//------------------------------// // Ch. 1 Meet the 6 // Story: Friendship Deprived // by Rainwhut //------------------------------// The yellow pony seemed offended at first, but it quickly transitioned into fear. It set down the tray in a hurry and dashed behind the door. Weird Cray thought. Okay let’s review what happened. I was- Everything flashed back to him in a second, the gun, the barn, the bike, and his mother. Cray held his hooves to his face. Tears swam into his vision. "Umm, excuse me.” The yellow pony had reappeared when Cray was recovering from his memories. “Who are you?” Cray asked as he glared at yellow pony. The yellow pony backed up a bit, but this time it didn't disappear behind the door. “My name is Fluttershy. I'm sorry if I did something bad, but you were out there on your side and I thought you might have been...” its voice trailed off as if it did not want to speak the word. Cray knew what word it was going to say. Dead. was all Cray could think of. That is, until he realized he was talking to a pony. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you just talk?!” Cray announced in amazement. The yellow pony now looked confused, “Umm, yes? Why are you so surprised? I mean...if you don't mind me asking...” It backed up until only it's mane was showing. I don't get...Why is it so scared of me? Cray pondered. Never mind that. A talking pony! A pony with wings too! Cray got up from the bed and was about to walk over to the pony called Fluttershy and examine her more closely, but for some reason Cray couldn't walk there on his two feet. Fluttershy peeked into the room and saw Cray standing on his hind hooves, trying to walk over to her. “Are you like Lyra?” Fluttershy asked Cray. “Who the bloody hell is L-” Cray would have finished his sentence, had it not been for the loose floorboard that tripped him. “OOF!” Cray landed face first onto the floor. Fluttershy was giggling a bit, but stopped when she saw that Cray was completley serious about walking on his hind legs. “Maybe you should walk like a normal pony?” Fluttershy suggested, “I mean...if you don't mind me saying...” Fluttershy was once again behind the door and peeking through the crack between the door and it's hinges. Cray got on to his hands and feet. Walk on all fours? Is she nuts? Cray felt unamused. An awkward silence raged on for the few minutes as he tried to stand on his hind legs. Fluttershy looked like she was about to say something, but was stopped when a knocking came from somewhere downstairs. By the time Fluttershy had answered the door, Cray had given up completely on trying to stand at all. From what he could hear, Cray could make out at least three different voices. Some excerpts of their conversation managed to find their way to him. “...stallion...forest...nearly...party...around....” The sound of hooves climbing the stairwell rustled through his hair. Shit... Cray thought as a purple unicorn, a pink pony, and Fluttershy had reappeared in front of him. “Err...Hi?” Cray said hopefully. The pink one gasped loudly and ran away in flash of lightning. Cray was so stunned by this, that he didn't notice that the purple pony had face-palmed. Or more like face-hoofed. “Hi, my name is Twilight Sparkle.” the purple one stated boldly. Cray looked at her suspiciously. Back at home, he was considered an extremely gullible person. “How am I supposed to know that?” Cray shot back at her ferociously. Twilight looked a bit shocked. “Well, I did just tell you.” Twilight shot back, “So I'm guessing you shouldn't know.” And with that Twilight walked away and slammed the front door behind her in a fury of rage. Fluttershy looked at Cray with a more scared expression than ever. God, this is awkward. I might as well apologize. At that moment, the pink pony burst through the window with the force of a cannon. “WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!” it screamed when it landed on its hind hooves with perfect precision. Following the pink pony was a gramophone and a giant wagon clashing brilliantly with the pink pony's hair. A dance by the pink pony ensued, followed by being hit by cake from a cannon that apparently was attached to wagon. “So how do you like my welcome wagon?” Cray felt his jaw practically hit the ground. Somehow a white- polka dotted party hat had popped into existence when Cray wiped the cake off his face. The pink pony bounced up and down happily. The smell of cotton candy filled the room, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the pink pony began to wheel in a small cannon with a 'pull to activate' string on its side. What seemed to be a party, lasted for a good half hour before it stopped. Cray felt as if he lost any chance of finding his lower jaw ever again. They are just using you... By the time the pink pony left, it was sometime in the afternoon. Still stunned about what had just happened, Cray checked his hoof for the time to find that his wristwatch was broken. Cray looked at it with disgust and tossed it on to the floor. “You're walking normally now?” Fluttershy said suddenly. Cray hadn't noticed, but he was standing on all fours. “Well, that…was an...interesting experience...” Cray managed to mutter. Cray tuned to Fluttershy to ask her a question, but decided not to. “Thanks for the help, err...Fluttershy?” Cray said, “But I got to g-” The party had distracted his thoughts so much that Cray had forgotten that he had no home to return to. “You got to do what?” Fluttershy asked. Nothing at all. Cray replied the question with his mind. “I'm sorry, err.. Fluttershy? Right?” Cray made sure he got the name of his savior right, “Listen could you give me time to think about something for a bit?” “Oh, okay. I won't bother you.” Fluttershy backed down and slowly walked out the door. A few minutes had passed before another knocking was heard from downstairs. Talking went on for about a few minutes before Fluttershy came up to Cray's temporary room and said to him, “I'm going to go out with Rarity. Don't go into the backyard! There are a lot of animals there that sometimes don't like ponies they aren't familiar with them. You can also go visit Ponyville if you want to.” The front door creaked gently when it closed. Cray stood there thinking why the ponies had trusted him so much. After much considering, Cray decided that he should go out and try to familiarize him self with the area he was in. There were a few animals still sleeping near the doorway downstairs. Cray was amazed that they had not yelled loudly when that pony called Twilight Sparkle slammed the door behind her. Making sure that he made no noise when he walked past; Cray used his tattered pants as a sort of buffer against the floor. Closing the door gently behind him, Cray felt he was in the clear. “WHO ARE YOU?!” Before Cray knew it he was tackled to the ground by a rainbow. Upon closer inspection, It turned out to be a pony with rainbow-colored hair. Can ponies dye their manes? Cray pondered as he stared at the light blue pony standing above him. “Who are you and what were you doing Fluttershy's house?” the pony demanded. “Well...I...uhh....err...well you see...umm...” Cray seemed to be at a lost for words. “Fluttershy found him on his side in the Everfree Forest.” said a voice that came from behind the rainbow pony. Pinkie Pie was holding the cannon that she had used for shooting ribbons across the room. “Hi Rainbow Dash! I forgot my party cannon when I was throwing a welcome party for him. Bye Cray!” Cray could feel his jaw digging into the ground. Not only did Pinkie Pie seem to have the ability to teleport, but also managed to figure out what his name was. “Oh. Sorry.” the rainbow pony said when it helped Cray to get up. Cray's stomach growled loudly despite having eaten all the cake that Pinkie managed to stuff into the party cannon. The two ponies turned to Cray and laughed a bit. “What it's not like I've eaten anything but cake.” Cray said when his face turned a bit red. “What kind of cake?” Pinkie had popped up in front of Cray, “If it was chocolate cake, do you still have some?” Cray backed up a bit, “It was plain cake, I think. How should I know? You made it!” Pinkie's head drooped down. The rainbow pony called Rainbow Dash indeed lived up to the Dash part of her name. “Just who do you think you are, yelling at Pinkie like that?!” Rainbow Dash managed to get extremely close to Cray's face in a second. “Apologize!” Cray felt cornered. He didn’t mean to yell at the pink pony, it was only because of all the frustration he’s had in the past hour. So he decided to do what he always has done when he met a problem. “Well... I...umm…You got to catch me first!” Cray yelled as he sprinted toward the hill. He didn't manage to go far. Apparently Rainbow Dash had caught him in 'ten seconds flat'. Cray was unamused by this statement because it was quite true. “Apologize right now to Pinkie Pie!” Rainbow Dash yelled at Cray. Cray struggled against Rainbow Dash’s strength. Well shit. I can’t get out. Cray thought. “Now!” Rainbow Dash demanded. She stomped on one of his hooves. “ALRIGHT!” Cray screamed aloud, “I’m sorry Pinkie Pie!” In a flash, Rainbow Dash was tossed off of Cray and Pinkie was now in front of him. “It’s okay! I knew I made the cake, it’s just because I didn’t know what kind of cake it was?” she said. Cray tried to process what Pinkie just said when a voice with a hint of a southern accent said, “Listen, if ya’ll try to understand how and what Pinkie does, your mind will break.” Cray tilted his head backward to face a pony with its hair braided into a ponytail in a familiar fashion. “Alexa?” Cray asked in astonishment, “How are you here?!” At this point, Cray was holding the pony’s face between his hooves. Cray couldn’t believe his eyes. This pony had to be Alexa! The resemblance was uncanny! “Who ya talkin’ about now?” the pony said. “Silly Cray, that’s Applejack!” Pinkie's voice said. Oh… Cray let go of the pony called Applejack. Any hope that his cousin had somehow managed to survive the massacre of her family had just died. “Sorry, you reminded me of…someone.” Cray’s head tilted downwards. “Who did she remind you of?” Pinkie asked, “We can help you find her! Then we can become best friends!” Cray flinched at the sound of the word. Friends? Cray thought “They are just going to use you.” a voice in his head replied. Cray stood there shaking, “Friends?” Cray looked up at Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack. Then, he ran for his life. “Hey, wait!” Cray heard Rainbow Dash yell, but her voice got softer as Cray ran faster. “Why are you running?” A voice in his head asked. “They will just use you.” Another voice in his head replied. “You’re running because you are scared.” The first voice replied. “They will take everything that belongs to you and claim it as their’s” The second voice shot back. The voices argued and argued. Cray was defenseless against them. After what seemed like an eternity of running, Cray managed to find a tree with enormous tree house under it. He sat down at the roots and rested himself. The voices in his head finally died down. It’s still noon… was Cray’s last thought before he set himself on his side and slept. Peace had finally come to him. However, the peace didn’t last for long. “WATCH OUT FOR THAT STALLION SCOOTALOO!” yelled a voice in the distance. Who? Cray thought dreamily. Opening his eyes to take a peek, Cray soon found himself face to face with a scooter. He jumped back and knocked his head against the tree. “OW!” Cray yelled in pain. Three tiny ponies were standing there looking a bit embarrassed. Ugh…my head…Cray thought as he rubbed the tiny bump that had formed. What? Small ponies? Baby ponies were called...fillies right? Yeah fillies. “Can’t a guy get some sleep in the woods?” Cray said with a hint of annoyance. “We’re sorry mister.” The yellow one said. “We didn’t mean to wake you. We just didn’t know someone would sleep under our tree house.” said the orange one. “That’s a pretty weird cutie mark you got there.” Cray’s annoyance decreased and quickly switched to confusion. “What the he-” Cray stopped himself before he swore in front of a bunch of kids. “I mean, what’s a cutie mark?” The trio looked unamused. “You mean that you have a cutie mark and don’t even know you had one?” they asked. Cray nodded. “It’s that thing embedded into your fur coat.” The orange one said while pointing at Cray’s butt. Cray turned his head around and started staring curiously at a gray circle on his flank. What the? Cray was shocked that he hadn’t noticed before. “I never knew I had one…” Cray said while still being deep in thought. Cray turned around to thank the three, but the trinity had disappeared. Cray looked into the distance and saw a tiny village sparkling in the sunlight. That should be Ponyville. Cray thought Maybe I should go check it out. One long walk later, Cray had in the middle of what seemed to be the town center. The village looked a lot smaller by the tree. There were buildings resembling restaurants, and small carts selling a variety of stuff. Everything from roses to apples to gypsy tents. Cray suddenly felt out of place because of the crowd of people and started wanting to find a nice spot to think. Where could he go? he wondered Isn't there a place where everything is quiet? Hey…what’s that?. In front of him, there was a pony reading a book. There are libraries here? Cray became eager to find a place where it was nothing but quiet. “Excuse me.” Cray said to the pony that was reading, “Do you know where I might find the library?” The pony didn’t even look up at Cray. Cray was about to ask it again, but it shot its hoof out and pointed toward a tree at the edge of town. “Thanks!” Cray shouted before he began running over there. The tree looked enormous with the balcony attached to the side. Cray opened the door and found books in a plethora of styles. He didn’t know who wrote most of the books, but they sounded a lot like people who wrote similar books in his world. Suddenly, Cray heard sounds coming from the floor. “Is somepony up there?” the thing asked, “I locked myself down here on accident.” Cray decided to help the thing because the voices in his head were going to start arguing if he didn’t decide. “How can I help?” Cray shouted toward the floor. “By opening this door.” he heard the thing say, “There’s a key upstairs next to a copy of Star Swirl the Bearded’s Amniomorphic Spells.” Star Swirl? Cray tried to recall where he heard that name while he tried to take the keys to the basement. After several attempts to grab the keys with his hooves, Cray felt like he could just give up. “How do I hold these keys?!” Cray yelled in frustration. Only one way then. Cray came to the conclusion that the only way that he was going to pick up the key was by using his teeth. The thought of someone else doing the same thing made Cray blush a bit. He eventually got the key into the lock. Finally... Cray thought. “The key's in! Which way do I turn?” The voice behind the door paused as if it were thinking about it. “Left!” it shouted. Left it is. Cray turned the key clockwise to find that the door had not unlocked at all. “I mean my left! Sorry!” the voice said. Cray sighed and turned the key counter-clockwise. Out popped a familiar purple pony. “Thank you kind s-” Twilight Sparkle stopped dead in the middle of her sentence. Cray, on the other hand, was bracing himself for the barrage of yelling that might ensue. Apparently, Twilight was holding back the anger with a frown. “Oh you.” was all she needed to say to make Cray's buffer flush in an instant. At that moment, the door burst open and the whole crew was here. Cray named them off in his head as they appeared one by one. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and a new pony. “Hey Twilight, have you seen Cray?” Pinkie asked. She then took notice that Cray was right next to Twilight. “Oh hi Cray!” Pinkie said, “I had a hunch you were here!” Rainbow Dash cut in before Pinkie said anything else, "Pinkie, you kept insisting that he was at Sugar Cube Corner.” she said. “Well I think his mane looks fabulous!” the pony with purple hair said, “Darling, please tell me how you keep it that way.” “Rarity, we weren’t talking about his hair.” Rainbow Dash replied with a hint of annoyance as she facehoofed. “Are you apologizing to Twilight?” Pinkie asked with a smile that could blind him. “Well…I…uh…” Cray began to felt the pressure of their stares coming down on him. What do I say? What do I do? Cray asked his brain. “Run. Go on and run for eternity or stay here and make a stand.” said one voice. “They will only use you, why waste your time with the presence of others? said a familiar voice, “All they do is ask for more and more. Everyone is evil. Everything is evil.”What do I do? I stay I risk everything I believe in. I leave and I can stay the way I am for the rest of my life. What do I do?