Rarity and the mayor's mix-up

Last time on Rarity and the mayor's mix-up: Colt, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy regrouped at the entrance of the information storage room, but only to be split up again as they traversed the long and winding rows of filing cabinets. With way to many close calls and not enough references, they managed to reach the the south wing. The trio were able to rendezvous with the rest of the team and now the true heist begins. enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------Chapter 4 part 1: Searching----------------------------------------------------------------

"So, where do we begin?" Colt asked, breaking the short respite from the mission. "First, we plan out a search pattern." Rarity replied. She pulled out the layout map and the guard patrol map. "According to this, the most heavily patrolled area is the North end of the East wing. Me and Fluttershy will search there. The second heaviest patrolled area is the East side of the South wing, the one we're in. Twilight and Pinkie will search there. The third heaviest patrolled area is West side of the West wing. Rainbow and A.J. will search there. Colt, you will search the entirety of the North wing and any other lightly patrolled areas."

"Meet back here in 1 hour to report your findings. Now let's go, were running out of time." She added. The group started pairing up and going to their assigned location, except for Colt. He stayed behind until everypony was gone. He flew to the ceiling and unscrewed a vent cover, Then he proceeded to crawl through to the North wing. After a few boring minutes of travelling through the vents, he finally made it back to the main lobby. Colt dropped the vent cover to the floor and landed on it with a CLANG. "Time to get to work." He thought to himself as he started pulling books from shelves and turning over portraits.

Rarity and Fluttershy were having a tough time even getting to their area. They had just started down the hallway towards the East wing entrance when they ran into three guards having a chat. The guards were standing right in the middle of the hall. "You've got to be kidding me, this place needs to hire better employees!" Rarity whispered

"I'll handle this." Rarity said as she utilized her magic to fling a window of it's hinges. The guards ran to investigate, letting Rarity and Fluttershy slip past unnoticed. They walked a few turns more to reveal the door to the East wing. "Here goes nothing." Rarity said as they both entered the East wing. The door opened to reveal (you guessed it!) more hallways. "If I remember correctly, if we go through the break room, we can access the North end." Rarity explained as she glanced around for the entrance.

"Wouldn't it be easier to um... go through the hallways?" Fluttershy whispered. "Considering that there's about 30 guards patrolling the halls non-stop, not really." Rarity replied. The two entered the break room and were shocked when they found out almost all of the guards were hanging out there, watching TV and chatting. "How the hay are we supposed to get past them!?" Rarity asked sarcastically.

"Well, there's no other way so I guess we have to sneak past, great." Rarity said with an aggravated look on her face. "Um, how will we sneak past this many guards?" Fluttershy whispered. "To tell you the truth, I don't know." Rarity replied. The two stood near the doorway, scouting out the room and devising a plan until Rarity whispered "Follow my lead." She crept into the room and moved as silently as she could towards the mini-fridge, Fluttershy following closely behind.

The guards were hanging out, talking, watching the staff TV, ETC. and were completely oblivious to the two ponies sneaking through. Rarity and Fluttershy had made to the mini-fridge just as a guard came by to get something out. Rarity dove behind the mini-fridge and pulled Fluttershy beside her. They sat there for a few moments until the guard left to join back with the others. Rarity peeked her head out to scope the area again. Just as she did, the door at the other side of the room opened and a stallion who was wearing a different colored uniform then the others, walked in. "C'mon guys, back to work." He said while exiting. All the guards started walking out mumbling things like "Why does the captain always have to cut the breaks short?".

Once the room was completely clear, Rarity and Fluttershy walked out from behind the mini-fridge. "Well, that was convenient." Rarity whispered as she walked towards the door. "But if the guards just left, doesn't that mean there will be more patrolling the halls?" Fluttershy asked. Rarity sighed "You're right."

Meanwhile, in the West wing. Rainbow Dash and Applejack were actually having a pretty easy time getting to their location. "There doesn't seem to be many guards walking 'round here." Applejack said. "They might still be distracted from earlier." Rainbow replied "What happened earlier?" A.J. asked. "Long story." R.D. hastily replied again. They continued through the halls until they got back to the information storage room.

R.D opened the door to reveal that nopony was there. "That's strange, I know there was some commotion but I didn't think they would just leave." Rainbow said. "Well ah guess that just makes it easier for us." A.J whispered. They both were soon rummaging through file cabinets and desks for any hidden secrets that might reveal the location to the vault. After ten minutes of searching, they found nothing but useless documents and reports.

"Found anything yet?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Nope." Applejack replied. "There has to be SOMETHING, just keep searching." Rainbow whispered. They continued to open cabinets, check desks, and even tapping on walls but still turned up empty hoofed. "Wait a minute." Applejack whispered as she pulled out the patrol routes map. "What is it?" Rainbow asked. "The guards don't just heavily patrol this room, but also the rooms 'round it." She pointed her hoof at their general area. "Ah'll check these rooms, you check those." Rainbow nodded her head and they both split up.

Meanwhile, in the South wing.  Twilight was being as sneaky as she could while Pinkie was bouncing around right behind her. They went in the direction that Rarity and Fluttershy set off in. They soon came across a group of guards clogging the hallway and a window pane on the floor.

"We're not going to be able to get through here." Twilight whispered. "How about over there?" Pinkie said as she pointed to an open door in the hall. "Shhhh, keep your voice down!" Twi whispered back as she looked towards the door. "Oh, that was easy."

They entered the next room and Twi pulled out a map. "According to this, we're now in the east side of the South wing. I guess we can start searching for any hidden entrances or"-"FOUND SOMETHING!" Pinkie interrupted Twilight as she motioned for her to see her discovery. Pinkie was pointing to a button that was hidden behind some books on a shelf. Twilight pushed the button and waited. Nothing happened. "Maybe there's others. Just keep searching." Pinkie and Twilight continued pulling books and opening drawers.

----------------------------------------------------------Chapter 4 part 2: More hidden secrets--------------------------------------------------

Back in the West wing, Rainbow Dash and Applejack were still searching. "Found anything?" Rainbow asked. "Nope." Applejack replied. "This is pointless, we haven't found anything." R.D. whispered in a bored tone. She looked at Applejack and noticed she was squinting at something. "What do you see?" she asked. "All the other cabinets have labels, except for that one, and Ah don't think a place this organized would put off replacin' a label." AJ answered.

Rainbow and Applejack quickly walked over to the unlabeled drawer. Rainbow clenched the handle between her teeth, but the drawer wouldn't budge. "It's jammed!" She said with a muffled voice. R.D. let go of the handle and turned to Applejack. "Can you go on the other side and see what's blocking it.?" R.D. asked. Applejack sighed and walked around the row. After she disappeared around the corner, there was a few moments of silence and then CLANG! The drawer flew out of the cabinet and Rainbow barely dodged it. "Are  you trying to kill me or something?!" she asked glancing through the empty space where the drawer was. "Look." Applejack replied.

She pointed to a button on the frame of the cabinet. "So that's what was jamming it." Rainbow whispered as she pushed the button. Just like the button in the south wing, nothing happened. "Did that do anythin'?" Applejack asked. "I dunno, look around." R.D. replied. They started searching around the room to check if pressing the button did anything.

Back in the East wing, Rarity and Fluttershy were going room to room avoiding guards while giving them a brief search. Once they made it to the Fifth room they were going to check, the two were surprised to find that when one guard left, another immediately walked in to patrol.

"If they're coming in this frequently then there must be something hidden." Rarity whispered. Fluttershy simply nodded her head in agreement. Rarity waited for the guard to get near the end of his patrol route and quickly ran past him. She waited for  him to leave and then locked both doors. She then motioned for Fluttershy to come in. With no hesitation, Rarity started searching everywhere for anything that might have shown the location of the vault.

In no time at all, a guard was knocking on the door, asking for somepony to unlock it. While searching, Fluttershy accidentally knocked over a vase and Under it was a button. Fluttershy stepped on it without even noticing and ran for the door. The guard in the hallway was getting very impatient and started to force the door open. "Come on, we'll search somewhere else but we have to go now." Fluttershy whispered. Rarity understood the situation and ran for the door as well. They both made it out just as the guard came in. Both ponies returned to the Break room to catch their breath and revise their search plan.

In the North wing, Colt was still searching but still came up with nothing, until he heard a click. It caught his attention and he immediately was looking for the source. After a minute of looking, there was another click, and another. Finally, he located where they were coming from. Colt started poking at spots on the floor and stopped when he heard a slightly different sound than the other spots he tapped. He reached into his gear bag and pulled out a lock-pick. Utilizing the edge, he pried open a hidden floor panel to reveal...

------------------------------------------------------------------------Chapter 4 END-----------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry for the long wait. I know this chapter took FOREVER but it's finished. I'm positive chapter five (the last one) won't take as long to type. I'm also sorry to end it on a cliffhanger but I couldn't think of anything else to do. Pease let me know if there are any typos or things that you think should be changed. Cya later.

Chiefpie02 out.