Echo made his way through the last murky depths of his day. Unsuccessful was not the word to describe his school day. Whilst walking home, head slumped and mind pulsing with thoughts, Echo carelessly kicked a stone with his right hoof.
Eventually, Echo reached his house and yanked at the handle with his hoof. Ignoring the queries of "How was your day?" from his mother, Echo stormed up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. He parked himself on the end of his bed and flopped backwards, his eyes staring nonchalantly at the ceiling above him. Echo's wide eyes slowly began to dampen and a tear tumbled down his left cheek. His life was over.
Echo picked up his saddlebag and flipped it over so the contents of it spewed onto the floor. After he had had a good rummage, he grabbed the tatty piece of paper and began staring at it. Echo looked behind the basic pen-on-paper and into the true meaning below and burst into tears, flopping his head into his hooves on his bed. Echo did not sleep well at all that night.
As Echo packed his saddlebags for the next day, he caught a glance of the paper lying on his bedside cabinet. Echo gazed at it for a minute, before ripping away not just his gaze but also the paper in one swift, fluid movement. He felt all the bad memories escape him immediately.
At school, Echo slowly made his way through the bustling corridor with little progress made in a large space of time. It wasn't long before he bumped into Lightning.
"Hey!" Lightning shouted enthusiastically, raising his voice above the general volume of the corridor. Echo shrugged off Lightning's friendly greeting and pushed his way through him. He was in no mood to be messed about: he just wanted the day to come to a close so the weekend could begin. Echo was also extremely curious to see what would happen in Form class today, including where Soul would now be sitting.
Echo looked at the handle in front of him and stretched out a hoof to open the door. Once inside, Echo noticed he was late once again: but that wasn't what shocked him the most. Soul sat in her usual seat! She hadn't budged anywhere, contrary to Echo's expectations.
Echo quickly shuffled his way to his usual seat, pulling it out from under the desk and sitting down in one rapid manoeuvre. Soul did not even glance at him, flinch or budge as he sat down. Instead, she stayed calm and collected. Echo could feel beads of perspiration forming as he awkwardly faced the front of the room for the register.
After the register was over a long awkward silence remained in the air. This was broken very shortly after though by the sound of a sweet and delicate voice intervening with the silence.
"Hey, uhh... about yesterday," Soul stammered. "I reacted very stupidly. Look, it just shocked me that you felt for me in... that way... after only just meeting me yesterday."
Echo stared at her beauty and was left speechless as the comment registered in his mind.
"But I've known you for years and I've loved you all this time and-" Echo blurted out before being interrupted mid-sentence by Soul herself.
"You have?" Soul remarked, sounding considerably surprised.
"Of course." Echo blankly said. "I wouldn't just chase after someone without knowing them that well." He went on thoughtfully.
This time it was Soul's turn to be left unable to speak or return the comment. Echo noticed her spin around to face the front and the tables had turned: this time, Soul was the one with an extremely visible blush burning brightly across her muzzle.
Echo suddenly felt his confidence thicken as a rush of energy entered his body. Suddenly, the positive side of him took over and Echo began imagining him and Soul together, locked in an embrace just like his picture-
His picture! Echo had ripped up the only possible thing that meant anything to him right now - aside from Soul in the flesh herself.
He could just imagine the background, the picture, the bold, scruffy text and the two ponies stuck in an embrace forever, never ever even thinking of loosening their tight grip. The love they shared could not be broken by anything in the world.
Then reality hit Echo round his muzzle, leaving a sharp and stinging pain. Soul didn't love him! He still strived after everything she had to offer, but she couldn't care less for Echo in return.
However he had to keep high hopes - he couldn't just give up on his heart's desires.
Echo violently shook his head and cleared his mind. In front of him sat his heart's desires; she was just staring blankly at Echo trying to imagine what he had thinking about.
"Echo, I just wanted to tell you that..." Soul began. Echo's emotions began running high, his blood pumping at insane speeds and his head feeling light. She was about to confess her love for him!
"You may feel that way about me, but I don't feel that way for you..." Soul finished. Everything about Echo just abruptly stopped. His body gave up on basic functions and breathing became a difficult task. He felt his eyes watering as his love for her coincided with her thoughts on him. Soul was staring at the floor, unable to return Echo's gaze.
Everypony was watching and had been for a while, drawn in by the commotion caused by Echo and Soul. Without being dismissed from Form Class Echo stood up and picked up his saddlebags. He slung them on his back, wiped away the tears with his hoof and darted out of the classroom. He ignored all the ponies around him in the corridor and curled up into a ball and cried himself into a terrible state. Echo hated his life, but did it have to get any worse? Obviously so. The only good side to all of this was that things just couldn't get any worse. Echo sniffled again and allowed his tear drops to gather in a pool between his hooves. The tears seemed to form a shape resembling Soul, causing Echo to wail noisily before he began crying to himself again.