The Un-Popular Ones

Dusk woke up on the day, feeling drained. Probably from what his family or friends would have assumed was insomnia. But, he had no clue why he was so drained. Standing, he sighed inwardly. His room was completely empty, showing that he must've overslept a little. It was a Thursday. Why couldn't it be Friday? He walked downstairs to see his mother in her work uniform. His brother, Skye, sat at the table, weaing his normal beanie and staring at his cut up hooves.

"Hey Hun!" Colgate called out from behind the stove. She was making some breakfast. Typical. Eggs and bacon. Nothing super fancy but with a shoestring budget, you have to balance.

"Hey..." Was Skye's only comment.

"Hi..." He sighed again, which caught his mother's attention. Although she rarely had curiosity about his life away from home, he seemed off. She never asked as to ensure that she could grow close to him, mainly because she was gone from his life for so long. But he seemed more groggy than typical mornings.

"How'd you sleep?" Colgate asked at first, trying to approach the subject delicately. She flipped the eggs a bit as she awaited her son's response. Hopefully, he wasn't too bad. Hopefully, he'd be getting better with his depression. But, this was all just hope.

"I don't know. Can't feel when I'm unconscious." Dusk took a seat, looking at the ground. This caught Skye's attention, for he assumed that Dusk would've been happier with his friends. And his mother. And his brother.

"Hey... What's up?" Skye asked to him, taking a rare look up to his younger brother. Colgate took a smile, seeing how Skye actually cared for something. And that something was his little brother.

"Huh? Why do you ask?" Now,  Dusk looked a bit nervous and began to grow sadder.

"'Cause. I dunno. Just thought you'd be happy or something. You found your mom and you've got some kinda cool friends or something."

"Yeah, and I was beaten for a near decade. I'm sorry but I just...feel like I should've killed myself...instead... Not many ponies care." This took Skye and Colgate by surprise. He never usually spoke like this. He wasn't very suicidal since they came back together. What was up with him? Was his body out of tune?

"Hey! Watch yourself. You got a a good mom who actually cooks for you! You got a roof and friends who care! You're saying you're too good for all that?!" Skye asked, getting a bit rattled. Colgate decided to step in, not wanting an all out fight in her kitchen, especially noticing Dusk's face of shock.

"Alright... Calm down. Look, Skye is right. Don't you feel that you have at least 4 ponies who care? 5 if you include Cheerilee?"

"I don't see why anypony wants to. This isn't how life is. You don't go through years of abuse to come back to caring hooves." He covered his face, crying.

"Dusk... shh... We're here..." Colgate said, turning off the stove and going to comfort her son.

"I just know I didn't want you guys to worry all about me like this."

"It's our job as family. We gotta care about you and you gotta care about us." Skye said, again doing something rare as he gave a slight smile. Colgate wrapped a hoof around Dusk, putting her hoof to his face, brushing away the tears.

"Y-you guys....a-are right...I don't know why I n-never accepted help..." He wiped at his eyes, forcing himself to smile.

"Shh... It's okay... We love you Dusky Poo." Colgate said, rocking him slowly in her hug.

"Please don't call me that." Dusk said, slightly annoyed.

"Sorry..." Colgate sighed as she finished their breakfast. Skye finished his pretty quickly as he got his stuff ready for school, along with Dusk. Dusk walked out the door saying bye to his brother, who was attending a different school.  He got to campus, but, for a moment he stopped, feeling a light pain in his chest. But it vanished quickly and he caught up to his friends.

"And that's when I finished him off." G said with a huge, confidence smile.

"No... bucking... Way! That's cool! Oh... Hey Dusk!"

"Hey, how's it going?" He asked. His voice was slightly pained from the chest pain a moment ago.

"Fine. What's wrong with you?" Short asked with a small smirk, patting Dusk on the back

"I...don't know. Hnng." The pain in his chest became worse within seconds. Dusk suddenly had the realization of what was happening. But couldn't speak.

"Dusk? Come on... S-Stop kidding!" Short said concerned as G came up to take a look. He lied Dusk down on the ground, putting his head to his friend's chest. He almost instantly looked up with a face of shock but not too much.

"Get Cheerliee" G said to Short right before Dusk passed out on the pavement.

"Ms. C! Ms. C!!" Short yelled out. Cheerliee trotted out slowly, hold her cup of coffee and rubbing her eyes. She came to the group slowly before seeing Dusk passed out on the concrete. She spit out the coffee in her mouth, accidentally onto Short's face as she ran back inside quickly.

"Oh yeah... totally fine to just spit that in my face..." Short wiped his face, slightly disgusted.

"Shut up, Short. Uh... D-Dusk? You... You okay buddy?" G asked wearily, knowing that there was a slight possibility he wouldn't even answer after passing out.

"I...I... Think....I-I'm....having...a...a..heart...attack..." He groaned out painfully. Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara stood staring in horror. The Crusaders were trying to keep most of the colts and fillies away. The three were just in the center of this large circle of students.

"What?! You're a mere colt! You can't! What the hay!" Short yelled out, not in anger but more in sadness. Dusk stopped responding. He just lay there. Silver Spoon whispered

"No...he...can't be...dead..."

Cheerlie came back out and the paramedics arrived. For the rest of the day, G and Short were stuck in a constant state of shock. They wanted to go see their friend but class was still going, despite the problem. After school, they went to see if Dusk made it. They were scared by the thought of losing a friend to heart attack. When they got to the hospital a nurse sat at a desk waiting.

"Um... E-Excuse me... Ma'am?" G asked carefully. Short tried his best to look confident despite the fear in his heart.

"Yes? How may I help you?" She sounded nice and, though he wouldn't admit it, short found her a little cute. She had a pin on that read 'Redheart." She had a cheery smile despite working in a place where only injured people would end up. Her coat was a bright white and looked almost cartoony. Her mane was pink like bubble gum and her smile was a pristine white, almost like she lived with Colgate.

"Uh... We understand that our friend was... Rushed here today? May we see him?" g said shakily as Short forgot all about his friend momentarily.

"Dusk Breeze, I presume? Recovery room D-9" She pointed down a hall, as to tell them it was that way.

Ahh... Thank you ma'am." His voice was cracking as he gave a quick head bow before beginning to head towards the room. Bus, as he began to trot, he noticed he was missing something. Short Fire. He went back quickly and dragged Short along with him down to the room.

"Hey!" Short protested.

"Our friend may be dead in there!" G yelled out to him. Short didn't have a comeback for that and just followed. As they got down the hall, G knocked on the door and Skye opened it. His face was drenched in tears and he let the two of them in.

"How is he Skye?" G asked, starting to trot to the bed.

"Ask him yourself. Yell if his heart rate skyrockets." Skye shook his head, closing the door behind him as he stood outside.

"Hey bud." G said sadly, pulling up a chair to sit next to his friend. Because Skye talked about his heart rate, he had to have been alive. Dusk looked relatively normal. His coat was slightly faded but he still had the same ol' depressed look as normal. But this time, it was understood by the other two young colts.

"I...can't believe this happened. It's never happened before. I'm sorry this had to happen guys." Dusk said with a light cough. Other than that, he sounded the same as ever.

"Don't be sorry... But good. We just want you to get better. We care for you, bro." Short said with his patented smile. Dusk spit out a few chuckles at this, proving he was happy to actually be alive.

"Dang... We make you feel that good?" Short asked, trying to lighten his friend's mood.

"Sometimes. When you two aren't arguing." Dusk said with a shrug, joining in with the jokes.

"We don't argue! We're not like a married couple!"

"You guys would be an awful couple." The thing that made them shocked was Dusk's big laugh. It sounded so calm and free.

"Y-Yeah! We would! I'd ship you two." Short said with a sly grin.

"Why? I have a crush on somepony else." This almost set a record scratch off in both the other colt's minds.

"What?! You actually like somepony?!" Short gasped out of pure shock. Dusk sighed and knew he'd regret saying what he did next.

"Yeah..." Right as he said that, he was met by a bombardment of short in his ear.

"Oh yeah? Who would that be Casanova?"

" I don't want to tell. Because I don't want you guys to laugh at me." Dusk shifted a bit uncomfortably, scooting away from Short.

"I'll try not to laugh. And G has no sense of humor anyway."

"Hey! I do!" G complained.

"F-fine... It's... It's... Button Mash..." Dusk whispered shyly.

"Who was that?" Short asked, leaning in. G was noticeably curious and leaned in a bit. Dusk gulped and blushed extremely hard before sighing out...

"B-button M-mash..."

"Button Mash? I don't know who that..." Short began.

"Button?! What?!" G blurted out in shock.

"Um... Who is that?" Short asked, totally clueless. Dusk hid a little under his blanket as his words were a little unintelligible.

"W-Well...He's a gamer and my old friend." Dusk said from under the blanket. But, because of the muffled words, Short heard HE and not SHE.

"Huh... Gamer? Sounds lame. I'd think you'd fall for her, G."

"Well, no. We've actually had many completions... Mainly online. I know Button quite well by now. Want me to set you up?" G asked with an honest smile.

"N-no. I want to tell Mash myself, but i can't because he's eyeballing Sweetie Belle and I'm in this hospital."

"Wait... How can... I didn't know Sweetie was like THAT. No wonder she kept declining me..." Short said, seemingly coming to a realization and completely ignoring the facts.

"But you two are more compatible!" G said,trying to bring the conversation back to helping his friend.

"Button Mash is a colt!" Dusk said angrily, poking his head out of the blanket. Short began to process everything in the conversation. It all began to click and make sense. But, there was one thing out of place...

"But... But you're... A colt..."

"Right... Dusk is homosexual." G said, almost like it was obvious.

"Yeah..." Dusk blushed, embarrassed.

"How... How can... How do... HUH?!" Short yelled out in full confusion.

"He likes colts. I mean... It's pretty obvious, really."

"How can you even do that?!"

"Do what?" Dusk popped out again, like a gopher in a hole.

"Like a colt That's just... Weird! Like... How would you guys have a foal? Is it like putting two hot dogs together?"

"Short! No!" G said with an embarrassed face at his friend's lack of knowledge while Dusk gagged at his friend's awful description.

"Last I checked I wasn't planning on using a pregnancy spell on myself."

"But... I mean... That's super creepy. Wow... J-Just... Wow."

"Are you being homophobic?"

"I have NO idea what that means."

"It means you fear homosexuality." Dusk said plainly, hiding a bit in his covers.

"I-I mean... It's not fear..."

"Or hatred of it."

"That's... Closer."

"So you hate me? Oh...well..." Dusk then sighed and began to tear up.

"No! Not you! Come on Dusk! We're still cool! R-Right?" Short asked with an awkward smile, trying to breach the covers.

"Dude... No... That's... That's totally not cool. He can't help it!" G yelled at Short.

"Can you both leave? I need some space." Dusk whimpered, showing signs of his tears.

"Yeah... Come on G. You really set him off."

"Short... I need to talk t you." G said angrily, grabbing him by the mane as they leave.

"Dude! What the hay?!" Short began to struggle to get free of his friend's hard grip.

"Okay... What the hay is wrong with you?" G asked, trying to not let tempers flare, for he knew he was no match for Short. Maybe he could use logic to get to him. Or, maybe it would be no avail.

"What do you mean?! I ain't done nothin' wrong!"

"How could you hate on gays? They've had many years of trial on freedom!"

"So what?! It's just weird!" Skye, who had been outside over the whole time, began to butt in at this point.

"Hey! What's going on here?!" He stepped into the middle of the arguing colts. Short immediately opened his mouth to argue his case. Unknown to him, G was a Master Debater.

"Well Dusk is gay and that's disgusting!"

"It's not a choice guys! He's born that way!" G shouted, mainly to Short.

"I know how he feels right now." Skye said, readjusting his beanie.

"Are... Are you...?" Short began, thinking of passing out from all these gay colts around him.

"I'm ASEXUAL. I get judged for having no preference!" Short stood, confused at this new information then said something he probably shouldn't have...

"So you just hate ponies?" Skye and G both groaned at the same time as Skye covered his eyes.

"Short Fire... Shut up..."

"Why? Is he like... He just doesn't care about others or.... What?Like... And how can you even be like that? What would be oh so scary to not make you wanna ever be with somepony?"

"Wanna know you little prick?! I was raped as a foal by a stallion I didn't know in any way! That's why I'm the way I am. So go back to Tarturus you insensitive jerk!" Skye ran down the hall in tears, disappearing into another corridor.

"Geez... Such a drama king..." Short rolled his eyes.

"You know something, Short? You... You're.... Get out of here!" G began to let his temper flow as he angrily pointed out the opposite corridor that Skye went out of.

"Now you're mad? Whatever. I'm going home." Short huffed, angrily stomping out the hall to simmer down and off into the sunset. Little did any of them know, that'd be the last time they'd see each other in a long time. But, that's a story for another time.