I woke up to a strange sound coming from the hall. At first, I assumed it was the cat, and turned over on my other side in order to ignore it. My chest throbbed, and I coughed a bit. I hadn't taken any medications yet. I really should have taken them earlier, but I couldn't work up the courage to get out of bed.

Another sound came from the hallway. Growing irritated, I threw an empty tea can at the door, hoping to scare the cat away. But instead of the thumping of running paws I expected, I heard a muffled but surprised squeak.

I sat up in bed, "Is someone out there?"

Nothing. After a few minutes, I shrugged and laid back down again. Unfortunately, this triggered another fit of coughs. I cursed and gripped my throbbing chest.

Suddenly, I heard the door opening. I attempted to sit up and look, but the pain in my chest prevented it.

"Olly?" a familiar voice whispered, and I looked up to see none other than Applejack staring down at me with what looked like deep concern. Before I could even think about what was going on, I managed to cough out a few words:

"Blue bottle."

Her eyes widened a little bit, and suddenly she was out the door and running down the stairs. Before I knew it, she was back with both my medications and my inhaler. Two pills were then put in my mouth before I could even sit up.

I felt the pain in my chest begin to subside, and I was able to take a long, deep breath. Exhausted, I closed my eyes for a second, letting myself breathe calmly.

"Sugarcube? Are you alright?" I heard Applejack ask nervously. I opened my eyes a bit to see her sitting on the edge of my bed, twittling her thumbs, and not taking her eyes off of me.

"Yea," I sighed, "I'm okay. Thanks for that."

"Anytime…" she seemed completely dazed.

I sat up a bit and smiled at her, but then a thought suddenly occurred to me, "Applejack, what are you doing here? School isn't over yet."

She blushed a bit, "Well… when Pinkie came downstairs and said ya weren't coming today…"

I shook my head, "I told her none of you needed to stay home for me. I'm alright on my own, really."

She shot me a stern look, "Oh really? Because what happened jus' now says otherwise."

I wasn't sure what to say, so I simply let out a small groan. She shook her head and laid down on my bed next to me, running her hands through her long, blonde hair.

"Why dontchya trust us, sugarcube?" she suddenly asked.

I raised an eyebrow, "What? I never said I didn't-"

"Ya said that before we came here, we would help ya through everythin', right?"

I slowly nodded.

"Well, why won't ya' let us help ya' now? Anytime somethin' happens, you just push us away. It's like you'd rather have us on TV…"

I blinked, "No, no AJ it's not like that at all."

"Then what is it? It seems like we helped ya so much better on TV. But we could never do nothin' to really help ya. We didn't even know who ya were! Is that what ya think? Are we always gonna be cartoons to ya?"

I grabbed her hand, "AJ, stop it."

She suddenly looked shocked, "I-I'm sorry Sugarcube… I guess I wasn't thinking…"

I suddenly understood so much more about them from that one statement. There were more reasons than one they were wanting me to be so dependent on them. It wasn't just for me, they wanted to feel real. Protecting me was helping them cope.

"AJ," I quietly started, "You miss Equestria, don't you?"

There was a long, silent moment between the two of us. She only stared, until I could see her lip begin to tremble and tears begin to form in her eyes. I reached out my arms for her, and she slowly complied, allowing soft sobs to escape her throat.

I ran my hand through her hair, "I'm so sorry…"

"It's just," she sniffled, "I've been tryin' to get adjusted, but every so off'n I'll see mah own face somewhere, or Applebloom's…"

She choked up at Applebloom's name and wasn't able to finish her thought. I hugged her closer and allowed her to cry for a while, every so often comforting her in an almost silent whisper. She then allowed herself to breathe for a second, and then looked up at me again.

"I just can't help like ah'm not respected here, ya know? Like no matter how real I am, Ah'll never be more than who I am on TV."

"AJ, I promise you, that's not true," I said with a tinge of guilt in my tone, knowing full well even I had made a few pony jokes while she was around, "Sure, you used to be a cartoon to me, and getting adjusted to you being real has been a tad difficult."

I moved her head so that she was looking straight into my eyes, "But I promise you, to me, you're as real as can be. If you weren't, I wouldn't be trying so hard to make you comfortable."

She seemed to be calming down a bit, so I took a breath and continued, "But you know what? Having you here with me has been like a dream come true."

"Really?" she inquired softly.

"Really," I chuckled a bit, "I've always dreamed of the day I could actually meet you guys… you in particular."

She seemed to take interest to this, as she raised an eyebrow. I laughed a bit, "Don't tell the others, but you were always my favorite."

She blushed a bit, "Aw shucks, Sugarcube…"

"And now that you're here, it's better than I could have ever hoped for," I continued, "To have you here, REAL, and to know what you're actually thinking. To hear you actually speak directly to me… it's magical."

She giggled, "I thought ya said ya'll didn't have magic?"

I grinned, "I guess you brought enough with you to change my mind."

We sat there for a long time in comfortable silence. It took me a second to realize, but suddenly, I wasn't so upset over my break up anymore. In fact, I had nearly forgotten it had happened in the first place. I smile spread across my face as I glanced down at the girl in my arms, and I slowly closed my eyes.

"Thank ya, Olly," I heard her whisper, and I felt her softly kiss my cheek before I let myself drift off into a surprisingly comfortable slumber.

"Bunny! Applejack! Wakey wakey!" I loud, high pitched voice interrupted my dreaming.

"Pinkie!" I heard another familiar voice whisper harshly, "Let him sleep, he barely gets enough to begin with."

"It's a little late fer that, ya'll," I heard a third voice coming from my arms groan, "I feel 'im wakin' up."

With that cue, I stretched a little bit and allowed my eyes to flutter open. I smiled at the three girls in front of me and yawned, "How was school?"

"Fine," Twilight said softly, "We finished up that chemistry lab."

I rubbed my eyes, "Aw, shoot. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you."

"Its fine, Bunny!" Pinkie laughed, "You weren't much help to begin with!"

"That," Twilight giggled, "And you needed a day off. I understand."

"Gee, thanks Pinkie," I stuck my tongue out at her, and gave Twilight a thankful nod. I looked down at Applejack and sported a small grin. Her hair was a bit messy and there was still hints of sleep in her eyes, but she looked up at me with a similar and genuine smile.

I looked back up at Twilight to now see her with a worried frown. I followed her gaze to the blue bottle of pills sitting on my nightstand.

"Did something happen?" she asked.

Before I could say anything, Applejack intervened, "He forgot ta take em' this morning. No problem, I made sure he did 'fore anything happened to 'im"

I quickly gave her a nod of thanks, and began to shuffle out of bed.

"Where ya going, Bunny-wunny?" Pinkie Pie giggled, blocking my path to the floor.

"I was gonna go start dinner, since, ya know, you all just got home from school," I attempted to move past her again, but she slid in front of me.

"No, sir! You let your auntie Pinkie Pie take care of everything!"

I was about to argue, but Applejack put a soft hand on my shoulder and shook her head, telling me to let Pinkie do her thing. I sighed and shrugged.

"Alright, thank you, Pinkie. But can I get up? I haven't at all yet today."

"Hmmm," she pondered, "Okey dokey lokey! But don't you even think about doing any work today, mister!"

I laughed, "Yes, auntie Pinkie Pie."

Her features seemed to brighten when I said this, and she pranced out of the room, happily singing to herself as she did so. Twilight quietly followed, but I could spot a small smile spreading across her cheeks.

"Thanks," Applejack winked, "I'll see ya downstairs, Sugarcube."'

As she walked out the door, I couldn't help but feel a strange kind of happiness. For as horrible as I expected this day to be, it turned out to be alright.

I walked out of my room and made it to the top of the stairs. I began to step down, when I felt a searing pain shoot up my leg. I managed to hold back the majority of a pained grunt, but not well enough to hide anyone's attention.

"Olly? Darling?" I heard Rarity walking toward the stairs, "Are you alright?"

"Yea, I'm okay," I said through my teeth. There was a pained look in her eyes as I said this, and she began to walk up the stairs to meet me.

"Please, sit down," she said quietly. Rather than argue like normal, I slowly and quietly did as I was told. She positioned her hands on my pant leg and rolled them up, revealing my less-than-attractive bruise.

"I thought Fluttershy informed you to stay off of this…" she sighed.

I twittled my thumbs, "She did…"

She glanced up at me, "Here, darling, allow me to help you down the stairs. Fluttershy will want to examine this."

I wanted to argue with her, but my arm was already around her shoulders and we were slowly making our way down the stairs. I sighed; I realized that I would have to start allowing them to help me more often, as Applejack had informed me it was a way of helping them cope with their situation, but it just felt so wrong to have them doing all this work for me.

"Hey, kid!" Rainbow Dash greeted as we entered the living room, "Feeling any better?"

"Yea, I am. Thanks," I smiled at her, taking a spot on the couch next to Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy, I believe you should examine his leg again," Rarity said as she approached, "He was having a rather hard time walking down the stairs just a minute ago."

With a long sigh, I allowed Fluttershy to take a look at my leg again as I observed what was going on around me. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were in the kitchen as they said they would me, and Twilight was sitting at the table, fiddling with my laptop. It amazed me how much time she was spending on that thing. Then again, I spent a similar amount of time on it normally, and I wasn't even trying to do research.

"Hey, Olly," Rainbow perked up, "Want to go for another run tonight?"

I was about to agree, before Fluttershy chimed in, "I'm afraid he can't tonight, Rainbow Dash. He… um… really needs to stay off this leg…"

I raised my eyebrows, "Is it that bad?"

"Well," she said calmly, "It was a small sprain before… I don't know that it's… well… getting any better…"

I let out a small groan, "Alright, I won't use it the rest of tonight."

"Oh… no… I'm afraid it'll have to be a little longer than that…"

I felt my heart sink a little bit, "How long?"

"Oh, well, not too long… maybe just a day or two…" she tried to flash me a small smile.

"Aw, well that's alright, Sugarcube," Applejack interjected from the kitchen, "It's the weekend, so ya'll can just sit around 'till it heals up."

"I guess," I groaned over-dramatically, triggering a few giggles.

I watched quietly as the girls went about their business, feeling ever so uncomfortable as I did so. I wanted to get up and offer help or something, but it was no use. I was stuck on the couch, and they were all busy cooking and doing homework. Woe is me.

Just then, the doorbell began to ring. My immediate instinct was to get up and get it. I attempted this, and then dramatically fell over onto my chin.

"Owe…"

"Olly! Are… are you okay?" I heard Fluttershy gasp and rush over to me, countered only by a fit of laughter coming from Rainbow Dash.

"Yea, I'm good," I laughed a little as well, "Sorry, I forgot for a second."

The doorbell rang again. "I'll get it!" Pinkie sang.

I glanced over the couch to see Pinkie opening the door, and a familiar blonde head standing in the doorway. I rolled my eyes, "Gavan! I'm busy!"

Fluttershy's eyebrows perked up when she heard that name, and she became the slightest bit nervous. I shot her a calm smile, letting her know that everything was fine, then turned back to the door.

"Oy! But I need you to check on something!" Gavan's voice rang back, sounding strangely similar to rusty nails.

"Can't" I sighed, "Have to stay off my leg."

He suddenly got a look of complete disgust on his face and walked over toward the coach, "Stay off your leg? Dude, you were coming out with a shattered foot a couple months ago. Your leg ain't nothing. Get out here."

I felt my face growing the tiniest bit red, and I slowly turned away from him, "What do you need, anyway?"

"I need you to test the trainees, remember? We need a guy to replace a spot in section 3, and no one is out of their final lesson yet. I need you to pick one."

"Next game day isn't for a week or so," I stressfully ran a hand through my hair, "I just need to stay in for a few days."

"But I need you to pick one now, so I can start advancing him," Gavan moaned, "Come on, you've walked on way worse, dude."

"Yea, I know, but I just really need to stay off it this time, aight? Look, just pick the one you think is best, I'll look over him Monday night. You have two weeks to train him."

"Whatever you say, Chief," he scratched his head as he walked back toward the door, "But if the kid I pick isn't ready, it's on your head."

"Well then don't purposely pick one that isn't ready!" I shouted back.

Once he was out the door, I sighed and slumped back into the couch. I glanced over to see Applejack eyeing me from the kitchen with a slightly concerned frown. I shook my head and turned my attention to the TV, where an episode of My Little Pony was playing.

My eyes widened and I sat up to change the channel.

"Nah, it's cool, dude," Rainbow Dash cut in, "I've been meaning to try watching this again…"

I looked over at Applejack, who just gave me an approving nod. I shrugged and continued to watch the episode. It was the one where Scootaloo has to come to terms with not having wings. Defiantly one of the best episodes of the new season.

"We're the toughest little ponies in town, got the moves, got the mojo, no harder working ponies around," I quietly sang along with the fillies as they marched across the screen.

I looked over to see Applejack with a sad smile planted on her face as Applebloom danced along with the other two. I was tempted to change the channel again, but she caught me and immediately shook her head.

I decided to lighten the mood, "Hey, Dash, is your middle name really 'Professionalism'?"

She flinched, "Well, I, uh,"

I chuckled, "Does that mean 'Dash' is just your last name? Rainbow Professionalism Dash? Then what's Rarity's last name? And for that matter, AJ, isn't your last name 'Apple'? Does that mean your name is 'Jack'?"

I felt a soft hand over my mouth and I began to laugh, thankfully along with the rest of the girls.

"We don't question it," Twilight concluded.

I shrugged, "Good enough for me, I guess."

Woohoo! Hello Everypony! So, it's been a couple months since my last update, and I'd like to apologize. The last chapter (not this one, chapter 11, about the break up) was extremely difficult for me to write, as it was a very down period in my life. But now that everything's going smoothly, I'm back on track! I'll also be attending Product Team again soon, which is where I wrote the majority of this story so far, so I'll defiantly be able to update more often! Enjoy this chapter!