18/4/456
If anyone happens to be reading this, then I just wanted them to know that this entry isn't being written by Valentine. Instead, this is being written by the girl he met in his previous entry: Alexandria. With his permission of course. This is my first time writing a journal entry, but I'm going to try and follow Valentine's advice: write as if you're talking to someone. With that said, I guess I'll get to what happened today. And oh boy, did a lot happen today. I guess I'll skip past waking up, and get to the more exciting stuff.
The first thing I did after waking up was go to Princess Twilight's castle to check on Valentine and Princess Twilight herself. Princess Twilight was perfectly fine, researching in the castle library. When I asked, she told me that she had left Valentine asleep on the table in the room she had been knocked out in, so I headed there next.
I carefully opened the door, and peeked inside. Valentine was still asleep on the table, so I made my way over. I decided that I would show him around Ponyville, but he'd have to be awake first. I put my hands on him and shook him - not vigorously, but not too gently either - while saying, “wake up Valentine, it's morning.”
Unfortunately, I apparently surprised him since he had awoken with a start. His eyes had snapped open, wide with surprise, and he tumbled off of the table. While on the floor, he had reached over his shoulder as if to grab something, but there was nothing there.
After a moment of surprise, I had realized that he thought he was in danger, so I spoke to him calmly. I said to him, “Valentine, calm down. It's just me: Alexandria. The girl from yesterday, remember?”
After a few moments, Valentine seemed to calm down, but sweat was still all over his face. “...S-sorry, kid, you startled me…” he apologized, “probably wasn't much I could do about it either way…my sword seems to be gone.”
I remembered that he had something on his back the day before. After giving it some thought, I had decided that maybe Princess Twilight had taken it or something. I spoke up, sharing my thoughts, “maybe Princess Twilight confiscated it?”
“Why would she?” Valentine had asked, though his expression quickly turned to one of understanding as he seemed to think of the answer on his own. “Yeah…I could see why…”
I responded with a grin on my face, “yeah, I don't think you'd need to carry a sword on you in a relatively peaceful town like Ponyville.” My grin changed to a friendly smile as I continued, “speaking of town, I'd be happy to show you around.”
Valentine took a few minutes to think about my invitation, before his expression had softened a little. “Alright,” he said, smiling a small, tired smile, “but, can we get my sword back when we come back to this…castle? Home? Whatever?”
I couldn't help but laugh at him when he couldn't decide what to call the place. After a quick moment, I pulled myself together and answered, still giggling a little, “Princess Twilight's crystal castle?” I had regained my composure as I continued, “sure. That sword seems to mean a lot to you.” I then turned and made my way to the door, where I stopped and looked back at Valentine, a smile on my face. I made a 'follow me' motion with my hand as I spoke again, “come on.”
Valentine shuffled to his feet and made his way over to me, stumbling a little. “Of course, miss. Alexandria, lead the way,” he said. While he had made his way to me, I had taken stock of his appearance. His face seemed to indicate that he was middle aged, some wrinkles visible on it. He had bags under his eyes, so at least some of his wrinkles were from lack of sleep, though I'm still not sure if any of them are from stress.
I had begun by explaining how Princess Twilight's castle was made entirely of crystal, and how it had a huge library and a few different rooms that were used to test and practice magic. Valentine listened very carefully, seeming to cling onto every word as if they were the last ones he'd hear.
“...Entirely made of crystal?” he asked, as if he wanted to be sure he had heard correctly. I nodded, and he added, “I don't know how exactly this place still stands then…”
I looked at him with a small grin as I responded, “it can be surprising just how tough crystal is.” Then, with a wider grin, I added, “and nobody tries to take parts of the castle because Princess Twilight would be very upset with anyone who does.”
“Eh, most likely…” Valentine answered with a small chuckle. “However, I sure hope she's not pissed with me punching her lights out, ya get me?” He seemed to be inspecting the walls, taking note of how they shimmered and sparkled. I had made sure to reassure him that Princess Twilight would understand that it was probably survival instinct.
I realized that I had run out of information about the castle, but we were still navigating the halls. I decided that I would give him a formal introduction to Shanghai in order to pass the time. I turned to Shanghai, who was on my right shoulder, the opposite side of Valentine, and told her that I wanted to introduce her to him. Shanghai moved around to my left shoulder, and I looked up to Valentine to speak to him. “You might remember seeing her yesterday,” I had begun, gesturing to Shanghai.
Valentine seemed to be wary and/or reluctant to say anything to Shanghai, but after a moment, he had smiled softly. “It's good to meet you,” he had said in greeting, extending a hand for a handshake.
Shanghai had looked at his hand, not sure what to do with it, so I whispered to her, “he wants to shake your hand.” She nodded in understanding and put her tiny hand into his large one, and I had to suppress my laughter when I saw how silly and cute it looked as Valentine tried to gently shake Shanghai's hand.
“Hi,” Shanghai had said cheerfully to Valentine, a big, innocent smile on her face, “my name is Shanghai. It's nice to meet you too.”
“Likewise,” Valentine agreed, ending the handshake just as gently as he had started it.
I had decided that I would explain what Shanghai is to Valentine (and reading his entry from yesterday, I was right to do so since he believed Shanghai was a doll). “I've had a lot of people being mistaken about Shanghai's species,” I began.
Valentine looked at me with confusion. “Oh…she isn't a doll?” he asked, concern entering into his eyes. “Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you if I did.”
I smiled and laughed in response, “don't worry, everyone believes Shanghai is a doll when they first see her.” I continued with a smile on my face, explaining to Valentine that Shanghai was a Fairy, and when he inevitably had no idea what a Fairy was, I explained that to him too. I explained to him that Shanghai was a special, rare type of Fairy, and I also explained what made her different from other Fairies.
“But, she's so damn adorable, why would she be treated differently?” Valentine had asked. His face had seemed annoyed by the fact. “If I could, I'd rip the wings off of the other Fairies and-”
“Whoa whoa, calm down Valentine,” I had said in surprise, interrupting his outburst. “Shanghai is actually really similar to the average Fairy,” I explained to him, “the physical differences are just superficial: she can still fly and has all the same properties as other Fairies. The only notable difference is that her power and life force comes from me instead of nature. Other than that one main difference, Shanghai is essentially the same as any ordinary Fairy.”
“Oh…alrighty then,” Valentine had said with a nervous chuckle as we finally made it outside of Princess Twilight's castle. “Now…how about we explore the town? It seems like a nice place.”
I showed Valentine around town, noting some good places to eat at, and also showing him a couple notable places such as Sweet Apple Acres. After a couple of hours, I decided I would introduce him to Alice. “Even though I'm from somewhere completely different,” I had begun, “a few of the people from Gensokyo also ended up here, albeit a few days after me. Remember Patchouli from the library earlier? She's one of them.” I remember that a smile appeared on my face before I continued, “I want you to meet the first friend I made, who also happens to be here in Ponyville.” I also remember that I didn't wait for Valentine to respond, instead I began leading the way to the Carousel Boutique.
Valentine had looked at the building, his eyes widened and one brow raised. “…A…very unique design if I must say so myself,” he said, “though, what do I know? I'm no architect.”
Before going inside, I remember looking at his very ragged appearance. I ultimately decided that it would probably be for the best if I avoided an encounter with Rarity. Because of that, I decided I would bring Alice outside to meet him. “How about you wait out here while I go get my friend?” I suggested to him.
Valentine had simply nodded his head in agreement. “Sure thing, kid…” he said as he began to stretch his arms out, before he proceeded to put his hands on his back and pushed up until there was a crack. “I could use the fresh air over the ogling eyes of everyone…or would that be everypony?”
I chuckled as I made my way to the door. “I just say everyone,” I told him. I remember that I was quick finding Alice, and I told her there was someone I wanted to introduce her to. It was only a couple minutes before I left the building with Alice. Valentine was still just outside. Since Alice had been my friend for a long time, I had turned to her when I started speaking. “Alice, this is Benjamin Valentine. Valentine, this is Alice Margatroid.”
I remember that Alice bowed slightly as she spoke to Valentine formally. “Hello Mr. Valentine. It's nice to meet you.” Rarity had been teaching Alice how to be formal for speaking with customers, and I remember being impressed that Alice was applying what she learned to talking with strangers.
Valentine had tipped his long brimmed hat towards Alice in a show of respect. “Good morning, Ms. Margatroid,” he greeted. I remember that his features were soft while he spoke to Alice. “A very nice way to meet.”
I remember Alice's cheeks turning a bright red, since she was unused to being treated with so much respect. I managed to suppress my giggles as Alice stuttered her response in embarrassment, “o-oh, er, y-you can just, uh, call me Alice.”
I remember that the smile Valentine gave Alice was sweet as he nodded in agreement. Even at the time, I had noticed that even when he did smile, it was never completely soft. But the one he gave Alice was different, open. It was completely genuine. The only possible conclusion I could come to, and still the only conclusion that I can come to is that he had fallen for Alice.
Sorry, I'm getting a bit off topic. “Then I'll call you Alice,” I remember him saying with a chuckle, “…it's a nice day, isn't it?”
Alice was still blushing as she responded, still flustered, “y-yeah, i-it is, i-isn't it?”
I know what I did next was rude, but I did it for Alice's sake, since she was supposed to be working still. I cleared my throat loudly before I spoke up. “It's great that you two seem to be getting along,” I had said, my tone apologetic, “but I dragged Alice out here while she was in the middle of work, and she should be getting back now so that she doesn't get into trouble.”
Valentine had sighed at this, after which he had turned to Alice and gave her a sad smile. “Whelp, wouldn't want you to get in trouble because of my ugly mug,” I remember him saying, with a bit of sarcasm in his voice. “I hope to see you again soon, Alice.”
With that, Alice had bowed again and reentered the Carousel Boutique. I remember very clearly that she was still blushing profusely as she did all that. After that, I had decided to bring Valentine to a small cafe I'd recommended earlier to grab some lunch. It was after we had stepped outside the cafe when things took a turn towards 'worst case scenario'.
I had quickly noticed that many of the ponies out on the streets were acting unusual, speaking nonsense and other things of the sort. “What happened?” I remember asking out loud in confusion. “Everyone is acting nuts all of a sudden.”
Valentine looked around him, with an equally as confused look in his eyes as he stood there. “Ummm…I think everyone is actually losing their damn minds…” he had pointed out as we both watched a stallion bash his head against a wall for no reason.
“Not 'losing,' silly,” a voice I didn't recognize said, coming from our right. “'Lost!' All of them have already completely lost their minds! Isn't it great!?” The voice was somewhat high pitched, and obnoxiously cheerful, but it sounded different from Pinkie Pie's. We both turned to look and this is who we saw:
Most of the rest of the day is a bit hazy, but the reason for that will be apparent soon enough. Anyway, I believe we were somehow back in the cafe. Valentine looked annoyed by the sound of the voice, but I can't remember how much so. “Well, if it isn't little Ms. Noisepiece, yapping away when I could be eating my lunch,” he said, putting his feet up on the table we were now sitting at. He then picked up a sandwich from the table and took a bite from it.
“Wow, you almost knew my name?” the girl said, surprised to some extent. “Maybe the insanity I gave you has something to do with that?”
My eyes narrowed as I spoke up, “who are you?” After looking around I added, “and why are we back in the cafe?”
I should probably mention now that my mental strength is fairly high, which I built up myself so that it would be difficult to break my focus, making it easier for me to predict bullet paths. Because of this, I was able to resist the effects of this person's madness inducing power to an extent.
The girl seemed disappointed by this. “Huh? Why aren't you raving mad like everyone else? Oh, whatever.” The girl smiled and pointed to herself as she continued in an obnoxiously cheerful tone, “I'm Clownpiece, and I'm a Hell Fairy! You think you're back in the cafe because I've made you crazy!” Her smile grew bigger as she seemed to think of something. “Maybe I just need to pummel you a bit before you fall completely into madness.” After she had said that, she had waved her torch around with a flourish.
You probably won't believe me, but I swear to you that it looked like we were on the moon. I even remember looking up and seeing the Earth of the Outside World in the distance. I remember Clownpiece said to me, “Honorable Friend has told me that my attacks are really strong, so people will probably have a lot of trouble avoiding them. I was told to give people multiple chances when fighting them. So, I'll give you four chances. But if I hit you four times, then I'll bathe you in the light of my torch and your mind will fall into many wonderful pieces!”
Unfortunately, because of Clownpiece, Valentine wasn't being any help, babbling incoherently. That's why I had to fight Clownpiece myself. Thankfully, Shanghai seemed to be about as resilient to Clownpiece's ability as me, so she could still shoot at Clownpiece while I dodged. I'll skip most of the fight, since nothing particularly amazing happened from what I remember. I will admit that her attacks were intense. They were nothing but lasers and star-shaped bullets; I even got hit three times.
At the end of the fight, Clownpiece looked exhausted and a bit beat up as all her bullets disappeared. We were still on the moon, and Valentine was still completely nuts though. “I won, Clownpiece,” I said to her, “could you fix all this now?”
Clownpiece still looked worn out as she answered. “But, why would you want me to undo all my hard work? That wouldn't be any fun…” I remember that what happened next was in response to Clownpiece mentioning fun.
“Nothing is any fun as it is, you meanie!”
The voice that had shouted was similar to Clownpiece's voice, except it was much more familiar to me. Immediately after shouting that, Pinkie Pie came lunging at Clownpiece and shoved her really hard into something. To me, the thing looked sort of like one of Yukari's gaps, but the inside looked different. I quickly figured out that it was the same gap Marisa had described over a week ago. After Clownpiece had fallen into the gap, the gap closed and the landscape around us melted away, returning to the street just outside of the cafe.
“As I was saying, Mrs. Lamppost…” Valentine began before stopping and looking around. “...Um…what?” he had finally asked, simply.
Pinkie Pie responded to him before I could figure out how exactly to explain what happened. “Some meanie had driven you crazy. I tossed them into an interdimensional portal to get rid of them.” Pinkie Pie stood there, looking proud at her explanation.
I opened my mouth to ask something on my mind, but Pinkie Pie somehow predicted my question. “And, yeah. I kinda left an interdimensional portal open in your universe, and that's how your friends Marisa, Alice and Patchouli got here. Sooooooorry,” Pinkie Pie said in embarrassment before she added, “but more friends is always a good thing, so it's not all bad!” By then I knew better than to question how she knew their names.
“Wait,” Valentine asked, looking at Pinkie Pie with a confused expression. “Does that mean you can bring me back to the place I was before I was here?”
Pinkie Pie looked pensive as she answered, “probably. But, isn't there someone else here that I'd have to send back with you?”
“Well, yeah,” Valentine had said with a nod. “Vinyl and Octavia have got a concert to attend in the Griffin Kingdom.”
Shortly after that, Vinyl Scratch had showed up with some supplies she had gathered from her house. Then Octavia appeared as well. I'm still not sure how I was completely unaware that she was in Ponyville until that moment.
Anyway, that more or less brings me to the present, with me writing this journal entry. Once I finish up, I'll be returning the journal to Valentine and then see him, Vinyl and Octavia off. Valentine's basically just waiting for me to finish. But that was the weirdest day in Ponyville I've experienced so far.
End of Entry