Cryogen

It was definitely a different start to my day than I'm used to, but it could have been worse. I finished talking with Twilight, and promised I'd be back later to continue our discussion, but for now, I wanted to get out and just kind of explore. The manuscripts could wait until later, they weren't going anywhere.

Turns out Twilight and I have a lot in common, especially when it comes to academics and the such. I'm and anatomy major, or, used to be anyway, so getting the chance to study this never before seen species is something I just couldn't turn town, and neither could Twilight. She wants to study me some more, as I'm apparently the only human these ponies have ever seen. So tomorrow, I'm going to return to the library to conduct our studies together. It won't really benefit me at all, other than to ease my curiosity, but I digress. I should also get to know how different these ponies are from humans. I need to learn what makes them happy, how they behave in society, and what makes them tick.

As I open the door to the library, I take one last look behind me, waving to Twilight as she cleans up her desk from the hundreds of notes she took. She smiles and waves back, and I proceed out the door to start the rest of my day.

The air has warmed up noticeably, though there is still a bit of a chill to the breeze, and it is enough to make me wish I was back inside. I'm really not much of a cold loving guy.

"Heya!" I hear from behind me. I jump forward, clutching my heart because I'm pretty sure it just stopped and I'll probably die any second now.

"Jesus!" I yell as I spin around to reveal a pink pony with a puffed up hairdo bouncing up and down in front of me with the biggest smile I've ever seen.

"Nope! I'm Pinkie Pie! I remember meeting you at the hospital. What was your name? Zack?"

"Y-Yeah, Zack." I say as I try to slow my breathing. "How the hell did you get behind me? I never even saw you approaching, and there's like five feet between me and the door.

"I'm just really sneaky." She says with a sly tone of voice. "So, you're gonna be at the party tonight, right!?" She says in her overly excited tone, which is both annoying yet some amusing at the same time.

"Wait wait wait, party? Sorry lady, I don't do parties." I say as I begin walking away, readjusting my bag as I do so. The pink pony somehow reappears in front of me in the blink of an eye, causing me to stumble backwards, swerving my head around to see just how she did that. "How the hell..." I mumble to myself under my breath.

"C'mon silly, it's YOUR party after all! The whole town is probably gonna be there! Didn't Twilight tell you about it?"

"No, she didn't now that you mention it. She could probably tell I wouldn't be interested." I say with a shrug. I've never really been big on parties unless my friends were there, and well, they never were. You kind of need friends to begin with. So, while everyone else was always off partying, I was in my dorm studying my ass off. I just never really saw how it could be fun to drink yourself to death and wake up with the world's worse headache. I don't think these ponies have alcohol, but I really wouldn't put it past them.

"W-Why wouldn't you be interested? I... threw this party for you, aren't you going to be there?" Pinkie says as she stops bouncing, her ears drooping slightly.

"Why would you go and throw a party for someone you don't even know, then invite the entire damn town to it? Seriously, what is with you ponies? I'm not your damn friend." I say sternly as I begin walking past her, though this time, she doesn't follow.

"Don't turn around Zack, you'll only feel like more of an asshole..." I mumble to myself as my shoes crunch through the snow. I only make it about ten or so steps before a voice pipes up from behind me, stopping me in my tracks.

"But I thought I was your friend..." Pinkie says quietly. I stare down at the ground before closing my eyes and sighing. Who the hell am I kidding? I have literally nothing else to do for the entire day, and here I am completely rejecting something that this girl apparently worked hard on. The least I can do is pretend to enjoy it.

"Look, if I say I'll go to this little party of your's, will you stop crying?" I ask as I turn around, placing my hands in my pockets. Her mood immediately goes from sad and depressed to extremely excited and perky once more. How she can have that much energy, I have no fucking idea. All I know is, I'll have what she's havin'

"So you're gonna go! Oh this is so exciting! I have to set up the decorations, and bake the cake, and OH! I've got so much to do! Be at Sugarcube Corner at eight tonight, and don't be late!" She yells as she grabs me in the tightest hug I've ever received before dashing off into town like a rocket. What the hell is she on? Meth?

I didn't even get to ask what this "Sugarcube Corner" is, much less where it is. And that means that I'll have to ask for directions from someone, and at this point, I'm not too thrilled about talking to these ponies. Nothing against them other than the fact that they're just too... nice, I guess. I'm just not used to that. I'm used to getting pushed and bossed around by everyone, so kindness isn't really something that I see every day.

Maybe Applejack is up and awake by now. If there's anyone I feel somewhat comfortable talking to, it's Applejack. She's the only one who isn't overly nice and energetic towards me, which is something I can tolerate. She seems to be hard worker, putting work over fun, and I respect that. I tried to live like that, but, well, video games, what can I say? I nearly failed many a quizzes and tests because I'd put off studying to play. It's truly a miracle that I maintained straight A's. Once I got to college though, I was able to control myself more, which meant nothing but work for me. Yay, fun.

I start heading towards Sweet Apple Acres, hoping maybe Applejack won't be too busy to simply give me directions. What I'll do until eight tonight, I have no idea. I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it.

"Oh, well hello there Zack." I hear from beside me, and a little bit behind me. I look to my right and see a white pony with a curled purplish mane.

"I have to stop running into you guys." I way with a smile as I slow down so she can walk next to me. If I remember correctly, this is Rarity, the only one of those ponies from the hospital that actually greeted me kindly.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"The five of you at the hospital when I was visiting Fluttershy. I've run into all of you in the past day or so. Just a weird coincidence I think."

"Well it is a fairly small town is it not? Might I ask, how are you liking it here?"

"It's alright I guess." I say with a shrug. "Not exactly my cup of tea, but not exactly bad by any standards. What about you? Doing anything exciting?"

"Just picking up some fabric for my clothing line." She says with a grunt as she adjusts the basket on her back which threatens to topple over with how much crap is packed into it. "Oh!" She yelps as the basket begins to tip over. Out of pure instinct, I jump back and catch the basket, and re-balance it on her back. Damn is that thing heavy, even for fabric. How much shit is in there!?

"There, that was almost bad." I say with a light chuckle.

"Thank you Zack. I wouldn't want to spend my day picking up fabric from the snow, and they would get absolutely wet and soggy!" I eye the basket again, as well as the way she is walking. Her legs seems to bend more than they need to, indicating she is probably being weighed now by all of this.

"Here, let me." I say as I go to pick up the basket. At that moment, her horn begins to glow, causing me to back up.

"No no, I got it." She says as she levitates the basket and starts carrying it beside her. Magic, seriously? This world just loves to mind fuck me doesn't it? C'mon Earth, at least take me to dinner first, sheesh.

"You sure? You look kinda... strained." I say as I observe her face which is scrunched up and starting to sweat. I don't wait for her to respond, and grab the basket out of the air. The glow around it vanishes, and Rarity lets out a sigh of relief.

"Honestly darling, I think I can carry it. I wouldn't want to burden y-"

"C'mon, I'm trying to help, are you seriously going to turn me down?" I ask with a smirk on my face. God this basket is heavy, at least forty or so pounds. Seriously, what is in this thing!?

"Are you sure? I could just use my magic to-"

"I insist. You shouldn't have to be carrying this through the snow anyway. Just point me towards your place, and I'll take it there."

"W-Well, it is just over here." She says as she turns towards a building that looks oddly enough like a carousel. I don't question it, and walk to the door which she opens with her magic. I drop the basket down just inside the door, and lean against the wall with a sigh, rubbing my sore biceps. I really gotta work out some time soon. Some of the fabric bounces out when the basket hits the floor, revealing several gems the size of my fist.

"Holy shit, Rarity, how rich are you!?" I exclaim as I get down on my knees to examine the gems. No wonder this thing was so heavy.

"Rich? I'm not-"

"Well where did you get these?" I ask as I hold up a ruby the size of a baseball. I could sell this thing for so much money, I could go to college for the rest of my life twice over. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but still!

"I dug them up myself. With Spike's help of course." She says as she levitates the fabric that fell out back into the basket. "Thank you darling for helping me with that." She says with a faint blush which shows easily through her white coat. "Would you like a drink? Maybe some lunch?"

I normally turn down offers like this, as I'm not really one for charity, but after talking to Twilight for so long, my throat is drier than Arizona on a summer day.

"Um, just some water please." I say between breaths as I drop my bag down by the door. No use lugging that thing around if I'm going to be staying her for a minute or two.

"Alright, I'll be right back." She says as she vanishes into what I guess is the kitchen. I look around me as all of the different dresses and articles of clothing laying around the room or one racks. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any ponies wearing any kind of clothing other than Daring, and even then it was just a shirt. I haven't really been looking, but if these ponies are sapient like me, shouldn't they fell kind of awkward of walking around naked? Even if they do have tails to protect their, ahem, nether regions, the slightest breeze could easily reveal stuff that shouldn't be shown in public. My thoughts are cut off when a new voice says something from the stairs next to me.

"Whoa, who... what are you?" A little voice calls out. I look up at the stairs to reveal a small little white pony with a hairdo similar to Rarity's. I almost have the second heart attack of the day from the sheer adorableness of the little pony.

"I'm Zack. Who are you?" I ask as I get down on my knee so I don't look at big. She approaches me slowly and cautiously like she doesn't really trust me. I'm used to it at this point, so I try not to take it personally.

"S-Sweetie Belle..." She says quietly and nervously. "What are you? You're not going to eat me are you!?"

"No no no, nothing like that." I say as I wave my hands in front of me. "I'm just helping out Rarity. I assume you know her?"

"Rarity's my sister... What exactly are you doing with her? You aren't going to eat her are you?" She says with a skeptical look.

"God no!" I say as I press my hand against my face. "I'm not going to eat anyone, why do you think that?"

"Because you're all big and... scary." She says as she backs up a little, probably due to the change in my tone of voice. I calm myself down, and trying to sound as friendly and nice as possible. Children are the best a spreading rumors, and I don't need the entire town thinking I'm going to eat them. It's hard enough as it is already.

"Ah c'mon, I might be big, but I'm not scary." I say as I stand back up. Rarity walks back into the room with two glasses of water, and levitates one over to me. I grab it out of the air, still fascinated about the whole magic thing. There has to be some kind of scientific explanation behind it. I'll have to ask Twilight tomorrow during our anatomy lesson.

"Ah! Sweetie Belle! What are you doing down here?" Rarity says rather nervously as she eyes me then the smaller pony. Seriously? Her too?

"I heard you guys come in and I was gonna say hey, and-"

"It's cool Rarity. She's pretty chill if you ask me. Reminds me of my sister." I say as I interrupt the pony.

"Well... as long as you two get along... Anyway, darling, do tell me more about your stay in our humble little town."

"Um, okay, but... Could we do it somewhere more private?" I whisper down to Rarity. "I don't want to talk about a few things in front of a child."

"Oh, um... of course?" She says with a confused tone. "Follow me then." Rarity leads me up the stairs, leaving Sweetie Belle behind on the bottom floor. When we reach the top of the stairs, Rarity enters a room on the right, and it appears to be a bedroom of sorts. I say of sorts because it wouldn't be distinguishable as a bedroom if there wasn't a giant bed on the other side of the room. Mannequins and fabric are sprawled out over everything in the room, leaving it looking more like a work area than a place to sleep. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt by saying that it is more of an organized chaos, as everything seems to be in it's place where it belongs.

"Nice room." I say as I take my first swig of water. Damn is that good. Never thought water would taste so amazing.

"Thank you darling, I try my best." Rarity says as she sits down on her bed, placing her glass down on the dresser next to it. "Now tell me, how have you been?"

"I've been fine personally for the most part, it's just that... Well, some things have come up that I'd rather never go through again." I say as I swirl the water in my glass around.

"Whatever do you mean by that?"

"You're friends with Rainbow Dash, right? The pony with the rainbow colored hair and scratchy voice."

"A little too well. Is she alright? Did something happen between you two?"

"Well, she did put me in the hospital, but that isn't what I'm talking about. She um... almost... got raped" I mumble into my glass as I try to muffle my voice with the water. I guess it wasn't enough if Rarity's expression is anything to go off of. Her jaw drops, and her pupils shrink to pinpricks.

"W-What? She... what? Who did it? Is she alright?"

"I don't know the guy, but I walked in as he was about to, y'know. I fought him off, but he got away from me. I don't know where he is now, but Rainbow's okay. I think she might be with Applejack, but I'm not entirely sure."

"Wait, you saved her?"

"I guess... I didn't even know it was her until I had already tackled the guy off the bed."

"Zack, you're a hero, do you realize that?" Rarity says as I sit down next to her on the bed, still staring down at my glass.

"I wouldn't really call myself a hero. I didn't really do anything other than punch a guy a few times. I'm sure Rainbow could have handled herself if I hadn't been there."

"Are you kidding? Even if she could, she still could have gotten hurt. I'd say that makes you a hero Zack." Rarity says as she leans her head into my side which catches me by surprise.

"You think she'll be at the party tonight?" I ask as I absentmindedly rub my hand up and down the side of the glass.

"Oh, I almost forgot about that! I have to finish my dress, not to mention the-"

"Whoa, dress? But you don't even wear clothes, why would you need a dress tonight of all nights?"

"Because darling, I have a reputation to uphold as this town's greatest fashionista." She says proudly, her head still on my shoulder.

"Okay, next question. Why don't you guys wear clothes on a regular basis? I mean, aren't you embarrassed that someone might see your... ahem, y'know." I say as I feel my cheeks get a little warmer. Damn, I was never very comfortable talking about stuff like this, even if I am an anatomy nerd.

"Oh, um... No, we have our tails and fur to hide that. Clothes are only for formal events to make ourselves look nicer. That's why I need to finish my dress for tonight. Like I said, I have a reputation to uphold."

"I think you look fine as it is." I say casually as I flop backwards onto the bed, causing Rarity to almost topple over before regaining her balance.

"Excuse me?" She asks, though not with an angry tone, more like confusion.

"Well yeah, you already said you don't NEED clothes to go out in public, right? And you already look nice enough as is, so what's the point of dressing up all fancy? Besides you'd probably stand out too much, not that you don't already."

"W-What does that mean?"

"I mean, you're one of the very few ponies I've seen with an all white coat. I'd say you'd stick out pretty well already. Or maybe you'd blend in with all the snow." I say with a chuckle.

"...Do you really think I don't need a dress for tonight?"

"Hell no. I mean, I'm totally wearing clothes, because there's no way in hell I'm going naked." I say with a snicker. "But if you ponies can just go out naked because you have a natural covering, then I say fuck clothes. It'd probably just weigh you down anyway."

"Alright then, I suppose I could try going with a more natural look then. Thank you Zack for that little bit of insight."

"It's what I do." I say as I raise my glass above my head, and stare at the bottom of it, watching the ceiling shift and waver through the water. "Hey, um... Where is Sugarcube Corner exactly? Pinkie Pie said I'd need to meet her there at eight tonight for the party. I wasn't all too thrilled about it, but I digress."

"I could give you directions, or I could just take you there myself... Zack, would you accompany me to the party tonight?"

"I'm not a pony Rarity. I'm not going to be your date or anything." I respond as I continue to stare at the glass.

"N-No, of course not silly! You misunderstand, I meant would you just, y'know, take me as a friend? I think it's be more fun for both of us than showing up alone, don't you think?"

"I guess so... Ah, fuck it, why not." I say as I take a swig of the water, almost spilling it on my face because of the angle.

Rarity is probably the most tolerable pony I've met, maybe other than Applejack. And... she seems nice enough... Ah, screw it. It was gonna happen eventually, but this is the only time! I'm not going to get too close to these ponies. I sit up and look at Rarity, who is now standing on the floor in front of the bed. I can't believe I'm about to say this.

"So, what do you wanna do until the party, friend?"