Rainbow Dash and Twilight stepped back into the hall from which the unicorn came. Rainbow held her close, her eyes wide.

"That's...nasty," she muttered.

"It was."

"C'mon," she said as she turned to the stairs, "let's go find her."

Twilight snarled and backed away. "Ew what? Why would we do that?"

"So I can give her a piece of my mind," Rainbow said as she stormed down the hall. "Besides, you eggheads never stand up for yourselves."

"That's assuming you don't get a slice of... Hey, wait up!" She galloped down the stairs to her friend's side. Together, they rounded the corner into the curving hallway.

"Where is she?"

"Right here, to the left," Twilight said, nodding to a door up ahead. Both she and Rainbow Dash swerved into this doorway, stepping firmly in the room and looking around.

There was the warm, crackling hearth. The white marble walls and red floors were all aglow with a deep orange light. There were lamps on either side of the central couch, and on a table beside it, two wine bottles now. But most importantly, there was no Trixie.

"Dude, she's not here," Rainbow said, looking around.

"She was right here," Twilight stammered. She frantically scanned the room with her eyes, finding nothing in particular wrong.

"Twi, we're wasting the night. She's not here, oh well. C'mon, you wanna go dance?"

"I-I, but she-"

Dash plugged her mouth with her hoof, then wrapped her foreleg around Twilight's neck. "Let's go Twi, there's a part down there!" Without hesitation, she jerked her friend forward, lurching them both into the hallway.

The second wine bottle waited until they were out of site, then decompressed in what sounded like an ordinary sigh. It then proceeded to tilt right, leaning on its twin. The non-sentient bottle tipped onto the sentient one, draining its contents into the neck of the sentient bottle. And thus one wine bottle drank the other.

Hic

"All right Twi, these are the doors to the main dance floor," Dash said, slowly and carefully. Behind her was a set of two huge golden door, from which a loud booming blared.

"I know," she huffed, rolling her eyes.

"Right, well when we're in there, you stay by me, all right. From up on the balcony I think I saw a bar and stuff. If you want to go there, you tell me, got it?"

"Rainbow, I'm a grown mare," she said with a sigh.

"Ah-Ah, but who's the partier here?"

"You," Twilight grumbled.

"Right. So let's get in there and par-"

Slam! The golden doors were flung open, smashing Rainbow's.

Vinyl walked out of the roaring crowd and flashing lights from within, a confident smile on her face. "Hey Twi," she said. "Where's Rainbow Dash?"

"Rifft her you ash," she said from behind the door. Vinyl turned around, swinging the door closed to see Rainbow's strained, tomato red face.

"Oh hey!" Vinyl gave the pegasus a hug, which was not returned. "What were you doing behind the door?"

Rainbow snarled, wiping the spit smeared on her face. "Looking for the elder scrolls."

"Well that's cool, but I don't think those are here." Vinyl pondered it for a moment, looking at nothing in particular. "Ah well, anywho, I took care of Luna."

"Luna? What happened?" Twilight asked, leaning in with a worried expression.

"More like...what's happening. I wonder how Octavia feels..." She placed a hoof beneath her chin, tossing her ruby eyes up.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but instead just sunk back.

"Well who's DJing now?" Rainbow asked.

"Oh, only a little pony called Lyra Heartstrings!"

"The harpist from Manehattan? How-"

"Shh," Vinyl said, winking. "It's a secret. Well, maybe not, but to you it is! Come one, I've got to show you guys something!" She bounced down the long hallway. The simple rectangular expanse ended with a set of five metal doors on either side, each busy loading and unloading hordes of ponies from their cars.

Twilight, rather than following, decided to turn back around and pry the golden doors open with her magic. Peering inside, she saw wave upon wave of roaring ponies, two bars that were imbedded in either side of the wall, and in the center, a mint green unicorn, cloaked in glowsticks, dancing and pumping her hoof.

"Twi, c'mon," Rainbow called to her from an elevator. She spun back around, shaking her head and letting her eyes fall back to normal.

Galloping over to the elevator, she said, "Where are we going anyways?"

When she stepped into the box - a modern thing with imbedded blacklights, a single mirror, smooth steel and backlit button pad - Vinyl replied, "To the kitchen!"

The elevator shot down, much to Dash's and Twilight's surprise. They shot their wide eyes to Vinyl, who remained cool, calm, and collected as she hummed a fast tune. "The kitchens are down?" Rainbow asked.

"Well duh!"

"Um, might I ask why?" Twilight asked.

"Where else are we supposed to put our chef?"

She opened her mouth, but was cut off by the ding of the elevator. The doors shot open, revealing blinding white lights, tiled floors, a multitude of counters, array upon array of pots and pans, and the sweet smell of sugar.

Twilight, Dash and Vinyl all stepped out from the elevator, watching the chefs and waiters fly about their business. Behind them was a set of elevator doors, each opening and taking loaded waiters and waitresses to their destinations. The layout before them was simple; a large rectangle as the main area, with other sections severed by large, grated metal doors.

"See? I've got the works!" Vinyl said, propping herself up on her hind legs and flailing her arms about.

"I do," Twilight said. "But I still don't see why it's underground. I mean-"

"SUGAR!" A voice boomed from behind a door to the right. All three ponies cocked their heads. to see what had happened. Then, suddenly, a brown stallion in a white apron backed out slowly. In his mouth was a large white platter with a small, crispy salad on it.

"B-But it's a salad!"

"I don't care! Put more sugar on it!" A cream mare screamed at him as she exited the same doorway. Immediately, the stallion darted off, avoiding most of the other chefs around him - though receiving more than a few angry waves of pots and pans - and flew into a door on the left.

"Hey! Bonnie!" Vinyl shouted, grabbing the fuming mare's attention. Bonbon snapped her head up, nearly foaming at the mouth. Her pupils were dilated and her face was strained, almost steaming. But it almost instantly gave way to a kind smile and warm eyes. The mare casually trotted up to the crew.

"Hey Vinyl. Who's this?" she asked heartily.

"Ah, just some important friends. Might call them the guests of the night, actually!"

Bonbon inspected them with her warm smile. "Well would you dears like some sugarwater? It's tasty!"

Twilight smiled but shook her head, and so did Dash. "Oh, no thanks. Nothing for me pl...please..."

Bonbon scowled, her face growing an intense crimson. Her jaw clenched and her muscles tightened - she looked like she was about to blow.

"I'll have a glass, if you don't mind," Vinyl said with a shrug and a wink. Bonbon snapped upright with a cheery smile.

"That's peachy! Gustav! Get Vinyl here a glass of our finest sugarwater, won't you?" she asked to a griffon behind her. The beast sighed and began preparing the drink.

"Um, madam Bonbon, we seem to be low on le sugar," he said with a nervous tone and tight face as he peaked up above the countertop.

Bonbon twitched. "Vinyl... WE NEED MORE SUGAR!"

"I know, I know," she said, waving a hoof and scoffing. "We've got a new shipment coming in tonight. It'll be here soon."

"Alrighty then!" Bonbon gave a grade-A smile.

Behind her, the Griffon approached with two glasses of a milky white fluid. Bonbon and Vinyl took them, clinked them together, and toasted.

"To prosperity!" she said.

"To sugar!"

Then, Bonbon tilted her glass up, chugging the whole thing in one fell swoop. While she wasn't looking, Vinyl launched her glass to the corner of the room with her magic, silently landing it in the trash can. When Bonbon let her head fall, taking in a deep breath of air, she looked around curiously.

"Where'd your drink go dear?"

"Oh, that?" Vinyl shrugged. "I drank the glass too. I'm a unicorn, we can do that. Ask Lyra when you can."

"Oh..." Bonbon said, obviously fascinated. "How is Lyra by the way?"

"Her? DJing. Damn good at it too."

"Ah, well that's great. You know, she-"

"Halt!" The doors behind Twilight opened, and she had just enough time to vault out of the way before a golden-clad white pegasus - and two other just like him - swooped out of the elevator. The sprung forward and came to a stop in the center of the room.

"Hey, what they hay's your problem?" Vinyl asked, stomping her hoof down. Twilight looked to Rainbow Dash, who just shrugged.

"We are the Royal Special Forces Squad, and we have reason to belive that a high-profile criminal is hiding in your facility as a grape."

There was silence. Even the chefs stopped, giving each other weird looks.

Vinyl stepped forward with a raised brow. "A...A grape?"

"Indeed!" the forward stallion said, "A grape. And we are here to find this criminal."

"Well, I guessed that...but... a grape?"

"No further questions!" he shouted. Then he turned to his two guards. "You," he said to one, "Go to the fruits! And you go to the cellars! I shall remain here." Without further ado, they split, and he began tossing open cabinets

"Hey!" Bonbon shouted, "You can't do that in my kitchen!"

"I can and will ma'am," he said. "I am under royal authority to do so." He began tossing pots and pans out of the cabinets. He then moved to the storage cabinets, tossing out sacks of beans, cans of soup, and most importantly, bags of sugar. The sacks slammed on the floor, expelling their grainy contents everywhere.

There was silence one more.

"That...that was good sugar..." Bonbon said, sauntering up to him. Her eye twitched, and her pupils dilated once more. "That was good sugar..."

"Ma'am, I apologize-"

A jar of applesauce hit him on the temple. "THAT WAS GOOD SUGAR!"

"Guys, we need to go. Now," Vinyl said. She didn't wait for a response - instead she ran for an open elevator, waving a hoof to Dash and Twilight.

They looked over their shoulder, and heard, "I'LL RAPE YOU WITH A CANDYCANE!"

As soon as they were on the elevator, Vinyl began spamming the third story button. Twilight could only catch glimpses of the outside as the doors began to close, but she did see a cream hoof, a candycane, and a multitude of chefs turning green and darting away.

Just as soon as the doors were closed, they heard a loud wail, that of a stallion. "Why would you put that there?!"

Once again, there was a silence among them.

"...So," Vinyl eventually said, "Who wants to see level three, huh?"