From behind, Scootaloo could hear Flight's voice. "Microfiche? Where have I heard that name before...?"

"And how do you know my name?!" Scootaloo exclaimed, seeming to momentarily forget the friendly conversation she had just had with the zebra.

"Microfiche was the name of the pony who told Bold Remark and those ponies to get out of Umberlight, remember?" Kevin said as he approached the group. "And even Doc Zed said he knew him."

"Wait... Kevin, how do you know my name either?" Scootaloo asked, turning to the colt. "You said it earlier... I know you did! And I'm pretty sure I never told you, since that's why you kept using candy bars and vegetables and stuff."

"Er... Doc Zed told me," Kevin muttered.

"And it was he who told me as well," Microfiche said.

Scootaloo blinked and then rotate her head in a circle, looking at each of the ponies surrounding her. "Huh."

Kevin raised an eyebrow "What?"

"I just realised... I have no idea who like half of you ponies are. And that was all well and good while we were trying to escape from the guards in the zoo and whatever, but now that we're here and now where they're not after us, I wanna know—who are you ponies?" Scootaloo finished, breathing heavily. She looked around the group. "You start," Scootaloo finally said, pointing to Kevin.

Kevin blinked. "Me? But you already know me."

Scootaloo gave him a flat look. "Still, it's been a while. You start."

"Well, erm... my name... my name is..." Kevin stammered, suddenly feeling beads of sweat on his forehead as five pairs of eyes were staring straight at him. "Y-you can call me Kevin, I guess."

"Go on," Scootaloo encouraged, making a circular gesture with a hoof.

"I'm from Dienna in this territory, the Southern Kindred Territory, but I ran away from home after... after my parents died." Kevin looked down at his hooves as he spoke, shifting them around in the grass. "A lotta stuff happened but, long story short, I ran into Scootaloo out in space and then joined her ship. We got separated after... after we crashed, and she got captured by the Bureau police."

"C'mon, Kev, tell your own story," Scootaloo joked. Kevin looked up and nodded as he looked at the filly. Then, his features curled up in confusion. "What?" Scootaloo asked.

"What in Aureate's name happened to your face?"

For a moment, Scootaloo looked taken aback. Then, she giggled. "You seriously didn't notice until now?"

"I-it was dark in the zoo! We were running away!"

"Heh, I know, I'm just teasing. I'm pretty sure it's from the windshield, 'cause I got thrown out of it when we landed."

"Gah... that sucks... I'm sorry."

"Pff, whatever," Scootaloo said, smiling. "They must've patched it up pretty well at the South Pen, 'cause I never really had to deal with it hurting or anything." She paused. "So, what did you do after that?"

Kevin explained how he had come to Dienna with a strange pony named Gloss and then went to Doc Zed's to go to the ship, and then ran into Flight on the way there. He was pretty sure he got the order of Gloss telling them that he was a cop at the wrong moment, but Scootaloo got the gist of it and was visibly surprised all the same.

"And then we pretty much just booked it to Umberlight from there to get the parts for the ship," Kevin finished, "while Doc Zed's been working on fixing it."

"Huh, cool," Scootaloo said. "Who is this Doc Zed, anyway? You guys keep saying his name... seems like everypony here but me knows him."

"I can answer that," Flight said, stepping forward. "Hi. Kevin already said this, but my name is Flight and I've known Kevin ever since we were super young." She reached out a yellow foreleg and waited for Scootaloo to hoofbump it, which the orange filly did. That is the universal sign for hoofbumps, after all—something that transcends interplanetary barriers and brings all ungulates, primates, and equinoids together. "Doc Zed is a scientist and inventor in Dienna who's kind of a local legend, and he's someone both Kevin and I have known since we were kids, 'cause our parents went to school with him."

"Oh, awesome. I hope he doesn't mess with my ship too much, though..." Scootaloo trailed off, looking suddenly much more wistful than she had been.

"Don't worry—he knows what he's doing," Flight assured Scootaloo."

"He had better. So, how'd you guys end up in the zoo?" Scootaloo asked.

"We were buying some parts from Cotton Fluff here," Flight replied, pointing towards Cotton Fluff, "and then she offered to take us to the next shop we needed to get to. The fastest route there is through the zoo, though, and then we got caught up in... whatever you were doing."

"Right, right," Scootaloo affirmed, nodding. Then, she turned to the brown mare who was standing a little bit behind the group. "And I guess you must be Ms. Cotton Fluff?"

"Yes, that's me," the mare said calmly. "Though you can just call me Cotton."

"And how come you decided to help Kevin and Flight get to the next shop? Don't you have a business to run?" Scootaloo leaned in, eyeing the mare suspiciously.

"Scootaloo, there's no need to—" Flight started.

"It's fine," Cotton Fluff said. She was giving Scootaloo an odd facial expression. "If you must know, these ponies had given me enough money for the parts so that it was financially feasible for me to take the rest of the afternoon off, or at least enough time to help them get where they needed to go." Each word the mare spoke sounded carefully chosen, as if perhaps she had spent the entire time walking up the tunnel coming up with an explanation. Scootaloo squinted but slowly leaned back.

"Well, that's pretty nice of you," the filly said finally. Her eyes scanned the motley crew assembled before her. "Anypony I forget?"

"Ooh, me!" Mochi exclaimed, raising a pink hoof excitedly.

"Go for it."

"My name is Mochi and I've been in prison for, like, a decade!" She grinned. "But I'm out now and it's all thanks to you, Scoots. And Grey. What happened to him, anyway? You think he's still in the South Pen."

Scootaloo rolled her eyes. "Who knows... he probably turned into a bird and flew away."

"Turned... into a bird?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow. Nopony seemed to have heard him.

"Alright, now that we've got all you squared away... who are you?" Scootaloo did a hundred-eighty degree turn, bringing her face to face with the zebra and his marvellous floating platform which, as expected, was still floating.

"Me?" the zebra said with mock surprise, dramatically putting a hoof to his chest. "I just told you—my name is Microfiche, and your friends already know who I am. I work at the Kindred Magazine of Culture and Art. Well, worked. They should be receiving my resignation in the post tomorrow, if all goes according to plan."

"And you work with Doc Zed and the rebels, right?" Flight asked.

Microfiche nodded. Scootaloo raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you work with the rebels?" She turned to the others. "Are you guys part of the rebels too? Is this, like, a sci-fi movie where the Rebels are the good guys fighting against the big bad Empire? Er, I mean Bureau."

Microfiche laughed. "Something like that. I got a message from Doc Zed a few hours ago saying that I should resign from my post at the KMCA and that I should be prepared with a hoverskiff to meet three young ponies here: Scootaloo, Kevin, and Flight. Obviously we've got a few more ponies here than he bargained for, but as you seem to be friendly ponies, that should be okay for now."

"So... what do you want with us?" Scootaloo asked, cocking her head to the side.

"I'm not sure, exactly," Microfiche replied. "Hang on... I'm gonna call Doc Zed. He should have further instructions."

Scootaloo, Kevin, Flight, Mochi, and Cotton Fluff all watched as Microfiche raised his right hoof and magically pressed several of the buttons on the comlink on his wrist. The ringback tone resounded out from its speaker once, twice, thrice, before a click.

"Hello?" Doc Zed's voice said.