Chapter 10: The Plan

After what seemed like hours Applejack returned with Twilight in tow. Thankfully she happened to know a spell breaker, and within minutes Soarin was laid across the floor, his hide legs sticking up at an odd angle. Everypony laughed for a few minutes, until Soarin got up and walked out, taking Small Fry and Spitfire with him. Big Mac and Hooves came towards the table and decided to drink some of the tea that Granny Smith had brought in after Applejack had left.

"So what made you change your mind?" Twilight asked, taking a sip from her tea cup.

"I thought it would be fun" you said sarcastically. She stared at you with no expression.

"I'm not going to tell you why until I know it will work" you said seriously, putting your empty tea cup down. You looked around, noticing that she was the only pony in the room paying any attention to you. Applejack had fallen asleep on the couch, Big Mac and Hooves had left, and Granny was knitting something again. After Twilight finished her tea she moved towards the door, motioning for you to follow her out.

"I know it may seem weird, but do you want me to train you in magic?" Twilight asked as you closed the door behind you.

"Why? I'm a Pegasus, nothing more, nothing less" you said, turning around to head back inside.

"You sure?" Twilight said, stopping you with her hoof, "It might come in handy"

"Nope, I'm fine" you said as you heading inside, giving Twilight her cue to leave. When you went to sit back down you saw Applejack looking at you from the couch questioningly. You walked past her and made your way upstairs, knowing that she would follow you. She proved your assumptions to be correct when moments later her hoof beats could be heard heading up the stairs behind you. Leading her into the guest room you sat down, and patted the spot on the bed next to you to tell her to sit down.

"So, why did you do it?" Applejack asked, obviously meaning you signing the contract.

"I only did it because of the paycheck" you said, not moving a muscle.

"You did it for the money?!" Applejack nearly shouted, "I thought you were better than that!"

"I'm not using the money myself" you said laying back on the bed, "It's for the farm"

"What?" Applejack asked, surprised.

"Big Mac said that with that section of the farm being dead you might lose the farm, so..." you said, looking at her, hoping she understood where you were going with it.

"'So...' What?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow to you.

"I'm going to use my money to keep the farm going, so that you guys don't have to work as hard" you said, sitting up so you could put a foreleg around Applejack's neck.

"But why join the Wonderbolts?" Applejack said as she leaned into you, "I thought you hated them"

"I do, but I realized I only really hated myself" you said, letting her go, "I blamed myself for the accident, but I hated them because it was easy". You laid back on the bed, thinking about what got you to that point. It was mainly Applejack that made you realize it. Small Fry had gotten over it already, and he was in more pain than you because of what happened. He had to watch other Pegasi become Wonderbolts, knowing that he would never become one, and he settled for what he has now, being their manager, which is in a way better than being the captain.

Of course, Applejack telling you that the past is the past, but you can change the future, really helped. You came to terms with what happened just enough to put it in the back of your head until it could be fixed, and it made way for hopes of the future. A future with Applejack, on a farm, not having to worry about money, and with a little pack of colts and fillies running around the house. Yes, you did hate the Wonderbolts, but you had to join them to make the future possible.

"So, you put it behind you, for me?" Applejack asked, laying beside you.

"Pretty much" you said back, nuzzling her cheek.

"How long will you do it for?" Applejack asked, nuzzling you back, "Being a Wonderbolt I mean"

"As long as it takes for me to make sure we won't have to worry about money ever again"

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Here it was. Your first day in a Wonderbolt outfit. When you were a young colt you had dreamed of this moment, but now that it was here, and with all that had happened before it, you hated it. Inside your mind you were picking out every little thing that annoyed you about the current moment. It's too tight. Those ponies outside are too loud. My hooves hurt, you whined, looking around hoping that it would all disappear and you would find yourself at the farm in the guest bed with Applejack in your legs.

"You ready?" Soarin asked, noticing the sweat running down your face.

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess" you said back, only now feeling yourself shaking. You shook your head to try and calm down, but it only made it worse. This is the dumbest thing I have ever done, you thought, thinking about what you were about to do.

"Let's get going guys, the show starts in five!" Spitfire yelled from the other side of the men's dressing room door.

"Come on, you'll be fine, I promise" Soarin said as he pulled you towards the door. There was no turning back now. Everypony in the stadium was going to see you fail, and you knew it. You heard the Equestrian anthem begin, signalling the start of the performance. Your job was to go out with Soarin and Spitfire, and perform the very same trick that had crippled your friends back in flight school.

You quickly got in position below the southern stands. Soarin was in the north east, and Spitfire was in the north west, at the end of the anthem, the three of you would fly towards the middle of the stadium and create a fireworks effect. The anthem was quickly coming to a close, cuing the countdown inside your head.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1!

All three of you flew out from your positions, perfectly in sync with one another. At the last moment you pulled back, causing your air cone to disperse, but this time your two partners still collided, their air waves flying straight towards you.

WHAP!

You were sent spiraling down towards the area underneath Cloudsdale Coliseum. Just before you hit terminal velocity you disappeared from the sky, only to find yourself crash landing in front of Sweet Apple Acres.

"What the..." you head Applejack say as she walked towards the crater you created, "Choco!"

"How's it goin'?" you said weakly as you passed out, the sudden teleport causing you to pass out.

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"Is he going to be okay?" you heard Applejack ask as you woke up, staring at an oddly familiar ceiling.

"It would appear so" Med said while looking at your chart, "No bones broken, nothing seriously bruised, and no internal bleeding"

"Thank Celestia, we would feel so bad if he died on his first day!" Soarin said jokingly in a failed attempt to lighten the mood. Nopony laughed, instead they all just stared at him, Applejack giving him a stare that would scare Nightmare Moon.

"Hey there everypony!" you said lazily, causing all eyes to turn to you.

"He's finally awake!" Small Fry said in a very unbelievable way.

"You always did suck at acting Small Fry" you said, laughing.

"Acting? What acting?" Small Fry said, giving himself away even more. You put a hoof to your face before turning to face Applejack, who was staring at both of you, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Should we just tell her?" Spitfire asked from beside Soarin, who was trying not to laugh.

"Tell me what?" Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow to Spitfire.

"Well, you see..." you said, preparing to tell her what was going on.

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"I swear, if I didn't love you, I would have bucked you into next week" Applejack said as you finished. The plan had been to fake an accident, causing you to be kicked out of the Wonderbolts. Although seeing as you did do some work at the show to make it interesting, they still legally had to pay you your paycheck. Normally it would be seen as a bad idea to fake an accident, but you had the whole team on your side. Small Fry planned it out, Spitfire and Soarin helped practice it with you, and Med was told what would be happening so he wouldn't be surprised.

"Was it worth it?" Applejack asked, looking at you worriedly, "Nearly killing yourself?"

"It will make more sense when you see the amount of bits we'll be getting" you said, smiling happily. A normal Wonderbolts salary is around one to two million bits a show, but when a Wonderbolt gets injured and is forced to resign, it doubles. Your pay was going to be one and a half million bits, but after the accident, it was three million.

"So wait, you're saying you put your own life in danger, to make three million bits" Applejack said, thinking it over in her head.

"Basically" you replied, as if it was a normal conversation.

"What they hay are you going to do with all that money?" Applejack asked, honestly not able to think of a way to spend it all.

"Well, first I'll make sure you guys won't lose the farm anytime soon, and then..." you said, smiling at what you were planning.

"And then, what?" Applejack asked, staring you straight in the eyes.

"Then I will surprise you" you said, climbing out of the hospital bed, "Now, let's go home, I really don't like being here"

"Actually, I have a question for you" Med said, slowly walking out of the dark corner that he had hid in, "Who taught you how to teleport?"

"Nopony did" you said as you grabbed your Wonderbolts suit off a nearby chair, "I knew that my magic works when my life is in danger. I just planned on it working, if it didn't, well then I would have hopefully landed in a lake or something". You turned around to see Applejack staring at you, eyes full of hate.

"I don't think you should have let her hear that part" Spitfire said with laughing. Applejack quickly ran at you, planning to give you a talking to, but you managed to get out the door and out the hospital before she could catch you.

"When we get home you're gonna get it!" Applejack screamed as she ran behind you, her anger helping her to keep up as you started to fly away. Thankfully you saw a rather soft looking cloud to hide in, so you quickly burst into it, and started to push it towards Sweet Apple Acres, planning to stay on it until Applejack had calmed down.