The bright and warm sun loomed high in the sky as four ponies were having a picnic on one of the hills, not too far from the Castle of Friendship.

A purple alicorn breathed in the fresh air as the mild breeze flowed through her coat and mane. It was a little chilly, but it wasn't near freezing. She smiled with content as she relaxed against the sun that was shining onto her body.

A white unicorn with a rather fancy and curly violet mane levitated a tea pot from the basket and poured some chamomile tea into a fancy teacup. She drank the tea with a neutral smile. After she was done sipping, she wiped her mouth with one of her purple handkerchiefs; instead of the pink napkins that Twilight bought. Afterwards, she had another sip.

Beside her, a lilac pony with a turquoise streak running down her purple mane were having a quiet little conversation with a green and purple dragon, both sharing humorous expressions whenever the other talked. They also ate while discussing their topic, careful to not choke themselves while they chewed their food.

Rarity had taken a break from sipping her tea and decided to snag a cucumber sandwich from a picnic basket. She took a bite from the sandwich. Her eyes widened as she continued chewing on the sandwich. After swallowing her piece, she quickly ate the whole thing in one bite. Her eyes closed as she relished the taste of the sandwich.

"Twilight! My my. These sandwiches are delicious!" Rarity told the alicorn with wide eyes, and her smile was warm. She then levitated another cucumber sandwich from the basket and bit half the sandwich.

Starlight looked towards Rarity with a warm smile. "Actually, I've made those." she told her in a content voice. Even if the compliment was directed towards Twilight.

Rarity turned her head to Starlight as she took another bite. "Starlight, darling. I must say. These cucumber sandwiches are the bee's knees!"

Starlight smiled, happily taking in the compliment.

Spike looked up from his cupcake that he was eating. His mouth was surrounded with pink crumbs. "Maybe you could own a cucumber sandwich facility one day!" he told her.

Starlight chuckled to herself. "Probably not any time soon." she told him as she levitated one of the pink napkins and gently rubbed Spike's mouth, trying to wipe the crumbs away.

Twilight took a calming deep breath before walking back towards the group. She smiled at what she saw. She turned to see Rarity wiping her snout with her handkerchief again, looking very content and satisfied by what she ate... but then grabbed another cucumber sandwich.

Twilight rolled her eyes with amusement. It's official, Starlight created a cucumber sandwich addict. She said jokingly to herself.

Speaking of Starlight, she turned her gaze onto Starlight and Spike. Spike was telling a story, using his claws as exaggerated hand gestures. After he finished a sentence, Starlight gently laughed. Then said another reply to Spike, to which he laughed back.

Twilight watched with fondness. It was always a happy sight seeing the two grow closer and closer. Twilight had noticed how strong Starlight and Spike's bond had grown over the last few years.

It's always nice that Spike has another deep connection with someone else besides me. Twilight thought to herself. Once again, she chuckled by the fact that Spike's connection with Starlight is almost on par with him and Twilight's connection; and they had known each other for years.

But what made the moment even better was by the look of Starlight's expression. She looked happy, joyful, and looked like she was filled with glee.

Compared to how she used to be. Twilight's expression had darkened a little as she remembered her first two encounters with the mare. Despite what other ponies think, it wasn't a happy experience. The Starlight that she used to know had been angry, resentful, spiteful, selfish, and other horrible adjectives...

...but despite all that, she wasn't completely evil. After all, she did have the entire fate of the world onto her grasp, and she could've easily ended the world if she could. But much to Twillight and Spike's relief, she dropped her villain phase and accepted Twilight's offer for friendship.

Since then, she became a happier pony, and Twilight couldn't be more prouder.

Twilight had walked over to her friends with a smile. "How's your time at the picnic so far?"

"It was great, darling." Rarity answered her.

Beside her, Starlight nodded.

"I can't remember the last time we did this." Spike told Twilight as his spiky tongue licked his lips. "We should do it more often."

Twilight smiled even more. She was proud at herself by how she had planned this day perfectly. The food was great, thanks to her and Starlight's help (though it was mostly Starlight that prepared the food); the weather was perfect, not to warm and not to cold. Not to mention that the wind wasn't even that strong.

What can I say? I have a gift. Twilight boasted herself in her mind.

Starlight yawned as she stretched one of her hooves. She looked at the sky. The sun is a little close to being behind one of the mountains. She got up and rubbed her tail to get the grass off.

"Anyways, I had a good time. I'm about to head back to the castle and read a book." She told her friends.

"Me too." Spike said as he got up to his feet. "A new Power Ponies comic is calling my name."

Starlight rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Ok, then we'll go together." Twilight decided. She turned towards Rarity, who was putting the picnic blanket away in the basket. "Me and Rarity have decided to do a 5,000 piece puzzle today."

Rarity scoffed in amusement. "Usually puzzles are not my... thing. But Twilight had brought up the offer and I couldn't say no to an event to do together. Even if it will take seven hours."

"Not unless you're with me." Twilight retorted playfully.

The four friends were making way towards Twilight's Castle. Twilight and Rarity were having a conversation with each other, meanwhile Starlight and Spike strayed a little behind, looking at the view around them.

"Totally is literally a perfect day. There seems to be nothing wrong with today." Starlight told the dragon as they walked. She then chuckled to herself. "Now I wonder if she casted a spell onto the weather." she joked.

Spike giggled at her joke. "Maybe, but I doubt. Me and Twilight have seen what happens when an unicorn controls the weather." he told her, but now started thinking. "But maybe an Alicorn is different..."

"Don't think too much about it." Starlight gently told him.

"Yeah, I know. But there's no harm asking Twilight..." Spike replied, but his voice trailed off when he spotted something in the distance. His eyes suddenly sparkled at the sight.

Starlight noticed that Spike wasn't beside her. She stopped to look behind. She walked towards him with a confused stare. "What are you staring at?" she asked.

When Spike wasn't looking, Starlight decided to look ahead. She spotted a few gems in the distance that were pilled on the ground. Starlight looked confused at the sight. Why would someone drop gems and leave it like that?

"That looks delicious." Spike told her, not taking his eyes off of the gems.

Starlight stared at the gems once more. Now her confusion turned into suspicion. "I guess. Maybe we should just leave it." she told him.

"Are you kidding? Why would I leave behind these beautiful gems that are in plain sight?" Spike answered with his claws gesturing at the gems. "Besides, it seems like no one is going to look for them; and we can't let good gems go to waste, can we?"

But Starlight was unconvinced. "Just seems a bit strange how someone would leave a pile of gems like that."

"Or maybe someone left it as a gift for me." Spike told her, continuing to dismiss her words. "You never know!"

Starlight sighed. Even if Spike acted more intelligent and a bit smarter than most baby dragons, she had forgotten how gullible Spike can be sometimes when it came to gems.

"Ok fine. Just don't be gone long. I'm going to catch up with Twilight and Rarity." she told him before she walked ahead of the trail.

Spike simply shrugged as he saw her walk away. Then he started walking towards the gems with a hungry expression.

As seconds started going by, she stopped at the trail. She looked back to see Spike making his way towards the gems. The suspicious gems.

Maybe I'm being too superstitious. she questioned herself. Maybe she was panicking over nothing. After all, whether she liked it or not, she is known to overreact over dumb or simple things, and maybe this is not one of the exceptions.

But something about the way the gems were placed is what made Starlight uneasy. Not to mention that it was next to the trail that led to the Castle of Friendship? That was something that didn't sit right with her. Plus, Spike was walking up to something that is most likely... a trap.

She shook her head, trying to get the thought out of her mind. I'm doing it again. she told herself, disappointed. She looked up at the trail, then back at Spike and the gems. Unsure of where to go from here.

It can't hurt to watch. Starlight decided in her mind. Twilight will understand... I hope.

Making sure no one was around, Starlight had cast an invisibility spell onto herself. Once she did that, she hid behind a bush, silently watching Spike, and also prayed that her suspicions were all but a panicked lie.

Twilight and Rarity were almost to the castle. They were still continuing their conversations about puzzles and puzzle strategies.

"What I do is that I start at the corners first." Twilight advised her friend. "Then I do the ends of the puzzle until it connects together, forming a giant empty rectangle at the center. It helps to know how big the puzzle is going to be."

"Ah yes, good plan. Meanwhile I shall sort the pieces by color. It also helps to know where certain parts of the puzzle are instead of just sorting them through the box."

Twilight laughed a little before replying, "Oh, Rarity. There is only one color in this puzzle."

Rarity came to a halt. "What?"

Twilight nodded. Then with her magic, a puzzle box appeared next to the two. The box only showed a plain, yellow picture, much to Rarity's dismay.

"One color?" Rarity gasped in dismay. "How is this supposed to be fun?"

"Not to you, maybe. But my brother and I loved these when we were little." Twilight smiled.

"Yeah... let's just assume that he loved them." Rarity rolled her eyes.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but a familiar scream in the distance had cut her off. Twilight and Rarity immediately looked behind. They were so caught up in the conversation that they didn't even notice that Starlight and Spike went missing.

"Help me!" the same familiar cry was heard again, and much to their fright, it came from the same speaker: Spike.

"Where are they?" Rarity asked, clearly panicked.

"They're far behind. Come on." Twilight beckoned the unicorn.

Together, they dashed down the trail. They ran and ran until they reached one of the uphill parts of the trail. Right then and right there, they saw the scene with their own eyes.

Spike was being held down by a strange-looking pony. They were wearing white scientist-like suits, they had grey goggles, and they wore black gloves onto their hooves. The pony's horn glowed a light cyan color and a rag floated next to the dragon. They pony kept trying to shove the rag onto Spike's mouth, but he kept pushing it away with his claws.

"What are they doing?" Rarity beckoned, clearly distressed by what she was seeing.

"I don't know, but we are going to stop them immediately—" Twilight was about to dash to the rescue, but she stopped herself. "Wait. Where's Starlight?"

There was no sign of her anywhere.

The two desperately looked around, until Rarity pointed ahead. "There!"

Twilight looked at where she was pointing at. While she was barely visible, Twilight saw the very faint outlines of Starlight. She was low on the ground and stalked around the pony. Her eyes were narrowed with rage as she watched the scene happen.

"Starlight! Help me!" Spike called out desperately. Twilight and Rarity were stunned. Could Spike see her?

Then his head pressed harder on the soft, grassy ground.

"Sit still, you little shit." The pony silenced him, still trying to put the rag on his mouth.

"Let go of him, now." Starlight threatened him from behind, still keeping herself invisible.

The pony gasped. His grip on the dragon had relaxed a little. "Who's there?"

No answer.

"What is she doing?" Rarity whispered to Twillight's ear. "Should we intervene?"

Twilight shook her head. "I trust Starlight. If things get out of hand, then we will help."

Rarity slowly nodded. Then the two looked back at the scene.

While the pony was distracted, Spike pushed himself off of the pony's hooves, and ran for the bushes.

"Hey!" The pony called out to him, and began to chase him. As he ran after the him, he had bumped into something, causing him to fall backwards.

The pony regained consciousness and rubbed his goggles. "What the hell was that—"

He quickly shut his mouth when he saw Starlight in front of him, glaring at him with eyes narrowed in rage. The pony got to their feet and started to walk backwards.

"Do you mind telling me what you were trying to do?" Starlight interrogated him, her tone as cold as ice.

Just then, Spike reappeared from the bushes, and hid behind Starlight's hind legs out of fright.

Seeing the dragon, the pony got to his feet, and he straightened himself. "I don't have to explain anything to you." he said bravely.

The pony quickly shoved Starlight out of the way and tried to reach towards Spike, but his hind hoof had been caught by Starlight's aura and he had been tossed back on the ground, making him skid onto the lush, green grass.

"What's amusing to me is that you think you have a choice." Starlight told the pony in cold amusement.

"W-Who are you and what do you want?" Spike spoke up from behind. "And... what was with the rag...?"

The pony scoffed as he got up. "I share my answers to no one." he told them. "Now please, hand over the dragon before anyone gets hurt."

Starlight's ears lowered, and her horn lit up threateningly. "You're treading on thin ice, so you better watch what you say."

"Perhaps we should end this." Twilight told Rarity, to which she nodded in agreement.

The two trotted down the trail, and met up with Starlight and Spike. Starlight looked back at the others with a smile, grateful that the others had come to stand at her side. Since they had arrived, her horn had stopped glowing. Meanwhile Spike ran up to Twilight and Rarity.

"I believe you better answer Starlight's question." Rarity spoke to the pony in an angry tone.

The pony stool his head high in a stubborn manner. "All of you are probably deaf. As I said before, I answer to no one."

"Not even to the Royal Sisters?" Twilight tilted her head. "Because if you say nothing, then we have no choice but to take you to Celestia."

The pony looked startled by her statement. He looked at the side of Twilight and Rarity. After he did that, he suddenly snickered, much to everyone's confusion.

"We'll see about that." The pony said ominously. He then put his hoof at the side of his mouth. "Now!"

Before they knew it, figures that looked exactly like the mysterious pony jumped out from the bushes behind them and immediately started to tackle them. A pony quickly got besides Spike and they put the same rag onto his mouth. As he did that, Spike's eyes started drooping. Eventually, Spike fell onto the ground with his eyes closed.

"Spikey-wikey!" Rarity screamed. Not long afterwards, another pony put a rag onto Rarity's mouth. Then she dropped down with her eyes closed.

Meanwhile, at least 10 ponies dog-piled onto Starlight's body, making her unable to move. Before Starlight could teleport her way out of here, another was placed onto Starlight's mouth. Before she fell unconscious, she looked at Twilight with a confused but frightened gaze. Twilight could tell from her eyes that she was asking the same thing.

Who are these ponies? Twilight thought the same thing as well. She kept teleporting away from the ponies and kept reappearing in front her fallen friends, who laid unconsciousness. Why would they do this?

"Restrain her!" a pony commanded.

Suddenly, a pony appeared behind Twilight. Before Twilight could teleport away again, they quickly put the rag onto her mouth. Twilight tried pulling the rag away with her magic, but it was not long after that her magic would get weaker. Eventually, she unwillingly gave in.

"How is it even possible... it usually takes a few minutes to be unconscious by... this... thing." Twilight said while the effects were starting to take place.

"Usually, but not these. But you'll find that out eventually." a pony responded with a snicker. Before Twilight could black out, she faintly saw the ponies walked away from them. Then they started congratulating each other.

"Well done, boys. I don't know how, but we captured them." a pony said to their companions. Although their voices were a little muffled.

Another pony nodded "If I had to be honest with you, that fight felt way too easy. You would think that they would put up more of a fight."

"But thankfully for us, they were as easy as the others!" a pony cheered.

One by one, the others cheered too.

That was all Twilight heard and saw before she blacked out.

Cold.

Stiff.

Hard.

Dark.

That was all Twilight saw and felt when she slowly opened her eyes. Her head pounded like drums, and she kept putting her hoof onto her forehead, hoping that it will stop. She groaned as she started to sit up, still rubbing her forehead.

She now started to adjust her eyes to the darkness. Then she started looking around. At first, she thought that she was alone in the cold, barren unknown spot that she's in. But when her eyes adjusted more, she could make out bodies in the room. She recognized them well, and of course, was thankful that they were breathing.

Rarity was at the corner of the room with her eyes closed. One of her hooves was a little elevated than the rest, who were laying flat on the ground. Starlight was farther from the white pony, and her position was similar to Rarity's. Twilight looked around to find Spike. She saw him laying on his right side, his face facing the wall.

Gathering all the energy she could grasp, she got to her hooves and walked up to Spike. She prodded him with her hoof.

"Spike?" Twilight whispered his name. "Spike?"

It took a while, but eventually Spike started opening his eyes. He yawned as he woke up, showing his sharp teeth.

"Twilight? Is that you?" Spike asked as he rubbed one of his eyes.

"Yes, it is, Spike." Twilight soothed him. She went close to Spike and hugged him tight.

"W-Who were those ponies?" Spike started shivering. Twilight couldn't tell if it was from fear, or from the cold temperature of the area.

"I don't know, Spike. But we're about to find out." Twilight told the dragon. He looked at her right side, seeing Rarity and Starlight's unconscious bodies. "Let's wake the others."

As soon as she gave the order, Spike immediately went up to Rarity. He said her name repeatedly as he kept tugging her with his claws. Still nothing from her.

Meanwhile, Twilight went up to Starlight and prodded her body with her hoof, similar to what she did to Spike. "Starlight? Are you there?"

After maybe two minutes, Starlight finally opened her eyes, showing her dazed, lavender-colored pupils. "Huh?"

Twilight let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Celestia you're alright." she now prodded her body with her snout, telling her to get up.

Starlight looked around the area. "Where... are we?" she asked her friend.

"I... don't know." Twilight told her. She put her hoof on the cold wall. Then she felt the rubble of the ground underneath them. "But... we're moving."

"To where?" Twilight heard Rarity's voice. She turned and saw that Spike was lending her a hand as she got up. The unicorn staggered for a bit, but she soon found her footing.

"We don't know." Spike answered her.

Next to Twilight, Starlight's eyes widened a little when she spotted a tiny window on one of the walls. She staggered due to the ground rumbling. She grumbled when she kept falling, so she eventually levitated herself to the window. After looking outside, her head titled in confusion.

"I... don't recognize this area." Starlight told them, not sounding optimistic.

Curious, Twilight flapped her wings and headed to where Starlight is. She looked out the tiny window, hoping that she would be the source of the answer. But she understood Starlight's confusion. It looked like they were near a cliff that led to the ocean.

"I don't know where we're going." Twilight told Rarity and Spike, to which they looked unsettled.

"Let's get out of here. You and Starlight are powerful enough to bust us out of here, right?" Rarity suggested. Beside her, Spike nodded.

Starlight put her hoof on her chin, thinking. Meanwhile Twilight shook her head. "Not until we find out what's going on. Obviously these strange ponies are up to something, and I, for one, want to know exactly what it is. And..." Twilight stopped as she turned to Spike, then Starlight. "We can find out why they tried to capture Spike. Then once we find out, we will stop them as soon as possible. We can't let them get away with this."

Starlight narrowed her eyes as she nodded, and Spike crossed his arms as he nodded. Meanwhile Rarity looked a bit hesitant.

"I don't know, my darlings. Maybe we should escape while we can. I mean, who knows where they are taking us?" Rarity told them while she started rubbing her hoof nervously.

"Once we scope out the location, then we will escape and tell Celestia." Spike told her. "I mean, its not like they can easily trap a princess or anything."

Rarity still looked hesitant.

Moments after, the ground suddenly felt still. All of them were immediately alert as it happened. Their ears perked as they heard the loud creaking gates outside. Once the sound stopped, they began to move.

After that, they stopped. This time, they heard rustling hooves outside. Beside the four, they heard a handle move. Then the doors opened, revealing more of the same ponies that they had encountered before.

"Everybody out." A pony with a deep voice commanded. "No funny business over there."

Without hesitation, the anonymous ponies activated their magic. Once they were in their aura, they cruelly tossed them out of the vehicle, and landed on the sandy floor. They shook her heads to shake the sand out of their manes, or in Spike's case, scales. They looked up and saw that the building was tall, and they were surrounded by giant stone walls, surrounded by barb wire. Where were they in, a prison?

"Where are we?" Twilight asked them. However, one of the ponies went up to her and towered over the princess.

"You only speak when we tell you too." The same deep-voiced pony said.

"That's not how you treat a princess!" Rarity gasped in shock. But she only got slapped by the pony.

"She's no princess to us." The pony said in a monotonous tone. "Now, this is the last time I'm going to warn you: stay quiet."

Starlight looked around the scene. She cleared her throat. "Ok, this has been well and good, but I think its about time we leave." she told them. She even glared at the guards, as if she was challenging them to get near her. "We're out of here."

Starlight nodded towards Twilight. Then she nodded back, getting the message. They both lit up her horns and they teleported the four of them away. When they did that, they were expected to appear in a forest, far away from this facility. But instead, they were hit by an invisible magical force field. They were knocked back instantly.

Starlight rubbed her head before blinking her eyes to see the blocker. "What's this?" she asked, outraged.

"I... think its a force field, forcing us in." Rarity told her. She turned towards Twilight with a narrowed look. "So we couldn't escape."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "How was I supposed to see the invisible force field?"

"So we can't leave?" Spike stammered, his pupils were small. "H-H-H-How do we escape?"

"You can't." The deep voiced pony said behind them. His tone was filled with mockery. Twilight squinted her eyes. It was hard to tell if he was smiling under that mask.

"Ooh, I always love it when they try to escape, General!" Another pony said behind the deep-voiced pony, whom his name is apparently General.

"Shut up, Guard 109!" General commanded.

He ducked his head. "Yes sir."

The General turned back at the four. "Your crappy attempt to leave has amused me. But playtime is over." he said to them. He turned his back and faced the guards that were behind him. "Lock them up once they have most of their magic drained." he ordered.

"What?!" Rarity gasped. "You're doing what?"

Before he answered, he teleported the four to another room inside the building. This time, they were inside a room that was filled with giant tanks filled with all colored liquids. They gazed up at the giant tanks, completely in awe and in confusion.

"What are those...?" Spike asked.

"I have no idea." Starlight answered him.

Then at once, guards from all around the room ran inside the building. They immediately got to their positions. Two guards were sitting beside each side of the tanks, for whatever reason. Four guards each blocked each of the doors that led the way in and out of the room. Then ten guards marched up to the four.

"Who goes first?" A pony with an unusual high-pitched voice asked.

Beside him, his companion face-hoofed. "The strongest is always first, Guard 334."

Guard 334 laughed. "Oh right. That means Mrs. Sparkle is first."

As he said the words, multiple guards quickly grabbed Twilight in all sides. "What is going on?" she demanded. She activated her horn to teleport her friends away from the group and try to find another way to escape. But they launched a tube onto Twilight's horn. The see-through tube revealed magenta liquid coming through the tube, and inside the tank.

"Twilight!" The other three screamed.

Guard 334 started laughing wildly. "Hahaha this is fun!"

"I think that mask drove you insane." His companion complained. "Ever since you converted, you acted more insane than ever."

"Converted...?" Starlight repeated the words to herself. "What does that mean...?"

"Next!"

Before Starlight could recollect, the tube quickly detached from Twilight's horn, then it latched onto Starlight's, draining the magic from her.

Guard 334 looked towards Rarity. "Wait, do we drain her magic? We all know her magic doesn't seem to be as powerful as these two."

His companion turned towards Rarity. Then back at him. "Apparently you lost braincells too. It is mandatory to have every unicorn magic drained from their owners. Have you forgotten about that so easily?"

Guard 334 said nothing.

Once the tube was detached from Starlight's horn, the tube turned towards Rarity. Rarity braced herself as the tube attached onto her horn.

"Wait, Guard 002! What about the dragon?" His high-pitched voice was filled with excitement once he pointed at the dragon.

Guard 002 looked at Spike, then shrugged. "He will be of use later."

Spike could only gulp while his feet were quivering in fear. He looked up at the tanks while he bit his lip in nervousness. What is this place? he asked fearfully.

After the magic suction, the three exhausted unicorns and a nervous dragon were taken down the corridors of jail cells. The unicorns that were imprisoned looked at them with surprised looks.

"Sweet Celestia! The Princess of Friendship has been captured as well?" A brown unicorn exclaimed in their cell. "Is there no hope in Equestria anymore?"

Next to his cell, a grey unicorn shook his head. "Oh, sweet, foolish Jack. There was no hope the moment we were captured."

The General immediately stopped and looked at the unicorns left and right. "If I remembered correctly, your names were Numbers 609 and 398." he scolded them.

The grey unicorn rolled his eyes, meanwhile the brown unicorn dipped his head and said nothing else. Meanwhile all the four could do was watch with pity. Although Starlight shot hostile glares at the General at times.

"Come on, 398." The grey pony told him while saying his number hatefully. "Let's just get back to sulking."

The hall seemed to go on for hours. The room was filled with low murmured cries, desperately wanting help. Spike tried covering his head. It was the worst sound that he ever heard. And from the looks from his friends, they felt the same way.

"Ah. Here we are." The General told them as he approached two cells. "This is where you will be for the rest of your lives."

With his magic, the General levitated Twilight and Rarity to the first cell. The General dropped the two crudely. He slammed the cell door shut.

"With a new home comes with a new name." the General said. He looked at Twilight and Rarity. "Your names are Numbers 187 and 523."

Spike felt anger rise inside. Twilight shouldn't have her name be numbers. She deserved to be called by her beautiful name that she was born with. Why should a stupid masked pony determine that? Spike turned his head. He saw that Starlight curled her lip is disgust, probably thinking about the same thing.

"Your turn." The General told the last remaining two. He lit up his horn to levitate them, but Starlight just walked in. "I can walk fine on my own." she told him angrily. Spike quickly followed her lead.

"Your new name is Number 463." The General told Starlight. He looked down at Spike. "As for you, you get a special name. You will be renamed as Pet 203."

Spike gasped. A pet?

Starlight gasped. She glared at the guard as he closed the cell's door. "He's not a pet, you sicko!" she told him angrily. "How could you be so cruel?"

"Shut up!" They heard a voice somewhere in the room. It sounded more agitated than in pain.

The General smirked as he looked back at Starlight. "Number 018 is right. You better keep quiet. Or else I'll make my guards do it." he told her. "I mean, its not like you will be a loss anyway."

Starlight's eyes narrowed in rage.

After one look from the group, the General turned to leave the room. "Guard 334! Guard 002! Come over here and watch over these idiots." The General called as he reached the doors.

"You got it, boss!" They heard Guard 334's voice in the background, along with trotting hoofsteps.

The room became quiet until the two guards came in. Guard 334 happily sat next to the door. Meanwhile Guard 002 simply sat next to the door and did nothing else. He even sighed as he sat down.

Once the General was out of sight, Guard 334 started jumping excitedly, and from the way Guard 002 looked at him, it was unusual.

"New prisoners! How enticing!" Guard 334 said in a sadistic, happy tone. "What's even better is that even the Princess of Friendship herself is kneeling down at the General's hooves!"

"She kneels down to no one." Starlight retorted next to Spike. Meanwhile Twilight just stared at the ground, not sure of what to do.

"She does now." Guard 002 answered her calmly.

Starlight rolled her eyes.

"Wait... are you... Starlight Glimmer?" Guard 334 asked. For some reason he sounded excited.

Spike and Starlight looked at each other with puzzled expressions as Guard 334 started walking towards their cell.

"Stay in position!" Guard 002 called out. "You know the General doesn't like it when we move from our assigned position."

"Relax. I'm only going here for a few minutes." He answered. He finally stopped in front of the cell to look at Starlight and Spike. Guard 334 turns his head to Starlight's cutie mark, then back at her. Meanwhile, Starlight lowered her ears.

"You really are Starlight Glimmer." Guard 334 finally spoke. "Well, well, well."

"What... about it?" Starlight asked, looking uncomfortable by his blank stare behind a mask.

"We have heard about you." Guard 334 told her. Then he started giggling. "So... heh... heh... was enslaving a village fun?"

Spike saw Starlight wince a little when he mentioned about her old village. Spike decided it was time to step in. "Hey! That's none of your business."

"He's right you know." Guard 002 said from the back, much to Spike's surprise. "Leave the mare alone and get back here before the General finds you like that."

Guard 344 scoffed. "You know, ever since you have been converted, you're never fun anymore." he told the guard.

Spike tilted his head. What did he mean by converted?

Guard 002 scoffed back. "Well, unlike you, I don't want to sign my death certificate. Remember Raven—"

"Guard 222 was a weakling anyway." Guard 334 snapped as he lowered his ears. "He wouldn't live to see another month anyway."

Guard 002 let out an angry snort. "And if you continue to be out of place, you wouldn't either."

Spike covered his ears to ignore the argument. He didn't want to listen to the ponies who had imprisoned him. He decided to confront Starlight, who stared at the guards with a hostile look.

"Hey, uh, Starlight?" Spike tried getting her attention.

Starlight turned to the dragon. Her expression was back to her usual neutral state and her eyes weren't narrowed anymore. "What is it, Spike?" she asked him in a soft tone.

"I just wanted to say thank you. For sticking up to me back at the trail. Even if we were captured, I'm still grateful that you protected me while you could." Spike told her. Afterwards he sat onto the cold, hard ground.

Starlight smiled warmly. "Of course, Spike. I had to protect one of my closest friends." she told him warmly, although Spike picked up a bit of fierceness in her tone.

Spike smiled gratefully at the mare. But something else had bothered him, and Starlight noticed right away. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's just... if I had listened to you and walked away from the gems, we would've been at the castle right now. I feel like we're in this situation because of me. All because I couldn't get go of my greed." He looked up at a sympathetic Starlight. "I'm surprised you even protected me. After all I didn't listen to you and—"

Starlight silenced him with a raised hoof. "Spike, why in Equestria would I abandon you all because you didn't listen to me?"

"It's just—" Spike tried explaining, but he got interrupted again.

"I'm not a coward, Spike. Usually I don't run in the face of danger, but if you, Twilight, the girls, or any of my friends were in danger, I will be there to help as much as I can." Starlight told him. He looked at the guards through the jail cell. "I don't know what these ponies are up too, but judging by their actions and demeanor, we would've been captured nonetheless."

Spike felt reassured by his friend's words. But one last thing made him worry. "They called me a pet... they even renamed me Pet whatever number they gave me." he quivered. "I've never been called a pet!"

"That's because you're not a pet, and you never will be. Despite what the General thinks." Starlight responded as she said General in a mocking tone.

After taking in her words, Spike smiled again. "You know, at least the General did one thing right."

Starlight's ear twitched in disbelief. "And what's that?"

"He placed me in here with you." Spike told her. He ran up and hugged the mare tightly. He was warmed by her lilac-colored coat as he continued hugging.

Despite her skin being poked by Spike's sharp claws, Starlight hugged him back and put a hoof around his body. "Don't worry, Spike." She soothed the dragon once more. "Whatever happens, I'm not going to let anything happen to you as long as you're in my sight."

"How?" Spike asked while he continued hugging. "Won't the guards beat you up?"

Starlight rolled her eyes. "They can try. All that matters is that you're safe."

"Wow." The two heard Twilight's voice next to their cell. She sounded as if she was proud. "That sounded beautiful."

"I agree." Rarity joined in.

Were they silent this whole time? Spike asked in his mind. They hadn't heard a single word from the two after they were put in their cells. And if so, why?

"Finally, you too spoke!" Starlight told them jokingly. "For a second I thought that the General took your voices along with your names."

"Oh, sorry. We were listening to the guards conversation." Rarity told them. "We were hoping they would gives us some clues."

"Clues?" Spike asked curiously. "Clues about what?"

"On how to shut up!" They heard Guard 002's commanding voice in the background. To which 334 laughed wildly beside him.

"How about you tell that to your friend?" A prisoner across from them jeered from his cell. "He laughs like a hyena!"

"What did you say, Number 544?" Guard 334 interrogated.

"I called you a hyena! What? Do you need a hearing aid too?" he mocked once more.

Then another fight started. Guard 334 got up and approached the prisoner, much to Guard 002's displeasure. Spike didn't want to hear more prison drama. He sighed in defeat as he laid onto his bed and covered his face with a pillow, trying to silence the noise. But it was fruitless anyway.