The Un-Popular Ones

The school bell rung as fillies and colts rushed into their seat, hoping to get there before Cherilee. Luckily, all had made it but one...

"Applebloom?" Cherilee called down the list from her clip board.

" 'Ere!" She waved her hoof in the air, swinging it around happily, looking to the back at the new colt.

"I hope that our plan to get to be his friend works..." Scootaloo says, slightly scared to the other two fillies.

"Shh... Don't give it away..." Bloom whispers

"I don't know... What do you think Sweetie?" No response.

"Sweetie?" They both look to her, staring out to the back of the class at the two colts.

"SWEETIE!" Scoots whispers yells. She snaps her out of her day dream.

"Huh? OH... Hey... Yeah..."

"What were yah doing?" Bloom asks skeptically.

"Nothing!" She goes defensive.

"Are you sure? You were pretty much starin... Do you have a c..." She's cut off by another role call.

"Sweetie Belle?"

"Here!"

"Good... And... Dusk?" She waits, with no response.

"Dusk? Dusk Breeze?" She asks concerned. All the class goes silent.

"G-Sec... Short Fire... Please come to the front." She turns to her her desk. They shrug, not having been paying attention and continuing in their conversation.

"I'm telling you, fillies do NOT look the same inside as colts! They have cooties inside!" Short says slightly angered.

"Nuh uh! All ponies look the same! Cooties are just an imaginary ideology created by young school ponies!" G retorts. They go back and forth until they reach the front. They're both sparring at wits until...

"Colts... Colts... COLTS!" She says then yells after their refusal to respond. They now look sacredly at her. Well, G does. Short tries to look confident.

"Ye... Ye... Yes ma'...ma'am?" G quivers out. All the class had gone silent after hearing Cheerilee outburst. She blushed some and confirmed to the class that everything was okay. They all slowly went back to their conversations.

"Now... Colts... You are friends with Dusk Breeze, correct?" They nod in unison.

"Have either of you seen him today?" They shake their heads in unison.

"Doesn't this trouble you at all?" They shake their heads in unison.

"Can you PLEASE talk to me?" She says, slightly irritated.

"Oh... Sorry... Ma'am... I... Um..."

"Oh stop stumblin'! We ain't seen him. He's a weird colt and I kinda just guessed he'd like get her or somethin'." Short retorts quickly. He is also getting irritated at his teacher's constant rate of questions.

"Colts... He's a bit... Special..." She bites her lip to avoid saying what she actually thought. She would expect a response. And that's exactly what she got... From Short Fire.

"I thought we're all spe..."

"You are."

"Then how is h..."

"It's a different type of special."

"I don't ge..."

"It's too complicated. Just... Find him at recess. Okay?" The nod in unison... Well, almost unison. Short tried to get in unison just to annoy Cheerliee. They walk back to their seats in the back. They look at each other bewildered before Short look down at his notebook. There were notes for his argument and he snapped back into competitive mode. Right as he opened his mouth, the door swung open. But, as the door swung, it accidentally hit the lights. Nopony could see an inch in front of them as Cheerliee had closed the blinds to conserve heat during the cold season. There were step across the wood planks. They creaked under each slow hoof tap. All the fillies hid under their desks along with the stallions. All... Except Short Fire.  His bright skin provided a small light avenue that he could dim at any point. The hoof steps got closer.

Creak...Hoof Tap... Creak.... Hoof Tap...

"Get under the table!" G said with a slightly demanding tone.

"Pssh... Shut up G. I ain't scared of whatever this is." He says confident. That is until...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"

The loud scream of a familiar pony was heard. It was of their teacher. Short quickly ducked under the desk with G. The wind was heard as the colts recalled the closed windows. A bit of sunlight came through and in it was a shadow that looked as large as Tirek but with a singular horn. Both the colts cowered in fear until...

Flip

The lights flipped on. The windows were oddly opened and the door seemed to be closed again, except for a light purple hoof blocking the exit. The only pony not under a desk or writhing in pain was the last student: Dusk. Cheerliee managed to pull her hoof free before falling to the ground with a thud.Once all the fillies and colts realized that nopony was in danger, they all came out from under their desks and ran to check on the limping Cheerliee. G and Short exempt and ran to Dusk.

"Wow! What a entrance!" Short exclaimed, using his hooves to mimic what happened, though he failed.

"You were all like 'flip! Lights out!' Then you came in outta nowhere like a rko! Then the windows were like 'pssffssff' (wind sound) and you were there like 'Ha! I am master pony!' And then you put Ms. Cheerliee in a door!" He finally stopped out of his self-made flashback then looked at the astonished look of G. Dusk, however, showed no emotion rather than just depression, as always.

"Uh... Right..." G said and slowly shuffled a few steps back from him.

"I'm here Ms. C." Dusk announced softly but loud enough to hear. He took his seat in the back of the class, normally to the left G. The other two tagged along  as Cheerliee hobbled to her desk. The rest of the class all sat down in their seats as class went on uneventful, despite the fact that Ms. C sat in her chair the whole time. After a quick Fire of a Short class, the bell rang and the young ponies of tomorrow ran out to the yard. All except the 3.

"And then my mom said to eat the Greens but I told her that I was green enough!"  G seemingly concluded a joke, hoping for a few laughs as he held back his own laughter. Neither of the two made any gesture.

"Guys? You get it? Because i'm green... And Greens... are... green..." He gulped, realizing he failed horribly. He hung his head in shame.

"Right... So, where have you been Dusk?" Short asked, trying to steer away from the awkwardness.

"I'd rather not say..."

"OOOOHHHHH... Somepony got a filly friend!" Short teased as Dusk looked at him taunting and blushed, curling up more.

"That's not it at all!" He quietly snapped back. They began to walk again but Cheerilee stood at the door, noticeably missing her hind, left leg on the ground as it was bandaged and to her side.

"Short Fire, G-Sec, go outside. Mr. Breeze and I need to have a chat..." She pointed one hoof outside, showing  no emotion. They complied and as they trotted away, Short made a flexing pose and mouthed 'Don't let her get to you!' The two went out to a bench close to the building but far from the other ponies.

"I wonder for what he's been called." G says to nopony in particular, pulling out his cleaned up, silver lunchbox of mathematics.

"Me too... I... Uh... Hope... He hathened not got trouble?" Short responds, messing it all up as he's been trying to match with G on a verbal level.

"Close..." G smirked, taking a bit of the same sandwich as before. After about 4-5 minutes of eating, there was a sound, sounding of pain and distress. All of a sudden, the school house lit up in bright purplish/blue inside before it all dispelled. The two colts looked to one other before running towards the schoolhouse. They weren't too far so it was a matter of seconds. Short burst through the door as G look at the now pieces of wood, realizing it wasn't even locked.

"What happened?!" Short says alert, looking around. It looked all the same except for the fact that Cherilee was standing now alone in the room.

"He... He's gone..."

"Gone?!" Bot the colts say together.

"What happened?" G asked analytically and searched around the school room.

"Well... We talked. I asked him why he was late. He told me he doesn't want to tell er... didn't want to tell. So, I aked, giving multiple threats. He finally just cried in distress and somehow disappeared!"

"He kinda was a unicorn... Maybe he teleported away?" Short suggests

"No... He is only a colt... No way he could know a spell that advanced..." G retorts, looking for some clues.

"Well, maybe this has something to do with it." Short says, putting his hoof on a squeaky piece of wood in the floor. He pulled it to the side and looked down, his whole head able to fit through.

"Woah! It's like a underground railroad!" Short exclaimed.

"Should... Should we look for him?" G asked unsure, speaking to Cheerilee.

"You should. Not you Short."

"What?! How come?!" Both again said together.

"Well, first off, G-Sec is a much better speaker than you in these types of situations and your temper could easily frighten him and send him off running. Plus, your wings won't fit through." Cherilee explained. It made sense to both, but Short didn't like it. Cheerilee went to her desk and took a flashlight and a piece of string out along with a book on psychology.  She gave the ensemble to G, tying the flashlight to his head and resting the book on his side, tied into the rope.

"Bring him back, but be careful. You don't know what he could be doing or planning. He could be vulnerable or over emotional and powerful." Cheerilee warns. She lowers him down to the pathway. As she closes the boards, Short makes a final comment.

"Hey G! Don't die on me buddy!" He salutes before the board gets covered. He gulps hard and flips on the flashlight.

"Here we go..." And he set off.

He took off on his journey. He assumed it would be a long trek. After all, there wasn't even a guarantee that he'd even be down this hole. He began to mentally ask questions, not to open his mouth because of all the dust and dirt, which he couldn't stand. He found talking to himself kept his mind free.

'Where did he go? What could he have done? Why did he storm off like this? What is out of rage? What could've been so bad to have...'

Creak...

'What was that?!' He continued to keep his thoughts in his head but froze in place. More creaks were heard and something that sounded like some laughing. Or was it sobbing? Maybe it was just somepony scratching the wood. Maybe...

Creak... Sound...

He was scared now. He really wished Short fire were here to be the stupid one and go to check what was this sound and creak above him. But he realized he'd have to be the stupid one. He slowly pushed up against the wood. It slid off as easily as the one in the classroom. He moved it slowly until he could squeeze his head out. And who would he find but...

The janitor. He was wheeling his mop across the wood, causing the sound over him as he stepped on the creaking wood. G felt disappointed for not finding his friend before going back down. He slid in and closed the wood. He continued walking until he reached the exterior of the school. He pushed out a piece of wood holding closed a hole that was colt sized. He now knew that this must be a common escape route for him. Must be why not even Short Fire knew of him, who knew everypony to try to befriend them. He finally was out and looked at the dirt on his coat. He tensed up and shook himself out hard, not stopping until he was completely clean. He walked more after that, looking off of the layers of grass that were pushed into the ground. This he found tedious after what assumed must've been hours, for the shimmering sunset was going down.

"Surely Ms. C didn't want me to go this far." He sighed. Once he figured that there was no hope anymore, he felt himself let out a cute colt yawn before stretching out his tiny legs. He went down to a nearby cave and took a seat on the lip of the cave. His rest wasn't for long, for he jumped up immediately after hearing a sound similar to a growl. He slowly started to walk away from the cave and right before he started to bolt for it, he noticed a shadow. Not a bear shadow. Not a timberwolf. it was a pony-looking shadow. He recognized in before. But from where? He channeled his inner Short Fire and turned on the flashlight. He slowly walked in as the shadow became smaller and smaller until...

"Dusk?"

Dusk Breeze was sitting around the corner of the cave. The growling sound was him sobbing against the wall. His scarf was drenched, showing that he must've been there for hours. G slowly approached, but Dusk hissed away in the manner of a bat. G stayed his distance but kept the flashlight on. He just stood, not what to make of the distance away from the school (about 5 miles), why the board were uncovered, as if this were a normal occurrence, if this was how Ponyville residents acted normally, among a WIDE slew of questions that all went into an ultimate confusion on why Dusk was even here. After a few minutes of just silence from G and more sobbing from Dusk, G decided to sit on the cold stone floor. He still didn't speak but opened his mouth a few times. After what he assumed for 10 hours (really only about 3 minutes0, he tried to figure out his question. His ultimate question was just...

"What?" He, along with Dusk, were confused about the sudden break of silence with jut one word.

"What do you mean 'What?'?" Dusk responded in his sorrowful voice, not looking towards G or away from the wall.

"I... I just... I have so many questions... Just... What are you doing here?" G says, deciding to start off with the most blunt.

"Cry cave." Dusk responded swiftly, again barely giving any much of a reaction.

"Uh... Okay... Why are you.... This cave... Uh..."

"Uh.... Buh.... Crah.... What? Spit it out." He responds in a quick and angry tone.

"Sorry.... Just... Why are you crying?"

"Cheerilee sent you huh?" He shakes his head and scoots deeper into the cave.

"Dusk... I.... I don't mean any trouble... I just... I figured that talking things out works good if you have problems."

"How would you know?" Dusk holds in some tears.

"I just... Uh... Back in Manehatten... I had problems and I talked them out with my counselor. Apparently, there aren't any here as far as I've seen..."

"There aren't."

"Right... So... Yeah. I talked to him and he helped me out with solutions or just calmed me down."

"And what kinda problems could you even have?" Dusk turns around and is starting to loosen some.

"It's nothing much..." He hoofs at the ground and blushes some.

"So... You're trying to get me to open up when you won't?" Dusk asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well... If I tell you, will you tell me?" G hold out his hoof, looking for a shake from Dusk. He scooted up some to make the contact. Dusk pulled back some.

"I don't wanna shake, but i'll tell you."

"Well...?" He leans his head in, looking for his response.

"You said you'd tell me first!"

"Okay... Well... I guess I had a bully problem."

"Is that all?"

"That's one..."

"What was the bullying full?"

"Intelligence, Size, Shyness, etc. I'm sure you couldn't really understand..." He turns away, blushing more and matching Dusk's sadness.

"I can... It's weird... What about your family?"

"My parents aren't really... It'c complicated... Wait! Don't try to change the subject. What brings you here!" He says, ironically trying to change the subject.

"Grr... I guess a deal is a deal... I'm here just because of some bruises."

"Wha..." He look blankly.

"What's wrong?"

"You... You're.... Here... For bruises?" Dusk pulls away his scarf, showing his neck. It showed red marks along with some cuts and large scars. He moved out of the shadow to expose the rest of his body. There were more cuts and bruises all along him, although not as big or severe looking. G stared, not even sure how to react. He felt a tear in his eye but held it back.

"Wh... Wh.... Why didn't... You tell... Ms. C?"

"Because... He told me not to tell anypony..." He sighs and bows his head, some tears falling to the cold, stone ground.

"Shh... Don't cry..." G tried not to cry some but he was feeling honestly sad for Dusk. He put his hoof up to his cheek. Dusk did not this time shy away from his hoof. He went into his coat and cried harder.

"I... I... I... I want him to... To... Stop!" He sniffled hard before crying harder.

"Shh... It's okay... Just... Just... Tell Ms. C." He offered.

"I CAN'T!" He cries harder, gripping him harder. G flinched at his tight grip and laid a few drops drops down himself.

"Why?"

"Because! He... He... He'll hurt me more!"

"Why don't you tell your family?"

"Because..." He slowly stopped crying and looked up to G with a look of horror.

"Because...?" G looked confused.

"It's my dad..." He sighed hard.

G looked at him, initially not believing it. But Dusk continued his look of sadness and showed no other expression.

"Wha... Honestly?" He tilted his head in an expressionless manner. Dusk nodded slowly, bowing his head. G began to cry, slowly at first.

"See why I can't tell anypony?" He sighs hard, seeming to just give up on crying.

"I... Yeah..." He says between sobs. Dusk looks up to G and hugs him hard.

"Thank you... I've never told anypony..." He begins to cry with G. They stay hugging, crying together. Darkness begins to fall as they still hug. After some period of time, they slowly end their crying, basically for a lack of tears as they fell to the ground. They got up and headed out from the cave.

"Dusk... I'm SO sorry for you... Why haven't you reported him to Foal Protection Services?"

"Because... I'm too scared... What if he gets out?"

"Oh... What... Hmm... Do you have any step parents?"

"Well... He kind is my step parent..."

"Huh?!"

"Well... I'm adopted... And he's my adopted father..." G stopped in his tracks. He almost starts to fall apart again. A few tears drop out from his eyes.

"Wha.... I... You... ADOPTED?!" He cries out loud, causing a few stirs in the distance, some of a few trees ruffling and others of ponies going for late night trots. He looks back to Dusk with a saddened and unappealing face. He stares at Dusk as he looks down. Dusk sighs and lets more tears stream down his face. He nods slowly as G goes to his pony knee.

"Dusk... I... I'm soooo sorry for you! I... I... You... You deserve a real home... I know we met yesterday but..." He stops to take a deep breath to keep himself from crying. Dusk looks to G with a look that shows some hope, going against his stereotypical look.

"But... What?" Dusk asks with big eyes, actually acting like a colt. A young, playful colt who didn't have any cares in his life. But it was momentary.

"If you wanted... We could foster you..." G says, feeling connected to this seemingly anonymous colt. Dusk's eyes got wider as he almost let out a squee of happiness.

"YES!! Please! i..... I would really... really like that." Dusk says, finally putting a nail in his seemingly new role in life. They embraced hard and rose together. They felt some brotherly love together. They started to walk back towards the school, conversing about colt things and G talking about his family.  They reached the school and realized that it was night. Having realized this, they started to walk back into the town until they ran into...

"DUSK?! There you are! I've been worried sick!" A grey coated pony stood in the path of the street. He showed no resemblance to Dusk in anyway, confirming the idea of an adoption. He looked like somepony who'd beat a foal. He had stone black eyes that looked like black holes. He kept an unamused look to his face. His mane and tail kept the same darkness, making everypony think that he was bald at night, for it matched perfectly with pitch darkness.

"Oh... No..." Dusk gave a big sigh as he bowed his head.

"Where were you young colt?!" The larger stallion crossed to be right in front of the colts. His breath smelled of hard cider and alcohol.

"Just... Playing..." He sighs, going back to his old, depressed manner.

"Get your flank over here!" He pulls Dusk to his side by his neck and starts to walk away. G weeps gently for his friend.

"Bye..." He whispers out. The larger stallion ignores him and pulls Dusk harder. They get down the block.

"You know what wrong with this?!"

"I... I was gone..."

"No... You're wrong! You were a mistake not even loved by your family!" The grey stallion rages, throwing Dusk to the ground. They stop in front of an apartment. It looked old and dilapidated. It was very poorly painted and made of bricks. The big stallion pulled Dusk up the concrete steps as he struggles and writhes in pain.

"Ow! Ow... Stop it! You're hurting me!" Dusk cried out. The stallion threw him into the railing, causing him to scream louder. Some lights flickered on from the room under the area on the steps where they were.

"Hey! Quiet down!" A light blue mare called out from her room,  looking out the door. The large stallion came down to her room.

"Stay out of this if you know what's good for you!" He yelled in her face.

"Eww... Use Colgate!" She holds her nose and fans her face from the smell as she promotes herself.

"What?"

"You know... The toothpaste... And my name..." The pony Colgate smiles, showing pearly white teeth. dusk stumbles down the steps to his 'father'. Colgate freezes momentarily. She stares at the abused colt as her eyes twinkle.

"And I don't care..." He grabs Dusk and starts to pull him up. Colgate stops him in his tracks.

"WAIT!" She calls, extending her hoof towards him.

"What?!" The stallion looks back.

"He's my son!"

Dusk and the stallion both look at her with a frozen motion. She runs up to Dusk and moves his mane, staring into his eyes.

"Your... Your... Son?! He's mine!"

"No! He's mine! I had him!" They went on for an argument, causing them to bring in legal matters. But that's... For  another time...