Chapter 1; Brief introductions
Pain. Pain was the first thing that went through the human’s body as he slowly started to regain consciousness. When he went to open his eyes, a blinding white light pierced through the mall cracks in his eyelids. He sealed them back shut, taking his hands and putting them over his face. But it was not bare skin.
Holding his hands in front of him to still block the sun, he slowly opened his eyes. His hands were covered with a thick set of gloves used for basic warmth. Then, he realized something.
He was freezing.
Letting out a long breath of air, he could see his blue breath. He let out a sigh as he rolled over onto his stomach and tried pushing himself to his feet. However, as he went to push himself, it was like he weighed two tons, his body collapsing back to the ground. The cold ground. Slowly once again, he opened his eyes. The ground was… white?
“Snow…” He said slowly, rubbing his hands in the white powder. He let out a small laugh. “That explains why I’m so cold…”
Trying once again to get to his feet, the human slowly brought one leg under his body. It was like his body was screaming to stop, to just lay back down in the cold snow. But he had to move. He didn’t know why, but he knew he couldn’t stay where he was. Bringing his other leg under him, he slowly stood to his full height. He looked down at what he was wearing, just to get a sense of what he had to work with. He was wearing a pair of blue jeans, thick black boots, a short sleeve shirt, a pair of rather thin gloves, and he could feel the warmth of a beanie on his head.
Taking his hand and putting it over his eyes, he slowly looked around the area. In the distance, he spotted rows and rows of large trees full of red apples and a bright red barn. He could also make out a small house. With no other clue where else to go, he decided this would be his best bet.
Sticking his hands in his pockets, and with a shiver, he started towards the house. He had no idea what to expect when he got there, an old man living alone? Or maybe a giant family trying to make their mark. Maybe it was just a small outpost on some industrial giant’s many fields, and he would get immediately kicked out.
Whichever, he didn’t mind. And he didn’t think they would mind one missing apple. He reached into the tree, plucking the first apple his hand could grab. With a yank and satisfying snap, the fruit came free from the tree. It was a bright red, no bruises at all, no hints of green. The perfect apple.
He chuckled at his luck. Taking a bite as he moved closer to the house he realized how hungry he really was as his stomach gave a loud grumble for more. He had to admit, the apple was pretty satisfying, leaving him more on the family farm or single person than an industrial giant.
He could hear yelling in the distance, but couldn’t make out what it was about. He could tell it wasn’t aimed at him when another voice yelled back. The only thing that put him on edge were the extremely loud *crack*s that would fill the air every so often. He assumed that it was some form of machinery. That was the only thing in his mind that could make a sound like that and make it that loud.
As he finished his apple, he was about a hundred feet from the house. Wiping the juice from his mouth, and making sure he looked decent, he walked up onto the porch. It was strange for him, it seemed to be just a touch smaller than he had expected it to be. The door and the ceiling both seemed odd. He reached out to the door, his hand gently hitting it three times before he took a step back.
“Comin’!” He heard an old shaky voice say from inside. He formed a warm smile on his face as he heard steps quickly coming. He took another step back, almost on the edge of the porch. He could hear the locks on the inside of the door turning. Then, he saw the knob turn.
As the door swung open, he kept the warm smile on his face. Standing at the door, was a horse. A small horse, mind you. It had wrinkles all over its body, frail legs, and a constant shake about it with a bandanna covered in apples wrapped around its neck. It slowly looked up to the human, neither of the creature's expressions changing.
Bringing his hands together, the human broke the silence. "Well, it seems pretty obvious I don't belong here."
The old horse continued to look at the human, squinting a little from the sun. "Y'er a tall one, ain't ya?"
The human gave a small laugh. "You could say that."
She started to observe the clothing he was wearing. "You look like y'er ready for winter."
The human shivered once again. "Well, it is pretty chilly out." His voice cracking a bit, and with it, came the realization of a pounding head.
The old horse frowned. "I hate to tell ya this, sonny. But, it's been one of the hottest days of the year." She said, fanning herself a bit.
The human frowned, goosebumps running down his arms. He looked back across the orchard, looking for the small mound of snow he had woken in, with no luck. He looked for any kind of indication of the cold. But he couldn't find any. The trees had all their leaves, and the sky lacked any clouds.
Looking back at the old horse, he let out a long breath. To his amazement, he could see the blue air leaving his lungs. Frowning, he did it again, with the same result. He was snapped out of his trance by the old horse.
"You don't look too good, how about you come inside and sit down for a minute?"
The human slowly nodded. "Thank you." He said as the old horse turned, walking back inside the house. He followed behind closely, ducking to get through the front door.
Once inside, the old horse pointed at a small room. "Just take a seat in the livin' room, I was just about to start making lunch."
The human smiled. "I appreciate your hospitality miss... I'm sorry, I never caught a name?"
She gave a small laugh. "You can call me Granny Smith."
"Like the apples?" He asked, rubbing his temples. The headache making its presence extremely painful.
"Well, we are the Apple family after all." She replied from what he assumed to be the kitchen. "You never said your name either."
"My apologies, my name is..." He stalled. "My name is ah..." He started running his chin, reaching into the very back of his mind. "It's ah..." He started to sweat, despite the feeling of it being sub zero temperatures.
Granny Smith looked out from the kitchen into the living room at the human. "Y'er name, sugarcube."
With a closed fist, he started hitting the top of his forehead, trying to jog his memory. "What's my name!" He grumbled to himself. His breath was getting faster as he came to a quick realization.
He didn't know his own name.
He looked up at Granny Smith. "I don't know." He said in almost a whisper.
Straining her ears and leaving forward, she said. "Say again?"
He cleared his throat. "I can't remember." He said, loud enough for her to hear this time.
She rubbed her chin before ducking back into the kitchen. "Let me get ya a glass of water. You look like you've been through a lot recently."
"Thanks." He squeaked out. He started shaking ever so slightly. He couldn't remember his name. His name! The thing that labeled him, and set him apart from everything and everyone else. His title, and he couldn't remember it.
Then, he realized something else. He had no clue where he was at. He didn't know what he did. He had no clue how he got there. He didn't even know what his own face looked like! His thoughts were cut off when he heard the small noise of a glass being set beside him on a small stand. Looking up, he saw the old horse giving a warm smile. Looking over, a glass of water with just a few ice cubes sat, filled to the brim. He didn’t question how it got there, but gently reached over and took it.
“You’re much too kind.” He said, taking a sip. He had to grasp it tighter, his gloves taking in the water and making the glass super slick.
“You may think of taking those off.” She suggested, making her way back into the kitchen to finish making supper.
The human sat the glass down, and went to take them off. But something was keeping him from actually removing them. He had the middle finger of the glove in his hand, but he just couldn’t get himself to take them off. He didn’t know why.
Eventually he shook his head, and forced himself to take them off. Looking down at his hands, he didn’t see anything strange. They were hands. A little hair on his fingers and the back of his hands, a little dirt under his nails. But other than that, everything was completely normal.
He reached over for the cup, and was just about to pick it up, when the door was thrown open. More steps came into the house. “Granny, we got the Eastern…” The orange horse, with a cowboy hat, glanced into the living room. Her eyes shone with a look that was not of acceptance like Granny Smith’s had. Instead, they immediately saw the human as a threat. And the human knew that look all too well. He didn’t know how, but he knew it. And his body immediately took action.
He stood up, and dashed for the back door. He could hear the new horse screaming at him as he lowered his shoulder and barreled through the door. He had no clue where he would run, but he knew the direction. Away.
He was met with the rows of trees pretty quickly, and could hear the new horse still screaming at him. He powered his way up the hill, thinking on the other side would be some kind of river or stream. For some reason, he knew if he reached any body of water, he would be able to easily lose her. But as he crested the hill, his heart sank.
Acres and acres of trees. No water in sight. He heard the mare quickly coming up behind him. With a sigh of defeat, he turned to face her. They were both breathing heavily, the air coming from the human’s lungs still visible. He slowly raised his hands in defeat.
She started to slowly walk towards him. “What did ya do to mah Granny?” She said, grinding her teeth.
“Nothing!” He pleaded. “I didn’t do anything!” Slowly backing up as she got closer.
She kept getting closer and closer, analyzing everything about him. “What are you?”
He kept backing up, eventually backing into a tree. “Ahhh… human… what are you?”
She narrowed her eyes. “What do ya mean ‘What am I?’”
The human swallowed as he placed his hand on the tree, looking for leverage if he needed to run again. “I mean, wha…”
Her eyes became gian as his hand touched the tree. “What are ya doing!?” She screamed.
“What?” He quickly turned to where her eyes were facing. His heart skipping a beat. Where his hand had touched, a large amount of ice had formed, protruding spikes outward. The ice quickly spread, overtaking the entire tree. In less than three seconds, the entire tree was solid ice. Every leaf, branch, apple, and piece of bark was enveloped in a cold prison. The human tried to find words while pointing at the tree.
“I… did that?” He looked down at his hands. “I did not mean to do that…” He started to turn to the horse, when a pair of hooves made solid contact with his side, throwing him into the frozen tree. His head bounced off the iced over bark, causing him to lose consciousness for the second time that day. And with the new knot that was forming on his head, a new question brewed in his mind. What the hell just happened?
___________________
Applejack walked over to the body of the unconscious creature. The human, it had called itself, was calmly breathing in its forced slumber. With each breath came a cold chill originating from his blue breath. Her eyes looked up from the human to the tree that was right next to them. She didn’t understand how it had done it, but somehow the human had managed to freeze the thing! The entire thing! Not a single leaf or apple was able to escape the icy prison.
AJ sighed, she only knew one pony who could possibly explain the logic behind it, if there was any. Reaching down, she was about to start dragging the human, but jerked away as her hoof stepped into something extremely cold. Looking down at her hooves, ice had started to form around where the human’s bare hands were making contact with the ground.
‘Logic’ hit her like a train. Realizing that whatever its hands touched would freeze, she quickly took its sleeve in her mouth, placing its hand on his chest. But what didn’t make sense, was that its clothes seemed to neglect this new rule. AJ looked down, taking time to observe the non hostile human.
Come to think of it, it acted like it was afraid of her? At the first sight of her, it took off like it was about to be eaten by a large predator. And when it knew it was caught, it didn’t even try to defend itself, it just tried to talk its way out. It was scared. And she could have sworn that the first thing she saw in its eyes, was confusion.
AJ let out a sigh, taking time to actually observe the human this time instead of criticize her own motives. It had a short white mane on its head. its eyes, when they were open, where an extremely light blue, almost grey. It was a little over twice as tall as her when it was standing to its full height. His clothes looked rugged, worn, tired, and like they had been through too much work. Not being one for fashion like Rarity though, she could still tell that they were made for moderately low temperatures.
AJ looked over her shoulder at the big red barn. Just outside was a wagon she often took into town with her apples. With a groan, she looked at the human, then back at the wagon. She didn’t have any other choice.
__________________________________________
“Rainbow Dash, it’s impossible.” Twilight said as she continued to place books back into their proper place. “Daring Do is a fictional story, you realize this right?”
“So you’re telling me it’s impossible for somepony to to jump over a rolling boulder while dodging crossbows with a broken leg while being chased by an elder dragon with an ancient artifact in their mouth worth millions of bits?” She asked, flying up to just three inches from Twilight’s face.
Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash without any change in her expression. “It is extremely unlikely.”
“Ha! So it’s NOT impossible!” She said, flying back down into her seat.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “Shouldn’t you be with the weather team?”
Rainbow Dash looked up from her Daring DO novel. “The next storm isn’t until Wednesday?”
Twilight looked over to her pegasus friend. “It is Wednesday.”
Rainbow looked down, then back up with a look of shock in her face. “Oh… I’ll be back!” And with that, the pegasus shot out of the room. The rainbow trail and small sonic boom she left behind causing all the books that were just put up to be knocked back off the shelves.
Twilight sighed as her horn fired up again picking up the books. Only when she was three in when a knocking started on her door. “It’s open!” She said, concentrating on remembering where said books went. The door opened, followed by the clopping of hooves and the… squeaking of tires?
“Twilight, ah need y’er help with somethin’.” Applejack said, rolling her wagon through the door.
Twilight looked over to her southern friend. “What’s in the wagon.”
Applejack unharnessed herself from the wagon, moving around to the back. “Lock the door.” She said, seriousness in her voice.
Twilight nodded, using her magic to close and secure the door. She looked over to the wagon. “Applejack, what’s going on?”
Applejack grabbed the burlap bag that was covering a lump in the wagon. “See for y’erself.” She then yanked her head back.
Twilight did not gasp, instead she moved closer, squinting her eyes. “Applejack, what is this?”
Applejack spat the burlap to the ground, turning to the wagon and its contents. “It called itself a ‘human.’”
Twilight looked over to Applejack. “Called itself? So not only is it sentient, but it also speaks Equestrian?”
Applejack nodded. “Ah found it in mah house, talking to mah Granny!”
Twilight activated her horn, scanning the ‘human’ for any surface damages. “Did it hurt her?”
Applejack shook her head. “No. She said that he actually had a conversation like any normal pony.”
Twilight raised his shirt, two hoof marks making themselves painfully visible. “How did he get these?”
“That’s another thing, Twi.” Applejack leaned in close. “Ah think it may be magic.”
Twilight stared at the human. “It’s possible. These stitches on its clothes look too similar to one another to be hoof… er… hand made.” Twilight was about to poke his hand with her own hoof, but was swatted away by Applejack.
“Don’t touch it’s hands!” Applejack screamed. “That’s what ah was just about to tell ya about!”
Twilight frowned. “What? What’s wrong with it’s hands?”
Applejack looked over, grabbing a tissue from a box nearby. She held it over its hand. “Watch this.” She said. Letting go, the tissue fell directly onto its hand. Twilight this time did gasp, as the soft tissue turned into a solid block of ice with contact. Using her horn, Twilight picked up the frozen tissue, examining it over.
“Interesting.” She said. Looking at his head, she noticed his breathing. “Has it been doing this the whole time?” She asked, pointing to his blue breath.
“Yup, Granny even said that he was doing that when he knocked on the door.” Applejack said, looking over to Twilight. “So the tissue, it kinda did that to one of mah trees.”
Twilight met Applejack’s eyes. “One of your trees?”
“It just touched it, and the entire thing froze over.” Dug into a small compartment in the wagon. “It left these when i…”
*SLAM!* “Ooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwww…. Twiiiiiiiiiiiiliiiiiiiiiight!” A groan came from outside.
Applejack looked over to Twilight. “When it tried to run from me.” She set the other article of clothing on the ground, walking towards the door. “It looks like it goes on its hands, but ah didn’t want to touch ‘em.”
Opening the door, Rainbow Dash sat on the ground with crossed arms as rain fell from the sky into her fur. “I said I would be right back… Hey AJ!” She said, shaking off before walking inside. Her eyes got wide at the wagon in the middle of the room. “Woa…. what is that?”
Twilight used her magic to raise the clothing and the human’s hand into the air, sliding the protection onto its body. “We don’t really know.”
Rainbow Dash cocked her head. “Doesn’t look so tough.”
“”Dash, this thing froze one of my trees solid.” Applejack said in a monotone voice. The memory getting less and less shocking to her every time she had to mention it.
Twilight grabbed a thermometer from the kitchen with her magic. “I don’t sense any unstable magic coming from it. Maybe it’s all contained?” She asked, sliding the thermometer into the human's mouth.
Rainbow Dash hovered over the human, making sure the blue breath didn’t touch her. “What if it’s an alien? Oh! What if it came from the Everfree! OH! What if, it. Can. Talk!”
Twilight glanced at Rainbow Dash. “It can talk. And from what Applejack said, it speaks fluent Equestrian.”
“Coooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool.”
Twilight took the thermometer out of its mouth, her eyes widening. “This says his temperature is below freezing!”
“How is it still alive?” Applejack asked, observing the human.
With a grunt, the human started to stir. The ponies took a step back. “I guess we could always ask and find out?” Twilight said, getting her horn ready.
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.