[5:35 a.m.]

It’s been one week since the night of the fight, bringing my first week as Fleur de Lis’ secretary, and as a resident in Equestria come to a close. I have to admit, it wasn’t a pleasant week, and it’s not because of the work during the day that made it so. Ever since that fight, I’ve started having nightmares that recalled some moments in my past that I’d rather not look back to. I won’t go into details yet, but it's the biggest reason that I see my older brother as such an asshole to this day. I had them before, but I thought it was all over once I moved as far away from my hometown as possible, and that was before Equius was found years later. I guess that punch might have triggered them to come back, but I’m just glad it doesn’t happen every night. I’ve tried to go on jogs first thing in the morning to not only wake myself up more, but to motivate myself into exercising. Even after that though, the nightmares would still leave me exhausted.

I felt I shouldn’t go to the gym yet until my black eye faded away. I haven’t told the girls about the jogs and nightmares yet, but I felt like this was something I needed to deal with on my own time without getting them worried. After the jogs, I cleaned up quickly, changed my clothes, and had breakfast. Fleur would then sit me down and apply the make-up over my shiner before we started the day. It must have been because of how long she’s been putting make-up on herself, but she applied it on my black eye so well, it looked like I never had one at all, save for my eyelid still squinting.

After that, I followed Fleur and Shining around, recording important information to add into the agenda while getting friendly with the staff of businesses we visited, and watching Fleur modeling for various products. Shining was still having some trouble trying to adjust herself around stallions, but it looked like she was putting effort into it. From what Fleur had told me, Shining would sometimes butt in to a conversation she would have with a stallion, and pretty much scare them off. So far Shining not only hasn’t done that since that fight, but she didn’t have the vibe of looking down on other stallions as she talked to them. She was still nonchalant with them, but it was a good of a start as any I guess. I was the only guy she was comfortable talking openly to, as we not only discussed future meetings and photo shoots, but she also had me taking notes on what I should consider about their diets when I make their meals, and some things about the modeling business I didn’t know up until then. While we had time in between, Shining helped me with signing the legal residency documents like she said she would the other day. During that same day, she even gave me my first paycheck. With how much I had received, even after the thirty percent that was given away to the charity Fleur supports, I think I’ll have no problems getting around in Equestria.

I was getting a better handle on the business as well, especially during the photo shoots. I still get a little… Tight in my pants when Fleur would not only pose in some bra and panties, some lingerie they picked for her, or even just nude in general, she does it for the cameras in lewd, seductive ways. I can understand that as a way to bring in potential customers to buy their products, but it was still a little difficult to not make a big deal out of. At least they distract me enough from the nightmares though. So far I’ve only stopped having trances, and not get as nervous as the first time I’ve seen Fleur in such a way, and I think that’s as much of a progress as any. There was also coming up with the many vegetarian meals I found recipes to online to make for the girls that fit their nutritional needs. Sometimes I would make a separate dish myself to get the required supplements in protein we humans live on, but still try to maintain the veggie diet I said I was getting into since I got here.

Coming back to the early morning at present times, my shiner had faded enough to not worry about putting make up on anymore, and my vision out that eye was getting better. Fortunately I didn’t get a nightmare the night before, so I was a little more energized than usual.

“Alright, I think this is a good day as any to start training at the gym, and see what I can do to get stronger,” I said to myself before I went and changed into a tank top and shorts, set myself up a water bottle, and grabbed my phone, ipod, and wallet before I walked out, and jogged my way to the gym as a warm up.

When I got to the gym called Iron Hooves, the place was big, but pretty empty, as there was only a couple mares, and two stallions. I walked up to the service desk up front where a lean looking earth pony mare was standing.

“Hello, do you have a membership program I could sign up here?” I asked.

“We do in fact,” she answered with a smile. “We charge membership twenty bits a month, and since this looks to be your first time here, newcomers get their first two admissions to whatever classes and equipment we provide for free. We also have a personal trainer program that gives ponies their first two appointments for free as well before we discuss separate charges for later ones.”

“Nice. Do you have a locker room I can leave my stuff in?” I asked.

“Down there to your left, and we sell locks to keep your belongings secure for thirteen bits,” she answered.

“I’ll take one of those, and thanks for the free admissions.”

“No problem! Just sign in here so we can keep record, and we’ll get you arranged for the membership after the two days are up.”

After I signed in, I bought the lock before I went to the locker room, and secured my phone and wallet in one of the vacant lockers. I put the key to it in my pocket before I went back out, put on some music with my ipod, and stretched as I thought about what I should do first.

Let’s see… Gods it’s been so long since I actually lifted weights, but at least I know the forms to do some exercises, and there are machines that focus on some parts of the body. Maybe I’ll start off simple and do dumbbells.

Once my stretches were finished, I went to the long rack of assorted dumbbells, each pair growing in size and weight as the line went.

Maybe I should start with this much, and see where I can go from there.

I tried lifting one of the bigger dumbbell pairs off the rack, which turned out to be more of a challenge than just doing the exercise. I then sat on one of the benches, and tried to start things off with some curls… Which was kind of degrading in the end, as I only ended up making five on each arm. My arms were already straining to flex as I set it down.

Goddammit, and I thought keeping the girls’ clothes up during their shopping spree was heavy. I must have gotten weaker than I thought. Maybe I should look into getting that personal trainer thing. It may be expensive, but I need some help, like BAD.

Suddenly a few pokes behind my shoulder made me jump out of the bench in fright. I quickly took out the earbuds, turned, and was surprised at the familiar face I didn’t expect to see here.

“Hello Oz. Sorry for scaring you,” Shining Star deadpanned, making it hard to convince that she wasn’t in fact sorry for startling me. She had her mane tied to a ponytail, wore a fitting tank top, and some yoga pants. She raised an eyebrow at me in suspicion while crossing her arms, waiting for my response to her ‘greeting.’

“Uh… Hey,” I replied with a nervous shake in my voice.

“May I ask what’s going on here?” She asked.

“Can’t a guy get a workout every now and then?” I asked trying to defend myself.

“No seriously, what have you been up over the past week? You try to hide it, but I’ve noticed you’ve been slightly out of it in the mornings. I tried not to think on it too much until I see you in the same gym I go to for my triweekly morning routine. What’s going on Oz?”

“… Um,” I replied while trying to come up with an excuse.

“Remember what I wanted us to do with each other more, starting from last week?” Shining asked.

“… Being honest with each other,” I sighed in defeat.

“I may be your manager, but I’m also your friend too Oz,” she said. “You know that if there’s something troubling your mind, you can come talk to me or Fleur about it, and we’ll try to help out however we can. I’m not mad at you for hiding something like this, I’m just concerned.”

“… It’s about the fight last week,” I confessed, which Shining widened her eyes in response. “I know you said I shouldn’t get into any fights when the stakes aren’t high, but what if they were? I felt so pathetic for not holding on my own after that fight, and I don’t want anything bad happening to you two because I was too weak to do anything. Not to mention I feel just as bad and weak just relying on you two all the time, and I want to try solving problems on my own. So the morning after that fight, I’ve been going on morning jogs to help get myself motivated. Once my eye healed enough to not get stares without make-up, I came here. This is only my first day, and as you could probably see from my curls, I’m not doing so well to get stronger.”

Shining sighed frustratingly while rubbing her eyes under the glasses before looking back to me. “I swear, I wonder if you humans are this stubborn with yourselves. Oz, there’s nothing wrong to seek help now and then. I can understand how tough that can be for some ponies depending on the circumstances, and just asking for help can actually be very brave. Part of what having friends is all about is letting them carry some of that weight so you wouldn’t have to put everything on your shoulders. Handling all the burden to yourself is not only dumb, but kind of selfish when you think about it.

“As for the fight… *sigh* I should apologize for lashing out the way I did. I was really emotional during that time, and I shouldn’t get mad at you for that.”

“But you were right though,” I rebutted. “Being impaired aside, I wasn’t thinking straight when I came up to him like that. I just didn’t want something bad happening like Fleur being forced to do something against her will.”

“While I do appreciate that, there are better ways to handle conflicts like I mentioned before,” she commented. “Just try to remember that next time alright? And again I apologize for that night.”

“It’s in the past, and I kind of needed that anyway,” I said with a shrug.

“Anything else that needs to be addressed?” Shining asked.

My mind then turned back to those nightmares I’ve been having over the past week. Conflicted to think whether or not talking to Shining about it was a good idea.

Should I tell her? Talking about it could help me ease up a little, but how would things go if I told her what contained in those nightmares? How different would she and Fleur see me if I told them? I don’t think this may be good, but I should hold it off for now. They’ve only known me over the past week, and I want to make sure I can trust them before I tell them all about it. Besides, it’s not like I’m the only one holding secrets here. I still don’t know what happened between Fleur and Solar Flare, and what Shining was about to tell me the other day before she backed herself out. They may have as much issues with trusting others as I do right now, but that doesn’t mean I should reveal everything about myself in one sitting in order to gain theirs. Maybe if Fleur or Shining told me something about one of those things, then I’ll talk about mine. Until then, I’ll act like nothing’s happened.

“None that I could think of,” I answered to Shining.

“Very well, now for the getting stronger part,” she said. “If you’re really serious about it, then I can help you out if you’d like. I’ve been doing this for much longer than you have, and I came up with my own procedures for training.”

“How strong are you anyway?” I asked.

Suddenly Shining made a snide smirk while raising her eyebrow. “You sure you want to know that Oz?”

“Uh… Yeah? I guess I do—YIPE!” I yelped as Shining lifted me by the waist off the floor, and set me down to the side before walking up to the dumbbells.

She picked up the dumbbell I was curling with slight of ease, along with the other of the pair that was still on the rack in her free hand. She then turned to me, and did quick, alternating curls with both weights. She was well past my record of five, and finished off with twenty before setting the weights back on the rack, turned to me, and gave me a boastful smirk with half-lidded eyes.

“… Show off,” I said with a scowl before she giggled at my suspense.

“If you thought that was impressive, you should see how much I bench press,” she replied. “So how about it? You want to train together?”

“… Just try not to kill me with your routines okay?” I pleaded.

“Oh don’t worry Oz… I will, and you’re going to feel MUCH worse tomorrow morning. Now pick up your balls and follow me. We’ve got A LOT of work to do,” Shining finished before passing me, and maneuvered her unusually dexterous tail to whip my butt with a loud snap as she walked off.

“OW! Why me?” I whined before I followed her lead through the gym.

[7:30 a.m.]

“Ahh~, there’s nothing like a good workout to start the day, and more enjoyable doing it with somepony than by myself,” Shining said with a content smile as she walked and stretched her arms.

“Well I’m glad you’re in a good mood,” I deadpanned sarcastically, as I was walking slightly behind, sore in places I didn’t know were possible until then.

“Oh pony up would you? You know what they say, no pain, no gain.”

“And you certainly made sure I had pain… A LOT of it.”

“If it’s any consolation, despite your whining right now, I’m sort of impressed at how you kept willing yourself to keep going until the end,” she explained. “You keep that up, and results will come quicker than what you might expect. Just make sure you keep doing your morning jogs, even on days you aren’t going to the gym except weekends. You’ll have the endurance of a griffon after a few months. We’ll also attend classes held at the gym to teach you self-defense.”

“Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, but why do you go to the gym and exercise anyway?” I asked.

“I like to keep myself fit, especially for some of those long, arduous days of working as a manager,” she answered while she looked longingly ahead. “Also… Pretty much the same reason you have. To protect Fleur, and now to cover YOUR ass.”

“You know there will come a day when I’ll get strong enough so you won’t fight my battles right?” I asked with a raised eyebrow as we approached Shining’s home. “I’ll make it so that if you pin me down, I’ll get it to where I’ll break free from your hold.”

“… Ha! I’d like to see you try,” Shining said almost hesitantly before she looked away, and one of her ears and tail gave a slight twitch. We then came to a stop in front of her house before she walked up to her door. “Anyway, clean yourself up real quick and prepare breakfast please. I’ll see ya in a bit,” she said before she walked inside.

… Huh, she seemed a little off at the end there… Did I just make things awkward with that scenario I just explained? Shit where did THAT even come from? The exhaustion must be getting more into my head than I thought.

I then walked back home while trying to push those strange, yet somehow interesting visualizations out of my head.

[8:15 a.m.]

“Are you feeling okay Ozzy? You’re kind of slow with the cooking today,” Fleur pointed out as I finished preparing some scrambled eggs, toast, and some fruit to serve for the three of us.

“I’m fine… Just having a rough morning, I’ll get better as the day goes on,” I replied.

When I said rough, it was more like beaten senseless by a deranged, sadistic maniac that’s my boss.

“Well try not to overexert yourself today, okay dearie?” Fleur asked. “What’s the plans for today anyway?”

“Let’s see, there’s the meeting with Blossoming Scents at 9:45, some lunch after that, then at 12:15 we—“

“SLAM!”

“Oz! We need to cancel ALL the appointments we have for today and everything up to next week!” Shining exclaimed as she walked in with a black box in her arm, wearing her usual business attire while her mane was tied up to a bun.

“Huh?” I replied.

“What’s going on Shiny? Why the excitement?” Fleur asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Everypony, we may have just received a chance to get into the biggest gig in our career, no scratch that, in our LIFETIME!” Shining exclaimed as she pointed a finger to Fleur. “Fleur de Lis, you may be on a commercial with Vogue’s clothing brand!”

Author's Notes:

Seems like something big's coming their way. What does the Vogue clothing brand company have in store for our main trio? Find out next chapter as we take the beginning of this new arc in the bustling city of Manehattan, where anything that can happen, could happen whether they like it or not.

Until next time, this is Dudeler signing off.