Haze shuffled a few papers laid out in front of her on the table, eventually settling on a glossy white folder, which she opened, sliding out a few pieces of paper. She didn't actually look at them, though; once she had removed them from the folder, her gaze was trained squarely on the ponies across from her, metres away at the other end of the table.

"So, let's start with what's most immediate," she said coolly. "Why are you here? Let's go with... the green mare. Even Later, is it?"

"Because you brought us here, you dolt," Later spat, face scrunched up in a disdainful hatred. "Why else would we be here?"

"Funny," Haze said, not looking amused in the slightest, "but I'm looking for real answers. Scootaloo?"

The orange filly didn't respond at first, though she did get a little bit of a kick out of Later's rapid motions with her hoof against her throat. "I... don't really know," Scootaloo responded. It wasn't quite a lie, but it also wasn't quite truthful.

"Please explain further," Haze said, taking on the tone of a disappointed mother who had just discovered her child had scribbled all over the wall in crayon. "What do you know, and what don't you?"

Scootaloo bit her lip as she looked in Later's direction, but she looked back to Haze. "Well, I know that we're here because Xenu... Chibi... Furby... somepony high up in the Rebels really wanted me to come here and steal some... amulet thing."

Later gasped, making a huge show of it. "Scootaloo! Please!"

"Ignore the Rebel," Haze instructed, waving a hoof. "You're giving us good information. If you help us, we can let you three kids go."

"R-really?" Flight interrupted with a stammer, jumping forward. "You'd really let us go? Kevin and I could go back and live with my parents?"

"Of course," Haze replied. "We're bureaucrats, not monsters. You kids are young, and easily swayed. Of course we can't let out Later or that other pony who was with you, for they've been working closely with the Rebels for a long time. And Mochi here is a very dangerous escaped criminal, one who should never be allowed around children whatsoever."

"What about me?" Scootaloo asked, looking unsure. "You ponies captured me and kept me in that South Pen... thing."

Haze nodded. "That was, by all admissions, a mistake. You never should have been held there in the prison; rather, you should have been invited here as our guest. I fault our outer territory on that, and a lack of communication with Prince Aeneus. He has been alerted of your presence and, although he desires to converse with you, he doesn't wish to cause you any harm."

Scootaloo blinked. This wasn't quite what she expected. "Erm... okay..."

Haze went on: "All we ask from you in return is your assistance. Give us all the information you've picked up about the Rebels, and allow us to put Later and that other pony behind bars, and freedom is yours."

Scootaloo didn't quite know what to say, and by the looks of it Flight and Kaylee were just as surprised. Mochi looked worried. Cotton Fluff doubly so. Later was so exasperated that she merely flattened her face onto the table with a groan.