Life is full of all sorts of potholes. Some bigger than other, some deeper than other. Some potholes' falls hurt, other might even completely break you. Some potholes, however, can change your life. So, what is a mare to do when she finds herself falling into one?
Another evening in Ponyville’s market, another stack of bits to cart home. Sure, Carrot Tops’ profit was fairly modest. Sure, it was just maybe enough to barely break even. Sure, maybe it wasn't enough to pay off her crippling debt. And sure-... Oh who was she kidding? Her profits today were pitiful; more so than usual. Worse yet this seemed to be a continuous trend that just got worse every time she came to market. Each time she opened a shop her sales were down by nearly a quarter from last time.
Another day, another portinable dent in her savings; she was never getting that vacation… The emotionally frazzled and exhausted mare ran her hoof through her puffed up mane as she wagoned her overstock of carrots and “profits” back home. A singular question running through her head. Well several actually, but the most notable of which being just what was going wrong?
The second and more pressing thought however aimed to try and solve the first. How was she supposed to compete? The Apples had the cat’s share of arable land, they had numbers, they had the backing of The Princess of Friendship, and a hefty stack of bits due to a grant received directly from THE Princess themselves! If not for the fact that Carrot Top’s family had lived on this small plot of land for generations, well and the fact she didn't exactly have the bits to move, she would have long since skipped town for a more favorable location.
This wasn't to say she had anything against the Apples. On the contrary they were nice enough from the few interactions she had with them. She evenly briefly flirted with Big Mac for a time before he went jumping from mare to mare. It was just, they had a monopoly on Ponyville. Outside of Fluttershy buying carrots for Angel and the occasional pony looking to diversify their normal diet, she rarely saw business. Let alone profits. Most days in the market were bland uneventful blurs of time in which she tried to get ponies attention. Most of whom seemed uninterested in her sales or ignored her outright. Maybe Ponyville was just growing tired of her beloved vegetables. Even the wind seemed uninterested in her goods anymore, as it frequently seemed to make a purposeful route around her stall if possible.
It was enough to drive a mare mad, or glum in this case. Over the past few months, particularly, she could feel the energy slowly being sapped from her. She no longer had a spring in her stride. Her smile no longer beamed hues of golden back at the ponies she passed. Her mane's normal pompf had slowly begun to deflate like a balloon despite her best efforts. Things didn’t even seem nearly as lively as they once had.
On the contrary, her steps were now longer, slower, like they were made of stone. Her smile felt heavier as if weights were constantly trying to pull it down till even her crystalline teeth no longer even broke through. The once lustful shine of her prized mane had seemingly begun to fade. The crisp orange hues once of nearly golden had become dull like stone. Even Pinkies' normal shenanigans and whimsical tunes seemed to have lost their spark.
She wasn't sure why she felt so particularly glum these past few harvest. It wasn't like they were much worse than usual. So why was no creature buying? There couldn't be that far of a gap between her and the apples, could there? She didn't feel like the gap was growing. Her whole life had been spent playing second fiddle to the Apples, and the Pears for that matter, after all. It wasn't like any pony was trying something new. She didn't use any new fertilizer. The Apples didn't introduce new help and she didn't think the whole town had suddenly become allergic to carrots through some strange magical mishap. So if nothing was new and it wasn't the Apples stealing the spotlight what was it?
Even her normally prized carrots these past few cycles seemed to suffer from the strange phenomenon. As if the other ponies’ neglect had also pushed them into a state of depression. Their normal vibrant hues of orange no longer radiated the same sheen of health. They instead seemed to slouch to one side seemingly in a gesture of sympathy to their favored farmer. All the while the normal welcoming ground seemed callus to these events; growing hard as if not to be infected with her sorrow like her beloved tap roots. As a result plowing it had become harder and less productive. Dust storms seemed to frequently spur up out of nowhere. Making the whole farm seem more like a grave yard of weeds than a farm. A grave yard might have been quite apt too, given nothing seemed to visit it but her anymore. Even the birds had seemingly lost their appetite for her carrots.
Was it Discord? Did he bewitch her to a terrible fate? Fluttershy insisted he would never and the Draqonquese also stated he had done no such thing. He was “reformed after all” and “what fun would [he] gain from just making a farm wither away? Making the Carrot leaves pull out rabbits instead, now that would be funny.” While she wanted to say her gut didn't believe him… His track record did seem to support his claim; this kind of misery wasn't his modus operandi. That left her with zero guesses and a dozen questions. Her whole life felt like it was sinking into a sink hole, and she had no way out.
The whole ordeal felt like an anchor tied tightly around her neck, causing her head to lower until it nearly touched the very dirt road she walked. Her fluffy mane hung overhead, blocking her view from the path ahead. Though that hardly mattered given she was moving slow enough, any pony could have cleared her way before she ran into them. Plus she knew the path home on muscle memory alone. So she didn't bother to even try and pick her heavy head back up this time. Instead she let out a long sigh she had let build up for a while now; closing her eyes in pondering thought.
Unfortunately, muscle memory would work against her today. As only a few minutes later, as she took another long heavy step forward, she failed to notice there was no path ahead of her. Instead a large empty hole rested in front of the ginger mare. A hole her hoof would soon have the misfortune of stumbling into. Having failed to notice it she brought all her weight forward, causing the mare to suddenly lurch forward and fall head first in. She let out a shrill yelp as the sudden shift in momentum sent her, rather light, cart flying forward like a catapult; flinging the carrots into the air. Only for them to plummet into the ground around her like a hail of arrows. The cart let out a loud crashing sound as it hit the side of the hole, causing its wheel to fly off into a nearby bush, taking out a park bench in the process, while the cart itself was flung into a lamp post. The end result being a crushed lamp post and the cart breaking into dozens of splintered pieces. Carrots landed everywhere, some in trees, one in a window, a couple on the nearby roof and even one inside an unfortunate chimney. The whole scene looked like a warzone by the time all the pieces had settled.
All the while the orange haired mare was hurled into the depth of the abnormal hole. A hole that seemed to go much deeper than it would have appeared from the outside, but not long enough to give the mare time to react. Swiftly thereafter Carrot Top’s face became fairly intimate with the ground as her muzzle was plunged into its soft, wet depths; soon followed by the rest of her body crashing on top of that. Thankfully nothing was hurt but her pride, and her wallet given the state of the cart…
With a sharp tug she pulled her face out of the dirt, not unlike an ostrich pulling its head out of the sand, while she tried to rearrange herself into a proper sitting position. All the while spitting the grainy dirt out of her mouth like some sort of pony, dirt, water fountain thing. While Carrot Top didn't care for dirt in her mouth, over the years she had become accustomed to its taste due to her particular profession of choice, but this moist earth in the depths of the hole had a particularly bad tang to it/ So much so it caused her to stick out her tongue in disgust as she tried to wipe it off with her hooves. After letting out an audible gag of disgust and a quick brush to clean her mane; she looked up to see just how far she'd fallen.
Unfortunately, it was a pretty deep rut, several ponies deep at least. Least that's what it looked like from the bottom, though the faded light of the evening made the edge of the hole blur together with the sky, so it was hard to tell for sure. For all she knew that length could have been double her guess or half it.
Her lips shifted to one side and arched down in frustration. She gave herself a sarcastic, congratulatory congratulations for the blunder before attempting to dig her hoof into the walls to try and climb out. Unfortunately the soil was much like that of her home. Cold, callus and herded. Her hoof did little more than lightly chip off specs of dust off its surface. It felt more like rock than proper soil.
She lightly grimaced at this, but like her mother taught her, nothing in life is ever easy. With a renewed set of determination from the practical life advice the mare practically punched her hoof into the wall to try and pull herself out. To her credit this seemingly worked, for all of five moments anyway. After taking a moment to push all of her hooves firmly into the wall; then taking her first hoof out to push it back in higher up, the ground gave way under her weight. With a loud crunch of sorts the dirt under her hooves came loose, sending her tumbling back down like a tumbleweed in the breeze. The mare was not so easily dismayed though, no hole could keep her contained. Sadly, this seemed to be no simple hole. As the hole, much like the creatures of Ponyville, seemed to ignore her efforts. Not caring how hard she worked. Leaving her best efforts fruitless. Each attempt having diminishing returns as her body only grew tired and heavy. This futile cycle of trying to get out became more pitiful with each attempt continuing on for an hour or so till finally the mare was left a painting mess. She was a Carrot farmer not a mountain goat and that showed here.
Well climbing wasn't an option but maybe she could dig her way out?... Celestia, she was going to be the rest of her life if she went with an idea like that with how hard the dirt was and no tool to clear it… A frustrated bemoan of disapproval escaped Carrot Top as her head tilted back. This wasn't how she was planning to spend her evening! Now she was going to be behind tomorrow's crop rotation! Maybe some creature would turn up? She was on the outskirts of Ponyville at dark so it was unlikely any pony would be out this way. It wasn't usual however for Starlight’s students to often roam the town after class but before curfew. An odd hole surrounded by carrots and a destroyed wagon also seemed to be the kind of thing that would attract them like moths to a flame too. With that in mind she rubbed her cheek and sat back in thought. Seeing as sitting was about the only thing she could do, she let her mind drift and wander while she awaited help. Had the mare been in the right frame of mind this wasn't a problem, but in her current state, this would only make her situation worse. Least without falling into the downward spiral of stress.
At first it was the panic of being stuck inside the hole. Following that came the panic of falling behind on her farming that hit her. Sure, the thought only applied if she ever made it out of this stupid, Celestia forsaken, hole. Seriously, who puts a hole in the middle of a perfectly good road? Then again, she was talking about Ponyville, the town that seemed to practically be a magnet for the abnormal. Maybe it was just a sinkhole? Ponyville wasn't known for them, like at all, but she’d seen pigs fly, when Discord took over that was, so… As such her mind didn't get to wander on that dead end train of thought for long as it quickly drifted back into panic. The thought of having to work nearly twice as hard, if not then more so, just to break even when she got out. The longer, more exhausting hours. The sad thought of her decrepit fields wilting from their increasingly poor maintenance. Work she would have to put in on top of the already increasing work hours to just try and return her wilting carrots back to their former glory. Every thought made her yearn for the now seemingly distant memory of when the golden era of harvest.
After that came the denial. No, It couldn't really be happening. It was all just one big nightmare from that Tantabus thing again wasn't it? She wasn't really in a hole nor running a diminishing farm, right? I mean what really were the odds every pony just suddenly stopped buying carrots right? It was all just one big farce. One awful nightmare. Though as much as the mare tried to gas light herself, she wasn't so disillusioned that she really believed her own lies. No matter how hard she might wish this waking world were a nightmare she knew she was awake. She knew this was reality.
Next came the frustration as she realized this. Rather maybe shame might have been a more apt description since that was the overwhelming feeling caused by said frustrations. Even more so than maybe the frustrations itself. As the pieces came into perspective, she only grew more stymied. The more she grew stymied, the more heat rushed to her cheeks for failure to be able to overcome any of this. Like any good farmer Ponyville her pride was interlocked with her self reliance. To fail her harvest was a black mark against her own self worth. To fail to get out of a simple hole HAD to be proof of her incompetence.
With the embarrassment came the worst case scenarios that only served to fuel this self loathing and self destructive thought. She'd be stuck living off pity grants from the Princess with nothing to show for it if she didn’t get the situation under control. Worst of all every creature would know it too, She panicked. A thought that hit the remaining bit of her pride and self dignity particularly hard. She used to have the nickname of Golden Harvest around town from her diligent care and hard work ethic she put into her harvest by herself. That was a golden era though; an era she hadn't been in for months now and from the looks of it would never return too. What would she be known as when her farm was little more than a weed field and she lived on grants? Probably something dumb like Failed Harvest. The idea made her head shake in both embarrassment and disgust. No pony would want to be friends with a failure. Even her earth pony magic had seemed to abandon her for this very reason. What else could explain her failing harvest.
Then came the bargaining. Barging with nothing in particular but barging for anything to avoid that horrible fate. She’d even take Zecora’s monkey paw; consequences be damned. She’d live with dealing with a thousand bugbears if it just meant pulling herself out of this cave. She’d put up with Discord’s hijinks all day and for the rest of her life, if it meant she could just go back to the way things were.
Then finally bitter acceptance. The bitter, biter acceptance. It's cold waters snuffing out the last embers of her fight and pride. Her head drooped like a rock as she came to understand she couldn't escape this hole. This rut. She would forever be stuck in it till the day she died. Forever destined to only sink deeper in.
Her head hung limp for a, for- For who knew how long… She didn't care. Time seemed interchangeable and as meaningless as her efforts. Minutes were hours and hours were but mere seconds in this hole. It wasn't till she heard the distant squawking of one of Fluttershy's roosters that she realized just how long she'd been sitting down there. While she didn’t raise her head, initially, she did however bring her hoof up to brush her orange mane out of the way so that her eyes could still see.
Celestia’s, or was it Twilight’s now, wonderful heavenly light had begun to break past the baby blue morning sky. Giving the sky a deep, cool, azure coat to it; clear of any clouds that might have otherwise blocked the almost picturesque view. She didn't often take time to simply admire the sky anymore these past few harvests. She had been so preoccupied trying to salvage her failing farm that she simply forgot how nice such small moments were. To simply stop and admire the simple, yet majestic things in life that made the hard, awful days worth getting up for.
Within moments the warm, golden rays finally washed down into the cave like a surge of life-giving waters, washing away the darkness and her worries with it. If not forever than at least for now and that was good enough. Well, the world certainly didn't look like it was going to end, so why did she act like it over a few bad harvests?
She felt a small genuine smile, the first in a long time, grow past her muzzle as the light finally revealed the actual edges of the hole. It wasn't nearly as far as she thought it had been. She could climb out of it, given enough tries at least, and if she couldn't then some pony- err creature, would eventually stumble upon her. With that the mare gave a grunt of effort as she got back up to her hooves.
“Alright, let's try this again,” she decaled before letting out a small giggle that caused her iconic golden smile to slowly form again. Her eyes locked to the top of the hole; with a determined stare. Even when she inevitably fell back down her eyes remained deadlocked on her end objective with an almost ferocious gaze of primal determination; refusing to lose sight of it once again.
One attempt turned into two and two into several. Each attempt was closer but never quite met the mark. Sweat had begun to form along the edge of her brow as her breath became heated and labored. Her strikes into the dirt were slower and attempts took longer, but they never lost their convection. Each step was still overflowing with the same tenacity as the last, if not more so, to make up for her tiering body.
Another grunt forced itself out Carrot tops muzzle as her flank struck the ground near the bottom of the rut. Her body had become increasingly tired from her ever rising number of attempts. She couldn't stop however, she knew that much. She could make it to the top, she just needed to give it another shot. One hoof. Then two. Now three lengths higher than her last attempt. End goal in sight. So close, and yet still out of reach. If she could just… Hoof outstretched; she could just barely taste the topsoil with her fetlock.
“Ha!” She cheered; only for the soil to inevitably give way and cause the mare to smack back down to where she started. A shrill yelp of pain escaped her as the air was knocked out of her from the sudden smack. This caused the mare to roll around in silent anguish. Though not from the sudden lack of air but from another failed attempt.
At this rate if she could stand on her mounting failures she could have easily walked out of the hole. No, she re-assured herself, now was not the time for such thought. She was getting closer, she could get out. She just needed to try again. No matter how tempting it may have been to just stop, just to end the pain and misery of failure she HAD to continue.
“Alright, one more time,” she muttered to herself, “from the top.” The carrot mare’s next attempt would be interrupted before it ever began.
“There you are!” A familiar voice practically sang, through the garbled pain of a particularly nasty hangover, “We’ve been, looking all over for you!”
“Berry!” Carrot Top beamed back, “Oh Celestia I’ve never been so thrilled to see you! I could kiss you my friend!”
“Uh I’m taken? You know that, you were there for tha wedding.” Berry Punch replied in a confused tone; the lingering effect of inebriation having muddled her normal thought process. To which Carrot Top let out a sigh, she loved her friend but admittedly her frequent bouts of intoxication could leave Carrot Top irritated with frustration.
“Yes I know. Hey, do you mind helping me out of this real quick?”
“Hu?” The purple coated mare blinked, “Oh, Of ‘curse!” she giddily hiccupped.
“Erm I mean of course,” Berry giggled before her eyes lazily glanced around for something to use. Her eyes quickly widening at something out of the sight of Carrot Tops limited perspective. A moment later the wine coated mare bounced out of sight.
“Berry!” Carrot Top desperately whined, “come back!”
“One second, Tops!” Berry called back before coming back with a rather short shovel, “Use this.” She instructed as she tossed it down. The shovel was rather rusty and in poor disrepair. Dinks and holes lined its metal, with rust long having eaten away at its edges from its once heavy use. Mildew even seemed to be setting in on the ancient wood. It was a rather disgusting look and looked like it would give her tetanus just from looking at it. The thought caused Carrot Top to grimace in revulsion. That thing would hardly cut day old butter left out in the sun never mind the compact dirt.
“I uh? Thanks?” Carrot Tops stumbled on words, unsure how to even reply to something in this poor condition. “Where did you even get this?”
“Over there,” Berry pointed, seeming to forget Carrot Top could quite see outside her rut. Carrot Top just sighed and nodded and rather than arguing with the mare decided to test the spade. When life gives you lemons and all that, she figured. Surprisingly despite its weathered appearance its wood was still sturdy. Sturdy enough it gave Carrot Top an alternative idea for the shovel.
“Catch!” Carrot Top warned before tossing the spade back up towards her lilac tinted friend. To Berry's credit, despite her hang over and slow reactions she managed to catch the spade. Though not before fumbling it about in her hooves and sending it crashing back down on Carrot Top.
“Uhh… Aren't you, supposed to use it,” Berry asked as she racked her head with a free hoof, “I’m not much of a digger.”
“Just hold on tight and hold it outstretched. I’m going to grab it and then you’re going to help pull me out,” Carrot Top explained.
“Hu? Oh! Yea, I got you Tops,” Berry assured with a botched, mock salute before putting both her hooves on the shaft end of the spade and lowering the blade to Carrot Top. With A deep breath Carrot top leapt up; grasping the cutting edge before quickly pulling herself to a more secure position on the other end of the shaft. Berry let out a grunt as she started to pull up while carrot top attempted to climb the shovel.
“Gha! You’re, heavier, than, you look!” Berry complained through exerted grunts of effort. Carrot top was about to reply when the lock splintering of wood could be heard. Carrot Tops eyes widened in horror as the wood began to crack down the middle. No she was so close, her hair was even sticking out the top. In a sudden thoughtless act of adrenaline she kicked her hooves against the wall and propelled herself up; grasping the ledge as the spade broke in two. Sending the blade to the bottom and Berry Punch flying back.
Berry landed on her flank with a grunt; blinking in a bit of a daze as the sudden momentum raddled around her head. A bad mix with her inebriation. This caused the mare to wince and close her eyes in pain as her hoof ran along her temples.
“Gha, sweet Celestia…” Berry complained, her short lived moment of pain would be short lived as the cries of Carrot Top reached her ears.
“Berry I’m slipping back in!” Carrot Top practically screamed as her fore hooves struggled to keep her on the ledge. The holes edge started to crumble under the mare's weight until finally the inevitable happened. Carrot Top's eyes clenched in anticipation for what would come next.
To Carrot Top’s surprise however, the familiar sensation of free fall did not come. Instead she was suspended in mid air. She blinked and looked up to see Berry Punch struggling to hold her hoof and pull her back up.
“Hurry up, and climb out!” Berry demanded with a grunt. Carrot Top’s cheeks briefly filled with a bashful heat before she finally pulled herself out of her rut, with Berry’s help of course.
“Thanks,” Carrot Top Finally said as she finally made it to the top side.
“Think nothing of it,” Berry bemoaned as she laid on her back in exhaustion. Carrot Top shot Berry a thankful smile that would never be seen before turning her attention to the state of her wagon. It was worse than she feared. It was utterly ruined. To even Carrot Top’s surprise however she didn’t let out a sharp sigh followed by a long whine. Instead she simply got up and started to put the pieces back together. Well the best she could anyway. Even if the cart could be fixed it would never be the same. Not to take into account the near hundreds of carrots scattered about, ruined and often in unreachable places.
“Oh well,” Carrot Top shrugged, “I’ll just make it up later,” She told herself; lacking her prior stress from just the day before. It was… A nice change of pace; even if she found herself worse off. Though as Carrot Top began to go and collect the pieces Berry stopped her.
“I know that cart was your life,” Berry stopped to suppress a hiccup as she laid her hoof on Carrot Tops shoulder in sympathy, “er lively hood,” she corrected, “so what are you going to do now?”
“Pick up the pieces and fix it I guess,” Carrot Top calmly answered as she scooped up a few splinters of the cart, “whatever happens I'll manage.”
“Well, at least let me help,” Berry added as she began handing over some fragments to Carrot Top. Another smile of gratitude carpet across Carrot Tops face. She wanted to say thank you, but the words choked up in her throat, causing a few tears to bubble up. It was as if all the stress, the worries and pain that had been building up in her over the past months were released in that one moment. Pouring out into her friends shoulder till they were purged from her system entirely. All she could do was croak out an incoherent statement to her friend. Though no actual words were spoken, Berry knew Carrot top well enough for the message to be sent loud and clear.
Berry shot a comforting smile down at Carrot Top as she gently rubbed her back. The two shared a long wordless conversation for what minuets until finally Carrot Top composed herself; giving Berry punch a small nod. For simple words could not do the depths of her gratitude justice, but that simple tired, smile conveyed what books of words could not. Berry in turn simply smiled back in kind, as the two mares began picking up the pieces togther.
