"So... uh... where are we going, exactly?" Cotton Fluff asked. It was a few minutes after she had been abruptly awoken, and it showed; every so often, the mare found herself unable to stop a yawn or unable to resist the urge to wipe the sleep from her eyes. She trotted alongside the other adult ponies, Later and Mochi, as they took the group's lead. And, as Cotton Fluff was at least more rested than the other unicorn, her horn was set aglow with a soft yellow magic that illuminated the group of them.

"As Turnip said, there's a base to the north of here," Later replied. "I've never been there before, but I know they're more permanent than... whatever we had going on. They're not near a city or anything, so they can afford to be a little more... prominent. It shouldn't take us more than an hour or two—it's really not far."

"From what I heard from the other inmates, I thought they had satellites patrollin' the whole skies of the planet, searchin' out for ponies who ain't where they're supposed to be," Mochi mentioned. "Wouldn't that put 'em in danger if they're stickin' out any more than you ponies were?"

"They say that, yes," Later replied, "but they have nowhere near the amount of resources it would take to do that. Maybe in ten years it'll be possible, but the infrastructure simply isn't there. This base is pretty far removed from the normal guard patrols, so they don't really run into trouble."

"And why exactly are we going there?" Cotton Fluff asked.

"Dunno. But Commander Xiibal apparently wants you folks to do some sort of super-secret mission for her, and when Xiibal wants something to happen, it generally happens."

"Huh." Mochi turned her head, eyeing the mare. "You don't sound like much of a fan."

"She's... alright," Later replied, still looking forward. "She just... hasn't been around very long, and she's already really high up in the power... structure... thing. I'm not sure how she's done it, but a lot of the folks I know think there's something suspicious going on there."

"Huh, weird." Cotton Fluff sighed. "I hope this mission doesn't take too long... I'm hoping I can get home and back to my business."

"I hope you can," Later said. "I'm kind of worried about that, though—the cops all know that you've been working with us, right? How are you gonna get around that?"

Cotton Fluff frowned. Of course she had negotiated a deal with Gloss, but the others couldn't know anything about that. "I'm not sure. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"Me, I'm not too worried 'bout it," Mochi butted in. "I don't really care where I go, so long as I'm free to go and do what I please. Bein' stuck in prison has made me stop bein' picky 'bout those sorts of things, and I don't have anywhere to go back to anyhow."

The conversation continued between the three of them as they went along, moving on to other topics. However, behind them the three younger ponies trotted slowly, Kevin and Flight still somewhat peeved that they had to wake up. Scootaloo, on the other hoof, was just jealous that they had gotten some sleep, no matter how little.

"I still can't believe that the gas didn't just float up through the grate and knock you out," Flight remarked.

"Well, they must've had some sort of magical shield protecting the room," Kevin said, "'cause otherwise the gas would've leaked out through the door frame, unless it was somehow airtight."

"I dunno about that—the whole thing seemed pretty magically-controlled. The clouds came out of the showerheads all at once, and then floated around for a bit before all clearing down the drain," Scootaloo explained. "It definitely wasn't normal gas... cloud... behaviour. I mean, not that I've seen lots of gaseous clouds, but it really wasn't what I'd imagine."

"Still, I wonder why it didn't float up if they knew you were there," Flight said. "Seems like it would be perfect."

"Perfect for what?" Scootaloo asked, cocking her head.

"You know, perfect for capturing you. If they'd've knocked you out then and there, there's no way you could have escaped, let alone with Clove Hitch."

"Now that you mention it, that does sound kinda sketch," Kevin remarked. Flight rolled her eyes.

"Hmm..." Scootaloo hmm'd. "I didn't think of that, but you're right. What I found really weird is that there weren't any guards outside the building, just inside. They could have made it a lot harder to escape, but they didn't."

Flight sighed. "It's weird, but I'm not sure if there's anything we can do about it now. If they're planning something crazy, I doubt we're gonna be able to figure it out now."

Scootaloo nodded. "Just gotta keep going wherever these rebel dudes tell us to."

"Speaking of sketch stuff," Kevin said, "what do you make of this whole 'super secret mission' thing? What could that be?"

"I dunno, but we know it's on the planet," Scootaloo replied. "Turnip said we'd only be flying offplanet after the mission."

"And we're going north, but that doesn't really help," Flight mused. "Pretty much everything on the darn planet is north of here, save for the territories which pretty much nopony cares about."

"I can't imagine it would be dangerous, either, since you're supposed to be 'important' or something, Scoots," Kevin remarked. "I dunno what that's all about either."

"Maybe it's because I'm, like, an alien?" Scootaloo giggled. "Maybe they just know how awesome I am."

Kevin and Flight rolled their eyes in sync. "Yeah, keep on thinking that," Kevin teased.

"Oh, there's many things that you don't yet believe that I'll keep on thinking," Scootaloo shot back, turning to the colt and grinning. Kevin merely groaned.