Through a Mirror, Darkly

'Well Rarity, it's time to put these skills of yours to good use.' The white mare thought to herself as she walked along next to the prison wall, 'I just wish my outfit was less, tacky.' the outfit she is talking about is a tight fitting black fabric body suit, designed and produced by Rarity herself, 'Though I suppose it does accentuate my curves nicely.'

As she hugged the wall a guard passed over head, silently Rarity waited, counting in her head, another guard passed by, and another. After the third guard passed by she pulled out a length of thin cord with a small flat piece of metal attached to one end of it, throwing it up into the gloom she heard a soft clink as the metal landed on the top of the stone wall.

'That silence charm needs recasting.' Pulling on the line to make sure the magi-magnet is holding she nodded in satisfaction.

Rarity again waited until the next guard had passed by before running the cable through a series of pulleys attached to the harness wrapped around her torso. As the rope feeds through a small application of magic causes the pulley system to take the slack out of the line. Slowly the alabaster unicorn stands on her hind legs so that she's spread eagle against the wall.

Again applying her magic the rope moves through the pulleys, pulling it's unicorn passenger up the wall, as Rarity ascended she couldn't help but be reminded of a spider. 'A lovely image darling, keep comparing yourself to those eight legged beasts.'

Just short of the top of the wall she stopped and waited for the next guard to move past. After he does she used her front legs to lever herself outward, doing a hoofstand on the side of the wall, before re-engaging the pulley system pulling on the rope and causing her to flip upwards into a two legged stance on her rear legs atop the wall. Dropping onto all fours she lands on top of the wall all facing her quarry, an ugly set of grey buildings that are almost completely featureless. The magi-magnet disengages from the wall and is pulled to rest against her body suit, ready to be used again.

She quickly jumped across the wall, levitating the magi-magnet and securing it against the other side, allowing her to hang down the wall out of sight. Another guard passed by above her and she breathed a little easier, she's inside the compound. Abseiling down she noted a number of automatons patrolling the inner grounds. Unlike pony guards these bipedal machines of metal don't get bored. On the ground once more Rarity retrieved the cable and magi-magnet, then pulled out a few round objects in preparation for the unlikely case she was spotted from a pouch on her belt.

Making use of the foliage near the wall to advance quietly around the complex Rarity  slowly advanced towards her objective, avoiding open ground until she actually had to cross it. She stops briefly behind a bush and pulled out a small compass, the needle pointed away from the compound, looking up she saw the vent that is her method of entry to the complex proper.

"Just have to get across the nice wide open space between here and there, easy." Rarity laughed to herself, an automaton chose that moment to come around the corner and she freezes on the spot, although if it saw her it was already too late, "buck."

The large construct scanned the surrounding area, a vicious looking heavy crossbow tracking wherever its' 'eye' looked, ready to fire at a solid bolt of iron at a moments notice. It would get to her before she could even raise a shield. The 'eye' of the machine seemed to rest on her for a moment, but with a mechanical whir the automaton stopped 'looking' and continued its' patrol.

Once she was certain of her continued survival Rarity let out a breath of relief before beginning her long crawl across the courtyard, 'They better thank me for doing this, and I mean spa trip thank me, I do NOT like any kind of dirt, at. all.'

In the hotel room AJ and Dash felt a shiver go through them, before looking at each other.

"Spa senses tingling?" Dash asked the cowpony, when AJ nodded Dash voiced the thought they were both thinking, "Buck."

Back in the prison Rarity had reached the wall, and was using her magic coupled with a screwdriver to remove the vent panel, it was tense work, if an automaton walked around the corner now...

Quickly removing the first and second screws Rarity was working on the third when a tell-tale whirring caught her attention, looking up at the screwdriver she willed it to go faster, even as the whirring drew closer to the corner of the building.

She brought one of the ball shaped devices out and stared at the corner while maintaining the magic that was manipulating the screwdriver. To her relief the screw came away, allowing the vent to swing free on the one remaining screw. Hurriedly she levitated the magi-magnet into the vent, securing it in place just as a metallic foot appeared around the corner, heralding the presence of an automaton in mere moments.

Pulling the cable with her magic she quickly ascended into the vent even as the second foot appeared, followed by the main body of the thing, reaching out with her telekinesis she grabbed the grill and manoeuvred it back into place, holding it with her hooves she let the magic fade.

Inside the vent her breathing was deafening, a long moment passes, as the automaton whirs before it once again moves forward. Rarity let a breath out, 'darling, that was too close.' With the automaton gone Rarity used her magic to fix the vent cover back in place with a simple magnetising spell before she started crawling backwards down the shaft. 'maybe you shouldn't have panicked so much and you wouldn't be in this ridiculous situation.' she muttered internally as she finally finds a cross section to turn around in.

Properly orientated she began crawling forward through the ventilation system, stopping at every grill to look into the room it occupied. Marking her path with a simple way-point spell used by hikers. Eventually she finds what she's looking for, the shower room, manipulating her magic she began slowly removing the screws holding the cover in place.

Ten minutes later she caught the cover in her telekinesis and placed it gently on the floor, before abseiling down into the shower room. Detaching the rope she levitated it back into the vent system and replaced the cover, using the same magnetic spell as before to hold it in place.

Quickly threading a new rope through the pulley system she prepared herself for her excursion into the prison proper. At the door she listened patiently, when she heard nothing she opened it slightly. When nothing untoward happened she opened the door further and stuck her head out, looking left and right. Seeing nopony around she trotted out, closing the door behind her.

As she walked quietly through the corridor, her hooves muffled by a fetching set of thick black socks that matched her body suit perfectly, she looked around, trying to find any sign of a way to where she needed to be. Occasionally she was forced to duck into a room as she heard a guard moving down the hallway. After they passed however she quickly moved on trying not to waste any time.

After five minutes of this routine Rarity finally found a sign pointing her to the warden's office, following it she ascended a set of stairs into another corridor, trotting brazenly down the hallway she eventually stopped outside a door marked 'Warden'. Smirking slightly at the general ease of navigating the corridors she tried the door. Obviously it is locked.

Removing her 'keys' from their holster on her belt Rarity looked around as she picked her way through the door, not five seconds later the door is unlocked and opening as Rarity returned the 'keys' to their holster.

"Excuse me, I'm just here to pick up a few things." She spoke to the empty room as she closed the door behind her before moving across the room to the filing cabinet marked 'prisoner records'. Leafing through them she founds the one she wanted. "Block E cell 3, now, to get there from here..." Rarity again moved across the room, this time regarding the prison map occupying one section of the wall.

Finding her route Rarity 'tidied up' rearranging the office and leaving it spotless.

Moving quickly now, Rarity made her way through the corridors of the prison, careful to avoid the sections containing prisoners, lest they tell of her passing to a guard, unlikely but you never can tell what a pony will do to get an early release.

Finally arriving at E block Rarity breathed deeply, steeling herself for meeting the mare she'd heard so much about. Walking in, the inmates were asleep, as is the guard by the door. Gently, Rarity lifted the keys from his belt before making her way across the catwalk to cell 3.

Unlocking the door she stepped in, moving over to the bed and placing a hoof onto the shoulder of the sleeping mare. The mare stirred and groggily sat up, looking at Rarity through eyes that were only half awake.

"I've come to get you out of here." The phrase is all that is needed to snap the mare to full wakefulness, calmly the mare got out of the bed and eyed Rarity carefully. Her mane is short and frizzy and her coat hasn't seen proper care in what must be years, Rarity almost whimpered in sympathy.

"I don't know you, I know everypony in here, so who the fuck are you?" The question is quiet, said with a voice of steel.

"I'll tell you once we're out of here." Rarity answered, "but we need to hurry."

The mare merely nodded before she walked to the door of the cell, Rarity followed her out, closing the cell and locking it again, before returning the keys to the guard's belt.

The mare smirked, "Nice touch, but personally I would have broken his neck, fucking bastard."

Rarity shivered in disgust, this was the sort of pony they'd be recruiting?

The mare noticed this and spoke again, "You wouldn't think that if you knew what he did to me when I arrived. The guards here are all fucking scum, heh, fucking literally too."

The pair made their way down the corridor, occasionally hiding to avoid the eyes of passing guards.

The mare laughed, "If I had known breaking out would be this fucking easy I would have done it years ago." As they walk back through the prison the she suddenly stopped next to another door and looked at it, "hey," she called, "how much time do we have?"

Rarity looked at her watch, it's one in the morning, she started at half eleven, "not long, we have about half an hour."

The mare smiled, "plenty of time to get a few friends?"

Rarity looks at the mare, the smile reminded her of  a book she read once, about dragons, "only one or two, but yes."

The mare nodded, "I have one friend here, and another, I suppose friend is fairly accurate, in the secure wing, how's that sound?"

Rarity looked around, no guards were about, "Any particular reason you want them with us?"

"Well once I've done whatever you want me to in exchange for releasing me, I've got my own business to take care of. I promised one I'd let her have an opportunity to help and the other, well, I fancy my chances for success more if she's playing for my team."

"and that agenda is?"

"My fucking business, not yours."

Rarity sighed and nodded, "Fine, but only if you can help me do it in under half an hour."

The mare smiled viciously once more, her eyes glinting with an almost predatory light and she flared her yellow wings for effect "I'll do it, or my name isn't Fluttershy."