>Today, you wake up completely alone
>A good thing, all things considered
>You roll out from under your blanket, and head over to the stove
>After stoking the fire, you ready yourself for the day
>You don your glasses, your pistol and knife, and your cloak
>After a quick breakfast of oatmeal, you consider your options
>When you were making a list of supplies with Twilight, you didn't know how long it would take you to get to Canterlot
>So you had her pack enough food to last yourself and your charges five days
>Now all that food is in your cloak
>Assuming the more perishable items keep, you can live off it for a week or two if you have to
>But you're hoping you'll only have to for a few days
>To that end, you begin pulling on your snow gear
>The back of your truck had been cold enough that spoiling eggs and fruit was a non issue
>You don't know if your cloak does temporal stasis
>But it's warm in the tent
>And you don't want to have to pull rotting apples from your cloak if you can help it
 
 
>When you finally pull the tent flap open, a small wall of snow greets you, with more flurrying down
>You accordingly pull out one of your shovels and clear the ground in front of the tent, being careful not to get any inside
>When you finally pull your snowshoes on and crunch out of the tent, you turn around and examine it
>Excellent
>The wood in the stove is damn near smokeless
>You have to be right next to the tent to even see the plume
>The tent also has a thick coat of snow on the roof
>From the ground, it's easy to see that there is a tent there
>But from the air it probably looks like a snow bank with a funny hat
>At least, you hope so
>You can't imagine that there would be many pegasui flying about in this snowfall
>But you also know that it won't last forever
>So at least you're safe from detection by air
 
 
>You dig several holes in the snow around your tent, marking them with hedge branches
>Then, in each hole, you bury a sack of your more perishable food
>You opt to leave an apple in your cloak as a test
>Your food supply secure, you consider your situation
>For reasons you only vaguely understand, the entire female population of this country
>Including the majority of your friends and said country's all powerful ruler, Princess Celestia
>Desperately want to rut you into the ground
>You are currently hiding out from them in a hedge maze
>In the middle of the royal castle, which contains both your friends and said Princess
>...Fuck
 
 
>Today, you decide, you will familiarize yourself with the hedge maze
>You don't know if or when your friends, or even Celestia, will come searching for you
>But if you're going play cat and mouse, you're going to be the mouse that knows that maze, damnit
>And while you're at it, you can set out some string traps
>You know p0nies in your world are herbivores
>And from what you've seen that is true here as well
>You haven't had meat in roughly two weeks
>And while eggs and cheese are all very well and good
>You need protein.  You need some MEAT!
>Even if it is just rabbit stew
 
 
>Throughout the day, you explore the maze
>Sweeping away the tracks you leave behind with a hedge branch
>In the area around your tent you set up a few string traps, using hedge branches for springs and peanut butter for bait
>You find the maze to be truly gigantic
>It will easily take you the rest of the day to finish learning its general layout
>If not some of tomorrow
>as you wander, you can't help but stand up fully and peek over the hedge at the castle proper every now and then
>You wish you could see that damn building better
>But distance and snow confound your efforts
>All you can pick out are some of the brighter lights
>What you wouldn't give for your binoculars right now
>Your binoculars!
>That's it!
 
 
>You can see your binoculars now
>Sitting on the dashboard of your truck
>In the carriage garage
>Way off in the castle proper
>...perfect
>You need your binoculars to keep watch
>To pick out any p0nies that might be approaching your hideout so you can prepare to receive them
>Tonight, you decide, you will retrieve your binoculars
>With darkness on your side, what could go wrong?
 
 
>You pass the rest of the day exploring the maze further
>It's friggen huge
>You're definitely going to have to devote more time to exploring it tomorrow
>With night rapidly approaching, walk out to the very edge of the hedge maze
>Then sit down and remove your snowshoes, stashing them in your cloak
>As far as you can tell, the p0nies that keep the streets clear used to maintain a path to the hedge maze
>But as the snowfall and workload increased, they began skipping unused paths
>The path to the hedge being one of them
>The result is a narrow trench, the bottom of which houses only a few inches of snow, that leads from the maze to the castle proper
>If worst comes to worst and you have to run from guardsp0nies, you would rather do it in the cleared areas
>Leading them back to your hiding place would be stupid
>YOu can't run fast in your snowshoes
>So you'll just put them back on when you get back to the maze
 
>With the partially full moon and snowfall at your back, you trudge towards the castle
>The very snow itself seems to soften any sound you emit
>You spin your cloak around to your front to break up your shilloute and better blend with the snow
>The carriage garage is on the outskirts of the compound, thankfully
>So you don't have to get too close to any busy paths
>you carefully examine the building
>Seeing no obvious guards, you steal up to the back door
>Still unlocked
>You push through it and inside the garage
>No p0nies inside the garage either
>You can hardly believe your luck
>You go immediately to your truck, keys ready in hand
>You open the door and reach in quickly, seizing your binoculars
>Then you slam the truck door shut
>FUCK
>Why did you do that
>someone might have heard that
>"Hey, did you hear that?"
 
 
>A pair of guards canter in through the door, scanning the interior of the shed with disinterested stares
>These guards, however, are different
>Instead of being white with golden armor, they're more of a black color with deep purple armor
>The male earth p0ny turns to his female unicorn companion
>"Come on, let's search the place and have it done with.  We need to get back to our posts"
>His counterpart nods, and they both head down the center aisle, heads panning left and right
>They reach the end of the garage and turn around, heading back for the door
>When the mare passes the odd contraption near the door, she staggers slightly
>A blush appears on her face
>One her companion is surprisingly quick to pick up on
>"Shade?  Shade, what's wrong?"
>She turns upon her fellow guardsp0ny with a fresh glint in her eye
>"Oh, nothing's wrong, Night.  Have I ever told you how beautiful your eyes are?"
>Night begins slowly backing towards the door
>"Shade we're on duty!  Remember your training..."
>"Damn the training!  I love you Night!"
>So saying, Shade rushes the reluctant Night
>Night turns to run
>And he almost makes the door too
>Shade tackles him through the door, which swings shut behind them
 
 
 
>You lower yourself from the rafters of the garage
>That was way to fucking close
>This is the last time you'll be in this area if you can help it
>You lock your truck door
>Then you walk as quietly as you can to the front door of the garage
>Locked
>Fuck
>Just as quietly, you creep up to the rear door of the garage and put your ear against it
>... judging from those noises, they wouldn't notice if you blew the horns on your truck
>You slowly, carefully push the door open
>Twenty feet away, Shade is enthusiastically accosting a panicking Night
>You leave them to their folly and shuffle along the side of the building, trying to stay in the shadows
 
 
>Because the garage is on the outskirts of the main area, it isn't long before you find yourself walking back along the path to the hedge, your prize swinging from its cord on your neck
>You learned a lot tonight
>namely, that getting near the castle means almost certain detection
>You're not taking that risk again
>You spend the rest of the night collecting more firewood from the hedges
>As you settle down to sleep, you wonder what other surprises Canterlot holds for you in the next few days