“Okay, I’ve got it! I’m just gonna need to borrow some of your stuff. Not much, just the mirror and paperclips. You okay with that?”
>Maybe that was a dumb question from your part as Cherrywood’s answer became obvious by just looking at her. She didn’t care, in fact, she looked rather annoyed.
>“We’re losing a lot of time with these dumb questions!” She snapped back at you. Her muzzle contracted as she pointed with her head towards the table, “Just pick what you need and hurry, okay?!”
>While her tone didn’t sit well with you, it’d be a stupid move to start another argument at this moment. You simply sighed and trotted past her.
“Whatever, man. I just wanna escape this place.”
>You ignored most of the school materials that were on the small table and quickly grabbed the objects that you had come for.
>Before going back to the door, you took a final glance at the small book titled “Ancient creatures of Equestria” that was lying among her stuff.
>The last thing that you expected from Cherrywood was for her to read books, much less one that actually fell within what you’d consider cool stuff. 
>Maybe it wasn’t really hers and the book was for an assignment? Who knows, it ain’t like you actually wanted to know her more. Only thing you could do is to go back to your business and muster to yourself.
“Hope the castle’s library has a copy of this one. Can’t steal it while this weird girl is watching.”
 
>After you trotted back to the door, you carefully placed the small pocket mirror and the orange paperclips on the floor. Then, you proceeded to give the doorknob a closer look.
>Not more than half-a-minute went by before you noticed that Cherrywood was uncomfortably close to you. Her entire attention was centered on what you were doing.
>At first you thought on being direct and tell her to go hug a cactus. However, you hated this girl with a burning passion, so a different idea crossed your mind.
>You leaned over and managed to snuggle against her chest. It was supposed to just be a quick thing so she could leave you alone, but… man, why she had to be so fluffy? 
>The urge to continue snuggling that fluffiness was too powerful. Only reason why you stopped was because she pushed you away.
>Of course, Cherrywood was glaring and hissing at you, “What do you think you’re doing?!”
>With a little smirk on your face, you shrugged and raised an eyebrow.
“I dunno, man! I could ask you the same thing, y’know? You were so close to my face that I could smell your stinky breath!”
>“Oh, really?! Look who’s talking, Mr. Hobo smell!” Cherrywood barked back at you. Her face was slightly red with anger, “You stink harder than death fishes inside an open sewer! I’ve no idea if you’re too dumb to get this, but you need a bath! And you need it bad!”
 
>Feeling deeply offended by her words, you immediately raised a hoof in protest.
“Hey! That’s…”
>Your comeback had to be stopped right after you decided to sniff yourself. She was absolutely right. You reeked so badly that it was a wonder how you didn’t notice it until now.
>Guess that’s to be expected when the closest thing you’ve had to a bath in the last couple weeks was the old canal’s water. Man, now you felt ashamed that Luna and Celestia had to endure your odor.
“Alright, I’m not gonna you’re right, but it ain’t like you’re wrong either. Let’s just say that… eh…”
>“That you stink worse than a wet manticore!” Cherrywood laughed a bit before pointing at you with her hoof, “At least is not as bad as your dumb mane! When was the last time you cut it… or washed it? Kind of looks like is alive or something! And your coat… I think is more mud than fur.”
“What? Do you know how expensive that stuff gets...? Wait, that ain’t even the important part! I wanna know why the heck were you close to me?!”
>“Oh, yeah! That thing! Well, is because I was curious, you dummy!” Cherrywood shrugged, “Are you really, really, really sure that you can unlock that door?”
>This was the perfect chance to save some face. You puffed your chest out and adopted the coolest pose you could think of.
“What kind of question is that? Of course I can, man! I’ve actually escaped from places that are waaay tougher than this! I’m talking about stuff that would break someone like you!”
 
>Cherrywood wasn’t impressed by this at all. She rolled her eyes and frowned a bit, “Oh, yeah?! Just try me, you dum-dum! If you could do it, then I can do it ten times better! No! TWENTY TIMES BETTER! I’ll show you what I’m made of!”
>That kind of attitude kinda reminded you of the company’s ponies, and the last thing you wanted was to deal with that stuff again.
>Instead of continuing with this, you shook your head and went back on inspecting the doorknob.
“Tch! Forget it, man. I’m sure you can take on the company and their stupid patrols that take your family away, or their weird tests, or their crappy orphanage in no time. Just shut up and lemme do my job.”
>You didn’t see her reaction, but it was clear that you had torpedoed Cherrywood’s mood, “Oh… I thought you were talking about an evil warlock’s fortress or something… I didn’t… was it that bad?”
“It’s a really long story, maybe another time. Listen, we’ve no idea what’s on the other side of this door, so why don’t you use that mirror to see if there’s any patrol… or anyone else around?”
>She tilted her head in slight confusion and picked up the pocket mirror, “Why do you always keep calling the guards like that? And why do you always talk so… funny?”
“Ain’t that obvious? I’m new around these parts, and I mean REALLY new. First day in Equestria and everything”
>“Well, there’s no “company” or whatever around here, and the big armored ponies are called guards, not patrols.” Cherrywood replied as she started to toy around her mirror, “And they don’t do any of those horrible things. I’m very, very sure of it!”
 
“Yeah, I’ve noticed that… same with how lame this doorknob is! Hah! I’m gonna get us outta here before anyone can know what happened!”
>You used the frog of your front hoof to firmly hold a paperclip while you used your teeth to bend it in a way that allowed it to be used as a lock-pick. 
>The process was a bit tricky, but Eris had taught you everything about everything when it comes to this stuff, and you also had enough “field” experience on the subject.
>Once you were done with making the lock-picks, you turned to Cherrywood and smiled.
“These lock-picks are a frickin’ piece of art, I tell you! What about you? Did you see any patro- I mean guards doing their rounds around here?”
>Cherrywood shook her head and tossed the mirror, “Your stupid idea was dumb! I don’t even know how I was supposed to use the mirror to see beyond the door. I could hear like two guards near here, though.”
“Hear? What the heck are you talking… about?”
>You had to stop talking right there. What you were seeing was, to put it mildly, out of this frickin’ world.
“Whoa!”
>Seriously, your mind couldn’t even begin to comprehend how her fluffy, fluffy ears were constantly rotating like radars… but man, wasn’t this the coolest thing ever. 
>In a bit of a dumb move, you tried to do the same stuff with your own ears. Only thing you managed to do was to hurt yourself a little bit. It sucked hard, man. You wanted radar-ears like those.
“How the heck is she doing that, man?”
>“Duh! I’m a bat pony, dumb-dumb! Did you think the ears were just for show?” Cherrywood quickly barked at you, “And on that note, shut up! I can barely hear those guards with all your dumb babbling!”
 
>You remained as a silent observant for as long as her fluffy ears continued rotating. Not only because that never stopped being awesome as heck. The whole thing turned out to be weirdly hypnotic too.
>After a couple minutes, Cherrywood’s fluffy, fluffy ears suddenly went back to their original position. Then, she let out a groan and kicked the floor, “Argh! This has to be a bad joke! It just has to!”
“Lemme guess. Things just went from bad to total trash fire.”
>“It’s even worse than that!” Cherrywood sighed, “Those two guards aren’t there for show. My mom told them to stay there and keep an eye in case we decided to do what we’re doing right now.”
“So what? I can just open that door and then use something to distract them while we sneak past them. It’s basic stuff, man!”
>Cherrywood angrily shook her head and rubbed her temples, “I know! That’s not the problem, you big dummy!”
“C’mon, man! Gimme a break, here! I dunno if you’ve noticed, but I don’t exactly have super hearing like you do!”
>Defeated and frustrated, Cherrywood banged her forehead against the door, “My mom told almost every guard and staff pony in the ENTIRE castle to do the same! ARGH! I should’ve seen this one coming! Of course my mom would do something like this!” 
 
“No kidding! That lady really knows her job! And we’re gonna outclass her! Maybe… Say, we’re just talking about patro-. I mean, the guards inside the castle, right? That means those cool gardens must be safe, right?”
>Cherrywood shrugged. The lack of any will was clear on her face, “I don’t know, maybe…”
“What do you mean, maybe?!  C’mon, man! I don’t wanna spend the rest of my day locked up inside this room and I bet you don’t wanna either! I say it’s at least worth a shot!”
>She raised an eyebrow and rolled her eyes, “I know that! Do you think I like to lose?! But is not like we can just go through the front doors like a couple of spaz! Use your brain for once! Anypony with two eyes would see us way before we opened them!”
“I never said we should do that, genius! You know this place, right? There has to be other way to reach the gardens! Something like a window that ain’t too high and not too far from here”
>Cherrywood backed away from the door and went deep into thought. After some moments of silence, her face lightened up, “And there is! We can make a run for the royal dining room!”
>An escape plan which end goal was to reach a dining room, huh? This certainly brought uncomfortable memories of the orphanage and Scrappy.
>Discord gave you his word that Scrappy would be fine and you trusted him. There was no fear of Scrappy being in danger from the company. It’s just that you wanted to see that little guy again and apologize.
>However, that would obviously have to wait. The main concern right now was to escape from this room. That’s where your focus should be and you were sure that Scrappy and Eris would tell you the same
 
>It was time to put your mind back into the game. To come back to reality and do this, especially since Cherrywood was starting to look at you funny.
“Okay, this is gonna be a dumb question but I want us to be in the same signal here. This royal dining-whatever… is it safe from guards and all that?”
>Cherrywood nodded with regained enthusiasm, “Yeah! The guards almost never go there, and it’s very close from here, AND it has doors that lead straight to the back gardens! It’s perfect!”
“Yeah, man! We gotta work on what we’re gonna do once we reach the gardens, though. I’m sure some guard we’ll see us if we just stand there doing nothing.”
>Cherrywood frowned a bit and lightly smacked your shoulder, “Duh! Of course I know that! That’s why I already have that one covered, dumb-dumb! We’ll just hide inside the hedge maze!”
>You stood silent and in complete disbelief for a couple seconds. This was something that your brain had to go over multiple times in order to process it.
“This castle has a frickin’ outdoors maze?! Are you for real?”
>She simply shrugged and laughed at your reaction, “Kekeke! Yes! It’s in the middle of the back gardens, past the collection of ugly statues and its ginormous!”
“And you’re telling me that we’ll be safe there”
>Looking a bit annoyed, Cherrywood nodded once again, “Nopony ever uses it… except for that one time when a bunch of dumb tourists got lost and the guards had to cut holes in the grass walls to find them… but other than that, it’s like a giant ghost-town”.
 
“I’ve no idea why anyone would spend bits on something like that, but sounds good to me. Now we just gotta get to that place. I’m gonna unlock this door, so I’ll need you to use that cool super hearing and tell me if those guards are coming.”
>As her ears started to rotate, Cherrywood started to look a bit confused, “Yeah, and how do you plan to do that with a bunch of bent paperclips?”
“I thought your mom would’ve told you about lock-picking. Y’know, with her being a super guard or whatever. Just… lemme do my stuff and you do yours.”
>Using your mouth, you placed once of lock-picks inside the door’s keyhole and made sure it was firmly inserted, this one would be your “lever”
>Once that was complete, you repeated the same process in order to put the second lock-pick on top. This one would be used to push the pins of the keyhole.
>You then started using your teeth to move the upper lock-pick across the keyhole’s pins. As for the “lever”, you used your chin and slight twists of your neck to turn it every time you pushed the right pin. 
>It was tricky and incredibly tedious, but after a few tries you eventually got the door unlocked with a satisfactory “click” sound.
>With a huge smile on your face, you hid the lock-picks inside your mane. Then, you turned to Cherrywood and whispered.
“Job here’s done. How are things with our guard friends?”
>“Those two haven’t moved…” Cherrywood whispered back, “They’re just talking about dumb stuff like the castle’s maids and something about a white goose”.
“What the heck does that…? Who cares?! If they ain’t moving then we’re gonna need something to distract them!”
 
>You slightly and silently opened the door to take a peek outside. While you couldn’t see the guards from this angle, you noticed the flower pots and large windows that this large hallway had.
>After closing the door, you started to look for any object inside the room that could be of use. Of course, your attention ended up landing on all of Cherrywood’s stuff again.
>The first idea that came to your mind was to throw her lunchbox across the hallway or maybe use it to break a window. That’d make enough noise to grab those guys’ attention. 
>Nah! That was a very, very stupid idea. Guards will go on high alert once they pick up the lunch box and realize about the escape. You’d need to think on a different approach.
>Luckily, you had already thought on a sorta plan B.  As much as you hated using books for anything else than reading, you could throw one at a flower pot. 
>Just like with the lunchbox, this would cause a big enough ruckus to get those suckers’ busy. It was far from perfect, but you doubted that any of them knew what books were in this room.
>You dashed to the drawers and used your mouth to grab the thickest books you could find. Then, you dashed back to the door and placed your hoof on the doorknob.
>Before making the final move, you spat out the book and gave Cherrywood a super serious look.
“Hope you’re ready because this is it! We’ll have to gallop like crazy once I open this door and…”
>Cherrywood smacked your shoulder and barked back, “Stop with your dumb babbling and just do it! Oh, and try to keep up with me, okay?! I’m not going to slow down for a big, dumb turtle like you!”
“Man, back in the slums I could outrun any patrol that came my way! Think you can…! Bleh! Who cares?!  Let’s get this over with!”