Captivity
June 11th, 2014
10:27 PM
Looks like she was wrong. Everything has gone awry for Twilight and the girls. First off, when the girls made it into the village, all the citizens and their leader got together and had this parade-like musical number to introduce themselves. Right off the bat, it was weird because the number sounded very reminiscent to propaganda and everypony who lived in the village knew it by heart. Shortly after that, the girls went down into some nasty basement underneath one of the houses and came back outside with three random villagers, one was a stallion and the other two were mares. The trio led them to the leaders home, I guess, and then Twilight and the others started following the leader up a mountain that sat a good distance from the village for some reason, but it definitely wasn't a good idea. Before I knew it, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash had their cutie marks robbed right off their flanks and were forced into a building against their will.
When that happened, I started freaking out. I kept thinking, "Shit, shit, I actually have to go save them", or "How am I going to do this". I mean, I couldn't just waltz into the village during the day, so I had to go in at night when everypony is asleep. I made sure to study the building where the girls were being held captive. Like I said, all the houses are the same, but this one has barred windows. I wasn't sure if I was powerful enough to pull the bars out, let alone pry them, but I could definitely break the front door in. Not sure what the plan was once I freed them, but we usually think of something.
When the time felt right and everypony was inside their homes for the night, I attempted to stealthily move down the hill; slipping and sliding down that caused a small avalanche of rocks. I crouched and ran over to the closest bar window and looked inside. All the girls were sound asleep, so it was time to wake them up.
"Hey, guys, it's Caleb. Pssst." I whispered. All of their ears twitched to the sound of my voice and woke up.
"Oh, Caleb." Twilight said, surprised.
"Our knight has arrived." Rainbow Dash said.
"I couldn't just leave you here. Now, I'm gonna head over to the front door and ram into it, that'll break it down for sure." I said.
"Good luck. That door is locked tighter than-- uh- well- tighter than a mor.... Ah, nevermind." Applejack stuttered.
"Try pushing the door as hard as you can to lessen the noise. Make sure to push directly where the knob is." Twilight directed.
"Okay. What's the plan after once I get it open?" I asked.
"We still have our problem in this village, but we know what it is. Everypony in this village has had their cutie marks removed by the village founder, Starlight Glimmer. With no cutie marks and being brainwashed, nopony is able to express what makes them unique. But, but, we do know where they're being stored." Twilight explained.
"Where? That cave or the basement?" I asked.
"The cave. For now, we must retrieve the cutie marks. We'll confront Starlight and the villagers tomorrow." Twilight said.
"Sounds good. Stand back, now." I said, moving to the the front door.
As soon as I gripped that doorknob, I was immediately teleported inside the house on the opposite end of the village, staring out the glass window. I didn't have time to react as I was frozen in place, encased by a magical turquoise aura. The user then turned me in her direction. This was the village founder, Starlight Glimmer.
"Welcome to the Equality Village! I know this isn't a very proper and respectful introduction, but I can't let you and your friends escape. If the other princesses were to find out about this, they would destroy the bonds that make this village whole." Starlight Glimmer said rather cheerfully, levitating a pair of heavy duty chains.
"By what? Stealing their cutie marks and forcing this upon them? Borderline communism?" I questioned, the chains now securing my arms, knees, and ankles
"Don't be so blunt about it. Total equality may seem like cultural shock, I know, but it does wonders for individuals. I am nothing but pragmatic, so I'll give you a chance to embrace it yourself with your pony friends. Doesn't that sound wonderful?" Starlight offered, myself now bound in chains and lying on the wood floor.
"I doubt it." I replied.
"We'll see, over time. Believe me." Starlight finished, teleporting me back inside the captive house. The girls stared at me, dumbfounded and shocked.
"That went well." I said, wriggling my body in the cramped square room.
"Are you okay?" Twilight asked, concerned by my state.
"I'm fine. Just a little tied up." I replied.
The girls tried to removed the chains by force, but it was no use. The chains were very tight and locked, so it would take some powerful chain cutters or a saw to remove them. Or a key, of course.
"Seems like Starlight knew I was coming." I said.
"Ohhh, uh, yeah. My words kinda slipped out in the heat of the moment that you'd kick that mare's butt." Rainbow sheepishly admitted.
"D'oh geez, Rainbow." I groaned in disbelief, flipping onto my stomach.
"Great. Looks like we'll have to stick to our original plan." Twilight said.
"And what is that supposed to be?" I asked.
"Have Fluttershy pretend that she has accepted their philosophy and find a way to get our cutie marks back." Twilight replied.
"Really? Stepping it up, huh, Fluttershy?" I said, finally sitting upwards and against the wall.
"I guess I'll do it. My positivity towards the village earlier will help make it believable." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, you've got this Fluttershy. You've been through worse before." Rainbow Dash said.
"Like going up against that Cockatrice, remember?" Applejack said.
"Oh, yes indeed. How bad could being accepted into a village of equalist be." Fluttershy said.
"That's the spirit, Fluttershy. You'll be okay." I said, resting my head against the wall and closing my eyes.
Hours later...
I woke up for no apparent reason, just that occasional wake-up in the early hours of the morning. It was still nighttime and the moon shined brightly against the open desert behind the building as I looked out the window. When I went to wriggle my body to adjust myself in the chains, I realized that I was no longer bound. Now free, I turned to wake up the girls in order to commence Plan B, but they were gone without a trace. The door was still locked and all the windows remained barred. It was just me, all by myself.
"Wha?"
It was too quiet, too. Earlier on, there was calm breeze and a few crickets chirping, but now it was just dead silent. The only real sounds I heard was the floorboards creaking along with my footsteps as I walked from window to window. I stood there for about five minutes or so, trying to decipher where Twilight and the others could have gone off to and how my chains seem to have disappeared. I sure hoped they were okay.
However, after ramming into the unusually tight locked door, I heard footsteps coming from right outside the house. Not hoofsteps, but footsteps. The were very pronounced as they shuffled through the grass and dirt and would pause for a minute or so before resuming. They eerily circled the house until they just came to a complete, random stop and everything went quiet again.
"Hey, who's out there? I'm locked in here." I called out to the source, but got no response.
Again, I started going from window to window. First the front window, the one on the right side, and then the back window. Out in the desert wasteland behind the house was something that contrasted the moonlight: a tall, dark figure. I rubbed my eyes to see what I was looking at was even real, but it seemed it was. The figure just stood there a short distance away, looking at either me or in just in my direction. It was definitely bipedal and appeared to be wearing a cloak due to the curved and slightly baggy shape of the silhouette.
"How about you go bother that Starlight Glimmer?" I said to the figure, but it didn't respond or move.
This figure and I continued to stare down each other for at least ten minutes. I wanted to look away, but I just felt the need to keep my eye on it and see if it would do anything, and it did. The figure didn't walk but slowly drifted to its left until it went behind one of the houses. Switching over to the front window to catch sight of it, the figure ethereally moved to front door of Starlight's house, extended its right arm to open the door and went inside.
"Caleb?" Twilight's voice suddenly came from behind.
And within an instant, I was transported back to reality; lied up against the wall and bounded in chains. I was perplexed to find out that Twilight was asleep, as well as the others. They were back, just snoring away.
"That was a freaky-ass dream." I mumbled, lying down on the floor with my eyes open. I really didn't fall asleep until sometime later, hoping I would dream about getting out of this house.