Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all sat in their tree clubhouse on the outskirts of Sweet Apple Acres, the earth pony and pegasus engrossed in conversation as Sweetie sat in absolute silence. The three fillies, for the last week, had been unable to think about anything but what happened to Josh. The human had touched each of the little ponies’ lives, whether it was by offering them much needed and sage advice, or just taking time out of his day to play with them. His leaving broke each one of their tiny hearts, but the little white unicorn filly felt the hurt worse than either Apple Bloom or Scootaloo.

Josh had loved them all very much, but Sweetie was without a doubt his favorite little filly. He would visit her daily, playing with her, helping her with any sort of problem she may have encountered, or simply being there to hold her and give her all his affection. When Rarity had told her what had happened and that her human friend most likely wouldn't be able to return, Sweetie couldn't believe it. Josh had left once before, but came back in the end because he loved all his friends so much and didn't want to live his life without them. Sweetie Belle just figured he'd be back as soon as he could, as lively and caring as ever, to continue his life in Equestria.

However, when he still wasn't back by the next day, the little unicorn filly began to lose hope and had a catastrophic emotional breakdown, saying it wasn't fair and that she just wanted her Joshie back to show her the affection she'd grown so accustomed to. She stopped caring about her school work and even about crusading with her friends. Losing her best friend so suddenly without any idea if he'd ever return had been more than just a shock. It had shaken her to the core and caused her emotions to spiral out of control, eventually crashing and burning, leaving her a husk of her former happy, vibrant self.

"Ah just don't understand how anypony could do a thing like that to somepony so innocent." said Apple Bloom, voicing the same exact thing that had been said so many times by those closest to Josh, "Even if he is different, that's no reason to go and be so mean to him!"

"It doesn't help that Diamond Tiara's gonna run with this whole thing, too." commented Scootaloo, a heavy look of disdain passing over her orange face at the thought of their stuck up, pink rival. "After all, it was her dad that got him kicked out of here."

"Well, Ah know that Miss Cheerilee liked Josh, and so did a lot of other ponies at school, so Ah'm pretty sure she won't have much support there." commented Apple Bloom.

A momentary silence fell over the room as each of the fillies thought about Diamond Tiara and how she'd been at school for the last week. All she had done was talk about how her dad had done Ponyville the greatest of favours by having Josh removed. She called her father a patriot, and said on many an occasion that he ought to just be officially put in the position of Mayor of the town. The Crusaders had heard almost every word of her own hateful tirades, and each time Diamond brought it up, it felt like they were being stabbed in the heart.

Scootaloo, out of nowhere, chuckled slightly, causing Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to look in her direction.

"You guys remember when he took us all camping that one night?" asked the little pegasus filly, looking between the other two ponies, "That timberwolf came out of nowhere and Josh ran as fast as he could to stop it from eating us?"

"Yeah." replied Apple Bloom, smiling wide as the vision of the tall human tackling the vicious timberwolf to the ground passed through her mind, "He was so brave. If it wasn't for him, we'd have been goners for sure."

"I remember... him helping me to l-learn to f-fly..." said Scootaloo, her voice shaking violently as tears began to fall from her violet eyes, "He... he t-told me I c-could do anything, as long as I tried my hardest... I... Why'd he have to go?"

Scootaloo's little orange form heaved and she sank to the floor, covering her eyes with her hooves, letting her tears flow freely. Apple Bloom pressed her ears against her head and walked over to help console her distraught friend, placing her little yellow foreleg over Scootaloo's back and pulling her in for a tight hug.

"D-don't cry, Scoots..." said the little yellow filly, rubbing her friend's back gently, "W-we all miss him, too... He still loves us... I know he d-does..."

The earth pony and pegasus sat and cried for a short time as Sweetie Belle looked on, not wanting to move or say anything at all. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo both had every right to be sad that Josh was gone as well, she knew that, but in this moment... Sweetie knew she was the closest to the human out of the three, had received most of his love and had been his favorite filly. It wasn't any sort of selfishness that put the thought in her mind, but grief and sadness.
"He's... not gonna come back..." said Sweetie softly, only barely audible to the other two crying ponies in the room with her.

"Sweetie Belle!" said Apple Bloom, shooting the unicorn a look of shock, " How can ya' say such a thing? We don't know that!"

"Think about it, Apple Bloom." said Sweetie, again just above a whisper, "If he was going to come back, he already would have. You heard all of them. The princess sent him home because of Filthy. With Filthy still around, there's no way Josh'll be able to come back."

"Sweetie Belle," Apple Bloom said, removing her foreleg from around Scootaloo and marching up to face her unicorn friend, "You were closer to him than anypony in this room. He loved you with all his heart, and Ah know you loved him, too. How could you say he's not gonna come back to us?"

Sweetie didn't respond to Apple Bloom's statement, instead trying her best to hold back her own angry tirade. Yes, she had loved Josh a lot, and he reciprocated that feeling to her in full. However, all signs were pointing to him never returning to his friends and loved ones ever again. The tiny unicorn turned around and huffed, making her way to the front door.

"Hey! Where're ya goin'?” asked Apple Bloom, trotting along after her friend.

"Home." said Sweetie, her voice beginning to shake as hot tears began to form in her beautiful jade eyes.

Before Apple Bloom or the distraught Scootaloo could protest, Sweetie Belle was out the door and rushing back to Ponyville, hoping beyond all hope that neither of her fellow Crusaders were following her. Once she was clear of the clubhouse, she opened up and allowed herself to cry for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last week. Through her blurred vision and stinging eyes, she managed to navigate her way down the long path back to Ponyville as Celestia's sun disappeared behind a huge set of ominous gray clouds. In only a matter of minutes, she was back in town and had arrived at the front of her sister's boutique, throwing open the door and making her way inside.

"Sweetie?" called Rarity's voice from nearby, rushing out of a separate room in time to see her sister shoot by and head up the stairs to her room.

Sweetie Belle ran inside and slammed the door shut before jumping up onto her bed and fully giving in to her sadness. Burying her face in her pillows, the little filly sobbed openly and hard, partly from the sadness of losing her friend, as well as her last words to Apple Bloom about him not coming back to them. Sweetie had prayed silently every night that her human would return and save her from the horrific emotional torment that was overwhelming her at all times now. However, those prayers seemed to all be nothing more than a vain attempt to force what appeared to be an impossibility.

Looking up from her pillow, she saw something brown and fuzzy out of the corner of her eye and glanced towards it, a flash of memories flooding her little white head upon seeing the object. It was a big stuffed bear he'd given her when she and the other Crusaders had gone to the carnival up in the Crystal Empire. She'd tried so hard to win the ball toss game and earn herself a prize. However, when Josh saw how badly she wanted the big stuffed bear, he happily took over and helped her to get what was rightfully hers. She'd held onto it since that day, always being able to look at it and immediately think of the human she loved so much. Reaching out, she grabbed the large stuffed animal and pulled it close, hugging it as tightly as she could and crying into its fuzzy exterior.

"I m-miss you, Joshie..." she said, conjuring up any memories of the tall human that she possibly could, "I want you t-to come home. Please, let him come home..."

Sweetie Belle lay on her bed for some time, simply continuing to cry, mourning the loss of Josh, and pray for his safety wherever he may be. Eventually, she ceased her crying and simply remained on her bed, too physically and emotionally exhausted to get up and do anything at all. Her eyelids began to grow heavy and the little unicorn felt herself begin to slip into unconsciousness. Her efforts to fight the power of sleep were all in vain, and before she knew it, Sweetie was drifting off to the world of dreams.

However, as she reached the precipice of consciousness, a loud bang sounded from downstairs, causing her little body to jolt upwards in her bed. As quickly as the initial noise had come and gone, Sweetie could hear cacophonous voices from below, voices she soon recognized as her mother and father, Pearl and Magnum, as well as her sister. The three were arguing about something rather loudly, and Sweetie Belle forfeited her sudden sleepiness for piqued curiosity. Silently jumping down from her own bed, she opened the door and cautiously proceeded down the stairs, making sure to stay out of sight of the ponies down below her.

"Rarity, I don't wanna hear any more excuses about this!" said Magnum, his mustache jerking violently as he spoke, "Sweetie's grades have fallen into the gutter, and you've done absolutely nothing to help her!"

"Father, you must understand," said Rarity, trying her absolute best to keep her own voice level, "she's very distraught right now. All of Josh's friends are, including myself."

"That doesn't mean she can just completely abandon her education!" retorted Pearl, also trying to keep her voice at a respectable volume, "Losing him had to be hard, I'd imagine. But, she's still young and doesn't have time to be sitting and moping because she lost a friend so suddenly."

"Mother!" Rarity retorted, unable to hide the shock in her words, "Do you even have any clue what she's going through right now? When was the last time you lost somepony you cared for as much as she cared for Josh?"

"She was too obsessed with that guy to begin with and you know it." said Magnum, "There's absolutely no way he could've been that special to you all, otherwise he wouldn't have left."

"HE DIDN'T LEAVE!"

All three ponies jumped and looked towards the stairs to see Sweetie Belle standing there, her jade eyes filled with rage upon hearing her parents words about Josh.

"Sweetie!" said Rarity, rushing up to her sister, "When did you..."

"Josh didn't leave because he wanted to, Dad!" Sweetie yelled, advancing on her father, "He was forced to by hateful ponies like you who don't have a single bucking clue how special he was!"

"Young lady!" said Pearl, her hoof flying to her mouth as Sweetie spoke, "We do not use language..."

"DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!" the little unicorn interjected, "Neither of you could ever know how incredible and fantastic he was! I l-loved him so much! He was my b-best friend! He helped me when nopony else could and if you think I was obsessed with him because he was important to me, then ask Rarity about her 'obsession' with him!"

Nopony in the room was able to say anything at that, forcing a heavy, uncomfortable silence to manifest itself in the wake of Sweetie Belle's angry spiel. Magnum and Pearl looked to their youngest daughter with shock on their faces. Rarity's mouth opened and closed, trying her best to find something, anything to say that could help this issue, ignoring the red tinge that was rapidly creeping onto her alabaster cheeks.

"Sweetie..." said Magnum, his voice softening as his daughter's gaze pierced him like a dagger, "I... didn't..."

"Understand?" said Sweetie, her blood boiling as she felt her eyes begin to water with anger once more, "That's because you didn't know him, and thanks to Filthy Rich and his followers, Josh's gone! For all I know, we'll never see him again, and... and... Oh, forget it."

With that final statement, Sweetie paced towards the front door, throwing it open and making her way outside and slamming it behind her. She ran along as rain began to pour down in heavy sheets, masking the tears flowing down her cheeks. She heard Rarity call after her as she made her way out into the trickling downpour, but wasn't about to go back there. She couldn't believe her own parents would be so cold and judgmental about her feelings for Josh, how they could just stand there and make assumptions about him when neither had a clue as to who he really was.

As the icy rain washed over her little white form, she continued to walk, tears still trailing from her beautiful eyes. She had no clue where she was going or what she'd do once she got there, but that didn't matter now, not when she was so upset. The little filly never even noticed as she passed by the library which was aglow with a soft and comforting light.

"Hey! Sweetie! Sweetie Belle! Over here!"

For whatever reason, Sweetie stopped her forward motion upon hearing the familiar voice of Spike call out to her over the torrent of rain that was pounding the ground. She turned back in time to see the front door open up and Twilight come bursting out, making a mad dash for the unicorn filly.

"Sweetie! What're you doing out here?" asked Twilight, rushing up to Sweetie and stopping dead before her, "You shouldn't be out in a storm like this! Come on, let’s get you inside."

The filly just stood there for a short time, her eyes still watering from crying. She said nothing to Twilight, instead breathing heavily and sobbing more and more as the mare looked down upon her. Eventually, Twilight was able to convince the filly to make her way inside the library and sit in front of the fire to dry off and rest. Sweetie continued to cry for some time as Twilight sat next to her, doing anything she possibly could to help console the young pony. Eventually, Sweetie succumbed to her complete physical and emotional exhaustion and fell asleep next to Twilight, memories and silent hopes for her best friend weighing heavily on her mind.