A/N: Wow, I wrote this on Sunday, and never got around to finishing it until Friday. Yeah, I'm lazy so much with the reviews! I got like 4 reviews within the first three hours of uploading! So, yeah, conflict is brewing, and so is the adventure. But this chapter has some fluffiness in it too, so I hope you enjoy!

When They Entered My Life

Chapter 4

God, what a brutal day I had, and finally, I was home. Gym class involved nothing but running back and forth to each wall. Worst part is that the female locker room was under maintenance, so it was either use the boy's, or go smelly. So, our poor English teacher was put with a bunch of sweaty girls.

Couldn't get to the library, though. There always seemed to be a class taking place in there, and I didn't want to disturb or get into trouble. In fact, I never like to get in trouble; I'm pretty well behaved in school. Home, that's an entirely different thing.

I turned the knob, and opened the front door. Immediately, I heard Super Smash Brothers Brawl playing in the other room. I always played that game with Ashley, but never beat her once. Though, with the number of levels we fought through, I basically have all the background music engraved into my mind.

Though, Mom doesn't get home for another couple hours. Who's playing this game? The only people here are the ponies. Wait; did they start up the Wii without me? I made my way into the living room to find Pinkie and Rainbow holding the Gamecube controllers the best they could in their hooves, smashing the buttons rapidly. For their first time playing, they weren't bad.

Twilight was on the couch, reading some magazine, of course. Applejack and Rarity found my DSi (which I was pretty sure that it was still in my suitcase.) and taking an endless amount of photos, about taking up my entire memory. And Fluttershy managed to quietly nap in the recliner, with all the noise from the television blasting. In fact, they didn't even see me walk in.

"Hi there, girls." I quietly announced, but it somehow got all the ponies' attention. They all greeted me sweetly. "So, what'd you do while I was gone?"

Rainbow Dash pointed to the Wii console. "This. I pressed a button, and something showed up on the screen. So I pressed a button on this gray thing, and this game showed up."

"This game is so fun! The pink guy is eating everybody! And this blue furry thing is so fast! It's like me and Dashie!" Pinkie Pie was hopping up and down. I did see the similarity between Kirby and Sonic and Pinkie and Dash.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you ponies love it here!" I looked over to Twilight who skimmed through another article. Then, to Fluttershy, who probably woke up when I walked in. "I think we all need to take a bath." They looked up at me in surprise. "Okay. Listen. You girls were in the filthy, sandy backseat of my mom's car for about seven or eight hours, and slept in my room with no air conditioning or atmosphere whatsoever in there. I'd think you need a bath somewhat."

The ponies groaned in defeat after realizing how much they reeked with sweat. Especially with the heater at seventy-three. We all took our time climbing the stairs, and into the easy to find bathroom. I felt like I needed to introduce them to indoor plumbing. "Okay, this is a toilet. Note: It's not a drinking bowl. Okay?" They nodded in understanding, but if they would already know what it was, they'd be laughing. "And this is the tub!" I turned the hot water faucet on, and water came out the spout. This of course amused the ponies.

"My word, how impressive!" Rarity was in awe. Where did the water come from, they wondered.

I smiled and nodded at their curiosity. Now, to test it out. I stuck a finger under the faucet. Ow, that's boiling! I turned the cold-water faucet on. Stuck a finger in. Much better. Our bathtub was very big, about the size of a jacuzzi, so all the ponies could get in at once. Something was missing, though. "How about we turn on some music?" I clicked the power switch on the bathroom and flicked it to my favorite station, 92.5, which always played the best modern hits. And they never lied. Bruno Mars' 'The Lazy Song' started up, and I knew this song by heart.

Today I don't feel like doing anything,

I just wanna lay in my bed.

Don't feel like pickin' up my phone,

So leave a message at the tone,

Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything.

The instant the radio blasted, the ponies, most notably Fluttershy, cowered in surprise. But as they saw me singing along, they saw no harm in it at all. I suck at singing, though. I cannot hit most low notes; yet, my voice cannot hit most high notes. I stay in a pretty limited musical scale. This song was perfect for my voice, cause it never went too low or high; it stayed in the pitch I could reach.

I'm gonna kick my feet up and stare at the fan,

Turn the TV on, throw my hands in my pants,

Nobody's gonna tell me I can't.

By this point in the song, a few of the ponies tapped their hooves to the neutral beat, some bopped their heads, but they all were smiling at this new genre of music.

I'm gonna kick my feet up, just chillin in my Snuggie,

Turn to MTV so they can Teach Me How to Dougie,

Cause in my castle I'm the freaking man.

People say this song is all about me. Which is pretty much true. I've never been energetic or athletic. I never joined any sports or extracurricular activities. I just slummed at home, watching television or surfing online.

Oh, yes I said it, I said it, I said it cause I can.

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash joined in with me at the second refrain, since they pretty much remembered these words from the first time, and they messed up a couple of times, with some of those hip words.

Today I don't feel like doing anything.

I just wanna lay in my bed.

Don't feel like picking up my phone,

So leave a message at the tone,

Cause today I swear I'm not doing anything, nothing at all.

This was the best cover version of this song. I couldn't ever imagine myself singing a duet with Pinkie or Rainbow, or even Twilight or Fluttershy when she joined in eventually. After the song was over, everypony got in the bathtub. When scrubbing shampoo through their messy manes, I definitely felt like they were my pets. Except my dogs would always give themselves a bath. Other songs came on the radio too, like Maroon 5's 'Moves like Jagger', which Pinkie Pie mistaken for 'Hooves Like Jagger', which had me rolling with laughter.

After the much needed bath, I tried to dry them off. But they shook themselves dry like a dog, which didn't help that odd simile in my mind either. Afterwards, I was sure of Mom getting home from work soon, so I sent them in my room and turned on Nickelodeon for them to watch.

My prediction was correct, as I instantly heard the front door creak open as my poor hard working mother walked in. I ran down and gave her a hug, and returned it. "So how was your day?"

"Crappy, as usual. Didn't get to see you this morning, cause you had the door closed." She sighed, dropping her purse onto the kitchen counter.

I shrugged. "It was a pretty cold night for me. Plus, I had Baby Titten to keep me warm in bed."

She smiled, and kissed my forehead. "You know how much I can't stand this woman I'm working for? She keeps leaving messages on the machine, wanting me to visit her. The only reason why I'm still working for her is because you want one of those 3DS things for Christmas."

"You still haven't gone Christmas shopping yet?" I was stunned with so much shock. Today was only December 16th, and I told her to go shopping at least before our family reunion, which was where we spent our vacation. She never got to it, and now she has like a week to do so.

Mom sighed. "The 3DS is $170, right?" I nodded. "And you want some other things too, right?" I uneasily motioned my hand left and right for a 'Well, yeah, kind of' signal. "Well, then, I still need to save up enough."

"You know, you don't have to buy me the 3DS, if you'd take me to BroNYCon for my birthday, right?" I have been anticipating BroNYCon for several weeks now. It happened to be on January 7th, 11 days before my birthday. One reason to go is that Andrea Libman would be there, who voices Pinkie and Fluttershy (Then again, what's the point to go if I have the real Pinkie and Fluttershy upstairs?). But the main reason being is that I really wanted to go out and meet some real bronies. Bronies are seriously the only community I felt like I belonged and fit in. Plus, the idea of an MLP convention was pretty epic.

Mom rubbed her temples. "Nicole, you know that'd cost more for the three of us to go to New York for a weekend in winter than a video game? Plus, you know you still have school and we have work?"

"Can't I just take a day off? I don't care if I don't have perfect attendance, only geeks get that!" I screamed. Oh, god, here we go again.

"I'm done with this conversation, I don't want to discuss more of it." She flipped on her laptop, and tuned into her Facebook game of Texas Hold'Em Poker.

I sheepishly looked over at my mother. "You know, they're having an Equestrian Hold'Em Poker competition at BroNYCon?"

She glared at me. "Go. Now." I groaned, and stared up at the ceiling. I should get the ponies something to eat, if they hadn't gotten something while I was gone. I grabbed a box of these fish shaped crackers, and headed up the stairs to my room.

…

The girls weren't watching Nickelodeon when I came back up, but it was the Disney Channel. Oh, no, if they can control the television, I better block the Hub channel. Fish Hooks was on, another one of the shows I actually can stand for some reason. I know a ton of people who say it's crap, but I like it somehow. The humor is much like mine, and I'm often random.

I carried up my backpack also, so I could finally get started on studying for that Math test in a couple of days. So, I dropped the backpack on the bed, almost tripping on the ponies, lying in front of the TV on the floor. Remembering the fish crackers, I located their food bowls, and dispensed it into their bowls. They noticed the food, and charged to them, ready to taste their dinner (along with some tap water I gathered, and placed in a cup next to the 'eating station').

With a sigh of relief, I pulled out the thick, 800-page Math textbook out, and turned to the desired page. Distributive property. Easy, only I'm not good with multiplying decimals. I'm pretty old to not know how to do this, but I never got it when I was younger.

Twilight saw me struggling with my problems. "Hey, do you need some help with your Math?"

"You can help me with this?" I whispered, barely audible. Twilight Sparkle was offering to be my tutor? As my mental insanity was bad enough.

She walked over to my paper, and glanced down at it. "The Distributive property of multiplication? Oh sure. I certainly know how to do this." I was pretty excited to work with her, since she did look like the pony for the job. And she was, I went through all the practice problems in no time flat, and she summed it up pretty easily for me to understand.

When I was done packing up all my things, Rainbow Dash, of all ponies, turned on my room's radio. Instead of 92.5 coming on, Mix 94.1 started up, and from this time of year, I knew this was the Christmas music station. The song started off describing a lot of Christmas' distinct characteristics, like candy canes, and tall trees, and caring for loved ones. From the looks on everypony's face, they were utterly clueless.

"What? You don't have Christmas back in Equestria?" I asked. The ponies shook their heads. I wouldn't think they'd identify it as Christmas, since their Halloween was Nightmare Night.

Applejack shook her head. "Ah've never heard of this here Christmas. What 'sit like?" She asked.

I couldn't help but laugh. I've never had to describe my most favorite holiday to any being ever. "What is Christmas? Well, think of it a time of the year where you can put all your anger behind you, and bring out all the happiness. We get school out, bake tons of sweet candy and cookies, and are given presents. But really, that's not exactly why I love Christmas."

"How can that not be why? It's candy and presents!" Pinkie Pie couldn't believe one word I was saying.

I looked down and back up. "Ashley gets out of college in a couple of days, and we can be a family. That's what I like. Just so the four of us can be a family. Other than that, we all fight. Before then, we had great times. Now, it's all fallen apart."

Pinkie Pie walked over to me. "Aren't we your family for now?" I was taken back. Not only am I realizing this connection, but the ponies themselves. I felt myself lay an elbow on the desk, and rested my head onto my palm.

"Yeah, I guess you girls are." I sighed, closed my textbook, and crawled down on the floor. I wrapped my arm around each and everyone of them. I'm taking them in, and taking care of them. Now, I'm responsible to keeping them in good hands until they make back home safely. I've been anticipating their departure ever since they arrived, and everyday it gets harder and harder to believe.

A/N: Christmas with ponies! I may be the first author to start this year about writing a pony Christmas. So, yeah. The next chapter will arrive faster than this. I've just been pretty busy this week. See you next time!