Although Rarity had not owned the place for long, the building she had transformed into her Canterlot Boutique was an old one. This was never more evident than when Spike ran up the stairs as fast as he could, hearing and feeling the wooden stairs creak and groan beneath his claws. At about the halfway point, he heard a loud crack! and jumped back, nearly falling off the stairs, for he assumed one of the stair boards had collapsed beneath him. Then he realised that it had been the sound of a door slamming above.

Sighing, this only made Spike quicken his pace. By that point, he was jumping up the stairs two at a time, not letting his shoddy sense of balance deter him. Even when he nearly fell backwards.

By the time Spike was at the top of the stairs, he was panting heavily and had to stop for a moment with his hands on his knees to catch his breath and let his heart slow as he looked over the hallway in which he now stood. As he remembered from when he helped Rarity and Sweetie Belle move in, there were a few doors on either side; this time, however, Rarity had decorated the walls with a few paintings, the abstract flowery kind that you find in hotel rooms and thrift stores and such. Beneath one, beside the door that led to Rarity's bedroom, was a small wooden table that held a potted Hearth's Warming cactus.

Beyond all this, however, lay a window at the end of the hall. Spike stood up and slowly walked forward until his face was but a few centimetres from the glass. From this vantage point, Spike could see a few ponies milling about on the sidewalks below, yet nothing of particular interest.

Until he heard the sound of sobs coming from the room beside him.

Slowly, Spike turned and walked across the hall, careful to not let the floorboards creak. Then, once he reached the plain white door that led to Sweetie Belle's room, he raised a claw and knocked thrice. For a moment, the sobbing ceased."

"Go away, Rarity." Sweetie's voice sounded ragged and strained—upset for sure, but not angry. Spike could hear her breathing heavily.

"Erm... actually, it's Spike," he said, as if that would make a difference. He didn't really know if it would.

For a moment, there was no reply. Spike wasn't sure whether that meant he should just leave and indeed, he was about to go when he heard shuffling and then hoofsteps from within. Not a moment later, the door opened just a crack, revealing one bloodshot green eye.

"H-hey," Spike stammered.

"You can come in," Sweetie Belle mumbled, her eye pulling away from the door. As Spike pushed the door open with a claw, he watched the filly trot back over to her bed and plop down onto the pastel purple bedspread. Cautiously, Spike closed the door behind him with a click and then walked across the perfectly-clean room until he was sitting at the foot of Sweetie's bed. As he sat there, Spike listened to the filly's sniffles and frowned.

"Your room looks clean," Spike stated. He didn't know why he said it; he just knew that he couldn't let the silence linger, and he needed to take Sweetie Belle's mind off what was upsetting her.

"I know," came Sweetie Belle's reply. She lifted her head up from where it lay in her sheets to stare directly at the purple dragon. "And I friggin' hate it."

"Huh?"

"My room never used to be clean," Sweetie Belle continued. "Rarity used to give me crap about it and I did have to clean it a few times, but I rarely was able to, anyway. Sc-Scootaloo and... and... Apple Bloom... heh..." The filly paused to wipe her face with a hoof. "They always made a mess of things and even though I acted like I hated it, I actually really liked when we were all going through my things in search of new ways to find our cutie marks. And even after we found them... it was a little more laid back, but it was fun. But now, now that my room's just pristine like my sister's... it's lost something."

Spike slowly nodded. "I feel ya. A lot has changed, and not for the better."

Sweetie Belle shook her head. "I wish things could just go back to how they were. I wish I hadn't even decided to move with Rarity to this stupid city, anyway."

Spike raised an eyebrow. "I thought you were saying that it was fun to explore, and that you were liking school and had new friends and all that?"

Sweetie Belle sighed. "I don't go exploring—I just made that up. Heck, I can't walk down the street for five minutes without getting super lost. I miss Ponyville, and not just for the ponies—it was a lot smaller and I knew where everything was."

"Yeah, I get that," Spike said. "It's not like I had spent much time in the city proper, but it was nice when Twilight and I moved to Ponyville because it was kind of that same sort of micro-community that the castle had. But what about school?"

"School's... fine. But none of my teachers are as interesting or as nice as Miss Cheerilee, even if they're technically more qualified or whatever. And I told you that I made friends, but I dunno. We're not really that close and I wouldn't want to hang out with any of them outside of school or anything. I just feel... lonely. And... and I don't know if I have a special talent anymore, since it was about all of us..." She lowered her head as she began to shake once more.

Spike scooted over and reached out an arm to put around Sweetie's shoulders, which the filly gladly accepted. For a moment, the dragon just held his friend reassuringly in silence, gently rubbing her shoulder.

"I miss Apple Bloom so much," Sweetie Belle finally murmured between breaths. "I know it wasn't my fault but I still feel somehow responsible and if I had just been a little faster, maybe she'd still—" Having run out of breath, Sweetie quickly hyperventilated for a moment before calming back down.

"We all miss her, Sweetie, but there isn't anything you could've done," Spike said, hoping he wasn't hurting more than helping.

"I know. But did... did Scootaloo know that? I know she felt like it was her fault way more than I ever did..." Sweetie paused, choking back a sob. "Celestia, I really shouldn't have agreed to move... I just wanted to escape... I didn't—didn't know..."

"Sweetie, it's okay," Spike started in a soothing tone, but Sweetie Belle cut him off.

"It's not okay! Scootaloo was hurting way more than I ever did, and then I did a horrible, awful, selfish thing and I left! I left her there without friendship, just trying to get away..." Sweetie Belle sighed.

"She had Rainbow, and she had Twilight," Spike stated. "And, of course, she had me and the rest of the girls. Things were... tough, but they started to get better. She didn't even try to... well, y'know... for the last several months."

Sweetie Belle gave Spike a flat look. "Until she stole Princess Twilight's spaceship and went on a suicide flight out into space with no supplies or training."

Spike scratched the back of his head. "Well, about that..."

Sweetie Belle's ears perked up. "What?"

"Scootaloo isn't dead, Sweetie. We haven't exactly heard from her directly, but Twilight got a call from a pony who's talked with her and confirmed that she's safe. What she's going to do now, I have no idea, but we at least know that she's alive."

Sweetie blinked. "What."

Spike nodded. "She's out there, Sweetie. We can get her back."

Tears streamed down Sweetie Belle's fuzzy white cheeks as she sat up and pulled Spike into a big hug. At first, the dragon was startled; after a moment, though, he merely reached out his arms to return the hug.