Once I was sure that there were no ponies around to see me, I took off my cardboard box and stored it with the rest of my equipment. I headed to the side of the small bridge that I was on, and looked down into the moat.
“Guess it’s now or never,” I said to myself. I took a deep breath, and dived into the water. Fortunately, it wasn’t too cold. I followed the path which Twilight had shown me on her diagram, and found the secret entrance into Canterlot Castle quickly.
A minute later, I had climbed out of the water, and was in a primitive storage area filled with crates. Eerily, it reminded me a lot of the dock where I had begun my infiltration mission at Shadow Moses. “This is Snake,” I said as I called Twilight Sparkle on my codec a minute later. “Twilight, can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, Snake!” Twilight replied loudly and clearly.
“Twilight, aren’t you trying to keep a low profile up there? Should you really be talking on the codec so loudly, or saying my name out loud?” I asked her.
“I would normally agree with you, Snake,” Twilight answered, “but this codec spell makes it so that nopony else can hear you but me. So it’s safe!” I frowned, even though I knew that she couldn’t see it.
“Yeah… that’s true…” I began slowly, “but you’re still speaking, aren’t you?”
“You should know as well as anyone that that’s no problem!” Twilight answered cheerfully. “From what you’ve told me, the codec stimulates the bones of your ear, so nopony around you can hear–”
“Yeah, I know that,” I said. “But you’re speaking out loud. The ponies around you will be able to hear that.” There were a few moments of silence before Twilight answered me.
“Oh. Good point,” she said, whispering now. “That explains why so many ponies were giving me odd looks – I’ve moved away from them now. What’s the situation down your end?” I looked around for the exit, and spotted a ladder.
“Looks like the ladder in the back is the only way – wait a minute,” I started. “Equestria is inhabited by ponies. Why is there a ladder down here?”
“What’s a ladder?” Twilight replied, sounding genuinely confused. I sighed loudly, which she probably heard, since her next words were, “You’ll have to take it to the surface – but make sure that nopony sees you.”
“Yeah, I know that,” I answered, ready to continue the mission. “Anything else?”
“If you need to contact me by codec, the frequency is 140.85,” Twilight answered. “When you want to use the codec, push the Select button. When I need to –”
“Select button?!” I interrupted. What was this new nonsense she was on about?
“You don’t have a Select button on your codec?” Twilight whispered, sounding confused. “Then …how do you select which frequency you want to call?”
“Twilight… Codec works on nanotechnology. It’s not a physical piece of –”
“Nanotechnology?!” she interrupted. “I’ve never heard of that before. I wonder whether the Baltimare library has any books on it…” I sighed again.
“Look, I’m ready to go,” I said. “I’ll call you when I need to, okay, Twilight? And make sure that you tell the others not to go around shouting out when they’re on codec.” With that, I disconnected. I couldn’t waste my time talking – I had an important mission to carry out, and a time limit on it. Besides, I was getting bored just staring at a box whilst talking to Twilight.
I headed over to the ladder. To my surprise, it went up a long way – I couldn’t even see where it ended. “Urgh!” I said out loud as I started climbing up it. “If this ends up going on for ages, I’m really going to need some sort of catchy theme music to keep myself entertained.”
===================
After climbing the ladder, I found myself in a small room filled with more crates and boxes. According to Twilight’s diagram, I was just outside one of the main corridors of Canterlot Castle. I dialled the frequency 140.15 on my codec and called Rarity, as we had discussed in the carriage. After Twilight, who would probably be with Celestia by now, Rarity apparently knew Canterlot Castle the next best in the group.
“Rarity?” I asked once my codec had connected up with Rarity’s magical equivalent.
“Snake? I – no, Fancypants, my mind was drifting,” Rarity answered. “I was just thinking of something else – in fact, if you’ll excuse me for a minute, I must go and think of it some more!” I heard Rarity trotting away for a few moments, before she finally replied. “Don’t mind me, Snake – it’s not as though I was just talking to Fancypants himself!”
“Sorry, Rarity,” I answered, genuinely meaning it. “I’ve climbed up the ladder, and I’m now just off one of the main corridors – what’s my next move?”
“There’s been a slight change of plans,” Rarity whispered.
“Plans?!”
“Yes, Snake – plans,” Rarity answered in a monotone. “Princess Celestia gave Twilight a special key to unlock the Elements of Harmony, since she assumed that Twilight still wants the Element of Magic after the letter she sent.”
“Element of Magic, huh?” I repeated. “So what, I’ll just wait here until Twilight brings me back the Element of Magic, and then she’ll send me home when the meteor shower arrives?”
“If only it were that simple,” Rarity answered. “As you suspected, Revolver Ocelot is here, and he’s with the Princess. Once she gave Twilight the key, he offered to escort her to the Elements of Harmony – it seems as though he may have his own plans for them after all.”
“Plans for them after all, huh?” I answered. “That’s just gre- say, where are you right now?”
“I am just arriving outside the room which you are in now,” Rarity replied, confirming a suspicion of mine. “You can come on out and I shall tell you the rest in person – nopony is currently around.”
“Huh? What’s wrong with codec?” I asked. Although I couldn’t put my finger on it, I was sure that there was a good reason to continue communicating with codec, regardless of the actual distance between us.
“…Snake, I have just left the most fancy party in all of Canterlot so that I could come and see you,” Rarity said dully. “And you are just now telling me to stick to codec?”
“Fine,” I grumbled, “I’ll come out… Aargh!”
“Snake? What is it?”
“Dead leg,” I answered, rubbing it. “I guess staying still in the same position when talking on codec is a bit impractical, huh?” Once it felt okay again, I left the room I was in to find Rarity standing outside, just as she had said.
“We can’t talk for long,” Rarity began. “Ocelot’s keeping an eye on all six of us, and I’m sure that he’ll suspect something if I’m gone for too long.”
“Too long?!” I repeated. “How the hell did he know that you’re all working with me? Come to think of it, how do you know that he knows that you’re working with me?”
Shaking her head in answer to my question, Rarity answered, “I don’t know how he knows – I can only assume that he recognises us from his brief visit to Ponyville.” I was going to open my mouth in protest, when I remembered that I had talked to the six ponies during my fight with Ocelot. He must have taken notice then.
“And as for how we know,” Rarity continued, “we’re not one-hundred percent certain, but Twilight said that Ocelot seemed to be watching Rainbow Dash and I, so it’s safest to assume that he is paying attention to us.” I nodded.
“And do you know what Ocelot’s doing now?”
“Twilight is trying to keep both his and Princess Celestia’s attention – but that does not matter right now, Snake.” Rarity levitated out a thin, cylindrical rod as she continued. “What matters is that this is the key which Princess Celestia gave to Twilight, which she in turn gave to me- you’ll have to use it to open the vault where the Elements of Harmony are kept.”
“Vault, huh?” I repeated as I stashed the key in with the rest of my equipment. “Got it. How do I get there, anyway?” Although it was necessary for Rarity to give me the key, it still felt like we had wasted too much time since I had entered the castle.
“Head further up this corridor, to the staircase at the end,” Rarity answered, gesturing with her head as she spoke. “If you head up said staircase and follow the corridors, you should reach the vault without too many troubles.”
“Up the staircase? Sure thing,” I answered, starting to jog slowly up the corridor as I spoke. Rarity likewise started trotting back to the Gala, wishing me good luck as she did so.
As I reached the staircase, I heard the sound of someone coming down it. I quickly got out my cardboard box and hid underneath it whilst I waited for them to pass. Hopefully, it was just a civilian who had gotten lost, as opposed to a guard patrolling the stairs.
I didn’t have to wait long. A pure white unicorn stallion with a blonde mane descended from the stairs. He was wearing the collar of a tuxedo. “Urgh!” he said as he spotted the box I was hiding under. I tensed myself in case he was going to lift up the box with his telekinesis. “What is this filthy box doing here? Obviously, somepony has been neglecting their cleaning duties!”
Inside the box, I clenched my fists in rage. No one got away with insulting my box like that! The stallion sighed before continuing, still watching my box. “I suppose that I shall just have to remove the box then – although why I should lower myself to the level of cleaners is anypony’s guess.” The box glowed blue as the unicorn’s magical aura surrounded it.
“Oh no you don’t!” I growled as I threw the box off myself and leapt at him. If I was going to have my cover blown, I might as well get revenge for the comments he made about my box. The stallion gasped in surprise as he took me in in the brief moment before my fist connected with his face.
“Why – why, how dare you!” he said as he raised a hoof to where I had hit him. I picked myself from the floor where I had landed, and raised my fists, ready to hit him again. I needed to knock this unicorn out before he could raise an alarm.
“I’ll have you know that I am the nephew of Princess Cele- oof!” he started before I hit him again. Despite his protests, I continued punching and kicking him until he collapsed to the floor in a bruised heap. “B-but… why?” the stallion weakly asked, looking up at me.
“Nobody insults my box,” I said gruffly to him before landing a final punch which knocked him out. I looked around cautiously. No-one had come into this corridor yet. I hid his body behind a column, hoping in vain that no pony would mind if they found this stallion’s body knocked out and bruised.
===================
The stairs went on for nearly as long as the ladder, spiralling around and around repeatedly. It was a good thing that I hadn’t accidentally set off any alarms before heading up it – that would have just made this section horrible. Once I reached the top of the stairs, I found myself facing three corridors. At the end of the middle one was a door which I assumed was my destination, judging by what Rarity had said earlier.
Unfortunately, the corridors were being patrolled by guards, who were each magically projecting lights from their horns to search for intruders. There weren’t too many, but they would still get in my way if I tried to rush past them and straight to the door. It seemed that the three corridors were connected, as the guards kept moving between them.
I headed down the left-most corridor once the guard from there moved to another corridor. I had barely stepped onto the floor when it split in two. “A trapdoor?!” I said in surprise before leaping forwards to what I hoped was safe ground. Fortunately it was, and a moment later the trapdoor closed again, looking like just another part of the corridor.
I dialled the frequency 141.52 on my codec, and waited for the recipient to reply. “Hey Snake!” said Rainbow Dash. “What’s up?”
“Rainbow Dash – you’re the expert on weapons and traps,” I said. “Tell me, why is there –”
“What? I’m not an expert on either of those,” she interrupted. “Why would I know about them? I mean, sure, I’ve read a lot of Daring Do, but still…”
“Oh… I just thought… ” I started. “I just thought… because of the frequency… Look, do you know why there are trapdoors here in Canterlot Castle?”
“Trapdoors, huh?” she replied. “Nope, I have no idea why they’d put them there. It seems kinda pointless.”
“Yeah… I know,” I answered. “That’s why I was confused by them… there’s no reason for them to be here. Tell me, do you- ”
“You think I should show the Wonderbolts the Sonic Cloudboom?” Rainbow Dash interrupted. “Because I was talking to Spitfire before and –”
“Sure,” I answered. “Especially if it distracts Revolver Ocelot – what’s the situation with him, anyway?”
“I think Rarity’s distracting him,” Rainbow Dash replied absentmindedly. “Look, I’m going to show the Wonderbolts the Sonic Cloudboom now, okay? Talk to you later, Snake.” With that she disconnected. It was a good thing that she had, too – the guard patrolling this corridor was approaching.
I doubled back and headed down the right-most corridor this time, jogging slightly to avoid any more of those damn trapdoors. Fortunately, the carpet muffled the sounds of my jogging. By following this corridor down after the guard disappeared, I managed to reach the door I had been heading for.
I opened the door, and was about to step through when – BEEDLYBEEP! BEEDLYBEEP! I spun around, ready to face the guards… only they weren’t there. After a moment of confusion I remembered that the noise I had heard wasn’t an alarm, it was just the sound of an incoming call on my codec.
I answered the call, which to my surprise was from an unknown frequency. “Snake, be careful! There are Claymore mines around there. Use a mine detector.”
“Huh?” I answered quietly. “Isn’t Claymore a bit of overkill?”
“If they go off, the alarm will be raised! Wheow! Wheow! Wheow! Wheow!” I hadn’t been certain of who the caller was before, but I knew now.
“This is Pinkie Pie, isn’t it?”
“Just call me Madame Pinkie! I’m one of your fans!”
“Pinkie Pie, I know it’s y- wait a minute, how do you know where I am? Codec isn’t visual.”
“I’m above you!” Pinkie replied. I looked up, not sure what to expect, and sure enough, Pinkie Pie was on the ceiling, walking around with suction cups on her hooves. She waved as I looked up. “Hi Snake!”
“W-what are you doing following me?” I asked, confused. “Shouldn’t you be back at the Gala with the rest of the girls?”
“Are you kidding me?!” she asked as she climbed down a wall. “Those Canterlot ponies don’t know how to party or even partay! So I followed you, since you’re always doing something fun!” Pinkie Pie leapt off the wall and right in my face.
“Okay…” I said slowly as Pinkie Pie took off her suction cups. “But how did you know that this area’s been mined? It looks fine to me.”
“Pinkie Sense! Twitchy tail, itchy hooves, scratchy back and then chattering teeth mean that there are mines around!” I frowned at her.
“How on Earth could that mean that –”
“So anyway,” Pinkie said, ignoring me, “you just have to do a hop, skip, and a jump to get past! It’s not very far, just move your little rump! You can make it if you try, with a hop, skip, and jump!” As she sang, Pinkie Pie ran up to the doorway and then jumped across an area of about three metres. “Now you go!” she said cheerfully.
“Alright,” I answered as I lay down on my stomach and started crawling through the doorway. Pinkie started shaking her head when she saw what I was doing.
“Nononono! You have to sing the song!” Pinkie Pie leapt back and forth over the mined area. “Hop, skip, and jump! Hop, skip, and jump! Hop, skip, and jump!” I ignored her and kept crawling until I was past the mined area.
We were in a large hall with wide windows along the sides, alternating between regular windows and stained-glass. Fortunately, there were no guards here. I approached one of the stained-glass windows, where there was a large snake-like creature being defeated by a group of ponies… In fact, as I looked closer, I saw that the ponies in this glass seemed to be my friends.
I turned back to Pinkie Pie. “Pinkie… is this glass you and your – Pinkie, what are you eating?” She was happily chomping something which was lying on the floor. “Pinkie, are those my rations?”
“Well,” she started, “I didn’t know that cupcakes suddenly got the technical name of rations, but they sure are!” I sighed.
“Pinkie, do you remember why I gave them to you?” I asked her. “It wasn’t so that you could eat them, it was so that- Pinkie! Stop eating them!”
“No!” she said in protest as finished eating. “These are my cupcakes now!”
“But Pinkie I might have – urgh, never mind,” I said, giving up. “Just tell me – is that you and your friends?” I asked, pointing to the stained-glass window I had been looking at before. She bounced over for a closer look.
“Yep!” she confirmed. “That’s all of us defeating Discord with the Elements of Harmony!” She stopped and thought for a moment. “You know, the first time we met him, it was in this room… wouldn’t it be something if he suddenly came back now?!”
“Pinkie, I –”
“Ssh!” Pinkie held out a hoof to silence me whilst she waited for something. After a minute or so of impatiently waiting, she finally said, “Nope, doesn’t look like he’s returned!” I decided not to ask her what the point of that had been.
Looking at the stained-glass window again, I asked Pinkie Pie, “How far are we from the Elements of Harmony, anyway?”
“Oh, they’re right behind this door!” Pinkie said, bouncing over to a large door at the end of the hall. It was surrounded by an ornate gold frame, and divided into six segments. At the centre of the door was a sun. As I moved closer, I saw a small hole in the sun.
“Guess that this is where I put the key in, huh?” I said as I got out the rod which Rarity had given me before. I had been wondering why it was cylindrical, and this hole explained everything. As I put the rod in the hole, it glowed blue, and two of the lines which divided the door into segments lit up.
“So… what now?” I asked Pinkie. The door was still shut – the only difference which had happened was the lines lighting up.
“Oh yeah! Twi told me what to do next!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “That key’s made of something she calls a shape memory alloy!”
“Shape memory alloy?!” I repeated, already starting to see where she was going with this.
“It changes the type of magic in the key at different temperatures!” Pinkie explained. “You’ll need to find somewhere hot to heat it up, then bring it back here –”
“-Then somewhere cold to cool it down, then bring it back here,” I finished. “You mean I really have to do all of that backtracking?” She nodded.
“Yep! Seems that way!”
“It sounds like a stupid way to design a key,” I said, frowning as I did so. “I’ve got a better idea. Pinkie, watch the door for guards.” I got my Nikita rocket launcher out as I said so.
“Sure!” Pinkie answered, bouncing away. I fired a rocket at the door, which blew it to pieces. “Ooh! Nice idea!” Pinkie said as she bounced back over to me.
“There aren’t any guards coming?” I asked as I stepped past the doors and into the room where the Elements of Harmony were kept.
“Nope! If they were, I’d let them have some of my party cannon!” Pinkie said. Somehow, I didn’t doubt it.
Lying on the floor was a small blue chest, decorated with jewels. I picked it up and opened it. Inside were a set of necklaces, each with a unique symbol. “Ooh! Ooh! Right there! That’s mine! The Element of Laughter!” Pinkie said, pointing a hoof at one of the necklaces.
“Element of Laughter, huh?” I asked. As I looked at it, I realised that the symbol on it was a balloon, the same as Pinkie Pie’s cutie mark. “So… I guess that’s Rainbow Dash’s,” I said as I spotted the necklace with a lightning bolt, “that’s Rarity’s…” I continued as I saw the necklace with a diamond.
“And there’s Fluttershy’s, Applejack’s, and – hey! Wait a minute!” said Pinkie as she looked into the box properly. “The Element of Magic – it’s missing!”