//------------------------------//
// Lead (as in the metal) 
// Story: Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot 
// by Equimorto 
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Past a door that security had left unguarded and up a flight of stairs they maybe shouldn't have been on, Brush kept thinking. Surely the guards outside had been informed and were alert, looking for any signs of movement. It was always possible that the pegasus was just planning to take a few of them on, knock them unconscious and run. Midway through a ramp the mare stopped, and Dust almost pushed her forward another step as he bumped into her. "How did they get in?"
Dust, confused, began to walk again as Brush too went back to climbing the stairs. "They busted in through the ceiling," he said. They were both there, they'd both seen it.
"How did they get on top of the ceiling?" Brush was going up two steps a time. "Because they can't have flown there. Guards would have spotted them. So they must have gotten here on the ground, where they actually had a way to hide. Except, there's guards all around the perimeter."
"Maybe they already took some of them out." Even being taller than the mare, Dust was having trouble keeping up with her. It was all the more impressive of her to be moving like that dressed the way she was. "Maybe they found a way to get past them undetected."
"Exactly." Brush jumped past the railway and on to a different ramp higher up, forcing Dust to run through the way there to catch up. "Or, they were already here, invited, and no one found it weird they were going to the ceiling. If it's the first two though, they'll probably be going out the same way. If they already knocked out some guards, they probably acted quickly so no one would notice in time."
Dust wondered how the mare could keep going so fast and talking so much without running out of breath. She didn't seem like the athletic type. He didn't have much to add to what she'd said, he thought it made sense enough, so he just kept quiet and kept following her.
They reached a fork in their path. One way kept going upwards, one went to a door and behind it to the rest of that floor, and one way led to a balcony. After a brief pause for thought, Brush headed for the balcony. Before they could get through the door, however, they were blocked by a spear placing itself diagonally in front of it on the other side. The pony holding it peeked out past the edge and stared at them for a moment, then leaned back and pulled back his weapon. "I must ask you not to leave the building," he said from beyond the wall.
Brush and Dust walked out onto the balcony. The guard was busy intently looking around, towards the ground specifically. He didn't say anything else, and didn't turn towards the two. The unicorns looked at each other, then shrugged. Brush took the lead again, climbing up the wall.