“Were you coming to apologize?” Twilight asked. Cray looked into her eyes and saw pity and sympathy. “Lie! It's your chance!” Voice number two yelled harshly into his ear. “Tell the truth. Say you just wanted a quiet place.” Voice number one whispered gently into Cray's head. Cray felt like his head was going to explode from the talking in his head. “You okay, suga' cube?” Cray heard Applejack say when he slammed his eyelids shut. Sweat was pouring from his head like a waterfall. The voices in his head exploded and started an all out war against each other. Cray was shaking rapidly from the tension. “OH! Is he thinking of a way to apologize?” Pinkie screamed in utter delight, “Wait! Maybe he's thinking of a fun game! Or maybe he wants to party! Or maybeee...” Cray fell to his side before Pinkie could finish her sentence.
Cray was surrounded by darkness. He couldn't move his legs at all. An arctic breeze flew across his body. What’s happening? He thought. The sound of his thought boomed across the abyss. The more Cray thought, the louder the booming got. Too loud! He thought as he felt the room shaking violently to the sound of his own thoughts. He turned to his right and saw in horror two others that looked just like him. “LIE!” said the one with purple hair. “Tell the truth!” said the one with green hair. The pair argued away, not giving a even the slightest glance to Cray's horrified face. A giant, bright violet light appeared ahead of him. The light destroyed the two illusions as they were arguing.Cray looked at the light curiously. The light felt alive because it pulsated every time Cray took a step toward it. The violet light quickly switched to a light blue. He basked in the light for a few minutes before realizing that he was no longer hearing the echoes of his thoughts. The light felt warm and the cold surrounding him soon dissipated. The blue light split in half and its counterpart turned violet. He could feel the light covering him with its protective sheets. A faint voice was coming from the other side of the light. Cray felt compelled to run as fast as he could toward the voice.
Cray awoke on the floor of the library. He looked up and saw Rarity and Twilight standing over him with their horns pointed at him. “Gah!” Cray attempt to jump back just caused him to ram his eye into the horn, “Yeow! Watch where you're pointing that!” “A nice way to say thanks to the people who saved you from breaking down.” Twilight shot back coldly. “Saved me?” Cray tried to process the statement, “Wait, you were the light?!” Twilight shook her head, “No, it was a beautiful tree that saved you.” “There was a tree in here?” Pinkie Pie said suddenly. Twilight facehoofed, “Pinkie, I was being sarcastic.” “You sure know a lot of funny words Twi. Well back to Sugar Cube Corner for me!” With that being said, Pinkie hopped out the door. The sky had darkened already. How long have I been out? “What are you going to do with these two?” Twilight asked when she pointed to the bottle behind her. Cray stared in amazement at two ponies that looked exactly like him. Well scratch the hair, but the resemblance was uncanny. They were sitting quietly at the edges of the bottle, backs toward the middle. “Who...” Cray started before his own mind answered itself. They're me... Well different versions of me...
“How is that even possible?” Cray asked as he tapped the glass slowly. The two ponies glared at him through the crystal clear barrier. “Well, look who's here.” said a voice in his head. Cray's eyes became the size of basketballs. “You can't blame him entirely. It was your fault.” echoed another. “How are you still in my head?” Cray began tapping the glass harder. “Please stop that.” said Voice number one. “Stop it or die!” screamed Voice number two. “Let me help you with that.” Rarity said elegantly. She levitated the jar like it was a flower. “Where the hell is this thing taking me!” yelled Voice number two, “Put me down at once! I deman-” The Voice stopped as Rarity placed it in the pantry and shut the door. “That should fix everything!” Twilight told Cray. “How did you figure out-” Cray began, but cut himself short because of the sudden realization that Fluttershy was gone. “Wait, where's Fluttershy?” Twilight responded instantaneously,“She went home because she needed to feed Angel.” Who now? Ugh forget it. Cray's thoughts echoed weirdly in his head. He was so used to two other voices in his head arguing about his decisions. Never mind that. “Well I got to go back ho-” Cray had once again forgotten that he no longer had a home. He quieted himself and started staring at the floor. “Going home?” Rarity said, “At this time of night?”
No home...going home? Cray's thoughts rebounded across his head like one of those old screen savers for DVD players. Cray walked out in a dazed fashion. “Hey where are you going?” he heard Twilight faintly ask. For seemingly no reason, Cray began to run. He, himself, did not know why he was running toward the hills and to the forest. He felt something was waiting for him. He eventually arrived at an unoccupied wooden hut. He had no idea what had compelled him to come here. Scared of what his instincts were telling him to do, he slowly opened the door and looked around. Inside was a nice pile of hay with a blanket, a bookshelf stacked to the brim with books, and a nice tiny lantern that lit the tiny shed. Cray decided to examine the area further. Finding a fresh match that would have been impossible to light with hooves, he lit the hidden lantern on the desk and Cray soon found a note beneath the sheets. “Take care. Your journey will be quite long if you do not adapt! -S. Swirl” Cray was quite surprised that the old man that had been asking for water could come to this weird land. His brain kept bothering him about something. Cray felt as if his brain was trying to tell him something, but the call of the nice pile of hay was too strong for him.
As the beams of the sun smacked Cray across the face, he stubbornly hid it under his sheets. “Later.” he said to himself. But it was quite apparent that he was no longer alone when he actually felt something slap him. Cray awoke startled and found a parrot looming over him with its head cocked in an awkward fashion. “Wake up stupid.” it said in a monotone fashion. Cray got ticked off. “Who the hell are you calling stupid, stupid!” Trying to strangle the damn thing between his hooves was hard work. It flew everywhere, onto of the still smoking lantern, beside the bookcase, inside the bookcase, even upside down in the door way. Cray got his hooves ready as he pounced at the bird. “Mr. Feathers? Are you here?” Cray heard a familiar voice say. Cray slammed hoof first into Fluttershy and the parrot.
They rolled and flipped for a few seconds until they were stopped by a tree. The tree dropped a healthy patch of yellowed leaves on top of the three. Cray managed to make it to the surface before Fluttershy. “Err...umm....” were the only sounds Cray managed to get out of his mouth as he was staring at Fluttershy's mane that was skimming the surface. An angry bunny popped out it. Cray once had to take care of the class bunny, so he thought it would be the same. “Hey there little gu-” Cray managed to say softly before the bunny slapped him. “Well aren't you rude?!” Cray tried to slap the bunny back, but it managed to escape his clutches every time he got near. After a couple minutes of pointless attempts, Cray gave up on trying to catch the quick bastard.
“He's not that bad.” Cray heard Fluttershy say above him. He was so busy fighting with the bunny that he hadn't noticed that Fluttershy had went to go check on the parrot that was perched on the tree like a bat. “Angel's just like that with ponies he's not used to.” Fluttershy mentioned as she brushed the leaf crumbs off of the parrot's feathers. The bunny climbed up the tree and stood triumphantly with the bat-parrot with an evil smile. Angel my arse. More like Devil. Cray thought as he brushed himself off. The leaves stuck to his ski- fur-coat were like superglue. It seemed to get tangled within the hairs. “There is no way that I can get these leaves off!” Cray yelled in frustration after minutes of untangling a few. A squirrel saw that Cray was in need of help and rushed over to try and do something for him. “Geroff!” Cray grunted as the furry woodland creature mounted him. Angel and the bat-parrot were starting to laugh at Cray.
“I...said...Get...OFF!” Cray flung the squirrel at Angel and the parrot and managed to knock Angel into Fluttershy's mane. Me:1 Devil:0 In Cray's mind he pumped his fist into the air when he realized that the whole ordeal also got the leaves out. I feel like I just put someone out with Jarate! Memories of his favorite game, TF2, returned to him. He tried to crack a smile, but his jaws hurt when he tried. He gave up immediately, feeling that there was no actual reason to smile at all. Angel dived from Fluttershy's still shocked face and rammed right into Cray's noggin. Cray always thought the stars in cartoons were exaggerations of the hit. He was wrong. “Whhhatt's withhh all the purple sssstarss over thereee?” Cray said before he began walking drunkenly toward every tree trunk he could find headfirst.
One of those 'trunks' was the leg of a Wendigo. It roared aloud at Cray. “Now yoouuu listen here miiiisterrr.” Cray began, but was soon cut off by the Windigo's roar once more. Reality smacked Cray across the face. Hard. Cray didn't know what happened, but the Windigo had apparently smacked him toward a tree. He felt himself bleeding a little. Well shit. Cray thought as he stood back up to stare at the beast. What do I do now? Before he answered his own question, a familiar figure flew out of the forest. It had two wheels, a set of handle bars and two pedals. “Say wha...” Cray was speechless as the ruby bike flew over his head and revved its rear tire against the Windigo's head. The beast fell backward dramatically and smashed its head against the woodland behind him.
It didn't seem to do much though. The Windigo just got back up and was about to strike Cray once more, but this time...”STOP!” yelled Fluttershy. The beast's hand stopped right before it hit her. Fluttershy flapped her wings slowly in front of the blue beast. The moment strained on. The beast wound up his arm once more to smack the brave yellow pony. It stopped once more in front of Fluttershy as she seemed to stare down the blue behemoth. Cray felt the pressure of it from where he was standing. He felt his legs become jelly when she made the Windigo flee for its life. Cray's flank planted itself firmly into the ground. All of his memories of the little yellow pony who was so gentle with things disappeared. Now stood a tyrant, with a stare that could make an extremely terrifying monster flee like a little baby, in the midst of the rumble of memories. Fluttershy turned around and her bright blue eyes met with Cray's sheepish green ones. He could find the right words to say. “Can you please apologize to Angel and Mr. Feathers?” Cray's eyes widened significantly. The tyrant was gone. The kind pony Cray hardly knew was standing in front of him once more.
Fluttershy looked back up at Cray. Not with an expression of fear, but one of confusion. “As I said, a little kindness never hurt anypony.” She said with a smile that went from ear to ear. Cray flinched once more at the comment. Kindness? Kindness is nothing but a mask to hide contempt! Cray tried to swallow the thought, but it got the better of him. “This thing you call ‘kindness’ is nothing but a mask!” he yelled aloud. A searing pain streaked across Cray’s flank. He turned and to his surprise, a segment of the tattoo on his hind had gone dark. There was a flap of wings, and Fluttershy was gone. Kindness?! HA! You have to do better than that to convince me! “Hey stupid.” said a familiar monotone voice. “No. No. No. No. No. No. No.” Cray’s head shot skyward and saw Mr. Feathers looking down on him from the tree branch. “Hello stupid.” it said once more. “GAH! Why are you still here you dumb pigeon?!” Cray felt like he could strangle it. It cawed twice but settled down. “Parrot.” “What?” Cray was shocked that the damned thing could understand conversation. Cray shook the possibility out of his head when he watched the parrot follow a worm and failed each catch.
He slowly walked back to the shed. It wasn’t until he closed the door that he realized the parrot had followed him. Well great! You got a bird who’s probably gonna annoy you to death. Great job Cray! Cray exchanged hands with the bookcase and plopped onto the haystack. The parrot flew in circles above him for a while before it landed on the lantern once more. “Hey stupid.” The bird repeated. Cray ignored it. Maybe this book could help me find a way out of here… Cray tried to focus on the task at hand while the bird occasionally pecked the glass on the lantern and replay the phrase, “Hello stupid.” “SHUT UP!” Cray yelled at the parrot, “You are THE most annoying thing alive. I don’t even know why you’re here with me!” The bird shut up and started to listen. “Are you here to torture me? Huh?!” The parrot rustled its feathers and stared down at Cray’s angry face. “Just GO.” The parrot didn’t seem to understand him, it cocked its head to the side. Cray took a deep breath and yelled once more, “You heard me. OUT!” Cray jumped for the bird. Catch, swing, and throw. The momentum flung Mr. Feathers out the window.
Finally peace. Cray said to himself as he propped himself against the wall of hay once more. The silence didn’t last too long though. A sudden, urgent squawk was heard in the distance. Cray looked up from his book. He shook the thought of the parrot being attacked by something out of this head. Not a chance. That bastard can out maneuver anything. A second squawk flew through the window and hit Cray’s ears. Cray nearly got up, but sat down once more. What? I’m starting to be worried about the damn thing? Fat chance. Cray sat on his tail once more and crossed his hooves. I’m not worried about that little prick at all. Why should I be worried? It’s only a parrot. A third squawk flew through his ears and smacked his face. Cray got up and opened the door to check his surroundings. I’m not worried about the bird…I’m just checking outside. Yeah that’s it. I ain’t even wor- His brain shut down the second he saw it. Mother of god... Cray looked at what was a giant spider web in-between a few trees. Well that’s just dandy. He thought as he spotted what was in the middle of the silk trap. Mr. Feathers himself.
“Well look who’s stupid now?” Cray said with a nervous laugh. Got to find a way to free hi-. Wait, am I really worrying for this bird? Cray watched the bird struggle and squawk at him every now and then. What is it getting its feathers all riled up about? The bird turned his head upward and looked like he was pecking an invisible worm. Cray felt like it was singling him to look upward. Cray smirked, believing it to be a prank, he looked up. The next moment, he was on the floor trying to find the strength in his legs to run far, far away from what he was staring at. No scream came out of his throat as he watched the biggest spider that he has ever seen slowly walk around on a second web above Mr. Feathers.
Cray could not move, his legs had given up on him. No amount of Jarate extinguished teammates could help him retrieve his strength. How in the name of hell did it get caught in that? Cray’s brain answered the question with a small flashback of him throwing the bird out of the window. Right… Cray studied his surroundings and saw that his bike was near by. Mr. Feathers kept on squawking as Cray began to stand up. His legs refused to move within a 50 feet radius of the spider. Arachnophobia is torture. Cray thought to himself as he inched slowly toward the aluminum ruby body glinting on the ground. As he approached the bike he heard a rustle behind him. Not a rustle of wings, but a rustle of legs. 8 legs to be exact. Cray turned and faced the larger than life tarantula. No amount of words can describe how many times Cray saw his life and soul flash before his eyes. “Run stupid.” squawked Mr. Feathers. “You don’t say?!” Cray replied as he braved his legs against the grassy floor.
He grabbed one of the handlebars on the bicycle with his mouth and started to run around the web. Okay brain. I got the bicycle, now what? Cray’s brain went dead. Now is not the time for this! Wait a minute… Something on the bike caught Cray’s eye, something red, something raw. Cray realized that the bike was reflecting the underbelly of the spider that was giving pursuit. Maybe I ca- A tree branch scratched his face as he spun in the air and attempted to swing the bike with it. To make a long story short, it didn’t work out too well. The rosy bike flew few inches before it landed on the ground once more. The spider laughed at Cray. “You think a mere piece of metal can stop me?” Cray’s arachnophobia shot up. Did that spider just- “Foolish pony.” It said once more as it dangled the bike with one of its hairy legs. The spider flung it back like a human would throw a rock. The bike slammed against a tree trunk. “Now prepare to die for trespassing on my property and disrupting my dinner.” Cray’s legs went stiff this time. His jaw dropped at the sight behind him. Well…hello. A loud thump was heard. The spider squinted and turned curiously toward the sound; just in time for a bluish fist to go across its cheek
“What in the name of-” the spider began, but was cut short once again by another blue fist. In front of the spider, stood a familiar animal; one with two big feet, two giant hands, all blue, and an undeniable skid mark on its forehead. The Windigo had come back. Cray took and made use of this distraction by getting Mr. Feathers out of the web. A smack here, a whack there, and the spider went down. The Windigo turned toward the tiptoeing Cray and Mr. Feathers. Both froze in their spots as it came closer to them. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. The thought bounced rapidly around his head as the Windigo bent forward and extended its fist. Cray flinched thinking it was going to punch him, but realized that the beast had opened his hand. Cray peeked through his eyelid and saw a crushed metal form. His once intact bike was now bent in places that Cray was sure he recognized a Picasso in it. He bowed slowly as a sign of thankfulness to the beast. The Windigo dropped the bike onto the floor and strutted back into the forest.
Cray grabbed a point of the bike that wasn’t really sharp and pointy and dragged it back to the shed with the help of Mr. Feathers. Cray sat in the hay after he managed to balance the bike against the wall. Mr. Feathers hung from the lantern and stared at Cray with expressionless eyes. Cray stared back without amusement. “Well what?” Cray asked as they had started a tiny staring contest without words. “What do you want?” Cray tried not to sound too harsh to the parrot. “Apologize.” it said with it’s routine squawk. “Apologize?” Cray asked with surprise and confusion, “Apologize for what? Saving your life?” The parrot shook its multicolored head. “Apologize.” it said once more. This time Mr. Feathers flew out the window. Cray got up once more. “Where are you going?” The parrot flew westward. Cray followed intently. Where the hell is this bloody bird taking me? Oh… A familiar hut stood before him; one with a chicken house in the backyard, and a familiar yellow pony feeding them.
Cray approached Fluttershy cautiously while she had her back turned toward him. “There you go Elizabeak. Now don’t go running off too far like last time.” Fluttershy turned and saw Cray out of the corner of her eye. “Eep.” she whimpered before she flew back into her house. “Oh come off it.” Cray said beneath his breath, “Wait!” Cray followed her and managed to stick his hoof in-between the doorway. “YE-OUCH!” he yelled as the door slammed his pony wrist. “Oh! Sorry! I mean…what do you want?” Cray saw Fluttershy was cowering behind the door. Oh that damned parrot. This better be worth it. “I just came here to…umm…you know…err…” Cray felt the word choke his throat from the inside. “Apologize.” said a monotone voice from inside the hut. “What I’m trying to say is…that…I’m so-. So-. Sor- sorrieee…” Cray’s throat was straining itself so the word would not escape. “You’re apologizing?” Fluttershy asked as she tried to comprehend it. Cray bobbed his head up and down thrice. “Oh…well…thank you. It really wasn’t much of a big deal…” Another streak of pain swooped by his unprepared behind and caused Cray to look back. The segment that went dark earlier in the day had turned dandelion yellow with a stripe of pink in the middle. What in the name hell is going on?!