“Tony, wake up! Hey, kiddo, don’t keep me waiting, get up already!”

“Uh, wha…” said a young colt, as he woke up from a deep sleep. A small breeze sent shivers through his spine. “Jake, why is it so cold?” he asked with concern. “Is-is it winter again?” The simple thought made him shudder.

“Nope, kiddo, it’s just raining outside. Come on, let’s go find something to eat” said the elderly stallion as he nudged the colt to get on his feet.

“Alright, I’m up. Where are we going today, Jake?”

“Probably heading towards the Main Street, I heard some ponies talking about one of the restaurants there abandoning unused food in the back alley, so we should go there and check things out!” he said with an uneasy voice, as if he could barely keep himself in place.

“Alright, then… Ugh, Jake, do we really need to go out in the rain? Can’t we wait, just a bit?” Tony said pleadingly, to which the stallion lost patience and grabbed him by the throat and slammed him on his back.

“Our hunger won’t wait for the rain to stop, Tony! If you don’t wanna come, fine, but I won’t give you anything!”

Tony trembled in fear as he looked upon his old friend. “Alright, I’m coming, just please, let me go…” the last part of the sentence barely audible through his suppressed sobs, his lower lip quivering.

“Mhmm… let’s go.”

On their way to the restaurant, Tony tried to keep up with the elderly stallion, who was silently cursing the pegasi for bringing rain on such a day. He was shivering and cold, and the wind only made it worse. He knew that he would be sick again, but the prospect of sleeping again with an empty tummy won over reasoning.

Not paying attention where he stepped, he fell face first into a puddle, mud now staining his already dirty white coat.

“Of, that hurt.” He rubbed his forehead. In front on him stood another pony who looked surprised and concerned.

“Oh my, are you alright, little one? Here, let me help you.” A beige mare helped him to his feet. He could only stare at her. “Did you get lost from your parents?”

He shook his head. “Excuse me, miss, but, what are parents? Do you mean Jake? He is my friend.”

The mare was taken aback from such a reply, thinking he might be playing with her, but the innocent look in his eyes removed that possibility. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“ She was stopped mid sentence by Jake, who had returned to look for his companion.

“’ey Tony, what’s keeping you?! Oh, hello there miss, please excuse us, but we are in a hurry!” he said as he grabbed the colt by his mane and pulled him.

“Sorry miss, gotta go.”

The mare was shocked, not by the rudeness of the older stallion, but by the young one, who seemed well raised, even though he looked kinda thin and dirty.

“W-wait!” Tony turned around to face the mare who was calling for them. “Take this. It will keep you warm” she said, as she put her scarf around the young colt’s neck. She kneeled in front of him. “Here, open it up and keep it above your head, it will protect you from the rain.” The young colt looked in awe at the device that was given to him, an umbrella.

“Thank you miss, thank you very much!” he said with a wide smile. He then turned around and darted after his companion, only to be stopped by a hoof on his shoulder. Turning around, he found the same benevolent mare pulling him in a hug.

“Take care, Tony…”

He was at a loss of words. Somepony did something nice for him. He was offered something he could not understand yet. Love. He sniffed, turned around and ran, occasionally glancing back at the mare, who gave him a nod, herself being in tears from such an event. 'Take care...'

“Hey Jake! Look what that nice lady gave me!” the small colt said out loud with a smile on his face as he neared the place where Jake would be waiting for him.

“Jake? Where are you?” Walking around the streetwalk, he could not find his companion. “Jake, this isn’t funny!” At the crossroads, he saw that there are ponies gathered and an ambulance was there aswell.

“Everypony stand back! Let the doctors handle this!” yelled a pony in uniform.

Gathering courage, he went to the commotion, hoping they wouldn’t mind his presence. Upon getting closer, he gasped in horror as he saw Jake laying in a puddle of blood, rain falling over him. His eyes, though open, did not move. Tony did not move. He simply stared at the doctors who were trying to resuscitate his friend, to no avail. He was gone. In the end, a pony went and closed the old stallion’s eyes. At this, Tony picked up and went straight for the lifeless body, earning a few stares and questions when approaching.

“Hey kid, this is no sight for your eyes. Go home now.”

He merely stared at the body, before he fell on his haunches and started crying.

“Jake… wake up. Jake, we are almost there, don’t you just go sleeping in the middle of the street.” No response. An officer placed a hoof on the colt’s shoulder, trying to get his attention. “Jake?...”

“Come on now, boy. Let’s take a walk, shall we?”

The colt didn’t move, nor did he say anything. He simply stared at the lifeless body of his only friend.

‘What's going on. Why isn't he responding? Jake...’

“He's gone kiddo. Please, come with me, let's have a talk, just you and me. I need you to—“ before the officer could finish his sentence the colt ran away from the crowd, away from the lifeless body of Jake. His tears weren’t masked by his soaked face, even after dropping the umbrella and rain started to pour onto his face. He could hear the officer shouting after him, but he was too slow to catch up to him.

“Aww, shoot. The boy got away. A relative maybe? His father?”

“Probably. Poor colt. Not a pretty sight, for someone so young as him. You should probably send somepony to search for him” said a paramedic. “As for him, we will try to identify him.”

“Alright, I’ll organize a search party.” With that, he headed off in the direction the foal ran. ‘I hope the kid is alright…’

************************************************************************

Arriving in a park, he sat on a bench and simply stared into the skies, tears streaming his face. Nopony was around, nopony to comfort him, nopony to talk to. Nopony.

Whimpering, he brought a hoof to his heart.

‘It hurts. Why? Why does it hurt? Jake… Come back, Jake…’ he choked out a sob.

He leaned on the bench and cried himself to sleep, ignoring the pouring rain and the pain in his abdomen, not having eaten since yesterday morning.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3: Hope Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 56 Minutes