Jumping down the hidden entrance to the secret tunnels under the palace, Sandstorm couldn't see anything at first. There was no light in the tunnel and had to wait a moment for her eyes to get used to the darkness. She stood still, listening if anypony had heard her dropping down the hole near the fountain above. Slowly, Sandstorm became able to discern her surroundings: the tunnel she had landed into was perfectly square, the marbled surfaces smooth and cold to the touch. Looking up, she noticed the hole she came down from, around 15 feet above her head. There was no visible way to reach the surface from here. Sandstorm assumed that this specific entrance was made for pegasi specifically. Visualizing the castle's blueprints in her mind, she started walking towards one end of the tunnel, towards the archives' general direction. Going through the tunnel, Sandstorm observed the walls around her. They were covered in carvings, depicting many historical events that Sandstorm never bothered learning about. This was more of a Misty thing, she thought.
As she went deeper in the palace's bowels, more and more lit torches were affixed to the walls, illuminating her way. Sandstorm decided to take one of the torches with her, intending to use it as a weapon in case she crossed paths with a royal guard. Further ahead, Sandstorm could see a fork in her path, reaching a T junction. A stallion's voice was coming from the left side, speaking to itself. She stopped to listen to the voice, while trying to gauge if that pony was getting closer or further away.
"Join the royal guard, they said. It'll be great, they said. The greatest honor is to defend her majesty," the stallion sighed. The latter half of his sentence was uttered in a different, mocking tone. "Nopony bothered to tell me about bucking cleaning duty."
The voice wasn't getting closer, nor further from Sandstorm. Slowly approaching the junction, she lurked near the left wall and peeked at the corner. On the left side of the junction, a white earth pony with a green mane wearing royal armor, was holding a broom and cleaning the tunnel with little enthusiasm. While the guard wasn't paying much attention, he was blocking Sandstorm's path. Looking towards the opposite side of the junction, Sandstorm saw a light flickering: another guard holding a torch was slowly coming this way. Stepping back, she threw her torch behind. Then, remaining still within the shadows, she waited.
The second guard, a purple mare, went straight towards the cleaning stallion. They started talking.
"Cleaning going well, recruit?"
"Yes ma'am. I'm almost done with this section of the tunnels."
"Good. Because you're not doing anything else until this place is spotless."
"Y-Yes, ma'am," he answered, feeling defeated.
"That should teach you not to steal from the kitc-" the mare was cut-off mid-sentence by a powerful spinning kick, sending her flying on a wall. Sandstorm had snuck up on them while they were talking and decided that violence was the best way forward. The stallion took a moment to register what he just witnessed, then wielded his broom like a weapon.
"Wh-You're under arrest!" his voice was shaking. This was clearly above his pay grade.
Smirking, Sandstorm looked at the guard. She turned her back on him, pretending to be casually leaving without saying anything. The stallion stood still for a second, unsure of what to do before screaming a battle cry, swinging the broom at the back of Sandstorm's head. Before the hit could connect, however, the guard suddenly felt a violent shock on his breastplate. The following moment, he was on the ground twenty feet back from where he stood. Spitting blood, he could feel an intense pain in his chest as he looked at his armor. On the breastplate, two indentations could be seen: Sandstorm's hind hooves. Looking up, he saw her standing over him, winking.
"If I were you, I'd remain still. You only broke a few ribs, but they could puncture your lungs if you move too much. Don't worry, though, I'm sure somepony will come find you and your marefriend soon enough."
Looking to his side, the guard saw his captain on the ground, knocked out. The wall next to her cracked and broken into pieces. Looking back at his aggressor, he yelped. "Y... You’re a monster!"
"Come on, now, that's not how you talk to a lady," she answered as she stepped past him. Noticing that the stallion on the ground was about to scream for help, she groaned. "Fine, if you're gonna be a pain in the ass..."
She kicked him in the head, holding back her strength not to kill him. The guard fell silent. Kneeling to check on his pulse, Sandstorm smiled. "You'll have a hell of a headache, but you'll live."
After stretching her legs, she observed her work. Feeling proud, she headed further in the tunnel. If Misty and Aphelion weren't stuck suffocating in stone, they should be waiting for her to create a way out.
The two unicorns waited silently. Right behind the wall, two guards were discussing, unaware of the intruders' existence. Aphelion quickly scanned the wall to see if there were any runes carved on the stone that would allow them to pass through, or to open a secret way. Following his lead, Misty focused on the physical aspect of the wall. She quickly noticed a spherical stone slightly poking out. Nudging Aphelion towards it, they inspected the stone silently while keeping an ear out for the guard on the other side. They detected no magic on the wall: if this was indeed a secret entrance, it worked on a purely mechanical level, meaning the opening system could be damaged. Before they could test that theory, however, the unicorns had to wait for the ponies behind to leave.
Not too long after, the voices stopped speaking. Aphelion heard hoofsteps going further away, but he wasn't sure if both ponies had left. Misty turned to him, then whispered. "I think they left."
"One of them did," he answered with a hushed tone, "but I don't know if the second one followed."
Looking at the wall, Misty started to think. They could probably take down one guard, but she wasn't sure they could do so before that guard could alert others. Unfortunately, they couldn't find another way out beside the room whose door was covered in dark magic. In other words, they only had one viable way out. "We may have to take them down, then."
Aphelion gulped. "Uh... You mean, with magic?"
"Of course, I mean 'with magic'. We're not brutes."
"Won't that trigger the castle's alarms, though? We don't know in which room we'll end up."
"I can try disabling the alarms before we strike."
"Are you sure? No offense, but your spell in the library seemed to be... Kind of short-ranged? And you had to focus solely on it, meaning I'll have to do the knocking out on my own."
She sighed. "Touché. But we don't have any other way to do that, I'm afraid."
Aphelion felt the weight of the stolen encyclopedia in his saddlebags. "I, uh, actually may have another method. Promise you won't get mad, though."
Spearhead was bored to death. While he usually enjoyed his job as a royal guard, some tasks were better than others. Watching the inner hallways of the castle ranked low in terms of enjoyability. He sighed, leaning on his spear. The hallways around him were empty and while they usually weren't guarded, with the festivities in the capital, some ponies tended to explore the castle beyond the allowed area, somehow slipping through the castle's security. His job was to bring these visitors calmly but firmly towards the authorized area. He was even allowed to use a reasonable amount of force if these guests were resisting. This situation wasn't frequent, however, and so Spearhead had to stand alone in the hallways for hours while ponies all around the capital were having fun. He still felt proud of his position, though, but he still wished for something exciting to happen.
Almost as if answering to his wish, a strange sound echoed through the hallway. The sound of stone scraping on stone. Perking up, he looked around nervously, barely hiding a smirk.
"Who's there?" he yelled, but nopony answered. The scraping sound continued for a good twenty seconds, before suddenly stopping. Spearhead quickly noticed something new: right behind him, a new passage had appeared. With a puzzled look, he approached it. "I don't remember ever seeing a door there," he thought. Cautiously, he peeked inside. All he could see was a strange corridor heading downwards, spiraling around a large pillar. Nopony was inside the strange hallway. When he turned back, Spearhead was face-to-face with a dark gray unicorn standing on his hind legs. "When did he get there?" Spearhead thought, panicking. Somehow, that unicorn had managed to sneak up on him without making a sound. He then noticed something above the gray stallion's head: he was holding a large book. The two stallions observed each other for a moment, in awkward silence. Then, in a panic, Spearhead attempted to step back while yelling: "Intruder-"
He was cut off by a violent smack on the head, his vision blurring from the encyclopedia's impact. Seeing stars, Spearhead stumbled for a moment, trying to get his bearings. He bumped on another pony: a second unicorn, a pink one. She started speaking.
"What are you waiting for?! Hit him again!"
The gray stallion surged and smacked Spearhead again on the side of the head. Spearhead could swear he had heard 'sorry' as the book made contact once again. It still wasn't enough to take him down, however, and he clumsily held his spear towards the other stallion. "You... You're under... Arrest?" he muttered, struggling to focus. Looking up, he saw that the gray unicorn was no longer holding the book.
"Put your bucking weight behind it, like that!" the mare said, somehow already to Spearhead's side. A third strike on the top of the head was finally enough to send Spearhead off to the realm of dreams.
Aphelion and Misty looked at each other, both panting. Glancing at the unconscious guard on the floor, Aphelion spoke up.
"Well, this could've gone worse."
"You stole from the bucking royal library and didn't think to tell me," she answered while throwing the beaten book at him. Aphelion caught it mid-air with his aura, before placing it back in his saddlebags.
"I, uh... That's true, but it was a good thing in the end, right?"
She glared at him. While Misty hated to admit it, without Aphelion's silencing spell and without the improvised mace, they would have been spotted immediately by that guard. She stepped towards the wall, then pressed the spherical button to close the hidden door. Covered by the loud sound of stone scraping against the floor, they headed towards what they assumed was the exit.
"Wait!" Aphelion suddenly said, stopping in front of a small door.
"What is it?" she asked.
"We found them!" pointing towards the door, a word was engraved on the stone above it.
"The archives..." Misty was dumbfounded. They managed to reach their original goal by sheer luck. Maybe this mission wasn't doomed, after all. "Let's go, quickly. We can still make this mess worth it."
Slowly pushing the door, the two unicorns peered inside the large room. It was filled with dozens of shelves, each containing a dizzying number of scrolls, folders and books. Nopony was in sight. Quickly, Misty and Aphelion went inside the archives, closing the door behind them. Misty immediately began searching the files while Aphelion looked around.
"Do you know where to look?" he asked.
"I have a general idea. If you want to take anything with you, be quick. Once I find the records, I'm not waiting for you."
"Right," Aphelion said before joining the search. Sandstorm had been extremely vague about the file the duo was looking for, but from what he could gather, the two mares were looking for dirt on a noblepony. Something about blackmailing a stallion named Blueblood, apparently. Aphelion began his own search, wanting to find proof of Celestia's tyranny. His faith in the Crescent Pact had been tested ever since coming to the capital and the stallion was desperately hoping to find something to confirm what he had been taught ever since his birth. However, the only thing Aphelion was able to find on such short notice was a single file named 'Investigation on Crescent Pact'. The file was heavy, filled with hundreds of pages. Not having the time to read through it, he quickly brought it to Misty. Just as he did so, she raised another file.
"I got it!" she exclaimed.
"Great! I also found something, so I'm good to go."
Glancing at the file Aphelion was carrying, Misty felt conflicted. "Are you sure? You may learn some... Difficult truths."
"I... I know. That's why I need to read it. If there's proof of Celestia's wrongdoings, this would be a great lead."
"And if there's proof of the Pact's true nature..." she thought. Misty then focused on a spell, aiming for both files. Golden energy appeared on the front of each of them before quickly dissipating. "We're good to go. We won't trigger any alarms if we leave the archives with those."
"Great, let's go. Sandstorm's probably waiting for us."
The two unicorns quickly left the archives, sneaking once again in the castle's hallways.
Standing next to a wall, Sandstorm waited. She had managed to find the rendezvous point and was hoping to hear a signal any second now. Closing her eyes, Sandstorm focused her senses into the floor, using her innate earth pony magic to detect vibrations. While her tremor sense wasn't very precise, it was more than enough for the task at hoof.
"C'mon, guys... You should've been there ages ago..." she mumbled, feeling nervous. With the two unicorns starting their end of the mission before her, Sandstorm had fully expected them to be there before her. She was worried that something bad had happened to them. They could have been seen and arrested, or stuck in stone, or killed by guards, or...
Taking a deep breath, she ignored these thoughts. The last thing she needed right now was panic. Thankfully, she started noticing faint vibrations coming from behind the wall, getting increasingly closer. Somepony was standing right behind that wall. Sandstorm still waited for the signal, however, in case it was somepony else. Three soft thuds resonated on the wall, in quick succession. Three knocks. Soon after, a faint yellow glow covered the surface. It was them. Feeling relief, Sandstorm got into position and prepared herself. Then, with all of her strength, she bucked the wall with her hind legs. In one fell strike, a large portion of the wall was turned to dust. The hit was completely silent, muffled by Aphelion's spell. At first, Sandstorm couldn't see if her strike had been enough to open up a path but after the dust settled, she could see the two unicorns jumping through the large, 10-foot-wide hole in the wall.
"You guys sure took your sweet time," Sandstorm chided.
"We had a few complications, but we're fine," Misty quickly answered.
"Are you sure nopony saw you come in?" Aphelion chimed in.
"Well, some did, but they're too busy having nice dreams to cause any issues. Anyways, let's go."
The trio started running, Sandstorm taking the lead. They galloped through the underground tunnels, their escape route perfectly planned out in advance. Every now and then, they would pass by unconscious guards in varying states of hurt. "You've been busy," said Misty.
"You can't blame a mare for having a bit of fun. I'm sure the both of you had all the time to be busy as well," she snickered. Her friend groaned in annoyance, while Aphelion was too out of breath to answer. Not being used to casting this many spells outside of his wheelhouse, the stallion felt the effects of severe magic exhaustion, hindering his already lacking physical abilities. Slowly but surely, Aphelion began to trail behind the two mares. They quickly noticed Aphelion slowing down.
"Go on, Misty. We'll catch up with you later. I'll stay with the pretty boy here to make sure he doesn't get captured."
Misty hesitated for a moment. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. Go ahead, but please be careful. If there's anything blocking your way, do your fog thing and get out," the yellow mare slowed her own pace down to match Aphelion's. Looking straight ahead, Misty kept going forward on her own.
Looking at the struggling stallion, Sandstorm started encouraging him. "C'mon, you can do it. We're almost there, just the last dash."
"Sorry... For being a... Deadweight," he managed to say between a few breaths.
"Nah, you're fine. We couldn't have made it without you."
They went on, running at a slow but steady pace. They were just about to reach a turn when a sudden deafening alarm blared through the tunnels. "Shit! They're onto us," Sandstorm yelled. She glanced at Aphelion. In his state, it was obvious to her that he wouldn't be able to run all the way to the exit on his own. "Alright, we have no choice. Up you go!"
Grabbing Aphelion, she placed him on her back and started running at full speed. Being too tired to protest, Aphelion let himself be carried away while catching his breath. He observed the tunnel walls as Sandstorm sprinted, noticing that the further they went, the surfaces became increasingly less polished. After a point, the walls were made from regular stone instead of marble. The stone also showed cracks here and there...
"Hey, sleepy head. Get ready to hold on," Sandstorm's voice pulled Aphelion out of his train of thoughts. Looking forward, he saw a line of guards with spears drawn towards them, guarding the nearest exit. Misty was nowhere to be seen. Before he could analyze the scene further, Sandstorm jumped with all her might, flying above the surprised guards. Unfortunately, Aphelion was too slow to react and lost his grip, falling from Sandstorm's back. He felt a surge of adrenaline run through his veins as he prepared a spell to slow down his fall before feeling a violent impact on his left side. Something - or rather, somepony - had caught him in the air. It only took a glance for Aphelion to recognize who caught him: the crimson pegasus he had seen earlier that day, at the café.
"This is bad," he thought. Steady slammed Aphelion on the ground, holding him in a chokehold. The guardponies looked at Steady with wide eyes, unsure whether they should arrest him as well. With a gruff voice, Steady yelled: "I'm with Celestia, you idiots. Get the mare!"
Without showing any proof of his claim, the guards obeyed the crimson pegasus, his sheer force of will being enough to convince them. They all turned towards Sandstorm, who had stopped after landing. She scanned the tunnel, observing each royal guard in front of her. While she was strong, she couldn't deal well with that many trained targets, especially without the element of surprise. She sighed. While Sandstorm always expected her plan to end that way, it didn't make it any easier. "Sorry, Aphelion," she said before running towards one of the walls and bucking at full force. As soon as her hooves slammed onto the surface, the cracks on the walls widened and spread quickly. The entire tunnel began shaking, dust and pebbles descending on them. Soon after, the roof began collapsing on Steady, Aphelion and the royal guards. With a last glance towards Aphelion, Sandstorm started running away.
At that moment, Aphelion understood that in Sandstorm's plan, he was always supposed to be the sacrificial lamb that allowed Misty and Sandstorm to escape.
All around him, the guards were panicking. Large rocks had begun falling, slowly entombing the group in the tunnels. Steady cursed under his breath when the ceiling fully gave out. Dozens of large chunks of stone were about to crush everyone remaining in that part of the tunnels. They were all about to die.
Then, Aphelion noticed something strange. He heard the ticking of a clock. All around him, the world started to slow down. Colors started to shift towards a sepia tone. That's when Aphelion could see them. Underneath the boulders falling on them, faint blue lines appeared. Trajectories dancing in the tunnels, shifting ever so slightly after each vibration, after each step, after each breath. The world had become an infinitely complex machine, one Aphelion could start to understand. He saw which of the falling stones were going to crush guards, and which ones were going to close them off. There was only one that threatened Aphelion directly, but he felt like he had to protect the other ponies around him. Even though helping them would completely shut off his chance to escape. Gathering all his focus in one, central point in his horn, Aphelion dug deep within his remaining strength to cast one last spell. Even though he was exhausted, and his body burned all over from this last push, he remained fully focused. Then, with a flash of yellow light that covered the entire tunnel, specific boulders started floating in the air, held aloft with a golden aura. Aphelion then fell unconscious. This whole process had taken only three seconds.
Steady opened his eyes. He felt that his target casted a spell while he was distracted, but Steady wasn't expecting that. Some of the boulders gently levitated down, moving out of the way and sparing everyone. Quickly after, the royal guards began running towards the tunnel's exit, still hoping to catch the remaining intruders. With a groan, Steady carried Aphelion back inside the castle.