"Olly?" I felt a draft as the door opened slightly

"Gah!" I jumped. Luckily I already had pants on, and I was just drying my hair, "Twilight… uh… for future reference, don't walk in on people when their in the bathroom."

"Oh… right of course! Sorry," she apologized frantically as she shut the door again; probably fearing that she already blew her cover.

I sighed and continued to dry my hair. I'd have to find a subtle way to tell them they were just part of a television show in this world. And after that, I would have to teach them how to act human.

"Olly?" Twilight knocked on the door this time, "Can I come in?"

I laughed to myself, "Hold on! Let me put a shirt on. What do you need?"

"Well I uh… I think we all kind of got lost," she said timidly.

I sighed, should've seen that coming, "Why didn't you all just go to the living room like I told you?"

"You were up here for a pretty long time so we all thought we'd explore a bit," she explained, "There's not much else to do."

"What about the TV?" I asked, knowing she wouldn't know what it was. I simply wanted to know how she'd react.

"The… TV? Oh, oh right! I barely noticed it!" she stuttered. I laughed again.

"It's a thirty inch flat screen, Twilight," I countered, "A little hard to miss."

There was a long pause while Twilight tried to interpret what I was saying. When she finally gave up, she simply changed the subject, "Well, I-I'm lost. And I can't find anypony else."

I chuckled at the word 'anypony'. Gotta fix that. I pulled on my white t-shirt and opened the door, only bump into Twilight, who was apparently leaning her entire body against the door in order to talk to me.

"Well, this is a first," I said casually, "Yea, the house is kinda big, but there aren't that many places to get lost in."

My second floor was simply a balcony looming over the gigantic living room. There were four doors, two guest rooms, the bathroom, and my room, all connected by one thin hallway. Below us was the living room, which was connected to the kitchen and dining room. From there, a hallway that lead to three other doors which lead to the basement, another bathroom, and my parent's room.

"Did you see where everyone went?" I asked.

"Uh… Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity went down that hallway," she said pointing towards the hallway to the basement, "and Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie followed me up here, but then disappeared."

"Well," I shrugged, "Those two have got to be in one of the rooms up here, unless they decided to jump over the railing… and I think the other three are in the basement."

I walked toward my door and opened it to find Fluttershy sitting on my bed, simply looking around the room. My room was relatively large. There was a big playroom with three light grey walls and one red. A black desk was placed against the red wall, and a dark blue couch was placed against the one across from that. An archway lead to a smaller room with the same colored paint, and my queen bed in the center.

"O-oh! Hello there, Olly…"

"Hey Fluttershy," I started skeptically but then took a breath, "Like my room?"

"Oh my! T-this is your room? I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to intrude…"

I waved it off, "Don't worry about it. At least it's somewhat clean."

Fluttershy hid behind her hair a bit and grinned, "You're room is… very nice."

I nearly daw'd and covered my mouth with one hand to hide my blush. I saw Twilight smirk a bit, and I just backed away from the door.

"Come on," I said calming myself down, "We still have to find the others…"

I turned back into the hallway and immediately went up a small set of stairs to my dad's office. Inside there was a dark green couch that folded out into a guest bed, and a large, wooden desk cluttered with multiple computers, papers, and books. I looked around; no movement whatsoever. I nearly shrugged and left the room, when I heard a clattering sound from the closet door. Cautiously, I opened the door to reveal none other than Pinkie Pie surrounded by my various Lego creations.

"Hiya, Olly!" she shouted happily, playing with the mouth of a shark-like cave.

"Pinkie… what are you doing in here?"

"Did'ja make this city, Olly?" she asked, not bothering to answer my question.

"Well… yea…"

"That's so super duper cool!" she shouted, inspecting a submarine I had made.

"What is all of this made out of?" Twilight asked, leaning in the doorway.

"Uh… Lego's," I paused, deciding to have a little fun, "You know, every kid's best friend. The must have toy that everyone's played with at least once in their lifetime?"

"Well, I've never-" Pinkie started, until Twilight jumped in and covered up her mouth.

"Oh yea, of course! Leg… os… right!"

I nearly giggled as I stepped out of the closet and started down the stairs, "Meet me in the living room, okay? I'm going to find the others, and then we can talk."

With that, I practically jumped down the stairs and turned down the hallway into the basement. My basement, I believed, was the beauty of my house. There was a long, wood-floor hallway that lead to a makeshift kitchen, and a carpeted theatre area with four movie-styled loveseats and a large flat screen. Behind that there was a good-sized pool table with black felt. There was one, extremely small guest bedroom down there, but it was big enough for a double to fit into.

Once I approached the bottom of the stairs, I could hear Applejack and Rainbow Dash talking amongst themselves. I paused, wondering if I should eaves drop or not. I decided there wouldn't be any harm to listen for a couple of seconds.

"What is all of this?" I heard Rainbow asked, most likely gesturing to my game counsels and TV.

"I dunno, but this world sure is somethin'," Applejack replied back, "These creatures've got stuff I never even imagined before."

"Hey guys," I interrupted, getting bored with their conversation, "We're meeting in the living room. Where's Rarity?"

"I'm over here!" I heard an elegant voice shout from the guest room, "I was just admiring the lovely sheets on this bed. Whoever made them?"

I raised an eyebrow, "Uh… IKEA?"

"Hm, well I'd very much like to meet this 'IKEA'," she concluded, "She has wonderful taste in fabric."

This time, I couldn't help but laugh a little, "Okay, we really need to talk. Come on, let's go upstairs."

The three girls followed me up the stairs and into the living room. We all sat down at one of the many leather couches and just stared at each other for a while. I had to think of a way to tell them about the show without freaking them out or… making them feel bad.

"Olly… What we're about to tell you might come as a bit of a shock…"

I sighed, it was now or never; "I… don't bet on me getting too surprised…"

"This is really a doozey, sugarcube," Applejack reaffirmed, almost trying to make me skeptical.

"Guys… there's something you should know."

They all stared at me with confused looks on their faces. I gulped. How was there an easy way to do this? Tell them that Lauren Faust imagined them all up and put them on TV for little girl's entertainment. Come to think of it, though… these girls must be real. How'd Faust know about them?

"Humans… we're kinda weird," I started, "Some of us have this really active imagination… that I guess allows us to see different realities. And sometimes, we don't know how to communicate these visions, so we show them to everyone… claiming we made it all up."

I winced; that came out way more confusing than I intended it to. All but Twilight looked at me in the same confused way.

"W-what are you saying?" Twilight asked.

I pointed to my TV, "These visions are spread using this. We write things down, draw things, act things out, so that other people can see. But we don't really know how to communicate that it's a vision, so we just say that we made it all up."

Now, even Twilight was confused. I sighed, "Look… I know who all of you are. And I know you're not from earth. You're from Equestria."

"Oh… my…" Fluttershy sank further into the couch.

"How the hay did you know?" Rainbow shouted.

I leaned back and explained Laruen Faust's show to the girls, and how she claimed to have written it all herself. I, for one, still wasn't sure how she had obtained the information, but that was the best guess I was able to come up with.

"All I can really say is… you're lucky that it was me you ran into," I finished, "Not everyone in the world knows who you are, and some of the things you've said would be pretty hard to clear up, no offense. I can tell you were trying really hard to hide it, but you guys are obviously not from around here."

A couple of the girls blushed, and I just smiled in return.

"So… you know who we are from this thing you called a… what? A TV?" Applejack tried to collect her thoughts.

"Yea," I replied casually, "I just turn it on, and it plays on the screen. Not only that, though. Tons of different shows play on TV. Your show only appears on this channel called the Hub."

"May we see this 'show'?" Rarity asked curiously.

I cringed, "I dunno… it might be a little weird to see yourselves on TV… especially because you never realized you were being watched by someone."

"Pretty pretty please, Olly?" Pinkie jumped in suddenly.

"Well… okay but… I'll get us some snacks first. And if any of you get uncomfortable just let me know, and I'll turn it off."

With that, I went into the kitchen and came back with a couple bowls of chips. A few of the girls looked at them cautiously, but I simply nodded at them in encouragement and popped one in my mouth.

I turned on the TV and went to my recordings, where I had every episode of the show recorded and saved. Call me obsessive. I went in and decided to play the first episode, so that they would all be featured.

All of the girls stared in awe at not only the TV itself, but seeing their own faces on the screen. I knew it must've been weird for them, but they didn't seem to be reacting all that badly, just a bit shocked. I took a breath and decided to enjoy the episode without worrying about their reactions. After a while, we started the second part, and I found myself quietly singing along to 'Giggle at the Ghostie' and pinkie danced across the screen.

This is the reaction I was afraid of. As soon as Pinkie heard me singing, she snapped her head towards me in confusion. I quickly shut my mouth, but the others were already looking at me skeptically.

"You know… everything about us… don't ya," Applejack whispered.

I gulped, "As much as they've put in the show, yea."

Their expressions began to sadden, and I frantically stood up from my spot and paused the show. They all looked up at me, half confused, half sad. I gritted my teeth and stood before them.

"Did you see those guys messing with me earlier?" I asked suddenly.

They looked shocked, and then Twilight spoke up, "Yea… why were they-"

"I've had to deal with that every single day of my life since I've lived in this house," I continued, "You have no idea how much pain I've experienced in these past couple years."

"Darling… why-"

"But I was able to get through it. You know why? Because every week, I could wake up to this," I pointed at the TV, smiling, "Through your own adventures, you've given me words of encouragement like you would never believe. I've been told to kill myself; I've had to come home to an empty house covered from head to toe in mud more often than I'd like to remember. But you, all of you helped me through that. So don't be sad! Sure, you're just characters in my world. But you've made such a difference in my life, in so many peoples' lives that it shouldn't matter."

I scanned their faces for any hint of reaction. They were all smiling now, and small tears were beginning to fill up Rarity's eyes.

"I… had no idea," Twilight said simply.

"We… did we really help you… that much?" Fluttershy asked.

I nodded, "I don't know what I'd do if I didn't watch this show. It's probably the only thing keeping me sane."

Suddenly, Rarity stood and pulled me into a hug. I flinched, but then allowed myself to relax into her soft grip. Slowly, the other five came and joined in the hug.

"Thank ya, Olly," Applejack smiled.

"No problem," I replied, beginning to break away from the hug, "Now that we have that out of the way… I'm guessing you all have no idea where you're going to be living until you find a way back home."

They all stared at the floor uncomfortably, and I laughed, "You can all stay here, I don't mind."

"Really?" Pinkie said excitedly.

"Olly, you've already been so kind to us already. We wouldn't want to trouble you even more," Twilight cut in.

I shrugged, "Hey, I don't mind. It could be fun. And my parents aren't here to say no, so why not? Besides, it's gonna be hard for you to find anywhere else, and I'm not allowed to let you guys freeze to death."

"Well, thank ya kindly," Applejack tipped her hat.

"Yea, thanks kid," Rainbow Dash joined in, "Now, who wants to get some real grub? I'm starving over here!"

I laughed, "I'll start dinner. You guys just make yourselves comfortable around here… and try not to get lost again, please."