could be done only from the site where she first found that stone. After reading the instruction page again, she sat down near the center of the rock formation, held the Memory Stone close to her chest, and closed her eyes. She concentrated on everyone except Sunset, and focused on removing any memory that perceived her as a good person. Finally, the Memory Stone began to glow.

Sunset watched each of her friends sleeping in their hotel rooms as a glowing red ribbon was suddenly pulled out from each of their heads. A closer look revealed these ribbons actually more resembled strips of film, with each frame displaying various images of Sunset. And this wasn’t limited to just her friends in the hotel. All across Lego City, dozens, then hundreds of these glowing red ribbons flew out of all the buildings and headed right towards Bluebell National Park, where thousands more of these ribbons from all over the Lego World gathered together. All these glowing ribbons of stolen memories swirled together into a vortex that funneled directly into the Memory Stone in Wallflower’s hands. The stone was now glowing bright red, and once the last of those stolen memories had finally been collected, the glow faded.

Once the process was completed, Wallflower opened her eyes. She glanced down at the Memory Stone and smiled in satisfaction. As far as she was concerned, ultimate justice had finally been served.

As the visions from Wallflower’s memories came to an end, Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal. As soon as she regained awareness of her surroundings, Sunset immediately shoved Wallflower away and accusingly shouted, “So you’re the one who erased everyone’s memories of me!”

Wallflower stuttered for a few seconds before she managed to stand back up and, as her expression turned from worried confusion to fierce determination, firmly said, “Yes… I did!”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “Seriously? You? A random nobody?”

“Exactly!” snapped Wallflower. “No one ever listens to me, no one ever notices me, no one ever cares about me! Because everyone always ignores me, I’ve personally experienced all kinds of unfair injustices in this world.” She turned her intense glare back to Sunset. “But no injustice could possibly be any worse than seeing number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted be allowed to go free and get away with every single crime she’s ever committed.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Sunset shot back. “I was pardoned because I had proved to everyone that I had changed!”

“But you haven’t changed!” argued Wallflower. “You may have fooled everyone in the Lego World, but now I’ve been able to expose the truth to all of them — that you’re still just as mean and ruthless as you’ve ever been!”

“And I’ve done everything I can to leave that part of me in the past!” argued Sunset. “I absolutely hate doing the awful things I used to do, but sometimes I’m left with no other alternatives!” Still furious and with her fists clenched, she lowered her voice as she slowly walked towards Wallflower. “And right now, because you’ve so recklessly decided to take away all the things that made me happy about my new life, you have made me very desperate.”

“Whoa! Okay! Timeout, everyone!” Trixie suddenly spoke up worriedly as she quickly stood between Sunset and Wallflower and held her arms out to keep them apart. As she glanced back and forth between the two opposing girls, she continued, “Even the Great and Powerful Trixie can identify when a situation is in need of a more diplomatic solution, and this right here definitely counts as such — especially considering that one side is in possession of an all-powerful magical artifact.”

Sunset tightly gripped Trixie’s wrist and furiously grumbled, “I’ve put up with enough of your pesky behavior! Heck, the only thing stopping me from punching you in the face right now is that there’s someone else here who I’d much rather wanna punch in the face!”

With Sunset’s attention on Trixie, Wallflower took advantage of the diversion to slip back to her van, open the passenger door, and pull out her handbag. “If that’s what you really wanna do to me,” she called back as she shut the door, “then you’ll have to catch me first!” She then took off running deep into the forest.

Sunset immediately shoved Trixie aside and ran after Wallflower. “GET BACK HERE!!” she roared furiously.

Trixie stumbled a little, but once she quickly regained her footing, she ran after the two girls and cried out, “Hey! Wait for Trixie!”

The three girls ran off deeper into the woods, Wallflower trying to make her escape, Sunset determined to stop her, and Trixie desperately trying to keep up with them. As they rushed through the dense foliage, Wallflower and Sunset ducked beneath low branches and jumped over logs or bushes on the ground, while Trixie smacked into or stumbled over nearly half of these obstacles.

As the girls began running uphill, another obstacle they came across was short slope of boulders and rocks. Wallflower scrambled her way over the boulders, quickly followed by Sunset, and then Trixie stumbled halfway up and dislodged a few of the large rocks, but managed to reach the top and continued after the others.

It wasn’t long before the uphill chase left the forest and continued up onto a rocky side of a mountain. Oddly enough, there was a series of stone steps carved into the mountainside, which the three girls followed without question. While Wallflower and Sunset continued running at full effort, Trixie began gasping for breath and her pace started to slow a little.

As Trixie followed the others up the mountain steps, she remarked between each deep gasp of air, “Perhaps Trixie… should consider getting… a gym membership…”

Eventually, they reached the top of the stone stairway, where there was an old door hanging crooked from its frame that led to some underground passage within the mountain. Wallflower rushed through the doorway and pulled the door closed behind her. Sunset reached that door and threw it open before rushing inside, the force of which snapped the door off its hinges and caused it to start sliding down the steps. Trixie was forced to jump over the falling door before she reached the mysterious entrance and, despite some hesitation, ran inside.

Wallflower was now leading the chase through the stone corridor, which soon gave way to straight hallways made of concrete and steel. This strange underground facility was illuminated by a series of lights, some of which were flickering or had completely burned out. There were also various bits of junk strewn across the floor in some places, which forced the girls to jump over some of them. Despite how seemingly extensive this hidden facility appeared to be, the only noise to be heard was their rapidly clacking footsteps echoing across the deserted hallways and chambers.

As they ran down yet another empty hallway, they passed by numerous doors. One door was left slightly ajar, so Wallflower threw it open in an effort to block her pursuers. Sunset dealt with that by swiftly kicking the door out of the way, causing it to slam shut with an almost deafening echo.

Finally, Wallflower threw open another door and rushed through the doorway. Sunset quickly followed her and immediately found herself inside a rather small room that consisted mostly of damaged shelves that held some paint cans and a few various tools, along with a small window to the outside on the opposite wall. Sunset quickly glanced around the room, but somehow had lost sight of the green girl she had been fiercely pursuing.

It wasn’t long before Trixie finally caught up, now panting heavily. As she hunched over to catch her breath, her gaze wandered to the near right corner of the room where she found a water cooler that was still mostly full of water. “Refreshment!” she wheezed as she collapsed to the floor in front of that water cooler, turned her face upward, and pushed the nozzle open to begin guzzling that water directly from the tap.

Meanwhile, Sunset continued scanning the room, but still found no sign of Wallflower Blush. “I know you’re in here!” she called out firmly. “Show yourself! You can’t hide from me!”

As Sunset continued glaring forward and Trixie wiped her mouth after finishing her drink, neither of them noticed a large sheet of plywood leaning against the wall slide from the near left corner toward the door. Once that plywood sheet was next to the doorway, Wallflower emerged from her cover behind it, slipped out the doorway, then swiftly shut the door and twisted the locking mechanism on it.

The moment that door was slammed closed, Sunset immediately turned around and tried to open it, but couldn’t get it to budge as it was already locked shut.

On the outside of that door, Wallflower set down her handbag and pulled out the Memory Stone. She then slid open the small viewing window in the door and simply said, “I don’t like confrontation, so let’s just… forget this ever happened.” She then held the Memory Stone in the middle of the viewing window as the etchings on that stone began to glow bright turquoise.

From within the room, both Sunset and Trixie could see the glowing magical artifact through the viewing window. Sunset’s furious expression quickly gave way to shock as she cried out, “No! Don’t erase—”

Sunset and Trixie glanced around at the strange room they now found themselves in. They saw a shut door in the middle of one wall, a water cooler to the left of it, and a sheet of plywood leaning against the wall to the right of it. The opposite wall had a small window to the outside that provided illumination for the room. And scattered across one side of the room were damaged shelves that held some paint cans and a few various tools.

As Trixie looked around, she subconsciously tried to grasp something, but immediately froze once she discovered there was nothing in either of her hands. She looked down at her empty hands in panic and cried out, “Where’s my magical staff?! Trixie never goes anywhere without it!”

While Sunset continued to slowly glance around in confusion, Trixie quickly tried to leave the room, but was again shocked to discover that it was locked shut. “Why won’t this door open?” she complained. As she turned her gaze back across the room, she asked, “What is this place, anyway? And what are we even doing in here?”

Sunset slowly turned to Trixie and hesitantly replied, “I… don’t remember…”

Author's Note

Can't have a LEGO Equestria Girls story without a cameo of a certain pair of incompetent crooks. I also decided to include Maud and have her serve a somewhat useful purpose. Not to mention, those dynamite vending machines are based on a game mechanic from Lego City Undercover. As for Wallflower, since I had to adjust her motives for using the Memory Stone (obviously because they're not high school students here), I decided to try something a little more convincing, at least from her perspective. As for the mysterious underground facility, more on that will be explained in the next chapter.

An Unforgettable Escape

Chapter 7
An Unforgettable Escape

It was late afternoon in Lego City. While Sunset Shimmer was busy trying to track down the Memory Stone, the rest of her friends had spent the day at the amusement park on the pier at Paradise Sands. Some rode the rides a few times, others enjoyed the food sold at the concession stands, and some were content with just hanging out together.

At one point, Rarity and Applejack left to retrieve something from one of their hotels rooms, so the rest of the group decided to wait for them at one of the tables close to the street. The distance between the pier and the hotel was short enough for a ten minute walk, so the group was a little confused when Rarity and Applejack returned more than half an hour after they left.

“What took ya so long?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Apologies, darlings,” responded Rarity, “but it would appear that some unforeseen circumstances have arisen at the hotel quite recently.”

“Ah’m afraid it’ll be a while before any of us can even go back to our hotel rooms,” added Applejack as she and Rarity stopped near the table the others were sitting at.

“What’s going on over there?” asked Twilight as she stood up from her seat.

“The cops showed up an’ set up a perimeter around the buildin’,” replied Applejack.

“Apparently, the receptionist tipped them off that he had witnessed Sunset Shimmer entering the premises,” added Rarity.

“Sunset Shimmer was there?” asked Pinkie in shock as she quickly stood up from her seat.

“She was seen entering the elevator, claiming that she wished only to retrieve something from her room,” confirmed Rarity, “but that’s all we know at this time.”

“An’ Ah’m afraid it’ll be a while before we get a chance to find out more,” added Applejack in frustration. “The hotel staff called in pest control to sweep the upper floors ‘cause someone up there heard someone else complainin’ ‘bout a ‘filthy rat’.”

“Wouldn’t surprise me if Sunset set that up to cover her escape,” muttered Spike.

“If she did escape, she must’ve been very quick about it, ‘cause the cops there sure haven’t seen any sign of her,” Applejack pointed out.

“Although while we were there, I did recall Miss Shimmer’s claims that she was a very close friend of ours,” noted Rarity, “so I asked the receptionist if Sunset had booked her room anywhere close to our rooms.”

“So what did you find?” asked Twilight.

“This is where things get a little strange,” continued Rarity uneasily. “There was no record that Sunset had booked a room. However, according to the receipt from my transaction, not only did I book five rooms instead of only four as I’m sure I had intended, but it also had all of our signatures on it… including Sunset’s.”

“That is rather strange,” acknowledged Fluttershy.

“Eh, she probably hacked the system to make you pay for her room and then added her signature when the front desk guy wasn’t looking,” said Rainbow Dash dismissively.

“Okay, now you’re just grasping at straws,” grumbled Twilight as she put her hands on her hips and glared at Rainbow. “Why in the world would Sunset — supposedly the most wanted criminal in all of the Lego World — go through all the effort of obtaining access to a room on the top floor of a major hotel and even sign her own name on a receipt that only we would have access to?”

“Because she’s a crook!” argued Rainbow. “It’s what she does!”

“No, that’s what a very stupid crook would do!” Twilight shot back. “And as far as I know, Sunset is not stupid. If you took the time to actually think about it, you’d realize that your biased claims, when put into practice, would actually be much more trouble than it’s worth.”

“And how would you know?” asked Rainbow accusingly as she got up from her seat and glared at Twilight.

“Because in case if you’ve forgotten, I happen to have experience as a Shadowbolt agent!” Twilight pointed out furiously. “I know what it takes to pull off illegal activity while leaving behind minimal evidence! I’ve endured an extensive training program that taught me everything I needed to know about stealth operations! And in my expert opinion, the evidence I’m seeing indicates that Sunset has made no effort to conceal her presence — possibly because she’s not even trying to do something illegal in the first place!”

“This is Sunset! She’s always up to no good!” argued Rainbow. She then folded her arms and grumbled, “And now that you mention it, I guess it’s no wonder she would have the support of someone as evil as a Shadowbolt agent.”

That spiteful remark caused the rest of the group of friends watching on the sidelines to gasp in shock.

“Oh, you did not just say that!” seethed Twilight.

“Darn right I did!” Rainbow shot back.

“Please stop fighting!” begged Fluttershy desperately. Unfortunately, her pleas went completely ignored.

“You’d better watch what you say next,” threatened Twilight. “I may not have been the toughest Shadowbolt agent, but I’m still more than good enough to kick your butt!”

“Then come at me, four-eyes!” shouted Rainbow furiously.

That was the breaking point, and Twilight prepared herself to lunge at Rainbow. But just before they could come to blows, their friends finally intervened and desperately held them back away from each other as they all shouted over each other in terror. Applejack and Rarity pushed back against Rainbow Dash, while Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike tried to hold Twilight back. All sides struggled against each other for a few seconds. Eventually, Pinkie — who was holding Twilight from behind — lost her footing and fell over backwards, bringing Twilight down onto the planking with her, causing Fluttershy to fall over sideways beside her and Spike to fall face-down at their feet. At the same time, Applejack spun around and slammed Rainbow down onto the planking and pinned her down, causing Rarity to lose her balance and fall over backwards to land on her rear end.

Once everyone was down on the pier’s planking, Rarity — who was the only one sitting up rather than lying down — glanced over her friends and fearfully exclaimed, “Goodness! How could we allow ourselves to fall to pieces like this?!”

“Figuratively or literally?” asked Pinkie as she held up Twilight’s detached left arm.

“I don’t think it even matters,” replied Spike, still in shock from the narrowly prevented fist-fight.

“Ow!” groaned Rainbow as she strained under the very firm grip of Applejack. “Did you really have to be so rough?”

“You an’ Twilight were about to beat the livin’ daylights outta each other!” countered Applejack. “Of course Ah had to be rough!”

Twilight sat up, took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then turned to Pinkie and quietly requested, “My arm, please.”

Without saying a word, Pinkie reattached Twilight’s arm.

With her arm back on, Twilight stood up, closed her eyes as she rubbed her hand over her brow, then looked across her friends and declared, “Well girls, I think this incident has just sent us a powerful message. There are too many unknowns surrounding Sunset Shimmer, and for the sake of our friendships, we cannot afford to ignore this for much longer.”

“I concur, darling,” agreed Rarity as she stood up and then helped Fluttershy up to her feet.

“So what should we do about it?” asked Fluttershy as she helped Spike up to his feet.

“It’s like Twilight said earlier,” Applejack spoke up as she stood up and then helped Rainbow Dash up to her feet. “We need to meet with Sunset Shimmer an’ have a lil’ talk with her.”

“She’s already come to us twice in the last two days,” Pinkie Pie pointed out as she stood up. “She’ll probably be back soon enough.”

“I wouldn’t count on that,” said Spike with guilt. “After how hostile we were to her both of those times, I bet she’s now trying to stay away from us.”

“Understandable, but unacceptable,” said Twilight with determination as she pulled out her phone. “I’m afraid this’ll leave us with only one option. I’m going to ask the police to inform Sunset that we wish to talk with her.”

“How is that gonna be possible?” asked Rainbow Dash skeptically. “We all know the cops have never been able to stop her.”

“They don’t have to catch her to give her a message,” Twilight pointed out. “All they have to do is get within shouting distance to her and inform her of our request. Once she’s aware that we’re willing to talk, she’ll know where to find us.” With the decision made, she began dialing on her phone.

In an abandoned underground facility, Sunset and Trixie remained trapped inside a small room. Sunset tried with all her might to pull and push the door open, but it was firmly locked shut. Eventually, she pounded on the door in frustration, then turned around to rest her back against it. She pulled out her phone to check the time, then thumped the back of her head against the door as she groaned and muttered, “Only three hours left. If we don’t get outta here and figure out who has the Memory Stone, it’ll be too late to restore everyone’s memories, and I’ll lose my friends forever!”

Trixie stood with her arms folded at one side of the room beside the water cooler. “I just wish I could remember why I don’t have my magical staff with me,” she grumbled bitterly. “How are we supposed to catch someone who can erase our memory every time we get close to catching them?”

Sunset sighed in defeat, but as she glanced back at her phone in her hand, she stared at it for a moment before she smiled and remarked, “By being clever!”

“Say what?” asked Trixie in confusion.

Sunset began tapping away on her phone as she explained, “I just remembered that, all day long, I’ve been taking notes on my phone to keep track of everywhere I’ve been and everything I’ve done! Clover the Clever used a similar strategy to eventually catch the first holder of the Memory Stone, and since I had no clue who even has it now, I decided to not take any chances and made sure I recorded everything I could, just in case if my memory got erased at any point.”

“Ingenious,” remarked Trixie with a smile.

“You got that right,” acknowledged Sunset. She showed her phone to Trixie and said, “See? I’ve made short and quick notes of everything I’ve been through today!” She turned her phone back to herself and started scrolling through the notes as she mumbled, “Now let’s see… recovered the secret stash… invited Trixie… bought back my old car… talked to Vinnie… retrieved my journal from the hotel… went back to Vinnie… talked to Maud at the mine…” She then suddenly spoke up, “Here it is! The last note on this list is the only one I don’t remember any part of. It says, ‘Arrived at rock formation. Someone is there. Recording on car’s dash-cam.’” She then pumped her fist and excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! If we can get back to the car, we can check the dash-cam footage and possibly discover who has the Memory Stone!”

“Such a brilliant idea!” praised Trixie. She then dropped her smile and continued in a more disappointed tone, “Except there are two serious issues with that plan. We don’t know where the car is! We don’t know where we are!”

“Not for long we won’t,” remarked Sunset as she walked across the room to the small window and held her phone up on the windowsill. “C’mon, GPS, don’t fail me now…” she muttered under her breath as she tapped away on her phone. After a few seconds, she stopped tapping while keeping her eyes on her phone. “Mount Cashmore?” she said in astonishment. She turned around and glanced around the room as she continued, “This must be Rex Fury’s old base of operations. I heard it was largely abandoned after he was arrested again. I guess what we see here confirms that.”

“Okay, so that answers where we are,” noted Trixie, “but we still don’t know where the car is.”

“Good thing I’ve got an app for that,” remarked Sunset as she pulled up an app on her phone that was meant to locate vehicles. She had recorded her car’s identification code in her notes, so she copied that into the app’s search engine. Making sure to hold her phone up at the window again, she entered the search and, within a few seconds, got the results. At first, she was confused to see it was seemingly out in the middle of the wilderness of Bluebell National Park, but then she checked a picture she had taken of the map Maud had provided, and discovered that the location of the rock formation marked on that map matched up almost perfectly with the location of the car. Again, she pumped her fist and excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! The car’s still parked near the rock formation! Now all we have to do is figure out how to get there as quickly as possible.”

“And that brings us back to our first problem,” Trixie pointed out as she walked over to the door, grasped the handle, and futilely tried to open the locked door. “We’re still trapped in here.”

Sunset hummed to herself thoughtfully as she put her phone back in her satchel. While her hand was inside her satchel, it brushed against a certain item she had, the presence of which started to give her an idea. As she slowly turned her gaze towards the sheet of plywood resting against the wall beside the door, she muttered, “I wonder…” She walked over to the plywood and pulled it over to fall flat onto the floor. Hidden behind that plywood just to the right of the door was a large light embedded in the wall that was glowing red. Upon discovering this light, Sunset smiled and said, “This could be our key outta here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Trixie as she raised an eyebrow.

“This is a color switch,” Sunset pointed out. “If it’s connected to this door, then all we have to do is turn it from red to green and the door should automatically unlock.”

“And just how do you propose we do that?” asked Trixie skeptically.

“With this!” proclaimed Sunset proudly as she pulled the color gun out of her satchel. “Thank you, Vinnie!”

“Is that the color gun he gave you?” asked Trixie. “How is that supposed to help us?”

Sunset quickly glanced around the room and quietly noted, “I think there’s enough pieces in here to build a color swapper.” As she began dismantling some of the empty racks of shelves, she spoke up to Trixie, “While I get to work on this, I want you to search through those paint cans for some green paint.”

“Seems kinda pointless, but whatever,” muttered Trixie with a shrug before she walked over to the paint cans on the opposite side of the room. “Not like Trixie has anything better to do right now.”

Sunset tore apart three racks of shelves, the water cooler, and an extra bottle beside that cooler. She then quickly reassembled all those Lego parts into a small contraption that consisted of two empty containers attached by their nozzles to a single part that on one side had a nozzle opening and on the other side was attached to a shaft that was connected to a large frame. The shaft allowed the two containers to rotate so that one was up while the other was down.

Meanwhile, Trixie picked up a small crowbar from among the various tools scattered on the floor and used it to pry open the lid from one of the paint cans, then looked inside. “Red…” she muttered as she put the lid back on, set that can aside, then pried open the lid of another paint can. “Blue…” She put the lid back on, set aside that paint can, then pried open the lid of the next one. “Silver…” She put the lid back on that paint can, set it aside, then pried open the next one. As she looked inside that can, she suddenly called out, “Trixie found green paint!”

“Perfect timing,” remarked Sunset as she removed one of the two empty containers from her creation. “Bring it over here and pour the paint into this container.”

Trixie dropped the crowbar and carried the opened paint can over to Sunset, then carefully poured all of the green paint inside into the transparent container. After a quick shake to make sure every drop was out, she then tossed aside the now empty paint can, which clattered against the concrete floor.

Sunset reattached the now full container to the color swapper she had built, then spun the nozzle around so that the full container was on top and the empty one was at the bottom. As she aimed her color gun at the central nozzle of the color swapper, she muttered, “Well, here it goes…” She stuck the gun’s muzzle into the color swapper’s nozzle, triggering the vacuum mechanism that quickly sucked the purple paint out of the color gun and into the empty lower container, then just as quickly sucked the green paint out of the upper container and into the color gun. Once the two sets of paint had been swapped, the nozzle released its hold on the gun.

Sunset glanced at the color gun’s transparent chamber and saw that it was now green instead of purple. She turned to her right and aimed the gun at the large red light on the wall. She then squeezed the handle, shooting a blob of green paint at the light, quickly engulfing it and essentially making it now glow green instead of red. Almost immediately after the color change to the light, there was a mild thunk from the door as it was suddenly unlocked and then partially swung open on its own.

“Yes!” cheered Sunset as she pumped her fist. “We’re free!”

“I can’t believe that actually worked,” said Trixie in astonishment.

“Like I said earlier, cartoon physics brought to life,” remarked Sunset as she put her color gun back into her satchel. She stepped through the doorway and pushed the door completely wide open. She glanced up and down both ends of the hallway a couple times before she pointed to the right and said, “Let’s try this way.”

“Are you sure you know which way to go?” asked Trixie as she followed right behind Sunset.

“Not really,” admitted Sunset as she continued walking down the deserted hallway. “As far as I know, this is the first time I’ve ever been in this place.”

“Trixie had been expecting otherwise,” remarked Trixie.

“How so?” asked Sunset.

“Trixie had assumed that you would’ve sought an alliance with Rex Fury to aid in your criminal pursuits,” replied Trixie.

“I was never interested in working with Rex Fury,” Sunset clarified. She then added under her breath, “Too much of a meat-head for my taste.”

The two girls continued down the hallway until they reached a larger hallway that consisted of a lower main floor and a pair of upper walkways along either side. They were currently standing on one of the upper walkways — having come through a side passage — with many segments of railing missing from the edge of these walkways.

“Let’s try to look for any paths that lead upward,” suggested Sunset. “Since we’re in an underground facility, going up will offer us the best chance of finding a way out of this place.”

“You crooks won’t be going anywhere!”

Sunset and Trixie turned their gazes down to the source of that voice, only to suddenly have a flashlight shining directly in their faces. They both squinted their eyes against the harsh light and held out a hand to block it. As soon as their eyesight had recovered, they looked down and saw at least half a dozen police officers close together on the lower floor, all of whom glared up at the two girls, and standing at the head of the squad was a particularly familiar officer.

“Flash Sentry?” asked Sunset in shock and confusion. “Shouldn’t you be in Canterlot City?”

“Normally, yes,” confirmed Flash with a very serious look on his face, “but my greatest desire as an officer of the law is to finally bring you to justice, Sunset Shimmer, so when I got word that you were somewhere in Lego City, I came over as quickly as possible. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait long, because a certain wallflower tipped us off that you were hiding out in here with an associate who also happens to be high up on LEGO’s Most Wanted.”

“We’re not hiding out!” argued Trixie. “We’re trying to escape so we can stop the real bad guy!”

“I don’t have time for your nonsense!” Flash shot back furiously. He then spoke in a lowered voice, “Now then, we can do this the easy way, or we can do this—”

“We’ll take the hard way!” declared Sunset as she swiftly pulled her grapple gun out of her satchel and fired it at one of the pipes along the ceiling. Once the grappling hook was latched on and the cable was pulled taut, she pulled Trixie close to her and jumped off the edge of the walkway. As the two girls — with Trixie screaming in terror the whole way— swung across, they slammed right through the entire squad of police officers and sent them literally falling to pieces — though Flash Sentry was able to jump out of the way in time, losing only his hat in the process. The two girls quickly landed on the other upper walkway, and while Trixie took a moment to regain her bearings, Sunset flicked the cable to loosen the grappling hook and thus allow her to retract it back to the grappling gun. Without even a brief moment of hesitation, Sunset turned around and ran off down a nearby smaller corridor, leaving Trixie with no choice but to quickly follow after her.

Flash picked up his police hat and put it back on his head as he quickly got back up on his feet just in time to watch which direction the two suspects ran off. He growled in frustration, then turned to his fellow officers and barked, “Pull yourselves together and go after them!”

The other police officers grunted in acknowledgement as they rushed to reattach arms, legs, heads, and any other parts that had come apart.

While the other cops scrambled to get themselves back in action, Flash glared firmly at the corridor entrance the two girls had escaped through. He slowly shook his head and grumbled fiercely under his breath, “Bad girls, bad girls… what’cha gonna do… what’cha gonna do when they come for you?”

As Sunset and Trixie continued to run through the corridor, Trixie asked, “So let me get this straight… that little shoulder bag you’re carrying is holding your big journal, a color gun, and a grapple gun?”

“Along with a few other various things,” noted Sunset as she put her grapple gun back into her satchel.

“Okay, just how is that even possible?” asked Trixie incredulously.

Sunset smiled and slyly remarked, “Let’s just say my friend Pinkie Pie once taught me the secret of, in her words, ‘carrying oodles of items inside small containers.’”

Just seconds later, the two escapees reached the end of the corridor and entered a modestly sized chamber. Much like the room they had started in, this chamber had all kinds of various junk and debris scattered across the floor. There were also two other corridors that led in opposite directions out of the chamber. Sunset quickly gazed across every single item within the room — the mind of a Master Builder kicking into overdrive.

“So what’s the plan?” asked Trixie.

“If we’re gonna have any chance of escaping this place, then we’ll need to slow down the cops wherever we go,” replied Sunset. She then smiled and added, “And I know just where to start…” She began by quickly gathering up much of the debris into a small pile — many of which were just some basic bricks of various sizes. Next, she grabbed one end of a pirate cannon barrel and dragged it over to the middle of the room, then tipped it upright so that it now stood with its muzzle on the floor. With all the parts she needed now gathered, she quickly assembled the chunks of debris into a sturdy base with two support arms. Once she had built up enough of it, she tipped it over and held it up near the cannon barrel as she told Trixie, “Hold this right here.”

Trixie did as she was told and held up the odd structure next to the cannon barrel, allowing Sunset to quickly assemble the rest of the parts to attach everything together into a single object.

Click-clack-click-clack-click-click-clack-clack-click-clack!

By the time Flash Sentry and the other police officers reached the chamber through the first corridor, they quickly came to a stop as they watched Sunset quickly throw together the last few pieces of her custom creation. In the minds of these officers, what they were witnessing should be impossible, as Sunset’s official criminal record had listed her as having no creative talents at all.

“What the—? You’re a Master Builder?!” asked Flash in shock. “Since when?!”

“For quite a while, actually,” remarked Sunset playfully. She then pushed the cannon over, causing her creation to fall over and land upright on its intended base, which now allowed the cannon to be aimed vertically over a wide angle. As she then assembled a small projectile and stuffed it down the cannon barrel, she explained, “You just don’t know that right now because your memories of everything I did after joining the good guys have been taken away. If you guys let me go, I’ll promise to do everything I can to catch the real bad guy and recover your stolen memories.”

Although Flash was confused about the mention of “stolen memories”, he knew what Sunset was really asking for, so he didn’t hesitate to sharply respond, “As if!”

With a smile still on her face, Sunset remarked, “Yeah, didn’t think so.” She grasped the back end of the cannon and yanked the trigger, causing the cannon to blast the projectile up at the ceiling directly in front of the opening to the corridor the cops were standing in. The projectile exploded and tore off huge chunks of the ceiling, which then collapsed into a large pile that completely blocked the corridor. With the obstacle now in place, Sunset immediately rushed through one of the two remaining corridors and called back, “C’mon, Trixie! Let’s go!”

Knowing there was no time to argue, Trixie quickly followed after Sunset down the corridor.

At the end of this corridor, the two girls arrived at an immensely massive cavern with a series of platforms along two opposite sides, with a seemingly bottomless gap between the two sides.

“What’s the purpose of this big empty space, anyway?” asked Trixie in stunned disbelief.

Despite having similar questions, Sunset kept her focus on searching for new escape routes. Over to the left, she found a ladder along a series of supports leading to another platform higher up from the one they currently stood on. “You first, up the ladder!” demanded Sunset as she grabbed Trixie and shoved her towards the ladder.

Trixie stumbled, but despite her confusion, she went ahead and started climbing up the ladder as quickly as she could.

While Trixie made her way up, Sunset pulled out her grapple gun and fired it straight down at the floor to release the grappling hook. She then placed the grappling hook so that it was latched onto the bottom rung of the ladder, then began climbing the ladder herself while holding onto her grapple gun, further extending its cable as she kept climbing.

It wasn’t long before Trixie reached the top, immediately followed by Sunset. Once she was up on the upper platform, Sunset turned around, squeezed the grapple gun’s handle to pull the cable taut, then began pulling up on it. It took a few tugs, but eventually she successfully yanked the bottom of the ladder off the frame. Since this particular ladder happened to be rather flexible, it was simply a matter of fully retracting the grappling hook to bring the bottom end of the ladder up onto the platform. Once she grasped onto the lifted bottom rung, she unhooked the grapple hook from it and put the grapple gun back into her satchel.

“Help me pull this up!” requested Sunset as she began hauling up the rest of the ladder, rung by rung. Trixie did as she was told, and in only a matter of seconds, they had successfully pulled the entire flexible ladder up onto the platform. Sunset detached the top end of the ladder from the edge of the platform, then spread out the entire ladder so that it was lying straight and flat across floor.

“So what now?” asked Trixie.

Sunset glanced around and quickly found what appeared to be a frame structure that used to hold up something like a crane arm. She rushed over to the structure, then as she began removing parts from it, she responded, “We can use these Technic beams to make the ladder more rigid. That will allow us to swing the ladder around so that it can span the gap across this cavern, which we can then walk right across.”

“Trixie’s beginning the seriously question the geniusness of Master Builders,” remarked Trixie uneasily. “This idea sounds completely nuts.”

“If you don’t wanna get arrested, then this is what we have to do,” insisted Sunset as she gathered up the beams and dropped them into a pile beside the ladder. Once she was sure she had enough, she began attaching those beams to the sides of the ladder. To ensure the space between every single rung was kept sturdy, she made sure that each gap between two beams on one side was covered by the span of a single beam on the other side. Once she had fully strengthened the entire length of the ladder, she grabbed onto one end and requested, “Help me lift this thing.”

Trixie stood beside Sunset and they both grabbed onto the third rung out and pulled while using their feet to anchor the end of the two sets of beams. Their combined strength was barely enough to hold the lengthy ladder just above the floor, but that was all they needed. While Trixie stayed perfectly in place, Sunset carefully moved slightly backward to swing the ladder around to the left, then once it was pointing directly across the gap, they slowly lowered it down until the far end eventually settled onto the platform on the other side.

As soon as that rigid ladder was set down between the two distant platforms, Sunset immediately stepped onto the ladder and began making her way across. She moved quickly while also watching her every step, and it wasn’t long until she reached the other side. As she stepped onto the platform, she turned around and was annoyed to see that Trixie had not yet even begun to walk across. “C’mon, Trixie! Let’s go!” she called out irritably.

Trixie hesitated for a moment, but soon took a deep breath and began to carefully make her way across. As she slowly walked along the ladder, she couldn’t help but complain, “You’ve been on way too many adventures to think a crossing like this could be acceptable by any means!”

Sunset rolled her eyes at Trixie’s complaint. As soon as Trixie was across and standing beside her on the platform, Sunset kicked the ladder away, sending it plunging into the dark abyss below. “This way,” she said as she turned around and began running through the nearby corridor. Trixie had no choice but to continue following her.

The two escapees rushed through the corridor as it continued at a gentle upward slope. They eventually reached a small room with some more bits of debris scattered across the floor. Unfortunately, the only other way out of this room was blocked by a solid door made of silver Lego bricks.

Sunset growled in frustration and grumbled, “Great, a silver barrier. Too bad we don’t have anything explosive to get rid of it.”

“Oh, look!” Trixie suddenly pointed out to the right side of the room. “There’s another one of those vending machines that dispenses dynamite.”

Sunset glanced over to where Trixie was pointing and, sure enough, she saw a vending machine with a front decal that displayed a bundle of dynamite. “Huh, that was surprisingly convenient,” she remarked before she began walking towards it.

“Perhaps not,” stated Trixie in discouragement. “Don’t you remember what that weird girl at the mine said? Those things will only accept miner tokens.”

“Then it’s a good thing I haven’t lost my touch when it comes to pickpocketing,” quipped Sunset with a smile as she suddenly held up one of those particular tokens. “Sorry, Maud,” she added under her breath as she inserted the token into the vending machine, which then rattled a bit before a bundle of dynamite dropped out of the bottom. She picked up that bundle of dynamite and set it down directly in front of the silver door. “A little barrier to focus the blast…” she muttered as she quickly gathered up all of the scattered debris and assembled those bricks into a short wall around the bundle of dynamite. Once everything was set up, she grabbed the free match that had been provided with the dynamite, struck that match against the nearby wall, then used the tiny flame to ignite the fuse. Once the fuse was lit, she tossed aside the match and quickly took cover behind one of the support columns at the corridor entrance, with Trixie likewise taking cover behind the other support column.

BOOM!!

Sunset and Trixie waited a few seconds for the debris to stop flying. “If the cops managed to catch up to us, they’re definitely gonna know where we are now,” remarked Trixie.

Once they assumed it was safe enough to look, they peered around the columns and were surprised to see daylight shining through the cloud of dust that still lingered from the explosion. With that sign of encouragement, they immediately rushed through the newly opened passageway.

After running down a short corridor, they passed through a large open doorway and entered a very large room. At the far side of the room up ahead, some twisted frames and broken bits of glass were all that remained of what was once a series of large windows along that entire side of the room. They ran over to the opening outside and saw a balcony extended beyond where the glass wall used to be, ultimately extending out towards a circular platform with no railings, almost like it was once used as some sort of helipad. They quickly walked out onto the balcony and saw that they were essentially on the side of a mountain with seemingly no ground path to lead anywhere. Out ahead of them, the landscape below consisted of dense woodland covering rolling hills.

“Okay, good news is we’ve made it outside,” noted Trixie. “Bad news is we can’t go any further without plummeting to our doom.”

Sunset pulled out her phone and checked the map to compare it to the terrain in front of them. After a few seconds, she put her phone back into her satchel as she stated, “So close, and yet, so far. Our car and the rock formation should be on that shallow hilltop over there.” She pointed straight ahead towards one particular hill that, even front this distance, appeared to have a small clearing in the woods at its crest.

“If only we had some way to simply fly or glide directly to that site,” mused Trixie. “That would make our escape so much easier.”

Sunset sighed and turned around. “Let’s search this room for anything that could help us,” she suggested as she walked back into the large room and headed to the right.

Trixie followed Sunset back inside and, in an effort to cover more ground, decided to go left and search the other side of the room from where Sunset had decided to start.

As Sunset looked around, she noticed next to the large doorway was another color switch, except this one was currently green. She checked all the scattered chunks of debris all over the room and determined that she had enough of the correct parts to build another color swapper. Most importantly, there were also a few paint cans in one corner of the room, and although she had no idea which colors any of them contained, she decided that everything she saw was good enough to proceed. Knowing the police officers could arrive at any moment, she quickly got started on gathering and assembling all of the pieces.

Click-clack-click-clack-click-click-clack-clack-click-clack!

Trixie heard the rapid clicking of Lego parts being quickly assembled, so she turned back to Sunset and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Just setting up a precaution,” answered Sunset as she continued to build the color swapper. “I’ll handle this myself. You just keep searching for a way we can safely escape.”

Trixie shrugged before she turned around and resumed searching through some damaged cabinets and broken crates on her side of the room.

It didn’t take long for Sunset to finish building the color swapper. She then pried open the lid from one of the paint cans and, in a remarkable stroke of luck, found the red paint she needed inside the very first can she opened. She poured the red paint into one of the two empty containers, reattached that container to the color swapper, then spun the containers around so the full one was on top. She then pulled out her color gun and stuck its muzzle into the color swapper’s nozzle, triggering the vacuum mechanism that quickly sucked out the green paint that was still in the gun and into the lower container, then sucked the red paint out of the upper container and into the gun. Once the two colors had been swapped, the nozzle released its hold onto the gun’s muzzle.

“There she is!”

Sunset immediately turned her attention to the large doorway. Although it was too dark to see far inside the corridor, she definitely heard the rapid clacking of approaching footsteps. Not wanting to waste even a fraction of a second, she swiftly aimed her color gun at the color switch on the wall beside the door and squeezed the handle, shooting a blob of red paint at the light and quickly engulfed it so that it now glowed red instead of green. Just as some of the police officers came close enough to be seen, the massive door suddenly dropped down and slammed shut, cutting them off from reaching the two escapees in the massive room.

“That was easy,” remarked Trixie.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” cautioned Sunset. “If they can get access to that dynamite vending machine on their side of the door, then it won’t be long before they manage to blast their way through.” She turned away from the door and began walking towards Trixie. “Find anything useful?”

“Going by Trixie’s assumption of what you would consider to be a useful item at this time, all I could find was a single parachute,” answered Trixie as she held up the backpack piece that contained the parachute in question. “Trixie searched through all the nearby spaces, but couldn’t find another one.”

Sunset took the parachute from Trixie’s hands and stared down at it for a moment. She glanced over her right shoulder at the shut door keeping the cops out, then glanced over her left shoulder at the balcony outside high up on the mountainside. She returned her attention back to the parachute in her hands, then sighed and muttered, “Then I guess we’ll just have to share this one.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and flatly asked, “You’re joking, right?”

With the parachute in one hand, Sunset use her other hand to grab Trixie by the wrist and dragged her outside onto the balcony. She then let go of Trixie and explained, “We can totally pull this off. Just put your left arm through the left strap…” She held up the parachute pack and forced Trixie’s left arm through the left strap. “I’ll put my right arm through the right strap…” She did exactly that, which now left the two girls standing back-to-back. “We’ll hook our remaining arms together like this…” She reached her left arm back and hooked elbows with Trixie’s right arm. “And as long as we can hold ourselves together like this, all we have to do is run together straight off the balcony, I’ll pull the cord to release the parachute, and we’ll make a safe landing while also gliding right towards where we parked the car.”

Trixie whimpered faintly and very nervously said, “Trixie would rather take her chances with the cops.”

BOOM!!

That sudden explosion made Sunset and Trixie both glance back into the room and they saw the massive door that was keeping out the cops was now significantly bent inwards on the bottom right corner, creating an opening just wide enough for a minifig to slip through.

“Move out! Move out!” shouted Flash Sentry from the other side as the police officers started rushing into the room one at a time.

“Go-go-go-go-go-go-go!” Sunset quickly shouted as she immediately started running directly towards the end of the balcony. Because she was back-to-back with Trixie, she had to run sideways to her left to move the both of them forward.

Trixie yelped and stuttered on the brink of panic as she stumbled along to her right in an effort to keep up with Sunset. Her rising nerves left her powerless to resist Sunset as they reached the end of the balcony and ran right over the edge. As soon as they began plummeting over the mountainside, Trixie finally lost it and let loose a loud shriek of terror.

As soon as they went over the edge, Sunset quickly reached her right hand for the cord on the parachute pack. She struggled to grasp it for a few seconds as it flapped around in the wind, but once she finally got hold of it, she immediately yanked it. The parachute was released and fully unfurled in a matter of seconds. The sudden deceleration yanked Sunset and Trixie upwards, but they managed to hold their mutual grip and began their slow descent down to lower ground below.

Trixie’s panicked screams made it easy for the pursuing police to find out where their suspects went, so they all gathered on the edge of the balcony and watched the two girls make their daring escape.

Flash Sentry was the last of them to arrive on the scene, and as soon as he saw Sunset Shimmer once again making a getaway, he growled furiously. He pointed at the nearest officer and ordered, “You! Keep an eye on that parachute and tell us where they went! Everyone else, back to the cruisers and go after them! We’ll chase ‘em through the woods in the middle of the night if we have to!”

The one officer nodded and turned his focus on the suspects’ descending parachute, while the rest quickly scrambled back the way they came.

Flash began to follow after the other officers, but suddenly heard a ping from his pocket, so he quickly pulled out his phone and checked the message he had just received. It was from the Lego City Police Department, and they were asking him to pass along a message from the Canterlot City LEGO Team to Sunset Shimmer that the group wanted to have a talk with her. He quickly put his phone away and resumed running after the other officers as he muttered to himself, “Looks like I just got more incentive to catch that dirty crook.”

“YOU’RE CRAZY!!” shrieked Trixie in panic. “YOU’RE CRAZY!! Did I mention you were crazy? ‘Cause if I didn’t, YOU’RE CRAZY!!”

“Just stop whining and hold on!” Sunset shot back. They were still a significant distance from the ground below, and she knew that if either of them lost their grip on either of the pack’s straps or on each other’s arms, there was a good chance the rest of their grips would fail and they would surely plummet to their doom.

Thanks to the momentum of their jump, they were now drifting ahead towards the site of the rock formation in the small clearing on the hilltop. However, it wasn’t long before a light breeze began to ever so slightly push them off course to the left.

Sunset glanced up at the parachute and was pleased to see that it was not the classic round design, but rather the wing-shape design, which meant that it could be steered by simply tugging on one side or the other. Since they were drifting left, that meant they would need to tug down on the right side, so with the pack’s right strap securely around her arm, she reached her right hand up and pulled on the handle on her side.

The parachute gradually began to turn right, and once they were back on course for their intended destination, Sunset released the handle. However, the crosswinds soon changed, and now they were beginning to drift to the right. Sunset knew what had to be done, but also knew she couldn’t do it herself, so she called back to Trixie, “We’re drifting too far! You need to pull on your side!”

Trixie was still absolutely terrified by their flight, so she very nervously stuttered, “I-I-I-I’m n-not sure about—”

“FOR ONCE IN YOUR PATHETIC LIFE, AT LEAST TRY TO DO SOMETHING USEFUL!!” hollered Sunset furiously.

Trixie whimpered, but swiftly did as she was told and used her left hand to tug on the handle on her side.

As the parachute gradually began to turn left, Sunset said with encouragement, “That’s it, Trixie! Keep holding it!” After a few more seconds, just as the parachute was back on course, Sunset quickly said, “Okay, let go!”

Trixie immediately released her grip on the handle and returned her left hand to keeping hold of the pack’s strap on her side.

The parachute and its two passengers continued its gradual descent towards the hilltop clearing. Just past the halfway point, the parachute began to drift left again, so Sunset again pulled on the handle on her side just enough to steer them back on course.

At they started getting close to the forest canopy below, it became easier to determine where their ultimate trajectory would lead. Had the land been completely clear, they would have definitely reached their intended destination, but unfortunately, there was a forest full of tall trees between them and the hilltop clearing.

As soon as Sunset realized this, she called back to Trixie, “Looks like we’re gonna be a little short of our target! It’s gonna be a rough landing in the trees! Brace yourself!”

Both girls held on tight to each other as they descended into the treetops. It started with their legs brushing against the highest branches. As they continued dropping, they started bumping into larger branches lower down. Eventually, they fell low enough that the ropes supporting them from the parachute began to get tangled up in the higher branches, causing the parachute itself to collapse. As they then bumped into a larger branch, they finally lost their grip on each other and the pack, and they began to tumble down through the canopy. They crashed into branch after branch on the way down, sometimes losing an arm or a leg as they hit a branch. Finally, they fell past the lowest branches and slammed into the ground. They were battered, bruised, and with some limbs detached, but they had survived their landing.

Trixie — who had landed on her back with only her head and right arm still attached to her torso — groaned and grumbled, “I guess this means it’s better to fall down a flight of stairs than straight off the roof.”

Sunset — who had landed face down with her head, left arm, hip joint, and right leg still attached to her torso — pushed herself off the ground and glanced ahead. “At least I can see the clearing from here,” she noted. She noticed Trixie’s hip joint — with the left leg still attached to it — on the ground nearby, so she grabbed it and tossed it over to Trixie.

Sunset and Trixie quickly recovered and reattached all of their missing limbs, then ran over towards the clearing. As they reached the clearing, they quickly recognized the rock formation consisting of three tall rocks, but were quite surprised to see the site was full of flowerbeds and garden beds of all kinds.

“Is this the rock formation from that three-year-old photo?” asked Trixie. “I guess whoever found the Memory Stone decided to turn this place into some kind of garden.”

Sunset glanced around the edge of the clearing in all directions. She recognized the pair of dusty ruts on the trail — the last thing she could remember prior to the recently erased memories. And just to the left of that empty trail, partially obscured by the surrounding forest, she saw the front end of a familiar red Spirit. “Look! There’s the car!” she cried out before rushing straight towards it.

Sunset quickly inspected all four wheels, then opened the rear hood to check the engine. “Everything seems perfectly fine with it,” she noted as she shut the hood. “I guess whoever locked us in that room didn’t think we’d make it this far, so they probably didn’t even bother with trying to disable the car in any way.”

Meanwhile, Trixie opened the right side door and pulled forward the passenger seat. Her expression immediately brightened as she looked inside the hidden compartment. “Oh, sweet precious!” she cried out joyfully as she took out her magical staff. She then kissed it a few times and gave it a tight hug. “I don’t know why I ever left you behind, but I swear it will never happen again!”

Sunset rolled her eyes at Trixie’s behavior before opening the left side door and climbing into the driver’s seat. She tapped a few buttons on the dashboard to bring up the display screen that showed the clearing ahead, with the red dot recording indicator in the upper corner of the screen. Just to be sure, she picked up a nearby pebble and tossed it over the front of the car, and saw that same pebble fall across the video screen. “Yes!” cheered Sunset as she pumped her fist. “The dash-cam’s been recording this whole time! Now all we have to do is play back the video from the beginning, and we’ll find out exactly who’s behind all of this.”

As Sunset shut the door on her side and started tapping some buttons on the dashboard, Trixie pushed the passenger seat back into place and sat down in it, then shut the door on her side. Once Sunset set the screen to start playing back the most recent recording, she and Trixie began to watch closely. The video being shown was virtually similar to the view the car has had of this rock formation and secluded garden up ahead, but soon they began to hear their own voices on the audio.

“If my hunch is right, then the person we’re dealing with here could be someone who’s easy to panic, and the sight of you carrying around such a dangerous object could make them react in a way that will not benefit us at all.”

“But Trixie never goes anywhere without her magical staff!”

“You know where it’s hidden, and no one else but me knows about it. It’ll be safe, and within quick reach, if necessary. But for now, just leave it here.”

“Fine. If you insist…”

“And for once, please keep your mouth shut.”

“I guess that explains why Trixie was without her staff,” remarked Trixie. She glared at Sunset and added, “Could’ve saved us a lot of trouble if you hadn’t insisted on that.”

“I’m sure I had my reasons,” argued Sunset.

On the video, a minifig with light green skin and messy long green hair stepped out from behind the tall rock at the far side of the clearing while carrying a potted plant.

“So that must be our culprit,” concluded Trixie. “If only Trixie could remember who that is.”

“I think I recognize her,” said Sunset in astonishment. “That’s Wallflower Blush. My friends and I bumped into her at the airport on the day before everyone’s memories were erased.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, uh, we’re just doing a favor for a friend of mine. She does a lot of surveying work, and actually looked through this area a few years ago. I heard someone built a new trail around here, so I offered to swing by for a quick look to let her know if there’s been any changes here lately. I guess now I can tell her this place has definitely changed a lot. Did you do all of this yourself?”

“Nice cover-up,” complimented Trixie.

“Y-yes, I did. This is my personal garden. I’ve never had much luck with gardening in the inner parts of the city, so when I stumbled across this place, I figured it would be an excellent place for me to try growing all kinds of plants.”

“I may not be a botanist, but I think what you’ve got here is very impressive.”

“It’s amazing to see how much they can thrive if you give them just the right amount of care. It’s not like I’ve had many requests for my services, so I’ve been coming here to keep me occupied doing what I love most. Lately, business has been so slow that I seem to be spending more time on this garden than getting paid minimum wage to work on someone else’s garden.”

“But at least you’re still getting some paying work. I saw you doing some landscaping over at the airport a few days ago.”

“Yes, where those taxis you and your friends called in shoved my van off the road and took off like it was no big deal.”

“Yeah, taxi drivers in Lego City tend to be a little careless when it comes to parking.”

On the video during that conversation, Wallflower had walked over outside the frame to the left, and some of the background noise implied that she was doing something near her van, which had probably been parked to the left, which would put it directly on the trail. As Wallflower walked back into the frame with a trowel in one hand and her potted plant in the other, Sunset suddenly turned to Trixie and began speaking quietly enough that the video was unable to pick up any of that conversation.

“I wonder what we’re whispering about,” said Trixie watching the video.

“I think I’m pointing out that Wallflower just correctly identified me being with my friends during that incident at the airport,” noted Sunset, “and since that happened before everyone lost their memories of me, that would make her the only one who has not been affected, and therefore a much more likely suspect.”

On the video, once Sunset and Trixie finished their hushed conversation, Trixie walked directly towards Wallflower, while Sunset began to sneak her way around and slowly moved closer to Wallflower.

“Ooh, a diversion!” remarked Trixie eagerly. “Obviously, this must’ve been Trixie’s idea.”

“So tell me, uh, whatever your name is, have you considered trying to expand your business beyond Lego City?”

On the video, as Trixie kept a conversation going, Sunset slowly made her way closer and closer to Wallflower from behind her back.

“No thanks. I think I’d rather— Hey! What are you…?”

On the video, Sunset suddenly lunged at Wallflower and grabbed her wrist. With this contact, Sunset’s magical powers activated, which made her body stiffen and her eyes glow completely white.

“Huh, so that’s what I look like when I look into someone’s mind,” noted Sunset quietly.

On the video, Sunset’s glimpse into Wallflower’s mind lasted only a couple seconds, and as soon as she returned to normal, she suddenly shoved Wallflower away.

“So you’re the one who erased everyone’s memories of me!”

“Wow, you sure turned violent pretty quickly,” remarked Trixie.

On the video, Wallflower stood back up and soon began fighting back with a similarly aggressive behavior.

“Yes… I did!”

“Seriously? You? A random nobody?”

“Exactly! No one ever listens to me, no one ever notices me, no one ever cares about me! Because everyone always ignores me, I’ve personally experienced all kinds of unfair injustices in this world. But no injustice could possibly be any worse than seeing number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted be allowed to go free and get away with every single crime she’s ever committed.”

“That’s ridiculous! I was pardoned because I had proved to everyone that I had changed!”

“But you haven’t changed! You may have fooled everyone in the Lego World, but now I’ve been able to expose the truth to all of them — that you’re still just as mean and ruthless as you’ve ever been!”

“And I’ve done everything I can to leave that part of me in the past! I absolutely hate doing the awful things I used to do, but sometimes I’m left with no other alternatives! And right now, because you’ve so recklessly decided to take away all the things that made me happy about my new life, you have made me very desperate.”

As the verbal fight between Sunset and Wallflower escalated on the video, Sunset watching the video became increasingly dismayed that she had actually reacted so viciously. She had a hard time believing it herself, but she knew she could never deny the video evidence that was playing out right before her eyes.

At this point in the video, Trixie suddenly stepped in between Sunset and Wallflower and spread her arms to keep them apart.

“Whoa! Okay! Timeout, everyone! Even the Great and Powerful Trixie can identify when a situation is in need of a more diplomatic solution, and this right here definitely counts as such — especially considering that one side is in possession of an all-powerful magical artifact.”

“I’ve put up with enough of your pesky behavior! Heck, the only thing stopping me from punching you in the face right now is that there’s someone else here who I’d much rather wanna punch in the face!”

Sunset cringed at the highly aggressive threat she had made to the girl now sitting right beside her. While that was going on, Wallflower retreated back to her van to the left outside the frame of the video before she spoke up again.

“If that’s what you really wanna do to me, then you’ll have to catch me first!”

“GET BACK HERE!!”

“Hey! Wait for Trixie!”

On the video, Sunset shoved past Trixie and ran off in the same direction Wallflower went, and then Trixie quickly followed after her. The rustling foliage of their running grew fainter, and once it faded into silence, Sunset paused the video.

“Seriously?” asked Trixie incredulously. “Trixie just ran off like that, without sparing even a couple seconds to recover her magical staff?” She groaned and facepalmed. “Stupid me!”

“You’re not the only one kicking herself in the butt right now,” mumbled Sunset dishearteningly. “I had a chance to convince Wallflower to undo the damage she had done, and how did I react? I behaved exactly the way she was accusing me of. I ended up playing right into her hands!”

“Perhaps it’s because she might’ve been kinda right about you,” Trixie speculated.

“Really? Ya think?” retorted Sunset sourly.

“Just hear out the Wise and Moralizing Trixie for a moment,” continued Trixie. “You’ve said that you don’t do any of those mean things anymore, so long as it can be avoided. But what if this Wallflower girl has not had any recent experiences of you being the nicer person you say you are now? What if the mean things you used to do are still the only impression she has of you? What if she still lacks any personal reasons to see you in a better light? The point is, maybe it’s not good enough to not be mean to someone. Maybe you just have to actually be nice.”

Sunset stared down at the video screen as she pondered Trixie’s words. Thinking back to what was spoken in that video, she realized that Wallflower had claimed that virtually no one ever paid much attention to her. That level of neglect could very well have left her more susceptible to believing in the more negative aspects of others. And while Sunset was certainly a much better person now, she could never deny just how awful she used to be, which meant her old self would have left a much stronger impression on someone like Wallflower. To put it simply, this was a case where actions spoke much louder than words. If she was going to prove to everyone that she truly was one of the good guys now, then it would not be enough to just say that it’s true.

Sunset sighed sadly and muttered, “You’re right…” As she glanced over at Trixie, she began to realize that Wallflower was hardly the only person she needed to improve her attitude towards. In fact, just looking back at all of today’s events, she realized that she had been responding to Trixie’s behavior in ways that seemed to care very little for the blue girl’s feelings. Trixie may not have reacted as strongly obvious as Wallflower, but there was no telling just how hurt she probably was deep down inside.

Sunset let out another sad sigh and hesitantly spoke up, “Trixie… I owe you an apology.”

Trixie turned to Sunset and raised both eyebrows.

“I’ve been treating you like absolute crud all day,” continued Sunset. “I thought I was gonna have to put up with your awful attitude, but instead, I’ve been forcing you to put up with my awful attitude. I guess I was so fiercely determined to save my friends, it never occurred to me that I was hurting other people along the way.” She turned to look Trixie in the eyes. “Do you think you can forgive me?”

Trixie stared back in stunned silence for a moment, then smiled and softly replied, “Apology accepted. I guess you’re already doing a good job of learning your lesson.”

“Yeah, well, too late for that to have any effect on going after the Memory Stone,” muttered Sunset in disappointment. “Wallflower could be anywhere in Lego City by now.” She pulled out her phone and checked the time. “And we now have just over two hours left until sunset. Yeah, that’s not gonna happen…” She put her phone away and slouched in her seat as she let out a sigh of defeat.

Although she had a much less personal stake in this quest than Sunset, Trixie couldn’t help but feel just as sullen at this perceived defeat. She shifted her grip on her magical staff still in her grasp, then turned back to Sunset and quietly asked, “So what’s next for us?”

Sunset took a moment to consider what her next options could be, following her failure to recover everyone’s memories of her good deeds. She thought aloud, “Well… my friends clearly aren’t gonna welcome me back anytime soon… and I definitely don’t wanna go back to my old life of nothing but criminal activity. Perhaps… we could try something in the middle.” She slowly began to smile. “I’d still like to be a hero, but if we won’t be allowed to join any heroic team, maybe we could be like antiheroes. I can already imagine it… the two of us traveling around, saving the world from serious threats, and not once would we ever give a darn about any laws or codes of honor. If there’s a big problem out there, we’ll just do whatever it takes to get the job done. Sure, my second road to redemption will likely be a lot slower than it was the first time around, but in the long run… I think things will turn out just fine for me.”

“Trixie actually likes the sound of that,” admitted Trixie with a smile of her own. “Truth be told, the life of an evil would-be conqueror has its downsides — most obviously is that I’m always losing all the time. If I were to take on the role of an antihero, I could actually be successful by doing something good for the world, and yet still be free to do whatever I want with no regrets.”

“And I know exactly where we should start,” stated Sunset. “It may be too late to recover all those memories of me, but the Memory Stone is still out there, and now that I’ve got nothing to lose, we’re gonna make sure that Wallflower will regret the day she found that magical artifact.” She switched off the video display on the dashboard and buckled her seatbelt. “We’ll meet with Vinnie first thing tomorrow and see where we can go from there.”

“Trixie has a better idea!” proclaimed Trixie. “Why wait to accept failure when we still have a chance to save the day? It’s time for Trixie to unleash her secret weapon!” She stood up in her seat and raised her staff up high as she proudly called out, “O Mighty GPS! Guide us, in real time, to the precise location of the Memory Stone!” She then twirled her staff around, pointed the end of it down at the car’s dashboard, and unleashed a blast of magical energy into it.

The entire car bounced from the sudden burst of magical energy. Sparks of energy danced over the surface of the dashboard for a few seconds before they quickly faded. Finally, the display screen turned on to show a map of the surrounding area, and in the corner of the screen with an arrow pointing towards the edge was an icon that looked just like the Memory Stone itself.

“Wow…” said Sunset in astonishment. “That’s remarkably convenient.”

“What can I say?” quipped Trixie proudly. “Trixie is a genius!” In actuality, Trixie had just suddenly remembered the advice she was told by that Mikey Spoilers guy back at the ice cream parlor, but of course she would never admit this to anyone.

“For once, Trixie, I’ll give you that,” praised Sunset. With a friendly smile still on her face, she quickly added, “Now put that thing away and buckle up!” She then started the car’s engine.

Trixie made no protests as she placed her magical staff back into the hidden compartment behind the seat, then sat down and buckled her seatbelt.

Once they were both ready, Sunset shifted the car into reverse, then drove it back and sharply spun it around so that it was quickly turned onto the trail facing back the way they came. She then shifted the car into drive and took off down the trail. Both girls knew they now had one last chance to catch Wallflower Blush and recover everyone’s memories of Sunset Shimmer, and they were not going to waste this final opportunity.

Author's Note

Wow, this chapter turned out much longer than I had anticipated. Anyway, I wanted to add in yet another scene of the other girls struggling to figure out what's going on, as I didn't like how they were completely sidelined in Forgotten Friendship. In addition, I've noticed how there's been notably less building with Lego pieces in this story so far compared to previous stories, so I decided to throw in some of that during Sunset's and Trixie's escape. Also got a bunch more references to the game Lego City Undercover, such as Rex Fury's secret base (located under a mountain similar to Mount Rushmore), the use of the color gun to access locked rooms, and the dynamite vending machines to destroy silver objects. And when they replayed the video, I decided to skip over the dialogue of Trixie's distraction, even though she probably would not want to fast-forward over herself talking. Just one more chapter and then the epilogue left to go before this story is complete.

Final Pursuit

Chapter 8
Final Pursuit

The sky over Lego City began to turn brilliant shades of orange as the sun slowly started to set. The citizens were finishing up with their daily occupations and prepared to return home as another seemingly typical day was coming to an end. Little did any of them know, they were all now just less than an hour away from potentially having a small portion of their collective memories become permanently erased, with no hope of ever recovering them. The only chance the people of the Lego World had to avoid this fate lied with two girls who were now riding together in a red performance car, zooming across Blackwell Bridge back into the city.

VVVRRROOOOOOMMM!!

As the car near the end of the bridge and approached the Uptown district, the driver, Sunset Shimmer, spoke up, “I need to keep my eyes on the road, so I want you to tell me exactly which way to turn and when.”

“Right,” confirmed the passenger, Trixie, with a smile and a nod of agreement.

Sunset immediately turned right at the first intersection.

“No, don’t go right!” exclaimed Trixie in panic. “I meant yes, sure, I’ll be your navigator!”

Sunset groaned in frustration and grumbled, “Please don’t tell me we’re going the wrong way.”

Trixie looked down at the GPS map on the display screen on the dashboard. She was keeping track of an icon that resembled the Memory Stone they were going after. After a quick glance at the map, she smiled and remarked, “Actually, we are going the right way.” Upon immediately realizing a slip of the tongue, she quickly blurted out, “I mean correct way! We’re going the correct way! Please don’t make another right turn!”

Sunset smirked and quipped, “If this wasn’t such a dire situation, I’d be laughing out loud right now.”

Trixie continued to stare at the GPS map as they steadily got closer and closer to the location of the Memory Stone icon. As she kept staring, she noticed that the icon was not staying in the same location, but rather appeared to be slowly moving. “Our target appears to be on the move,” Trixie pointed out.

As they headed south past Crescent Park, Sunset said, “She’s probably driving around in her van. If we’re gonna catch her, we may have to run her off the road. And here I was hoping I could avoid doing anything mean to her.”

“Like you said in the video,” Trixie pointed out, “sometimes you just don’t have a choice. If you have to do one more mean thing before you can try the nice approach, then so be it.”

WEEEEEEOOOOOO! WEEEOOOWEEEOOOWEEEOOOWEEEOOO!

Both girls immediately tensed up as they heard the wailing of police sirens and began to see the flashing red and blue police lights in the rearview mirrors. In her haste to go after the Memory Stone, Sunset had chosen to ignore all traffic laws and just rush directly towards their target. She knew it was a huge risk, but with so little time left, and with the police already trying to find her anyway, she felt that it was the best option. Even though she figured the cops would chase after them sooner or later, she was honestly hoping that it wouldn’t happen until at least after they had caught up to the Memory Stone.

“Oh, great,” grumbled Sunset. “This is the last thing I need right now.”

“Just keep going,” encouraged Trixie as she continued to stare down at the GPS map. “We’re getting really close now. If I can time our next move just right, we can cut her off and put a quick end to this!”

Behind Sunset and Trixie, at least half a dozen police vehicles were already in hot pursuit. Driving the cruiser at the front of the pack was none other than officer Flash Sentry, Canterlot City’s Chief of Police and the one officer in the entire Lego World who was absolutely determined to bring down Sunset Shimmer. “Ten-four! We’re in pursuit of Sunset Shimmer and Trixie!” he called out on his radio. “Suspects are driving a red Spirit! They’re heading south towards Bright Lights Plaza!”

Meanwhile, as Trixie kept staring down at the GPS map on the dashboard, she called out, “Get ready to make a left turn when I say so!”

Sunset tightened her grip on the steering wheel, weaving left and right around traffic.

Honk! Honk-honk!”

They passed through one intersection, ran a red light through a second intersection, then passed through a third intersection.

“Now!” Trixie cried out.

SCREEEEEEEECH!

As they reached the fourth intersection, Sunset jerked the wheel to the left, making the car power slide through the intersection. As she straightened out the car onto the next street, they saw a red light at the intersection up ahead.

“Shoot!” exclaimed Trixie in frustration. “Trixie was hoping that traffic light would be more favorable!”

“Then improvise!” Sunset responded. “Which way should I go?!”

Trixie glanced down at the GPS map and said, “Go right! We should find our target somewhere directly ahead!”

Meanwhile, Wallflower Blush was driving her van on a southbound street through the district of Bright Lights Plaza. While she had been frustrated earlier that Sunset Shimmer had managed to find her and discover the truth, a quick use of the Memory Stone easily took care of that. Not only did she lure Sunset and Trixie and locked them inside the abandoned facility in the mountain in the process, but she also informed the police anonymously where to find them. As far as she was concerned, there was no way Sunset would be coming after her again anytime soon.

The first unusual thing Wallflower noticed was the sound of numerous police sirens getting closer, which she initially dismissed as the cops going after some other criminal. Seconds later, a red performance car suddenly did a power slide through the intersection behind her and began coming down the exact same street she was currently driving on. She checked the oncoming vehicle in the van’s side mirror, and since that car had no roof, the driver’s red and yellow hair flowing in the wind was hard to miss. The fact that a bunch of police vehicles quickly followed after her pretty much confirmed without a doubt who was driving this car.

Wallflower gasped in shock, hardly believing how Sunset Shimmer could possibly have caught up to her so quickly. As that red car continued to quickly close the distance between them, she panicked and stomped on the accelerator.

SCREEEECH! VRRRRRROOOM!

Both Sunset and Trixie noticed a certain green and white van up ahead suddenly accelerate ahead of the surrounding traffic. Trixie glanced back down at the GPS map and saw the Memory Stone icon was now moving along the road significantly faster than before.

“Aha! So the coward flees!” declared Trixie. She pointed straight ahead and shouted, “Follow that van!”

Sunset was already putting the pedal to the metal, so she narrowed her focus on that van and weaved her way through the surrounding traffic to keep up with it.

Honk! Beep-beep! Honk!

Behind both the van and the car, the half dozen police vehicles continued their fierce pursuit. “Suspects now appear to be in pursuit of a green and white van!” Flash Sentry called out on his radio. “Get the number on that van and find out who they’re after!”

Wallflower continued pushing her van as fast as it could go, but she recognized that her common van was never going to outrun a performance car like what Sunset had. She knew she had to try something to shake off her pursuers, so in desperation, she took an immediate left turn. This sent her smashing through a barrier onto a street that was significantly torn up from construction work.

Sunset began to turn left after the van, but as soon as she saw the terrible condition of that road, she immediately jerked the wheel to the right to keep going straight ahead. “Whoa! Not putting this car through that!” she exclaimed as she struggled to regain control of the car, which she had sent drifting after avoiding that turn at the last second. “I need an alternate route!”

Trixie immediately turned her attention back down at the GPS map and called out, “Go left!”

SCREEEEEECH!

Sunset did another power slide through the next intersection, after which she was able to fully regain control as she straightened out. That extended unintentional drifting had allowed the police vehicles to catch up to her, but she knew her car’s five hundred horsepower engine would allow her to easily pull ahead again.

“Take another left!” called out Trixie.

Seconds later as they reached the next intersection, Sunset made another hard left turn with a power slide.

Meanwhile, Wallflower forced her van and herself to endure through a countless series of huge bumps as she drove across the very rugged surface of the torn-up street. She was frequently sent bouncing around in her seat. One particularly large bump caused her handbag — containing the Memory Stone — to be flung out of the passenger seat and then bonked her on the side of her head. “Ow!” she cried out from the impact. As she continued violently bouncing around in her seat, she muttered, “Okay, this was a bad idea.”

Fortunately, Wallflower was getting close to the end of the torn-up street. As she finally smashed through the barrier at the other end of the road work site, she took a left turn at the intersection.

At the same time, Sunset saw some planks of wood resting against a pile of bricks on the left side of the road. As she saw Wallflower arrive from the torn-up street, she made the split second choice to avoid a potential head-on collision by using those planks as a shallow ramp to jump over the van. She kept her foot down on the accelerator, swung left to cross in front of oncoming traffic, and drove right up those planks.

The car flew right over the van as it turned left onto the road. Thanks to the weight distribution of being a rear-engine type of vehicle, the car remained level as it flew through the air and slammed back down onto the road. Despite the hard impact, the car continued speeding ahead.

Sunset was well aware that she was now driving in front of the van she was trying to chase after, so she quickly thought of a way to take advantage of such an opportunity. “Let’s try a little containment,” she remarked. She turned to Trixie and asked, “Which way should I force her to turn?”

Trixie glanced back down at the GPS map and quickly studied the layout of the surrounding streets. “Try right,” she suggested.

Sunset moved over as far to the right as possible, then once they reached the next intersection, she jerked the wheel hard to the left, making the car slide around the intersection across the roads ahead and to the left.

SCREEEEEEEECH!

Fearing that Sunset was going to ram into her van, Wallflower panicked and made an immediate right turn in an effort to dodge the car coming back around. As the van made the turn, the car completed its loop around the intersection and followed after it.

“No side roads on this street,” noted Trixie confidently. “We’ll catch up to her in no time!”

It wasn’t long before the van, the car, and the half dozen police vehicles passed through the entrance of a tunnel in a steep hillside. “Suspects are heading eastbound through the Crosstown Tunnel!” reported officer Flash Sentry on his radio as he continued to lead the police vehicles.

“Don’t worry, guys!” one of the other officers responded eagerly over the radio as he pulled his cruiser ahead of Flash Sentry’s to the right. “Frank Honey is here to save the day! I’ll just give them the good old PIT maneuver! That never fails!” The eager officer with auburn hair pulled his cruiser further up along the right lane and managed to slowly bring the left front corner of his car close to the right rear corner of Sunset’s car.

Sunset glanced in the rearview mirror and immediately recognized what that cop car was trying to do. “The old PIT maneuver, huh?” she quipped smugly. “I’ve got a counter for that.” The first thing she did was slam on the brakes, quickly slowing down the car and, from a relative perspective, brought the consistently fast police cruiser up ahead. As soon as her car was positioned with its right front corner close to the left rear corner of the cruiser, she stomped back onto the accelerator and turned right into the cruiser.

Frank was unable to react quickly enough before he suddenly found himself the target of a PIT maneuver rather than the initiator. As Sunset pushed into his car, he immediately lost control and began to spin out to the left. When his car skidded over into the dividing zone between the opposing lanes, its front half slammed into one of the tunnel’s support pillars, causing it to rapidly spin around counterclockwise until it slammed into the next support pillar right in the middle of the passenger side. This final impact not only brought the car to a complete stop, but also smashed much of it to pieces, exposing Frank still in his seat and holding the now detached steering wheel.

While the other police vehicles quickly passed by, Frank groan in pain, then slowly held up the steering wheel and called out, “I’m okay!”

Up ahead, Trixie had glanced back to watch the destruction of that cop car. “Nice move,” she commented as she turned to Sunset.

“I call that one the reverse PIT maneuver,” remarked Sunset with a smirk.

Trixie returned her attention ahead to the van they were pursuing. Just seconds later, she spoke up, “You know, it’s just occurred to Trixie; the cops are chasing us through a tunnel. Do you think they called in some other cops to block the exit?”

“If they did, then at least Wallflower won’t go anywhere either,” Sunset pointed out, tightening her grip on the steering wheel as she kept her gaze focused on the speeding van up ahead.

Meanwhile, just as Trixie suspected, another half dozen police cars had been parked across all lanes on the eastern end of the tunnel. Among the police officers standing by was Chase McCain, one of Lego City’s finest officers. “Roadblock is in place,” he reported over his radio. He then turned back to his fellow officers on the site and called out, “Get ready, guys! Here they come!”

Inside the tunnel, Wallflower continued to push her van as fast as possible. As she came around the final curve in the tunnel, she gasped as she saw the police roadblock across the exit. She rapidly glanced back and forth between the side mirror back at Sunset’s car and up ahead at the roadblock. In her panic, she was convinced she had to make a choice between the lesser of two evils, and quickly made her choice. She closed her eyes and clenched her teeth as she kept the pedal to the metal.

At the roadblock, the confident expressions on the faces of every police officer soon turned more fearful as they realized the incoming van was not slowing down at all. “Look out!” cried out Chase as he immediately ran out of the way. The other gathered officers cried out in terror as they also rushed out of the way of the incoming van. It wasn’t long before the van slammed right into the roadblock.

CRASH!!

The momentum of such a large vehicle moving so fast allowed it to shove aside two of the blocking police cruisers. As they were flung aside, those two cop cars slammed into two more, and all four vehicles ended up with a lot of pieces getting knocked off from the hard impacts. Although Wallflower’s van was able to punch through the roadblock with minimal damage, she quickly lost control as the van skidded to the left across the opposing lane of traffic and onto a grassy patch of ground. She swerved the van left and right, but couldn’t get any traction on the slippery grass as she continued speeding ahead.

Seconds later, with a huge gap now opened in the roadblock, Sunset was easily able to zoom out of the tunnel without even slowing down, and continued straight ahead down the road.

Chase cursed under his breath as he rushed back to his cruiser — which thankfully was far enough from the impact site that it had not received any damage. As soon as he climbed in and started the engine, he quickly reported over his radio, “Whoever’s driving that van is now officially a suspect! I repeat, the driver of that van must be apprehended!” He switched on the siren and lights on his car as he pulled onto the road and followed right behind the half dozen police vehicles already in pursuit as they passed by.

Right behind Chase, the other officers rushed back to their police vehicles, though only three of them were intact enough to follow after him. A fourth car attempted to join them, but didn’t make it far before a wheel came off and the whole thing completely collapsed into a pile of Lego parts, to which the driver moaned sadly.

Sunset did yet another power slide as she turned left onto the avenue that followed the beach along the eastern coast of the city’s Paradise Sands district. As they began heading north along the road, Sunset urgently asked, “Where is she? Where’s she going this time?”

Trixie glanced down at the GPS map again and responded, “Stay on this road. She’s coming right toward us.”

Despite her confusion, Sunset followed Trixie’s advice. Seconds later, Wallflower’s van suddenly plowed through the hedges on the median, briefly launching into the air as it crossed the divide onto the northbound lane of traffic. The now visibly banged-up van skidded a little as it straightened out and began to accelerate down the road, followed closely by Sunset’s car. And behind them both, there were now more police vehicles in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, up the coast at the amusement park on the pier, the people there began to hear the noise of approaching police sirens. Among these civilians were the Equestria Girls, and as they began to hear that noise, Pinkie looked down the coast and suddenly pointed out, “Oh, look! The cops are chasing some bad guys!”

The rest of the group followed the direction Pinkie was pointing. The chase was still a long distance away, so Spike pulled out a pair of binoculars to get a better look. After a few seconds, he reported in shock, “It’s Sunset Shimmer!” He paused before he added in confusion, “And Trixie? What’s she doing here?”

Back down the coast at the ongoing pursuit, Sunset noticed they were approaching the pier where she knew her friends were probably still hanging out. She quickly glanced at the clock on the dashboard and knew time was now getting very short. If she was going to put a stop to this and save the world, there was only one thing she could do, and she had to do it now. She let out a reluctant sigh and muttered, “I can’t believe that it has to come to this.”

“Come to what?” asked Trixie.

“Better hold onto your head, Trixie!” Sunset cried out as she floored it.

The performance car quickly caught up to the van and pulled up alongside it on the left. As the car matched speed with the van, Sunset and Wallflower briefly looked at each other — Sunset in determination, Wallflower in panic — then Sunset jerked the steering wheel to the right and began to shove the van off the road. Wallflower tried to push back, but the momentum of both vehicles was already pulling them to the right, across the wide concrete walkway and out towards the beach. The van slammed into the guardrail and scraped along until the large vehicle eventually tore right through it. With that barrier gone, both vehicles flew right off the concrete ledge.

Both vehicles were airborne for a few seconds before they finally slammed down onto the sandy beach. The van impacted with enough force to compromise its structural integrity, so while it remained mostly intact, the roof and walls shifted around as the large vehicle plowed right through the sand until it soon came to a stop. The car bounced a little from the initial impact and the low sloping front end kicked up a lot of sand and significantly slowed its momentum very quickly, and while it came in at a slight angle to the right that threatened to flip the car over as a result, the heavy engine in the back kept it somewhat upright as it plowed sideways through the sand until it eventually came to a stop, now slightly turned around to be facing the van.

The crash onto the beach had occurred just before those vehicles could reach the pier, so the Equestria Girls got an uncomfortably close view overlooking the devastation. Without a word, all six girls and Spike rushed for the nearest stairway down onto the beach. Regardless of whether the victims were bad guys or not, they wanted to make sure nobody was seriously hurt from that terrible crash.

At the same time, the pursuing police vehicles pulled over to stop on the walkway overlooking the crash site. As all of the police officers began to climb out of their vehicles and made their way towards the nearest set of stairs down onto the beach, Flash Sentry quickly reported over his radio, “We got a ten-fifty here! Repeat, ten-fifty on both suspect vehicles!”

In the car, both Sunset and Trixie groaned. Although the seatbelts kept them in their seats and Sunset had taken her hands off the steering wheel before the impact, the crash had left both of them dazed and shaken. Despite the pain and dizziness, Sunset knew she had to act fast, so she removed her seatbelt and tried to open the door, only to discover a large pile of sand was blocking it. Undeterred, she fought against the soreness in her body as she climbed over the door, then placed her hand on the top corner of the windshield to hold herself steady as she stood up on the sand.

In the van, Wallflower was equally dazed and sore from the crash, but her panic from being pursued still managed to overwhelm all other thoughts and feelings. Fighting desperately against the pain in her body and her dizziness, she removed her seatbelt, retrieved her handbag from the floor, and opened the door. The damage from the impact caused the door to fall off its hinge as soon as it was pushed from the inside, and because she didn’t anticipate that, she ended up falling out of her seat and landed atop the detached door onto the sand. She was momentarily stunned, but soon wobbled up to her feet and, with the handbag in her hand, she began to slowly stagger away from the crash site.

Sunset saw Wallflower trying to escape, so as she put every ounce of her weakened strength into staggering around the front of the wrecked car and towards the van, she called out, “Wallflower! Wallflower, stop!”

Wallflower immediately stopped on the spot and, with a look of confusion on her face, turned around to face Sunset.

Sunset was still breathing heavily from the crash as she desperately continued, “Please… you don’t have to do this! I remember everything… the Memory Stone… how I reacted… all of it!”

“But how?!” exclaimed Wallflower in exasperation. “I erased your entire memory of our encounter when I locked you in that room!”

It was as Wallflower blurted that out that Sunset’s friends and the nearly dozen cops had reached the crash site on the beach, all of whom immediately stopped in their tracks the moment they had heard that.

Pinkie Pie gasped and exclaimed, “Holy zucchini! Sunset Shimmer was right all along!”

That remark, combined with Wallflower’s accidental confession, caused the police officers to mutter amongst themselves in confusion.

“Please listen to me,” Sunset pressed on. “It’s true that I used to be ruthless and could seemingly get away with anything, but I was also completely alone. We’re actually not that different.”

“You’re nothing like me!” Wallflower furiously shot back. “And I’m not lonely, because I have… plants!” Once that final word came out of her mouth, her eyes widened in shock, then she facepalmed and grumbled, “Okay, that was just pathetic.”

“I understand how wrong it was for me to treat you the way I did,” continued Sunset. She glanced over her left shoulder and, just as she had been hoping, her friends were on the scene watching and listening to everything. “I care very much about my friends, and I was so determined to recover their stolen memories, it never occurred to me that I was hurting your feelings in the process.” She turned back to Wallflower. “And for that, I’m very sorry.”

“No, you’re not!” retorted Wallflower. “You’re just saying that to look good in front of everyone!” She glanced over at the two groups gathered behind Sunset and couldn’t believe that none of them were making any attempts to subdue Sunset. In fact, any looks of disdain appeared to be directed at her instead of Sunset. She gripped her hair in frustration and shouted, “And it’s working! Gah! How am I supposed to fight back against your injustice if nothing I do matters?! I HATE YOU!!”

“Whoa…” muttered Trixie in shock, who had just moments ago recovered enough from the crash to climb out of the wrecked car and now stood right in front of it. “I knew that girl had issues, but… wow…”

Wallflower growled in frustration and grumbled, “I wanted to prove to everyone that you should be locked away forever by erasing their good memories of you and forcing them to see just how evil you still are. Obviously, that didn’t work.” It was at this moment that she decided to remove the Memory Stone from her handbag.

As soon as that magical artifact was exposed for all to see, Twilight — recognizing the artifact from the sketch Sunset had shown them earlier — exclaimed in shock, “That’s the Memory Stone!” She turned to the cops on the scene and called out, “She’s been using that to erase our memories!”

Wallflower continued to glare at Sunset. As she tossed aside her empty handbag, an evil smile began to form on her face as she continued, “If I wanna really get back at you, then I’ll have to hit you where it will hurt the most.” She turned her attention towards the Equestria Girls group. “Since you seem to care so much for your so-called friends that you’re willing to ruin the lives of others, then perhaps I should erase all of their memories for as long as you’ve been around! About ten years back should be good enough.”

“Have you gone mad?!” exclaimed Sunset in horror. “You would be erasing their memories of each other! And you really wanna do that right here and now?! Especially in front of the cops?!”

“Then I’ll just erase their memories of this incident!” argued Wallflower. “As far as they’ll be concerned, you’ll still be the most wanted criminal who ever lived, as they always should have! And as for your stupid friends, well now they’ll think of each other the same way you think of me… which is not at all!” She then held out the Memory Stone directly towards the Equestria Girls and willed the stone to unleash a glowing beam of its power straight at them.

“NOOOO!!” cried out Sunset as she immediately jumped in front of the beam and took the full impact herself. She collapsed to the ground as the glowing blueish-green magical energy now completely covered her body.

Everyone in the area — the Equestria Girls, Trixie, the police officers, and even Wallflower — all gasped in shock.

Sunset grunted as she struggled to get up on her knees and said with firm conviction, “I would do anything to protect my friends. Even if I have to make the ultimate sacrifice…”

Just a couple seconds later, the effects of the Memory Stone kicked in as glowing ribbons of memories began to be pulled out of Sunset’s head and were absorbed by the magical stone. “Fluttershy!” she cried out helplessly as a yellow glowing ribbon was the first one taken from her. “Applejack!” An orange glowing ribbon was the next one taken. “Rarity!” A white glowing ribbon followed after that. “Rainbow Dash!” A blue glowing ribbon was then taken from her. “Pinkie Pie!” A pink glowing ribbon quickly followed after the others.

As Sunset continued to lose more and more memories, everyone else in the area could only watch helplessly in shock and horror. Even Wallflower was powerless to do anything, for she had not expected Sunset to jump in the way, and thus did not know if she could even do anything to stop the process.

As Sunset’s memories continued to quickly diminish, she turned to her friends and reached her hand out as she desperately cried out, “Twilight! Please… don’t forget me!” Finally, a glowing purple ribbon containing Sunset’s memories of Twilight were pulled from her head and absorbed by the Memory Stone. Over the next few seconds, Sunset screamed in agony as all of her remaining memories of the past ten years were rapidly taken from her in a cascade of colorful ribbons that then quickly vanished into the Memory Stone. Finally, once the last of those memories were gone, she immediately fainted and collapsed face-down into the sand.

Everyone else in the area continued to stare at the fallen Sunset Shimmer in shock and horror. None of them dared to say anything. Flash Sentry didn’t say a word as he solemnly removed his hat and held it in front of his chest. Even Trixie was left speechless as she fell back to sit upon the hood of the wrecked car. The only sounds to be heard were the steady crashing of ocean waves along the beach.

Wallflower Blush was left virtually petrified in disbelief from what she had just witnessed. She had always been convinced that Sunset was a selfish brat who never truly cared for anyway. Yet, Sunset had just demonstrated how much she was willing to lose for the sake of protecting her friends. What have I done…? thought Wallflower remorsefully.

It wasn’t long before Sunset began to awaken. As soon as she became aware of her surroundings, she quickly stood up — on all four limbs like a pony — as she gasped in shock and muttered, “This isn’t Canterlot. Where am I? Princess Celestia, where are you?” She gazed out across the ocean beyond the beach, then quickly glanced around in different directions. When she looked down at herself, she immediately gasped and let out a shriek of terror. “W-w-why is my body so horribly twisted out of shape?!” she exclaimed as she sat down and felt over herself, whimpering from being completely unfamiliar with her minifig body type.

Seeing Sunset Shimmer in such a helpless state convinced the Equestria Girls to approach her. Twilight knelt down and placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulder.

Sunset flinched at the touch, then turned and looked up at the gathered group of girls she was completely unfamiliar with. “W-w-who are you?” she asked nervously.

“We’re your friends,” assured Twilight with a smile. The rest of her friends also gave friendly smiles to Sunset.

“We may not remember you…” added Applejack.

“…and you may not remember us…” continued Rainbow Dash.

“…but after seeing what you did…” continued Pinkie Pie.

“…the sacrifice you made for us…” continued Rarity.

“…we’d be proud to call you…” continued Fluttershy.

“…our friend!” finished all six girls together, before they each placed a hand on Sunset’s shoulders.

“Okay…” muttered Sunset in confusion. “I have no idea what’s going on here. At all.”

Suddenly, Sunset’s magical geode began to glow, quickly followed by the magical geodes of the other six girls. The magical glow soon expanded to completely cover their bodies as they slowly began to rise up into the air. The intensely bright glow lasted for a few seconds, then faded to reveal the seven Equestria Girls had not only ponied up — where they gained pony ears, longer hair like a tail, and some also had feathered wings on their back or a unicorn horn on their head — but also were now wearing an entirely new set of outfits. Twilight had dark purple on her upper legs, dark blue on her lower legs and the skirt piece around her upper legs, magenta on her lower arms, light blue on her torso with a magenta six-pointed star on the front, and a hairband with magenta stars on it. Rainbow Dash had dark blue on her legs, red on her upper arms and the sides of her torso, and medium blue on her feet and the front and back of her torso with her cloud and rainbow lightning bolt symbol on the front. Applejack had red on the skirt piece around her upper legs, medium blue on her torso and upper arms, and brown on her feet and the western hat on her head. Rarity had medium blue on her lower arms and hands, light purple on the lower part of her torso and on the skirt piece around her upper legs, light blue on the upper part of her torso, and gold on her lower legs and waist and the headband. Pinkie Pie had light blue on her feet and the skirt piece around her upper legs, and magenta on her torso with a blue and yellow heart on the front. Fluttershy had purple on her torso and upper legs, pink on her feet, and light blue on the long skirt piece around her legs. And Sunset had black on her arms, yellow on her lower legs, pale red on her upper legs, bright red on her torso and the skirt piece around her upper legs, and a black spiky hairband on her head.

With their magical transformation complete, the seven girls remained hovering in the air as they looked down at Wallflower Blush, who was left more stunned than ever before.

Twilight pointed at Wallflower and scolded, “Wallflower, you have a magic you do not understand! But it is nothing compared to the magic of—!”

“No time for long speeches!” Pinkie suddenly interrupted. “Light her up, ladies!”

Right away, the seven girls held hands and channeled the magical energy of their geodes, then unleashed it as a beam of rainbow light directly at the Memory Stone still in Wallflower’s hands. Unable to react quickly enough, Wallflower stood in place as the magical beam struck the Memory Stone, quickly overloading it until it finally exploded into fragments, the force of which threw her back onto her rear.

With the Memory Stone now destroyed, all of the stolen memories within were immediately released as glowing ribbons that quickly returned back to where they belonged. Sunset regained all of her memories of the past ten years, while her friends regained their memories of Sunset as a good person. Trixie stood up and smiled as she regained her memories of Sunset as a good person as well as her first encounter with Wallflower earlier that afternoon. Thousands of different collections of memories relating to Sunset rapidly scattered around as they returned to the people they rightfully belonged to, from the police officers gathered on the scene, to all the citizens of Lego City and Canterlot City, and out to the other regions of the Lego World and even as far away as the distant reaches of outer space. All across the universe, every single memory that had been magically stolen over the past three days had been successfully recovered.

Their job completed, the Equestria Girls slowly descended back to the ground. Sunset briefly rubbed her head from a slight headache, but then turned back to her friends and slowly smiled. “Twilight… Sparkle?” she asked.

Twilight turned to Sunset and, upon recognizing her friend right away, cheerfully exclaimed, “Sunset Shimmer!” She then rushed over and shared a hug with Sunset, with the rest of their friends quickly joining in for a big group hug. Once the friendly embrace was over and they all parted, Twilight shamefully said, “We’re so sorry for not believing you.”

“That’s okay,” assured Sunset. “I’m just glad to have you all back.”

“And we’re all glad to have you back, Sunset!” agreed Pinkie.

“Good thing, too,” noted Rainbow Dash. “After what happened between us while you were away, I don’t think any of us will be taking your friendship for granted ever again.” She leaned close to Sunset and quietly added, “Trust me, it got really bad at one point.”

“Nevertheless,” Rarity spoke up, “now that this whole memory debacle is behind us, perhaps we can finally proceed with that relaxing vacation we had all been looking forward to."

“Not yet,” cautioned Sunset as she turned away. “There’s still some unfinished business to take care of…” She walked away from her friends and towards Wallflower Blush, who had remained seated where she fell on the beach with the fragments of the Memory Stone still in her hands.

Once Sunset stopped in front of her, Wallflower hesitantly looked up at her face, expecting to see an expression of hatred and ridicule, but instead saw a face of worry and concern. Wallflower turned her gaze down to the Memory Stone fragments, then sighed as she let them slide out of her hands and fall to the sand beside her legs.

“I’m so ashamed,” muttered Wallflower sadly. “When I first found the Memory Stone, I erased only little things — awkward greetings, saying the wrong thing, anything that would embarrass me in front of a crowd…”

“I’ve had plenty of awkward moments I wish I could erase, too,” admitted Twilight as she and the other girls joined Sunset.

“But it’s no excuse,” continued Wallflower shamefully as she continued to stare down at the Memory Stone fragments. “I was so used to erasing memories that I got completely carried away. I should’ve known that my landscaping business was doing poorly because I simply made everyone forget I even existed… but I chose to make things worse.” She sighed before she finally turned her gaze up at the Equestria Girls. “That day when I bumped into you at the airport, and your taxis shoved my van off the road… a police officer gave me a parking ticket for that incident. I’m sure anyone would understand how wrong that was, so I used the stone to erase that officer’s memory and then threw away the ticket.”

The dozen police officers gathered nearby glanced at one another, uncertain about which one of them could’ve been foolish enough to do such a thing to Wallflower.

Wallflower dropped her gaze again as she continued, “Once I crossed that line, I was only going to get even more carried away. Due to my poor financial situation, I became tempted to try stealing some cash and using the stone to erase any suspicions — not clearing out a whole bank, but taking just enough that its absence could be excused as an accounting error.” She turned her shameful gaze back up at Sunset. “At least you were able to stop me before I would’ve had a chance to try that. If we hadn’t bumped into each other, I could’ve eventually turned into the exact same monster I’d foolishly believed you had always been and always would be.” She then dropped her face into both of her open hands. “I’m so sorry for everything…”

“It’s okay,” assured Sunset with a friendly smile. “I’m sorry, too. I may have stopped being deliberately mean to people, but a certain Great and Powerful friend helped me realize that I still wasn’t being very nice.”

“No thank-yous are necessary!” Trixie suddenly spoke up proudly as she clasped her hands behind her back. “Though the Great and Powerful Trixie would highly appreciate them.”

Police officer Chase McCain walked over to Trixie and slyly remarked, “Funny you should say that…” He then immediately slapped a pair of handcuffs onto Trixie’s wrists, binding her arms together behind her back. “…number one on LEGO’s Most Wanted!”

Trixie’s eyes widened in shock from the sudden predicament she had just walked right into. “Oh, drat!” she grumbled. “Trixie should’ve seen this coming from miles away.”

“You got that right,” noted Chase smugly.

“And look at what I found back here!” Flash Sentry called out. Trixie and Chase turned back to see Flash standing beside the wrecked car. The passenger seat had been pushed forward, and held up in Flash’s hand was Trixie’s magical staff. “The ultimate contraband!”

Trixie turned forward and sighed before she sadly muttered, “I guess this is the end of the Great and Powerful Trixie.”

While the others had their attention turned to Trixie and the police, Sunset glanced back down at Wallflower, then turned back to the cops and spoke up, “Perhaps you guys might consider going easy on Trixie.”

Everyone in the area immediately turn to Sunset with looks of confusion on their faces.

“To tell you the truth, I couldn’t have done this without her help,” admitted Sunset. “Strange as this may sound, it was her behavior bringing out the worst in me that made me realize where I went wrong with Wallflower, and how I still have a long way to go to make myself a better person. Not to mention, her magical staff was able to get us out of a few tight spots.”

“Are you suggesting that Trixie could be reformed like you were?” asked Chase skeptically.

“Yes, I believe so,” Sunset boldly stated. “All she ever wanted was for her name to be forever remembered by everyone, and if she was offered a way to do that without having to resort to acts of evil… I think she would be more than happy to take it.”

Trixie smiled at the words of confidence from the girl she was now willing to consider one of her closest friends.

Flash Sentry and Chase McCain turned to each other, then shared a nod of agreement and turned back to Sunset. “We’ll consider everything you’ve said when we make a decision in the courthouse, tomorrow,” said Chase. “Same goes for Wallflower, too.”

Flash set aside the magical staff and walked over to where Wallflower remained sitting in the sand. “Even though your apology means you’ll likely avoid time in prison,” he explained as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs, “I’m afraid you’ll have to spend tonight in the jail cell at the police station. Strictly protocol, just to be sure you don’t try to run away before your trial.”

“I understand,” muttered Wallflower in defeat as she held out her arms.

Flash placed the handcuffs on Wallflower’s wrists, then pulled her up onto her feet.

“You’ll be fine, Wallflower,” assured Sunset. “If there’s anything I’ve learned today, it’s that everyone matters — no matter what their past or how insignificant they might feel.”

Wallflower turned to Sunset and smiled, then allowed Flash to guide her away.

“You made the right choice, Wallflower,” noted Chase as Wallflower and Flash walked by. “While you were busy talking to Sunset about framing her for everything, I was sending pictures and text messages to everyone back at the station warning them that you possessed something that could erase people’s memories. Even if you had succeeded today, we would still have evidence that you were behind all of this, so no matter how hard you might’ve tried, we were going to catch you sooner or later. At least now that the worst was prevented and you’ve agreed to turn yourself in, you won’t have to worry about facing some serious hard time.”

Wallflower lowered her head and sighed.

As Flash led Wallflower toward and up the stairway to the parked police vehicles on the side of the street, Chase did the same with Trixie. Some of the other officers also returned to the police vehicles, while a few others remained on the scene to assess the damages on the two wrecked vehicles on the beach.

Sunset walked back to the wrecked car and retrieved her satchel. As she checked the time on her phone, she sighed and quietly remarked, “We really cut it close this time.”

“What do you mean?” asked Fluttershy.

“While I came back from Equestria after learning about the Memory Stone,” explained Sunset, “Princess Twilight did some further research, and later messaged me that if I failed to recover your stolen memories before sundown today, those memories would’ve been permanently erased, with no hope of ever getting them back.”

The group of friends all looked over to the west across the city skyline, where they saw between the buildings that the sun had likely already dipped below the horizon. “Wow,” muttered Spike. “That’s a really scary what-if scenario.”

“Believe me, I put a lot more urgency into my efforts once I found out about that,” acknowledged Sunset.

“Seein’ as we’re all friends again, Ah’d love to hear the whole story,” remarked Applejack.

“Yeah, especially seeing as you somehow got Trixie involved,” agreed Rainbow Dash.

“Perhaps we can discuss all of these recent events over supper,” suggested Rarity.

“Yeah, dinner definitely sounds like a good idea,” agreed Sunset as she and her friends began to walk away from the crash site. “The only thing I’ve had to eat all day was half an ice cream sandwich.”

The Equestria Girls continued their friendly conversation as they made their way back to the hotel they had been staying at. After everything that had occurred following the temporary partial loss of their memories, they were all just glad to still be together as the complete group of friends they truly were.

Author's Note

Nothing like a good car chase to make for an exciting climax. And yes, unlike Forgotten Friendship, I wanted Trixie to be present at the final confrontation between Sunset and Wallflower, where of course she ends up having to face the consequences of her past, with a potential to be reformed. I also decided to add some further depth to how Wallflower could've abused the power of the Memory Stone. Only the epilogue left to go, and as with all my previous stories, expect to see it one week from now instead of two.

Epilogue

Epilogue

The next day, the Equestria Girls were back on the beach and wearing their swimsuits. Having felt bad that Sunset had missed out on everything over the past three days, the rest of the group of friends had agreed to start over with their vacation, albeit under a more compressed schedule due to being able to add only one additional day without disrupting their day jobs back in Canterlot City.

Earlier that day, they had been required to appear at the courthouse downtown to ensure a fair punishment was delivered to both Wallfower and Trixie. The hearings were mostly just Sunset describing everything she had experienced over the last few days, and why she believed those two girls deserved a second chance. Thankfully, the trials didn’t take long, so the Equestria Girls were now able to spend the afternoon relaxing and having fun at the beach, like they had on the first two days of their vacation, with plans to return to the amusement park on the pier later that evening.

At this moment, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Spike were having fun out in the water, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were playing a game of volleyball, and Rarity, Twilight, and Sunset relaxed by lying down in their beach chairs. After taking some time to gather her thoughts, Sunset sat up, grabbed her magic journal out of her satchel, and began writing a message.

Dear Princess Twilight,

I’m pleased to say that you can now add a new ending to the archives: the Memory Stone is no more. Thank you very much for your help. Give my best to Princess Luna and, of course, thank my second-best teacher Princess Celestia. Make sure she knows you’re kidding when you say that, though.

Thanks to some help from Trixie of all people, I was able to find and destroy the Memory Stone just in time to recover everyone’s memories of me. It turns out the stone had been discovered by a shy gardener named Wallflower Blush, who had refused to believe that I was reformed and wanted to make everyone see me the way she did. Needless to say, a lot of people were not happy to find out about that — some have even said that Kjeld Playwell hasn’t been this furious since the Dazzlings tried to take over, since this was the kind of incident that messed with people’s minds. Thankfully, Wallflower was much more ashamed of her actions afterword, so rather than being sentenced to a life imprisonment, she has instead been given a two-year probation with twelve months of community service. She seemed like she was prepared to face something much worse, so she was more than happy to accept her punishment. I already offered her my hand in friendship, and if she can make a few more friends, I think she’ll turn out just fine.

Things are looking up for me as well. Even though I did have to resort to some not quite legal methods — such as purchasing a car I had stolen years ago and escaping from the police — the authorities felt very guilty for what they put me through, so I was finally granted a full pardon, thus bringing an early end to my parole. For the first time since I left Equestria all those years ago, my criminal record is now finally clean.

As for Trixie, after many years of attempting to conquer the Castle Region, she is now willing to seek a better life for herself. Her greatest desire has always been to ensure that her name would be forever remembered by everyone, and during our search for the Memory Stone, she realized that she didn’t have to be a ruthless villain to achieve that goal. Even though she’s ready to abandon her evil past and move on, she still has to face the consequences. I had to do a lot of persuading, but eventually the authorities agreed to give Trixie her second chance. While her magical staff has been confiscated and will be locked away in the deepest vault of the Crystal Castle, Trixie will spend the next five years on probation and be forbidden to travel anywhere outside the regional borders of Canterlot City…

Sunset noticed some movement at the edge of her vision to her right, so she glanced over and saw Trixie walking towards her. Like the other girls on the beach, Trixie was wearing her own swimsuit, which consisted of a dark blue skirt piece around her upper legs and light blue on the upper part of her torso with the front having a dark blue bow and a golden five-pointed start in the middle. Trixie had a friendly smile on her face as she approached. Sunset smiled back, then turned her attention back to her journal and resumed writing.

…which will go into effect as soon as she arrives in Canterlot City. For now, I convinced my friends to allow her to join us for the remainder of our vacation. Despite how annoying she can be at times, I wanted to help her become familiar with living in a City Region, and I’m very glad my friends agreed to give her the chance, even though this means I now have to share my hotel room with her.

As for the Memory Stone itself, Kjeld decided to have its fragments disposed of similarly to what happened to the shattered pendants of the sirens, by being buried within the foundation of a new building. All in all, I’m happy to say that everything is back to how it used to be, with a few exceptions for the better.

Your friend, Sunset Shimmer.

Sunset closed her journal and put it back in her satchel. She then stood up and walked over to Trixie. “You sure made an interesting choice in a beach outfit,” she playfully remarked as they stopped next to each other.

“What can I say?” quipped Trixie. “This sarong makes me feel so right.”

Sunset giggled and, as they began walking ahead, playfully accused, “Okay, be honest, you borrowed that line from one of those travel agency commercials, didn’t you?”

“Oh, don’t go accusing Trixie of plagiarism,” retorted Trixie with a smile. “You’re probably just remembering things wrong.”

Sunset immediately stepped right in front of Trixie and stopped, forcing the blue girl to also stop. With a serious look on her face, Sunset scolded, “Trixie, I briefly lost so much memory that I was reduced to a scared little filly. Don’t make any memory jokes when I’m around.”

“Okay, okay, you’ve made you point!” Trixie quickly defended as she held her hands up. Once Sunset stepped aside and they resumed walking, Trixie grumbled, “Sheesh, how was I supposed to know that would be such a touchy subject?”

“Consider that one of the first lessons of friendship: treating your friends with respect,” Sunset pointed out. “If you don’t like being insulted, then try not to insult any of your friends.”

Trixie groaned and grumbled, “Who knew joining the good guys could be such hard work?”

“It’s true that taking the side of good is usually the harder path to follow,” admitted Sunset, “but the further you go, the more you’ll understand that it’s worth the effort.” She shrugged as she added, “Who knows? Someday, you might get lucky and find yourself in the right place at the right time to help save the world.”

Trixie smirked and remarked, “With how often that seems to happen around you and your friends, perhaps Trixie may not have to wait long for that.”

Sunset and Trixie both giggled at that. “Guess I can’t deny that,” acknowledged Sunset. As they both stopped on the shore and stared out across the ocean, Sunset spoke up, “I was thinking that maybe I could invite my friends to have some ice cream at Pappalardo’s.”

Trixie raised an eyebrow and asked, “Do they know about Vinnie?”

“As far as I’m aware, they think he’s nothing more than the owner of an ice cream business,” replied Sunset. “They’ll think we’ll just be getting a treat at some ice cream parlor…” She leaned close to Trixie and grinned slyly. “But you and I both know it’ll be to thank Vinnie for putting us on the right path to finding that Memory Stone.”

Trixie smiled back and smugly remarked, “Giving credit where it’s due without ratting him out as a criminal… Seems there’s a small part of you that will always show respect to the villains.”

Sunset shrugged and said, “Yeah, well, like I said, I don’t like doing the bad things I used to do… but I won’t hesitate to use such methods if I had no other options.” She turned to face Trixie. “As a fellow former villain, perhaps you might consider a similar philosophy.”

Trixie sighed and muttered, “What’s the point? Without Trixie’s magical staff, there’s not much I can do to be of much help for anything.”

Sunset placed her arm around Trixie’s shoulders and assured her, “You’ll find a way sooner or later. What matters is that you made the choice to make yourself a better person.”

Once again, Trixie smiled back at Sunset.

Sunset released her hold on Trixie and began walking back to the rest of her friends as she asked, “What do you say we play a round of volleyball against Rainbow Dash and Applejack?”

“I’d be up for that,” agreed Trixie as she followed after Sunset.

As the Equestria Girls continued to enjoy their vacation in Lego City, the recent events caused by the Memory Stone had helped to remind them all just how important their friendships were for everyone involved. They had already made plenty of great memories together, and they would continue share great memories together for years to come.

Author's Note

And that concludes another story in my LEGO Equestria Girls series. Unlike previous years, I've been able to get this one done before the year is even halfway over, and since I anticipate the same for the next story (based on Rollercoaster of Friendship), I'll be able to spend the second half of this year working on that next story. Since I like to take a little time off between stories, I'll start writing the next story in July, so expect to see the first chapter posted sometime in early August.