Rarity listened to the echoes of her hoof falls as she trotted through empty castle halls. While the decoration that she and the others had added brightened the interior, it did nothing to dull the oppressively lonely atmosphere.

She peered into the doorways she passed by, noticing that there were whole sections of the structure that were going unused.

She noted that there were only two sections of the castle that were decorated in anyway, the table of Harmony that they all seated themselves at when they had a meeting to assign a pair of them to the latest friendship problem, and the royal living quarters, where the three occupants had set up their lives.

As much as she at times, envied her friend for attaining everything she herself had wanted, wandering through the empty castle just made a case for how lonely it could be to be royalty.

She was shaken from her thoughts by a soft hooting from above her. She craned her neck upwards and spotted the source of the noise, a small owl perched on a small gap in the wall near the ceiling, just large enough for the avian to fly through with something in it's talons.

"Owlowiscious, darling. Finally a sign of life." The mare smiled.

"Hoo." the owl greeted her, or at least she thought, there was something about the hoot that gave the impression she was intruding.

"Is Twilight in? The rest of the girls and I are having a picnic on the town outskirts and wanted to see if she could join us, provided she's not busy of course." Rarity smiled gently, lightly fluffing her mane.

"Hoo!" the horned owl hooted again, more forcefully. "Hoo!"

"Erm.. did I come at a bad time?" her smile shifted awkwardly. "Could you perhaps, just move your head to respond to that?"

"Hoo!" Owlowiscious flared his wings.

"Alright alright, Owlowiscious. Yeesh, what's with all the racket?" A slightly raspy voice sounded from behind a nearby door. "Is there somepony out there?"

"Oh! Spike, darling! Is that you?" Rarity sighed with relief.

"Rarity? Hold on." The sound of scales running grew faint, signifying that he was getting further away, followed by some muffled talking, just as swiftly, they returned. "Sorry. Twilight's feeling a little under the weather. Can whatever it is you need her for wait?"

"Oh, of course darling. I'll just tell the others that she can't make it to the picnic today. Would she mind if I stopped by later to check up on her?" She looked up at the owl who was still staring down at her with flared wings before chuckling nervously. "Oh.. and could you call off Owlowiscious, he's making me nervous."

"Owlowiscious! Come here!" Spike bellowed, causing the owl to flinch before clambering through the gap with his beak and flying down out of sight. "Follow me you little feather duster." the dragon grumbled.

Rarity sighed with relief and waited, thankfully it didn't take long for the whelp to return, the door opening to show the baby dragon.

"Sorry about that, he's really protective of Twilight when she's not feeling well. and yeah, she'd be okay with you stopping by later, she's just kinda dealing with the worst of it right now."

"Poor dear. I'll let the others know, thank you Spike." she ruffled his spines with a hoof gently. "You take good care of her darling."

Spike chuckled at being ruffled. "I will Rarity, don't you worry. Have fun with the others." He smiled before turning to close the door, allowing the unicorn to catch a glimpse of Owlowiscious in a birdcage, swaying at the end of the hall and sulking.