I felt a soft hand rest lightly on my shoulder before quickly retracting. I can't say I was completely awake, but I was enough to feel what was going on. My bed felt abnormally cold, and there was defiantly someone standing over me. I considered opening my eyes, but they obviously retracted for a reason. So I waited.

"Oh Sugarcube," I heard a soft voice listen, "You've done nothin' but give to us. How come we can't do anythin' but worry sick about you?"

I wanted to say something. That was a question I didn't want to hear. I wanted to sit up and tell her differently, but something compelled me to keep my eyes closed.

"Well," she chuckled, "At least I'm worryin' 'bout you an' not about gettin' back to Equestria. That's somethin' right?"

I nearly smiled at this, but stopped myself from doing so. I was worried about her the most, since she had her family and orchard back in Equestria. I was rather worried about her getting homesick, but this was an improvement I think.

"Ya wouldn't mind, right?" she asked quietly.

I was confused by this for a second, but then I felt a little extra weight on the space next to me on the bed. I mentally sighed a bit.

"If anythin', I'll jus' tell ya I was worryin' about Applebloom. You'll understand that," she proceeded to justify her actions to herself. I suddenly got an idea. I was going to hate myself for this later, but I just had to.

"It's okay," I whispered quietly, "Goodnight, Applejack. Sleep well."

There was a long, awkward silence. It took all I had not to burst out laughing. I didn't want to ruin things for her, so I didn't.

"…Goodnight Olly," she seemed to chuckle. Then I felt her turn over, probably to get to sleep. I smiled and attempted to go to sleep as well.

I sighed, staring at my paper and every so often glancing up at the clock. I was in my last class of the day; literature. I will admit it was my favorite class. I enjoyed writing and analyzing things, as made obvious by how often I analyze My Little Pony. But this time, My Little Pony was the problem. I was worried about them being alone at home for so long.

"Hey, that's a good choice in paper," The kid next to me, Matt, commented.

"What?" I asked, his statement snapping me out of my daze.

"Your paper," he repeated, pointing at the blank sheet of lined paper placed in front of me, "The lines are a lot thicker than mine. It'll be easier to write a full page. Nice choice."

It took me a few minutes to process what sounded like a complement, but I nodded at him all the same. "Thanks…" I replied slowly. Why were people intrigued by such strange and typical things?

I glanced up at the clock again, just wanting to leave the room. Matt was getting on my nerves, as he always did with his senseless analogies and out of context commentary on whatever we were doing. I was tired of the day, annoyed by the people, and I just wanted to get home.

"Alright, have a good day!" My teacher, Mrs. Demay, shouted in her usual loud voice.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and carelessly shoved my piece of paper into my backpack. Finally, I could go home and get things set up. We had decided that Robby would come pick us up a little while after we got out of school. Then we would meet at his 'friend's' house and set up documents for all six of the girls. After that, it would just be a matter of getting them into the school.

"You riding the bus?" I asked my friend, Ryan, as I walked out of the classroom.

Ryan was one of my very best friends; one who I normally spent the majority of my time with during school. He was rather tall, with dirty blonde hair and greenish eyes. He really, REALLY enjoyed fashion. He often wore colored skinny jeans and different colored converse to match. He also liked to wear vests.

"No, I have to stay after for band," he sighed, pulling some music and his flute out of his backpack, "Until, like, four."

"Ew," I laughed, "Good luck, man."

I proceeded to exit the school, waving goodbye to anyone who wanted it, and kissing my girlfriend on the cheek before pushing the doors open and striding to my bus. I got on and there was Kendall sitting towards the back, a book in her hands.

The bus ride was rather uneventful; the two of us talking about the new My Little Pony episode and some other things that came up. Despite the dramatic change in our status quo recently, things were pretty normal. Of course, they probably wouldn't be for a while once the girls got into school, but I chose to push that thought out of my mind for now.

About an hour and a half later, we both got off the bus and began walking to our homes. We usually walked together for a little bit, seeing as her house was on the way to mine, but she usually wasn't around for very long before turning the corner.

I stared down at my shoes as I trudged along the dark, dirty sidewalk. One strap of my dark green backpack was slung over my shoulder. I growled as I looked at my surroundings; still half a mile to go.

Things were starting to go pretty normally for me, which was unexpected. Sure, once I got home I would once again be reminded of the dramatic change. But still; me walking home from school on a gloomy day like this, it seemed like nothing had ever happened.

This still on my mind, I turned the first corner I approached, not really paying attention to where it would take me. I kicked a couple pebbles on the road, not even bothering to worry about approaching traffic. There was too much to think about.

"Look who's back for more!" I suddenly heard a raspy voice laugh, "Hey, Pretty boy!"

I cursed to myself and started running. I should've been paying attention to where I was going. I didn't have the time to risk getting into something with them, especially if I came home with noticeable injuries like last time. The first thing I could think to do was run into the woods again. I flash of déjà vu came over me as I jumped over a couple logs and onto the muddy ground of the woods.

"Nice try," I heard someone say ominously as they proceeded to ram into me from my left side. I cursed to myself again as I fell to the ground, barely three feet away from the entrance of the woods.

The tall, redheaded kid grabbed me by my shirt and slammed my back into a nearby tree, pinning me there with his forearm.

"Thought you learned last time, Pretty boy," he laughed, "This road is our turf, not your stupid team's."

"Like we couldn't take you," I grumbled under my breath.

"What did you say, kid?" he got angrier, pinning me a little tighter to the tree. I didn't really want to piss him off too much right now, as I was alone and completely defenseless. Unlike him, I actually followed the rules and didn't fight outside of the game. I didn't say anything.

From there, he repeatedly slammed his fist into my nose. I heard a few light cracks, but chose not the yell out at all. I was stronger than this kid. One of the littler kids from that side of the neighborhood ran in and scraped his nails down my arm. Damn, why did kids enjoy scratching people so much?

Before I could realize what was happening, I was shoved to the ground, landing face first in the mud. I felt someone stomp on my right leg; hard. I couldn't help but grimace at this. I calmly waited there until they got bored, and I heard the footsteps walk out of the woods.

"Damn…" a sob escaped my throat. I shook my head, refusing to let myself cry.

"O-Olly?" I heard a soft voice call.

My eyes widened as I snapped up into sitting position and glanced over to who had said my name; Fluttershy. She looked terrified, down on her knees about a foot away.

"Fluttershy…" I stuttered, "What… what are you doing here?"

"T-this is the time you came home last time… so I just thought…"

I couldn't think of a way to respond, so I just quickly crawled up to her and pulled her into a hug. She hesitated for a minute, but then softly hugged me in return. I felt small tears hit my shoulder.

"Fluttershy…" I started, "I… told you not to come over here. Don't you remember?"

There was a small pause, and then she softly nodded. She didn't say anything else. I sighed and decided not to talk about it anymore until she calmed down. I was mentally hitting myself for allowing this to happen. Still, if I hadn't gone this way, they might've found her before they had found me. Everything happens for a reason, I guess.

"Fluttershy?" I decided to bring up, "Please don't come this way again. It's too dangerous… we're lucky I got here first."

She seemed to look up at me in shock when I said this. A little hint of anger lined her features. I raised an eyebrow as she stood tall over me.

"Lucky?" she whispered, "Olly, you can barely walk. How can you call that lucky?"

I tried to stand in order to prove her wrong, but a pain in my leg refused any weight and I ended up falling back onto my stomach, proving her case instead of mine.

"Because," I said nervously, "It's not just me, Fluttershy. It's anyone from my side of the neighborhood. Since they saw you talking to me, they associate you with me. They would've hurt you."

She seemed to blink in understanding for a minute, and then her expression softened into its natural, bashful state.

"We're lucky I got here before you did," I repeated, "I've dealt with this before. I don't want you to get hurt. Please, don't come over to this side of the neighborhood again."

After a while of staring at me, she slowly nodded and sat down next to me. We both sat there in silence for a while, not sure what to say to eachother anymore.

"W-we should get back home," Fluttershy said suddenly, turning to me.

"…Yea, yea we should," I agreed, clenching a tree with my one hand in order to help prop myself up.

"Oh, Olly," she perked up, "Don't try by yourself… Here, let me-,"

"It's okay, I can do it," I replied before she could offer any help. I hated accepting help. I wasn't really sure why, it just always bugged me. I couldn't tell if it was because I wanted to look strong, or I wanted to prove to myself that I was strong.

"No Olly, please-," she tried to repeat.

"Really," I said in a pained voice as I started to put weight on my leg, "I can do it."

I slowly let go of the tree and allowed myself to stumble forward onto my other leg. I felt pain shoot up and down my knees and I began to lose my balance.

"I got you," Fluttershy suddenly jumped in, catching my right arm in her own. I wanted to argue with her, but I would just be kidding myself. I obviously couldn't handle walking on my own. I sighed and allowed her to lace my arm around her shoulder, and we began to walk out of the woods.

"Fluttershy?" I heard a raspy voice call. I groaned; I had hoped that no one else would have to know about what happened.

"R-Rainbow Dash," Fluttershy was caught in shock, still holding onto my arm tightly, "W-what are you-,"

"You've been out here a while, so I came out to look… for…," Rainbow Dash stopped mid-sentence as soon as he caught sight of me. I guess it must've been pretty shocking; my nose was bleeding like crazy and there was mud covering my face. Also, I was heavily depending on Fluttershy to keep me balanced.

"Hey Dash…" I said awkwardly, not taking my gaze off the ground.

"…What happened, kid?" she asked in a surprisingly soft tone for her.

Before I could answer, Fluttershy beckoned her closer and whispered into her ear. This irked me a bit. Why couldn't she just say it out loud? I wasn't going to get upset or anything. It's not like I didn't already know.

Before I could butt in, Rainbow Dash was at my other side, offering much stronger support than Fluttershy. In fact, as soon as my arm was around her, the left side of my body was lifted off the ground, causing more weight to be put on my right foot.

"Ow… bad idea," I groaned.

At this, Rainbow Dash recoiled and allowed my left leg to fall to the ground. Luckily, I was able to swiftly avoid an injury to the other leg my landing on the side of my foot. Then, very slowly, the two girls switched sides and Rainbow Dash now had my right side off the ground.

"You think you can lift him, Fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash suddenly asked.

"No guys," I interrupted, "This is fine. I can handle this much."

Fluttershy simply gave me a small, stern look, telling me not to question her again. I wanted to argue again, but she lifted my left side off the ground slightly and continued walking.

I laughed a little, "You know, this is just like the one time I broke my foot."

"Broke?" Fluttershy stuttered, surprised.

"No, not from that," I clarified, "It was in November. I was skateboarding with Robby and my girlfriend, and I completely wiped out. They had to carry me like this to Robby's car."

"Skateboarding, huh?" Rainbow Dash mused, "I used to know a little filly who liked to scooter. She's always wiping out like that."

I laughed, "Scootaloo, right?"

"Oh yea…" Rainbow whispered, "The show…"

I quickly realized that I hit a sensitive point, so I went on another ramble, "Ya know, Scootaloo is one of my favorites. She's relatable."

"Really?" Rainbow suddenly seemed interested.

"Yea," I nodded, "Always has been. Man, I remember just waiting and begging for the one day you'd take her under your wing. They day it actually happened… oh man, I was partying."

She laughed at this, along with Fluttershy. I gave a successful smile as I realized that my distraction worked. I decided to keep going.

"Hey, come to think of it," I started, "I think you'd like skateboarding, Rainbow. It reminds me a lot of flying."

She paused for a few minutes, and then nodded, "That's why Scoots did it too. Since she couldn't fly and all…"

I agreed, "Want me to teach you when things dry up around here? It's one of my favorite things to do."

"Yea, I think that'd be cool," Rainbow smiled at me.

"Oh, but be careful," Fluttershy added in, "Don't break your foot again."

I growled, "One time! Dang… I hurt myself ONCE and suddenly everyone thinks I can't skate anymore. If Dash gave up every time she got hurt, she wouldn't be the fastest flier in Equestria."

Dash seemed happy with this statement, and began to add in herself, "Yea! That's right! No stupid injury was gonna stop me from flying. I am a future Wonderbolt, after all."

I smiled, happy to see Dash becoming the character I knew in the show. That told me she was starting to get used to things around here.

After a while of this talking, we arrived at my house and I opened the front door. Rainbow Dash decided she was going to tell the others about what happened, much to my dismay. Fluttershy then helped me up the stairs and into the bathroom. After much convincing, she allowed me to clean myself up on my own.

I pulled out a towel and started to blow my nose into it. It was a stupid thing to do, I know. But this nose bleed had lasted a while now, and I needed to make sure it wasn't broken. That meant I had to find the blood clot as soon as possible. Luckily, it showed up, and the bleeding started to slow down.

After this, I wetted another towel and began wiping the mud off of my face. I felt a pinch of pain once I got near my eye, and I cursed under my breath. I gently wiped the mud clear from that spot, only to be met with a swelling, red ring right around my eye.

"Come on!" I shouted without thinking. As a response to this, I heard a pair of footsteps quickly approaching the door.

"Olly?" I heard Twilight ask through the door, "You okay in there?"

"Yea, I'm fine," I groaned angrily.

"…can I come in?" she asked quietly.

I sighed, "Yea… come in…"

She opened the bathroom with a concerned look planted on her face. As soon as she caught sight of my eye, she grimaced and brought her face closer to mine to inspect it.

"Olly… this is a lot worse than last time," she said with nervous hesitation.

"I noticed," I replied bitterly.

She seemed to retract when I said this, and I sadly sighed, "I'm sorry… I'm just a little bit upset that this happened… I'll be over it in a few minutes."

"You don't have to 'be over it'," Twilight replied defensively, "You have every right to be angry."

I had trouble coming up with a response, "Maybe I do… but I don't want to be."

"But why—?" before Twilight could finish her question, the sound of the doorbell echoed throughout the house.

"Go get the door," I sighed, "I'll be down in a sec."

"You sure you still want to go?" she asked before exiting the bathroom, "You could stay here and rest if you wa-."

"No, I'm fine, Twilight," I quickly intercepted, "Might have a bit of a limp, but otherwise I'm fine."

"I heard Rainbow and Fluttershy had to carry you-,"

"They wanted to," I interrupted again, "I could've made it back with just a crutch. I'll be fine, don't worry about it. Go get the door."

With that, she left the bathroom and I was left to grumble to the silence.

"So, good news," Robby stated as he walked out of his 'friend's' office, "The files are set, and we just made the call to enroll you all in the International Academy."

All the girls cheered, and I made and enthusiastic fist-pump.

"Slightly less good news," Robby continued, "They'll probably be able to get in, but they'll still have to take the test."

"Oh damn," I muttered, "Should'a seen that one coming…"

"Test?" Twilight seemed to panic.

"Don't worry," Robby started, "You just have to have a basic understanding of Algebra one and writing."

"Algebra… isn't that the stuff you were doin' on yer computer the other day?" Applejack turned to me.

"Kinda… I'm in Algebra two so it was a little bit harder than what you'll have to do, but yea basically."

"What in the hay is Algebra?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Robby turned to me with his eyebrows raised and I sighed, "Equestrian schools only go up to fifth grade education."

"Well," he laughed, "This might be a problem."

"I think I'll be able to manage," Twilight perked up, "I studied a bit of Algebra when I was living in Canterlot… although I would need a little refresher."

"Well," I stood, "The only other choice is going to Romeo, so all we can do is… well, teach you I guess."

"Teach us?" Fluttershy asked.

"OOH! Are we gonna set up our own school? You can be our teacher and we'll bring lunch boxes and play on the playground and-," Pinkie bounced up and down excitedly.

"Something like that," I agreed, "But it'll be more like middle school so… no playgrounds."

"Awwwww," Pinkie groaned.

I rolled my eyes, "Maybe I can take you to the park after we're done every day…"

"HOORAY!" Pinkie immediately jumped up again.

"So how are we gonna handle this?" Robby asked, sitting down, "How long do you think this'll take?"

"When do they want them to come in and take the test?" I responded.

"By the end of next week," he admitted nervously.

"WHAT?" Twilight started panicking.

"Relax, Twilight," I reassured, "It'll be okay. If we split things up correctly… and Robby agrees to teach the majority of the math part, you guys should be okay by the end of the week. Maybe sooner if you guys work hard."

Robby started laughing, "This is great, cuz we don't even know how to work hard ourselves."

"But I think they can do it," I countered, "They just have to remember not to follow my example of procrastination."

"I tend to be against procrastination," Rarity announced, "Whenever I do, I nearly miss my deadlines."

"Exactly," I nodded, "They all just have to think like that, and we'll be okay."

"If only we could think like that, eh?" Robby continued laughing.

"Tell me about it," I sighed.

I sat at my own computer working on my homework, looking up every so often as Robby taught the girls the basics of Algebra. It had been about three days since their records were made, and we started teaching almost as soon as we got home. I had taught them everything I knew about writing, and most of them took to it like it was nothing. Twilight actually had a little trouble with it, but she was at the same level as the others pretty quickly. Now all that was left was the math. Surprisingly, they were catching on extremely quickly. Even Rainbow Dash was beginning to solve some of the harder problems with ease. I sighed; I wished I could be doing that kind of Algebra instead of what I was doing now.

"And I think that should about cover what would be on the test," I heard Robby conclude, "What do you think, Olly?"

I walked over to them and looked over the notes Twilight had taken, "I think so… but wouldn't they be entering as juniors like you did?"

"I think so… or at least, that's the age range we put on their records. Why do you ask?"

"Well," I chuckled, "Something tells me some of them wouldn't appreciate being put into Math Studies."

"What's Math Studies?" Twilight asked, almost proving my point.

"The easiest of the three math classes in the IB program," I explained, "It starts out with easier stuff than you knew before. Robby had to take it since he entered the school a lot later. Kinda like you guys."

"What do you suggest we do?" Rarity asked me.

"I suggest those who don't want to take math studies look over the geometry and algebra two textbooks. Just so you have an understanding. That way, you'll pass the math part of the test no problem and they might let you take SL."

"SL?" Twilight asked again, curiously.

"Standard Level," I explained, "There's Studies, SL, and HL. HL is high level. You're only allowed to take that class by special invitation from the teachers."

I saw a determined look in Twilight's eyes, and I sighed, "I'll go get the textbooks."

I began walking up the stairs, and I felt a sharp pain shoot up my right leg. I held in a groan, and continued my way up. For some reason, it began hurting even more. I took a long breath; I just had to get to my room and get off of it for a minute, and I'd be okay. I took another step, and I couldn't help but let out and audible grunt.

"…Olly," I heard a voice from the bottom of the stairs. I looked down to see Rarity staring up at me, looking very concerned.

"Oh," I tried to shake the pain out of my voice, "What's up?"

She didn't say anything, just stared up at me with those worried eyes. It made me uncomfortable. Suddenly, she was climbing up the stairs to my side. She firmly put a hand on my shoulder and sat me down on the steps.

"Rarity," I sighed, "I'm okay, really."

"Olly, I'm sorry but you're obviously NOT 'okay'," she said almost sternly.

This took me by surprise; I was trying to find the right words to say. Somehow, this caused me to nervously scoot away from her, and I felt my back hit the railing of the stairs. Her eyes widened at this.

"Olly?" she asked almost sounding nervous.

"I-I'm okay," I took a few breaths, "Really, Rarity. You don't have to worry about me like this. I know it looks bad but-."

Her expression once again turned emotionless, "No, darling. I'm sorry to say, but I really do."

"But I-"

"You can barely walk, Olly," she said sternly, "Surly you can agree this is a reason to be concerned."

"Yea, I know," I argued, "But really, I can-"

Before I could finish, she had pulled me into a hug. I was speechless; slowly bringing my arm up around her shoulders.

"Please… you don't need to pretend you're okay," she said softly, "Please just let us help you."

She pulled away from the hug and smiled at me, waiting for a response. I wasn't sure what to say. All I could do was stare back at her. Finally, after a long, awkward pause, I managed to stutter something out.

"…the books are on the shelf near my bed."