I slowly started to come to life as feeling started returning to my body. There was a great and terrible pain in my left shoulder, then suddenly everything that happened last night rushed to my head like a surge of energy and I shot right up. I opened my eyes and looked around, like I had just short up out of bed from a bad dream, which isn't too different from what really happened. I was still in the bathroom, laying against the tub, my shoulder was wrapped in bandages which were soaked with blood. I felt very faint, and tired. I was hungry, and my mouth was dry and cracked, I've never felt like this much shit in my life. I moaned and rested back against the tub. I guess I must have passed out last night, only makes sense that I would.

I decided to check my wound, so I unwrapped the bandages and lifted up the gauze pad, and it was rather sickening. It was a large gaping hole In my shoulder. I could see the muscles and raw flesh inside. It was moist and red, and probably squishy. Every time I moved my arm a little you could see the muscles inside try and expand and contract, which hurt. I felt like I was going to puke, so I quickly grabbed a second gauze pad and covered the wound again. I redressed the wound with the same bandages since I don't have any extras. Once they were all fastened down I got up and walked over to the other side of the room. I picked up my shirt and sweater and carried them out with me. I put on my shirt, but slowly and painfully. Once it was on I unzipped my sweater and put that on too.

Thankfully the wound didn't keep bleeding last night, and it has slowed down greatly today. It's a good thing I wrapped the wound really tight so that there was pressure on it. I have to admit, that's going to leave a fell nasty scar later on. I walked through my living room to the kitchen and I had to hug the wall to keep from tripping over myself or falling down. I walked in and got to the counter and kept myself up using it. I reached up to one of the overhead cabinets and opened it up. I reached in and pulled out a box of cereal. It's a good thing that my right shoulder wasn't stabbed, or I'd be in some serious shit. I grabbed a bowl too and poured myself some cereal. I grabbed milk too and made myself breakfast. I was so hungry that I ate my entire breakfast in a minute or so.

I was still starving so I ate more and more and more until the already half empty box of cereal was now completely empty. Once it was all gone I was still kinda hungry, but I decided that I probably shouldn't eat anything else. I walked out of the kitchen after putting the milk back and walked into the living room. I walked from the living room and back into the bathroom. I walked in and stepped in front of the sink and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like I was dead, my skin was kinda pale, and I had really dark bags under my eyes. That's probably from the blood loss. I looked down into the sink to see a large red stain in it... It was my blood. I turned the faucet on and the sink filled with water. I washed out the blood in the sink and turned off the water. I series my hands and walked out of the bathroom. I walked over to my couch and sat down.

I wanted to flip on the TV and see if what happened last night was on the news, but I don't want to hear anything about that. Then I remembered that the news doesn't give a crap about a small town like this. The only way they would ever mention the name of our happy little town if it were to suddenly explode. I still didn't want to turn on the TV though, but I'm sure that it'll be in the news, I wonder if anybody will know that it was me who killed those two guys. They deserved it though... They killed scarlet... Oh, scarlet. Why did it have to be her, we were just starting to become friends, and I was actually starting to really like her, she was starting to be something more than a friend to me. I sat there on my couch staring at the off television when suddenly there was a knock on my door. I looked over and got up from my couch.

I started making my way over to the door but I was still faint, I don't want anybody to see me like this, but I still want to know who it could be. I made my way out of the living room and into the kitchen. I followed the counter all the way to the door and then stood there. I had weak knees, but I kept myself up regardless and opened the door. When I opened it up I was surprised to see that It was hammer standing there wearing a suit. I looked at him and I was rather confused at what he was doing there, but when he saw me it was like he saw a ghost.

"Jesus Zack, what happened to you!?" He asked.

"I.. Uh." I stuttered not being able to think of an excuse.

"Zack you look like you've been shot." He said. He walked himself into my apartment and pulled up a seat. He lead me over to it after closing the door and I sat down just in time before my knees gave out. He pulled up a chair and sat down as well.

"Hammer.. What are... You." I was having trouble speaking, I felt constantly tired.

"Zack look." He said staring at me. "Donnie knows about what's happened last night, the woman and those two men that you killed." Shit... He knows, that isn't good. "And quite frankly he's impressed, but he sent me over to check up in you, make sure you aren't dead. And I'm just glad that you haven't died."

"I feel like I might." I said hazily.

"Look, Donnie said that he's going to do you a favor, and he's tied up the loose ends for you." He said.

"He has?" I asked.

"Yes, we couldn't hide the incident, but he made sure that you were never there." Said hammer.

"Tell Donnie, that I said Thank you." I said.

"But he still expects you to repay this favor at some point, even if you don't end up coming back in with the family."

"That's fine... I don't like to admit it, but I suppose that I owe him now."

"Zack, you really don't look too good, what happened, you didn't get shot did you?"

"No..."

"Pathways a relief."

"I got stabbed." I said.

"You got stabbed!" He said. "Where?" I slowly unzipped my sweater and took it off. Then I slowly lifted up my shirt and took it off revealing the blood soaked wound. "This looks pretty bad, and it's still bleeding... I'm going to call the doctor." He said.

"The...the doctor." I repeated. The doctor isn't a kind of doctor that works at the hospital, he's a guy that works with us. He's human, but he can preform better than most unicorns. Hammer got on his cell phone and dialed a number then started talking into it. I didn't hear because I started blanking, but I quickly pulled myself back with a rush of energy.

"Alright, he's on his way..." Said hammer. "C'mon, let's get you laying down." Hammer the. Lifted me off the chair in his huge arms and carried me into the living room and laid me down on the couch. He grabbed one of the chairs and sat down on it by me. "Are you still feeling alright Zack?" Asked hammer.

"Yeah, I'm still holding on. I won't die yet." I said giving him a smile. He smiled too and then there was a knock on the door. Hammer got up and walked over and answered it. He smiled and let in a tall man with a white suit and a medical bag. That must be the doctor, that was fast. They both walked over and the doctor knelt down beside me. He had white skin and blonde hair with hazel eyes.

"Hello Zack. How have you been doing?" He asked with a heavy German accent.

"I feel like shit." I said.

"Well, seeing as you only have a pint or so of blood left, zen yes... It would be natural zat you feel like shit." He said. He reached over and started to undress my wound and once he took everything away he looked at it closely. "Hmm, well, it has healed somewhat. You have done a good job of properly treating it once you got the chance, but I'm afraid that without any stitches, this will never heal... So let's get started. He opened up his medical bag and pulled out some thread and a needle. Then he pulled out a syringe and popped the cap over the needle. He tapped the top and a bit of liquid squirted out. He stuck the needle into my neck and slowly injected me with the liquid. "Now, count down from 10."

"Alright...1...2...3...4...5..

." I couldn't get past five before everything became numb and soon it became dark. Everything seemed to pass by in an instant and before I knew it I was awake once more. I looked around, dazed and confused, but I couldn't see the doctor, just hammer. I Looked over at him and he looked back and smiled.

"Feeling better?" I asked.

"Uh, yeah. Is it over?" I asked I looked at my shoulder and there was a small bloody gauze pad covered in some white bandages.

"Yeah it's fine... The doc patched you up and went on his way... Are you still feeling dizzy?" He asked.

"A little..." I said.

"Good. Well, I have to be going now, but you should take it easy for a while." Said hammer getting up and walking away.

"Wait... Hammer." I said stopping him,

"Yeah Zack... What is it?" He asked.

"Tell Donnie..." I said pausing for a brief second before finishing. "Tell Donnie what I'm in... I'll join the family again." I said.

"Are you sure?" Asked hammer.

"The other day I learned that the world is a dangerous place, and that without a little help from some friends, I won't make it anywhere." I said.

"I'll tell Donnie..." He said smiling. "You just get some rest." He said. I smiled and waved him off and he walked into the kitchen and then out through the front door. He closed the door and I was alone. I laid there on my couch and relaxed. My shoulder was numb, but it was probably going to hurt like hell once it's done being numb, I probably should probably use my left arm as little as possible until it gets better. I laid down on the couch and reached over with my good arm to grab the remote. I grabbed it and flicked on the TV. It switched on to the news channel which was just talking about the weather now. I flicked through the channels and tried to find something else that was on. I settled on one TV show and just watched it for a while.

I don't know when, but at some point I had fallen asleep right on the couch. Then I woke up a few hours later, And it was dark outside. The next couple of days carried on like this. I slept, ate, and watched TV until soon enough Wednesday had rolled by. I know that twilight and the others are supposed to be coming back to ponyville on Wednesday, but I didn't know it was Wednesday at the time. I lost track of time and I wasn't bothered with what day it was. It was early in the morning now, last night I had called the doctor about some questions, mostly concerning showers. He said it would be alright for me to take a shower by now, and he said that the stitches were waterproof. He did tell me not to make the water too hot because it could cause problems, and then right after told me to put an ice pack on it. I had an ice pack in the freezer and I was already heading to the bathroom.

For the last few days my shoulder hurt like hell, and it's very sore, but it's bearable. I walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind me. I took off my clothes and got into the shower. I turned the water on and just soaked in the water. The water ran over my wound which was pretty ugly now. I had to take the bandages off before bathing. The wound was red and scabby, the stitches made it look even morse though. The water felt pretty good against my back which had been killing me since a few days ago too, not long after the doctor came. It's probably something with me having been laying around the last couple of days. I actually did have a phone call with Donnie and he said that he understands my situation and said he will give me time to recover.

I stayed in the shower for a while and soaked in the water, which felt great. Once I had enough I turned off the water and got out of the shower. I grabbed the towel hanging up and started to dry myself off. I washed my hair and body all over and then walked over to the mirror and looked at myself. I was starting to look and feel better. I no longer looked like I was dead now, but I looked like my normal self, but I think I might have lost some weight since I've had to replenish all that blood. I wrapped the towel around me and turned to leave the bathroom when something caught my eyes just as I was turning to walk out. I quickly stopped and looked back at the mirror to see there was something on my back. I froze there for a second when I realized what it was. It was a tattoo.

It was a black, tribal like tattoo with a sword rising up my back with wings. the sword pointed down to the ground and there were angel like wings on either side of the hilt. It was an entire back tattoo, how did I not notice this... WHO DID THIS?! I got closer to the mirror and looked at it. All in all as I looked at it, it doesn't look all that bad... But who the hell did this? Was it the doctor, he did knock me out, I know I didn't get this by myself... It must have been the doctor and hammer, what the hell. I looked at the tattoo further and there wasn't much left to it. Just a sword pointing to the ground with wings of the hilt. I was pretty confused, also pretty pissed that somebody tattooed my body while I was sleeping, not even sleeping, I was knocked out with sedatives.

I turned back to the door and walked out of the bathroom with my shirt still off. I walked over to the couch where and sat down. I reached down to grab my cellphone off the coffee table and flipped it open. I dialed hammers number and the phone started ringing and I put it up to my ear. It rung a few times until it clicked and a voice answered on the other end.

"Hello?" Asked the voice.

"Hammer, is this you?"

"Zack! What's up man..." He said.

"Don't what's up man me... Hammer... What the actual fuck, why'd you and that doctor freak tattoo my fucking back?" I asked.

"Woah. Zack... Chill, what are you talking about?" He asked.

"Don't lay dumb with me... You tattooed my fucking back." I said.

"We didn't do anything... Nobody tattooed my back."

"You saw me that day. Did I have any tattoos that day?" I asked.

"No man, you never had any tattoos." Said hammer.

"Well I was just in the bathroom. And now there's a big ass tattoo right on my fucking back, and I know that I sure as hell didn't get it myself, so somebody must be fucking with me and the only people I've had contact with recently were you and the doctor." I said angrily.

"Look, Zack, I don't know anything about any tattoos." He said. "The doctor put you under and stitched you up, you were only out for a half hour, that alone wouldn't be enough time to give anybody a tattoo, plus I was with him the whole time, and you know I wouldn't do something like that to you. Why don't you wait there, I'll head over... If somebody is fucking with you then we'll find out who, alright...?" He asked. I paused for a second and let out a deep sigh into the phone.

"Alright hammer... Just get over here quickly." I said.

"Cool, I'll be there in ten." He said as he hung up the phone right after. I closed my phone and tossed it back onto the table and sat down on the couch. I let out another deep sigh and looked over at the TV. Who the hell is responsible for this. I suppose the doctor guy is an bit of a shady character, and if don't trust him too much, but hammer was with him, and I do trust hammer. I was probably wrong to think that it could have been hammer. There's no way he would do something like this. But this is seriously starting to freak me out.

I sat there waiting and soon enough there was a knock at the door. I waked over into my kitchen with my shirt now on. I walked up to the door and unlocked it. I opened the door and standing there was hammer in his suit. He looked at me and I let him in, he walked on in and I closed the door behind him and locked it up once again.

"So let me see this tattoo you've been freaking about." He said.

"Yeah, this way." I said leading him into the living room. I gestured for him to take a seat and he sat down on the couch. I grabbed the ends of my shirt and took it off and showed him my back.

"Sweet, Jesus... Damn!" He said as he saw the back tattoo.

"That's pretty much what I've been thinking." I said. "I have no idea how it got there, and you would have been able to see it that day you were here last time."

"That's some freaky shit Zack." Said hammer.

"Yeah I know that..." I said. "What I want to know is who the hell did this."

"I don't know Zack, I don't think I've ever seen something this strange. I've heard of people getting killed, raped, or kidnapped in their sleep... But who puts a tattoo on somebodies back while they sleep?" Asked hammer.

"I don't know, you think it could have been some kind of magic?" I asked.

"I ain't never gotten a magic tattoo before, but it's sounding like a possible thing right now." He said. "Tell ya what. I've got myself a few tattoos myself, I'll go check up the spots in town that know me and see if I can't get some answers, you just chill here and try not to freak out so much." Said hammer. I picked up my shirt and put it back on.

"Yeah, thanks hammer." I said. I was going to say something else until there was a knock at the door, which was somewhat surprising. "Huh... Friends of yours?" I asked.

"No... I came here alone, how about you... Your friends?" He asked. The word 'friends' shot back memories into my head and I suddenly remembered about twilight and applejack.

"Oh crap... Is today Wednesday?" I asked.

"Yeah... Why?" Asked hammer.

"I think that's my friends..." I said as there was another knock on the door. I can't just ignore them. But they don't really know who hammer is, so I suppose I can introduce them to each other. I walked over into the kitchen and unlocked the door and opened it. Surely enough there they were, twilight and applejack standing there with smiles on their faces. "Oh, hey twilight... Applejack." I said smiling but somewhat nervous.

"Hey Zack..." Said twilight.

"Howdy..." Replied applejack. "How've y'all been doing?" She asked.

"Uh, pretty good... It's been kinda boring." I said.

"You don't mind if we come in do we?" Asked twilight. If I said no then it would be kinda suspicious.

"Yeah sure... I've, uh, actually got somebody else over at the moment." I said gesturing them to come in.

"Oh really? Who?" Asked twilight as they both walked in.

"He's just an old work buddy, from the corner store I worked at." I said leading them into the living room. I walked them in and they somewhat froze when they saw hammer. The huge muscly black dude in the suit.

"Ah... Hello." He said putting on a friendly smile.

"Woah... Your friend is one big dude..." Said applejack.

"Applejack!" Said twilight nudging her for thinking it was rude.

"No no, please... It's fine, I get that all the time... There's no denying it." He said laughing a bit. "My name is Jackson anvil... But all my friends just call me hammer." He said reaching his hand out. His hand was so massive that both twilight and applejack could shake his hand at the same time.

"Zack said you were one of his old work buddies." Said twilight.

"Ah yes, we used to work at the corner store not far from here until it collapsed a few months ago." He said lying nicely. In this business it's crucial to always be able to tell a good lie. "I'm just here to say hello, I actually have to be going now." He said smiling and walking to the kitchen. " it's good to see that you're doing well Zack, have a good day." He said opening the door to leave.

"You too jack..." I said to him as he closed the door and then left. I let out a bit of a sigh and sat back on my couch.

"So crimson... a how have things been in ponyville?" Asked twilight.

"The normal..." I said. "I haven't had much to do lately... But I've survived. So how was the canterlot spring fling?" I asked as the others took a seat on the couch too. Twilight sat by me and applejack by twilight.

"It was a mighty good time." Said applejack.

"It was a lot of fun to go to canterlot and see the princess again..." Said twilight. "Again, I'm sorry that you couldn't come along, the princess said that she'd be able to give you an invite to the next grand galloping Galla." Said twilight smiling. The grand galloping Galla is not a simple matter, it's only the greates party ever, and she wants me to go with her.

"Eh... I don't know." I said. "I'm not sure how well I'd fit in at that party... Especially when I've only got two friends." I said.

"That's not true... You've got plenty of friends." Said twilight.

"Yeah like that big guy who's just here." Said applejack smiling as twilight nudged her again and gave her a small glare.

"And what about that nice woman who lives here... Scarlet was it?" She asked. Hearing her name made my good mood go away, but I tried to keep a seemingly good mood on the outside, they shouldn't know the truth, it wouldn't be good.

"You two didn't do nothing while we were gone did ya?" Asked applejack.

"Well... About her." I said twiddling my thumbs. Twilight and applejack just blushed.

"Oh... Well, that's uh... I don't know." Said twilight. I could see that the way they were blushing I knew what they were thinking about.

"No no no... It's not like that, I swear." I said trying to clear the thought from their heads. "She, uh... Well... She moved away actually.".

"Oh... That's kind of a relief. But I'm sorry, she seemed rather nice for someone who's so... Uh, what's a good word for it?" Asked twilight.

"Flexible?" Suggested applejack. Twilight nudged her again and glared at her. "What?" Asked applejack seeming somewhat annoyed.

"Well, she was nice... Sorry to hear that. Where did she move off to?" Asked twilight.

"Phillydalphia." I said saying the first city that came to mind.

"Don't worry... I'm sure you'll make new friends in no time flat." Said applejack trying to cheer me up. She lifted her hoof and gave me a heavy pat on the shoulder, the shoulder that I'd been stabbed in. She patted me wounded shoulder which sent a surge of pain through my body. I tried not to make a big deal of it, but I could help but moan in pain and grab my shoulder,

"Ow ow ow ow..." I said finicking around a bit in pain.

"Oh gosh... Sorry." Said applejack immediately regretting her division to congratulate me and pat my shoulder. The pain faded away to the point where I could deal with it, but now I have to explain myself. It's probably bette that they don't know about anything that's happened this weekend while they were gone, so I'll have to lie.

"Zack... What's wrong with your shoulder?" Asked twilight.

"Oh... I just injured it when I was, uh... Trying to help scarlet move." I said. "She wanted help with her wardrobe and when it came time to move it I guess I didn't lift with my legs and pulled my shoulder... It's been sore for a day or two now." I said.

"Are you okay?" Asked applejack.

"Did you see a doctor about it?" Asked twilight.

"Don't worry I did..." I said even though it's not the same doctor they're referring to. "He said it would heal on its own, I just gotta rest and keep pressure off it." I said then I looked to applejack, "sorry, but I might not be able to do much heavy lifting on the farm anymore with this injury."

"Well, don't y'all mind that... We'll find something for you to do." She said. "As a matter of fact, the farms new crop of apples just grew over the weekend, so I'll just have ya pickin apples, shouldn't be too hard..." She said.

"Alright... I'll get on that tomorrow." I said.

"Righty then, but if you feel like you can't handle the job then just say so, we'll find something else... Last thing we need is for ya to be kill'n yerself on the job."

"Don't worry, I'm tougher than I look." I said smiling and giving a thumbs up.

"Well you rest up Zack... Me and applejack need to get going, we just wanted to say hi." Said twilight.

"Alright, I'll see you guys tomorrow then." I said getting up with them as they left the living room and walked into the kitchen. I opened the door for them and they walked out and waved.

"Seeya zack..." Said applejack smiling and waving at me as she walked away. I smiled and waved back then closed the door and locked it. My expression dropped after that and I sullenly walked back into the living room and then into the bathroom. I closed the door and took off my shirt. The first thing I looked at was the stab wound, which was doing better now, but it was still rather ugly. The doctor told me to wait until next Thursday to take out the stitches. He said I'll have to do it on my own, but it should be too hard or too painful. All I have to do is cut the stitching at the knot and then pull it out. I kept looking at the wound and lightly place my fingers on it which stung a little, but I could bear it. The next thing I did was turn around and look at the tattoo on my back.

Just looking at the tattoo was very unsettling. Now that I look at it, I kinda like it, it's not an ugly or bad looking tattoo, plus it's covered up most of the time. The only thing that scares me is how it just mysteriously appeared there. Looking at it and wondering just how it got there was a bit disturbing, and I can't figure out what it is. It looks just like any ordinary tattoo, there's nothing seemingly special about it, it's not even In color, just a tribal tattoo of a sword with wings by the hilt. The sword points down my back and the wings start at the hilt. They bend once they get to my shoulder blades and then The wings point down with the sword. I kept my eyes on it, I don't know why, but I looked at it like I was expecting it to change or something, but it's just a normal tattoo. I looked at it closely and muttered something to myself.

"What are you...?"

-Authors Note: This is the point of the story where things start to get very interesting. im sure that by know some of you might already know or have figured out just what might be going on here. and im sure almost all of you have realized what the tattoo on Zack's back is, if not... well then god have mercy on your soul. hopefully now zack will start making new friends, and might become more of a badass, because i know some people dont like the story since zack is ultimately a problem child, and to those people i say...go fuck yourself...please. in all honesty not ever main character can be a badass hero, sometimes people are normal and you should suck it up and deal with that... anyway. make sure to favorite the story and leave a review. and ill see you all next time.

-Stay Shady~