Artifex had been making his way to his first block class when he heard the announcement. Preceded by a loud, blaring, and short siren—which annoyed him greatly—it turned out that Principal Celestia had an important announcement to make.

"Good morning, students of Canterlot High!" she said boisterously. A few students murmured their own greetings, even though they knew she wouldn't hear them. "I hope you all had plenty of rest and are ready to face the day."

Artifex nearly snorted. Sorry to let you down, Principal.

The announcement continued, "I am here today to reveal a very special announcement. Those of you who have been with us for a good while know about the Fall Formal dance. In previous years, we would have had it right at the end of September, but as I am sure you are now all aware, that was not the case for this year. Instead, Vice Principal Luna and I decided to move it slightly ahead, in order to try something different."

Artifex continued walking, but quickly realized that he was the only one. Looking around, every student had stopped whatever they had been doing, and were looking to the intercom speakers with wide, expectant eyes. After a moment of pondering, he, too, did the same, albeit with a much more tired look.

"That's why this year we have combined our September Fall Formal with our October Halloween Dance to create our very first Fall Hallows' Eve Event!"

The strange name aside (it was hard, Artifex figured, to come up with something that used both names), it was clear that Principal Celestia excited. Indeed, at the conclusion of the first part of the announcement, every student in the hall let out jubilant cheers like they had won something important—which, Artifex supposed, was true, though he could not say he shared the same sentiment.

"With this new Fall Hallows' Eve Event,"—Just rolls off your tongue, thought the young man—"we have more than just dancing going on. We will have several games set up that are all Halloween themed. Additionally, if any bands from the first Battle of the Bands would like to sing for us, you are welcome to do so! Just sign up at the office first.

"We have about a month to work on this, so any student who can help with the building and construction would be greatly appreciated. If you have any ideas or suggestions, let us know! We might be able to fit them in. If you have any questions, you can talk to your class representative for more information." There was another short ding. "Thank you all for listening, and I hope you're all as excited as I am! Have a great day!"

As one final, longer ding rang, Artifex resumed his walk. But whereas the halls had been rather low on the volume, now they roared with pure excitement and energy. Students were already piling into groups, and Artifex could hear some spouting off suggestion after suggestion. At first, it wasn't a problem; the trouble began when the groups became large enough to crowd the hall, to the point that Artifex had to push and shove his way just to get to his class.

He neared the stairwell, but was stuck between several other students. With no other choice, Artifex surged forward, doing his best to only lightly tap each student as he made his way through.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" one of the kids protested. He sounded familiar; a little high-pitched, and his voice was slightly masked by the sheer number of students, but it was definitely familiar.

Artifex glanced behind him; and cerulean-blue eyes met with salmon-pink ones. Shock filled both. As Artifex's eyes widened, so did the other boy's. Had things been different, perhaps they might have been much like a funhouse mirror attraction; at least, that was what Artifex would think later.

Then, just as quickly as the two met, they separated, the latter boy being swooped away by the call of some other person whom Artifex did not recognize. That boy's distinctive blonde locks stood out, though, and as Artifex moved away, they shown brightly in his mind, like a halo of observation.

He climbed the stairs in silence, mulling. Had that really been No Clue, or had his eyes deceived him? No; that had to have been him. There's no way it wasn't! He shook his head, but then had to swiftly crash himself against the opposite wall as a large group of giggling girls obliviously pushed past him.

"Urgh..." Groaning, he clutched his shoulder, annoyed. He looked back up the staircase. No one noticed his bitter stare.

With a flourish of yellow, he ascended, and walked down the hall towards his classroom.

"Isn't this exciting?" Pinkie exclaimed, bounding down the hall. "A whole new dance!"

"Yes, dear, I admit," said Rarity, clutching onto Clyde's arm, "it is rather exciting. Don't you think so, too, Clyde?"

"Of course I do, Rarity!" Clyde said. "It sounds like a lot of fun."

"You're darn tooting it'll be a lotta fun!" Pinkie turned back, facing them with a humongous grin. "I can't wait until the end of October for that!"

"Amen to that," said Applejack with a nod. "Ah gotta see if we can spare some apple cider just fer the occasion. Non-alcoholic, of course," she quickly added.

"Boo!" Rainbow shouted from behind. "Where's the fun in that?"

"We're minors, Rainbow," Fluttershy reminded her. "We can't drink any alcoholic beverages."

"I'm sure Principal Celestia would be okay with it!"

"And Ah'm sure that she wouldn't."

"You would, you goody-two-shoes..."

"What was that, Dash?"

"I said, you goody-two-shoes—"

"Girls, can't you keep the arguments from escaping until after lunch?"

"Sorry, Fluttershy, but if Miss Dash here thinks she can get away with insutin' me, then she's got another thing coming!"

"Ha! You'll have to catch me first!"

"Wha—hey! Get back here!"

Fluttershy shook her head as she saw Applejack chase after Rainbow. She could have tried to step in and stop her, but Applejack was notoriously strong-willed and stubborn. And Rainbow would rather goad her on than ruin the fun.

She wasn't in the back back of their little walking group, but she wasn't quite up front either. Soul and Swift were slightly ahead, discussing something "nerd" related, as Soul had once put it. They appeared to be in quite the heated discussion. Try as she might, Fluttershy couldn't understand a word they were saying. It all sounded like meaningless garble.

She glanced around. Rarity was, of course, with Clyde, while Pinkie happily skipped ahead, her hair bouncing and poofing everywhere, and landing with a light sproing sound. Applejack and Rainbow were even farther ahead, with the latter desperately trying to escape the former's clutches. Dash may have been fast, but Applejack had the stamina to keep up.

That rounded up her head count, but one person was missing. Fluttershy looked all around her, before letting out a light gasp as she realized. Sunset! She turned around, and found the girl slowly shuffling along, with her head slightly down. She appeared despondent, a feature that called out to Fluttershy's heart.

"Sunset," she said, lightly tapping the girl's shoulder, "are you okay? You look upset."

"Hmm?" Sunset raised her head, and Fluttershy saw that she had been mistaken. Sunset had a frown on, but her eyes weren't telling a sad story. She appeared bright, curious, contemplative, as if analyzing some sort of problem. "No, I'm fine, Fluttershy. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I don't mean to sound rude, but you're kind of falling behind."

"Oh! My bad!" She and Fluttershy quickly sped up to a point where they were no longer so far behind the others. Once they had gotten close enough, they fell into an even stride.

"Sunset," Fluttershy called, still seeing the girl's frown, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking."

"Is it a bad thing?"

"What?" she gasped, giving Fluttershy a surprised look. "No, of course it isn't! Why would you think that?"

"You're frowning."

Sunset looked down at herself, then cleared her throat. "Ah. Yeah, that would give you the idea. No, it's nothing bad, really."

"Oh. Okay."

One could perhaps have sliced the silence with a knife had it lasted long enough to solidify, but, unfortunately for that particular slicer, Pinkie's bounces and the talk coming from Soul's, Swift's, Rarity's, Clyde's, Applejack's, and Rainbow's directions kept the world from becoming wholly quiet. Nevertheless, Fluttershy felt the weight of silence on her shoulders as she and Sunset walked. She wanted to ask more, but, then again, if Sunset said it was fine, then she had to trust that it was. It wouldn't be at all kind to pry into a friend's business.

"You're still wondering, aren't you?" Sunset's voice came suddenly, smashing aside Fluttershy's thoughts.

"Eep! N-no! I-I mean—" She looked away, furtive, then looked back, guilty. "I-I mean, maybe a little..."

Sunset offered a light laugh. "It's no biggie, Fluttershy. I figured you'd be curious." Her laugh faded as her voice took a more inquisitive tone. "I was thinking about Artifex."

"Artifex? Really?"

"He's been acting really different these past few weeks. You've noticed too, right?"

Fluttershy thought back to yesterday, with the lunch period ending with Artifex's sudden departure. According to some students who managed to catch a glimpse of him, he spent the rest of the period in the courtyard, admiring a flower. Part of her thought it was somewhat Adagio's fault, but another part reminded her that Artifex had been acting similarly for days prior to yesterday.

"Yes, I've noticed," Fluttershy finally said.

Sunset nodded. "It's a little concerning, seeing him like this. Can you think of any other time he was this…aloof?"

The realization came quickly, but still Fluttershy hesitated to speak it. "… Well, there was the time he met all of us a month ago."

"Exactly. Then a week went by, and he was fine. And then all of a sudden it's like he pulls a 180 and reverts!" Sunset compounded the statement by throwing her arms in the air.

"Eep!" Fluttershy ducked. "Careful, Sunset!"

"Oops! Sorry, Fluttershy." She lowered her hands. "I'm just... really, really concerned about what's going on."

She sighed, blowing hair out of her face. "I'm the pupil to the Princess of Friendship, and so far I've been pretty good at solving whatever friendship or relationship problem has come our way. But Artifex…he's a different case." She pocketed her hands. "I don't want to say he's fragile, but…well, that's the word I keep coming back to."

"Are you afraid he's been hurt in some way?"

"No, Fluttershy, that's the worst part. I know that he has. But I just don't know by what." She looked away, voice dropping to a low tone that Fluttershy could barely hear. "I don't know if it's because of his sister…I mean, that's something I could never imagine. Losing someone that close to you, at such an age; it no doubt has done something to him. Something that should never happen to anybody."

Fluttershy nodded sagely. "I understand, Sunset. I don't think any of us can truly imagine just how much that hurt." She looked away, wondering briefly how she might have reacted, had she perhaps lost Zephyr Breeze a long time ago. "I'll bet that losing Ruby made an impression on Artifex that day. A big one, at that."

"Mmm. A big one, indeed; so big that there's probably no way he can ever completely move on."

"But, that's what we're here for," Fluttershy reminded her. "To help him live on."

"I know that, Fluttershy. I truly do." Sunset looked back at her. "And believe me when I say that I haven't—nor do I intend to—forget that any time soon. But don't you wish there was something more you could do, besides just be there for him?"

"Of course I do, Sunset! I don't like it when my friends are hurt! But what else can I do?" Fluttershy balled her fists and placed them against her temples. "Oh, poor Artifex. Now that I think about, we've probably barely made a dent in his armor."

"His emotional armor," Sunset clarified. "That's why I'm so concerned. I just don't know what to do, or how to do it, or how hard I should do it. I'm afraid of it either breaking apart, or pushing back forcibly. "

"What if that's the whole reason why he is how he is now?" Fluttershy asked. "What if we pushed too hard? What if he feels resentful now that we know and are trying to help?"

"I don't think that's it, Fluttershy. When he learned that Rainbow had told us about what happened to him, he didn't appear resentful; more accepting of the facts than not. In fact, all through the week, he never appeared bitter towards us because of what we knew."

"Then…it's something else? Something else besides his sister?"

"That would seem to be the case. But I just don't know what!"

Looking ahead, Fluttershy saw that the others had not yet noticed their conversation. The whole group stopped at a corner, waiting expectantly for Applejack to come back with Rainbow locked under her arm. Around the corner, they could hear what sounded like the two girls fighting.

"Do you have any ideas, Fluttershy?" Sunset asked.

She sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry, Sunset. I don't. I thought it was just Artifex having some bad days. Do you think we should ask him?"

"Maybe if we could locate him. But even then, do you think he'd want to talk?"

Recounting Artifex's sudden and irritated departure, Fluttershy shook her head. Sunset nodded in response. "Yeah, me neither, unfortunately."

While the group waited for Applejack to return, Sunset propped herself against the wall, her arms crossed. Fluttershy stood next to her, arms by her sides.

"I haven't seen him today, either," Sunset murmured. "I hope he's okay, wherever he is."

Fluttershy nodded. "I hope so, too, Sunset."

A brief period of unspoken uncertainty filled the gap. It was heavy, and Fluttershy found herself unconsciously bending underneath its weight. Sunset didn't appear to be faring much better.

"There you are," said Rarity, with a slightly disapproving tone in her voice. "What took you two so long?"

Applejack's face burned, while Rainbow merely looked away. "No reason," the athlete murmured.

"We heard you guys arguing for a few minutes," said Soul, "and then there was sweet, merciful silence."

"That a crack at how loud we were, cousin?"

"You were pretty loud," Swift put in. "We could hear you like you were next to us."

The blush on Applejack's face grew, and she pulled her hat down. "There was a teacher. She saw us chasin' each other, and pulled us into her classroom fer a talk."

"Must have been a pretty lengthy talk," said Clyde, whistling.

"It wasn't that long!" Rainbow protested.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Really? In the time it took for you two to come groveling back, I had already reapplied my make-up."

"Why'd you need to reapply it anyway?" Pinkie asked. "Were you and Clyde 'messing around' in Chemistry again?"

"Pinkie! Are you insinuating that—"

"A little," Clyde admitted, much to Rarity's embarrassment. "But it was, ehehe, nice? While it lasted?"

Rarity's blush was about as intense as Applejack's, a comparison that Rainbow dutifully noted. Her attention shifted, however, to the two girls in the back, who had on despondent looks.

"Uh, is something wrong, you guys?" she asked, addressing Sunset and Fluttershy.

"You could say that," Sunset said. For the next several moments, she explained everything that she and Fluttershy had discussed. The others, when she had finished, nodded gravely, their concern equal to theirs.

A thoughtful silence then settled. Each person tried to come up with some sort of solution to Artifex's problem. But as the minutes passed; as more students passed by; as the first bell rang for lunch; nothing appeared. No solution; no retribution; no absolution.

"D'ya think if we asked enough, Artifex would tell us something?" Applejack suggested. Before Sunset could answer, Rainbow spoke up.

"I don't think so. I've pestered him over his attitude for almost a month now, and he's refused to say anything."

"So we're back to square one and stagnant…great," Sunset said with a groan. "Girls, guys, we need to do something, anything!"

Soul frowned, thoughtful. "You're right, Sunset. We ought to do something."

"But what?" Swift asked, the question an obvious one. "And how?"

"A party?" Pinkie immediately suggested, though her tone was less-than light and more on the heavy side.

"Maybe not," Sunset said. "I'm not sure he'd be willing to even go."

"But…there just has to be something we can do!"

As they walked, though, little in the form of suggestion came up. As the lunch room approached and the noises of students gathered neared, still nothing appeared. The question and problem hung over their heads like a storm cloud. They sat down; and it rained negativity and uncertainty.

Their silence followed. Fluttershy took note of this as they settled. Gone was the vibrant attitude, the excitement from the announcement, replaced with worried ones and anxious twitches. It was indeed a mess, if Fluttershy had to behold one, and mess was, even then, a light word for it.

In gazing at Sunset, she saw just the exact weight of the situation. Slumped shoulders hoisted up Artifex Frost the Problem, and a furrowed brow attempted to ease the burden. Obviously, she had taken the issue to heart greatly; perhaps she felt it was her duty to help Artifex, and given the way he was acting, she felt like a failure in that regard.

Looking around the group, Fluttershy realized they all felt the same way.

She looked down at her lap. Artifex… there must be something we can do to help you! But what?