"Alright, everything seems to be in order. You may now pass through the ID scanner, ma'am." A white-coated stallion stood next to the aforementioned scanner bars, ushering an older mare through them. A light on top flicked to green and made a satisfied beep noise. "All good. I hope you have a good time in Umberlight."

"Thank you, sir," the mare replied and she trotted off down the open maw of the tunnel.

The path down to Umberlight was built directly into a hill so there was no need for an unnatural free-standing structure; ponies entering merely disappeared as if swallowed into the depths of the earth as they trotted down the tunnels. Before there had likely been only one tunnel; however, because so many ponies travelled into and out from the city every day, there were multiple lanes, each fitted with an ID scanner and magic detector in order to keep the city safe and secure. At each of these scanners were two guards standing on either side, all white-coated earth pony mares and stallions with skin-tight black uniforms and black skullcaps to match. They looked nearly identical.

"How in the hay do they do that with the guards all looking the same?" Kevin murmured. He was crouched several meters away from these scanners beneath a fern, peeking between the fronds to get a view of the entrance.

"They must only hire ponies that look how they want, I guess," Flight replied. She crouched next to him, leaning forward and squinting to get a better look. "Gotta keep up that clean-cut professional image or whatever."

"I guess... still, seems hard."

"Yeah, probably." Flight didn't sound like she was really listening to what he said; she continued looking forward at the guards at one of the scanners, who were making small talk amongst themselves. "You think we should just up and waltz on in there? We're Bureau citizens, after all—there shouldn't be any weirdness."

"I'm not so sure about that," Kevin replied. "Remember the whole part where I ran away and was never caught? Plus I think Gloss could've gotten out the memo by now, and they probably have enough to arrest and at least keep us locked up for a bit."

"Oh, hm, you're right." Flight turned to face Kevin. "What should we do, then? There's not another way in without guards, is there?"

"I dunno—I've never been to Umberlight before. Still, I kinda doubt it—they seem smarter than that. Maybe if we could somehow distract them?"

"Hmm, yeah... but how?" Flight looked back to where the guards were standing, on either side of the ID scanner. "If we just distract one pair, another pair will totally see us. But I don't see how we could distract all of them."

"And if they see us... we won't exactly be able to disappear into the city easily. It's closed off and we'll be trapped inside."

"Nnngh... why does this have to be so hard? How do you think Fourth Estate and Bold Remark and Mango got through without the guards noticing?" Flight sighed. "We really should have asked..."

"I guess I didn't even think there would be guards," Kevin said. "Maybe we should call Doc Zed."

Flight opened her mouth to reply but, at just that moment, the comlink on her foreleg made electronic chirping noises. "Oh crap," she muttered, and quickly reached to press the answer button. Kevin saw one of the guards look vaguely in their direction; his heart pumped loudly in his chest for a moment but subsided as the guard shrugged and looked back to a stallion who was approaching to enter the city.

"Phew, that was close," Flight said.

"What was close?" Doc Zed's voice came out at a medium volume from the comlink speaker; Kevin was briefly convinced that the guards would hear it but a quick look in their direction revealed that they hadn't.

"Oh, um, hi, Doc," Flight managed after a moment. Her expression was a bit glum; she didn't look like she was too happy to be talking to him again so soon. "What's up?"

"You know, I just got the strangest call from my friend Fourth Estate, and she said that when they woke up, you two were nowhere to be found." There was no question; it was a statement of fact.

"Um... yep. That is definitely a thing that happened." Flight gulped. "There's nothing wrong with that, though—nopony said that we had to stay or anything."

A crackly sigh emanated from the speaker grille. "No, no, of course not. I mean, you probably should have thanked them for their hospitality, but it's all fine. But... why? Why'd you tell them you were staying and then you just left? What's going on?" That last question sent a shiver down Kevin's spine; it felt so ominous, so specific, so prying.

"Hey, Doc, these are great questions and all, but we're kind of in a jam right now," Kevin quickly stammered, attempting to postpone the discussion of more serious subjects. "We're outside the tunnels leading into Umberlight, but we don't know how to get past the guards and ID detectors without being seen or found out." Flight flashed a warm smile in his direction, wordlessly thanking him for the diversion.

"Huh? Oh, right. Yes, yes, we can talk about this later. Damn you kids and your ability to move across long distances in short amounts of time. Let's see... guards, guards, guards. You know how Fourth Estate and her folks got out?"

"No, and we were just talking about how we should have asked," Flight replied.

"Hmm... well, I actually may have something. Let me pull out some of my files and see if we've got anypony there..." Flight and Kevin could hear Doc Zed's chair scooting across the ground as the stallion stood up.

They weren't quite sure what he meant but all they could do was keep crouching there underneath the bushes, waiting for whatever solution the doctor could come up with. As they waited, they watched ponies go by, walking both directions through the ID scanners, disappearing either into the forest behind them or the yawning tunnels ahead.