As Mochi neared the end of the hallway, she could see Scootaloo standing there just a few metres away from the empty elevator shaft but the filly wasn't alone. Standing between the filly and the elevator shaft, looming over Scootaloo, was a black-shirted mare with a deep blue coat and a very angry look on her face. The mare looked up as she heard Mochi's hooves resounding down the hall, and watched carefully as this pink-coated mare bounded towards her. The mare reached out a hoof, preparing for hoof-to-hoof combat with Mochi.

What she didn't count on, however, was the fact that Mochi had no intention of stopping to fight and once Mochi dodged around where the trembling form of Scootaloo stood, she kept galloping and rammed headfirst into the mare who barely had time to flinch before she was flung backwards off her hooves. Mochi skidded to a stop on the metal floor and she watched as the mare with the deep-blue coat soared into the empty elevator shaft and fell screaming into the abyss.

"Damn," Mochi said, trotting up to the edge to watch. "I thought these guards'd be made of stronger stuff."

"Bucking hay, Mochi!" Scootaloo exclaimed. Mochi turned her head back to look at the filly, who was still frozen in place.

"Huh?"

"You... you just killed her?! I mean, she probably wasn't going to do anything nice, but—she didn't deserve that!"

Mochi sighed. "I'm sorry—I really am—but I gotta do what I can to protect you." A beat. "Plus she ain't even dead."

"What? How?"

"See for yerself."

Scootaloo trotted up alongside Mochi to peer down the sheer walls of the elevator shaft and sure enough, somewhere many floors below, the filly could make out the deep-blue colour quite easily among the silver of the walls. The mare was somehow standing vertically on the wall so far down there. "I don't get it... how does she stay on?"

"Mmm... I'm not quite sure, but I think she's probably got magnetic boots."

"Oh... that would make sense," Scootaloo said. "I mean, she did climb down the wall from above to get here... nothin' I couldn't handle, though." Mochi raised an eyebrow. "Eheh... mostly," the filly added.

"That's kinda weird that she came from above, though," Mochi said. "This is pretty high up in the Pen... I'd think that most of the guards would be further down where the offices and barracks are."

"I dunno, maybe they have good strategy or something," Scootaloo said. "Now that we've got them taken care of, we should look around to see if we can find the way ou—hey, wait, what's that?" The filly had begun to turn around but she caught sight of the wall next to the elevator, emblazoned with a large, block number '29'.

Mochi blinked. "Oh Argent... the numbers must have been for the landing they were attached to, not the door below... dang it!"

"We can still get up there, though, can't we?" Scootaloo asked. "The stairs should be open, since we—well, you—took out all the guards."

"Oh, yeah! Well, then, let's gooooo—oooohhhh... oh. Crud." Mochi frowned.

The crowd of ponies that had gathered in the hallway, coming out from their offices and siderooms, returned the frown.

"What's going on?!" a mare in the back called out.

"What's all the ruckus?!" a stallion asked in a nasally tone.

Mochi sighed. "C'mon, Scootaloo, let's get through 'em." Mochi grabbed the filly and dropped her on top of her back; Scootaloo, in a brief moment of forethought, held on tightly to the mare's torso and neck. Then, through the crowd, they ran.