//------------------------------//
// Sly Cooper in: Laying Low 
// Story: A Raccoon in a Pony World 
// by Bookish_Devil 
//------------------------------//

Close to fifteen hours later, I felt it was getting dark enough to make my move. Those gray light hours just before the sun and moon, completely trade places are wonderful for sneaking around. No one questions someone moving quickly with their head down. I could almost walk down the main roads but decided to stick to side streets and alleyways. While most of these ponies were oblivious to what is going on around them the guard were not, I could see them out in force. It seemed like the orders Celestia gave them would work to my advantage.

I watched as four blocks down a small detachment of guards entered a bank that should have been closed by now. ‘Classic mistake. She should have just increased numbers and sped up the rotation. She needed to increase the surveillance on the rest of the city not on possible targets.’ I kept these thoughts to myself and made my way slowly to the castle proper. I was lucky that the statue gardens and the archives were only one tier down from the citadel. With all of the white marble and the layered structure the place reminded me of somewhere put I just couldn't remember. Then it hit me and I felt like an idiot. “If the city starts looking anymore like it, I am going to have to begin calling it Minas Tirith.”

I needed to work my way around the innermost wall until I found either a section with no guards or a building higher than the wall. 
As I walk, my feelings of disappointment keep growing. Close to two thousand years and so little technological advancement. The only real changes I could see were either in sanitation or that train I heard whistling. ‘At least they aren’t throwing chamber pots out windows anymore.’ The thought causing me to shudder.

A little while later, I find my building. No guards on the wall across from it and a flagpole going a good ten feet above the level of the wall. While the thirty foot span between the two was pushing it. I gave the surrounding streets a quick once over to see if anyone was near me or watching.

Seeing nothing, I jump up and begin climbing my way to the roof. Once I was up on top I pull off my bag and start going through it. ‘Let’s see smoke pellets, telescoping mirror, extra cards, cords , iPod, binocucom, solar charging pad, and book I just stole darn were is it? Oh duh back pouch.’ I give everything a quick once over before arranging everything and starting up the flagpole. At the top, I see why there are no guards on the wall. At this point, the guard barracks shares a common wall with the wall.

‘I will just have to hope none of the guards look up.’ When I reached the top of the pole, I slowly eased my way onto the ball at the top. Giving the streets and castle grounds around me a quick survey, I throw myself-off the flagpole towards the castle and pull a handle on my bag. The para-glider I somehow obtained with my powers burst out of the backpack and I slowly glided over the castle wall.

Landing was tricky. The wind had come up near the end. While this had made crossing the gap easier it gave me a new problem. 
I stood there weight back on my heels trying to stop. The wind kept blowing slowly dragging me to the edge of the wall and almost pulled me over the line and onto the barracks roof.

For a tense minute, I thought I was going over. If that happened good bye stealth. With its wood slat roof there was no way landing on it would be anywhere near as quiet as my landing on the wall. Then I felt it, the wind slowed and my weight and grip slowly brought both myself and my para-glider back towards the middle of the wall’s walkway.

I put all my weight into dragging myself back. Step by step, I slowly inched my way back from the ledge, when the wind suddenly stopped. I went tail over teakettle. I ended up falling backwards. I tried to roll with it to avoid hurting myself.
It didn’t work out like I hoped. I ended up rolling into a merlon smacking my head against it as I came to a sudden stop. I sat there trying to blink the stars out of my eyes for a minute before a sudden thought jarred me back into motion. ‘What if the wind picks back up.’

With that thought galvanizing me into action, I began repacking my para-glider. Five minutes later and the guards none the wiser. I begin working my way towards the castle proper.

The first thing I did was Identify as many guards as possible. The walls seemed to be very lightly guarded for as far as I could see with the binocucom. It seemed to be more like a staging area for the airborne troops rather than a real fortification these days. Then again looking out on the city it was easy to tell why. The city itself was enormous, with several oblong tiers circling out from the mountain side each with its own half sized wall dividing it. The outermost seeming to have the biggest wall excluding the palace. “And in typical pony stupidity the gates are all in one straight line.” I just shook my head at that. 

The inner court yard seemed to have fewer guards than the wall if that was possible. The ones I could see were congregating around a few side towers. ‘Must be the treasury buildings and the royal gallery.’ Again typical pony stupidity. In trying to prevent me from getting to my target they have given me carte blanche to use every other window, balcony, service entrance, and if they pulled anymore guards the front door.

With a casual ease I made my way to a point halfway between the front door and a guarded tower. It wasn't a perfect entry point but if I tried to circle to the back I could either be discovered or find even more guards. I made my way up to a window in a low crouch almost on all fours I moved directly under it.

I needed to check to see what was in the room but approaching I saw that either the door to the hall was open or a light was on in the room. Pulling my binocucom I cue up the camera function easing it up above the windowsill I take three quick pictures. Pulling it back down, I listen for a minute no noises from the room or around me. Here is where this idea could backfire. I had to study the photos to make sure the room was empty and that nothing I could knock over was near the window.

I gave my surroundings one last quick look before devoting most of my attention to the pictures. ‘Lets see what I’m working with.’ The pictures showed a sitting room both tastefully and lavish. Marble floor, but large area rug. ‘Going to want to do this first part barefoot less noise that way.’ I couldn't see anything but a poperee tray on the table in front of the window I would still take a quick look to either side before hoisting my way through. The final detail of relevance I noticed was that the light was not coming from an open door or lantern but from a crystal relief arching over the door frame depicting six ponies sitting in a cave as a blizzard raged at one edge of the image.

Taking the binocucom away from my eyes I reevaluated my surroundings. The only real change being that the sun was quickly setting. This was a lucky break I had a minute or two of near pitch black approaching depending on the lunar cycle. I quickly watched the wall in front of me and listened. No guards and the minutes seemed to crawl by as my adrenaline spiked speeding up my perception. I was waiting for the shadow of the wall that was spreading slowly down the wall to obscure the window. I nearly had it when I heard several of the guards make noises.

In a panic I dropped down even lower to the ground grabbing my tail to make sure it didn't rise into the air. Looking over at the guards making noise I pieced together what was causing them to make noise. 

Several pieces of their armor were reflecting dark blue and a dark gold light. This was paired with the sun jerking below the skyline.
I didn't waste a second I shot upright and tried the window. It opened easily if only giving me barely enough room to squeeze in. I stuck my head in and looked both ways. I lucked out no lamps or candlesticks. I risked a little noise by diving through the window over the table, a quick role to deaden any possible sound my landing could make and I was in the palace with no one the wiser. Turned around and made sure nothing was disturbed by my entrance. I closed the window and put a petal back in the dish. ‘They’re ponies right so is this aromatic decoration or is it a candy dish with what could be the equivalent to trail mix?’

Taking the telescoping mirror out of my bag I inched over to the door and opened it a crack. A quick flick of my wrist and the pole the mirror was on extended. Sticking it out of the top of the door jam I slowly used it to look up and down the hall. No one was in this hall so I darted out into the corridor and silently eased the door closed behind me.

Once again I took to the ceiling to move along the halls in the castle. With the beams for the next level and the supports for the tapestries and chandeliers it was only a minor problem to move along in the palace. Now though I had a new problem. Where to hide? I wanted to stay in the palace itself; because it was both populated enough that a little missing food might not go noticed for a least a month, and it allowed me to keep an eye and an ear on any plans made to thwart my escape.

‘I need either a room that is out of use or an empty wall space somewhere between the throne room, war room, and the kitchen. Or I need to figure out how to rig up a bug and plant several of them in those rooms.’ With that last thought I let out a silent moan. It was times when I had thoughts like that, that made me wish I had been brought to this world with a guy dressed like Bentley. Sly was a master of disguise, a dexterous and proficient fighter, a gentleman thief of the highest caliber, but tech savvy he was not. Which made me James Bond without Q or a gun.

Ideally I wanted an out of the way bathroom or a pantry easy access to either food or water. I could convert my paraglider into a hammock and only have to worry about sneaking into rooms adjacent to my targets. following my nose I made my way deeper into the bowels of the castle. The smells telling me I was either getting close to the kitchen or the meadery.

I was near the kitchens I think when I found something that could serve my purposes nicely. I had opened a plain door to find  a dumb waiter. I entered by stepping onto the cart closing the door behind me and checked the other side. Another door was there gently easing it open I found what I was hoping for on the other side of the door was the kitchen. I watched as a handful of scullery maids washed dishes and pots while what appeared to be both the head butler and chef seemed to be in conversation. Good the after dinner clean up I wouldn’t have to worry about the lift moving unless one of the princesses wanted tea or a late night snack. I eased the door shut and tried to figure out a way for me to get ontop of the cart and into the shaft itself. Two minutes and a loose plank later I was in the shaft working my way up. I was maybe fifteen feet up the shaft when I found another door using my mirror again I checked where it open onto. I found an unadorned room with what appeared to be several barrels and a few spare wagon parts looking further to my right confirmed my suspicions, the main delivery entrance. I closed the door and made my way up the shaft again. The next door I found opened onto a large stately dining room. I continued my way up the shaft finding that this would turn out to be a perfect location. My final and most welcomed surprise came when I got to the top of the shaft like at the bottom there were two doors easing open the first I found what appeared to be a small rather intimate sitting room. The colors were bright warm pastels  the furniture was all very plush and  to be gently used. The pictures were a wide assortment of oil paintings and modern photography. Every one of them was a portrait, and only two frames depicted being I recognized. The first stood out because unlike the rest of the room the subject of the painting was a dark coated alicorn mare Luna. The next was a group shot eight mares and a small dragon. Celestia, Luna, the purple one name Twilight, the pink one, and the dragon. All sitting in what seemed to be a private garden at the palace. I moved on checking the room some more I found three doors. I checked to two furthest from the dumbwaiter. One opened onto a gleaming and expansive bathroom. The other a bedroom. I realised where I was and beat a quick retreat back into the shaft. Checking the other door I found an almost exact duplicate of the previous room only with much darker colors. 

I had hit the Jackpot hiding at either the top or bottom of the shaft gave me access to: the kitchens, the palace loading docks, the main dining hall, and both princesses private chambers. Things were looking up.