Scootaloo was sitting there on her cot, putting the finishing touches on her sketch of the mare who was now lying down on her back on the cot in that cell across from the filly. The fact that Mochi had moved from her sitting position didn't exactly help; now Scootaloo had to work mostly from memory to try and get the right position of the mare's limbs so that the anatomy didn't look all awkward and wrong. Luckily, Scootaloo had been doing a lot of sketching ponies in the past few months, and from memory in the past few weeks, so she was able to scribble her way through it without too much difficulty.

It was when she was just finishing with the curve of the mare's muzzle and setting down her pen that Scootaloo heard a fizzle somewhere above her. She looked up at the ceiling, trying to figure out what had made the noise, but whatever it was, she couldn't easily see it. Then, as she was still looking at the ceiling, the lights flickered out.

"What's going on?" she heard a stallion in another cell down the hall call out.

"Is it just me, or did it get a lot darker in here?"

She paid little mind to those voices asking the questions, however, even though these were questions she probably would have been asking as well. But Scootaloo was distracted, not by the light going out, but by a flash of silver light in front of her. For a moment, as it flashed, she was able to see the room in the eerie silver light. Mochi had leapt up from her cot and was standing by the bars.

"Scootaloo?" the mare croaked. Scootaloo was about to respond, but her train of thought was interrupted by another voice right next to her.

"Scootaloo, there isn't very much time," the voice whispered, just loud enough so that she could hear. It was masculine, gruff, and oddly familiar; Scootaloo knew she had heard it and recently, too, but couldn't quite place whom it belonged to. "I've got the lights and video feed off for now, but I don't know how long it will take them to get them back online so you've gotta go quick."

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked. "Who are you? What's going on?"

She heard a sigh. "Look, that's not important right now. Trust me—I'd love to sit down and have a chat about it someday. And soon enough we will. But right now, we don't have much time, and I'm getting you out of here. I can't go with you yet, so you're on your own after this."

"Wha—huh?" Scootaloo tried to shake herself more awake. "But... why?"

"Again, no time to explain. Lemme just say that I know who you are, and that you're good." The voice came from further away and in a moment, Scootaloo was able to see why; another silver flash of light revealed that the stallion was now standing by the bars, his horn aglow as he enveloped the door with his magic. He was facing away from Scootaloo so she couldn't see his face, but she could still see his long white mane and wrinkled grey body. His cutie mark was odd, though; the shape was a single, downward-facing triangle, but what truly fascinated Scootaloo was that the fur on this cutie mark seemed to be a reflective silver, glittering in the faint light. She had never seen anything like it

In just a few short seconds, the door swung open and the stallion's magic dissipated, shrouding them once more in darkness.

"Alright, now here, take this saddlebag," he said, and Scootaloo heard the object whizz through the air before landing right next to her on the cot. She shoved her notebook inside it and slid in on as she was told, and then climbed down to the floor. "Now I need you to get out of here."

"Scootaloo? What's going on over there?" Mochi sounded desperate, confused, and weak.

"Let her out, too," Scootaloo said. It wasn't a question, just a statement. A command.

"Scootaloo, we can't waste any more time! She's a nice pony, I know, but she'll just slow you down." His voice was strained; evidently he wasn't expecting that.

"I'm not going unless you let her come with me."

"You're bluffing."

"No, I'm not," Scootaloo said, her tone resolute. To further prove her point, she slid her saddlebag off and made sure he heard the clink of it hitting the metal floor. "Mochi comes with or I'm staying. They can catch me for all I care. You too."

"Ughhhh," the stallion groaned. "Fine. Whatever. If that's what it takes, that's what it takes. C'mon." Scootaloo heard his hoofsteps clanging away on the other side of the cell so she followed out the door, feeling around with a hoof in front of her so she didn't run muzzle-first into the bars. Once she was out, though, she could see the hallway once again in a burst of light as the stallion was opening the door to Mochi's cell.

"Wh-what? Why are you doing this?" Mochi asked. Her features were wrought with confusion and worry.

"Scootaloo is leaving. She wanted you to come with her, so it became my job to make that happen."

"B-but... you've never shown any kindness before!" Mochi sobbed. "I'm so confused... and I don't deserve this..." The door swung open.

"Look, I'm... I'm sorry about earlier. I'm sorry about everything. But this filly needs you to go with her, and I need her to get out of here, so if you could please..." The stallion didn't need to say it twice, though; Mochi ran out of the room just as the stallion let go of his hold on the door and the light from his horn was extinguished. Scootaloo felt Mochi's presence at her side.

"Can you put this in your saddlebag?" Mochi asked. She hoofed her journal over to Scootaloo.

"Of course," the filly replied, stowing it away.

"Okay, now that we've got that settled... skedaddle!" the stallion exclaimed. "You gotta get out before the cameras and lights come back on. Try to go for... um... I think it's the 30th floor? There should be a tunnel off of there that isn't that heavily guarded, and you should have a clear path to Umberlight and then aboveground. I'll try to meet up with you around there."

"Why aren't you coming with us if this is so important?" Scootaloo asked.

"Argh... I'm sorry, kid, but we'll have to save the questions for another time. Just trust me in that nothing good will come of you staying here. Not that you really needed me to tell you that, now, did you?"

Scootaloo sighed. "I guess not. C'mon, Mochi." The filly started galloping down the hallway, her hooves clanking loudly on the metal floor. She could hear the hoofsteps of Mochi galloping behind her.

"Not so loud!" the stallion hissed from behind them. "Don't gallop! Canter! Trot, even! Just try not to draw attention to yourselves!"

Scootaloo didn't respond but she slowed her pace so that her hoofsteps sounded no louder than the other ponies pacing around in their cells. She could hear Mochi behind her, adjusting her gait accordingly as well. The filly didn't flinch when she saw the ceiling and walls around her light up in silver light as she heard a crack; she just kept cantering forward. She also heard maybe a few confused grunts and whispers as she and Mochi passed other cells and the ponies within them, but there was no loud noise or commotion so she could assume that nopony really knew what was going on.

The two ponies didn't slow their pace until they were sure they had reached the smaller hallway with the lower ceiling, the one with no cells that led to the small room that moved upwards. Because they were now moving slower, Mochi was able to pull up alongside Scootaloo; the faster gait had obviously been difficult for the older mare.

"So, let me get this straight—we just got let free, and you don't know why any more than I do?" Mochi asked.

"Erm... pretty much," Scootaloo replied. "Though we're not free yet..."

"Yeah, you're right. Still, I'm surprised he was able to get us out—the mana suppressor on his horn must have overflowed without the guards noticing."

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo asked. "Was that pony in one of the cells around us?"

Mochi blinked. "Oh, I guess you weren't here that long. Yes, darlin', he was right next to us, remember? That was Grey."

"...what." Scootaloo hadn't even considered the possibility. But, of course. Duh.

"Yeah, odd, ain't it? Spends all his days givin' us grief and then he turns around does something like this. Some ponies I just don't understand—prob'ly never will."

"Hmm... yeah, that's pretty weird," Scootaloo said. "Guess we can't think about it too much right now, though—we gotta get out of here!"

"Yep. We can just keep going this way, though, 'til we get to the elevator."

"Huh? 'Elevator'?" Scootaloo asked. "Is that what that moving room is called?"

Mochi took a second to reply. "Aeneus, where in the hay are ya from, girl?"

"Eheh... sometimes, I don't even know myself..." Their hooves on the metal floor clanged softly—if ever that were such a thing to happen. They carried on forward, blind, through the darkness of the hallway.