To Look in a Mirror

by Materious17

Chapter 7

"As a young colt I played in this gorge. I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't need a guide, even though in my mind I liked to imagine I was bluffing. My family lived just outside Ponyville at the time and this gorge was my favorite playground. I was always fascinated by it but as a colt I didn't understand a lot of what the gorge was telling me. It would rumble a bit and I was do my best to stay standing or run just on home. I made a little fort at the top of the gorge and that's where I decided to set up base camp now."

"One day however the shaking got worse than usual, and my parents were with me. A wall collapse and my parents and I were trapped under a pile of rubble. The only thing that protected me was my father's back that supported the tons of rocks from crushing me with them. I opened my eyes in the dust filled rubble to see an oddly shaped geode not two inches from my face. I was so scared at that moment I kicked the rock out as hard as I could and the daylight was bright and welcoming."

"My parents died in that rockslide and that geode I saw was the key to my survival, shortly after I crawled out, I noticed the very same geode inscribed on my flank as a cutie mark. Do you understand why I cover it up now? This cutie mark marks the moment I lost my parents to this forsaken gorge, it's brought me nothing but pain over the years. I was put into a relocation program for orphans and lived with my cousins in Baltimare. They had my parents unburied and held a funeral service there."

"One year my oldest cousin gave me my mother's old cell phone. When I got old enough I reactivated its service plan and I call it every day to leave a message, hoping that my mother somehow can listen to it. I moved to Manehatten and entered the geology program at the university so that I can fully understand why I lost my parents that day, and that I may be able to teach others the dangers of this gorge with the knowledge it can bring us."

"Wonderful story isn't it..." Fluttershy stopped walking when I mentioned the landslide and I could see she felt as sad as I always have since then. I tried to lighten the mood a little but the pain returned to my legs.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..." Tears filled Fluttershy's eyes as she regrets her naive sentiment about my cutie mark earlier. "It wasn't my place to ask that of you, please forgive me." she continued with her unnecessary apology.

Wincing in pain as I looked at her, I snuck a small smile in to show forgiveness.

"It's alright Fluttershy, you have shown me that I don't need to be such an outcast any more. I always felt like this cutie mark only brings me pain but right now I'm smiling. I'm smiling that I have found a great friend and am even capable to share my story with someone for once."

I looked towards the distance and saw the nearby search and rescue camp we established the night before and sighed in relief.

"Hey look, we made it out alive, together."