Friendship Deprived

by Rainwhut

Ch. 0 Prolouge

‘Another day, another argument.’ This described the majority of Cray’s life at home. His mother and father were always at it. The father, a man who drinks often and goes to bed with other woman, was always the one who starts it. Divorce papers always flew across the dining room table, shouts of anger, talk about who’s going to take Cray, talk about their finances and who pays the most. The yelling always ended with one of them smoking as the other drove away in a mini-van completely mad at the other. It made Cray sick inside just thinking about it. School just made things worse.

At school, he was the ‘Relationship Relay’ or the ‘Confessional’. All everyone did when he was around was tell him secrets or ask him to ask someone out for them. The pressure of not telling anyone anything really got on his nerves all the time. No one actually liked him as a friend. Everyone just used him. As he grew older, this sentence became a part of his heart. The sentence grew into his mind like mold, and by the time he was 16 it eventually stuck. Every time in Latin class, when someone would talk to him he thought, Another one, using me as a confessional. The thought of anything interesting happening in his life was quite slim.

The only one that, Cray thought, cared for him was his cousin who lived in the country-side. He visited her once when he was 10; it was the happiest day of his life. He loved the lush green of the plain, the smell of the horses, and the feel of the rabbits. The open area felt so nice to him. His blue hair would fly through the air as he jumped around. It made him feel like that he could just toss his cares into the sky and not give much of a f*ck as he ran mindlessly in the cornfields. There was a nice forest next to the farmland, but they were forbidden to go near the place. “Everyone who’s gone in there, disappeared forever.” Uncle Raymond said, “FORRRRREVVVERRRRR.” Once he left that farm, he was always depressed about everything. Uncle Raymond was always so nice, Aunt Jenny was completely spontaneous, and his cousin Alexa was always so hardworking.

Once home everything was a mess. What turned from a happy atmosphere immediately turned sour as soon the front door was shut. Not every day did the arguments get extremely loud. Today, however, the yelling got out of hand. Cray was sitting on his bed studying for a test when he heard a loud clank downstairs. At first, Cray didn’t think anything was wrong until he heard the same clank repeatedly. The sound of the clank sounded softer each time it rang. He listened for it three more times before he went downstairs to see what was going on. What he saw scared him and nearly passed out because of the blood on the floor. His father was either dead or unconscious on the floor while the mother had a dented frying pan in her hand. The pan’s exterior was covered in the blood that once belonged in the head of the man in front of him.

The mother fell to her knees as the adrenaline rushed out of her face. As adrenaline rushed out of her body, adrenaline rushed in to Cray’s body. ‘I’ve had enough of this!’ Cray thought to himself, ‘I am leaving!’ He dashed into the garage and grabbed his sneakers. He then raced past the fallen body once more to go upstairs. He dived into his room and grabbed every single piece of clothing that he could find and shoved it into a duffel bag. Grabbing a book he had bought earlier from the bookstore in town, he stomped down the stairs. His mother was still on her knees staring at the body with enough remorse to keep her from moving a single inch. He opened the front door and ran like hell. He got a good 5 miles before he had to stop, wheezing.

After managing to get to a highway, Cray used his extremely persuasive hitchhiking to get a ride from a teen couple. The male teen looked back at Cray when the traffic got tight on the highway. “Where ya going at this time of night, kid?” he asked. Cray managed to gasp out the address of his cousin’s house, and sit down in the back. Gasping for air; Cray asked, “Where are you guys headed?” The girl turned around to answer him this time. “Just a couple miles short of where you’re going. I’m sorry but you’re gonna have to walk the rest of the way.” Cray nodded, and kept silent for the whole night. Once or twice did the couple try to break the awkward silence that lasted in the car ever since Cray entered.

Six hours of driving ensued, six hours of constant silence. Cray didn’t mind it because it gave him space to think about what had happened back there. The thought of him going back scared him. He wasn’t sure what to do when he got to his cousin’s. Maybe he could hide there for the rest of his life as his mother was arrested for beating a man to death. He imagined what would happen if he had stayed. The thought soon became a daydream, and it then seeped into his mind when he nodded off. Cray tried to stay awake to make sure he wasn't being kidnapped. The urge for sleep was too great for him. Cray's head fell and his subconscious took over. “Hey, dude!” Cray awoke to the sound of the male teenager trying to wake him up. “This is where you get off.” Cray looked around and saw the small town that was set up five miles away from his cousin’s place. “Thanks for the ride mister.” Cray said sleepily. Cray grabbed his duffel bag and jumped out the backseat. “No problem, anything for a stranger.” The male said as he ruffled Cray’s blue hair.

Cray felt the urge to follow them to wherever they were going. He wished that people like this existed more on Earth. The couple waved good bye to Cray before they drove off. Checking his watch, Cray realized it was only 7 in the morning. Judging by the still gray sky, Cray decided that his relatives would not be awake at this time, he explored the town. There was a 24 hour museum right next to the place he was standing so he decided to take a look. The town’s name was Astroloosa because one of the founders was a highly praised astronomer. The museum’s outer exhibits were extremely boring; they mostly talked about how Astroloosa was found and how everyone believed that the founder was some sort of wizard with his knowledge of the stars.

Right before Cray left, he walked past a section that caught his eye. The Evergreen Forest? Cray thought, I didn’t see any forest near the town when I looked around. Cray strolled into the exhibit and began to read a few of the signs on the wall. He realized that the Evergreen Forest was the giant woodland that was next to his cousin’s farm. There were clay figures of the trees in one corner, and a giant statue of a man with a beard that touched the floor. The plaque at its feet read, “Astronomily, the Bearded.” Underneath that line was a paragraph of who Astronomily was, and what happened to him. “…Astronomily said, ‘I shall traverse into this woodland and hope to find a source of water for our town!’ And with that, he walked through the shadows of the trees and disappeared among the spruce and evergreens. Never to be seen , or heard from again.”

FORRRREVVERRRR! Cray remembered, Astronomily must have disappeared within the forest. Cray shuddered at the thought of the bearded man’s corpse decaying in the woods. Cray checked his watch, 8:30? They should be awake by now. He then explored the town for a way to travel those extra miles. After much effort, Cray managed to find a bike shop in this small town. Realizing that it may be a bit too early for a shop to be open, he lost hope with every step. Luckily, the shop door opened when he pushed it. “Welcome! Finally a customer!” the shopkeep said, “Everyone around here has a car nowadays. Don’t they know you need a bike to stay fit?! You also need water! Everyone drinks soda nowadays!” The shopkeep threw a bottle of water at Cray. Cray managed to catch it with his face. Rubbing his head, Cray stood up once more to face the mad shopkeep.

Cray stood there dumbfounded by the shopkeep as he went on with his rant about people and their choices. “…bikes! Anyway what are you here for kid?” Cray snapped out of the trance and asked the shop keep to rent him a bike. “Sure, that’ll be 10 bucks!” When Cray was about to pay him; the shopkeep said, “Wait…you know what?! You can keep the damn bike! Free of charge!” Cray was stunned by the man’s offer. “Are you sure, sir?” Cray stammered, “I have to pay you back somehow!” The shopkeep shook his head and said, “Kid, you’re the first customer I’ve had in a long time. Just take that bike and go tell everyone you know where you got it! Go now!”

Pushing out his new bike out of the shop, Cray immediately started to bike toward his cousin's house. A few hours of biking later, Cray stopped on the side of the road for a short break. The sky had turned deep blue already, and the tall dead grass rustled gently with the breeze that flew by. The tar from the road was extremely worn and it looked like it hadn't been replaced for the longest time. FORRRREVVERRRR! His uncle's words echoed through his head. Cray managed a tiny chuckle. The tiny moment of happiness died when he remembered last night. His head sank to the floor as glimpses of the scene reappeared in his head. Shaking away the memories, Cray got back on his bike. The sun began to rise high above his head. How *huff* much *huff* longer?! Cray stumbled off bike to catch his breath. The tar road had transitioned into dust a long while back. There wasn't another shady spot for as far as his eyes can take him. Cray sighed and sat down once more to regain his composure. The grass behind him rustled. Cray spun around to see what it was.

An old man with a cane appeared from the grass. “Water.” The old man managed to gasp out before he fell. Cray took immediate action and grabbed the water that the shopkeep had thrown at him earlier. “Hey!” Cray yelled as he shook the man's frail body, “Wake up! You want water? Here water!” After ten seconds of force feeding the water to the man, the man started to wave his arms in circles. The old man got back up, and spit a bit of water out of his mouth, “Thanks kid!” The old man wiped his beard and his lips as he drank more water. Cray studied the strange man a bit more. The amount of wrinkles on his face were amazing. If there was a place where a wrinkle isn't supposed to be, he had it. He had a slim figure, practically all bones and no meat. But what caught Cray was the old man's eyes. The body of showed all signs of being very worn, but the eyes of this particular man were beaming with the curiosities of a child. It wasn't long until the old man realized that Cray was observing him. “Can't believe I'm finally back here.” The old man said suddenly, “That, however, is a bad sign.”

Cray, yet again, broke out of another trance. “Hmm?” he managed to mutter as the old man went on drinking water, “What do you mean 'a bad sign'?” The old man looked at Cray directly in the eyes and said, “It means that 'it' has found a new target. Someone or something that has been hurt deeply and has lost the ability to see the happiness in this world.” Cray froze on the spot. He didn't know what to say after that. “My name is S. Swirl.” The old man told Cray. Cray nodded slowly in an awkward manner, in a attempt to break the silence. A crinkle, then a crackle, then poof! The man named Swirl was gone. Cray fell backward and hit his head against his bike. Getting up, he looked at the spot where a strange man with a beard that reached his knees once sat. Cray's brain tried to comprehend what had just happened. Unable to come up with a plausible reason of how the man disappeared in a second, Cray stood up and took to the road once more. Thinking of how the man got away, managed to occupy Cray's thoughts long enough to get to his cousin's house.

Everything looked the same. Same farm, same windmill, same barn, same range, same Evergreen Forest, even the smell was the same. The sun touched the edge of the earth behind him. As he got near the farm there was something amiss. Something different. Cray couldn't put his finger on it until he got close enough. A black mini-van was waiting. A black mini-van with a license plate he could recognize anywhere. At that moment, the front door swung open and there, basking in the light that came from inside the house, was his mother. Everyone saw him sitting there on his bike. Cray turned and saw his uncle's face. Uncle Raymond pointed toward to the forest and mouthed, “RUN!” to Cray. Cray nodded and quickly turned around. “Now you just wait one moment, young man!” his mother yelled at him, but it was too late. Cray made a break for the forest. The sound of a internal combustion engine starting reached his ears. Cray pedaled faster, and faster, and faster. The headlight's of the car illuminated his hoodie. The forest was now just within reach. The sound of tires crunching wheat died as Cray sped through the forest.

Cray managed to stop right before a steep hill that lead to the deeper part of the forest. Gasping for air, Cray rested against a tree for a while. She knew... The thought went through his head over and over again. He slammed his fist against the tree in anger for not thinking ahead. Should have stayed...with couple...in car... Cray was so tired his brain failing to respond to him. A bright light once again lit his hoodie up. Cray slowly turned around, and to his dismay, found his mother standing there with a flashlight and a .45 pistol. Cray stood there staring like a petrified mummy. “You are the only one who knows what happened back home.” his mother said, “I will leave no evidence. Your aunt and uncle didn't stand a chance. Nor did their precious daughter.” Cray's mind snapped, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Cray rammed his mother against a tree behind her and jumped onto his bike. Shit. Cray had forgotten about the whole “Steep Cliff” part.

If you saw Cray that night on his way down and through the forest you would be impressed at the fact that he hadn't crashed yet. Cray sped through the forest barely dodging trees that grazed his pants. All cray could do now was pray and hope that the dirt beneath him didn't have any roots sticking upward. However, destiny had another plan. One root was all the bike needed to send Cray flying, and fly he did. The last thing Cray saw before he passed out was his bike passing majestically over his head. The bike kept rolling on into the forest as Cray lay there unable to move. Then, something strange began to happen. Cray couldn't think, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. He felt as though his fingers were melting into his palms. He felt his face stretch like a rubber band. A terrible pain as he felt something bushy come out of his spinal cord. The pain faded and so did Cray's consciousness.
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Fluttershy was walking home from Pinkie Pie's place. Pinkie wanted Fluttershy to help her set a surprise party for Cranky Doodle. Everything was set, the cake, the ribbons, the confetti cannon, and the party cannon were all in place. The surprise was a failure however. Apparently, Matilda had tipped Cranky off before he went into Sugar Cube Corner. In retrospect, the party was success. It was now night time and Fluttershy need to put Angel to bed. Just as Fluttershy opened the door, there was a loud crash. Fluttershy turned around and determined that the crash came from the Everfree Forest. Deciding whether or not to go and see what caused the sound, Fluttershy paced around the room. “I know!” Fluttershy exclaimed. She put Angel to bed and got Mr. Bat to follow her. “I'm sorry Mr. Bat, but I don't want to go into the Everfree Forest alone.” Mr. Bat sighed and hung on to Fluttershy's ear as they navigated through the forest.
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Cray slowly got his brain to work again. Where...am...I? With his vision still hazy and his wounds still bleeding. Crash...bike...forest...hi- Once more Cray fell to the ground and lay there staring at the night sky. Is my life going to end here? It's not like anyone would care though... And with that Cray once again fainted. “What's this?” Fluttershy said in amazement, “A hurt pony?!” She began to check her surroundings for what might have caused this. Unable to find the answer to this, Fluttershy found the Manticore that she met a long time ago. “Umm, could you please help me with something?” The Manticore nodded for it remembered how Fluttershy helped him. Fluttershy lead the Manticore to Cray's body and asked it to help move him.

Cray awoke with a start. Where the bloody hell am I? He thought frantically, I was in a forest! Cray examined the area surrounding him. It appeared as though he was in a house. Cray looked down and saw that he was in a bed with his wounds bandaged, but that's not what kept Cray staring. It was his hands, or hooves, that scared him most. The door was nudged open. Cray's eyes shot up to a yellow pony with a tea tray in her mouth. “Mh! Muh'mh mhmmh!” the yellow pony said through the tea tray that was still in her mouth. Cray stared in horror as she put down the tray. “Who the hell are you?!” Cray screamed.

To be continued.... SOMEHOW.

Comments

[machezan]

If this is your first Fic for this genre then you sir, deserve a medal

[Rainwhut]

326759 Thanks

[Blue Streak]

Keep going your doing great and I love all the references

[Rainwhut]

329041 Thanks for reading!