The final bell rang and every foal in the schoolhouse ran home. After everypony else left, a small pale yellow unicorn filly walked out. Her long dark orange mane hung over her face and hid her sad eyes, her tail dragging across the ground with her shadow. She'd shown up in Ponyville about two weeks ago and sat at the very back of the classroom. She never seemed to speak to anypony and only ever shook her head, shrugged or nodded at appropriate times. A pair of earth pony fillies stopped her. Given how three seemingly very nice fillies responded to them, she could tell that they really weren't worth her time. She tried to walk past them, all the while keeping her head down but they stopped her.
"Hey, we just want to talk," the pink one said, trying to seem inviting. She was very pretty, but she knew that all fillies like her were no different. "What? Can't you talk, blank flank?" The unicorn nodded. "Well, say something!" She shook her head and slinked away.
"C'mon, blank flank," the silver one called. "Where you going?" She shrugged. The silver one, though not as pretty, was just as mean. They caught up with the unicorn filly and pushed her in the mud, covering her coat. She wiped the mud off and flicked some out of her mane and tail, which accidentally got on the two.
“Now look what you did, blank flank!” the pink one snapped. They didn't look happy, but before they could go any further a large claw emerged from the filly's shadow. Another claw followed and a large beastly creature with long spines and horns rose up from her shadow. The fillies were shaking in panic at the sight of the creature as it bellowed furiously at the two, who screamed and ran away. The beast pursued, but the filly used her magic to stop him.
"Wait," she tried to call after them, her pale green eyes watching. They had already run too far to hear anyway. "I'm sorry," she whispered, sitting back down in the mud. The beast picked her up with his large claws and cleaned the mud off her but she just pushed him away and he lowered her back down. The filly sighed and looked up at the creature, which sank back into her shadow. There wasn’t a moment that she could remember when the shadow creature—who she’d named Donnie—was with her. "Donnie is my only friend, and the only one I need." She trotted along and eventually just sat down in front of a lamp post. Her ears perked up when she heard laughter and saw the three nice fillies from school walking by, talking and laughing; they looked like such good friends. She often wondered what having even one friend was like, but she knew that something like that would never ever happen. One of them, a white unicorn that the others called Sweetie Belle, noticed her sitting there.
"Ain't that the new filly from school?" The earth pony asked the others. "Hi there." She waved to the filly. The pale yellow pony turned away and buried her face in her hooves, but they trotted up to her.
"Please," she said muffled. "Just go away. I don't want anypony else to get hurt. Please." The fillies didn't seem to understand her.
"What do you mean?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I just don't like seeing other ponies get hurt."
"Well," the orange Pegasus asked—from what she heard, most of the other ponies called her Scootaloo, "can you at least tell us what your name is?" The filly shook her head and left. "Well, that was kinda weird."
"Aw, c'mon girls," the earth pony insisted, while the filly was slipping out of earshot. "We could at least try t' talk to her." The others seemed a bit skittish, which the filly was used to. "She ain't got her cutie mark neither. She's just like us." The filly just kept walking, her stomach rumbling a bit. Her shadow growled back, but she hushed him.
"It's okay," she whispered. "I'm just hungry." She saw a bakery on the corner, restyling her mane to cover her face again and walked silently towards it. A small bell rang and she was instantly, and very enthusiastically, greeted by a pink mare.
"Welcome to Sugarcube Corner," she said excitedly. "So, what can I do for you today? We got cupcakes, muffins, pies, regular cakes, cookies, and absolutely everything else."
"I guess I'll just have a cookie," the filly whispered.
"Okie dokie lokie," the mare said and returned almost as quickly as she left. "What kind?"
"Chocolate chip," the filly answered quietly. The pink mare nodded and returned just as quickly with a cookie. "How much?" The filly fished into her saddlebags, but the mare shook her head.
"Oh no," she insisted. "First time customers are always free. Have a nice day." The hyper pink pony's unbridled optimism didn't exactly help the filly's spirits; if anything, it made her feel even worse. It only served to remind her of what things were like for her before she knew about Donnie. She knew he meant well, and kept her safe, but she would give him and even all the magic in the world for just one friend. After she left, she noticed the three fillies again trying to call her over.
"Please, I'm so very sorry, but I just can't be around you," she insisted, a bit more upset than before. They still walked over to her anyway, much to her fear.
"See, Apple Bloom?" the Pegasus said. "She doesn't even want us to play with her."
"Nononono, I do. I really do, it's just—just—" she tried to stifle her sniffling, but to no avail. "I'm fine." They could clearly that she wasn't okay.
"Is there anything we can do to help you?" Sweetie Belle asked. She tried to put a reassuring hoof on the filly's shoulder but she brushed it away and ran.
"Wait," the Pegasus called. "Can’t you tell us what's wrong?" The filly was too far to hear. They finally found the pale yellow filly curled up in a tight ball sobbing and muttering as her shadow moved in a strange pattern. They tried to sneak up on the filly, but the Pegasus accidentally stepped on a twig and the filly's shadow started moving. A large creature rose up from her shadow and roared, but the filly used her magic to keep him back.
"No, Donnie," she said. "Don't hurt them; please, Donnie!" The fillies tried to hide in the bushes as Donnie looked into the filly's tear-filled eyes and returned to her shadow so that she could resume sobbing. The fillies tried to creep out and slowly approach her, but the filly just turned away. "Just go away. I don't want to see anypony get hurt. Not even the ponies that were really, really nice to me like you."
The three looked at her a bit cautiously. She turned and saw they were not only still there, but they didn't seem scared but worried. "Why are you still here?! Nopony wants to be my friend. My only friend is my shadow and Donnie doesn't like anypony." She buried her face in her hooves and continued sobbing. The fillies crept towards her. "Everypony I try to make friends with either runs away or is mean to me and then runs away. I just want to be alone somewhere, where I can't hurt anypony else and nopony can hurt me." She picked up a stick with her magic and drew a small circle around herself. "There; now everypony can be safe from me." Apple Bloom, tried to step into the circle, but she was pushed away. "No, nopony can go in my circle. Everypony who's ever gone in my circle..." The filly’s pale green eyes started flowing over with tears as she covered her face in her hooves, unable to finish her sentence but they were sure what the rest would have been, given the filly's crying. “Why are you even trying to be so nice to me?”
"That’s what friends do for each other" Sweetie Belle said, taking a step closer to the thin sand line. “We make each other feel better when we’re sad, and you need friends.” The pale yellow unicorn looked up, her face stained with long tear streaks. However, she pushed Sweetie Belle away when she saw through her ploy.
"Nopony can go in my circle; especially not you three. Nice ponies have always been the meanest to me; happy ponies are just so mean." She turned away and resumed her sobs.
"We're not like that," the Pegasus insisted. “We promise.” They all gave a small smile to prove their point, imaginary halos hovering above their respective manes.
"That's what everypony says!" she retorted between sobs, rubbing her eyes. "Donnie is the only friend I have and the only one I need." Sweetie Belle stepped over the line. "No! You can't be in here with me. I don't want anypony else getting hurt. Please I just want to be alone."
"Well, maybe we could be alone together," the Pegasus said. “Just the four of us." The filly shook her head fiercely.
"No, everypony I've ever tried to be friends with, Donnie has scared away. I just want to be alone. I don't have friends, I don't...I don't n-need friends…and I-I-I d-don't want..." she finally just completely broke down. The three fillies all shared very sad and troubled looks for the poor filly before Sweetie Belle erased the line. "No! No! I want to be alone!" the three finally embraced the unicorn altogether. She struggled feebly for a bit, but finally just stopped and cried herself out as they held her. Nopony had ever even so much as touched her before, and now three very nice, very kind ponies who clearly seemed to care for her a whole lot were all hugging her.
"So," Apple Bloom asked when she calmed down. "Do ya want ta be our friend, sugar cube?" The unicorn filly sniffed.
"Please," Sweetie Belle said pleading.
"We promise that we will never ever ever be mean to you," the pegasus said, "or let anypony else either. Pinkie Pie Promise." the three of them did a series of very strange gestures, much to the filly's confusion.
"It's a super special promise that you can never, ever break," Sweetie Belle explained. "So, do you want to be our best friend?" the unicorn stood up, sniffling and rubbing the last of the tears from her eyes.
"Best...friend?" she asked. “What’s that mean?”
"It means that we're better and closer than any other friends can ever be. Not quite as close as you and your big scary shadow thingy, but really close."
"Donnie," she said. "His name's Donnie." the fillies stared at her eagerly, waiting for her to answer. The unicorn very gradually gave a tiny smile and nodded, hugging them just as tightly. "Yes! I've waited so long to finally have a friend, and now I have the three best friends a filly could ask for."
"By the way," the Pegasus said. "We haven’t introduced ourselves; my name's Scootaloo, that's Apple Bloom and this is Sweetie Belle."
"What is your name, by the way?" Sweetie asked. “We would’ve asked earlier, but you ran off…twice.” The filly giggled a bit, her behavior, in hindsight, seeming a bit strange seeing as how they didn’t know about her.
"My name’s Honeysuckle," the unicorn answered.
"So, Honeysuckle," Scootaloo asked, "did you ever meet Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?" Honeysuckle nodded.
"Donnie really didn't like them very much, but he's very territorial when it comes to me."
"Well," Apple Bloom said. "Now ya got us. C’mon, we can go back to my clubhouse, and make you an official Cutie Mark Crusader, just like us." Honeysuckle followed behind them, a smile on her face for the very first time in her life; after all, she finally had the one thing she’d always wanted and something Donnie could never take from her: friends—best friends.
Author's Note
Well, I hope everyone liked this; for those who read the first one, I know I didn't change a lot, just touched up some grammar and added in/touched up some dialogue. I may or may not continue on with this story at some point, but don't quote me on that.
