Chapter 4:

The Day After

I awoke the next morning to find the bed empty, a note was sitting on the table next to me and I groggily pulled myself out of the bed and read the note.

"Ratchet,

Don't use the door, I don't feel like trying to explain, I'll tell everypony you slept outside on a cloud or something. Since I know you can fly, just go out the window and come in through the back door. But we need to talk later this afternoon when were alone…

-A.J.

I sat there wondering what she needed to talk about, and did as she said and went out the window and entered through the back door. Everypony was in the kitchen eating what I figured to be lunch and I went back outside since I hadn't been noticed. I decided to go for a stroll through the orchard since I haven't done that yet. I walked for about thirty minutes, enjoying the peace when I stumbled upon a clearing with a large oak in the center, its branches offering subtle shade and places to sit and get comfy. I found a spot between the roots and laid there enjoying it when I heard somepony coming my way.

I sat there wondering who it was, that's when I saw Apple Jack come through the brush, she looked like she was thinking really hard about something then she noticed me.

She looked both confused and distraught at the same time "What are you doing here"

I told her the truth "I saw you and your family eating and decided not to interrupt and go for a walk instead, and then I found this place, its peaceful, kind of helps me to forget the past few days"

She looked confused "whadda yah mean?"

I quickly realized my mistake, I had said too much "um..." I stammered "just getting used to the new area, you know worries and all"

She came and sat next to me looking at the ground. "This is where I used to come when I was little…to get away from the rush of everyday things" I could tell something was bothering her.

I sat up and looked at her "what's bothering you?" I felt like I had something to do with it

She mumbled something but all I could understand were the words "last night" and "mistake" I started to worry.

I asked if she could repeat what she had said and she sighed and said it again this time louder to where I could hear it. "Ah said last night was a mistake, ah shouldn't have let you sleep with me in my bed" my thoughts were right…things did seem too good to be true. I looked down at the ground my day getting worse by the second.

"So that's what you wanted to talk to me about" I tried to hide some of the disappointment in my voice.

She nodded and then spoke again "Ah barely know you, not to mention that you have no way to help support anything or anypony…you don't even have a home…

Her words cut like a razor, straight to the bone.

"Ah need somepony who can support me if need be…and to be honest, you can't do that, and ah don't want to take a change at losing everything". Every bit of hope I had in me left at that point, I felt like I had died all over again except I could still feel pain and heartbreak, and what was worse is that she was right. I had no way of supporting anypony…much less myself. I looked at my hooves then to the sky.

She spoke again "Ah know you mean good but for now you're a friend, nothing more, nothing less" I couldn't believe it…I was just friend zoned. I can understand it happening in my world where everyone knew me as that weird guy, but it hurt when she said it, mainly because she didn't even know what kinda person I was. How loving and caring I could be, all I could muster up was a deflated okay to what she had said.

I stood up looking at the sky; it was growing dark…how long had we been there? I looked away from her I didn't want her to see the hurt in my eyes "I don't want to be a bother…so I'll just go" I leapt from the ground spreading my wings and flew off before she could stop me. I hated leaving her…but I didn't want her to see me upset like I was. The whole time memories of my family, people I had grown close to, friends, even my ex flooded into my mind I thought of the times id never have with them, how I'd never get to say "I love you" to any of them again. I flew for what seemed like hours, till my wings were sore, and found a cloud to rest on…ide never felt so terrible in my life. I only had two things to look up to…I could only move up from here since nothing is lower than rock bottom, and that it wasn't raining again. Out of nowhere a crack of thunder echoed around me and the bottom seemed to fall out of the clouds above me.

"Great…now it's raining…anything else going to fuck up today?" the next thing I knew I was falling through the cloud tumbling towards the ground trying to right myself. The last thing I remembered was falling into a tree and hitting what had to be the largest branch in the entire tree.

I awoke the next morning sore. I tried to fly out of the tree but when I did I plummeted to the ground, my wings didn't seem to do anything. I looked back at them only to see that my right wing was broken. "Great, now I'm walking everywhere…" my day just got bad and I've only been conscious for what two minutes?