It was a very rainy day; every student in the class was busy studying to the test they were going to have next Monday, but not Rose. Like all other students, she was busy reading a book instead of doing what the other students in her class did. For her, the test was nothing she was interested in. It was all about remembering numbers on a piece of paper, which she already knew. The teacher, Mr. Sharpie , as they called him, stood up and walked to the chalkboard to get every ponies attention to announce something.
“I forgot to tell you all yesterday that we’re going to have another field trip tomorrow.”
It was their third field trip this month. The reason with field trips was because the lack of communication and cooperation between those students who hardly knew each other. Everyone saw the field trip as a great thing, only the part where the test was going to be postponed till next week. No pony took the field trip seriously like the teachers intended it to be.
“This time we are going to divide you all into very small groups, two in each group basically.”
For the very first time, Rose paid attention to the teacher’s message. She didn't like the idea of being divided into a group, especially when it comes to be two in each one. She mostly preferred solitude; it was easier for her to concentrate on things. Eventually the school bell rang and every pony packed their things and was ready to go home. Rose was always the last one to leave the classroom just so she could avoid direct communication with any pony; she never really liked them. On her way out of the classroom, the teacher noticed her worried expression. He thought by saying something to her with a friendly face would cheer her up a little.
“See you at the train station tomorrow, Rose!”
Rose just simply nodded, walked out of the classroom and was on her way home. She kept thinking about going to the field trip this time; since she skipped them all last time. Her thoughts kept going in and out, wondering if going to the field trip would benefit anything at all since she already had problems at home. Why not, she thought for herself when she opened the door to her home. Once she entered her room she began to pack her bag with some snacks in case she got hungry, even though she got some bad eating habits she couldn't care less about her health; not to mention her mental health. Right after she packed her things, she began to do her thing she always did after school and before going to bed, read her book.
It was a new day, compared to yesterday’s weather it was a very sunny day. Rose just arrived in time to hear about the groups the teacher was going to put them into. Well, maybe not exactly in time since the teacher already put up six groups to begin with, but Rose’s name hasn't been called out yet. Several ponies were trying to get into groups with the ones they already knew, making it harder for the newcomers to get more comfortable in the class. The teachers were too dumb to even realize it.
“Next group is, Rose and Azure!”
The teacher was surprised that Rose even showed up for today's field trip. Though Rose didn't know much about her class, she remembered this one. Azure is the class most cheerful pony. This was going to be a hard day to survive since he is a very loquacious pony; there were no question about why almost everyone is avoiding him in school, and Rose’s lack of skills to be social was going to make it even more difficult for her to get along with her group mate. The train’s conductor reached out to the end of the wagon to get a better position to get every pony prepared for the ride.
“All aboard!”
It was finally time to enter the train to get to their destination. No pony knew where they were going, except for the teachers of course. Rose aimed to sit further back at the train, but once she entered, there were almost no seats left. The train was packed with citizens from around the town. The only seat she could take was next to Azure. ‘Perfect,’ she thought for herself very sarcastically, but it was better than to stand the whole trip.
“Hi Rose, I’m Azure, I don’t think we've ever talked to each other before.”
Rose began to take the seat next to him and ignore his introduction. She grabbed her book from her backpack and immediately began reading where her bookmark was. “Chapter 4: A great experience” Rose noticed how Azure was staring at the book; like he never seen a book before. Apparently he knew more about the book’s history than Rose did.
“I've seen that book before, didn't read it, but I saw it in the town’s library last week. They say it’s a very good book to be written by an anonymous writer. It’s a shame that it hasn't gained any fame.”
She was surprised that someone actually noticed the book and seen it before. Due to the books unpopularity it wasn't a good seller either to make it into most of the libraries in Equestria, could be because it contained a lot of bizarre text’s and unreadable words. She was more surprised that there were more copies of the book in the library she lived a couple of blocks away from. Lucky for her, the book was cheap compared other titles that were for sale in the library's book store.
As the time passed on they were close to their destination. She could hear the school’s troublemakers impatience started to bother the teachers a lot. Good thing these teachers is used to students who behaved like this.
After a couple of minutes they were finally there. Every pony had a little trouble finding their way out since every passenger was rushing to the exit to save as much time as possible. For Rose, it was not a problem; she had all the time on her to wait out until there is some space left to navigate through. Once every pony has been gathered they had to walk a couple of miles. A lot of them kept whining how much their hoofs hurt, silly ponies. They soon were about enter a forest, who happened to have a lot of vegetation, nothing they really expected since none of them like the nature. What they didn't notice was the sign that was buried behind all the grass: “Warning, dangerous predators live here!” The teachers weren't fully informed about the danger that lies in the dark corners in the woods.
“A forest?” asked one of the students further back, “Who plans on having a field trip out in the forest?”
Every pony mostly kept things like this for themselves, but this time they all agreed the student’s point, but there was no point to start an argument since they’re forced to follow anyway. Once they have gotten far into the forest, Rose noticed that there were some picnic benches close to a dead tree. That’s where Rose could spend her time for the rest of the field trip. Instead of listening to the teacher’s safety rules, she slowly walked towards the bench unnoticeable to continue to read on her book. Azure noticed her disappearance from the circle and followed her without anyone noticing their disappearance.
“Hey, shouldn't we listen to the teacher first before we do anything else?”
Rose simply shrugged and continued to read. Azure sat down in front of her trying to start a small conversation by asking some questions.
“What a lovely weather isn't it?”
Rose kept ignoring him and tried to focus on her reading. She was very annoyed that Azure kept asking her questions she had no interest in. Her annoyed expression made Azure more insecure and worried. It all escalated into something worse.
“Why are you not talking to me? Do you hate me like the rest of the class do?”
Rose was surprised that ignoring him a little but would make him sad. She didn't mean to be unsocial; it’s just something she was really bad at. She looked up and saw that Azure was about to cry, tears were about to fall down from his blue sparkly eyes, but staring at him it didn't make it any better.
“Fine, if you are not going to talk to me I might as well spend my time alone then!”
Azure went deeper into the forest to spend his time on something more worthy. The teacher noticed Azure’s disappearance and was worried that he ran off without the teacher’s permission.
“Where is Azure going? I told every pony not to leave the camp area! Please, can you go and get him so we can continue discussing some more general rules.”
Rose was stuck on a chapter she never quite understood, she lost interest and stopped reading. She packed her book and then get ready to bring Azure back to the camp area. She even brought her bag in case someone had the urge to steal it. She began to go through the bushes were Azure was last seen. She noticed the deeper you went into the forest, the darker it became. Rose knew that this were no place for any pony at all since it’s very easy to get lost in all these thick terrain. The eerie feeling she had grew bigger if she couldn't find him very soon. At the very moment she thought she was lost, she could see Azure from a distance, sitting close a lake, throwing rocks into it and mumbling to himself. So much for ‘spending his precious time,’ she thought for herself. She walked towards him and grabbed his hoof to indicate that they have to go back. Azure refuses to cooperate and began to question her with a very angry tone.
“What do you want? Can’t you see I want to be left alone?”
He immediately pushed Rose away from him so she would lose the grip from his hoof. Rose wasn't happy with him pushing her away when she was trying to help him; but she guess she deserved it for not being nice to him. Rose had a bad feeling about this place since she could hear the bushes next to them shake and some tree branches brake. Azure was busy with asking too much questions to even notice Rose’s concerns.
“Why did you even look for me out here anyway? Rose?”
He turned around and saw that Rose was shaking and kept staring at the bushes. Azure turned around further to see what she was staring at. At the very moment, he saw a big, hungry, furry predator, staring at them both from the bushes with its yellow glowing eyes and sharp claws. Azure didn't know what to do and couldn't remain calm; he panicked and started to make a run for it. Rose who stood still had to run in order to avoid the hungry beast that ran towards them. They both ran away but they didn't exactly know where the campsite was since the forest is thick with all the vegetation, so they ran in all kinds of directions to find the campsite. There wasn't much time to think since they had to run for their lives.
Azure accidently tripped on a rock and fell to the ground. Rose kept running away from them, leaving Azure with the beast. He kept screaming for help, his words echoed in Rose’s ears. The beast had finally caught up to Azure; it slowly walked towards him and was ready to attack. Rose suddenly stopped; she couldn't leave him like this, she began to think about the book she loved and started to remember about the chapter she was stuck on earlier, and without any second thoughts, she turned back and rushed through the bushes and branches to help Azure from getting attacked by the beast. She was just a couple meters away from him and began to prepare herself to help him, she was very exhausted but couldn't stop yet. The beast rushed towards Azure to attack, Rose ran towards him as fast as she could to push him away from the beast’s charge. She pushed him away hard enough for him to get away from the attack, what she didn't know was that if her plan was going to work.
A couple of minutes went by until Azure woke from his unconsciousness he got from accidently hitting his head into a tree branch. He got up quickly, but carefully, and began to look around to see if Rose managed to get away, or if the beast still lurked about. He walked around and searched the area to find her, calling for her name, the wind and the bushes was all that gave sound, and there were no sign of her. All there was left of her was her bag and her personal belongings on the ground close to the rock he tripped on earlier.
He was scared; more scared knowing that he was alone again. He sat down and gently picked up the book Rose carried around and read every day. By curiosity, he opened up the page where her cute little red bookmark was, he knew that her book was something she really cared most about. And there it was; “Chapter 7: Friends are worth sacrificing for”. Tears were shed from Azure’s eyes; denial was hitting him hard in the head, asking himself why did this had to happen. He thought his life was empty, blamed himself for doing this. He hugged the book as hard as he could, it was a book he was going to remember.