I hear somepony else call my name, drawing my attention away. I look to Aura again. He's still there.

"I'm in your head."

"In my..." this feels too familiar. I stand up, pick up my glasses and put them back on. As the frame passes over my eyes to the lenses, Aura's six-year-old figure disappears, but I noticed something; he didn't have a cutie mark. He was young, and technically imaginary, so I guess it makes sense. Had I actually seen him?

"Timber?!" Dale's calling my name. He sounds out of breath running after me. I shout back, but hear him again, "Timber?!" A little more frantic. Didn't he hear me? He runs up to the hole I'm in, almost falling in himself. "Timber!"

"Yeah, hi."

"Oh my god." What?

"Yeah I know, but whatever," I shrug. "Hey I just saw Aura." I told him about Aura before, about how Aura talks to me. I told him that Aura usually talks me out of bad situations, or away from breaking the rules. It was true, but it never happened as often as I made it sound. "I actually saw him, can you believe it?"

He slides down the side of the hole. It's only a few inches deep, but he seems to take a long time to get to me.

He grabs me, lifts me onto his back and carries me out of the hole. Suddenly my vision is blurry again, my head is resting between Dale's shoulders. My head... is throbbing? I open my eyes a little wider, but don't see much. It's dark. Is the sun down?

My head...

I wince and try to move.

"Hold still," Dale instructs, but I've already moved. He stumbles and my head hits his back a little too hard. Then again, anything's too hard right now. Dale apologizes. I feel something flowing down my brow.

I hear somepony else call for Dale. She runs closer, horror in her voice, "What happened." Is it mom?

"Found him in a hole, hit his head," Dale explains, fatigue catching up to him.

"No I didn't," I insist. They don't hear me.

"Just take it slow, don't move him around too much." I think it's mom. She's on the other side, where my head isn't facing. Which way am I facing?

"I know,” Dale snaps.

Another somepony runs up shouting for Dale, another mare, also horrified, "Where was he? What happened?" Was it mom? Who were these ponies?

The first mare explains while Dale trips over something. I wince and he apologizes again.

"What happened?" Is that dad? He sounds younger. Junior, or maybe Gravel? Can't be.

Dale says something and the three extra ponies break off to panic away from me. "Don't worry, Timber," he says to me, “you're gonna be fine."

I close my eyes, coping with throbbing pain. Something drips off my nose, onto Dale's shoulder. I think it's his right shoulder. I open my eyes and see red. Something drips off my brow, sneaking past my eyelids into my eye. It feels like blood. I don't really know how to explain it, but it did feel like blood. I guess, like, have you ever gotten scented soap in your eyes while bathing? Couldn't you like, just tell the flavor, or scent of the soap when you blinked? It was like that, only blood.

Why am I bleeding? My head throbs. A thought hits me, "My... glasses?" I hear myself. I sound weak.

This time somepony hears me, says, "I'll get them," then runs back the other way. I don't know who it was. Not anypony from before, I don't think. Who's all here? I count four, I think; two mares who are apparently both mom, one older stallion, one younger. I think... the younger... went back...

I wake up on the living room sofa, lying on my front with two legs under me, two legs hanging off the side. There's candlelight above me, but it's otherwise pitch black in the house. My head throbs: oh yeah. I start feeling hot. But, also cold? I lift my dangling left hoof slowly, clenching my teeth at the pain of the effort, seeing mysterious black spots in the dim light. It's an ice-bag, covering my left ear. It's condensing against my hot skull and water splashes off when I touch it. I don't feel the water hit my head, though. I reach down a little and almost cry out. Instead I press my eyes shut and moan against my will. I feel a bandage, besides the searing pain I just stabbed myself with. I remember the blood.

I put my hoof back down and it clops against the wood floor, waking up Dale sleeping on the floor across the room. "Oh!" He says, surprised. "I'm glad you're all right."

I grin, "That might be pushing it," referencing the pain I'm in. It isn't throbbing anymore, but my head aches behind my eyes and anything I try to do stabs at my brain.

"Well," he sighs, "is there anything I can do for you?"

"What are you doing?" I see how late it is. "You should be in bed."

"And you shouldn't be dying on the couch."

Suddenly my head throbs again, I panic. "What?!" I say, a little too loud for my condition.

Dale kind of freaks out, "No no no, that's not... I'm just kidding. I swear you'll be fine."

I take a few deep breaths, gritting my teeth.

"Doctor Lavender helped us look for you," look for me? "She took a look at you, bandaged you up with some kind of ointment to stop the pain." Oh yeah, she must have been that first mare I heard. I wonder who else was there.

I decide to ask, "Who else was there?"

"I was the one who dragged you out of the hole. You should've seen the size of the rock you hit, I think you even broke your glasses." I look out in the darkness, see my specs glimmer on the end table under the lit candle. Sure enough, one of the lenses is missing, and the bridge is bent slightly. Wait, what were we talking about? He reminds me by continuing, "Mom showed up just after Doctor Lavender, she had run to get her in case you were hurt. Good thinking, too. She even had dad go get the sheriff to help look, since he has a big flashlight. After that she wanted him to stay inside with Barley, probably because of his memory, thing. Wouldn't want him forgetting who he's looking for." It's a flat joke, but at least he's trying. "Picker was the one who found the glasses, then we had him find the sheriff, tell him we found you. He went back home after that."

Wait, Picker had to go find him? "Wasn't the sheriff with you while you carried me?"

"No, he was farther from town, but making his way back. Picker had no trouble finding him, just looked for his big light."

I know there were four ponies. Weren't there four ponies? Had I imagined the fourth stallion? Who did I think it was?

"Well," I sigh, "thanks for watching out for me. I think I'm good now." I move to get up, immediately regretting it. My brain sends a surge through my body and I'm paralyzed. My skull is on fire, I think I feel it bleed more. My vision is completely black, skipping the dark spots. I fall back onto the couch. I can feel my limbs again, but hitting the cushion just made my head hurt more. For a second I think I feel my tongue throb, the right side by my molars.

"Guess you won't be doing that," Dale mocks.

"Yeah thanks for stopping me," I fight back, "I owe you one."

He goes "Ehh," and shrugs. "Call it a favor."

"Yeah sure..." I mumble.

"Besides, mom told me to look out for you. The doctor said that once you weren't unconscious anymore that I needed to wake you up every hour on the dot, to make sure you actually do wake up. She called it a concussion."

I never had a concussion before. Really, if they're this bad I'm grateful for that fact.

"In truth I'm surprised mom got to sleep, she was so worried. I guess Ms. Lavender calmed her down pretty well. Maybe she gave her something to help her sleep."

"Well, did she leave any for me?"

"Not a chance," he teased. "She said sleep drugs are bad for you right now, that it might amplify the effects of the concussion. Plus it'd make it hard to wake you up every hour."

"Right," I sigh. "Sorry you had to do this."

He lets out a quick little laugh, "You should apologize to dad! A little after you first ran off, this mare came to the house. Said her name was Velvet, or something." Velvetine? "She said Churner wanted her to ask dad to let you see him again. She didn't do a very good job presenting the request, didn't make much sense. Apparently, though, Churner said he felt like it’s been long enough, and that he was your only friend and you needed him or something. When dad heard you hadn't been going to work he lost it. He was like his old self again," he sighed.

I just smiled; at least something got him to that, even though it involved Churner and lying about work. Not what I planned, but I wish I'd seen it, instead of bleeding in a hole in the woods.

"Do you still love him?" The question surprises me, I don't know how to answer. "Churner? Do you still love him?"

"Sure I do," I don't think I sound sarcastic.

"You know that Velvet chick is his girlfriend?"

I roll my eyes, ignoring the following pain. "I don't still have feelings for him, that's over. Just, he's the only real friend I've got anymore, and I love my friends like family."

"Oh," Dale nods slowly. Then he says, "You know he's like, thirty-five, right?"

I laugh a bit, "And that wasn't relevant back when I wanted to be with him?"

He says "Ehh," again, with less of a shrug and more of a grin.

I never thought I liked older stallions, really only Churner. And really, only because I felt guilty at first. I had blamed him for driving Minty Swirl away, and wanted to make it up. Apparently by making love to him, I guess?

Suddenly I notice I'm hungry. I ask Dale to get me some toast or something. He says there's some quiche left. I realize I missed dinner when I ran out and didn't come back. "Quiche sounds good."

It was good. He had some too, as well as some cola. I didn't want any, but he needs some caffeine for the late night he's been having, and that he's going to have. He says Doctor Lavender left it for me, apparently it's good for migraines. Then he laughs, pretending to apologize for drinking my medicine.

I just grin and try to relax. My head stops throbbing and I get to sleep. I don't remember any dreams because Dale keeps shaking me awake every hour. I'm grateful that he doesn't want me to die in my sleep, but him shaking my rump still hurts my head when I wake up. At one point he wakes me and the sun's starting to rise. I notice that it's been a little over two hours this time, then he yawns. I tell him I feel much better, and that I want to watch the sunrise.

He seems hesitant, but I convince him my head feels much better. It doesn't throb as much anymore, but trying to walk weakens my limbs and darkens my vision so he helps me. Once I'm outside I sit down. He hoofs me my glasses and I take them, looking at them with a sad grin. He said he accidentally stepped on them when he picked me up. Hadn't he said earlier that it was the fall that broke them? Or the rock, at least? Looking through them is strange with one lens missing, the other with a big, distracting scratch. At least it's the left lens, since my right eye is better anyway. I'd always thought if I ever lost an eye I'd want to be my left eye: it always seemed more sensitive, and my right eye saw better anyway.

The sunrise takes nearly another hour, but it's glorious. Why am I happy?

(Don't jinx it. Just enjoy it.)

Oh really? Is this coming from the colt, or the stallion?

(What are you talking about?) What?

Never mind. Dad showed himself again, even if I didn't see it.

(If that's why you’re happy...)

"It's not the only reason," I whisper.

Dale looks at me. I close my eyes against the rising sunlight.

"It's a beautiful dawn, and really I'm happy to be alive."

I sense Dale's smile, and Aura's too. I didn't know he could smile, but I'm frowning. I feel like crying. Why did I have to hit my head for somepony to worry about me?

(You jinxed it.)

Shut up. I clench my teeth, then gasp at the pain in my head.

(Just be happy again. Thank Dale for helping you.)

I turn my head to Dale. He looks strange in my half-clear vision, but he still has a worried smile. My head starts hurting again, spots fill my eyes. I realize my seconds are numbered. "Thank you, Dale."

"Timber?"