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.