Cryogen

Alright, so I haven't always had the fastest reflexes, so it shouldn't be all that shocking that I received a buck to the stomach just as I was about to fire. The impact causes me to stumble backwards, firing two shots into the ceiling. The intruder stallion jumps me, holding a knife in his mouth just inches from my neck.

"Oh what the fuck! Where did that even come from!" I yell out as I push back on him. He only grunts in response, the knife's tip getting ever so closer to my throat. About five more inches and I'm dead.

C'mon Zack, you're probably the last human alive, and even if you aren't, you're the last one from your original time period, you can't just give up now, not like this.

I use one arm to hold the knife at bay, the other arm slowly but surely reaching out for the gun. When he sees this, he lets up for a second, just barely long enough for me to take the advantage. Instead of going for the gun, I push him up at hard at I can using my knees and hands, sending him and the knife sailing onto the bed. I tackle him, now being the one on top.

We wrestle violently throwing punches and kicks at each other as we desperately reach for the knife bouncing around on the bed. The stallion once again tackles me to the bed, restraining me from getting up. This time he starts to crush my throat with a hoof, but lucky me can feel the edge of the knife's handle just inches from my fingers. I grunt and gasp as I reach out and eventually grab the blade. I twist it around in my hand before forcing my arm up and towards the stallion, stabbing him in the side. He lets out a cry of agony, and falls off the bed. I quickly jump up and grab the gun, and point both weapons at him.

"Don't fucking mo-" I start to say before something comes hobbling into the room.

"Zack?" Daring says, her eyes growing at the sight of the infiltrator. I take my eyes off of him for just a second, and her begins to charge at me again. Luckily, hooves are loud against wooden floors. You know what else it loud? Bullets leaving the barrels of guns. Bodies hitting the floor aren't quite as loud, but they're still up there.

"Oh sweet Celestia!" Daring yells as she stumbles over to a wall, leaning on it for support.

"Hey, I said not to move." I say as I slowly approach the body. Yep, right through the old noggin. Gotta say, its much different than shooting some tiger. This guy, er stallion, whatever, was sentient like Daring and I, so technically, I just became a murderer. Boy did that sink in quickly.

"Whoa, Zack." Daring says as she tries to stumble over to me as I hold my hand with the gun up to my head. The room starts spinning, and I feel the need to fall over, which is exactly what I do. I fall backwards on the bed, the gun and knife landing on the sheets with a dull thud. I see Daring's blurry face, but can't hear her at all. All I hear is a faint ringing in my ears.

"Zack..." I open my eyes and everything is clear again. "Oh, good, you aren't dead." Daring says with a nervous laugh, maybe from relief.

"Yeah, well I'm not..." I say as I sit up and look at the body still on the floor, blood starting to pool around it. "Sorry about... this." I say as I wave my hand in the general direction of the body.

"I-Its okay... I guess." She says as she too looks at the corpse. "Hey, wait a sec, I know this guy." She says as she rubs a hoof on her chin.

"Oh yeah? Who is he? Why was he rummaging under your bed?" Daring, in response, jumps off the bed and quickly explains to me who he was while trying to find something under the bed.

"He was a henchman for this guy, Dr. Caballeron. Trust me, he had this coming." She says, almost spitting out the words.

"I take it you guys have some history?" I ask as I watch her shuffle around under the bed, though I keep eyeing the body, feeling guilty every time I do.

"Oh yeah we do. You wouldn't believe that guy, sheesh. He never seems to leave me alone... Say, Zack, could you do me a favor?" She asks as she reappears on the top of the bed with a brown sack wrapped around her hoof. She drops it in front of me and backs up a little like she wants me to take it.

"That depends." I say as I raise my eyebrows in confusion.

"I need you to hide this. Apparently it isn't safe here as you can see." She says, gesturing to the body which is already filling the room with a rank odor.

"Okay first of all, why do you trust me of all people? We literally just met yesterday if you don't remember."

"Because, Zack, I can see who you are. You're a good guy, and I do believe that. Also... you're kinda my only friend right now, therefor making you the only one I can really trust." She says with a sheepish grin.

"Uh huh... And, what is this thing exactly?" I ask as I open the bag and pull out a flat, green gem, about the size of my phone, and turn it around in my hand.

"A pretty cool little gem I found recently while exploring this old pyramid in the deserts. Legend has it, that if you hold it and aim it at somepony, you can see their deepest, darkest fear. A little creepy, but pretty cool too! You can imagine how much this could sell for on the black market, which is why I need you to take it from here, as far away as you can. I want you to take it to this town called Ponyville, it is about twenty miles south east of here, so you could be there by tomorrow if you hurry." She says as she takes the gem out of my hand, places it back in the bag, and hurls it at me. I catch it against my chest, giving her a strange look of confusion.

"Well... at least now I have a legitimate reason for going..." I say with a sigh. "So, when do you want to get moving?"

"Um, I never said we, Zack, only you are going. If you haven't noticed, I'm in no condition to travel. Don't worry about me though, I'll just stay here, clean up this mess, and maybe just hide it somewhere for a while till things calm down. I'll meet you in Ponyville as soon as I can, I promise. But Zack, you gotta get out of here, now. The other guys are probably close by, and I'd bet my flank they heard that little fight you just had, so go, get out!" Daring hisses at me as she checks the window, looking around for anyone that might be nearby.

"But... You really just want me to leave you? You could get hurt Daring." I say as I start to stand up.

"What's this? The great and might Zack actually cares about someone?" She says with a smirk. "I'll be fine, just go already! I'll see you soon, that's a promise!" She says as she waves me out of the room. I stare at her for a moment not sure if I should really go. "I SAID GO!" She yells at me. She looks angry, but sounds more worried than anything. I nod and rush down the stairs, out the door, and into the forest, never once looking back as I feel my eyes start to water up, though I don't know why. Maybe because I just left the closest thing I've had to a friend in God knows how long, or maybe because I'm a murderer on the run now. Whatever it is, it is enough to make me sprint nearly a mile before collapsing to my knees near a river, sweat and even a little blood trickling down my face. I let it all out.

"Damn it... Damn it! DAMN IT!" I yell at the sky for no reason, still not even sure what I'm upset about. I want to go back, I really do. I feel guilty for just leaving her there, especially while she's injured, but some unseen force is keeping me from doing so, instead pulling me towards this "Ponyville" town.

"God... I'm pathetic..." I mumble to myself as I start trudging through the fallen leaves left over from autumn. I don't know how long I just shuffled along, the cold winter breeze blowing against my skin, which feels even colder because of my sweat.

My mind starts to shift over from Daring to the gem in my pocket, which only gets me curious about how it actually works. So, of course being the science loving guy I am, I pull it out and start twirling it around in my fingers, watching the sun bounce off it's reflective surface. I stare at it, looking at my own reflection, seeing how messed up my hair is and how dirty I am, which only causes me to cringe inwardly.

"How do you work?" I whisper to the gem, staring at it's flat surface. I point at myself, and continue staring at the surface as it shifts from my reflection to what is practically a video.

"Holy shit..." I gasp out in shock as I stop walking to stare at the gem. Greatest fear huh Daring? Alright, lets see if this thing is legit.

I watch the scene play out, though there is no audio which makes sense. All I see is me standing in the middle of a dark room, a single spotlight shining down on me. More lights flash on around me, revealing the faces of my former friends, the ones that all abandoned me. There is a very noticeable difference though. Their eyes and mouths are replaced with gaping black holes, their heads leaning at different angles like zombies. They all start to surround me, but I don't move. I just fall on my knees and scream. But they don't attack. The closer they get, they start to fade away into nothing. I fall over on my side, wrapping my knees up to my chest and holding them tightly. Then the gen fades back to it's normal green, reflective surface.

I stand in silence looking at the gem in disbelief. My mind just can't make up an rational explanation for what I just saw other than one thing. One thing I don't want to admit just might be real. Magic.

The gem knew somehow that my worst fear was being abandoned, I want to find out how it works, and I can't just do that in the middle of a forest. I need to get to the town, now.

I take off at a fast jogging pace into the unknown, my only guide being the sun in the sky leading me south east.

Whatever this thing is, it was able to read me like an open book, and it had a pretty gruesome way of presenting how I felt about my fear. The closer my friends got, the more they seemed to just... vanish. They probably looked like zombies, because that was how I felt about them. They were dead to me. It made sense, and that's what scares me.

I have to get to that town. I have to get there before I go insane!