The moment Alex woke, he wished he had fallen unconscious again or not awoken at all.Everything hurt, his head felt like a steam roller had driven over it a few times, his bones felt like they had been battered by a pro player in baseball with a grudge on him, and it was like his rib cage was on fire. Not to mention his mouth and throat could rival the Sahara in terms of dryness.

When he opened his eyes his world was spinning for a bit until it went back to normal. Alex first noticed that he was lying in a bed, strange enough, someone had also patched up his wounds, and quite well to be honest.

He turned slightly to the side, wincing all the while, as moving was quite painful for him at the moment. On the nightstand beside the bed was a small tablet. On it stood a glass and jug both filled with clear water, a box of what seemed to be painkillers and a small letter.

"Dear Alex, please take those painkillers and drink some water once you wake up. What happened to you was horrible and we hope to nurse you back to health. Also, now that you have to lie in bed, you can tell us about your world and all that still we hope you get better soon. We will come to check on you as soon as school ends.
With the best wishes, your Cutie Mark Crusader Nurses."

Alex could not stop himself from smiling at that, despite the pain (even smiling hurt). This was so far the sweetest letters anyone had ever sent him. Then again, all letters before this one had been bills... so this was the only friendly letter he had ever got, if you did not include his childhood.

The human grabbed the painkillers and swallowed them with a few gulps of water, the cold liquid stinging on his dry and cut lips. He waited for the medication to kick in, which it did after about fifteen minutes. Feeling confident, he decided it was time to get up as he did not want to hog this bed from whoever it belonged to.

He swayed slightly with every step, his balance still being a bit off key. Alex rested his hand on the wall so he wouldn't fall. From there he slowly made his way over to the door and out of the room... stumbling right into the floor. He was inside the house, that much was clear to him, but whose bed had he been laying in? He turned to the door. The words Big Macintosh had been branded into the wood and then colored in red color.

"Oh, Big Mac's room." Alex smiled until a surprising "Eeyup" came from behind him. With a small gasp Alex whirled around to see the red stallion standing right behind him, a big smile on his face.

"My sweet baby Jesus! You scared the life out of me buddy, did you really sneak up on me?"

"Nope." Big Mac shook his head and pointed at Alex's bandaged chest, a questioning look on his face.

"Don't worry big guy, it still hurts a bit but it will get better. Besides, soon I will have three nurses looking after me. But besides that, maybe it was only my pain induced delirium but I believe I heard you say more yesterday, I mean like more than your usual two catchphrases. Did you talk yesterday?" Alex asked with one eyebrow raised, taking a few steps closer to Big Mac, who in turn put on his best grin.

"Nope."

Alex chuckled and looked around. " Do you know where Applejack is? I wanted to thank her for sticking up for me."

Big Mac motioned towards the stairs. Alex nodded and thanked the stallion before beginning his straining way down the stairs, each step being its own small obstacle. Once he managed to get into the living room he looked around, however Applejack was nowhere to be found. This worried him slightly as he walked around the house, not sure where to look, as going into town or even outside seemed like a horrible idea after his run in with Rainbow Dash. Then he heard two voices, growing clearer as they approached the house. One of the two clearly belonged to Applejack, that drawl was unmistakable. The other however he had to really pay attention to make it out, it was so soft spoken and quiet that he almost missed it.

"Are you sure he would be alright with meeting a completely unknown pony? Especially after how the townsponies and Rainbow have treated him. I still can't believe she would do such a thing." Spoke the soft voice, it had a kinda angelic ring to it, giving Alex a soothing feeling that whoever that voice belonged to would probably be of a more friendly kind.

"Of course he would be alright with that, told him that Ah was gonna introduce him to mah friends, and well... the first impressions of mah friends were really bad ones. Also he needs yer knowledge, ya know how he is doin, we did our best to patch the guy up but it is always better to let someone professional look over it." Applejack answered, confidence but also a bit of worry swaying in her voice as Alex listened on.

"But why didn't you simply get him to the ponyville hospital, there he could have gotten the treatment he needs, much better than what i could do now." That was right, why didn't the apple family gotten him to a hospital, now that Alex thought about it, that made sense.

"Fluttershy, we know that the docs there would have never treated him, heck they don't even treat Spike when he gets hurt from time to time. They always say they are forbidden by licence to help any other race but ponies, but that is doohickey, Ah looked it up mahself, there is no such thing as such a stupid licence for that, meanin they just don't treat other races cause they think the same way as most ponies in this town. And if Ah try to speak up against it with the guards, they side with the docs, backing their claims up. This is so rotten but that's exactly why Ah brought ya with me, Ah know that ya don't judge someone based on their looks or where they are from, so please help the poor guy." After that Fluttershy was quiet for a while. Alex was surprised but also shocked at how far the problems within this town were going and what kinds of forms they took. Anger rose in him slowly.

"O-okay, I will look him over, I only hope he won't shy away from me, he must fear or hate pegasi now." With that the two of them entered the house, Applejack first and the pony that she called Fluttershy right behind her. Alex looked at the unknown pony. Sure she was a pegasus, her coat was a light yellow and her tail and mane were of a soft bright pink. He had to admit, she looked cute, almost too cute to not just run up to and hug, but he kept himself in check; he also didn't want to hurt himself with hugging anyone at the moment.

"As I was saying Flutters he is not a- " at that moment Applejack noticed Alex standing in the living room. "Alex, Ah'm glad to see ya are awake but still, ya should be in bed, ya are not ready to walk around yet. Well in any case this is mah friend Fluttershy, Ah brought her over to look ya over and see how bad tha damage is." She stepped to the side so Alex and Fluttershy could properly meet each other.

"Umm... hi... my name is Alex Terris, I know your name now already but in any case, how are you doing?"

Fluttershy did not answer at all, instead she stared at him, eyes big and filled with fear as she slowly backed away and tried to hide behind her mane.

"L-lovely day we're having huh, the weather is just right, eh?" He tried to make her relax, which obviously was not working.

"Come on Fluttershy, he ain't that bad, ya gotta at least talk to the guy." Applejack tried to intervene to calm her friend down.

"B-b-but he is so tall... and menacing... he is almost... like a dragon. Fluttershy was now shaking as she looked at Alex who got a idea and sat down on the sofa, closing his eyes.

"Okay Fluttershy, I know you are scared of me, and I understand that, so for now I'll sit here with my eyes closed. Come to me at your own leisure and do what you do to determine how much I got beat up. I won't do anything, besides breathing and the occasional comment. Take your time, I wont rush you." He gave her a confident smile.

As soon as he closed his eyes and finished talking the yellow pony began shaking less and nodded silently. She walked over towards him very, very slowly and lifting a hoof, which she very carefully and softly let run over his legs and arms first, then she noticed the clothing he still wore a big blush spread on her face.

"M-m-m-mr Alex... I fear I can't look at your injuries like that, I can't determine the severity with you having your clothes on... could you please remove them... after I get at a safe distance?" she whispered before she quickly took a few soft steps away from him. He slowly nodded and stood up, a giant blush on his face as he undressed down to his boxers, which he left on. He sat back down and waited for her to continue her examination.

She stepped up to him again and let her hoof run over his body, examining each little cut and bruise, then prodding his chest which made him wince slightly in pain, she shuddered in fear at the reaction but kept going.

"I... I'm am sorry that I may be hurting you but..." her voice slowly gained strength and some confidence as well as genuine care, all steadily flowing into it. "But I need to prod like that... to see how bad it really is, so please let me continue... if that's okay with you?" He nodded and she kept going; after some time the pegasus let go and sighed in relief.

"W-well three of his ribs are cracked but not much, his shoulder has been dislocated then relocated, but luckily there was no chipping of bone matter or anything else, he has a lot of minor cuts which will heal in due time, luckily his nose is not broken but took quite the beating; he also is seemingly thin but surprisingly muscular for that and from what I could gather from his crotch without looking at it unclothed I would say he-"

"That's quite alright Flutters, we don't need to know that, if the guy wants to tell us how... endowed he is, he will do so himself. But thank you though for all of that." Applejack stepped in, both her and Alex blushing like their faces were on fire.

"O-okay... sorry, I do tend to get carried away at work. Other than that he seems to be an omnivore, going by his teeth at least, despite that he seems to be completely harmless, there is no seeming danger coming from him, making all prejudice or fear he may have experienced by ponies null and void from the ponies side at least which means... oh... I did it too, didn't I?!? Oh no... I am so, so ,so sorry..." She sunk back into herself, clearly ashamed.

"Oh, don't beat yourself over it. It's true I guess, I am looking kinda scary at first glance, at least to ponies." Alex tried to shrug it off as he redressed.

"Oh no that won't do, I treated you badly, please let me make up for it..." Suddenly he had a yellow and pink ball of fluff sitting in his lap poking at his belly.

"And look at how malnourished you are, you poor little thing, that won't do at all either. Applejack, are you sure the poor guy eats properly? With a lithe build like this I fear he may break from work once he is back at it." She spoke in a scolding but gentle tone as she made herself comfortable in his lap.

"Yeah, Ah make sure he eats properly, this mornin' Ah had him be pulled over by Apple Bloom to make sure he had a proper breakfast before workin. Dont'cha worry, we already have an eye on him." Applejack smiled but also looked like she was a bit insulted at the unspoken accusation of not letting Alex eat.

"No, no, I bet you mean well Applejack, but from now on I'll visit sometimes and look that Alex here is fed properly and taken good care off." She then began cuddling up against the tall human.

"There there, everything is okay now, Fluttershy is here to make sure no one hurts you anymore."

Alex blushed once again, trying to remove the cuddly pony from his lap as delicately as possible.

"While I appreciate the offer, I have to remind you that I indeed am a adult, I can take care of myself. Plus if I forget to eat I'm sure the Apples will remind me of it very strongly," he chuckled.

"I know that you are an adult, but from your body and all that I bet you are just scared to ask for food, do you get cuddles?" She asked out of the blue which made the human even redder in the face.

"N-no I don't, but what does that matter? I don't need to be cuddled all the time." He spoke in a halfway joking manner, not believing what he just had been asked. Only to then be cuddled by Fluttershy again.

"Oh you poor poor thing, you have been deprived of any kindness, that wont go, shh shh, I will always cuddle you if you need someone to hug." By this point Alex was seriously getting annoyed by her antics but tried still to be polite but looked at Applejack with a look that begged for help.

"Uhhhh well Flutters, while it is lovely that ya like him so much and want to help but Alex... really needs to rest ya know, to heal his wounds, remember?" She tried to lie, which was obviously so bad that Alex cringed at it internally. But to his surprise Fluttershy let go.

"Oh no, you are right, I probably am keeping him from his healing sleep, and I still need to feed my chickens. But I will be back soon enough to look that he is doing well." She smiled at him and after saying her goodbyes and one last hug she left the house.

A sigh of relief escaped the two remaining people in the room. Both were much more exhausted now than they had been before the visit.

"She sure is friendly and I do like cuddles but... does she have to be that clingy and like... a mother?" Alex shook his head in disbelief of how much he'd been cuddled a few moments ago.

"Well ya see, she loves animals and is really good at taking care of em but... it seems her attitude also becomes the same when she has patients that aren't her animal friends. But hey, at least ya have another friend and it is not like ya would be under constant cuddle patrol right?" To that Alex nodded but looked up at the sound of the door opening, revealing the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"Big sis, we just met Fluttershy on our way home, she asked us if we knew 'bout Alex and we answered that we'd be his nurses to get our cutie marks, but she told us that he needs to eat more, have more rest and most importantly lots more cuddles so... we kinda are looking for two cutie marks with that now..."The three fillies were beaming with smiles while both adults were looking at them, worry clear on their faces.

Sweetie Belle spoke up next. "From now on we won't just be Cutie Mark Crusader Nurses but also..."

All three fillies formed a line aimed at Alex before shouting. "Cutie Mark Crusader Cuddlers!!" And with that the three of them flung themselves at him.

"May Luna have mercy on him." Giggled Applejack under her breath as she watched the spectacle unfold. On this day, the so called `Human Cuddle Patrol´ was born.

Author's Note

And another one down, and hey it was a lighthearted one this time, wohoo for that, but don't worry, that wont last for too long, cause i am a evil person who feels no love muahahahahah!!! In any case, i hope you liked the chapter, constructive criticism is always encouraged and enjoyed, and i hope to see you in the next chapter. Bah-bye!