Cordial and Faded had been friends for only a few years. Three to be exact, almost four. They currently live in the same town, Furton. Most of Furton compiled of ponies, but Cordial and Faded were two of the only five deer that live there, since other deer generally lived in the forests and were not common to find. Deer were becoming more and more rare as the years went on, and no one was sure why. The town is small, never reaching more than one-thousand on the population census. For Cordial, it has been the only place he has ever truly known and loved. For Faded, it is a better place to be than where he had lived before, but yet it isn't. The only good that came out of moving to Furton, Faded believes, is meeting and being able to become friends with Cordial. Something he will not readily admit.
Faded had grown up in a crowded city named Filly. Auto-cart fumes and blaring horns took up most of his memories about the city, along with slick street ways, apple liquor, and rough fights. Faded had not ever been one to join the fights when he saw them happening, but he ended up being included anyhow when some pony saw him and decided to throw him in. Every day he got home to his apartment with bruises around his eyes and all over his body, but thankfully they were never noticed as they hid under his grey and white coat. What was noticed was his fur being matted and bloody, his mane always being messy, and his clothes getting torn. At some point he decided to make use of his torn clothes as a new style. He could never afford new ones, and when he did eventually buy them they were torn within a couple of hours.
Coming home to his apartment was hardly ever a release from his daily tortures of outside and school. His parents were both drug addicts, his mother having left home when he was just a young, nearly new born, fawn. She was no longer even in his memories. His father stayed, however, and attempted to get clean, leaving Faded to a foster home for a few months only to come back and take him to a new apartment and again start up his addictions. It wasn't long until Faded joined the family tradition, sneaking the many various pills he found in his father's bedroom. School was the place he got bullied and increased his anger for other ponies. He was the only deer there and he questioned just why. Maybe other deer were smarter than him and knew better than to live in the city where they were the minority. He blamed his father for this, for keeping him in the city. At school he saw other victims as well, other ponies whose views weren't like those of their "higher" breatheren and were then punished for being so. If any pony spoke out of line or in any matter the opposite of what the ''higher'' ponies believed or wished to hear, then they were beaten down to pulp. The staff ponies did nothing to stop the beatings. Sometimes they even watched and joined in the chanting. Faded was baffled by it all in the beginning but later grew emotionless.
After several years of being bullied and taking pills and cutting to ease his mental pain he made his way to the country side. His father had again disappeared by then and Faded wanted to leave before he could ever possibly come back. With two bags holstered on his sides and pockets full of cash from the pills he sold to get away, he made his way into Furton. He started his new life there by working in the post office, taking only the night shifts of picking up mail from the metal containers outside and coming back to sort them himself. Sorting was supposed to be done by another pony in the morning shift, but he had no where else to be.
One night as he made his way to the fifth box, he saw an odd looking deer on the edge of the forest, standing there stiff as a post. He couldn't believe his eyes. He shook his head to try and clear away his grogginess, and looked back again to see no deer there. His imagination and late nights is what he blamed, for it was unlikely to him that he could ever see another deer. He stood there only a moment longer and then continued on with his route, forgetting about the sighting soon after.
Next morning, nearing the end of his peculiar shift, the owner pony of the post office came to thank Faded for his hard work and dedication, even after being there only a short couple of weeks. He stated the good likelihood that his pay would be raised by the end of the month. With a hardly noticeable grin on his face, Faded clocked out and made his way home to the small shack he rented. However, on his way home he decided to stop at a coffee shop on the corner of Mane, and bumped into somepony as he stepped inside. Or rather, some-deer. Faded excused himself and then felt a fiery blush cascade over his face as he looked into the beautiful yellow eyes of an attractive deer. He stuttered with his apology and the deer, who he soon after came to know as Cordial, asked him if he would like to chat over a hot cup of coffee. Faded felt his heart race, which he excused as excitement of meeting another deer. Faded accepted and the two talked throughout the morning until near the afternoon. Cordial knew immediately that Faded was new to town. Cordial knew everypony there, and explained to Faded how life is usually like in Furton and welcomed him whole heartedly. Faded learned that he and Cordial were not the only deer in Furton, that there were three others. Two were an elderly couple, and the third was the couple's grandchild whose parents had died a few years before. The young female deer was only a couple years younger than Faded, and Cordial was a year older than him.
After that day Faded and Cordial met a couple times a week over coffee for about a month, and later would hangout at Cordial's home. The two became the best of friends.
It started getting darker and darker as Faded and Cordial walked along the path, the sun dipping below the horizon like a frightened child away from the looming full moon.
"And where is it exactly that we are going?" asked Cordial.
"The best place to see the moon."
"And that's where?" Cordial began to feel uneasy as they moved further down the path.
"Not too far away now. Just by the edge of the cliff valley-"
"Woah! No! We're not going there!" Cordial stopped and shook his head in defiance. Faded was surprised.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Haven't you heard the rumours about that place?! That's a dead zone. A no go. Especially for deer like us."
"...What do you mean by that? What rumours?"
"Just... no, we're heading back. We are not going there." Cordial turned around and started to trot more quickly back down the path, in the opposite direction of the cliff valley.
"CORDIAL."
"Come on! Let's get back to town."
Faded watched a few seconds longer as Cordial trotted away then turned around to make his way to the cliff valley without him. Cordial noticed the lack of Faded next to him and hesitantly turned back around to catch up.
"We really need to get back to town," Cordial said.
"Why?" Faded agitatedly grumbled, "No one's waiting for us."
"Seriously, let's go."
"No. What rumours were you talking about?"
"You've really never heard about them?"
"Would I be asking if I had?"
"Eh... Well... It's said that a long time ago a whole group of deer went missing when they were trailing back to their usual yard for the winter."
"And?"
"And... they were never found again."
"What's that have to do with the cliff valley."
"Well... a witness had said that they disappeared over the valley. A glow of white took them away and they were never seen again. No trace of them left behind. Nothing."
"Like you said, it's just a rumour. It's not like there's anyone to back it up, so what do we have to worry about?"
"Actually, the old deer couple in town had saw it happen. They were there. Or, at least the female was there."
"That old cooc? Nah, I don't believe it. Besides, I've come here plenty of times and haven't gone missing. I'm still here. So, I have nothing to worry about and neither do you. I didn't know you were so superstitious."
"I'm not."
"You sure sound like it." Faded stopped walking and lied down about twenty feet from the edge of the cliff over looking the valley. Cordial stopped next to him and stayed sitting up, looking as though he were ready to bolt at any minute. "See?" Faded said, "Nothing to worry about here."
"Still, though...." The two looked up to admire the bright moon and its size. "I've never seen the moon so large before. It's amazing."
"Yeah. This is probably the largest I've seen it, or so it seems. It makes me feel so much smaller." Faded had a hint of sadness to his voice. Cordial looked down at him, noticing his grey-blue eyes glinting by the moonlight like stars. His mane, which is originally navy blue, looked black at that moment. It reminded Cordial of the empty space between the stars on a night when they are most clearly seen. When they are the most beautiful. Cordial wondered if maybe Faded's eyes had taken the stars out of the sky rather than the moon over shinning them.
Suddenly a loud crack vibrated through the night, startling Cordial and Faded. Cordial jumped to his hooves and both their ears stood to listen for anything further. "Wh-what was that?" Faded stuttered.
"I don't know, but I don't have a good feeling about this. It sounded like it came from the forest." Both the deer looked into the forest on their left side, waiting for something to come out of it. A minute or so went past and still nothing happened. "Maybe we should go back to town."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Faded got up to his hooves and walked with Cordial down the path again towards Furton.
A minute later as they were walking down the path another crack sounded. Both deer froze still and lifted their ears for a closer listen to what was going on in the forest.
Nothing but quiet again.
Half a minute later- CRACK! And a swoosh was heard, seemingly passing by Cordial and Faded's heads.
“Missed,” said some unknown and unfamiliar voice, coming from the forest.
Cordial looked at Faded, eyes widened in fear. Faded could understand what that look meant. We need to get out of here. Now.
Both deer took off running as fast as they could, and another crack and swoosh passed by them – this time, some object grazed Cordial's mane, making a path through the thick plush of it. Faded noted the circular entry, but deemed it a trick on his eyes.
Ch-ch. A strange sound. Neither knew what it was. They kept running.
Crack! Swoosh.
Chapter one:
Down by the river Cordial watched as swarms of fish swam by him. He kept moving his face closer and closer to the water, his auburn mane just slightly dipping in. A couple of the fish stopped to try and nip at the tips of his mane, and he kept still, watching the amazing creatures below him swim about. They were all of various colors, rainbow scales that glinted from the sun's refracted light which pierced through the clear-glass water. The fish were common only to the river itself, but had begun to migrate further down the other pony- and deer-made rivers. It would not be long, Cordial thought, until they were all over Equestria. The idea made him smile. His nose dipped into the water and a fish swam up and nipped it. He threw back his head away from the fish and shook it, his mane getting messier in the process.
“What are you doing?”
Cordial jumped at the sound, scaring the fish into a frenzy, and fell into the river's ice-cold water plot first. “Ouch!” He landed on dozens of small and sharp rocks.
“Uhm... Cordial?”
Cordial looked up to see Faded on the bank of the river. “Hey, Faded. I was just looking at the fish.”
“I see that... Cold in there?”
“Only a little.” Cordial's butt was freezing in the water, but it felt nice after being jabbed by the rocks below him. The ones that were still jabbing him. He noticed them again and clambered out of the water, his hooves almost slipping on some of the rocks. “What are you doing out here?” asked Cordial.
“I came out for a walk,” Faded replied. “It will be getting dark within another hour or so and I wanted to watch the sun set away for the night.” Faded had a thing for darkness and dreariness. Cordial remembered then that Faded came out most nights to watch the sun set. “Would... you, umm... like to come watch with me?”
“Yeah, I'd like to.”
“Awesome.” Faded started to slowly trot away, Cordial following close behind and taking him up on his right side.
