Scootaloo tiptoed back into the bedroom, closing the door behind her with a soft creak. As she crept slowly through the room's darkness, she noticed how utterly quiet the room was otherwise; this made her hyperaware of every single sound, every single groan of the floorboards as her hooves lightly tapped their surfaces. Yes, both Flight and Kevin were sound asleep, but she still felt worried about waking them up.

She looked up at the bunk she'd been sleeping in and was about to leap up and fly there when she realised how much noise that would make—no matter how little, there was still a possibility that her flapping would wake up the others. So, with a slight grumble, the filly stepped towards the other bunk.

However, at the same time, she heard a lull in the snores. Then, a yawn. Instinctively, Scootaloo froze, slowly turning her head to look over her shoulder. She could see the reclining form of Kevin, though his eyes were partially open. "Sc... Scooteroo?"

"Um... yeah?" Scootaloo murmured, hoping that the colt wasn't actually awake.

"Where'd you go? I thought I heard... voices."

Scootaloo pursed her lips. "I had to go to the little filly's room, and I couldn't find it so I went and talked to Cotton Fluff, 'cause she's resting next door. Later told her where it was."

"Mmm... me too..."

Scootaloo smiled weakly. "You go back to sleep now, m'kay?"

Kevin turned over to face the wall, so Scootaloo shrugged and turned back toward the lower bunk, clambering in between the sheets.

And, to her surprise, the mattress felt like heaven. Her wings were completely out of her mind, sinking and doing their own thing—but most importantly, they didn't hurt whatsoever. Scootaloo let out a relaxed sigh of contentment as she pulled the sheet over her body and closed her eyes, preparing to sleep.

Just as she was drifting out of consciousness, she could hear faint voices in the other room, but she already knew what they were talking about so they were really of no concern to her.

"G-Gloss?" Cotton Fluff stuttered into the comlink around her wrist. She was still huddled in that far corner, her nerves shot from that whole encounter with Scootaloo.

"I am here. Are they gone?" He sounded impatient, even more than he had before.

"Yes, it was just one of the kids who was looking for the restroom, but she already went back to bed."

"Which kid?" On the surface, the question seemed innocent enough, but it made Cotton Fluff feel uneasy.

"Erm... Flight," she lied. "Now, you wanted to know where we're going?"

"Yes, please. Enough stalling. If you keep this up, my superiors are going to start getting suspicious. Not that I would ever suspect you, dearest, but you know how it is."

Cotton Fluff bit her lip. "They're taking us back south, to the west. Southwest."

"Huh, interesting." Gloss' voice paused for a long moment. "Any idea why? What's the destination?"

"It's... um..." Cotton could feel a bead of sweat on her forehead, which she shook off. "They're taking us to Esprit. I think there's some sort of hidden boat on the coast down there that we can take to the island, and then... well, you know how the air patrolling is down there."

"Right, right... it'd be a difficult escape, but that's definitely the easiest way out." There was a burst of static—a cough. "Cotton, you're a lifesaver, you know that?"

"Yeah... definitely..." the mare trailed off, staring blankly out into the empty room around her. "Is there... is there anything else?"

"No, that's all. Thank you, Cotton, and I love you so much." Before Cotton could say anything else, there was a click and the line once more went dead.

Cotton, still shaking where she stood, stepped out of the corner after a moment, and over towards one of the lower bunks. Groaning, she lifted her torso up until she plopped down on the mattress, lying there on her side, exhausted. She didn't close her eyes; rather, she just looked out at the dimly-lit room, lost in thought. Had she made a good choice? She reminded herself that it wasn't quite a choice—there was no way for her to have sated Scootaloo without agreeing to the filly's terms, and honestly she was lucky that she hadn't been turned in to Later and Clove then and there. Still, Scootaloo had a good point; because she wasn't of the Bureau planets, she was somewhat removed from the whole conflict. Momentarily, she considered whether the leaders of the Bureau could be convinced to not put Scootaloo in jail, because then she maybe could join their side, but she knew it wasn't worth the trouble; Scootaloo was already emotionally invested in the rebels that she did know. Plus Cotton Fluff didn't even know if the Bureau was in the right.

Ugh.

Even Later tapped at the side of the computer screen, frustrated. Yes, she knew it wasn't going to help anything, but that didn't stop the sound of her hoof hitting its side from making her feel better, even if just a little bit.

The screen fizzled a little bit on contact, picture blurring into static before coming back clearly. Later sighed. Using her magic, she pressed a few of the keys and rotated the cursor ball, clicking on a button on-screen that she had clicked dozens of times before.

Now, some ponies might say that repeating a task and expecting different results is insanity. Other, more educated ponies, on the other hoof, would just say that's computers for you. And, as it so happens, that was computers for Later, for suddenly a name popped up in a text box, and a familiar name at that: "Doc Zed". Later grinned.

She navigated over to the little comlink icon next to his name on the otherwise empty list and clicked on it, listening to the ringback tone that emanated from the tinny computer speakers, fighting with Mochi's snores for dominance of the basement room. Then, a click.

"Hello? Who is this?" came the familiar voice of Doc Zed. "Why are you—oh, gods, I suppose it doesn't matter now."

"Hey, Zed, it's Even Later here at the North Sciouse base. I'm here with Clove Hitch, as well as Scootaloo, Kevin, Flight, Cotton Fluff, and Mochi. We have... a few questions, if that's alright."

"Erm... that's wonderful and all, truly, but perhaps it could wait just a tad? Microfiche and I don't have much time."

Later raised an eyebrow. "Don't have much time until what?"

"They're coming," Doc Zed said gravely. "The Bureau knows where I am, and they're coming for me. I have less than an hour, tops, before they're all over Dienna and all over my laboratory. Oh, my poor laboratory..."

"Wait, what?" Later asked, incredulous. "How did this even happen?" She paused. "Oh, and while you're at it, could you tell us why nopony else is here?"

Doc Zed's static sigh emanated from the computer speakers. "Microfiche!" he called, further away from his comlink microphone. "I'm going to be a bit on this call with Later, so I need you to hurry up on getting our stuff in the ship! Alright, Later, where was I?"