-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

Considering the events following my recovery I've decided to start organizing these records into private and investigative accounts accordingly. I suppose with this now being a private record I can cut out this formal crap up at the top. I still want to keep an account of these events though. Things can start to feel awfully unreal around here and laying it all out on paper is very therapeutic. Though as I form connections with these ponies I'm starting to find it difficult to get a free moment.

Anyways, let's start just after my complete recovery.

--

"I wish Rarity would've mentioned these additions she made to my clothes," I grumbled back to Twilight who managed to tear her eyes away from whatever she was writing.

I was standing in the middle of the library. I had managed to get on my pair of dark blue dress pants and my white t-shirt before I notice something was off. I had my cream dress shirt in my right hand and my dark brown trench coat in my left. A large version of my badge's design was copied onto the backs of both articles of clothing. The only glaring difference was that the dark blue text of 'HOLDRIDGE' and 'POLICE' was replaced with 'VALENTINO' and 'BRUGATO'.

With an annoyed look on my face I turned around and held up the clothes so Twilight could see. She giggled, "I think it looks nice! It's a very powerful design."

"Sure, but it throws subtlety right out the window," I complained.

"Well you're already going to stand out plenty."

"That's... a good point," I shrugged my shoulders and had started putting the rest of my clothes on while Twilight went back to writing.

My dress shirt was lazily tucked into my pants and my black tie was loosely affixed. My knife and baton were in their nylon sheath and nylon case respectively and hooked them onto my black belt. My baton was on my right and knife was on my left. I had stored the rest of the empty cases and holster in a drawer upstairs that Twilight let me use. My cigarettes were in my coat pocket with my lighter and my badge.

I got my black crew socks on and then slipped into my cheap pair of black dress shoes. I tested my leg for probably the fifth time that morning, roughly hitting my heel against the floor a couple of times. Those ponies did some amazing work.

My coat was draped over my arm and I was looking at Twilight who was still writing. She had quite the stack of paper next to her. I was starting to wonder just how long she was going to take.

"What are you writing again?" I asked.

"A report to Princess Celestia," she responded without looking up.

I did remember the Sun Princess from Twilight's lecture. The highest authority in all of Equestria when that sun of hers was shining. And when the Sun retired there was a Moon Princess to look over things. Then there was a Love Princess who had a Crystal Empire to look after. Twilight was a Princess too, she had some vague royal responsibilities. Or something. All I knew about her was that her ascent to royalty was fairly recent and that magic was what she was all about.

What I made note of was that Princess Celestia was about as important as it got. So I thought that report must have been about something really important.

"About?" I pressed.

"You of course," she pointed a hoof at me but still didn't look away from the page.

Maybe not that important, I thought. "What would your Sun Princess care about a non-magic nobody popping up in her vast and wondrous lands?" I asked, not quite able to hide my annoyance under my sarcasm.

Twilight got her own look of annoyance as she finally looked up from her report. "After I first contacted her–"

"–First contacted her!?" I found myself incredibly unsettled by the fact that I was the subject of a correspondence between some of the highest ranking officials in the nation I was stranded in. Unsettled mostly by the fact that I wasn't informed of it.

Twilight picked up on this and she started to explain, "The morning after we found you I sent a letter to Princess Celestia telling her about how we found you. I told her that I was going to learn as much about you and how you got here as I could. Her response just said that she was very curious about you and that she wanted me to keep her apprised of whatever I learned."

"And you're reporting to her now with what you've learned then," I stated, my body and tone had relaxed considerably. I really should have expected as much but I was still finding it hard not to make all the same assumptions I would back home.

"That's right," she said, happy to see me relax.

But I still hadn't taken one step outside yet. I hadn't had a chance to really see this place for what it was.

I was growing impatient.

"What about all those notes you took? Why don't you just send her those? I'll even give you those records I wrote and you can send her those too," I said, hoping it would expedite her report writing.

Twilight seemed to light up at that. "Yes! That would be wonderful! It will take me a little while to copy down everything though," she mused.

I smacked my forehead with my palm. "Why don't you just send her what we have and ask her to send it back when she's done?" I groaned.

"I'll need my notes for reference. It should only take a couple of hours," she still seemed pretty excited despite my complaining.

My plan had backfired and Twilight was going to settle in for even longer. I only had one option left.

"Well, okay then. My records are in my drawer. I'll just go for a walk and leave you to it." I said with an even tone and casually walked towards the door.

Unfortunately a casual mention of my planned outing did not fly over Twilight's head like I had hoped. "You can't go out by yourself!" she loudly exclaimed.

"Well I wouldn't but you're busy and Spike is off helping one of your friends. So I guess I'll just have to tackle the outside world alone!" I stood up straight and puffed up my chest to look confident.

"Nopony really knows about you except me and my friends! There's no telling what kind of impression you'll make without anypony to introduce you and show you around!" Every time Twilight's eyes were off of me while she spoke I took a small step back towards the door.

"The only impression I'll make is that I'm a exotic and handsome stranger," I said with a sly smile. Twilight just stared at me. "Look, the worst thing that'll happen is I get some stares, maybe a pony or two asks me what my deal is. I tell them I'm a guest of Princess Twilight Sparkle and move on. It's more likely I'll just run into one of your friends and have them show me around before anything like that happens."

Twilight looked off to the side with a thoughtful expression. I took the opportunity to quietly back up to the door and silently open it. "Well..." she started.

I already ducked down and was halfway out the short doorway, "Oops! Too late! I'm already out the door!" I shouted back to her before I quickly shut the door behind me and broke into a run.

--

I didn't make it very far before being stopped just by the sight of the town. The buildings were all very colorful, residential cottages were all over the place and had a common theme of pale yellows, with brown and pink accents. I could see a couple of more... eccentric and colorful buildings. Turning around I could see the giant tree I had just escaped from.

And the ponies were everywhere. Pegasi fluttering around in the sky, Unicorns and Earth Ponies trotting along and going about business as usual. Really it was everything I expected but I hadn't expected the reality of it all to hit me so hard. I sneaked a few glances of the outside world from windows and the occasional open door but there was still so much of that comfortable uncertainty inside that hollow tree.

I glared back at the tree for a moment while pulling my coat on. I huffed and turned back towards reality.

To find Rainbow Dash who hovered in the air just in front of me. She had a big smile on her face.

"Heya, Val!" she said happily.

"Val?" I cocked an eyebrow at her. That wasn't a nickname I'd heard or held for a very long time.

"Yeah! Your name takes way too long to say," she explained. I couldn't argue that. "So what are you doing? I didn't think you'd be out by yourself."

I rolled my eyes, "I wouldn't be but Twilight had some Royal reports and transcripts to work on and I was feeling stir crazy so I just ducked out ."

"Uh huh, is that why you were running?" she asked with an impish look in her eyes.

"What, are you stalking me or something?" I shot back at her with feigned irritation as I started walking.

Rainbow Dash flew right beside me, "I was flying over, you just stand out a lot."

I huffed, already I was getting few awkward stares from a few ponies but they rarely lingered. Maybe it was just their nature or maybe it was the smiling Rainbow Dash who was flying next to me.

"Well I'm glad you decided to stop and show me around town then," I said glancing over to Dash with a sly smile on my face.

The responsibility I dumped on her made her stop in the air. "Well, you know I'm kind of busy and–"

"–you decided you would help me out even with your busy schedule. Wow you are such a great pal," I ended for her. I turned back towards her and shot her a serious expression. I really didn't want to tackle the town alone if I didn't have to. In such a short amount of time I had already built something of a rapport with Rainbow Dash and since interacting with her felt so natural I preferred to have her around.

"Alright fine! Don't worry! I'll show you all the best parts of Ponyville!" she said, getting herself pumped up for her new job.

Unfortunately none of her energy rubbed off on me as I kept a leisurely pace. It didn't take long for her to get irritated with me but she didn't complain too much.

The tour started by following the wide path from Twilight's tree towards the center of town. Right in the middle of the town square was town hall, which was probably the biggest building in Ponyville. There were a few shops around the edges of the square which were very distinct from everything else. Rainbow Dash showed me the joke shop and all I could say was "Yeah, that's a joke shop." For the sake of speed we moved on without going inside.

Cutting through town was a rather large stream that cut through the town that came from what was a very nearby mountain. Rainbow pointed out that you could just barely make out the spires of Canterlot from Ponyville. Something I remember Twilight saying when we were going over Equestria's geography. Honestly I would have found pony nomenclature a bit arrogant if it wasn't so adorable.

After that we passed by Rarity's place, apparently called the Carousel Boutique. It had quite the... extravagant style. We both opted to continue the tour and say hi to Rarity later.

There was no conflict with any of the other ponies. Most just stared curiously or awkwardly. Two or three actually came up to ask what the deal was with me but they were all pretty friendly about it. I remember one had a mint colored coat that reminded me of the menthols in my pocket for some reason. Rainbow Dash referred to me as a, "Friend who blew into town." When asked about what exactly I was and why they had never seen anything like me before our brush off line was that I, "Come from a very far away land." None of which was necessarily untrue and good enough for the ponies that came up to us. A couple of them mentioned how tall I was and we would excuse ourselves shortly after.

We passed through the Ponyville Marketplace, fresh fruit, vegetables and other goods were sold throughout. It explained the exceptional taste of the ingredients in the meals I had eaten so far.

At the end of the market we came upon a building that made me stop in my tracks. It had the same general style of any of the cottages around town but instead of a thatched roof it had chocolate shingles and icing tracing the edges of the roof. In the center was a small spire that formed what looked like a cupcake on top with three birthday candles jutting out of it. The building had a sign with a cupcake on it.

Rainbow Dash must have thought I was trying to glare a hole into the door with how intensely I was staring at the building. I was shocked, appalled and yet at the same time ultimately enticed by the building. It represented an insurmountable challenge. I could never eat that candy house. I would never want to eat that candy house. It was a dream, a perpetually fattening dream.

"That's um... That's Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie and the Cakes live and work there." Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, probably concerned about my current state of mind.

I stared at it for a few more seconds before marching up to the building rather quickly. Rainbow Dash followed quickly behind me as I walked up the front steps to the door to the sweet shop. I mentally prepared myself for the temptations inside and flung the door open. I didn't have time to look, I heard a gasp and pink blur filled my vision.

A tremendous weight slammed itself against my chest. One pair of pink legs locked around my chest and the other locked around my waist. The force Pinkie Pie hit me with sent me back a couple steps but I kept upright. The weight of her threatened to pull me down though, so I brought my hands up to help support her. My fingers sank into her plump pink flanks and it took everything I had to keep us both up for just a few seconds.

"Bruggie! You're all better!" shouted Pinkie Pie, crushing me in her hug and giggling.

I couldn't say anything under the strain. I took a step back under her weight, right off the front step of the building. I ended up tumbling backwards and falling flat on my back. The ground though was fairly soft so I didn't end up any worse for the wear. I made a mental note of my discovery that earth ponies were heavy.

Pinkie was standing over me with a big smile on her face. I could hear Rainbow Dash laughing hysterically back up the steps. I looked Pinkie in the eye with an exhausted expression and said, "Pinkie... That's a horrible nickname."

"No way! It's perfect for you!" she said, stepping off of me.

"Yeah!" snorted Rainbow Dash through her laughter.

I got up to my feet, brushing the dirt off of my pants and popping my neck. I didn't bother arguing, Pinkie was going to do whatever she wanted so it was better to save myself the effort.

"Come on in!" she said happily trotting in ahead of us.

I walked in behind her. The entrance was quite a bit taller than Twilight's tree making it so I didn't have to duck down to enter. Rainbow Dash followed after she shook off the last of her laughing fit.

The interior design had the same sweet theme as the outside. Pink glass cases held the many varieties of sweets and candies were organized on shelves behind the counters.

Also behind the counters were two busy looking ponies. One mare with a blue coat and light crimson swirl of a mane and a stallion with an amber coat, orange mane and very square cut jaw. They both wore cute aprons. They both gave me a very curious look at first but then their faces seemed to brighten up.

"Oh Pinkie, is this your friend?" the stallion asked.

"Yeah! This is Bruggie! Bruggie, this is Mr. and Mrs. Cake!" said Pinkie.

"Valentino Brugato," I added, nodding towards the two Ponies.

"Oh we've heard so much about you from Pinkie. She's been in the kitchen just about every day making something for her strange new friend Bruggie," said Mrs. Cake with a little giggle.

"Oh yeah! That reminds me!" Pinkie suddenly shouted and ran off behind the counters.

I approached one of the glass cases and bent over to inspect the offerings of cakes inside. Everything on display looked expertly crafted and had me swallow back the saliva that accumulated in my mouth. I could hear the sound of Rainbow Dash's wings flapping behind me.

"We hear you have quite the discerning sweet tooth dearie," said Mrs. Cake while she and Mr. Cake got back to work.

"My folks were fantastic chefs and bakers so I grew up a little spoiled. But still I love sweet stuff, can't get anything that good where I'm frOM!" I shouted and jumped up at feeling something lightly press against my back. The unexpected touch sent shocks through my torso.

"Don't move! You got dirt all over your back," huffed Rainbow Dash. She put a firm hoof on my shoulder and lightly brushed her other forehoof against my back. Every time I felt her touch me my body tensed up a little and I winced. Just a few swipes of her hoof though and she stopped. "Gosh, there, I'm done you big baby. You're welcome."

I held in a deep breath and let it go. Feeling my body relax I turned back to Rainbow Dash. "A little warning next time. My back is sensitive," I said. Rainbow just rolled her eyes.

"Really!?" I heard Pinkie shout from just behind me before I felt a hoof lightly press into my lower back. I jumped forward, shocks shoot through me again. I turned around quickly and gave Pinkie a sharp glare. She lowered hoof down from a sharp upwards angle and gave me an apologetic smile. "Sorry," she said.

I heaved another sigh and just shook my head. The Cakes were both laughing at me.

Without missing a beat Pinkie presented me with a tray she was carrying on her back. "Here! Try these!" she said excitedly.

The tray had five little puff pastry bowls, filled with a light cream, blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. I didn't bother giving it a thorough inspection, already confident in Pinkie's abilities. I took a large bite of the pastry. Unlike most of what she had made me before this pastry had a more natural and reserved sweetness. It the raspberries and blackberries were a little tart, but overall it was very refreshing.

I popped the rest of the small treat in my mouth and gave Pinkie a satisfied smile. She beamed back at me and pranced a little in place. She did this just about every time I enjoyed something she made. I swallowed and took a couple more of the pastries, popped another in my mouth and took one more in my free hand.

"Thanksh," I started, with my mouth still full. I swallowed down the rest of the pastry before continuing, "We should get going though, lot's still to see and do."

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" she chirped. I passed one of the pastries to Rainbow Dash and took the last one on the tray.

As we headed for the door Pinkie chirped up again in a singsong voice, "Oh! Come back tomorrow and I'll have another tasty treat for you!"

"Count on it," I called back.

--

I had Dash detour us towards the so called Everfree Forest while we both shared in the rest of the pastries.

We stopped by the hole I was dug out of. It hadn't been filled in but weather and time had an effect on it. Even still it just looked like someone dug a wide two foot hole and that there was nothing else to it. Just like Twilight had said. Dash didn't say anything while I stared at the hole.

When I finished musing over the hole I turned to the forest and started walking towards it, stopping only a few feet away from the edge.

The forest had very distinct atmosphere that conflicted heavily with the one I felt from around town. It was very oppressive if not a little familiar. I certainly knew which I preferred. We quickly got on with the tour.

Rainbow Dash took me up a hill to a single mailbox with something that resembled Rainbow's cutie mark. Rainbow drew my attention up and I saw the extravagant cloud... spire that was her residence. It rose out of a fluffy cloud base. Massive Greek looking columns littered all around the spire that was her home and the moisture condensed into rainbow colored pools that fell away into small waterfalls and dissipated long before it reached the ground.

Rainbow stared at me expectantly, I only shrugged and said "It's you."

I was really impressed but I held back just to see how she would react. It looked like I had finally gotten under her skin by the huffy expression on her face.

I didn't let her stay upset for long though and shot her another sly grin. She brightened up at that and flew back down beside me before slugging me in the arm with her forehoof.

After that we started wandering back towards town but once we got to the bottom of the hill Rainbow Dash stopped me.

"Alright! I showed you pretty much all over Ponyville, now you gotta show me something!" she said while hovering in front of me.

I raised an eyebrow at her, "What?"

"You gotta show me your stuff!" she demanded with an expectant look on her face.

I stared at her blankly for few seconds before I said, "Dash, we barely know each other."

She just huffed, unperturbed by my allusion, "Not like that! I wanna see what you can do! Your skills!"

I dropped my blank expression and just gave Rainbow a confused look, "Huh?"

"I know you've gotta have some skills! You're a Detective, you chase bad guys, you've got muscle–" she lightly prodded my chest with a hoof "–and you said those guys that... did that stuff to you... you said they had to send like five of them! You've gotta be seriously tough!"

I was giving Rainbow Dash an increasingly incredulous stare as she went on. I wasn't quite sure where to start, "Okay Dash, I don't generally 'chase' bad guys, I just figure out who the bad guys are. If I am in a situation were I do need to chase down a fleeing suspect well..." I looked off to the side, "I usually let my partner do most of the chasing."

Rainbow Dash gave me a very unimpressed glare.

"I do work out a little, it's mostly out of habit though. I like feeling a little healthy and not being exhausted if I do need to be physical." Rainbow seemed to brighten up a little even though I followed up with, "Though as far as fitness goes for humans I am just a little above average."

My third attempt to disillusion her didn't fare much better. "As for being attacked by those five thugs, if they knew about a little thing like my claustrophobia they probably knew about my extensive combat... training... and history," I trailed off a little as Rainbow's face started to brighten up even more and she looked like she was going to explode.

"Oh my gosh! I know all kinds of martial arts! Oh! Oh! We could spar together and–"

"Dash!" I shouted "I have experience with hand–" I raised my left hand "–to hand–" and my right hand "–combat. Not hand to hoof."

Rainbow Dash didn't miss a beat even though I had tried to dissuade her. "I know! And we can train together and teach each other and think about all the new techniques we could learn!"

She started going on and on while I stood there with my head in my hands. Not to say I was completely opposed to the idea but I was feeling exhausted just thinking about it.

"Alright alright," I started, interrupting whatever tangent she was on, "We can do all of that stuff later. For now... I'll..." I looked around desperately and saw nothing but some grass, a few stones and a lot of trees. Even still I managed to hatch a halfhearted plan. "I'll show you two of my best skills," Rainbow's eyes sparkled and she nodded frantically.

I picked a stone up off the ground and walked towards a nearby tree and stopped about fifteen meters away with Rainbow right beside me. I tossed the stone up and down in my hand, testing the weight. "The first is my aim," I said, pointing to a large nut dangling from a low hanging branch of the tree. I already had the shot lined up so without a seconds hesitation I reeled back and threw the stone. It arced high through the air, I managed to judge the weight well and on it's decent it collided with the nut, bringing them both to the earth.

Rainbow Dash clapped her forehooves together cutely. "Hey! Can you–"

"–As for the second," I cut her off and started walking towards the tree again. Rainbow Dash quietly followed behind me. "It's probably my best skill actually, though my co-workers back home don't think so." Rainbow Dash eyed me curiously. "But I am really good at it," I added.

When we got to the tree I found the shadiest spot under it and sat down in the grass. I leaned back against the trunk and crossed my arms.

Rainbow looked down at me curiously, "What is it?" she asked.

"Napping," I said and closed my eyes. I expected to hear disappointment but all I heard was a giggle and the sound of Rainbow landing to my left.

I opened one eye and looked at her, she had found her own spot in the shade and laid down. She looked back at me with one open eye and a smile. "That's a pretty good skill," she said and I smiled back before closing my eye.

As the midday turned to afternoon we both drifted off to sleep.

--

The sound of unfamiliar voices jarred me out of my nap. In my sleep I had managed to flip onto my stomach and my head was resting on my left arm. My right arm was lazily draped over Rainbow Dash who was curled up in a ball and still sleeping. I had a bit of drool slipping out of the corner of my mouth but I stayed still and silent while I focused on listening to the nearby voices.

"Do ya really think he can help?" said a tired sounding voice with a familiar accent.

"He's all Rarity's been talking about for week! Mysterious this! Detective that!" said a voice with a much higher pitch.

"If Rainbow Dash is hanging out with him, he's gotta be awesome!" said a raspier voice.

It sounded like they were pretty close by, but all I could see from my prone position was the tree and Rainbow. I put a little pressure into the arm I had over Rainbow and tried to subtly shake her awake while I whispered harshly "Rainbow."

"Hn?" Rainbow Dash raised her head a little and looked around lazily. When she saw me in my awkward sleeping position she lost her half asleep expression as she fought back a laugh. "Sleep well?" she said, her pitch high from holding back her laughter.

"Very. I think we have visitors," I said flatly.

Rainbow took a quick look around before she had found the source of those voices. She suddenly got an exhausted look on her face. I lifted my arm off of her when she made a move to get up.

"Oh Rainbow!" said the raspy little voice. I could hear a mess of hoofsteps approach us.

"Hey, uh listen, we're kind of busy. What do you guys want?" Rainbow asked with an even tone.

I rolled over onto my back and sat up, I could hear them talking from beside the tree to my right and just behind me. I started to wipe the drool from the corner of my mouth as I listened.

"Weren't you two just sl–" started the tired one before she was cut off by the high pitched one.

"–Apple Bloom needs help!" she shouted.

"Yeah! Something is creeping around the farm at night and keeping everypony awake!" added the raspy one.

"Can't Applejack just take care of it?" asked Rainbow Dash.

The tired one let out a large, cute sounding yawn before talking, "She tried a couple times, but whatever it is just disappeared and came back when she wasn't outsi–"

I had stood up just then and the tired one quickly quit talking. Silence hung in the air as I turned to see who our visitors were.

Three tiny ponies were staring up at me with wide eyes. My breath immediately caught in my throat at the sight of them and I turned away quickly.

I always had a soft spot for cute things. Growing up I had more stuffed animals than most boys and I was the type to bring home stray animals. It became less prevalent in my life as I got older. I had less desire to have things in general but I would always stop for a moment if I saw something cute. My laptop background always caught a few odd stares from my co-workers. Well, you like what you like, I would always say.

But these little ponies, by their voices and appearances I suspected they were children, just weren't fair. I could handle the adult ponies just fine with a little effort, but these... fillies... I didn't know how I would react.

"Wow! He really is super tall!" said the one with the high pitched voice. I could hear them move over towards me.

I braced myself, steeled my expression and turned back. I looked down at the adorable little things a second time. The unicorn with the high pitched voice had a white coat, pale green eyes and a curly pink and purple mane.

"And it did say Detective on his back! He can totally figure out what's happening Apple Bloom!" said the Pegasus with a raspy voice excitedly. She had an orange coat, purple mane and pale purple eyes.

The last one I assumed was Apple Bloom and I also assumed she was Applejack's relative due to her name, accent and their earlier talk with Rainbow Dash. She had a yellow coat, red mane and brilliant orange eyes. And... and a cute pink bow in her mane. I felt my eye twitch when I saw that bow.

She looked up at me, exhausted, and asked "Can you?"

Without even thinking I blurted out, "Of course."

She brightened up a little and Rainbow Dash flew over right next to my head. "Really? It's probably nothing you know," she whispered into my ear.

I gave her a shrug and whispered back, "Then it won't take long." I looked back to the fillies and spoke up, "Alright, why don't you ladies lead me to the scene of the crime." They all got excited and started to quickly trot ahead and I followed behind them. When I noticed the sound of flapping wings getting quieter I turned back towards Rainbow Dash who was lingering behind.

"Come on Dash, you're my partner on this case!" I called back to her.

She had a confused look on her face, "Huh?"

-Valentino Brugato – Investigation Record-

The following is a detailed account of my first unofficial yet formal investigation in Equestria. I was unofficially hired by a young filly named Apple Bloom. I was assisted by a pegasus mare named Rainbow Dash. Other involved parties will be named within the record.

--

Apple Bloom and her friends—whom I learned were named Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo—led us to the scene of Apple Bloom's trouble. It was a ways west of town and up a hill where I was greeted with lush farmland. What was called Sweet Apple Acres was very dedicated to it's namesake. It had a massive orchard that stretched out as far as I could see. It seemed though that they had plots with a multitude of other crops but apples sure did seem to be the main theme.

Immediately I saw Applejack, who was lugging a large cart of apples towards the large... barn? House? Either way, the fillies called out to her and she looked over with tired eyes that matched Apple Bloom's.

"Big sis! We brought somepony to help!" called Apple Bloom.

"And he's not even a pony at all," I said while leisurely walking up to Applejack and the three fillies with Rainbow Dash in tow.

"Valentino? And Rainbow Dash? Shucks, ya'll didn't need to worry about us. This whole thing isn't somethin' I can't handle," Applejack said. Her tone wasn't dismissive, she seemed more bashful than anything.

"Great! Then we'll just be–" Rainbow started as she flew in the air beside me. I cut her off with a sharp elbow to her side and she gave me a dirty look.

"I don't doubt that you can handle it just fine. I figured we could just help speed things along. You and your sister look like you could use a good nights sleep sooner rather than later," I said and received a large yawn from Applejack that transferred quickly over to Apple Bloom.

"We'll I won't say no to the help and I guess I'll get to see if that badge is just for show or not," Applejack said with a sly grin.

I had completely forgotten about my badge that was still in my coat pocket. I pulled it out and flipped it open. I tucked the half with my ID under my belt right near the buckle so that my badge was displayed over my belt. I always displayed it that way back when I was at a crime scene or was generally trying to display my authority as a Police Detective. Having it on made me feel a little less displaced, for some reason.

"Well then, let's start with some questions," I said seriously, staring down at Applejack.

I started by confirming the situation as I heard it from Apple Bloom and her friends. Rainbow referred to them as Crusaders once on the walk over. I wasn't really sure what she meant by that.

I got a few more details from Applejack. Three nights previous to my questioning something started showing up around eleven p.m. and making a lot of noise. It had no discernible pattern at this early stage. Sometimes it would knock over hay bales, if they left out tools it would knock them over or throw them around. Same with wheelbarrows or carts. Whatever it was would mess with things like this for as short as a few minutes or as long as a couple of hours. From her second story window Applejack could only see shadows in the dead of night. She whatever it was had to have been at least as big as a pony. If whatever it was saw light or heard movement it would vanish and wait for things to settle before coming back and causing more ruckus.

After a while it would settle into a more repetitious pattern of tapping on the first floor windows and it would spend hours scratching at the door that lead to their living room. Occasionally it would stop to bang loudly on the walls of their home. If they scared it off it would come back later and continue these repetitious task until the sun rose.

After getting a good picture of the situation I had a couple more specific questions for Applejack.

"Any pony you can think of that might have something against you or your family? Or a reason to be this... obsessive?" I waved vaguely at her house

"'Course not, none that would do anythin' like this," she said confidently.

"Are you sure? No spurned ex-lovers that still hold strongly to some unrequited love?" I asked, half joking.

Applejack flushed a little at that, "No! Nopony like that." Her sister and her friends were giggling.

I shrugged, "Alright, I'll take your word for it. I'll just have a look around now."

"Holler if ya need somethin'!" she said before getting back to hauling her cart.

I approached the farm house with Rainbow. I instructed her to have a look around and she lazily got to the task. She wasn't all that enthused to be my partner on this case. I explained to her that I would never tackle an investigation alone, multiple perspectives and diverse skill sets were crucial to an effective investigation. She seemed convinced I just wanted her around to do the things I didn't really want to do. I did not dispute this.

Apple Bloom and her friends wanted to help, I instructed them to investigate the other side of the house thoroughly. Nothing against them, but I knew I would be way too distracted with them hanging around.

Inspecting the door to the farm house revealed a couple of surprising things. There were a lot of deep markings all over the door frame but nothing on the door itself. The scratches were grouped in three's but otherwise had no pattern. Depth varied, possibly indicating scratching at the same spot for varying intervals. It seemed like a fairly even spread around the door frame. A pony would likely have trouble reaching the top of the door frame unless they were a pegasus. The grouping though suggested something like claw marks.

The first floor windows had some scratches but they clearly had received less attention than the door frame. There were a lot of tracks in the dirt all around the house, hoof prints of varying sizes littered the ground but it couldn't be said if it came from a pony intruder or was just the daily business of the family. There were some faint scratch marks in the dirt near the door.

My investigation took me away from the house, for the good part of an hour I was scouring the area around the farm house for any trace of the intruder. Rainbow had started complaining about boredom for the last half of that hour. I had been ignoring her complaints while looking at what must have been the third stack of hay bales that was just nearby.

This one like the others was sloppily stacked up, probably out of frustration or resignation at it being knocked over again and again every night. A thorough inspection revealed something slightly discolored poking out from the hay bale. I unceremoniously yanked it out, revealing a long gray feather. It was way larger than an average bird feather, but was it a pegasus feather? I needed to make a quick comparison.

"Rainbow!" I called out, "Set down over here will you?"

Rainbow Dash flew over with a little more enthusiasm than she had when she was 'investigating' the area. She set down on the ground in front of me and looked up expectantly. "Did you find something?" she asked.

"Maybe. Hold still for a second okay?" I requested. Rainbow tilted her head a little but held still as I walked around beside her. I noticed Applejack trotting over, probably at the sound of the commotion after a long and mostly silent investigation.

I knelt down next to Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and reached forward with my right hand. I gently touched her wing at the base and Rainbow immediately tensed up.

"H-hey! Watch it!" she yelped.

"Hush, it's for the investigation," I said sternly. Surprisingly she complied.

I gently coaxed her wing to extend, running my fingers along her wing's bone structure. Rainbow would occasionally tense up, or shiver or even let out a little squeak as my fingers caressed her. Her wing and her feathers had a softness that couldn't be compared to her coat.

I began comparing the feather I had found to Rainbow's. It was long, quite long and extended well past the length of even Rainbow's primary feathers. The shape was noticeably different as well, the shaft was thicker and the vanes shaped up to a point at the tip which gave it an overall knife-like appearance. I couldn't speak for other pegasi, but it wasn't even close to a match for Rainbow whose feathers were much smaller and rounded. Rainbow continued to squirm and squeak while I delicately ran my hands all over her wing and through her feathers.

When I finished the comparison I walked back around Rainbow Dash. Applejack was stifling laughter and Rainbow was glaring at me with a strong blush on her face.

"Warn me next time you... go t-touching my wings..." she lost her intensity quickly while giving me a familiar sounding demand. I raised an eyebrow as I stared back at her and she looked away bashfully. Applejack started laughing out loud and Rainbow shot her a glare that was much harsher than the one she gave me.

I held up the feather I had found in front of Rainbow, "Do you know what this came from?"

Rainbow looked away from Applejack and up at the feather I was presenting in front of her. She studied it for a few moments, the blush leaving her face.

"That's a griffon feather," Rainbow said simply.

"Griffon?" I muttered, how many more familiar sounding mythological creatures existed in this land?

"Yeah, you know, the lion and eagle guys."

"Yeah I do know... surprisingly," I mumbled while walking back over towards the scratched up door frame. "They have talons don't they?" I asked. Considering the three scratch grouping, a griffon raking its talons against the frame made sense. With this new information another look revealed that the scratches favored a vertical motion.

"Yeah," Rainbow confirmed.

"Are griffons common in this area?" I asked, turning away from the door again.

Rainbow shook her head, "No way, the last one I remember that came to Ponyville was a friend of mine." Rainbow's tone denoted that perhaps that friendship did not continue.

"This wouldn't happen to be hers would it?" I asked, holding up the feather.

She shook her head again, "No, not her color."

"Either way, Applejack," I started, turning towards the tired pony who was looking at us both curiously, "The bad news is that you might have yourself a griffon problem."

"Well shoot, I don't suppose ya got any good news?" she asked, her voice sounded hopeful.

I gave her a small smile, "Good news is I might have a plan to help deal with this."

--

Rainbow Dash and I were set up in the orchard with the food supplies we had acquired for our stakeout just as night fell. The tree's gave us plenty of cover from being seen from the sky or from the farmhouse especially at night. Though from the ground I couldn't see anything either, but Rainbow hid under the leaves at the top of the tree, she had eyes on the sky and the farmhouse. But mostly we were listening for the suspects punctual ruckus. I instructed Applejack to leave a few more tools and carts laying around to help tip us off.

Until we approached the hour in question Rainbow Dash and I mostly ate the food we brought and I tried to extract more information out of her about the species of the potential suspect. She did not have a lot of specific details to give me, and only knew the one well at all. She told me that in the air ponies had them beat on speed but they were tough as nails and pretty aggressive. She reassured me that there was no one faster or tougher in the air than her though. I decided to take her word for it.

At about ten I brought my finger to my lips to signal for silence, having had to teach that and a couple other human gestures to Rainbow Dash beforehand.

Rainbow Dash seemed excited since the stakeout began, I could tell from her tone when we talked and how diligently she had been keeping watch from the top of the tree. She was ready for action.

I was ready for a small verbal confrontation and the griffon or whatever it is agreeing to take a hike. Being bedridden for a week and only out in the whole new wide world for a day made me incredibly ignorant of how it worked. Something in the air though made me more hopeful than normal.

At eleven exactly an apple dropped right at my feet. I looked up and saw Rainbow Dash staring back at me and she gave me a nod. I made a motion to her and as quietly as she could she flew out into the orchard. I stayed still until I heard the clattering off tools being knocked over.

The plan was for Rainbow Dash to circle around and into a flanking position and I would make the initial approach. We agreed that I would make the initial approach because for all the ponies had with their magic, strength and speed the ones I knew that could use it effectively lacked any and all subtlety. If this griffon was bailing the second he or she heard a noise from inside the house it stood to reason it would bail the second it heard us coming from the outside. Rainbow Dash could chase him down faster than he could bail sure, but that seemed like an excessive use of force right out of the gate.

But if I knew anything I knew how to move quietly. The soft, dry soil made that easy enough. I kept to a path I walked several times before it got dark, staying out of sight from the house by using the trees as cover. When I got close I could hear scratching, over and over again. I peeked from behind cover and saw a shadow at the door. If I had a griffon to reference than maybe I could have said if it was one, it was large enough to be one anyways.

I pulled my baton slowly out of the case on my belt. I kept it collapsed as I so slowly and quietly approached the shadow at the door. Every step the creature got a little clearer. I could make out wings, a tail, the talons as they reached up and then raked back down against the door frame. The moon was large and bright, but I could still hardly make out any details, either way I felt even more certain that this was a griffon. I stopped a fair distance away, so that the griffon couldn't whip around and hit me, or leap at me suddenly. I had space to react and if I tried to get closer I ran the risk of being heard and losing control of the situation.

"Turn around and step away from the door," I commanded loudly, clearly and with authority I no longer had.

The griffon froze in it's tracks. It's wings twitched but it didn't take off. It stayed like this for just a couple of seconds. Before I had to repeat myself the griffon slowly turned around.

I could make out a pointed beak in the griffon's profile as it turned. It's eyes shone under the light of the moon, but all I could see was a bright reflection of that light on top of utter blackness.

It stared at me unblinking. I could see it's beak move but it didn't make a sound and didn't make another movement when it faced me.

"Step away from the do-" I was cut off by a piercing shriek from the griffon and it started running at me.

At the first sight of movement I flicked my hand back. The baton extended out and locked into place over my shoulder. The griffon moved quickly, closing the distance in just a few seconds. The griffon tried to charged right into me and knock me onto the ground. I shuffled to the left while pushing hard against the side of the griffon with my left hand. My right hand held the baton up and I swung down in my next movement.

The strike was aimed at the griffon's hind leg. It connected loudly and the Griffon screamed louder. I was going to bring the baton up to my left shoulder to strike again but the Griffon whipped around quicker and more violently than I anticipated. The griffon's arm slammed right into my throat with a tremendous amount of force. I was knocked onto my back and I could see the griffon take off into the air.

As quick as it was in the air another shadow bolted straight up and went after it. I instructed Rainbow Dash to intercept if the Griffon took off or I lost control of the situation. Both happened.

I couldn't breath. My neck was on fire, I rolled over and started coughing and gasping for breath. I managed to get some air into lungs and started drawing in the dirt, a picture of Rainbow Dash's cutie mark and an arrow pointing to the direction she went. I was interrupted a couple of times by my own violent coughing.

After I finished the door to the farmhouse burst open. Two ponies ran over to me while I was coughing and gasping. I was illuminated by a purple glow, Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were staring down at me.

On the trip to get supplies I checked in with Twilight who had finished sending off her report. When I informed her of the situation she insisted on helping. I wasn't going to say no to having some magic on my side.

I instructed the both of them to stay inside the house and listen carefully. Whether the confrontation went well or not I instructed them to come out the second either Rainbow Dash or I yelled for them or when it sounded like it was over. They were our backup, so to speak.

I motioned violently at Applejack, Twilight and the drawing I made on the ground while coughing. Applejack ran off as soon as she made sense of it but Twilight stayed behind.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice was filled with concern.

The coughing was starting to subside and I was managing to catch my breath. I got up to my feet, tried a few deep breaths and only coughed a few times.

"Got me in the throat, catch up with the others," I said.

"But you're hurt..." she said.

I almost snapped at her, but Twilight wasn't an idiot. I had been interacting with her the most my whole time here, she was intelligent, rational and pretty well focused. She wasn't just worried about me, she was confident in her friends. I should have been just as confident, they were magical ponies after all.

"Then let's–" a cough interrupted me, "–both catch up with them." I started to walk after them and Twilight followed beside me.

--

I definitely should have been just as confident. We didn't make it far before we came upon the two ponies and one hog tied griffon. The griffon was hacking and coughing on the ground and the two ponies were looking awfully proud of themselves.

When Applejack saw me she ran over, "You okay there, Valentino?"

"I'm alright, just took a shot to the throat," I said, no longer coughing.

"From the sound of it you musta' given him one or two good shots of your own," she responded with a smirk.

I just shrugged.

There was a loud groan from the griffon that caught all of our attention.

"Oh dear... I haven't caused any trouble have I?" said the bird in old sounding voice.

--

A thorough questioning and a second look at the griffon, named Cronus, revealed a couple of things. One, this bird was ancient. He had a dull, chipped beak, baggy eyes and a slumped posture. His eyes, also, weren't all black as I had seen them but actually shone yellow now in the moonlight.

He explained that he only had a vague idea of where he was or what he had been doing for the past five days. He described it as everything being in a sort of dark haze, and everything seemed really fuzzy. He did know that he felt compelled to do something, like his life depended on it. What or why he couldn't say. Twilight was doing some magic stuff on him while he spoke.

I ended up laying out very sternly what exactly he had been up to for the past few nights. Old Cronus definitely looked shocked and appalled. He started offering apology after apology to Applejack.

When I looked to the others they seemed to be seriously considering it.

Applejack was the first, quick to forgive the old bird. The others seemed to follow quickly in her hoofsteps.

The let him out of his bindings and I watched carefully, but even I knew something had changed in the old griffon. He said his thanks, apologized again and said he was going to find his wife who he must have left behind in a place they were visiting called Manehatten.

No punishment, no nothing really. Maybe I should have been surprised. Not really the way the legal system worked where I came from but...

I did my job, found out the truth, brought in the criminal. How it played out after that well, I really couldn't have cared less.

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

Applejack gave me her thanks, Rainbow said it would be awesome if I let her be my partner again and Twilight and I headed home.

"I don't think that could have gone better!" Twilight said happily as we walked home under the moonlight.

"I could have not gotten hit in the throat," I said bitterly.

"Well, considering the circumstances I suppose it couldn't have gone better," she corrected.

"I'm a little worried about what got into that old Griffon,"

Twilight's head lowered a little, "If he was actively being controlled by somepony I would have been able to tell, but he seemed perfectly fine when I looked at him. It may have just ended up on the wrong side of a bad spell that made him go a little loopy for a while."

"I figured you would be more curious about this," I said in a playful tone.

"Maybe if I didn't have to worry about Princess Celestia coming over. Tomorrow!" she huffed.

"Please tell me it's important royal business that has nothing to do with me," I pleaded.

Twilight shook her head, "She said after reading your records and my report she was even more curious and wanted to meet you right away!"

"I would hope she has more important things to do."

"She does, she said she was only going to drop by quickly to meet with you."

I sighed and reached into my coat pocket. I got out my cigarettes and lighter and finally had my first smoke in Equestria. When Twilight asked me about all I insisted was, "It's not for ponies."

--

The following morning was spent grooming and being lectured by Twilight. I mostly ignored her. My plan was to be generally polite but act more or less like myself. She already read through most of my personal thoughts and observations. Princess Celestia probably had a good handle on what I was like. Besides, learning and performing a bunch of cultural song and dance seemed like a lot of work.

It wasn't until about half past noon that a bright flash of white light erupted in the center of the library.

I wasn't able to get a good look at what it left behind before I felt like someone just punched me in the head. I flinched and stumbled backwards. One hand was clutching my head and the other felt backwards for the bookshelf I eventually backed into. My ears were ringing like something just exploded nearby. I opened one eye and saw two ponies. In my haze all I could tell was one was much bigger than the other. Their mouths moved but I couldn't hear them.

I tried to focus on the big one, she was white, her mane was... something... she looked concerned.

Just after that it felt like the back of my neck was on fire. My hands went to the back of my neck, I think I was crying out, I still couldn't hear anything but that ringing.

My head felt like television static and I had no idea what was going on. I tried to focus on the big pony. Princess. She looked even more concerned.

Then I heard something, I felt it to, a snap in the back of my neck. No more ringing, no more pain, no more static.

Then I blacked out.

Author's Note

Thanks so much for reading!