Scootaloo blinked at the sight of the stallion, but started running again. This time, though, she ran towards one of the computer consoles. Neither Tank nor Fir made any move to stop her as she scanned the desktop for a button that would free her ship from where it was docked. She didn't have any luck, so she looked up. Tank just stared back at her, and Fir had walked over to his side.

"You're not going to find what you're looking for," Fir said finally.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Scootaloo exclaimed, a little whinier than she had hoped. "You're just going to leave me to go with him?"

It was Tank that replied. "Actually, Rainbolt, my supervisors agreed with me that the best thing to do would be to let you return on your ship to the Kindred planet. We still have a lot more work out here before we return to the planet and you'd get back a lot faster if you just went yourself."

"Buh... huh?" Scootaloo buh-huh'd, mouth agape. "Really?"

"Yeah, I was just going down to that room where you were waiting to let you out. I'm sorry I had to lock it up, but I just wanted to make sure you're safe. There are some ponies on this ship that I'm not sure how much I can trust..." He paused. "Anyway, how did you get here? And why?"

"Stop bucking with me!" Scootaloo shouted. "I know what your plans are! You're going to sell me into slavery!"

Tank blinked. "What?! Where in the seven planets of Solaris did you get that idea?! We're good ponies, Bolt! Maybe we skirt around the law sometimes, but slaves? That's downright evil."

"I—um... I have a source on the inside," Scootaloo replied, sweating. "Somepony I can trust, unlike you bozos!"

Tank raised an eyebrow. "Filly, no matter who you trust on this ship, it's blind faith. You don't know any of us."

"S-so?"

"So, it's not what anypony says that matters. It's what they do. And right now I'm going to show you that I'm telling the truth by letting you go on your ship."

"I-I don't get it," Scootaloo said, quieter this time. "She said—"

"Who? What did they say?"

"Um... nevermind. It doesn't matter..."

"It does matter, filly," Tank replied. "If there's someone on this ship that's saying things like that, I gotta figure out why."

"Hey, wait!" Scootaloo exclaimed, ignoring his comments. "What about that colt that we saw over by the kitchen? Why would he be here if you weren't capturing—"

"Enough," Tank said, cutting her off mid-sentence. Scootaloo shuddered. "Kevin is a stowaway that we caught just after we'd left the Kindred planet. It would have taken us too much time to go back at that point, so we decided to keep him aboard. He's probably harmless, but we just don't want him snooping around with our stuff."

"Nnngh..." Scootaloo sighed, putting her face in her hooves. "Goddess above... I don't know what to believe."

"I'm really sorry that somepony shook your faith in us," Tank said, walking slowly towards her. "There's not much I can do about that—it's their word against ours. But, as I said, actions speak louder than words. We're not going to stop you from leaving. Here, Fir will even disengage the tractor beam and docking so that you can fly freely." At that, the mare he mentioned walked over to a computer console on the left side of the room and pressed some buttons with a hoof. The computer beeped.

"You should be able to take off now," Fir said with a nod. Her face was hard to read, but there was a trace of a frown across her muzzle.

"Th-thank you," Scootaloo murmured. She looked up at Tank. He gazed back with his magenta eyes, studying her.

"Rainbolt, please, before you go—could you at least tell me which pony told you to leave the room? The pony who told you that I was gonna sell you into slavery?"

"I—erm... I didn't catch her name," Scootaloo lied. She looked down at her hooves.

"I see," she heard Tank say. Without looking up at him, Scootaloo walked slowly across the back half of the room until she reached the open door to her ship. It was then that she decided to turn her neck back.

She saw Tank standing there alone—Fir must have already left. He looked ahead with a sombre expression on his face; Scootaloo felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She stood there for a few seconds, unmoving. Then, she spoke.

"Thank you for everything, Tank."

"Of course, little one. Take care."

Scootaloo gulped. "Grapefruit Slice."

Tank raised an eyebrow and then nodded. If he did anything else, Scootaloo didn't see it; she had already turned away and pushed the button in the inner hall that closed the outer doors of the ship. She heard the mechanical gasp of the door sliding closed behind her.

And then she was alone in the darkness.