-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

"...scuse me!" I heard as I was brought out of a deep sleep by something softly nudging my side.

I peeked through one barely opened eye and managed to see something reaching up onto bed, barely illuminated in a very dim light. I was laying on my stomach, so I used my arms to push myself and support my upper body while I tried to blink my hazy vision away. The something that was nudging into me scrambled backwards and positioned herself just in my line of sight beside the bed.

"Good morning!" it cheerily proclaimed. As my eyesight adjusted I could see that it was an unfamiliar pony. A lightly colored coat and striking green mane was all I could make out at first.

"...Huh?" was all I was able to get out, looking at the strange pony and then around at the rest of the room. It was still pitch black outside and the only thing illuminating the guest room I was staying in was a small lantern on a nearby table. In my muddied state I was fairly confused. "What time is it...?" I asked, hoping for the answer to give me a decent excuse to insist on going back to bed.

"Oh, dawn should break any second now! I was instructed to wake you up before Princess Celestia raised the sun!" the mare, I assumed, told me.

It all came flooding back, I was on a strict sleep schedule. With the realization I let the strength out of my arms and fell face first back into my pillow. "Right..." I groaned, muffled by the cushion.

"Um..." uttered the pony, stepping closer to the bed.

I rolled onto my back and turned my head to look at the pony again. Seeing that I was still awake she stepped back again and gave me a small smile.

"Who are you?" I asked plainly. She had no horn and no wings. An earth pony.

"Oh, my name is Olive Branch!" she said proudly. She was very chipper. Her eyes were blue, I finally noticed, a deep shade of blue. Her mane was a bit wavy and favored her right side. She had a golden clip keeping her long mane out of her face, she was also wearing a small white vest which was... pretty adorable. "I'm here to make sure your specific needs are met!" she continued, showing off a wider smile.

"And if I need more sleep?" I immediately asked, laying my forearm over my eyes.

"Um... well..." Olive started to stammer. "I received very specific instructions about your sleep schedule from Princess Celestia and P-Princess Luna. Under no circumstances are you to be asleep during daylight hours unless supervised by Princess L-Luna herself," she nervously confirmed my suspicions.

After the skeleton incident I decided to go along with Princess Celestia's request that I stay in Canterlot until Princess Luna could figure out what to do about the boogieman in dreamworld. I was reminded about how important it was I not sleep until nightfall, when Princess Luna was up and monitoring such things. I was given an unfamiliar guest room on the ground floor of the castle. It had a sort of pale teal theme in it's coloring. Also it had moon and star symbols patterned onto a lot of things.

Despite still being fairly worried about me I encouraged Rainbow and Twilight to go home. Figured I wasn't going to get any more well looked after than I was at Canterlot and they still had their own obligations back in Ponyville. They didn't need to hang around and participate in my own little pity party. As much as I appreciated having them around I wanted some time alone to get back into a decent head space. With how I flew off the handle at Celestia I was worried about being on a hair trigger. I was just starting to appreciate my pony friends so I didn't want to start pushing them away with my current attitude problem.

Twilight was easier to convince than I thought. She vaguely mentioned that the timing actually worked out for her, which was kind of weird. I didn't really question it though, don't look a gift horse... hm. Anyways, Twilight stayed a for a little but was soon enough out the door to let Princess Celestia know she was leaving and catch a train back to Ponyville. I saw her off with a big hug.

Rainbow Dash was less convenient to convince but she eventually relented. Though she did opt to stick around later, citing that she would just fly back to Ponyville. Seemed like a lot of work to me but she was the athletic type.

We talked a little while she hung around. She seemed interested in my military career. There wasn't a whole lot I could get into without having to go on an endless tirade of explanations. I did mention though that there wasn't much to mention as there wasn't much to my military career. Following the whole... incident, which was just a few months after my deployment, as well as a couple of other things, I wasn't exactly deemed fit to carry out my duties in the military and given the boot only about seven months into my deployment. Rainbow Dash teased that it was because I was a wimp, I agreed but in a somber tone that made Rainbow Dash immediately apologize. I told her not to worry about it, that it was in the past. She seemed a little concerned but didn't press the issue.

Once the sun was down I announced I was going to bed and Rainbow Dash got ready to take off. I saw her off by catching her in a headlock and messing up her mane.

So that left me in the awkward situation with the pony I didn't know waking me up at o' dark hundred. Frankly I was expecting some kind of magic nonsense, so I was happy for the more down to earth solution. Expecting me to maintain the schedule on my own was a joke.

"Well..." I groaned, lifting myself up to a sitting position. "I'm up, I guess you can go back to bed," I said, rubbing my eyes.

"Oh no no no! I can't leave you! It's just like I said, I'm here to make sure all your needs are met!" she repeated happily.

I slowly turned my head and gave her a flat look. "...Huh?" I grunted in much the same way as the first time.

My inquiry only seemed to delight the excitable and bubbly pony further. "I've been completely briefed by Princess Celestia herself!" she announced proudly.

"Oh great..." I sighed, leaning over to the edge of the bed and reaching down to the mess of clothes I left behind before I climbed into bed. With no pony to snuggle up to I happily went without anything.

"Oh yes!" Olive exclaimed, oblivious to my tone. "After such, uh... difficulty... in your transition here you need somepony who can help you adjust while tending to your specific needs as a human! I have a lot of experience!" she explained. I wanted to comment on her wording but I decided to leave it alone. She seemed easily flustered and I still had questions.

"Experience?" I asked dubiously. I managed to snag my underwear and pulled them on while keeping under the covers.

"Well, I mean, not with humans specifically. But I've been constantly working hard to help expand and maintain Equestria's cultural relations and understanding! I've worked with a lot of ambassadors and representatives from all over!" she said, her pride still very evident.

"And now you're stuck taking care of the human refugee. I'm so sorry," I said teasingly. I threw the covers off, brought my legs to the edge of the bed and let my feet hit the floor.

"Oh," Olive mumbled, slowly looking me up and down. "Oh! No no no! This is a wonderful opportunity for me! I can only benefit from being able to interact with such a unique species! I'm looking forward to getting to know you better!" she said and flashed me a big smile. She seemed to have an endless supply of enthusiasm.

"Uh, yeah," I mumbled while looking around the unfamiliar room. When I stood up Olive's eyes seemed to follow me. I popped all of my stiff joints and collected all of my clothes off the floor before just dumping them on the bed.

"Actually I was hoping that we could talk a little before your brunch with Princess Celestia, if you don't mind of course," she said, following me as I moved towards the bathroom.

"My what with who?" I asked, stopping in my tracks.

"Oh! Right! Princess Celestia scheduled to have brunch today and she wanted you to join her! Isn't that exciting!?" she said gleefully.

"Thrilling," I answered flatly while continuing again to the bathroom.

Olive Branch continued to follow right behind me, stopping just short of the door.

"Please call if you need anything!" she said as I entered. I said nothing as I quietly closed the door behind me.

Despite the pony waiting on me I took my time in the bathroom. The bathroom was great. Twilight's library... house, bathroom couldn't really be expected to compare to this castle's facilities. I had quite the long and relaxing shower. I probably spent a good forty-five minutes in the shower before I started to feel guilty for making Olive wait. The soap was a little more floral than I'd have liked but obviously that was a small complaint. Once I was done I got a towel and dried my body off. Once I was dry enough I threw my underwear back on and walked back outside.

I still had the towel and was roughly using it to dry off my hair. While my hair was still a little damp ran my hands through it to pull it back and keep it out of my face until it finished drying. I kept the towel around my neck and noticed that Olive was sitting patiently on the bed, which had been made.

"Please come have a seat!" she said happily.

"Uh, yeah, just a sec," I said, walking over and grabbing my pants, which had been folded, off of the bed and pulling them on. Once I was zipped up and button I slumped onto the bed. "So what's up?" I asked, glancing over at her.

Now when I sat down I would say I kept an appropriate amount of distance between two recently introduced individuals. Olive branch wasted no time in scooting closer to me until I could practically feel the hairs of her mane lightly brushing against me. Then she reached over and grabbed my hand between both of her hooves and gently pulled it in front of her. She supported my arm with one of her front legs and gently started petting my hand with her other hoof. Before I could even think on how awkward it was she turned her big blue eyes on me. All I could manage was a slight raise of an eyebrow before she started speaking.

"More than anything I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need to talk. If you're feeling frustrated or isolated or upset or anything I want you to feel like you can come to me with anything. I know it's been very, very hard for you and I want you to feel like you can rely on–" I pressed the index finger of my free hand against the tip of Olive's nose to cut her off. Yet again it was proven quite effective as Olive cutely crossed her eyes to look at the source of the sensation on her nose.

"I eh... appreciate it Olive," I said, pulling my other hand away from her reassuring grip. "I think I sort of burned through my emotional highs yesterday though. I just really want to relax right now," I explained, trying not to sound too unappreciative of her concern.

"O-of course!" she said, quickly standing up. "I just wanted you to feel like you could talk to me just in case!" she exclaimed.

"Well, I'll keep you in mind then," I relented. She smiled at that.

"Don't worry!" she said hopping off of the bed. "If you need to relax I can help with that too!" she said proudly.

I really wasn't sure how to take a lot of what Olive Branch was saying.

--

I was led through the halls by the enthusiastic Miss Olive Branch to go have brunch with Princess Celestia. I had my dress shirt and slacks on. Didn't bother with my coat or tie. The time we spent talking was relatively uneventful. I was informed of her experience with all sorts of species from Griffons to Minotaurs. Internally I hoped I wouldn't be meeting any new species any time soon. One new pony in my life was already throwing me off.

When we approached our destination Olive stopped a ways back. When I turned to ask if she was coming she emphasized that it was my meeting with the Princess. She said she would be back later when I was done. All I could do was shrug before continuing on to the guarded room. For some reason it seemed like the guards were somehow acting even more aloof than before. But they didn't say anything to me so I just ignored them.

Inside was the Princess herself who beamed once she saw me enter.

"Valentino, please come in, have a seat," she said as I slowly made my way through the entrance. The door promptly shut behind me as I looked around the unfamiliar room.

There were large windows on the far end of the room that let in a lot of the mid morning light. Thin, translucent white curtains were pulled to the sides of the windows. There was a large circular table in the center of the room with long white table cloth. It didn't come very high off the ground, still there was a short stool available for me to sit on. On top of all of that there was quite a lot of food already set out on the table. There was another door further back on the right wall of the room and a cart parked next to it.

There were... a lot of pancakes. Lot's of variety and piled high. Also lot's of precisely cut fruits and berries arranged artistically on different platters. There was some more variety as well, eggs cooked in a variety of ways, potatoes and biscuits. It was a lot of food to be certain but there was only one other place set at the table. Instead of being put at the opposite end of the table Princess Celestia had a spot set up for me to her left.

"I wasn't expecting such an enthusiastic alarm clock," I said, taking a seat on the stool provided.

"Isn't she sweet? Olive was very excited to meet you," Princess Celestia said with delight.

"I could tell, so she was your idea then?" I said.

"Well I had to do something, you sent Twilight and Rainbow Dash home so quickly and I couldn't leave you by yourself," she said.

"And now I have the honor of sharing a meal with Princess Celestia," I said with just a hint of sarcasm.

"Well I think we still have a lot to discuss. Besides, brunch is a great meal to share with important guests," she returned.

I made a show of looking around the room. "Well, where are they?" I teased.

A single blueberry launched itself at me and I caught it in my mouth. The only sign of foul play was a faint golden glitter around Celestia's horn. Her expression betrayed nothing and in fact turned serious.

"So, Valentino," she said, turning her gaze to me. I raised an eyebrow at her. "About yesterday..." she started in an even tone.

I leaned back and let out a loud groan. "Didn't we already talk plenty about yesterday... yesterday!?" I complained.

"I was hesitant to talk at length, I wanted to give you some time to cool off," she said, using magic to pile a large stack of pancakes on her plate.

"Can I ask for an extension?" I grumpily asked.

"Valentino..." she said, shooting me a disapproving look.

I heaved a large sigh and vaguely motioned for her to continue with one hand while I used the other to prop my head up as I slumped forward.

"Valentino, what has been bothering me the most is how you reacted when you saw me," she said, a somewhat gloomy expression spreading across her face.

"I don't think you should put a lot of stock into how I acted as a fear skeleton," I said flatly.

"I understand the influence you were under. But the fact remains that when you saw me you acted as if you thought that I was going to... hurt you," Princess Celestia said, clear hurt in her voice. "In spite of the corruption those feelings had to stem from something and if you actually think that I would try to hurt you I want to know," she said firmly.

In the wake of how this was affecting her my own expression softened and I had to let out a breath before pulling myself back into an upright position. "I don't think you would try to hurt me. You were just a big, bright thing that showed up and I was a small, paranoid, vulnerable thing. You could have hurt me very easily and that was good enough to kick me into a panic," I explained. I kept a serious tone and stared right into her eyes as a spoke.

She looked back at me for a moment and then seemed to relax a little. "I see," was all she said at first, looking back to the food in front of her.

"Do you think I would have decided to stick around if I was really that scared of you?" I asked, snagging a few pieces of fruit off of a nearby platter and dropping it onto my plate.

"No I..." Celestia let out a sigh of her own. "I apologize Valentino. It's just something that's been on my mind all morning," she said looking over and giving me a smile.

"Don't worry about it," I said, filling up my plate with more food.

"Besides, you couldn't have been that afraid of me the way you started screaming at me. Not just in front of my sister but also my guards and Twilight," she said with a giggle.

"I've never been particularly smart in dealing with authority," I said, causing to Celestia to giggle even more.

"Well, I have already warned you about your behavior towards Princesses," she said with a smile.

"If things go bad I'll just have to use my good looks and firm rear to get myself out of trouble," I said with forced seriousness.

The call back to one of our previous conversations managed caught Celestia off guard. It took quite a bit for her to maintain some semblance of composure and she spent quite some time laughing into her hooves before she could look me in the eye again.

Once she calmed down we started eating.

The food I have to say was fantastic. It was as fresh as I have come to expect from the food in Equestria. Everything was expertly made, I couldn't complain in the least. In fact I would say I'm a little bit envious. Princess Celestia seemed to really like the pancakes.

We spent a small amount of time enjoying the meal before Princess Celestia a small trickle of syrup from her mouth and started talking again.

"My sister wanted to speak with you last night but she says you went to sleep right away. Not only that but you had no dreams to speak of," Celestia said.

"Well it was kind of a long day," I said, picking up a napkin to wipe my own mouth with.

"I thought you might be hesitant to sleep with all the nightmares you've been having along with the threat of this entity," she said.

"I don't usually dream at all. I think it just happened because cause I slept during the day and the thing came after me," I said.

"Twilight claimed you've been kept up at night with nightmares," Celestia said.

"That..." I started, slowly coming to the realization of the situation I was in before trailing off.

"What is it?" Celestia asked.

"Oh god," I groaned, running my hand over my face. "Okay look, I have to be honest with you," I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"What Twilight was talking about... really... wasn't a nightmare," I admitted, looking away from Celestia.

"I don't understand," Celestia said flatly.

I groaned and buried my head in my hands. "I had a weird sex dream and I didn't want to talk about it. She thought I was up because of a nightmare so I just went along with it," I said through my hands, defeated.

Celestia still sounded confused. "I didn't think you would have a problem talking about that rather than a nightmare," she said.

I pulled my hands away from my face and looked Princess Celestia dead in the eye. "The dream was about her," I said grimly.

Celestia's eyes went wide at first. Then I could see the faintest smile creep onto her face and she leaned towards me a little. "Twilight, you mean?" she asked as innocently as she could.

"Well, okay look!" I said, snapping up to defend myself. "The dream didn't really get that far, alright," I said.

"How far did it get," she asked.

I shot her an unimpressed look. "Really?" I asked.

"I'm just curious, I didn't know you were interested in Twilight," she said, her smile growing larger.

"I'm not interested in Twilight," I said flatly.

"Well if your dreaming about–"

"I woke up in a cold sweat," I interrupted.

"You seem flustered Valentino, the way you talk normally it seems like this wouldn't be a big deal for you," Celestia teased.

"Talking is easy! Joking is fine! Actually thinking about doing.... no, sorry, not quite there yet," I said dismissively.

"Yet?" Celestia questioned in a sing song tone.

"You know I shouldn't have told you any of this," I groaned.

"If you want I can help get... accustomed to the idea of–"

"Stop," I said, glaring at her. Celestia laughed but thankfully for my pride she dropped the subject.

Every encounter with the Sun Princess seemed like a losing battle. It seemed like there was very little I could do to phase Celestia. Still... I had fun.

Once we finally finished eating a few servants wandered in to clear the table. Unlike the guards who had a practiced aloofness I wasn't free from a few odd looks from the staff clearing out the leftovers. Once they were gone Princess Celestia turned to me with a more serious expression.

"My sister is quite confident in her ability to banish the entity that seems to be hunting you. She is less confident in her ability to track it down or predict it's movements. She still wishes to discuss it with you personally, I was hoping you would make some time for her this evening," Celestia said.

"Yeah sure," I said, standing up and stretching a bit.

"Besides that I'm sure Olive has some things planned for you. I don't think you'll be too bored," she said with a smile.

"Well then I better not keep her waiting I guess," I said, glancing towards the door.

Before I could make a move however I felt a tug. I could barely react to Princess Celestia's magic as it pulled me over and she caught me in her hooves. The side of my face pressed into her neck while her front legs wrapped around me, hugging me tightly.

"I seem to recall that this is an ancient human technique for lifting spirits. I thought that you might need it," Celestia said, tightening her grip a little.

I let out a soft chuckle and put one arm around her neck. She was still as warm as I remembered and she had a soft floral scent to her, with maybe a hint of vanilla...

It was a relaxing.

--

"Please follow me!" was the first thing Olive said to me when I stepped outside. She quickly started trotting down the hall and with a shrug I followed after her. I kept an unhurried pace so she quickly got some distance ahead of me. It didn't seem like we had that far to go though and she didn't have anything to talk about on the way.

A few quick turns and I already lost track of where I was in relation to the rest of the castle. I made a mental note to ask for a map or something. Eventually Olive found the right door and pulled it open before waiting for me to catch up.

"Please come in!" the peppy pony said with a smile, holding the door for me.

with a nod I crossed the threshold into... a pretty average looking room. Looked kind of like an office actually. Lots of browns and greens decorated the room. There was a large potted plant in one corner of the room and a long... bench I guess, running along the back wall. The bench was a dark polished wood with large green cushions on top.

What really stood out was the large desk. There were piles of papers strewn all over the surface of the desk. But besides that there were photo's stood up all over the desk and decorating the wall behind the desk. There were photo's of Olive Branch with all kinds of ponies, griffons and... what I guessed was at least one minotaur. There were some other creatures I couldn't really place. Of the ponies there was a lot of variety. There were quite a few who had a royal look about them and were probably involved in some politics.

"Those are all the friends I've managed to make since I've started working here," Olive Branch said, noticing how I immediately walked over to the desk and started looking over the photo's. "I've made so many! It's hard to keep up with the letters some times," she mentioned. Without missing a beat she started dragging sections of the bench lining the far wall into the center of the room.

"Do you need some help with that?" I asked.

"Oh no no no! I'll be done in a just a second!" she said, dashing over and grabbing another section. She repeated the process with a third section until there was a long line of seating in the center of the room. Each section was probably big enough for a pony to lay down on and then some. "Okay! Please sit!" she said, pointing a hoof to the center of the seating she had just set up.

I casually walked over and sat on the center section, crossing one leg over the other. I was curious just what this pony was up to.

She pulled a stool from her desk and set it right in front of me. Then she started bringing over papers and setting them down next to me. Once she was done she got up on her stool and flashed me another big smile.

"Please take off your shirt!" she said.

"... Huh?" I asked.

"Oh! Um, well I Princess Celestia gave me access to the records she had about you–"

"–Records?"

"Oh! It seems that Princess Twilight had sent a lot of information about you to Princess Celestia when–"

"–Ah, that, right. Okay, but why do you want me to take my shirt off?"

"Well while you were meeting with Princess Celestia I was going over these records. I noticed a large section about your health and physiology. With everything that's happened I thought I'd give you a little check up and make sure you were doing okay!" Olive explained.

"I didn't know you had experience in the medical field," I said, already unbuttoning my dress shirt. It didn't seem totally unreasonable and playing along seemed harmless. Besides, who knew if turning into a skeleton messed up my heart rate or something.

"Well, I know what anypony knows really and I have these notes. I just thought it wouldn't hurt to check!" she said happily as I tossed my dress shirt aside and pulled off my white undershirt, tossing it to the side as well.

Olive spent a moment looking me up and down before hopping down off of the stool and up beside me on the bench. She looked down at the pages spread out beside her for a moment before stepping closer and pressing the side of her ear against my chest. She stayed like that for about a minute before pulling away and checking the notes again. She had a very serious expression on her face while her eyes darted from page to page. Once her eyes stopped on a section Olive's face lit up. Then she started scanning the pages again.

Watching the earth pony work gave me a little more appreciation for how skilled they were in using what they had. They had greater dexterity and range of motion in their forelimbs than I often gave them credit for. Living with Twilight I saw more glowing floating objects than anything else. Also Spike, Twilight's assistant, had hands. Yet Olive was only hindered by her own lack of organization, losing track of the papers she looked away from for just a moment.

After giving a full once over, checking my temperature, looking inside of my mouth, things like that, I asked her if I was healthy.

"I... think so!" she said with an uncertain smile.

I let out a small laugh and Olive started gathering up the pages that were now pretty well scattered and quickly putting them back on her desk.

I leaned over to get my shirt. I didn't really pay any attention to Olive who quickly came back over and jumped up onto the bench beside me. What I did notice was the cool feeling of her hoof press lightly into my back.

"Geh!?" I shouted, jumping slightly and snapping back upright.

"Oh! Oh, I'm so sorry!" Olive said.

"No... eh, don't worry about it. Back is just a little sensitive," I mumbled while I shook off the shiver running through my back.

"Oh, I see. Do you mind if I continue?" she asked.

"Continue?" I repeated back at her with a raised.

"Just to help you relax," she said plainly, with the same big smile she had been giving me all day. She followed that up by pressing both of her hooves against my exposed back as gently as she could. I still tensed up a little when her hooves touched me but it was less of a surprise at least. I quickly caught onto the gist of what she was doing as she started rubbing her hooves into my back. I expected about as much from Olive's attempt at a massage as her attempt to perform a health check. Enthusiastic but ultimately awkward.

Holy hell did she know what she was doing. In seconds I was leaning back into her hooves, letting out involuntary gasps and just making a fool of myself in general. When it comes to massages I'm a bit of a coin toss. My sensitivity isn't that big of a deal once it gets going but I really don't have a lot of patience for mistakes. But I do like massages which is a shame because I've walked out on more masseuses than I care to admit. Olive on the other hand, was some kind of saint.

"You–geh–you do this to all the foreigners that come to visit?" I groaned back at Olive.

Olive giggled a little at my comment. "No, I just thought that you might really need it," she said before gently encouraging me to lay down on my stomach. I was easily able to lay across the bench and Olive quickly got back to work. "I think I might be really excited to just find myself in a new land with new creatures to talk with and get to know," she said, her tone becoming more somber. "But I know that I'm probably pretty unique that way. Anypony else would probably be scared or upset at first. It doesn't sound like it's gotten any easier for you either. I thought I could do this for you at least," she said.

"Well, I'm not–god–I'm not complaining. But–jeez–how did massaging come to mind?" I managed to ask.

Olive giggled again. "My mom actually runs a spa here in Canterlot! I would help out here and there. Most of the customers are nobles or ponies who live and work here in Canterlot. Every once in a while though a foreign dignitary or ambassador would stop in. I always knew how to talk to them and working with them was always just... easy! That's sort of how I figured out what my... I mean, well, I learned how to give a massage to just about anyone after a while," she said.

"Mmm," was all I could muster back at her. I was starting to nod off under her ministrations.

"Oh! Please, remember you can't fall asleep until night time!" Olive Branch quickly reminded me.

I let out a loud groan and forced my eyes open. "Fine, but I expect you to take me to this spa of yours while I'm still here in Canterlot," I said grumpily.

I couldn't see her, but by the tone of her voice I could guess that Olive's face lit up. "Of course! I'd love to!" she said.

--

As I spent more time with Olive Branch I noticed that it got easier and easier to talk with her. She was very open with me and I found myself being just as open with her. I found out that her love life has been as... diverse... as one might assume. Though as it stands she's very happy with her current "coltfriend". In return I told her about my history but she always seemed to stop me before I could go into any real detail.

I ended up telling her about my brunch with Princess Celestia. Well... at least the talking points. She was mostly interested in the fact that I had basically set up a meeting with Princess Luna. This made her determined to get me back to my room before night fell and make sure all the right ponies knew to tell Princess Luna right where she could find me. She was diligent to say the least.

Eventually we got onto the topic of my work history. I aired all the same complaints I had about my co-workers. But I did manage to tell her about some of the people I did like working with. The chief of police, the one that had the position when I... well when the whole coffin thing happened, was a good guy. Strong, determined, really what the place needed. The medical examiner was also a great lady. I really respected her work.

"Do you miss them?" Olive asked.

I hadn't really thought about it. Such recent changes in my life, I was only just then starting to feel confident about my career. Then there was the whole mess that was being taken over by the feds and I was just carrying those feelings around the whole time. Talking with Olive made me remember more about what I left behind. "... Yeah," I answered after a brief silence.

She didn't press the subject. Instead we talked about food for a while until Olive decided to go get dinner. We ate together in her little office. The food was still fantastic. Olive apologized for the lack of variety for someone with a more diverse diet. I waved it off, as good as the food was it didn't matter to me.

Once we finished Olive walked me back to my room and instructed me that I should wait there for Princess Luna. She insisted that she could come back later if I wanted anything but I told her to take off and thanked her for hanging out with me. She smiled, just like she always did, and said good night.

So a long day of talking with ponies was about to come to an end with more talking with ponies.

With everything that had been happening previously I could only hope that it would end so uneventfully.

--

I was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling while I awaited the arrival of Princess Luna. I was wondering if I could find some furnishings with decent back support in pony land. I was never really crafty, just do the best I can with what I have. That line of thinking didn't really go very far but it was all I could latch onto without dwelling on grimmer things.

Eventually the door creaked open and I lifted myself up to a sitting position so I could see the Princess herself standing in the entrance of my room. Two guards flanked her on either side, their armor didn't share the sunny disposition of those I had seen before. They did however, remain outside of the room so I didn't get a much better look at them.

"Yo," I said, lacking anything else to say in greeting.

"Good evening Valentino," she said, crossing completely into the room and allowing the door to shut behind her. "Thank you for taking the time to meet with me," she said politely. She always seemed very formal, somewhat commanding. You know, what you'd expect of a Princess ruler of the night I supposed. Celestia on the other hand gave off a feeling of warmth and benevolence. Though she certainly has a more playful and curious side to her. I had to wonder what other sides Princess Luna had, if any. I knew that she had a dark side, once upon a time. But I don't know if that counted what with all the magic crap involved. Maybe for ponies it did but I don't know.

"Nah," I said with a chuckle. "All I seem to have left is time. You're the busy one I bet, so thanks for coming just to see me," I returned.

For whatever reason my statement seemed to catch Princess Luna off guard, she blinked a couple of times and then cleared her throat. "Yes, well, there are some important things we do need to discuss. Concerning you and the entity that seems to be after you," she said, quickly finding her decorum.

Curiosity demanded that I be... insistent. "In fact now that I think about it," I said, looking straight into her big blue eyes. "It seems like you've been getting me out of trouble ever since I was... well since I came to Equestria. I owe you quite a lot," I said, trying to sound as grateful and sincere as I could.

Princess Luna stared back at me again. Then her gaze started flick away and back again. If I didn't know any better I'd say her cheeks got a little red. "I-it is not as if I could stand idly by while I knew you were suffering. I have only helped in what small ways I can," she said.

"Still," I said, sliding down the edge of the bed and bringing myself closer to the Moon Princess who still stood by the entrance staring. I looked back up at her sincerely. "If there's anything I can do to repay you, please let me know," I said softly. Her eyes seemed to widen.

"Please–" she very nearly shouted, her tone rising incredibly. She caught herself again and cleared her throat before continuing. "Please Valentino, I... appreciate it, but I am only doing my duty and there is still much to be done," she said.

"Sure," I relented having had my fun but making sure to keep my expression static.

"Do you remember the creature that attacked you in your dreams?" she asked plainly.

"Somewhat," I answered immediately.

"Do you recognize anything about it? Anything familiar at all?" she asked.

"No...?" I answered questioningly.

"I am merely wondering if it is something that might have followed you from your world," she clarified.

I quickly shook my head. "It may have had some human looking bones and a skull. But I can guarantee you that we don't have any dream monsters where I come from or moving, talking skeletons for that matter," I said.

"I see..." she said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I take it they aren't that common around here either," I said.

"There is no history of such a creature that I know of or have been able to find, I had hoped that you would have some insight," Princess Luna said with a sigh.

"Does it matter? Princess Celestia said that you seemed pretty confident that you could... get rid of it," I said, growing a bit worried myself.

"If it were that I could find it then I have no doubt that I could banish the creature!" Princess Luna said, raising her voice and stamping her hoof on the floor. "However it's presence in the dreamscape is constantly fluctuating, though it leaves behind a lingering essence that constantly interferes with my attempts to track it!" she continued, venting her frustrations. "Which reminds me," she said, turning her head towards me.

I was enveloped in blue for a few moments, but nothing more than that. Whatever she was doing had no obvious physical effect on me. When the magic disappeared from me Princess Luna let out a small breath.

"It seems that the creatures magic is not lingering in you at least," she said.

"Well I'm sorry I don't have any helpful info," I said.

"No, please do not worry yourself. I will not be beaten by this creature!" she said, flashing a look of determination which softened a bit when she turned her gaze back to me. "However... I would ask that you be patient until then Valentino," Luna said.

"Yeah, it's just a few naps right, no big deal," I said, finding it harder to force out that lie than it probably should have been.

"Thank you, Valentino. I will have you notified as soon as anything changes," she said, just starting to turn back but stopping in her tracks

"Oh, before I forget, my sister wanted me to give this to you," Princess Luna said, floating over a small letter, her magic dissipating once I snatched it out of the air. "I believe it is from Princess Twilight," she clarified.

"Making sure I get my mail, you're spoiling me Princess," I teased slightly. Her eyes darted away from and she made for the exit.

"Goodnight Valentino," I heard from the Princess, her tone going soft before the door closed behind her before I could call back.

The indefinite state of things didn't really sit well with me. But just like that the short meeting passed without incident. No monsters, no transformations, no incidents at all. Just the normal weirdness of being transplanted in a strange world with no real sense of direction. No sense of comfort and familiarity with the things that are because everything still feels like it's changing. But even one day with no turmoil, one day of being able to relax without worry was enough to settle some of those feelings if not calm my paranoia of the coming days.

So then, all that was left was to read my mail and go to bed.

-Twilight Sparkle – Private Correspondence-

Dear Valentino,

I know that you requested some time alone and I hope that you're having a nice, relaxing time in Canterlot. Still, I thought I would write you a letter to remind you that your friends are still thinking of you. I know that you have a lot still to cope with but I don't want you to feel like you're alone.

I spoke with Rarity today about you staying in Canterlot. She was a little upset since apparently she still had some work to do and needed you around for it. When I explained the situation she seemed pretty understanding. "Well, it can't be helped then," she told me. Which was fine, but then she told me she needed to start preparing some things... so I'm not really sure what she meant by that.

I also talked to Pinkie Pie about you staying in Canterlot for a little while. She was kind of disappointed but she got excited again about the party she was going to throw for you when you get back. I thought you should probably know about that so that you could prepare yourself because it sounds like she wants to go all out. I'll try to do what I can.

Spike seems confident that you are going to be okay. He says that you seem like "a pretty tough guy," and that he's not worried.

I haven't had the opportunity to tell everypony else yet but I'll let you know what they say when I do.

I know Princess Luna is doing everything she can, I just hope she can take care of it soon. Between this dream monster and that Rook creature, it feels like there is so much being left unresolved...

But both of us have other things to worry about and you need to worry about not nodding off in the middle of the day mister! Also

Um, Rainbow Dash just dropped in. I told her I was writing you a letter and she decided she wanted to send you one as well. I'll go ahead and send it along with this one.

I just wanted to remind you again that we're here for you. So if you are feeling alone just let me know, send me a message and I'll be over there as soon as I can.

Your friend,

Twilight Sparkle

-Rainbow Dash – Private Correspondence-

Hey Val!

Twilight was writing to you so I figured that I should too! I mean, you probably don't have a whole lot to do in Canterlot so at least you've got a letter from your best pal Rainbow Dash!

There wasn't a whole lot to do today. Just clear skies over Ponyville, easy stuff. I know you aren't supposed to take any naps or anything so I napped a little extra for the both of us!

I... I hope that you are feeling okay. Everything that's happened is all kind of a big deal isn't it? I don't really blame you for needing a breather. Just remember I've got your back.

Oh, and if you get really bored out there just send me a message! I'll fly right over and we can hang out. Maybe you'll finally let me see what you've got and we can spar a little. Unless you're scared I'll show you up, I am pretty tough you know.

Your pal,

Rainbow Dash

-Valentino Brugato – Private Record-

I carefully put aside the hastily scribbled message from Rainbow Dash and the carefully written letter from Twilight... I couldn't stop myself from smiling.

One positive result of the skeleton incident was at the very least a forced period of introspection. I could say that I'm alright because, heck, I'm still alive until I go blue in the face but it's certainly not the truth. It may be a contributing factor to my sanity in the face of all this new stuff but... well... I'm not alright am I?

I have no control over anything, least of all my own life. I'm constantly being jerked around by a load of magical nonsense. Not to mention the differences and coincidences in this new world. And let's not forget that, a whole new world. If I could have even envisioned a world beyond my own what I would have imagined certainly would not be so... cute.

But I should have expected things to be beyond my expectations. I should have anticipated trial after trial. Instead I thought I could catch up on some sleep, poke fun at some silly ponies and enjoy the scenery. Instead I'm more exhausted than I've been in a long time and consistently baffled at every new thing this world throws at me. Give me an asshole with a gun! I can deal with that!

But.

Another positive result of the skeleton incident, which was only reaffirmed by the letters I received, was that I certainly don't feel as isolated as I probably should. I'm lucky that of all the places my coffin landed it was under the hooves of such accepting, empathetic creatures. Though who knows, maybe I've only met the good ones. If that's the case I'm even luckier than I thought.

The whole day really helped reaffirm those feelings. In spite of the strangeness and the differences I was lying in bed content in that I wasn't alone. In that light, everything else didn't seem quite as bad.

So that was something.

Author's Note

Well now! A new chapter completed in a reasonable amount of time!

I don't have much to say here except I'm already raring to go on the next chapter!

And of course, as always, Thanks for reading!