Although the air in the top half of the tunnel remained fairly stagnant, even it grew less and less so as Scootaloo proceeded down the tunnel. And that's not to mention the air closer to the ground; when it had been slightly drafty before, the moving air felt downright breezy in that section of the passage. It was all the filly could do to keep from shivering. She kept trotting forward through the stone tunnel, hooves clacking softly on the ground; if anything, the chilly breaths of air that snaked down the hallway just motivated her more to keep moving. Every once in a while, however, Scootaloo couldn't help but stop, duck down, and allow the fresh air to brush across her face, tickling her muzzle.

And, for a while, Scootaloo would forget or ignore the skittering. It would become background noise, blending in with the whistling of the breeze below. When she did start to notice it again, she used all of her mental energy to not look. The fact that the tarantula was following her was bad enough without her having to look at the weird shape of the thing, its eight fuzzy legs protruding out in all directions from a misshapen, rounded abdomen.

As Scootaloo went on, passing beneath the weathered fluorescent light panels, she could feel her muscles begin to ache, growing more and more weary with each step into the unknown. She had slept in one of the previous rooms, sure, but it probably hadn't been for long and the filly felt no more rested than she had before she slept; all of the excitement and fervour of running away from the South Pen and its guards lingered still with her, wearing down on her body.

"Hssskksss," something stridulated behind Scootaloo. It didn't take her much effort to figure out what.

"What is it?" Scootaloo exhaled, spinning around. As soon as she caught sight of the spider, however, it rushed forward towards her face. It was all Scootaloo could do to quickly jerk her neck up to avoid the creature slamming into her face. And, even with that, she swore she could feel a few of its bristly hairs skim her cheek. "Celestia dang it!" The filly turned once more, just in time to watch the tarantula scurry forward, legs dancing in between the cracks of the stone floor, and disappear into the darkness of the tunnel ahead where the fluorescent lights just... stopped.

Sighing, Scootaloo resolved to continue walking forward down the tunnel, albeit at the same pace she had been before. But then, somewhere through the breeze and the clopping of her hooves on the stone and the skittering noises echoed above...

Scootaloo could hear voices. Lots of them, too, and in all directions—mostly up but most definitely to the sides. Along with the voices were faint, distant sounds of hooves on stone and hooves on metal. All of these sounds together formed what Scootaloo recognised as the distinctive hustle and bustle of city ponies in motion. And, although it was distant and muffled through the stone walls and ceiling, it didn't sound particularly far away either. Wherever it was, Scootaloo had to get there.

The filly sucked in a deep breath and let it out again before setting hoof in the next part of the tunnel, the portion that was shrouded in darkness. As she took the first few steps, Scootaloo grimaced—she couldn't see a metre in front of her face. She kept walking, though, slowly so that she didn't run into anything but not too slowly as not to linger. And, as a signal that there was still a path in front of her, Scootaloo could hear the reverberating skittering of the spider's thick, ugly legs as their ends scraped the stone floor, sending chills down her spine.

At some point, many minutes later, Scootaloo heard the skittering stop. She too stopped and stood there in the dark, unable to tell the difference between when her eyelids were closed or open, and she just listened. Hooves thundered above. Wheels rattled and doors squeaked open. Two voices were in the thick of an impassionate discussion of whether Discord would look good in slacks, or something like that.

"How do I get out of here?" Scootaloo murmured. And, as she probably should have expected, she got an answer as helpful as any others.

"Hkkkrsshhh!"