"Crap crap crap crap crap," Scootaloo said, continuing with more "crap"s until she ran out of breath. She stood at the foot of the concrete stairs, neck craned forward so that she could look up through the darkness.

Even Later, weighed down by Clove Hitch, was several metres behind, so she couldn't quite tell what the filly was looking at. "Scootaloo? What's wrong?"

Scootaloo gulped and pointed. As Later neared, she could see up the flight of stairs to the first landing, where at least three or four guards stood menacingly, clad in black vests much like Ms. Haze had been. "You're not going anywhere," one of them taunted in a firm, high voice.

"Oh, yeah?" Scootaloo shot back. "Who's gonna stop me?"

"They are, I do believe," came a voice from behind them. Scootaloo didn't have to turn to know who it was, and yet she did anyway to see the beige-coated mare standing tall, brushing a bit of dust off of her vest with a hoof. "You can't have honestly thought you could just run right out of here, did you? I must admit, I wasn't expecting that you were going to be able to get past me, so for that I offer a bravo. Yet, as I'm sure you already know based on the company you keep, we've had escapes before. We completely expected this."

"Just let us go," Scootaloo said through gritted teeth. "We don't want any trouble."

Ms. Haze laughed. "Really? You think you're in a position for bargaining? Darling, you're trapped in between my side, a dead end, and that of the lovely officers up there. And don't just think they're only on one of the landings—no, we've got them going all the way up the stairs. Maybe you can get through a few, but certainly not all of them."

Scootaloo's eyes narrowed, and then she stepped over to Later, leaning her muzzle in close to the mare's ear. Haze squinted as she heard the faintest sound of a whisper, though she couldn't quite make out what was being said. Luckily for her, she didn't quite have to.

"What?" Later whispered a little louder. "Scootaloo, I can't do that, I don't have—"

"You're a unicorn!" Scootaloo practically yelled. "How in Celestia's name do you keep forgetting that, dang it?"

"Augh, I'm sorry!" Later replied emphatically. "I've just... I've just never done that one before. I can try... here goes nothing..." She screwed up her eyes in concentration, and Scootaloo watched her as she did so.

Haze knew they were going to teleport, and she used this knowledge to her advantage. As Later's horn sparked to life, the beige mare's did as well, a nearly-invisible beam of magic shooting out to connect the horns of the two unicorns. As Later, Scootaloo, and Clove's body winked out of the room, Haze disappeared along with them to wherever they were going.