//------------------------------// // Capture and Escape // Story: LEGO Equestria Girls 4 // by Chronicler06 //------------------------------// Chapter 6 Capture and Escape Later that night, Sunset Shimmer was asleep in her bed inside the brick-built shelter she was sharing with Twilight. The noise of a faint squeak caused her to slightly stir, pulling her out of whatever dream she might have been having, but she kept her eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep. When that squeak repeated just a few seconds later, Sunset finally opened her eyes, albeit still very tired. She glanced over at the hinged wall section where she thought the noise came from, but saw that the makeshift door was closed. She was about to try to go back to sleep when she glanced over at Twilight’s bed and as soon as she noticed that it was empty, her eyes snapped completely open and she sat up in bed. “Twilight?” asked Sunset in confusion. She quickly glanced around the shelter, but saw no sign of her friend. She got out of bed and walked over to the hinged wall section. She opened the doorway and looked outside, just in time to see a minifig quickly leave the encampment and run off into the woods. The darkness of night made it difficult to see most details, but the distinctive shape of that minifig’s hair piece was all she needed to know that this was Twilight Sparkle who was running away. “Twilight!” Sunset quietly exclaimed as she immediately rushed out of the tent-like shelter and ran after Twilight. Having slept in her daytime clothes like she and most of the others did the previous night, she didn’t have to worry about losing any time with getting changed. As she ran after Twilight, she was sure that the Forestmen on night watch duty would have noticed them flee the encampment, but she ignored that thought for now. She had to follow Twilight and find out what her friend was up to. After a few minutes, Sunset had lost any sign of where Twilight had gone. She continued straight ahead, but slowed down a bit to make sure she wouldn’t miss anything that could help her find Twilight. Just as she was wishing that she had brought a flashlight with her, she noticed a faint glow suddenly appear not far up ahead. She immediately rushed over to the strange white glow and quickly reached a small clearing where Twilight stood with her attention focused on her wrist — the source of the glow. “Twilight!” Sunset called out. Twilight yelped and quickly turned around to see Sunset, then immediately hid her glowing right wrist behind her back. Sunset walked over to Twilight and asked, “What are you doing out here?” “Oh, uh, nothing!” Twilight responded nervously. “I-I was just, uh…” “You’re leaving without us?” asked Sunset in an accusing tone. “N-no! No, of course not!” Twilight quickly responded with a nervous smile while waving both hands in front of her. “Why— why would you think that?” Sunset frowned and narrowed her eyes as she asked, “Do I even have to point it out?” Twilight noticed Sunset’s gaze briefly turned to her right wrist, upon which was her Jump-Gate return device with its glowing display screen currently on. Upon realizing she had accidentally revealed that to her friend, she nervously explained, “Oh, this? I-I was just, uh… testing to see if it still works! Y-yeah, what with this being an— an isolated area, and such, I wanted to make sure that, um, that, uh…” Sunset said nothing and simply folded her arms and raised an eyebrow as she continued to frown. Realizing that Sunset wasn’t buying it, Twilight slumped as she sighed and muttered, “I’m really bad at cover-ups.” She turned her gaze back to Sunset and shamefully admitted, “Okay, yes, I am trying to leave this place.” “But why?” asked Sunset, softening her expression. Twilight turned away and sadly replied, “You wouldn’t understand…” “Twilight, you can’t just leave us like this,” pleaded Sunset as she reached over to grab Twilight’s hand. As soon as they made contact, Sunset’s body suddenly stiffened and her eyes glowed completely white. From Sunset’s point of view, she suddenly found herself observing key moments of the most recent day from Twilight’s perspective. First, she heard Twilight sharing her rather dark past with Timber Spruce, revealing the series of circumstances that ultimately led to Twilight fleeing the Castle Region and joining the Shdowbolts without any hesitation. Then she saw in the aftermath of the destruction of Filthy Rich’s surveying efforts that while Timber claimed Gaia Everfree was responsible and Sunset believed that it was just a simple accident, Twilight was convinced that her new magic might have been the cause of it, but was far too ashamed to admit it to anyone. Next, Sunset saw while she and her friends were questioning where their new magic powers came from, Twilight was again convinced that she was the source, and was once again too ashamed to admit it to anyone. Finally, she saw Spike approach Twilight and question why she was staying away from the rest of their friends, and it was then when Twilight confessed that she was completely convinced that Midnight Sparkle was to blame for all of the strange events that had been occurring in the Dark Forest, and was afraid that she would be powerless to stop the return of that demon. As soon as the series of visions was over, Sunset’s body relaxed and her eyes returned to normal. She let go of Twilight’s hand and immediately said calmly, “Twilight, there’s no Midnight Sparkle. There’s only you.” Twilight immediately stared at Sunset in shock and asked, “How did you know what I was thinking?” Sunset was just as surprised as Twilight, so she briefly paused to consider how to best explain it before she replied, “When I touched your hand, I could see things. I could understand why you were so desperate to leave.” Her eyes widened and she began to grin excitedly. “My new magic…” she said to herself in awe. “This is my new magic! This is incredible!” “No, it’s not!” exclaimed Twilight fearfully. “I’m infecting you now!” Sunset’s smile fell as she turned her attention back to Twilight said, “Twilight, you have to stop looking at this as a bad thing.” “Easy for you to say!” snapped Twilight. “Magic turned you into something beautiful. The last time I tried to use it, it turned me into a monster!” Twilight sighed and shamefully added, “I’m just so afraid it’s gonna happen again.” “Yes, last time, I turned into something amazing,” acknowledged Sunset. “But I’ve let magic turn me into a monster, too. So if anyone understands what you’re going through, it’s me.” “How could you possibly understand?” asked Twilight skeptically. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.” “Actually, in a way… I kind of do,” admitted Sunset. “But how?” asked Twilight doubtfully. As she considered Sunset’s new magic, she quickly came to a realization and hesitantly asked, “Did… did your magic let you see me tell Timber about my past, earlier today?” “Well, yes,” confessed Sunset. “Sorry about that. But that’s only part of it.” “Then what’s the other part?” asked Twilight. Sunset sighed and explained, “As you might already know from those Shadowbolt reports, I was sent to prison after the old me was defeated. What you probably didn’t know is that, when the sirens tried to take over the Lego World, I didn’t want to get directly involved in any way. My original intention was to just send that message to Princess Twilight of Equestria, then once she had returned to deal with them, I would go straight back to jail… and I completely accepted that, despite the girls thinking that I deserved a second chance. But despite my desire to simply go right back to prison, one thing led to another, and before I knew it, I found myself a key asset in defeating the sirens, and I was rewarded for my efforts by being given a full pardon. So like you right now, there was a time when I thought the team would be much better off without me.” “But that’s now,” argued Twilight. “I fled the Castle Region — the place that had been my home for my entire life up to that point — because I felt that it was too inadequate. How could you possibly understand what that was like?” “More than you could imagine…” muttered Sunset shamefully. When Twilight looked at her with a confused expression, Sunset sighed and explained, “Over five years ago, I was the proud personal protégé of the ruler of all of Equestria, and I threw it all away and fled to this world, all because I was so overly ambitious to believe that I deserved to be equal to or even superior to her right then and there. It wasn’t until after magic turned me into a monster that I realized just how wrong I really was.” Twilight was at a complete loss for how to respond to a confession like that. It seemed that whatever hardships she had been through, Sunset had been through hardships of her own that provided her with a remarkably similar experience. So why had Sunset become a worldwide hero, while Twilight remained so traumatized that she was willing to abandon her friends? As Sunset thought over everything she and Twilight had just talked about, she suddenly had an epiphany on how she might be able to help Twilight. “Twilight… I think I might know what your real problem is,” she said carefully. Twilight said nothing as she turned her gaze up to Sunset. “It’s not with the Castle Region, not with the Shadowbolts, not even with Midnight Sparkle,” continued Sunset. “Your biggest problem, Twilight… is that you’re always running away from all of your problems.” Twilight was initially confused by that sort of conclusion, but nevertheless continued listening to Sunset. Sunset explained, “You were dissatisfied with the life you had in the Castle Region, so you ran away as soon as you got an opportunity to do so, and that opportunity happened to be in the form of joining the Shadowbolts. Then as a Shadowbolt agent, you never stayed in the same hideout for more than a few months before you suddenly ran away to an entirely new secret location. And for what reason? Some paranoia that some random person would even possibly find your hideout. Finally, when you held that device containing all of our Equestrian magic, you had the option of either staying with the Shadowbolts and following Cinch’s orders, or switching to our side and helping us get our magic back. But instead, you chose a third option. Rather than face the issue of choosing one side over the other, you decided to go it alone and study that magic yourself, regardless of the consequences. And those consequences… came in the form of Midnight Sparkle.” Twilight said nothing and just shamefully stared down at the ground around her feet. It had never occurred to her that she had a habit of running away, but now that Sunset had made the connections and explained everything to her… it made her especially ashamed to think that she had been just about to run away from her problems, once again. Sunset placed an assuring hand on Twilight’s shoulder and calmly said, “Please, Twilight… no more running away. It’s time to start facing your fears rather than fleeing from them. I can help you, Twilight, and the rest of our friends can be there for you, too. But not if you keep running away.” Twilight took a moment to consider Sunset’s words. Eventually, she sighed and shut off her Jump-Gate return device. “Okay… I’ll stay,” she quietly replied. “But I still think I should stay away from the others as much as possible. At least until we know for sure where all this new magic is coming from. And I especially still don’t want anyone else to know about my new magic, either.” “Understood,” agreed Sunset with a smile and a nod. “Now let’s get back to camp before anyone realizes we’re missing.” Twilight nodded in agreement. They began walking together, but after only a few steps, they suddenly heard some rustling nearby and immediately stopped. “What was what?” whispered Sunset. Sunset and Twilight nervously glanced around as they heard some more rustling. Not knowing who could be nearby, they stayed as close together as possible. “Not to worry,” Twilight spoke up as she pulled out her cases of special spectacles. “If we’re being stalked, my infrared specs will allow me to easily find them.” She quickly swapped her regular glasses for her infrared specs, which had lenses that were specially tinted to allow only infrared radiation to pass through. As soon as those glasses were on, the first thing she saw was the large heat signature of Sunset Shimmer standing right in front of her. She then began to slowly turn her head around, looking between all the relatively cooler plants and trees of the surrounding forest for any other heat signatures. After about a minute staying still and silent, Sunset quietly asked, “Do you see anything?” Twilight turned back to Sunset and whispered, “I see four individuals over there.” She pointed to her right. “Then we should go the other way,” Sunset quietly responded. “Agreed,” whispered Twilight. She and Sunset turned away from the direction Twilight had pointed and began to walk quickly through the woods. However, after traveling only a short distance for just a few seconds, a large net suddenly wrapped around the two girls and hoisted them up. Both of them screamed as they were yanked upwards and then left suspended from a tree branch. As the entrapped girls swayed back and forth inside that net, four individuals emerged from the woods and began growling and snarling triumphantly. Twilight tried to look at them, but while she could easily see their heat signatures, she was unable to see any significant details. “What are they, Sunset?” asked Twilight desperately. “I can’t identify them! I’m still wearing my infrared specs!” Sunset grunted as she shifted around inside the cramped net to get a better look. She turned her gaze downwards and saw the four individuals were about the size of minifigs, had dark green skin, sharp fangs on their faces, and wore dark grey armor over their torsos and heads. “Troll soldiers,” stated Sunset grimly. “No doubt, part of Trixie’s army.” As they watched the trolls continue celebrating their capture, Twilight helplessly asked, “So what do we do?” Sunset took a moment to consider their options before she muttered, “Well, I doubt either of us has an effective way of cutting out of this net, and even if we did, those trolls would make sure we don’t get out of here…” She paused, then sighed and reluctantly said, “We’ll let them take us prisoners. As soon as we’re brought to their encampment, then we’ll think of a way to escape.” Twilight sighed and grumbled, “I sure hope you’re making the right decision.” “Me too, Twilight,” mumbled Sunset. “Me too.” Twilight and Sunset now found themselves locked inside a large cage on wheels, which was being pulled by a pair of skeleton horses as they galloped quickly along the trail in the middle of the night. About an hour after their initial capture, the two girls had finally arrived at a large clearing. The countless points of light from torches and fire pits illuminated the numerous tents that had been set up, along with dozens of troll soldiers standing guard throughout the encampment. Once the cage wagon rolled to a stop at the edge of the encampment, the four trolls riding along hopped off, unhitched the skeleton horses, and then walked those horses back into the encampment. Even though the captors were now gone, there were still a few other trolls nearby who were on patrol to watch for any suspicious activity. Twilight, who had long since swapped out her infrared specs for her regular glasses, turned back to Sunset and quietly asked, “Well… we’re in the trolls’ camp. Now what?” Sunset peered through the bars to examine the lock on the cage’s door, which fortunately happened to be on the side of the cage that was facing away from the encampment. After a moment, she turned back to Twilight and quietly replied, “I can pick this lock, but I’m gonna need a diversion.” “Like what?” asked Twilight. “It doesn’t matter,” responded Sunset quietly as she pulled two wires out of her jacket pocket. “All I need is something to keep the attention of the trolls away from me until I can get this door open.” “Okay, so, um…” muttered Twilight uncertainly. “What do you suggest I do?” Sunset sighed in exasperation and sharply whispered, “I don’t know! Just do something, anything! Do whatever it takes to get the trolls’ attention!” She then turned to the cage door, but didn’t do anything and kept the wires hidden within her hands. She had to wait until the diversion was in motion before she could even begin to try picking the lock. At the opposite side of the cage, Twilight looked out towards the encampment and grasped the bars. She hesitated for a moment before she finally called out, “Hey! Trolls! Over here!” The few trolls standing guard nearby turned their attention to her, with some even walking a little ways towards the cage. “Nice night, isn’t it?” continued Twilight. “I mean, hardly any clouds in the sky, sure is a beautiful night, here in the Castle Region, the land of castles and knights.” Now that the trolls had their attention on Twilight, Sunset reached over to the door’s lock, stuck the wires inside, and began to carefully work them around. “Speaking of knights,” continued Twilight, “Have you ever heard of a certain knight who wears armor as dark as a dungeon? He’s also known for striking his enemies with the power of thunder, swinging his sword around as fast as lightning. In fact, one could even say that he was… a dark and stormy knight!” When the trolls made no response at all, Twilight added, “Get it? Knight? Night? Two words that sound the same, but have different meanings and spellings? It’s supposed to be a pun!” Sunset briefly paused to shut her eyes and groan internally. The sooner I can get this open, the better, she thought irritably as she resumed her lock picking. After an awkward silence, Twilight nervously said, “Well, uh… I guess that one went right over your heads. Kind of like neutrinos! Those subatomic particles just pass right by all of us all the time and we never even notice their presence! I mean, what’s the deal with that? If they’re going to be fundamental building blocks of the universe, then they should at least acknowledge their existence every now and then.” Sunset briefly paused and let out a sigh of displeasure before resuming her lock picking. After another awkward silence, Twilight glanced around at the troll guards and hesitantly said, “I guess that one’s a little too advanced for you trolls, huh? Well then…” After a little bit of thinking, Twilight’s expression brightened and she continued, “Oh, here’s a good one! What do you get when you combine calcium with iron? You end up with a café!” When none of the trolls showed any reaction, she nervously explained “Get it? They’re elements on the Periodic Table, their symbols are Ca for calcium and Fe for iron, put the two pairs of letters together and you spell the word café!” Sunset briefly paused as she rolled her eyes and shook her head at that terrible joke before resuming her lock picking. Another awkward silence passed before Twilight shamefully added, “I guess you don’t get that one either…” Then she suddenly smiled again and excitedly said, “Oh! How about a riddle? I mean, you’re trolls, and trolls are known for asking riddles, so, uh… Riddle me this! What ultimately destroys everything, but can never be stopped or reasoned with?” The gathered trolls glanced at one another as they all shrugged and scratched their heads. Twilight excitedly finished, “The answer is… the second law of thermodynamics!” Sunset briefly paused and banged her head against the bars in anguish. This is what I get for giving unspecific instructions, she thought miserably before taking a deep breath and resuming her lock picking, once again. The silence that followed was perhaps the most awkward one of all. Some of the trolls yawned, while others simply walked away while grumbling to themselves. “Wow… tough crowd,” muttered a crestfallen Twilight. Hoping that Sunset would be almost finished with picking that lock, Twilight decided to go for broke. She pointed straight ahead and shouted, “Oh, look! A distraction!” The trolls that were still paying attention suddenly turned around. They grunted in confusion, then began to walk over towards the “distraction”. Twilight’s jaw dropped at what she had just witnessed. “I can’t believe that actually worked…” she muttered in disbelief. She then banged her head against the bars as she sighed in frustration and grumbled, “I should’ve just done that in the first place…” Clink! With the lock finally open, Sunset immediately threw the cage door open and jumped outside. Of course, this did not escape the attention of the nearby trolls, and once they saw one of the prisoners had just escaped, they immediately roared and raised their weapons as they charged at her. As she noticed the incoming troll guards, Sunset simply smirked and muttered, “Bring it on, trolls.” When the first troll charged at her, Sunset leaped into the air, flipped forward, and then grasped and removed the troll’s helmet as she somersaulted over his head. Once she landed, she immediately flung the helmet back towards the troll, smacking him on the head and knocking him out as he fell to the ground on his back. The next troll charged forward and swung his sword across, but Sunset ducked down to not only dodge the attack but also allow her to grasp the troll’s legs. She swiftly flipped the troll over her back, sending him slamming to the ground hard on his back. Another troll swung his sword down as he charged forward, but Sunset sidestepped to avoid the attack and then grasped the troll’s wrist. She then yanked him off his feet and quickly spun around a few times before letting go of him, flinging him into two other trolls and sending all three of them to the ground. She turned around just in time to see another troll trying to run her through with a pike, so she dove to the ground on her back to avoid getting stabbed, then she kicked with both legs right on the troll’s groin. Ding! The troll hollered in pain as both of his legs and his hip joint were flung away in different directions and the rest of his body hit the ground on his face. Sunset then backflipped and landed on her feet, then picked up a mace one of the fallen trolls had dropped and spun around to face two more trolls charging at her. She hurled the mace at one of the trolls, hitting him in the head and knocking him out. That mace had bounced off the first troll’s head and then came down right on the head of the other troll, knocking him out as well. Finally, about a dozen trolls charged forward in a tight formation with their weapons raised high. Sunset grabbed one of the fallen trolls by the leg and spun around a few times before letting go, flinging the troll into the formation and knocking them all over like a set of bowling pins — complete with the appropriate sound effect. With seemingly no more trolls coming at her, Sunset smirked as she smiled and dusted off her hands. “That was too easy,” she remarked confidently. Sunset was unaware that one of the fallen trolls had already recovered and now stood behind her. He raised his sword, but before he could strike her down, he was suddenly jolted by a massive electrical shock. Sunset quickly spun around to face the troll who twitched and stuttered uncontrollably as the massive electrical surge coursed through his body. After a few seconds, the electrical shock ceased, and the troll groaned and fell to the ground. Behind the fallen troll stood a smiling Twilight Sparkle, holding in her hand a long and narrow rod with two short prongs on the end of it. She squeezed the trigger and made a bright blue arc of electricity jump between the prongs, then shut it off again. “Pocket-sized stun rod,” stated Twilight as she pushed down on the pronged end of the rod, compressing the length until it was small enough to hide within her hand. “Another one of my inventions.” As Twilight put away her compressed stun rod, Sunset walked over to the cage wagon and removed one of the torches attached to the side of it. “C’mon, Twilight,” said Sunset with a sense of urgency as she began walking towards the surrounding woods. “We gotta get outta here before the rest of the trolls in camp come after us.” Twilight quickly followed after Sunset and exclaimed, “Sunset, wait!” Sunset didn’t stop walking, so Twilight urgently continued, “We can’t use the torch! The trolls will be able to see where we are! We can’t let them follow us!” Sunset stopped and turned back to face Twilight and asked, “How else are we supposed to find our way through that forest in the middle of the night?” Twilight smiled as she once again pulled out her cases of special spectacles and swapped one of them with her glasses, this time for a pair with green tinted lenses. “Night vision specs,” Twilight simply stated. Sunset stared at Twilight for a moment, then shrugged and said, “Works for me.” She tossed aside the torch and then stood behind Twilight and grasped her shoulders. “Lead the way, Twilight. I’ll hold onto you so we don’t lose each other.” “Good idea,” acknowledged Twilight as she started ahead into the surrounding forest, with Sunset staying right behind her. As the two girls fled the troll’s encampment, both of them were unaware that the discarded torch had landed right beside one of the tents, and the flames were already beginning to spread along the canvas. Twilight and Sunset had no idea how long they had been walking or how far they had traveled, but they knew they had to keep going. With Twilight using her night vision specs, she was able to follow the trail they had been taken along after their capture. From there, it was a little more difficult retracing their steps back to the hemlock outpost, but at least she was able to see where she was going and alert Sunset to any roots or rocks on the ground that could have tripped her. After a while, Sunset noticed a glow of light between the trees, not far away. “Hey, Twilight. Over there,” Sunset pointed out while pointing at the glow. Twilight stopped walking and turned to the strange light as well. Although her night vision specs couldn’t show her the color of that light, she did notice that it was a rather bright and steady light source, rather than something dim and flickering. “I don’t think that’s a torch,” she noted. Sunset silently agreed with Twilight and began to head directly towards the light in the distance. After about a minute of walking, they soon encountered someone carrying a flashlight, and quickly recognized who it was. “Timber!” exclaimed Twilight in astonishment. “Twilight! Sunset! Thank goodness you’re okay!” exclaimed Timber in relief. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” “You were?” asked Twilight. “One of the Forestmen on night watch duty told me he saw you two running off into the forest,” explained Timber. His expression turned serious as he asked, “What are you girls doing out here so late at night?” Twilight hesitated to say anything in response. She had left their camp because she had been trying to run away from her problems. She couldn’t imagine how Timber Spruce would react to such a thing. Fortunately for Twilight, Sunset decided to speak up. “Oh, uh, Twilight wanted to test one of her inventions,” Sunset lied. “I guess we were so excited to see it in action that we rushed out without telling anyone.” Twilight quickly smiled and nodded in agreement. “So why were you gone for so long?” asked Timber. “We, uh, got captured by troll soldiers on our way back after testing,” explained Twilight, figuring there would be no shame in being truthful about that part. “They brought us to their encampment, but we managed to escape and made our way back here.” Timber paused as he seemed to be looking off in the distance behind the two girls. “That troll encampment… would it happen to be in the direction of that orange glow I’m seeing on the horizon?” he asked. Sunset and Twilight turned around to face the direction they had come from. Sure enough, they could both see a faint glow in the distance, but due to Twilight’s night vision specs, only Sunset could confirm that the distant glow really was orange. It took a moment for Sunset to realize what that orange glow in the direction of the troll camp could be indicating. “Whoops…” she muttered uneasily. “I guess I was a little careless about throwing away that torch.” “You made it all the way back here without a torch or a flashlight?” asked Timber in astonishment. “How were you able to see where you were going?” “Night vision specs!” Twilight proudly answered as she briefly removed her green tinted special specs. “Huh…neat,” remarked Timber. “Was that the invention you were testing before the trolls caught you?” Twilight and Sunset turned to each other for a moment, then they both turned to Timber and grinned. “Y-yes!” exclaimed Twilight hesitantly. “That is exactly what we were doing before we encountered those trolls!” “Obviously,” added Sunset as she rolled her eyes. “I mean, you can’t exactly test night vision during the day, right?” “True that,” acknowledged Timber with a nod. He then turned away and glanced back at the two girls as he said, “C’mon. Let’s head back to our encampment at the hemlock outpost. I’ll show you the way.” “Thanks, Timber,” said Twilight contently as she and Sunset began to follow Timber through the forest. “I’m just glad we’re finally out of that mess.” “Same here,” agreed Sunset. “Though my advice, Twilight, don’t try any more comedy anytime soon.” “Why not?” asked Timber as he glanced back at the girls. “I’m sure it wasn’t all the bad.” “Believe me, all of it was horrible,” grumbled Sunset as she rolled her eyes. “That so called ‘riddle’ was especially bad. It didn’t even rhyme!” “Okay, I get it! I’m terrible at coming up with jokes on the fly!” exclaimed Twilight in exasperation. “Next time you need a diversion, ask Pinkie Pie to do it.” “Duly noted,” said Sunset with a smile. She then placed a hand on Twilight’s shoulder. Twilight glanced over at Sunset and responded with a smile. Despite whatever reservations and concerns she still had about herself, she was glad to be on a team that consisted of such forgiving and understanding friends like Sunset Shimmer. Whatever tomorrow would bring, at least the team would still be together.