-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

I had every curtain in the library drawn. Even in the mid morning light the main room of the library was fairly dim. I was sat on the floor, staring at the front door and waiting.

Maybe a little dramatic but I was incredibly frustrated and had a point to drive home.

I was lucky enough that I didn't have to wait like that for long. Just outside I could hear a thud and then the brief exchange of voices. Some were familiar and the others were not.

The door opened and there was Twilight and Spike. Their expressions turned to surprise to see me waiting where I was in the dimly lit library. The sun shining in through the door didn't reach me. My stare was fixed on Twilight for just a moment before it went to Spike.

"Spike, good to see you. Why don't you go up to the bedroom? I need to have a talk with Twilight," I said evenly.

"Well, I–"

"Spike, why don't you go up to the bedroom? I need to have a talk with Twilight," I repeated, enunciating every word clearly and slightly raising my voice for certain emphasis.

Spike didn't say anything else and quickly rushed up stares. I silently kept my gaze fixed on Twilight until I heard the door shut.

"Valentino, I–" she started but was cut off by me knitting my brows and letting off a sharp hiss.

"Twilight Sparkle, you don't need to explain anything. I'm the one who, apparently, needs to explain a few things," I said, my tone already growing harsh. Twilight swallowed and remained silent.

"See, I got the gist of things from Fluttershy and you know I'm pretty good at putting things together. Turning me into a child huh? That sounds like a pretty big deal. Not that I really know anything about it. I'm sure whatever reasons you have for it are probably pretty good. Heck, I'm sure I would have agreed to go through with it if you asked," I explained calmly. As I did Twilight seemed to regain some of her composure.

"But, the problem is you didn't fucking ask!" I roared, slamming my fist on the ground. Twilight flinched and her ears splayed back against her head.

My hands were slightly shaking. I wasn't expecting to get this mad but all of a sudden it just flew out of me. I pulled my hands back and took a very deep breath. I reeled in my expression and evened out my tone. Twilight remained silent and was staring at me with wide eyes. Her ears were still splayed backwards.

"Now I understand that I have been deferring to you on pretty much all magical matters. I understand that I have been dismissive of things that I don't really get concerning magic. I understand that I already willfully have, if not somewhat reluctantly, submitted myself to various tests concerning me and magic. And in all honesty I probably would have just as willfully submitted to this interesting experiment had I been coherent," I continued, spitting out that last word through gritted teeth.

"B-but, I–" Twilight tried to stammer to her defense. I let out another sharp hiss that cut her off.

"I know I'm not the best at making these things super clear so let me put it bluntly. Magic scares the piss out of me. I didn't spend my life in a happy land full of magic with unicorns prancing around shooting glowing beams of stardust everywhere. It's not my day to day. You might be able to shrug off being turned into a kid for a minute out of nowhere but I can't live like this," I said throwing my hands up in the air in exasperation.

"I wasn't–"

"Doesn't matter!" I shouted, less angry, just trying to cut her off again. "I can't trust you. What's the next thing you're going to drag me out of bed for? How many more days am I going to lose to magic? How can I live in this house, tree, whatever," I growled, growing frustrated with my own inability to accurately reference my current state of affairs. Growing frustrated with everything. "How can I live here, with you, when I can't trust you not to fuck with me!?" I said, letting my anger bleed through into every word but thankfully not letting it explode out of me again.

Twilight remained silent. I gave her a questioning look, this time expecting a response.

"I... I..." Twilight stammered.

"Well!?" I shouted.

"I don't know," Twilight whispered. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. It was very clear that she wasn't expecting me to start driving her into a corner once she got home.

I'll admit I was letting a lot of my pent up frustration out at this point. More than just my anger about what she did. I had to pull on that otherwise I might have given up on the whole thing halfway through. I was forcing a lot of issues, but I had to because it wasn't just something I could sweep under the rug. I really can't live under the threat of all this magic shit. I have too many problems as it is.

"Really? You've gotta have some idea," I pressured. Putting the weight of answering unreasonable questions on the shoulders of someone who is upset is really mean. I learned that trick from my aunt. Bitch.

"I don't... I..." she stammered, the tears falling from her eyes.

"You know the only thing keeping me from walking straight out that door and not looking back is just a tiny bit of good faith," I stated grimly. Twilight froze. "So how about we approach this a little differently. Why didn't you just wait until mid afternoon? I would have been coherent. I would have been able to ask questions. I would have been informed and it would have been a green light from me. Everyone wins. Also Princess Celestia only seems to send out emergency letters in the morning. So why did you have to do it when I am at my most vulnerable? Because the conclusions I might immediately draw are not good ones," I said.

Twilight was silent but her teary eyes were darting back and forth rapidly. Her mind was trying to process information through overwhelming fear, sadness and maybe guilt. Not to mention I just threw in the walking out and never looking back card. With that ultimatum hanging over her head she was probably trying to think of the perfect answer.

But I didn't want the perfect answer. I wanted the truth.

"It's not a hard question, you must know why it had to be then. Because if I remember correctly you tried to pull this same nonsense a little while after we got back from Canterlot the first time," I said. I was up on my feet now, staring down at Twilight with an impatient look which helped speed her into more of a panic.

"I-I just... I wanted to do it as s-soon as I could..." she managed to squeak out.

"Okay? Why!? Why couldn't it wait!?" I shouted, unsatisfied and taking a one step closer to Twilight.

"I... I just needed... I needed to know more..." she stammered. At the sight of my approach she tried to shuffle away on shaky legs only to have her hind legs give out on her.

"Know more what?" I growled, taking another couple of intimidating steps forward. "Is that all I am Twilight? A curiosity? Gotta know more about the strange human? Is that what our 'friendship' is!? A novelty!?" I spat.

"No!" she shouted, her voice was strained. She sounded genuinely hurt by my accusation.

"Then what!?" I shouted as loudly as I could and stomping one more step closer.

That's when we reached the breaking point. All the fear and guilt and sorrow overwhelmed Twilight and she fell to the floor. Her hooves were covering her eyes and she was bawling.

"I just... I just wanted to help..." she choked out through her sobs.

"Help yourself to some knowledge?" I said, managing to retain my venomous and aggressive tone.

"No!" she screeched and then let out a few more sobs. "No... I..." she was struggling but I had to pull it out of her. I needed her to give me the truth.

"You what?" I asked impatiently.

"I... I h-hurt you when you first showed up because... because I was scared and I didn't know about you..." she managed to get out through the few breaks in her sobbing. "Then you... then you got hurt with Princess C-Celestia because I didn't notice you were... you were pulling in magic. Then I had to..." her sobbing intensified, "... I had to watch you while you... you wouldn't wake up. There wasn't... I couldn't think of anything to do! I couldn't help at all!" she was nearly shouting in a hysteria. She removed her hooves from her reddening eyes and a glance up at me glaring back at her forced Twilight to calm herself down a bit.

"When we were doing those tests in Canterlot I finally felt like I was getting somewhere, we were managing to learn so much and it felt like there was finally something about you I could understand. But then we got sent back early and I wasn't sure what to do by myself... I had theories but I wasn't sure about the best way to test them. Then I remembered the age spell and if I could get it to work... If I could get it to work it would tell me so much I... I'd be able to help you... if something happened again," she finished, her sobs receding as she propped herself back up into a sitting position. There

"And between your first attempt and now you didn't think to bring up with me?" I asked snidely.

"I... no I... I thought that..." she stammered. Truth be told I had already gotten what I wanted and even then I felt pushing it further would have just been mean.

"So you just made a hasty decision and made a big mistake because you were worried then?" I said in an unimpressed tone.

"I-I'm so sorry..." Twilight sobbed.

It was as good of an excuse as I was hoping for. Enough for the effort anyways.

"Sorry is a start," I said, letting my expression and tone drop in intensity a little.

"What I'm going to need more than that though is reassurance. Sorry might be enough for you ponies but... not for humans. Definitely not for me. You need to prove to me that this won't happen ever again," I said sternly. I was finally able to let go of the anger that I was struggling to maintain. With it gone I could rely solely on my disappointment, something I was much more familiar with. "So how about we find a way for you to make it up to me," I said.

"H-Huh?" Twilight said, caught a little off guard by the sudden change in direction our "conversation" was going.

"You know, some way you can make it up to me an reassure me about your intentions," I said.

"U-um," Twilight stammered.

"Oh come on, how do you think you can prove to me that you are really, truly sorry and that this won't happen again?" I asked.

"I... I'll tell Princess Celestia!" she suddenly shouted.

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"I'll send her a letter right now! I'll... I'll tell her everything! What I did to you and how I didn't–" she was already floating over papers and inks while practically yelling.

"Stop," I interrupted, causing all the floating materials to freeze in mid air. "I hardly think that's necessary. We don't need to go straight for the worst thing you can think of, though I appreciate the sentiment," I said. At least I assumed it was the worst thing she could thing of. If she wasn't fussing over me she was usually fussing over Princess Celestia. Everything had to be done just right to measure up to the Sun Princess. The most intense lecture I got was from Twilight after joking about Celestia's sweet ass. Before then Twilight also mentioned spending a lot of time mentoring under Princess Celestia. The short time she has been a Princess herself clearly hasn't left a lot of room for that mentality to change.

"I do actually have a few ideas for your... er... punishment. And these things actually benefit me directly in some ways! How about we go over those?" I said in an incredibly patronizing tone.

Twilight just sadly nodded.

"Well I think that obviously magic is this first thing to go. Let's say for like a week. Not only do I not want you casting any new spells on me, obviously, I don't want you to even suggest that you use magic on me alright? Because if you do I'll find a nice ditch to live in as far away as possible," I said. "Obviously if I am going to die or some other kind of magic is messing with me and you can fix it or save me then go right ahead. Otherwise, don't even think about it. Sound fair so far?" I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

Twilight nodded.

"Next is this," I said, reaching into one of my interior pockets and pulling out several sheets of parchment. "These are Fluttershy's notes on me as a child. I've read it and it's pretty interesting. You don't get to read it. Not today, maybe not tomorrow. All I know is that you will get to read these notes when I feel like it. That might just mean going through with all of this. Or you might need you to go above and beyond that. I'll know when I know. But if I catch even a hair of yours near these notes when I haven't given them to you then again, I'm gone," I said, pushing the notes back into my interior pocket.

"Now speaking of me being a child. It seems I hit a growth spurt that way outpaced my clothing. I only have a tie, a dress shirt, my belt and this trench coat to my name. I had to get Fluttershy to get my coat, so that I could use that to cover up my shame and go see Rarity. She happily agreed to throw together some replacement clothing as soon as she was able. However going out in just a trench coat is, for humans, has worse implications than just being nude. So that was great. I was already talking to Rarity about a few extra pairs of clothing. For these specific replacements though I think it's only fair that you be the to compensate her," I stated.

Twilight had been meekly nodding along, her expression fairly demure. So far she didn't think much either way about her punishment.

"Now then, so far I feel I've been pretty fair. Pretty simple stuff, I would even say it's pretty easy. So now I think we should discuss the big one. How you are going to prove to me that you're super sorry and that you won't do it again," I said and with that he face fell.

"So the consequence of this magic act of yours for me is that I, essentially, lost a day. All I have is what Fluttershy told me, the rest is a big haze. I was essentially unconscious while young me was having a great time with Fluttershy. So, I mean that is pretty horrible. So it would only be fair for you to compensate me for my time lost. I lost time, you lost time. But I've been awfully fair so far, so I think that a little harshness is in order. Which means for the next three days I own your time," I said, giving Twilight a flat stare.

"M-my time?" Twilight asked.

"Basically it means if I want you to do something, you do it. If you want to do something, or if your friends want to do something with you, it all goes through me. I dictate, deny or approve how you spend your time for the next three days," I explained, Twilight got a scared look on her face. "Now hold on there. I don't plan on turning you into a slave or humiliating you or just generally abusing you. Basically I just..." I paused, thinking about it. I figured that I may as well go whole hog on the punishment angle. "Basically you're grounded and you're going to do a bunch of chores for me for the next three days. Or other equally boring and benign exercises. How does that sound?" I asked.

Twilight did not spend a lot of time deliberating the issue. A moments glance away and she looked at me with determination. "Okay," she said.

"Great. First thing, go to Rarity's, pay her for the replacement clothes and get an estimate on when she'll have those ready. As you may or may not have noticed I'm still just wearing the coat," I said, pulling tightly belt of the coat which helped keep the thing from fluttering open and revealing too much.

"Then after that you can go to Pinkie's and get me a snack. Don't break the bank. Also, these aren't a social calls. I expect you to be back promptly," I said firmly.

Twilight nodded and after making sure she had enough money, I think they call the currency 'bits', and marched out the door with that same determined expression.

Once the door shut behind her I collapsed onto the ground and let out a long, pained groan.

"Spike, you can come back down now," I yelled after laying there for a moment. There was no response.

"The mean times are over Spike, it's safe," I added, finally getting the sound of the dragons footsteps as he slowly made his way downstairs. Once he had reached the ground floor he hesitantly approached me. My gaze listed slowly over to Spike who was wearing a worried expression on his face.

"Is... is everything alright?" he asked.

"It's a lot better than I expected," I sighed.

"It didn't sound like it," Spike said dubiously. The hesitance in his tone quickly melted away, probably because of my vulnerable position on the floor and defeated tone.

"Yeah well, she won't understand that there's a problem unless I act like there is a problem," I explained.

"So you were just acting?" Spike questioned.

"No I..." I groaned and sat back up. I rubbed my eyes before turning them back towards Spike. "I am mad about what happened and a lot of other things. All of this mess," I said, making a large sweeping gesture with my hands. "But getting all worked up about it is, well, a lot of work. It's a lot less effort to just take a breath and wait for it to pass. But since I've been here it's just one thing after another and if I have to live not knowing what I'm going be dragged out of bed for I just..." Realizing I was just getting myself riled up again I stopped, let my tensed up body relax and took another deep breath. "It's like I told Twilight, I just can't live like this," I finished.

"Oh," was all Spike could say at first. "I... Twilight told me that it was part of your testing, so I thought you knew about it," he eventually added.

"Spike... I get it. This isn't supposed to be about getting mad and throwing blame around. I just want to be able to feel comfortable and safe here. I want to be able to sleep easy, understand?" I asked.

"I think so..." Spike murmured.

"Hey, good news, looks like you've got a few days off," I said with forced enthusiasm.

"Huh," Spike said, his eyes lighting up a bit at the realization. Before I knew it he was making plans and heading out the door.

--

Twilight had returned not too long after Spike had left with a tray of cupcakes. Red Velvet, chocolate chips and a cream cheese frosting. Very tasty. She also reported that Rarity would have at least a shirt and a pair of pants ready for me by the next morning. That was great news, unfortunately it left me indoors for the rest of the day as I had anticipated. Sometimes it's rough being right all the time.

Twilight still looked ready and determined. With uncertainty gone and a clear route to make up for her mistake Twilight had pulled herself up from a blubbering mess. Frankly that made my job a lot easier. It's a lot harder to cave in to a pony that's up to the challenge than one with those big watery eyes and tear stained cheeks.

While Spike was making plans for his days off I was making plans for the rest of the day. Which really just ended with me finding what looked like a history textbook and throwing it onto a table. Then getting some paper and ink.

I had come to the conclusion that in addition to my relationships with certain ponies I could no longer be so passive about the world I was in. It was about time I actually made an effort to understand exactly what I had gotten into. Sure Twilight had attempted many lectures on the subject but... well I think I've already written about how I'm not always the best listener. Following the classic read and take notes method of learning has allowed me to sail through all manner of academic institutions.

"Before you get too excited, you aren't going to be helping me study in a traditional sense," I said flatly as I walked her over to the table I had set up on. I gently patted the surface of the empty side of the table. "Hop up," I said.

Twilight had a brief look of confusion on her face before she silently complied. I let her stand up on the table awkwardly for a few moments before I made my way over to where I had everything set up on her left side. "Go ahead, lay down and get comfy," I said. I got another look of confusion followed by compliance. Once she was settled I opened up the heavy tome I had found and propped it up against her side.

As soon as her ultimate purpose became clear I could see her expression slowly fall. But after what I assume was some internal deliberation that determined look came right back. Which I was quite thankful for.

With that silently settled I flipped open the heavy tome and began my lengthy study session of pony history.

"May I ask you a question?" Twilight said a few minutes after I had started.

"Twilight, you may ask me as many questions as you want," I said, glancing up from my sparse notes.

"It's just that... I thought we had gone over history before..." Twilight muttered, fidgeting slightly with her front hooves.

"We did and it was a helpful summary, but It's easier for me to commit things to memory if I write them down. I thought you'd be proud of me for my initiative," I explained, speaking casually but not looking away from my work.

"I am! Um... sorry," she said before going silent.

She remained silent for the better part of two hours, only responding to my questions about what I was reading.

At the two hour mark, the wing I had the book partially propped up against as well as her butt and hind legs were twitching. She had hardly moved a muscle since I had started and was likely getting very uncomfortable. She refused her inclinations to shift in her spot and tried to restrain little whimpers while she focused her stare on a spot on the wall.

I set down the quill I was writing with and set my chin in my hands. I stared right at her and waited for her to glance over.

It was a few moments before she noticed the sudden cease of the subtle noises of my studying. No quill scratching or pages turning. She glanced looked a bit shocked to see me staring at her blankly with my head propped up with my hands.

"How ya feeling?" I asked.

"F-fine!" Twilight stammered.

With a sigh I leaned my head into my right hand and let my left arm fall limply onto the table.

"Twilight I think you might be missing the lesson here in this little exercise," I said.

"Huh? L-lesson?" Twilight said, fear starting to take over her expression.

"Believe it or not there is actually more to this than you just being a book stand. Twilight, do you remember what I told you right after we started this little study session?" I asked, keeping my tone dull and my head leaning into my hand.

"That I could ask you as many questions as I want," Twilight quickly answered.

"Bingo," I said, reaching over with my free hand and lightly poking the tip of her nose. "See Twilight, I want you to consult with me. Not consulting with me is the major mistake that has strained our friendship. I'm not going to dictate how you spend every hour of every day, that's way too much work for me when you are the one being punished. I am going to make you do quite a few things, don't think I won't, but whatever you do that I don't explicitly state still needs to go through me. Which means you need to consult with me. That way we work the whole, 'you should probably talk to me about stuff before you just go and do them' thing into your head. It's not just me making you do stuff I don't want to do," I thoroughly explained.

"Oh," was all Twilight could really muster at first. I couldn't really tell what she was thinking, but she was pondering something.

"So, how are you feeling?" I asked with a little more emphasis.

"Well... my legs have started to fall asleep and... well, could I get up and stretch a little?" she asked hesitantly.

I reached over with one hand and pulled the history book away from her. "Absolutely, walk around a little if you want, use the bathroom, whatever," I said, motioning away from the table.

Twilight stumbled off the table and stretched her back and wings. She wandered a bit to get the blood circulating through her limbs again.

Before she could work out her legs too much there was fairly loud and rapid knock at the door. Twilight made a movement towards the door but stopped and quickly turned back towards me. "May I answer the door Valentino?" she asked politely.

I was already regretting this entire undertaking. "Okay maybe you don't need to ask if you may answer the door," I said and motioned towards the door. She nodded and trotted over.

It was at that point I started wondering who would bother knocking on the door of a public library in middle of the day. Once the door opened two light blue limbs pulled Twilight outside. Rainbow Dash reached in to shut the door, her eyes met mine and I lifted an eyebrow at her.

"Uh, hey Val, just gotta talk to Twilight real quick!" she said before slamming the door shut.

Far from being in the mood to get involved in something potentially complicated I decided to just ignore the whole thing and get back to my research.

To her credit Rainbow Dash was very quick. It wasn't even a minute before Twilight walked back into the library with a letter levitating next to her. I turned back around and looked at her. She was wearing a complicated expression.

"Um, Valentino..." she said, looking from me to the letter.

"What's up?" I asked casually.

"Well, I asked what Rainbow Dash wanted and she told me it was about you. The she just sort of threw this letter at me and told me to read it. Then she said I absolutely couldn't tell you about it... But..." she trailed off, still glancing between me and the letter.

"Given the circumstances you didn't want to start hiding stuff from me, right?" I asked.

"Right..." she said softly.

"Well Twilight I think you've managed to earn some serious friendship points just now. This sort of thing goes a long way in building trust, which is a very delicate and important thing with human friends," I said. Twilight's expression lit up for the first time since she got back.

"What about the letter?" She asked.

"I don't know, read it? I don't have any business going through your mail," I said, turning back to the table. "But whatever it is that she wrote to you about me, let's talk about it some other time," I added.

"Okay," Twilight said. The sound of rustling paper told me she was probably reading the letter.

I had a pretty good idea what Rainbow Dash was writing Twilight about. Probably something that I had at one time explicitly told her I didn't want her talking about with anyone. To be fair it was more just keep from complicating an already complicated matter with my personal issues. And with no clear resolution to the... issue, hugs not withstanding, I guess it was a matter of time for Rainbow Dash to reach out to someone. At least that was my guess if she was as worried about me as it seemed...

Rainbow is a good pal.

--

"So her own bitterness and jealousy turned her into a 'Nightmare Moon'?" I asked Twilight, who had since returned to being my book prop.

"That's right," Twilight said.

I was rubbing my temples, another outlandish thing that I suppose I just had to accept.

"Magic is impacted significantly by a pony's emotions. Princess Luna had been carrying and building on all of that resentment and bitterness for a very long time. It was bound to come to a head," Twilight elaborated.

"I guess that makes sense. It would explain why there is a Love Princess. So a thousand years on the moon and then she came back right? Then you and your friends used the–" I glanced through my notes "–Elements of Harmony, to burn the nastiness off of her, is that it?" I asked.

"I... suppose you could put it like that," Twilight conceded.

"'The most powerful magic known to ponydom', no wonder you guys seem to think magic is so great when it's based on 'Harmony' or whatever, " I mumbled to myself. With a sigh I had shut the book and set it aside. Twilight enlightened me to the aftermath of the whole Nightmare Moon incident. The text I was reading was not new enough to include that bit of information.

The book wasn't long, the hard part was picking out the facts through excessively flowery language. At least that's what I thought most of the time, but with magic and it's relationship with emotions and damn near everything else it was a lot more literal than I gave it credit for. At first I thought Princess Luna just got real jealous and did some bad things, then she was banished from Equestria. No, her emotions literally turned her into a real monster and she was actually sent to the moon for a thousand years.

I was starting to wish someone would send me to the moon.

"Well, study time is over, you are free from being my book stand!" I announced with dry humor. Twilight quickly got down from the table with a look of relief on her face.

The afternoon was approaching and I had no idea what to do with Twilight. I had eaten through the entire batch of cupcakes and wasn't particularly hungry. It was the first day of her punishment so I guess I had to run her ragged.

I was already starting to lose steam on the whole thing. It was in no small part due to Twilight's eagerness to appease me that my anger quickly dissipated.

In spite of my own internal protests against the entire endeavor I decided to just stall for time. "Well, go ahead and break for lunch I guess," I told Twilight.

Her immediate response was to look around for a minute. "Where is Spike?" she asked.

"Oh I told him to enjoy some time off. Having an assistant sort of detracts from the whole being punished thing," I said.

"R-right," she said before making her own way to the kitchen. She was really starting to take it all in stride. That revelation only got a little stutter, not so much as a frown. Well, I guess her frown didn't grow at least.

I was hoping I could buy myself a half an hour at least with that lunch break. Twilight proved her value of efficiency by making and eating a sandwich in just about fifteen minutes. Maybe treat your meal with a little more respect than that, jeez.

After that she was back and ready to continue whatever I had in store for her.

"Bath," I blurted out.

Twilight tilted her head slightly to one side.

"Draw me a bath... with lot's of bubbles," I elaborated.

Twilight nodded and marched off to the bathroom. I was pretty pleased with my quick thinking. Not only did I come up with something for Twilight to do but also a way for me to relax. Something I was pretty desperate for since we got back from our big adventure abroad.

Once Twilight had finished drawing the bath I had her awkwardly hang around in the bathroom while I lounged in the tub. I made sure she kept those curious pony eyes averted, threatening a harsher punishment for peeping.

A little while after that I asked her if she thought I had gone too far in my punishment so far or if there was anything she disagreed with. I was expecting it to put her in a far more awkward position than my nudity ever could with these darn ponies.

To my surprise she answered quite honestly. I expected her to be curt and agreeable but it seemed she was already picking up on what I was trying to instill in our relationship.

She told me that she was pretty embarrassed about being used as a book stand. She was determined to tough it out at first but after a little while she started to have... negative thoughts about it, or so she said. Once I explained that there was a lesson to be learned and what my expectations were she became all the more determined.

"Well, this whole bath thing is really just for me to relax and for you to feel awkward," I admitted.

"Oh," she said, lowering her head a little.

"They can't all be life lessons. But you must overcome these trials to prove yourself to the strange creature you are responsible for!" I said with sarcastic enthusiasm.

--

Aside from other vague tasks there wasn't that much of note that evening.

Well...

After dinner, which I made Twilight go out pick up from somewhere, Twilight asked about going to bed. I waved her off as I was laying back on a big pillow.

It was utterly silent for a few seconds. No sound of hooves climbing upstairs or anything.

"Are... are you going to come to bed?" Twilight hesitantly asked.

I slowly rose up to a sitting position. I gave Twilight a harsh look, maybe harsher than I intended. "Given the circumstances, I think I'll be sleeping downstairs," I said firmly.

Twilight's expression practically did a back flip. It dipped so far down into sorrow I think that she was surprised and she quickly tried to fix it. "O-oh... um... a-alright," she stammered before quickly making her exit.

I was just trying to cement the idea of the damage she had done to my trust in her. I guess I accomplished that though I sort of wish I didn't. That look on her face made me wonder if pushing my "human" trust issues into this relationship was a good thing. I tried to reason the thought away, pony cuddling would probably return as quickly as it left.

I put my head into my hands and heaved a heavy sigh. I had no problem screaming at her earlier that day. I had no problem backing her into a corner and watching her break down crying.

...

I guess I was just expecting things to go bad.

I guess...

I guess I was expecting her to scream right back. I was expecting her to fervently justify her actions in spite of whatever my wishes might have been. I was expecting her to get mad right back, get furious until were both just screaming at each other.

I was expecting the so called 'friendship' to break down right there. Then I could walk out the door and forget the whole thing.

I wasn't expecting her to fight for it. I didn't believe it, maybe that's why I kept tacking on stipulations. I didn't make a list of punishments, I just had some parchment I was writing these records on. I was just putting on a show.

I was expecting the facade to fade away once she realized it was too much work to keep it going.

When it didn't, when that 'friendship' still seemed so important to her... I was sitting there with my head in my hands wondering what the hell I was doing.

It didn't last though, I quickly fell back and into a dreamless sleep.

--

The following day I was greeted by Twilight who sitting close by and eagerly awaiting instruction. My internal crisis about the whole thing was muddied by my normal morning vigor. I somehow managed to instruct Twilight to go get the clothes Rarity was supposed to have for me. By the time she returned I was finally in a solid head space.

Rarity's work very accurately mimicked the clothes I had before. Even down to the belt loops.

I had Twilight join me on what used to be my routine workout regimen. By "regimen" and "routine" I mean a thing I did most days out of the week but sometimes forgot about or chose not to do for days at a time. She kept up fairly well. When we went out for a run we found Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash who very helpfully mentioned that Twilight ought to be practicing flying rather than running. Something that I also encouraged.

The good news was that Twilight came back to the library far more exhausted than I was.

The bad news was that I had far less for Twilight to do as punishment. Mostly I just took naps and had Twilight hang around and be bored. It was more like she was grounded. But she did hold up her end of the bargain, running everything by me before she did something. Applejack came by once asking for help with one thing or another. Twilight gave me a look and I let her go. Some work at the farm, didn't really sound like fun.

I took a nap, when I woke up Twilight was back and awaiting instruction again.

The day seemed to fade before I knew it and Twilight made her way upstairs. A fairly uneventful day, one of the first in a while. I was pretty grateful for that. With my big pillow and a couple other cushions I found my way swiftly back to sleep, without any crisis of conscious.

-Valentino Brugato – Dream Log-

Twilight was sitting across from me and looking at me with teary eyes. I was sitting with my arms and legs crossed. I was very much decided on the matter. There was just nothing more to be done.

"B-but!" Twilight nearly shouted, getting up to her hooves and racing up to me. She stopped just short of me before she started to shy away. But then just as quickly as she started to pull back her gaze returned to mine.

With no more hesitation she put one hoof on my leg. That hoof was followed by another. Her gaze was locked onto mine as she climbed up onto my lap. She brought her front hooves up to my chest and pushed me back. I didn't resist at all, I fell back with Twilight on top of me. I let my arms fall to my sides. Once I was on my back Twilight planted her hooves on the ground around me.

I looked up at her with a sharp glare. "What do you think you're doing?" I asked accusingly.

"I can still make it up to you!" she said, tears starting to fall from her eyes. She lowered her head, bringing her face closer to mine. "There are a lot of ways I can still make it up to you," she whispered, her tone shifting instantly from desperate to oddly sultry. She brought her face eve closer until her nose gently bumped into mine.

She tilted her head a bit then pressed her lips against mine softly. I was stunned. Our lips touched only briefly. When she pulled away I could only stare blankly into her half lidded gaze, my grumpy defiance completely washed away and was replaced with vague shock. She didn't waste any time in pressing her lips against mine with renewed vigor.

She was much more... passionate. Soon her tongue was licking my lips, begging for entrance. I was apparently determined to put up no resistance. I parted my lips slightly and her tongue roughly pushed it's way into my mouth. Her tongue explored briefly before finding mine and entwining with it. Our tongues danced for a moment before Twilight finally pulled away again. A thin strand of saliva trailed down from her mouth to mine.

Twilight was panting, her face was flushed and she was staring hungrily down at me. She lifted up one hoof an pressed it gently against my chest, drawing small circles. She lowered her head until her mouth was right next to my ear. "I want more of you," she breathed hotly. Her attitude had completely changed.

She took her hoof away and started moving down my body. Getting slowly closer to my hardening–

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

When I shot awake I was completely drenched in sweat and had what felt like one of the more confusing erections of my entire life.

It was pitch black, still probably the middle of the night but I wasn't about to hurry back to sleep. I was far too worried that the dream might continue where it left off.

I stumbled my way upstairs and into the bathroom. I knelt down in front of the sink and got the cold water running. With a few splashes to cool my head I tried to get a grip on myself.

I've stated before that these ponies are all very adorable. That being said there is a significant species gap, not to mention them being somewhat reminiscent of a certain animal found back home. All of that makes the idea of... relations... kind of awkward. It also made my still eager hard-on additionally awkward.

Sure I had been flirty with ponies before, even outright crude and suggestive. But it was absurd and that's what made it funny. But when dream Twilight is shoving her tongue down my throat and I start questioning my own motivations... it becomes less humorous.

I pressed my forehead against the cool edge of the sink and looked down at my shame, straining pointlessly against my pants.

Obviously I hadn't had sex since I was dumped into pony world. Probably longer actually, I had a lot going on even before I wound up in a coffin. But at least before then I had the time and privacy to just rub one out. Even now I've had a lot more important things to think about.

That was probably just it. A sudden shift in my... routine and the whole mess with Twilight was weighing on me. Put the two together and you get, well, what happened.

Still staring down at myself I considered taking care of the issue there and then. I just shuddered at the thought. I still couldn't get the vision of Twilight out of my head and if I tried to let one off it would just be with that imagery lingering around. No way, not happening.

Not to mention, when I finally looked up into the mirror hanging just over the sink I saw the figure of Twilight standing in the dark doorway. The sight of her caused me to freeze in place.

"Valentino?" she called out.

"Hey... Twilight," I said, turning my head slightly. My mind was reeling, trying to think of an effective exit strategy. The best I could think of was just to use the darkness to my advantage and pull a swift retreat. "Sorry, I'll get out of your way," I said, getting up to my feet.

"No I just... I could hear you moving around. Are you okay?" she asked. I couldn't really make out her expression in the mirror and through the darkness but she sounded worried.

Despite being the object of my awkward midnight fantasy I thought that a brief conversation with my back still to her would give me some time to... soften... and avoid a potentially more awkward situation.

Thinking about it now, I don't think anything would have happened even if she got an eyeful of my boner. It's not like she's been super into whenever I talk about sexually oriented stuff. Unfortunately I did not think of it at the time, so I opted to be more cautious.

"Just a um... bad dream," I answered, quite awkwardly I must admit, with my back still to Twilight.

"A nightmare?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah," I halfheartedly clarified. In truth I don't think I would go that far.

"Was it about... what happened with Rainbow Dash?" Twilight hesitantly asked.

I wasn't expecting her to try and tackle something so specific. Unfortunately I had worked myself into a corner there. There was nothing else so pronounced as that recently that would work as nightmare fuel. Maybe my magical discomfort which I had already made very clear to Twilight.

Maybe she was just hoping that it wasn't that specific mistake of hers that was keeping me up at night. I wasn't about to torment her by pretending that it was. But I still was heading towards a conversation that I really didn't want to have.

...

Maybe I should stop stalling.

"Yeah," I said with a sigh, letting my shoulders sink a little.

"I'm sorry," Twilight whispered. The silence of the bathroom made her breathy apology easy to pick up on.

"It's fine. It's all done and over with. I'd rather just forget about it, but Rainbow Dash seems to be pretty worried about it... Well I should probably tell her it's not some secret she needs to keep anymore," I mused.

"It's my fault," Twilight said with a sigh.

"What?" I asked, turning just slightly. Just enough to stare back at her over my shoulder.

"I should have gotten you out of there sooner," she insisted. She wasn't particularly upset about it, stating it like a simple fact.

"Twilight that's not really reasonable," I said.

"I knew you were claustrophobic, but I just took my time trying to figure the mechanism out," she continued, berating herself and ignoring me.

"Twilight," I said a bit louder, cutting easily through the quiet nighttime atmosphere.

Twilight went silent and stared back at me.

"It's not anyone's fault, just an unlucky situation. I'm fine so don't worry about it," I insisted with a stern tone.

"I don't think you are fine! Especially if you are having nightmares about it! Even Rainbow Dash is worried about you!" Twilight said, growing bolder and louder.

With another sigh I turned completely around. My more active parts having calmed down enough to not be a potential issue..

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But we can't do anything about it now. So I'll just avoid going down into any basements or mine shafts. But that's in no way your problem. It's not fair to you to make that your responsibility," I explained calmly.

"I just should have known... I didn't notice that you were distressed or anything..." she said, quieting down and lowering her head.

"We had more important things to worry about. That's why I hid it and why you didn't notice it. It's why I asked Rainbow to keep it a secret," I said. Twilight didn't seem all that reassured.

"Look, I made a mistake too. I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. Even when I started feeling anxious when I saw the tunnel, I thought it would be manageable. My claustrophobia has been pretty manageable for years. But the... thing... with the coffin really..." I started trail off. It was always such a hassle, sharing stuff like this.

"When we got sealed in, I thought I was going to die. Just like when I was in that coffin. It hit me really hard and really fast. I had no real grip on myself. If Rainbow Dash wasn't there I probably would have ended up hurting myself trying to get out. But I made a choice. I put myself in that position," I explained. Even still, Twilight didn't seem to feel all that better about it.

"Listen, what I need in a friend right now is not someone who is worried about how I'm feeling. I need someone who is going to give me choices, some control. Because in this situation I really don't have a whole lot. That's kind of the point of all of this remember?" I asked.

"Yeah," Twilight said. She raised her head a little, didn't sound quite so sad. But I think she was still hesitant but I wasn't going to push it any more. I didn't even want to have the damn conversation.

"Well then I'm going to go back to bed, you should too," I said, walking towards the bathroom exit. Twilight followed slowly after.

--

The last day of Twilight's punishment was shaping up to be much like the previous day.

We worked out, I made Twilight practice her flying and she came home much more exhausted than I was. Though I was kind enough to let her shower first this time. Breakfast was something Twilight made. It... uh... It was okay. We didn't start until I woke up which was fairly late into the morning, so breakfast was more like lunch.

The task I gave to Twilight was to find me more reference material for studying the strange land I was in. Honestly she was a little too excited about the task and I almost wanted take it back but... well it was the last day.

While she was doing that I settled down a nice, relaxing afternoon nap.

...

Ugh.

-Valentino Brugato – Dream Log-

I faded back into consciousness.

Looking up I couldn't see anything through the cracks in the rubble. There wasn't any moonlight, but there wasn't any moisture pouring through this time.

My mouth was dry and sticky.

My head was pounding.

I tried to shift, just a little. The rebar dug into my chest a bit harder before I fell back.

The concrete locking me in place pinched near my shoulder and near my thigh.

The smell caused me to cough again, which caused my dry and overused throat to flare up in pain which caused me to cough even more.

In the darkness there was nothing for my gaze to settle on. Even then the slightest noise caused my heart to jump.

Weakly I struggled under the concrete as despair started to claw at my mind. I didn't last long.

Trapped with the smell of death.

Trapped.

Red.

A red light was glowing at the far end of the dark rubble.

Faint, consistent light.

I tried to focus my wavering sight on it.

Skulls.

Hands.

Claws.

Bones.

They all flew at me.

Hands and claws made of bone grabbed me. Clutching my hair, my neck, my one free arm and covering my mouth.

The skulls rotated clockwise in the air and only stopped until a human skull was right in front of my face. It's eyes were burning with red light.

"Finally," whispered a chorus of voices.

"No alterations," whispered a single voice.

"No saviors," whispered another.

"No barricades," whispered a third, poking at my forehead with one of many free hands.

"Only you," whispered the skull in front of my face. It's jaw didn't move but the voice came from it.

The voices came from all the skulls. All of their eyes glowed with that red light.

Metal screeched when a bony hand bent back the rusty rebar that was digging into my chest.

A claw rose from behind that hand and thrust itself into my chest.

I screamed into the skeletal hands covering my mouth.

Red light poured out of my chest wound. The claws twisted around.

"You make it easy for us," the voices clamored.

The skulls started to crowd me, surrounding my head and forming a dome of glowing red eye sockets.

"Nothing but fear," they sang.

"Nothing but bones..."

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

I shot awake, jumped up to my feet and stumbled against a bookshelf. My heart was pounding quicker than I had ever felt. Every beat was accompanied by a tinge of red in the peripheral of my vision. A red tint that was creeping inwards with every few beats of my heart.

"Val?" I heard from behind me. The nickname nearly made me choke.

I turned backwards, seeing two ponies.

Ponies.

I forgot for that moment. But it all came flooding back into my head.

The coffin.

The ponies.

The magic.

The mine.

Every memory made my heart beat harder than I thought it could. The image of my heart ripping itself apart filled my head.

Was I dying?

I thought maybe I was dying.

Everything was red.

It was insane wasn't it?

Magic and ponies. A whole strange world.

It is what it is. But it's insane right?

I thought I was dying.

I thought maybe I was already dead.

I couldn't take those thoughts.

-Twilight Sparkle – Private Record-

Valentino was just staring at us. His hand was up and grabbing at his chest. His eyes had gone wide. I thought maybe it was another bad dream. Rainbow had stopped by and I told her that I had told Valentino. I explained what he said about it and what he meant by keeping it a secret. She was a little annoyed but I think she was also really relieved.

Rainbow tried to get his attention but there was no reaction. He just stared for a few moments longer.

What followed was such a just such a terrible noise. It was a horrible screaming, but it was so excruciatingly loud. The only way I could react was fall to the floor and cover my ears with my hooves. I glanced at Rainbow Dash and she did the same thing.

I tried to look at Valentino but he was masked by a wildly vibrating dark shadow. Other shadows flew across the floor and walls towards him.

The screeching grew even louder and I shut my eyes, trying to endure the assault of sound.

I had a hard time telling when the noise had stopped because of the loud ringing in my ears. Once that started to fade I started to get back up on my hooves.

Rainbow Dash was already up and looking around frantically. I quickly noticed why because Valentino was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did he go?" I barely heard Rainbow Dash say.

Her hearing must have returned much quicker than mine because she suddenly froze and was looking up at the ceiling.

"He's upstairs!" I heard her shout, a little clearer than before.

She quickly took off upstairs. I followed after her but I slowed on my way upstairs.

I was assaulted by doubts. I had already failed Valentino as a friend so many times and then suddenly...

I quickly shook it off. Whatever was happening he needed my help and I couldn't do that by coming down on myself.

Upstairs in my room I first saw Rainbow Dash frozen in place on the ground. Walking around to her side I saw her staring ahead, her eyes wide. I followed her gaze to see...

Valentino.

He was slumped down in front of my closet door. His arms were sprawled out at his sides.

His face it, well it had no skin. No muscle or anything. It was just a skull. His hands were bones.

He was just a skeleton wearing those clothes of his.

When I saw it I was shocked. When realization hit me my heart fell to pieces.

"Val," I heard Rainbow Dash whimper right next to me.

I wanted to say something to her, but I couldn't find any words.

"Rainbow... Dash...?" Valentino said weakly.

My eyes quickly darted up to see Valentino's skull looking over. From his eye sockets came a narrow and intense green glow.

I was barraged by conflicting feelings. Valentino was alive, but he was also... this... skeleton thing? I was wracking my brain trying to think of what kind of magic could have done this to him.

"Twilight?" Valentino said, some strength returning to his voice. His jaw didn't move when he spoke.

"Valentino–"

"Twilight!" Valentino shouted, his voice cracking a little. He jumped to his feet and pressed himself as much as he could. His clothes hung so loosely on his... bones.

"H-how could you!? I trusted you I..." Valentino said, his voice shaky. He looked down at his skeletal hands. "What did you do...?" he moaned.

"I didn't!" I shouted. This caused Valentino to jump a little. "Valentino please, I had nothing to do with this. You have to believe me," I pleaded. It hurt to hear him blame me. With how he perceived magic I wasn't sure if there was any way I could convince him. But to have him think that I would do this to him... I couldn't bear it.

Valentino stared out me for a long time. The small green orbs that glowed within his sockets seemed to be trying to burn a hole through me. His body... well... what was left of it? His body relaxed.

"You didn't," he stated.

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

"I can't see flesh," I tried to explain. It was the truth. There was no flesh on my bones. The ponies... Twilight was a mist. A shining pink glow that faded into a darker hue. It was punctuated with bright white stars. It was as vaguely pony shaped as Rainbow Dash who was an erratic bundle of multicolored electricity.

"But I can feel flesh," I said. I brought a bony hand up to my cheek. I could feel the smooth sensation of skin both on my hand and on my cheek.

I felt lightheaded, like I could drift off at any moment. Everything felt sort of fuzzy and vague. Sometimes shadows would swallow me up. But they would fall away in time.

My heart though. My heart was still pounding. I wasn't sure if it would stop. Could it stop? It had to stop. Just a deep breath. A few deep breaths. It will fade. Just push it down.

-Twilight Sparkle – Private Record-

That screech again. It wasn't nearly as loud as before but it still made me flinch. Valentino turned and pounded on the closet door.

"You lot tryin' ta get me in trouble?" he said... but his voice was different. It was a higher pitch and the accent was way different from Valentino's careful enunciation.

"Let me make it crystal clear. Ya come out when I say so, ya feed when I say so and ya work when I say so. If ya don't follow my instructions then all of ya are gonna be a lot worse off for it. Now maybe it's time for ya to get to work..." he continued. The more he spoke the more I was convinced it wasn't his voice.

He was frozen facing the closet door for a moment longer before turning back around. Then he crumbled, falling back against the closet door and sliding down to the floor. One hand clutched at his chest while the other held the side of his head. His eyes went to the floor.

"Val? What... what happened?" Rainbow asked, moving closer to Valentino.

"Nightmare," he said. "Panicked, everything went red then everything... hurt," he added. Aside from the one brief pause he spoke very quickly. His panic certainly didn't sound like it had subsided. Not that anypony would expect otherwise.

Even I felt like I was going to start panicking any second. Once I thought I had Valentino sort of figured out something new and horrible just... pops up out of nowhere!

"Twilight?" Rainbow said, looking to me for an answer.

"I don't know... He had a nightmare last night but–"

"There's gotta be something we can do to help!" Rainbow Dash interrupted impatiently.

"I'll be fine," Valentino whispered but still managing to catch our attention.

"I'm still alive. Maybe just living bones but... I'm alive. I'll be okay," he said as calmly as he could manage.

But more importantly, for the briefest moment he was normal again. Skin, eyes, everything was the way it was. I could have blinked and missed the change. Actually I don't think Rainbow Dash caught it.

Just after that I could hear a rattling coming from the closet door. Valentino struck the door with his elbow and let out another screech. The rattling stopped.

Something was in there.

I thought that it must have been related to Valentino. Valentino...

"Now don't talk like that Val! You aren't gonna stay a skeleton. We'll figure something out!" Rainbow Dash said confidently.

I wondered if it really just his fear that did this to him? He's maintained that he was alright but he's been avoiding the subject for a while. Nightmares, panicking in the mine shaft. Not just that, absolutely everything he's been introduced to has been new and strange. Different and... scary. More than I possibly gave it credit for.

"Yeah..." Valentino whispered uncertainly.

All of the tests both Princess Celestia and I have performed have proven that Valentino is amazingly receptive to magical alteration in many ways. He's even been magically proactive when a spell is cast on him.

I considered that perhaps his body reacted to the fear he had been feeling for so long. But proactive as he was I wasn't so sure that it would have been enough to facilitate this kind of corruption so quickly. It didn't make any sense and I was wracking my brain trying to think of what was going on.

The closet door rattled again and Valentino silenced it with his bony hand.

All at once I realized what I was doing. I was thinking, considering and planning but not consulting with Valentino. Twice now there was something suspicious about him and instead of asking him about it I was prepared to speculate. I had hardly said anything to him, Rainbow Dash had been talking to him this whole time and I only spoke up to defend myself.

Rainbow Dash reached out while I turned inward to find a solution. But that's not what Valentino wanted from me. He wanted me to be somepony that he could trust to reach out to him when he needed help. Not somepony who would simply act for his benefit.

"Valentino, what's in the closet?" I finally asked.

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

What was in the closet?

I went to the closet for a reason. I needed to get to the closet. That was the first thing I remembered.

That's where they were supposed to go after all.

What was they? What was in the closet?

"I don't know," I said.

"Oh. It's just that the door has been rattling and you seem really concerned about it," Twilight said.

"If I knew what was in the closet... it wouldn't be in the closet," I explained.

"W-what?" Twilight balked.

"Val, that doesn't make any sense," Rainbow Dash asserted.

"They are things..." I started, quickly pulling on information that I didn't know I had. But as I started, the shadows quickly filled my vision again.

-Twilight Sparkle – Private Record-

"They are going to lock us up for this," Valentino said, again with a somepony else's voice. He had risen to his feet and was addressing the closet. His hands were clutching desperately at his head. The voice was high pitched and hysterical.

"Do ponies even have any cells to lock us in?" Valentino replied to himself in yet another voice. This one deep and calm.

"They'll send us to the moon,"

"I think that was a special case,"

"They'll send us to Tartarus!"

"I think they only send really bad and powerful types there,"

"Well whatever they do it won't be good!"

"Then they just can't find out about it can they!?" The second voice screamed out in a sudden desperation.

The self contained conversation stopped there and Valentino just remained silent while he stared at the closet door.

"Things that are kept hidden out of..." Valentino's voice returned to it's previous panicky tone, trailing off.

"Fear?" I suggested.

"Yes," he quickly confirmed.

"Valentino, I think your anxiety and fear might be strongly related to what's... happened to you," I started to explain.

Valentino lowered his head and looked down at his skeletal hands. "My fear... made me like this?" Valentino questioned with a strained tone.

"Maybe that Rook guy did something! He's probably been after us this whole time!" Rainbow Dash... aggressively suggested.

"I'd hope that I would notice if he was involved. His magic is very conspicuous if what we saw last time is anything to go off of. But it's possible. I'd like to think some... thing else was responsible for this. Otherwise Valentino, your magic isn't just very open to influence but... really unstable if it's been corrupted this quickly by your fear," I theorized, turning from Rainbow Dash and back to Valentino.

"Unstable? Of course..." Valentino said, not looking away from his bony hands. "I shouldn't have been imbued with such a dangerous thing," he stated firmly.

"Wait a minute Val! Twilight! If it's so unstable don't you think this would have happened before now!? What happened in the mine and everything!?" Rainbow Dash urged, rapidly looking back and forth between us.

"And his nightmare from last night. It's possible the fear could have compounded. But unless he's been in a constant state of panic... even then the last test I ran should have shown some kind of change..." thinking about the test and the rift I had put between me and Valentino caused me to trail off.

"Right! So I betcha five bits that it was that Rook guy!" Rainbow Dash insisted.

"Well, we won't know anything until I examine you Valentino," I said, channeling magic into my horn and preparing a spell.

Valentino immediately flattened his back up against the closet door. "No!" he shouted. Rainbow and I both stared at him in shock. His lower jaw vibrated a little and his teeth chattered together. "You... promised..." he whispered.

No magic, that's right. Part of the terms he set to prove the sincerity of my friendship to him. "But this is an emergency Val, you even said to–"

"Please... you promised," he whimpered. He was pressing up as hard as he could against the closet door.

Lowering my gaze I stopped channeling my magic. "Okay," I finally muttered. After heaving a sigh I looked back up at Valentino and gave him the biggest smile I could. "We'll figure out how to fix this some other way," I said as confidently as I could.

Valentino just stared back at me. After a moment it happened again! For just an instant he reverted back to his old self.

"Val!" Rainbow Dash yelped, catching it this time.

Did my reassurance get through to him? Perhaps it was a simple matter of easing his fear. But the last time he reverted like that...

My ears flattened, expecting another screech but Valentino silently turned back around, staring at the closet again.

"In the nightmare there was..." he whispered after a long silence, pausing to pull the sleeve of his coat back and look at his skeletal arm. "Nothing but bones..." he looked down and then hurriedly scrambled through his coat pockets and found a small stack of folded up papers.

"When I w-was with Fluttershy she mentioned a nightmare I had and that P-Princess Luna had shown up as well," he stammered while his glowing green eyes flitted over the pages. "Do you t-think she might be able to help?" he asked.

"If your nightmares are related to what happened then maybe!" I said, trying to sound hopeful. "But we'll have to find where Spike has run off to today and get word to her," I explained.

"No problem! I'll fly out and find Spike in a flash!" Rainbow Dash eagerly volunteered.

"We could just walk," Valentino plainly suggested.

"Uh, I think it'll be faster to fly Val," Rainbow Dash argued.

"I mean to find Princess Luna," Valentino clarified.

"Um, she's all the way in Canterlot Val," Rainbow Dash explained.

"So we go this way," Valentino said before swinging the closet door open.

The inside of the closet was pitch black.

Rainbow Dash heaved out an exasperated sigh. "Val, that's an empty closet," she said.

"Valentino, where is all of my stuff?" I asked, noticing the dark and seemingly empty interior of the closet.

"In there with everything else," he said.

At that point I noticed, the darkness of the closet creeping forward. Spreading out into tendrils of shadow, each of a varying size or shape. With another loud screech from Valentino the shadows retreated back further into the closet.

So far there was the glaring change in his physical appearance, a change in his natural visible perception, inconsistent, potentially telepathic, mental shifts and an external magical manifestation. He appeared to be able to assume some control over the manifestation though it required constant attention. Those loud screeches.

It was surprising that he was able to exert any kind of control. It was likely the corruption was manipulating his instincts.

"How will this help us Valentino?" I asked calmly. Reassurance helped already. Not feeding into his fear was likely paramount to his recovery.

"Dark things are... hidden... everywhere. Even in this place," he said. His tone was strangely even and his body was still.

After a pause his stillness was broken and he nervously glanced from side to side. "Actually," he said with a nervous laugh. "I think it's just..." he paused, lifting his right arm towards the shadows in the closet. "Magic," he said, quickly extending his bony fingers out from his palm.

A large hole formed in the center of the shadows with that slight movement. Through the hole we could all see a door.

"A portal!?" I said, shocked. With just one simple motion Valentino was able to create a stable portal using an external magical manifestation and instinct.

"This goes to Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think so," Valentino nervously responded.

Rainbow Dash gave him a questioning look and Valentino shrugged his shoulders in return. With a surprising lack of hesitation Valentino walked into the closet and moved towards the portal. With some hesitation on our part we followed after him.

Before he reached the entrance to the dark portal he stopped. Perhaps he wasn't as courageous about his own magic as it seemed.

It surprised me when he started laughing. It was quiet, broken laughter.

"Skeleton in the closet... I get it," he said, laughing some more and turning back towards us. It was eerie, hearing the words and the laughter but not even seeing his exposed jaw move. It really set in with the backdrop of the constantly shifting darkness behind him.

"Ah, it's a human saying," Valentino clarified when we responded with only stunned silence. He turned and passed through the gap in the portal. From up close it was obvious that the darkness stretched a bit longer than it first seemed before emptying out on the other side. Rainbow Dash and I followed after him while staying close to the center of the path, away from the writhing darkness on either side.

"If someone has a skeleton in their closet it means they have a dark or shameful secret," Valentino quietly explained. "T-taken literally it implies someone has kept a corpse hidden for so long that it's decomposed into bones," he continued while he reached his hand out towards the blackness. A hand, or maybe a claw, reached back and the two briefly touched before the darkness recoiled. "That secret of course would be murder," he added at no prompt from us. At the end of that... grim... musing Valentino stepped through the threshold at the other end of the portal.

Trepidation resurfaced in Valentino when he reached the door the portal led us to. With a jerky movement he pushed the door open and stepped backwards. Light streamed in and Valentino recoiled.

The door led out to the very guest room Valentino and I stayed in during his first... magical emergency. It was the closet of that very room. I couldn't help but wonder if it being a place that he had visited before or even the fact that it was a closet was significant in the magic he used to bring us here. It likely was, but I didn't have time to dwell on it as Rainbow Dash was already rushing for the exit.

"We should probably talk to Princess Celestia first. Then we can get word to Princess Luna and with all of us working together we should have no problem reversing what has happened to you Valentino," I said. Despite the... unsettling method of travel we used I tried to stay positive and confident. For his sake anyways

"You saw him before right?" Rainbow Dash whispered after hovering closely to me. "He changed back for a second. That means he's gonna be okay right?" she asked.

"I hope so," I whispered back.

When we moved towards the exit Valentino remained planted in front of the closet door. He was shaking timidly. "What's wrong Valentino?" I asked.

"W-w-wh..." his stuttering was back with a vengeance. "What if I am s-seen? G-guards will they...?" his gaze turned away from us. He clutched at his head with one hand while the other pulled at his clothing. "Stop us? Detain us? Contain me? ... Kill me?" he whispered to himself.

I walked right into his line of sight. "Nothing is going to happen to you while we're with you Valentino," I reassured him.

"That's right! Twilight's a Princess remember! So pretty much everyone's gotta listen to her! Even if she's with a spooky skeleton," Rainbow Dash... helpfully added.

Valentino looked between us briefly before nodding.

When he took a step forward, away from the closet, the darkness that was inside surged out. It pooled around his ankles before climbing up his legs and under his coat. His coat bulged out from behind and he held the front closed with his hands.

"Valentino... what was that?" I asked, baffled yet again by the behavior of this manifestation.

"Can't leave them there," he stated simply before moving forward.

--

As we rushed through the castle Valentino did manage to get some attention from the first guards we ran into who were on a routine patrol. I used the opportunity to shout about how there was an emergency and that we needed to find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They eagerly gave us directions on where to find Princess Celestia and that was the last bit of hassle we received.

As we moved through the main hall of the castle Valentino's fear seemed to slow him down at every opportunity. Irrational worries and hesitation kept us at a stop and go pace. In the end I told Valentino that he didn't need to go any further, that he just needed to wait there in the hallway with Rainbow Dash and that I would go get Princess Celestia. He nodded and I ran off as quickly as I could.

I was lucky enough to run into Princess Celestia just a few turns off of the main hallway. She was surprised to see me but I wasted no time in explaining the situation as quickly as I could. Valentino's transformation, his nightmare and Princess Luna's involvement in a previous nightmare.

Princess Celestia's eyes narrowed as I outlined the situation. Once I was finished she turned her head to the guards escorting her and instructed them wake up her sister and brief her on the matter. The normally stoic guards had a slight look of concern on their faces before quickly marching off.

Once they were out of sight Princess Celestia asked me to take her to Valentino...

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

Light streamed in through stained glass, it seemed harsher than it should be.

As we waited unnecessary doubts filled my head. Will they be able to help me? Will they even want to? I would be stuck like this wouldn't I? Bones forever?

I tried to fight back the doubts. Of course they would help. Twilight said they would, she just wants to help. Living bones are good enough even if they couldn't.

The... dark things... were squirming and struggling inside of my coat. I could feel them writhing and poking and prodding. After those times that my consciousness went briefly dark they would go still.

Rainbow Dash repeated as much as she could that everything would be fine.

Even though all I could see was that energetic bundle of multicolored electricity. What she said... it helped.

Until a bright light, harsher than what was streaming through the stained glass windows, appeared down the hall and moved quickly towards us.

It was large, and burned white and intense. I could hardly look at it.

It overshadowed everything. Everything else was cast in shadow while this blazing white source of light was there. Tendrils burned and flared off of it. It was incredibly intense, sickeningly powerful.

"Valentino?" it spoke.

It was Celestia.

The sun.

She was... wasn't she? She really did...? She commanded the sun itself.

She had incomprehensible power at her command then right? How else could she?

She could...

She would...

• Twilight Sparkle – Private Record -

When we approached Valentino took one immediate step backwards. Princess Celestia called out to him but he just stared back at her.

Then he took off faster than I had ever seen him move before.

The first door he came to he clawed at. His shaking skeletal hands couldn't manage the handle. When that didn't work he pounded, threw himself at the door, gasping and shouting. The bulging mass under his coat was squirming wildly.

Princess Celestia moved after him. "Valentino! What is–"

"No!" he screeched. In one movement he had that metal rod out, extended and pointed right at Princess Celestia!

"Y-you don't! Don't!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Not one muscle I swear!" he shouted. His whole body was shaking, the metal rod was rattling. We were all just staring at shock and disbelief.

"Not one little glow of magic!" he yelled. Still trying to work the door with his other hand and failing to do so.

Princess Celestia tried her best to calmly reassure him. "Valentino please I'm–"

"Ash!" he screeched. "I won't let you... I..." he stammered and stumbled backwards, still pointing his weapon at Princess Celestia.

Princess Celestia looked horribly concerned to see this reaction from Valentino. In spite of what he was saying she went to move closer towards him.

Valentino screamed and thrust his empty hand forward. The darkness spilled out of his jacket through his sleeve, flowing like water out of a hose towards Princess Celestia. Her horn flared and she teleported immediately out of danger in a bright white flash. Princess Celestia reappeared right next to Valentino.

"I am not going to hurt you Valentino," she said firmly. Her expression still held concern but her tone was commanding.

The darkness that he expelled receded back through his sleeve while it poured out again through the bottom of his coat. It surrounded both of them from above and below. The exchange had stunned not only me but Rainbow Dash as well. She just stared with her mouth agape. When the darkness started swirling around them I shook it off and ran closer with Rainbow Dash following swiftly behind me.

When I got closer I noticed something odd about the darkness that had formed around them. The mass did not seem to be shapeless. When I got just to the side of them I was able to make out the shape of the silhouette and that sight froze me again in my tracks.

It was the head of a great dragon. I was sure of it, the mouth opened wide and the teeth long and strangely curved. The points aimed right at Princess Celestia.

Valentino turned his head slowly to stare at Princess Celestia who firmly held her ground.

His hand was still outstretched and shaking badly. My heart was pounding while he hesitated. In this state I wasn't sure what Valentino was capable of. But Princess Celestia was boldly staring him down without fear. I was at least confident that she knew what she was doing.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she repeated in a softer tone.

"I..." Valentino started to choke out. His hands were shaking even harder. "I... know..." he managed. The darkness around him started to shift and vibrate. Shifting in and out of it's shape.

He started to take long and shaky breaths as he pulled his arms in to his chest. His baton fell out of his hand and hit the floor with a loud clatter. His hands clutched and wrenched at his clothing. "I know, I know," he repeated with more conviction. His breathing was only denoted by how loudly he did so. He made no motions, no rising or falling of his chests. Only his grasping skeletal hands moved.

As he breathed the darkness fell and began to circle around his and Princess Celestia's legs. She did not really seem to regard it and stared right at Valentino.

Then, as he did before, Valentino quickly oscillated out of and back into his skeletal form. In fact as he continued breathing he started to revert back and forth constantly. In his normal physical form I could see his whole body lurch with each labored breath. His eyebrows were knit tightly and his teeth bared.

He went back and forth between forms several times, the longer this went on the angrier he looked in his normal form. Then he started to... hit himself. Striking at his own head with balled up fists. With each strike he would shift back but just as quickly shift to his skeletal form again. He was growling and grunting loudly along with his breathing.

"It's fine! I'm okay!" he shouted. The darkness reacted, shifting quickly and vibrating.

"Valentino?" Princess Celestia called out, taking a few steps back until she was out of the swirling mass.

In some way I was certain that he was fighting back his fear and in turn the corruption. I had always noticed that he would sigh a lot and take deep breaths when agitated. It was his way of subjugating and letting go of those feelings. But with his fear fighting back all the harder I didn't know if he would be able to.

Red sparks arced between Valentino and the darkness. He clutched at his head, took one more labored breath and...

Screeched.

It was as loud... maybe louder than the first time. I had to cover my ears and even Princess Celestia flinched back in pain. Through watery eyes I saw a skeletal Valentino with his head tilted back and his mouth wide open. That blackness vibrating intensely all around him. It lasted even longer than the one that signaled his transformation.

When it finally ceased and the ringing in my ears stopped I looked around. Guards were lined up and blocking off the hallway on either side of us. More guards were filtering in but those holding their positions quietly told them to return to their posts.

Princess Celestia must have recovered much faster than me because she was staring straight ahead with only a bit of concern on her face. It was likely her that gave instructions to the guards. Rainbow Dash had moved and was between us and the guards on our left but she was staring too. I followed their gaze to see Valentino.

He was sitting with his back propped up against the wall. His knees were up against his chest and his bony hands were covering his ivory face. The dim glow of green peeked through the gaps in his bones. His whole body was trembling which caused his bones to rattle.

"He almost had it... right?" Rainbow Dash said, breaking the silence between the four of us. "I mean, he was changing back. Princess Celestia did you..." Rainbow Dash trailed off when she saw the look of concern on Princess Celestia's Face, smothering her assumption.

Unfortunately my previous assumption was correct. He had lost the battle with his own fear and it left him a shivering ball. At the very least he had stopped reacting violently to Princess Celestia.

Every step forward seemed to follow another step back. But whether or not Princess Luna held the key to Valentino's transformation I still had an idea.

When Valentino tried to calm himself down it ended poorly. Just one deep breath led to a little screech. An all out battle with his fear yielded even worse results. But when he had a friend to rely on, somepony to reassure him and ease his fears, there was no reaction.

He was reacting to just about everything with fear and doubt. But the initial spark, the corrupting force, had to have manifested from something. If we got to that source and were there as his friends to see him through it then it was possible that we could erase the corruption.

But in order to get to that source we would need to... I would need to get him to open up about it. He kept so much to himself. I couldn't try to force it out of him though.

"Valentino?" I called out, taking a few tentative steps towards him.

He lowered one of his hands so that his eye socket was visible, the emerald light glowing softly within.

"What happened before you transformed again? What do you remember?" I asked.

He was only staring at me with his one uncovered eye at first. I was worried that he wouldn't respond at all but I just gave him an encouraging smile.

"Nightmare," he eventually whispered.

"Can you remember what happened in your nightmare? You mention... bones before?" I asked. I was only given a quiet mumble in response. "I'm sorry?" I said, urging a more audible response.

"It's not important," he said flatly.

"Valentino, if your nightmare is the source of all of this it might be–"

"It's not important!" he shouted. His bony hands slammed against the smooth floor and his skull quickly turned to face me.

"It is important Valentino!" I shouted back which caused Valentino to quickly shrink away from me. "I just want to help you Valentino. Once I learned about everything that's happened to you all I've wanted to do is help you. I'm trying to talk to you now and I need you to open up so I can help you. Please?" I pleaded.

I received yet another silent stare from Valentino before I heard him slowly take in a breath. That breath then was let out all at once in a sharp sigh as his body slumped forward. The darkness formed again along the wall behind him, completely hiding the door and the wall. This startled the guards but the clattering of armor was silenced by Princess Celestia clearing her throat.

"My brother joined the military. I didn't have much direction at the time so when I was eligible I followed after him," Valentino started to explain. His tone almost sounded defeated and he hardly moved as he spoke. The darkness shuddered and a multitude of silhouettes danced across the wall. A lot of the images I couldn't really recognize but I was able to see several lines of humans marching across the silhouetted dirt.

"It was only a few months after my deployment that... I was buried for the first time," he said. The darkness morphed into a new silhouette, a building.

"The first time?" I asked.

"Building was pretty weak, explosive hit what support was left and... buried us in the rubble," Valentino said. He was getting quieter and he was starting to tremble again. One hand came up and long ivory fingers covered his white teeth. It was a very odd thing to see. The silhouetted building crumbled into an unrecognizable pile.

"The rest of my squad was crushed. I was trapped," he said. "I was worried... but we were going to be reinforced. Any minute our troops would pour in. I'd scream for help. It would be fine. A little uncomfortable," he said.

He lifted his hands up in front of his face. They were shaking horribly. He finally turned his and looked at me. "I was trapped under there... for f-five days," he choked out. His breathing was as shaky as the rest of him. He was trembling even more than before. The darkness spread out again and formed a line of a dozen human shaped silhouettes. "At first... it was the smell that was the worst. My squad mates were rotting in the rubble. One was close. I could make out a bit of his uniform. There were a lot of flies," he recounted, clearly trying to rush through the events with short, rushed sentences. The silhouettes faded as he spoke into skeletons with flies buzzing around them.

The visual addition made the whole thing all the more surreal. Nearly everything that had occurred to Valentino always seemed so unreal. I couldn't imagine this kind of torment happening to anypony. He rarely spoke about the world he came from, was this why? Was it so horrifying?

"I didn't have much water. I got dehydrated pretty fast. My head was pounding. My tongue was sore and swollen. I got so tired. I wasn't..." he started to trail off and looked away from me. He brought his trembling hands up to his face and tightly covered his hollow eyes. "I tried to free myself at first but... I couldn't do it anymore. I was so tired... I was just waiting to die!" he sobbed.

The wall had gone completely dark again. Well, there were a few strange spots were the darkness didn't reach. Valentino had gone silent aside from a few sobs he was desperately trying to choke back. I wondered what I could ever say. What kind of reassurance I could offer to an experience like his.

My thoughts were interrupted by an odd... rumbling sound? It sounded distant but it's strange occurrence caused us all to suddenly look around for the source. Then there was the sound of conversation, a lot of muffled voices. The source became clear all too quickly.

"Help!" was the prolonged screech that came from Valentino. Or rather a raspy sounding version of him that followed that scream with a sickening fit of coughs.

Aside from the strange rumbling the other voices went silent. Through one of the larger gaps in the darkness covering the wall there was movement. A silhouette in that gap was what I assumed was the head of a human.

"Who's there!?" barked a new voice.

"M-Marine Corps!" Valentino struggled to shout back before breaking out into another sickening coughing fit. The shadow was quickly shoved aside and replaced with another.

"Val!?" it shouted through the gap.

The darkness then slowly fell away, shoving it's way back into Valentino's coat. Valentino's hands were dropped at his sides and he had gone completely silent. The rest of us were no better. I don't think anypony had any clue what to say. Even some of the guards looked uncomfortable.

Valentino was actually the one to break the silence. "My military career didn't last long after that. I wouldn't go into any basements or anywhere underground for a good couple of years. Over time it eased and I started to fight against it. Eventually I only really got uneasy if I thought about it," he said, his tone had gone flat. He fidgeted slightly.

"But that was my nightmare. Trapped under that rubble with a bunch of rotting corpses. So dizzy and tired I could barely think. Waiting to die," he said grimly. "I put it behind me. But then I get buried again, then trapped. Then I'm back in that place. What next?" he asked in a cracking voice. He was looking at me again.

"Valentino..." I started, only to trail off. I was still at a loss.

"Nothing's gonna happen!" Rainbow Dash suddenly shouted, causing Valentino to jump a little. Her ears were pinned back and she had a very frustrated expression on her face. "We saved you from that box! I mean sure! That wasn't like, the smoothest thing but you were okay! And that thing happened in the mine but Twilight got you out in a couple of minutes! We fixed those things and we can fix this too! You're going to be fine! Whatever else might happen doesn't matter cause you've got us!" Rainbow Dash asserted.

"She's right," I said. Finding the words I needed thanks to Rainbow Dash I turned to face Valentino again. "We've been here helping you this whole time. It might be rough sometimes. It might be new and strange, even unsettling. But in spite of that you've gone out of your way to help us when you could. You've put your own feelings aside for our sake and even for the sake of ponies you didn't even know... We are your friends Valentino. We won't let anything so... awful... happen to you again, ever," I said, stomping my hoof down to punctuate my point.

"With your magic, I can't promise something else won't happen. But if it does we can fix it, just like we can fix this. You are safe. Like Rainbow Dash said you don't have to worry because you have us," I said, hoping desperately that our feelings could reach him.

Valentino stared. His skull wasn't the best at portraying his expression. He was silent though for a long time. Princess Celestia was just looking at all of us with a smile.

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

It was like a warmth in my chest.

Hm.

It sounds kind of sappy when I write it like that but it really was a warmth in my chest that spread out all over my body. It washed over me and took the fear and the haze with it. A shadow crossed my vision for just a moment and caused me to blink.

Everyone looked normal. Normal as they could look anyway. No weird magic stuff, just a bunch of adorable ponies. They were looking back at me with relief on their faces. Looking down at my hands I could see why, no bones. I could relate, the speeches and reassurances manage to pull me out of what felt like an endless panic attack which was a tremendous relief on it's own.

"It's a nice sentiment..." I attempted to say coolly in order to save face. I don't think it worked.

I tried to stand up. It was a little rough because I felt horribly exhausted but I managed to get up to my feet. Due in part to a blue shimmer that enveloped me and helped lift me up. The source of which ended up being one regal looking moon princess who was standing among the guards blocking off one part of the hallway. One whose mane flowed and glitter like the night sky but... seemed to be a bit disheveled in places.

"I was not expecting to see such a transformation in you Valentino. I am glad that it has been undone so swiftly. The source however, remains," Princess Luna said in an even and somewhat haughty tone. Her horn was glowing and shimmering with her blue magic and so was I. Relief as well as not being in a blind irrational panic made it so I didn't really regard the magic. "But I can help," Princess Luna added.

Her magic that had enveloped me focused around my chest. With every heartbeat I could see an aura of read shine through the blue. Her magic condensed further around the red until it shone through despite my heartbeats. Princess Luna let out a small grunt and her magic glowed even brighter until the red completely dissipated.

Princess Luna let out a small huff and her magic dissipated as well. "There, it has been banished from you," she said.

"Princess Luna, do you know what did this?" Twilight asked.

"You mentioned a few days ago an entity in the dreamscape?" Princess Celestia added.

"Yes, it has been a constant presence but I have managed to track it down since my initial confrontation inside Valentino's dreams. It is quite malevolent however and seems to be focused on you Valentino. It has made no move on any ponies," she explained.

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"It has been cautious while I have been tracking it across the dreamscape. It always gravitates towards you Valentino and it struck when I could not protect you," Princess Luna continued to explain. "In order to prevent something like this from happening again I would request that you do not sleep during daylight hours," she said firmly.

Now.

This was a pretty reasonable request. It was a small thing really.

Dream thing is out to get you so you don't nap when the dream princess can't protect you. Reasonable.

Maybe it's because I was tired. Maybe it's because of the emotional corruption roller coaster I just went on. Maybe it's just because it was that last little thing. Maybe it's because her "request" sounded more like a demand. Maybe it's because it was at least a week before I had a cigarette.

Regardless I went livid.

At first it was just a heavy feeling in my gut. The more I thought about it though the faster I was whipping myself up into a fury. I wasn't listening to Luna anymore, I was actually just trying to find a way out. There was the door I had been planted next to. I looked around at Twilight, Princess Celestia and all those guards.

"Hey uh," I spoke up, calmly but loudly. "What's in here?" I asked pointing to the door.

"I believe that room is used for storage," Princess Celestia answered.

"Good, great. Could you all just maybe, uh, give me a minute?" I asked. It was difficult to speak, ever word felt like it could uncork a whole bottle of unpleasantness. My hand went to the door handle without waiting for a response.

"Valentino if–"

I quickly raised up a hand with my index finger lifted up. "Just one minute," I said through gritted teeth to Princess Luna.

"Valentino what's wrong?" Princess Celestia asked.

Open the door, walk through, shut the door. That's all I had to do. Disengage. Not the time or the place. Shouldn't even be like this, should feel good about not being a damn skeleton.

Yeah that's not what happened.

"The fuck do you think is wrong!?" I shouted, whipping around to give Princess Celestia a sharp glare.

Shock, lot's of shock. Celestia was pretty shocked but I think she was the least surprised.

"I've lost everything Princess! Everything! Starting with my whole god damn life, followed swiftly by any peace of mind I managed to salvage. I can't take a fucking nap on my own terms! Now! Now! You won't even give me a minute to have a meltdown in fucking privacy without jumping down my throat!" I screamed. While I screamed I pounded my fist against the wall. I was throwing a tantrum and it was on the verge of ending just as if I was a young child.

"So if you don't mind, maybe I can have the more embarrassing part of this breakdown in privacy!?" I shouted. I was greeted by stunned silence. I flung open the door and slammed it shut behind me as hard as I could.

So much for riding the high of friendship and good times to come.

I had wasted most of my anger on yelling. I got a few stomps into the room before I just slumped down onto the floor. There was a lot of muttering outside for a good while. I don't know how long. It's like being a scaredy skeleton opened up a whole flood gate of emotions.

I don't know. I'm done speculating on why I was acting like a total ass.

Eventually I could hear the door creak open.

"Has it been a minute?" I asked bitterly. I managed to work through the worst of it but I was still exhausted and a little upset.

"About ten, actually," said the calm voice of Princess Celestia who made her way inside before shutting the door behind her. The room was pitch black but after a golden glow coming from her direction a dim light filled the small room.

"Well, that's something I guess," I mumbled.

A brief silence hung in the air, only broken up by the sound of hooves on the marble floor. Princess Celestia approached me but I remained sat and hunched forward with my back to her.

"I have to apologize," she started.

"No you don't," I sighed, holding my head in my hands.

"No really," she insisted. "I've clearly managed to underestimate your situation," she explained.

"It's fine, I should be the one apologizing," I said, trying to wave it off.

"Well yes, taking such a tone with a princess after attacking her deserves an apology at least," she said playfully which managed to get a tired huff of a laugh out of me. "But I regret not being more aware of the scope of everything you've been going through. I would have done more, instead things only seem to be getting worse," Celestia said regretfully.

"It's not your responsibility," I grumbled.

"I disagree," she said plainly.

The silence hung in the air again. No hoofsteps to break it up. Just an awkward pause.

"My sister seems to have a plan to banish the entity that has attacked you from the dreamscape. In the meantime I would like it if you would stay here in Canterlot," she finally proclaimed.

It really didn't mean much to me either way. "Saves me a train ride I guess. Don't think I can do any more skeleton magic," I said with a sarcastic wave of my hands.

"I'm glad you're so understanding," Celestia replied with equal sarcasm. The sound of hooves on marble started up again, moving away from me. "Things will get better Valentino... I promise," she said after reaching the door.

Maybe it was because of what happened before, I don't really get enthusiastic about promises like that. But that warm feeling came back again. I couldn't even muster up a sarcastic response.

"Hey, if you are leaving could you get Twilight for me?" I asked before the door creaked open.

"Of course," Celestia said before exiting the room.

--

It didn't take long for the door to creak open again and quietly shut again. I looked back over my shoulder to see Twilight standing hesitantly by the door.

"Twilight, come on over," I said, patting the floor next to me and turning my head back forward.

I only heard one hesitant hoof hit the marble floor before Twilight started talking. "Valentino, I'm so–"

"Twilight," I said louder to cut her off. Whatever it was she wanted to say could wait. I casually lifted my arm and waved her over. "Come on," I mumbled.

Her steps had irregular pauses and one full stop before she was standing in my peripheral vision. I slowly looked over to my right to see her staring back with a nervous expression. After a brief sigh I reached over and wrapped my arm around her neck and pulled her against my chest.

"Ah!" she exclaimed softly in surprise. I brought my other hand up to wrap around her neck and I buried my face into her mane. Her surprise was brief and she quickly relaxed in my embrace.

"Twilight... thank you," I managed to mumble out into her mane.

"For what?" she asked.

"For putting up with me. For looking out for me. For helping me through this..." I said. I fidgeted with her mane a little as a pushed my face into her neck a little harder. "... For being my friend," I finished. It was probably the first time I had said "friend" in a way that wasn't at least a little bit sarcastic or patronizing.

Twilight let out a little gasp. She pulled away before I felt her front legs wrap around my chest. We just stayed in that embrace for a little while in silence.

"As for the whole punishment thing," I started, finally pulling away from Twilight. "Obviously, don't worry about it any more. That was kind of dumb," I said. "I mean you still goofed up with the whole magic thing. But I was feel like I was kinda harsh about it. I was treating you like one of my old co-workers and that's not really cool. So sorry I guess," I awkwardly apologized. Twilight just shook her head.

"No you had, you have, every right to be mad and frustrated," she responded.

"Still... I dunno," I said with a shrug. There was more silence.

"Princess Celestia wants me to hang out here while Princess Luna deals with that dream thing," I mentioned.

"Oh, well, if Princess Celestia says so," she said.

"Yeah, she said Princess Luna has some kind of plan but who knows how long it will take. Maybe we should go talk to one of them," I said.

"Well Princess Luna left already, we might be able to find Princess Celestia," Twilight said confidently. "Oh, and Rainbow Dash is worried about you too, you better talk to her," she mentioned.

"I'm worried Rainbow Dash might think I'm gonna ease up on her just because she helped me become not a skeleton," I said, getting up to my feet.

"I don't think you've ever given her that impression," Twilight said with a smirk.

I shrugged as I walked over to the door and pushed it open. Rainbow Dash was waiting just outside and her expression quickly flashed from concerned to smug.

"Hey nerd," I said.

Author's Note

Well this has managed to be the longest chapter yet and has been the chapter that has taken the longest to write!

I still am recovering from some nasty sickness, but not so sick that I can't manage to finish off another chapter!

For everyone who has managed to reach these Author's Notes and have stayed with the story so far I am continuously impressed!

And of course, as always, Thanks for reading!