The Frozen Man

     Twilight cleared her throat as she started moving towards the waking human. It was slowly bringing its hand to its head, its groans obvious that there was some serious pain. Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but didn’t know what to say. There was a creature, a sentient creature, that she had never heard of or seen before in a wagon in her library!

     Before she could ask her first question though, the flap of wings and a gust of wind cut her off. Rainbow Dash had flown right up next to the wagon, hovering just six inches away. “Hey, say something!” She said, poking it in the shoulder.

     “Rainbow Dash!” Twilight said, using her magic to grab her friend and pull her back.

     “Wha?” The human asked, a frown forming on his face. Before anypony could respond though, the human sighed. “Ah crap…” His deep voice suggesting that the human was male.

     Leaning over the edge of the wagon, the human gagged and spewed everything in his stomach. Besides the one apple, it was mostly water and acid. Twilight sighed, Spike had just swept.

     Shivering as he wiped the his mouth with the back of his hand, he leaned back in the wagon, keeping his eyes closed. “I am so sorry about that.” He said. "Today hasn't been the greatest so far."

     "Oh?" Twilight cocked her head to the side. "What happened?" Maybe she could get some answers adding as little as possible.

     The human sighed. "Well, turns out I don't know who I am. As in, I don't know where I came from, what my name is, my occupation, all that jazz." Opening his eyes, he brought his hands in front of his face. “And I had this terrible nightmare.” Bringing his hands down to his chest, he let out a sigh. “I hate to be a terrible guest, but do you have any water? I have a pretty bad case of vomit in my mouth.” He said with a small chuckle, before he winced and grabbed his side. “Oh, looks like something really did hit my side.”

     Rainbow flew up beside Twilight’s ear. “It doesn’t seem too dangerous.” She said, looking over to Applejack, who had a growing look of sadness on her face. “Maybe AJ just overreacted?”

     Twilight looked to the orange earth pony, then back to the pegasus. “I think she was just being a little over protective. We still don’t know what all this thing is capable of.” She whispered back before turning to the human. “Of course, I’ll be right back.” She said, making her way into the kitchen. As she was grabbing a glass, she heard another clop of hooves follow her in.

     Turning to the source of the noise, she looked to see a very confused applejack. “Twilight, can Ah talk to ya real quick?”

     “Of course!” She said, using her magic to grab the glass and hold it under the sink.

     Applejack looked over her shoulder and back to Twilight. “Ah don’t…” She took in a deep breath, gaining her composure. “Ah don’t think it meant what it did.” She said, looking Twilight in the eyes.

     Twilight glanced at the faucet while she turned it off and brought the glass up next to her. She hid a small smile while looking away. “Really?”

     Applejack sighed. “The way he talked when I bucked him, he was beggin’ for mercy." She looked back into the main room of the library then back to Twilight. "Ah think that nightmare, Ah think that's what he thought it was."

     Twilight walked over to her friend, placing a hoof on her shoulder. "He seems nice, if the way he acted around your Granny is anything to go by."

     Applejack nodded before a frown formed on her face. "Ah just don't understand why he ran?"

     A smile formed on Twilight's face. "I guess we'll just have to a..."

     "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" The human screamed from the room, followed by a loud crashing noise. Twilight and Applejack quickly rushed into the room to investigate the noise.

     "Nononono! Go away demon horse!" He screamed, pushing his body across the floor with his arms and legs.

     Rainbow Dash was hovering over where the wagon had once been, but was now flipped over half way across the room. She had a look on her face that was in awe. "What is your problem?" She asked.

     The human continued to push himself back until he was pushing himself against the wall. His eyes darting all over for some form of escape. His eyes eventually landed on Applejack. All the ponies noticed his breath getting faster one his eyes landed on the orange mare.

     "Rainbow Dash! What did you do?" Twilight asked, looking up to the pegasus.

     "I just wanted a closer look!" She said, pointing over to the human. "Then it freaked out and started throwing stuff around."

     Twilight looked over to the human, who had his hands raised with his palms facing him. His eyes looking between them and the ponies. Twilight slowly took a step forward. "It's alright, we don't want to hu..."

     "Stay back!" He said, almost screaming. Looking down at his hands once again, Twilight could see the gears turning in his head. Looking back to Twilight he grabbed the finger of his right glove, throwing it to the floor and exposing his bare hand. She could see he had ignored about a thousand alarms going off in his head as he did so.

     Twilight stopped where she was, the glass of water still going beside her. She swallowed the lump in her throat. "I have you some water."

     The human's eyes were darting between all the ponies, watching every move. Twilight could see he had his bare hand clenched into a tight ball in his chest. He was visibly shaking but she couldn't tell if it was fear or if he was still shivering like from when he was out.

     He looked to Twilight, then to the water glass. His eyes getting wider as his breath started to accelerate again. There was a loud groan, grabbing all the ponies' and human's attention.

     "Hey, are you just gonna sit there or take the water?" Rainbow Dash asked, crossing her hooves. The human glanced back to the water, slowly shaking his head. "But you asked for it!" She said, starting to fly closer.

     "Rainbow!" Twilight called out.

     The human looked at the pegasus, holding out his bare hand. "Stay back!" He screamed.

     As he said that, Twilight noticed that his hand was slowly turning a shade of blue. She could also see it looked as if his hand was getting colder and colder as little blue wisps of smoke curled around his fingers.

     Rainbow complied, flying back to where she was originally stationed in the air. As she did, the human grimaced, holding his side with his gloved hand. He let out a grunt, pulling up his shirt to reveal the two horseshoe marks on his side. He let out a sigh, leaning his head against the back wall.

     He took in a deep breath before nodding. "Okay, do it." He said.

     Applejack glanced at Rainbow and Twilight. "Do what, exactly?" She asked.

     "Kill me." He said, matter of factly.

     "Why would we kill you?" Twilight asked, a little disturbed by their implied intentions.

     The human cracked an eye open. "Because I'm obviously not welcome here." He said, looking over at Applejack.

     Applejack sighed, she didn't know how to respond to that. Looking over to Twilight for help, all she got was a nod in his direction. Taking in a breath, she looked back at the human. "Ah..."

     The human held up his hand, looking around the room. His nose flaring as he scanned the room. He brought his hand up again, the blue tint and smoke coming back quickly. "There anything... special about that vase?" He asked.

     Twilight glanced at the vase holding a few small flowers. "Not that I ca..."

     "I really hope this works." He said to himself, bringing his hand to his chest. In a quick motion, he thrust his hand out. As his hand soared through the air, a cloud of snow formed around his hand. When it was fully outstretched, the cloud continued moving at incredible speed. Hitting the vase, it wrapped around the glass and plants. The case and all of its contents, frozen solid.

     The human let out a small laugh. "That... worked?" He said with a smile, bringing his hand in front of his face as the normal color slowly returned. He shook his head as he spun his hand around, examining all the features. Then, his eyes rolled into the back of his head.

     His body crumpled to the floor, completely unconscious. Rainbow flew towards the now limp body, poking it with a hoof. She then looked up to the vase. "Why was he so interested in that?" She asked, flapping her wings to quickly get over to the vase.

     "What's wrong with it?" Twilight asked as she and Applejack loaded the human back into the wagon. It was obvious it was hurting, and maybe it would talk a little more calmly if there was signs of trying to keep him alive.

     Rainbow tapped the vase, flying all around it. "I don't SEE anything wrong with it." She said. But when she tried to pick it up, she encountered a lot more resistance than she expected. With her wings flapping violently she slowly started to lift the case.

     "Twilight, what's in this th... Woops!" Rainbow has lost her grip on the vase, causing it to fall to the floor.

     As it hit the floor, the vase shattered. But that wasn't shocking. What was, was the pink mare that had emerged with the shattering of the vase. She sat on the floor, staring at the human with daggers for eyes.

     "Pinkie?" The three mares asked in unison.

     Pinkie slowly shook her head, a frown on her face. "How?" Was all she said, before walking over to the unconscious human, putting a hoof in his face. "This isn't over." She said before turning and walking out of the library.

     The mares slowly turned to the human. Applejack was the one to break the silence. "Did it just... beat Pinkie?"

____________________________

     The human groaned as his senses started firing, for the third time that day. Bringing both hands, he started rubbing his face. “I quit.” He said with a sigh. Inhaling, he felt a tug on his side. Removing his hands he looked down.

     Wrapped around his chest was a white cloth and a bag of ice on his cracked ribs, his shirt had been removed from his body. A frown formed on his face as he leaned his head back. It wasn’t the hard wooden surface from earlier, but a soft pillow. Taking  a quick glance around he came to the quick conclusion he was no longer in the previous room.

     Trying to sit up, his body screamed in protest. But he didn't listen as he propped himself up on his hands. He could feel the fabric of his gloves tightly wrapped around his fingers. Whatever those demon horses were, they were smart enough to know his hands were dangerous. But if they knew they were dangerous, that he was dangerous…

     “Why aren’t I restrained?” He asked himself out loud.

     Looking over his shoulder he saw a small table. His shirt, beanie, and a few other things he couldn’t quite make out sat atop it. Not wanting his chest exposed, he swung his legs over the side of the couch, pain ripping through his body the whole way. Once his legs were over, he took a few short breaths and placed his hands on his knees, he forced himself to stand.

     At first, his head started to spin and everything started to change colors rapidly. Stumbling for a second, his hand firmly grasped onto the couch, stabilizing him just long enough for his body to correct itself. Once his vision came back and his world wasn’t spinning he stole a glance at the couch where his hand had grabbed.

     Nothing. No ice had formed at contact of his hand on the couch. He gave a sigh of relief. “Okay, so the gloves do work.” He said to himself before turning to face the small table once again. Grabbing his shirt and, painfully, sliding it over his body he could hear voices coming from outside of wherever he was.

     Pulling his beanie down over his ears and over a bit of wrapping on his head, assuming for when he made contact with the tree, he looked between the two doors in the room. One had to be an exit. He had to make a choice, and with the voices getting closer, he needed to make his choice quick. But a thought climbing from the back of his mind made him hesitate from bursting through one of the doors like he had the small farm home.

     His hand made its way to his chest, where he could feel the lump of fabric under his shirt. Maybe they don’t want to kill me? He looked at the door to his left, which was slightly smaller than he assumed to be correct.

     But he couldn’t remember.

     As his brain tried to wrap around the simple concept of the height of a door a throbbing pain entered his head. Bringing his hand to his head he grimaced and let out an audible grunt. The pain was like someone was bashing his head on a coffee table again and again and again.

     Plopping himself back onto the couch, he came to a solid conclusion. He was in zero shape to even try to run. He would get caught before he could make it three steps out the door. With a defeated sigh he closed his eyes and leaned his head back.

     As the door opened the voices stopped. The human refused to open his eyes, afraid of what he might see. He just took in a few short breaths, getting air in his lungs.

     "Are you alright?" A new vice said, followed with the sound of approaching... hooves.

     Holding out his hand he signaled the new voice to stop. "No." He said flatly.

     "Oh! It looks like one of your bandages is started to fall off. Let..."

     The human started waving his hand at the voice. “No, don’t come any closer.” He said as the steps started to get closer again. “It’s fine.” He let out a long breath.

     “Oh… Okay.” THe small voice said with receding steps.

     Opening his eyes, his head turned to the sound of the voices. Just as he feared, the orange horse… no… Pony she called herself at the tree farm, the blue pegasus that decided to poke him while he was still trying to gain awareness of the situation, a yellow pegasus that was probably the new voice, who tried to avoid any and all eye contact.

     Then there was the purple one. He didn’t know what it was. It had a horn like a unicorn, but at the same time it had wings like a pegasus. He didn’t know what to call it. A unisus? Pegacorn? Abomination? He liked the last one.

     Cotton mouth making itself painfully obvious, he shook himself from his own thoughts. “I never got that water earlier. Really that’s all I want right  now.” He said while trying to bring saliva into his dry mouth and throat with no success.

     “She tried to give you water earlier!” The blue one said, throwing her arms...er, fore-legs... towards the purple one.

     The human winced a little at the outburst, his head pounding with the loud noise as well. “I’m sorry that I didn’t want some water while I was panicking.” He deadpanned.

     The pegasus received a glare from the purple one before she turned to him. “If I get you some water, will you agree to answer a few of our questions?”

     The human thought for a second before looking the purple one in the eyes. “Only if I can ask some of my own.”

     She wore a small grin before walking towards the other door in the room, causing him to tense up as she got closer. “Of course.”

     Pushing the door open to the kitchen. With the sound of glasses being shuffled around, he looked over to the orange pony. She had a combination of curiosity, distrust, and sadness on her face. She was lost in thought, not caring she was staring directly at the human.

     The blue pegasus, ‘Rainbow Dash’, had stopped flapping her wings and was observing him with a cocked head. Eyes darting between each limb and body part, almost like she was sizing him up, getting ready to fight him. She accounted his size as well, but it didn't seem to bother her.

     The yellow one though caught his attention. When she realized he was looking at her, she tried to hide behind her pink mane. A small white box was lying in front of her with a red cross stamped  on its surface. Surprisingly he remembered that symbol. But neither of those was what caught his attention. It was the mound of blankets that was piled beside her.

     Shivering, he could only imagine the warmth the blankets might bring him. With a small sigh, he looked back from the blankets to the yellow pegasus. “You know,” he started “if you want to you can tighten up the bandages now.”

     The pegasus’ eyes lit up as a smile came over it’s face. Grabbing the small white box in her mouth, she started to slowly flap her wings, hovering over to the human. Setting the box down, she looked at the human. “Could you… ummm…”

     Already knowing what she meant, he reached down and took off his shirt, revealing the white wrapping. He also reached up to his head, removing the small beanie and tossing them both to the floor.Leaning his head back and arching his back up a little, he let the pegasus work.

     “How are you feeling?” The pegasus asked, her voice surprisingly female. As he started to think more on the subject, they all sounded female.

     “Like I got hit by a train.” He admitted. Peaking with one eye, he saw the orange pony turn away from the human. He did not change his expression at all, not wanting any unnecessary conflict.

     Hearing a door open, his eyes opened and moved to the sound. The purple one walked through with her horn glowing a little. This caused the human’s heart to skip a beat and quicken. He didn’t know what that meant but there was no way it was good. Starting to take deeper breaths and his eyes darting to the other door.

     The pegasus turned to see what was causing the human to react like this, then back to the human. Placing a hoof on his chest, she stared into his eyes. “She’s not going to hurt you.” She said, her voice quickly causing his heart rate and breaths to return to a steady pattern. He noticed her shiver a little when she touched his bare chest and his breath made contact with her fur. “She’s just bringing you water.” She assured.

     Looking back to the abomination, he saw a small glass float up next to her covered in the same glow as her horn. He wanted the water, oh how he wanted the water. Sticking his hand out he tried to make the most pathetic and abused look he could manage. The abomination didn’t move, but to his surprise, the glass slowly made its way into his palm.

     Wasting zero time, he grabbed the glass, ignoring the electric buzz in his hand while the purple light radiated from it. Bringing it to his lips he started chugging the water, a little spilling out of the corner of his mouth as he greedily swallowed the water. Finishing the glass, he took in a deep breath, forgetting to take breaths as he took in the liquid.

     Smiling a little, with his tongue and throat free, he looked to the purple abomination. “Thank you, so much.” He said before looking to the yellow pegasus who had just finished tightening the wrap. “And thank you.” He said, leaning his head back.

     There was only one place he knew he would rather be, and that was back at the small house talking to Granny Smith. Being the first pony he talked to, he envisioned himself back inside the house, In the seat while the smell of lunch being cooked entered his nose. The old pony didn't question at all what he was, but only tried to help him.

     He heard gasps in the room he was in, followed by screaming from the abomination and the blue pegasus. Frowning, he opened his eyes. But he couldn’t see, his vision was covered in a light blue, and he couldn’t move, it was like he was paralyzed. With the voices and screams quickly becoming more and more distant before they were gone, he started to panic. His body was extremely cold, like he was in a solid block of ice.

     As he was about to scream though, a familiar smell entered his nose, followed by the noise of silverware. His vision slowly came back to him and body movement returning, he tried to quickly take in his surroundings.  At first, he thought he had never seen the small room where he was currently in. But as his memory started to come back, he quickly recognized the room.

     He was back in the small farmhouse.