The Hunt WIP

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.