Cryogen

"I said we need to talk. Are you even listening to me?" I ask, looking down at the cyan mare still standing nervously by the closed door. "Get over here before I come over there and pick you up myself."

She slowly walks over to my bed, and I shuffle over to the side, causing my head to throb slightly. I pat the empty spot on the bed next to me, hoping she'd jump up so I can actually see her. To my surprise, she hops onto the bed, though she looks directly ahead of her as though I'm not even there.

"Why?" I ask quietly.

"Why what?" She mumbles under her breath.

"Why are you blaming yourself for this? I fucked up, that's all there is to it."

"How did you-"

"You told Twilight that you felt responsible for me getting hurt, right? Well it isn't your fault, so stop blaming yourself. If anything you may have saved me by getting me here when you did."

"Wait, but we were in the cafeteria. How did you know-"

"I have my ways. Now, there's something else I want to tell you. I'm... sorry for being an asshole. I see now that you actually do care for others and not just yourself. I'm... I want to just say, that I don't hate you, and I think we could be... ah fuck I'm not good at this... I think we could be friends?"

"Seriously? After all I've done, after all the insults we've thrown at each other, and you want to be friends, with me?" She says with a confused look.

"I mean, if you don't want to, then-"

"Of course I want to, idiot. It's the least I can do after, well, that whole incident when we first met."

"Alright then. At least that's out of the way. You understand what I'm saying though, right? About this being my fault, not your's?"

"I guess so..." We sit in silence both looking at the wall in front of us in an awkward silence. "So... why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Attack Dusk like that. Why'd you do it?"

"Dusk, that's his name? Well for two reasons. One, I did it for myself. I felt like our fight never really ended, so I had to finish what I started. Two, I did it because of what he did to you. That was... beyond uncool, as you would say." I say with a slight smile, gently punching Rainbow's leg.

"Yeah, totally. Thanks for that by the way. Nopony's really ever stood up for me like that."

"Yeah, and why's that? Because you insist that you can take care of yourself, that you don't need to rely on others?" I say with a smirk.

"Well... maybe." She says with a light chuckle. "Do you? I mean, do you rely on others at all?"

"Ah, ya got me there. I've always been pretty independent. Well, other than my girlfriend, Olivia, but that's a whole different story... Hey, where's my bag at?"

"Oh, right. Twilight went back for it a while ago, it's over there." Rainbow points to the corner of the room where my bag is sitting under a small table.

"Oh, good. I have way too much valuable shit in there to lose it." I say with a laugh.

"What's in there? Cool, human stuff?" She jumps down off the bed and starts trotting over to my bag.

"Hey, don't touch. There's expensive, fragile stuff in there, not to mention two deadly weapons." Rainbow stops in her tracks, giving me a wide-eyed stare.

"Weapons? W-Why do you have weapons? And what are they?"

"Self protection really. I have a knife and a gun in there, both of which could kill you if you aren't careful with them."

"What's a gun? some kind of club or something?"

"No, it's... It's this piece of metal that shoots out smaller pieces of metal made of brass. The smaller pieces of metal are called bullets, and they create these little explosions when they're fired, causing them to fly at incredible speeds, and, well, you can imagine they would do if they hit you."

"Uh... yeah, I think I'll pass on that for now."

"Mrs. Dash." We both look over to the door to see the doctor standing in the doorway. "I think Zack here needs some rest, so if you could please just follow me out..."

"I'll see you later. We still have some making up to do."

"Yeah, whatever you want. Go, I'm tired." My eyes close, and I'm asleep before she can even leave the room.

*3 Days Later*

"Looks like you've made a nearly full recovery Zack. I'm impressed, really. It's a miracle that you're even wake, much more that your practically in full health."

"Yeah, well... I had some help." I say, images of the lady that had been haunting my dreams for the past three days flashing through my mind.

"I just need you to sign here, and we can let you go."

"Thanks." I say while taking the clipboard. I sign my name at the bottom, and hop off the side of my bed, stretching my arms high above my head.

"My, you're much taller than you look while lying in bed."

"Hah, yeah. It feels nice to finally be getting out of here. No offense, but it's kinda cramped."

"Oh I agree. It's always nice to leave at the end of a long day. Now, let's get you out of here. Do you have anything you need to take with you?"

"Uh, yeah, just this." I say while bending down to get my bag out from under the table. I place it on top of said table, and quickly go through it, making sure nothing is gone or broken. Thankfully, everything is there from my phone to my laptop to my surplus of ammo that fills up an entire pocket of the bag.

I walk out of the room, the doctor trailing behind me. I finally reach the lobby, and give him and a couple of the nurses a wave before walking out the door. My head is still turned around while walking forward, only to trip over something in front of me. Luckily I don't fall, but I do tumble forward a bit before coming to a stop.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" A voice calls out from behind me. I turn around to face whoever I tripped over, still trying to catch my balance.

"Really Twilight? I don't need to be back in there a third time. You should know by now that I'm prone to injury."

"S-Sorry." She says with a sheepish smile. "I was just going to help you get home. I heard you were getting out today."

"Um, thanks? I don't exactly have a home though."

"What? You live with Rarity though. She told me that you do herself!"

"I don't live with her, I'm staying in her shop until I can get my own place. I wouldn't really call sleeping in her office 'living' with her."

"Still, she's gonna want you back to rest. C'mon, she's expecting you."

"Why are you getting me instead of her?"

"She's... busy. I volunteered to come get you."

"Well gees, why the sudden niceness after not visiting me for three days? Literally none of you came to visit me except for Applejack, and that was just because she was already there for a checkup!"

"We've all been busy Zack... But trust me, we're still your friends."

"You keep using that word." I have two friends, Rarity and Rainbow, and that's it."

"I'm you're friend though, right?"

"I... Son of a bitch Twilight, I don't know! You're all nice, really, but I'm just not big on friends. I'm only friends with Rarity because she's been nice to me since day one, and I'm friends with Rainbow because I can't stand watching her sulk around all day."

"That's it? You base your friendships off of what other ponies can do for you?"

"N-No, I worded that wrong. I like Rarity and Rainbow, I do, but those were just the reasons that I first accepted them as friends."

"Well, I'm you're friend whether you like it or not. You can't deny it."

"Whatever you say Twilight. Maybe eventually I'll get over the fact that I can't shut everyone out of my life..." I mumble to myself.

"What was that? Did you just-"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I just... I know that I can't shut everyone out of my life, I know that. But it's so routine to do it that I can't help but just close myself out from society."

"Well maybe something will come around to change your mind."

We walk through town, and I get quite a few stares from everyone that we pass. I'm not sure if it's because I'm walking next to Twilight, who is apparently a big deal around here, or the fact that I'm wearing what is practically a white bandanna around my head. I look like a fucking ninja, and frankly, I'm fine with that.

"Hey, who's that?" I ask, pointing to the stand that Applejack usually occupies. In here place is a tiny pony with a yellowish coat, and a big ass red pony standing behind said stand.

"Those are Applejack's siblings, Apple Bloom and Big Macintosh."

"How much RAM does he have?" I say under my breath, laughing to myself like an idiot.

"What?"

"Nothing. So, where's Applejack?"

"Oh, she's... probably just out right now. C'mon, we're almost back to Rarity's place." Twilight says, engulfing my hand in magic and nearly dragging me along.

"Alright, gees, I'm coming. You're so pushy today."

"I'm not pushy."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that. Why are you in such a rush anyway? It's not like I have anywhere to be."

"Because! Rarity wants you back so you can rest."

"That doesn't sound like her if you ask me. Besides, I'm fine."

"So you're holdin' up? I thought you'd still be in pain and stumbling around."

"Well you obviously don't know me, I'm not a little bi-"

"We're here!" Twilight says excitedly, running up to Rarity's door. She knocks on it rapidly, causing me to back up a little bit. I think she finally snapped if that smile is anything to go off of.

I see Rarity's head pop out from around the door, giving me a smile before whispering something to Twilight. What the hell are they up to?

"Zack, come on in!" Rarity says after letting Twilight in. I give her a confused look before slowly approaching the door. She vanishes back inside before I can even get to the door, which confuses me even more. She only leaves it cracked open, so as I approach the door, I peek inside, only to see that it is pitch black.

"The fu-"

"SURPRISE!" A bunch of voices yell as the lights suddenly turn on. I stumble back a few steps, grasping my heart. I look inside to see the six mares that I've come to know, as well as Spike, Rarity's sister, and surprisingly Vinyl.

"Welcome to your 'Glad You're Better' party!" Pinkie yells, appearing out of nowhere in front of me. She drags me inside, causing me to start mumbling various things to myself.

"What has my life come to?"