Chapter 5: The Hole

You could tell by the look on Spitfire's face that you weren't only digging yourself a hole, but taking a nosedive into said hole. There was really only way to explain the look she had right now was devastation. It was as if you told her she was being kicked out of the Wonderbolts, and being exiled to the deepest part of the Everfree. You could feel your heart trying to rip it's way out of your chest, but if you went along with it, you would only be delaying the pain.

"I was trying to calm Spitfire down, and then we, uh, well" you say, unable to finish, as not only was it painfully obvious, but was also painful to watch Twilight's face distort into sadness.

"But, but, I thought you were finally going to reciprocate my feelings for you!" Spitfire said while shoving you to the ground.

"No, but I thought we could talk about them, figure out what to do, but you ran and I-"

"You chased after me, which made me think you were coming to tell what you felt about me, and then you hugged me, and I thought that meant you..." Spitfire said, unable to continue, as she was about to completely lose herself to her tears.

You couldn't take it anymore, the sobbing, the tears, the heartache, so you ran. You didn't know when, but at some point you started to fly, faster than you had ever before. It felt as though you were racing the pain, trying to get away from it, and that made you hit "the wall". You suddenly felt your wings slam to your sides, and then the only thing keeping you moving was the momentum you had created, and that, was about to send you into a cliff.

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You came to in a crater. You looked around and saw the cliff you hit around 50 miles away, somehow your unconscious body caused you to bounce about, eventually hitting dirt and creating the crater you currently sat in. You had no idea where you were, it was like nothing you've seen before. There were huge cliffs, and then deep forests, right next to each other. As you looked around you saw a few broken trees, obviously you had hit them at some point. As you continued your scan of the area you noticed that there was water in the crater you were sitting in, as you tried to get up you felt a sharp pain from your right wing and chest. You looked at the wing and saw it laying next to you, limp and mangled, you then check on your ribs, and were saw that your entire right side was fractured.

Looks like I'll be staying in this hole for a while then, you think, how ironic.

You managed to chuckle at the irony in this situation. You had managed to dig yourself into a hole with Spitfire, and now, you literally were in a hole, and you had no way out due to your mangled body. You silently wish your friends could see you now, at least they could share in the laughter with you, and then they would manage to carry you out of this hole and into the nearest hospital, wherever that might be.

Then it occurred to you that you have no idea where "here" is. That only helps to make your situation worse, seeing as not only were you crippled, but you weren't going to be easy to find. What the hell was I thinking you think to yourself while attempting to look for anything nearby that could provide food. Looks like your luck could only get worse, since you now knew you were in a deciduous forest, and that meant only one thing that you cared about.

No apples, and no hope of there being anything hanging from the trees. As if Celestia was trying to get back at you for hurting her best flyer, as small animal, a squirrel came over the edge of the crater, and your stomach growled.

Oh no, please Celestia don't make me eat him, please!

The you learned that Celestia, or mother nature, had one sick sense of humor. As you sat there trying to get your mind off the small furry creature that was staring at you, a strong storm had begun to form, and while you attempted to shield yourself, a bolt of lighting struck the squirrel. You remember hearing from one of your more, unique, friends that when animals are hit by lighting they are flash fried, and could be eaten. Then the fried corpse fell down next to you, and the rain stopped, obviously that was an accident because you could see a light yellow Pegasus with a blue mane pushing the could away. Then the smell of the cooked rodent began to enter your nose...

SERIOUSLY?! WHY DOES THIS DAMNED SQUIRREL HAVE TO SMELL SO GOOD?!

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It's been 2 weeks. You know your wing is almost healed, and your ribs healed enough for you to walk after 2 days. For those two days, and most of the days after, you were forced to eat meat. Not just any meat, rabbit meat, squirrel meat, even bird meat. You knew that saying that you had done any of those things to the ponies back in Ponyville, especially Fluttershy would cause enough of an uproar that you'd be exiled into the Everfree, but you couldn't think of that right now, you had to find your next source of food soon, as the sun was going down and you were starving. Within 5 minutes of looking you found a fairly large rabbit with it's leg stuck in a hole. Looks like you're having rabbit tonight...

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You flap your wing, testing it out before trying to actually fly. It's been around 4 days since you found the large rabbit, and you haven't had to find food since, and you still have a bit left, just enough that no matter where in Equestria you were, you would have enough to make it home. After your wing test checked out, and the board was green you grabbed the makeshift bag you made and flew off in the direction you came from, which you guessed was straight opposite of the cliff you had flown into.

After around an hour of straight flying you saw what looked like a town over the horizon. Not wanting to get too close you flew out in the direction of what seemed to be a welcome sign. "Appleloosa", great that meant you were in the Mild West, and fairly far from Ponville. Guess that means I better fly fast, or I won't make it before I run out of food, you think while trying to figure out which way Ponyville is. Thankfully you heard a conductor yell from the nearby train station that the train that was about to leave was heading for Ponyville.

This might be easier than I thought...

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You've been on the roof of one of the train cars for around 2 days now, your food is mostly gone, but there's still enough for a few more days if you ration it better. Just as you pull your head out of the bag you see a familiar town come into view...

Ponyville.

You quickly hopped off the train, and you flew in the direction of the Everfree forest, planning to dispose of the rabbit meat, but again, fate decided to make things extremely hard for you...

"HEY!" you hear a familiar cyan Pegasus yell, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!"

You stopped and she lightly crashed into you, she had obviously seen you a ways back and had been trying to catch up to the train. "Hey, Rainbow" you say as she shakes her head.

"Where the hell have you been? Everyone's been worried, especially Spitfire. We thought you were dead!"

Oh shit, why is Spitfire still here?! I thought she would have left after my outburst!

"By the way, what's in the bag?"

FUCK!

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After explaining to Rainbow that because of where you ended up you were forced to eat meat, mainly rabbits, you cringed and covered your face, expecting a swift punch, yet you were hugged by Rainbow.

"What are you doing?" you say while trying to push her away.

"I'm happy that you were able to find a way to survive with your wing and ribs hurt like that"

I am so confused right now... you think, then as Rainbow lets go you smell something, Berries?

"Here let me take you to the rest of the girls, I'm sure they'll be so happy to see you!"

You quietly followed Rainbow, now noticing how toned her body is...

Stop thinking like that you moron! Bad! Bad!

You spent the rest of the flight over trying to get her smell out of your head, but it seems that was pointless, as when Rainbow directed you into Sugar Cube Corner you were bombarded by hugs from the 6 girls that had been waiting there, and each of their scents were engraved into your mind. Fluttershy smelled fresh, like a flower. Twilight smelled like books, and of trees. Rarity smelled like high class perfume. Applejack smelled like fresh apples. Pinkie smelled like baked goods, and Spitfire smelled like...

tears.

That was the final straw for you, and you broke down, the past few weeks now sinking in. You only met these girls a month ago, and they are already this attached to you. Even with you having burnt a book by scaring Spike, fighting Big Mac, and beating Rainbow Dash, they still wanted you to be safe and happy. Spitfire had even cried after you had turned her love away, and was extremely happy to see you back mostly injury free. As you collapsed to the ground you cried for the first time in almost 10 years.

As the girls watched you hit the floor their reactions were what you had expected, fear. The when they heard the sobbing they could only think about what you must have gone through out in the wild, and when Pinkie was being Pinkie, she hit your bag, and the last leg of the rabbit was thrown out, landing right in front of you, which made you cry even harder. Unlike before you weren't crying out of happiness, but out of shame.

They'll think I'm a monster! They'll throw me out! They'll never want to see me aga-

You thoughts were interrupted by an orange hoof, soon to be joined by 6 other hooves of different colors, that was placed on your shoulders.

Oh sweet Celestia, they're just going to beat me to death!

Then they came. No hits, no yelling, no "Get out!"s, but rather, a large hug from each of them...

"Why are you guys doing this? I'm a monster!" you manage to say through the tears.

"No you're not, you did what you had to do to survive, we can't hate you for that" you heard Applejack say

"Yeah, we're just happy to see you alive and well again" you hear Rainbow say.

As if you needed any other reason to keep crying. You decided though to also show how happy you were by pulling them all closer, somehow managing to hug all of them at the same time. That only managed to make them cry a little, and a few kisses were given to you, but you had no idea from who. You knew one was Spitfire, as she had a very distinct taste, but the other two confused you, they were both different from each other, and came from opposite sides.

After around thirty minutes of sobbing and hugging everyone broke apart and then you were pulled aside by Spitfire.

"So, do you know if you love me or not?"

"I don't know, but if you stay here in Ponyville, I think I'll be able to give you an answer. I promise"

Somehow Pinkie heard you say "promise" and was immediately in your face, trying to get you to Pinkie Swear.

"Cross my heart hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!"

What have I gotten myself into...