It was well known that, when a young person is worried about somepony, it often consumed their thoughts. Such was the case with Spike on this very day, as he stood outside the door to the basement of the Golden Oak Library. He stood there, in utter silence, waiting for her to come out, but she didn't. Concern was plastered all over his face, especially when he turned to look at the nearby wall. Upon it was a calendar, and today's date was circled in big red ink, with the words "train to Crystal Empire" written within. Turning again, he looked upon a nearby clock, and saw that moments were passing by quickly for all of them, and soon, it would be the time when Twilight and her friends would have to leave. And yet, she was still not here. She hadn't packed, she hadn't even come out of that basement for almost a day now. If it was a case of work, Spiked would understand. After all, he knew his adopted mother often spent ages down there tinkering on some new spell or researching some ancient artefact. But, as he pressed his non-existent ears against the door, there was no sound from down there, no activity. Needless to say, this worried him a great deal, especially when he thought back to how she'd been acting recently. Looking right at the door, Spike took a deep breath, and raised a claw, grabbing onto the knob.

He knew, as he'd been told so many times before, that he wasn't meant to go down here except under exceptional circumstances, like emergencies. And yet, his concern for his mother overruled whatever voice in his head told him to go back and stop this. He turned the knob of the door, and a rush of cold air escaped the basement as he opened it. Nervously, he began to enter the room, slowly taking step by step down the long and cold stone stairs. Eventually, he found his way there, and sure enough, things were exactly as he'd been expecting. Twilight was there, sitting upon her desk, and was doing absolutely nothing. There was no parchment on her desk, no artefact, and no ancient tome for her to read. She was just staring at it. As one might expect, this caused Spike to sigh. Yet again, he continued his walk down the stairs, and soon made contact with the floor, before making his way over to his mother. However, as he got closer, he began to hear something. It was a sound that practically shot him through the heart to hear; crying. Moving even slower than before, and with a look of sadness upon his face, Spike inched around her, and saw, as he suspected, that tears were falling down her cheek. For one as young as he was, this naturally caused him to react, reaching forward and placing a single hand on her hoof.

"Mom?"

Immediately, the young unicorn turned, seeing her adopted son before her. Within moments, she raised a hoof and started wiping away the tears from her face, after which she looked to him with an obviously forced smile.

"Oh! Spike! How...how wonderful to see you?"

But Spike could see through the act, not that that was difficult.

"Mom...are you okay?"

Yet again, Twilight forced a happy façade, nodding enthusiastically to the young dragon.

"Oh sure! I mean...my friends and I will all be going to the Empire soon, which means I get to see Cadence again, and then we'll have a great old time trying to make our case for that inspector for the Equestria Games. What could be better?"

But Spike just stared at her, still looking very much concerned for her. There was silence between them, during which, Twilight did her best to avoid looking Spike in the eyes. But after some time of thinking things over, the young dragon had a good inkling as to what was on her mind.

"Is this...is this about Discord?"

Twilight finally looked to him, and at last, her mask dropped, revealing the sadness underneath.

"I...I failed him."

Spike stepped forward, placing a hand upon her hoof and shaking his head.

"You did what you could! You didn't know what the Elements of Harmony would do to him! You wanted more for him than any of us did, so there's that!"

But Twilight shook her own head in a frantic manner.

"Don't you see, Spike? I failed. I do all these things...and what good has come of it? The changeling race? Imprisoned? Discord? Stripped of his powers and made mortal. I wanted them to be our friends...to try and make peace...but I failed. Every time...I failed."

Seeing the pain in her face, Spike stepped forward, gaining her attention once more.

"But...you have done good things! You've helped all your friends...you've helped me...you've done so much good! I know you feel let down because Discord and the changelings didn't work out...but it's not as if you've done anything really bad, right?"

For a brief moment, Twilight looked away from him, obscuring her face so he couldn't see her expression, which at this point was one of pain and guilt. The young dragon had no idea of some of the things she'd done, and she feared his knowing. It gnawed at her immensely, causing her to almost start shaking. But, as she'd done so many times before, she tried her best to calm herself, taking a few deep breaths in that manner her sister-in-law had taught her so well. Spike was trying to make her feel better, and that, if nothing else, was enough to console her, even if it was just a little. She put on a smile, this time a more genuine one, and looked to her son. Seeing her smile once again, he moved forward, embracing her in a hug. They stayed together like this for some time, simply enjoying the feeling of being together, not wanting it to end. But, like most things, it inevitably did, as both of them then heard the sound of knocking on the front door upstairs. Parting from one another, Twilight let out a sigh, before leaning forward and giving Spike a tender kiss upon his forehead. Smiling back at that, the young dragon watched as Twilight hopped out of her chair and began to make her way upstairs, with him close behind her. It didn't take long for them to reach the main chamber of the library, wherein Twilight lit up her horn and opened the front door.

"Howdy, Twilight!"

Smiling, Twilight and Spike watched as their friends, headed by Applejack, began to enter the library, each accompanied by their personal pet. Fluttershy with her rabbit, Angel. Applejack with her dog, Winona. Rainbow Dash with her tortoise, Tank, complete with his flying mechanism. Pinkie Pie with her toothless alligator, Gummy. And finally, Rarity with her cat, Opalescence. As they entered, Twilight closed the door behind them, before turning to Spike.

"Okay now, Spike. We need to get going. Are you sure you'll be able to look after all these animals while we're gone?"

Spike nodded at that, giving a little salute as he did so.

"Sure! I already asked Sweetie Belle and her friends if it’s okay for them to help me do it. Plus, Trixie's here if we get into any trouble."

Twilight smiled and nodded at that before turning to the rest of her friends.

"Okay, girls...you ready?"

The mares each nodded in turn, showing their agreement. With that done, they each said goodbye to their beloved pets in their own way, with Pinkie Pie, as usual, being the most enthusiastic in that regard. Shaking her head with a chuckle at that, Twilight turned and began to make her way out of the library. However, before she had the chance to do so, she was stopped by a tug of her tail. Turning, she looked on as Spike had picked up a suitcase in one claw, offering it to her. Although confused at this, realisation dawned on her, followed shortly afterwards by a look of appreciation.

"Oh! Thank you, Spike! I'd completely forgotten to pack!"

Spike nodded at that.

"No problem, Mom. And..."

Slowly, the young dragon turned to the other mares, who were still preoccupied with their pets, before looking back to Twilight, speaking in a hushed manner.

"...are you sure you're okay to go?"

Twilight knew he had her wellbeing at heart, and couldn't help but feel warm at that, reaching out with a hoof and patting the top of his head.

"Don't worry, Spike...I’ll be fine."

The smile on her face made it clear that she at least believed those words, even if it wasn't necessarily true. However, Spike knew her well enough to know that she would cope, and so nodded in response to her. Smiling at this, Twilight continued on her journey, using her magic to levitate her suitcase alongside her. Her friends too had now prepared themselves, and had begun to follow her, leaving their pets behind. As Spike watched them leave, he stood in the doorframe, watching as they all moved further and further away from him. In time, they grew so distant that they were gone from his sights completely. Although now feeling somewhat down at this, his spirits were lifted a little when he turned and saw that Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were walking in from another street, smiling to him as they approached. Although he smiled back to them, knowing that he was at least going to have some help in dealing with those animals, that smile faded when he re-entered the library. For as he walked further in, right past the animals, he looked up, once more staring at the calendar on the wall. For there, just a few short days after the date that Twilight and the others were scheduled to come back, there was another circle, this time a simple black colour. And within that circle was the word "maybe". He didn't know why, but that single word sent a chill down his spine.

"Mom...what's going to happen?"