Once Dessic had led them out the door, the group paused right outside, on the marble landing before the steps, where three more of what looked to be Bureau police officers stood outside waiting for them, all clad in sheer black uniforms. The one in front, a taller cerulean mare with a cropped blonde mane, gave Dessic a little nod as he approached.

"You have all of them, right? This is all of them?" she asked, looking them over with a stern look of condemnation. "Wasn't there another one?"

"Not in the city," Dessic replied promptly. "Our scanners picked his signal encircling the perimetre, so a patrol's been dispatched to capture him. But he's not really that important. I mean, he is one of the Rebels, but the pegasus here is our focus."

The mare squinted at the ponies between Dessic and Cotton Fluff. "Which one? The yellow one, or the orange one?"

"Orange," Dessic said, pointing to Scootaloo, who was presently wearing a large frown. "She's the... the alien. Or at least that's what I was told." He looked back at her. "She looks pretty normal though. Maybe she's a shapeshifter?"

"I can hear you, you know!" Scootaloo growled.

"...And what of it?" Dessic replied with a laugh. "C'mon, kid. No hard feelings, right?"

The mare beside him raised an eyebrow. "Do all you feds mess with the ponies you capture like this, or is it just you?"

"Prolly just me, if I'm being honest," Dessic said with a grin. "Anyway, we should probably get these kids over to the palace. Cotton, you come up here and meet Anna—she's a good friend of mine, from way back. Butternut, can you take the back?"

"Sure thing," replied a reedy voice. One of the stallions behind Anna, a stocky orange unicorn, stepped over and around the group, prompting Cotton to trot around and take his place. Once again, she received dirty looks from Flight and Later—but she tried to ignore them as she flashed this Anna mare a little smile.

"Hey there," Cotton said timidly.

"Hi!" Anna greeted, stretching out a hoof. "Glad to have you with us. I've heard great things about you from another ol' friend of mine, Officer Gloss. He'll be joining us shortly, so I'm sure you two will have a lot to catch up on by the sound of it!"

Cotton blanched. "Y-yeah, totally..."

"Alright, move it, move it," Dessic said, irritated. "We don't have all day. The sooner we get these guys to the palace and in front of the prince, the better."

"Right, right," Anna said, rolling her eyes. "Cool your jets. We're goin', we're goin'."

Slowly, the group started trotting down the stairs. With Butternut in the back, Dessic and the other stallion took either side, leaving Anna and Cotton at the helm of the group. Although Later and Flight looked defiant at first, neither made a move; they just kept walking with the group. Kaylee and Scootaloo, who were trotting behind, instead just looked down at the ground and followed in the others' hoofsteps as the small cavalcade made its foray into the crowd.