After school, Wilted Rise was radiating with joy! She was so happy to finally have a friend that cared about her. Finally, her life had some meaning. She couldn't wait to tell her mom. Skipping along the path home, Wilted Rose thought of all the cool things she and Quill could do together. Make friendship bracelets, play tag, have sleepovers. Oh! She could just explode with all the excitement that was bubbling up inside her.
Finally, she reached her home. The front lawn looked fairly unkept, but that could easily be fixed later. She had to tell Honeycomb the good news. The house they lived in was fairly nice compared to all the others in Ponyville, although it had the same style as the others. Wilted Rose's foster dad could afford nicer things seeing that he was the best detective in town. But while Clue Detect was seemingly nice in public, he was abusive in private.
He beat Wilted Rose when misbehaved in the slightest, made Honeycomb de tedious tasks that keep her up late at night and sometimes even hit her to. Infact, when Wilted Rose came home from the hospital, he repeatedly slapped Honeycomb for it, although nopony would suspect it. She used makeup to hide her marks as the same of Wilted Rose's. That was another reason she tried to commit suicide, to get away from him. But Clue never broke bones, that would only draw attention to his little secret.
Wilted Rose pushed on the brown mahogany door that lead to the inside of her house. Through the front door was a medium sized creme living room. To the right was a stairwell that lead to the second floor and basement; and to the left was a door frame that lead to the kitchen/dining room. The living room contained an almost barren bookcase, a couch, and a lazy-colt chair adjacent to it with a coffee table in front of the two. There was also a bathroom that hide under the staircase that made its way to the second floor.
Honeycomb walked out of the kitchen with a tray of snacks held within her teeth.
Seeing Wilted Rose, Honeycomb said an excited, “Hurrlr Rrrse.”
“Huh?” Wilted Rose asked with a puzzled expression.
Honeycomb set the tray down on the coffee table. “Sorry, hello Rose. How was school today?”
“It was great! I made a friend today!”
“Really? What’s her name”
“HIS name is Ink Quill.” Wilted Rose corrected.
“Oh, so its a colt?” Honeycomb said with a slight mischievous tone.
“Its not what you think it is. You see, he’s a new kid. And guess what!”
“What?”
“He doesn’t have a cutie mark either!”
“Ok then, what else?”
Wilted Rose the began to describe Quill to her: what he looks like, how that he likes writing, and how they meet at recess.
“Sounds like the two of you really hit it off!” Honeycomb exclaimed.
“Yeah, I guess we did. But we’re just friends.”
“Uh-huh, ok then Rose...” Honeycomb said with that said mischievous tone as before.
__--__--__--__--__--__--
The next day, Wilted Rose got up earlier than usual. After she had a shower, Wilted Rose brushed her mane and tail until they were nice and soft. She couldn’t remember the last time they were this soft, nor a time where she cared. With an unusual pep in her step, Wilted Rose scurried downstairs just as her mother was starting breakfast.
“Hey mom,” Wilted Rose said with a smile.
“Hi Rose. You sure are up early!” Honeycomb exclaimed.
“Yup! Just can’t wait to go to school.” The two ate their breakfast and then set off to the school house. As Celestia’s morning sun peacefully slipped above the horizon, Wilted Rose thought of her new friend. Then she remembered the hug, they way he had kept his wing around her back as they walked inside. A tiny spark of something Wilted Rose couldn’t recognize sparked within her. He cared about her. Finally, for once in her life, somepony cared; and so did she.
Wilted Rose was the first pony to arrive to class. She sat in her seat, eager to chat with Quill upon his arrival. Slowly, her fellow classmates began to join her within the classroom. When all of the other ponies were in their seats, Ms. Cherilee began her lesson. All, but Quill.
Speak of the devil. Ink Quill burst through the doors at full speed. “Sorry! Sorry! Am I late?” Ink Quill shouted. He was running so fast that he was barely able to stop before running face-first into the side of Ms. Cherilee’s desk.
“Yes, but I’ll give you a pass this time. Don’t make a habit of it.” Ms. Cherilee said with a small amount of scolding in her voice.
“I won’t. Sorry!” Ink Quill said.
Ink Quill had overslept. He was having a pleasantly wonderful dream about Wilted Rose, when he had remember that he was going to meet her at school. SCHOOL!! He jolted out of his dream-state and looked over at the clock. 7:50
“Oh, horseshoes!!” Quill exclaimed. “I overslept!” Ink Quills parents had to go into work early, so they were forced to intrust their so with getting up on time without their help. Didn’t go so well.
__--__--__--__--__
Ink Quill spotted the empty desk next to WIlted Rose that she had clearly saved for him. With a grin on his face, he trotted over to sit next to his friend. Quill sat down and Ms. Cherilee resumed her barely started lesson. While she was teaching, Wilted Rose was busy on a sketch and Quill was half listening, half not, because he was busy writing for his story. During some quiet reading time, although nopony ever did actually reading, Wilted Rose finished her sketch. She fold the paper up neatly and wrote a note on it for Quill.
‘Here is a sketch of what i thought you’re creatures looked like. Hope its what you imagined.’ The creature resembled an upright pony. It was furless excluding the top of its head and wore clothes.
After looking over the drawing and thinking of it s flaws, Ink Quill responded on another sheet of paper.
‘Close, but it has a flatish face, flat front hooves with grabby noodly thingies, and the rear hooves are flat against the ground and have weird other noodly thingies.’
The two went back and forth with their note passing, slowly perfecting the creature Quill called a human. The bell rang, signaling the school ponies to their small retreat from school work that they called recess. While outside, Wilted Rose and Ink Quill played many games. They played tag, hoofball, hide and seek, and hopscotch. Wilted Rose’s troubles were temporarily forgotten and the world slowly faded away. All that existed, or even mattered, was her and Quill. He had begun laughing at something they had just done. His laugh. It was enough to make her heat skip a beat. That spark came back again, but Wilted Rose was to happy to care.
But all good thing must eventually come to an end. The bell rang and recess was over.
‘Curse that dang bell!’ the voice said.
The two happy ponies walked back inside, side-by-side, and took their seats. They decided that they would actually pay attention to Ms. Cherilee for the rest of the day. Who are they kidding? They didn’t hear a word she said.