Chapter 8: The Accident

The next morning you woke up before Applejack, most likely because the guest from was west facing, so the sun wouldn't wake her, and she had essentially cried herself to sleep. Knowing that her getting her rest was important you attempted to sneak out of bed, only to find out that she had latched onto one of your legs, and she wasn't letting go. You struggled to try and get free without waking her, but you attempts failed as she woke up due to the shaking motion.

"Good mornin'" she said as she sat up, rubbing her eyes, "You sleep well?"

"Did you?" you asked, knowing that she would probably say no.

"Not really, I had a bad dream last night..." Applejack said as she slowly got out of bed, avoiding eye contact with you.

"What was it?" you asked, afraid that she wouldn't talk to you for the whole day.

"It's nothin', don't worry about it" she said as she grabbed her hat off a chair that was in the room. You guessed that if she left she wouldn't bring it up again, so you shot off the bed and blocked the door. She shot you a look and tried to push you out of the way, but even with her Earth pony strength, you were unmovable.

"Tell me what the dream was about" you said sternly, lowering yourself down to her level, "I just want to make sure you're okay"

"Fine, I'll tell ya!" Applejack said, irritated at your persistence. She walked back over the the bed and sat down, patting the spot next to her as a way of telling you to sit as well.

"So what happened?" you asked as you sat down, wrapping a wing around her, hoping that it would help to comfort her.

"Last night, I had a really bad dream" Applejack said, clearing her throat before she continued, "In it you went the hospital to get your wings cut off, think that by doing so, I would love you more, but..."

"But what?" you asked softly, seeing tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"The surgery went wrong, and you went into a coma, but because of the costs we had to pull you off life support, and you..." Applejack said, as she barely managed to hold back her tears, "you died". Now tears flowed freely from her face as she broke down. She clung to you as if you were going to disappear if she didn't, and you slowly rubbed her back with you hoof, and nuzzling her head, in an attempt to calm her down.

"It's okay Applejack, I'd never do something as stupid as that" you said when she finally started to calm down, "I may not like that I'm a Pegasus, but I wouldn't cut off my wings"

"You wouldn't?" Applejack asked, tears still falling from her face.

"Of course I wouldn't" you replied, giving her a light kiss, "If I was going to do that, I would have done it a long time ago". Applejack didn't respond, but instead looked at you with questioning eyes, wondering what part of your past would make you want to cut off your wings. Knowing that she would need to know your cutie mark story for it to make any sense, you quickly repeated everything you had said to Med the day before, down the the very last detail.

"What changed?" Applejack asked as you finished your story, "What made you change from loving to fly, to hating it?"

"Well, it happened about a year after I started at the flight school..."

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It was a morning like any other. Your alarm would go off, you would have a shower, get dressed, and fly off towards you first class. It had only been two weeks since your one year anniversary at the Canterlot flight school, but it felt as though you had been there all your life. Everypony knew you, and you knew everypony. At the time you were the best flier in the school, and had been hand picked by Spitfire and Soarin to join their elite class, where they would teach prospective Wonderbolts the tools of the trade. Today was group flying, mixed together with using a smoke trail.

Knowing that elite classes started on time every time you quickly flew towards the edge of Canterlot, towards the clouds that they had set up for the elites to practice on. As you got closer you saw a few of your friends pull up beside you. Big Shot and Small Fry. Two of your best friends in the entire school, ironically one being the biggest stallion in school, and the other being the smallest. When they pulled up beside you the three of you did quickly sped up, racing one another to the cloud where Soarin waited.

"Nice of you three to show up early" Soarin said, not being sarcastic as the other students had yet to show up. You and your friends decided to goof off before class started and begun to play tag, using your smoke trails to make the game harder. To the three of you, it was the best game ever, to Soain and Spitfire, who had just shown up herself, it was practice for today's lesson. When the other three students in the elite class arrived you all landed in unison, side by side, and got ready to learn.

"Today we will be practicing group flying and smoke trails" Soarin said, his voice becoming slightly louder and more authoritative.

"Knowing how to do this is a key part of being a Wonderbolt" Spitfire said as she and Soarin took the the skies, "If you can't do this, then you can't become a Wonderbolt!". When she finished her sentence her and Soarin shot of towards the sky, spiraling around each other while using their smoke trails, and at the highest point they split apart, circling the smoke tower they had just created until they landed back on the cloud.

"First up with be Hot Shot's group" Spitfire said, pointing at the dark red Pegasus that stood in the other group of three. Him and his friends, Fireball and Crisper, were the fire trio. Each of them were a picture of red and orange, and were nearly inseparable. When they flew together they looked like a meteor as it crashes through the atmosphere. Of course that made them Spitfire's favourite team, and that left Soarin as your unofficial team captain.

The trio took off from the cloud, each flying apart to create a triangular shape, and all at once they flew towards one point. When they met up Fireball and Crisper spiraled around Hot Shot, and when they broke about he shot out, visually creating what looked like a volcano in the sky. It was the most amazing thing you had even seen, but he was your competition, you had to beat him, or you could lose your chance to be a Wonderbolt. Knowing that your group would have to do something better if you wanted to pass, you quickly turned around and began to discuss what sort of trick you would do.

"So what's the plan?" Big Shot asked as the three of you got into a huddle.

"We could do something similar to what they did" Small Fry suggested, not one for planning.

"No" you said, knowing that wouldn't work as well as when they did it, "What if we tried to spiral together, and touch hoofs, like the firework trick the Wonderbolts do"

"Are you sure we can do it?" Small Fry asked, worried that due to the odd sizing off the group something could go wrong.

"We can do it, we've practiced it a few times without trouble, and if anything goes wrong they should be able to catch us" you said, trusting that it would work, and if it didn't, you trusted that your instructor would be able to help. The three of you high hoofed and took to your starting positions. On Soarin's count the three of you would shoot towards a single spot, tap hoofs, and fly away, going back to your starting positions. You looked over to Soarin and saw him nodding his head.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1!

The three of you shot up, flying as fast as possible, your smoke trails working seamlessly. As you neared the connection point you saw an air cone building around you and your friends. Just before the neared the point you stopped, allowing enough time for the three of you to touch hooves, but after a few seconds you felt nothing. You looked around and saw your friends plummeting towards the ground. You tried to fly after them, but it was too late. Not even Soarin or Spitfire could have done anything, and the two of them crashed to the ground, horribly mangling their bodies.

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When you finished the story Applejack had her mouth covered with her hooves, horrified that you had to experience such a thing at a young age. It took her a few moments before she could talk again.

"Did they die?" she asked, thinking of what would have happened, and nearly throwing up at the thought.

"No, but they could never fly again" you said, thinking about what happened to your friends after the accident, "Big Shot lost one of his wings because of the way he landed, and now he does building planning for Canterlot. Small Fry now works as part of the management for the Wonderbolts, having only broken his wings, but the recovery time made him lose his speed"

"So, they're okay?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah, we used to keep in touch, but after I left Canterlot we lost touch, and I haven't heard from them since" you said, thinking about the last time you had talked to either of them. They were still in the hospital when you left the flight school, much to their despair. They had tried to talk you into staying, but you didn't listen, and you left, heading home to live out your life as a simple pony.

"So, what happened?" Applejack asked, noticing your far off gaze.

"When I stopped by air cone inverted, and due to my wing size and body shape my air wave was stronger than them, and it caused them to shoot them away from me, and towards the ground..." you said, thinking about what the official report said.

"Did you stop flying because you blamed yourself?" Applejack asked, lightly rubbing between your wings.

"In a way" you said, flexing your wings, "I blamed myself, no matter how many ponies said it was a freak accident. It was then when I wanted to live my life like an Earth pony"

"But why?" Applejack asked as you brought your wing across her back.

"Because, if I was an Earth pony I wouldn't have to fly fast to get anything done, and I wouldn't have to worry about hurting anypony else" you said as you laid back on the bed.

"Oh..." Applejack said as she laid back with you, only to be interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Hey Choco, there's-" Applebloom said as she opened the door, looking inside, "Am I interrupting something?"

"No, no, it's fine, what is it?" Applejack asked for you, getting to her feet so Applebloom would leave.

"There's a Pegasus at the door, he says he wants to talk to Choco about something" Applebloom said as she turned around, making her way down the stairs. You quickly followed suit, Applejack making her way to the bathroom to wash her face, which was still wet from her crying a while ago. As you got the stairs you froze, seeing the Pegasus that Applebloom had mention sitting on the couch.

"Soarin..." you said quietly, attempting to sneak back up the stairs.

"Long time no see Choco" Soarin said, obviously knowing you were there, "What's new?"

"Why are you here?" you asked threateningly, not wanting him to intrude in the happy life you were leading now.

"I wanted to talk to you about something big, something you turned away from many years ago" Soarin said as he got to his hooves, pulling a letter out from inside his saddlebags. He handed in to you, not telling you what it is, and he made his way back to the couch, enjoying a cup of coffee that Granny Smith had made for him. You quickly flipped the letter over, only to see a Wonderbolts insignia on it. Despite you already knowing what was inside you opened it, a slight hope that your guess was wrong. Sadly you weren't that lucky, as inside was an invitation to the Wonderbolts tryouts in two weeks. You quickly threw the letter to the ground and made your way back to the guest bedroom.

"You always were a fast reader" Soarin said, in the doorway as you opened the window.

"Stay away from me you bastard!" you shouted as you jumped out of the window, flying faster than you had in years just so you could get away from him. Why did he have to show up now of all times?!, you shouted inside your head as you looked for a place to hide, How in Celestia's name did he find me?!. After a few minutes of looking you noticed a clearing in the apple orchard to the east of the house, and you quickly landed, hoping that you would not be disturbed if you hid among the trees.