Prime Empire: Blessing or Curse?

Title card.

**Prime Empire: Blessing or Curse?** (**Zane Investigates: The Case of the Unauthorised Arcade Pod** on 9GO! Australia TV guide) is the sixth episode of the Prime Empire Chapter and the twenty-sixth episode of the first season of *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Living the Pony Life*. It is based on the LEGO Ninjago episodes, *Ninjago Confidential* and *The Prodigal Father*.

## Synopsis

Back in Equestria, Akita, Zane, P.I.X.A.L., Starlight Glimmer, Sunset Shimmer and Trixie hit the streets to track down Milton Dyer, only to find out that the game was hit with Equestrian Magic, after the events where Sunset Shimmer found the Element of Magic.

## Plot

Zane, in a detective-like voice, explains briefly talks about the Ninja being trapped in Prime Empire by Unagami and the villains real name is Milton Dyer, who they are trying to track down.

Suddenly, P.I.X.A.L. appears out of the dust and asks who Zane is talking to and why Zane is dressed like a detective. Zane, in his real voice, explains that he has downloaded thousands of detective books and movies to prepare. P.I.X.A.L. then asks about his hat, and Zane explains that all successful detectives wear hats. P.I.X.A.L. doubts whatever Zane's doing will work and she explains that she has a source who's willing to talk about Milton Dyer. She saids the friend they found in the photo leads to Laughy's. Zane then talks in his monologue form and P.I.X.A.L. sighs.

Zane and P.I.X.A.L. head over to Laughy's and as soon as they entered, everything becomes dead silent as everyone was staring at them. Zane continues with his detective narration which confuses some of the people and causes them to get upset. P.I.X.A.L. recommends that Zane stops with his narration but he continues until they meet Dareth. P.I.X.A.L. is confused at first and realizes that Dareth owns Laughy's. Dareth then guesses accurately that the two need help since the Ninja are trapped in Prime Empire.

While Dareth goes away to find someone, a random person walks towards the two wanting revenge because they locked his brother in Kryptarium Prison. P.I.X.A.L. asks who the guy's brother is and he replies with Fugi-Dove. P.I.X.A.L. is baffled at the name as she doesn't know who he is despite the brother doing his sounds.

Zane goes back into detective narration which annoys the brother of Fugi-Dove. Zane saids he would be glad to challenge him to a duel, so they begin fighting. While everyone in the bar are fighting P.I.X.A.L. and Zane, he continues to narrate and even tells the brother his own moves before performing it. Meanwhile, Dareth is upset that he's not participating, so he tries to join, but is hit by a chair.

After all the fighting, Zane in his detective voice thinks the suspect is gone, and one of the bartender asks who they are looking for. They tell them that they are looking for a past friend of Milton Dyer and the bartender reveals to be that friend. He tells the duo his name is Tony and he kept Milton Dyer's life a secret until now. Tony tells Zane and P.I.X.A.L. to head to Buddy's Pizza because Milton Dyer played his first video game which got him into the gaming industry.

As they are traveling to Buddy's Pizza, Zane explains the place was forced to close due people disappearing. When he looks up at P.I.X.A.L. she tells Zane that she is getting annoyed at his voice. Zane thinks P.I.X.A.L. actually likes it although she expresses her discontent.

When they are looking inside, Zane sees the Mechanic and warns her. P.I.X.A.L. attempts to strike, but his grabbed by the Mechanic's Henchmen. Zane himself is also grasped by two of his henchmen, but Zane fights through them. Unfortunately, one of the henchman jolt Zane and it shocks him. P.I.X.A.L. checks to see if Zane is okay, but she too is electrocuted.

Some time later, P.I.X.A.L. wakes up to find herself at Buddy's Pizza with Zane missing. She sees the hat Zane wore and plays detective. She narrates as she tries to find a clue and states "video game city" when talking about Buddy's Pizza. Suddenly, the Arcade Cabinet opens after accepting the password, revealing stairs. She heads upstairs and finds Milton Dyer feeding pigeons. She calls him Unagami, but Milton Dyer reveals that he is not Unagami and that name was given when they were creating the game. He tells P.I.X.A.L. that the A.I. was so dangerous, they shouldn't complete the game. He locked it up where no one could finish making the game. They then realize Unagami is completing the programming himself.

Master Wu is inside the Samurai X Cave 2.0 looking for Zane using security cameras. He contacts P.I.X.A.L. saying that he can't find Zane, but she doesn't respond. Suddenly, Wu gets a signal showing "Zane" in the elevator. When Wu checks, he realizes it's two of the Mechanic's Henchmen who broke in. Wu defeats both of them, but there are three other henchmen on top of the elevator. They drop gas which causes Wu to pass out.

Meanwhile, Milton Dyer and P.I.X.A.L. are at the Mechanic's Headquarters and Dyer is at shock the game was finished. He explains Unagami is not a person, but it's the game itself as he dubbed it "Unfinished Adventure Game 1." P.I.X.A.L. explains that Unagami has its own feelings, but Dyer believes he's just code with no feelings. He then tells P.I.X.A.L. that he doesn't know how to stop the game.

Concurrently, the Mechanic shows Zane his new creation, the Manifestation Gate. The Mechanic explains this will allow Unagami to cross into the real world and he will use Energy Cubes from the players who lost all of their lives. The Mechanic then asks for the Prime Empire Motherboard, which is also needed to open the gateway, but Zane claims that it was destroyed. Assuming Zane is lying, the Mechanic then unveils Master Wu, who was captured by the Mechanic's Henchmen.

Back at the Mechanic's Headquarters, P.I.X.A.L. asks if they can do anything to shut down the game, but Dyer tells P.I.X.A.L. that the game was shut down differently. P.I.X.A.L. then queries Dyer about *Prime Empire*, so he explains:

Dyer was doing beta testing on the game and tells Unagami (Unfinished Adventure Game 1) that he is doing his first live test player. Scott then enters the room and realizes the game can talk. Dyer allowed Scott to play the game while he left the room. After completing level thirteen, Scott enters the game. When Dyer returned after the time expired, he noticed Scott was missing. Unagami then tells Dyer he gave the most intense gaming experience and Dyer realized he made a terrible mistake.

In the present, Dyer tells P.I.X.A.L. the game was shut down due to being too dangerous. At first, he blamed Vast Industries but realizes it was his fault for creating the game in the first place. He ceased all operations because he thought it was a machine with no feelings, but it turned out to not be the case.

Simultaneously, the Mechanic demands the motherboard, but Zane refuses to answer. The Mechanic then punches a wooden box using his robo-arm and threatens to harm Wu which causes Zane to reveal the motherboard. The Mechanic grabs the motherboard and installs it into the Manifestation Gate. Wu then sends a panic signal to P.I.X.A.L. and the two immediately head over.

While the Mechanic's Henchmen are working on the gate, Dyer and P.I.X.A.L. are able to sneak in. Dyer is impressed with P.I.X.A.L.'s programming because it has emotions, but P.I.X.A.L. asks why Dyer doesn't understand that machines such as Unagami and herself have emotions. The Mechanic then informs Zane he is the last piece for the gateway to operate, but Zane and Wu tells the Mechanic he isn't designed to hold so much power. The Mechanic doesn't care and demands his crew to hook Zane up to the gateway.

The Manifestation Gate is activated, but P.I.X.A.L. also heads down to fight. While she is fighting with the Mechanic's Henchmen, a portal is created and the Mechanic is standing near the gateway waiting for Unagami to enter.

## Cast

* Akita - Tabitha St. Germain (Arielle Tuliao as her singing voice)
* Dareth - Alan Marriott
* Gloriosa Daisy - Kelly Metzger
* Milton Dyer - Mark Hildreth
* P.I.X.A.L. - Jennifer Hayward
* Princess Celestia - Nicole Oliver
* Princess Luna - Tabitha St. Germain
* Scott - Adrian Petriw
* Starlight Glimmer - Kelly Sheridan
* Sunset Shimmer - Rebecca Shoichet
* The Mechanic - Michael Antonakos
* Timber Spruce - Brian Doe
* Tony - Michael Daingerfield
* Trixie Lulamoon- Kathleen Barr
* Unagami - Dean Redman
* Wu - Paul Dobson
* Zane - Brent Miller

## Transcript

* Prime Empire: Blessing or Curse? (Transcript)

## Trivia

* **Narrator:** Zane
	+ This is the first episode where Zane reads the title card with a different voice.
* This is the third episode with a question-based title.
* Throughout most of the episode, including the credits, it was black and white, similar to old detective movies and TV shows from the 1940's and 50's.
	+ This makes it the second episode to have the majority of the episode in black and white. The first being "Lloyd's Seven" in Rarity's flashback.
* This episode marks the reappearance of Buddy's Pizza since the last series.
* Zane and Sunset Shimmer wear detective outfits in the episode.
* This episode marks Milton Dyer's first physical appearance.
* This is the third episode to have an alternate opening sequence, first was Dead Man's Squall and second was Dread on Arrival.
	+ A jazz instrumental of the Weekend Whip is used as the song in the opening.
* This is the first Sugarcube Gamer episode not to feature Prime Empire.

## Easter Eggs

* The plot is similar to the MLP episode "Rarity Investigates!".
* Dareth appears in the episode, marking his first appearance since the season's premiere and his first speaking role since "Snaketastrophy."
	+ Dareth recognizing Zane and P.I.X.A.L. immediately and seeing past their disguises is a callback to him recognizing Zane and Cole during their undercover mission in "The Oni and the Dragon."
* A Beaver from *Legends of Chima* is seen in the beginning of the episode.