Honeycomb and Wilted Rose walked along the worn path. The morning sun had not even peeked over the horizon. Dew drops lay silent on their beds of grass blades. Other parents walked with their foals, some young and some old. They laughed, talked, and played small games of tag, but the foster family remained silent.
The other kids looked warefully at Wilted Rose, having heard about her incident. They made sure to keep a distance whenever they saw the mark on her neck, as if it would cause the same harm to them that Wilted Rose had inflicted on herself. That wasn't the only mark Wilted Rose bore. A red hoofprint from a slap her foster father gave her after returning from the hospital a few nights earlier, but it was faint against her crimson fur.
"Now make sure to pay attention to Ms. Cherilee while she is teaching," Honeycomb instructed her daughter.
"I know," replied Wilted Rose.
"And make sure to do your homework and bring home any don't finish at school."
"I know!" The pair reached the front of the schoolhouse. The morning sun now peered over the horizon as if it was summoned by te school bell that was now currently tolling.
"And Rose," Honeycomb started.
"What?!" Wilted Rose snapped.
"please try to make some friends, ok?" the foster mother continued as if she didn't her hear daughter snap.
"Whatever," Wilted Rose said with an eyeroll as she walked in the school house.
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Wilted Rose sat at her desk, bored. One hoof held her head up, the other held a piece of paper still on the desk, and her horn lit up with a pink aurora and was doodling with a quill on the paper. She doodled various ways she could kill herself when she got the opportunity. Ms. Cherilee droned on about something math related, but Wilted Rose didn't pay any attention.
Her concentration was broken by the door opening suddenly, followed by a frantic gallop of hooves.
"Sorry I'm late!" the pony cried. From what she could hear, Wilted Rose deduced that the voice was that of a colt's. Wilted Rose shifted in her seat to see around a pony that sat in front of her. Now tha she could see the front of the classroom, Wilted Rose had a good view of the colt. He had cream white fur, a light liliac mane with a few bubblegum pink streaks mixed in. His eyes were a light blue, but ponies blocked his flank so Wilted Rose couldn't see his cutie mark.
"Class, this is our new student, Ink Quill," Ms. Cherilee introduced.
"Hi..." said the colt in a shy voice.
"Quill, why don't you sit next to Rose," Ms. Cherilee motioned toward the desk to Wilted Rose's left. The colt walked to the desk. That's when see saw it, more like didn't see it.
"He's a blank flank," Wilted Rose whispered under her breath, barely even audible to herself.
Usually when a pony was called a blank flank, it was meant as an insult, but not in this case. Before Ink Quill joined the class, Wilted Rose had been the only pony without a cutie mark, but now she was not alone.
'Remember what your mom said "make some friends". This is the perfect chance to make a friend. He has no friends either!' the voice said.
"I know, but I don't know if we have anything in common," Wilted Rose replied in a whisper.
'And that is where you are wrong. Your both blank flanks! No offense.'
"None taken... I guess"
'Aproach him at recess, its the perfect opportunity to befriend him.'