"I know I said you weren't helping, but could you please come back?" Scootaloo's desperate voice reverberated around in the dark, but no reply came. "Nnngh... I really really don't want to have to walk back the way I came."

Again, there was no reply. The air lingered, stagnant. As soon as Scootaloo had told the spider to bugger off, it seemed to do just that—but with its absence came the absence of the breeze, and the sounds above grew fainter and fainter before they stopped altogether. She wasn't quite sure what had happened, so the orange filly had sat there for several minutes, occasionally calling out to the spider. Even though it had been creepy and unpleasant, Scootaloo assumed that, if it were anything like the possum that also had a silver star sticker on its head, the spider would have been helpful in getting her out of her current conundrum. Or, at least, helpful until it turned vicious. On second thought, maybe she had dodged a bullet there.

"Hey... spider dude... I'm sorry I was being kind of a jerk earlier, but I'll be nicer, I swear!" Scootaloo called out for the hundredth time, her voice starting to grow hoarse. "Please, pretty please, just get me out of here!"

Silence.

And then...

Thssshhhh!

The sound came from above, somewhere near the ceiling, and it didn't quite sound the same as before. Still, it was all Scootaloo had, so the filly stood up in the dark to get a closer look. Even if it was so dark that standing up wouldn't make much of a difference. "Hello?"

In response, a chunk of the ceiling lifted, flooding the underground passage with light. Now Scootaloo could see that she was at the dead end of a long hall, with stone brick walls much like tunnels before; in fact, the only significant aesthetic difference was the lack of fluorescent light panels. And, as she had thought, the spider was nowhere in sight; seemingly, it had vanished into thin air.

But it was not the newly-illuminated tunnel that interested Scootaloo much; instead, her gaze was trained toward the ceiling and the hole from which the light shone. As her eyes adjusted, slowly but surely, the filly could tell that it was one of the ceiling bricks that had been removed and, since nothing had fallen down, she could only assume that it had been lifted up and set aside by somepony. It wasn't until the second and third bricks next to it had been lifted until Scootaloo could figure out who had done it. She squinted up through the light, letting her eyes adjust. Then, she gasped.

"Grey?"

The grey-coated stallion above leaned his head down through the small hole in the ceiling, the tips of his mane brushing against the bricks. "Scootaloo! Thank goodness it's you—I was pretty sure, but couldn't be completely, you know. Imagine if it were one of the South Pen guards? I'd have to go all action-movie on them or something."

"Heh... yeah, that would suck," Scootaloo said. "What's going on? Where are we?"

Grey bent back up to pull out another brick, magically dislodging it. "We're actually in a museum. Isn't that weird?"

Scootaloo blinked. "Huh?"

"Oh, sorry. Welcome to the Umberlight Museum of Natural Sciences, where the science is science-y and the nature is... natural." The stallion bent down to grab another brick. "We're in one of the back storerooms, but don't worry. The museum won't be open for another few hours, so nopony else is back here besides us. I don't even think they have security guards, the poor saps. It's a wonder nopony's walked off with their entire collection yet."

"How... how'd you know I'd end up here?" Scootaloo asked.

"Heh... let's just say I had a hunch." Grey winked exaggeratedly. "Alright, the hole's big enough now. Okay if I lift you?"

Scootaloo nodded. "The sooner I get out of here, the better." Immediately, she was enveloped in a silvery magical aura that sent a wave of warmth through her whole body. The filly rose quickly through the hole in the ceiling and came to a landing on the stone brick ground before Grey let go. As soon as he was sure she had landed, Grey went quickly to work picking up each brick from a neat pile and then magically securing them back in place.

Scootaloo took a quick look at the room around, revealing a spacious room with a high ceiling but few furnishings. Large wooden crates stamped with letters she couldn't understand were stacked in piles along the walls.

"Should hold for a while," Grey said as he set the last brick down, leaving it impossible to tell a hole had been made in the first place. "Or at least long enough for us to get out of here. Not a big deal if they find the tunnel—they were bound to find it anyway, and maybe they can get some of that junk preserved." He turned to Scootaloo. "Say, where's Mochi?"

"Oh, erm... I'm not sure, to be honest," the filly replied. "She was cornered by the Bureau guards and she told me to get out so I did. She said she'd be fine."

Grey frowned. "Well, okay. Hopefully she's alright." The stallion took a few quick steps through the room, towards a door on the far end. "Let's go—the sooner we're out of here, the better."

"Wait!" Scootaloo called as she started to trot after him. "Why are we here? Who are you? Why did you help me escape?"

"No time!" Grey called, not even turning his head to look. "I'll tell you—believe me, I'll tell you—but the longer we stay here, the greater the chance they'll find us and capture you again. C'mon!"

Even though she grumbled to herself, Scootaloo had little choice but to follow the stallion as he opened the door and beckoned her forward before slamming it behind them.

Beyond this door was a large room with a high ceiling, even higher than that of the storeroom they had just left. In addition, large arches stretched the width of the room, culminating at a rotund dome of a ceiling. Even though it was so high up, Scootaloo could see the multicoloured painted figures of ponies and other creatures, posed in scene after scene as they went around in a vibrant circle of artistic wonder.

Scootaloo's eyes were drawn away from the magnificent, breathtaking ceiling by loud noises below; as her gaze descended, so did a feeling in her stomach that sunk lower and lower.

"Hey! You there! What are you doing?"

In the centre of the room, up a flight of stairs to a small balcony, stood three white-coated stallions that wore skin-tight black suits with black caps to match. It was one of them who had called out to Grey and Scootaloo, and his expression was angry yet determined. Scootaloo froze.

"Buckin' A..." Grey murmured. "C'mon, Scootaloo, let's scram!" Scootaloo could feel herself being lifted in his magic and thrust onto his back as the stallion galloped away. She turned her head to watch as the guards on the balcony recovered from their brief moment of shock before all three of them simultaneously leaped over the railing and landed hooves-first on the floor with a resounding clang that echoed through the entire museum lobby. Heart pounding in her chest, all Scootaloo could do was watch as Grey galloped as hard and as fast as he could to get away.