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.

Next Chapter: Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes