The change
I was sitting alone watching TV on our black and white television when I heard the door open and close. I knew it couldn't be Unwanted because he usually slams the door closed and says he here. I quickly switched off the TV and ran to the kitchen where Amber Wing stood looking exhausted as usual.
"Hey squirt." Amber yawned and put down the mail. "Did you have a good day?"
"Yea. My teacher liked the poem that Unwanted said was dumb. But, I still think the other fillies and colts wont like it." I smiled and Amber raised and eyebrow and frowned.
"Unwanted said your poem was dumb? which one? The depression one?" She asked and I nodded slightly. "Ink, you don't have to put up with him. As a matter of fact, you SHOULDN'T put up with him. That colt is so rude an inconsiderate it's enough to make me gag." She glared at me, or, past me. I couldn't tell. She noticed the two large bruises on my side and her ears perked. "Did he do that?" She asked and I stared at my hooves.
"You know how he gets when he's angry Amber..." I said quietly. Right as Amber was about to give me a lecture I heard the door open and slam.
"Hey Ink! It's me! Where the hay are you?" I heard him shout as Amber gave me another glare and walked down the hallway to the door. At first all I heard at stern, muffled voices. Then they turned into shouts, then out of the blue, I heard a loud SLAP ring threw the air.I cringed and thought Unwanted had slapped my sister. I would never be aloud to talk to him as long as I lived. I heard a groan of pain as I heard something heavy fall to the floor with a THUMP and a muffled voice. I couldn't make out who was talking, but they sounds pleased with what they did. all was silent for awhile. Amber trotted down the hallway looking content and fine followed by Unwanted, whose left eye was watering and he had a large, bright red hoof mark on his cheek. Amber turned to him and gave him the glare of disgust
"You got somethin' to say to my sister?" Amber scowled at him and shot him with a tone I'v never even heard come from her. He cringed as it put him in physical pain and spoke quietly.
"I'm sorry Inkstroke. I am truly sorry. Please forgive me." his voice was hoarse and scared. he had a look of fear and pain written and set in his eyes. I was horrified and devastated at the same time. I'v never have I seen both of these looks. I have never even seen him cry before either. Amber started to walked off not waiting to hear what I had to say to him.
"Whatever you yell at him is fine by me. He deserves it." Amber grunted and trotted outside. Once I made sure she was gone I threw my forehooves around him and started sobbing. At first, he just stood there, like he didn't know how to react. Then he slowly and tightly wrapped his forehooves around me and started crying into my shoulder. I heard him whisper gently to me.
"I'm sorry I'm such a horrible friend. I promise I'll try and be better. Please don't leave me, you're all I have left." I listened to him ramble on. It was heartbreaking to see and hear him like this. After awhile he stopped, but he didn't let go. I guess he needed a hug more than any other foal in Equestria. Finally he pulled away and wiped away tears. "Lets never speak of this ever again." he sniffled and I nodded. It hurt me to see him upset. Even though he was always frowning, I knew that didn't mean he was angry or mad. Unwanted frowns because it's a habit. But a smile from him was rare, so rare that I'v never even seen it. Not until now. Unwanted broke out into a small crooked smile his silver eyes still glistening with leftover tears. Then, we both just started laughing. It was the weirdest thing we'v ever done. I'v never heard his laugh before, it was hoarse and weird, but it was the nicest weird thing I'v ever heard.
I was lying on the porch next to Unwanted as we listened to the crickets chirp. Unwanted's smile didn't disappear. It stayed for a long time. I could tell he was trying to be better, or nicer, both terms worked together like a well oiled machine in this case. I scooted closer to him and put my head down on his shoulder. At first he didn't seem to notice, as if his brain was to busy listening to the beautiful music of the woods at night. But, eventually he did, and his face lit up like a red light when the green light had been on there for to long. I guessed this was the first time a filly ever got close to him without trying to hurt him, or just be near him willingly in general. His shoulders tensed up at first, then relaxed. He rested his head down on his hooves and closed his eyes, his smile never once leaving his face as he finally spoke up breaking are long silence.
"I think you're an amazing poet."
This shocked me. I raised my head up off his shoulder and looked at him, unsure if he was telling the truth or not. His eyes opened slowly and he turned his head to me and his smile dimmed and he looked concerned. "Did I say something wrong?" He asked as if he'd messed up and said the wrong thing. I just blinked looking for the right words.
"I...I.... No. What you said was nice. It just... Surprised me." I sputtered out. He seemed to relax a little and he put his head back down, his happy smiled turned into a cocky grin. I relaxed knowing the old Unwanted hadn't left completely.
"I know it did."
A struggle to become better
"Seriously, your giving me lessons on being nice?" I had to give Ink some attitude. I don't need flipping lessons on how to be nice. It was easy. You run around with a cheesy smile on your face and you cant say anything you think is the truth or it will offend some sensitive pony. Ink flatten ears are and jutted her bottom lip out. She's been doing that whenever I don't do what she thinks is "best" for me. I knew I shouldn't argue with her. It'll get me nowhere. Now don't get me wrong. Ink is one of the nicest fillies in ponyville, But she could be a doormat. One time she told about how she bought all of the popular fillies expensive ice cream because they all said "please". Even I knew she and Amber Wing didn't have the money for that. But she and I both knew I had no clue how to control my anger and behavior most of the time. So i just sighed and rolled my eyes. "Fine. I'll take your stupid lessons." I grumbled and she squealed and hugged me. Sometimes, I hated it when she did that. But, most of the time it was nice. I looked at Ink and smiled.
Ink was smaller than your average Pegasus, and she couldn't fly every well. Her mane was a dark chocolate brown color that was usually styled to come down over her left eye. Her coat was a light color of brown than her hair, and her eyes were a mixture of both of the browns. If you stared into her eyes long enough, you could notice how both of the browns mixed together in her eyes to make them different from others fillies eyes. It was pretty, really pretty. After Inks long lecture on how to be formal around new ponies, we trotted into town. She pointed her hoof to this navy-ish green stallion with a crazy, brown and orange mane talking to the mailmare.
"oh you got to be kidding me." I told her as she gave me a small, playful, glare and smiled, dragging me over there. and shoving me infront. The stallion looked down at me with a smile as a cleared my throat. "sup." I could hear Inkstroke facehoofing already.
"Hi there. Are you lost or something?" He asked with a bright smile on his face as I searched for words.
"Uh, no. I was just curious... Isn't this nice weather today? The pegasus on cloud patrol duty today sure knows how to clear a sky!" I said as the stallion puffed out his chest and held his chin up high.
"Thanks kid! It took me forever but, I suppose it was worth it!" The stallion beamed as the mailmare giggled and they trotted off. Inkstroke tackle-hugged me from behind.
"You have no idea how proud I am of you!" She squealed into my ear as I gently pushed her off.
"Hey, none of that." I snapped at her and she kinda backed up. Before I could do anything else, I flattened my ears against my head and slunk back. "Sorry Ink, didn't mean to." I said and she relaxed a bit.
"It's fine, Wanted."
~~~ Epilogue~~~
Two colts ran around the trees laughing and tackling each other. "No fair! MOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!! FERN CHEATED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" a pure black pegasus with light brown eyes and a spiky, dark brown mane screamed out as a dark brown earth pony with silver eyes and a black mane that hung over his right eye like bangs tackled him to the ground. Inkstroke stepped out of the house and onto the porch.
"Will you two ever get along?" she chuckled as a voice came from behind her.
"There brothers Ink. Of course they wont get along." The voice came from none other than Unwanted. Ink stared at him lovingly and nuzzled his neck.
"Glad to see you home early." She said as Unwanted wrapped his hoof around his and the colts gagged and ran off.
"Today's are first anniversary. I wouldn't wanna miss it now would I?" He gently smiled down at her and pulled her closer, Remembering everything they'v been threw. From there times as fillies to right now, Ink had always been there for him. He was a lucky stallion.
"Hey, Ink. why don't we stick the kids with applejack and see if click and ditz wants to go out on a double date?" Unwanted spoke up breaking there peaceful silence. Inkstroke looked up at the stallion he loved and smiled.
"Why not? It's been awhile." The two got up and rounded up the colts, trotting over to sweet apple acres.null
A good pony on the inside, a bad monster on the outside.
Re-reading my poem carefully, I threw up my hoof into the air and my teacher, Ms. Cherilee, walked over with a bright smile.
"Did you finished your poem Inkstroke?" she asked as I nodded.
"Would you like to read it?" I asked with a nervous lump in the back of my throat. I wanted her to like my poem, like I wanted the other fillies and colts to like my poem. As Ms. Cherilee read over the poem, her bright smile into a concerned, worried look.
Depression
I am like a dark
unwanted
shadow.
I strike you in your chest
At your darkest hour.
I’m a poisonous snake,
A deadly force.
Be careful when you’re around me.
I cannot be seen,
Oh,
But you can most definitely FEEL my presence
I’m a nightmare that lasts
all day
all night.
I am immortal.
you cannot get rid of me,
you simply just forget I’m here
You cannot hide from me.
I know where you are at all times.
I’m always watching.
waiting to grab your happiness
and throw it on the ground.
crushing it.
Always waiting to turn you into my slave.
I live inside of you.
All of you.
You cannot escape.
Why run from something,
you can’t run from.
Fear me.
I am depression.
Ms. Cherilee looked at me. She seemed nervous and concerned. "What's wrong?" I asked her. I didn't like upsetting my favorite teacher. Besides, she always seemed nicer when she wasn't upset.
"Inkstroke, are you ok?" Ms. Cherilee asked me and I smiled widely.
"Of course I am! why?" I asked with a spark of curiosity in my tone. I wanted to know why my teacher would think I wasn't ok. I didn't have any band-aids or a cast and I wasn't crying. So why would she think that I wasn't ok? Ms. Cherilee just smiled at me.
"No reason. I thought it was a beautiful poem, You should share it with the class when we have are poem time this Wednesday." She was acting like she was happy again, but she had this sad, concerned look in her eye. This confused me, but I just smiled.
"No thank you, I already shared with with another pony, but he said it was dumb. I don't want my dumb poem to bore everypony else." I explained to my teacher and she looked somewhat shocked and confused.
"Who said your poem was dumb Inkstroke?" She asked as the bell rang and I started to put my stuff away.
"His name is Unwanted. He doesn't go to school." I told her and hurried out the door. I saw three fillies my age hanging on the lawn out front out the school building, I didn't remember there names, but I did remember they did that awesome song for the talent show. One of them seemed to notice me staring at them, and the grew all hushed and stared back as if I was some unknown species. I just lowered my head and looked at the sidewalk. I could hear them whispering, but I couldn't quite make out what they were saying. I suppose I didn't care. I was used to fillies and colts whispering whenever I'm around.
My house was in the woods 2 miles south from school. But it was 5 if I look the back roads. I thought for a second and decided to take the back roads so I could see my friend Unwanted. He was a pure black earth pony with silver eyes. He was usually in a bad mood, but he still kept me company, and he was my age too. I'm usually alone most of the time though, My big sister Amber Wing was always busy, and mom and dad died a long time ago. I don't really like talking about them, but it's not like I have to. I don't have any friends other than Unwanted and Amber Wing, but I didn't care. Other fillies thought I was weird because I liked to write and draw and I was really quiet and shy, and most the time colts didn't talk to me except for Unwanted.
When I reached the part of the woods where Unwanted usually is, I saw him sitting in the grass leaning against a tree, waiting impatiently like always. Once he saw me, me frowned more than he was before. "Took you long enough." He grumbled and started walking next to me. I smiled at him though he had a small hint of despise in his cold, silver eyes.
"Sorry, I showed my teacher the poem that I wrote-" I had started to explain to him as he cut me off.
"You showed her that worthless piece of junk? I thought I told you to burn it." Unwanted looked at me obviously annoyed by the fact I didn't do what he told me to do.
"I thought you were kidding, I'm sorry" My ear dropped and flattened against my head and he rolled his eyes.
"Oh don't start this 'I'm sorry I didn't mean to!' crap Ink."
"But I-"
"No! Don't even try! we go threw this every time! I say something and you get all sad and sorrowful like I killed your dog or something! Just quit it!" Unwanted slammed his hooves into my side shoving me over forcefully. He had that scary, angered look in his eyes he gets when I do something wrong. I got up weakly and wiped away the tears streaming down the side of my face away and nodded weakly and limped away, still frightened and shocked. After a short while, Unwanted decided to walked up to me.
"I.. I didn't mean..." He tried to find the right words as I stopped and turned to him weakly.
"It's fine Unwanted. I understand how your anger takes over you sometimes." I told him and gave him a hug. after a couple brief seconds he pushed me away softly.
"Yea.. Whatever. Don't do that again." He grumbled and we walked in silence to my house.
I sat at the small, wooden kitchen table as Unwanted took an apple from the fridge and walked over. He grabbed my hoof and examined it for any sign of a broken or fractured bone. He didn't seem nervous or upset, let alone guilty of his actions. But, I was used to that. Whenever I get the chance I usually talk to Amber about him. She says that he's a bad influence and a even worse friend, but I just tell her I'm trying to make a difference in him. After all, when I first met him he would never make sure if my hoof was ok if I hurt it, let alone care enough to try to apologize if he hurt me when he became angered. Amber may think he's a bad pony, but he's a good friend if you dig far enough.
"From what I can tell, and I'm no doctor, the bone isn't broken. You just twisted you hoof when you fell over." He muttered.
"Thank you for looking at my hoof Wanted." I smiled at him and he glared.
"I told you I hate that nickname." he shot at me angrily.
"I think it's a good nickname." I replied with a soft smile spread across my face and he got up and walked away.
"I'll be back later when you stop using that dumb pet name." he snarled and slammed the door. Unwanted had been my best and only friend for months. I wasn't every good at making friends, Unwanted just kinda declared we were in a friendship. He kinda just told me I was his friend, never asked me or anything. But, I was glad I stayed his friend even after the times when he gets really, really, really frustrated with me and he punches me or pushes me or slaps me or cusses me out. He has a lot of anger issues, but no ponies perfect. I remember one time when I came home crying because a colt had beat me up, Unwanted actually sat down and put his forearm around me, talked to me softly, and comforted me till I stopped crying. Then he hunted down the colt who beat me up and put him in the hospital. But he made me promise never to tell any pony.
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